Ikebana Club (Open)

Retsu listened intently to his words and watched him leave. She quietly made her way to check on her squad member, glad that he was unhurt. She reminded him of his duty as she handed his robes back to him, telling him to go home for the day.

Glad that it was taken care of she returned back to the room where her club was being held, hopeful that no one had taken too much of a notice of her absence.

Yuki looked up as Unohana returned after her little meeting with the eleventh division member. Her eyes betrayed nothing but seemed to flicker with intelligence underneath as she inspected the captain. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary but she had felt uneasy when the 11th member came into the room, and even more so after being greeted from the other 11 division member in the room - Dak or something lke that - her unease had grown as the greeting sounded slightly forced. Now that Unohana was back she seemed slightly preoccupied with her thoughts and wondered just what was going on - she hated not knowing what was going on.

Retsu noticed Yuki watching her from the room and walked back over to her. She had had not talked with since she the newer people had started showing up and didn't want her to feel neglected. She saw that the captain still was working with single flower and smiled. She remembered when she had first became interested in flowers, she had not known anything on what to do.

She pulled an Amaririsu (Amaryllis) flower and and handed it to the captain as a way of bringing her back into conversation.

"This flower will go nicely with what you have already chosen... It's name is Amaririsu and it means shy." She looked at the face of the captain, seeing if she had correctly guessed her feelings. "With flowers I have found that even when no clear goal is made at the beginning, by simply doing, a path opens that leads to a most wondrous result. One finds that keeping an open mind allows the heart to speak through actions that cannot be expressed by words."

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Amaririsu

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Yuki accepted the flower from the Unohana, not at all surprised that the older captain had guessed that she may be feeling slightly shy with all these people. All the flowers in the room were beautiful, and the scent that lingered was, though heavily perfumed, very pleasant on the nose. The two flowers which she now had, the purple and pink flowers, did look very nice together when there pots were placed side-by-side, but, though she had been playing with the purple flower for a while now just pruning and trimming it, she was completely out of her depth when it came to arranging the two flowers together in the one pot.

"Unohana Taicho, how do you arrange flowers?" She knew that the captain had talked about how having no clear goal could lead to wonderous results just by doing whatever felt right, but Yuki didn't want to kill either of the two flowers by just ploughing forward in unknown territory.

How to explain... When everything was reduced down, the purpose of the arrangements was to create an aesthetically pleasing work. And what one found pleasant to look at, was not everyone's idea. Of course there were more complicated "orders" and "rules" to follow, but they were not cannon, and they were not writ in stone. To Retsu it was more important to enjoy oneself while working with flowers, not always about the finished product.

Retsu watched Yuki's face as she spoke.

"Taicho, the art of arranging flowers comes within ones own self. Bringing your ideas of beauty to the world, is what is important. Even I have had troubles when I started out... I still laugh as I remember the things I had attempted back then. And yet I had a teacher who told me to look within myself... I didn't understand what she meant until years afterward... Flowers, are in themselves beautiful, A single rose in a glass can bring harmony to it's owner...

It is the eye of the beholder where true beauty lies. I know I have told you many different meanings for flowers, but you don't have to arrange them that way... You can arrange them simply by how the colors look, or how the smells mingle with each other. Even things that you thought wouldn't go together can sometimes blend into as one... The only way I learned was by experimenting on my own this way, and after many failures I would achieve a piece that made the effort all worth while." Unohana winked at Yuki, "Then I learned something else, even failures are beautiful..."

"I... see." She didn't really see, but what Unohana said did make sense, even though she couldn't comprehend it. She didn't understand what Unohana meant when she said 'look within yourself' but figured it probably meant to just do what she thinks look beautiful. Closing her eyes briefly Yuki cleared her mind and then opened her eyes again.

Without wondering whether or not it would look good, or whether the flowers would die, Yuki reached across the desk and took a small clouded vase - she decided to put her arrangement in there. Working stiltingly at first, and then more steadily, Yuki slowly trimmed and cut clippings from the two flowers, placing them in the vase, balancing out the two colours. She made sure there was not any clumps of one colours, or that the vase was overcrowded. When she finished she looked at the little vase with the purple and pink flowers and frowned slightly.

There was something wrong with it, but she couldn't quite place it... And then she realised that the two colours were very similar and should be broken up more. So, with that in mind, Yuki took out some of the flowers already in the vase and then looked over the selection of flowers on Unohana's desk. Picking a nice, vibrant yellow flower to clash against the more mellower, cooler colours, Yuki then went on to trim and place in the vase amongst the two flowers already there. When she finished her hands hurt slightly from all the flower handling, but the end product, she felt, was worth it. She stared at it with a bit of pride; proud that she had been able to achieve something she'd never though of doing before, and proud that it had turned out great. Almost shyly Yuki picked up the little vase and held it out to Unohana, because without her help she wouldn't have been able to do this.

"This is for you Unohana Taicho, and thank you for your help and advice." She allowed herself a small smile for the kindly captain whom she now felt she had a bond with. Joining this club had been a great idea, she thought to herself, and mentally congratulating and patting herself on the back.

"It's wonderful, I gladly accept it!" Retsu smiled at Yuki.

The careful eye of Retsu had not missed the way Yuki had held her hands. She could tell that captain was not used to handling flowers, and that her hands were hurting her as a result. She went to her desk drawer and pulled a cream that helped soothe joints and handed it to the captain.

"This will help your hands, Yuki-san, I speak from personal experience."

OOC

Who knew Shinigami have ICY HOT!!! hehe...

(OOC: Of course they do! It's an important thing to have - I mean, what else would Unohana use to treat her patients? lol)

"Arigato." Yuki took the cream and used it on her hands, the slight stinging sensation dulling down. She was glad that Unohana had like her arrangement and the buzz of pride was still with her, increased by Unohana's compliment. She had to admit to herself that flowers were fun - more fun than she would have thought before entering this club.

Retsu was glad that Yuki looked like she was having fun. This was the one of the reasons she had started this club, to share her love of flowers with friends...

"Your very welcome! I knew you could do it!" Retsu smiled at Yuki-san.

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I know its not much... couldn't think of what else to write... long night...

Yuki smiled again, not very big but big enough, and studied Unohana for a few seconds.

"Taicho, how long have you been a captain?" It was one of the things she was most curious about because there was no way she cold tell how old the captain was just by looking at her, but Yuki had a suspicion that Unohana was quite old, just judging by the level of wisdom with which she spoke with.

"I have been a captain for 400 years..." Retsu smiled as she spoke. "It has been a most wondrous time spent in healing the sick and wounded, training young healers, and helping those who are in need."

She rested her hand on the table next to her, enjoying the feel of the wood grain beneath her fingers. She looked back towards her fellow captain, "I can still remember when Ukitake-san was a young man, and even when Byakuya-san was still training to be head of the family and his grandfather was captain of the 6th division... So many changes since then, so much time passing..." Retsu smiled sadly at the 10th squad captain, "I am rather old, aren't I... Telling such old stories to such a young person..." Retsu gave a slight chuckle at her own words, wondering herself what had prompted her to feel so sad...

OOC

Bleach: The only place a 150 year old is considered, "young"

LOL

Wow, 400... Yuki didn't know how old she was expecting the captain to be, but 400 wasn't anywhere near her predictions. She literally watched as captains, who were considered old at the moment, grow up - and she didn't even look at that old herself! Yuki felt so young and inexperienced next to her. She really like Unohana, so when she saw the sad smile she felt she should cheer her up in some way - though what way she didn't know.

"I have to admit 400 does seem old, though not nearly as old as the late Yamamoto Sou-Taicho (OOC: is he dead?) who was at least 2000, so when you look at that you really aren't that old. And the story you have are full of wisdom and experience - I'm sure they'd be very interesting to listen to. To have watched everything change... I would have loved to see that..."

Yuki trailed off, talking more to herself in that last sentence than to Unohana; it would have been interesting and maybe one day she can be able to say 'I watched as the very world changed'.

(OOC: lol, that's totally right - makes me feel so young in comparison. I noticed in one of your posts somewhere on the site - can't remember where- you said you were a nurse [or is that just me seeing things] but anyway, if you are that is so cool because when I leave school I'm going to become a doctor! Crazy how things work out right?)

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Hmmm I don't know if he is dead or not...

And yes I am a nurse, an RN :).... Now that I know that you are going to be a doctor I can't RP with you anymore... Heheh....

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Unohana's smile became happier at Yuki's words. They seemed to lift her spirit, making almost laugh again.

"It was an interesting journey... But I am glad that I was able to make it. If my wisdom can help shape the future of this world, I will do all that I can."

She brought her hand closer to face, as if to wipe tears away.

"Thank you for reminding me of that..."

(OOC: WHAT!? Why?)

Yuki felt happy as she saw Unohana's spirits lift, and it was nice knowing she was the one to make her happy again when usually she would steer clear of this kind of situation. She didn't know why but she just felt so comfortable with the captain and she hated to see her upset.

"You're welcome, and I know that sometimes it may be easy to lose sight of purpose, but as long as you remember at the end of the day that's all that matters." Yuki stood up, realizing that she had been here for an incredibly long time and figured she should probably leave.

"I'm glad I joined this club Unohana Taicho, if not just for the fact that I was able to converse with you, even if we didn't do much flower arranging. I will definitely come for the next meeting, and I'm sure I'll come by to visit you at other times as well because I enjoyed speaking with you. When is the next meeting?"

She hated to have to go but the vision of all that white, unfilled paper sitting on her desk sent a sudden slight shiver of dread down her spine - though she always could look forward to her next meeting with Unohana -her now favourite captain.

"I'm glad you enjoyed your time here and am very happy you joined! It was a joy talking with you, and your arrangement was beautiful! Next meeting will probably be sometime next month... Although I haven't yet picked a set date... I will make sure to tell you when it is set though!"

Retsu smiled at her new friend as she began to gather the flowers up to put away. She made a mental note to complete her own personal flower arrangement to give to the young captain the next time she saw her.

OOC

I have a severe distaste for doctors... hehe... nothing personal you see... I just get annoyed when the doctors think that MD stands for "Majestic Deity" hehe

I think you might be different though, so I might make an exception!

Although my friends at work call me RN, = Registered Nutcase... They don't get my anime obsession or my love of roleplay

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(OOC: Yeah, I've meet a few doctors like that while I was trying to find out which subjects I need to take next year so I can study medicine - there're pretty annoying. I think I'd rather shoot myself rather than going around with an "I'm better than you" attitude lol. And seriously, how can your friends not get your anime obsession!? I love anime! RPing pretty fun as well.)

"Thank you Unohana Taicho, that would be great. I'll see you sometime." Yuki smiled slightly - something she had been doing more frequently around the captain - and turned on her heel and left the room, heading towards her own division. She couldn't wait until next month when they would do this again.

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Hehehe....

If you want to talk medical and/or need a hand with something let me know... I can try to help with what I know! You can msg me on facebook or pm me here and I'll give you my email (the one I have out on the site is used for everything... the other one is the one I check more often.)

BTW Anatomy and Physiology is the scourge of the earth... I hated that class... Although I have been told that I can skin a "mean" cat... hehehe *Scary eyes*

I wish our docs at work liked anime, that would be awesome... Hehe if you work in an office and need a 4 year RN down the line keep yours truly in mind... hehe

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