take me to your best friend's house [intro]

Confusion and clangor was what Toppa expected as he stepped through the guild hall of glass and wood. Fairy Tail was a legendary guild after all, or had been. He half expected men on beds of wagons, loading casks of wine, spells firing against one another, bundles of fletched arrows haphazardly shooting across the hallways. In his mind, that was what a mercenary guild was, the living embodiment of chaos.

But as Toppa stepped through the glass doors, he found reality to be much more subdued, and frankly, relieving. A mercenary guild was built upon its fulfilment of contracts, whether good or bad, it needed a base of security and professionalism, and a first impression did much to safeguard newcomers and clientele.

At least, for now.

Toppa was quiet, subdued. His eyes scanned the surroundings for people of interest and locale, a frittered nervousness shot up his spine, anxiety and excitement. He was a noble, a merchant, numbers and words were his thing, spells and danger were not. And yet, he found all of it to be thrilling, and fascinating. A first step towards magic, he was about to eat the forbidden fruit.

At 5'10", with unkempt black hair and thick frames and boyish features, Toppa was the most unassuming man to have stepped through the doors. He wore a simple black blazer, and slim jeans with simple boots, the wheels of his luggage rolled through the ambience as he walked towards the bartender.

"Good day." He spoke, his voice carried the sense of professionalism and nervousness of a man about to enter his first job. "I'm looking for alcohol, lodgings, someone to rub my shoulders, and an apprenticeship in magic in exchange for my services."

It had taken next to no time at all for his presence, even if understated, to be immediately known. He had not anticipated that the guild would be such a welcoming environment, and part of that made him ease his guard, if ever so slightly. His ruby eyes latched onto the first person to approach him, a pretty thing of silver hair and purple eyes. Toppa took a moment to size her up. A single mango juice in her hand, fine fabrics from all over across a very well comprised figure. Her makeup was immaculate, her nails were recently done, the fabrics on her clothes, while he couldn't' immediately tell, were most likely of luxury design, comprising of high thread count cottons with oriental silks, stitched by hand.

Had she been just a girl walking across the street, he would have imagined her to be from a high class family, or a well-to-do merchant's wife, but her speech gave him all the confirmation required as to her actual identity: An ace. He had seen her somewhere before, either in a poster or newspaper. Wizard Saints were hard to come by in regular settings, but it seems the unexpected and rare came along just fine inside the halls of a magic guild. His cutting eye disseminated into one of friendliness, or... in this particular case, his demeanor changed to a friendlier one, but he kept his instinctive attention to detail. "Yes, that is correct. I'm willing to work for one if necessary, I don't suppose an actual resume is required? I can say with great confidence I have never hurt or attacked anyone in my entire life." Though that may change, in the very near future.

Unfortunately for the guildmaster, and perhaps the two spirits that wandered into the conversation, Toppa was unable to actually interact with them at all, he had less an idea of what his magic even was, only that he knew he was talented and could manifest it at a quick rate. If he had any idea of how to interact with his own ethernano, perhaps he may have been able to sense differences in skill between the mages that roamed around. Unfortunately, he was not skilled, for now. Regardless, being in the public eye against an unseen spirit would certainly bring up an interesting topic some time in the future. For now though, Toppa could only respond to Nessa's question with a follow up. "I'd be more than happy to learn from a Wizard Saint, maybe we can discuss this over coffee sometime?" He smiled with a calculated sheepishness.

Then an ungodly sound rippled through the building like an ultra-aggressive swarm of locusts. He could recognise the sound of the car as it skidded to a halt, there were very few manufacturers that would be willing to put that much horsepower in a single convertible, and whoever bought it was most likely a descendant of old money. "Dimwit! Where are you? Don't keep me waiting!"

It was the bark of a man who had never learned to the 'No' in his life. Sharp and crass, ugly, yet, he could not deny that perhaps just several years prior, his entire life would also have been defined by such impulses. Toppa's eyes turned towards the source of the disturbance, to find a man dressed almost exactly like hyper old money. Golden hair and adorned from neck to waist in jewellery and fine fabrics. There was a moment, perhaps, of comprehension that he was staring at Toppa, but little more than the vague comprehension of existence before the dismissal of his entire being, much like a potted plant or an innocuous cup of coffee on the bar table. If power, wealth, status and braggadocio were what he saw as life, then Toppa must have looked very boring indeed. Such was how things were, Toppa let it slide off him with a single glance towards Nessa and an bemused smile.

"The car is outside, petit porcelet." He barked.

"Apologies, I didn't know I was disturbing a date." He replied, chuckling, taking a sip of the whiskey he ordered as he casually stood up from the bar stool. "Where might I find the person in charge of registration?"

"That's good to know, sadly I can't hurt a fly as of yet, I'm ready to change that if you will take me." Toppa replied, having some degree of confirmation that, as an organisation, they would have use for someone with some degree of background with paper pushing. He did not mind doing so, but his value was greater than that. Of course, after the momentary entrance of the man with the golden accessories, he was actually unable to answer the question at the moment.

"We have a new recruit I need to help initiate, um, I'm sorry I don't think I caught your name?"

"It's Toppa." He replied, smiling. "Oh, it's not a date. We're just grabbing lunch, Louie here is one of our guildmembers."

Ouch. Though whatever cathartic enjoyment he had of that particular sentence he had at the blonde mage's expense was cut short, as the third, and most unlikely of the bunch appeared. Dark haired and pale skinned with asian features and a very laid back attitude, Toppa did not recognize the man at all as he slept in the guild hall. But unliked the man with the designer clothes and aggressive use of gold, concealing of one's actual power was wise. Had any registrant simply entered, treated the staff like shit, then played politics to appease the boss, such slights would have been quick to alert the guildmaster.

Then again, he might have actually been sleeping...

Toppa grimaced inwardly.

"Oh, forgive me! I didn't see you there," It was like an immediate change in his personality. Toppa's eyes matched with the blondes as he stood to shake the man's hand with a cordial smile. "I'm Louie Calvin Klein. I don't think I've ever seen someone like you around here. It's charming."

"Thanks Louie." He replied, while he was aware of the shade, he very much doubted the use of addressing it at all. "Completely understandable. This is my first time in the guild, and romantic pressure can sometimes put the blinders on." Toppa replied, sticking his tongue out the corner of his mouth. He had no idea if it was true, but regardless it was fun to tease about. Only, he didn't know if Louie could take a joke or not.

“S-Sorry about that, I was… anyway, I’m Mura Kensho. I’m Fairy Tail’s Guildmaster,”

Toppa gave a mild nod of his head in acknowledgment.As Mura came over and gave him a quick debriefing, Toppa began to prepare the spiel he had memorized over years of sales. "I deal in information securities. I extract sensitive memories and sometimes, I implant them." Toppa replied, very upfront about his line of work. There was no point in hiding it as he would eventually know regardless. Toppa turned from the guildmaster to Louie and Nessa.

"Let's say you have a politician with a particularly shady past that they are not privy to share with the public." He began, "Perhaps a rival politician has gotten wind of such information and is planning to use it against him. Well... a traditional manner of handling this situation is coercion, bribery, assassination." He cleared his throat. "But these are all frowned upon, especially, if you have a pristine reputation to uphold. And more often than not, because you would rather spare the subject from a grisly and unfortunate circumstance."

"My job is to assist in removal of these memories from others at a premium." Toppa nodded, "However... such jobs are often dangerous, and I can't expect my security to always be able to help me from either my clients or political enemies... that is why I need to learn to defend myself, and, if necessary, I can have a trusted and reliable source of security to hire... by joining a guild." Toppa cleared his throat. "Well... I would understand if you have concerns about me joining the guild. But if you give me your guild insignia, you'll have this asset for your use... not that I imagine you need it. But it is there, nonetheless. I am sure I will be able to make some of your clients happier at least. A bloodless feud where no innocents, or violence occurs."

He paused. "That's what I do at any rate. Can we all discuss this over burgers at six flags perhaps?" Toppa bowed his head towards Louie. "That is of course, if you don't mind."