Fruit Parlor Café
Recipes for a Fruit Parfait
Introducing the Staff: Pineapple
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Okay, Manager says to introduce myself. Generally I don't abide by what he says, 'cause he's fuckin' insane, but since he has the powers of the almighty – i.e. the power to dock my pay – I will. I'm Abarai Renji. I'm called Pineapple here; because of the way I wear my hair when I don't have time to braid it. Heh, that happened the day I got hired, and I haven't been able to live it down since.
So, me. Everyone says I'm a bit of a hippie, on account of the way I dress. My style is pretty weird, on account of it being mostly put together from thrift stores. I've never really had money, so thrift stores are my best friends, and you can put together a pretty neat wardrobe from those things. And this would be the point where Shū says I'm babbling.
I'm an orphan – never knew my parents. Social Services frightened me to death, so I ran away from the orphanage when I was four and lived on the streets. I met Shū when I was nine, and then I met his parents, and when they figured out I was homeless and uneducated they were promptly horrified, and proceeded to do something about it. It was quite the shift for me. I'd been living in a world where the only person I could trust was myself, and then suddenly I had four people who were all genuinely concerned about my well-being. Shūhei's parents didn't have room to adopt me, but that still didn't stop them. His dad, Hisagi Minoru, had an older sister, Hisagi Mitsuko, and they set me up with her. She was delighted – her husband had divorced her because she was unable to have kids, but she'd always wanted one.
So she adopted me, and took on the task of cramming enough knowledge in my head to be able to attend regular school. She did her job masterfully, and I'm now attending TCFA, majoring in drama. I'm going to be an actor, and Shū will be my stage manager. Or something. I'd follow Shūhei anywhere. I don't think he knows it, but once he got into TCFA, I followed him because I don't want to ever leave him. It probably sounds stupid, but it's true. I don't ever want to be apart from him, but I know he's eventually going to leave me. He'll find somebody nice and then he'll go his own merry way, and I won't stop him. I want the best for him.
Anyway, on a less personal-and-highly-embarrassing note, I work for the craziest bastard in all of Tokyo, Urahara Kisuke. He has this little café, which is actually really good, despite weirdness. Shūhei works there too. So, my coworkers. Ichigo reminds me a lot of myself, only he's more awkward and orange haired. Grimmjow is also a bit like me, only much more violent and short-tempered. I still don't know why Urahara keeps him. Tōshirō is the grumpiest little snowball-headed bastard I've ever met, while still being a decent person to hang out with. Uryū is annoying and kinda girly. I mean, he sews. He's majoring in fuckin' sewing, or some such shit. I know just because a guy does a thing that's generally associated with chicks, it doesn't make him girly – I cook, for crying out loud – but he takes it to a whole new level of girly. Anyway. Ulquiorra is really fuckin' boring. The only person who can actually make him react to anything – and I mean anything, the guy has the best poker face in the history of poker faces – is Grimmjow. So generally I don't bother him and he doesn't bother me.
Byakuya is a bit like Ulquiorra, only I hate his guts. See, when he swanned in with an application he brought someone I knew along. His little 'sister.' Remember how I said I lived at an orphanage until I was four? Well, so did she and Hisana. Hisana was actually the one who inspired me to grow my hair long, because she said the color was unique and suited me. Rukia was a year younger than me, but she still remembered me. I was her Renji-nīchan. Byakuya apparently took offense to this, and basically told me I was a peasant unfit to keep either of then company in more flowery language. Rukia apparently didn't want to question his judgment, so she said 'sorry' and left with the bastard. I hate him. He took away the last good memory I had from before I met Shūhei. The last little remnant of Hisana-nēchan. And he acts as if I don't exist. It hurts pretty badly.
Rukia has been disobeying him a little bit, which is why I haven't punched his stupid, pretty face in. She'll say hi, or invite me out for coffee, and we'll talk about everything and nothing. It's good to have my imōto back.