❖ THE MASKED GUILD ❖ (A/Wren/Beaux/Dela)

It was that time a year again where the seasons began to change. It was often during times like these where many people saw a transition in their life, much like the seasons themselves. New jobs, new families, new opportunities. For some, life was turning over a new leaf for the better and was finally beginning to look a little brighter for them. For Doppo, however, things only looked like they were getting worse.

While he had been here since the "reformation" of the Rune Knights several months ago, the current line-up of officers working under the Council was only as old as the reformed Rune Knights themselves—which, again, was only so many months old. Ever since he joined the Rune Knights, he had never intended for himself to end up as he had. He worked only as hard as he had to in order to fulfill his responsibilities as minimally and sufficiently as possible so he could return to his cubicle to do nothing, and for a while, that's precisely what happened. That's what happened until his unknown superiors saw this performance which he considered to be half-hearted and relabeled it as "beyond expectations" and "excellent." Ever since then, his workload only increased while his time to do nothing of particular import decreased exponentially. It seemed the only time he ever had to himself nowadays were lunch breaks!

Needless to say, the normally indifferent Doppo was rather displeased when making the realization of his new obligations. But all of this seemed trivial when he would stop by Field Marshall Sinclair's office (as he often does), who, not surprisingly, was swarmed in work whenever there was work to be swarmed in.

But he was not displeased for long, as he had since adopted a softer outlook on his new lifestyle after joining the ranks. What were burdens are now annoyances that he indignantly concedes to. While not forced to supervise his juniors, the redheaded Major oftentimes found himself doing so in his own way, anyway. Despite all this, Doppo was closer to being the same than he was being different, and the day after his day off was quick to show that.

It was early in the morning when Doppo was reporting in, as today was a day he was scheduled to depart to Clover Town to resolve a rather notable, upcoming incident about to unfold. Obviously, the Major who cherished silence and tranquility in the workplace when he could get it, felt as if his ever-so-thin patience was being tested this morning when approaching the front desk, where he would normally "sign-in" as some would call it.

By the front desk was a group of three men, huddling around each other with flushed cheeks and mischievous, leering looks in their eyes. In the distance, one could hear the noncommitted and thorough Receptionist Valorie shuffling through folders for what only could be assumed to be related to why the three men were waiting around. It didn't seem like Valorie was going to return to them as immediately as he hoped for, so the tired and fatigued redheaded Major attempted to briskly sign-in so he wouldn't have to needlessly wait.

". . .Hey, guys—" Doppo murmured inaudibly, but couldn't seem to finish his sentence to address the men who had their backs turned to him.

"That Val's such a prude, dudes. She isn't gonna get any that way, man." said one Private, unknowingly interrupting Doppo. The two others accompanying him echoed him.

"What were you thinking, talking about how cute she looked? What else were you expecting from Val? Even then, you'd seriously tap that?"

"No, bro! I like women with assets. If she can take care of her body, she can take care of me when we are married, after all!"

"Like who?"

"Like Onida! Like daaamn! Have you seen her? Word has it that she's slept with every guy in the office, so I guess that means she's easy!"


"Can you even drop the honorific like that? She's still our superior, you know. . ."

"It ain't like she here, bro. You're such a goody-two-shoes. . ."

Doppo could withstand being ignored the first time but didn't make any changes to the volume of his voice when he tried to excuse himself again. "Hey—" Doppo tried to speak, only to be interrupted again.

"What an amateur! At least have better taste in women, jackass." the one haughty man contested.

The chauvinistic, loud-mouthed one looked challenged. "Oh yeah? Who fits the bill, then?"

"Two words. Millicent. Hodgins." he blushed.

"Are you forreal?" the chauvinistic one suppressed his laughter.

"Isn't she, uhm, kind of average?" the rather sheepish man among them protested.

"Idiot! She isn't average! She's lean and her tits are just the right size! In Midi, she is the golden standard! Agh! If only if I were in her branch. . . I would totally get to hit her up!"

"I, uhm. . . I think Mister Beaux is kinda cute. . . you know. . . his hands and. . . uhm. . . face. . . hehe." the sheepish one twiddled his thumbs, blushing. His two friends looked at him, dumbfounded.

"What, do you like dudes or somethin, dude? You gay?" the chauvinistic one queried.

"N-No! Of course not. . ." the sheepish private lied blindly, his face like a tomato in color.

"It's fine if you do, man. . . no judgment here. . ." the other added.

"Hey, guys—" Doppo tried again.

"If you really wanna talk "golden standard", the Field Marshall hits all the right points! She has all the junk in the trunk I need and her rack is no joke! Man, I'd do anything to tap that—!!"

As the chauvinistic private stepped back in a comedic stupor, he bumped into the shorter Doppo, who, at this point, was so frustrated that there were several veins bulging around his neck and temple. While his indifferent expression had not changed, he looked as if he were suppressing something violent and toxic in his system.

Even when the privates realized who they bumped into, they could not even greet him as their superior officer. Instead, all three went ghostly pale and fell silent. It seemed only the haughty private who was picky with women could mutter anything.

"M-Ma-M-Major. . .!"

". . .You're blocking me. . ." Doppo murmured again in the same inaudible volume as before, except this time all ears and eyes were on him, ". . .could you three just move—"

"YESSIR. OF COURSE, SIR." the chauvistinic one replied loudly.

After all three stepped away to watch Doppo sign the papers with such nonchalance that it was hard to believe that he was so visibly upset that it looked like he might have a stroke, it brought the sheepish Private nearly to tears. If not for his trembling, he might've cried right there and then.

Subsequently, after finishing signing in, Doppo looked over to the trio with his indifferent gaze. ". . .Do you three need something?"

"Printed copies of our joint inves—" the sheepish one tried to stutter to him.

"Ahhh! We were actually just on our way out! See you, Major Suzuki!"

Quickly, all three of them dispersed, leaving Doppo with himself, Valorie, and his pent up anger threatening to explode. In an attempt to pacify himself, he sat down on a bench near the front desk.

These few months had actually gone by rather fast for the short, redheaded, Sailkian girl. She was getting used to how things went on around Earthland slowly, but still found a way to keep her home nature's at heart, especially since it seemed no one bothered too much with her flying around on her broom or talking to Nanny. That was great, especially since she was hoping she wouldn’t stick out too much. This was fine though. She was starting to get to know her fellow Rune Knights more, even though a good chunk thought she was a boy. She still wept over hearing that others thought she was a boy child, even more for both.

Now was time for her to get herself ready. She had been given the task to look into a matter in Clover town with a group of other Rune Knights. Wren was looking over what it was they were investigating in the mess hall and was munching down on a cinnamon roll that was absolutely slathered with frosting that it dripped onto her fingers. She kept the papers away from that hand though. Nanny was sitting on the bench next to her witch and was quietly licking her paw. This wasn’t interesting to the black feline. She let up a mew and rolled her eyes up to her. Wren set down the paper and reached a hand over to Nanny, patting her head gingerly before scratching behind her ears.

Wren was dressed in an olive green overalls and had a black, three-fourth sleeve shirt on underneath it with a pair of white sneakers. Her dress for comfort was showing here as she felt absolutely comfortable walking around the Rune Knights Headquarters in this. Plus, they had pockets. Why wouldn’t she wear these great clothes? “Alight, alright! Let me finish this roll first.” She giggles as she went to focusing solely on the cinnamon roll and lightly licked her fingers. Nanny pulled a napkin over to the witch, and she wiped her hand clean before she had jogged off to wash her hands off of the frosting. Nanny had stayed behind to watch over the few stuff her witch left out.

When the little redheaded witch came back, she gathered her papers and grabbed the broom up off of the ground. “C’mon Nans!” She jogged till she made it to the front desk, where she slowed down and noticed someone on a bench nearby. She gave a cheeky smile to Valorie, and glanced over towards the bench. Did the papers say where to meet the little team or whatever for this assignment? She glanced at the first one there, but it was actually one of her alchemy papers and she let up a groan as she didn’t want to seem a fool for looking at the papers right there… She hoped just winging it here would be okay and she wouldn’t actually make a fool of herself. “Hello, Major Suzuki.” She smiles at him while holding her broom next to her in one hand, and her papers in front of her.