Fruit Parlor Cafe
Recipes for a Fruit Parfait
Introducing the Staff: Cloudberry
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Let me give you my I-don't-give-a-flying-fuck look. Feel how very indifferent I am to your existence? Good. Now why did Manager want me to introduce myself?
Oh yeah, he said he'd dock my pay if I didn't. Fine. I'm Hitsugaya Tōshirō. I go by the name Cloudberry here. Yeah, I didn't know what the hell a cloudberry was either. I was ninety percent sure Urahara was making it up, so I looked it up online. Turns out it's a yellow-colored berry with white flowers that grows in alpine and sub-arctic conditions. I guess it fits, me being white-haired and a with a proclivity towards colder climates. I still think Urahara's insane. Actually, all of my coworkers do too, so maybe we're on to something. …Yeah.
What to talk about… well, I'm the youngest of the bunch, unfortunately. I'm nineteen and a second year at TCFA. I'm majoring in drawing and painting. So yeah, when I graduate I'm gonna starve. I think it's unfair that not only am I the youngest, I'm also the shortest. Uryū and Ichigo are the same age, 20, and Shūhei and Renji are both 21. Ulquiorra, Byakuya and Grimmjow are a year older than them.
So… I don't really know what to say. I hate talking to people. Cats are much easier. Hmm. Okay, I live with my mother, Ukitake Shiromi, my crazy uncle, Ukitake Jūshiro, and my two cats, Hoshi and Ame. I think Uncle went to college with Urahara, which would explain a few things. Uncle persists on thinking I'm ten, instead of nearly twenty. We don't live with Dad anymore. I'm not sure why Mom divorced him, but she did, and what's done is done. My uncle's closest friend, Kyōraku Shunsui calls us the Shiro-tachi. He's a crazy bastard, too. Lazy and alcoholic, to boot.
Why are half the adults I know absolutely insane? It doesn't make sense. I really hope it doesn't happen to me. I don't want to inflict the next generation with another version of Uncle.
Hmm… something other then that train of thought would be good. How about work? I have a decent job at the Fruit Parlor, and my coworkers don't drive me completely insane. Just nearly. Byakuya, Ulquiorra, Uryū and I have an understanding. We don't mess around with each other, and are content to leave well enough alone. Something I can't really say about the rest of them. Shūhei is… like an older brother, I guess? A little annoying at times, but he gives you the vibe that you're good with him. If that made any sense. Now I remember why I don't like talking to people. I always get tongue-tied. Ichigo and Renji are pretty much cut from the same cloth. They tease mercilessly, although Ichigo is a little more sensitive most of the time. And prone to getting misunderstood. Um… I'm bad at describing people. Grimmjow is just flat-out maniacally insane. Though he does have some good qualities. He knows when to back off, he's protective in a pack-instinct-sort-of-way, which is something I find just a little funny in someone I associate so much with felines. He's got that feline don't-mess-with-me vibe going on, along with a couple other things.
This is why I always tell Momo I suck at talking to people. Because I really, really do. She's the only one who consistently manages to understand me. Sometimes I really wish she wasn't involved with that crazy bastard Aizen. He and his creepy friend do not give me happy vibes at all.