Good Work Out There, Champ [Liana/Solhammond]

He is silent to her question.

He lays in the bed staring at the ceiling. His mind replaying the events in his head over looking for something he might’ve done differently. As if there was anything he could have prevented the outcome, a futile gesture at the end of the day. His eyes closed as if wanting to shield light from his gaze, before his lips cracked into a smirk followed by a chuckled huff of air. Her question was amusing to the wandering soul that was Solhammond.

“Hard to answer that, Captain. I feel like all paths led to failure but…” He trails off for a moment as his eyes open to be greeted by the ceiling lights. The bright lights of the medical area always seem a bit too bright. “I wouldn’t change anything. It makes me wanna fight harder, smarter. To know how much more I have to go; it’s… it’s… it’s wonderful.”

He slowly tries to lift the arm that was cut off as if by habit, it feels sore at the point it was connected at. But he was happy to have it, causing a smile to spread across his face. He felt light like a feather, in a way which he wasn’t before. It was strange. The reaction to the beating should be anger or perhaps the drive to get back out and train. Maybe that was what she expected from him.

But for him it wasn’t so easily surmised. Like being in a car driving down a serene countryside, he was merely basking in the moment. Not rushing towards a destination that would disappear if he delayed. His head turned to the side to look at the window briefly, in thought for a moment.

“Thank you, Captain Liana. I do not find the loss dissatisfying.”

“I think I can do that.”

He’d go to sit up slowly with some level of pain evident on his face. But like many things in his life he persisted through it to rest his back against the wall. His long hair seemingly a mess for now, not that he cared about appearances right now. The path ahead was hard and tedious but something about it excited him. It reinforced his will to improve, no not just improve, but cultivate something unique in himself.

“I’d like to keep doing this, more training with you. I know you’re probably busy, but I don’t think it’ll be a waste of either of our time.” He was straightforward in what he wanted, that much was clear. No point in trying to convince a captain to train him more, they either would or wouldn’t. He offers a grin to her, his lips pulling into a toothy smile that showcased the genuineness she suspected he had.

Where others felt sadness or shame in failure, Sol found something else. And he was quite content with it.

“I certainly need to work on my Kido foundations. I suppose I should study some more theory? Any advice on that front?”

When she went to sit down he’d sit up as best he could in the bed, still feeling somewhat sore as he rested his back against it. He’d nod along with what she said, considering her words and what they meant. He’d wish he had something to take notes along with, but committing them to his memory would work too. He had a pretty good memory, at least according to him.

“Could you give some examples to that, you’re meaning the portion of casting when it becomes it’s own external… construct or spell? Or do you mean how energy works in general in the world around him?” He’d inquire, figuring that no question would be bad at this moment, even if he did feel a bit silly. He’d bring his hand upwards, staring at it for a moment, as if visualizing the spiritual particles that floated around it. Replying to the events of casting a kido in his head, trying to remember how it felt once it becomes one independent creation outside his body.

“Ah, I wish I had something to take notes with.”

It took him a second to find a proper app to start recording information in, but he began to do so with surprising alacrity. He had one of these for personal usage, and one back home before he died. It was a good way to keep track of a lot of his health statistic, as a fighter had to make sure to not break weight or become too unhealthy between bouts. For now however he was using it to annotate what she said as notes he could remember, looking up with a nod as she began to show the light.

“Understanding and practice, it’s not too dissimilar from working a muscle.” It was a simple comparison but it worked well enough for the purposes, after all doing this over and over again would grant him better understanding and a stronger way to perform it. “But you gotta work it the right way, know proper form and all that so you’re not wasting energy doing ineffective actions.” It was clear that he was understanding the concept, it was more dedication than anything after that point.

“That’s useful, are there any exercises I can perform focused on that?”

Ah man. That was cute. Why did she clap?

It was a subtle thing as he watched it, she was after all insanely strong and his superior in every regard. But the almost girlish way she went about that did cause him to smile involuntarily, looking at his tablet as if to write something trying to gather his thoughts before deleting what seemed like an incoherent thought. He’d then look back up to her, the smile fading slightly as she manifested her spirits.

“That’s been hard.” He’d sigh, it was surprisingly one of the aspects he struggled with the most regarding his skills. His Zanpakatou had been quiet to him thus far, and he didn’t know why. He could feel it in the abstract, the reflection of his soul. But it was… intense. “My Zanpakatou and I haven't established that connection, and not from a lack of trying. It’s strange to put into words.”

He places his tablet on his lap, a hand coming to rub at the side of his neck in thought.

“I think this shows me the path forward, and something to work towards. But it seems like the next steps rest squarely on me. I guess the intensity I feel from my Zanpakatou, it’s something else. It’s honestly a bit scary, if not exciting. But, thank you, Captain Unohana this has been insightful.”