Welcome to Gaia! ::

His eyes widen a bit, taken aback that she is able to discern so much from only glancing at his face.

They are memories he supposes ought to slip into the past, he says at last, with a faint smile. The sea reminds him of many sweet things, but just as much, it reminds him of many things that are wrong, and things that can't be amended at this late date.

He straightens a bit. But one of those wrongs, at least, has been rectified in forgiveness and marriage. And as that is much more than he had dared hope for, Hitsuga supposes he ought to be going about the business of overcoming...

Ah, but--but he would like to take on Madame's project, he gently insists, blanketing any previous projections of insecurity that may have escaped him with warmth.

Hitsuga does not doubt it was not easy for Madame Tenkyuu to approach him with such a request, and to entrust him with such visions she wanted placed into it.

And....perhaps this is, after all, the incentive he would need to face such things. To take his own bitterness and apply another's happiness to it....?

He chews at his lip a moment and drops his eyes. But forgive this one, he certainly meant no offense...

Hitsuga tenses a bit at the touch, but then apologetically bows his head for such a reaction. He assures Madame Tenkyuu that she needn't worry about receiving a half-hearted product from him, as he would never let such a thing be bottled.

He, above all others, is aware of when his heart is not entirely backing something he is working on, and....if that should end up the case, he would instead offer Madame his most sincere apologies and have to cancel it entirely out of both respect for her vision and for his own integrity as a craftsman.

His eyes meet hers for a moment, tiny pinpricks of imploring swimming in those deep lakes. "I would never dishonor one's memories by realizing them only partway" he says aloud, his voice soft, and barely above a whisper. In the silence of the storefront, it needn't be louder.

He echoes her chuckle, hoping it does not sound uncomfortable as he does so.

He will, indeed, watch himself. If it would ease Madame's mind, he could provide her a working sample of it as it begins to come together so that she may decide for herself if it is meeting her expectations or if it is lacking something she would like adde--

There is the sound of something small and hard hitting the floor noisily nearby and rolling, making him dart his head immediately in its direction. A scented candle has been knocked from one of the lower shelves and is now being brazenly batted at by a small brown dragoncat who seems to have forgotten she was supposed to be in trouble for breaking a bottle of oil not too long ago...

A flare of annoyance directed at the beast issues from the perfumer before he can quell it and he sets his jaw, drawing in a deep breath.

....Madame must excuse Hitsuga, he and his Baikou's cat do not get on well with one another.

Spindly ears, not yet having adopted their adult plumage, p***k with interest as Kan looks up from where she is attempting to gnaw the clove-scented candle into submission. Abandoning her quarry for a moment she pads across the floor to the wiggling fingers, stretching her neck out to sniff at them.

Favoring Tenkyuu with what is, decidedly, a flat look, Kan plants her rump on the floor, waiting expectantly. Her actions are as plain as if she has audibly said No, YOU come HERE.

It is not that Hitsuga does not like cats, he explains, watching the exchange warily and having tensed in worry Kan may decide to take a n** at the older woman's hand. It is moreso....well....this particular cat has gone out of her way to make it clear she is a one-person pet, and that her person is not this one. sweatdrop

String...? Ahh, no. He's afraid not.

....he has ribbon, though. Looking from Kan to Tenkyuu, he clears his throat. He'll go and get it, its in his workroom, he says, edging past Kan in the same way a man might inch past a threatened snake.

Kan turns her head to regard The Pale One with a lash of her tail, making him flinch back, and at the same time give off disjointed projections of dislike. It is vastly clear who the dominant in this relationship is...

Once Hitsuga has disappeared into the living quarters of the house, the dragoncat's attention returns to Tenkyuu for a moment, and then to the candle still on the floor.

...

....it looks to still have some fight left in it! scream With a trilling growl, she pounces it once more and resumes battle.

When Hitsuga, at last, returns with a length of decorative green ribbon trailing from his fingers, it is just in time to see Kan victoriously bite off a corner of the scented wax, eagerly gnawing her prize, only to spit it on the floor and sniff at it warily.

Even in death, the smelly beast fought back... stressed

Inwardly lamenting the ruined piece of stock, the perfumer sighs faintly, though he offers Tenkyuu the ribbon. He is afraid if he and the cat keep on this way, before long he may not have a shop... The projection, though flustered, is not without its joking undertones.

Hitsuga supposes it could very well be that...he is often busy in some fashion, and Baikou has, as of late, been spending more time with Lady Rika during the days to get her apparatus operational.

Though he's tried letting her outside at times, he offers. All that's come of it, however, has been finding half-eaten crickets in the bed... gonk

Kan's head darts up as the wiggled ribbon catches her vision and then leaps to her feet, skittering back as its whipped in her direction, eyes wide and starey. eek

After a moment she lowers herself to the floor, shoulderblades tensing. A NEW challenger...! Let the games begin, she seems to say, tail lashing once before she darts forward, trying and failing to tackle the wiggly green beast.

Trying to save face with a last-minute snag by four wildly-flailing clawed limbs doesn't seem to work either as it darts out of reach again and again. Ohhhhh, it would PAY...