Jinzen, kidou and speaking

The stillness of the glade was absolute; the girl with the blank eyes was staring at her muttering about her silence and curious foxes. Nier had tried to speak with her, as Garuda-san had told her but the girl simply laughed at her and continued her muttering. She leans back as she wakes from her meditation, stretching her stiff shoulders and looks around in the empty room; Garuda-san had promised that he would swing by that afternoon.

Standing up and stretching further Nier walks to the door and slide it open. It was a sunny hot afternoon and she had no more classes that day, she had studied for a test in history of Soul Society, and kido, there was a practical test the following day in that. Her teachers praised her control and inventiveness in being able to cross hado and bakudo, it was appearantly something that was supposed to be hard. They did try to get her to speak more; the woman that helped her with her speaking-pattern was trying to make her into an orator. Nier did not agree with her on that.

She sits down on the warm deck, sipping her water waiting for her friend to show up, he should be there soon enough.

Garuda had paperwork to attend to, not to mention approve of kido curriculum and standards; he would be the one making sure that the practical you had coming was done properly. He would also have to be in a haori fitting his role, so he told those involved that he was going to wear the captain's haori for the 5th Division, even though he was still just a lieutenant, which was brought up by one of the more stubborn of instructors. "I know I am a lieutenant," he says, "but until you can get a captain to do it, you'll be dealing with me. Care to fight for it?" The instructor backs down after this, because he was next in line for a 5th Seat position, and the last thing he would want is to piss off a man literally next in line to command the 5th Division.

After an exhausting day, Garuda checks the time and rushes out of his offices after all the work is filed. He finally stops a few feet away from Nier, keeping his promise to her. "Sorry I'm late," he says, crossing his legs as he sits next to her. "I had to get a few things ready for tomorrow. There's a practical test in Kido that I have to be there for, so I had to make sure everything was in order." He did not know that that would be your test, since it was a test for all students from every level and focus. "Tell me about your lessons as of late, Nier. I hear that you're a little hesitant in your speaking class."

Nier gives Garuda-san her extra water, giving him a nod of welcome. She wasn't that surprised that he was the one that would hold the test, what she had gathered the 5th was one of the divisions that used most kido.

"She want me to speak much, I don't need," Nier says with a shrug, answering his last question first. "Will test kido tomorrow, you test me. Teachers' say that I do good kido. History, not good." She shrugs again, she hated history; it reminds her of how much the world had changed without her noticing anything. She let her hair out of the band finger brushing out the knots that had formed during the day, looking down at the red hakama they had given her despite her wish to wear blue. "Jinzen not going well, she laughs at me, but see her, just child," Nier says thinking of the girl with the wide crazy eyes and the daggered wings and shudders. One of the teachers who taught jinzen and zanjutsu said that their zanpakuto's souls were a reflection of their own. Nier hopes that he was wrong on that subject, the girl looked insane, and that would mean that she was insane as well, maybe she was insane. She pulls her hair back into a pony tail, her empty eye socket showing for a moment before she adjust the lock over it.

Garuda knew about her missing eye, but he also knew it was a source of negative memories and emotions. "Nier," he says, "she is encouraging you to practise, so that your speech is not so broken. I can understand you fine, and that throat pain doesn't exist anymore, but you have to understand that your instructor is only trying to get you to make speaking as natural as breathing." Garuda had to be serious. "It is also to ensure that whatever you're telling the rest of your team is understood by all." He then listens to her talk about her history not going so well. She could use a tutor, but her trust issues obviously still hold her down. However, Nier did know that she would have to get help if it was necessary.

As he listens in about her Jinzen not going well, about her interaction with the spirit residing with her zanpakuto, Garuda grits his teeth. "It is a flawed teaching that they give students," he says. "A zanpakuto's spirit MAY reflect the soul of its wielder, but it could be full of great rage and resistant to a Shinigami's will or trust, otherwise the total opposite of the one holding the sword. Nier, next time you enter Jinzen on your own, I will join you. As a member of the Kido Corps, I have been entrusted with skills that allow me to do things normal Shinigami cannot. Unless we see the R&D department for one of those zanpakuto spirit summoning things, this is the only way to do it. I feel that your spirit cares about you, but she is ignorant or just resisting you; don't let it get the better of you."