Well, I'm starting off my Monday strong with a 3-minute voicemail that I'm pretty sure was a butt dial. It was worth listening to the whole thing to hear the little "Oh, my god" right before they hung up, though. Anyways, my med refill is kicking in and my brain hamster is back in the wheel at a tentative jog, so let's see if I can start to chip away at one of the Bleach relationships I've been struggling to make sense of!
I'm guessing at least a part of Renji's going back and forth with how he talks to Rukia has to do with their estrangement from each other. Like, I get the sense that Rukia making digs at Renji is nothing new, and I feel like Renji used to do the same back. But at the same time, when you've grown so far apart AND have Gotei 13 laws and duties getting in the way, the old ways of connecting and talking to each other might not work so well, you know?
I want to think Renji reminding her to eat is out of concern for his old friend. But this could also be Lieutenant Abarai--really, phone? Trying to autocorrect his name to Abstain? This could also just be him meeting his professional obligations as a lieutenant, making sure prisoners don't starve themselves before their scheduled execution.
Aaaaand I got lost again on the pivot from "Of course you're gonna die!" to "C'mon, I'm only kidding, you'll probably get a reduced sentence." Did Rukia's blatant acknowledgment of her fate suddenly drive it home for him, and now the part of him that cares about Rukia is kicking in and trying to reassure her?
Whatever the reasoning is, I don't think it did much to help.
From his reaction, I get the impression Renji didn't know what things have been like between Byakuya and Rukia since her adoption. It's just now hitting me that this might be the moment he realizes his captain might not actually do anything to help Rukia out of this. If that's true, that adds a little more weight to his decisions later.
A factor I don’t see brought up is Renji’s time training with Ikkaku and 11th Squad. Spending a bunch of time training with them right before meeting Rukia (who has become more or less a fugitive) is the cherry on top of their existing estrangement and relationship issues. Just compare Renji’s attitude here in his introduction to how Ikkaku will act with pretty much everyone except Zaraki and Yumichka, especially when in the World of the Living. This would also tie into Renji being on his first mission with Byakuya. I believe Renji was overplaying his aggression to make a good impression on his superior, and with the touch of 11th Squad influence thrown in it’s no wonder he comes off as murderous psycho.
Thus, I’ve found it noteworthy that Rukia didn’t seem particular scared of Renji throughout the encounter, and was already falling back into more familiar habits with him once she had been taken back. There is never a sense of “I don’t recognize you anymore, what happened to you?” in her interactions with him.
