My Fair Lady (Kiriko/Closed)

Kiriko frowned, her eyebrows dipping downward as she scanned the missive that had been hastily drawn up for her meeting today. Sloppy work, she would have to have words with the soldier who had done this. This was well outside of her acceptable margin of error. Setting the short document aside, covering it with one of the many manila folders sitting atop her desk, Kiriko stared at the closed door across from her desk. Probing past the wood and paper walls and into the reiatsu of the Shinigami seated outside.

They had never crossed paths before, which did not necessarily indicate anything in particular. But it also meant that she had no ties or causes to give this woman more time than Kiriko would give anyone else who came to her door as a supplicant. And that was clearly the intent here today, the woman's aura flickering with intrigue and a small shadow of doubt. Arrogant. Hah, and she thought she could traipse into the Second and demand things? This could be enjoyable...

Aeserninus Victoria. A recruit from the Fifth. This woman was old enough to have been trained by Ine, and Kiriko was loath to see what sort of man-power Aizawa had to work with. Odd that the Shinigami was so old and yet still only a recruit, one would have thought... But, no matter, it was merely another detail to file away with the rest of her secrets and goads. This would be a person who reacted to anger and anger was the easiest trigger of them all.

Sighing, Kiriko folded her hands atop her desk and leaned back in her tall chair. Eyes direct, she gazed at the door and through it, her energy coiling and writing as she pulled at the piece of wood until it slid open. In the face of punishment even the inanimate objects of her office had learned to obey. If only humans could be so intelligent. “You may enter, Aeserninus-san,” she commanded, her tones a rolling wave of thunder.

Whatever the woman wanted, it would be quick to tell. Easier to weigh the pro's and con's of giving it. Kiriko doubted that the reason on file was the truth. No one could be so idiotic as to write down their quest for knowledge on a form that would be filed and regulated for any other Captain to see. And yet... Her gaze darted towards the hidden paper, tracing the invisible lines of ink. A list of female Shinigami... It was daring enough to come to Kiriko expecting an open door, but odder still to come sniffing about for that sort of intelligence. What did this woman want to do exactly? The wording of the demand had been simplistic, and she nearly chuckled at the imagined conversation that was about to occur.

Perhaps she should have left this to Fujikagi... But it was so very fun to play with the little ones. Somehow it had become her only enjoyment nowadays, when it was harder and harder to play with her own men without scaring them off. Like Houmaru. Like the rest. No, she had to be careful at home. It was only with the other Shinigami of Soul Society that she could have her fun. That was likely why she had been taking so many of these trivial meetings lately.

Raising delicate shoulders in a careless shrug, Kiriko settled down to wait for the girl to work up the nerve to enter. She wouldn't have been the first to wait lingering in the doorway. Even Kiriko's own Lieutenant did that at times, though he had more reason to know and fear her than these children.  

WC: 613 | GP: 12 | Total GP: 12

Victoria stood the minute the door slid open. It was a practiced response to this scenario. Being at the ready to enter at the instance of summoning. She had no reason to hesitate when the voice came commanding her to enter. It wasn't a command so to speak but the tone carried the weight of an anvil behind it. And despite the growing uncertainty in her stomach she stepped through the doorway and made her way up to a respectful distance from the Captains desk. Stopping she bows deeply before returning to an at attention stance. Clearly and while trying to stifle the shakiness in her voice, she'd never even really spoke with her own captain before, she address's the female second division captain. "Pardon my intrusion ma'am. I do hope I haven't imposed too much by asking for this meeting, ma'am."

Aizawa was easy enough to get ahold of but she just had never gone to the trouble of speaking with him. The nerves just weren't there for her to be up her own captains backside. She could see it if she was an operations officer or something of importance within the division but seeing as she wasn't anything beyond you basic soldier. At least she couldn't be faulted for staying at attention with her eyes drilling holes in the wall behind the seated woman. 

What was she doing? She was a soldier, not a diplomat. This was the sort of thing you sent someone who had the training to negotiate and do the political thing. She was smart enough to know that in the fifth in a scenario like this after your initial introduction you waited for the superior officer to speak next. She wasn't sure about protocol of the second division but she couldn't be held accoutnable for not knowing that, could she? Swallowing hard she tries to fight back her nervous feelings. She wanted to blurt out what she wanted and why and just get this game of wits over. She was a simple soldier who solved most things by hitting the problem harder. That wasn't to say she couldn't do things differently but in stressful situations she was no good when the person across from her could really ruin her without much effort. Another hard swallow.

Her heart beat must have been audible. There was no way it wasn't. Not with how loudly it was thudding in her ears. She hoped the woman across from her hadn't heard it if it was. Why was she doing this to herself?


WC- 424
GP- 8(18)

Kiriko couldn't help the giddy sort of twinkle that entered her eyes as she spied her prey. It had been so long since she had messed with someone who didn't even have the forbearance to hide their own discomfort. It was almost as if dealing with a small child, what with the way Aeserninus seemed about ready to jump out of her own skin in Kiriko's presence. Those tiny twitches were delightful, all the more so when the woman tried to train her eyes beyond Kiriko and yet couldn't quite manage to make the stare seem direct or disciplined as she swallowed convulsively.

Fear. It cast a pall over the recruit's reiatsu, tinging the air with an acrid scent. Kiriko could see it in the way Aeserninus stood, in her tense but muscled stance, as if she was preparing to weather a blow. It was laughable really, because if Kiriko so decided to strike, this little worm would have no way of withstanding even her weakest of touches. Kiriko never aimed for anything less than perfection and that included in warfare.

She allowed the silence to build, a blossoming chasm filled with all the monsters of the dark, and none quite so intent as herself. The longer she waited, the more she would learn, and Aeserninus had already told her quite a lot with that careful introduction and the faint tremors. Often you revealed even more when you were scrambling to hide something then you did when you just ran with whatever you had accidentally revealed. That was probably too subtle for this girl to understand though, no one had ever really asked the Fifth to understand critical questions. It might even be a stretch to assume this woman understood velocity or momentum, though they were likely innate tools of her trade.

Holding perfectly still, not even her lips moving as she breathed, Kiriko studied the person before her. Maybe it all was a joke. Was this some ploy by Aizawa-taichou? An attempt to get some sort of response out of his old commanding officer? If he thought she would find this funny he hadn't learned enough during his time here. But that made little sense, and there was nothing to back up her conception except that general sense of unease.

It could not be so simple as what the paper said. No one ever came to her for something so basic. Not without an ulterior motive at least, and this little one didn't seem to have a subtle bone in her body. It was probably all iron. So who was playing the game, and why had they sent such an inept puppet in their stead?

As the silence stretched onward she waited until the tension had peaked and the woman's fear had hit a nice decibel, and then slowly, carefully, Kiriko leaned forward and smile. All teeth and sharp edges. “If you had been intruding I would have assigned someone else to meet with you, Aeserninus-san.” Dismiss, always dismiss, it would remind her of how disparate the power structure was here, and how very insignificant she was in this meeting.

“But since you asked for this meeting, I would have assumed you would have more to say. In giving a report most Shinigami explain themselves instead of wasting my time with idleness,” she drawled softly, a faint crease of a frown accentuating her displeasure. Quietly, ominously, Kiriko began to tap her fingers against the top of her desk, the soft clicking thump a melodious rendition of one's heartbeat.

Tilting her head, she flicked her eyes across the woman's body, piercing her through and through with one forward glance, “So...?”

Yes... She had forgotten how enjoyable it was to watch the mice scurry. Lately all she had to play with was rats, and they were far too intelligent to show their own weaknesses. They, at least, knew that rolling over and exposing their stomachs made her more inclined to rip them apart rather than imparting any sense of mercy in her heart.  

WC: 672 | GP: 13 | Total GP: 25

She dropped her proper at attention stance and lowered her gaze to meet the second captains. All the while a singular thought flashed through her mind, 'Well aren't you the very definition of bitch.' VIn her career path attitude was one thing this was another. The line where knowing you were superior while being humble about it and being an arrogant shit was rather broad and easily defined. This woman before her seemed to completely disregard civility and even common decency for the simple fact that perhaps she was stronger and a superior officer. Some people weren't leaders by nature and couldn't learn how to be one. This woman came off as that frustrating combination. 

So Vic cleared her throat before she spoke no reason to try and explain or ease into why. Obviously this captain didn't have much need for her reasons so she'd just lay it out and take whatever answer came her way. "I seek to form a political interest group that lobbies for the interests of the female members of this organization. To have the most political force behind it from its conception having noble elites such as the women of the Aizawa and other notable families would be of great interest. And to lessen my own time spent tracking down these women by visiting their homes or the divisions a list provided by the second division would expedite the process. Its that simple," she said flatly. She was about done with this woman. Intelligence officers always seemed to be jerks so there captain had to be the biggest of them. If she wouldn't help her she'd go to the first or the sixth. If neither of them would help she'd start knocking on doors.  


WC- 289
GP- 5(23)