Chapter Two
New Life at the Dispatch
"Everyone, before you get to work, I want to make an announcement. We'll be having a new recruit joining our department shortly."
Alan, Eric, Ronald, and Grell looked up at William sharply, as if making sure they had heard him correctly. Seeing that there had been no mistake, their faces broke out into grins.
"Finally, it's been getting boring here with just us and all of this paperwork." Eric said happily.
"Agreed. So, who is he?" Alan asked curiously.
"It's not some man you'll love more than me, is it!?" Grell asked, earning a shudder of revulsion from the others.
"For starters, it's not a man. Our new recruit is a woman." William answered, adjusting his glasses.
The others sat in stunned silence for several seconds. There were, of course, female Shinigami. There were plenty of them. However, they usually worked in the Administrative or Human Resources Departments. They were perceived as being to sensitive to emotion to work in the Dispatch, the groups that actually collected the souls.
"Are you sure about this?" Alan asked, looking concerned.
"Yes. In fact, I'm more sure of her ability than the abilities of anyone else here. She got A's in all three of her exam scores. That's an A in physical reaping, an A in writing, and an A in ethics. That's better even than I did. I am quite sure of her ability." William answered sternly, making sure that everyone got the point before returning to his office.
As soon as William's door had closed, the four men looked at one another with concern.
"Sounds like she did well on the exam, and that's a physical reaping. If she can handle that then she's qualified to work here, after all." Eric said slowly, sounding more like he was trying to reassure himself than them.
"Yeah, that's right. The exam is no easy task." Ronald added, glancing at the door.
"And it'll be nice to have someone to talk girl things with!" Grell grinned happily.
A few minutes of silent anticipation passed before the door finally swung open. The group turned quickly, eager to see the new Shinigami. A young woman walked slowly through the door, blushing a deep scarlet when she noticed them all staring at her. She had short dark brown hair and vibrant green eyes, and work a simple dark blue suit and equally blue glasses. She wore a pair of giant blue headphones around her neck, with a cord that ran to one of her jacket pockets. She carried her employee report in one hand, and a dark blue and silver electric key-tar in the other.
"Uhm, this is the Dispatch Society, right?" she asked in a light, nervous voice.
"Of course dear! Oh, look at you! You're adorable! And what's with the key-tar?" Grell asked, jumping up and walking up to get a closer look at it.
"That's what I was wondering."
William had walked out of his office once he noticed her presence, and was looking intently at the guitar.
"Oh, i-it's just my Death Scythe. I got it approved and everything!" she added quickly, noticing William's pensive look.
"I don't see and blades on it." Alan said, leaning over his desk to get a better look at the instrument.
The young woman smiled and pressed a key close to the neck of the key-tar, and sharp blades popped out of one side with a loud rasp. The group grinned at the strange scythe.
"That's pretty cool." Ronald said in awe, grinning brilliantly at her.
"Thanks." she replied, turning a deeper red.
"Alright, everyone. This is Mrs. Ashling Hauwlsul. Help her out if she needs it. For today, we'll just have you doing paperwork. Your report please." William said quickly, holding his hand out to her.
"Right, here you are, Mr. Spears." Ashling replied quickly, handing the report to him.
William flipped through it quickly and lifted an eyebrow.
"You can just call me William, or Will if you like. It says here you can't go out on reapings during the middle of the moon phases. Why is that?" he asked curiously.
"Ah, uhm, it's not safe." she replied quietly, blushing again.
"Is that so? You're a Shinigami, you shouldn't be scared of the dark, or the moon."
Ashling looked up at him shyly and sighed.
"There are things out there, in the dark and under the moon, that everyone should be afraid of, William." she said softly.
William sighed and nodded curtly before turning and striding back into his office. The others watched as Ashling walked to her new desk, which had been set up next to Grell's. She sat quickly and leaned her key-tar against the wall before grabbing the first report off of her desk. The room was quiet for a couple of hours, but soon they had run out of things to look over. It was a slow day, and there were not any souls scheduled for reaping that day. Ronald glanced over at Ashling, and smirked when he noticed that she had slipped her headphones onto her ears. She was bobbing her head slightly to the beat of the music, and he had to wave to get her attention. She immediately slipped the headphones off and looked at him curiously.
"What is it, senpai?" she asked anxiously.
Ronald blinked at that, realizing that he wasn't the youngest in the group anymore. He grinned wider.
"We never got to introduce ourselves. My name's Ronald Knox." he said with his signature charming smile.
"Ooh, right! I'm Grell Sutcliffe!" Grell chirped happily.
"Eric Slingby." Eric said calmly.
"And my name's Alan Humphries. Nice to meet you." Alan added quickly.
Ashling blushed softly and smiled at them.
"It's nice to meet all of you, too." she said softly.
"So, about the key-tar...can you actually play it?" Ronald asked curiously.
"Hn? Oh, yes sir. Would you like for me to?" Ashling asked, reaching out to place her small hand on it tentatively.
"Please. And you don't have to call me sir, or senpai. Just Ronald."
"Yes, Ronald."
Ashling stood up and picked the instrument up, throwing the strap across her shoulders. She pressed a few of the keys softly, and it played a few ringing notes. The other Shinigami gave her encouraging nods before she began to play.
She began a slow, somewhat sad sounding song, closing her eyes as she got more into the music. After a moment they were surprised to hear her singing quietly to herself. They listened happily to her, and clapped when she finished a few minutes later.
"That was brilliant!" Eric said with a grin.
"Yes, absolutely wonderful! Sent chills up my spine~!" Grell gushed, blushing softly.
"That was awesome!" Ronald added quickly, not at all sure how to respond.
"Yes, very well done, Mrs. Hauwlsul, but I suggest you all get back to work or it's unpaid overtime."
William was leaning against his door frame, looking at them sternly.
"We're all done with everything. Today was a slow day." Alan said quickly, seeing the nervous look on Ashling's face.
William lifted an eyebrow.
"Is that so?" he asked.
The others nodded quickly, and William sighed.
"Unusual, but very well. Why not play some more for us, then, Ashling?"
Ashling smiled and nodded before beginning a more lively tune. It was a new day at the Dispatch, and things were looking up for her. She smiled wider and sang to herself, glad to have finally gotten into the Shinigami Dispatch Society. She had been looking forward to this for months. As long as she stayed out of the light of the moon's middle phase, nothing could ruin her happiness. Nothing.
Okay, a little bit of explaining here. For those of you who don't know what a Key-tar is, it's similar to a keyboard but is attached to a strap and held like a guitar. They're pretty cool. Ashling is an Irish name, and Hauwlsul is something I made up. It's pronounced "Howl-soul". Hope you enjoyed this little introductory chapter!
~Silver