3rd Person POV
The office was as busy as ever and consisted of 26 people in total. Due to the calling of the main headquarters requesting a 1/4 of the workforce from all its branches. This office is just one of the branches that are connected to the main building that is currently based in California, this office is known as the Crimson Fairy branch that is run by the infamous Scarlet Queen, Mrs Erza Scarlet herself.
The other office branch is based in the UK and is known as "Zeus" which is run by the Yellow Beast, Laxus Dreyar. The main Headquarters of Fairy Tail Corp is run by Laxus' Grandfather; Sir Makarov Dreyar, the CEO of Fairy Tail Corp.
In one of the meeting rooms, an ongoing discussion was making sparks that sent shivers down the backs of everyone who worked there.
Erza slammed her hands on the marble table in front of her, "Thanks to the CEO's call for our members, our numbers have been staggering!"
She pulled a remote from her blazer pocket and pointed it at the screen behind her. The white screen flashed to two bar charts, "Just last month we had a total of 60 members on this floor alone, this is where most of our important staff work hand in hand with one another,"
She then enhanced the second bar chart to show the drastic fall from last month to now, "And now, we are working with 21 people in this office, excluding ourselves. This total is divided into 3 of our major groups: The Analytics Team, The Marketing Team, and The Sales Team,"
Lucy raised a hand up and cleared her throat, "Can we not request for some help from the Zeus branch?"
"They are currently undergoing the same issue, not to mention they have two other departments to make a priority," Erza responded.
"How urgent was the CEO's call that he had to split our workforce into halves?" The blue-haired petite woman with red glasses asked.
"He did not give a logical reason, not even to Laxus. I'm assuming it has something to do with another office opening across the States, I'm sure that the CEO is aware of what splitting our workforce can do to FTC (Fairy Tail Corp.), we just need to have faith in his decision." Erza explained to her.
"So how serious is our situation now?" Loki asked with a raised brow.
"Dire." Erza responded, "Which is why Mr Fullbuster has come up with a solution to our issue,"
She held out the remote to him.
Mr Fullbuster stood up from his seat and took the remote from her hands, and took a stand near the screen, "Good Afternoon all, I'm sure that you are aware of the gradual increase in tasks that I delivered to you recently. From the chart Erza presented to us, we've come to the decision of mixing the number of people we have into groups of 7,"
Mr Fullbuster revealed the groups of seven on the screen and the leaders of those groups, "I'll be leading the Ice Group, Mrs Scarlet will lead the Fairy Group, and Mrs McGarden will lead the Script Group,"
"Those are some odd group names," Loki chuckled.
"Bite me. Loki you will work within Mrs Scarlet's group. Lucy, I have heeded your request and find it remarkable that you want to learn a bit more from the Analytics Team, so I have placed you in the care of Mrs McGarden who is both the Manager of Analytics & Marketing," Mr Fullbuster said as he gently placed the remote on the table and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Lucy raised her hand, "Pardon me Sir, but there is a few odd numbers on each team,"
"Ah yes. Depending on both the workload and the expertise of those on the team, one team will have more than the others and vice versa. For the Script Team, a freelancer that we work very well with will be taking that spot. Our Team work will begin after Lunch period that is in about 30 minutes so consider this an extra 30 minutes of lunch time. Please do enjoy. Dismissed."
Mrs Scarlet and Mr Fullbuster quickly left the meeting room with their documents in hand. Loki and Lucy remained back to clear the table and the room.
"I never knew you had a thing for Analytics," Loki said to her as he stacked the books and placed them on the chest of drawers that lined up against the window in the room.
"I already told you that I have more to me than just fitness and healthy eating. I'm looking to learn more from all my colleagues whilst being here,"
"That's the right mindset to have." A calm voice said aloud.
Loki and Lucy turned to the source of the voice and saw the small petite woman with blue hair and red glasses standing neatly with her laptop in hand. She smiled up at the blonde and held out a hand for her to shake,
"I don't believe we've met yet," She said politely.
"My apologies, I just started last month," Lucy said as she shook the lady's hand.
"So I've heard, I am Mrs Levy McGarden of both the Marketing & Analytics Teams but you may just call me Levy. Referring to me as Mrs McGarden makes me feel old," Levy said with a wide smile on her face.
"Why would you think that? It's only a sign of respect," Lucy complimented.
"I'm only 28, people don't need to talk to me like I've hit the end of my prime," Levy said with an embarrassed expression on her face.
Loki laughed behind them.
Levy shook her head and got back to what she wanted to say, "Either way, I look forward to working with you. Please come to me whenever you have any questions,"
"Will do!" Lucy nodded.
Immediately the two had begun a conversation that made Loki roll his eyes at Lucy's antics. She made it so easy to talk to people, to befriend them, and even make them like her just as much. How did she do it? What course gave her this kind of experience to be so good with people?
Fast forward and the three are already making their way to lunch, Loki walked behind them as the two were in front of him, talking about Levy's leave from work due to a family emergency which was just her being pregnant with her husband's son.
Loki looked into Office 1C and saw that the lights were off and completely empty. He found this odd considering a certain pink-haired colleague was supposed to be working there right now.
Loki shook his head, "That's surprising,"
Just then the elevator bell rang and the doors opened wide. A pair of white sneakers stepped out from the office,
Levy and Loki smiled at the sight of the person who came out of the elevator.
Mr Fullbuster appeared from behind them and cleared his throat, "Welcome Lisanna, it's finally good to see you."
"It's good to see you too, Gray," The silver-haired woman known as Lisanna spoke up. She had short hair and dressed like a Trainee than a full cast member. She wore a mint-green and white tracksuit with the sleeves rolled up, two golden bangles on her left wrist, and had gorgeous blue eyes that complimented her silver hair.
"Lisanna! Heyyy," Loki ran up to her, "What are you doing here?"
"To work obviously, I was requested by Erza to help out with the cutting of the workforce that the CEO handed out." Lisanna told him.
"Welp, that makes sense," Loki rubbed the back of his head.
"How about you playboy? You still the centre of attention for the ladies?" Lisanna teased as she nudged him in the side.
"Ahh come on! Those times are way behind me," Loki chuckled as he lightly pushed Lisanna back and glanced over at the blonde to see if she noticed.
The silver-haired beauty ran up to Levy and brought her into a tight hug, "I haven't seen you in forever, Levy! How's Gajeel and the baby?"
"Oop! They are doing great! Gajeel's taken up a lot of responsibilities so he hasn't been able to drop by as much," Levy said as she moved back from the hug.
"It's not like he always wanted to," Lisanna giggled alongside Levy.
"I guess you're right,"
"Lisanna, please introduce yourself to our new member, Lucy Heartfilia. She will be in the same Team as you, as a superior, make sure to set an example," Mr Fullbuster said as he laid his hand on her shoulder.
"When did you start acting like an old man, Gray?" Lisanna chuckled as she looked up at the black-haired" man.
"Being old and mature are two different things," Mr Fullbuster rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say," Lisanna said as she walked away from Gray and up to Lucy who already had a hand out to shake Lisanna's.
"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, I hope we can get along Lisanna..." Lucy trailed off.
"Strauss. Lisanna Strauss." Lisanna shook her hand, "Come to me whenever you want to know the deep dark secrets of everyone here,"
"I'm sure that won't be necessary, hehe," Lucy stepped back from the handshake and waved her hands frantically.
Lisanna smiled from ear to ear, "It will be absolutely necessary. I can give 10 good reasons to steer clear of Loki, you see he-."
Loki jumped behind Lisanna, covered her mouth and pulled her into a tight squeeze, "He has been the most polite and easy-going person in the whole wide world! Don't you mind Lisanna, she has schizophrenia,"
Lucy and Levy laughed lightly at their foolish antics.
"So, where's Natsu?" Lisanna asked after getting out of Loki's grip.
"Not in, at least not yet," Gray told her. He let out an annoyed sigh, "Out of all the days that we need him and he's not around,"
"Probably out of juice, especially with the way he works. How bad do you need him, Gray?" Lisanna swirled around on her feet and smirked at the black-haired man.
"Quit it. Just get him here as soon as you can," Gray told her.
"Aye, Aye, Captain!" Lisanna saluted.
"Pardon me, Ms Strauss, you know where Mr Dragneel is?" Lucy asked with a neutral tone.
"You ask that like he's anywhere else but in his bed," Lisanna said as she dug into her pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. She singled out a red key and held it up, "I'm simply going over to kick him out of bed, you wanna come with? We can get to know each other on the way,"
Lisanna pressed the button to call for the elevator.
Lucy pointed at herself, "I don't know, I may be needed here at any moment-."
"It's your lunch break, remember? Plus, it would be humbling to know that you can make sure they don't kill each other, Ms Heartfilia," Gray said as he lightly pushed Lucy on the back.
"Alright, alright, I can't exactly say no to my Manager," Lucy said as she clasped her hand together.
"Perfect. Let's get going then!" Lisanna said as the elevator doors opened.
Natsu's POV
I sat up immediately in a cold sweat, I looked at my surroundings and noticed that I was in my apartment, tucked into my bed.
"What the hell was I up to last night?"
I looked at my apartment and it was pretty much the same - untidy and all over the place.
I let out a yawn and glanced over at my phone that was sitting on the desk beside my bed, I picked it up and proceeded to turn it on.
"12:50 PM!?" I dropped out of my bed onto the floor and realised that I was still in my work clothes from before.
I tore off my clothes and threw them into the wash.
"I'm dead, I'm dead! Mrs Scarlet is going to murder me! I was supposed to drop those books on her desk this morning, how could I have overslept?"
It's not like me to oversleep, whether I've rested well or not, I will always wake up early.
It's a habit.
One I'm not willing to change.
I ran into the bathroom, quickly took a shower, brushed my teeth then came out as soon possible. I went over to my closet and threw on some boxer shorts.
Of course, the wash wasn't done yet so I decided to halt my rushing and try to fish through my memories of last night.
I can't remember a damn thing after leaving the office. I know I was working late and got forced by Ms Heartfilia to go home, she handed me a bottle of water and after that, I remember going down to the lobby with her and then things went blank.
I held my chin between my thumb and index finger, "I could probably ask Ms Heartfilia if she remembers what way I went last night... then again, why would she care? It's my own responsibility to take care of myself, if I fucked up, I fucked up,"
I kicked a book across the room and instantly regretted it.
That actually hurt... a lot!
"Dammit! Fuck me!"
"Okay, right now?" I recognised that voice and immediately turned to the source, "Or should we wait for when you've stopped whining?"
My door was wide open, the lock being opened by that special red key, and there she was, leaning by the door frame with that smug look that she always used to give me.
It was so much of a surprise that I couldn't see anything else but her at that moment.
"Liz..." I said softly.
"Long time no see, Natsu,"
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To Be Continued