Exkoizu Mi? Can I get some help? [Shishiyuki, Igen]

Herrk!
Ok yea. He didn't know if this was normal, or if maybe it was just reminding him too much of what Nao had done. But yea he was starting to get nauseous. An urge slowly welling up as he did his best to focus and keep up that flow! IT was difficult, and those kicks almost made him totter slightly as the sensation of his reiryoku being kicked and sloshed around inside him definitely was disorienting. But he doggedly kept himself upright! Huffing softly and thinning his lips as he uhhggghhh allllright that was bad. He blinked rapidly and was starting to sweat just a little. But he remained on his feet, clenching his hands into fists to try and ground himself.

"And you don't...erh... think that ....the new Captain is up...to the task?" He ventured. Certainly he could understand the sentiment. After all he'd worked under Abalia for a s hort while before Murasaki had come in. Combat division certainly was in an odd spot. Hell even Eleventh didn't....quite feel the same with it's new Captain. And well, Fifth division was better, but in a more positive way, it felt like. Yuuto certainly seemed like much more of a proactive force than Shuten had been. It wasn't just strength that made a Captain. But well....Fourth was ... it's own thing. Was the Captain plenty strong? From what he'd heard. But he couldn't help but wonder if that was enough. Especially the way that Lady Ai and shishiyuki seemed to regard it.

"I ...can't help but ask. You only recently...joined the Gotei proper. Why did you join Seventh as a Lieutenant? Your position as a Head of a Noble family and all. You're not weak. You might even be comparable to the new Captain. why did you take a Lieutenant position instead?" After all, SHE had brougt up the subject of leadership. Why hadn't she taken it up herself?

BWUH!

Even without a high step up in potency, the location that had been chosen for that strike still rattled Igen just a little. And on instinct, a slight pulse coursed through his frame, and the woman would feel a little tingle in her own body. A slight pulse of reiryoku that wasn't just shorn from that brace of her own spiritual energy, but rather intentionally flowed into her.

Again and again she had hit him with that swirling energy of his own, and he felt his own spirit energy jar and start to twist inside of him every time she disrupted his own. But of course, he wasn't just focusing on the here and the now. The physical. But he was also paying attention. He'd been hit by Nao's own attacks. And so, with his Reikaku, he was feeling around for ..WHATEVER it was that Shishiyuki was doing to him. And he could sense it. That spinning....thing? He didn't fully understand what she was doing, or HOW, but it felt a little like shoving your hand into a pale of water, and then letting the displaced water slosh out. Or something like that. Every time he attempted to keep his flow steady, still, normal. It would just instantly start to go into disarray once she hit him. and it friggin hurt!

He had to struggle to keep pushing himself back into that low energy state. Stability! But ....after a while, as he reeled from the palm to his chest, he could feel his reiryoku rattle. And he considered the metaphor. What if his was already spinning? He was trying to keep his energy stable, subtle. But her own torrent was disrupting the flow. But what if his own energy was moving in more or less the same direction? And the closest thing he could think of was Kaido. She shoved her enegry into his, causing it to rattle and displace. If he could just ...even things out. Would it help? A little like how when healing an individual, he would pour his own Reiryoku into them. Could he do the same?

And so, as she lunged in to prod at his chest. She'd feel a little tug on her energy. Rather than stabilizing the flow, his frame buzzed a little with energy. Keeping up that swirling motion. Trying to, in some small way, emulate that...thing she was doing with hers. And so, when she pushed in, he went with it. And a prompt, sharp flow of energy would pour into her. Attempting to follow the flow of what she was doing. So that rather than her energy shunting into him, both of their energy simply kept a similar flow and mixed. A circular exchange rather than a disruptive shove. Something of course he'd NEVER be able to handle were this an actual spar. If the woman were in a combative state of mind, he might not have even been able to tell what she was doing!

But these small. Pushing, prodding little strikes made it easier for him to sense. And of course, try to adapt.

"I.....can't really argue with that. But who cares ... about hubris?!" He promptly declared with a FIRM expression on his face! Huffing, and somewhat panting from trying to endure those strikes. But he still rose up and straightened himself. "Captaincy isn't just some sticker someone gives you for doing a good job! It's not a laurel, even if some people treat it like one. It's a DUTY. Our Captains haven't been doled out ... because the Commanders want ..guh... to reward people. They do it because we NEED them. Captaincy... is a SERVICE." He insisted! Huffing softly.

"Even if ...I wasn't asked. If I felt that a Squad needed me. And if I felt that I was capable. I would step up and ask to be a Captain in a heartbeat. That sort of thinking....that you should just...sit back and wait for someone to ask you to step up. Is far too passive." He asserted. Perhaps forgetting whom he was speaking with, he WAS very split with what he was paying attention to. And well, also was a little dizzy from those strikes. But he still meant every word, if nothing else.

This was... a weird sensation. To be sure. And as she increased that force in response to his own reaction, he of course responded with a bit of his own force! A steady escalation of his own flow, emulating ...whatever it was that she was attempting to do. And he felt .... something a bit familiar? Something he'd touched on just a little in his fight with Lady Ai. But not quite. It was a little....different, and as she bore down on that flow of energy, he continued to go with it, struggling to match it's intensity, but still trying! And as he did so, his breath fogged just a little as the temperature dropped slightly around him. The soft tint of frost tinging his uniform.

"If you weren't comfortable with a leadership position, then why did you accept the position of Vice Captain?" He ventured, his tone becoming more ...curious now. "I certainly know that ghhh... it's not the same as being a Captain. But especially for Seventh Division, thats still a fair bit of leadership required! I'm not .. even a Lieutenant and I still have to be a leader and not just because of my division being First." He pointed out with a slight furrowing his brows.

"A Lieutenant is not a simple position. If at any point something happens to the current Captain, You'll be the Acting Captain. You say that you don't consider yourself ready for the position. But I'd say that being a Lieutenant is pretty much putting your foot in the door!" He pointed out. Certainly, ESPECIALLY with the ...unpredictability around Elyss. She had been something of an unsuual woman. Even just hearing about how she behaved from those he knew in the division, stability wasn't exactly what came to mind when he thought of her. In fact, from what he'd heard, she had a VERY long history of almost getting herself killed. which only made Shishiyuki's current position a very likely potential foray into captaincy.

"If nothing else, a Lieutenant should be willing and prepared to take up the duties of the Captain. Not just if anything happens, but if for some reason the Captain is injured or unable to attend to their duties. Don't you think? even if you don't feel yourself ready to be a Captain. At least on SOME level, it seems you think you can handle it." He reasoned.

Ow.

Ow ow.

OW OW OW!

It was difficult to focus on the conversation as Shishiyuki weathered him with those jarring strikes! Huffing through it all as he focused more and more onf keeping that flow! He could feel it now! He just had to keep up with her flow and he could weather this! And as he went, in his attempts to keep up with that flow she repeatedly subjected him to. He coincidentally, began to emulate the flow of her reiryoku. And soon that pale frost began to creep across the ground, Those wet spots jabbed into his chest soon falling to the ground in a soft crinkle of ice chips as he gritted his teeth! Pushing himself more and more.

The air around him began to chill as he attempted to keep up and anticipate her own increasing flow. Adjusting. shifting. Keeping up with what he could sense from her body. Even as the Vice Captain got herself soaked, he remained entirely focused on the task! The area round them was slowly beginning to saturate. Around Shishiyuki, the air grew damp and the ground wet. While frost crept across the ground behind Igen as little flakes of freezing moisture started to fall around them. As the two of them slowly amped up, their effect on the area continued to escalate as well.

"I mean..I guess? " He really didn't have much to say about that. It was a fair reasoning and even though he somewhat questioned the Gotei's ability to Replace Elyss if something DID happen to her, it wasn't like that was an immediate worry. And truth be told, he had enough worries as it were these days. "Fine, so ...you mentioned The Captain of Fourth. What about your own Captain?" He ventured. Changing the subject. After all, she'd been pretty liberal in her assessment of Kanae. What did she think about Captain Kishimoto?

Was this it?

He was feeling something, more than just the sharp slams of reiryoku into his own system. He was keeping up, at least as far as Shishiyuki was pushing him. And those jabs though jarring, weren't as awful as they had been when they had started. His breath coming in quick little huffs, and yet controlled, even despite their rapid pace. As that sudden geyser of water erupted from the woman's back, it was a shower of hail that came back down as the pair of them shifted. Igen tensed, focusing on his defense as Shishiyuki continued to strike at him. Adjusting. Pushing. Increasing that rotational energy! And of course, as she began to attack those extremities, he felt a jarring tension, as for just a moment, he almost dropped the ball. He almost lost focus as he found himself fighting to keep the flow at those sharp points.

You really are something.

Spoiler:

That energy ROARED through him. That focus suddenly tightened as it poured through his frame! All at once, bright blue reiryoku surged from his back, unhindered by any cloth as frost flashed out behind him, the crackling hiss of the ground freezing beneath his feet shrill through the air as Shishiyuki's hand struck him, only to meet a twisting barrier of freezing wind. The reiryoku itself billowing around his body looked like flames, despite it all, protecting Igen, at least partially, from that infringing spike of reiryoku that twisted around his body. Those bright pink eyes glowing through that twisting veil as black stripes crawled along his body.