The Search for Answers

Stepping out of a Garganta placed oh so delicately in a public, open and not vital area, the Corona flipped her hair as she called out in a loud clear voice. "I'm here to see the Head Captain, whoever it is now. I've brought my Primera and my Tricera but no others. Can this please be something polite? I'd rather not have a fight at all."

She then looked down at her nails, examining them once again in a nonchalant gesture. They could wait for a response, as she waited for her two to leave the Garganta.

There was only a flicker before Maki landed about fifty yards from the Corona. She walked towards her, arms behind her back, until she was within 10 feet if her. Bowing she greeted the woman. "Welcome, Corona Saraiyu. My name is Maki Tsukino, and I am the interim Head Captain of the Souls Society. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Maki was sure she knew what the Arrancar wanted. She was more than likely curious about the passing of Setsuna, but she may as well play the formalities out.

Levi slithered out behind her corona and stood at attention. Somehow the espada was managing to remain her serious looking composure even though inside her head she was humming show tunes. Duck tales, WOO WOO.

Shinya fell in step from behind the Primera as he exited the garganta. He immediately scanned the area for any threats, but seeing none for the moment, he relaxed a little. Just a little. He was surprised to see the new head captain come out to greet them so soon, he was expecting trouble first but maybe Soul Society was becoming less barbaric? Yeah and pigs could fly.

"What is going on, if you'd be so kind as to answer Madam Interim Head Captain Tsukino." Saraiyu closed the garganta behind her, eyes narrowed as she realized Esmer's information was indeed correct. "It seems Kepler and Setsuna exploded themselves over the Russian wilderness, according to our reports."

"More like Setsuna exploded herself over the Russian wilderness and Kepler either wanted to take her with him, or tried to contain the blast. Who even knows at this point. Setsuna was always a wild one." Maki shook her head whilst staring at the ground. Looking up again at the corona, she gestured off towards a small pavilion, "If you'd like to sit whilst we talk." Assuming the corona would follow her, she started walking, "As far as I know, they had some sort of altercation, and they exploded. She left me a message saying if she didn't come back I was to take charge. Nothing else."

After they reached the pavilion Maki would call out, "If you could join the meeting, I don't think they are hostile today Isaac." She called for the squad 2 captain.

"Huh." Saraiyu pondered this bit of information as she headed for the pavilion, knowing her two would either follow or find guarding positions. Trying to think of all the possible reasons why that could have happened, she took a seat rather distracted. She trusted Levi and Shinya to be entirely on guard right now, even if it was silly. Her brain was too busy crunching all sorts of information and trying to find some sort of solution.

"...Those two really just up and did such a thing? I guess I had pegged them both wrong. I really don't see any reason why they would just jump to such hostilities unless there was some reason, something one or the other did. But was there enough time to build up a fight like that?" Rubbing her forehead at such a headache, she leaned back in her chair. The shinigami were just as confused, were much less likely to attack her now... and even in the event of a betrayal or some elaborate plot, she would be fine with the two she had. "It feels like a puzzle with half of the pieces missing... Levi, Shinya, you should introduce yourselves. Especially since she also brought a...subordinate."

One eyebrow raised, she glanced at the other two. "She is to be the new leader, it would be only polite."

"Yes, my Corona." Shinya spoke as he pulled himself away from his sentinel duties. He had narrowed down where the other shinigami was, but said nothing about him for now as he was confident that he was of no concern for the time being. "I am Shinya, the Tricera." He says as he bowed formally.

The snake woman just quietly listened to the situation and grew more and more annoyed at the series of event. Her focus was broken by the corona's request and she quickly obliged her leader. "I am Abelinda, the primera." She said with a slight nod as a bow would be entirely uncomfortable and awkward to perform.

Isaac had been waiting behind a pavilion pillar, patiently listening to the conversation. The Corona sounded... grumpy.. but hardly belligerent of violent. He really doubted his assistance was necessary here. Not that it particularly mattered. He didn't know exactly how their new Interim Captain would stack up against the Corona, but he knew himself well enough to know he wouldn't be able to buy a whole lot of time against the Primera and the Tricera, if any at all. Still, they were working with what they had available.

He turned with a "hm?" When he heard his name, stepping out from behind the pillar. He supposed such a conventional hiding spot seemed mundane for the spec ops captain, but he was more of the wetwork/demolitions kind of spec-ops, not the stealth sort.

"Hello Corona, Primera, Tricera." He hesitated before realizing he should probably show some formality and gave a deep bow. "I'm Captain Winters." He was simply a font of information.

(OOC: My turn? >_>)

"To be honest, I wouldn't put it beyond Setsuna to have said something to stir up the hollows. She's always been a bit of a "loose cannon", so to speak." Maki rubbed her chin. "But still, it seemed Kepler was the aggressor from our side, I don't suppose you have any information to give US?" The Head Captain was pulling at loose ends, but hey, maybe she could get lucky.

"I was busy with things when I got word of something going on. By the time my scouts got there, well there was a crater and they were both gone." Saraiyu gave a nod to the Captain of few words, before turning back to the acting head captain. "I barely knew Kepler either. So I have nothing to impart, I can't even enter their home and find out from them."

Looking at the two before her, she leaned forward onto her hands. "Setsuna may have been a loose cannon in some ways, but this? I don't know what to think, therefore I refuse to assume anything. All that work, to fight and die like this? I truly don't buy it. Not at all."

Shinya didn't need to say anything as his thoughts mirrored the Corona's. Something stinks about that whole fiasco and he wasn't sure what it was yet. He gave a curt bow to the shinigami that appeared, noting that he was less dangerous than he initially surmised. But then again, underestimating a foe could prove deadly.

"Then you truly do not understand the woman. For all I know the Demiurge could have played a prank on her. She truly had one of the shortest of fuses when it came to people crossing her. Yet, we can't prove anything yet. All I received was a direct message saying that she was off to meet the demi-urge and that if she didn't come back, I was to take over. All I can glean from that is that the demi-urge called her out." She shook her head, "But the battlefield was clearly HER handywork, and if she had been close enough to the blast even she wouldn't survive." Maki omitted the pheonix-like quality of her zanpakuto, but she had doubts it could survive a nuke either.

"...Hopefully you are not so stupid then. I don't spend my time thinking about the inner workings of the Shinigami." Saraiyu had the biggest headache now. She made a frustrated sound in her throat before standing.

Brushing her hair back, she shrugged. "Consider my nonaggression pact moved to you for now, but I'm going to be paying extra attention. Such a pain this all is... If the hollows come for your blood I might intervene. Or not. It depends on whether it might amuse those bloodthirsty like Xavos."

"I am not so much the fool that Setsuna was as a Leader. She believed she could do everything herself, and with her power, not much was out of her reach." Maki stood up in turn with the Corona, "A leader doesn't need to do everything themselves. That is why we have subordinates. If the hollows do try to invade or even come after me personally, I won't look for a fair fight. I will win." Protecting the seireitei and all her loved ones was what was most important, not petty power struggles or fights. Maki would make damn sure her home is safe.

"That is good to know. The help would be appreciated, but assuming you don't intervene, I believe we would still be able to handle ourselves. We're not that weak." She flexed and puffed up a little. Smiling she held her hand out to the corona, "It was nice of you to visit. We'll have to get together for tea or something sometime. Remember, if you hear anything about this whole snafu, let me know Corona Saraiyu."

Isaac quietly watched the conversation between the two. Once or twice he shifted a little, frowning. He'd certainly like to speak up, but... It wasn't his place, nor his duty. Well, his duty was to stand here and look like he could do something. He was well aware that if the Corona decided to attack there wasn't an AWFUL lot he could do. At best buy the Interim Head Captain time? The other two Espada he could fare better against, but he got the distinct impression they were BOTH stronger then him. He sighed internally. He wasn't so quick to dismiss the necessity of help...

After listening to the conversation go on, Abelinda came to the conclusion that there would be no hostile actions occurring today and grew bore and quietly relinquish control back to Levi. With Levi back in control the serious look on her face slipped into a smile. She quietly shifted over towards the quiet captain and whispered under her breath "Heeeeeey,why do you look so serious?"

Saraiyu could do without the lecture, her way of running things being quite similar, but for now she would hold her tongue. Honestly, she wanted this end secure so she wouldn't snark or comment. The woman was untried but confident, lets just give her room to let her prove herself. Taking the hand in a firm grip, she gave a small pleasant smile. "Tea would be nice and of course I'll let you know. This is a headache I want over with. We're going now, too much to do to stay and chat. It was nice meeting you Head Captain. Hopefully not the last meeting."

Sarai hid a smirk as she caught Levi's friendliness towards the rather stoic Captain as she moved to leave. She adored that silly snake woman and gave her a small pat on the arm as she walked by. "Shinya, Levi come along. Unless you want to stay and make friends?"

Shinya was glad to see that his services weren't needed. Even though he hasn't had to kill anything lately, sometimes he gets the urge to do so and he doesn't like it. Shinya shook his head and turned to leave with Saraiyu. "There's nothing for me here, I think." The Tricera spoke as he fell in step beside his Corona.

It's not that he didn't like Shinigami or plus souls.. it's just that he figured he was leading a more.. solitary existence and shouldn't get distracted from what he should do. It's an odd way of thinking but he was also an odd arrancar.

It looked like they'd reached SOME sort of peaceful conclusion. For the time being anyway. Isaac shifted again, wondering what he would eat for dinner. That seemed like a good thing to figure out. He could boil up some ramen? Or go get some steak from the human world. Or seafood? He hadn't had good seafood in a while.

"Hm?" He looked at the naga slithering about. Why was he so serious? That was an odd question. "Why not?"

"Because, it should be rather clear we didn't come for war. If we did, there would be no formalities. You and your new head captain are outclassed by just enough of a margin that we could send your society into disarray." The primera with a serious tone to her voice before a smile sneaked in. "But you guys are too cool to keep around to do that, plus you guys threw an awesome ball."

Isaac narrowed his eyes, though not into a full on scowl. Was she entirely serious? He thought of a response about the fact that they only outclassed them because they didn't feel that defensive measures were necessary for a formal meeting, or that his role here in essence was to give Maki enough time to retreat if necessary before regrouping with the full Gotei 13... The idea that she thought they were threatening when they were on the Seireitei's ground?

He smiled back and relaxed against his board, deciding not to say anything at all.

"Awwww, don't get quiet." THe espada said with a frown as she slittered closer to the man. "Levi wants to be friend with you Mr. Issac."