Golden Hour [Erika, Open to 1]

"You're overthinking things. There's still time before things like that need to be worried about."

She did not have nearly as many issues as she had left for the dogs that nipped at her heels when the Gotei United was vulnerable. They could manage the problems and the shinigami she cared about could receive aid from Shishiyuki and however else still remained dedicated to that vision. As long as they did not rock the boat there was no grounds for reprisal from Byakuya who shackled himself to the law. If it came to bloodshed, she would only use it in an act of defence.

The cynic and warrior inside of her almost wanted them to lash out in their frustrations at having control slip through their fingers. So that she could cut those greedy fingers off and their arrogant heads shortly thereafter. At the moment there was a tenuous peace.

Yeah… okay, Ranma could stop worrying about the future. It reminded him of his Zanpakutō, funny enough. Sighing in relief, he could at least just focus on the task at hand, deciding not to blabber any more for now. Like a docile rabbit.

Ranma’s opinion of the nobles would likely never reach the same heights as hers, though he wouldn’t know. And the Central 46? He barely even gave them a thought these days – in his eyes, weren’t they all the same? Or was that bigoted? Like, hypothetically, if he were to join Lord Kuchiki’s ‘attempt’ at making a new Gotei, would the Central 46 be cool with him? He wasn’t part of the Gotei 13 back in the day, mainly ‘cuz he wasn’t born back then, but he’d heard rumors… no, no, stop, don’t think about it.

Central 86, the way he wanted to- no, stop having those thoughts, those were Rukon goon thoughts… ah, who was he kidding? Many probably felt that way.

“Gee, fine… I’ll just stay here until further notice, then,” he replied, head empty mode tempting him to take the next dance, “You probably got ideas of your own right now, I bet. If you need my aid… if you ever need my aid, like, if you need my aid or something, hit me up. As far as I feel, I’m still a member of the Gotei United, so I'm still working under you. To hell with what a piece of paper says, right?”