Flowers growing in a desert?!

Arngrim stared over his maps of chicago and the surounding areas. so far, the fighting had stayed outside the city, he'd expected that to have changed by now but the defenses held. He knew he couldn't really hold the city, but it was weakening the humans more than him, considered when a human died there was a good chance they'd become a hollow.

He pushed the maps aside and picked up a report. sitting down in his chair he read it. It concerned The missing Espada primera, Helba. Her dissapearance was odd, considering her reputation, and how long she'd been amoung the Espada. The news would be disappointing, only she was dead at the hands of another.. And that person was on their way here.

Well, if this arrancar came with the thought of taking him out, they would have another thing coming to them. He was not so easily pushed aside. On the other hand, if they'd come to join him, he would welcome them. Strength was respected around here, and anyone that could take out Helba was strong.

He waited in anticipation as he moved to the last thing on the side table. A bundle, wrapped up tightly. He undid the bindings to reveal an old sword, still magnificent despite being broken into three peices.. He'd found it a while back, before that interesting meeting with Rin and Xaner. He had yet to find someone to fix it. There was a knock on the door, and he turned towards it, leaving the sword uncovered. "Enter..."

Tara Tertrezo skipped in all happy and giddy like a school girl, both literally and visually, she was in an extremely good mood despite the battle she had gone through just recently. Helba was not exactly easy prey.. Tara, however, just like Helba, was an Anti-Team type of Arrancar.. taking away Helba's main advantage by neutralizing it..which was effectively how she won. She had come because before Helba faded away she had been laughing. Telling Tara about the current Espada and how they would now need Tara to take her place among them. Something Tara had already personally wished to do. This made killing Helba all the more worth the effort it had taken..

and now she was walking in the same room as the King of Hueco Mundo.. very exciting. She didn't believe she could take him. Like Aizen he was on a level she could not touch and she recognized it despite not being able to sense energy. It was more of the back of the mind sense of danger and fear that told her, "Hail King. I come with happy news. I am here to replace your Primera, now dead, with one who was more capable than she for battle.." despite the seriousness and the words themselves she was speaking in an awefully cheery tone.

However that was a personal choice.. she had locked away nearly all of her despair, rage, and hatred into her Resurrecion: Segunda Etapa to make it a more effective killing machine form in combat, "I wish to slaughter all those who would dare stand before me and my liege.." her own power, not necessarily spiritual energy.. but sheer power..would be felt as if she had spiritual pressure of a high magnitude..but she did not. Her eyes sparkled wickedly while she said looking up at Angrim as she had bowed slightly in a very courteous manner before saying such in a more viciously evil manner.

She rose and the "power" disappeared in a heartbeat. She was smiling like a regular schoolgirl again and had actually taken her first glance, then stared while drooling slightly, at the broken but wondrous craftsmanship near him. She wanted to touch it..she wanted to strike it with a hammer and melt it back into a form usable by someone worthy of it.. But she didn't mention anything about it..mainly because she was current transfixed on it with such awe.. even in it's broken state she could tell that weapon had quality that could easily have surpassed even her own weapons in it's prime..that made her want to fix it even more..to prove she was capable of fixing any weapon even if she could not replicate it's making!

Arngrim watched as the girl entered... He was taken aback. This.. Little girl... Killed Helba.. Helba?! Arngrim wasn't sure he wanted someone so chirpy around.. She certaintly didn't look the part. He frowned. "You... A creature so small struck down the mighty Helba? I've never even seen you before, or felt your Reiatsu within these walls. I'd have you thrown out as a joker if I didn't think you were working with someone." Rui... Was that midget involved in this? A trick perhaps, to get someone close to Arngrim

As the girl bowed though, he noticed something about her though. A subtle change to the power in the room. She spoke, and all ideas of trickery were swept aside. She was the real deal.. The killer of Helba. There was no doubt, by the power eminating from her. "Well, maybe I spoke to hastily.. But why should I accept you as Primera? Hiei would be the next to take that spot..."

He noticed her looking at the sword, and unconsiously reached towards it himself. "Do you know this weapon?" He asked. Such a magnificant blade, he wasn't surprised she was caught by it. During his life, no weapon had killed more effectively. A weapon forged by dwarves, for gods. He hadn't believed that tale at first, but it held some truth. Tyrfing was definately a weapon of legend.

She snapped out of her longing daze as she as spoken to concerning the weapon, "What? fix it? I would love to! oh wait.. you said if I knew of it's origin.. um...eto..." She put a finger to her lips and looked up in deep thought and moved her torso around a bit, "I can't remember clearly.. all I remember of my human life was the agony and despair and resentment I had upon death. Which by simple guessing from having vast knowledge of blacksmithing I would assume means it had something to do with the inability to continue working the forge.."

She looked back at him in a normal position and as no longer fidgetting, "Course I can't say for sure.. I can't remember clearly. The knowledge needed to repair that weapon flooded into my mind just by looking for it.. Honestly if I thought I could get away with it I'd swipe it regardless of permission just so I could attempt to reforge it and put it back later. My very core yearns for this.. yes I'm certain of that."

Her arrancar estigma, which she had had altered into neko headphones by Aizen's scientist during his time, twitched cutely as she crossed her arms with one hand to her chin, "The only problem is I don't know what metal was used as this things base.." She took a few steps forward before realizing the significance of his actual question.

She stopped instantly like she had just kept herself from dying, which was probably far more true than she'd care to admit given her open statement earlier, and looked at him, "May I?"

Arngrim was surprised by her reaction to his question. Rather than a proper answer, she went off on a tangent, claiming she could fix it. Then she went back and answered him, though she didn't know of the sword. Ok, that was understandable, considering she probably hadn't been around during its time.

Arngrim listened to her talk. She might be hyper active, which made him doubt her abilities just a little, but he didn't really have a choice. No living smith could fix that blade. She admitted she would steal it just to fix it and return it.. That made him laugh a little. Then she asked to take a closer look. "By all means. Its surprisingly sharp still."

Arngrim watched her before nodded. "This is the sword Tyrfing, said to be forged by dwarves. I dont know if such things exist, however the weapon does. It is the real thing, I killed Svafrlami himself for it. I lost it a while after. When i became king here i spent allot of time looking for it, and found it broken."

Arngrim paused a moment to touch the hilt. "Wether you can or cannot indeed fix this blade for me, you can take the place of my espada Primera regardless. Killing Helba has earned you as much. However if you fix this blade, you have full access to the forge area, and all the materials and servants you can ask for. And of course, you will be allowed to handle Tyrfing and test its capabilities, as well as maintain it and, if you wish, bear it into battle for me, assuming the role of my sword bearer and right hand pleases you."

He gave his approval so she stepped closer and run a hand along the pieces of the sword..being careful not to nick her fingers in the process because of his warning. She could feel it..as if calling out to her.. her brain was once again flooded with all the necessary information she needed to attempt to repair the weapon..the problem then became the materials..she now knew having touched the blade what materials she would need and they weren't exactly the easiest to get or the easiest to work with.

...but that was the thinking of a human smith.. As an Arrancar she would have more than the capable ability to work the metal as finely as possible without resorting to crap methods such as laser cutting or molding.. she could use her Arrancar might to hammer and fold the metal as much as need be.. this was perfect.. in life she wouldn't have been capable of fixing this blade to it's prime but given the physic of her new form she was more than able..

"A smith cannot wield their creations as it would tarnish the reasoning behind the craft." She hadn't even thought of the words. Nor did she even look like she had wanted to speak them. Her face had blanked for a second while she was saying it. But her face quickly returned to normal as she removed her hand from it and crossed her arms in actual serious deep thought this time, "I won't need any servants.. in fact having any would only serve to get in the way...."

She stopped her thought position and looked at him, "I will require workbench, files, a wire bender, a belt grinder, sanding belts, a Dremel-moto tool, a band saw, a hack saw, a dishing stump, a hammer (32 ounce), a welder, and a plasma cutter..." She looked back at the sword and grinned, "It'll take a while but I'll manage it.."

Arngrim nodded. "Of course. I have no head for smith work. Very well, no servants Either." He snapped his fingers as she started stating what she needed, and an arrancar appeared from nowhere. Magical how they did that. "Take that down." He said. They had allot of that stuff in the forge area but somethings needed to be gathered from outside. When she finished speaking he said, "Did you get all that? good, take a team to chicago, ask Ezia to help you find the things you need. And be quick."

The arrancar nodded and rushed out. Arngrim grinned with satisfaction. "Well, that might take some time. Please, come sit. I wish to hear the tale of how you defeated Helba. Such a feat should be remembered, and I'd rather here it from you than the witnessess."

"Helba.." She said after he finished talking to jog her own memory.. in her excitement over the blade and her being able to repair it she had almost forgotten why she was here, "well as you said it wasn't exactly an easy feat to accomplish.. her control of fire was great and she could make it at will.." She rose her hands while she was talking and was all dramatic about the fires movement being so epically controlled and such, "My only real problem at first was even hurting her.. She had such a tough Heirro that even Nnoitra's didn't compare.."

Saying his name brought up memories of when he had tried to kill her for being weaker than him. She didn't really get bothered by it though, "Like her however I am an Arrancar more easily capable of fighting multiple opponents at once.. in a one on one fight her powers and mine both seem ridiculously stronger." She lifted a finger in a "come and get me motion" but she only moved the finger once and was not actually saying come and get me. When this happened two blades became visible, though they had been there the entire time and were merely see through when inactive, showing two long daggers that were color schemed like what you'd see from ying yang signs floating around her defensively.

"Unlike Helba's fire however.. my power can and usually does..act independent of me.. I can focus solely on my target and not worry about those around that single target and still defend against everyone.. This is limited in my current state but it increases as I go further into my Resurreccions.."

She purposely said Resurreccion in plural to make it clear she had the pinnacle of Arrancar power at her disposal. It wasn't exactly uncommon but it wasn't garunteed in recent times either, "In the end really it just came down to wearing her down. The fight took hours and neither one of us really got anywhere. I would block her cero with mine.. I would block her attacks with mine.."

Glancing at the remains of the sword she grinned, "I wish I had had that beauty in my hands when I had fought her.. that would have made her Heirro much easier to handle.. However other than her heirro and her fire Helba herself was pretty predictable.. She used large explosive and powerful abilities to try and finish me off on several occassions.. My ability to defend myself against them is the main reason I won."

Arngrim Listened intently to her story. He was both surprised and pleased Helba had been replaced by another lone warrior, someone who could take on many. She demonstreted her weapons abilities, quite pleased with herself. As he listened it made him believe Helba had lost for one reason only. She'd believed she was stronger, and fell to her own pride and haste to finish it. He could be wrong. However it sounded like quite a fight. A pity he'd not been around to witness it.

"There is nothing better than a death match. A fight between two evenly matched warriors often ends in death. Especially in the case of vikings and arrancar. you should look back fondly on your fallen enemy, without their death you wouldn't be so strong." He would make sure Helba had a proper Memorial built. He wasn't Aizen. He didn't discard his strongest warriors for stronger ones. They faught to the death, and the fallen was remembered. He'd rather they all lived, but fighting and pride was strong in an arrancar's blood. If a position was challenged, blood would spill.

There was a knock at the door. "Enter." He said. The arrancar from before came in. "Well?" The man bowed and started to speak. "Everything has been precured. Its in the forge area now." Arngrim nodded. Good. He looked to Tara. "Ready to reforge a legend?"

He explained how she should never forget her fight with Helba.. well she hadn't thought of it like that but she agreed that she should probably make sure to keep that memory tucked away somewhere, she wondered how long it would take the one guy to get all the things she asked for.....

..only for him to show up a moment later. Excellent! She could get started then!?

"yes" She said simply before bowing to him again and turning to follow the messenger towards the forge area, "I will inform you immediately when I am finished." She said before she skipped out the door fully and started singing to herself while following the one guiding her. It kind of creeped the guy out but he was smart enough to hold his tongue.

(Thread end! YAY)