Welcome to Gaia! ::

The ends of his lips lifted in a small smile. So, Aine was going to play along. This would be a fun patrol indeed. "Whore? No... whore is much to harsh of a word. I prefer the term harlot, my love." He matched her loving tone with eerie similarity. "And you know I wouldn't have to destroy them if you would just keep those little tendrils of yours folded neatly in your lap away from the public eye. You raise nothing but the most instinctual reactions out of boys knowing full well how short of a temper I have." Playing the role of the protective boyfriend to a T the man wrapped his arms around her waist, running his fingers through her tangled hair. "Shhh..." Over the womans shoulder the lieutenant looked at the other two women. "I apologize for all of this. Normally we have a much more functional relationship." It was about that time that Aine decided to squirm in his lap. The act, while starting out as a rather pleasurable experience, quickly left his stomach in his throat. During her little play the Guardswoman had shifted her weight directly his left testicle. 'Mother of ******** god...' He mentally cursed, biting down as hard as he possibly could so as to keep the wave of pain and nausea to himself.

"You're a rightful mean b***h, you know that." The whisper was forced over clenched teeth, struggling to settle the contents of his now churning stomach. 'To think I put myself through this...' Of course, when he sat back and weighed the pros and cons of the situation, having the miniature power house sitting in his lap, her face so close to his, the pain was definitely worth the reward. Closing the small gap that separated their faces Lerato spoke softly against her cheek, "You may be able to lay me out at your leisure for now, but I'll find some way to match you at some point, Ma'am, and when that day comes you'd best watch your tone." Of course it was an idle threat, but being a member of the first division he couldn't help but come back with some type of half-hearted retort. Lerato brushed his lips softly against the woman's ear, "Of course you can have your belt back. Just try to keep it on until later, will you? I don't need any of these boys, or girls, tripping over their own jaws."

"Documents..." It was surprising just how much hatred could be contained in that singular word. "Why in the hell would they drag me away from my work to go on patrol, only to send the s**t with me later on." He growled. Sure, the patrol had taken an interesting turn for once, but he doubted whether the Captain had a way of spying on him out here. "Well, hand them over." Opening the manilla folder revealed a fair amount of paperwork, some untouched, others more than half way done, filled in with his own handwriting. "The Red Man sure has a way with words, don't he?" He grumbled, shoving the documents back into the folder and tossing them aside. "I'll get them done after patrol. I'm actually enjoying myself for once." Shifting the woman in his lap to the side he smiled and motioned to each of the girls, "Jirou, these two young ladies are Natsuki and Kay," he motioned to each in turn, "they're some of the newest graduates from the Shino Academy. Ladies, this is Jirou. He's a member of my squad. There. Now you're all friends." He laughed and threw his arms out to the sides. "So, if I remember correctly, we were discussion just which squads you two were thinking of joining. So? Don't keep us in suspense, what are your choices?"

((Gonna move on. Sorry, don't want my character to get trapped. >_> ))


Kodate grunted, and pushed himself up until he was standing once more. He brushed off his shihakusho, clearing it of the fine powdery dust and blades of grass that had accumulated there. He nodded briefly at Angel for the good fight. "I hope to see you around the Seireitei sometime, Angel." He smirked, and then walked over to where he had let his zanpaku-to lay. Picking it back up, he slung it over his head and under his left arm; the moderately-sized shield pressed nicely against his back. It wasn't a sword at all, and was easily the strangest-looking thing the Seireitei had seen for a while. Adjusting the strap so it fit snugly against his body, he took a new survey of the field and noticed two new faces almost immediately.

The woman and the vice-captain had returned to the seat, and were essentially molesting each other. There was a strangeness to their voices as he started listening to them once again. He couldn't place it, but they didn't sound like they entirely meant what they were saying. He mentally shook his head as he watched it; somehow this didn't match the military decorum that the Academy boasted about through and through their courses; from the very beginning to the very end it was all about strict doctrines and efficiency. Not grinding and licking.

He walked back over to the slowly-growing group and saw that the game had been cleared. He was a little disappointed; he was looking forward to seeing how the game had progressed while he had been gone. I guess it was to be expected when your opponent was so...distracted. He looked at the two new faces and studied them for a little bit. He heard the bandaged one introduce himself, but not to him specifically, so he just made a mental note of the name and pondered himself.

What squad would I be in, if I wanted to choose right now? He scratched at his five o'clock shadow and thought about it. He might make a decent Hakuda addition, given his tendency to fight with his hands. But his zanpaku-to wasn't exactly made for that. Perhaps the 13th? They were more towards defense and, well, he had a shield. Hell, everything except for the specialized squads like the Fourth, Fifth, and Twelfth seemed up to Kodate's speed; and if not he could adapt. Perhaps there was an option in squad selection to just be placed in a random squad? He wouldn't mind that.

To Kay, the arrival of two new shinigami to their small group was a welcome relief. They gave her something else to look at beyond Lerato and his charge Aine, both of whom seemed to have disregarded military decorum in favor of shameless flirting. Kay had no particular issue with public displays of affection-- she'd certainly fooled around with the girls in her high school and again in the shinigami academy, but she had always made a point of keeping her love life and her studies and training very separate. Lerato and Aine seemed to make no such distinction.

"It's good you two are here," She said with a wry smile, addressing both Jirou and Haru. They both seemed a bit stiff and formal, but maybe that was just because they were nervous to be around officers of the Gotei 13. "Any later and these two--" she nodded at Lerato and Aine, "--might have started ripping each others' clothes off. Hopefully they won't now. Too many witnesses, you know,"

Kay's tone was light and friendly. She was certainly poking fun at Aine and Lerato, but it was all good-natured. Anyway, neither of them seemed to stand much on ceremony.

"Anyway," She went on, responding to Lerato's question. "I was thinking maybe Seventh. I've always liked hand-to-hand combat. Or Fourth. I know they're both extreme ends of the spectrum, but I've an interest in healing, too. I always have,"

A poet is a nightingale,

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

“Good, I’d like my hakama to stay on, thank you very much!” Snatching up the coiled bit of leather with an air of false haughty indignity, Aine busied herself with fastening the studded belt back on. Of course she let Lerato’s momentary threat slide, what fun was it to get worked up over something so unequivocally trivial? None at all! Generally ignoring the proceedings going on around her and all but one addition to the ever growing group of ragamuffins, Aine stiff armed her hand into the side of Lerato’s face and used the upward pull to come to her feet. Her little arm thrust wasn’t much more than a swat, considering her physical strength, but she hoped it was sufficiently annoying to the Vice Captain. For good measure she roughly, but affectionately, petted his short cropped white hair before turning on her heels and striding towards Haru.

“Lookin’ a bit worse for wear there kid,” she chided on her approach, a wandering finger pointing out his new bandages. “Guess I forgot ta warn ya that you can burn yourself pretty bad sometimes, n’ no, you’re not interupt’in anythin’ special.” The word ‘special’ was punctuated by a cheeky smile and wink, but Aine’s attention soon turned from her ‘new student’ to the graduates as each gave their rendition of what Divisions they hoped to gain rank in. Luckily for Kay, Aine was menial to a casual joke at her expense, but the Guardswoman’s expression was intent on the young woman while a line of thought churned through her head. It would be a good way of gauging them, at least in a raw state… A few more moments of contemplation and Aine broke what must have seemed like a death glare at Kay and returned to her pseudo perky persona. “Neh, Lerato. Get up, I’m gonna teach the kiddies a technique that’ll be good for’em. N’ you get a good look at how their reiatsu functions. Always helps when try’in ta pick out a Squad.” Not that I would know, I was in one for a week, that was it…

Stepping up to join the little circle Aine hitched her thumb over her shoulder, pointing out Haru directly behind her. “My new student there just learned Senda, a technique similar to Shunpo but preformed with the hands in situations where you cannot use your legs. Now, since there’s a little group, I thought I’d spread the love around so you all can learn how to do it…properly.” Her green eyes darted to Natsuki, “especially for those of you who think the Second Division would be a good fit.” Taking one tiny step forward, Aine extended her left arm and curled her hand into a fist. The other hand met her left and she let go of her carefully held reiatsu. The misty black energy poured from her right hand, roiling in the light breeze and dissipating as it neared the ground. “I don’t recommend you try this unless you’re at least moderately secure in your reiatsu control. Senda when not preformed correctly can at worst, rip your arm off, and for a first try, probably rip your clothes and burn you some. So pay close attention.”

“For a first time go, I suggest your non-dominant hand. You may screw up your arms so having the one you use for most situations free of the technique will help you out, a lot. Now watch and feel out my reiatsu as I demonstrate.” The hand pouring out her dark reiatsu began sliding along her left, beginning from her fingertips the black effervescence swirled and shifted, wrapping about her fingers and unfurling like a glove as her hand continued its trek up her arm. “I’m only applying the reiatsu necessary for the technique this way as a visual aid. Normally, there is no visible reiatsu what so ever. But, I’ll get into that later. When you first attempt to use Senda it requires far more reiatsu expression that what is necessary for the technique to work. The reason? Because you need to coat your entire arm in a relatively even coating without any weak spots or areas with no coverage; if you did that, when the technique is triggered you’d be likely to blow a piece of your inner muscle out through that hole from the force of the release. However, just make sure to coat your entire arm.” Aine’s fingers stopped as she reached her shoulder and the misty coating remained crawling about her arm. “The first thing you’ll experience when putting on this layering is that your reiatsu will restrict your arm. It will feel like a tourniquet, very uncomfortable and even more so because of the knowledge that it is your own energy doing it. You want that tightness, it means that when you force your reiatsu to roll downwards it will snap in the most effective way for propulsion.”

“I’m going to stop there for now, try to do what I just illustrated. Once you get it, hold it in place. You can dissipate the reiatsu once in a proper configuration but for a first go you’ll be more likely to have it backfire by trying to let it go in a gentle fashion. So, hold onto that energy nice and tight until I instruct you on how to release it.”

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds.

I suppose it couldn't hurt. Kodate mused, stepping away from the table to listen to this new instructor. He watched the woman carefully as she visually demonstrated the technique. In a way it was almost exactly how one created a barrier for the feet during shun-po, but instead of just the feet it was the entire arm. He had never attempted shun-po, at least they weren't allowed to at the Academy and he felt no need to practice it when it was so potentially devastating. The idea of crashing head-first into the ground at such immense speeds made his stomach churn a little. The horror stories that were told of eager boys and girls attempting techniques beyond their grasp were more than enough to put him off of trying it without supervision and proper training. The idea now of doing something with very little guidance still made him slightly hesitant but at least it wasn't 'break your neck and permanently disfigure your body' bad.

He pondered for a bit which arm to use. His right was definitely his dominant but he needed his left to hold the shield. He sighed, and decided upon his left. If nothing else, he supposed he could actually use his zanpaku-to proper, but he was still much more shield oriented than he was sword-savvy. Flexing his left hand a little, he prepared himself for the technique. Hopefully it wouldn't be as bad as she said, but he planned on being much more safer to avoid being sorry later on.

Kodate closed his eyes, and felt out for the constantly moving body of energy that circled his being. He had learned early on that tapping into his reiatsu was much like diverting a river. It took an incredible, sudden force of will to change the path of the stream, but once it was there changed it flowed just as naturally in that direction as if it had done that all its existence. But, much like a river, there was no on or off switch. One had to find the balance in themselves, in all things, in order to use their reiatsu effectively.

With his eyes closed, he saw more than felt his own energy, and brought it to bear in his left arm. It pulsed warmly, like it was overfull with blood; a cue that the energy was slowly pooling into it. He made no attempt to speed the process. Hastily attempting something he knew nothing about would bring nothing but pain and embarrassment. While he would probably finish much later than anyone else who was trying it, he made sure he wasn't making any mistakes; at least none he couldn't consciously control. With his arm filled, he began to release it, much like one slowly allows water through a dam. It began to leak out slowly, and amid his mental control of the speed of energy release he began focusing the energy onto his arm. She had said to make it tight, so he made sure the energy was pressing, almost physically, against his skin. It felt like dipping his hand into concrete and letting it solidify, so by her analogy it felt like he was at least attempting it correctly.

Slowly, inch by inch, it began to creep up his arm until it reached his elbow. Eyes still closed, he focused all of his mental will into making sure he kept the flow slow but constant, the energy kept tight against his arm, and that he was applying the energy evenly. It was hard, even for his studious mind. He couldn't imagine doing it in a second, as combat would require. But practice does many things, one of which is honing your body into a powerful machine capable of things no new Academy Graduate could dream of until they see a Captain do it firsthand.

Kodate let out a deep breath, making sure to keep his breathing slow and constant as he kept working at it. He stopped when it reached his shoulder; it felt like it had taken an hour but in reality a minute or two had gone by. He cut off the outpour of energy, letting the externalized power sit carefully over his arm. It felt like it was in a cast, that if he tried to move it, it wouldn't; or worse it would crack and then promptly remove a vital limb from his person. He wasn't about to test that. But he did open his eyes finally, and looked over at his left arm. It wasn't completely visible, but there was a faint sheen of energy over his arm. He also did what the woman had asked and overcompensated by using more energy than he was sure he needed. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

He had no idea what to do at this point, and just looked at the woman with a cocked eyebrow. It quite literally felt like his arm had turned into a testy explosive, and if he so much as talked the vibration would cause his arm to explode, which was why he wasn't doing much talking. Now that he had gotten himself into this situation, he was more than happy to be told how to dispel the damn thing before he was dis-armed.

"Hm I can certainly see where such an ability could be useful..." Natsuki commented as she observed the energy manipulation carefully, studying the flow that was made easy to see for anyone. After being instructed to focus the energy she took a seat on the ground and crossed her legs before closing her eyes to focus. Meanwhile others began the process as well including her former battle partner. he was actually to hasty and ended up inuring himself which was quite a surprise but then over confidence could have been the cause or maybe he intended to show off. Whatever the reason was one thing was clear, his spiritual pressure and control was quite impressive. Shaking the thought of other peoples energy out of her mind she instead concentrated on her own. her eyes remained closed as she felt the swirling origin of the reiatsu within her body, bits of reiatsu breaking from it and flowing out into invisible channels along her entire person. This was much like the ki training she had done in the mornings in life. Of course the reason was to give proper flow to her limbs allowing her a comfortable day in the fields. Concentrating on the task at hand she adjust the flow forcing many of the channels of energy to converge and lead way to her left arm. once at the shoulder it began to exit the internal and run along the surface in tendrils of energy which twisted down along her arm, if the energy were visible it would look akin to a candy cane as it twisted along the outside of her arm. eventually the tendrils reached her hand as they twisted tighter and tighter along her arm fusing into a solid entity as the suggested tightness in her arm came into being. the tendrils now gone as a coating of reiatsu covered her arm, she sat with her eyes closed a moment longer feeling for unevenness in the coating as well as any gaps that might be existent. She took her time adjusting the flow of her reiatsu and would continue to do so until she felt safe with going forward to the next step. She opened her eyes as she continued working at maintaining the feeling she needed in her limb, of course she remained quiet most of her mind devoted to the task at hand like she did with many things. The fact of the matter was she had never had much trouble in reiatsu manipulation and the instructions were similar to creating the veil in the bakudo she had practiced so diligently in her time in the academy. The application and focus of course was going to a different cause and would likely end drastically different than the bakudo as it had no words to enact it; it was going to be brute force in a sense.

Kay met Aine's death glare with an easy, crooked smile. Despite the apparent animosity in the small woman's expression, Kay got the sense that she didn't mean anything by it. Her suspicions were confirmed when Aine launched into a demonstration of a new technique she intended all those present to learn. She was immediately intrigued by the idea of being able to perform the equivalent of the shunpo with her hands, but she wondered at its practical value. Her particular style didn't much lend itself to any particular move in which Aine's Senda would be employed. Still, the idea in and of itself was fascinating enough. If nothing else, it was a good exercise in reiatsu manipulation and maybe it would prove to be a stepping stone to learning the shunpo.

Kay's expression sharpened as Aine demonstrated the first step of the new technique, carefully noting the precise movements of Aine's hands as well as observing the flow of reiatsu around her hand. For Kay, who prided herself in her pinpoint reiatsu control, the idea seemed basic enough.

She rose from her crouch and took a few steps away from those who still sat, angling herself towards Aine so that she could still watch the demonstration. She made sure there was adequate space between herself and Kodate, Natsuki, and Lerato, all of whom also seemed interested in learning the Senda.

She mimicked Aine's hand gestures, making a first with her left hand and curling her right hand around it. At the same time, she reached inside herself to access the wellspring of reiatsu that made up the very core of her. She drew it out with practiced care and the air around her hands soon shimmered with a slight silvery-white haze. Slowly, she ran her hand up her arm just as Aine had, distributing her reiatsu through her palm. She worked carefully but efficiently, forming a thin base coating of reiatsu all the way up to her shoulder. Immediately, she felt the constriction Aine had spoken of. She took this to be a good sign.

Kay's concentration wavered slightly as Lerato's Senda went awry. The spray of blood was somewhat alarming, and Kay's fingers itched to treat the wound. Her distraction was such that, as she finished applying the first layer of reiatsu, she neglected a patch of skin just over her tricep. Almost immediately, she felt an uncomfortable strain on the area and she quickly clamped her hand around it to fix her mistake.

Following Aine's instructions to use a thick layer of reiatsu, Kay began to coat her arm a second time, using liberal amounts of reiatsu. As she moved up past her forearm, she wondered if the hand motions were necessary. She understood that they helped with visualizing the direction and flow of the reiatsu, but it seemed as though it would be a dead giveaway in battle. Curious, she halted the flow of reiatsu from her right palm and instead called it directly to her left arm, bending the energy around the limb in a thick, tight shell. After making a few mental adjustments, she stood at the ready, her silvery reiatsu swirling in tightly controlled tendrils around her arm.

She could feel her pulse thudding through the veins of her arm, and she began to wonder if perhaps the Senda was restricting-- or perhaps cutting off-- blood flow. She flexed her arm experimentally and found it quite difficult to do so, as though she wore a jacket sleeve that was far too tight, yet vaguely elastic. It was not, Kay decided, the most comfortable sensation in the world.

"Ready when you are, CB," she addressed Aine with the same crooked smile as before. Too late, she realized that not everybody present would quite understand the reference. Either way, she'd gotten the point across and amused herself if nobody else. She returned her attention to Aine once more.