To Absent Friends And A Fresh Start (Leona, Armina)

"Yes, Armina. I differed from the rest of my family in that I lived for the thrill of the fight. As you could tell during our sparring match, I still do." Leona confirmed that her attitude towards fighting was one thing that set her apart from the rest of her family. While her parents and siblings fought only when needed, the youngest Sheridan fought because fighting made her feel alive like nothing else could. Not even a day-long coffee binge of her favorite brew came close to the euphoria a good fight gave the blonde.

"I found that I liked fighting during my days in the Rukongai, but World War IV was the point that I could no longer deny it. I served in it from start to finish and while I didn't pull off any spectacular feat of skill that got me noticed by my superiors recognition didn't matter to me. All I really cared about was when and where the next fight would be." Leona added to the story. She realized that on some level her life sounded kind of empty because she had admitted that fighting was one of her biggest joys, but it was the truth. During the last world war Leona had discovered that being in the middle of the action was far more pleasing to her than any coffee could ever be. At this point she supposed that the only rush that could equal a particularly good fight was finally achieving Bankai.

When the subject of her sister came up Leona effortlessly shifted gears to that subject.

"My older sister isn't into dance, but during her time at the Academy she learned that protracted slugfests weren't for her. So she experimented with Zanjutsu and came up with a way to fight without leaving herself open to attack for very long." Leona told Armina what she knew about Lucia's style of Zanjutsu. Lucia had not told everything about it, but Leona did know that it was still a work in progress. One glaring weakness the youngest Sheridan had noticed was that a strong Zanjutsu strike to Lucia's zanpakuto when the latter was performing a spinning attack could easily disrupt a spin and leave the latter open to retaliation. Leonidas had demonstrated that flaw several times in the sparring match between the older Sheridan siblings.

"Most of the time I'm not bothered by my passion for fighting because it kept me alive during my time in the Rukongai... and during the war. While the hoodlums in the neighborhood were bad, the Hollows were worse. They didn't show mercy, so I didn't show any mercy to them." Leona commented on how her passion was important to her survival both before and after becoming a Shinigami. While she was fortunate that the hoodlums in her part of the North Rukongai were not nearly as bad as those in the districts with higher numbers, they were still bad enough to try to push around people they perceived to be weak. World War IV was a lot worse than her neighborhood because Hollows had no concept of mercy and always went for the kill, so one needed to be ready and willing to kill them first.

"The battlefield's no place for pacifists." Leona casually remarked in a reference to the critics who felt entitled to trash Shinigami who enjoyed fighting a bit too much but also felt that the same Shinigami should protect them whenever the fecal matter hit the oscillating air device. Like the blue-haired woman the blonde did not take the criticism to heart because talk was cheap and she had a thick skin. Besides, one had to be tough if they wanted to have a long tenure in a combat-oriented division.

The subject of Leona's discount version of her sister's style came up, so Leona was willing to discuss it a bit more.

"You're right, Armina. My sister's style is best used in wide open spaces and it lacks striking power, but it's fast on both offense and defense and that speed can catch someone by surprise. With that being said, I typically prefer a more balanced style of Zanjutsu because in my experience being able to defend quickly is as important as being able to attack swiftly. That flexibility saved my life on more than one occasion during World War IV." Leona agreed with the other Shinigami's assessment of her sister's style and opined on the benefits of a balanced style of Zanjutsu. The blonde lacked the raw strength of her brother and Armina. Leona also lacked their ability to tank hit after hit and still remain standing. Therefore she had to rely on balance with the occasional burst of speed and the judicious use of Shikai to win fights.