Zoo Branch Hub Field

The staff of the Zoo branch were busy with preparations. Fighters were pouring in from the announcements made alongside the branch directors' speeches and they had to accommodate in some way or another. There was one staff member however that wouldn't have proved very helpful in all of this but who still wanted to help. As it happened that help came in the form of distracting young children while the others worked out all the logistics.

A pile of children were busy wrestling with a large dog with pale blue fur. A deeper teal fur patch adorned his head and silver shoots came from his back legs. This was Tamotsu Hakaisha, the ancient spirit who had fought alongside humanity against the Link Joker invasion under the name Okuri. These days he was the family dog for Jessie and Bashiro. Well with the slight difference in that he could talk and over the last several years of being able to speak had been steadily regaining memories of his past lives. More recently he had been approached to be the Great Nature clan leader and hesitantly accepted after a certain gumball persuaded him to do it.

But little of that mattered now. Even the drama of the opening ceremony was pushed out of the canine's mind. He had children to play with. He would paw at them gently, stand up on his hind legs, roll over when they pushed at him and nuzzle just about anyone who got too close. Eventually he got himself free of the pile of children only for one to jump on his back and tell him to go like he was a horse of some kind. And so the dog took off running, the child having the time of his life while the others chased after the two.

This was clan leader business alright. Definitely official and important.

They sure had their hands full today too, probably being the most popular branch after the initial announcements of the branch leaders. Unfortunately, it seemed to attract more kids than anything, looking to come to a literal zoo instead of register for Vanguard like others. This was fine, as Zoo's number two: Varess Yamata had a better time handling brats than fighters, especially thanks to the Great Nature Clan Leader literally playing fetch with some of the children. It was kind of nice, and reminded him of his own daughter...

"Ah. Well, that doesn't mean the paper work is going to do itself." He grinned mockingly, despite the sweat at his temple in seeing it stack up and up. The problem was that most of it wasn't even vanguard related... it was mostly things to sign and sort for the animals. With Rikuto busy every so often, it fell on him to... procrastinate and do bits and bits of it at a time. Taking a sweep of the hand over his slick, dark brown hair with a single curl hanging over his forehead, he decided it was time for his fourth break today.

Transcend the self. When you open the doors and windows of your mind, endless possibilities flow through...

This singular mantra was the only thought that flowed through the head of a middle-aged male hanging only by his curled toes from the branch of one of the many trees of the Zoo offices. Focused so distinctly on his meditation, he was doing what many would see as next to impossible for one of his size and stature, all because he had cleared his mind of distraction on the winds of emptiness...

He was Satoshi Kurosaki, the Guardian of Cray and Neo Nectar Clan Leader. A being comprised of a human of Earth and a spirit of Cray, extending his age to last much, much longer than any one person would expect. He sought to improve his mind, body and spirit in ways that would allow him to stay true to himself and those he felt dear to him, to---

"Hey, mister, can I have your autograph?"

Thump!

A request directed at him invaded his concentration, and Satoshi fell out of the tree right on top of his head, flopping onto his back after the initial impact. The young fighter yelped in surprise and ran to his side, worried that the man had injured himself.

"Mister, mister, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!"

Satoshi rubbed the top of his head, grimacing a bit. The fall did kind of hurt, but it was more as if he had just rolled out of bed in his youth more than what had actually happened: a fall from about ten feet in the air directly on top of his head. A lump was clearly forming, but he could hardly feel it, even as his mind returned to reality.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm alright...an autograph, was it?" Satoshi took a pen the young fighter had in his hands and signed a white card sleeve he was offered, still feeling the newly formed lump as he did so. "There you are. I hope your fights are enjoyable."

"Th-thanks, mister...sorry to bother you again!" The fighter bowed, and ran off to get a signature from Varess, who looked to be about to slack off again. Satoshi leered a little. There was something off about that man and he just didn't like it, but Rikuto had told him it was nothing he should get too concerned over.

He sighed. Right, he was also goofing off, to a degree, even if meditation was something much more structured and worth the time invested than whatever it was Mr. Yamata was up to on his breaks. Still, it seemed as though Rikuto and his staff were handling the new fighters quite well without much need for any of the leaders' helps beyond simple tasks, so he had ample opportunity to just...hang out.

Satoshi gazed over at Tamotsu, playing with many of the children who showed up today. A small chuckle and a smile adorned the Guardian's face at the sight; the dog was a very pure being who he felt he could relate to on many levels, even with their species being quite different. In fact, it was Tamotsu, and also, despite the bits and pieces he could clearly remember of her, Chrisaline, that made Satoshi feel much more comfortable about his decision to not take up more responsibility in the branch than necessary. He was better a teammate of Zoo Branch than its leader, for sure.

The pain for his lump finally kicked in a little more. Giving a small grunt, the clan leader took a step forward...and realized he had also made his back a little sore from his fall as well. This led him to change from walking to a slight limp as he made his way back to his tree, this time to sit under it and recuperate.

While in the middle of wrestling the latest wave of kids, Tamotsu's ears perked up as his attention shifted elsewhere. This prompted the children to ask Mr. Doggy what was wrong. The dog knew something was up. What was it? Looking around the rush of people had begun to back off to a manageable point for the staff and he'd already been here a lot of the day so far. How long was that anyway?

But no, more importantly it felt like something was calling him. It was time to get off work and go find his boy is what it was. He began apologizing to the children who were all clearly disappointed that he had to leave. But he promised he'd play with them another day and for now pointed them in the direction of Varess.

"Yamata-san over there will play with you." he said, genuinely believing most of the Zoo staff had the same pure intentions he did. Clearly he hadn't been around them long enough or was forgetting who Chris in particular was. Though it was strange that Rikuto hadn't been seen since the opening ceremony. Probably away at some hospital saving someone.

Well Tamotsu had something to save too. Namely, Jessie's day from being boring and void of hugs. And so off he zoomed, excitedly bidding the staff and fighters farewell. It was time for his nose to guide him.

"Ah?" Varess lifted his brow inquisitively, hearing Tamotsu's words. Oh boy, work, the thing he hated having more of around here... Well, he was kind enough to let the canine roam out, having done plenty in keeping the kids handled while most of the registration was done. Still... he's not exactly the entertaining type, so he held his chin in thought as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Chrisaline Egao was taking a stroll.

Aka, she wasn't busy.

"Oi, Chris...? Help me out here, I got some... paperwork to do. Play with the kids." Varess smirked, a certain of sleaziness to it that oozed lazy. He kept that usual demeanor all the time, so no one thought the wiser, and neither would she... if she wasn't his apprentice, that is. Chris was a very attractive girl, and five years did an amazing number on her appearance. Previously, the bug-loving psycho was pretty flat and wore too much green for her own good, even accessorizing with cute goggles. Now, gods had been kind in blessing her with curves most models would kill to have. An ample bosom and tantalizingly, shapely legs with some rather heavenly thighs exposed by her "moderately" sized skirt, equipped to her soft, fertile hips... she was the object of affection for many who knew not her personality.

"Huh?" Her tone was a lot more mature, deeper and alluring, but also filled with a great deal of sass in that one word. "Pass, I don't spend time with kids." Chris cast her gaze to side, turning down her mentor as she began to go her own way. However, kids were beginning to run toward her, which caught her by surprise. "Wha- Aaah!" The woman was tackled to the ground by numerous children who showered her in compliments, poked her cheeks and thighs, and asked her to play Vanguard. "Get off of me you brats! You want to play Vanguard?! I'll make sure it's the last game you-"

"Hey now... behave." Varess was staring at her condescendingly from above, keeping his invincible smirk as she grit her teeth, snarling at her mentor.

"Ugh... whatever... Fine. Children, has mommy taught you about Megacolony...?" If she was going to do this, she was going to get something out of it, even if that included irritating some kids. Somehow getting to her feet, she took the crowd while taking a deck box attached to her hip, arming herself with her natural control clan.

That'll keep the runts busy for a bit, and keep Chris busy so she doesn't wander off.