Job Offer

A loud knocking sound brought Mavis from her dreamless sleep. The noise seemed to rattle around in her head in an uncomfortable way. Groaning, she sat up and got off the bed. Rubbing her eyes and walked through the living room to the front door. Without even looking to see who it was, she opened it. Standing in front of her was the man from before. She blinked a few times.

“Oh, uh, You were at the job building earlier…” She scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened. I don-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it! It wasn’t your fault. I’m not here about that.” He paused before shrugging a shoulder. “Okay maybe a little about what happened earlier? Anyway! I was just wondering if you wanted to join my guild? Well not MY guild but...my boss is offering you a position.” He told her.

“Wait what? Really??” She wasn’t expecting this at all. A huge smile spread across her face before nodding her head. “Of course! I would love to!” Then she paused, her past experience coming back to her. “Before I accept, I want to know more about it.”

“Of course! I wouldn’t want to get you to join blindly. But if you do, your going to need to get some different clothes.” He gestured to her basic outfit.

“Oh...right. I don’t have any currency to get new clothes yet. That's why I was getting a job.” She pulled at her wrinkled tunic.

“Don’t worry about money. When you get into the guild, we have a shop we go to for all of our clothing. And you will earn your own money so don’t fret about that either.” He told her as he stepped to the side. “Anyway, come with me and I’ll take you to the guild. One of our entrances isn’t far from here.”

She shouldn’t trust him and yet, she wanted to follow him anywhere he asked. So she nodded her head before pushing some loose strands behind an ear and stepped out of her door before shutting it behind her. “So why did you choose me. I’m nothing special.” She told him as she followed closely behind down the stairs.

“Not special? I don’t believe that for a moment. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have made it to the city. And the way you made our machine malfunction and shut down, was incredible.” He paused and looked back at her and smiled. “And from how tired you look, it did more to you, then you did to it.”

“Yeah...you can say that. I kind of remember everything now. I don’t know if that's good or bad honestly.” She laughed a little, more in nervous concern then anything.

“It depends on how you look at it. But, you’ll see in the future how it turns out.” He gave her shoulder a few pats in comfort as they walked through crowds of people and down a market street where some people were standing outside showing their wears. Some were pretty plain, ranging only in color and not much in style.

“How far away is your, guild anyway?” He asked him as they turned down an alleyway.

“Not to far. We have an entrance just up ahead. Your going to love how we are going to get there. Lets just say its, sensational.” He grinned at her as walked up a few steps and turned to his left, ending with a door.

“Sensational? What do you mean?” She asked, following him blindly.

“You’ll see.” He opened the door which comes into a large room, empty besides a stone circle in the center. It had strange symbols on the edges of it. “And here we are!”

“Here? This is your entrance.” She looked at him with a raised brow.

“Don’t worry! It gets better!” He grinned and was practically jumping up and down like a kid showing a new friend his lopsided playhouse made from cardboard. “Come on, stand in the center with me.” He stepped inside the circle and gestured for her to come.

She sighed and walked over, stepping into the circle. Luckily it was big enough they weren’t cramped together.

He pulled out a sphere from his pocket. It was pearlescent in color and could be held in the palm of ones hand. “Its going to feel really strange so don’t freak out.” He warned her as he held it up. He said nothing as it started to glow bright, before it casted out a pale shimmer blue shield that draped over the circle, encasing them both inside.

A strange feeling washed over her, feeling like tiny bubbles rising from below and enveloping her except there was nothing but the shield. In a flash the shield vanished and the ball stopped glowing. “...Was that it?” She asked. Looking around the room, everything looked the same.

“Yep! Now follow me.” He told her. He turned around and went back to the same door they came through and opened it. Instead of going back out, it went into another interior space. It was marvelous, drapery and carpets dining the floors and walls, couches and loungers scattered around the large space with people relaxing around. A bar sat to the left of them with stools. Across the way was a set of stairs that led up to a balcony area.

“Welcome to our guild!, the Scarlet Guard.”

She stared in awe at the lights coming down from the ceiling. “Its wonderful!” She exclaimed.

“Come on, we can’t dawdle . You got meet the leader before you can officially join. She will tell you all about the guild and what we do.

Mavis followed before recalling something she never asked. “I can’t Believe I forgot to ask but, what is your name? Mine is Mavis.”

“Oh right! I got caught up in the moment! My name is Knox. Its nice to officially meet you Mavis. He smiled as he walked across the space, everyone in the area watching them go. “Her office in on the ground floor which is nice. Oh and just so your know, she looked different then most people in this city.”

“Different how?” she asked as he reached a set of double doors below the balcony.

“You’ll see.” He told her as he knocked on the door.

A rather husky voice spoke up, telling them to come in. They both went through the doors into a large room covered in plants and book shelves, even three weapon racks. A tall woman stood behind a desk, her first two hands holding a large book, while her other two, were propping herself up against her desk. Her was a molten red, curled and reaching the level of her butt. She shut the book and looked at them both. Her black, and her lips were blood red against her pale skin.

“Welcome! You must be the one Know and Rust were interested in recruiting. I heard you fried their equipment in just a few minutes just from your memories alone.” She smiled and walked around the desk. She wore a long black skirt with a slit down the right side and a corset, pushing her breasts up to form near pillows on her chest.

“Yeahh that was me. I didn’t mean to.” She tensed up at the smile, finding it very sinister.

She noticed it and laughed. “Oh hun, don’t be afraid. I may seem intimidating, and believe me I am, I’m not going to kill you. I wouldn’t have any members if I did that.” She stood in front of Mavis to observe her more closely. “You remind me of a bird, fitting considering the meaning of your name.” She brushed black painted nails against her cheek. “Despite only being in the city for a mere two days, you already unlocked a bit of your new self. Impressive. Most take weeks of hard work to even get to the first level.” She stepped away from her and headed back to her desk. “Before I get side tracked, Let me tell you a little about what we do here.” She sat down. “We are like, the police up above. Except we don’t have a court system. We judge you upon what you do and then enforce judgement. Say if you kill someone, we kill you for killing another. Now say, if someone did you wrong and you kill them, we do a little bit of investigating on that dead person before making a judgement.”

Mavis nodded her head in understanding. “So you do have something like cases then?

“Yes. Everyone gets assigned cases, some usually are recon and information gathering and others will get the kill files. So, what do you think? Its up to you whether or not you join.

Mavis chewed on her bottom lip in thought. She did have history of killing, even gathering her own intel. There really wasn’t much else she could do or really anything else she could think of. She looked back up at her before nodding her head. Sure, I’ll join. Sounds like something I could do.”

The woman grinned, revealing fangs. “Great! I’ll mark you down in my book and Knox here will get you some gear. There is a room here if you need to sleep between cases and cant make it back home.”

“Thank you...uh”

“You can call me Madam Scarlet. Welcome to the guild. If you have any questions, you can ask me or knox here anytime.”

“Eyyy! I knew you would be a perfect fit! Come on I’ll show you around and then we can get you some gear and proper clothes.”