Lady Sinclair? Imagine being addressed by your last name - actually, Imai had already tried being called Sir Uchūken before by the much, much, much dreamy and heartwarming kitsune Itori so long ago, so if anything, he should have known that for someone as prestigious as Seri, calling them by last name was… a must? Was it a written rule? Should Imai also refer to her as Lady Sinclair? He wasn’t the prime example of people’s knowledge and awareness of the duchies throughout the land, and even if the information was available for him, why would anyone assume that Imai had any interest in that? Of course, a brat like him knew nada about the Sinclair family - he only knew Serilda, and that was due to all the interests in her as a Wizard Saint, a previous Sabertooth Wizard and a smoking-hot babe!
The lady at the counter did refer to him by his full name, which he could only sparkle at with a quick ‘yup’ cutting in between her speech. He adjusted his headband holding the illustrious Sabertooth Guild Crest, feeling extra proud about being a wizard from that guild as clearly, Sabertooth was among the big guns out there in the magic world.
Yeah, a social visit. There wasn’t much else to it… as a matter of fact, Imai didn’t even think this through enough to come up with a topic that he wanted to talk with Seri about. Maybe just a quick ‘hi, how are you?’ and stuff, but… nah, fuck that. Someone like the Field Marshal of the Rune Knights were clearly at the top of the world right now, so why would her day be any worse? Maybe it was a taxing duty, but hoyl shit, she packed a lot of clout! If Imai was the Marshal, then he would have so much fun! Yeah, he could already imagine it; him wearing a fine, sharp uniform and ordering people around and all that leader-like stuff. As a leader, Imai was - in all honesty - a goddamn lost cause. It was good that he was just the Ace of Sabertooth and nothing more… wait, oh shit, oh fu-
After the sweet lady at the counter hung up, she asked Imai to follow that way… then this way… then up here… then this way again… then turn here… and then this way… he walked quite far. The headquarters of the Rune Knights here in Era was expectedly huge, and thus was… well, again, expected by him as the lady back at the counter had to talk through a lacrima mic. Luckily, he had good memory and found the door that would lead into the Field Marshal’s office.
Now, this was an important moment. She had never met him, but he had to, like, give a good impression and all. Otherwise, he would do his guild poor. He quickly ran his hands over his hair, adjusting some loose bangs and spikes over his headband. Sei was still sleeping on his back, but she… I mean, he… it had only the shortest layer of hair on its head while its body was silky and smooth. Sei likely had no issues with that hair.
And with that out of the way, Imai breathed in and opened the door ever so slightly. It was moved just one foot, and after a couple of seconds of silence, Imai’s head peeked out. Imai had to tilt his head to the side quite a lot, in which he decided to just hang on the side of the door with his hands and gaze into the office sideways. Sei decided that this was a good time to wake up, in which the pink alien companion peeked out from the slightly opened door along with Imai in a similar fashion.
The office was large, roomy, spacy and quite modest-looking. It was definitely larger than his bedroom, and it still held more furniture than his bedroom, but yet it felt emptier than his bedroom back in Shirotsume. There was no talking about his bedroom in Yggdrasil - that place was yet another lost cause just as much as he was, really.
There were large shelves filled with thick books definitely containing other subjects than the, uh, *cough* books that Imai held in possession under his bed in a cardboard box. There was also a bar to one side looking fresh and fancy, filled up with various drinks that Imai had never touched before in his life. Straight forward, he spotted the authoritative desk as well as the person behind it, which did signal the time for him to properly enter the room in all his honor.
“Nice place, girl…!”
Letting go of the door, Imai opened it further and walked in with a big smile on his face, dressed in his blue, sleeveless shirt revealing quite a lot of his orange t-shirt and poked with a white, long scars. His pants were darker but also a bluish nuance, and he carried his devices, iLac and various scrap tools on his two belts having small pockets strapped on them. Boots were black with red, thick edges and end, and he also wore a pair of fancy gloves with what looked like cut-off orbs sewn onto the backhands. The plaster on his nose had been changed before he escaped the bathroom (he once got such a strong nosebleed that it poked a hole through his nostril), and at the top of the star wizard was his headband proudly showing off his guild’s logo strapped around his forehead. Boyah!
There was a dragon behind Seri, though. Pink and gold, but Imai didn’t recognize it as any special dragon. What he did recognize was Seri herself; sat on a desk, she quickly rose up and appeared to wear the coolest uniform that Imai had ever laid his eyes on. It had a white, buttoned shirt as a base, and with the blue, short cape decorated in stripes of gold, it spoke of royalty to him. And if he squinted his eyes just a little, then he could also make out the curves on her waist, chest and lower legs. However, before he attempted to do that, he strolled towards the desk and grabbed her hand with both of his, shaking it rather hastily. Sei simply floated next to him and observed.
“I-It’s so good to see you, Seri! Sorry for not having talked to you or even checked you out before, b-but it kind of pissed me off that we haven’t met, s-so I thought that maybe, j-just maybe, I could, y’know, pass by and say hello and all, y’know, to check how you’re doing and, w-woah, you look great, amazing, can’t take my eyes off of you, just like in the magazines, I-“ He took a moment to breathe and looked over to Victoria, waving his right hand that let go of Seri’s up high and widely to her like a happy child. “Hey there! You must be her colleague! Doing a great job, a’right!”
Was Sabertooth alright? Yes. Was there anything he needed help with? Nope. “Nah, Sabertooth are doing totes’ splendid, don’t worry ‘bout us! Hey, I’m not interrupting you in any work at the moment, am I? N-not that I want to or anything, b-but if you want help with, say, a case or two, then I’m free all day today-“ His eyes, in the middle of blabbering, spotted the black wolf with star-like dots on its wild fur next to Seri’s desk. It was such a good boy. Such a good boy! And that was fact!
“I-Is that your wolfy?” Imai asked, suddenly disappearing and reappearing next to the wolf as he kneeled down and gazed at it with a hand ready to pet it, “Hey there, boy! Are you a good boy? Are you? Are you? Aren’t you such a good boy? Yes, you aaaare! See, I’m friendly and all, no worries, boy…!”
WC: 1330
TWC: 611 + 1330 = 1941