One Step At A Time

Well, most days Murasaki probably would have been at work with the 7th Division, but today was one of the days she'd volunteered to teach at the Academy. Not like she minded or anything, it was honestly really fun for her. A lot of the newer students seemed like they were better at figuring things out than they had been when she was going through the courses, so maybe that was a good thing.

But, hey, now she was finished with all the teaching, and it seemed like she had a little bit of free time to kill. 'Course, that gave her a lot of options, didn't it? Hm...

But, as soon as she thought about all that, the sight of a young woman stabbing a katana into a training dummy caught her eye, and it was honestly enough to make her wince. That was the sort of thing that made any sword feel a little uncomfortable, after all, so Murasaki made her way right on over to try and help with that. For the girl's sake and the zanpakuto's, honestly.

"Hey, ya know stabbing's not super effective when you're usin' a katana like that. It'll probably dull pretty fast, and it won't get a good stab anyway. You wanna go for a nice slice, somethin' that runs the blade through the place you're hittin'."

"Well, ya have good fundamentals at least, though I don't think ya wanna rely on either of those too much when you're studyin' with your zanpakuto. It'll usually accomodate your natural style anyway, and that's really whatcha wanna try and develop."

The mention of wanting to beat Elyss was not something Murasaki had necessarily expected, though to be fair, she knew Elyss well enough to know that probably wasn't a totally unfair desire. It did seem at least somewhat likely that Elyss had either done this girl wrong, or just given her some reason to develop a rivalry like this. Well, regardless of why, Murasaki wasn't going to let someone manhandle a sword on her watch, that just didn't work for her.

"Well, let's look at your grip on the hilt. Ya probably wanna try and get a more neutral grip, don't hold it too tight or you won't be able to let the sword move the way it wants to naturally. When ya swing, it's pretty easy to feel like you gotta direct the sword right where you want it to go, but if ya use it right then it'll just go without you needing to force it. You don't wanna be dropping your sword or anything like that, but don't keep it in a death grip, either."

"Not talkin' at all? I can try and have a chat with it if ya want, I've got a knack for that sort of thing. You'd be surprised the sort of stuff a zanpakuto'll get all snippy about, they can be real divas now and again."

Murasaki hadn't really considered the self-deprecating angle of that sentence until it had already left her mouth, and she let out a bit of a sheepish laugh before focusing once more on the topic at hand.

"I just like helpin' out with zanpakuto stuff, and you look like you're tryin' pretty hard at it. I like that, too many people around the Gotei who just got where they are through bein' born there or bein' in the right place at the right time. Hard work's worth more than twenty noble birth certificates or whatever, but don't tell people I said that or I'm sure I'll get a ribbing from the Captain Commander about bein' rude or something."

Despite that request, the thought of being disciplined for that didn't actually seem to bother Murasaki once. After all, if people were competent, she wouldn't need to cause any problems, and just because the Captain Commander had said they'd be working on getting rid of the nepotism didn't mean it wasn't still around for now.

"I got into plenty of trouble durin' my time at the academy so I totally getcha. Wasn't super popular, but hey, look at me now."

Murasaki was quite visibly proud as she said that, not only of the position she'd gotten herself to in life, but in the fact that she had made it here despite the beliefs of others. To her, this job was something to be cherished and done at her very best.

"Well, that whole path's different for everyone, so I can't pretend I've got some sorta miracle trick that'll teach ya its name in five easy steps or anything like that. But I'm real good with zanpakuto, I've got kind of an understanding with 'em that most people don't have. Helps a lot with these kinds of things, and I'm always more than happy to help people out if they need it. Ya seem like you're workin' hard, and that's important."

The last note seemed a bit down, but Murasaki was always a positive one, and so she simply smiled a touch more.

"Well, my name's Kagayaku no Murasaki. Most people call me Captain Kagayaku, but you can just call me Murasaki if ya want, that's kinda what I like more anyway. Or just Captain. My name's not an easy one to remember anyway, doesn't quite match me."

"Oh yeah? Long way to get up here, ya know. I might look pretty great but I'm not exactly young anymore. Then again I spent a while just kinda livin' my life instead of workin on getting strong, so that's more on my end I guess."

Thinking about Hono's request, Murasaki idly toyed with one of her earrings in thought. The issue wasn't whether or not she was willing to teach her, she definitely didn't mind that at all. It was just a question of where they'd start and how they'd do it.

"Well I can do my best ta teach ya, but if you're comin' from a kendo background I might not totally mesh with what comes naturally to ya. I know how to do all that stuff too, but it's mostly technique, not as much in applied stuff."

Then again, that didn't matter yet, did it? Baby steps.

"Anyway, I'm totally happy to help. First things first is gettin' your zanpakuto figured out, I think. That's pretty important since it'll usually be somethin you wanna plan around when you're in a fight."