Running With the Big Cats

Venus looked around her for the umpteenth time that day as she walked through the town called 'Ace of Spades'. While she questioned the reason for such a name, that mental activity would probably be the subject of another day. Today, she would enjoy the sights and sounds of the place, and present herself to the guild she desired to join, the mysterious Sabertooth.

She liked the name of the guild. Named after a ferocious predator, the guild was the sort she wanted to belong to. She had considered other guilds, but none had suited her like this guild. They were either too bright and airy, or too lawless, or just plain off the moral edge. And if there was anything Venus felt she needed now, it was a place where she would be sure they wouldn't look the other way if she began to stray, and Heavens above knew that she walked a knife's edge. At the same time, the status of Sabertooth as guardians fit in perfectly with her intended profession: Demon Huntress.

Frankly, Venus felt quite nervous as she approached the massive castle that stood before her. It was here that the guild was reputed to meet. Noticing how open to the public the place was, the young woman surmised that this castle was probably not extremely important to the guild; if an enemy, for instance, decided to blow it up, taking advantage of the public access the castle possessed, the Sabertooth guild would most likely be untouched by the assault. Perhaps the actual guild was subterranean, which would be cool.

Walking as casually as she could afford, which actually took a lot of willpower on her part, Venus sauntered into the castle, dragging two large suitcases with her. The contents of the cases were currently all she had, so she was hoping that her contact with the guild members would be pleasant, and acceptance would follow. Sabertooth was a respected guild. The world respected strength. So Sabertooth was most likely possessive of strong mages. While the average strong human tended to abuse their strength, Sabertooth was a light guild, so Venus hoped the majority of its members would be decent folk.

Her prayers for luck quickly fled her mind when she beheld the interior of the castle. Expecting something grey and spartan, Venus was surprised, and very much impressed, by the vista of the grand ballroom-like hall in which she now stood.

"Whoa," she thought silently, letting go of her traveling cases, "I think I may just fall in love with this place...."

Kloria spent the day deep underwater training, honing her skills, however after too much dead fish came to the surface she left to avoid being a major disturbance. She was aiming for rocks and specific geological formations, however some fish got caught in the crossfire. She did not want to cause trouble that would result in another mage coming after her, so she left. She walked through the town, and received some odd glares from the towns folks, she was confused as to why but she figured she would just ignore it for now. Her Armos's had become like skin to her, so she sometimes failed to notice she didn't remove them.

By the time she reached the castle her armor had already been dried, but she stopped before the bridge as she looked down at the ground and knelled down, observing the patch of dirt and loose rocks that were disturbed by a foot, she was intrigued as that mean someone had passed through and this far in, someone was on their way to the castle. She kept walking to the castle, keeping her senses open.

She walked in as the sound of the cases hit the floor echoed in the room, she was standing right behind the girl, silent, letting her soak in the presence of the architecture of the castle. She stared down at the shorter girl, there was a solid foot gap at the moment, but once she disarmed herself she would be an inch taller due to her heels. From the look of things, she seemed to be quite athletic yet soft. Kloria wondered who the person was like, and what her intentions were.

Sharc Armos:

Wearing a green t-shirt with khaki skirt and white tennis shoes, Victoria was slinging drinks behind the bar of Ace of Spades like she often did. It had been a few days since the crushing defeat she had inflicted on the Corlones in Rose Garden. Every day a new headline trumpeted yet another blow dealt to the crime family like the arrest of another lieutenant or another slaver arrested for buying slaves from the crime family. Mr. Corlone and Francesca had not been spotted since Francesca's flight from Hargeon Town, but their days were numbered because Fiore's people were certain to be keeping an eye out for the wannabe mobsters. They had lost their private army and most of their connections; Victoria was sure that their fellow criminals would finish what the police had started and take out the Corlones now that they were so vulnerable.

Victoria had just finished her shift when she noticed a blonde girl carrying two large suitcases walking into the tavern and proceeding directly into the ballroom without so much as a wave to the brunette. The newcomer Kloria was clad in some colorful armor that caught her attention. It was likely as functional as it was eye-catching... Victoria had never seen alien armor before and wondered if it was also a form of life support by producing air safe for Kloria's species to breathe or if it was simply protective like her own Azure Armor. She also wondered what Kloria thought of human armor; the tall blonde probably had her own opinion of human aesthetics. The brunette returned her apron to the kitchen and clocked out, then followed the first blonde into the ballroom that the former had visited long ago when conversing with Ryo.

-Inside the ballroom-

Victoria carefully entered the lavish ballroom and soon spotted the suitcase-carrying blonde. She exercised caution not because she was afraid of the visitor, but because she did not want to scare off the visitor with her power. The blonde was a lot weaker than her, so Victoria had to be careful not to present a threat to avoid driving her off or accidentally starting a fight.

"Hi there. Can I help you?" Victoria asked the blonde, who was admiring the ballroom's architecture and aesthetics. Victoria was comfortable with the situation because she was performing the same role in Sabertooth as she did in Black Rose, which was greeting potential recruits. She did not mind doing so... Kite, Ryo, and the Aces had not told her to stop, so she saw no reason not to greet the new guys and gals.

Venus was still admiring the architecture of the place, when she sensed she wasn't alone. More accurately, she smelt she wasn't alone. The smell was strange, unlike anything she'd smelt before, yet not off-putting. She turned to stare up at the visored head of someone in a weird armor, looking down at her.

Initially, there was the urge to panic, to go into fight-or-flight mode, but Venus calmed herself mentally. For starters, this armored person didn't have an aggressive or hostile stance, so she would allow herself to assume that whoever was in the strange suit of armor was not an enemy. Besides, this was Sabertooth, and it was supposed to be a light guild, so even if the requirements for joining the guild involved showing her martial prowess, the Ascendant Demon Slayer was sure nobody was going to suddenly jump her and beat her into a pulp.

"Uh... hi?" Venus said uncertainly with a small wave, still uninformed about the intentions of the armored one. But before anything else could transpire between the two, a third presence was felt. The Demon Slayer turned to see a casually-dressed brunette, who greeted her cordially and asked how she might help. Being one who appreciated polite and well-mannered people, Venus smiled brightly. "Hey, I'm Venus. Nice to meet you." There was a pause. "Venus Rigel, reporting to Sabertooth for duty. Or rather, that's my intention. I'd love to join this guild. And I have absolutely no idea how to go about it...."

Kloria looked down at the girl and saw the flare from panic in her eyes, wondering if going silent was truly the better option. Still at the back of her mind she knew it was her training taking over in some areas, although her Axo-canon was still pointed at the floor so at least she didn't seem too threatening.

She was still uneasy about how lax humans were about joining guilds, she remembered the pain she went through to even be considered an apprentice on Exdrax. She assumed that the smaller woman was reading the room so to speak as she calmed down before she reacted heavily. She had her suspicions that she could take on the girl in a fight if it came down to it though.

However before Kloria could respond, she heard the footsteps as from behind, she turned her head slightly to see the short figure of Victoria, and she was starting to get slightly agitated with the average height of humans. She stepped out of the way so she could easily see both ladies. Her voice came from her armor, but a glare from the light obstructed view of her eyes as no one knew where they were fixed, but her head was facing the newcomer. "I am Kloria Xicor, I am not too familiar with this guild yet myself, I joined only recently. You'll want that lady, Victoria's assistance. Can either of you put on heels or grab ladders? You two are quite, short."

Victoria was mildly amused by the ladder comment that Kloria had just made. She towered over the other two mages by a considerable margin and made Victoria keenly aware of the height difference. She then focused on Venus Rigel's question and tried to come up with an answer.

"If you're looking to join Sabertooth, you're in the right place." Victoria said to Venus. The other girl had indicated a willingness to join up, so Victoria had to help seal the deal while the opportunity was still there. That meant that the brunette would have to locate an Ace or a Guild Master and bring them to Venus in order for the newcomer to learn more about Sabertooth. Kloria and Victoria could tell her a bit about how the organization worked, but in order to get the full story it was best to talk to at least a Guild Ace.

"Unfortunately, to join the guild you'll need to talk to an Ace or one of the Guild Masters. I'll be happy to go and try to find one of them for you if you'd like." Victoria offered to Venus. The brunette patiently awaited her response while taking a quick glance at the armored blonde who made the joke about ladders. Victoria wondered if a standard ladder would be enough to close the height gap or if she needed to spring for a taller one.

The armored individual, Kloria Xicor by name, seemed to be a newcomer to Sabertooth, having only recently joined the ranks, if what she said was anything to go by. The comment about ladders was quite tickling, and Venus could not help but laugh. "Well, ladders have the disadvantage of being not particularly mobile, so I think I'll go with heels, though I have no foot-tall stilts," she quipped. "Do forgive my shortness, in any case. It seems none of my ancestors ever had the problem of reaching for high shelves."

The brunette, whom Kloria had introduced as Victoria, mentioned that Venus was where she wanted to be, although it was required that she meet and interact with higher-ups before she could be honored with Sabertooth's guild stamp. A rather fair precaution, seeing that every applicant to the guild could not be a guaranteed round peg in a round hole. Many might be interested in joining a guild, although their modes of operations could be at variance to the guild. It would be surely unwise to have such people join the guild. Also, if an enemy came to join the guild so as to sabotage it from within, screenings such as this were necessary to find them out.

While Venus was sure her ethics would easily conform with Sabertooth's, she was worried about people getting to know so much about herself. After all, her magic was not from the most innocent of sources, and if she was to be honest with herself, Venus wasn't sure she was knowledgeable enough about her magic to the extent that she would not become an unwilling threat, due to her going too far with using her magic. She wasn't even sure that the heart which was beating within her chest was a human heart, but so far, it seemed to operate like a normal human organ, and she had not experienced any evil influence trying to take over her will. Yet.

"Oh, I think I would very much like to meet an Ace," Venus replied to Victoria. "I'd be most obliged if you'd help me find one. What's the function of an Ace, if I may ask?"

Kloria sighed as she didn't enjoy the position she was now put in,  she was way too unfamiliar with Earthland customs herself let alone guild ones. However she noticed the blue and purple colors to her appearance, and looked at her hand to notice she was wearing her Sharc Armos. "Hmmm, didn't notice I was still wearing this. My apologies if it's off putting." The armor and the cannon seemed to dissolve into light before the light pulled back into her skin as points along her body lit up before dimming down.

Kloria clenched her fist, cracking the knuckles in her right hand before stretching her right arm out for a second, trying to break the stiff feeling in her joints caused by the Axo-Canon. "Interesting use of grammar, the first half would suggested you knew what an Ace was. Well, from what I understand of the primitive hierarchical order, they are above standardized members, second in authority only to the Guild masters. Apparently they share in letting people into the guild."

However, she did have her own opinions on the standards of admittance to the guild, but in all fairness she literally came from a different world. "But given the lax standards for admittance, not sure why it is mandatory. There are people from all over this world and I am not even local to this part of the galaxy. Quite frankly it seems like all you need is a pulse and no warrant." Kloria turend back to Victoria for confirmation, wondering if she was far off base. "Am I right on that?"

Venus, for her part, didn't believe the standards for joining Sabertooth would be as lax, as Kloria believed them to be. As matters stood, even the simplest examination could reveal a lot of things about an individual, and Venus was certain that not every single Tabby, Berta and Harriet could just waltz into the guild and be given the guild stamp immediately. The fact that Sabertooth had persisted for long as a guild without being overthrown from the inside was proof that, as of yet, the guild had not made a fatal mistake in its choice of guild members.

Just as she opened her mouth to voice her thoughts on these things, a new voice emanated from the shadows, startling her a bit, once again. The Demon Slayer turned to see another woman watching her. They were of the same height, and Venus felt tickled by it, though she did not show her amusement, the reason for it being that the tall alien woman had pointed out that there were too many short people afoot, and another had just joined. She watched as the newcomer responded to Kloria's opinion on guild admission, but said nothing, until she was addressed.

"Venus Rigel," the Demon Slayer responded with deference, albeit with a happy smile of her own. "The pleasure's all mine." Venus grinned lopsidedly and the description of Aces as glorified secretaries. She was sure she would like this Kenna, with her calm nature and easygoing sense of humor. The question about Venus' interest in the guild was popped, and she answered it with energy.

"Am I ever!" came the reply. "It would be such an honor to join a guild such as Sabertooth. I'm not going to try to sell myself so much, because frankly, I'm not sure I'm very useful at the moment, but if given the chance to join Sabertooth, I will try my best to do everyone proud."

Kloria was glad that she was no longer obligated to prolong conversation when she was aware of Kenna's approach. She listened silently and patiently as she explained the Sabertooth system and the functions of her role. However when the young slayer responded, Kloria was not sure if it was very little faith in her own skills, or too much honesty. "I'd be careful about showing too many cards. Intents are one thing, but confirming obvious weaknesses can be very fatal if done too early."

Kloria walked over towards the young woman, staring down looking her in the eyes. "However, there's something about you that bugs me, something familiar." Kloria shrugged, going back to a relaxed state given that there were three mages present, so even if this girl turned out to be a thread she would be easy to handle. "Ah well, time will tell." Kloria walked a small distance away, keeping her distance. She had no real business here anyways.

"Kloria took the words out of my mouth, Venus. There's not a whole lot I can add to either sentence she just said." Victoria said to Venus after Kloria finished her lengthy but accurate explanation of both what Aces did and the requirements it took for a mage to join a guild.

"Kloria, you're right on both counts." Victoria said to the tall blonde shortly before Kenna appeared as if she were summoned by the mention of the words "Guild Ace." Victoria would stand back and let the Guild Ace handle the conversation from here on out.

"Kenna's here, so you can get the info you need straight from the horse's mouth. The only person who has more info is the Guild Master himself." Victoria informed the prospective new member before leaning against a wall. She would let Kenna do the talking because she was a lot more qualified to discuss Sabertooth than the brunette was. Still, she felt compelled to offer the new girl some words of encouragement because once upon a time the brunette used to be an Ace herself.

"I'm sure Sabertooth will be glad to have you, Venus." Victoria told the prospective member.