Birds and the Bees (Amaya/Meian Social)

The kitsune, slutty though she may be at many times, had actually not done this just to make out with someone. Sure, there was the added benefit of marking Meian off the list of people to kiss, and she now knew kissing back wasn’t an autonomous reaction, but those weren’t the primary reasons for her actions. Her main motivation had simply been her duty as a medic. Meian had appeared to be sleeping, and passing out right after a fight was never a good sign. Since the healer hadn’t detected any brain damage, she had chalked it up to a lack of stamina. Kaido number 53 was a technique designed to fix that issue. The only problem with it was that the method of delivery had a side effect of drama if she didn’t warn the patient ahead of time.

Most side effects are only a rare occurrence, but this one was hitting full force. Meian had apparently been awake for part of this healing. Upon realizing what Amaya had done, the other student had pushed her off almost immediately. He said something right after, but the kitsune couldn’t make it out. It was only after her friend had sat back up and collected himself that Amaya got a clear question from him. ”So… Why, Amaya?” The kitsune’s face had already been a bit red, but now it was practically scarlet. It didn’t take long for Meian to pick up on the awkwardness of that question, so he tried his best to smooth it over a bit. ”Let’s just… Let’s just sit down and try to talk about it…”

A long sigh escaped the medic’s lips as the normal color returned to her face. ”I know this is going to sound like complete BS, but I promise that was just a part of the healing process. Now, before you don’t believe me about it, at least let me explain. The healing process consists of three parts. Restoration of the flesh, reiatsu, and stamina. Healing the flesh is easy. I could manage that back in the first year better than some of the unseated officers in the fourth. Restoring reiatsu is easy enough for weak Shinigami who don’t have a large capacity, but it’s almost impossible to restore the reiatsu of someone as strong as you are.

Even though that one can be a challenge, the average medic can still do it to some degree. What’s really hard is restoring the stamina of another person. As far as I’m aware, the only other medic who can do that right now is Lorilad, the Captain of Squad Four, and he can only do it with his Zanpakuto. I’ve been working on techniques to fix things like that. What I used just now was Kaido number 53: Kiss of New Breath. I know, it sounds a bit ridiculous, but it’s the only way I could get the technique to work. Our stamina mostly comes from our respiratory system, and the easiest way to recharge it is to send energy straight into the lungs of someone. That just happens to involve mouth to mouth.”

Despite every word of that explanation being true, it was still likely a bit hard to swallow. While Meian was certainly not an idiot, he wasn’t exactly aware of how the body functioned on the same level as a medic. In order to ensure that Meian understood Amaya wasn’t hot for him, she had a less jargon-tastic explanation prepared as well. This reason also brought about the return of the kitsune's normal playful tone.

”Besides, if I just wanted to kiss you, I would’ve used tongue.”

Amaya simply stayed sitting as Meian delivered his monologue. She had been so caught up in her own dialogue a moment ago that she never actually stood up. The more Meian spoke, the lower Amaya’s head drooped. The kitsune had never really considered most of the things her friend spoke of. Amaya was… well, sexually liberal would be a nice way to put it. A more honest way to put it would be to just call her easy. The idea that something as innocent as a kiss could bother someone this much was just absurd. A kiss could definitely have emotional value behind it, but that was only if you were with someone you loved.

A meeting of the mouths was a simple greeting in many cultures. Okay, to be fair, most cultures that used a kiss as a greeting used a kiss on the cheek… but Amaya generally ignored that part. In her mind a kiss was just that, a greeting. In other contexts it could mean other things, but it was rarely anything serious. Even between lovers, kisses were often something that just became a way of saying hello or goodbye. The kitsune had been at the same level of experience that Meian was now at only a few years ago, but even then she had never placed a simple kiss on such a high throne. It just didn’t make sense to her.

Eventually Meian’s words ceased. Amaya was saddened by both the tone and words her friend had used, but that all went away almost instantly. Meian had taken a pause before asking one final question of the healer. ”And besides… What does your tongue have to do in any of this?” With that one question, the kitsune’s mood did an instantaneous reversal. She did everything in her power to suppress outright laughter, but a few snickers still escaped. Meian’s lack of knowledge was bad enough that it had completely caught her off guard. It was one thing to not know about this as a kid, but they were adults now. He should at least know the basics.

The Kitsune rose from the ground to look her friend in the eyes. She felt like she needed to at least be standing up if she wanted Meian to take her seriously. ”Okay, Meian, I’m going to start with that last question first, because you aren’t going to understand my answer to anything else otherwise. When you’re kissing someone…” Amaya’s voice faded out suddenly, and he face reddened. I can’t believe I need to explain this stuff to him! How did he make it through the academy without getting laid? The medic took a moment to collect herself before continuing on. ”When you’re kissing someone, there’s a lot of different ways you can go about it, and they can have different levels of meaning. Like, ya know, some people will kiss their grandma on the cheek if they’re over for dinner. That doesn’t mean they’re in love with their grandma or anything.

Up a level from that is mouth to mouth. Yeah, that’s often reserved for lovers in more formal cultures, and I see why you might be so bothered by it, but that’s just a greeting for some people. If we – I mean not we but like, people in general – if tongue is involved… it’s just… it’s hot. I don’t really know how else to put it, but there’s just something about having someone’s tongue wrestling with your own that feel unbelievably good. A normal kiss with no tongue? You can get that kinda feeling by eating a slice of watermelon. It’s just a whole different level. And if you keep going, comparing a kiss to a real act of passion, like, say, I dunno, angry makeup sex? It doesn't even make sense to put those in the same boat.

Alright, now I’m just getting off topic. Where was I?” Amaya paused for a moment to remember what she was supposed to be talking about. It took her a minute to get off the birds and the bees, but eventually she remembered Meian’s earlier points. "Right, right, the moral fabric of the army and whatnot. Even if I don’t think it’s a big deal to just kiss somebody, I understand now that others may feel differently. I’ll try and find another way to administer that technique, or at least warn people in advance what I’m doing. If people know it’s purely medical ahead of time, maybe it won’t be such a big deal.

On the other hand, does that explain why that doesn't mean I'm in love with you or anything silly? You're just my friend Meian, and I hope you always will be.”



((You can consider “Learn more about Amaya’s thinking process complete imo. You learned a pretty decent bit about why she did what she did from this post. It just wasn’t a big deal to her until you made it one >.>))

Amaya listened as her friend covered a myriad of topics. The first thing he mentioned, an understanding that he was friendzoned, gave the kitsune a great deal of relief. Dealing with the awkwardness of having a friend think you’re in love with them was never fun. Considering Meian was her best friend, it would’ve been unbearable for him to get stuck like that. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. The topic was swept under the rug fast enough, but the new topic wasn’t much less awkward for the medic. ” ”Although, you did stumble on one of my secrets here, Amaya. Through my entire lifespan, no one ever taught me anything about love; in fact, up to now, I spent my life running, hiding, surviving… I do lack a lot of what could be considered “common knowledge” by others, and even more so in subjects like love…”

Meian had just come out of left field with that one. Sure, it’s one thing to never have been romantically involved with someone. That was fairly common. Admitting that your entire life had been a cultureless battle for survival was something entirely different. It explained a few things about Meian’s knowledge base, and all the gaps in it, but damn. The kitsune wasn’t quite taken aback by this revelation, but saying she was a bit shocked wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Of course Meian tried to take the conversation back off his past almost immediately. He changed the topic back to the questions that he was wrestling with rather than a part of his life that he probably didn’t want to talk about.

” But, you do seem to know your fair share about it, Amaya. I still don’t understand everything you just said. How could eating a watermelon provide love? Why is “angry makeup sex” more passionate than a kiss? What’s the difference between the love for a grandma and the love for someone else? … There’s still a lot of things left in the dark in my head…” Meian was certainly asking a lot with these questions, but Amaya knew the answers would help her friend adjust to a normal life quite a bit. "B-but you don’t need to answer, if you don’t want to.” And he was polite about it to boot.

”Don’t worry about it Meian. I dunno if I’ll be able to explain everything well enough to satisfy you, but I might as well try. I guess, fundamentally, there’s something to clear up. Sex isn’t always about love, and love isn’t always about sex. Medically speaking, love is a chemical reaction. It’s a process in our brains that we can track and observe, the same way we can monitor depression. Sex, on the other hand, is something…mechanical. It’s a physical process that creates a pleasurable feeling, but that feeling isn’t love. The feeling directly caused sex is the same type of thing you feel when eating a good sandwich. It feels good, but it doesn’t mean you’re in love with a sandwich.”

Unfortunately for Meian, the kitsune had stumbled onto an analogy she liked. She was going to milk this sex is like a sandwich thing for all it was worth. ”Now, in that same style, you can think of sex and love like peanut butter and jelly. Sure, they go together great, but some people just eat peanut butter sandwiches without any jelly, and vice versa. Just because most people put them together, it’s not like they can’t be separated. You can think of the bread as societal pressure to not be a slut if it really makes you happy, since I guess the bread is kinda important in a sandwich, and it explains why so many people conform to only having sex with people they love…and not using run-on sentences like this one.”

The healer took a much needed pause for breath. There was a longer pause than necessary before she continued her explanation, as she needed the time to remember what exactly she was supposed to be talking about. All this talk about sex had her mind wandering a bit too easily. ”Okay, so as for why some parts of romance are better than others, let’s just take this sandwich thing to the extreme. Kissing someone is a piece of buttered toast. Sure, it’s nice if nothing else is available, but you’d rather have something fancier most times. On the other hand, angry sex is like getting the best hamburger you’ve ever had, and that hamburger has all the fixings. There’s just so much more going on there that it stays interesting longer than a simple kiss.

That last bit, about difference between how you love a relative and how you love someone else takes us back to the PB&J. With your grandma, you only want the peanut butter, which, in this case, is love. It’s purely an emotional attachment. Meanwhile, when you’re with a significant other, you want both the peanut butter and the jelly. There’s a desire for an attachment on both the emotional and physical levels, and that makes it extra strong. Even there, we can see it reflected in the sandwich. You can pull apart an emotional bond of peanut butter, but it’s kinda hard since peanut butter is sticky. You can pull apart a sexy jelly sandwich pretty easily, because not much is holding it together. If you have both peanut butter and jelly on that sandwich, you don’t even want to pull apart the sandwich because it’s too awesome. That combination of emotional and physical intimacy is what makes love for a significant other different than the love for a grandma.

Does that make sense?”

It was hard to tell if that explanation had done anything for Meian, but Amaya was decently content with it. She’d covered everything without having to say anything too horribly embarrassing to her friend. Hopefully Meian wouldn’t ask her for the mechanical details of things. If he did, she might just have to tag out and let someone else take over. Nonetheless, she had definitely answered the questions asked of her. Now all that mattered was whether or not her explanations were on a level Meian could understand. If she had done a good enough job explaining that, maybe she could steer the topic back towards his childhood later on. She wanted to know more about that, but going straight into that after "love is like peanut butter" would be a rough transition.

”Hmm… I-, I think? Sorry, all these references to sandwiches got me a bit distracted, but let’s see if I understood everything correctly… So… if I put things straight, what you’re trying to tell me is that, on one hand, sex is a feeling which is, although of a greater level, the same as any other form of pleasures, and on the other hand, love is an emotional attachment for someone else. Also, what’s different between the love among lovers and the other types of love is the desire of physical contact, and these physical contacts are divided in a scaling, based on how interesting they are… Did I miss something?”

By George he’s got it! Meian actually seemed to have grasped Amaya’s points pretty well. With a smile, the Kitsune gave her approval. ”That pretty much wraps it up yeah. As awesome as sex is, the physical side of it is really just a stimulation of nerve endings and a release of endorphins. You can theoretically mimic the sensation with electrical stimulation and chemicals. What makes relationships special is that they’ve got the emotional component. That’s something that’s a lot harder to mimic with some electrodes and a few CC of endorphins.” Even though Amaya’s explanation was fairly tame in her eyes, it still seemed to unnerve Meian a bit. The healer had plenty more to say on the subject, but Meian forcibly shifted the conversation.

”Well, we’ve been going on about that for long enough. Let’s change the subject for now; I think something will surely interest you…” Her friend paused for a moment before continuing, and that moment was just enough time for Amaya to put a pout on her face. She wasn’t sure what Meian had planned, but she had thoroughly enjoyed the previous topic. ”First, I’ll stop disabling our sense of touch. Gyakuten.” With those words, Amaya’s sense of touch came back full force. The sensation of being able to feel against distracted her for a moment as she took in all the sensations. Believe it or not, but Amaya was a very touchy-feely type. Having all those sensations come back at once was enough to keep her occupied for a moment.

Wait, if my sense of touch came back… Oh crap. That explains why I didn’t feel anything when I kissed him. Welp, I guess Meian is back on the list then… Amaya had no time to muse over this thought, as her friend was still talking. ”Now, the real show begins… Kouhan’i.” With those words, Meian’s senses had become Amaya’s own. While this might be overwhelming for some people, the kitsune was perfectly used to having an enhanced amount of sensory information. Instead, she simply began analyzing the information she was getting. Without The Eye on, Meian’s senses were a bit sharper than her own. That was the only useful thing she noted before she got distracted.

Her attention was now on answering one of the great unanswered questions with all men. Boxers or briefs? She could feel everything that her friend felt, and that included the things that he normally paid no attention to. But for Amaya, any type of male underwear was an unusual sensation. After a moment of pondering it, she concluded Meian must be a briefs man. There was a slight grip of elastic that she could feel on his legs, and boxers didn’t have that. Even as focused as she was on that sensation, the feeling of Meian’s finger pressing into his arm was enough to break the Kitsune’s concentration. If that hadn’t been enough, her friend began speaking again.

”This, Amaya, is Kaimamiru. Her ability revolves around creating sensory connections, as well as expanding and controlling them entirely. In theory, if I did not have constraints to my reiatsu and stamina, it could be possible to link all those inside of Edo in a single network, and then use this network for incredibly effective communication purposes. Kaimamiru is truly a powerful Zanpakutou for tactical reasons, and her ability to predict an opponent’s movements decently well allow for a great defensive.” Meian then smiled to Amaya. It was an eager look, as if he was looking for approval of some sort. ”So… what do you think about it?”

It took the kitsune a few moments to compose her answer. She had been caught off guard by Meian speaking in the first place, so she had to actually stop and think about what he was saying. She actually plopped onto the ground and scratched her head a few times before speaking. “It’s definitely an interesting ability, and I can see how useful it could be on missions. It’s definitely a pain in the butt to fight against, and I can see it being extra problematic if you don’t have a million and one ways to detect someone. Combined with Kyakko, it’s definitely not fun. I feel like you’ve got a pretty big weakness in terms of direct offensive capability though. I lost track of you when I shot that Sokatsui, but it was pretty clear you didn’t counter it.

You’d probably be basically unstoppable if you could team up with someone with a strictly offensive release though. The sensory link combined with a heavily offensive set of powers would make you both pretty much untouchable. If you add me into the mix, it would be even crazier. I already guessed a while ago that you could see everything I could, but I guess this means you’ve got access to all of my senses. With The Eye and… Kouhan’i I think you called it, we’d have multiple people without any blind spots that could detect absolutely everything going on around them. I don’t think there would be too many people that could stand in our way, barring people like the Espada of course.

Oh, and since you can feel everything I’m feeling, here’s a bit of a thank you for a good match, and the info.” Having said that, Amaya proceeded to squeeze her own breasts briefly. Knowing Meian was as clueless about sex as he was, Amaya figured he’d never gotten that far with a girl before. He still wasn’t touching her, but he could still feel it via Kouhan’i. Now maybe he’d have a little more drive to get out there and get himself laid. If nothing else, the kitsune simply figured it would completely fluster her friend. Even if he was just a friend, Amaya had to admit he was kinda cute when he was all ruffled up. ”We really need to get you laid some time boy. I'm going to have to start keeping my eyes open for people to introduce you to.”

The answer Amaya gave was full of wisdom, so much that it surprised Meian for a second; it was rare to see his friend this serious. “It’s definitely an interesting ability, and I can see how useful it could be on missions. It’s definitely a pain in the butt to fight against, and I can see it being extra problematic if you don’t have a million and one ways to detect someone. Combined with Kyakko, it’s definitely not fun. I feel like you’ve got a pretty big weakness in terms of direct offensive capability though. I lost track of you when I shot that Sokatsui, but it was pretty clear you didn’t counter it.” Meian could hardly agree more on her last statement; Kaimamiru clearly wasn’t meant to take the offensive, and he was okay with that. My wish, anyway, is to save lives; not to end them.

”You’d probably be basically unstoppable if you could team up with someone with a strictly offensive release though. The sensory link combined with a heavily offensive set of powers would make you both pretty much untouchable. If you add me into the mix, it would be even crazier. I already guessed a while ago that you could see everything I could, but I guess this means you’ve got access to all of my senses. With The Eye and… Kouhan’i I think you called it, we’d have multiple people without any blind spots that could detect absolutely everything going on around them. I don’t think there would be too many people that could stand in our way, barring people like the Espada of course.”

Unfortunately, even though her seriousness had started well, it wasn’t long before her ability to make things awkward came back at full force. ” Oh, and since you can feel everything I’m feeling, here’s a bit of a thank you for a good match, and the info.” As Amaya touched her own breast, Meian instantly tried to look away, without results; his own ability turned against him, forcing him to live and feel everything through Amaya’s senses. Saying Meian was confused would hardly be enough to describe what he felt at that moment, and as if it wasn’t confusing enough, Amaya added even more. ”We really need to get you laid some time boy. I'm going to have to start keeping my eyes open for people to introduce you to.”

Surprisingly, Meian wasn’t even the first to react to this; Kaimamiru gave her opinion almost instantly after Amaya’s last sentence. Ohh, that bitch! SMACK HER! SMACK HER FOR ME, MEIAN!!! Some seconds later, both Meian and Amaya would notice that their sensory connection had completely vanished without any warning, and that was due to a very simple fact; Kaimamiru herself, of her own will, severed her link with Meian for a second, as such cancelling his release instantly. However, even though he noticed it, he didn’t pay attention; Meian currently had greater concerns on his mind…

Once he was finally ready to engage the discussion, his thoughts had completely came back to a question he previously asked himself: Is she in love with me? The previous time, she managed to convince him because of the healing nature of her kiss, but this time… it was different. There was no way she would be able to justify things easily anymore; twice in a row was surely not a coincidence. Although Meian’s words would likely sound a lot similar to the ones he used before to launch the conversation on this subject, Amaya may feel they were a lot more direct, since Meian was, unlike before, actually convinced of what the answer to his question was.

”Amaya, why did you do that? Surely you must have understood this would cause even more of a reaction from me than a kiss. You’re acting as if… as if you wanted to attract my attention. Is that so? No need to be shy about your feelings…” Unfortunately, no matter what Amaya would try to say in her defense, Meian was convinced about it too much, his thoughts would take a lot of hardwork on Amaya’s side in order to change. Another question also came to his mind. I wonder… what kind of attachment is she seeking? Is it an emotional attachment, a physical attachment, or both? …

No matter what Amaya would have answered to him, whether she admitted her feelings or tried to debate their lack of existence, Meian, convinced that he was right, then tried to explain his own feelings, using a comprehensive tone of voice. ”Listen, I appreciate what you feel toward me, but this may be a bit too soon. Maybe in the future, but for now, we’ll need to get accustomed to our new Dynasties, we’ll likely have duties, and we must both fully concentrate on the tasks we’ll get. Let’s just wait a bit and see how things turns out, okay? Maybe then, we’ll get a chance to advance in our relationship…” Unfortunately, albeit unknown to Meian, these words were probably the beginning of a truly awkward conversation; because of them, not only would Amaya understand that Meian was still sure she was in love with him, but also that he didn’t outright friendzoned her, and instead implied a future relationship to be a possibility.

[/u]
-Understand what went through Amaya’s mind (completed)
-Learn more about Amaya’s thinking process (completed)

Failed PP Goals[/u]
-Learn more about Hibiki’s powers (failed)
-Learn more about Hibiki’s past (failed)
(OOC: Considered “failed” because the conversation likely won’t come back near this subject, so impossible to obtain.)

PP Goals in progress[/u]
-Get to understand a bit more about what Amaya went through in her life
-Identify Amaya as a “source of balance” (that’s a part of Meian’s philosophy)
-Smack Amaya on Kaimamiru’s behalf
-Get Amaya to admit she is in love with him (LOL)
[/spoiler]