Learning The Martial Way

The city was a magnificent thing. As soon as Leviathan entered it's limits, he could feel an uplifting emotional feel in the very air. A barely perceivable amber haze covered the place, and the buildings were more obviously amber coloured. Stare into their walls long enough, and you could even see a fire crackling from within the stone. This place was definitely more than just normal buildings. And any energy sensitive being could see even further than that, as the power signature of nearly every race imaginable was evident inside the Harbour. Clearly, this was a melding pot of every refugee that could make it here. The buildings rose taller into the sky than they should, the city was more vast than the landmass it covered, and it throbbed with a life as if it was going to uproot from the island and rush into the horizon in pursuit of some deeply held dream. But even then, to the person who felt such outside feelings to be cheating, for one who wished to rely on himself, and to know everything he did in life was his own, the great power of the city would be distant. Visible, notable, but effecting one as much as the gentle lapping waves of the Harbour effected The Sun.

Ulv, for her part, was less spectacular. Chilling atop the tower block that dominated the skyline, she had just finished meeting with the contractors who were getting industry online in Minatumi. The idea was, after some contemplation, to import cheap ores and then export more expensive finished alloys, being a stopgap for less industrially advanced nations and people that needed metals. So when she felt the Senkaimon appear and had no warning that yet another Shinigami was coming to her place, she was rather exasperated.
"I'm going to fall out with those guys soon. Does it kill to send a butterfly?" she muttered, pondering what havoc she could reek on the trespasser. And then, from her position high in the sky, she stared down at him. Minatumi's reiatsu allowed her perfect sensory imput on everyone that was here, so despite the fact that she was nearly imperceivable, Ulv could see him clearly. "Uhh...do you think he can dodge a bala?" Ulv asked randomly, before pointing a finger at him and shooting one off at him, just to see if he could or not. She was not really creative enough right now to give him anything proper.

Huh, look at that. He could move after all. She was quite a distance away, so a weak bala like that took a while to travel, but his instincts and spiritual sense caught in in flight and managed to get away from it before it hit him. Wasn't all that bad after all. Movement wise at least, maybe his brain was still broken. She had very little trust for the competence of Shinigami these days, after they showed repeatedly what kind of mess they could, would, and did make about the place. So, with that done, Ulv got up and with her Earth-Grasping Step, appeared in front of him, looking down at the kid.

She cut an imposing figure. Over six foot tall, broad muscles, overwhelmingly oppressive presence that had nothing to do with her reiatsu. In fact, her reiatsu was impossible to sense, unable to get the slightest grasp of it in this melding pot of powers. It was like looking for a specific strand of hay in a haystack.
"Mayor Auber is a busy woman. Why do you want to find her, and what do you want to get out of her? Your kind have not made the most favourable impression, of late"

"A Shihoin, huh? Well, let's hope you break the trend of the last two Shihoin who have just ditched her with no warning. One of them stole her techniques and then just fucked off and never called or wrote and kicked her out of the shack she was living in next time she went to visit. Being a Shihoin doubles the issues of you being a Shinigami, in Ulv's case" Ulv's words were firm and sharp, giving him a solid verbal lashing to test his resolve and see how well he could stand up to adversary. A much needed talent in the world of combat.

"So, what? You thought you'd just come down here because she's good at it and ask her to teach you because you are a Shihoin and you nobles have never been refused anything in your life? What happened to all the trainers in the Seireitei? Or do you want some sort of exclusivity brownie points for going off and training with someone else that was unrelated? Do you feel like you've got some tingly little sense of adventure, going to some woman you've only ever heard about in rumour?"

Despair, despondency, and then anger. Kid had a weak stomach to be driven to the sads by just a couple of words that weren't even that bad. Ulv was annoyed that Shinigami came down here with no warning and wrecked the place before feeling entitled to training before they even knew who she was. Alex was cool, she liked Alex. He had passion and conviction and was fun to be around. This kid was, just a kid. Having Masiko's fucking stink on him to boot, maybe that was why she was pissed. Fucking Arrancar and her bitchy Vizard plans.

"You want to learn combat with that kind of mentality? Only a nutbar would give someone so emotionally unstable more power just to have you explode later on. And you Shinigami are real good at exploding" Ulv spoke. And then, she took a breath and chilled. She was a creature of unbridled passion, and easy to rile, but calming down was as important as not going mad in the first place. "And besides, you don't need to learn Hakuda, or any martial art for that matter, to deal with your Inner Hollow. That's an entirely separate kettle of fish. Kind of the opposite of martial arts training"

"Aye, at least you've got two braincells to rub together. I am Ulv. And as for how I know, well slight advantage of home ground territory. This place enhances my spiritual senses and so I can scan people pretty deeply. Plus-" a white, lupine mask condensed across her face and lit Ulv up on the reiatsu senses. While it was hard to pinpoint her for her normal reiatsu, once the mask was on and that perfect energy flow was going, she exploded with power. It would become clear that it was hard to track her down in the city because her reiatsu could cover the entire island and was embedded into everything. The building, ground and even the air. "-I know what I am looking for"

She then took off the mask and sent her reiatsu back to the confusing state of being. Then, turning round and gesturing with her head for him to follow her, she headed off to her house.
"Well, the way is pretty difficult. First of, unless he is psychopathic enough to be a complete gibbering mess, he should know that even if he does succeed in take over, someone like me is just going to blow his brains out first chance I get. In you is where he is safe, ish. And then, as for the rest, well it's interesting.

See, Hollows are dangerous. They are a risk to your very soul. But, "They are dangerous" is no reason to hold them at arm's length like a bomb that might go off at any moment, while also making friends and laughing merrily with your human buddies. When it comes down to the wire, 8/10 times, your back will have a shiny new knife in it if it will save the human's life. A few greedy, selfish humans don't even need that drastic of a situation. They will betray people for their own personal gain. Not to belabour a point, but Never forget Hollows are dangerous, but never let that danger cloud your judgement. I am dangerous, Ibiki is dangerous, your average human with a gun is dangerous. But you don't treat them any different for that.

So, treat your hollow, how you want to be treated. It is still a living being, after all. Still capable of learning emotions, of forming a bond and becoming a friend. The crippling difficulty and near impossibility of this is that the Hollow will still want your ass while you are making friends with it. You've got to take someone that wants you to die, and treat them like a friend. And they will never manage to evolve past the negative emotion at their core. For my Hollow, it is Pride. She is and always will be the most proud creature I have ever met, thinking more highly of herself than anything" Clearly, Ulv had a lot to say about Vizards.