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Like all the other barracks, the 12th Division Barracks house the offices and living quarters of the Shinigami of the 12th. It includes all the modern amenities and scientific extras one could expect, as well as general living quarters and gathering places for members of the 12th Division.
Walking through the barracks of the 12th Division was its 3rd Seat, Tatsuya. His over-sized sleeves billowed behind him as he walked past various members of the division. Suddenly, he stopped before a particular group of conversing unseated members. There were four of them in total, and all four happened to be under his supervision. "You three, you have patrol duty today. As for you; head to lab six and help with the new project," he said to these Shinigami. The first three moved on without question, but the third seemed hesitant. "Tatsuya-san, I'm not good with those kinds of experiments," was this one's reply. Tatsuya merely continued walking forward, having only one thing to say about this clause. "Join the experiment, or become the next one; I don't care which."
As Tatsuya was giving his ultimatum to a particularly hesitant unseated officer, his captain approached. She had two tails at her lower back and seemed to have cat ears atop her head, hidden in tufts of her pink hair. She smiled happily as she watched the boy who was aptly the pinnacle of her scientific ingenuity give orders to other members with absent minded cool. "Tatsu-chan~ Ohayou!~" said the woman as she came to a stop beside him, her own hands slipped out of the over-sized sleeves of her lab coat like haori which seemed to have closed cat-paws at the ends. She carried in her hand a small box and came with a proposition for the young man.
Whether it was known to anyone else in the room or not, a young woman with crimson locks was perched in the rafters. In a dark corner watching all take place below her. She too was an unseated officer, but she seemed to have been overlooked on several occasions. For whatever reason she seemed to be fine with this, and remained in her seated position out of sight, even as their captain entered the room and their third seat gave orders to others who fell under his purview.
While moving away from the unseated group, Tatsuya was halted once more. This time, it was due in full to the presence of this division's Captain. Upon stopping, he looked up into the woman's face and spoke in a rather bland tone of voice. "Ohayou gozaimasu," he said. In the absence of the Vice-Captain, Yonsokei, Tatsuya had taken on additional responsibilities. It was his assumption now that there were more about to be given to him, so he chose to wait silently for whatever the Captain had in store.
Meanwhile, the red-haired lass in the rafters was joined by another. It was not a person to move toward her, but instead, a small white snake with eyes the same as Tatsuya's. The serpent slithered toward her from her left, raising its head upon reaching her. It seemed to have intentions of only staring at this young woman, but its true purpose would perhaps be revealed at a later time.
The Captain of the Twelfth Division seemed to fiddle with the box in her hand. She really wasn't good at these social interactions, even with her own subordinates. Even so, she had something she needed to ask of this young man and she'd see what his response was. "Ano, you've been doing a great job with everyone since Yonsokei's untimely demise. These things happen and you've been a great help around here..." she said feeding a few compliments. "Would you be interested in maintaining that level of involvement, I think you'd make a great Vice-Captain." she said opening the box to show a newly crafted Vice-Captain's badge specifically for this young man if he wanted it. It was up to Captains who they chose as their seconds, and though normally one with a bit more experience was usually necessary, she felt that for the type of place she ran, Tatsuya would be best.
The redhead watched from the rafters shifting slightly at the approaching snake. 'How... did you get in here or up here?' she wondered as it rose its head but paused at her fore. This wasn't a scary thing, but... she didn't know anything about the creature, it would be bad to end up with a snake bite, so she kept an eye on it while the potentially new Vice-Captain was offered his position. 'Eh, our peers are setting a horrid precedent for the rest of us... this one is gonna make it so I'll have to push really hard,' she thought as she reached out with a single hand and a very low whisper for the snake. "I really hope you're friendly. I have never handled a snake before, don't bite me... yeah? You'll get me caught..." she said her voice exceedingly low.
Tatsuya found himself looking into the box opened by his Captain, finding the arm-band for their division's Vice-Captain within. Apparently, this woman thought to make him her new Vice-Captain. Tatsuya immediately reached out to claim the badge, speaking only after grabbing it. "I was always stronger than Yonsokei anyway. I expected this," he said while strapping the badge to his left sleeve. "Were you waiting for this to assign positions to the new recruits?" he went on to ask.
It seemed her new Vice-Captain was accepting of his position. And this was good because Akiko didn't have a plan for what to do in the rather rare case she was turned down. "Yes, you were always stronger than Yonsokei, I have a few upgrades in mind for his next incarnation but... I figured it would be best to go ahead and make you Vice-Captain," she mentioned happy that this young man was so keen to fill the role she'd always had in mind for him. "Oh shit! I knew I forgot something. We should gather them now. I can do this really easily..." she said of the recruits. There was one surefire for her to rank recruits and she could well do it.
Meanwhile the redhead in the rafters looked on in awe, still keeping an eye on this little snake as she was basically locked in a standoff with it. 'Crap, they are looking for recruits... I'll have to make myself known huh?' she said, but before anything else, she'd wait for the others to arrive if they were going to be summoned.
"Hai," Tatsuya replied. His next move was a rather simple one, as it consisted only of him turning around and looking up. Coincidentally, his gaze was set exactly in the direction of the redhead. "You can come down now. Waiting any longer will only make things more bothersome for everyone," he said. At about the same time, various other snakes slithered down the corridor. Each one spat out another unseated officer among the 12th Division's newest recruit wave, all of whom had been sedated by the serpents and brought to this location against their will. "These are all of the new members."
Benihime had been still watching this entire thing, but soon enogh she was being spoken to directly by the new Vice-Captain. Since all the snakes were converging upon him, she figured he was likely the source of the snake she'd been having a staring contest with. Even so, she soon found herself jumping down from her perch and she'd been seen right before the Captain and Vice-Captain. "Sumimasen," she apologized not really knowing what else to say. "Congratulations, Tatsuya-fukutaichou~" she added as a group of other more somber recruits joined her. One would notice she'd taken a bit of initiative and changed herself from the standard Shihakusho. Though she still wore the hakama which came with the attire, she seemed to have completely forgone the top, choosing instead to wear a plethora of bandages, white on the bottom and black on top across her chest. She was Niwatoko Benihime, and she looked at the rest of the recruits and wondered what had befallen them.
"Nice job Tatsu-chan~ I thought that was going to be a hassle. Anyways, you can release them now... well the rest of them. I need them to be mostly themselves." she said of the rest of the recruits. She was also shifting her hands about, inside of the large sleeves and removing several black lollipops. She'd then subsequently aim to throw one in each of the open mouths of the recruits including Benihime who reflexively caught her own. "Oh?" said the Captain seemingly interested as she inspected the redhead, Benihime looked at the confection then placed it in her mouth as the Captain Spoke to her new Vice-Captain. "Which one was this one?"
"Good," Tatsuya said when Benihime chose to descend from the rafters. "It would have been troublesome to sedate you as well." When these words were spoken, the snake that had joined Benihime descended, landing atop his shoulder to rest there. At the Captain's instructions which followed, Tatsuya gave a mental command to the other snakes, willing them to deliver bites to the Shinigami they brought in. In doing so, they retrieved the lasting sedative from the blood streams of these individuals back into their bodies, allowing the Shinigamis' bodily functions to return to them. "Fifteen seconds should be enough for them to wake up. If not, I suggest not ranking them. As for this one," he continued, shifting his gaze toward Benihime to address Akiko's other concern. "Niwatoko Benihime, the one I mentioned from this year's graduation ceremony... First Class, first year graduate with honors as valedictorian."
"Sedating me would have been... troublesome?" she said this seeming to find it to be an odd thing for anyone to just admit to. Beyond this point the Captain of the Division was listening to what her Vice-Captain had to say, and she began counting. "Alright, that is pretty sound, within fifteen seconds anyone who can't take it will be unconscious again anyways. Anyone still awake in now... 5 seconds will be seated." she mentioned. Only to wait out the remaining few seconds to see how many were still standing. Benihime seemed to think this an odd thing to say, the confection within her mouth gave her plenty of energy... like resting for hours or days at a time would have. "Eh, you don't have to say all that..." the young redhead said rubbing the back of her head, seemingly embarrassed by the wide eyed look she was subsequently given by her Captain. She then watched to see what happened to the other recruits, she herself had never felt better.
The Captain of the Twelfth Divsion began speaking once more. "Ooh? She's the one who was supposed to be really strong huh... obviously... last test though... what does that lollipop taste like to you?" she asked the young redhead who seemed to look a bit confused. It had a bitter sort of flavor behind something ever so slightly sweet. "Licorice. The lolly tastes like licorice, not my favorite but... I've had worse. It's really interesting though..." she mentioned seeming to find it a bit strange.
"Hai. Troublesome." Tatsuya chose to silently await the waking of the others, while Akiko went about questioning Benihime regarding the black lollipop. His attention was on the others, though he secretly knew what would become of the situation. Six Shinigami were sedated, and zero rose at the end of the countdown. "They'll be out for hours. Did this one pass your test?" he asked of the redhead, returning his attention to the Captain as his snakes took the unconscious ones away.
No one rose from the sedation. It seemed whatever was the case with the lollipops, they didn't function to wake the already sleeping ones. Akiko continued her examination of Benihime, poking at the redhead in various places which made the young woman narrow her eyes. "Yeah, they will be. Actually probably more like a few days. If they were that weak that overload of Reishi likely have them unable to move for a while," said Akiko as she looked at Benihime. "But this one... she's still standing, and it tastes like what it is to her... she's got more potential than anyone I've seen in the past couple of decades," she commented before adding a bit more. "Aside from you of course, Tatsu-chan." she said. Benihime seemed content to just listen quietly she had no idea what this pair of individuals though her capable of but it wasn't at all her intention to stand out. "So... Beni-chan~" she chimed instantly applying a nickname to the young woman which made her eyes widen just a bit. "Have you achieved Shikai? Random question I know, straight out of the Academy such things aren't expected, but..." she looked at the girl her eyes narrowing just a bit. "Iie Ayatsuki-taichou, bonding with my Zanpakuto is a bit slow going... I'll get it eventually," the redhead said absently having at the lollipop which she obviously intended to finish. "Tatsu-chan~ What do you say? If she had a Shikai, I'd likely make her 3rd Seat... but... It'd be a bit of an insult to rank her over Bai-chan, if she can't do at least as much as her~"
Once again, Tatsuya was silent. The Captain went on to question the only recruit that would be receiving any sort of rank at this time, choosing to state that the lass would receive the rank of 3rd Seat if she possessed Shikai. Benihime's response was one which made Tatsuya look at the redhead with narrowed eyes. He knew her words were untrue, but was mostly curious as to why she would speak these untruths. "Baiken is stronger," he said, though his curious look toward Benihime remained.
Benihime soon found herself on the opposite end of a very intense look of curiosity. Her eyes flickered over the young man, but to her credit, nothing about her face changed at all. 'Hmm, he knows I'm lying, that's different...' she thought such a thing made her chuckle just a bit, it seemed to be the case that she'd found her newest friend. Regardless, the Captain of the Twelfth Division took her Vice-Captain at his word and nodded. "Hai hai, Fifth Seat it is~ Beni-chan be good, work hard at it. You'll earn a promotion. Feel free to use the labs and ask myself or any of the others ranked higher than you if you need anything. If you feel like leading a mission or two, just let us know. I gotta go do a thing before I forget. Ja~" she said to the pairing at large, remembering to go finish putting in the necessary ranking additions while not seeming to care one way or another about this new Fifth Seat, though she did pause long enough to offer a pair of cherry lollipops to Benihime who accepted them without thinking too much. Soon enough this woman would disappear from sight and Benihime would simply be standing a hand rested on her hip. "Hai hai, ja ne, Ayatsuki-taichou, arigatou gozaimasu~" she chime afterwards before averting her gaze to Tatsuya. "You have a question, Tatsuya-fukutaichou?"
Eventually, the Captain left the barracks to go on about her own business, leaving Tatsuya and the division's new 5th Seat alone in this particular corridor. Within moments of this departure, the redhead spoke to the boy, asking him if he had some sort of question for her. In fact, he did. "Hai. You know what it is already. Why conceal a Zanpakutou?" he asked. Frankly, he saw no particular benefit to be gained from hiding such a fact.
Once they were alone the newly appointed Vice-Captain of the Twelfth Division stated that he did indeed have a question for the even newer appointed 5th Seat. She couldn't help but have a small smile come to her face when he questioned her need to hide her Zanpakuto, she figured by his question that most people didn't and she could even to a point understand why. "The simplest answer is because I don't like putting all my cards on the table. I am not that trusting of other people..." the young woman said as she allowed her hands to shift. Truly she found it to be better if everyone didn't know everything she was capable of, she was far too paranoid to believe anything else. She looked to this young man and something about him seemed a bit familiar but she couldn't quite place it. "You knew about my Zanpakuto but you didn't call me on it... why?" she asked seeming to find it strange, he definitely could have called her on it, and instead went along with her deception.
"Because you aren't trusting of other people, you lied to your Captain, whom you work for, about having Shikai? Did you expect someone to try and steal your Zanpakutou?" he asked with a tilted head. If nothing else, Tatsuya was now even more lost for a proper reason, but that didn't exactly matter to him directly. Benihime soon questioned why he did not bring up the fact that she lied in front of the Captain. Tatsuya found it interesting that she was curious about this, yet not the reason he knew she was lying in the first place. Again, though, this was inconsequential. "Because I know better. Ayatsuki-taichou is a genius among geniuses. She probably knew about your Shikai before she asked if you had one."
"That's a bit much, though admittedly, I'd rather not be more of a curiosity if it can be avoided. Stealing a Zanpakuto, though? If anyone could do it, probably be her," she said thinking about it more. She hadn't heard much about the Captain of the Twelfth but she did know the woman was a genius, and she'd heard about the woman was enough to make the redhead commit her name to memory which was probably saying much more than anything else could. "Ayatsuki-taichou looks like she appreciates secrets as much as I do. I've been around here a week and I've seen cameras everywhere, so I assume she knows everything she wants to know about me and everyone else." said Benihime about this place. Even so, she supposed it would be hard to explain to someone that she wasn't malevolent in her intentions.
"And you think your Zanpakutou will be alright with being shunned that way?" he asked rhetorically, moving immediately into the next topic. "If you're making that assumption, you should have just told her about your Shikai. You're only making things more difficult for yourself. Regardless, your first task will be to go to Lab One and tell them to introduce you to the SRDI protocols. If you're going to be less useful as a Shinigami, become more useful as a scientist. Are we clear, or are you offering yourself as the next experiment?"
There was a smile on Benihime's face as the Vice-Captain questioned how her Zanpakuto felt about being 'shunned' as he called it. She was obviously in no way shunning her Zanpakuto, though she supposed she understood why some people would see it that way. But the more he spoke the more she realized he was likely more bonded with a Zanpakuto than a normal Shinigami. She considered the possibilities for this while the young man spoke, seeming to think she was somehow less useful as a Shinigami because she chose not to use her weapon in front of other Shinigami. Which seemed to be something of a bit of a contradiction considering there was literally no need for any other Shinigami to know what she was capable of unless they were properly fighting and that shouldn't be friendly. "Hai hai, Lab One get acquainted with stuff. Interesting threat to give people, but I don't intend to be experimented on... but very effective in getting other people to do what you want I suppose~" she said tucking a hand into her waist band so that it brushed against the Zanpakuto which was on that side, denoting her general lack of seriousness. "Ja ne~ Tatsuya-fukutaichou~" she chimed as she turned on the heels of her feet which were only wrapped in bandages for some reason. As she rotated and headed straight for the laboratory she was told to go to. Technically speaking she'd already become familiar with the laboratory but there was no reason to not have a go again and figure out what was going on there.