Find your Balance (Invite)

Lerna wasn't a mind reader, so she was largely unaware of the sudden gear shift between 'I'm so late now that I probably shouldn't bother' to 'This girl is trying to get me to skip class' that had gone on in the girl's head. Then again, she supposed the girl WAS in a sort of situation where she might well.....expect a bit of mental weirdness. A belief that would have only been magnified if she could read that little mind and hear the shit those swords were already listening.

When Kyu's heels dug down, there was a brief moment in which she simply slid across the floor for a few paces before Lerna paused, a brow raising as she noticed the girl's concerned look. A worried frown crossing her face, mixed with just a hint of annoyance. Ugh.... this really was getting to be a pain in the ass. It was bad enough the girl was in this situation, but she also seemed like she WANTED to keep those swords. True, she had displayed the situation as 'I don't know they just GAVE them to me'. But from the anxious way the was looking at the swords, and that previous comment about being proud of having gotten three? Her suspicion that this girl had stolen them was sounding more and more likely, though even if it wasn't, this girl was clearly attached to this bizarre situation in some way.

Even if Kyu re-readied herself to follow along, Lerna had stopped dead in her tracks, frowning down at the smaller woman with a conflicted expression on her face. On one hand.... she was uncertain about letting this girl out of her sight. But was she maybe being ......overparanoid? She had no fuckin idea, she only had the barest understanding of this Asauchi business.

The subject of the girl's motivation briefly distracted her from the conundrum. "I'm from the world of the living. Been killing hollows for a while now actually. But a little hard to keep an area safe when killing one without one of these babies causes a whole lot of fuss." She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose before turning and continuing to walk, only this time making no effort to bring Kyukaku along. "Whole lot of slums in a whole lot of different places, kiddo. You don't need to be a shinigami to keep people safe. Least not in this world." She noted as she continued on toward Captain Murasaki's office. Was she slightly disparaging the girl's motivations? Possibly, but then again maybe these were just the words of an ignorant world of the living punk who made her living off being hired by gangs.

Lerna paused, noticing the sudden change in demeanor that was within the girl she'd been talking to. She stared calmly at that, her head slowly canting to the side. Did this girl just completely mishear her? She turned to face her fully and furrowed her brows. "I don't know what you think Shinigami are, but they aren't a secret cheat code you can use to get stronger. I've seen Shinigami fight, and I've seen them die too. I said that you don't need to be a shinigami to protect people. That's exactly what I've done for the past couple hundred years. You callin me a liar?" She asked, her voice flat and undetered by the woman's sudden pouting.

" I don't care if you're from Zaraki, or if you're from hell itself. I been to a whole lot of shitholes. You're a spirit aren't you? Maybe four hundred years ago Zaraki was pretty bad. But now theres places all over earth as bad or worse. I'm not saying that what yer doin is wrong, or that the people in Zaraki don't need protecting. All I'm saying is that you didn't need to become a shinigami to do that. Sure, they teach you all kinds of neat tricks, and an asauchi can mean not getting in trouble for slaying hollows. But that doesn't mean that it's the only answer. THAT'S why I asked you why you became a shinigami. Is it a way to get strong? Sure. But theres plenty of strong people. Even normal Pluses can gather strength. I'm asking you why you came to be a shinigami specifically." She clarified, coming to a complete stop outside of the door. Murasaki's office. The woman she herself had to thank for even being here. She hoped she was around.

She turned, giving the girl a chance to say her piece. And once she did, Lerna would turn her attention back to the door and raise her hand to knock.

Lerna perked up, actually a bit surprised to actually SEE the woman showing up! Well that was auspicious! She put on a nervous smile and cleared her throat. Thankfully, having known the Captain and more or less having been RECOMMENDED for Substitute Shinigami duty by the woman, she was much less nervous than she would have otherwise been. "Ah, Captain! Sorry if I'm bothering you. But I actually had a question in regards to Asauchi. I know they told us in class that we spend our time channeling our spirit energy into our swords. For ....im....imprinting?" The whole process was honestly a LOT more mystical than she'd anticipated. Go figure that Shinigami were all kinds of bizarre. "Well this girl I ran into she wound up with ....thrrrrrrrrrree asauchi. And I know that the spirit link thing is like....automatic, just by having it around us. So I wanted to know if that was....bad? Like....having that many isn't dangerous is it?" She was doing her best, with, potentially, the girl in question right behind her, thus she moved to the side and gestured toward her.

It certainly felt silly asking about this shit when she knew so little, but she'd had a concern, and this WAS what these teachers were around for right? She at the very least felt like it was a reasonable and good question. One that hopefully Murasaki would have an answer for.

Lerna tilted her head a bit at that and furrowed her brows, a bit surprised. Shinigami could still imprint on these things after they'd been discarded? That was ....strange.....and interesting. She glanced down at her own asauchi.....with intrigue. THAT said.... she did turn her head toward Kyukaku for a moment and ......paused. Thinking. Tilting her head thoughtfully for just a moment. Wait, why did she say that with incredulity? After a moment, she leaned in and peered at the message that Kyukaku had written on her phone, and then thought back to their conversation before making it to Murasaki's office. The girl had acted like she was crazy when she mentioned Zanpaku'to spirits, but knew how to pour spirit energy into her swords, she mentioned that she was hearing voices in her head. Plural. So she HAD been pumping spirit energy into the swords. So she knew about that, but she didn't know the fact that zanpaku'to spirits existed?

She found this strange....hodgepodge knowledge of Zanpaku'to a little....suspicious. Normally she would just write it off as the girl just maybe falling asleep during some portions of class. But there was ALSO the fact that this girl just...HAD three Asauchi. Not only that, but seemed.....awfully insistent that she keep three of them. Despite the fact that Lerna had thought it might have been dangerous. Kyukaku hadn't even seemed SLIGHTLY worried that something bad might come of that. She hadn't even entertained the possibility of something bad. But she ALSO wasn't paying attention enough in classes to know if they were. So this girl valued swords....that she didn't know how they worked, and seemed to really want to have more than one. Was this girl planning on SELLING Asauchi? She did mention that she was from a poor part of the rukongai...

She stewed on this for a few seconds. This didn't add up at all, and years of working with street gangs made her suspicious of this kind of thing. She glanced at Murasaki, just to see if the other woman seemed as incredulous as she was. But she ....didn't say anything about her suspicions for now. It wasn't like it wasn't possible this girl was just the weirdest combination of inattentive and zealous. She had mentioned all that stuff about ...protecting people. Maybe she just thought more zanpaku'to would mean she'd be stronger. Ironic that accodering to Miss Murasaki that seemed to be the opposite of the truth. She actually felt potentially bad for the girl, adjacent to her suspicion. Either way, she'd be keeping an eye on this one.

These thoughts raced through her head for a few seconds at most, before she glanced to the teacher and nodded at her assessment. "Thank you for your advice, Sensei. Er....Captain? " Being polite, especially since Murasaki seemed less.....bright and cheery than usual. Guess the Captain much preferred her field work to teaching at the academy? She supposed hollow hunting was probably more interesting than grading papers and other.......professorly activities. Well, for most Professors.