Chapter 24
1998
Sitting at her large desk in a nice and roomy office with a gorgeous window view of the faux-cityscape outside of the division, Third seat Tanya von Degurechaff was happy, her work was easy and fulfilling, but more importantly, she was far enough up the chain of command that she tended to be the last person called upon for hollow extermination duties.
Her attempts at furthering her libertarian agenda alongside some other sensible policies was slow going at best, but she was making a pretty penny from selling the occasional comic strip to the Seireitei Communication, so she considered that a victory if nothing else.
Similarly, her efforts to turn Visha cafe into a soul society franchise was working, since they had managed to open the fourth shop inside central districts and were even getting some offers to expand into a few of the safer middle districts, something they were admittedly still holding off of due to the logistical concerns.
Her relationship with Visha was… a thing, Tanya knew that she needed to come up with a way to push it further along but she was too comfortable with the current pace to truly commit.
Visha had scheduled what they called date night, over the last few years, where they set aside time from their busy schedules and dedicated time to various activities across the soul society. It wasn't exactly a leap in their relationship but Tanya considered it progress.
But besides her stumbling attempts at a romantic relationship, life was good. Her remedial training of Lehrgen and the other members of her personal squad had turned the young woman into a fine officer, she had even let her go into the countryside to look into the situation regarding her missing family recently, though Tanya had insisted that Hidenao, who had transferred from 11th to the 10th shortly after she moved, to go with and make sure she came back safe.
The silent giant had seemed happy enough to go even if Lehrgen had acted a bit childish about having a babysitter before eventually giving in.
Besides interacting with her direct subordinates Tanya had committed to fostering a deeper friendship with Rukia of the 13th, having nobles as friends was a risky play she knew, but court politics mixed with the bastardization of the house of representatives that central 46th was, made it a necessity.
She was already playing a risky game attempting to get the powers that be to improve the outer districts and considering the amount of political power they wielded, having noble contacts would be a useful fallback if that plan went bad, though so far all she managed to do was pass along an empire spell that Nicole had not already figured out and implemented for the 13th division.
It was at best as she would put it, a work friendship but hopefully, it would be enough, though Tanya had to admit that it was grating that the few times she had invited Rukia to lunch with her and Visha and the girl kept asking about 6th Seat Abarai.
The only good thing to come out of that was Visha confirming to her in private that it was an open secret among the 11th that Renji had a thing for Rukia and most of the command staff who knew were rooting for him to win her heart. There was apparently even a rumor that Ikkaku had been giving Renji advanced training to help him shape up so he could one day get a high enough social position to court her.
Which was good… This wasn't a Romeo and Juliet story playing out, just two idiots not willing to talk to each other about what they wanted.
"Sounds familiar~" came the mirth-filled voice of Tasha from the dark recess of her mind.
"Quiet you. " she snapped, not in the mood to listen to her sword's unending lectures.
"Ahh, but if I don't talk you-"
"I wonder if it's possible to go into my soulscape and tie you up so you stop talking?" Tanya growled trying to head off the sword spirit.
"Oh darling, you can't threaten me with a good time, if you wanted to try bondage all you had to do was ask~ Never thought I'd see the day but I do think dear Visha would be jealous."
Tanya smashed her fist into her desk and stood up, causing two of the three soul reapers outside her office door working on reports for the division to startle in surprise. Annoyed, she walked over to the door and shut it quietly.
"Please don't do that again, you talk too much compared to the other soul reaper's swords, and I have the distinct feeling you're going to get me labeled as crazy." The calm words nary betraying the inner turmoil she felt.
"More likely the others are more at peace with themselves, why you're just a ball of conflicting ideas and thoughts struggling to overcome each other." Tahsa mused.
"I doubt that," Tanya said, crossing back over to her seat.
"Right, of course, sure. Hey, how's that new bed you two have?"
Tanya unclipped her sword from her belt and held it up, squinting at the thing in a vain attempt at figuring out what her angle was this time, her suspicion overcoming her better judgment she voiced the question."It's fine, why?"
"Are you certain it's sturdy enough for when you two finally give in? After all, as much as the phrase 'breaking the bed in' is used, I don't think it's meant to be taken literally regardless of how much time you two spend in the training field." came the mischievous reply
Tanya was tempted to toss her sword out the window, so very tempted, instead she just called the hunk of steel a "Spiritual troll" and clipped it back on her belt. Throwing the blade out of the window would just result in her having to search for it later and pay to replace the window, neither of which was worth the time and money, regardless of the immediate satisfaction the action would likely bring her. Deciding to ignore the blade she took her seat and got back to work filling out the last of the paperwork for the day.
Once that was done she got up, picked up her hat, and headed outside, there was an SWA meeting today and she wanted to see about growing connection with the upper staff of the group, not to mention it was being held at their Cafe, so it was improper for her to not be there, oh what she suffered through to help keep this place nice and quiet.
Retsu Unohana smiled as she sipped her coffee. She was happy to see that Serebryakova girl doing so well nowadays, she remembered when Zaraki brought the girl back from the border, the young woman had been a mess of blood and mud, most of the blood not her own, the sight bringing back memories of a… different time.
She half thought the feral girl had dark red hair until she had been cleaned up. The look of her eyes had also been an odd mix of emotional exhaustion and the crazed gleam certain substances inflicted. Through hard work, language lessons, and a little rehab, they got her in a better headspace before sending her off to the Soul Reapers academy.
She did not check-in much past that, only seeing her now and again at a few SWA meetings, but she slowly looked happier and better, surprisingly she seemed to grow somewhat attached to Zaraki. Something she may have taken advantage of, somewhat accidentally starting the rumor that the girl was as close to him as a child.
It had started as a bit of good fun at Zaraki's expense as his unlikely paternal instinct had been a source of some humor to her, but luckily it seemed to work for the girl as it helped her build her reputation as a fierce fighter in the 11th.
Admittedly the joke seemed to have gotten somewhat out of hand ever since that blond girl joined the 11th division. Degurechaff or Chaffy as Kusajishi liked to call her, had fallen well it to the narrative she had created, Degurachaff was a hard fighter and had been brought in the division by Zaraki, if not as dramatically as Serebryakova, the blonde fit well as the middle sister of the trio of girls that Zaraki had brought into his division… but sadly it was not meant to be, it would seem.
The blond German girl had proved to be a master of her own path and was not happy with taking that position that was clearly in front of her. She seemed dead set on creating a place in the world she controlled, so much so that for a while she had wondered if the girl was a possible threat to Zaraki or the soul society.
At first, she had wondered if the girl was some kinda leftover Quincy but beyond filing reports in favor of ways to help preserve and better use those… Remnants of a threat, she seemed to stay true to her duties as a soul reaper and was doing a good job so far of not drawing the ire of Central 46th. If she had done so the girl would have not lived long.
For a while, she let the situation work itself out, though when she heard the girl had accepted a fight with Zaraki she had been a bit shocked. Unohana thought she had built an understanding of the girl and though she did seem to like fighting, the young reaper did not seem suicidal, which is the primary reason for why she had gone to watch the match.
The match had been eye-opening, the girl's use of her Shikai had reminded her of minazuki in how it allowed her to heal in combat to keep it going, while also supporting launching large attacks.
It was however the sheer visceral enjoyment even when nearly bisected that made Unohana feel that certain kinship with Degurechaff. She reminded her a bit of herself in her youth.
Once she understood that, Unohana reassessed the other things she had seen, when not in a fight, the girl's eyes reminded her a bit of herself as well, having that same well-concealed apathy staring back at her was a strange experience.
It had also made her wonder what other similarities they may have and if that was the reason, Zaraki had brought her in. Was some deeply buried instinct in Zaraki looking to fight her manifesting in a desire to fight the blond girl? If that was the truth of the situation, she would have to keep an eye on Zaraki to see what developed.
As for Degurechaff, she was keeping an eye on her as well, so far the girl seemed to just bear some similarities to her, but she feared the girl would take after her in other ways, perhaps setting up a criminal empire within the division? Degurechaff already had several contacts though multiple divisions and seemed to be interested in expanding her contacts wherever she went.
Perhaps she was just being a bit paranoid but something about the girl just seemed like trouble for soul society and she wanted to be certain on whether or not she was actually a threat or just very bad at not looking like some machiavellian string-puller.
Which was why she was looking for the young reaper today, perhaps she had given the girl a bit too much free rein, it was time to find out where she stood beyond the peace Degurechaff had claimed she wanted, peace through oppression after all was something she was intimately familiar with.
This was why she had asked for Visha to hold the meeting at her cafe. What better place to learn about the young warrior than in what amounted to be her home. She would hopefully feel safer and be more willing to talk.
Unohana had the feeling the girl was working from some angle she was unfamiliar with. Arriving earlier than she usually did to SWA meetings, she ordered a cup of coffee with a strange foreign name and picked a book from the small free-use library that Tanya had seemingly set up.
Reading it over and skimming some of the other available reading material as she waited for the girls to arrive, Unohana concluded that from the looks of it, Degurechaf had a massive interest in economics. Something she was historically not particularly interested in which resulted in much of the book's contents going over her head, but, the way these economists talked reminded her of some of the more legitimacy-seeking members of her old network of flunkies back before the Gotei 13.
It was hard to tell a lot about a person from merely what interested them but perhaps she should study more of her prefered economic theory to get a better understanding of how Degurechaff's mind works.
If nothing else it was something to consider, she mused before the bell above the cafe door rang and alerted her to the incoming occupants. In walked the target of her thoughts, the blond-haired teenager's somewhat unruly hair tied up in a ponytail with its majority covered by the black cap she always wore. Besides the combat boots, she probably could have passed for any of the young women who served In the Court Guard Squads, though her distinct silver saber was a notable oddity. She had seen a lot of Zanpackto's in her day and they only rarely took on such a unique look for their base form.
She heard the girl's story about how the blade took on a similar look of the sword she had wielded in life, Something Unohana did not discount, even if she had never seen it happen before, it did not mean it did not exist and the only one who truly knew how the zanpakuto worked was not someone she could just converse with on a whim. Besides, the blade was not what interested her, Retsu stood up and smiled as she called out "Miss Degurechaff, could you come here for a moment?"
The blond head snapped in her direction, her face changed from a rather gloomy expression to a somewhat strained business-like smile before she responded in her assent "Of course," and walked through the crowded cafe before taking a seat across from her. "Good afternoon Captain Unohana," the blond said, taking a seat across from her signaling one of the waitresses to bring her a drink.
"Good afternoon Miss Degurechaff," she returned the greeting with a calming smile before she threw out her question "I've been wondering a few things about you since I saw you fight Zaraki. Would you mind answering a few questions for me?"
It was a minute change but Tanya's smile seemed to strain just a bit further as she nodded her assent once more "I'm an open book Captain Unohana ask away." taking a moment to thank the staff as a waitress brought over a cup of coffee.
Taking good notice of Tanya's face she began "I couldn't help but notice how your zanpakuto seemed to have some healing capabilities, I wondered if you had considered joining the fourth?" a simple question to start out but it would tell her a lot, if the girl told the truth she could assume the girl was not like her, who saw healing abilities as nothing but a tool to prolong her combat, it was hardly a 'normal' perspective but people who developed healing type zanpakuto were already a rarity.
"Truthfully I had considered it but ultimately decided that it would not be the best option for my career." the girl offered without much further explanation.
"Oh? What do you mean?" Unohana pushed on, hoping for a deeper look into the girl's psyche.
"I would have happily joined the 4rth but the Healing division is already full of very component dedicated healers with access to well-established knowledge, I'm but a novice with a supportive power that makes me capable of performing first aid in combat, it may be useful, but I'm sure the back lines are full more competent people than me, whilst the front lines always have a use for combat medics who can stabilize a wound, patch a patient up and send them to the back lines, for 4th's specialized care." The blond explained thoughtfully taking her time to choose her words before contentedly sipping her drink
The blond sounded like she was working some kind of angle, though Unohana couldn't quite figure out what it was. the girl seemed to respect the healing arts a lot, but decided not to join because she thought that her division was full? Well, that was simply not true, Retsu in fact tended to push her division to recruit more members than the number of recruits that other divisions restricted themselves to because she knew that in a life-threatening situation she needed as many skilled hands on deck as possible.
The 4rth's high recruitment policy came from a place of necessity not from being desirable, especially considering the more… logistical tasks the 4rth took over from the other divisions.
Taking the girl's word as the truth she proposed her understanding "So you believe your healing abilities would serve the Soul Society better as a member of a combat division? Interesting but what did you mean by your career?"
"As I'm said among the healers I would merely be a member with a slightly supportive zanpakuto release that helps in healing, but amongst the 10th division I'm a competent fighter and commander with supportive healing abilities, to say it plainly I highly doubt i would be able to achieve Third Seat or a similar rank in such a time frame amongst the fourth, I'm not even sure I would achieve 10th Seat."
Retsu wasn't so sure about that from what she had seen but she could understand the girl's perspective even if with proper training she would likely easily do similarly well in the 4th.
Overall Unohana decided that the answer was satisfactory, the girl was using her healing powers to achieve position and rank whilst possibly trying to position herself in a place where she thought she could do the most, something that meant she was to some extent like her if for more politically-minded
Now with that question answered she could move on to some of the other ones she had accumulated.
"I was wondering why you took such special interest in the Quincy a few years ago," that got an immediate reaction as the girl seemed to stiffen. "Was there a special reason that caused you to take interest in their plight?"
This was another contradictory question that would hopefully tell her a lot. Most of the Soul Society knew that Quincywere not something to get involved in, bad memories and such.
So anyone dealing with their plight would inevitably but heads with Central 46 and other members of the old guard, not to mention that it would possibly interfere with their political prospects, something that seemingly went against the young reapers desires especially considering what she just opined about her career choice.
"No particular special reason, I just dislike rules being broken and human resources being wasted."
Nodding along, Retsu noted Degurechaff's strict adherence to the written word, perhaps a strong sense of honor or duty? It wouldn't have been the first time she met a warrior determined to keep their word or that of their parent organizations, she 0supposed it said good things about the young reapers priorities, even if the explanation didn't quite fit in her opinion. Duty after all was another thing she was intimately familiar with.
Still she didn't think the girl was being entirely truthful with her either, especially with the cold description the girl used for them describing the quincy as human resources was not something she had expected, it certainly threw some doubt on some of her wilder theories. Curiosity getting the better of her she voiced her question "How are these 'human resources' being wasted in your mind?"
"I understand that the Quincy's powers are a potential problem for the balance of the cycle of reincarnation, but at the very least they are a resource we could find uses for, an emergency reaction force to support our own troops in the world of the living as a bare minimum would be useful.
I know that the current state of mind amongst the Soul Society is that the living world should stick to dealing with the living and that the Soul Society should keep themselves to dealing with spirits but Quincy much like spiritually aware humans live in the twilight of both. They are stuck in both whilst also emitting enough reishi that they're effectively hollow bait.
Essentially our options for the remaining Quincy are boiled down to either exterminating them, which would require a large dedicated force to root them out in addition to being both a waste of manpower and throwing away a potential ally or finding a way to use their unique talents and I would always prefer to exploit human resources than waste them."
Retsu was slightly taken aback by the girl's willingness to go on an arguably controversial tirade against Central 46 policy. This was certainly a different take than she had expected, at least it further cemented the idea that the blonde German girl was not a former Quincy, she doubted one of their number would even consider complete extermination to be a possible solution to their problem.
More interesting however was that when you distilled the cold and clinical words from what Degurechaff had actually said, the proposed solution was actually heartingly idealistic. The idea of a quick reactionary force of Quincy to support their own field operations was something that would likely never pass Yamamoto's let alone Central 46's desks.
Too much bad blood and red tape, she wasn't a fan of the idea either since consorting with spiritually aware humans had historically never gone down a good path for the Soul Society.
However, this did open up another opportunity to ask a question that would be most enlightening. "So what would be your position if Central 46 ordered you to break ties and never look into the Quincy situation again?"
The girl's face shifted into a careful neutral visage that most would have probably mistaken for apathy but Retsu knew better, she had seen that face often enough in the mirror when facing orders she didn't particularly agree with, dutiful compliance.
"I would file a complaint but ultimately I would follow orders, captain Unohanaare you passing along an order from Central 46 that they are considering this?"
She chuckled slightly before responding with a no and that she was just asking questions.
Degurechaff's response had much like her rant still been filled with conviction and it was honestly her somewhat stoic if prickled acceptance of whatever direct orders she was given that convinced Retsu the young reaper wasn't a threat to the Soul Society, distinctly different mindsets but they were still so very similar afterall.
And with that she decided on how to treat the girl, "Well no worries on that front, but if you ever wanted to go from novice healer to something better we at the fourth are always willing to take in volunteers for a day as well as provide them with training, as you no doubt know every moment matters when it comes to saving a life, so having competent healers on the front lines to help give people the chance they need is something I would welcome."
Tanya's form shifted back into a more relaxed stance as she grinned "I am fairly busy most days but I'm sure I could swing by once a while and learn a few skills. It would be an honor to learn some medical kido from your division."
"We'd love to have you, I'm sure we can even help you to better control that beautiful silver cloak of yours at least to get the most medical aid out of it."
"Of course I'll-" Whatever Tanya was about to say was cut off as the Serebryakova girl came over and gave her sidelong hug that lingered just a bit too long to be entirely innocent in Retsu's opinion, before taking a seat next to her.
"Good afternoon Captain Unohana." The usually cheerful brunette said with a slight apprehencial tone in her voice, showing Retsu that at least some of her old reputation still got around the 11th even if the blonde one had somehow avoided it or possibly simply didn't care, the girl did seem to have a knack for history after all.
"Good afternoon Miss Serebryakova, I have to thank you for allowing the SWA to meet here tonight. The ordinary meeting hall was in dire need of a good cleaning after the summer heat."
It truly had been a coincidence that one of Kusajishi's many stashes had been exposed during a heat wave, resulting in rather a large swarm of bugs infesting a room over. Hopefully the young lieutenant would do better in the future though she honestly doubted it.
"No problem Captain Unohana, it is an honor to help out the SWA." Serebryakova responded with a slight smile, some of her usual cheer seemingly returning.
"Yes, well tonight's meeting has been a good way to foster friendship, connections and mutual understanding don't you think so, Miss Unohana?" Degurechaff piped in sporting a softer smile and uninterested eyes as she offered her remaining free hand to shake whilst serebryakova kept her arm around the girl rather possesvily sending slightly fearful glances her way, oh well she had gotten what she came for.
"I think so as well,"Taking the hand and returning the gesture. The couple seem to have some plans for the night so she got up from her seat and made to leave "though I'm afraid I will need to cut my time at the meeting short, there are some stubborn 11th who beat themself up pretty bad who need to be checked on every few hours to make sure they don't cause too much of a ruckus at the hospital, until we meet again Tanya."
"Till next time, Captain Unohana"
Once Tanya saw the captain of fourth leave thure the cafe door she let out a sigh of relief, obviously the 46th had wanted a message sent and the captain of the 4th Squad had volunteered since she felt that with the motherly persona she gave up she would have the best chance to set Tanya on the good path, was exactly the good path was however was slightly up for debate, probably one where did not get involved in the Quincy situation, she would assume.
She had felt a sense of foreboding during that conversation but had managed to keep it from controlling her, showing fear would imply she had done something wrong and she disagreed with that.
Admittedly she would have to be more careful in the future with any interactions with the spiritual archers and at least try to make sure she did not step on anyone's toes. As she mentally reshuffled a few plans, tanya noticed that Visha was shivering a bit, "is there a problem Visha?" she asked.
"Ooh no, not really. It's just that everyone in the 11th knows not to get on Captain Unohana's bad side." Visha clarified, hugging Tanya's shoulder a bit closer.
"Oh why's that? I will be honest I never noticed any of that while in the care of the 4rth, though now that you've mentioned it I don't think I ever got any visitors during the few times she was in the room with me." Tanya mused.
"She can get scary at times, very menacing, I have never seen it myself but I hear even some of the captains don't want to screw around when she's present."
Perfect, the Captain of the 4th division, was Central 46's favored enforcer, that probably meant that volunteering at the 4th was less moral duty and more 'show up so the 13 Court Guard Squad mother can whack you with a ruler and remind you of your place if you've screwed up', bonus points if it turns you into a more valuable asset. She had no other options other than to dedicate some of her precious free time and show up now.
"Hmm well that's unfortunate, she seems rather nice for the most part, I'm sure she's probably just dealt with enough of the 11th's usual bullshit that she was forced to show them why she was a captain. After all, anyone who reaches the position has to be an exceptional fighter and another figure of authority people will listen to." Her defense of the superior officer slipping out as she leaned into Visha and sipped her drink.
"Maybe but just be careful around her." Visha said.
Smiling at Visha's visual concern for her she agreed to the request "Will do, when aren't I afterall?". Tanya didn't notice Visha's face stilling in horror for a second as she was far too occupied with her beverage.
The next day Tanya was on her way back from meeting the lieutenant of the 9th, where she had ordered a few more books for Visha's cafes as well as an instructional book on learning to play the guitar as a gift for the lieutenant of the 9th.
Tanya had hidden it in a large selection of books thinking that he was likely not using his position to order things for himself as an anti-corruption measure and that he probably wouldn't notice it as he had never made a comment when she had some of Tolkien's work brought in.
Even if he did it would be no great loss as it would just mean he spoiled the surprise of the birthday present she got him. Keeping your bookseller/censor happy with you was good practice in her mind, though she knew she would have to keep coming up with similar bribes over the next few years for it to truly have an impact.
She was pondering what she would do next year for a gift when she nearly bumped into Captain Sōsuke Aizen of the 5th, stopping just short as the captain carried a large stack of paperwork. "Ah excuse me miss Degurechaff I didn't see you there," the Captain said looking down past the tower of paperwork at her.
"No worries Captain," She said, stepping out of the way before offering her assistance. "Do you need any help carrying that, I have no pressing duties at the moment."
"I'm just moving this stuff to my office but that would be appreciated, yes." he said leaning down so she could take half the pile, once he stood back up he began moving towards the 5th division's headquarters within the city and Tanya dutifully followed behind him. "It's been awhile since we talked miss Degurechaff, how have you been fitting in?" the Captain questioned as they walked, striking up a conversation.
"Well enough," she somewhat offhandedly commented before gathering up her thoughts and continuing, "I have a better understanding of how things work now and I believe I'm performing adequately to what this world expects from me."
"And what does the world expect of you?"
"To be strong enough to kill and hunt monsters, and to protect this spark of civilization from the horror the hollows could unleash." Tanya mused.
"Yes, that is the only option we have when comes to hollows or at least the only one that we seem to have." Captain noted with what was obviously a lead in question.
"Sir?" She questioned, interested in where he was going with this though.
"Oh nothing to worry about, well at least nothing I can talk about here, if you don't mind staying at my office for a bit I could run a few hypothetical thoughts I've had by you if you're interested." Aizen offered looking over his shoulder and causing his glasses to reflect the light of the midday sun.
"Sure, you humor me on my theories, the least I could do is hear out one of your own" Tanya said with a smile.
"Ah yes I hope you don't mind but I edited some of those reports before I sent them up the chain for a chance to make them more palatable to the leadership of course." Aizen commented as they crossed the border into the 5th's resident district.
"Not at all, they're just thought experiments some of which come from places of misunderstanding in this world and conflation from that of the living world, while I'm sure there's helpful information within those reports, as long as they're learned from and can be used if the situation were to ever happen I'm happy."
Thinking it over the Captain probably added his name to the reports as well which she figured would at the very least help lending the reports some legitimacy, even if it galled her slightly to have to share credit for her work, the joys of being a superior in a hierarchy.
"Ah well, I think a lot of what you said has merits even if there were a few places where you propose things I think are unlikely to happen or responded to, I doubt I will see any of those communist death cults for one." The captain mused and though she might admit that she was being a bit melodramatic, she would never trust a disenfranchised person not to make a bad life decision.
"Yes, well time and experience have shown me that those initial reports on possible future disturbances were plagued by misunderstandings of how the world works. If I ever get some free time I'll have to rethink and modify the topic to give a better take on it subject matter someday." she mused as they entered the main plaza of the fifth division headquarters.
"Hmm, I can't wait to read your new observations on the matter, though your newer interest in the Quincy has been interesting as well, using them quick reactionary forces has been proposed before, by a leader of one of their factions even from what I dug up, but there are reasons we tend to refrain from letting humans deal with spiritual matters. Tell me, have you ever come across the Fullbringers in your research?" The Captain of the 5th asked as he carefully opened the door to his office letting them inside, once there he carefully placed his stack of paperwork on his desk, with Tanya placing hers next to his moment later.
"I don't think I have" she admitted as she looked around the office noting it was a lot messier than she would assume from the Captain's persona.
"Ah well the quick rundown is that fullbringers are high powered spiritually aware people with abilities and the power to fight hollows, they get their powers from interacting with spirits and hollows, either in the form of their mothers coming in contact with hollows when they were pregnant or more rarely later on in life.
We attempted to use them now again, due to their abilities being hollow based they do not have the same corrosive effects on the balance of the cycle of reincarnation, though considering how hollows gain spiritual energy from killing and eating each other as well as other spirits I suspect the same might be possible of the Fullbringers. Sadly no one has studied them close enough to be sure on that matter." The Captain finished as he walked over to the shelf grabbing a book before returning to his desk.
Looking it over Tanya saw that the book was on hollows. "Now the real issue is that a few years back a fullbringer was made a substitute soul reaper. With normal humans the process to turn them into substitute soul reapers is temporary which is why in an emergency it had been an accepted, if frowned upon practice.
However when the process is performed on a fullbringer the transfer is a lot less temporary and more permanent, often even leading to permanent damage on the side of the soul reaper. This fullbringer was meant to be test run of your idea in a way to create a local quick reactionary force to support our forces in the region"
Tanya rubbed her chin at this newly learned knowledge, for one the idea that hollows were kind of radioactive and could create soul based mutations that gave human abilities was terrifying, because who to say what else their energy could do to a soul given long enough exposure, it was quite frankly something she would rather not find out.
Beyond the new metaphysical questions however she was glad to finally be aware of the reasoning behind why substitute soul reapers were currently illegal, something she had yet to find out during her studies though she had taken note of it just due to the sheer absurdity when she found out it was possible,
"What happened to this experiment?" Tanya asked.
"The fullbringer in question found out that his power was being kept in check and that he was under surveillance to ensure he didn't do anything against the soul society, something the man apparently decided he didn't like, he ended up killing his handlers and has been missing ever since."
"... What a knucklehead" Tanya commented on the sheer stupidity of the fullbringer, bringing a word she had not used since she was a kid in her first life to her lips. "He signed up to be experimented on and decided he didn't like being an experiment? Are we sure he wasn't planning that revolt from the beginning?"
Chuckling at Tanya's comment, Azien shook his head before taking a seat across from her. "I don't know, as I said he killed his handlers so most records were lost with them. This is why it is illegal to make temporary soul reapers, though it still happens in emergencies I'm sure, however it has been cut down quite a bit to prevent accidentally creating permanent substitute soul reapers.
Tanya sighed in annoyance before rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Of course, he would," she commented "sometimes it feels like every time I find a way we could use our resources more efficiently something tragic and stupid has happened to prevent its use. Like the world is set up for failure by malicious entities."
"Perhaps it is." Aizen remarked with a pained smirk before he opened the book in front of him. "Tell me Tanya, are you familiar with the life cycle of hollows?"
"Not particularly" she admitted "I know they transform from lingering spirits to either a demi-hollow or a full on hollow and that they eventually make their way into Hueco Mundo where they occasionally will come out and raid us.
At some point if they accumulate enough souls and reishi they transform into what I believe is termed a menos grande and if those ever appear anywhere we try not to fight them alone and call in high ranking seated officers or even captains to deal with them. That's about where my knowledge on the hollows ends. At that point, the animalistic creatures seem to stop coming out into the world of living and the soul society."
Aizen nodded in agreement to what she was saying before adding his own two cents "There are two more known states after the base form that menos grande take which by the way are referred to as gillians, they evolve into what is known as adjuchas, coherent sentient creatures despite being an amalgamation of souls.
No one knows exactly how they form on a spiritual level though one prominent researcher into the subject believes that the myriad souls who constitute a gillian will fight each other until one comes out the winner, sadly the it is so damaged by the experience that they forget their original existence, ironically darkly mirroring the cycle of reincarnation.
These Adjuchas then wander Hueco Mundo prey on their own and hollows lesser than them in order to meet the high energy requirements they need to survive, if there a continue this track they evolve into vasto lorde which similarly increases their cognitive skills, their abilities and grants them a humanoid appearance, luckily for us soul reapers vasto lorde are exceptionally rare."
Tanya listened with naked interest during the long impromptu hollow lesson even as it continued on. It was interesting to find out that at some point the gillians basically went through a battle royale, no she wasn't quite sure where the 5th Captain was going with this thought process however.
"These two evolutions of Menos do not tend to leave Hueco Mundo often at all, so I have wondered now and again if it would be possible to work out some sort of a deal with them, they are as far as we know fully sentient after all. If they could keep the less evolved hollow population down, it would be to our benefit."
Tanya nodded seeing where he was going finally even if she could just as easily see the lack of a 'safe' area driving the lesser hollows into the world of the living, they tended to vary wildly in intelligence after all and even animals were often driven from their hunting grounds by competition.
"Well I assume this is a hypothetical situation where we could somehow get central 46 and the majority of the captains to agree to such an idea." She mused knowing that trying to work with hollows was an unlikely situation to ever be greenlit even if a more concise and effective plan were to be formed, the leadership currently in control of the soul society still wouldn' likely give the idea the time of day.
"Of course." Aizen said as he poured out a cup of tea and offered it to Tanya.
Taking the offered beverage took a moment to collect her thoughts. "Well first of all we would need to know what kind of political structure they have in Hueco Mundo, seeing as I highly doubt they have a setup bureaucracy and a centralized form of government."
"Hollows tend to be solitary creatures, we have no knowledge of what kind of political structure they have in their realm but it is assumed that at most there might be a few tribes of hollows that band together and even that is speculation at best."
"Not good," Tanya somewhat hareshly interjected "getting an agreement from one tribe usually means you don't have an agreement with the other tribes and that isn't even taking the solitary achudas or vasto lorde into question, in order to make any deal stick you would need to find some way to unite Hueco Mundo first which would already be a huge investment for a very uncertain return and we already know how well Central 46 likes United spiritually aware beings other than the soul reapers"
"True, true though this is purely a thought experiment, so hypothetically what would you do in order to make it work?"
"You'd need to account for the hierarchy of needs" Tanya began, "In order to make any political structure work it needs to be able to provide something in the hierarchy of needs for the people it proposes to govern, for humans it's often protection, shelter and food. Which is probably going to be a major problem with the hollows since they need to engage in cannibalism to survive, it fundamentally creates distrust and damages any potential group cohesion."
Aizen nodded "Yes I can see how the problem of offering protection and food to some hollows would result in others inevitably becoming that food."
"Not only that, but if we were to get what we want out of this deal which is ostensibly less hollow attacks in the world of living we'd be cutting off another food source that the weaker hollows rely on and what follow-on effects top down culling would have is honestly anyone's guess turning an already volatile social situation into a straight up powder keg."
"So we would need to find a way to remove food from the equation"
"If that's possible and you could also solve the distribution and logistical problems that would inevitably pop up then yes, it could be possible. It would mean you would need to only worry about providing safety and protection which means nigh endless negotiations with different tribes and powerful individuals.
As far as I'm aware the only thing they would consider a threat is us as well as other hollows essentially forcing us to run some kind of racketeering ring, do what we want or will come in and break you, it could work but you'd need to neutralize any dissenters and rebels, at least you'd be able to offer sustenance as a reward to help with that. Personally I think the best way to do it would probably be to handle it like the Roman empire did. Improve certain regions of Hueco Mundo enforcing your laws whilst taking some people you trust and are certain will stay loyal to whatever cause you can drum into them and even that will still leave some of the hollows as rogue elements. "
"Having a threat that the, let's call them civilized hollows, can agree is worse than us could at least allow them to vent any problems they have with the Soul Society's management or dealing with their less civilized cousins."
"Hmm orchestrating the creation of two factions and then playing them off each other for our benefit is a little bit underhanded don't you think?"
Tanya shrugged "They're hollows, their options are being wild beasts or us killing them. Giving them a third option is a blanket improvement in my mind but that's contingent on these more evolved variants being civilizable and enough of them seeing it that way."
The Captain nodded "Yes it is an interesting little thought experiment, even if it's hypothetical nature and the existence of factors outside of our purview ensure that there's no guarantee it would work even if we had the required material solutions."
"No plan survives contact with the enemy." Tanya paraphrased the old quote, "Regardless of whether or not we could manage to civilize them hollows will always be our enemy due to their inherent destructive nature, even if we did pull off the initial part of this plan there would always be the potential for and justifiable fear of rebellion and I strongly suspect that Central 46 would sooner consider it a complete failure and ban any other attempts if they ever did rebel.
What's worse once you've created a system of government for tribals they tend to stick around even after the original creators wander off, even if prior existing grudges often do heavily influence what comes after. Having the enemy be better organized could absolutely blow up in our faces and even the potential of a centralized enemy 'hollow kingdom' should make us have second thoughts about it..
Aizen stilled for a moment seemingly to collect his thoughts before offering his response "Perhaps you're right, though I suspect the concept will stick around in my brain similar to how the Quincy's plight sticks in yours."
Tanya nodded in agreement, seeing as he wanted to make a point that everyone has a situation they think about and wish they could pull off even if they had to live with what was attainable, within the realm of possibilities and legal within the Soul Society.
"Who knows, maybe something will change in the future that allows both of our ideas to come to fruition?'' she mused half joking before getting up and making to leave "But I'm afraid it's time for me to get moving. I have some reports to fill out before the evening is over, it's been a pleasure talking to you Captain Aizen. "
"Until we meet again Third Seat Degurechaff. "
Woo chapter 24 we are back on track ish, nice little conversations between tanya and some captains. anyways I have two other Tanya fic they be updating tonight as well
Edited By : Lord Feunoyr, emberwing
reviews
PsylentFox; yeah I for three more inteludes stored up so should give us more of that
EricFreak: haha that sound like water cooler chat that could happen in universe really... HMMM
Scarlet Anne; creativity to make everyone happy on this gun vs sword debate is fun way to handle so I can't wait to reviel my plans
Jctherebel:thank you
ShineX; damn that lof review, thank you hope you enjoy the chapter
ita123: well this chapter should helped in that department
Lord Xantos A. Fowl: yeah took a bit to make it what is don't want to come off wrong, or... horny...(shivers)