Girls' Night [Katori, Bambietta]

Hands held politely on her front, pace quick and stern, she was searching the grounds for one person; Bambietta. For a while she had noticed the woman’s struggles with fitting in, especially with her history, but she had tried to subtly extent a hand of friendliness, such a hand not seeming to be terribly recognized. She didn’t want her squadmates to feel as if they didn’t belong, especially such a fish out of water that would be a substitute shinigami - they wouldn’t be able to realize their full potential in their role if they were too busy fretting over themselves.

And so, she was on the hunt to snag the woman for a chat over food; it definitely was late enough to catch her for dinner at least - a calculated timing in hopes she was hungry so she couldn’t refuse the offer so easily.

“Oh, hello Bambietta!” She’d call out, mocking the impression she just happened to see her, “How are you this evening? Did your day go well?”

"Huh? Oh, hi... Kotori? Sorry, I'm not great with names."

Bambietta gave a small bow of apology at that, pretty sure she'd gotten it more or less right. She wasn't actually sure why this girl would have been coming up to her out of nowhere like this, but she wasn't one to just shut down a nice casual chat or anything like that.

"Went fine, business as usual, mostly just doing research and stuff lately. No major projects on the docket right now. You?"

She gave a defeated but kind sigh in response to the name jumbling, gently waving it off with a hand, "Nah nah, it's Katori. Ka-tori. It's alright though, don't feel bad - it's such a minor thing after all."

At least she wasn't quick to dismiss or run off, perfect honestly. She'd softly nod with her short rundown of the day, appearing attentive and interested in what she had to say; this wasn't her faking interest, she genuinely wanted to listen.

"Ah, me?" She'd point to herself questioningly before tapping her chin, "Well honestly, today wasn't much different than any other! And... Well... Oh! I was about to go have dinner, I almost forgot," She'd chuckle, feigning hunger, "You wanna talk over a meal instead? My treat, I know a nice place that me and my father occasionally go to."

Honestly, Bambietta didn't really think it was much of a minor thing at all, given her attachment to her own name. Still, if she said it wasn't a big deal, she wouldn't press the issue, though she did get a little irritated at it being repeated twice in succession like that, as if she was a child.

"Sorry, sorry. Uh, dinner..? Well, I haven't gotten anything to eat since this morning, so I could go for something, sure."

Was this...like, supposed to be a date or something? Bambietta hoped not, she wasn't exactly looking for one, and this girl didn't quite seem like her type anyway. Besides, she wasn't going to seem like she'd been slacking when her re-assessment came up, which was pretty much right around the corner.

"What's the place? I try to keep up with most of the stuff around here, or well, I did anyway. I've been a little too busy lately to actually follow up on any of my cooking but I used to be pretty intense about it."

She seemed more than pleased with Bambietta's acceptance, even if she didn't appear the most thrilled for it, "Good, good!" Her hands would rise to clasp together on her chest with that bright smile, "Especially with all your hard work, it'd be wrong of me not to treat you to a good meal!"

For the longest time, she had only given her small gestures of kindness, and so she was determined to give the girl a greater one, though she didn't appear very comfortable towards her. Was she thinking this was a trick, or some elaborate waste of time? She earnestly couldn't tell, and all she could do was just try to bring more positive focus to her than herself; she couldn't read her mind after all.

"Really? You cook?" She'd noticeably perk with interest, "Ah, i'm a bit jealous, i'm not so great with it..." With a shrug of her shoulders, she'd continue, "Oh, it's a barbeque place! Really really good.."

She was being rather earnest; the more sophisticated places one would expect someone like her to spend a night were completely boring and stuffy to her, she much preferred to dine in much more unexpected establishments. As she'd begin to lead the way, she'd face Bambietta for a moment as she walked,
"So, how have your kido studies been going?"

It was getting really consistent that this girl seemed to be treating Bambietta as if she were a child, and frankly, if she weren't doing everything in her power to be a model shinigami, Bambietta probably would have already punched her. At least she was real good at keeping things cool, you got good at that in the penal legion.

"Studies haven't been going too great, really, I'm pretty disappointed with my progress. I've had a few pretty decent hybrid spells go fine, usually I like to figure out how the breakdown of reishi actually works when really volatile kido are in play. Right now a lot of the common offensive incantations are pretty inefficient, which I think's fine if you're just learning, but I'm not really satisfied with it when I'm supposed to be a specialist."

Realistically, Bambietta could have left it at that, but given this was her superior, she just naturally assumed that the woman would understand if she elaborated further. Besides, she wouldn't be in Kido if she didn't like talking about her work.

"You look at a 31 Shakkaho, and sure, it's fine on paper as an offensive spell, but it's actually a pretty terrible way to get that effect. You're pretty much just condensing the energy and tossing it off, it's not really that much different from what Arrancar are doing with Bala, right? So if they're getting those numbers, tossing out as many as they can, why aren't we doing the same thing? And if it's really that simple, couldn't we be delivering that effect through something more efficient than just a ball? A beam, even a tiny arrow. Maybe practically a wire-thin line from one fingertip. At any level of specialization, I'm really just not seeing how a lot of these kido are worth using. I want to fix that."

That all made perfect sense to Bambietta, anyway. And given her only actual metric for competence was herself, she just assumed anyone else probably knew better. Was that true? No. But she didn't know that.

"Oh?" Katori's smiling face changed to more of a partway between concern and interest in what the difficulty may be as she'd lead them through familiar streets; thankfully the walk wasn't excessively long but definitely enough for the two to chat before they make it there. She was attentive through the woman's overall explanation of her issues, perspective, and opinions of the matter of kido... Ideas she certainly hadn't heard from any other. Her passion was rather infectious, though.

"Well, that's a spell typically taught to academy students, a common offensive kido," She'd speak with a smile, looking back at Bambietta, "So I guess it does make sense that it doesn't have much meat to it; not everyone's good at casting right out the gate, so something as uncomplicated yet flexible as Shakkaho is perfect for learners, same goes for any common one I feel. What doesn't have a lot of punch in your hands may be all another can handle at the moment. But it isn't like you can't form an improved version of the spell; you just need to have a good idea in your mind of how the spell could be expanded upon."

She hardly felt the need to go into examples and stressed upon advice; if Bambietta was capable of performing hybrid spells without them exploding in her face, then this wasn't as foreign a concept to consider by comparison, "Well, that's how I think about it, at least. I've been trying but I do face my own difficulties in further developing my skill in kido... It's hard to place. My skill in Kaido for instance is serviceable, but I don't feel myself satisfied in it."

A drawn out exhale, she felt perhaps she was focusing too much on herself, deciding to get to the point, "Keep at it, from what i've heard your progress has been good, even if you don't feel so. I'm sure your find your fixes..."

She'd stiffen a little before proceeding with her intent, "I could offer help or support, if anything."

Bambietta was all too glad for her focus, otherwise the fact that she was internally seething would have been abundantly clear. Yes, obviously she knew perfectly well how simple a Shakkaho was designed to be. The conversation had been about her theories on utilizing its principles beyond just that basic spell, and somehow it had been veered into this white-haired bitch rambling about her difficulties.

Was it a white hair thing? It had to be, but then again, Vice Captain Arima had been great, so it couldn't just be that.

"Nah, I think I'm alright. I figure if I've made it this far with my own smarts, I'm probably pretty close to a breakthrough."

Really, she just couldn't even begin to imagine asking this stupid bitch for help with anything. She'd probably snap within five minutes.

Well. This was not going as well as she hoped. It felt as if any time she opened her mouth, she did nothing but make Bambietta more distant from her. Even if things weren't working well, she was still intent on treating her to a meal - if there was anything she was to accomplish tonight, it was at least that. Weight in her chest, she still smiled as she led them along until they had reached the restaurant; it wasn't anything incredibly special at first glance, just what you'd expect a place that served barbeque would look, and thankfully it wasn't too busy.

Katori kept her mouth shut largely until they had decided on what they wanted and were sitting at the table waiting for their orders, contemplating on what on earth to say to at least improve things from a relatively bad start,

"So, what do you think?" She'd ask, smiling Bambietta's way despite her offness.

Frankly, the fact that this girl'd been smart enough to not open her mouth did at least earn her a few points in Bambietta's book. Her expression remained the same, the broadly positive face she always had around the Seireitei, but Bambietta's eyes were a bit more intense than they probably should have been.

"It seems like it might be nice. I like the atmosphere, it's nice and relaxing. At least, if you're into this sort of casual thing, but I don't really tend to go to the more upscale places unless I'm spending a lot on a good meal. It's worth the stuffy atmosphere."

She certainly wasn't at the same degree of cheerful or friendly that she was with her friends...well, friend. But hey, it was definitely not quite as curt as she could have been, especially given the awful start that Katori had given them.