Post by Vapovile on Jan 29, 2022 18:09:06 GMT
Located in a standard-looking office building in the bustling city of Seattle, Washington, the HWIC headquarters stood tall among the other skyscrapers. Inside, two red-headed women were riding an elevator up to the middle floors of the building. The shorter of the two shifted slightly, glancing up at the thin woman to her right.
“Remember, professional please! I know it’s a party, but I still work here.” Ashlea instructed. Malcolm couldn’t attend this work party, and Alexis bugged her enough that Ashlea agreed to let her be the +1.
“Come on, when am I not professional?” Alexis teased. She wore a simple red dress with a black leather jacket over it, a pair of black boots on her feet that had what appeared to be tiny spikes along the sides.
Ashlea squinted. “When you pulled Brick into your lap at dinner one time so he could ‘join us at the dinner table’?” Ashlea responded. She wore a slightly more professional outfit consisting of a pink blouse with ruffles along the seam, a gray cardigan over it, and a black skirt that had a few silver buttons along the band that twinkled in the light.
“He’s an important member of the family, he needed to be included.” Alexis said with a completely straight face. “Just relax, I’m not going to embarrass you at work. You’re doing great here.”
This made Ashlea pause, her expression softening. “W-well…thanks. Just be careful what you tell these people. Their job is to gather information about people, you know?” Ashlea warned. The elevator soon came to a halt and opened the doors to reveal a large room dotted with various tables and chairs, other members of the Intelligence branch talking in their own groups. Large rectangular windows gave a wonderful view of the city around them in 360 degrees. A radio played on the loudspeaker, no doubt controlled from a room further in.
Ashlea stepped out and greeted a few people who waved to her. “Heeeey, nice to see you all!” She said enthusiastically.
Alexis had nobody so immediately obvious to greet, so she looked for whoever was most interesting. However, after a moment she noticed some familiar faces. “Hey! Hammond, Terry!”
They seemed surprised to see her, but both greeted her and she was involved in a conversation. Step one of parties!
“Hey, it’s been a while. Congratulations on getting into the HWBC. Not many people can claim to be in their top 50.” Hammond said, offering a hand to shake.
“He watches all of your matches.” Terry said, deadpan.
“Don’t make me sound like some sort of fanboy. I watch lots of HWBC.” Hammond smiled, as defensive as his words were.
“Hey, I like having fans. Especially reliable ones like you.” Alexis thought of something to ask and bit her tongue. She wanted to ask how Adam was doing, but she shouldn’t even be thinking about him. “I have to know, what’s it like dating somebody you work with? I meet cute guys in the HWBC, but it feels weird, you know?” She asked instead.
“Dating? We’re married now.” Hammond showed off a ring.
“Well here we don’t beat up our coworkers. If you submit the paperwork to HR it’s fine. We keep it purely professional in the workplace, of course.” Terry actually answered the question.
“Heh, guess that really does change things. Tell me, is it more exciting over in Enforcement?” She asked Hammond.
“Sure, but there’s also a lot more meatheads. Some of them really only think about fighting.” He shrugged.
“Hey, I can get behind a good meathead. A nice himbo.” Alexis chuckled. “Who is the best looking guy around here anyway?”
“Hammond.” Said Terry.
“Myself.” Said Hammond at the same moment. Terry glared at him and Alexis giggled. She backed off as Hammond chased after a rapidly leaving Terry, profusely apologizing. Well now she was alone again. Dang.
—
Located further into the room, there lay a small group of people seated in a circle, with one man standing on top of his chair as he dramatically drew lines upon the white board in his hands.
“Uuuuh…airplane!” A man shouted out.
“Eagle!” Another called.
Grinning, the man drew whisps coming from the humanoid shape.
“Spirit!” A woman yelled. The man pointed the marker at her.
“10 points for Avery! For she is the first one to witness this spiritual monstrosity for what it truly was!” He called out dramatically. The man wore a black undershirt over a strangely flashy dark red suit with flared cuffs that obscured his hands most of the time when lowered. There was a row of groans as points were added to Avery’s column. Alexis walked up from behind, drawn in by the excitement around this corner. Now this was better. Screw talking, parties were for party games!
“Hey, got room for one more?” Alexis asked, raising a hand for visibility.
The man standing on the chair looked up, eyes scanning Alexis for a moment before tossing his hair.
“But of course we do! I don’t believe we have met before. What may I call you, miss spiky boots?” He asked, everyone turning to look at the new girl.
Oh wow, this guy was a lot. The hair toss made her giggle. There weren’t too many larger-than-life personas here, but she was used to them from the ring. “Alexis, or Miss Primrose if you’re feeling polite.” She tossed her own hair as she grabbed a chair, sitting backwards to rest her arms on the backrest.
“Primrose…” He instantly knew that surname. “Judging by your age and resemblance…I would wager you’re Ashlea’s sister.” He guessed. “Well well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Alexis! Though if you have just got here, may I offer you some party food or social beverages?” Seto asked, motioning to the table behind him filled with an array of food, soda, tea, and alcohol.
“Guilty as charged. Hand me some beer. This is a party, isn’t it?” Alexis smirked.
The man saw the smirk, and met it with his own. “Very well, it will be but a moment!” Bending his knees, the strange man backflipped over the backrest of the chair he was standing on, landed on his feet, grabbed two beers and a small plate of brownies from the table, then simply walked back over and sat down in his own chair in the same style as Alexis, holding out one of the beers.
“Here you are! Let me introduce myself now.” Looking down, his hair fell in front of his face, soon brushed aside so his right eye was showing.
“You speak to the head of this entire department, known far and wide as Seto Miyata! Hahaha!” He laughed for a second, then snapped back to baseline and looked at Alexis with amusement. She was receptive to all this, right?
Oh, this was flirting. It was flirting, right? It had to be. Flirting was easy, she could do that. It hadn’t been that long. Wildly fun flirting too. She had to respond in turn. “Only the head of a department? I’m afraid I’m not impressed. I’m the queen of fire and darkness! Muahahahaha!” She cackled in response.
A smile spread across Seto’s face. She was a total dork like he was! Leaning back in his chair slightly, Seto clapped his hands. “A queen of fire and darkness? My my, that leather jacket and boots suit you more than I thought! But tell me, oh queen of the crater, how is your skill at deciphering the thoughts of your fellow humans?” He asked, motioning to the white board and the slightly smaller group of people around him, some of them were clearly weirded-out by this display.
“Hopefully on par with the rest of my many talents.” Alexis took a swig of her beer. “Test me, won’t you?”
With a flick of his wrist, Seto began to draw. He started with a circle, with two spiky ears and a simple face.
“Person!” Avery yelled, Seto shaking his head. “Nope!” he responded, continuing to draw.
He then drew a body, and four legs on the beast, ending with a snout.
“Dog!” Alexis called out. Seto grinned, and pointed at Alexis. “You’re close!” He yelled. With a few more flicks and several guesses ringing out among the group, he added a strange snake-like tail and a set of horns upon the dog’s head. His grin grew wider as he looked over at Alexis, hiding his mouth with the board.
“Hey, that’s… that’s my summon! How did you know about her?” Alexis was too surprised to keep up the flamboyant act. Seto held out his arm and snapped his fingers.
“Oh miss Primrose, you do realize this is an organization that specializes in gathering intelligence, correct? Of course we looked into your sister’s family before hiring her, and I must say, your profile doesn’t seem to lie when it talks about that match record you had at Gateway.” He let out a few evil chuckles, and looked at Alexis. Did he go too far, playing his hand that much? Oh god, was he about to scare her away?!
“...heh, that’s just the official ones. I did even better in the spars.” Alexis grinned when she realized what was up. “You want to meet her? She’s friendly, I promise.”
By this point, the group playing Pictionary had seen the way the tide was turning, and had slowly begun to excuse themselves. Seto was sad to see them go…but he was interested in this new arrival.
“Hmmm…well as long as she doesn’t attack me, I suppose that’s acceptable. Wouldn’t want to suplex a dog today.” Seto joked, getting ready to see what this beast was actually like. Truth be told; it was mildly terrifying to see a beast like this from a woman who is clearly a trained fighter.
“She’s already behind you.” Alexis smiled with closed eyes. Whiplash had risen from her shadow, extending past Seto. She nudged him with her serpentine head, demanding pets and a bite of his food.
A strangely feminine yelp escaped Seto’s mouth when he was suddenly nudged, but quickly regained his composure and pet the strange creature, but keeping the brownies out of her reach.
“Huh, so it was as described. She does exhibit canine behavior. Do all you Gateway graduates treat these creatures like pets?” He asked, continuing to stroke her head.
“Not everybody. And even I can’t really treat my other summon like this; he’s just too destructive. Lights everything on fire. He doesn’t really like the attention either.” Alexis scratched Whiplash’s chin, making the creature roll her head back and loll her forked tongue out. She held back a chuckle at the yelp. That was a good noise… She blushed a little at that line of thought. Hey, no harm in it. Maybe things would go that way.
Seto nodded, taking special attention to the creature’s forked tongue. He reeled back slightly when he noticed the blush. What was she laughing at?! It was the yelp, wasn’t it?! Oh damn, oh damn!
Chuckling for a second, Seto got back into character. “Based on its profile, I don’t blame it. Like a giant phoenix of the apocalypse, that bird. What was its name… Devilasaur?” He guessed, clearly making a wrong guess to try and get a laugh.
“Birdzilla, don’t pretend you don’t know.” Alexis pouted, an exaggerated expression. “If I get a third though, I’ll keep that name in mind.” She winked.
The wink made Seto’s heart race. That was definitely flirting! Millions of thoughts raced through the Intelligence captain’s head…but he let out a few more dramatic laughs.
“But that is the fun of conversation, queen of the crater. Leading people down paths and seeing where they walk. I’m glad you like the name though!” He said dramatically.
Just outside the room, Ashlea was walking around the floor trying to see where Alexis had gone. “No way she’d just ditch me…” Ashlea huffed, spotting Alexis sitting in a chair…and then spotting her boss. Ashlea ducked around the corner and quietly leaned out to see what was going on.
“Why are those two talking?!” Ashlea whispered to herself. Were they actually becoming friends?! The thought of having those two hanging out together horrified Ashlea.
From the room though, Seto’s eyes caught the image of Ashlea whipping around the corner, and briefly caught her eye while she stared at them. He then clasped his hands together.
“Oh dear, I think we may have an objector to this budding friendship. Shall we invite her to one last round of Pictionary?” Seto asked, using the whiteboard to mask his smirk from Ashlea but visible to Alexis.
“Just friendship? And here I was about to ask if you wanted to meet me for dinner tomorrow. Draw away, nerd.” Alexis lightly tapped Seto’s shin with her boot. “Fetch Ashlea!” She directed Whiplash. The creature happily dove into her shadow and emerged in Ashlea’s, emitting a panting whine as she nudged her with her horns.
“Wait, say that ag-” Seto’s blushed stammer was interrupted by Ashlea’s own yelp of surprise at being nudged by Whiplash, jumping out from behind the corner and facing the two in the room. She wanted to turn around and run away right here. Luckily, Seto sensed this and waved.
“Ashlea, good to see you! Hey, want to play one more game of Pictionary with us before I put the game away? You’re great at this game!” He called over. This made Ashlea relax slightly. Perhaps if she could sabotage this, they wouldn’t think about becoming friends…or worse! She casually walked up and politely sat in a seat, crossing her legs.
“Very well, I think one game will be fine. Who’s next?” She asked, Seto offered the whiteboard and marker to her. “I just went, so you can go next! End with Alexis drawing. Sound good to you both?” Seto asked, toning down the fabulous persona slightly to keep Ashlea comfortable.
“Sounds excellent to me. Newcomers should always go first!” Alexis enjoyed putting the pressure on Ashlea. She was lurking around, so clearly she should be watched!
Taking the board and pen, Ashlea glances at the two before her…and began to draw. Here was the plan; draw something that would be vague enough that the two would get into an argument. They would then leave in a huff, leaving her free once again! She started by drawing at the bottom left, making various bumps that appeared to be a human face, then ending with a smooth curved line at the top. She then repeated that on the other side, and held it out.
“Here it is!” Ashlea presented. Seto stared at it, looking at Alexis for comment.
“A vase!” She said right away. Seto closed his eyes and shook his head. “A vase? Hardly. See, it’s two people about to kiss on either side.” Seto waved his hands at the picture. “Honestly, I didn’t think one could be so blind.” He said, shaking his head more.
Alexis frowned for a second before she got it. “I didn’t think they hired fools at the intelligence division. Seems especially ironic that one would be in charge. Have you never seen a vase before?” She raised her nose at Seto to sneer down at him.
Seto looked at Alexis with amusement, pulling his right leg up over his left. “Of course I’ve seen a vase before, one’s right there.” Seto pointed to a more cylindrical vase near the window, sitting on a shelf. “Honestly, with how bright Ashlea turned out to be, I can’t believe her sister’s this dumb.” Seto said, tossing his head and letting his hair flow. Ashlea was beaming. Her plan worked better than she could have ever hoped! However…her heart stopped when she heard the sound of a snicker.
Seto burst out laughing, giving a loud evil laugh he had clearly practiced beforehand. Alexis’ laugh, following shortly, wasn’t practiced at all, descending quickly into snorts.
“Ahahasnortahaha! Seriously Ashlea, what kind of plan was that?” Alexis reached out and ruffled her little sister’s hair. “You’re such a dork, you know that?”
Ashlea had completely deflated. Not only were they not actually arguing, now they were making fun of her. Ashlea let out a sigh and handed the board and marker to Alexis. “Whatever, your turn I guess.” She said in a defeated tone.
“Aw, come on sis. I meant that in a good way. Come on.” Alexis looked lost. She wasn’t quite sure what she had done wrong, although she clearly had, and she definitely wasn’t sure how to fix it.
Before Ashlea could say anything, Seto perked up. “In all seriousness, it was a fun trick. No matter which we said, you could have said it was wrong if you wanted. Clever mind games, Mrs. Primrose, high marks like always.” Seto gave a friendly smile. Ashlea relaxed slightly at those words. He was the master of dumb games…and he thought that was clever? This gave Ashlea some sense of pride back.
“Yes well, I have to play mind games in any game with YOU in it.” She narrowed her eyes at Seto, who put his hands up passively. “Guilty as charged, I might enjoy making games a little more exciting. Remember that Jenga game two weeks ago?” He asked.
Ashlea groaned. “Oh my gosh, you put in random bricks that weighed next to nothing! So they flew out in one tap! I never had so much anxiety just tapping a wooden brick before!” Ashlea complained. Seto laughed, giving a sidelong grin toward Alexis. Ashlea had perked right back up again.
“Thanks” Alexis silently mouthed to Seto. That was… legitimately really cool. For somebody who could never help her siblings as much as she wanted, it was pretty much magical to see that. “Uh, anyway! My turn, yes?” Alexis dropped the pen and whiteboard and stood up. A tiny ball of flames jumped from her fingers and rested behind her hands so that she could cast a shadow on the wall. She fluttered her hands, making the image of a bird, which quickly began to breathe fire.
Seto whistled in awe. “Whooooooooa, a fire-breathing bird! Phoenix? Birdzilla?!” Seto asked excitedly. Ashlea leaned back in her chair. She didn’t care anymore, might as well watch the spectacle.
“What’s a Birdzilla? I thought he was named Devilasaur?” Alexis smirked. “Sorry mister, you’re wrong.”
This made Seto laugh, more normally this time. “I expect Birdzilla to be renamed Devilasaur before the end of the day, Primrose. That’s a legally binding statement you just made, you dork.” He teased.
“You can’t enforce that, it isn’t your job.” Alexis stuck her tongue out. “I think that means that I win! For my prize… I demand your number!” She thrust a finger right at his chest.
Seto glanced for a second at the finger, then spun his body, pulling Alexis’s waist forward so she’s lean back, and leaned in with his face slightly.
“Why would I give my number in this office? Didn’t you say just a few minutes ago you wanted to go to dinner? I didn’t forget that, you know.” He reached out with his other hand and tapped the tip of her nose. Strangely…his hand was mildly shaking. And his face he tried to make serious was clearly mildly blushing.
Alexis blushed. She was in control of the situation a moment ago, what just happened!? “Y-yeah, I wanted your number too!” She realized only after speaking that the hand holding her was vibrating slightly. Oh, you dork. “And in fact, first.” She grabbed the hand that tapped her nose. “You’re also going to dance with me. This is a party, isn’t it?”
This perked Seto up. “My, being kidnapped by the queen of infernity! Very well! I shall take this dance with you, and dazzle the world with our technique!” Seto said, his voice shaking slightly at the end. A goofy smile plastered his face as they all filed out of the room and onto the open space where others were dancing. The sound of maniacal laughter echoed for miles across, much to the chagrin of the other fire mage present.
“Remember, professional please! I know it’s a party, but I still work here.” Ashlea instructed. Malcolm couldn’t attend this work party, and Alexis bugged her enough that Ashlea agreed to let her be the +1.
“Come on, when am I not professional?” Alexis teased. She wore a simple red dress with a black leather jacket over it, a pair of black boots on her feet that had what appeared to be tiny spikes along the sides.
Ashlea squinted. “When you pulled Brick into your lap at dinner one time so he could ‘join us at the dinner table’?” Ashlea responded. She wore a slightly more professional outfit consisting of a pink blouse with ruffles along the seam, a gray cardigan over it, and a black skirt that had a few silver buttons along the band that twinkled in the light.
“He’s an important member of the family, he needed to be included.” Alexis said with a completely straight face. “Just relax, I’m not going to embarrass you at work. You’re doing great here.”
This made Ashlea pause, her expression softening. “W-well…thanks. Just be careful what you tell these people. Their job is to gather information about people, you know?” Ashlea warned. The elevator soon came to a halt and opened the doors to reveal a large room dotted with various tables and chairs, other members of the Intelligence branch talking in their own groups. Large rectangular windows gave a wonderful view of the city around them in 360 degrees. A radio played on the loudspeaker, no doubt controlled from a room further in.
Ashlea stepped out and greeted a few people who waved to her. “Heeeey, nice to see you all!” She said enthusiastically.
Alexis had nobody so immediately obvious to greet, so she looked for whoever was most interesting. However, after a moment she noticed some familiar faces. “Hey! Hammond, Terry!”
They seemed surprised to see her, but both greeted her and she was involved in a conversation. Step one of parties!
“Hey, it’s been a while. Congratulations on getting into the HWBC. Not many people can claim to be in their top 50.” Hammond said, offering a hand to shake.
“He watches all of your matches.” Terry said, deadpan.
“Don’t make me sound like some sort of fanboy. I watch lots of HWBC.” Hammond smiled, as defensive as his words were.
“Hey, I like having fans. Especially reliable ones like you.” Alexis thought of something to ask and bit her tongue. She wanted to ask how Adam was doing, but she shouldn’t even be thinking about him. “I have to know, what’s it like dating somebody you work with? I meet cute guys in the HWBC, but it feels weird, you know?” She asked instead.
“Dating? We’re married now.” Hammond showed off a ring.
“Well here we don’t beat up our coworkers. If you submit the paperwork to HR it’s fine. We keep it purely professional in the workplace, of course.” Terry actually answered the question.
“Heh, guess that really does change things. Tell me, is it more exciting over in Enforcement?” She asked Hammond.
“Sure, but there’s also a lot more meatheads. Some of them really only think about fighting.” He shrugged.
“Hey, I can get behind a good meathead. A nice himbo.” Alexis chuckled. “Who is the best looking guy around here anyway?”
“Hammond.” Said Terry.
“Myself.” Said Hammond at the same moment. Terry glared at him and Alexis giggled. She backed off as Hammond chased after a rapidly leaving Terry, profusely apologizing. Well now she was alone again. Dang.
—
Located further into the room, there lay a small group of people seated in a circle, with one man standing on top of his chair as he dramatically drew lines upon the white board in his hands.
“Uuuuh…airplane!” A man shouted out.
“Eagle!” Another called.
Grinning, the man drew whisps coming from the humanoid shape.
“Spirit!” A woman yelled. The man pointed the marker at her.
“10 points for Avery! For she is the first one to witness this spiritual monstrosity for what it truly was!” He called out dramatically. The man wore a black undershirt over a strangely flashy dark red suit with flared cuffs that obscured his hands most of the time when lowered. There was a row of groans as points were added to Avery’s column. Alexis walked up from behind, drawn in by the excitement around this corner. Now this was better. Screw talking, parties were for party games!
“Hey, got room for one more?” Alexis asked, raising a hand for visibility.
The man standing on the chair looked up, eyes scanning Alexis for a moment before tossing his hair.
“But of course we do! I don’t believe we have met before. What may I call you, miss spiky boots?” He asked, everyone turning to look at the new girl.
Oh wow, this guy was a lot. The hair toss made her giggle. There weren’t too many larger-than-life personas here, but she was used to them from the ring. “Alexis, or Miss Primrose if you’re feeling polite.” She tossed her own hair as she grabbed a chair, sitting backwards to rest her arms on the backrest.
“Primrose…” He instantly knew that surname. “Judging by your age and resemblance…I would wager you’re Ashlea’s sister.” He guessed. “Well well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Alexis! Though if you have just got here, may I offer you some party food or social beverages?” Seto asked, motioning to the table behind him filled with an array of food, soda, tea, and alcohol.
“Guilty as charged. Hand me some beer. This is a party, isn’t it?” Alexis smirked.
The man saw the smirk, and met it with his own. “Very well, it will be but a moment!” Bending his knees, the strange man backflipped over the backrest of the chair he was standing on, landed on his feet, grabbed two beers and a small plate of brownies from the table, then simply walked back over and sat down in his own chair in the same style as Alexis, holding out one of the beers.
“Here you are! Let me introduce myself now.” Looking down, his hair fell in front of his face, soon brushed aside so his right eye was showing.
“You speak to the head of this entire department, known far and wide as Seto Miyata! Hahaha!” He laughed for a second, then snapped back to baseline and looked at Alexis with amusement. She was receptive to all this, right?
Oh, this was flirting. It was flirting, right? It had to be. Flirting was easy, she could do that. It hadn’t been that long. Wildly fun flirting too. She had to respond in turn. “Only the head of a department? I’m afraid I’m not impressed. I’m the queen of fire and darkness! Muahahahaha!” She cackled in response.
A smile spread across Seto’s face. She was a total dork like he was! Leaning back in his chair slightly, Seto clapped his hands. “A queen of fire and darkness? My my, that leather jacket and boots suit you more than I thought! But tell me, oh queen of the crater, how is your skill at deciphering the thoughts of your fellow humans?” He asked, motioning to the white board and the slightly smaller group of people around him, some of them were clearly weirded-out by this display.
“Hopefully on par with the rest of my many talents.” Alexis took a swig of her beer. “Test me, won’t you?”
With a flick of his wrist, Seto began to draw. He started with a circle, with two spiky ears and a simple face.
“Person!” Avery yelled, Seto shaking his head. “Nope!” he responded, continuing to draw.
He then drew a body, and four legs on the beast, ending with a snout.
“Dog!” Alexis called out. Seto grinned, and pointed at Alexis. “You’re close!” He yelled. With a few more flicks and several guesses ringing out among the group, he added a strange snake-like tail and a set of horns upon the dog’s head. His grin grew wider as he looked over at Alexis, hiding his mouth with the board.
“Hey, that’s… that’s my summon! How did you know about her?” Alexis was too surprised to keep up the flamboyant act. Seto held out his arm and snapped his fingers.
“Oh miss Primrose, you do realize this is an organization that specializes in gathering intelligence, correct? Of course we looked into your sister’s family before hiring her, and I must say, your profile doesn’t seem to lie when it talks about that match record you had at Gateway.” He let out a few evil chuckles, and looked at Alexis. Did he go too far, playing his hand that much? Oh god, was he about to scare her away?!
“...heh, that’s just the official ones. I did even better in the spars.” Alexis grinned when she realized what was up. “You want to meet her? She’s friendly, I promise.”
By this point, the group playing Pictionary had seen the way the tide was turning, and had slowly begun to excuse themselves. Seto was sad to see them go…but he was interested in this new arrival.
“Hmmm…well as long as she doesn’t attack me, I suppose that’s acceptable. Wouldn’t want to suplex a dog today.” Seto joked, getting ready to see what this beast was actually like. Truth be told; it was mildly terrifying to see a beast like this from a woman who is clearly a trained fighter.
“She’s already behind you.” Alexis smiled with closed eyes. Whiplash had risen from her shadow, extending past Seto. She nudged him with her serpentine head, demanding pets and a bite of his food.
A strangely feminine yelp escaped Seto’s mouth when he was suddenly nudged, but quickly regained his composure and pet the strange creature, but keeping the brownies out of her reach.
“Huh, so it was as described. She does exhibit canine behavior. Do all you Gateway graduates treat these creatures like pets?” He asked, continuing to stroke her head.
“Not everybody. And even I can’t really treat my other summon like this; he’s just too destructive. Lights everything on fire. He doesn’t really like the attention either.” Alexis scratched Whiplash’s chin, making the creature roll her head back and loll her forked tongue out. She held back a chuckle at the yelp. That was a good noise… She blushed a little at that line of thought. Hey, no harm in it. Maybe things would go that way.
Seto nodded, taking special attention to the creature’s forked tongue. He reeled back slightly when he noticed the blush. What was she laughing at?! It was the yelp, wasn’t it?! Oh damn, oh damn!
Chuckling for a second, Seto got back into character. “Based on its profile, I don’t blame it. Like a giant phoenix of the apocalypse, that bird. What was its name… Devilasaur?” He guessed, clearly making a wrong guess to try and get a laugh.
“Birdzilla, don’t pretend you don’t know.” Alexis pouted, an exaggerated expression. “If I get a third though, I’ll keep that name in mind.” She winked.
The wink made Seto’s heart race. That was definitely flirting! Millions of thoughts raced through the Intelligence captain’s head…but he let out a few more dramatic laughs.
“But that is the fun of conversation, queen of the crater. Leading people down paths and seeing where they walk. I’m glad you like the name though!” He said dramatically.
Just outside the room, Ashlea was walking around the floor trying to see where Alexis had gone. “No way she’d just ditch me…” Ashlea huffed, spotting Alexis sitting in a chair…and then spotting her boss. Ashlea ducked around the corner and quietly leaned out to see what was going on.
“Why are those two talking?!” Ashlea whispered to herself. Were they actually becoming friends?! The thought of having those two hanging out together horrified Ashlea.
From the room though, Seto’s eyes caught the image of Ashlea whipping around the corner, and briefly caught her eye while she stared at them. He then clasped his hands together.
“Oh dear, I think we may have an objector to this budding friendship. Shall we invite her to one last round of Pictionary?” Seto asked, using the whiteboard to mask his smirk from Ashlea but visible to Alexis.
“Just friendship? And here I was about to ask if you wanted to meet me for dinner tomorrow. Draw away, nerd.” Alexis lightly tapped Seto’s shin with her boot. “Fetch Ashlea!” She directed Whiplash. The creature happily dove into her shadow and emerged in Ashlea’s, emitting a panting whine as she nudged her with her horns.
“Wait, say that ag-” Seto’s blushed stammer was interrupted by Ashlea’s own yelp of surprise at being nudged by Whiplash, jumping out from behind the corner and facing the two in the room. She wanted to turn around and run away right here. Luckily, Seto sensed this and waved.
“Ashlea, good to see you! Hey, want to play one more game of Pictionary with us before I put the game away? You’re great at this game!” He called over. This made Ashlea relax slightly. Perhaps if she could sabotage this, they wouldn’t think about becoming friends…or worse! She casually walked up and politely sat in a seat, crossing her legs.
“Very well, I think one game will be fine. Who’s next?” She asked, Seto offered the whiteboard and marker to her. “I just went, so you can go next! End with Alexis drawing. Sound good to you both?” Seto asked, toning down the fabulous persona slightly to keep Ashlea comfortable.
“Sounds excellent to me. Newcomers should always go first!” Alexis enjoyed putting the pressure on Ashlea. She was lurking around, so clearly she should be watched!
Taking the board and pen, Ashlea glances at the two before her…and began to draw. Here was the plan; draw something that would be vague enough that the two would get into an argument. They would then leave in a huff, leaving her free once again! She started by drawing at the bottom left, making various bumps that appeared to be a human face, then ending with a smooth curved line at the top. She then repeated that on the other side, and held it out.
“Here it is!” Ashlea presented. Seto stared at it, looking at Alexis for comment.
“A vase!” She said right away. Seto closed his eyes and shook his head. “A vase? Hardly. See, it’s two people about to kiss on either side.” Seto waved his hands at the picture. “Honestly, I didn’t think one could be so blind.” He said, shaking his head more.
Alexis frowned for a second before she got it. “I didn’t think they hired fools at the intelligence division. Seems especially ironic that one would be in charge. Have you never seen a vase before?” She raised her nose at Seto to sneer down at him.
Seto looked at Alexis with amusement, pulling his right leg up over his left. “Of course I’ve seen a vase before, one’s right there.” Seto pointed to a more cylindrical vase near the window, sitting on a shelf. “Honestly, with how bright Ashlea turned out to be, I can’t believe her sister’s this dumb.” Seto said, tossing his head and letting his hair flow. Ashlea was beaming. Her plan worked better than she could have ever hoped! However…her heart stopped when she heard the sound of a snicker.
Seto burst out laughing, giving a loud evil laugh he had clearly practiced beforehand. Alexis’ laugh, following shortly, wasn’t practiced at all, descending quickly into snorts.
“Ahahasnortahaha! Seriously Ashlea, what kind of plan was that?” Alexis reached out and ruffled her little sister’s hair. “You’re such a dork, you know that?”
Ashlea had completely deflated. Not only were they not actually arguing, now they were making fun of her. Ashlea let out a sigh and handed the board and marker to Alexis. “Whatever, your turn I guess.” She said in a defeated tone.
“Aw, come on sis. I meant that in a good way. Come on.” Alexis looked lost. She wasn’t quite sure what she had done wrong, although she clearly had, and she definitely wasn’t sure how to fix it.
Before Ashlea could say anything, Seto perked up. “In all seriousness, it was a fun trick. No matter which we said, you could have said it was wrong if you wanted. Clever mind games, Mrs. Primrose, high marks like always.” Seto gave a friendly smile. Ashlea relaxed slightly at those words. He was the master of dumb games…and he thought that was clever? This gave Ashlea some sense of pride back.
“Yes well, I have to play mind games in any game with YOU in it.” She narrowed her eyes at Seto, who put his hands up passively. “Guilty as charged, I might enjoy making games a little more exciting. Remember that Jenga game two weeks ago?” He asked.
Ashlea groaned. “Oh my gosh, you put in random bricks that weighed next to nothing! So they flew out in one tap! I never had so much anxiety just tapping a wooden brick before!” Ashlea complained. Seto laughed, giving a sidelong grin toward Alexis. Ashlea had perked right back up again.
“Thanks” Alexis silently mouthed to Seto. That was… legitimately really cool. For somebody who could never help her siblings as much as she wanted, it was pretty much magical to see that. “Uh, anyway! My turn, yes?” Alexis dropped the pen and whiteboard and stood up. A tiny ball of flames jumped from her fingers and rested behind her hands so that she could cast a shadow on the wall. She fluttered her hands, making the image of a bird, which quickly began to breathe fire.
Seto whistled in awe. “Whooooooooa, a fire-breathing bird! Phoenix? Birdzilla?!” Seto asked excitedly. Ashlea leaned back in her chair. She didn’t care anymore, might as well watch the spectacle.
“What’s a Birdzilla? I thought he was named Devilasaur?” Alexis smirked. “Sorry mister, you’re wrong.”
This made Seto laugh, more normally this time. “I expect Birdzilla to be renamed Devilasaur before the end of the day, Primrose. That’s a legally binding statement you just made, you dork.” He teased.
“You can’t enforce that, it isn’t your job.” Alexis stuck her tongue out. “I think that means that I win! For my prize… I demand your number!” She thrust a finger right at his chest.
Seto glanced for a second at the finger, then spun his body, pulling Alexis’s waist forward so she’s lean back, and leaned in with his face slightly.
“Why would I give my number in this office? Didn’t you say just a few minutes ago you wanted to go to dinner? I didn’t forget that, you know.” He reached out with his other hand and tapped the tip of her nose. Strangely…his hand was mildly shaking. And his face he tried to make serious was clearly mildly blushing.
Alexis blushed. She was in control of the situation a moment ago, what just happened!? “Y-yeah, I wanted your number too!” She realized only after speaking that the hand holding her was vibrating slightly. Oh, you dork. “And in fact, first.” She grabbed the hand that tapped her nose. “You’re also going to dance with me. This is a party, isn’t it?”
This perked Seto up. “My, being kidnapped by the queen of infernity! Very well! I shall take this dance with you, and dazzle the world with our technique!” Seto said, his voice shaking slightly at the end. A goofy smile plastered his face as they all filed out of the room and onto the open space where others were dancing. The sound of maniacal laughter echoed for miles across, much to the chagrin of the other fire mage present.