The Quest for More Stuff

The morning would begin normally enough for Captain Maki. However she normally awoke and whatever her normal morning activities would continue the way they would every day. It wouldn't be until she attempted to leave that the trouble would begin. Because on the inside of the door to her quarters there was a note.

"Don't Panic." It would say. The small slip of paper was thin, more writing clearly visible on the back.

"Your 4th seat is currently in a state of peril. You may check on him to verify if you wish, but if you seek aid, his safety will no longer be guaranteed, which it is at the moment. Your assistance is required."

The note said no more. In fact, she'd be left with no other indication on what to do or where to go. If she were to happen to check on her 4th seat, she would find him in his officer's room. At first it would seem like he might be asleep, but he would be impossible to raise, no matter what was attempted. The 4th seat was in a coma.

But, taped to his forehead, was a second note. "He will be fine." It said. Once again, there was more on the back. "In the Human world, there is a structure in France known as the Arch De Triumph. To ensure your 4th seat's recovery, meet me there at 10 PM their time."

Calmly tucking the teacher in, Maki put on her detective outfit. "So begins the case." She left a note stating her absence to the rest of the staff of the school and made way for Paris.

Showing up to the meeting place at around 9:30, she waited on a bench for anyone who seemed suspicious.

Little did Maki know that the mastermind behind this whole caper had been waiting for much longer than she had been there. Of course, that may have been because the mastermind was asleep. Waking some time around 10:30, the mastermind, who may or may not have been Esmerelda Romassa, rolled over and crawled around the top of the arch. She had been wise enough to remain up here in her Shadow Cloak, rendering her near invisible in the night time.

Spotting her target below, she smirked, before placing a finger on the shadows around her and drawing a long serpent out. She pulled a sticky note from her suit and placed it on the snake, scribbling something quickly on it before laying still as the Snake headed down the opposite end of the arch from Maki and began slithering her way. At first, it moved stealthily, but as it got closer, it left the bushes and openly approached Maki from the front, simply slithering on over, note on its head.

Maki sensed something odd, but dismissed it due to the atmosphere. She noticed the shadow snake slithering through the crowd. She tensed up, ready to fight, but it seemed benign enough. She leaned down as the snake came up calmly, a note stuck to its forehead like a joke from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Peeling the sticky note off she smiled at the snake, "Thank you little one." Peering at the note, it said...

It gave a little "Sss." that seemed like it could be 'Your welcome.' Of course, it could also be a snake noise, because the second Maki's attention shifted to the note, the snake struck at her upper leg, just above the knee.

Maki twitched her other hand forward, the baton that is her shikai going straight into the snakes throat. Holding onto the letter still, she pursed her lips, "Tsk tsk." She lifted the snake up, baton still in, and slammed it on the ground, followed by a stomp. "Now, back to this letter." Adjusting her hat, she reopend the note...

There was scarcely a noise before a shadow from the top of the arch launched into the air, arcing high above the captain. There was the slightest whistling in the air before a swarm of bats would fall from the sky. Not any bats, these bats happened to serve a secondary purpose of projectiles and would slam into the spot Maki was occupying.

What the captain may or may not know was that the bats were travelling a little slower than normal and, even if she were to not dodge, weren't concentrated tightly enough to strike a fatal blow. Esmerelda who was still silently descending, nearly invisible from high in the night sky, was curious as to this captain's ability, since she'd caught the snake.

Maki whispered "Bankai." She immediately started trying to bat away the bats to the best of her ability, whilst slowly moving the metal up her arm. Once it reached past her elbows she just did her best to shield herself. She shunpoed up to the top of the Arch as soon as the attack relented, not ready to be attacked from the high ground again.

As she continued floating, Esmerelda couldn't help but just... wonder... 'why didn't she just move out of the way?' She smirked. Well this shinigami seemed rather interesting. And her outfit was just adorbs. She would suddenly drop out of the sky and onto the arch, landing in a crouch before standing up. She was wearing her Shadow Cloak, a skintight outfit that emphasized utility over style. It seemed to blend into the night around them. Her face and hair also seemed to have the same effect, being obscured to view. Esmerelda reached up and pressed two fingers to the collar. She spoke, but it came in a stock voice modulator deepness.

"You can reseal your bankai, Captain Tsukino. Not that it particularly matters to me. Neither of those attacks were made with real intent. Simply out of curiosity to your skill."

"Its more comfortable this way." She stated peering at the gunmetal sheen on her hands as she lifted them above her head. "So, why hurt my officer? Why the 60 minutes-esque voice modulator? What do you even want?" She paced back and forth, cuts on her face seeping a little bit. Oddly enough, her entire outfit was completely intact, ESPECIALLY her hat. "If you wanted a demonstration, you only needed to ask." She bowed and tipped her tophat.

"Your lieutenant will be fine, provided I get what I desire." The figure started pacing calmly around the arch. "And I suppose they are pretty spiffy gauntlets... And the modulator is because I'm not sure if we can work together yet and... I feel like the voice modulator should be obvious." Of course it was because she had a distinct voice... and an accent. The ONLY frigging Arrancar with that accent. "And as for what I want..." The figure stopped and turned to face her.

"You have the memories of the dead in you. Those memories make me curious." The figure paused as if to leave it at that before sighing. "And I'm not cut out for the dramatic monologue business, so let me cut to the chase. I want treasure. Ancient relics, valuable jewels, powerful weapons. And who more likely to know about it then the lost souls of the dead."

"What?" Maki shook the confusion off as well as she could. "You broke into seireitei, into MY office, know about my abilities, and all you wanted was me to be a TREASURE map?" Maki bursted into laughter. After a couple solid minutes of chuckles she wiped a tear from her eye. "You don't think I would go get all the treasure I DID find out about? Besides, I've absorbed my share of memories, but the vast majority of people don't have any kind of buried treasure or secret vaults." She pulled out a pretty ornate necklace, "Did find this on an expedition once though. It was fun."

Esmerelda listened intently, not moving as the captain spoke. Map was inaccurate. She wanted the captain to be like her short round or maybe even Sean Connery. She also hadn't counted on Maki actively treasure hunting.... But.. there... Wasn't any treasure to be had?

"I'M SO FUCKING BORED!" She cried, falling to a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her head, essentially collapsing into a ball. "Stupid shinigami don't do ANYTHING worth spying on... I just wanted to go get some treasure..." She grumbled quietly, still shrouded and voice modulated.

Maternal instinct kicking into overdrive, she rushed over and hugged the espada. "Yosh, yosh *digimon world 1 praise*" She stroked her head, "Its okay, do you wanna go get some Ice Cream, then some drinks, not particularly in that order." She lifted the girl's chin to look into her face, even though it was disguised.

She sort of just... stared at the ground. Alright... This was odd... "Um... It's... It's okay. I'll be fine." She said, before glancing up. "Although... Have you ever tried just... taking a dead person's memories specifically FOR treasure? I mean... We could like... go get Marco Polo's corpse and take all HIS treasure, couldn't we?" She asked. "Although ice cream is a good second choice."

"No can do, there's a forty-eight hour time limit kiddo." She continued pat-patting her head. "You ready to take off that mask and get some Ice Cream?" Maki didn't find it odd at all how she was talking to this assailant like a child, nope.

She frowned. Hadn't known that about the power. It was tricky work to even find out she absorb dead people's memories without getting found out. She wince-scrunched her face when she got pat on the head, not that it was visible. She glanced up suddenly, pressing her fingers to her neck. "No can do. Sort of defeats the purpose of wearing a tactical cloak if you let people know it's something you're capable of..." She really was depressed now. Ice cream sounded awesome.

"That mask is gonna make it awfully hard to eat the Ice Cream, Miss Esmerelda." She has pretty much known who it was for a few minutes now, she was just being kinda cute so she was letting it slide. "Besides, you're a pretty thing, don't wanna hide that face from the world, do you?" Maki was sort of playing with her now, but she dragged her to france, so she might as well have a bit of fun too.

Even with her face completely obscured, her surprise was easily visible. She jerked back a bit, looking up at her. Damn it... How could she.... of course. She didn't let anyone who found out she had this power live... But that didn't matter when someone can view the memories of the dead. She sighed and shook her head, the shadows disappearing to reveal her face. She stood up with a little half frown.

"Well... I should be upset that someone has intel on my abilities but... Compliments DO cheer me up. And this also makes ice cream more doable." She sighed, her outfit suddenly collapsing around her revealing something a little less... Stealthy... "And I was hoping I could go tomb robbing in this..."

"I can't tell you who told me, but my spirit knows. Doesn't particularly matter I suppose." She stood back and watched her outfit fall off, revealing an Indie costume. "While the outfit is cute, its not all you need for grave robbing. Although, we're kind of super powerful spirits...soooo...." She trailed off and shrugged. "Anywho, Ice cream time!" Maki hopped down, assuming the Quatro would follow her.

"I.." She sighed. "I suppose...I probably owe you an apology, if not as a squad leader, as a shinigami. You knowing my powers means I must have killed someone, whoever it was, that could be called a comrade. Sorry." She sighed and watched the captain hop off the roof before running and leaping off herself. She landed on a little handstand, before springing to her feet. "Besides, I'm pretty sure I could rob a tomb even without my arrancar powers, but you are quite right. Ice Cream time is of the most vital importance. So where will you be buying us ice cream at, Captain Tsukino?"

"Buy? Neither of us brought gigais. Or, at least I didn't. We're stealing it honey. Where is a good looking stand or something. I feel that'd be easier." She began to swiftly walk off. "Don't fall behind!" Were there still Ice Cream carts? Oh well, worst comes to worst she can run into a cafe and take some stuff. Six to one it doesn't matter a bit.

"Well well well." She caught up with Maki and spun on her heel, walking backwards a little ahead and to the side of her. "The LAST outing I had with a shinigami, there was a constant insistence on paying for things. I didn't think any of you were fun enough to just steal things." She teased, before spinning back around to face forwards. "Hrm... Forgive me, I'm not particularly familiar with this area of Paris." Or any area that wasn't the slums, actually. She didn't come here very often. Damned french thought they were so awesome.

"Well, I forgot my wallet, so to speak. What am I supposed to do, just NOT get Ice Cream? Preposterous." As they were walking through the town she noticed a small ice cream shop. Maki pointed her finger and made a gun sound, "Bingo! Besides, they owe us for keeping them safe from the hollows...err...feral hollows I guess. I don't know, you can piggy back on my "them owing us"." She shrugged and ran towards the store.

She could see the captain's point. That is to say that that was generally HER line of thinking and she found it odd that a Shinigami captain thought along the same lines. She raised her hands in an exaggerated shrug. "Well, if I must have free ice cream forced upon me." She said in her least committed 'woe is me' voice. Her shadow began rising up behind her and she fell backwards to sit side-saddle on the thing as it finished shaping and began a brisk trot alongside the captain. "I like ice cream. I just don't like it enough to run."