Elven hated history class. She recognized the value of it. She believed that those who did not learn from the past were doomed to repeat it. And she also believed that history attracted the most boring teachers ever hatched. She’d hated history class when in the world of the living, and she hated it here in the Soul Society.

But, it was a necessity.

She dutifully took notes, cross-referenced them with her text-book, researched in libraries and in interviews with some of the older members of the Soul Society, and did her best to keep from exploding from the boredom.

Even so, it didn’t go very well.

Still, when Elven set herself a challenge she generally managed to find a way. And it was the Shinigami battles of the 19th century that finally caught her interest. She’d been a brand new soul in the Rukongai when an unusual incursion of hollows took place. For the most part they impacted the general populace there strictly as rumors and a vague unease. That said, the whole Rukongai did know, if the battle rolled over to any of the districts, there would be brutal consequences for the populace. Indeed, generally speaking, the dead souls of the Soul Society were no more eager to experience death in this world than they had been in the last. It was sort of ironic.

The tactics and strategies of the Captains of the time finally began to capture her interest. Eventually, Elven found a number of other students who rather enjoyed that particular study. They formed a club that created models of the battlefields, so they could study the ebb and flow of battle more clearly. A couple of the Captains were even gracious enough to come speak to them and give a first person account of the chaos of the time.

Yes, history was boring... but when seen through the eyes of the people who had actually been there, well... that was a whole ‘nother thing, wasn’t it?

Approved +1 nice post.

One of the classes she DID like was the Healing Arts. It was optional among the Shinigami, and Elven rather thought that was a pity. If more Shinigami were to learn it many innocent bystanders and Soul Reapers might be saved.

And healing was an art indeed. The wide variety of injuries and illnesses did not respond to a one-size-fits-all methodology. Elven was determined to learn everything she could about this skill, though. She wasn’t out to become a healer, per se, but one of her reoccurring nightmares was to see a comrade die that might have been saved had she only known... enough.

So, a little bit more than enough healing knowledge was her set goal.

Cuts were the most common injury, of course. They were Soul Reapers after all. Swordplay generated a lot of slicings and piercings and all manner of bloody messes. But Elven was coming to realize that there were a lot more injuries sustainable in battle than she’d ever thought about. Reiatsu exhaustion was one, and a desperately dangerous thing it was. The wounds that gave her most pause, however, were the crushing injuries. She could deal with blood, and that sickly pallor that overextension caused didn’t make her squeamish. But damn, the crush injuries made her want to puke. Especially if she was the designated healer.

Her time working in the Squad Four infirmary was challenging, sometimes exciting... and always a relief to leave behind. The captain there kept hinting that he’d be willing ask her to be posted there when she graduated, but she had no interest. HER goal was only one thing... to have enough knowledge to help, but only if no one BETTER was on hand.

And she was quite satisfied with that, thank you very much!

Approved +1 to inteligence

Kidou class was one of her favorites. Kyakko was today’s spell, and few students were getting it at all. Unfortunately, Elven was one of that number. Done correctly, it did a lovely job of hiding you from physical sight. Once you hid your Reiatsu... and your scent too, if you’d bumped into one of the more animalistic hollows, well, you were home free.

But you had to be able to CAST the spell first.

“Don’t stress over it so much, Elven. You are putting up some nice wavers, really. You look just like you are caught in one of those mirages in the desert. whispered a Kidou buddy. ”That’s the first step, according to Sensei.

Yeah, I know... but it’s just so hard to GRIP the lightwaves. It’s so WEIRD! It was like working with clay, that was kinda like water... and kinda like slime... and a bit like oil. None of which was famous for doing what it was TOLD! “I think... how about if we try this... and broke off when her friend snorted and literally fell down laughing. She looked down.

Well, she’d not quite caught on just yet. Her head and shoulders seemed to be in plain sight. Her waist was missing all together... and her feet were tapping impatiently about five feet to the left.

Damn, just one of those days.

Approved + 1 to Intelligence.

Elven was sweating. Kidou could be that hard sometimes. Today’s lesson was a Bakudo called Geki. It was a simple way to paralyze your opponent. It likely wouldn’t work well for stronger hollows, but it would do a nice job on the easier sorts. Even a low level hollow could get a lucky strike in sometimes, and in Elven’s mind removing that possibility was a fine idea indeed.

“Disintegrate, you black dog of Ronadanini[i]” she barked. “[i]Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!” Once again, it didn’t hit the target directly. She was tired and rather unfocused today. Couldn’t be helped, she was just going to have to come up with the focus anyway. She stepped back to the end of the line as her sensei shook her head at elven.

Oh well, as she waited she couldn’t help but wonder who had created this spell and why they’d stumbled across that particular phrasing. Did people just discover Kidou by accident? It could be downright comical if they did. She thought briefly of arguing couples. Wouldn’t THAT be a surprise in the middle of a fight? “Oops, hunni! I had no IDEA that would happen!”

But comedy aside, she needed to focus. Slightly resentfully, she put all entertainment out of her mind and started building up her reiatsu. Slowly the line moved forward and she used the time to go over the spell in her mind. Visualizing the Kidou reaching out and engulfing the target, holding it still and ready for her Zanpakuto.

Finally, she made it to the front, and with her mind still in the imagery of successful casting she threw out the phrases to focus and form her Reiatsu... and it hit. A beautiful cloak of deep crimson light wrapped around the target dummy. Elven gasped in surprise. Then started jumping up and down. It was undignified, but she didn’t care. She’d been fearful this would be one of those difficult spells for her.

Now, if she could only remember exactly what she’d done for the Geki NEXT time she threw it!

Approved + 2.