Nene heard the two mention something about something not being water, probably should have told them what each dial did, but hey, all of them cleaned so it just depended on what the user wanted to take a bath in. Well since they were new she decided that she give them a little welcome to squad twelve gift. So she went to the lab and easily obtained where their rooms were located. Luckily they were next to each others so that would save some time. So she walked back to her room tapping her zanpakuto along the way, and picked up two cube that sucked in anything and hurried to their rooms. She went in only to leave it on their tables with a message that stated how to use them and that was it. The message read "The device is able to store an infinite amount of items. Green sucks, red expels all items, blue will be able to shuffle through any item you may want at the moment a hologram will show above the cube showing what the item is, and the black button expels that one item that is locked in with the blue button. Also do not press all four buttons at once, for they will explode." She then wandered the halls thinking of what she could do next. Maybe challenge the lazy man to another challenge?
It was what she'd heard before, just rephrased and coming out of Hioshimi's mouth instead of her instructors. Hioshimi was right - this was a machine. A terrible machine put into place by some greater being out there that served as a mockery of Heaven. And those who were didn't fit in it were crushed until they would. Hioshimi hadn't denied the injustice of the system but nor had she agreed with her views. It was frustrating, like working without being given a reward. Pick the best souls out of a million and charge them with the duty of protecting the Soul Society, not the people in it? Kame bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from speaking out again. The salty taste of iron in her mouth reminded her of the murderers that laid within the Seireitei and still she could not see why they were considered the best.
In a world where prowess in an art that claimed other peoples' lives determined who was great and who was not, where would everyone else fit in? Families upon families, all fed lies in which they'd be allowed to reunite and live forever peacefully - where were they in the equation, the machine? Kame closed her eyes and smiled listlessly as Hioshimi went on. Unlike her, she didn't have the slightest bit of faith in the 12th Division. The people here seemed more concerned with coming up with a thousand ways to wash one's hair than come up with a solution for the Rukongai situation. Hioshimi had told her to look for a solution though, which was something Kame hadn't really thought of. She'd thought of revenge, sure. Justice, a way to give back everything she'd received from the Seireitei. Equal payment. But a solution? What positives were there? Kame thought it over as Hioshimi left the baths.
She wouldn't have put it past the 12th Division to install cameras in here but what Nene had said earlier about perverts buried that thought. Hioshimi had said she'd lend a hand for her ideas. If only Kame had told her just what those ideas were. She couldn't picture her companion having the capacity to stab Nene in the back, for an example. As soon as she heard the change-room doors slam shut however, Kame let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She hadn't garnered the response she'd been expecting - no, wanting. What had she said at the end? That they'd been lucky to make it this far? "There's no such thing as luck." She murmured as she began draining the tub. Kame turned the water on to rinse off any last suds in her hair and on the floor of the bath. She spit a sticky stream of saliva and blood onto the floor, watching it mix with the water and go swirling down the drain. "Just hard work and persistence." She was drained now, just like the bath.
Kame let the water pour over her body and unexpectedly, began to feel the beginning heaves of a incoming cry. She hiccuped slightly and scrunched up her eyes to stop even a single tear from coming up. "No. No, no, no. Stop it." She shook her head wildly. Kame knew if she allowed one tear to escape her than she'd let the ones she'd been storing for five years come out as well. What was she even doing? Stuck in a strange place in the Seireitei, planning on killing members of an organization older than both her and her father combined. And on top of all that, she'd been isolated for her Academy years with no one to talk to. She missed the Rukongai, no matter how desolate it was. She missed her mother helping to wash her hair, splashing with her brother, getting into trouble for knocking over their only bucket of water - all of it, good and bad. Perhaps she could use a friend, a concept she hadn't thought of since leaving District 72 behind.
Especially in a place like the Seireitei, she'd need some good to help take the brunt of the bad. "Okay. You can do it Kame, you can do it. Okay." She breathed out slowly and turned off the water. Rivulets dripped down from her hair and down her body, leaving behind a wet trail as she stalked off to retrieve her clothes. They were dirty she realized and so Kame looked around for a towel that would do the trick. She draped the fabric around her, revealing nothing more than her legs and shoulders. "I'm going to go back Hioshimi." She sniffed. It was hard keeping her emotions at bay but she'd managed. "Whenever you're ready."
Before exiting the changing rooms, Hioshimi took the time to compose herself and her plans for the future as they stand so far:
1: Stop her newest friend from being (presumably) determined to kill everyone in the Seireitei.
2: Find a way to convince Squad 12 to consider focusing more on the maltreatment of the Rukongai.
3: Discover the reasons behind her unusually active Asauchi, and hopefully find a solution to that too.
Hioshimi briefly considered herself lucky that she wasn't like the majority, who aspired only to become stronger; it would've been far too overburdening on her. These goals seemed much more morally inclined...and much harder.
Hioshimi unlocked the door to the changing rooms, flipping her clumped, wet hair with a quiet splatting noise and flashing a bright smile at Kame.
"That was a nice bath!" she commented, slipping her Asauchi onto her belt instead of holding it. It was certainly a very enlightening experience, accompanied with warm water and strange bathsoaps. Hioshimi briefly wondered if all of her meetings with Kame would involve some deep and serious conversation, as has been the theme throughout her stay thus far. She gestured to the exit, and lead the way back to their rooms.
The passage from bathroom to dorms was completed in a very unusual silence from Hioshimi; despite her attitude seeming to have flicked onto the default optimistic and contented mannerisms as she walked (One wouldn't have been able to tell that moments earlier she had been claiming that both of her lives were part of a grander scheme in which the individual progress of a single life meant nothing whatsoever) her lips remained firmly shut, not even an idly hummed drinking-song managing to escape. The tell-tale feature were her eyes, for she was not focusing so much on the literal path ahead of her, but instead her eyes flickered like she was analysing multiple documents spread close together. Clearly, Hioshimi was thinking hard on something.
So much so that when she reached her door, she briefly emitted an expression of mild surprise.
"Thanks for the bath, Kame. If you need me for anything, just knock on the wall like last time, yeah?" said Hioshimi, turning to face Kame and shedding away her distractions like a second skin - for around half a minute, she seemed to place aside all of her thoughts and dedicate her attention to Kame.
"I'm serious - if you need anything, just ask."
Hioshimi entered her room and found a cube sitting on her chest of drawers. After the incident with the baths, Hioshimi was unsure what to do with it, but she unsheathed her blade warily and approached with extreme caution. After poking the cube several times (thus assuring that it wasn't a latent explosive) Hioshimi then deemed it appropriate to read the note accompanying it, and with an excited squeak, immediately stored all of her belongings and spent the next half hour constantly re-arranging her room with the aid of the tiny cube in her hands, like an excited child with a toy.
