Norma and Jurobei

Norma


Norma strode into the ball room, her white hair curled and neatly put into place. She wore a soft pink sleeveless dress with a sheer chiffon drape, that had a beautiful beaded pattern on it. She looked around the room, scanning the people inside. She did not like the idea of mingling with the arrancar. She was beginning to question Setsuna's mental stability.

Norma walked over to a table that appeared to be empty and sat at it. She would try and enjoy herself while here, but she wasn't going to let that take her off her guard.

Daiji


The lovable vice captain of squad four was seated at a table all alone in a far corner of the room. He was dressed in a double breasted navy suit with a white shirt and red bow tie. He was very nervous about tonight's event. He had never seen an arrancar before. He had only ever heard about them, and here he was in a room full of them.

Daiji sipped at a glass of soda as he looked around the room nervously. He hoped no trouble was started. He didn't quite know how things would turn out if it did.

Sofie


The petite arrancar stood quietly in a dark corner of the room. She was trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible. Sofie was wearing a dark green dress with 3/4 sleeves that went all the was to the floor. She didn't really know anyone here. She knew of some of the arrancar, and she knew none of the shinigami. Sofie rarely ventured out of her garden in fear that she might be forced to do battle. Those days were far behind her, and here she was throwing herself into the middle of a potential blood bath.

Setsuna


Setsuna stood at the foot of a large statue of the founding head captain. She was beautifully dressed in a royal blue gown with a woven halter type neck strap. She smiled and waved to everyone as they entered and made small talk with the occasional passerby. This evening would be something, hopefully not a bad something.

Norma sat at her dimly lit table sipping on a rum and coke. This was a lovely ball, and everything seemed to be going according to plan. Hopefully things didn't get out of hand. She really wasn't in the mood to fight any arrancar tonight.

As the elderly shinigami was raising her glass to her lips, she noticed Jurobei look at her with a puzzled look on his face.

"Jurobei, you look as if you've just seen a ghost. Come sit, sit a spell."

Yumi wrote:

Norma sat at her dimly lit table sipping on a rum and coke. [...]
"Jurobei, you look as if you've just seen a ghost. Come sit, sit a spell."

"I suppose one could say that, considering the memories places like these hold of you." said Jurobei, gladly but carefully taking a seat in fear of injuring his back. Norma was quite different from the Corona Espada. At least Norma was an accessible sort, even though it had been ages since Jurobei saw her last and was working on outdated memories alone to build conversation.

"Many times I have remembered conversations that we've had even though they didn't seem important at the time. I'm not even sure if I'm hallucinating right now." Jurobei defeated his own weak sense of humor with a self-depreciating statement. "I have not aged well." Then an attempt to completely change the subject. "Tell me, what brings you out of retirement after all these years?"

He didn't know that the ball served highballs, but it was Setsuna's ball, so Jurobei knew he shouldn't have been so surprised. Everything had to be stacked to the nines. He kinda wanted a rum and coke, hold the cola.

Kane wrote:

Yumi wrote:

Norma sat at her dimly lit table sipping on a rum and coke. [...]
"Jurobei, you look as if you've just seen a ghost. Come sit, sit a spell."

"I suppose one could say that, considering the memories places like these hold of you." said Jurobei, gladly but carefully taking a seat in fear of injuring his back. Norma was quite different from the Corona Espada. At least Norma was an accessible sort, even though it had been ages since Jurobei saw her last and was working on outdated memories alone to build conversation.

"Many times I have remembered conversations that we've had even though they didn't seem important at the time. I'm not even sure if I'm hallucinating right now." Jurobei defeated his own weak sense of humor with a self-depreciating statement. "I have not aged well." Then an attempt to completely change the subject. "Tell me, what brings you out of retirement after all these years?"

He didn't know that the ball served highballs, but it was Setsuna's ball, so Jurobei knew he shouldn't have been so surprised. Everything had to be stacked to the nines. He kinda wanted a rum and coke, hold the cola.

Norma chuckled at Jurobei as she sipped her rum and coke. Jurobei was one of the closest friends Norma had during her previous years here, or the closest thing to a friend Norma had. Norma never really had friends.

"You aren't the only one who hasn't aged well. I remember when we were young. Now, we're both dried up old skeletons of what we were."

Norma took another sip of her drink. Smiling more to herself than anyone.

"There's no disgrace in getting older. We may lack in our physical abilities, but we have something these young shinigami won't have until we're just distant memories."

Norma put her drink down and crossed her arms in front of her as she leaned back in her chair, taking Jurobei in. He looked frail, as if she could blow on him and he'd come down like a house of cards.

"I went to the festival today, and saw a lack of discipline and respect among the shinigami working it. Most of them members of your squad. It appears that in my absents Seireitei has become lax. I decided then that Seireitei needed someone like me. Someone who could bend the underling to their will, and bring order once again."

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"You aren't the only one who hasn't aged well. I remember when we were young. Now, we're both dried up old skeletons of what we were."

It still didn't make any sense to Jurobei how or why souls 'aged'. Is it a natural process or was it a manifestation of force of will or character? ... Already Jurobei regressed to philosophy in a casual conversation. Not good.

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"There's no disgrace in getting older. We may lack in our physical abilities, but we have something these young shinigami won't have until we're just distant memories."

What would that something be? Experience, wisdom? Jurobei would gladly trade in his years for what the Science Division had taken away; his youth and his sanity. He especially needed a new back. Norma was leaning in closer to him, which made him especially uncomfortable. His brief visit with the Corona Espada reminded him of his current frailty and weakness due to his prolonged coma, and he knew Norma would notice. She's a sharp one, just like Setsuna.

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"I went to the festival today, and saw a lack of discipline and respect among the shinigami working it. Most of them members of your squad."

This revelation hit Jurobei like a truck. Betrayal. He had no knowledge about the events that occurred at the festival and he could have had at least a comprehensible report of misdemeanors that occurred in his own security division, meant to protect the peace. Division members should have reported to him immediately when he regained consciousness, sensibilities be damned. They should know better than to withhold truths from Jurobei, or to act in such a disgusting manner just because their Captain was incapacitated. He thought them better than that.

The familial trust with his division members was gone. So this is what it felt like to be betrayed. Jurobei dreaded the embarrassing prospect that juniors not yet graduated from the Academy, such as the bookworm Sakoda Mareo, outshone his own division members. A culling might be in order.

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"It appears that in my absents Seireitei has become lax. I decided then that Seireitei needed someone like me. Someone who could bend the underling to their will, and bring order once again."

Despite his training in masking his emotions, he could not possibly hide his obvious distress, embarrassed for himself and his division. Jurobei waved over a server and ordered whiskey, two fingers. Norma's response was a challenge to Jurobei's authority, openly insulting his effectiveness. Still, strangely, Jurobei liked Norma, direct with her intention and who better mastered the art of manipulation than he had. Norma had been one of Jurobei's teachers through example. She would indeed have a strong division under her control.

"The embarrassment is mine." Jurobei let out a heavy sigh. "Please don't allow your conceptions of to Seireitei be scandalized by the dishonor my division has wrought upon itself." He didn't feel the need to make excuses; they were a waste of breath, especially with Norma. "I assure you based on good faith that the Captain Commander and the other Divisions have not become 'lax'. The festival itself was only a joint mission between my division members and juniors nearly fresh from the Academy."

Norma watched Jurobei carefully. As much as she liked Jurobei, she knew all to well just how crafty he could be. How calculating he was. She liked that. It seemed that since she left he no longer had anyone to challenge his craftiness. The newer captains were soft, and Setsuna just didn't care. Not that she really had time to care.

There it was. A crack in Jurobei's mask. Her words had shook him. Something so small as insulting his subordinates? Perhaps you are just a shell, but shells can still cut when stepped on.
Jurobei began to blab explanations and excuses for this and that, but Norma merely raised her hand in protest.

"Jurobei please, save your breath. I remember a time when you're walked the streets of Seireitei and people would tremble. YOU were the captain of the  Onmitsukido, they feared what you could do. It was that way for all the captains. Now it seems that Setsuna is the only one who commands any kind of respect, and that's just it. The captains of this generation of Seireitei have become soft. You need someone who can challenge you. These captains can't feed your predatory needs. You are able to manipulate them too easily, aren't you? You need someone like me, Jurobei. I will help you become the man you were."


Norma chuckled darkly and took the last sip of her drink. When Jurobei ordered his drink, she ordered another as well. Norma lifted her hand and motioned it up and down at Jurobei.


"So what happened? Why are you such a train wreck?"

Jurobei swirled the remaining whiskey in his glass, thinking about his next possible move. His conversation with Norma had suddenly become a chess match. He missed that the most about Norma. There was genuine fear and excitement that came with such battles.

He had to wonder first where Norma's loyalties lay. Jurobei believed at least that she was a traditionalist first and foremost, and that wouldn't change in time. Her attitude towards the Captains might also even be true, but Jurobei couldn't shake the notion of possible entrapment. If her loyalty was to Setsuna and she could somehow bait Jurobei into stating something anti-authoritarian that she could record, it could be his execution warrant.

Flattery also didn't seem to suit her either. She said she wanted to help him. Obviously she wanted something from him if she dug up the glory days. He had to accept that those days were gone, and that a new age would require him to be something even more than the captain of the Onmitsukido.

She was also observant about his predatory needs, just like the Corona Espada. It again struck Jurobei to the potential impossibility of his self-imposed task. That, somehow, he could fool anyone anymore when their keen insight could destroy any mask he had on. Seemingly every captain or vice captain stood in his way without any real effort. He had lost his touch in the craft of subversion. It was infuriating, and one reason why he wanted to die in that coma. It seemed like a game he couldn't possibly win.

Swigging the remainder of his whiskey, his face became stronger with a hint of anger, then calm; the emotional crack in his mask repaired. He took Norma's dark chuckle and her claim to make him 'the man he once was' as another jab. Instead of flinching this time, his face remained neutral. He took 'the man he once was' and started to level him in his mind. The man I once was did not understand that the use of fear is limited. In a single day, I had to learn the bitter lesson of humility. I underestimated the other Captains then. Never again. The vision of the Obelisk in his dreams inspired him to be greater, but how, he still didn't quite get.

Norma could be a valuable ally, if Jurobei played his cards right. Although right now he played defensive by saying little.

"The Kenpachi and I had a fight. I lost consciousness and briefly went into a coma."

It was a bare bones account. He didn't mention that the first attack was unprovoked (over a trivial matter of ice cream) and that the Kenpachi was at an decisive advantage the entire time, because her first attack was to throw him through a wall of concrete, instantly breaking his ribs and skull, forcing him to cough bone shards and to see blood well in his eyes. The Kenpachi was an example of a person that did not fear him, if she felt free to assault him in broad daylight.

"hmmph."

Norma scoffed and took another sip of her rum. Squad 11 and 9 had never been on good terms. Squad 11 thought 9 was weak, and 9 thought 11 was full of idiots. How could someone like Jurobei be bested by such an peon. Norma didn't even know who the current Kenpachi was and she didn't like them.

"I loathe squad eleven, and everything they stand for. They are a squad of bumbling idiots. It should be the Gotei 12 if you ask me."

Yumi wrote:

"I loathe squad eleven, and everything they stand for. They are a squad of bumbling idiots. It should be the Gotei 12 if you ask me."

"I wouldn't be so hasty." said Jurobei.

Jurobei felt Norma would value an equal who didn't always agree with her like a lackey. A conflicting opinion could also get more information on why Norma hated squad eleven in particular. Jurobei hated the other divisions except for his own, Science Division most of all for obvious reasons.

"We need people fighting on the front lines. They are dull, yes, but that makes good soldiers. They are mostly immune to fear because they lack the capacity to understand threats. Some people call it courage, others foolishness, but all the same they still have their use."

Jurobei wrote:

"We need people fighting on the front lines. They are dull, yes, but that makes good soldiers. They are mostly immune to 

Quote :

fear because they lack the capacity to understand threats. Some people call it courage, others foolishness, but all the same they still have their use."

"Oh come off it Jurobei. You know as well as I do we have plenty of idiots to throw to the wolves."


Norma took another sip of her drink, this time bringing the glass down with enough force to knock half of the beverage out of the glass.


"These sods are brainwashed into thinking kidou is a bad thing. That living by the sword is the only way. That's bullshit and you know it, and I know it. Squad eleven should be disbanded and I don't give a rats ass what anyone else thinks for that manner. Send those morons to my squad. I'll show them just how useless kido can be."

I guess now we're even. thought Jurobei. You strike a nerve, I strike a nerve...

"I agree. There is only so much the sword can do, but not all people can really appreciate the art behind our craft. You can show them the greatest wonders of kidou and they still wouldn't understand the intricacies behind a basic binding spell. It's like those who can't tell the difference between cheap wine and Amontillado, or those who can't listen to all the notes in a musical masterpiece and understand their individual importance..."

Now he was glum again. Not angry, say, at their ignorance, but because no matter what, nobody would understand his personality. Not even he did.

Kane wrote:

"I agree. There is only so much the sword can do, but not all people can really appreciate the art behind our craft. You can show them the greatest wonders of kidou and they still wouldn't understand the intricacies behind a basic binding spell. It's like those who can't tell the difference between cheap wine and Amontillado, or those who can't listen to all the notes in a musical masterpiece and understand their individual importance..."

(OOC:GDI I HATE THIS SITE SOMETIMES! IT NEVER DOES WHAT I WANT!)

Norma nodded and took a sip of her drink. Jurobei was right, but it didn't change her view of squad 11. She didn't feel sorry for their ignorance. Norma looked around at all the shinigami dancing, and having a good time. How could they be so at ease with arrancar present?

This dancing and gaiety made Norma think of her husband. She missed him, she missed him terribly. She missed him holding her close as they danced. She was a much happier person when Henry was alive. When he died, her happiness died with him.

"Did you ever meet my Henry? He'd have loved this. We danced often."

Jurobei wanted to roll his eyes, but didn't. Not this shit again. Henry this, Henry that. An ideal he never met so he couldn't disprove whatever Norma conflated about the man. The only certain edge was that Henry was dead, and he was not.

"I don't believe I have, no, but I would have liked to have met him at least once."

The voice came out as regretful, but not for the right reasons. He just wanted to see the flawed side for once, the side that actually mattered to the head of the Onmitsukidō whose job was to exploit weakness and for a man whose ego demanded that everyone be dragged through the mud. Norma's fables were a waste.

Norma had though Jurobei had met Henry. She brought him to all the functions she went to that Setsuna threw for the members of Seireitei. Perhaps they met and he just didn't know who he was. Oh well, nothing they could do about it now.

"Ah well, too bad. The ghosts of the past always seem to haunt us the worst when we drink. Perhaps it's time I leave the spirits be for the night."

When saying the words spirits, Norma lifted her glass. She needed to be alert, and drinking wasn't a good way of achieving that.

"I'm glad I decided to come out of retirement. It's nice to have something to do. I was getting so bored of not doing anything everyday. I need a challenge."

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"Ah well, too bad. The ghosts of the past always seem to haunt us the worst when we drink. Perhaps it's time I leave the spirits be for the night."

Speak for yourself woman. This event could have been the best death trap ever, or the best assassination opportunity to pin on the enemy.

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"I'm glad I decided to come out of retirement. It's nice to have something to do. I was getting so bored of not doing anything everyday. I need a challenge."

"I had a lot of time to think about retirement myself, and wouldn't mind doing nothing for a long while, but with the Arrancar in the picture, I don't think I'd ever rest easy not knowing what was going on.

You want a challenge? Try acting as part-ambassador to a faction we know nothing about except that they share traits with soul devouring creatures."

"Retirement isn't a nice as it seems. Sure at first it's great. No paperwork, no subordinates to manage, and best of all freedom. After a few hundred years it gets boring. The thirst for action begins to creep up on you."

Norma took in the last mouth full of her drink, and ordered a glass of sparkling water. She had enough alcohol for the night. Two cocktails was all she ever allowed herself when in public.

"I'm glad to be back, and I'm glad to get to see you again. It's been too long. Setsuna had invited me to a tea party that you attended in her garden, but I just didn't feel like pretending to care."

"Your timing is certainly impeccable, considering that this event could change the tides of history. Regardless of direct outcomes, there will be a lot of action to keep one's minds occupied, with the new politic forming." Jurobei chuckled. "Who knows? Maybe the arrancar won't be as dull as their hollow counterparts or our esteemed eleventh division."

The word esteemed was seething with sarcasm, but now he was in good humor again. The alcohol was finally taking effect; it must be counteracting Lakshmi's good medicine. The Corona Espada didn't seem dull in the least; deceptively simple for taking a young man, but that was the nature of courting.

"The tea party was interesting to say in the least." Funny how after the coma the things that distressed him the most now seemed humorous. "Though I won't bore you with the details unless you ask. Suffice it to say I also missed your company."

[ooc; I can add more if you wish to further the convo]

"This is...game changing to say the very least. I don't know what Setsuna is up to, but she is certainly up to something."

Esteemed. Norma couldn't help back laugh at little at that. The eleventh division was many things, but esteemed wasn't one of them.

"Please don't. We both know Setsuna's true nature, and as much as she'd like it to be, those stuffy tea parties just aren't a part of her true nature. Why I remember a time, oh, it must have been about...two thousand years ago. There was that captain. What was his name? Miyakikue? Miyakazi? I don't know, but he publicly challenged Setsuna's command. Remember that? That was a real blood bath. If she were the 'lady' she likes to pretend to be, that would have ended differently."

Jurobei only really knew Setsuna well enough to know that she had set up an impenetrable wall between them, just as he did with her, though his was crumbling by the day.

He had seen that bloodbath; that was the one time he saw Setsuna's true nature. He lusted to see that expression on her face again, when she cut the Captain so finely that blood spattered everywhere and only ribbons of skin and tiny pieces of flesh scattered across the ground. It was also the day he was liberated from the Science Division, under that bastard Captain's command. He didn't bother remembering the name; only his death mattered. Even in his old age, how would he possibly forget such a glorious day?

"He was a fool to think that his unlicensed experiments would go unchecked forever, and a greater one to publicly challenge Setsuna when he was eventually caught."

I was saved that day, and when I finally saw the sun, I also saw my Liberator in full light, a remorseless and brutal killer. That is why I know that in order to defeat her, it can never be a direct confrontation.

Jurobei lowered his voice. "You know, I think that's why I'm strangely comfortable with all this. It really doesn't matter what the Arrancar do here; they will bend to Setsuna's will because they have no choice -- or be crushed."

It definitely tickled Jurobei inside to be reminded that Setsuna probably did have her own scheme during all of this grand ball revelry. It made Jurobei insatiably curious about Setsuna's true motives again. Jurobei had known the 'lady' mask for so long, that he would have forgotten, if not for the vivacity of the day of his liberation. He secretly thanked Norma for that pleasant reminder. Perhaps chaos would rupture tonight.

Norma chuckled darkly at Jurobei. She enjoyed these talks...no, these mental chess matches with her old friend. Mind you, neither of them were probably as sharp as they once were, but it was still fun nonetheless.

"It sounds like someone's dick is getting hard for Setsuna, or her brutality rather. She's been single a long time, make your move. Never mind she's old enough to be your grandmother."

Just as Norma finished her sentence a flourish of exquisite blue fabric caught the corner of her eye. 

"Well, what are you two  crones getting on about?"

Setsuna said with a smile. She pulled out a chair and sat with them. She slid her feet back under her chair and tucked one ankle behind the other. Such a "lady".

"You."

Norma said flatly.

Observant.

It was a quality that stuck out in Jurobei's mind on who was the most powerful. Corona Espada, Head Commander, but most of all his old friend Norma. They were among the most dangerous to him, because it was as though they could understand his plans, and him.

With such enemies, he couldn't possibly be bored. He felt like he needed to step up his game, but to his frustration didn't know how. If the enemy knew everything about your plans, those plans were worthless. Jurobei worked so hard in his mind to blind them, but never could in action, not really.

Norma's dick comment made Jurobei laugh, a laugh which opened a smile on his face and raised his cheeks slightly. Only Norma could make him laugh in such a way, because jabs such as those were always laced with an immutable, humorous truth about her targets.

Sex was the closest one could get to another, and would provide an excellent blind spot to betrayal, if done right. Marriage wasn't that bad of an idea either; if you can't beat them, marry them. As for age, when you're talking in terms of thousands of years, it kinda ceases to matter. His technique was probably all wrong though, and seduction just wasn't his game.

Setsuna wrote:

"Well, what are you two crones getting on about?"

Setsuna's voice had startled Jurobei, much to his dismay, but he had been drinking, this was a party, and the person that sneaked up on him had more raw power than the Kenpachi in her finger yet had more finesse than anyone in Gotei 13.

She really did look beautiful tonight, which only made Norma's comment burrow even more to his core. Here was a woman he could love and hate at the same time. It was necessary that he triumph over Setsuna, that he be free from the knowledge that he was an inferior, yet he couldn't help but marvel at the objective beauty she possessed when combined with the memory of her true nature, soaked with the blood of the man who made him a science experiment.

Norma wrote:

"You."

"Naturally," said Jurobei with the mirth in his voice, "you came up in our talk of old times. How is the Grand Ball progressing?" Jurobei almost immediately regretted the choice of word. 'Progressing' implied that there was a plan to all this. Norma would certainly get it; she was the one that alluded to Setsuna having her own ulterior motives for all this, since Setsuna wasn't the lady that she acted like.

"Oh?"

Setsuna says as she looks at Norma. It was nice to have Norma back. They needed strong captains, not in physical strength. All the captains were physically strong, but Norma was strong in her leadership and in her resolve. Norma could truly lead her squad like no other.

Setsuna was about to question what she meant when Jurobei cleared things up. It felt nice for the three of them to be back together again. It felt like the old gang was back together again. 

"Oh it's going fine it seems. Everyone seems to be having a good enough time. No fights yet, thank goodness. That last thing we need is a war to break out during a peace event."

Norma smiled and shot a look at Jurobei.

"That would just be...tragic."

"I really don't think the peace is that fragile." said Jurobei, "It would take more than a couple of fights to incite an all-out war, much more." He returned the look to Norma with a thin smile.

Like a fully formed plan made by Jurobei himself.

Jurobei had thought of instigating a fight by using the Corona Espada's mindless thrulls, but considered that there was too much risk in a plan that would fizzle. People interested in a mutual peace would break up potential conflicts faster than they were created.

If a war was to be incited, it would have to be in painstakingly deliberate steps, to ensure that the violating action couldn't be ignored as random, and was a direct insult to the opposing side, an insult so graphic there could be no forgiveness.

"I have faith that any potential confrontation will be dealt with swiftly before any fight becomes violent. Shinigami are disciplined enough not to be so carelessly trigger-happy, and I expect the same from the Arrancar."

"Besides, look around. Priorities are elsewhere."

Norma sat back down after everything had seemed to settle. She didn't like the looks of this. This hen house was full of foxes.

"I don't like this one bit Jurobei. Are you able to fight if need be?"

Norma Higgins appeared concerned now, but the situation had changed from uneasy to a much more dangerous game. There were now three factions that tied themselves together instead of just an uneasy two.

"It will take more than just a coma to stop me from performing my duties." Jurobei said proudly. "I expected that this Grand Ball would break somewhere, but even I couldn't predict how drastically. If these so called 'gods' or those half-hollows that think themselves evolved are stupid enough to pick a fight, we will give them war."