Any Advice? (Okami)

A new position. This was a lot different than what she had expected when she was told she was transferring squads. Surely, it would just be the same as any other position, but there was certain to be more responsibility, right? And she was going to Squad 6? So, she was going to be a lapdog for the nobles? Was that really what she wanted? Well, she had never really cared before what she wanted, so why would she start now? She was going to go to her new Squad, meet her new Captain, and do whatever it was they told her to do. She didn’t have a need to think on her own. One day, if she became the next Captain, she would follow the orders of the Captain Commander and the guidelines for her Squad anyway. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. Nobody had ever believed her when she thought for herself anyway.

Kaen found herself sitting on the rooftop of a random building, dangling her feet off the edge and swinging them rhythmically. Adorned in the typical shinigami uniform, although hers was an atypical sleeveless garment, she was awaiting the moment that she would have to leave to her new squad. What was she getting into? What did a Vice Captain do other than listen to orders? It was almost enough to be annoying. She didn’t have the slightest idea about any of this. Could she do it? Probably.

Okami had finally, blessedly managed to catch up on all of the paperwork after his ill-fated swap. As the Lieutenant of the Eighth, he'd always managed to keep things fairly organized and on time to his standards, but whatever the hell had been going on at the Fifth before the new Captain-Commander had swapped himself and Wukong was a nightmare. No Captain meant that the second-in-command became the de-facto leader, and thus that much more work. Meanwhile, the previous individual who was SUPPOSED to keep everything in order was a literal monkey with the maturity level of a teenager. Honestly, the Shiba was curious if his old Captain's newest problem was even able to read.

Absolutely a shocker if he was.

Managing to get away from the barracks, the noble leapt from rooftop to rooftop simply enjoying the day until he came across a specific one. It wasn't particularly special, although the view was rather nice, but for some reason this rooftop always seemed to attract people going through something. Whether it was emotional, physical, or even just looking for a place to nap away from authority, everyone seemed to congregate here and today was no different. Stopping at the edge, the silver-eyed man cocked his head, fully expecting the young woman sitting there to be able to sense him within another moment or two. Her hair was split between black and white, and idly Okami wondered if it was bleached or natural.

Walking over casually, the Lieutenant dropped down to her left and sat on the edge of the roof, noting the badge on her arm marking her as his counterpart from the Sixth. Giving her an easy smile, the swordsman let out a chuckle and spoke in a soft bass, low and playful. "Looks like you've got something on your mind. Penny for your thoughts?"

Almost as an afterthought, his smile grew a bit lopsided. "The name's Okami, by the way."

Her mind had certainly been occupied, but not enough that she didn’t notice someone was coming up behind her. Were they intentionally coming to this place or was it just coincidence? They seemed to be quite strong, perhaps on par with her or even stronger than she was. As they approached, she could only focus on whether their intentions were hostile or not. Still, she didn’t move from her position and she didn’t turn to face the individual. She would wait. She would wait until he made himself comfortable next to her before she would turn to look at her fellow shinigami. Her eyes would look him up and down briefly. He looked familiar. From the band around his arm, he was also a lieutenant of Squad 8. Perhaps, that was why he looked familiar, but was that enough for her to really speak her mind so freely. She seemed to debate for a moment as he asked her what was on her mind. Her eyes shifted from him to somewhere off around him.

His name was Okami? Why did that sound familiar? Something something.. important? Was she supposed to know who he was? Her eyes would squint and then, she would turn her head back to the view before her. ”Okami, huh? Should I know who you are? Name’s Kaen, but I doubt my thoughts are even worth a penny,” Kaen would say earnestly. It wasn’t that she was dejected or anything. She just didn’t really believe her troubles were all that interesting. Still, she had another lieutenant here, so maybe picking his brain would be helpful to her. ”I wouldn’t mind some advice, if you have any though. I’m in a bit of a pickle here. Off to my new squad today, but it turns out Captain’s gone missing. Never even met the guy. Didn’t even get a rundown of the Squad. What the hell am I supposed to do? I’m gonna have to stand in for the guy and I’m usually the one taking the orders. What would you do?” Of course, she could follow the Captain Commander’s orders, but she wouldn’t dare bother them all day every day. She would have to figure it out, but how was she supposed to do that when she didn’t know what the Squad really even did? A grumbled sigh would escape her mouth as she closed her eyes and hung her head down toward the ground. This was so annoying.

Okami chuckled slightly at the girl - Kaen's - words. It was rare that people didn't know who the Head of the Shiba Clan was, and it was fairly refreshing. So, he just winked with a silver eye sparkling with mischief as an answer to her question before humming. "Everyone's thoughts are worth something to someone, right? At least to yourself, if no one else."

When she asked for advice though, he began listening intently to the woman's words. She seemed new to the duties of a Lieutenant, and as it turns out she was absolutely dropped into a shitshow. He remembered the previous Captain decently well due to the other man's duties overlapping with his own political obligations, but he couldn't really tell much about the man. Dereliction of duty, however, was a hell of a thing to get over and his newfound conversational partner was on the receiving end. Her grumbling was understandable as was her hung head. Luckily, he was probably one of the few people who could empathize. "Y'know, it's kinda funny. I was the Lieutenant of the Eighth for a long time, and until Bashira released Captain Mazi as one of her last orders, we were without anyone else for a long time. Our newest Captain-Commander, in her infinite wisdom, swapped me over to the Fifth a bit over a week ago, which hasn't had a proper Captain for over seven centuries. The paperwork has been breeding, I swear!"

Letting out a self-deprecating laugh, the Shiba continued with a head shake, short silver chains drawing attention to themselves from their spots dangling from his ears around a half-inch or so. "The easiest way that I've found to deal with it is to just take everything as it comes, and remember that you're at the top of the food chain. Even if you had a Captain, you'd still be expected to manage the others, whether they're ranked or otherwise. As far as your Division, you're in the Sixth right? They're Internal Affairs. They tend to deal with issues between Divisions, crime committed by Shinigami, prisons, and unfortunately..."

With a sideways glance, the swordsman decided to watch and savor the look on the girl's face as she learned the worst of it. It truly was a travesty, and it was bound to spark a hilarious reaction. "You'll have to deal with nobles. Complaints, security details, the works. It's a massive headache, and most of them are absolute assholes."

Kaen would roll her eyes as Okami tried to give her the “your words are important” monologue. What a load of bull. ”Yeah yeah. The moment anyone listens to what I have to say is the moment they’ll all be doomed.” Of course, she knew that she would be leading a squad, but those orders wouldn’t come from her. Those words wouldn’t be her own, but just another set of orders being passed through the grapevine, right? Something like that. ”Can't really say I give a damn what comes out of my mouth either. Words have never saved me before, but actions have.” Kaen had only trusted one person at their word and she was betrayed like she was less than dirt. Her life was meaningless and from then on, words passed through her like she was a spirit. Well, it was mostly because she was a spirit after that. Words could be twisted and mended to mean anything. Actions on the other hand were as loud as day.

Still, she was going to have to accept the fact that she needed direction, although she would decide whether this advice was sound or not. Kaen would listen to Okami’s story. She couldn’t help shaking her head knowing that his story was similar to her own in a way. She was wholly inexperienced though where he had time to settle into a leadership role. She had been placed as a lieutenant and this was her first squad as lieutenant. Kaen was supposed to have a captain, except his disappearance was still pending testing so she couldn’t talk about it. Yet, it didn’t seem that he had any advantage over leading a new squad than she did. A squad that hadn’t had a proper leader in some time must have been difficult to shape up. Besides, paperwork was never fun, especially unchecked mountains of it. Something about the idea of it would have her laughing in a dejected tone. No, it wasn’t for her, but for the idea of it being a problem in more than one squad. How were they still functional?

With a slow hand, Kaen would reach into a pocket of hers and pull out a small, metal case. From the case, she would remove a cigarette and place the unlit stick in her mouth. Closing the case, she would return it to her pocket and sigh. How odd. His advice seemed simple enough, but it also didn’t really help her. At least she had an idea of what her new division would be doing, however it was still a bit of a toss up on how she would handle it. Take it as it came? The biggest annoyance was the fact that she was supposed to take care of the nobles, but that wasn’t the worst part. It was the fact that Okami described them ALL as assholes. ”Wait, seriously?” Kaen would ask looking at him with a face of utter defeat. ”All of them? There’s not even one decent one?” The woman would groan wondering if it was too late to throw away her loyalty and return to the rukongai to live the rest of eternity. No, she couldn’t do that. It wasn’t like her at all. ”How do you know so much about them? You’re just a lieutenant. It’s not like they’d have any interest in you.” He seemed rather confident in his description of them. It was almost as if he had experience, but why would they care about the likes of him? Her head was beginning to spin as she scratched her head in annoyance. A tuft of hair on the side of her head would be left sticking out unbeknownst to Kaen.

Okami huffed out a laugh at her response to his words and conceded the point. Actions always spoke louder, and if he were being honest he was talking almost entirely out of his ass at this point. His advice was simple enough that it worked, but to really help he'd need a better understanding of the situation and Kaen's personality. He couldn't really tell someone to handle their Division the way that he was handling his own. The Eighth was a blend of professionalism and approachability, making sure that everything got done but also making sure he was available whenever anyone needed anything. It was tricky, but he'd at least had a Captain for a bit to establish himself before he'd gotten jailed. The Fifth was a bit easier. It was all action, with those sitting at the top having beaten everyone below.

Shifting a bit and pulling out a flask while his fellow Lieutenant pulled a container of cigarettes, his nose twitched at the smell as he remembered an old friend who he REALLY needed to find and punch before tossing the thought aside and popping the top, taking a swig of the whisky inside. It was smooth, although he had to be careful not to bust out laughing and spill any at the look he'd just been given. Kaen looked like someone had just told her that she'd signed up to watch someone kick puppies for a living, and couldn't stab them for it. Nodding briefly before holding out the flask, his voice held nothing but sympathy as he responded. [color:28f2=-#7393b3]"Nope, not a single one isn't an asshole in some way, shape, or form. The higher up you get, the weirder it gets too."

Her next question got an eyebrow raise from him, however, and his eyes had an unnatural gleam in them as a playful grin crossed his face. Reaching out, he'd hold his hand still for a moment as if asking permission before tucking the hair back behind her ear since she didn't seem to have noticed. Leaning back and looking up into the sky for a moment, he hummed as if thinking incredibly hard about something, the oddly-amused look on his face giving something away before he looked back down and responded. He wouldn't miss the reaction for the world at this point. "My apologies, I think I forgot something in my introduction. I am Okami Shiba, Head of the Great Noble House of Shiba. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The smile on his face was just this side of shit-eating. He was sure she'd catch on that he had just admitted that he was ALSO an asshole, and one of the weird ones to boot. He got a disturbing kick out of people completely forgetting he belonged to one of the oldest, highest-ranked families in their society, since they always think of the nobles as old, wrinkly fools with too much money and too little common sense.

At least he was the FUN kind of asshole!