Without so much as a knock, the door to the Doctor's office slid open. As soon as visibility was possible, a pair of sharp, green eyes looked up from their documents to the messy sight of the office with the Doctor slumped over his desk, snoring deeply with a pen pinned under one of his hands.

Kal'tsit stepped over some debris to reach the desk and took a good long look at one of the top most executives of Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals, clearly exhausted from overworking himself. Not like Kal'tsit was entirely one to talk, but she was confident in her abilities in working overtime. Never in the past did she allow herself to fall asleep on the job, but even then, she noticed the sanity potion bottles scattered about. Bottles that weren't there yesterday. Seems the fool finally reached his limit.

One by one, her hands reached for the bottles, not making so much as a clink when she piled them up in her free hand. Quietly, she placed each individual one in the office recycling bin. Looking over her head, she gazed at the Doctor snoring with moderate loudness. He was out like a light, she could tell. She noticed that while the bottles were cleaned up, there was still quite a mess.

"Hmph, useless," Kal'tsit muttered as she bent over to pick up some of the rubbish lying around. "Can't even keep your own office clean, same as ever."

A snort escaped him and her ears stiffened as her eyes looked with dilated pupils, carefully observing him with great focus. Her efforts were rewarded with the sound of his normal snoring continuing. She let loose a small sigh, thanking whatever stroke of luck allowed her to go this far without him noticing.

"But perhaps it is telling, just how dedicated you are to your own work," she whispered softly. Trash quietly fell into a bin with a soft sound near his desk and she paused to look at him. His sleeping posture was beyond terrible, but he was sleeping at a desk after all.

As she stared at the Doctor, she felt something stir.

"You've been through much since I met you," she whispered, finding herself lost in the sight. "I wonder, what spurred you to change this time?"

Suddenly, the snoring stopped and words escaped the Doctor's mouth, "I…wished…it had been different…"

Hairs stood on end as she straightened her posture, but instead the snoring continued. Kal'tsit relaxed her posture and leaned down. Slowly, she lifted a hand to the mask and wrapped her fingers around the locking mechanism. She knew how heavy of a sleeper he could be when truly exhausted, but she still moved with the utmost care.

How many years had it been since she allowed herself this privilege? To gaze upon his face once more. There was a time she wanted nothing more than the mask to be his face, so that she couldn't see him as human. After all, it was his fault.

She was almost surprised to see how peaceful it was, and she felt her lips twitch ever so slightly at the sight.

"I wish…we could've trusted each other," she said softly to him.

Trust, what an odd word. If anyone looked to Kal'tsit's actions over the years, any outsider could tell she trusted the Doctor. She would say she trusted his skills, but if one read between the lines of their relationship, it was indeed an unconditional trust for the man himself. She just didn't want to admit it herself. After all, she still wore the ring, as though they never ended their relationship on a bad note, perhaps there were many things she didn't want to admit.

"...I'm sorry…" Doctor mumbled in his sleep. Kal'tsit blinked, a blank yet shocked expression showed on her face as she held her lips open ever so slightly. The mask was put back on, clicked into place gently while he continued snoring.

Perhaps she had been too hard on him for the past three years.

"No matter what," she softly told him. "I will never forget the oath I swore to you and Amiya. I will never abandon that. Perhaps…"

"...Perhaps I'm the fool…"

"...Perhaps one day, we can mend this rift."

"That concludes this meeting, we'll send a messenger to Rhine Labs in Columbia to finalize the transaction."

With Wei's declaration, the meeting disbanded, stuff was gathered up and some left the room in a hurry. As Evan was preparing his materials to return to the branch office, a hand slammed on his desk near him. Looking up, he was greeted with Beatrice's shiteating grin and soon a few strong slaps on the back.

"Well look at you, three months later and you're selling some new revolutionary product. I certainly didn't expect this out of you."

"Gentleman that I am, I'll take that as a compliment."

"Good choice, hey, let's you and your buddies hit the bar to celebrate. Feel free to use me as a tab if the bar won't accept one."

"So, more debt?"

"As much as it takes for you to keep writing letters to me."

The two continued their banter as Evan collected his things, under the watchful and curious gaze of a certain dragon. Once they were finished, they moved to meet with the rest of the group who seemed rather amiable to drinks. After a little bit of suspicious whispering between Ace and Closure, it was quickly decided where they would go for their little celebration. Evan noticed Ch'en seemed to flinch at the mention of the bar name, but he didn't read into it any further.

"Oh, I'll let Hoshi know where we're going and she can join us after she wraps up."

"She might have a lot more than normal to do, are you sure she has the time?"

Swire looked at Ch'en with her brows knitted together which seemed to agitate the dragon lady, visibly at that if the tail was anything to go by. It swished like an annoyed cat's ironically. With interest from various eyes, they were observed as though they were street cats about to fight at any moment. That was until Swire gave a long, low, exasperated sigh and continued typing into her phone.

"You really are dense as a brick, you know. I'm willing to bet 10k LMD that she'll show up."

"...Fine, see if I care," Ch'en replied dismissively before waving her off and walking away.

Some quiet swearing and a cramped elevator ride later, they ended up back in the lobby. Each person entered their assigned vehicle and they began the drive to the bar. Ace called shotgun for the purpose of showing him the way to the bar, leaving Closure in the back to fiddle with whatever she could back there. Not that there was anything of significance for her to damage in the first place.

The drive wasn't particularly long, and the traffic was rather light that day. Of course, pulling up they found the lungmenites had arrived just a tad earlier.

"So, this is what totaled your car, huh?" Ch'en asked with a rare bite to her expression.

"Shut up."

With that jab done, they went on in to find a rather nice looking bar with what seemed to be relatively new furniture. A wall behind the back was absolutely lined with expensive looking liquors, but no bartender could be found. Instead, the penguin logistics operators were on a couch with Texas sitting next to a literal angel with glowing halo and wings while Croissant was next to a penguin dressed like a stereotypical gangster with…

"Is that a tupac shirt?!"

They were all watching a girl dressed in what seemed like a suit at first glance singing on the table they were surrounding with a mic in one hand as she made wide gestures with the other.

"Oh, welcome!" the blonde idol girl said with a wink and a peace sign before losing balance.

In a flash, Texas shot up from her seat and set her arm to catch the falling blonde who had her eyes closed, waiting for the ground to hit. When she got caught, she opened her eyes quickly to see Texas' face and immediately flushed red with embarrassment.

"Oi, who's barging in at this hour, didn't you see-. Wait, who was supposed to put up the closed sign?!" the gangster penguin spouted from his seat, bottle and a cigar somehow being held in the flippers.

"I'm sure it's hardly a bother, you looked like you were enjoying yourselves," Ace commented with a somewhat cheeky grin on his face.

"Let's see, LGD, Elite Combat Operators, Closure, and a new face…or two, where did you come from?" Emperor asked as he pointed his cigar at Mayer and then Evan.

"I've been here since the beginning."

"Really? Odd," the penguin commented. He hopped off the chair and waddled over to Evan, staring at him for a good moment or two while muttering to himself. "Oh, ooooooh, I get it. It's one of you, haven't seen your kind around for a while."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you mean by that, Emperor? What do you know about Evan?"

"Easy there Closure, I know about as much of these matters as you do, probably. No doubt, you have a lot of questions, and I could only answer the meaningless ones for now. But I don't want any serious talk today, you guys came here to wet your beaks, celebrate a little? Well you've come to the right place. Feel free to use the bar as you see fit…just so long as you don't take anything without paying."

To some surprised looks, Evan walked over to the bar and behind it. As the penguin instructed, he looked at the rows of bottles and picked out a few. Afterwards, he began picking up the various barkeeping equipment and set it in an order that made sense to him.

"Well, color me surprised, I didn't know you could bartend," Closure replied with a pleased grin and took a seat at the bar.

"Well, I don't know about drinks from Terra, but I can certainly give you what I know."

"Do you know what a bloody mary is?" Closure asked with a sharp grin on her face that showed off her fangs.

"So long as it's not literal…hope you like tomatoes."

"Eh, sure, I can always spice it up with some of this," she said while pulling out a pouch of blood.

"Hey, that's unsanitary, put it away. You asked for a bloody mary, you're getting a bloody mary."

"You're no fun," Closure pouted while shoving the blood pouch back in her jacket's inner pocket.

"Oooh, this looks fun. Hey, give me something with that quality Londinium gin over there," Swire ordered as she took a seat. It didn't take long to imagine a drink that would sit well with her, but he also didn't want to do anything overly complicated. He just didn't want to go overboard when he didn't know the full capacity of what was available to him. Ah, he knew exactly what to make.

They watched in some fascination as Evan first made Closure's request. A bloody mary was a staple drink in his world, so it wasn't too surprising he could find one named the same thing here if his hypothesis on otherworldly travel were correct. First was the worcestershire sauce, then he took a lemon and squeezed it over. Next was one part vodka and two parts tomato juice, he then stirred until they were thoroughly mixed together.

"Any preferred garnish, Miss Closure?" he asked with a small smile. That smile quickly faded when she reached into her coat pocket. "I'm afraid you'll have to do that yourself."

Next was Swire's. While he was sure sweet and fancy would sit well with her, he didn't have any idea if he had such capabilities. For now, he took out a bottle of gin, club soda, triple sec, and some grenadine. For this, he put ice in a glass and placed the alcohol first. The gin and triple sec were both one part, and he filled it with club soda. He stirred it a little then added grenadine on top. Last, a single candied cherry.

"And for Miss Beatrice Swire, a gin rose."

The tiger took a sip and replied, "Not bad, where'd you learn to bartend?"

"Funny story, that. When I first started drinking, my parents enjoyed making cocktails. Mom had a book on it really. I decided I would take a course between semesters at a technical college. The idea was I would bartend while going to grad school, but…well, I think you know the end to that story."

"Oh...sorry," Beatrice mumbled, looking away as though she were embarrassed. He could understand fully why she acted as such, but the reaction just didn't sit right with him. He didn't entirely know why either. It was odd, he felt oddly composed since coming to the other world.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. As far as I'm concerned, Evan landing his ass here is a good thing, for everyone," Closure replied, a light tint to her cheeks. "Things were starting to get boring around Rhodes Island before you came along."

"That's just another way of saying you need to get out into the field more."

"Shut up, Ace."

Ace gave a good natured laugh and Closure pouted like a child. Once that train of conversation was derailed away from him did Evan notice not all attention was off of him. A certain dragoness was staring at him intently.

"So, you wanna order a drink, or just stare like you want something from me?"

Before Ch'en could answer, a certain Lieutenant gave a smug grin and teased, "Oh, it's unlike you to stare at someone like that."

Ch'en flushed red like a tomato before sputtering, "I-It's not like that, I was just waiting for a chance to order a drink!"

"Then what will you order?" Beatrice probed further, her fang pointing out of her lips with mischievous intent.

"I…um…." Ch'en fumbled, trying to think while eyes focused on her, eagerly awaiting her answer, her excuse. "I-I'll take a beer!"

"Boo! Order a cocktail bitch."

"Shut up!" Ch'en shot with an angry look on her face. "I'm…"

"Wait…don't tell me…" Swire muttered while squinting hard at Ch'en. "Oh my goodness, you don't know any cocktail drinks!"

Evan just watched with mild fascination as Ch'en swore some unique Lungmen explicatives while he pulled out more ingredients. At the same time, he noticed Ace had snuck back behind the counter to take a bottle of whiskey while he discussed something about MEEBO combat capabilities with Mayer.

Either way, midway through the dragon and tiger's argument, a cocktail glass was slid in front of the flustered dragoness whose attention turned to the bobbing red liquid, then to who provided it and asked, "What is it?"

"A cosmopolitan," Evan answered plainly.

Ch'en lifted the glass and eyes the red drink carefully before bringing it to her lips and tipping it. She didn't entirely know what to expect, but as soon as the liquid entered her mouth her tongue was assaulted by a surprisingly pleasant boozy flavor that carried the aftertaste of cranberries. It actually struck a great balance, not too sweet, not too weird, and not too hard.

"It's good…" she muttered out loud. She then took another drink and placed her glass down. To that, she saw a pleased smile on her bartender's face and looked away, heat rising to her cheeks. "G-Good job, I don't often have cocktails, much less bother to learn their names."

Evan didn't entirely understand it, but seeing Ch'en like this erupted a desire to tease her deep within him. Before he could, however, the door opened and it drew their attention to a newcomer who gave a friendly wave and walked in.

"Oh, Hoshi's here. Looks like you owe me that LMD," Swire cheekily stated to jab at Ch'en. While he expected Ch'en to at least react, she surprisingly just decided to let it go and turned away from Swire, much to the tiger's visible chagrin.

Immediately, Hoshiguma and Ch'en were lost in their idle banter, which of course consisted of how Hoshiguma's day was managing the LGD office in their absence during the meetings, which drew Evan's attention back to Closure and Swire who were already, somehow, getting mildly tipsy if their mild flushing was anything to go off of.

"So, Miss Swire, what do you think so far, about Evan?" Closure openly asked with a smug grin on her face.

"W-What are you asking, right in front of him no less?!" Swire tried to whisper yell to Closure, only to find his attention was indeed on them.

"Ooo~? What are you so embarrassed about?"

"N-Nothing, get your mind out of the gutter!"

Unable to hold her cool any longer, Closure began laughing heartily while Swire's tail stood on end and bristled while she grinded her teeth at the vampire.

"Ok, ok, I meant as a person, an engineer, platonics like that. So, you gonna answer, or make it abundantly clear that-"

"Aaaaarrrrrgh, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Swire screamed while moving to clamp Closure's mouth shut, nearly pushing both of them off their barstools.

"At this point I might as well resign my fate to being an anime protagonist now…" Evan said to himself in his head as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.

The door to his car opened to reveal a very, very red vampire giggling to herself like a madwoman with a half finished bottle in hand. He just sighed and helped her out, slinking her arm around his shoulder.

"What a gentleman~" she cooed, barely avoiding a full slur to her words. After that, she took a swig of her bottle and the stench of alcohol filled his nostrils from her breath.

"Alright, let's get you back to your room," Evan flatly said with a smile betraying his tone.

The two stumbled through the branch office, curious gazes of various logistics operators went their way, but he did his best to ignore them. Some of them outright smiled or gave a gesture of sorts, not all of them implying what was in his mind simply a subordinate dragging their drunken boss back to her room.

After a trek and a couple phantom heaves from Closure, they finally made it to their rooms. Closure freed herself from his grasp and stumbled over. She carefully, and drunkenly, tried to tap her card to the lock. It beeped and flashed red and she pouted, trying again and again to get into her room.

Just as she was about to do something else, she felt a warm presence on her fingers and her hand moved itself to the pad. It carefully guided her own and the light finally blinked green and the doors opened. She stared at the face of who helped her and just gazed at him for a while. After what seemed like an eternity to her, he gazed back and smiled before giving her a reassuring pat on the back.

Next thing she knew, she had slinked her arm around his shoulder, earning her a surprised look. Something other than the alcohol was stirring within her, and she was too drunk to bother not listening to it.

"Help me to bed please…" she groaned. An open sigh escaped his lips and she looked down until her hair obscured his view of her face and she smiled. She nearly tripped a few times on the way to her bed, but she was caught, warm hands catching her stomach before she could fall and a strong grip on her shoulders.

"Here we are," he said as they finally made it to bed. "Now-"

He didn't get to utter a second word into his next sentence as she shoved his back and he stumbled face first onto the bed. She used her knees to push his legs the rest of the way and snaked them over his own. The bottle hit the floor, and its remnants escaped and trickled out. She slammed her arms to either side of his head and leaned her face in until they could both smell each other's breath.

By now, he had an adorable blush on his face and just looked at her with panic. A raw, animalistic instinct took over at the sight and he squirmed his legs a little, only for her knees to tighten their grip.

"C-Closure, I don't think this is-"

Her fingers touched his warm lips and she shushed him. Afterwards she giggled and leaned closer, he closed his eyes and she brought her lips to his ear.

"From here I can smell everything from the stink of alcohol to your delicious blood."

He started squirming harder and she clamped her legs down more, she giggled and a little drool left her mouth and dripped onto his ear. He called her name in an effort to grab her attention, but it only made her desire stronger, and she wasn't paying attention anyways. Her head snaked and inched closer towards his neck until he no doubt felt her stinking breath hit his jugular which pulsed quickly as adrenaline flooded his body.

"Someone, hel-" Evan tried to shout before she slammed a hand over his mouth and his voice muffled out. Not that it would make a difference in her mind. Now she was in a rush though and gave a small lick to his neck, warmth flooding her tongue and a salty taste she found herself craving more of. His muffles became stronger and she clamped her lips around the warm neck, feeling every pulse of the heart. No longer was her grip tightened because of his squirming. She traced the outline of his jugular with her tongue and she felt him tighten up, the fear serving to only further fuel her desire.

Her fangs felt the gentle pressure of his soft skin and her vision went blank.

A thump sounded and the weight on top of him increased. His heart pounded in his chest and a soft feeling splayed across his entire body. He had now closed his eyes and resigned his fate, waiting only for there to be nothing. Closure's grip on his mouth and hand loosened, and he felt her slightly cool breath alongside what drool she had gotten onto his neck. Her fangs were no longer primed to pierce his neck and she rose and fell gently on top of him.

Somehow, the fear and willpower overrode the deepest instinct of his brain in that moment and he only felt a little bit of blood flowing to a certain appendage in the body. He gave an open sigh of relief and proceeded to try and worm his way out from under her.

Almost immediately her arms snake around him just as he gets her halfway off of him and she grips tightly, panic rides into his system once more only for his gaze to see her soft, sleeping face red as a tomato gentle take in breaths.

"Warm…" the vampire murmurs in her sleep. Her legs wrap around his own and she cuddles up to him. Now the blood was fully rushing to two places in his body. He shuffled in her grip until he was facing the other way, so temptation didn't stare him in the face. He gave a yawn afterwards and felt the call to sleep beckon. He couldn't lie, she was just the right temperature too. Next thing he knew, she shifted to match his position, pressing as much of herself against him and he felt her breath down the back of his neck. She gave a cute little murmuring sound and he knew his fate was sealed.

Well, it was her fault anyways, and he was fairly tired.

Shortly after he fell to the sandman, the door was opened and the hulking figure of Ace stood outside the door. He walked in and pulled out his phone, opening the camera app and taking his sweet time to get the best possible angle. A fake shutter effect played and the moment was now saved forever on his phone. With his mission of checking up on the two complete, he walked back to his room, eager to see tomorrow morning.

Author's Note

I know what I said about Mostima and such, but upon writing this I thought this would be a far better alternative. Mostima got pushed to next chapter along with Evan's first encounter with baddies.

So I've started the school semester, so I don't know when the next chapter will be out.

As always, thanks for reading, love all the support from you guys.