"That tower you are building for your main Basilicom, is that not that a little too phallic? Are you, perhaps, compensating?"
"Perhaps; or perhaps this just gets to show that mine is bigger than yours."
-Green Heart and Purple Heart
The Guild headquarters remained as imposing as always; IF would have thought she got used to it after almost two years, but such a thing had not happened. Perhaps it was the disconnect between this one and most other planeptunian buildings, seeing how this one alone was vast instead of tall.
Taking a deep breath of warm air, the young woman took one last look around. Most flowerbeds were still in full bloom, as the main heatwave of summer had passed some time ago. Now, in September, things were starting to cool down without reaching into the cold just yet.
Over the past few months, the most notable event in IF's life had been that she acquired her driving license; she still felt she did not have the monetary buffer to afford a motorcycle, though. However, Neptune let her drive her machine on occasion; she also insisted on joining IF during these rides, which the brunette had to admit were a fun thing to do.
From interacting more with Neptune, she also found out that Nepgear was to be introduced officially at her eighteenth birthday; which, coincidentally, reminded IF of her own birthday coming up. But a month and a week remained until it was time for her to leave the place she called home, and preparations for that were well underway.
With a weak smile at the thought of all those things she had to juggle, IF shook her head and moved through the main entrance. Past the clerks, exchanging nods with them, and into a kind of waiting area that remained rather empty at this time of day. Noon had not yet arrived and most were working.
Her group was mostly assembled already; Nepgear and André were there, talking quietly to each other. Gabriel had his eyes on his phone, face held in his usual light frown. Only Alexis was still missing.
"Hey, guys." "Hey, IF." "Morning." "Good morning." Greetings were exchanged just like that, with André also giving her a weak slap on the shoulder; they had all grown rather close over the years, though the adults' behaviour had underwent another major change after the incident with the Ancient Dragon.
Ever since then, Alexis had actually become a tad more distant from IF and Nepgear; she freely admitted to being envious, and both of them were glad it was just a slight disconnect. IF did not like it, but admitted to herself that something like this was bound to happen. André became more carefree now that it was clear they could hold themselves no matter what, and Gabriel had opened up completely. He became particularly fond of IF for some reason, which the girl herself figured to be that she was better at taking his jabs and handing them right back; Nepgear also improved on that front, but even her growing confidence could only do so much.
She also considered that Gabriel may have unconciously noticed what Nepgear kept holding back; the only ones who knew by this point were IF and Compa, with the rest being planned to receive the news once the Candidate was officially introduced.
The fact they were in the lobby was not normal, though. Even if no one appeared concerned, IF knew that they all wondered. "So, any idea what Lady Histoire wants from us?" It was a valid question in her mind, seeing that the Tome rarely interfered in Guild-matters directly. Like the other Oracles, she mostly delegated Guild work to other offices in order to keep her main attention on governmental work. Only the actually important matters were handled by her personally.
Sadly, the others only shrugged in response; Nepgear probably knew, if her apologeptic expression was anything to go by, but she could not say anything in front of the others. Then again, they could all guess that it was about the two junior members. Even without knowing what IF knew, that much remained obvious to everyone.
As they were waiting for Alexis, IF quietly joined Gabriel and pulled out her own phone to check Chirper for something interesting. Yet her mind soon returned to Nepgear; it had been months since she found out about her friend's divinity, but the matter never stopped to amaze IF. She was friends with not one, but two CPUs.
What this did change was how she no longer felt weird in appreciating the grace with which they did anything, or to be stunned by something outstanding they did. They were goddesses, that much was expected of them; not to mention that with Nepgear's initial flight-training all but finished, IF often got to witness a CPU in the air. Her friend had already mastered movement in three dimensions, though she was not yet allowed to fly outside until she had been revealed to the public.
Seeing that the information about her apotheosis was held back until her birthday, there were only two, perhaps three humans who had thus far seen Purple Sister in flight, if at all. IF was not sure whether RED was privy to this and it did not really matter. She felt special for being let in on something so unique and wonderful.
"Hey guys," Alexis called out with a lengthy huff, obviously out of breath. "Sorry I'm late, I forgot the time!" The others just shrugged in return; with exception of IF, all of them had been late from time to time. Greetings were exchanged and the group as a whole got going, taking the elevator upward and quickly reaching Histoire's office. The doors opened for them and the Tome received them with a smile.
"It is good to have you five; please, take a seat." She did not give any indication of haste and IF took the moment to take in the office. This was her second time in here, but she had been too nervous to look around four years earlier. Her actual registration two years prior had happened over the regular channels.
The office around her was devoid of personal effects; there were only few of those even in Histoire's office in Planeptower, but the professionalism stood out to IF; the Tome usually remained in the Basilicom, only heading over to this building one or two days in the week.
Once everyone was seated, the small woman touched down on her desk, absorbing the book into her ethereal wings and sitting down on a chair in her size. Blonde curls fell down her back as she took each of them in with interest. "I believe it is not a secret what we are here to discuss today. We, Purple Heart and I, had a lengthy discussion about your squad and reached a decision. All of you will be reassigned in the near future."
She paused when Gabriel started to chuckle, giving him a curious glance; the others could guess what he was about to say, though nobody interrupted. "I wonder what would amuse you so?"
Gabriel merely shook his head and leaned back, relaxing a bit as he explained: "It's somewhat obvious, Lady Oracle. IF and Nepgear are way out of our league. They're turning eighteen in a few weeks, too. With the luck I've had so far, the three of us are probably going to get the next newcomer to take along." Gabriel and Alexis nodded along while the girls lowered their gazes sheepishly. It was not a secret by any means, but hearing it said like that remained weird.
Histoire offered a weak smirk that quickly lost its mischievousness and returned to being just a smile, all while gently nodding her head at the team leader. "My, you are quite correct." Her eyes fell on the two girls. "To recap, the Guild ranks its agents from F to A; these ranks are a direct representation of both skill and capability. Group sizes are reduced the higher it goes, reducing manpower in exchange for an easier time working together, and to ease agents into having less backup. Not to mention that no agent ranked C and higher should require strength in numbers to succeed in everyday tasks.
"F- and E-ranks have group sizes from six to five, D-ranks from five to four, C-ranks are always made up of three agents, B- and A-ranks are always sorted in duos." She paused for a moment to breathe, folding her hands as she did. IF knew all this and so did everyone else, but she did not mind the refresher. "S-ranked agents, as they are likely to be recruited as Makers, always go alone. This signifies both the responsibility of handling themselves without backup ready, and the trust we have in their abilities." With this, Histoire's gaze went back to the three older agents.
"The three of you are ranked D in our agent register, but both Isabelle as well as Nepgear will, upon being promoted from junior agents to regular agents, receive a B-rating to start. Those two will form a duo and continue working together, seeing that they are already used to each other. I will probably have the free places in your group filled with another set of fresh agents." Now it was for IF to be surprised; she had already guessed she would not start as F or E, but B had been quite a bit above her own estimate. Nepgear was a given for obvious reasons, of course.
Strangely though, no one but her appeared surprised by the news.
As nobody reacted, the Tome offered them another, more mischievous wink and nodded to herself. "No questions, I take it?" Meanwhile, IF's mind went back to another subject that she had been considering. She had money and something she wanted to buy, but what she lacked was time.
Thus, seeing that no one had anything, she spoke up and broke the momentary silence: "Actually, there is something else I wanted to talk to you about."
The blonde considered her for a moment, then cast another glance around and nodded. "Of course, go right ahead."
IF folded her hands in an unconscious imitation of Histoire's gesture, though the brunette's were in her lap. It felt wrong to ask for this, but she did know she had vacation days. "I wanted to take the next two weeks off." At which point everyone, including Nepgear and the Tome, appeared dumbfounded. "After that Ancient Dragon, I have been thinking that my katars aren't up to snuff. If something like this happens again, I'm likely to just melt the next pair, so I want to get myself better weapons."
Understanding blossomed over their faces, though Histoire additionally offered her a knowing smile; in this moment IF realised that every word she ever spoke was recorded in the being before her. Of course the Tome knew what she was aiming for.
"That is no problem for me, you barely use up your vacations as is, anyway. Does anyone else have objections?" Heads were shaken and the small blonde clapped her hands. "Fantastic. I will have the paperwork filled out, that will take three hours. You are free for fifteen days starting tomorrow."
IF blinked at the number, but stopped herself from correcting the Tome. She noticed before that Histoire had a certain appreciation for three and all of its multiples. No one else corrected their boss, either.
"But where will you-," André started, only to sigh in realisation. "Oh. Lastation, right?" IF merely nodded a confirmation, though Nepgear had become thoughtful.
As no one else was forthcoming, the purplette piped up as well. "Actually, I would like to take time off as well." This, however, made the Tome chuckle heartily; she quickly hid her laughter behind one of her petite hands, but it remained audible. IF smirked as well, being able to guess what kind of thoughts were going through her friend's head.
The other three were a little lost and exchanged looks. Gabriel closed his eyes in thought before nodding at the Oracle, who was not so absorbed in her mirth not to notice. "That's fine with us, we can keep it up with just the three of us."
"I am aware." Histoire folded her hands again and offered them another fond smile, her silvery wings slowly moving back and forth as she rose into the air again. The chair quickly levitated back aside. "It is good to see all of you so lively. Keep up the good work." They all took the dismissal for what it was, bowing their heads as they filed out. The door gently closed shut behind André.
"Now then," Gabriel noted with a clap of his hands. "Let's get going." They had a patrol to get to after all.
As the five of them took the elevator downward however, Alexis sighed theatrically, looking the tiniest bit put-out. "It's been years since I was to Lastation. I really want to travel more." The others exchanged looks over that, but nobody challenged their colleague on the matter.
"Lastation is nice," Nepgear noted after a few moments. Her eyes were directed somewhere into the distance, as if she were imagining something. "Very green, too. The air is just so much worse than anywhere else."
IF had in fact heard about this matter; due to their rivaling nation's industrious inclinations and reliance on coal and oil, pollution was a major problem over there and slowly became one for the other nations.
Or rather, it would be. Thankfully, the CPUs could simply filter most of the dirt out of the air; Black Heart did a yearly round of Lastation to 'clean up', followed by her fellow goddesses doing the same at their borders.
André spoke up and made IF discard the musings, the tall man appearing thoughtful. "So, what's you guys' favourite for a vacation?"
IF only shrugged, but it remained unnoticed as Gabriel answered at the same time: "I think we had that conversation before. Anyway, I've only ever been to Leanbox, but that's a great place in general." Alexis nodded enthusiastically and gave a thumbs up to their group leader, a motion which surprised no one; they all knew their darker-skinned friend liked her home country a lot.
André nodded in understanding as they left the elevator and went to get their equipment. "Well, I do prefer Planeptune myself. There's enough diversity here to be entertained, and I like the atmosphere we have. You can't find the same kind of people anywhere else."
IF was content not to contribute to this conversation, but Alexis quickly nudged her side with a curious smirk. "Come on, tell us yours. Where do you like to go?" She continued this for a few moments longer, until IF gave in.
The younger brunette sighed and rolled her eyes toward the older one. "The furthest I got from home was a class trip to the Zheca power plant, so I can't answer the question. Though, from what I heard, I'd probably like Leanbox or Lowee, too." Just as she had expected, her colleague's expression immediately turned apologeptic while the others appeared to become uncomfortable.
"Sorry." Alexis contritely turned her head, to which IF only rolled her eyes again. "It's fine." She never really pushed her home life into the conversation, but the topic had come up in the past. She did not bother any time before, and she did not bother now.
"I think you would like Lowee a lot. It's my favourite, too." They both turned their attention to Nepgear, who held a reminiscent smile. "It's just... so peaceful to look at the snowfields, there's a beauty there you can't find anywhere else. And the people are the nicest I have met anywhere in Gamindustri." She interrupted her gushing to smile at them all, which in turn made IF smile. Of course her friend would have been around most of the world already.
By herself, IF was content with how her life had turned out. Now, in preparation for what was to come, her next stop would be the Land of Black Regality.