This isn't even my Final Form

She had no idea how long she’d been searching for, but Nao knew someone had to be getting close. The rest of her team had split off quite some time ago to hunt down a particularly cruel hollow that had been terrorizing the area beyond 80 North. The reports had listed it as some kind of winged snake-headed thing. All Nao knew was that she had to do her duty as best she could, and that meant letting everyone else get well ahead of her so she stood no chance of being involved in an actual fight.

Because of this caution, she was startled to come upon the creature seemingly napping in the ruins of what was once a ramshackle house. It was every bit as ugly as she’d imagined, with big nasty boils sticking off of its putrid black hide and a long neck ending in a mask that looked like a fanged serpent. She paused in hesitation, considering just how she’d best be able to tackle it and resolving that, if it was indeed asleep, it would be best to circle around it and try to find some backup.

Clenching her tanto, she turned around and immediately tripped on an exposed tree root, sending her flying and, somehow, tumbling down a hill she could have been sure wasn’t there seconds ago, landing directly in front of the groggily awakening monster. She had no choice, she had to fight. Nervously readying her blade, she made a slashing strike before the creature could react, planting her blade straight into its mask with a satisfying crunch.

Nao Aoki woke up from her nap cheering and throwing her hands up, sending a small pile of papers from her already messy desk flying to the floor. Quickly getting her bearings, two things were readily apparent. Her back was sore from the awkward positioning sleeping on her desk provided and the requisition form she had been reviewing now bore a smattering of telltale drool smudges. In a panic, she used her robe to attempt to clean up the still damp liquid, thankful that nothing seemed to be too illegible at first glimpse, at least not in any important parts.

She’d been careless, again. It had been a mistake to stay up so late the previous night, but she’d really wanted to attend the whole poetry reading. They always kept the best stuff for last, and sometimes someone would get bold or drunk enough to do an improvisation. She could never do something like that herself, but she quite enjoyed watching it happen. That night, she had convinced herself that she could just put in some overtime the following day and none would be the wiser. She hadn’t realized that she’d let herself get so exhausted that she’d actually fall asleep at work.

Thankfully, she was alone. One of the perks of being in a less prestigious section of First Division was the fact that hardly any Shinigami actually wanted to linger around the office. They could unload their work onto old Aoki, she’d make sure it would all get done, and they’d be able to do all the combat drills and extracurricular their hearts desired.

Rubbing her face and trying to slick her hair down with a little spit, Nao got up from her desk and started rifling through the papers she’d knocked over only to hear the sound of footsteps outside her office. Nervously tucking the papers under her arm, she hurried over and opened the door. Not even bothering to look at the person on the other side, she bowed deeply and hurriedly said, ”Nao Aoki. Welcome to forms and processing. How can I help you?”

The dry paper crinkled in her hand, rippling slightly as she looked it over once again like the text might change and offer her another hint to dispel her failed navigation. Eyes darting down one hallway, then the other, each looked more or less the same aside from a small sign above the doors with office numbers or department codes. It was a cavernous building under even the most ideal circumstances but for an academy graduate with little experience navigating the labryntine administrative spaces of the First it was a Herculean task. Almost an impossibility.

Blind turn after blind turn not seeing a single other soul. Concern grew to worry grew to panic which then shrank into bargaining, then resignation. Last but not least, acceptance.

'There!' she almost missed it but some hunched over figure pushing a cart full of book or ledgers crossed her field of vision at the end of the hallway. Grabbing the hem of her shihakusho she broke into a soft sprint--more of a very fast walk really--and made for the hallway he must have turned down But...wait...what? As she turned expecting to be hot on his trail or to find an open door to a departmental desk staffed by real actual people the hallway yielded only a lone water cooler. It burbled once, dislodging three bubbles, then was silent again. Had her loneliness at this complex grown so profound she was now seeing things?

She lowered the paper, there was no use in relying on it anymore, and took a walk as her shoulders slumped into defeat. The seconds stretched on to minutes and her escapade neared the thirty minute mark when a sharp sound exploded behind her! A sharp, gasped inhale and the rustling of papers. What sounded like...a chair falling over? Tough to be sure but it was the only sign of life she was 100% sure she had heard or seen in more than ten minutes.

Quickly but cautiously she backtracked two door behind her, B302 the placard said. The door was cracked just a bit, barely an inch or two, which explained why she hadn't noticed as she walked by. Her finger slipped in the door and pulled it open just as her effort was met by a presence on the otherside welcoming her in with a deep and abiding deference.

"Miss Aoki, thank you. Terribly sorry for the trouble but it seems I've lost my way. Just what sort of forms do you process down here in...er...forms and processing?" She waited, feet carefully aligned with the threshold of the door, waiting for her invitation in or permission to conduct the exchange from her safe and neurotic line in the sand.

Nao jerked back up anxiously, blushing slightly as she finally saw the exceptionally pretty woman standing in front of her. For a moment, she wanted to ask where she got her jewelry, but pushed that foolishness back with a grace that mirrored the most average of water buffalo. Initially stumbling over her words in an unintelligible mumble, Nao soon found herself clearing her head with a little shake.

Her composure reestablished as best she could, Nao felt her nerves allowing a smile to creep through and ruin the professional demeanor she was supposed to keep. She was going to do it again if she didn’t start speaking soon. What was it her visitor wanted again? Something with forms? No, she was lost, but she wanted to know about forms?

Deciding to open her mouth again, Nao was pleased to hear actual words coming out this time, though they came out at a far less measured pace than she’d intended them to. ”All sorts. Requisitions, mission reports – at least the ones that are sent to us, maintenance requests, division assignment and reassignment, as well as a lot of internal First procedural forms. Really, you name it, we check it for accuracy, process it, and make sure it gets to the right people. Most of the time, people send forms to the right section of First, but whenever someone slips up or when a form has an attached subform that needs it own routing, they end up here. We also help design the forms. Well, my supervising officer helps design them. We just give him input so he can bring them to meetings.”

She took a breath after rambling on about her no doubt thrilling work, momentarily forgetting the woman in front of her with how happy she was for having gotten through that. The contentment passed quickly as she remembered her surroundings and quickly blurted out, ”Sorry, you’re lost?”

"Informative." she spoke curtly and punctuated with a short, thin-lipped smile. It was a polite way of acknowledging the nervous verbosity of the woman before her. In truth, this woman was established and institutionally her senior in all respects but she felt small right now in this space. Her very own office. Her very own element. Perhaps a deception, perhaps not. Helena was learning more and more with each passing year to not underestimate those she came across based on foolish judgments like size or demeanor. The life of a courtier made that abundantly clear.

"If I may, honorable Shinigami, I would like to humbly request a moment of your time to plead my case?" And as the Unseated Officer considers her response, Helena lets herself in. One foot lifting up off of the floor ever so slightly and slipping past the threshold of the door, then the other shortly thereafter.

"You see," she holds up a tri-folded piece of parchment with a wax seal stamped closed. It's off-white color partially covering up a plain piece of stock paper, crumpled from repeated folding and closing into four roughly equal parts. "I have been accepted to the Fifth Division and my Academy liaison has instructed me to fill out this document and deliver it in person to the First for processing. I asked the front desk, twice, for clarification on where to take it and the best answer I could decipher was..." she trailed off, unfolding the paper and reading it again.

"Sub-basement level room three-oh-two. But if you can help me instead...?" The hopeful noble raised an eyebrow as she looked her 'host' over for signs of confidence in her ability to help. Or, failing that, the tell-tale wrinkle of the nose that told her that this goose chase was nowhere near complete. No one said it would be easy.

She’d let her in with a nearly imperceptible nod, though Nao was unsure if she’d actually done so before or after the fresh graduate had entered her office. Hurrying in after her, Nao hastily eyed up the guest chair at her desk, complete with an assortment of papers that were threatening to topple over to the floor. As she contemplated if she should move them or just conduct this meeting while standing, Nao’s practiced administrative hand finds its way toward reflexively accepting the stamped parchment without her conscious thought. She gives it a quick parse, nodding at the apparent authenticity.

”Well, you’re in luck, because this is three-oh-two. They might have given you directions to our old office, I’m guessing. We were closer to the stairs a few years ago, but they moved us in more so we could be more centralized toward the rest of the Division. Since we have less distance to travel to get to them, paperwork can be processed more efficiently, which helps us meet our deadlines and improve our section metrics. It does make things a little harder on people trying to get us the paperwork in the first place, but we’ve seen a 5% decrease in processing times since the move happened,” she replied with her tone shifting downward slightly as she started reciting the pseudo-corporate speak her supervising officer is so fond of.

”Sorry, the paperwork. Yes, we can work on that,” she blurts out with a quick understanding that she’s parroting her boss, returning to her normal more nervous tones, “It’ll be best if you are on hand in case there are any discrepancies, and I’ll need your signature on a few sub-forms that we’ll have to get out. Requisitions for lodging and equipment, formal assignment paperwork, various forms acknowledging your new status, any requests you’d like to place along with your new station, that sort of stuff.”

She pats herself down for a sharp object, ultimately coming up empty. Not wanting someone to see her using her zanpakutō as a paper cutter, she makes her way over to her cluttered mess of a desk, lifting up a foot-high stack of papers and reaching underneath to withdraw a knife much more suited toward the task of removing the seal. She then slides open a drawer and withdraws a manila folder with a few loose sheets of parchment sticking out from inside. After clearing a section of the table of papers, she sets the folder down facing the chair and then returns to digging around in her drawer.

”You can set the stuff on the chair on the ground,” she says, popping back up with the small heating lamp and giving it a light. Once she has set it on the only clear spot on her desk, a spot notably speckled with small chunks of melted wax, she smiles and presses her hands together. ”Now, before we begin, do you have any questions of me?”

"Five percent, you say? That's quite...notable" She inclined her head in a strained interest at the Shinigami's bureaucratic report. While everything she said was probably objectively true it just did not carry very much weight when placed on a scale against most of any individual Shinigami's contribution. It's true, massive organizations like the Gotei required the support of countless individuals to catalog history and plan for the future but...to see someone with a Zanpakutou sequestered here in this stuffy room? Her imagination ran wild with theories as to how someone would see themselves squirreled away into this reality.

At last, her host concluded the stock introduction for the process, a verbal tour of what would be happening. "Of course, I would be happy to assist you with any, what did you call them, discrepancies? Yes, any discrepancies or other clarifications that need to be made. I am eager to begin this next chapter and my family will very much welcome the news."

Although she was outwardly grateful, Helena's mind folded in on itself trying to imagine how a transfer from Academy to a Division could be so cumbersome, but it seemed there was no avoiding it at this point.

She settled herself in the chair after placing the file folders and inserts on some open real estate nearby; there was admittedly precious little to spare in here. And as Helena took her seat and came to rest her eyes roamed again from a slightly different perspective. "Quite the collection of...processes you have here. I'm sure they're all as efficiently refined as your relocation. Now then, I don't believe I have any pertinent questions but if one should rear its head during our commitment I'll be sure to let you know. Mkay?" An eager smile punctuated her sentiment.

”Of course,” Nao remarked, completely oblivious to how she was being looked down on. Holding the knife up to the candle order to heat it up enough to deal with the wax seal, she spoke again as she rotated it slowly in the flame, ”It’s quite a simple process. You wouldn’t want to show up in Fifth and not have a place to stay or your requisition numbers all ready. When I first started here, we had a backlog and I had to sleep at my desk for three months before I was able to get proper lodgings, saying nothing of the debt I worked up for people whose numbers I had to use in the interim. Be glad you’re not coming in during a war.”

Content with the heat and oblivious to how much a doormat she just made herself look like, she lines the knife up under the wax and separates it from the paper with a delicate and practiced lifting motion. Needlessly placing a hand underneath it in order to catch any spillage, she carries it over to a small blank piece of parchment and gently presses it down from the sides so the seal of the Academy remains undamaged. After placing some of her own wax into the heating lamp, she then unfurls the paper and starts to read.

Her first lines in the document nearly caused Nao to jump in her seat. Akimoto. There was a name she hadn't been allowed to read in a long time. Surely this woman couldn't be related to Testuya. Her friendly demeanor certainly matched his, but most fresh Academy graduates acted somewhat similarly when they came by with forms such as these. It was just a coincidence. It had to just be a coincidence. There was no way someone connected to her old friend would have been allowed to come anywhere near her, not after what she did to him. She pressed this suspicion down. They just had the same family name. That didn't mean anything.

”Ah, nice to meet you Miss Akimoto,” she politely said without a hint of irritation or malice at the fact that Helena had yet to introduce herself, almost as if the paper had been the one speaking to her. Smiling and looking back up across the table, her eyes light up as a sudden idea hits her. Reaching under her desk and producing a pen and inkwell for her guest, she gives voice to her thoughts as she taps the manila folder with the pen’s bottom, keeping her grip loose to allow it to be easily taken away from her. ”You know, we do have familial notification forms that many graduates have made use of. We can have a formal paper drawn up for framing and display. It’ll be the third sheet in there. We just need to know the number of papers you’ll want, the location they should be sent to, and a preferred method of delivery.”

What a peculiar duck. Helena watched her treat the wax seal with such care and reverence, unsure if it was an acquired skill and personal challenge to leave the seal intact just so, or if it was a genuinely deep and abiding respect for what it represented. Either way, Miss Akimoto could not find fault with the display. To love one's own work, to love the institution they serve and all that it represents, was not a thing to be belittled.

Yes in spite of all this honest and positive sentiment the way that Miss Aoki went about these things was somehow grating to the unseated graduate. Perhaps it as the itch of her swords speaking to her, echoing the thought at the back of her mind that made her question how a person trained in the art of death (presumably) could fall back into becoming trained in the art of paperwork. Still, all of these thoughts paled in comparison to the presumptuousness this Unseated officer demonstrated at connecting dots on her previous statement about family.

There was a need to set the record straight.

"Ah, no, that will be quite unnecessary. I will inform them I have been appointed but they won't shed a thought for accomplishments until I've been awarded a seat. Might as well save the postage." Although her smile had been polite to this point, thoughts of the Akimoto clan's looming nobility left her with a thin line of lip and a flat affect.

”In that case, we’ll just pull that out of there,” she cheerfully intoned. With a practiced dexterity for this sort of thing, Nao slipped her fingers into the papers, ran them down to count off the top two, and then gripped the offending paperwork between her index finger and thumb. Giving it a quick look to verify she’s grabbed the right one, she pulled it out and crisply set it on top of a pile of blank forms of seemingly no organization pattern she has to her left side.

”You know, I didn’t have a family to notify after I got my position, You can take solace that, while you might be in the minority for not filling that out, you’re very much not alone.” Her tone was every bit as perky as before while she attempted to smooth over the unpleasantness with some self-deprecation. She’d learned long ago that knocking herself down could help spare her a brow beating, and the pursed lips of her guest were quickly reminding her of the glances she usually got from a number of officers who sat above her on the pecking order.

Not wanting the silence to turn into a dreaded awkward pause, she flipped open the manila folder and let Helena see the first form inside. ”We’ll be starting with your official notice. Some seated officers prefer to use nicknames, while others will use a more traditional means of referring to their subordinates. My supervising officer, for example, prefers to maintain a strict full name policy for staff in his office. It is his belief that, but providing other Divisions this information upfront, they can stop their new recruits from causing any trouble and more efficiently integrate them into the culture of their new unit.”

"Tradition outside the walls of the Seireitei would dictate I be addressed as Lady Helena Akimoto, but we're rather out of place for such an insistence on my part." Her host's personal revelation was difficult to parse. If she were simply trying to make the recruit feel better, she'd like have been more abstract and general than to offer her own name as an example. This was all a reasonable way to disarm someone with honesty, and honestly, it was at least a little endearing. The corners of her mouth relaxed a bit and the flat line of her scowl eased to something more natural as they transitioned into the meat of the red tape.

"So in light of that, and with respect to the fact I don't know, Helena Akimoto, or just Akimoto, would both do more than fine. I believe that aside from my sister, I am the only Akimoto in active service to the Gotei." She folded her hands on her knee and propped up the corners of her mouth into a soft smile, completing the reversal of her scowl. "If...when...other Akimoto come after me, they'll just have to differentiate themselves by name and deed, rather than just the latter."

Nao set to scribbling, writing, documenting, and otherwise filling out the necessary fields on the first form with a practiced and dextrous hand. "Did you live in a collective, then?" She blinked twice, probing the personal question the woman left hanging out there. "Sorry to pry, you don't have to answer. But many of the students I befriended at Academy who came from higher-numbered districts lived in loose collectives that called themselves families rather than formal clans."

Her eyes drifted down a bit as she loathed some of the seething schemes and politics her last name came with over the many decades she had worn it. A simpler time was back there, far, far behind her current privilege. "To choose a family for love and purpose rather than accident of birth sounds...nice."

The question took her by some surprise, especially from a woman of Helena’s standing. Nao would have taken a while to read the indicators on the form or to draw her own conclusion as to the nobility of her guest, but she had thankfully outright revealed that to her. Her posture stiffened at the use of the word ‘Lady’ and held its firmness until Helena asked her about her family.

Her sister was the only other member of the family in active service to the Gotei? Did that mean there was a second Akimoto lineage, or was Tetsuya not considered in active service? He'd never mentioned anyone like her, though he never liked talking about his family much. Her mind raced across all kinds of wild possibilities. Perhaps she had been sent here to test Nao and bring her to justice for what she did to Helena's relative. Why wait 8 decades to do that, though? Perhaps this was all an elaborate prank by someone in her office designed to get the clerk flustered enough to screw the whole thing up and face some disciplinary action. There had been a time several years ago when one of them had gotten someone she didn't know to impersonate a Captain in order to land her a month's worth of cover work due to an improper filing.

When she was finally addressed, Nao stammered and stuttered slightly as she tried to find her words. After trying and failing to make her mouth form words, he caught herself and overcame her tongue being tied with an overt breathing exercise. She could almost hear her supervisor in the back of her head reprimanding her for her unprofessionalism, but it was better to look momentarily flustered than to open her mouth and prove her idiocy. Finally calmed back down, she cleared her throat and pushed a smile back onto her heavily blushing face, speaking far more clearly than she had moments prior. ”My apologies for that, Lady Akimoto. I had no real family, at least not by most peoples’ definition. I was taken in by a bookbinder in Twelve North after my arrival and, though he did provide me with a roof over my head, he was very clear that I was not part of his family. His wife didn’t like the idea of letting me sleep in their house, but he was kind enough to let me keep a personal space near my desk where I could live.”

She was ready to go back to writing, but quickly flipped her head back up, realizing that Helena would likely find her story a pitiable one after extolling the virtues of a life full of love. ”It was all a long time ago, though. I’ve been out of the Academy for over eight decades now, and First Division has become more of a family than anything I could have hoped to have outside,” she said in an attempt to assure both her visitor and herself that everything was okay.

"That's a very noble sentiment" she offered with a soft nod. The spirit of her words genuine on both the surface and at a brief glance.

"I'm coming to understand that both 'families' will ask you to die for them if need be but in very different ways. I'm glad to hear you've come so far; it reinforces that most key notion that we are what we choose to make of ourselves." To this point her hands had been folded politely on her knee but as she wistfully mused about deciding your fate her eyes drifted off and her hand drifted up. Two fingers idly entwining around the silver band of the choker around her neck, running over its slightly tarnished metal. Whatever it was, it was clearly an old touchstone for the woman.

"Let's continue..." She said with her head turned, out into the ether of their surroundings.

Nao hesitated for a few moments, unsure if she was in her place to disrupt the private thoughts of someone as well connected as Miss Akimoto. Her kind words had done much to soften the woman, but there was still such a gap between where the two of them ought to be given the new Shinigami's familial ties and, judging by the fact that she was applying for Fifth Division, her no doubt superior combat prowess.

”Yes, Lady Akimoto. If you’ll look down here,” Nao respectfully offered as she became worried her pausing was causing things to become awkward. With practiced familiarity, she pointed a manicured and painted index finger to a section on the form in front of Helena, the silver triangle pattern catching the light in the room over the matte gray foundation layer. She had gotten her nails touched up a week ago at her supervisor’s insistence after a tragic incident with her inkwell had left a stain and, though the design was considerably flashier than her normal plain nails, she did like seeing the way her office lamps played with the reflective designs. ”That section at the bottom there is for your living arrangements. Most new members of Fifth stay on premises in the Division Barracks, though you can request special accommodations if you need them. It will, of course, be up to your supervising officers if you actually receive them. I have seen some ludicrous requests over the years. Personal mansions and a room in their Captain’s quarters come to mind as ones that have gotten rejected quite quickly, but the sensible ones are much more readily granted.”

She shut her mouth again and allowed Helena to read the fields on the form and make her decisions, just as she had done when the noblewoman had complimented her dedication. Her face still flushed a lighter red at the praise, but there was little she could do to control that. Thankfully, she had been able to control her eyes from gravitating to the choker Helena seemed to hold some form of significance for. She had her own collection of personal jewelry as well, no doubt considerably cheaper than that owned by her guest. Ever since she had gotten her nails done, Nao had opted for a pair of silver barrettes that she had bought for herself many years ago for a date. She had, as was her habit, chickened out and cancelled at the last minute, coming up with an excuse about having to work late, but she didn’t see a need to try to return a perfectly good set of barrettes just because she got cold feet.

Exploiting the distraction to catch a better look at Helena’s jewelry, Nao found herself surprised that the well off Lady in front of her was wearing something seemingly modest. It still looked quite nice, but she would have expected gemstones and fabulous materials, not something that could well have been within her price range. She found herself speaking without thinking about it, her mouth writing a check that her social standing offered her no means of even trying to cash. ”By the way, they can outfit your gigai with most any cosmetic adornment you can think of, if you want them to make a copy of your choker. It’s not expressly on any of those forms, but you can put a note in the requisition order two pages in and they should do it,” she casually remarked, catching herself at the end and adding on an anxious ”Lady Akimoto."

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," She said in a not-quite-dismissive tone but certainly made up of cursory attention to the statement as she leaned in a bit closer to read the document as indicated. A gigai was an uncomfortable necessity when acting as a Shinigami. Restrain was something Helena was perfectly comfortable practicing but it was a warming comfort to have the option to dispose of modesty as desired. When in the confines of a gigai, no matter how masterfully crafted, there were always undue limitations that simply could not be bypassed.

Leaning forward further in her seat, the old wooden thing creaking just a bit beneath her shifting weight, she placed a hand on the desk and lightly clasped Nao's pointing hand. "Thank you for your help with all of this," she gave a light squeeze and then took her hand away. "It is much appreciated."

Cruelty? Perhaps. To let one of the commonfolk soar so close to the sun that was nobility with but a fleeting touch was a careful and tactical weapon she could only use just so often with any person. Apply it too frequently or too casually and it became expected. Understood. Comfortable. Besides, what would her adoptive sister think?

In truth, the maneuver was a deflection. A deflection of the memories, the thoughts, the meandering mind that opened the gate, and took a stroll down a forlorn lane in the recesses of her mind when the choker was mentioned. The band itself was simple, silk, threaded with silver but the clasp used to be a wedding band. A final sentiment from her dearly department, and one that simply--not matter how well crafted--could not be 'replicated' on a gigai even if done so by a master craftsman.

"I believe I'll be staying in the barracks as per the standard accommodations, thank you. Commuting into and out of the Seireitei every day would be burdensome while trying to acquaint myself with new personnel and facilities. Also, I wouldn't want to miss out on impromptou...er...team building activities. I understand the Fifth has more than its fair share." Shoulders still folded in, weight still leaning forward, she smiled softly as she looked up from the section she just completed. "Very good, Aoki-san. What is next?"

Nao was shocked that she didn’t jerk her fingers back as Helena brought her hand in. She didn’t know the last time she’d experienced deliberate physical contact, let alone with someone of Helena’s social station. She got around to social events, but always kept others at least an arm’s length away. The ease at which Helena casually broke that barrier spoke to a power she secretly desired more than any mastery of Kido or the tasks of her position could ever give. She’d never admit it, but nobody would ever ask it. The little mouse of First could sit in her corner for the rest of her days and not once would anyone think to ask her what she wanted.

Fortunately for her, she was so paralyzed by fear that she couldn’t have moved her hand if she’d wanted to. It didn’t stop her face from burning up with embarrassment as the surprisingly soft and warm fingers carried a tenderness that one would not expect from an aspirant to Fifth Division. She was elated when Helena spoke again, ridding her of the need to address what had just happened and giving her a few precious moments to calm her heart down and make a few marks on her own papers before she was asked about the next step in the process.

Suppressing the urge to fidget in her chair, Nao cleared her throat and answered with a forced professionalism. Confident she could get through this without making a fool of herself, Nao adopted a speech pattern with a forced pacing that bordered on robotic, courtesy of repeated drilling to make sure she could get through the most important parts of what she had to say without sharing unnecessary information or shooting off on any tangents that might hurt her metrics again. ”Yes, next we will need to figure out your OAPs, or your Optimal Assignment Parameters. The name and program was conceived by my supervisor as part of our push to help other Divisions maximize their personnel’s capabilities. This is where we will report to your Division any personal preferences either for or against certain types of work, as well as any special skills that might set you above your peers. It is, of course, your Division’s prerogative to use the OAPs, but we have had remarkable successes with them in improving unit retention and fostering an efficient culture in our team. Before we conducted the OAPPS, the Optimal Assignment Parameter Performance Study, our staff worked an equally shared burden of office, field, and general administrative work. This created horrible inefficiencies, as some of our most valuable staff had been wasting their time with tasks that made poor use of their talents. Now, thanks to the information we gathered from the OAPPS, we were able to use our OAPs to identify and assign each Shinigami in this office to duties that best fit their skill set.”

She took a deep breath after the spiel, nodding quickly to herself in confidence that she had covered everything she needed to. Giving a polite smile to Helena, she nodded and quickly pointed to the important sections on the form, taking her hand back after finishing highlighting them out of fear that the woman might touch her again and make her heart stop.

"A sort of self-assessment?" She blinked a few times, shaking her head slightly. It made sense, to assess ones own strengths and weaknesses, to know limitations so that they may be defeated, to know failure so that it may be overcome. In spite of all this, it was still intrinsically strange to reflect on it on paper like this.

"W-well I uh, am not very accustomed to administrative work. I certainly have fulfilled the role of a functionary at events, social causes, and in attendance of others, but that's a far cry from the more specific tasks of administration." She smiled weakly, if not a bit nervously.

"Certainly field operations would be a strength including the day-to-day. Making sure the men and women I serve with are up and at 'em, on task and prepared to face the demands of the coming day's work. I...I guess I'm not really sure how to answer?" She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the question having put her a bit on the spot.

"I'm also pretty good at cutting things." She tapped her katana and wakizashi, hanging silently threaded through her obi.

It filled her with a bizarre sense of pride to see someone as powerful and well connected as Lady Akimoto expressing uncertainty with the sorts of tasks that Nao performed daily. Sure, she might not be much of a Shinigami, her colleagues might all make fun of her behind her back, and her boss might regularly berate her for her horrendous incompetence at every review, but in this moment she actually felt like she could do something right. The reassuring touch and compliments had helped, but hadn’t been enough. That could be faked, and she’d seen it enough from the people who shared her unit only to hear them badmouthing her later in the day to know that lesson.

When she spoke again, she was much calmer and, finally, free of any stuttering or need to pause and collect herself. The nerves were still there, but she didn’t need the the office drone mannerisms her supervisor insisted she adopt. This was something she could do, and she could do it better than a noblewoman aspiring to be a member of Fifth. She could feel the surge of confidence propelling her onward, leading her to relax her posture, smile a little more warmly, and react with smoother, less jerky motions.

”You will find that it is rare to come across a Fifth Division member who isn’t at least respectable with their blade. Still, if you enjoy making sure your colleagues are prepared, how do you feel about leadership, Lady Akimoto?” Nao asked, finally meeting her gaze, “Not in First, but within Fifth? Obviously not starting off, as a fresh Academy graduate will need some deeds on the field before they would be given anyone to give orders to, but we can place a recommendation that might help you along that path should you wish to pursue it.”

"Certainly," her tone started matter-of-factly but it softened toward the end and as she continued speaking, "my family would ask nothing less of me and I would expect nothing less of myself."

She punctuated the sentiment with a shallow nod and half-smile. Some things were just destiny and Helena and a position with the leadership was one of them. She was sure. Her life, decades of poor quality metal that had been heated and purged of impurity, fired, broken down to a near-liquid desperate mass. She baked in that crucible as nobles schemed and plotted around her, her husband playing their games, her parents victims of them, and they all had died for it. In the end, the molten metal that was left behind was poured into a sword. A bit dramatic to think of yourself as such but it was certainly apt.

She just needed time to sharpen.

She just needed time to hone.

'You just need time feel the satisfaction/release of a deep cut.'

Voices spoke she had heard only a few times before. Two of them. Disembodied as they were, there was no presence around them to tie to these words except what strange sensations she felt in her head. She wrinkled her nose a bit at the interruption to her practiced speech but kept going.

"If you could certainly note my interest I would ask nothing more of you. I will prove through deed and character to be worthy." She that was the truth.

”I’m sure you will,” Nao remarked as she withdrew a slightly darker sheet of paper from a small, neat stack of similar-looking papers on her desk and started writing on it, ”It’s easier to be recognized for your deeds if eyes are already on you, though. Obviously it all depends on if your commanding officer reads what we’re sending over, but this should help with that.”

In a calm, flowing penmanship, she writes out a short, to the point recommendation. It is the hereby recommended that the Shinigami Helena Akimoto be evaluated for a leadership position as soon as practicable. Her talents and disposition indicate that she will serve Fifth Division with distinction and honor. The officers in Fifth usually didn't like to read more than a few lines, she knew. Despite all the drilling and procedure that her supervisor had taught her about formality and structure, she still knew the fastest and most reliable way to get results when they were actually needed.

After having written the quick recommendation up, Nao fished in her desk for an ink stamp and, once she found it, set it on top before going back down and tracing her fingers along a selection of wax seals. Which to choose? She ought to use the forms office’s official stamp, as that would be the most straightforward and it was what she ought to be using, but something at the back of her mind steered her hand toward the back of the drawer. It had been quite some time since she had been able to make use of the seal of the office of the Captain Commander, and her eyes fell upon the delicately engraved wooden handle in an instant.

She had previously been much more free-wheeling with the seal. It was a sure-fire way to make sure something was read, so she attached it to anything that needed to be expedited. The chewing out she had gotten when her supervisor caught on to what she’d been doing had been fierce, but what were the odds that news of what she did here would make it to her boss’ ears?

That itch at the back of her mind felt delightfully scratched in just the right way as her fingers clasped around the ornate handle. She could feel her heart beating with the thrill of disobedience as she pulled it out and set it next to the wax lamp, the dense yet satisfying thud accenting the pounding in her chest nicely. Quickly pushing the signature of her office onto the paper with the ink stamp, she wasted little time after it had dried before she folded it.

A tiny smile crept across her lips as she took the wax stamp back in hand and, after placing enough wax to make the seal, pressed it down firmly. ”Here we go,” she said politely as she placed the letter atop Helena’s paperwork, ”That should help your prospects considerably.”

Nao took a quick look over the paperwork as well as her addition before nodding to herself. With another application of the wax, she re-sealed the papers that Helena had handed to her and slipped them back into the folder. ”That ought to take care of everything, Lady Akimoto, at least everything you’ll need to be present for. We’ll still have to straighten out your requisition numbers and get information transmitted to the other Divisions, but with these you should be ready for you to head over to Fifth and make your introductions later this afternoon. You’ll likely be seeing some documents from me arriving in the next few days with additional information.”

She couldn't believe this was happening. So far, so soon, so tangibly as to be unfolding right before her very eyes. Paperwork had genuinely never been so exciting! Although it wasn't for the paperwork itself.

Fate, kismet, or just plain dumb luck. Whatever you wanted to call it, the Grand Design marched on either by intention or by accident and the infernal machinery was carrying her somewhere. She had Nao Aoki to thank for being a part of that, although whether this bureaucrat had a bigger role to play remained to be seen.

She bowed her head to the adjutant of the First. "I humbly thank you for your service, Aoki-san."

”It was my pleasure, Lady Akimoto. Though this paperwork needs to officially reach your superior officers in order to finalize everything, I would like to congratulate you on your graduation and pending assignment,” Nao said, returning the bow respectfully. She made a motion to stand up and escort her guest to the door before an idea struck her. Grabbing a blank sheet of paper from her desk, she drew up a quick floor plan, adding in a line tracing leading away from a box marked with her initials to the exit. Content with her map, she handed it back to Helena with a smile, ”This should help you find your way out. You’ll want to head left to start off, otherwise you’ll probably end up in printing.”

After walking with her to her door and making sure she was on the right way out of the labyrinthine passageways of First, Nao returned to her desk and finished up the paperwork for Helena in relative quiet, content that she’d likely just helped someone important on the path to success. She didn’t expect anything to come back her way as a result of her assistance, it just felt good to help someone who was obviously destined for things so much greater than she could ever hope to attain. She’d have to keep her eyes peeled for any reports that got filtered through her office in order to stay up to date on the successes of the Lady.

The paperwork efficiently completed and routed off to couriers who could make sure it would be in the correct hands in time for Helena to experience a bureaucratically seamless transition from the Academy to Shinigami life, Nao settled back into her office, noticing that she’d totally forgotten to hand the seal from her Academy paperwork back to Helena. As it had already dried on the piece of paper she had set it on, Nao set it in a small box and wrote her own little note to accompany it. She would have a courier handle this in the morning mail next week. There was no need to bombard her any more on her first days in Fifth Division.

Lady Helena Akimoto,

I hope this finds you well. Enclosed, please find the seal from your Academy paperwork. I kept mine and have found it a comfort to be able to look back on my time spent learning.

Nao Aoki
First Division Forms & Processing