Hey, just jannabanana99 here. This is my personal stories. HAVE FUN!
MADDIE POV:
Maddie looked up at the address, in doubt that this is where she should actually be interviewing. But there it was. Alfred & Co. Investigative Agency in black bold letters. It wasn't much, just a small yellow building the size of a medium apartment building. She wrapped her arms around herself, hesitant to go in, but no, she needed this job. The Canadian girl- actually young woman- wasn't much to look at either, with her dirty blonde hair tied in small pigtails at either side of her head, wearing her favorite sweatshirt with the canadian flag on it and holey jeans. Her violet eyes watched the place warily from behind her glasses before she started towards the door. Knocking with her gloved hand, she waited, listening for any sign of life on the other side of the door. She had always been told that this place was the freakiest place to work, and her co-workers would probably drive her off by the end of the week.
Pushing her old classmates words out of her head, she heard a loud crash from behind the door and a mouthful of swearing. Suddenly the door swung open to reveal a woman, a little older than her. The woman had a short red plaid skirt on, barely going past her mid-thigh. A leather vest did nothing to conceal her tan skin. Short lighter blonde hair stuck out from beneath a cap that reminded Maddie of those paperboys that she had seen in an old movie once. She looked like one of those bikers or rock stars. "Yes?" She spoke, a british accent leaking out.
"Um, I-I'm here about the job opening. The one t-that was in the newspaper. Please, don't tell me that I'm too late to apply, eh." She managed nervously.
The woman wrinkled her nose before saying, "Nah, you're actually the first to apply. Poor bloke that had the job before ran off, don't know why. Come on in." She gestured Maddie in.
"Thank you um…"
Rocker lady got her clue, held out her hand, and said, "The name's Alice, Alice Kirkland."
"I'm Madeline Williams, but you can call me Maddie, eh."
"Are you Canadian?"
"Yeah, the eh gave it away didn't it?"
"That and your sweatshirt." She pointed out. "Anyways, I can give you the job interview now if you would like. It's just a series of questions."
"Sure."
"Can you work with heavy equipment? You kind of need to know how to set our stuff up, Felicia can't do it all."
"Who's Felicia?"
"One of our people, now answer the question."
"Yes, I have my resume right here if you would like." Alice grabbed it and looked it over, humming some odd tune under her breathe.
"This seems fair enough, I just need you to sign this form, it covers the normal stuff; like the pros and cons, acceptable behavior, a just in case you die on the job contract, and a list of healthcare providers."
"W-what did you say?" Maddie squeaked, "Why would I die on the job?"
"I can't tell you until you sign those papers, company policy." Alice smiled, clearly glad that she had scared Maddie.
Maddie weighed her options. She could always find another job that was less threatening. But she had already been living off of her grandmother for all these years, she needed to make it up to her. She could always go back to him, but she would rather die than admit that she needed his help. And heaven help her if he started going on about his new ice cream flavor. Sighing, she signed the contract. It was better than nothing. "All right, why don't you tell me what my job is, eh?"
"Alright, follow me. I'll take you to the others." Alice smiled brightly again, before returning to her usual serious face. Despite the place seeming small on the outside, there was a staircase that led down to a basement floor. Shouting was the first thing to reach Maddie's ears.
"Is there a fight going on?" She asked
"Not exactly," Alice grimaced before yelling, "Quiet you bloody idiots! We just got our newest recruit so don't screw up this time!" The shouting stopped and they turned the corner. In the middle of what seemed to be a game room, a small crowd of people were hovering around two people both in the middle of an arm-wrestling competition. The one who seemed on the verge of collapse was a caucasian male with sandy blonde hair, covering his blue eyes, and an air force bomber jacket. The other was very tall and big, wearing a beige trenchcoat and had whitish blonde hair and lavender eyes. A couple of the people crowding them were girls, one looked Asian with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, half-hidden by a red silk shirt and capris. The other had shoulder length brown hair and tan skin. She was wearing cargo pants and a green tank top that complimented her hazel eyes. The only boy in the crowd was crossing his arms in disapproval. He had blonde hair and sky blue eyes. A black muscle shirt and dress pants were his only clothes sans a large cross on a chain hanging across his neck.
"Jeez, no need to shout so loud, sis," the one in the bomber jacket complained, he was obviously American. His words distracted him from the bigger man and his hand fell to hit the table. The green eyed girl discreetly handed the Asian one a couple dollar bills, clearly upset that she had lost a bet. The big man turned around and turned to face Maddie. A childlike smile was painted on his face.
"She is new blood, da?" He asked, a bit of Russian followed as he whispered something to himself and became surprisingly scary within seconds.
"Sure, she is Felicia's new assistant." The brown eyed one pumped her arm and smiled brightly at Alice's reply.
"Sweet!" She said with a slight accent that Maddie couldn't place, "Ve! Come here!" She quickly wrapped Maddie in a tight hug, cutting off all oxygen.
"Felicia put her down, she'll pass out at this rate, aru." The Asian put.
"Aww, come on Tao, I never get to hug anybody anymore." She let go of Maddie and frowned before mischievously creeping up on the Asian, Tao, and pulling go her into a hug as well.
"Save it for your boyfriend, aru!" Tao yelled at her, struggling to escape her grasp. Finally Mr. Muscle-shirt came over and pried Felicia off of Tao. She squirmed before deciding to put on a pouty face
"Let go of her, Ludwig, you know she doesn't like to be contained." Bomber jacket guy said. Surprisingly, Ludwig put her down though he looked like he could probably be in jacket guy turned to face Maddie. "Where are our manners! I'm Alfred, the awesome owner of our humble company and leader of our group!"
"I am Ivan," the tall man said.
"Ve, and I'm Felicia." Felicia's introduction was unnecessary, "this is Tao." The Asian bowed, and Maddie stood there, flustered.
"You already know my name and our resident German is Ludwig." Alice pointed to the muscle-shirt guy who waved. "He doesn't talk much." She whispered. "We also have a bloody Frenchman but he left to go food-shopping a little while before you came."
"H-hi, I-I'm Maddie, eh." She managed in reply.
"Aww, look the poor girl is scared of us," Felicia said and gave her a big hug, "don't worry. The only one that is actually scary is Ivan, and as long as you stay on his good side he won't kill you." She explained happily. Maddie shuddered as the Russian sent her a childlike smile yet again.
"Felicia!" Alfred warned before pulling on a 100 watt smile. "Anyways, welcome to your new job!"
"What is my job exactly, I haven't really been told." Maddie asked, struggling to put on a brave face.
"You just help Felicia set up the equipment when we are investigating our cases. She can't carry all of our new equipment so we figured that an extra hand would help."
"So you guys are detectives?"
"Not exactly." Ludwig spoke for the first time.
"We investigate supernatural occurrences." Felicia said.
This had to be a sick joke. "Maddie, are you alright? You look like you're going to be sick." She had to get away.
"I-I... You're-" Maddie tripped over her own feet. Alice grabbed her arm, and for the first time made skin contact. A flash of familiar cold whipped through her body as her vision went white.
~"What do you mean that I'm going to have a little brother, mum can't have anymore!" A 14 year old Alice whined at her father.
"Your mum and I have decided that you should have a sibling to learn teamwork from. A young sorceress needs all the friends they can get." He said
"But I don't want a baby brother," her tears blurred her vision.~
"Maddie, wake up!" Someone was shouting. Her vision, still blurry from the memories tears. Her foggy brain was able to register a slapping sensation on her cheek. As her eyes finally was able to see her surroundings. Her new employers were hovering above her, concern etched on their faces. Maddie avoided her gaze and focused on the newest arrival. He had shoulder length blonde hair, like Alice's and Alfred's, pulled back into a short ponytail and cerulean blue eyes, that examined her with a hint of curiosity. A small stubble crept underneath his generous smile as he looked at her sympathetically. He was well dressed, like one of those models from a magazine.
"Êtes-vous d'accord, mademoiselle?" He asked.
"O-oui," Maddie sputtered her broken French. Everyone became relieved at her words.
"Vous savez français?" He became confused quickly.
"Will you stop talking in your bloody French! The rest of us don't have a decent clue what you are saying, Frog!" Alice punched 'Frog' in the arm.
"I'm so very sorry, mademoiselle. I will refrain from speaking my beautiful language in favor of your plain one." He chuckled. Alice went bright red with fury.
"Git." She muttered before storming off to go get a drink of water for Maddie. The others helped the half out of it girl to her feet and onto one of the couches.
"I am very sorry, chère. I do not believe that we have been introduced. My name is Francis Bonnefey. Il est un plaisir de vous rencontrer." Francis kissed her gloved hand, making her go bright red. Alice came back and gave him a disapproving glare. He backed off, sitting down in a different chair.
"Now what was that about, do tell, aru." Tao said, grabbing the water from Alice and handing it to Maddie. She nearly made skin contact, causing Maddie to jump away, not wanting to chance an encounter of her past as well.
"It seems that our belle recrue has some psychic abilities." Francis mused. Maddie went pale and looked at him, how had he known. "That is about the same reaction that I have when I dreamscape. It's unpleasant and can sometimes lead to a shock in the system." He explained, eyeing her curiously.
"Is that true, Maddie?" Tao asked. She hesitated before nodding, there was no use in denying it.
"I've had the ability to... see things about people and objects when I touch them since I was little. It got me in trouble, so I don't like to talk about it much. I wear gloves so it doesn't happen on accident." Turning to Francis, Maddie continued. "You mentioned something called dreamscape. What is that?"
"It's a type of power that allows you to find information in dreams. It can also help when communicating with spirits. I'm clairvoyant, so it comes with the title. We all have certain gifts."
"Really?" Maddie asked, looking at them all in awe. So I'm not the only one, she thought. Alice smiled at her. She realized that she must have spoken aloud, blushing at the thought. "Um... so what can the rest of you do?"
"Well, I think you will be able to see us in action soon, that is, if you want to still take the job!" Alfred said.
"I think I will take you up on that offer. If it's not to much trouble, eh."
"Non, vous? Nous serions ravis de vous avoir!" Francis put in. Catching his meaning, Maddie blushed yet again, turning a dark crimson this time.
"We would love for you to stay!" Felicia, wrapped her in a hug. "Ve! Let's celebrate!" Maddie couldn't help but smile at the thought that this was her new job. And what a job it was.
Translations:
Êtes-vous d'accord, mademoiselle? = Are you okay, miss?
Oui = Yes (Do I really need to translate the obvious)
Vous savez français? = You know French?
Chère = my dear
Il est un plaisir de vous rencontrer = It's a pleasure to meet you.
Belle recrue = Beautiful recruit
Non, vous? Nous serions ravis de vous avoir! = No, you? We would love to have you!
Author's Notes:
Just a note to all of you people that will read this , I made it so that the shippings are GerIta, RoChu, FruCan, and UsUk. Felicia is Italy, Maddie is Canada, Alice is Punk!England, and Tao is China. Each character is their respective nationality and so on. Thank you for understanding. Also, I will ruin something for you… I created Felicia first and then the others. Also, I HATE FRANCE so all of you Francis fans, you will hate my guts by the end of this! Another something, I salute those of you who actually caught on who Maddie's himwas. Last thing, all of these characters are over the age of 18, Maddie being the youngest at age 19, Ludwig and Francis at age 23, Felicia 21 along with Alice, Alfred is 20, Ivan 24, and Tao is 22.