"And then she said something 'bout me not bein' all committed and how I'm always cheatin' on her, but I'm not. I mean, just because I take other girls out on dates doesn't mean I'm cheating! I just feel sorry for 'em cause they're all single and everything. Personally, I think she's gotta scythe through her brain or somethin'...Geez."
Once again, the infamous Ronald Knox was going on about one of his break-ups with his now ex-girlfriend, Rebecca ("Becca") Longlynn, instead of doing the veritable mountain of paperwork set out before him on his ebony desk. The desk was situated in the center of the blonde's office on a purple rug; the room painted white and black with several miscellaneous items (rubber plants, a clock, filing cabinets, a table, etc.) were (CHANE WERE LINED UP TO LINING THE. IT FLOWS BETTER AND IS MORE GRAMATICALLT CORRECT -TO SEE WHAT I MEAN, READ THIS SECTION ALOUD.) lined up along the walls. Ronald was sitting in a black, roll-around chair closest to the door, and on the opposite end of the desk was a white-haired reaper by the name of Elzabeth. Elzabeth M. Spears. Her long, snow white hair hung down; covering her face as she payed no heed to the blonde Shinigami across from her. She had earlier been asked to help young Knox with catching up on his paperwork; a job she was forced to do all too often. More or less, by helping, she was actually doing the paperwork for him. Nevertheless, she did it with little complaint. It was, after all, her job as a Shinigami, and what kind of reaper would she be if she couldn't do a little paperwork?
The white reaper stayed silent, the only sound in the room was the scratching of her pencil and ticking of the purple clock hung upon the eastern wall. At last, it was the blonde who broke the silence, "So what are ya doin' Saturday?"
"Working" was her cold reply, not even bothering to chance a glance at the reaper with bi-colored locks.
"Is that, like, all you ever do?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow and giving a smug look in Elzabeth's direction.
"You should know that by now, Ronald."
"Dude, ya need to like, get out or something. When's the last time you've had a boyfriend?" There was an inquisitive tone in his voice as he leaned back in his chair; putting both feet up on his desk and cradling his head in his hands.
"The last time you were single." she scoffed, not looking up as she swept Ronald's feet off the desk easily with her pencil. "Never."
"Hey! That's not fair! I don't date all the time! I'm single now! It's been a whole three hours!" Ronald crossed his arms defiantly, pursing his lips in a pout as he crossed his right leg over the left.
"Wow, a new record. Three hours without a girlfriend, that must be painful. I hope you don't die from the stress, I don't take kindly to the thought of having to do you paperwork for the rest of eternity. Wait, never mind. I already do that anyway. Scythe forbid you took advantage of your relationship status and actually do what you're being paid to do." Elzabeth chastised, rolling her eyes and reaching for another form to fill out.
"Dude, you have no idea how hard it is for me! Girls are crawling up my legs just to date me, and if I don't get a girl soon, they might start calling dibs on which body parts they want to date," he groaned, running the palms of his hands down his face dramatically.
"You whine like Grell-senpai."
"Well, I'll pass on the paperwork, I gotta date with a hot chick tonight," he chirped, grinning as he pointed to himself with his thumbs.
"Shocker." Elzabeth rolled her eyes a second time, flexing her hand slightly as it was starting to begin to cramp from the endless hours of writing she had endured. "Who's the unfortunate secretary that has to deal with your lame jokes and cheesy pick-up lines tonight?"
"Eh, she's no secretary. She actually works in the Dispatch," he said as matter-of-factly, still grinning.
This peaked the white haired reaper's interest, and at last she looked up while quirking an eyebrow. The black framed glasses adorned with a single white rose on either side flashed as the light reflected them, and her two-toned gaze met Ronald's. As far as Elzabeth knew, there were only three female officers in the entire Dispatch, and she was one of them. The second was a blonde reaper that had been assigned to be Ronald's caretaker when he was reaped and she went by the name of Felicianna Knox; the Italian Dispatch Director. Most reapers were reincarnated from their human lives after they died, and there were only a handful of pure blood (or born) reapers in the entire Dispatch. Any reaper who died before the age of seventeen was assigned a caretaker, or foster parent, until they turned seventeen and were admitted into the Academy. All 'adopted' reapers had their last name changed to that of their caretaker's. Such a thing happened with Elzabeth herself, as she was the youngest ever to be reaped; dying at the age of seven and assigned William T. Spears.
Besides Elzabeth and Felicianna, the last female reaper was Rachel E. Goodwin, otherwise known as 'Rae'. She was a transfer from the Paris Division in the French Dispatch. No one quite knew why the brunette had been transferred. Some say it was because she had a bad habit of drinking on the job; others say that it was because she was mentally unstable, and there were a select few that believe that it was because of a terrible incident. Elzabeth herself had no idea, and she only knew Rae because she was the reaper that Elzabeth had been assigned with during the final exam. She was the only other female reaper besides Elzabeth that Ronald could possibly have his eye on.
"Rae? You are aware that she isn't into men, aren't you?" she questioned the white clad reaper. She had learned that herself personally when the brunette had been flirting with her in the break room. Needless to say, Elzabeth made it clear she wanted nothing to do with the French reaper and the two were still on good terms to this day.
"Well duh, I didn't mean her. She's too much like Grell-senpai anyway; it'd be like dating him." Ronald shivered at the thought of dating his senior, though the smug expression returned to his face and stayed there as if it was plastered to his face like wallpaper.
"Then who are you implying?" The sharp note in her tone grew slightly, her dual colored eyes narrowing as she threw the blonde a threatening glance; almost as if she was daring him to say what she knew he was bound to. She knew exactly what he would say next, as the two of them had been down this road several times before. Each time, the answer was the same: no. However, Ronald Knox was famous for always getting his girl, and he was as persistent as ever-much to Elzabeth's dismay.
Paying no heed to the warning glare he was receiving from across his paper clad desk, he winked; grin forming from ear to ear. "Who else?"
Elzabeth sighed, rubbing her temple in an attempt to stop the headache she knew was coming. She then closed her green and amber eyes before speaking. "No."
It wasn't as if she minded going out somewhere, but the fact it would be with Ronald Knox, of all people. The thought revolted her, disgusted her; it was almost unimaginable. She was a Shinigami; a Death God/Goddess. There was no time for such childish games-especially with Ronald Knox. She had no interest in the blonde whatsoever, nor would she ever, and if she was in a burning building and had to choose between Ronald Knox and her paperwork, she'd choose paperwork every time. He was impetuous, self-centered, stupid, lazy, disrespectful, and downright annoying. If he could have any girlfriend more than a week, it was a miracle. However, there seemed to be a never-ending line for the blonde, and once Ronald broke up with one, it wasn't long before another girl took his place. Of course, Elzabeth could hardly blame them them; Knox was rather handsome, and polite (when he wanted to be), but his reckless, headstrong, stupid demeanor was something that Ms. Spears couldn't help but not stand. The blonde knew exactly how to push every single one of her buttons, and he did a damn good job at pushing those buttons everyday. Elzabeth swore that one day she would kill the annoying, or at least beat the devil out of him. Too bad there was a ban on such violence, and fighting was strictly frowned upon in the workplace. Otherwise the blonde would have died a long time ago.
"Aw come on, Elz!" She cringed as he called her that...Otherwise known as: the forbidden name. Elzabeth thought she had made it clear with the blonde that she had absolutely despised the nickname he had given her. For some reason, Ronald gave names to every single reaper that came into the Dispatch except for Grell and William; but with good reasons. Grell...well, it was too short and almost impossible to come up with a nickname, and if Ronald had made up a nickname, and the redhead hadn't liked it, then there wouldn't be anything left of the blonde (save for the several splatters of blood on the walls, ceiling, and floor). And William? Well the only one who had ever gotten away with calling him Will was Grell; anyone else was given overtime or hit upside the head with his pruning shears. Needless to say, no one dared to call him Will or Willy except the over-zealous redhead. "You know you want to."
"NO." Elzabeth glared at him, nearly snapping her pencil as she gripped it tightly in frustration and hissed at him through her gritted teeth.
Ronald laughed, standing up when he did not receive the answer he was looking for-though the white haired reaper went back to her pencil-pushing and ignoring him. He walked around to stand behind her before wrapping his arms around her waist; resting his chin on her shoulder between the two black stripes on her formal, white jacket (which bore silver buttons and two black stripes down either sleeve).
"Are you sure?" he crooned, smirking as Elzabeth stiffened.
The white-haired reaper was about to round on him, intent on driving her scythe so far up his arse he could lick it. However, it was not to be. A firm, loud knock against the office door drew their attention, and Ronald left her side as quickly as he had come.
"Sup, Marty?!" he chimed as he opened the door, giving a mock salute as he saw the huge reaper outside the room.
Martin Riesenberg: director of the British Dispatch. He was like the Shinigami version of the Jolly Green Giant. Minus the green. The reaper had platinum blonde hair and stood almost six and a half feet tall; weighing a full hundred and seventy-two pounds of raw muscle. To put it simply: he wasn't little. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a pair of black glasses as he chewed on the cigar in his mouth. Martin slid it to the corner of his lips as he blew out and began to speak. "Aye, not much, Ron." His two-toned gaze flew over to where Elzabeth was sitting. "Am I interrupting something?"
The working reaper sighed, looking up and adjusting her glasses with her pencil. "No sir. Nothing but paperwork, Mr. Riesenberg."
"Ah, yes. Paperwork. The Spears' reputation; cold ass pencil pushers." Despite his rank as a director, Martin was one of the...ruder Shinigami in the Dispatch. Nevertheless, he was hard working, and one of the oldest Shinigami left; perhaps around half a millenia or so. "You're too much like your father."
"Mr. Spears is not my father; he was merely a temporary guardian until I was old enough to join the Academy. As for my demeanor, Mr. Riesenberg, I was only humbly following the rules and expectations of this Dispatch and Shinigami-kind. I merely live to serve," she stated, an icy edge in her tone-almost bitter. Elzabeth then stood, picking up a rather large ledger and tucking it under her arm before starting towards the door. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have an appointment at four o' clock sharp this evening. Good day to the both of you."
"Temporary guardian? So that's why you kept your last name Spears and have adoption forms in your file. Makes sense." Martin chuckled, smirking as the white haired reaper walked past him.
Elzabeth froze, glaring back at the two blonde reapers behind her out of the corner of her eyes. "Mr. Riesenberg, you are aware at our adoption policy, so you see that I was assigned Mr. Spears simply as a caretaker until I had reached the proper age. I do thank Mr. Spears on his patience through the long decade in which he was forced to put up with my presence, but he was and will never be father to me. You see, words are only words. What matters is the connections you make with them. As Ms. Juliet so beautifully said: a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. It does not matter what I refer to him as, but the connection I make with that word. I do not call him father, because others would get the ridiculous notion that I actually care about him; that I actually have feelings towards him. And I do not have such fickle emotions. The only feeling I have towards Mr. Spears is respect. He is my coworker and boss, no more, no less. That is the way it's been, and the way it shall always be."
And she left without another word.