Captain's Meeting: Urgent Matters [Open/Important]

[OOC: This is important for all of those holding characters with a captain's position to read up on, though as a topic it is a simple casual one that does not require you post unless you want to join it. Since the Meeting was already held IC, your character would be aware of the topics talked about.

Just be aware of the topics mentioned that were discussed for your characters information IC and those that want to stay feel free to and we can all enjoy the fun : D

THIS TOPIC IS AFTER THE MEETING. If you post your character arriving to the meeting, you will be assumed to have missed the entire thing. If you have a Captain, it is assume they were there for it unless you go and post them arriving.]


That... That had been a bit nerve wracking, but everything of importance had been discussed, and he'd been able to keep his cool during the entire meeting. For now though, no breaths of relief could be given just yet, as the meeting hall was not yet emptied, and of course, some might want to discuss what they'd covered in a less professional fashion.

Many things had happened in the past few months, after the bubble incident... The changes that incident had caused in the Human World, and the issues and concerns the situation had brought about, as well as the growing awareness of humans spiritual related matter as a whole; the promotions and transfers of various captains and lieutenants; the ongoing research and finds from the laboratory in the living world; And finally, a formal announcement on the subject of Lakshmi's maternity leave, explaining that she would be unavailable for meetings in person from now on and that all things related to such duties be directed to Daiji Nukui since he now watched over the position of Fourth's Capain.

His hand was just itching to go up to his neck out of nervous habit, this being the first meeting he'd conducted and such, since these topics demanded their attention...

For now though, he stood and would remain so until all business was done and settled between the captains...

Everyone was free to leave, and return to their duties unless they had business to discuss with him.

Mia had done her best to contribute to the meeting, but she was only the new Captain of Sixth. She'd been reading the countless back reports on the Living World's changes, analyzing them for herself but as Masaru had been the Captain until recently he obviously knew best. She had listened carefully, ignoring her blush at standing there amidst the Seireitei's strongest and now one of their peers...

She'd even fought it down enough that it was only a slight red hint as she was spoken about as a recently promoted captain. Mia definitely ignored her new uniform as best she could as well... Lakshmi's maternity leave wasn't something new to her, her father had been on cloud nine since he'd finally convinced her to take it so she merely hid a smile in the scarf she held up over her mouth the whole time shyly.

Though now that the meeting was over, Mia was unsure what to do with herself. Did she go...? But Masaru as Soutaicho was just standing there...

Instead of taking any cue to leave, she just looked down awkwardly and played with her scarf against her lips. She'd...figure this out as she went...

'Booted upstairs' wasn't really hyperbole. Norma had more than earned a retirement from service, but still... How exactly was Hisao going to follow the act that was Captain Higgins?

She had been insanely hard on them, but the regimen definitely made kido masters out of the 9th Division, and it was kind of jarring that her absence came so suddenly and so totally. Hisao... definitely had a vision on where the Division could see some change. But how was he going to do that? Definitely not a thought for present time, though.

He shifted in his haori, a provisional one since he had actually worked past a meeting with a tailor, just trying to get the lay of the administrative land. The haori he wore he had actually made himself, and fitted him more naturally than the official garment issued to him.

Really, the entire post felt a bit few-sizes-too-big for him, but hey, here he was, trying his best. The man had a pad with notes written out. The events that were covered didn't change how the Kido Corps. would operate, but it still fell on him to pass the word on to the rest of Ninth.

He shifted in his seat as the meeting was adjourned and sighed with audible relief, tense shoulders drooping, posture relaxing—almost like he was deflating—as the tension leeched out of him.

"Oh man, that was stressful."

The thought had escaped his lips some precious seconds before he had fully processed it. When it finally did, though? Hisao froze, stiff as a board, and glanced around, taking stock at Soul Society's best, and his face was all regret.

"B-b-but that's a... uh... Th-that's a good thing. It's the... uh... circle of-spice. Spice of life. And I wasn't really talking about this meeting. This was a good meeting. Very... um. Official. And not stressful. That was just me thinking out loud. About... other things that aren't this meeting. Responsibilities, am I right?"

In a very visceral way, he could feel himself digging the hole even deeper. He could hear his heart pounding in the dead air.

Shakily, he rested one arm against a wall and leaned against it, because that was short-hand for being casual, right? At this point, he could feel a single bead of sweat running down his face. Feebly, he choked out one last line. "Lovely... uh... weather we're having."

Mia startled as someone spoke into the silence, looking up with wide violet eyes at the new Captain of Ninth before she gave a soft giggle and looking aside. It...had been stressful, very stressful...

The hand holding the scarf to her lips lowered it a bit as the man continued to ramble, letting her tiny smile show as he just stumbled over himself. It was a bit relieving to know she hadn't been the only one worried and stressed and nervous...

As he finished awkwardly, Mia lowered her scarf down to her neck and found herself wanting to just reassuring him... Hisao Miyanagi, he had been a Lieutenant like her so she remembered his name from Lieutenant meetings before. Though she wasn't social really so there'd been no reason to make his acquaintance...

"I-It...was though...S-Stressful... It was...s-stressful." Her voice was quiet as she looked down at the floor, but she gave a small nod to accentuate her words despite the fact that she couldn't make eye contact. He shouldn't have to feel weird and she should get used to speaking up so this was a good time! "This...is...kind of scary... and hard, isn't it?"

He'd understand at least, both of them being...brand new... after all.

Masaru just wanted to give that sigh of relief, but he was still strongly resisting the urge. He wasn't a fresh out of the ranks captain, but...having been promoted to Soutaicho so suddenly was still something that was a form of stress.

Everything of major importance had been covered, he'd done alright...

He really felt like he was stepping onto a frozen lake of already cracked ice with all of this; he just...had to keep telling himself he was alright.

The new captains were likely stressed out too, and it was also his job to help them with whatever they needed.

Hn?

Masaru looked over to Hisao as he spoke up, the man...well, obviously nervous; it seemed like he hadn't meant to speak at all, but...

Mia was giving reassurance though, which was good, and Masaru even offered a smile himself. "It's definitely stressful, a lot of these promotions were pretty sudden..."

The stress was understandable.

Entering the Meeting Hall with the decorum that one would expect of a senior captain, Alexander quickly took his seat and placed some books he was carrying underneath an arm onto the table. A meeting had been called, most likely to iron out the new formation of the Gotei 13 officially...somewhat boring, but it was the first meeting of the new guard, so to speak. It would be ill-mannered of him not to attend. He did not really feel like it though. The one captain he had considered a true friend had announced her leave...now more faces to memorize and most would not move past a level of acquaintance.

With his patented stare, he stole a quick look around to see who was already there. Shirakawa, promoted to the Head Captain...not surprising given his ties, a face he had not seen before, most likely promoted due to Norma's retirement, and one Miss Nezo. Hm...well, Shirakawa leaving would create a void, and she had already been acquainted enough with the squad to say the least, but was she ready to command? That was another question Alexander was interested in...but he supposed in due time, that would answer itself. Things were certainly changing.

"It seems as though the Gotei 13 does not suffer vacancies for long." He broke his own silence, a small amused smirk appearing on his face as he nodded towards Masaru and Mia. "Would it have broken your heart to leave your old stomping grounds empty for a while?

(OOC: The meeting was already held in character >_>; Due to a large chunk of the Captains not posting at the moment, it was decided to offscreen it because otherwise the topic would be stalled as fuck and never go anywhere. People can stay after though to discuss things more if they wanted to post.)

(OOC: Um... its okay to post Yes. I guess just ignore Alex for now? ><)

[[OOC: Will do! Bebo, if I should change anything about my response, just let me know.]]
--

Hisao laughed nervously as relief overtook him for the second time that day. He let his arm drop from the wall and he bowed in formal apology as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Th-thanks for the words, uh, Nezo-taichou, Shirakawa-taich-Mister Head Captain, sir. I didn't mean to breech decorum or anything. It... I mean, it was definitely stressful, but I'll be sure to get used to it soon enough." He smiled nervously. "Oh, and, uh, congratulations to both of you for your promotions."

Well, at least he didn't have an audience with everyone present. There were still some other familiar faces around, though. He turned to the other captains present. "Oh, uh, hi. W-warm regards and all that."

He would have been so much better off if he didn't have to deal with this kind of stuff.

I hate this uniform. Why can't it be more...flattering?

The captain of fifth thought as she sauntered into the meeting hall where she saw a group of captains had already gathered. Ai Haruna, looked as if she would be a senior captain of many years, but she wasn't. She could have been, but she had chosen a life of her own instead of one of service. It wasn't until now that she was in her golden years that she decided to put in her time to Seireitei. The tall woman placed a leather bound note book on the meeting table, and took her seat. She had done her research. She already knew that there were new assignments, and who they were. As the captain of the intelligence gathering division, she took her job seriously, and she did it well.

"Greetings Commander Shirakawa, it's a pleasure to see you as always."

The woman greeted Masaru, with for her coldness. Normally she'd hug him, maybe mess his hair a little, but now she had to be professional. She couldn't be Auntie Ai in this moment. Ai glanced around the room at some of her new comrades, some of them were faces she hadn't seen before, but one of them she knew. They all looked as if they were in pain. What was that all about? Was it first official day nerves? That was probably the case.

"I see that ninth has found a new captain. I'm sure Captain Eremitus Higgins, gave nothing but high regards for you to get your appointment."

---

I'm gonna be late. Why did I get promoted? I'm not ready for this!

Daiji rushed to the meeting hall. It was his first real day as a captain. A day he secretly wished would never come. He was perfectly content being vice captain. Why had Lakshmi suggested him to be her replacement? Did she not know him? At all? Sure sometimes he had had to act on her behalf in the division, but never on a scale such as this. Never had he had to interact with the other captains on a level where he would be considered their equal.

Daiji made it to the large double doors. His brow moist with beads of sweat. He adjusted his haori, not quite used to it yet. It didn't fit very well, and the sleeves were a bit short. Hopefully no one would notice, and if they did they wouldn't say anything. God, he didn't want to walk through those doors. He'd rather be anywhere, but here. With a sigh, and a mental push, Daiji entered the meeting hall. He stood there a moment wide eyed and terrified. He slowly but surely made his way to the seat with the fourth's symbol on it's back. He gave a bow to the head captain, and then quietly took his seat, trying to not make eye contact with anyone present.

(OOC:Please read the first post.

Please.

Pleeeaaaaase.

I'm deleting all off topic posts, since those three (including my ooc posts) count for it because they have ignored the entire first post.

Yes, your post iswas fine.)

Souichiro calmly watched the going ons of the meeting, having already excused the missing Hayate for handling other matters. But then again, aside from the newly appointed Captains, there weren't many amongst the Gotei 13 that didn't know about his and Hayate's situation. So they'll find out soon enough, he supposed.

He made a mental note to check in on Lakshmi sometime soon, maybe get her a few gifts for the baby on the way. However, it was interesting to note that Daiji made a captain spot himself now! That'll be interesting for Hayate, he mentally thought while looking at more than one of the new captains fidgeting and talking nervously. "Hey, take a deep breath and exhale." Souichiro spoke, looking at all the new captains in turn. "There, you guys may be new, and so am I.. to an extent. But try to calm yourself, it'll be fiiiine!"

Mia shot Masaru a pleased smile as he too attempted to soothe the other new Captain, though the scarf only lowered momentarily before the Captain of Twelfth broke the minor bit of silence. Most of the others had left it seemed and she turned to look at the man slowly.

Her face was red, whether with embarrassment or anger was probably known only to a few, but she was clearly uncomfortable with what he'd said nonetheless. Instead, all her previous jittery nerves dropped as she looked up and met Alex's crimson eyes with her own violet ones. "I have bankai and know the Living World well. The Gotei Thirteen doesn't suffer vacancies long when there are appropriate candidates to fill a position."

Why hadn't he commented on Miyanagi's's promotion as well if he was going to say such a thing? Ninth and Sixth were both important and vital.

Least the other new Captain caused her attention to return to him and her color returned to its normal pale shade as she gave a nod and brought the scarf back up. "Th-Thank you. Congrats too..."

Souichiro though stole her attention and he too got a smile before she gave a nod and tried to relax by taking deep breaths. It...was calming a bit, though now she was mostly annoyed than nervous...