Warmth in Cold Scales [Lerna/Murasaki]

She was terse as she strode through her division barracks. A strange experience to say the least. Not that she didn't spend time there from time to time, but so often she was wrapped up in the Shino Academy that it just seemed fairly rare that she made her way over to this section of Soul Society. But well....she sure had a reason now. Striding with a determined look on her face, the woman promptly made her way over to the woman's office and .....hesitated. For just a moment.....she considered the risks of this. What if this got back to Gamu? What was Soul Society like in that regard?

Would Murasaki protect her?
Would she be disgusted with what she was?
She didn't know, truth be told....she didn't fully know how most Shinigami saw her kind. This was all still so damn new.

She knocked on the door lightly, and spoke up. "Captain. If I might come in." She knew she sounded off. She wanted to keep her voice in check, but ....the mix of everything goin on was getting to her a little. If it was any solace, it at least didn't show too much on her face. She hoped.

Lerna stepped into the office, thankful, in no small part, for the kind of woman that had brought her into this place. Shutting the door quietly behind her, she glanced back to Murasaki and couldn't help but smile a bit sheepishly as the woman asked her that. She glanced back down to the cup and felt her shoulders slump just a fraction. She sat down and gently closed her eyes....sighing for several long moments before she raised the vessel to her lips and then took a slow, steady drink from it. It wasn't liquor, but it was something at least to calm her just a little. She sat it back down, looking back up at Murasaki's expression of professional concern. Yes....yes this was the woman she could trust. Magnolia was someone she also trusted to a degree... but Murasaki had..... a maturity about her. She didn't want this to ...explode into a sudden act of violence.

She remembered what Magnolia had done to that abandoned city. She didn't feel like restraint was ....entirely in her playbook. "I.....had......a conversation with somebody in the third division." She paused, trying to ....figure out how to frame this. No....an accusation wouldn't do it. She didn't......she didn't even know....what it was that she knew. She would just try to .....express her concerns as thoroughly as she could.

"She was just sortof....staring at a nest of birds. And she seemed a bit ....off. I started ....speaking with her. I had gotten a little turned around. And it was just.....something was off.....almost...robotic." She realized she was starting to ramble now, but she just....couldn't stop herself. It was all coming out. Her only saving grace was that she was keeping a fairly calm tone of voice. "I asked what she was, before she was a shinigami. It ...took a bit she ..spoke so.. It was almost like speaking to a child. She said that she used to be a human. Normal enough...right? I.. So I figured she was just a bit.....strange. So I figured, I was getting a bit hungry, I asked her if she'd want to come with me to get some lunch. Figured maybe she'd be a bit better once she got some food in her. and ...." Her lip twitched, the faintest sliver of anger briefly showing.

"She said 'this is a date'. And I was....confused. And I said, no, that I was just being friendly. And I asked her how many people ask her for dates, and she ....said that people don't ask her for dates. I asked her what they do and... she said. She said they ...ask her to do stuff... and ...." She paused, stopping herself. She took a slow....steady breath. Eyes closed.... before she opened them back up. Expecting to see an ...alarmed look on the other woman's face or something.

"The way she was talking about this wasn't....normal. It wasn't like....she was propositioned, and she decided to go along with it. She made it seem as though she just.....did whatever she was asked. Like she had no...WILL." She murmured, her hands gripping the cup of tea until she realized she was very close to breaking it... and just.....set it down.

She wanted to keep going, but she stopped herself from just...vomiting it all up. She looked up at her Captain, wondering how she looked right now....hysterical possibly. Or well...her own version of hysterical, she was hardly a crying, sobbing mess or anything like that, but she was far more upset than she usually ever allowed herself to be. And she searched the woman's face.....hoping to see ....something. Compassion? Worry? Concern? She didn't know what she was looking for, but she was afraid of seeing.....distrust.... maybe disbelief. No.... maybe what would terrify her most would just be a cold stare. She told herself that wasn't going to happen, hoping she was right.

Lerna was..... pleased to see it. A slow, crawling wave of relief coursing through her body as she saw the look on Murasaki's face as she told her story. Seriousness. But not cold indifference. she could SEE the fact that this woman vared very much about what was coming from her mouth, and as she continued to speak, more and more confidence came into her voice, to a certain extent. She was even startled when Murasakai ACTUALLY jumped forward and outright accused the Captain in her own way regarding .....all of this.

Her expression......shifted..... uncertainty about it but ....she did nod her head slightly. Listening as Murasaki would then talk about their options for ....action. And she felt ....almost instant anxiety as she mentioned going to the Captain commander. Which....yes...that definitely ..... MIGHT....solve the problem. But She felt that nauseous paranoia start settling in almost instantly as it were. Her shoulders tensing slowly before looking off to the side and clearing her throat.

"It......it may ....be more complicated than that. I'm......I don't know how.... " She halted, trying to ....think of a way to handle this particular....point in the conversation. It was good, Murasaki CARED about all of this so far. But........that was because..... as presented......Murasaki was under the impression that this was just a human that had been pulled into this situation. "I..... suspected that ...she wasn't just a normal soul. So I asked her....if she was a Mod Soul. She confirmed that she was a Mod Soul of Captain Gamu's design. Which..... means that I don't know....how much of what she told me about her backstory is true..." She noted quietly. "When a Mod Soul is created, or made from something. They are adjusted and programmed within certain parameters. Things like.... temperament..... conformity to authority for example, is a common aspect built into them in days past. But it would not be unreasonable to believe that her...human backstory was simply programmed in." She noted quietly, already tense. This wasn't information that she would normally know. She'd only started her schooling a month or so ago, they hadn't even COVERED Mod souls yet. And already, she could feel fear at the questions this might inspire, but she had to keep going.

"I....we haven't....gone over Mod Souls ....in class. I don't...even know how the Gotei presently handles ....them. Th-..." She felt herself choke just the slightest. She thinned her lips. Well........this.....this sounded like it might turn into a proper investigation. Which.... meant that .....the integrity of her own word might be called into question. About all of this. May as well.... just rip the bandaid off now, rather than have the Captain walk in with information she wasn't privy to.
"I don't know....how the Gotei handles us....these days. It may be that this woman Meninas.... is just....Gamu's creation for an explicit purpose. I....I don't know if mod souls are just considered...property and equipment. The ...Meninas wasn't....cloistered about admitting she was a mod soul. which means Gamu might not be concerned about her letting people know....possibly." She noted very quietly. Now she was well and truly on edge. Having..... no idea what was about to happen. Bracing herself.

Under normal circumstances Lerna might have been a little.....blown away. Especially seeing the sort of progress that had been made in the last 600 years. Or maybe it was just Murasaki, she didn't know for sure. But all the same, she ....took a moment to calm herself a bit, still reeling just a little. All the same, she refocused on the matter at hand.

"That's... sortof the problem. If she's been programmed like this, then she essentially IS doing this willingly. Based on my interaction with her she just ....doesn't ....HAVE a will." She sighed, reaching up and gently rubbing at her eyelids a little. "I don't know what .....we should do. Is ...this enough to start an investigation? It's research and development. I ......" She tensed up slightly. Her pride BURNING through her. The truth was that she was afraid. "I'm not .....JUST.... a Mod Soul. I was an early one. As in..prototype early. Before they even started making actual artificial souls, they were still testing out the process of compacting a soul into pill form and working out the mechanisms of how programming and modification would hold out. So they used..... existing souls for all of that." She swallowed audibly.

"The rest of me. ....is probably either in the Muken. Or....still in the Research Division. I....don't know ...if they have a case for repossessing me or....just locking me up. Or .....I don't know." It STUNG to be this helpless, and to talk about it. It was one thing to be concerned about some other being. But this was far for her own self, and Lerna was ...visibly, viscerally uncomfortable to talk about it. But she couldn't ignore this. If Meninas really WAS a human converted into a Mod Soul. That hit far too close to home for her to just ignore it.
"I was one earth a very long time. Long enough to know what retaliation is." She noted anxiously.

Lerna couldn't help but be a bit ....startled by all of this. Well, no, the look on her Captain's face made it abundantly clear that this could be a complicated situation. But, she also made it very clear that she had every intention of protecting her. Not only that but the woman seemed simply.... unabiding. There was no uncertainty, no consideration. Her mental effort was not 'if she should' help, but simply what she was going to do to do it. It was..... admirable. She had seen one side of Murasaki down on earth, a side that had helped her relax around the woman. But now she was seeing the Captain in an entirely different light. An adamant stance that she would not simply allow these things to happen.

And for a moment....she saw it all happening before her.
Taking Meninas from that situation seemed.....entirely possible....very likely even. Even the notion that, perhaps given ....gradually, there could be a transition to a state in which she could be open about who and what she was. Well, at least being a Mod Soul.
"Captain....." She began, taking a moment to ........ try and figure how she wanted to say this. What she honestly wanted to do, was move around the desk and give the woman a hug. Which was....bizarre. She didn't like touching human, let alone shinigami. But she wanted to express her gratitude. But no.... on earth perhaps, but in this setting, she was Murasaki's subordinate. And so, she stood up to her feet and promptly executed a deep, respectful bow toward the Captain, something entirely outside of Lerna's general behavior, letting her head stay dipped for a few seconds before she straightened back up in what she hoped was a proper expression of her gratitude and respect.

"I'm glad that I decided to become a Shinigami." She felt .... a sting in her eyes, unaware that tears had started to form. "I know the things they say about you. But I also know that there is nobody else I know in this Gotei who embodies the spirit of what a shinigami should be more than you do." She noted softly, pausing to let her .....collect herself, before clearing her throat. "Is....there anything you need me to do? Whilst this is sorted out?" She asked. Certainly she wasn't going to JUST sit back and let Murasaki handle everything unless that was what was absolutely necessary.