Diner.... private Adrewd&jackal only.

It was nice being the messenger boy for Tosu. Easy job, great pay. And all Ice had to do was meet people talk to them and make sure that no one interfered with the meal. "Life's good." Came the husky voice of the one time proud Lt. but times changes a person. Ice looked around the room. Putting up a vocal barrier was easy, remembering how to take it down was the hard part. If left for too long, the barrier would slowly start to expand and cover the entire diner in a sound proof shield. Ice looked to his watch. Still early for his meeting, he decided to order. A bottle of the finest champagne the diner had and a bowl of fruit was, hopefully, gonna be enough to keep Ice happy until the others arrived.


TOSU WILL NOT BE US ICE SHALL PLAY THE ROLE OF INFORMANT...

OOC: I apologize for keeping you waiting. There was a significant hullaballoo (or however you spell it) over the Hunter situation which involved Hiru calling in Espada and thus I had to be there...until the actions of the thread were essentially voided because of the screw-up involved. So now, you have open communication with the Espada - or rather, me - exclusively, at the moment.

IC>>>>>

Here is how it went down. A Hollow who had invaded Soul Society was spared the sword by whoever attacked him, because that person needed to get a message through to Hueco Mundo. The Hell Butterlfy could not make it and it was hard or next-to-impossible to get a portal open to the Hollow world without being a Hollow yourself. So, the quick fix of it was that a Hollow had been allowed to survive so that it could return with a message, a message to the Espada. What it found was indeed a member of that group, for he had been out hunting at the time. It found a man with the partial-mask of the jackal. The message was relayed and the Hollow fled like hell while he considered it. The message was simple. 'Come to Karakura Town at the local diner. Your contact is Ice Finger.' Most curious.

What is a 'diner'? The meanings of this era escapes me.

He actually tracked down that same Hollow to ask that question and learned that it was an eating place. Well, what did you expect? Jackal knows fuck all about the 21st Century! But still, there were considerations in this. What was this about? Well, no matter. After a moment, the Espada gestured with his hand...and the world seemed to slice and fold open. Jackal stepped into Gargenta and made his way into the world of the living, a place he had not been in a while, but had sent for others to gather intel on. The portal opened several hundred yards above the ground, and the Espada looked out. What...in...the...world...? The eyes were very wide as he looked over the place.

"I have been away from the living world far too long..."

He ended up leaping down and wandering for a while, a bit confused. The ground was paved with stone? What were these metal polls and the carts racing around them? So strange... Jackal was so distracted at the moment that he failed to notice the car ramming into him and wrecking. It was fly's kick against his Hierro, so it didn't even register. However, he quickly began to understand the look of the diners and eateries. His arrival at the right and proper diner, however, involved sensing peculiar reiatsu emanating from a place. He spotted a man who appeared to be at the center of this feeling and entered the establishment. The concept of a door was not beyond him, so he came in briskly and the people working there assumed a stiff breeze did it. From there, Ice Finger would now see the man in the flowing gray cloak with the yellow eyes and the jackal-esque Hollow mask.

"I believe my attention was desired in this direction. State your business...Ice Finger."

"Please sit. My boss was hoping you'd find your way, and he sends his regards as he wont be meeting with us." The shinigami turned message boy stood up to greet one of his guest, "And please just call me Ice for now." Ice moved his left hand into his pocket and pulled out a small pill, "Here take this. It wont hurt you but it will give a physical form for a while. This way i don't look insane while i talk to you." Ice set the pill on the table in front of Jackals seat, and as he pulled his hand back to his side, Ice picked up his cup and sipped happily on the contents.

(crappy i know)

The man waiting for him was apparently alive and well in this diner, while he himself was not. Something was wrong here. The Hollow had stated that the message was from a Shinigami. Why was he speaking to a lowly functionary wrapped in flesh and breathing the air? And why would not his boss - the Shinigami who had no doubt started this - be present here as well? This was an irritation. It smacked of carelessness, or possibly callousness. One of those. Ah, but wait... Yes, he could sense it. As he sat down, Jackal inhaled deeply through his nose. The reiatsu was unmistakeable at this proximity. Shinigami, indeed... So, the Ice man cometh under a guise, possibly to fool someone into believing he was something else? Not the Espada. Not at a distance of a mere couple feet.

That was when the small capsule was slid in his direction. He claimed it to be a harmless contrivance that would make him appear in the flesh, an illusion created for his own benefit. Really, Shinigami... You go to this sort of length? But there was a thought which crept into Jackal's mind. Actually, several. The first one was 'trap' and 'lies', for Ice Finger did not seem altogether trustworthy to him. The second one was of some annoyance, being essentially fished for and pushed around by this man and a hither-to-unseen boss. The Espada did not like the idea of being 'fetched'. And it was on that note that we hit upon notion #3, which was that he was steadily growing impatient here. If he had business to speak of, then he should have spoken it.

Jackal moved to pick up the pill, but as he did, the window nearby cracked, slightly. This was followed by a bit of the pavement outside doing the same, as well as someone's drinking glass at another table. As he held the pill in his hand, he glared at Ice somewhat menacingly - a gaze of certain doom that would probably put him off his drink - and the room vibrated briefly, as though perhaps a heavy truck at rumbled past at great speed...yet no such machine was in sight. It was a mere expression of his reiatsu, much like the next thing he did. The pill - which had only Ice's say-so on the effect, anyhow - snapped into plume of smoke as Jackal incinerated it with a tiny bit of his energy.

"Spare me your tinctures, Shinigami. I am not interested in your peace of mind. You shall deliver your words even if they cart you away and torture you later!"

He folded his arms, then. What'd this Shinigami know? In retrospect, it occurred to the Espada that they would still seem crazy because they would not be speaking the words of the living world, but of the things beyond. Also, there was the fact that a person suddenly appearing out of nowhere would be noticed and the resulting reaction disruptive. So, we say to you NO, Shinigami. The dead do not play at being alive. You can never go back, not even incognito. But nevermind his little transgression into the forces of life and death, for now.

"You wanted the Espada's attention. You have the Espada's attention. And now, you tell the Espada what it is you want, else I shall pull you into Hueco Mundo...to see how long you last."

Ice smiled carelessly, what else would he be if not second guessing every thing he did. "Please i beseech you. The pill was harmless just a means of talking. Not only did the pill put you into a form suitable for peering eyes, but..." Now he was really starting to second guess himself. What if this treat to Hueco Mundo was in fact true. Ice had no other options. "Waiter check please." the waiter slid over with a second glance, took the money and was gone. Ice stood up. "Walk with me." He grabbed the coat he had walked in with and left out even thinking of his change. "Now please Espada. Trust is something that one earns. The pill was a means for me to gain your trust." The moment ice stepped outside he spit up his own pill giving him his robes and zanpakotu. "Now that i know your not willing to trust me, I guess i should just explain to you what my boss has in mind for such a powerful and ancient being as yourself."

The man did continue to speak of the pill. It was...annoying, but Jackal let it pass. He did not care if it suddenly transported him to the land of eternal paradise where 10 million servants waited on you every second of the day. One of his fellow Espada had a power involving the injection of reiatsu into a target to promote suffering in that person, and then eventually death. Is it such a leap of logic to think that maybe a Shinigami wishes to get lucky and infilrate a pill-form weapon into an Espada's system? Nevermind, though... He willingly got up, with the understanding that he was dealing with a walking disaster area. He did leave and bid Jackal to follow, where finally he gave up his own contrivance.

Fine, fine. So it was not a trap. Do I appear to be a mind-reader?

He was sort of disappointed that it was not. That would've been easier. Now, this implaceable figure still had to be dealt with, and in a manner that did not involve flossing with his spine afterwards. And this was where the Shinigami began to speak of trust. Oh dear. Did you really just say that? To him? He may not have been the most paranoid of beings, but you don't just accept things on say-so, especially not from what is to be your natural enemy. To this, Jackal actually smirked and laughed, shortly.

"Trust? You speak all the right words for negotiation, but you apply them in a backwards way. You are the slayer of Hollows, the things which we in Hueco Mundo inevitably grow from. There is an instinct to find your company distasteful, or in some the feeling that you yourself ARE tasty. The point is that the task does not fall to ME to extend this bold hand of trust. I am the careful one, my nature is to test. You are expected to pass MY standards, or know the penalty for failure."

Now, his demeanor turned a tad more serious again.

"Shinigami, you stand before the right hand of a real death god, he whose touch brings total oblivion and the one whom I have served since life. Now that I possess powers greater than the scope of man, you must show your worth to gain that coveted trust. Explain the machinations of this...boss. Make his intentions clear as a windless day on the Sahara."

OOC: Horrible, but the best I can do. GM was with permission of Jackal, although details of the GMing were not disclosed XD.

IC:

From behind. Lurking ... then the squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel. That gawdawful sound that made the ordinary humans weep for mercy from the unseen tormenter.

In what would take in the amount of time for a single synapse to fire in the comprehending mind of sentient being ... was all the time in the world for Merrow. Make it or break time. And here he came, with the almighty ability that had graced him and his vision upon setting those green-coloured eyes upon the image that was those of his brethren ... those of the Espada.

And bounding in faster than the mind can even REGISTER. Faster than any subconscious act to pass, faster than any fleeting start, any sudden movement, unnatural jerks, change of heart, blinks of eyes, or hitches of breaths.

He arrived.

And smashed right into Jackal at not-quite-the-speed-of-light-but-you-had-better-bet-that-it-was-god-damn-close. From behind.

Which undoubtedly, as there was no means for the Cuarta to avoid this(as he had not yet received Merrow's death tackle before), connected, for the speed at which he arrived(without the need of a sonido, strangely) defied comprehension. Like a super-accelerated cannonball, he smashed into Jackal, and no doubt propelled him forward.

And mercilessly, the Quinta went forward. Firing Balas from every point of his body in a hailstorm of crimson that wiped out the diner(without taking lives, strangely enough).

The ribbon that had been attached to his Zweihander was stretched out, tied around the hands of Jackal(further immobilizing him for the time being), and in the span of what really isn't any time at all, they were all gone.

Even Pereza, who had been trailing behind tied up 10 feet in the back, was gone.

All gone, as they passed through a materialized garganta that had been especially opened for Jackal and Merrow and Pereza to be flung through.

And away they went.

OOC: KIDNAPPING! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! And now away we go!

--------------> ??????????????????????????????????????????????

Leonidas was having trouble keeping up with Merrow as he sped from gargantua to gargantua on his conquest to round up the espada. Leo kept moving through the empty voids at his own pace. Even if he was as unfortunate as to lose the quinta, he knew he'd be able to sniff him down. Leo held a blank look on his face as he continued trying to make sense of Merrow's methods.

"Perhaps...Perhaps I should just let it go?"

he thought as he continued to sprint through the empty void that was gargantua. A small beam of light was emanating in the distance in front of him.

The light shined brighter as Leo came closer to it. Once he got close enough that he was wrapped in the light, he slowed down to a walk as he walked through the light into another part of Karakura. His eyes widened once more to see a smoking crater that, no doubtedly, had to be caused by a cero or balas. He slowly picked his head up to see the quinta dragging the cuarta now as he ran through another gargantua.

Leo gave up thinking about it as he now gave himself a headache. He rubbed his temples for a few secods before using snido to soar through the quinta's gargantua before it tightly and quickly shut behind him.

[Exit>>>????????????]