[OOC] My router & DSL modem are on their last legs, so I'm having connectivity issues.

On a probably unrelated note, I haven't been able to access IJ properly in weeks, and I have no idea why. I'm behind on reading my flist, and I owe replies to at least two people. I haven't forgotten you, I'm just kinda swamped with technical difficulties.

Argh! It's a conspiracy...

Exploring Margate turns out to be a far more interesting exercise than Renji had anticipated. Mostly he'd been concerned with identifying major landmarks to help them navigate the town if they ever found themselves needing to get to a fight in a hurry. But now he's fascinated by... well, everything.

( Exploring Margate )

[tag: Ichigo]

Margate is a rather pretty place, Renji decides as he and Ichigo stroll casually through the town. Different than what he’s used to, by far, but then even modern Japan is different than what he’s used to. The tang of the sea is more or less the same, though, and it’s familiar enough to balance the smells and sights that seem so exotic to Renji’s decidedly foreign eyes.

As interesting as it is to stare at the unfamiliar – he’s really getting tired of that word – architecture, Renji thinks they’d better make a choice about finding somewhere to eat before his stomach gnaws straight through him and leaves something resembling a Hollow-hole in his middle. He peers up and down the street, sniffing in every direction, and finally settles on a squat stone building from which savoury smells are emanating.

“There, how ’bout that place?” Renji nudges Ichigo’s arm and points toward the pub.

His stomach growling is what wakes him from his uneasy sleep. Renji buries his head under his pillow and tries to go back to the sleep he'd only barely achieved, but there's no denying his appetite - no matter how exhausted he is after spending most of his first night in Margate staring up at the ceiling.

And Renji's not a morning person.

With a sigh, he throws back the blankets and slides out of the--

"Shit," he mumbles, catching himself just in time. "Right. Bed."

He stumbles a bit anyway as the blankets follow his long legs off the bed, and he spends a few moments fighting to straighten them out before losing patience. Leaving the blankets hanging halfway to the floor, Renji rakes one hand through his long, tangled hair and uses the other to scrub the sleep from his eyes so he can see to find his bathing supplies.

Everything he'd brought with him fit into the shapeless bag he'd borrowed from Ichigo. Renji digs through his meagre possessions, mostly spare uniforms and a few pieces of clothing his friends had assured him were suitable for the beach, and eventually pulls out his toiletries.

Intending to head to the bathroom, Renji opens the door but then slams it shut an instant later as memory catches up with him. Oops.

Hopping out of bed and plodding down the hall stark naked is one thing when you're in the privacy of your own quarters, but he's in a hotel, with shared bathrooms. Renji fishes around in his bag again; only once he's certain he's decently attired in his favourite white and pink yukata does he leave his room in search of the bathing facilities.

Just my luck. The sound of the shower tells him the bathroom is already occupied. Leaning on the wall with a sigh, Renji waits impatiently, occasionally glaring down at his rumbling stomach. "Oh shut up," he mutters. Least here I’ll have a chance to rest. I’m so tired of fightin’.