Palace of Greed, El Dorado (Library of Ruina)

[] Join the Scarecrow Office. What else is there to say? You've chosen this Office, and you're not backing out of it.


For a long moment, you stare at the door. You once met a Fixer; a silent black mask drenched in blood, culling everything down in his path. Black Silence, he was called, and you always wonder what it takes to be that powerful. To have so much strength that everything in his way simply parted apart. You never figured it out; too few times to consider it, not many chances to practice it. It's barely been two days since you received your Fixer's License; less than a day of actually working as one, barely a step forward – but it's still a step forward, and you think you can see the edge of your answer.

"What kinda question is that," you scoff, smirking. "I'm already knee-deep in the shit, don't I? I don't do backing down. 'Specially when I'm this close at the finishin' line."

"Hah," the seriousness seems to fade from her eyes, replaced by a twinkle. Mao laughs quietly, her lips curving into a smile, throwing an arm around your shoulder. You twitch. "Then welcome to Scarecrow Office, Lily. We'll make it official tomorrow."

You shoot her over-extending arm a look. You roll your shoulders, but it seems stubbornly attached. In the corner of your eyes, you catch Mao's smile widening, crooking into a smirk. You scowl, growling under your breath. You shrug the hand off again. It stays. "Please don't make me regret what I just said."

If anything, that only makes her smile even more crooked. "Oh, Lily-girl," Mao singsongs, pulling your head to under her arm. You grunt at the sudden swerve of vision. "You can always regret what you chose, or said, but there are no backsies."

You try to pull your head out, but her grip is a vise thing. "Ugh," you groan in disgust. "An' here I fucking thought you were nice."

"Ah, so you thought I was nice," you couldn't see her face, on the account that she's put you around her armpit. Mao chuckles, mussing up your hair. "Well, I think you're pretty neat too, Lily."

You growl, glowering, but she ignores it as expected. Grumbling, you sag in defeat. This close to Mao, you could taste the scent of blood, steel, and that bitterness you smelled back in the Office coming from her – but there's something there, as you dig deeper. Something woody, and old, like papers. You can't put your finger around it.

"… Are you sniffing me?"

"What?" you jump, only to fail when her vise-grip barely budges. "Fuck no," you make a gagging noise. "Look," you growl, frustrated. "You pull me this close to you, and sure as shit I'll smell your weird shit."

"Well, I'm not the one who's sniffing like a dog," Mao points out.

"A dog –" you choke. "I ain't a fuckin' dog –"

Your eyes widen as Mao's grip suddenly leaves you. You're falling, and before you could recover, your head falls to the ground. Or not. You blink, glaring at Mao from her lap. She grins wide. You quickly push yourself off her, grumbling, refusing to even consider the fact that her lap is softer than the pillow you have back at home.

Mao hums, chuckling under her breath. "Maybe not a dog," she admits, and you glance to her, eyebrow raised. Groaning, she leans over the table again, back splayed. "Maybe a tiger."

"Tiger sounds good," you nod begrudgingly.

"A tiger cub."

You close your eyes, cursing under your breath. "This is fun to you, don't it," you open your eyes, glaring.

Mao smiles wryly. "Do I need to answer that?" you cross your hands, hunching up. "'Sides, you're not making it easy for me either," Mao points out. "I'm living up to my name, y'see. Dangle me a bait like that, and I can't help but leap over it."

You roll your eyes. "Sure."

Mao barks out a single 'hah', before trailing into silence. And for a long moment, Mao doesn't say, peeling herself off from the table. You take respite in the silence, crossing your arms, glowering at the door. You blink and realize that your eyelids have grown heavier since. Today's been a lot.

"Well, it's my turn for watch now," she tells you, before nodding towards the bedroom. "Don't think anything weird'll come out, so you're free to take a nap. I'll wake you up when the sun goes up."

You turn towards the bedroom, before shaking your head. "Nah," you mutter, falling to your back; before your head hits the floor, you cross your arms together, forming a pillow under it. "I'll take my nap here."

Mao hums. "So what did you smell?"

You shoot her a strange look, but she's not staring at you, and you can only see her back. It's big, you muse. No wonder Sun could hide behind it easy. "Just blood, and steel," you mutter, staring at the dark ceiling, blinking. Once, twice, and you yawn, closing your eyes. "That bitter smell from the office. And papers."

You get the impression that she's nodding along – weird, that, you have an impression when you only met her for less than a day. Exhaling, those thoughts empty themselves, and you find yourself drifting to sleep.

"… Papers, huh. Well, good night."


Just as Mao promised, she wakes you up as the sun comes up, a good four hours after the Night in the Backstreets – the Sweepers, strange monsters in dark air-tight suit with fearsome red goggles – going in, and out, cleaning the streets, only for them to be smeared once again in the coming hours. Rinse, and repeat. Sun greets you in a cheer that you didn't expect she could pull. She's not bouncing off her steps, but it's odd to think that the girl who's shaking like a leaf from yesterday, is the same as today. Even the bags under her eyes look less visible.

"Thanks," she says, once again, as you and Mao stand in front of her apartment's porch. And once again, you're not sure how to take that. For all that Mao said about standing your ground, you still did little else. It was Mao who did the heavy lifting. And that's discounting your own shitty-ness that still makes you feel shitty if you linger on it.

"We're just doing our job, Miss Sun," Mao answers, shaking her head. In her hand, she waves an envelope. "'Sides, you paid us. That's better than thanks."

Sun giggles, waving her hand as the two of you move to leave. "See you again, Miss Mao, Miss Lily."

Soon enough, you're back on the streets – away from Sun's highly-graded neighborhood, and only going down from there. "Again, huh," you eventually mutter.

Mao hums, nodding. "Well, just in case, we're keeping an eye on her."

You scrunch your eyebrows. "Seriously? Why? Not that, y'know –" you make a floppy gesture with your hand. "But I thought once we're done, we're done – whatever comes after is out of our hand."

Mao sniffs, smirking. "You're not wrong – and if Miss Sun contacts the Lumberjacks to deal with Moon, barring further complications, I'll expect that'll be the last of it. But bodyguarding isn't a one-time-done-deal kind of job. Sometimes it is, but for the most part, we look for long term ones. Repeat customers, see? 'Course," Mao continues, nodding. "Miss Sun don't seem the kind to look into trouble, but…"

You could connect the dots from there. "In case trouble comes looking for her, we can offer our protection to her," Mao nods at that. You frown. "Y'don't think she'll do it, do you?"

"Honestly?" Mao turns to you. "I can't really say. She said she'll consider it, but… people are complicated. Especially those who are – or were in love."

"Ugh," you grimace. "So it's back to that again."

Mao hums. "It doesn't hurt either way. If she contacts the Lumberjacks, then that's that. But if she doesn't, she'll come to us," at that, Mao smiles, stretching her arms out. "It'll be a win-win-win for us."

"… That's one too many wins," you point out.

"Last one's for me. Us, maybe," Mao grins, and you grumble under your breath. "Miss Sun's a nice girl, and as a human being, I don't want her to get kidnapped, and treated a fate worse than death. 'Sides, I reckon if we get to work with her again, we'll get more cakes to bring home," at that, she lifts the plastic box of brownies.

You look down onto your own side, with your own box of brownies. You smile, despite yourself. "Guess so."


The walk back to the Scarecrow Office feels faster than the walk from, and soon enough, you're back to the neighborhood with dozens of Fixer Offices occupying it. You're back to the building with the scarecrow head sign hanging off the side, where the windows lining the second story has been painted black to keep any light, or onlookers from looking in. You're back to the glass door who has been given the same treatment as the windows outside, and back inside the surprisingly softly-lit room of brown sofas, and black desks, where that thick bitter smell seems to linger as strongly as yesterday. The Boss sits at the head of the room, at his own desk, seemingly unmoving from last you saw him; the crow perched on the rim of his hat.

"Welcome back," sitting on the same armchair as yesterday, Mori raises his hand into a salute, a tired smile on his face. "… Well, you two looks just fine, and dandy huh."

You raise an eyebrow at that. You spot Kai sitting on the sofa, and shrugging your shoulders, you sit next to her. Her eyes meet yours for a moment – compared to Mori, Kai's tiredness is less pronounced, but it's difficult to miss the tatters on her clothes, or the bandage patch over her right eye. She nods at you, and you nod back.

"You look like shit."

Kai closes her eye, sighing. "Yes."

"Huh," Mao intones, crossing the distance to her own armchair. She eyes Kai with a frown. "Shit luck on the job?"

Mori grunts, wincing as he settles back to his chair. "Shit luck's one way to put it. Burke's not gonna come back in a couple days, so Boss, can I start the debrief."

From underneath the burlap sack, dark eyes blink. "Debrief start."

"Right, yeah, so," Mori sucks in a breath, before exhaling. "Where to start... okay, so we were right in thinkin' that Zhao was just being paranoid, thinkin' that his family's gonna tear him apart or something. We even asked the family, and his neighbors – the family was scared on the account that Zhao's hired us and has been acting weird. The neighbors didn't care and slammed the door on us. What we didn't expect, however, was that something else was at play," saying that, he pulls out a red wax candle from his pocket; one-fourth of it burned.

Mao frowns, leaning forward to stare at it. She turns to Mori. "What am I looking at?"

"Smokeless, odorless, and flameless – it caused one of Zhao's youngest to Distort."

Silence. Your eyes widen, and you don't need to look around that Mao has the same reaction. A bated breath hangs in the air, teetering at the edge. Distortion – y'don't know the details of it, but they're people who've turned into monsters. It has been a few months since the Pianist destroyed a good chunk of District 9 – a music so loud, and powerful you could hear it when it happened; so mesmerizing that if you even think about it, you could hear its beautifully heinous tune. Your fingers would twitch ever so lightly, flexing beyond your control, playing an invisible soundless instrument.

The Aftermath of the Pianist was not any less messy than the incident itself, perhaps more so, since you never stepped a foot outside of your own District. The Loud Orchestra, a Syndicate the same age as the Pianist, formed around that singular urge to play music that the Pianist had left behind; its number growing with each passing day, and 'play'. Distortions, people turned who have been driven into insanity, becoming literal monsters.

"Yeah," Mori whispers, his voice so quiet you could hear a pin drop, yet somehow so loud you think you've grown deaf. "Some bad shit there. Kai there should take most of the credits," he tilts his head to her direction. "She's the one who figured out something was wrong and found the candle. I took care of the Distorted youngest. Zhao's unharmed, but they're taking it badly."

"… Contact Hana, send the candle," the Boss grinds out, and Mori nods. "After that: verdict?"

"Yeah, like I said," Mori groans, leaning back again to his chair. He smiles. "If it ain't for Kai here, I wouldn't have noticed something was wrong. She's rigid, and stiff, maybe a bit too much – but girl's smart."

"Accepted. Welcome to Scarecrow Office, Fixer Kai."

Kai bows her head. "Honored, Chief Daniel."

A snort. "Rigid," the Boss repeats.

"Weeell," Mao groans, breaking the silence. "Great. Now our mission's gonna sound like shit compared to Mori's. Why you gotta be like this, Mori?" Mori snorts, laughing. "Still," she sighs, smiling. "Good to know you're both fine."

Kai doesn't say anything.

"Aye," Mori pops up a thumbs up. "So how did yours go?"

You grimace as Mao goes over what happened. Miss Sun, then Moon and the Vic Office, how they were dealt with, and – Mao's right. It sounds unimpressive as fuck, and you know it's not a competition, and that unimpressive is good – but you still did fuck-all; nothing. Maybe if you contributed something, you could live with it, but you just stood there like a fool. Sure, you stood your ground, or whatever, but nothing's nothing. Compared to that, Kai did more than nothing. It's annoying; frustrating in ways you couldn't even begin describing.

What's the point of power if you can't use it?

"Good job. Verdict?"

You snap your head back to Mao. Her eyes meet yours, and her smile is a large and wide thing. Your eyes widen, mouth opening. "Lily-girl here's a bit dumb, awkward, can't read the room for her life, and super easy to tease with. They're good things, mind."

Your lower your head, burying your face inside your hands.

"And she got guts, and when it came down to it, she stood her ground in the face of five Fixers way above her," Mao nods, satisfied. "I already unofficially welcomed her in –"

"Of course," Mori dryly cuts in.

"—But I say we make it official. Chief?"

The crow lets out a caw. "Official it is. Welcome to Scarecrow Office, Fixer Lily."

"… Yeah," your word is muffled through your hands. "Thanks."

"Welcome."

"Hmhm," Mao hums. "Oh, and here's your cut, Lily," you blink as she slides you an envelope.

Your hands are shaking when you pick it up, and inside –

Holy shit, you're rich.

[+ 250000 Ahn]

"You, uh," you blink, and then count it again, just to make sure it's correct. "Uh," you look up to Mao, straight to her expectant smile. That could mean either good, or bad. "You didn't count wrong?"

She smirks, raising an eyebrow. "Two-fifty-kay, right?" you nod stiffly. "Five fifty-kays?" you nod again. "Then nope, I didn't count wrong."

"Oh," you look back down to the envelope of money, before pinching it. You bring it up to your hand, and stare how thick that makes. It's not that thick, of course, but that somehow makes it all the more impressive. "Huh."

"Well!" Mao suddenly jumps to her feet. She grins to Mori. "Now that we got two more members into our Office, y'know what this means, right?"

He looks down to his right arm – the prosthesis he had shown you earlier, capable of shifting into a hook gun. You notice only now that there is blood leaking from the seams. "Workshops?"

"You're damn right," she claps her hands together. "You two – " she whips back to you. "Now that you're both Scarecrows, we can't have you be bringing in shit-reps by being underequipped. So we're all gonna go to the Workshop Streets – get our Tailor to fit you with something better."

You don't think you appreciate the look on Mao's eyes. "Now?"

"Yeah, now," Mao nods, crossing her arms together; a hand propping pinching at her chin. "Mori here's gonna need some maintenance on his arm –"

"Yep," he dryly muses. "First time using this, and – well, Santiago's gonna tear me a new one, I could tell."

"— And we can treat Little Kai here for her injuries."

"… I'm not little."

You snort. "You'll get used to it."

She turns to you; cold blue eye searching, before closing with a sigh.

"Yeah," you nod.

"I can hear both of you, y'know?" Mao chuckles.

You roll your eyes. "Whatever."

Mori snorts. "Well. I'm also starving – itching for a good chicken rice porridge, honestly."

"Yeah, same. I'm starving," Mao nods wistfully. "Jian's on the way back."

"Jian's great."

You open your mouth – Mao looks at you – and you close them back down. She just ate a bunch of sweets last night, and in addition to the freshly baked brownies this morning, Sun had also toasted the both of you simple sandwiches. You're not complaining about more food, of course, but…

"Bring take-out," Boss Daniel chimes in. "The Usual."

"Sure thing, Boss. Now," Mao turns to the door, grabbing her hat and coat by the hanger. "Up and at them. Day's not over yet."


[+500 XP]

Article:

On the way to the so-called "Workshop Street", you find yourself standing side-by-side with:

[] Kai – Mao and Mori walk ahead of you, and that leaves you back with Kai. She doesn't say anything – and compared to the chatterbox that was Mao, you find Kai both comforting, and unsettling. But if you're going to work with her, then you're gonna have get used to her. You're reminded to how she fought back then with Ran – maybe you could ask her about that?

[] Mori – With Mao talking "Little" Kai's ears off, that leaves you back with Mori. Compared to Mao, you find Mori easier to talk with, and he seems to sympathize with you. Honestly, you're also a bit curious with how his prosthesis, and augmentations worked.

[] Mao – Even though it's only been a day, it feels as though you're cursed to be forever stuck with Mao. Throwing her hand around your shoulders, and practically dragging you ahead of the road, she talks about… Distortions, about the Loud Orchestra, and other Syndicates. You feel goosebumps rising across your skin. That's not a topic you expected from her.


When you arrive at the 'Workshop Street', what interests you the most? (Choose 1)

[] Augmentations – technologies; sometimes old Singularities which patents have expired, and never renewed, to actual Singularities like nanomachines that are being sold. Augmentations are technologies that allow your body to perform incredible feats. Often, it's just to strengthen your body, but as those tattoos from Hood Man showed, they could do more than that.

[] Weapons – You like your crowbar. You don't think you'll be changing that, but that doesn't mean your crowbar has to stay as is. Just as there are augmentations to the body, there are also augmentations to the weapon. Kai's sword, for example, you know well could do something funny.

[] Gadgets – as you've been told along the way, apparently there are more to Workshops than just weapons, and armors. They also have other tools, kinda like carpenter hammers, but for Fixers. The way Mori, and Mao put it, it's waaay more complicated than that, but there's probably something you could work with, right?