Locke and Tamin sat quietly in the guild master office while Espeon read every last thing chatot wrote on their field test. All while Niot stood behind him to look at the papers as well. There was sheer silence in the room, only periodically broken by the sound of a page turning.
They entered the room with confidence, but with every minute that passed, that confidence was shaken. The only thing they did was to look at Espeon's face and try to figure out what was going on in the psychic's head. Locke and Tamin occasionally glanced at each other in this process to check the other's demeanor as well.
"Locke," Espeon finally said to break the silence as he finished reading and looked up at him.
"Yes?" Locke responded in a tone of mixed emotions.
"I am pleased to read about your skills in combat and your strength. Even if you did wander off during the test mission.
Currently our guild only has one electric type in it, and she isn't even pure electric. So I believe you will be a useful addition to our guild.
And Tamin."
"Yes?" Tamin responded, unsure of what the guildmaster would say about her.
"Your performance is a mixed bag. Niot does label your normal combat abilities to be lacking, but does complement you for your ingenuity.
Although we technically have several normal types in the guild, they are administrators and support roles who don't go on missions. For that reason, I believe you will prove valuable to this guild.
So, you are both in."
A wave of excitement went across Locke and Tamin. A smile beamed on Locke's face while Tamin let out a deep sigh to unwind, but both had much jubilation.
"Oh, one quick thing," Espeon spoke while he pulled out a drawer. "What color of scarf do you want? They're obligatory for being in a guild."
"Let's do a purple one!" Locke exclaimed, still excited.
"Uh, a red one would be nice (if you have that)," Tamin spoke.
Espeon spent a moment digging around a drawer before pulling the scarves they described. Both had the guild's symbol on it in black ink.
"Here!" Espeon said as he tossed the scarves to them. "Tell me if you need help tying them."
Both of them quickly got the bandana scarves around their neck, tying it in front of their necks and rotating it around to get it right.
"Wait, cinccino wear their fur as a scarf. So what will I do when I evolve?" Tamin thought to herself, "I don't know, I guess I'll just have to figure that out later."
"They look great on both of you," Espeon said, "it's requested that you do wear those at all times when you're outside of the guild. It's necessary for identifying.
Anyways, let me give you two introductions. I'll give you a tour of the guild."
Espeon went around his desk and began walking out of his room. Locke and Tamin followed him closely. Niot stayed back and immediately went to getting paperwork done.
They opened the door to get out and stepped into the greater guild. There was a clear gateway to the mess hall, and already a few pokemon there.
"Would you like me to announce that you're guild members to the whole guild, or is explaining you're a guild member now something you'd like to do yourself?"
"You can announce it to ev-"
"I'd really prefer if you didn't make a big show out of it," Tamin interrupted Espeon to say.
"Not great with crowds? Just a little shy?" Espeon asked.
"Yeah," Tamin said, since it seemed like a satisfactory answer.
"That's fine then. I'll just go straight to showing you around then."
Tamin nodded her head up and down, while Locke was just a bit confused.
"Follow me."
Espeon started walking off in the opposite direction, giving a flick of his tail to signal Locke and Tamin to follow him.
"Meals happen at 7:00 AM, 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Try your best to do a mission every day, but don't feel too bad if you end up missing a day." Espeon explained, "If you are sick, injured, or help the guild through a different method other than missions then you will be given mission leave."
"Those are some odd times to have meals at," Tamin pointed out.
"We have some nocturnal pokemon here that sleep at different times. The schedule is made so they have supper when you'll have breakfast and vice versa.
They are asleep right now, but you'll get to see them at supper time."
"Oh, that's nifty," Tamin said.
"Yeah. My sister is nocturnal and she runs the guild at nighttime."
They went into a hallway of bed chambers at the east edge of the guild. There they saw a sylveon walking down, who went over to them on sight.
"Sylveon, these two are newly recruited members. Locke and Tamin, this is Sylveon."
"Oh, hello there." The sylveon said to them as he got close to them.
"Is he also your sibling?" Locke asked Espeon.
"Actually no," Sylveon responded, "we aren't blood related in any way. Unlike Espeon and Umbreon who are siblings."
"Right. Sylveon is one of the higher ups in the guild like Niot. He's our rules enforcer who makes sure all members are following the rules established in the guild, though he doesn't make the rules himself."
"That's right," Sylveon said as he ducked down to view Locke and Tamin at the same level, "Espeon might make the rules, but I'll be the one to make sure you are following them correctly~"
"I-I see," Tamin said.
"Mhm. Let's keep going now," Espeon said to them.
They continued down the hallway and turned to go out a set of doors, leading to the outside. Once out, they were met with a path directly leading to the treehouse building on the east side of the guild.
"That's where a lot of the flying types and grass types sleep and like to hang out. It is our secondary building," Espeon continued to explain.
"We'll we ever have to go in that then?" Locke asked.
"You might need to if you're ever asking around for team members. It's also pretty nice in there," Espeon said. "Although you might want to wait for the Spring to start hanging out in there, It's not as well insulated."
"So the guild only has two buildings right now. Are there any plans to get more?" Tamin asked.
"Yeah, we have a few plans, not sure if we'll see any of the plans through. It depends on how much the guild expands," Espeon said. "The treehouse was made just two years back."
"Oh. How old is this guild then?" Tamin asked.
"It has been around for seventeen years, I've been a guildmaster for it for six years," Espeon said.
"Who led the guild before you then?" Tamin asked.
"A Whimsicott was the one who founded the guild, but he's… in a better place," Espeon said. He looked towards the ground and his tail drooped down. "I… let's… just get on with the tour,"
They began walking around again. Locke, Tamin, and Espeon went around the guild and to a large greenhouse building at the back of the guild. It had a glass tunnel between it and the main guildhouse so it didn't require pokemon to go outside to get to it. Despite the autumn environment all around, it had a variety of plants inside that were fully green and blooming.
"Okay, I just wanted to show you those side locations first. Let me show you around the interior of the main building now," Espeon said.
"Uh, could we eat first?" Locke asked.
"Oh right, I forgot about lunch," he said, "Sorry about that, I guess I was just a little too excited at getting new guild members."
Right as Espeon said that, Tamin's stomach rumbled audibly. Causing her to look down at it and the others to look towards it.
"I didn't," Tamin said.
"Okay, lunch then!"
They ran over to the mess hall to find that lunch had already started. Like they had done with breakfast, they took two unused eats next to one another and gathered food to chow down on. The food available was basically the same as it was last time. Tamin took small bites and ate slowly while Locke violently chowed down on food with crumbs spewing everywhere.
As they ate, Tamin peered around the room to get a close look and study the pokemon within the confines of the room with her. The minccino analyzed the room for all information she could gleam from that point; taking inventory of the pokemon that she might have to deal with in the future while staying quiet. She noticed there was less pokemon for lunch then there were for breakfast. With Locke, his attention was drawn solely at the food- until a dewott on the same table leaned over to talk to him.
"So, you're new here?" the dewott asked, speaking in a clearly masculine voice.
"Yesh, jusht pash'd the tesht to get in," Locke said, his voice gurgled by the food inside his mouth.
"Nice. Locke and Tamin, if I remember correctly?"
Locke took a second to properly swallow his food.
"Yep~," he replied.
"Gotcha. 'Just call me Dewott," the water pokemon said, "I'm glad you came, I didn't expect anymore to join this late in the year."
"Yeah. I've been considering this for a little while, and I decided I just didn't want to go through another winter outside," Locke said before returning to his food.
"Makes enough sense. Ey, you seem to have a good appetite there, but I betcha can't eat more than me" Dewott said, sounding eager and excited for the challenge he had just proposed.
"I'm not sure having a competition is a good idea or really fair considering your body masses-" Tamin broke her silence, but was interrupted.
"You're on!" Locke called out, causing more crumbs to be spit out of her mouth
The shinx and the dewott suddenly grabbed whatever food they could and began gorging themselves on them, leaving crumbs to fly about while they focused purely on stuffing their mouths with as much as they could keep down. Tamin and other pokemon there had to turn their heads away from the display of competitive gluttony with a feeling of disgust. They stopped eating themselves, such a display making them lose their appetite.
The meal settled down as many had stuffed themselves with varying levels of reckless abandon. Once it was over, Locke and Tamin were approached by Espeon again.
"Are you ready again now?" He asked them.
"Yeah." Both Locke and Tamin said together.
"Good," Espeon said. "Let me give you a proper tour of the interior of this building now."
They nodded and came along.
First thing they did after lunch was go up a staircase to the guild's second floor. It was simplistic. The center of it was cut out to have a balcony looking over the entire mess hall. There were side railings made out of wood with very smooth and fancy designs, the rails were what Tamin found as easily the most visually appealing part of the building, which for the most part had details which bothered her.
The upstairs rooms were more personal chambers for the guild members, as well as a few closets. There were also doorways to thin and long porches to allow the outdoors to be viewed.
Once they were done viewing the upper floor and hearing Espeon's explanations of the various feature, they went down one of the two staircases to get back down to the main floor.
The ground floor was noticeably more complex. The mess hall was at the perfect center of the floor, and by extension, the whole guildhouse. To the south of it was the foyer room and the main entrance, which was oddly shaped but symmetrical nonetheless.
To the west of the mess hall was the kitchen and the room made for getting equipped for missions. To the east of the mess hall was Espeon's office and the room with the quest board in it. Lastly the bathrooms were north of the mess hall.
Northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast of the mess hall and connecting to different rooms were four stairwell rooms. The north ones contained staircases that went upstairs while the south ones contained stairs that went downstairs. The four rooms were small and enclosed, making them more private than the other rooms of the floor.
At the edges of the guild and wrapping around everything else were hallway wings. They contained personal chambers for the different guild members, with Locke and Tamin's chambers in the west wing. Side entrances to the guild were found on the west and east wings.
With that, they were finally done going through the ground floor. Now all that remained was the basement, which they descended into.
Unlike the other two floors that were symmetrical or near-symmetrical in design, this had no such details in its design and muted coloration all around. In truth, it had no design at all. It was all dugout indiscriminately, whenever the guild needed a new room they would just find a new space and dig out another room without referring to any grander design blueprint. It was almost labyrinthian.
Although the majority of the place was disorientating, there were a few clear rooms. A large lounge room that was even bigger than the mess hall of the main floor, where both of the staircases connected to. It contained one rectangular area with the east staircase, a hallway on the northwest of it which turned a corner and led to the west staircase. It was one of the hang-out places in the guild and the most active one at that, being well-furnished and having the size to hold the entire guild.
Another notable room was the main hall in the underground. It was a long hallway that was stylized to look like a mineshaft. The design was rather overkill in detail, containing more mineshaft-esque features than an actual one would have, but it was clear what they were intending. It connected from the lobby and went northward from there.
A third notable room was one not far from the lobby, containing rows upon rows of safes. There was a sudden shift that could be felt when they took a step into the room, they could literally feel this room was more secure than the others. The metal making up the safes was without dents, and each one was large enough that all three of them could squeeze inside.
"This is the lockbox room. Each member will be given a code to one of the safes that only they know, and they can be free to store personal belongings in them. Whatever you use it for, it will be much safer in there than in your own rooms, and I can guarantee no one will be touching it."
"Ah, okay," Locke said.
"What if someone figures out my code and gets access to my safe?" Tamin questioned.
"You can just ask to start using a different one with a new code, don't worry," Espeon answered.
"Are you sure about that?" Tamin asked.
"Uh, yes?" Espeon said, unsure how to react to Tamin's skepticalness.
"Mmm. Alright then,"
After being shown that room, they exited it again to continue the tour of the basement, going over more minor rooms and passages.
Besides the lobby and safes room, the basement was very unkempt. Some of the walls were stone, some were covered in wooden boards and some were still bare dirt.
Espeon was used to it and Locke didn't care, but it was frustrating to Tamin. The inconsistency of its materials, the unsymmetrical details in many of the wooden walls and the varying brick size in the stone walls bugged her to no end. She was compelled to change it and make it right, but completely lacked the ability to change it. Instead, her eyes could always lock on some detail that annoyed her and no matter how hard she tried to turn away.
She wasn't exactly sure what was more painful, the orderless details of the design or her impuissance to change them. Either way, it was a personal hell she only wanted to get out of. Beyond the frustration, she found it deeply confusing as to why Locke and Espeon weren't frustrated in the same way she was and how anyone could spend time in a place like that. She was sure that being deeply bothered by those things was normal, so she had no idea why the others didn't reflect those same feelings. Despite that, she mostly kept quiet.
As the tour continued, Tamin noticed an audino in one of the rooms. The room was a well stocked infirmary complete with several beds, screens, cabinets of supplies and countertops. It was unlike the other rooms in the hallway.
"Is she a guild member?" Tamin asked while pointing at the audino.
"Yes," Espeon responded.
"Isn't she a normal type? I thought you said there were no normal types here," Tamin questioned.
"There are no normal type explorers, but there are normal types in the guild. Niot helps with management and paperwork, and Audino serves as the guilds doctor, nurse and dentist. They are members, but they don't do missions outside of the guildhouse," Espeon explained to them.
"Yeah, makes sense," Locke commented.
"What's with some here being called by their species name and some being called by actual names?" Tamin asked.
"Everyone has a name. Some just prefer to be called by their species," he said, "It's just sort of pokemon instincts to be addressed to by your species name and naturally respond to that easiest. My name is Herald, as I've mentioned."
"Okay then," Tamin replied.
"Got it." Locke responded, "I can kinda see why you prefer 'Espeon' over that."
Espeon was mildly offended by Locke's comment, but decided it wise to not speak up about it.
After that, they were done exploring the basement. They went back up to the main floor and to the outer halls.
"So that's the guildhouse," Espeon stated to them.
"This place looks great!" Locke proclaimed, happy with what he would be living in for the foreseeable future.
"Oh, one more thing." Espeon said.
"Yes?"
"Those rooms you slept in this morning are yours. You can do whatever you want to it.
We also have some spare furniture in storage downstairs, so feel free to use whatever you find down there for your room."
"If that's the case, I think I know what I'll be doing the next few hours," Tamin said, looking forward to being able to design something catered to herself, although not looking forward to having to head down into the basement to do it.
"That's good. What about you, Locke?"
"I think I'm just going to go on a jog. It's how I build up electricity so it'll be good for me."
"You do that then."
They seperated from Espeon and spent the next few hours doing those things. Locke wasn't seen by anyone during this time as he explored the different paths around the guild. Tamin spent time putting as much detail into her room as she could, enjoying how she could design things that catered to her own interests without anyone else judging. She even got carried away with it, freely exerting the power she held over her own room.
It was hours later before Locke came back into the guild. Heading back exclusively to get supper, which he knew was going to happen soon.
Supper was much like the previous meals, though the nocturnal guild members that had been absent during lunch were awake again to join the meal. Tamin spent the activity reclusive like she was previously, but Locke instead looked around at the pokemon to see who he would work with in the future. Dewott was preoccupied by talking to a female mienfoo, so Locke knew he wasn't up for talking. As he checked the nocturnal pokemon that were there and not present in lunch, his eyes caught something that was familiar to him. It was a female weavile at the table that he felt he had met before. The weavile noticed him and their eyes met one another so they could make eye contact.
"Locke?" the weavile asked after swallowing the food she had in her mouth.
"Crystal? Is that you?" Locke asked.
"Yeah! Long time no see!" she said, her voice getting raised.
Locke jumped down from his chair to walk towards the weavile so he could talk with her directly.
"It's been so long since we were together, I see you evolved, that's nice?"
"You two know each other?" Tamin asked, interjecting into the conversation.
"Yeah, she used to be a rogue explorer like me."
"We actually have a pretty long past together," Crystal explained, "We met over a year ago and went through a lot of mystery dungeons together. We got seperated and I joined this guild a few weeks after that happened."
"I found her in a dungeon having a heatstroke. I got her to a pool to get her cooled down. We basically became partners after that," Locke explained. "Being epic and cool is a wonderful replacement for needing to drink. For a few hours, that is. After that, well, you're a lot less epic if you're a dry pile of dust."
"Yeah. Ice types don't do too well in the summer heat," Crystal said while scratching the back of her head awkwardly.
"We got a little separated, but it looks like were in the same place now.
All's well and ends well, am I right?"
"To me, this looks a lot more like a beginning than an ending," Espeon commented on them.
"I'm glad you're together then." Tamin said.
They had supper together, then spent the rest of the daylight with each other and hours afterwards. They hanged out in the lounge together, catching up on anything and everything that had happened since they last met. Tamin had gone to sleep in her room shortly after sunset as she was used to, but it took Locke several more hours before he eventually went to his bed again.
End of chapter 4.