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 Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:10 pm
This particular interview takes place in the confines of the first division lieutenant's office. It's late in the evening, the crisp night air is perfumed with blossoming flowers, warm baked goods from the Rukongai, a very peculiar combination of different tea, and for the most part the silence of the evening is broken only by the call of the wild songbird or the yelling of a drunkard. Of course the silence could be due to the whisperings of the vice captains temper. Apparently he's known to lash out at those who disturb his silence and distract him from the mountains of paperwork he has to fill out on a daily basis.
To most people the office would be nigh impassible. The floor is littered with towers of ancient tomes, discarded scraps of paper with notes and incantations crumbled into balls. Half empty bottles seem to be strewn about at arm level near the only clear pathway in the entire room; a single line between the desk and a book shelf that fills a ten by ten foot space. The office is kept warm by a single fireplace on the back wall, an iron kettle filled with water used to keep the level of humidity just right for his books and paperwork -though the majority of people would say it's a bit dry for their liking-. Around the desk are three chairs, one facing the door with the other two situated at a slight angle towards the first. Papers cover the desk separated into three messy looking piles: in, out, and trash.
Bent over behind the desk is Lerato, face resting in his cupped hands. Not only was he behind on his paperwork for the week, but now he had been tasked with interviewing another shinigami for possible captaincy, an event he wasn't looking forward to in the slightest. Not only were most captain candidates annoyingly eager to flaunt their power, but they also seemed to forget what common respect was. However the file on the man seemed to scream a laid back nature, one that had found it's niche in the confines of the sixth division. "I wish I could have asked Tsubame is she had any information on him..." He mumbled to himself. With a heavy sigh he turned, picked up a small box that contained an ornately carved marble chess set and two bottles of room temperature Guinness Stout and waited.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:25 am
Yasumeh, a rather scruffy looking man that appeared to be in his mid thirties to early forties, unfamiliarly stumbled about the first squads grounds trying to find the location scribbled on a small piece of paper he had made while half drunk. After some time and less than entirely friendly answers he found his way into the litter strewn office. The piles of books gave him the impression that it only appeared much smaller than it was and the thought that a person tolerable of such a mess would at least be not as noticeable of his own slightly disheveled nature. Eyes peering over he spotted what he could only assume to be the one seeing to his assessment, substantially younger than him, and if memory served the Vice Captain of the first.
Reaching the desk he took it upon himself to sit, removing his large brimmed straw hat and hanging it along the other chair beside him. He had taken note to clean himself up somewhat, his robes new and free of the sake stains they normally had, yet the slight wiff off his breath was none the less unmistakable if he leaned close. His face still held stubble but his hair was pulled back into a long tail that reached his shoulders, keeping the normal tangled strands out of his face. His eyes however couldn't help but be distracted if for only a moment by the Guinness set to the side before whipping back to meet Lerato's. Yasumeh gave a slight nod before reaching forth and offering his hand.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:25 pm
The soft click of a door swinging shut alerted the vice captain that someone else had entered his office, but it was the tell tale plop of bare feet that told him it wasn't someone he had come across. In fact, this would be first person beside himself that preferred not wear shoes. "You're late." Of course the extra time granted the lieutenant much needed breathing time, but it also meant he was -again- behind schedule. "From this point on you will be punctual, understand? I don't have time to wait around while someone else gui-" Lerato looked up for the first time to take in the disheveled appearance of Yasumeh; unshaven with unkempt hair, and the slight scent of stale booze. Pinching the brow of his nose, Lerato let loose a sigh, "Why haven't you shaved?" Yes, he was more than aware that Yasumeh was a drunkard, the files on said matter having gone into plenty of detail, but one would have thought that given the situation he would have cleaned up a bit more. Taking a minute to pop the top from his bottle of Guinness and take a drink the vice captain skimmed over the folder once more. "I've been tasked with interviewing you and judging whether or not you qualify for such an honor."
Lerato glanced over at the offered hand for just a second. It wasn‘t so much that he was trying to be rude, he just didn‘t really care to shake hands with people if he was on duty. "So tell me about yourself Mr. Uratigi. What sets you apart from the countless other shinigami striving for captaincy? Why did you want to become a shinigami in the first place, and please don’t give me a load of bullshit about wanting to protect your fellow man. I’m not here to report you for being selfish -lord knows I am- but I do need to know if you have the mettle to stand up against those who stand against us.” Something lingered in the air, an unspoken statement that spoke both of foreign and domestic opposition. A captain could not hesitate to lift their blade, even if it meant cutting down a fellow soul reaper; something that few people took into consideration while preaching that they could take on the responsibilities of captaincy. Pushing the second Guinness towards his interviewee Lerato settled back into his chair, fingers intertwined over his lap.
[Sorry about the wait. And I assure you, I'm not as much of a d**k as I play my character to be.]
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:11 am
He knew the moment "Am I?" Yasumeh said as he noticed the clock and realized he had gained the ire of his interviewer, not a promising start but one he wasn't going to give to much concern to. The remark about his appearance came and was dismissed before he could answer however and so he retracted his hand and as his posture slumped into a comfortable position of his seat. His eyes kept wandering about the room finally resting on the chess set, instead of answering he leaned over and shoved a pawn forwards two squares before returning his eyes to his company. "Hmmm, I suppose because it's a challenge, not to mention the pay is good" he said with a simple retort not bothering to cut any bullshit into the answer as he was sure many more upstanding of citizens would. "Really though my success rate should speak for itself and as for your earlier question I doubt hollows give much concern for appearance, reaped is reaped after all" he said whilst reaching one hand forth to procure the offered booze and downing a shot in a single gulp.
"To put it bluntly I have yet to have a fellow reaper die while under my own plans, alas being in my current position it's all to often such plans are overridden. It would be helpful to be in command of all... well at least some... of my pieces as being a spectator and calling out shots to my commanding officer doesn't garner the same efficiency"
Yasumeh groaned inwardly, inaudible to any but himself, knowing that his odd mannerisms and outward look on social situations left him either appearing socially awkward if not outright disrespectful in the form of being not overtly aggressive, but merely apathetic. All said it was not something that spoke well for his interaction skills for such things as the situation he currently found himself in, the best he could hope for was a judge not on his character but his capability, that or to run into the rare few that could see through the mess of a man for the far more organized mind beneath. The personal choice to put up a guise of an unkempt drunk man not only aided keeping his personal nightmares away but allowed him to seem nonthreatening to many, a mistake he took more than advantage of in sparing or even on the field against the enemy. He wished now though that he had the chance to know who was going to be interviewing him... a little pre-interview research would have made a world of difference but improvisation was now his only fall back.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:45 am
The fact that Yasumeh didn’t give him a line of bullshit was promising. Too many people these days thought that appearance would triumph over reason and skill; that so long as they were a kiss-a** to those above them that they could find themselves in the higher tier of society. The idea sickened him. “Indeed you would think that a success rate would speak for itself. Unfortunately for you, I’m the one doing this interview and I couldn’t give a rat’s a** about your win loss ratio, or how many people have died under your brief -if impressive- command. If you have a problem with that the door is right behind you.” The vice captain had only given the man a few seconds to respond but he was sure that would be more than enough. According to the man’s file he wasn’t one to be deterred by a few harsh words. In the moment of silence Lerato pushed forward one of his own pawns, took a swig from the bottle of Guinness, and resumed his previous occupation of looking through the countless papers held within the confines of the man’s record. “Mr. Uratigi, do me a favor. Close your eyes and imagine for me a life without religion; without corruption, greed, or hunger. Tell me what a life without those things amounts to? Can life ever really be considered ‘perfect’ and if so, how might you describe a ‘perfect’ world?” The question, seemingly out of left field, held a deep meaning for the lieutenant. It was quite possibly the most telling question that had ever been posed to him, and that he had in turn posed to others.
Pushing himself back from the desk, Lerato got up and walked to the massive bookshelf that held some of the oldest manuscripts he was able to put his hands one; some bought from auctions, others taken under more shady pretenses. “I ask, Mr. Uratigi, because while hollow are the primary threat against our peace they are nothing more than animals, souls that have been shattered and now rely on their most basic instincts to guide them through life. There are, of course, those hollow who have evolved to a point where they are able to think through the pain of their torment and find their individuality again such as the adjuchas and the vasto lorde, arrancar of all types… but the true danger to the Soul Society lies closer to home. It is the spirits who are whole living creatures and plus -shinigami even- that pose the greatest risk to us. Usually these flaws in our characters are brought out by those instincts we have cast aside in hopes of acting more ‘civil’ towards one another, but even the greatest man will fall to a vice if he isn’t careful. What I'm trying to get at is that the true dangers of this world are not held by mindless beasts, but by men and women who know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, and choose to ignore it to further their own ends.” Walking back with an ancient looking leather-bound tome, the lieutenant stepped carefully around a few piles of paperwork and files, sitting down with a loud humph before placing his current treasure upon his desk. "But... at the same time we can not expect a utopian society so the question comes when do people start losing freedoms for the greater good. At what point do we rid ourselves of those things that cause strife within our world in the name of a greater good, and, if we do, are we not then harnessing those ideals that we sought to end in the first place?"
[I hope this made sense... I'm a bit out of it, but I wanted to make you had something to respond to.]
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:39 am
Yasumeh sat for a moment listening to the lieutenant push on about good and evil and his somewhat harsh remarks about his record which where understandable but none the less sparked a challenge in his mind, something that would not be so easy as to ride off on paperwork. His eyes remained transfixed on the chess board, electric snaps of thought tracing across his mind considering a plethora of possible moves he could make and responses that could take him. Reaching out he pushed up a bishop from the right of the board to the back right of his pawn.
"Good, evil, they're subjective and we see them change throughout eons of society both in life and this... after life. Religion though, it's a waist of time and a dangerous tool. The only use it ever serves is controlling people and giving false answers to the impatient... certainly the fact we live now is convincing to some that at least one of it's many forms is true... but our science division has come up with answers for even the most formerly mysterious of questions, such as what we're composed of, that these forms exist in the bodies of the living, and so on and so forth... to but it bluntly religion is for the impatient, those who do not wish to wait for humanity to discover the true answers which... in the end... truly only hinders our ability to pursue truth when many of us decide to settle for the first comforting answer that jumps our way" he said bluntly, the hint of his sobriety rather blatant at this point despite the wift of sake that had steamed off his breath when he first entered the room.
He knew a utopia or perfection where both impossible goals that humanity had spent eons trying to achieve, often to their own destruction at the hands of those they overlooked. "As far as a perfection or even a utopia is concerned their both impossible... and to be frank rather dull. For a utopia to exist everything would have to be perfect, but because our very morality is a subjective thing with some things being good for one but bad for another... well needless to say this perfection is impossible. If we began taking rights from people we may bring society closer to what a few see as perfection but there would always be others that viewed otherwise and as a result malcontent... rebellion... and thus not an actual utopia. Peace is a fleeting thing after all, the best we can do is not aim for a utopia but aim to sate a little of what everyone wants... to stay just out of a fews view of perfection lest we risk stepping on the toes of others. After all, society can deal with a few imperfections instead of a few dealing with total imperfection" he said swirling his small shot glass around before placing it back on the desk before him.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:04 pm
[Are you drinking Guinness from a shot glass?]
The vice captain sat and listened, taking a swig from his beer ever now and then as the possible captain explained his views. "I have to admit something, Mr. Uratigi; I've never seen someone play an alcoholic so convincingly." He laughed. No man, regardless of tolerance, could give such an eloquent answer while truly intoxicated. "So you believe that religion is for those who are unable to wait, and you think that perfection and a utopian society are both impossible... so what then would you do as a captain to appease those under you?" One of the key elements to being a captain, or any high seated officer for that matter, was being able to keep their subordinates calm, happy, and prepared for the worst of situations. From what he was gathering, Yasumeh aimed to achieve those attributes in his men by limiting everyone to a small amount. Granted Lerato wasn't what one would call an expert at strategy or keeping others happy the plan laid out before him seemed to have more cons than pros. "And what if you encounter opposition? I highly doubt that the majority of people will be willing to put up with constantly being belittled. Surely you can agree that dealing with a few extremely disgruntled people is easier than a large group of semi disgruntled people."
“As I briefly stated before, you won’t only be coming up against a normal enemy like hollow. Sometimes you’ll be faced with a moral dilemma. Be that as it may we come to my next set of questions. Would you be able to raise your blade against a colleague? What about a friend?” There were occasional whispers through the squads of a secret prison for shinigami that were deemed dangerous to the Soul Society. For the most part they were just far-fetched accusations but the truth was much more grim. “Yasumeh, I’m hear to tell you that the Maggot’s Nest is indeed real. The people sent there are a very real threat and from time to time, you will find one who has escaped. You may also be charged with bringing in one of the shinigami who have managed to go rogue, and thus live outside the control the Gotei, the noble houses, or the Central 46. Will you be able to hold onto your oath as a captain during such a time?” The question made the atmosphere of the interview take a sharp change. It was one thing to talk about saving the soul of a hollow, but it was another to wage war against a fellow shinigami. Yes there were criminals against the Sereitei and they needed to be put down without question, but there was an equal amount who had a justifiable reason for doing what they did. “How do we lock up someone because of their personal convictions, Yasumeh?”
[How long do you want this interview to continue?]
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:27 pm
((Unintended typo haha, used to having the character drink Sake not beer so it's a force of habit to type shot glass or gourd or something like that))
Yasumeh smiled as he mentioned the playing a drunk act being rather blatantly dropped for the time being, "No use keeping up such appearances when they would hinder my goals... there's a time and place for everything and that particular thing is not now. As for what I would do for those under me, I would not take upon those that would put their needs above those they come to protect and for those that are currently there with such viewpoints I would not take efforts to keep. After all, we are protectors of the masses and no man should be rich if it means other men must be poor to leaden his coffers" he said letting a long pause drop between them. While in some squads being selective of squad members based solely upon their emotional needs would hinder their overall strength in the sixth Yasumeh believed that those not in full control of their emotions where far more of a bane than boon.
"I only say this because all conflicts are much like a this board" he said gesturing to the chess set, "Each side has it's pieces, and each piece has it's value even if those pieces are not owned by the player. Becoming emotionally vested or opposed to any of the pieces can skew the values of each piece greatly and make for costly maneuvers. To achieve the best possible outcome I would require recruits who where not part of the sixth to feed their own pleasures, but those there to enjoy the game itself" he said tipping over a pawn with his forefinger. "So I suppose my answer is that I'd rather deal with the disgruntled once and get a functional set of pieces than to deal with wild pieces constantly changing their value and making planning... unpredictable".
It was then that the subject of fighting their own was brought up, rogue shinigami as where apt to arise in any organization only furthering his point about a Utopia being an impracticable fantasy. "The game is the game and while I value my pieces greatly... if they threaten the others then cutting them short is not only the right thing to do it's the most valuable lest they do more damage to those still left behind" his answer was cold but, he thought, rational. There was little point in waisting time with those that would turn against their own. He could sympathize with the idea against certain leaders certainly, history had been filled with righteous rebellion, yet the side being rebelled against never saw it that way of course. This was all do to the mere concept of morality being a subjective thing as none but the most insane of people ever viewed themselves as -the bad guy-.
((*Shrug* your the one running it so however long you feel is appropriate to get the decision through))
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