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ramblingkat · 2 years

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Fic: Bagging a Scientist

Fandom: Bleach, Welcome to Night Vale

Characters/Pairings: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke, John Ortiz-oc

Prompt for 31 Days on Dreamwidth. Jan 5. Okay, I'm not actually laid back. I'm stressed, like, 24/7.

Wordcount: 1,565

Summary: Kisuke had finally managed to snag one of the people working with Carlos. Ichigo watches the show.

That sounds way worse than it really is. ***

"You are surprisingly nice," said the young man, who was clutching the cup of tea like it was a life line. "I am really not used to nice in Night Vale."

Ichigo blinked at that, looking up from his own cup to look at the man Kisuke had brought home. After actually remembering to call Ichigo and warn him. Seemed he had finally gotten one of the group that assisted Carlos the scientist separated from the pack.

The guy was young. Maybe around Ichigo's age, not that it meant much. Really, in a place like Night Vale, or Ichigo's entire life since the age of fifteen, it wasn't the years, it was the survival instincts. Having good instincts kept one alive, and sometimes it displayed in interesting ways.

Ichigo had learned to be good at what he did. Kisuke was a troll of epic proportions. This guy looked super laid back. But under it, Ichigo could feel the twitchy, nervous energy that curled up in the man. Sneaky, that one. It probably made things underestimate him if the problem was sentient enough to pick out prey. For those problems that didn't, he was less likely to hurt himself by having to dodge, flee, cower in fear with relaxed muscles instead of tight ones.

The man sipped his tea, though he side eyed Ichigo when the redhead snorted at the idea of Kisuke and the term nice in combination. Those two words just simply didn't get along with each other. Kisuke pouted at him, then focused on the man.

"As I said, I'm Kisuke Urahara, an accidental import to Night Vale. Though I do find it quite fascinating now that I'm here. This is Ichigo Kurosaki, my partner. He helps with the childrens reading program at school."

The man paused, looking at Ichigo over his cup, blinking slowly. "You...help with the reading program?" He blinked big brown eyes at Ichigo, like a very confused puppy. Though Ichigo could understand his hesitation.

Librarians. Just the fact they existed was a nightmare.

"I did martial arts from a pretty young age," Ichigo said, thinking that was the easiest explanation. "So I can handle myself against a few librarians." He scowled faintly, thinking of some of the other things he had had to face at times.

Kisuke chuckled. "That's true. Ichigo has faced worse things than the local public librarians." He only smiled at the man's disbelieving expression.

Then the guy gave a jolt, and flushed. "Sorry," he said, suddenly looking at Ichigo. "I'm John Ortiz. I specialize in seismic activity. Part of why I came out here. Though it is also excellent material to add to my resume." He nodded at Ichigo. "I hope you don't mind that I don't offer to shake hands. That turned out bad last time."

The poor guy looked pretty stressed out at the memory, and Ichigo nodded. "We weren't there for that, but Old Woman Josie told me about it. Everyone turned into real life joy buzzers, right? Only the level of the jolt ranged from person to person?"

Ortiz nodded. "Yeah. After that, most of us are a little wary about shaking hands after Marlene got electrocuted." His fingers flexed around the mug he was holding. "After that, most of us were a little avoidant for a meat. The smell. Though the wheat and wheat byproduct situation pushed us back into eating it."

A shudder, then he took another drink of his tea. "So, I assume you aren't here to ask me to steal research. I did let a few people know I was coming to have tea with you." He gave a snort. "I'd have suggested we go to the cafe, but it's the monthly hooded figures gathering there, and I don't need that sort of situation. Trying to make it out of here and back to the school for my last year."

Yeah, Ichigo definitely understood this type. He was sort of the opposite of Keigo in a way. Keigo seemed like a mess of anxiety and stress, but under it all, he was surprisingly calm. His friend could pretty much roll with anything that came at him, then pop back up and keep going. A bit more like Mizuiro. Mizuiro seemed cool and calm, and he generally was. But there was always a really deep well of something sad in him, and Ichigo had seen it come to the surface a few times.

John, however, was calm outside, a thin layer of relaxation over a mess of anxious behavior.

Well, Ichigo guessed, if one grew up in a world where you didn't have to deal with monsters trying to eat you, one would be a little more stressed out by a town that seemed to actively be trying to murder, or brainwash, or sacrifice its citizens.

Ichigo just found the fact that everyone knew about it remarkably nice. Instead of being the oddball kid with the weird hair who talked to empty air, he was someone welcomed. A person who helped the kids when they needed it and an all around nice guy. Who had some really bright hair.

He even had one person ask if he was Scootish. Whatever that was.

Relaxed in his own chair, Kisuke shook his head. "No theft of research requested," he said easily. "I'd rather find out for myself. But I would be interested in being able to collaborate with you from time to time. Sometimes I get readings and results and I would love to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Ichigo is nice, and very good at coming up with outside the box solutions." There was a pause as Kisuke sipped his own tea. "Which, you must admit, is extremely useful in this place.

But I would like to have someone with access to proper equipment to help me determine if a situation is going on, or if I'm trapped in a very localized event. Or even coming at something from the wrong way."

That made Ichigo chuckle. He knew Kisuke just wanted another sciency person to bounce ideas off of. While Ichigo was good, he was not a trained scientist. Kisuke liked talking about his findings with people, and it would do him good to make a friend.

Or whatever Kisuke made instead of friends outside of Tessai and Yoruichi. Ichigo was pretty sure the man only came with a few mental slots determined as friends. Ichigo occupied one of those as well, along with a partner slot. Chatty acquaintance, maybe? Who knew, when it came to Kisuke.

Across the table, Ortiz sipped at his tea, eyes constantly roaming the area. Yeah, he was definitely a little twitchy. But that was fine. Ichigo could respect decent survival instincts. Ichigo himself certaining didn't own any. If he did, he would have avoided Kisuke like the plague.

Luckily, for Kisuke, Ortiz seemed to fail in regards to Kisuke as well. Not that Icihgo thought Kisuke would hurt the guy. But Kisuke was.... Well, he was himself. Sometimes he forgot how squishy humans were. Or how mentally stable they needed to be in order to function in the world.

"I can do that. If you like, I can introduce you to the others. Where did you go to school?"

"I have a few degrees from Todai," Kisuke said, and Ichigo made a note to ask him about that later. Did Kisuke actually go to school and get himself a degree during his time in exile, or did he just forge himself one? Ichigo had to know.

The look on the man's face was hesitant, and Kisuke chuckled. "University of Tokyo is the name you might know it by. We call it Todai in Japan."

"You really are a long way from home," was the answer to that. Ortiz considered it. "I can set up a group chat, if you like. That would be the easiest way. The cell service here is amazing for such an out of the way place. So it may take a bit, but usually someone can respond fairly quickly." He leaned back in his chair, giving a lazy roll of his shoulder. "Depending on whatever scientific anomaly is going on at the time."

"That would be great." Kisuke smiled. "So, what do you think of Night Vale?"

"It's a madhouse," Ortiz responded immediately. "But a fascinating one. I don't think we're ever going to get Carlos out of here. He's absolutely fixated with the oddness. Same thing for Michelle and Blair." Ortiz huffed. "As much as I have to eat antacids by the handful, I have to admit, I find it interesting as well. Do you know that, right now, right this second, we are currently having seismic activity? It's never been below a two on the scale, but you can't tell it by this place."

He shook his head and ran a hand through his short, dark hair. "It's a complete anomaly, and I want to figure it out more than anything. Though I'm not as obsessive as some of the others."

Kisuke, who had shifted to press his leg against Ichigo's, smiled. "I can understand being obsessed with something ," he said. As he spoke, he glanced at Ichigo.

Ichigo, warmth curling in his chest, just took the pot and leaned forward. "More tea?" he asked.

After all, he knew the questioning was just starting.

#Bleach #WTNV #Kurosaki Ichigo #Urahara Kisuke #John Ortiz #fanfiction

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