To Absent Friends And A Fresh Start (Leona, Armina)

"Yes, Armina. I differed from the rest of my family in that I lived for the thrill of the fight. As you could tell during our sparring match, I still do." Leona confirmed that her attitude towards fighting was one thing that set her apart from the rest of her family. While her parents and siblings fought only when needed, the youngest Sheridan fought because fighting made her feel alive like nothing else could. Not even a day-long coffee binge of her favorite brew came close to the euphoria a good fight gave the blonde.

"I found that I liked fighting during my days in the Rukongai, but World War IV was the point that I could no longer deny it. I served in it from start to finish and while I didn't pull off any spectacular feat of skill that got me noticed by my superiors recognition didn't matter to me. All I really cared about was when and where the next fight would be." Leona added to the story. She realized that on some level her life sounded kind of empty because she had admitted that fighting was one of her biggest joys, but it was the truth. During the last world war Leona had discovered that being in the middle of the action was far more pleasing to her than any coffee could ever be. At this point she supposed that the only rush that could equal a particularly good fight was finally achieving Bankai.

When the subject of her sister came up Leona effortlessly shifted gears to that subject.

"My older sister isn't into dance, but during her time at the Academy she learned that protracted slugfests weren't for her. So she experimented with Zanjutsu and came up with a way to fight without leaving herself open to attack for very long." Leona told Armina what she knew about Lucia's style of Zanjutsu. Lucia had not told everything about it, but Leona did know that it was still a work in progress. One glaring weakness the youngest Sheridan had noticed was that a strong Zanjutsu strike to Lucia's zanpakuto when the latter was performing a spinning attack could easily disrupt a spin and leave the latter open to retaliation. Leonidas had demonstrated that flaw several times in the sparring match between the older Sheridan siblings.

"Most of the time I'm not bothered by my passion for fighting because it kept me alive during my time in the Rukongai... and during the war. While the hoodlums in the neighborhood were bad, the Hollows were worse. They didn't show mercy, so I didn't show any mercy to them." Leona commented on how her passion was important to her survival both before and after becoming a Shinigami. While she was fortunate that the hoodlums in her part of the North Rukongai were not nearly as bad as those in the districts with higher numbers, they were still bad enough to try to push around people they perceived to be weak. World War IV was a lot worse than her neighborhood because Hollows had no concept of mercy and always went for the kill, so one needed to be ready and willing to kill them first.

"The battlefield's no place for pacifists." Leona casually remarked in a reference to the critics who felt entitled to trash Shinigami who enjoyed fighting a bit too much but also felt that the same Shinigami should protect them whenever the fecal matter hit the oscillating air device. Like the blue-haired woman the blonde did not take the criticism to heart because talk was cheap and she had a thick skin. Besides, one had to be tough if they wanted to have a long tenure in a combat-oriented division.

The subject of Leona's discount version of her sister's style came up, so Leona was willing to discuss it a bit more.

"You're right, Armina. My sister's style is best used in wide open spaces and it lacks striking power, but it's fast on both offense and defense and that speed can catch someone by surprise. With that being said, I typically prefer a more balanced style of Zanjutsu because in my experience being able to defend quickly is as important as being able to attack swiftly. That flexibility saved my life on more than one occasion during World War IV." Leona agreed with the other Shinigami's assessment of her sister's style and opined on the benefits of a balanced style of Zanjutsu. The blonde lacked the raw strength of her brother and Armina. Leona also lacked their ability to tank hit after hit and still remain standing. Therefore she had to rely on balance with the occasional burst of speed and the judicious use of Shikai to win fights.

Since the two Shinigami were clearly of the same mind on the topic Leona saw no need to say anything further about mercy during wartime. She had not shown it to Hollows during World War IV and she had not shown it to them during the recent invasion. They in turn did not show leniency to Leona when one of them slammed into her left side and knocked her to the ground while she was busy trying to fight a particularly resilient Hollow standing in front of her. Had she not forced herself to her feet in a hurry and used Shikai to dispatch them there was a very good chance Leona would not be sitting beside Armina right now because she would have been killed while lying on the ground and unable to defend herself.

Leona did feel a need to discuss Armina's advice, which was welcome. The clear and concise nature of the blue-haired Shinigami's words sounded like they had come from experience and the blonde would be foolish to ignore them. Of particular interest was the assertion that gaining strength would be beneficial... Leona was not sure if Armina had meant overall physical strength or not, but the blonde kept her mouth shut and thought the words over along with key moments in the sparring match. Upon thinking things through for a minute she realized that the other Shinigami had possibly meant that gaining physical strength was the key.

"You're right, Armina. I need to gain more physical strength, but I don't know the best way to do it. I spar with everyone who's able and willing and I train both Zanjutsu and Hakuda, but I don't think that sparring alone is the right way to go about things." Leona agreed with her colleague and admitted ignorance as to how to improve her physical strength so that she had more assets than just fancy footwork.

Leona's face turned red when Armina replied in a tone that was as dry as a desert. The blonde had tried to think things all the way through before speaking and had still missed an obvious solution. Trying to save what face she could, the blonde decided to make a request of the blue-haired woman.

"Now that you've said that, do you have any recommendations for a good gym to go to?" Leona inquired of Armina. It might have been painfully obvious that she was trying to salvage that line of conversation, but she also had a real interest in any advice that might be given. Truth be told the blonde had never thought of the mundane solution of going to a gym, but then again she was not a good thinker to begin with. Moving on to the subject of Hoho, Leona embraced the opportunity to speak about something she knew about.

"That's another good idea, Armina. In my opinion Hoho is one of those skills that tends to be overlooked, but it certainly has a place in any Shinigami's arsenal." Leona opined. She had employed it to decent effect during the sparring match with Armina, but because of how basic her shunpo was there was a high chance that Armina had picked up on the fact that the blonde was not very proficient in Hoho. Leona would try to train that skill a bit more... if she could set aside her focus on achieving Bankai long enough, that was.

Hearing that there was a gym in a nice district of West Rukongai was a pleasant bit of news. Leona was hoping that she would not have to travel through a seedy district while wearing gym clothes because she did not want men constantly making remarks about her figure and/or hitting on her. While the gym's location in the 5th District did not make it totally safe from guys who might take a bit too much interest in her, it might greatly reduce the chances of dealing with the kind of man who did not take no for an answer.

"I'll go there and check the gym out, Armina. It sounds like a place I'd want to go to." Leona replied. The blonde was going to see the facility for herself first before she decided whether to join or not. The possibility of dealing with a rough crowd did not deter Leona at all... if she could survive being the Fourth Division, serving in World War IV from start to finish, and the recent invasion of Soul Society she could survive a gym and its allegedly bellicose patrons.

"Hoho is something I realized I haven't been putting enough effort into because of my focus on getting Bankai. Sparring with you was the sort of wake-up call I needed." Leona freely admitted that she had neglected a skill that complemented her way of fighting. The blonde preferred to maneuver on her own two feet because right now that method was safer and more reliable than shunpo, but fighting Armina had given her a glimpse into what Hoho could really do. If Leona combined that skill with her sister's style of Zanjutsu she might find a combination that could give an opponent an unpleasant surprise. It had certainly had a lot of potential, potential that was well worth exploring.