Post by Nakajima Kimiko on Sept 9, 2022 16:32:44 GMT -5
Winter. The period of ice and snow. For many, this particular season is synonymous with many holidays and the advent of the new year. They see it as a period of festivities during which they can enjoy spending their time with their friends and family. In so doing, these many tend to particularly enjoy the season, with a few even awaiting it with great excitement once summer turns into autumn. However, in contrast to this many, there are those who instead associate this season not with festivities, but rather with difficulties. There are no holidays for these people. Their heads are not filled with large Christmas trees, effigies to religious figures, or countdowns. Instead, all they can think about are the dangers of slippery surfaces, the waves of sickness that they will have to be wary of over the course of the season, and worst of all, the cold. The need to wear larger clothing, the discomfort felt regardless, and the possibility of gaining frostbites... The list goes on and on.
The atmosphere remained quiet for a while. They both wrote on various papers, with the both of them going at a most impressive pace that would be difficult to follow by many. However, after a time, Kimiko would find herself stopping and simply gazing at what she had written. It was an extensive detailing of everything that had been broken, what was done by the squad to immediately take care of these mistakes, and a request for another table. It was not much, though from the way she looked at it, it was clear that something was bothering her. "All this paperwork just for a party. Man..." she remarked with a bit of an annoyed tone, very clearly showing to his assistant Gideon how much she'd rather put her energy elsewhere. There was a familiarity in the way she behaved in front of him that was almost uncharacteristic for a Captain to have. She was not at all acting as his master or his Captain, but rather as a friend. "I gotta be honest with you... I don't know how you find this fun. It's way too much for me."
The taller man would raise his head beneath the ridiculous amount of hair that covered his face, then would let out a hum as an eye opened behind the flowing mass. Well, Kimiko knew it was a hum, at the very least. From an outsider's perspective, it was more so to a long and labored growl, as though the man was sick or, worse, an animal of sorts. "I... believe it to be... soothing," his gravy voice explained as his right hand gestured slowly, following his words. "There is... no violence... no chaos... only writing. Yumekui and I... We both like writing a lot... We prefer this than bloodshed..."
Kimiko would look at him for a moment, quiet as she considered his answer. She had seen this man fight. Hell, she had sparred with him countless times. In so doing, she knew that what he said here held some truth. He was the kind of person who fought not as a man, but as a beast, and given how strong he was, it often left his sparring partners at an impasse and the Hollows he hunted as bloody pulps. His weapon, Yumekui, was only a testament to that fact. The Captain has herself never seen what the blade could do proper, but she has heard so many things about it, all of which mostly revolved around intense violence. From that, she could definitely understand that his love for battle was somewhat limited, and that the reason why he was in the Eleventh was mainly only because of that uncontested power of his, not much else. "Well... Fair enough," she would thus simply acknowledge before she looked at the pile of papers set between them. "How many papers do we still have to work on before we're done?"
"From my earliest verification... We need to complete three more reports..."
"Ugh... I'll probably ask Jin to come help us."
These particular worries are most often only things that occupy the minds of those who remain within the World of the Living. Given that they remain not in a single spiritual location, but rather on a planet, there are many who remain in particular locations that are more affected by the subtle cruelties of the polar season. However, such cruelties are not spared from the people of the Soul Society. Though the citizens of the celestial realm remain in an environment that allows them to be comfortable for the majority of their afterlives, they must still at times deal with the ice and the snow that comes along every now and then; after all, there is no such thing as a perpetually-perfect climate in this "heaven". It was why, in this one instance of January, a thin veil of white covered the many streets and roads laid down upon the ground of the Seireitei, as snowflakes from above fell down from a bright white, cloudy sky that covered the sun.
It was a few days after the conclusion of the Chinese New Year. With the celebrations over, the inhabitants of the holy city - normal citizens and nobles alike - were now progressively returning to their typical duties. The people removed their decorations, the store owners and other merchants slowly began to take off their holiday-themed wares from their inventory, and for all intents and purposes, it would rapidly seem as though all that would eventually be left in a few more days would be but the ice and the snow. The denizens of Seireitei were of course not the only ones who were taking care of removing their festive ornaments and trinkets, as a few Shinigami officers would do much of the same back at their quarters. Yes, indeed, there were many who celebrated their holidays, with some even going as far as to place huge Christmas trees and even commemorative shrines by their headquarters. Amongst them all, however, there was one squad who celebrated the hardest, and there was no one who knew this more than anybody than Kimiko.
The most recent Captain of the Eleventh Division has been active for about two years now. She was not really sure if that number was exact, but in the end, it did not really matter. Ever since she has been appointed to the position, the young woman has been very busy. She revised the great rules of the squad, rectified a few things that had been put into place prior to her arrival, and made sure to rectify a few things that had been written down before Francis Grin practically deserted his position. Many things were written, and many meetings were had, most particularly with the Captain of the Eight Division regarding the allotted budget that would be attributed to the squad from there onward, but after that first chaotic month ended, things became much more peaceful. Part of that was because she had personally appointed Jin and Gideon as her personal assistants for the swaths of general paperwork that was constantly bombarding her new office, but regardless, she thus had enough time to maintain her dojo all the while making sure to keep everyone in the Eleventh afloat.
Given everything that had been established, you would believe that many of the members of the Primary Attack Squad would behave a little bit more. Truthfully, they did. Ever since she became Captain, Kimiko is now regarded with even greater respect, and so many of the people within her squad tend to act more in-line with the disciple she has to show them, so to speak. That wasn't quite surprising; after all, the most of them did not really have a proper Captain for a multitude of decades in a row, and Kimiko not only proved herself to be much more physically powerful than the majority of the people she commanded, but was also downright the master of many of them, as there was a notable number who followed the Nijū Kanmeki-ryu. In spite of this, she soon came to realize that there were times during which it proved slightly more difficult to command these people. As one may be capable of pointing out following the earlier judgements, those moments were of course the winter holidays. A case in point was the party that was held for the aforementioned Chinese New Year.
Dozens of alcohol bottles shattered, one broken table, and tons of confetti spread about the place. That was what Kimiko had to deal with once she had - for what appeared to be a first in her entire Shinigami career - finished partying with the others. It was nothing short of a mess... but at the same time, it was perhaps one of the least damaging messes her comrades had left behind while partying. Back when she was but a normal officer of the squad, she had seen a lot of cases of heavy vandalism, and this was absolutely nothing in comparison to everything that came before. Nevertheless, it was still a mess, and so she had to tell everyone who had participated in the party to contribute to the cleaning operation. Since she had partied with the others a little, and also still had her discussions with Senshi in mind, she had made sure to contribute as well so that the cleaning would be accomplished faster. Fortunately, it was done faster, and now, all that remained was some of the paperwork that needed to be filled about it.
So, here the Captain was on this snowy morning. She was in her office behind a chabudai, settled on her knees by the side of her long-haired assistant as they both wrote on the usual papers that are distributed across the Gotei 13 with a pen. The chabudai itself was big, though not excessively so, allowing the rest of the impressive room to welcome many. There was a drawer near the western wall which held various tea apparatus under a single window showcasing the main courtyard of the barracks, and on the eastern wall was set a large frame displaying a depiction of various mountaintops under a setting sun. A single door was located on the northern wall by its eastern extremity which led into Kimiko's bedroom. On the walls themselves stood large white parchments that had been attached to wooden sticks near the ceiling, allowing them to be unfurled and display their contents to those who visit the office. These parchments displayed many motivational phrases, with the most prominent of them being located right behind the chabudai. Unlike the other parchments, it was sprawled horizontally rather than vertically, and in big bold letters drawn in black ink, it displayed a single phrase:
| 何 よ り も 名 誉 |
The taller man would raise his head beneath the ridiculous amount of hair that covered his face, then would let out a hum as an eye opened behind the flowing mass. Well, Kimiko knew it was a hum, at the very least. From an outsider's perspective, it was more so to a long and labored growl, as though the man was sick or, worse, an animal of sorts. "I... believe it to be... soothing," his gravy voice explained as his right hand gestured slowly, following his words. "There is... no violence... no chaos... only writing. Yumekui and I... We both like writing a lot... We prefer this than bloodshed..."
Kimiko would look at him for a moment, quiet as she considered his answer. She had seen this man fight. Hell, she had sparred with him countless times. In so doing, she knew that what he said here held some truth. He was the kind of person who fought not as a man, but as a beast, and given how strong he was, it often left his sparring partners at an impasse and the Hollows he hunted as bloody pulps. His weapon, Yumekui, was only a testament to that fact. The Captain has herself never seen what the blade could do proper, but she has heard so many things about it, all of which mostly revolved around intense violence. From that, she could definitely understand that his love for battle was somewhat limited, and that the reason why he was in the Eleventh was mainly only because of that uncontested power of his, not much else. "Well... Fair enough," she would thus simply acknowledge before she looked at the pile of papers set between them. "How many papers do we still have to work on before we're done?"
"From my earliest verification... We need to complete three more reports..."
"Ugh... I'll probably ask Jin to come help us."
