Seeking Recognition

She had dragged herself into a local pub in Tempe, Arizona after travelling for quite some time tracking down some loser who had run off from his probation. Now that she had some cash from that job she was going to get a drink. She sat down at the bar and despite the weird look the bartender gave her she was just too tired to get pissy, "Give me something hard.. I don't care what it is long as it's booze," she said wearily as she put enough cash to cover even the most expensive drink there on the bar, "And make it snappy.."

She laid her head on her arms against the countertop of the bar waiting on her drink just listening to the noises of the bar when a certain conversation caught her interest out of the blue. Apparently a couple of guys in the corner were talking about some new mercenary guild in the badlands here in Arizona that was run by some uber chick with a cybernetic arm.

Normally this wouldn't be of interest to Kisara.. except the fact that it was stated as a "Guild" and not a group or solo act. Which meant it had rules, regulations, ranks, and rewards. Something Kisara was wanting to be a part of. Gotei was like that but they only really appreciated the captains and higher ranks.. leaving her forever in the dark. This sounded promising though. Her drink showed up, so she told him to keep the change, chugged the drink in one go, and moved over to the group talking about the guild with a grin on her face.

"So.. Let's talk about that guild you mentioned eh boys?"

~Four hours and one bar fight later~

Kisara pulled her beret off her head and wiped her forehead from the Arizona heat before putting it back on. Even as a Shinigami this heat index was brutally high and she didn't like it one bit.. Why did people live in this stupid place when it's so hot!? It's not even summer! Oh well. She drudged along and kept looking for the area known as the badlands, which she managed to find. Then with more annoyance at the heat that actual exhaustion she started searching the badlands for the Mercenary Guild those bar guys had mentioned after she beat the shit out of them for being rude.

After searching around for a while though she managed to find a building that didn't seem to fit in considering she was in the badlands of the area. Not knowing what else to do she knocked on the door and complained about the heat, mostly to herself on the latter, before asking in a somewhat loud voice, "Hello? Hellllllooooooo? Is anyone there?"

Laura Fisher sighed and brushed a bang of reddish-brown hair behind her ear. Ever since she and Gaige had finished plans and began construction on what had to be their biggest project yet, Laura had found she had renewed optimism now that she had something to work towards. They had poured their heart and souls into this design, and Laura had worked tirelessly from the get go to bring it to fruition. But, it was now time for a break. She put her hyperspanner down on the workbench and turned to look at their creation. It was far from finished, but even now the end-goal was visible in the intricate circuitry and sleek consoles that sat in the open framework. Laura smiled satisfactorily as she wiped sweat from her brow, creating yet another smudge of mechanic grease on her young face. She wiped her hands on a hand-towel and then drained the freshly brewed coffee from the hyperspanner. That was one of the features Laura sneaked into the plans when they were looking to make a new, better spanner. The hyperspanner runs not on batteries, but on coffee beans. Then, when the hyperspanner is running, it burns the coffee beans while simultaneously using them to making the best coffee in the Living World. The hot, toasty liquid trickled into Laura's "Space Trek" mug, emitting a pleasant wisp of steam. Laura picked up the mug and left the workshop, the lights extinguishing as she left.

In the kitchen, Laura placed her mug on the counter and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. She looked in the mirror and chuckled at the mess hard work creates. She then returned to the kitchen to enjoy her coffee. Even though the facility was within an environmental dome to protect from the searing heat of the Arizona Badlands, it was still very hot. Laura's black and red mechanic overalls had been opened and the sleeves wrapped around her waist, revealing a black tank-top with a red rose sigil in the centre of the chest. She went to the cupboard and removed a jar of cookies, taking them over to the counter and munching noisily while she pored over a newspaper.

Suddenly, Laura heard a knock on the main door, accompanied by a loud voice. Somewhat excited but also a little concerned, Laura grabbed Crescent Rose, which had been laying on a table nearby, and approached the door. She looked through the visual sensor display to see a short and slightly built girl with red hair hidden under a green cap. Laura hit a control and the door slid open. She looked down at the girl and smiled broadly. "Hey there, can I help you?" Assuming the girl would want to come in, Laura would usher her in and lead her to the kitchen. "Have a seat. Would you like some hyperspanner coffee? It's good. Trust me." If Kisara accepted, Laura would leave for a second and return with her hyperspanner, brewing the coffee. If not, Laura would simply nod. Then they would get down to business. "So, tell me about yourself, friend."

"Hello!" Kisara blinked as she looked the girl over. She seemed more.. nerdy..? perhaps that was the wrong term, than Kisara had expected her to look considering this was a mercenary base but oh well all flavors and whatnot, she went in and was led to the kitchen where she was asked to have a seat so she did so, "No thanks I'm not a coffee person," She was then asked about herself, "I'm here because I heard rumors that the place was a merc guild of sorts. I'd like to join. The coalition is too... rigid. For my tastes and I'm not able to safely return to Soul Society.. So.. This would seem the best choice for me."

"Let's see.. I mean other than proving I qualify there isn't much to tell. my human life memories are all but faded and I went through standard shinigami academy courses. I don't have a bankai and my shikai is always active due to my unusual spirit power. But even without Bankai and such I am more than capable in my own right."

"But as I said.. I'm interested in joining this group. It took me a bit to coax the information out of some goons I ran into but here I am nonetheless."

The visitor declined the offer of coffee, so Laura got straight to business. She sat down at the table, and Kisara told her story. Laura grinned gleefully at the realisation that word about the guild was spreading. "You really heard about us? For real? Awesome! We only started up recently and we were worried about a lack of exposure, but this is great news!" She quickly realised she had interrupted and she became serious again, to the point of overdoing it. "But please, continue." Kisara then explained her brief Shinigami existence, her experience and her qualities. She ended by explaining how she extracted the location of the guild from the local fauna. Laura looked suitably impressed.

"I hope you didn't smash them up too badly. One of them hit on Liv before. She's my best friend along with Gaige, and she's not someone you want to drunkenly hit on. Poor guy. Don't know what's worse. Having your favourite pool cue broken, or having to extracted it from your butt. Not nice things. But Liv tells that story better." Laura got serious again. "I'm Laura, by the way. I run this place with Gaige. But this is about you. Obviously you can look after yourself. You got attitude, and no shortage of power. We like both of those things here." Laura left the room for a moment, before quickly arriving back with a clipboard and pen. "Now. I'ma need you to sign this contract. Just standard procedure. Stops you from suing us if you get your legs or arms or face blown off. Also allows Liv full permission to pummel your face if you steal any of her Chinese food. I wouldn't recommend that. Last dude that tried we never found. I think she ate him, but she denies it. But anyway, admin work. You know how it is."

Laura placed the clipboard and pen in front of Kisara, and took another sip of hyperspanner coffee. "Best part of the job is me and Gaige will issue you with your own hyperspanner." Laura paused for a second and stroked her chin, as if pondering a great problem. "Though you don't drink coffee. Oh well, all flavours and whatnot. We could modify it to make tea, if your into that kind of thing. Or lemonade. But please don't ask for cola. Last time we tried that it didn't go so well."

Kisara listened to Laura and signed the contract when it was presented to her without even hesitating, "Fun times." She said to comment on Liv making someone disappear, "Nah I don't drink cola. Don't worry too much about it. Shinigami only eat when then use too much spiritual energy anyways."

She smiled and handed the clipboard and pen back to Laura, "I'm glad to be here. I have great expectations of the place and plan to do my part to help reach them."

(Sorry about the short post but I'm kinda brain farting all over what I should do.)

Laura watched as Kisara signed the contract and expressed her dislike for cola, as well as mentioning that Shinigami don't eat or drink very often. She took the clipboard back from Kisara and scrutinised it. Kisara stated that she was looking forward to working here, which brought a smile from Laura. "Really? You mean it? Awesome!" Laura quickly adopted a forced professional tone, complete with attempted deeper voice, which made for a slightly comical display. "I mean, everyone does. We're the best!" Laura attempted to down her coffee in one but it burnt her and she began coughing and spluttering everywhere.

After about a minute of this, Laura looked back up at Kisara watery-eyed. She dropped the professional facade as there was no way to salvage the act from here. "We're trying to be at least." A cleaner bot emerged from a wall panel and proceeded to clean up the mess Laura made. She patted the small bot on the dome. "Thanks Biffy. You're the best." The bot made a purring noise and brushed up against Laura's leg, then returned to its home in the wall. Laura looked sadly at her empty cup. "Oh, my coffee's gone. Wait..." A crashing in the next room signalled her fears. "Oh no." She turned to Kisara. "Whatever you do, just remain still."

A few seconds later, Jeffery emerged with a set of mugs and a hyperspanner. The coffee bot immediately rushed to Laura and put a mug on her head, then filled it with coffee. Then, detecting the other person in the room, it rushed over to Kisara and also put a mug on her head and filled it with coffee. Then, it bowed and left, creating a few more crashing sounds. Laura took the mug from her head and shrugged in exasperation. "That's Jeffery. His purpose is to keep us topped up with coffee, but he's a little broken at the moment. Just don't announce it when your caffeinated beverage runs out. He's voice activated you see."

Laura took the clipboard in hand and saluted Kisara. "Well, you're all signed up. When Gaige comes back, she can make you an ID card to get in and out of here. I would, but my ones keep catching fire. I'll figure it out eventually. You wanna come meet some of the others? And by that I mean, our resident trash disposal?"

"Hah" Kisara couldn't help but giggle at the attempt at bravado that Laura had put on after being happy to hear what Kisara had to say about the Guild and herself, "Don't worry about it. The more like a family this feels the more at home I'll get. It's been a very long time since I've gotten to relax like that." she shook her head as more prejudice induced memories from her fleeing from the Gotei 13.

She heard a crash noise right after Laura sounded and acted like she had err'd by mentioning she was out of coffee only to find a mug of freshly poured coffee get placed on first Laura's then her own head before the odd little robot responsible for the entire hilarious scenario disappeared with another crash, "Hahahhahahaha that is a funny little robot isn't it though?" when Laura asked if Kisara wanted to meet others she lit up and nodded, "Sure the faster they get to know I'm around the less likely I am to be thrown out by accident eh? Hah!" Laura mentioned having Gaige get her an ID card since Laura kept making the ones she made catch fire somehow and Kisara was slightly weirded out by that. It's a little plastic card. How on earth did she get it to catch on FIRE? But she kept that comment to herself and just chuckled.

If laura led the way to other people Kisara would follow. Making sure to take mental notes about everything she was able to see and hear and maybe even smell?

Gaige was working away in the the workshop, tweaking a few new pieces of tech she'd been planning to use when there was a horrendous crashing noise, and the door burst open. Jeffrey, the damned nuisance burst in and knocked over a box of tools causing a massive crash of metal on concrete as it flailed its arms to get to her. Gaige froze still and waited as it did its thing, putting the coffee cup on her head, and filling it before it spun and burst back out of the room.

Taking the cup from her head she sighed at the mess the damn pest had made. She was an expert in computer science and programming, everything other robot in the place functioned as intended, so why was that gods damn robot so fucking disasterous! Gaige left the room with the intention of chasing Jeffrey down and dragging it back to fix. But as she left the room she heard voices, and headed in that direction. She found Laura talking with a newcomer, and by the looks of the clipboard and the fact that she was giving the girl a tour, probably had just joined.

Gaige gave both of them a cocky grin as she approached, "Jeffrey's on another rampage." She said to laura, before extending a metal hand to Kisara. "Hi ther,e, Gaige Ashe, welcome to the guild. The fact that your still here is a miracle. And I see you've already met the bane of my existence. And Jeffrey too." She said, giving Laura a cheeky smile.

Laura was about to lead Kisara out of the room, when Gaige walked in. She introduced herself to Kisara before making a quip at Gaige's expense. Laura was about to respond with a wisecrack of her own, when a yelling indicated Jeffrey's latest victim. Laura sighed. "Well, Liv's awake." There was a stomping as doom approached. And then it was standing in the doorway. Liv Firestorm did not look impressed as coffee dripped everywhere from her soaked hair. She gazed at them all through narrowed eyes. "Who's the fool who ran out of coffee and announced it to the world?" Laura grinned sheepishly and Liv squinted at her. "I should have known it was you." Biffy the cleaner bot emerged again and produced a large hair-dryer, and proceeded to dry Liv's hair. Laura gestured to Kisara

"At least you're here now, you can meet our new recruit. Say hi to Kizzy?" Laura glanced at Kisara sheepishly. "You mind if I call you Kizzy?" Whatever the response, Liv approached the girl when Biffy was done drying her hair. The cleaner bot followed her until she reached down and petted the small bot, at which point it purred like a satisfied cat and returned to its home. Liv stuck out a hand for Kisara to shake and looked the new member over. "Hey Kizzy. It's about time we got a cute recruit." She gestured to Laura and Gaige. "Kinda tired of these hacks moping around all the time. So what's your story darling?"

While Jeffrey did his bit Gaige appeared and introduced herself while welcoming Kisara to the guild who got a "Thanks my name is Kisara Nanjo and it's a pleasure to be here." Then another person was seemingly woke up by Jeffrey's rampaging coffee spree and came in getting annoyed with Laura about the situation happening in the first place.

Kisara chuckled a bit as she got a new nickname all of a sudden and shook her head, "I don't mind at all. Like I said the cheerier the better." She got called cute which made her feel a bit awkward cuz she  always got jealous that she had a small rack and she's met alot of cute girls with big boobs, but kept that part to herself for the moment, "Well Like I was telling Laura.. I'm basically as strong as I'm going to get.. but I can't get recognized for my skill because of that in Soul Society who only seems to care about pure power.. So I left, which turned out to be more hassle than it needed to be, and after wandering around I started hearing about this guild starting up.

She waved a hand a bit, "And I was hoping to join up. So far it's all been pretty good. The laughs were a nice change of pace as well. I guess as far as my story goes I'm just a rogue shinigami at the vice-captain level.. even though the bastards always refused to let me rise into even a seated member's status.."

But she shook her head and shrugged, "All manners of nastiness aside. I signed up and filled out the papers Laura gave me.. she mentioned an ID card though? Said I should ask Gaige for one since somehow she keeps having hers catch on fire?" so she looked at Gaige waiting on a response concerning the ID card.

Liv showed up, wet and angry. A combination Gaige had not seen before. "Your in trouble Laura." Gaige said as Liv demanded to know who set off Jeffrey. Atleast she was here to Greet Kisara now. "I hope for Jeffrey's sake Vyn and Zackary aren't here." She said. Liv called Kisara cute, resulting in Gaige giving the blonde a dirty look. But she said nothing, and nodded at Kisara's request. "That's correct. Its a strange phenomenon. I think the card machine is huanted and hates Laura. Anyway I can have one made now." She said.

"Smile Kissy!" She said, and snapped a picture of the shinigami with her enhanced eyes. She took the clipboard and recorded the information, then sent it all remotely to the card machine. "Alright, thats being made there now." She said. She looked at Laura. "So were we giving her a tour? or just trying to escape the wrath of Liv after you set off Jeffrey?"

Liv shrugged when Gaige glared at her for calling Kisara cute. She then listened as Kisara finished her story. She was puzzled when Kisara mentioned her lack of opportunity in the Gotei, even going so far as to express contempt for them. "That must have been a while ago. I was in Soul Society recently myself and it's a lot different now. The current Captain-Commander has made a lot of changes. Vizards have their own division now, and Rukongai has been completely overhauled, to the point that the slums are all but gone. Opportunity is all up in that place now. You might consider retrying at some stage. Gráinne even has an Arrancar living in her house in Seireitei. Times have changed now. Just sayin'."

Gaige then addressed Kisara's request for an ID card. Laura scowled at the card machine. "I've been nothing but nice to it too." In a jiffy, Gaige announced that the card was being made. She asked Laura what she was doing at the time. Laura shrugged. "Bit of both really. I was just showing Kizzy around when I ran out of a certain beverage." Liv scowled at her. "No one escapes my wrath, Fisher." The blonde Arrancar then grinned maniacally at Laura. "Don't you worry. I'll get you when you least expect it." Laura gulped at that and turned to Gaige. "Help?" Liv walked over and leaned on the young redhead's shoulder. "Nope. No help for you, Fisher." Laura sighed and looked back to Gaige and Kisara. "I suppose we should finish the tour before I get murdered. Where to next Gaige?"

Gaige nodded in agreement. "She's right. I mean, 10 years ago arrancar were considered nothing but evil. Now, Liv is far from good to my bank account, but other than spending a fortune on food, she's a stand up gal. The arrancar living with the captain commander was a vizard, before she was turned or whatever you call it, and now she's welcome there. From what I understand, there was a group of nobles ruling over the gotei, which was the source of so many problems if you ask me. Rumor is after the Gotei fell someone systematically assassinated all of them. Liv might know more about that, she's besties with one of the captains." Gaige said. Then she shrugged.

"Still, you don't have to worry about it, everyone who joins will have a place here, strong or not. Hell I'm probably not getting any stronger unless I finish making myself into a machine which is not on the agenda till i'm way old. Even if you have trouble paying the maintenance fee, we wouldn't kick you out, most of us would chip in to help you or go take a contract with you if you needed it. Breaking the rules is the only thing that will get you thrown out. Oh or if you cut Liv's hair. Accident or not, you will not be able to run far enough to escape her justice. Trust me."

Gaige shrugged again at Laura's response. "What can I say, its just not that into you Laura." She watched the exchange between Laura and Liv, grinning when Laura looked to her for help. "Sorry. He did make a mess of my workshop." She looked at Liv. "Just be gentle. Or I'll make you pay for it later." Gaige said with a mischievous grin. Then she turned to Kissy. "Come on, I'll show you the Training arena. You don't want to witness this." She said. She was mostly joking. Laura was stronger spiritually, and allot faster than Liv.

Regardless they headed over to the training arena, hopefully the arrancar didn't break anything. And they had probably caught up by the time Gaige and Kisara reached the arena. She opened the heavy door with her id and ushered Kisara in, leaving it open for Laura and Liv. "If your half as enthusiastic about training as i think you are, you'll like this place." She said. The room was about 100 yards across, "not that big, but the walls were shielded and reinforced to withstand most high level attacks. Still i wouldn't fire off anything to over the top, just because you dont want to actually kill whoever your fighting. Defeats the point of training. Also," She pressed a button on the wall, an a console appeared. She tapped another button and the floor split in half, a different terrain rose up.

"Yes. you can change out the floor. Its got pretty much all the terrains you can think of, including a very slick metal floor that defies the laws of friction. Super fun to fight on. Oh and a swimming pool. Not sure why. I think Laura just wanted it to play marco polo in." She explained. She demonstrated a few of the different terrain types.

Kisara shook her head, "Times may have changed but only the strong can make change and be truly respected in any organization.. A mercenary group is much more suited to my wishes." However she didn't argue the matter any further and followed Gaige when she led the way to what turned out to be a training room. Which got Kisara excited. She loved training. Pushing herself was the best thrill she could ask for.

She grinned as Gaige showed off the mechanisms of the room changing terrain and was delighted. She had no idea how that was done, as she wasn't a science person or an engineer, but she was happy it could be done all the same.

"Thats really cool. A pool could be nice for relaxing in and floating around too!"

Laura went to follow Kisara and Gaige to the training arena, when she was suddenly stopped in her tracks by a yank on her cloak. "Hey, what the-" She looked back to see Liv holding her cloak, an unnerving grin on her pretty features. Laura looked to Gaige in despair. "Halp!" Liv spoke soothingly to her. "It's okay Laura. Come accept your punishment." Liv then proceeded to drag Laura, who was kicking and clawing a the floor and walls, into a room nearby. As she was dragged inside, Laura grabbed the door-frame and called frantically. "Gaige! Do something!" But Liv was stronger than her, and she disappeared into the room with a squeak. A moment later, Liv emerged looking very smug with herself. She looked at the two girls, not letting anything on. "It's okay, she's just waiting for me. She knows what she did. She knows she deserves it." If quizzed on it at all, Liv simply shrugged. "That's for me to know, and Laura to find out."

Gaige demonstrated the terrain-changer for the arena. Kisara seemed impressed with the whole operation. Liv looked around the arena, noting that Kisara seemed to enjoy the idea of the pool setting. "Yeah, the pool's cool. It's great for parties. The jacuzzi is especially awesome."

[OOC: Sorry for the short post. Haven't quite got back into my stride yet with posting XD)

Gaige asked what Liv planned to do to Laura, who responded. Gaige seighed. "Just don't hurt her. I will make you regret it later otherwise." She said and continued on. Kisara seemed impressed with the training room, which of course made Gaige smile. "Well I'm glad you like it. Its here to use as you want. There's also a nice stock of training drones, with a few different training protocols you can activate. Gentle is the easiest. Murderous is not suggested unless you can handle yourself against the likes of Laura. But they're still only training drones, they wont kill you." Gaige said.

She motioned them to follow and left the training room, walking back to the main building. "There's a garden for relaxing behind the main building. And there's a kitchen and mess hall. Sometimes Yuri cooks. Sometimes Liv Raids the nearest Chinese restaurant and deigns to bring food back for everyone. If neither of those things happen, feel free to cook for yourself, or everyone. Theres no shifts or work rotations. We've got cleaner bots. I'd build some to work the kitchen, but you've met Jeffrey..... I'm afraid of letting them have free access to fire."

She walked in the front door and pointed up the stairs. "Rooms are on the second floor. I'll give you a list of the available ones, and you can take your pick. There's a shop in the basement, for equipment. you can request one piece for free to use on missions. Otherwise you'll have to pay. Or make your own. There's a second workshop for members to use. My workshops off limits though, unless I invite you in of course."

Kisara just listened and took in the sights of the Guild as Gaige and Laura gave her the tour. But instead of replying she became deep in thought, almost looking like she wasn't listening anymore. The entire thing was nice. She was happy. She had no issues with any of it. Everything looked awesome and the rules were simple enough. Something just seemed to nag her. But she shook it off as Gaige and Laura seemed to have wrapped up the most recent bout of the tour.

"Sorry I spaced.. but I was listening. Everything seems great. Just trying to figure out what I'm going to do first and stuff."

(OOC- short but long overdue and I forgot most of what was going on... Just posting for the sake of moving the thread)