Chapter 261: Chapter Two Hundred Sixty Two

Stella didn't come down to meet us, because she was busy and also in  charge. She DID call us up to say hello, which was nice, and if was fun  to see Celine and Benny awed by SOMETHING. Stella's office was  impressive in it's own right. It occurred to me that as a Guild Master  of one of the branches, she would have access to resources that an  F-ranker in Valen might not. I'd only ever met with E-rankers in  official faction headquarters, it was probable people like Alexander had  crazy rooms like this squirreled away somewhere to meet with other big  names.

The  Guild Master looked the same as I remembered, no nonsense bun, well  tailored suit, sitting at a huge wooden desk. Unlike the first time I'd  seen her though she was smiling warmly when she saw us. "Hail the  conquering heroes." She said with a chuckle. "My budget has nearly  tripled because of you two, you know? Between your win and the nonsense  Mr. Jack-tastic has been getting up to Velan's star is on the rise, so  to speak." She gave a wink so subtle that I almost missed it when she  dropped the pun.

"That  was bad." Said Callie in a deadpan tone. "And you should feel bad for  saying it. Is this what you do when I'm not here? Spend your time coming  up with bad celestial puns? I need to visit more often I guess. I  should have known nothing gets done around here without me."

Snorting,  Stella looked over her glasses at my girlfriend. "Little girl, you've  bulked up a decent amount in Rajak, but the day I need a G-ranked baby  telling me my business is the day I retire. Especially a G-ranked baby  who needed her Auntie to cover for her when she slept through a patrol  rotation eight times in the first year she was on the job." The two of  them had teasing smiles tugging at their lips as they bantered.

I  gave a wave. "Nice to see you boss. Hope things have been quiet. Glad  we could drop in and say hi." I leaned forward, lowering my voice. "Now  that the pleasantries are out of the way, maybe you can tell me more  about these missed rotations. I'm always looking for good material to  keep her humble." Callie glared at me and elbowed me in the ribs  pointedly, which didn't do much given she wasn't trying to hurt me and I  was in F-ranked armor.

"I  think." Said Stella with a smirk. "You are pretty much the worst  possible influence on her humility. Or did someone forget asking me to  partner him with Nightstrike when we were working up his contract?" My  eyes widened because I HAD forgotten that. My Focus had been  ridiculously low when that happened. I very carefully kept my eyes on  Stella as I felt my cheeks burn.

Callie,  smiled broadly like a shark scenting blood as she cooed. "Oh, sweetie.  That's so cute. I was like your mortal crush. Did you collect my  merchandise? I still have a full set of those Nightstrike novelty mugs  lying around somewhere. Do you need any of the holiday run? Those can be  hard to find." I could hear suppressed laughter in her voice as I did  my best to completely ignore her comments.

"I  was hardly the only person to have a crush on you." I said with faux  dignity. "And no. I have them all." I mumbled. "But my two hundredth  anniversary Unity mug is cracked. I wouldn't say no to swapping it out  with one in mint condition." They both just stared at me, and I felt  everyone who wasn't Benny swing around to look at me in disbelief.  "They're a good investment!" I defended myself fervently. "Those mugs  are worth forty six percent more than they were when I bought them! Plus  Callie has been crushing it in Rajak. Jokes on you, when we hit S-rank  I'll auction the damn things at the WCP headquarters."

Giggling  musically, Callie buried her face in my shoulder as she pulled me into a  hug. "It's ok sweetie. I know you're a huge nerd. I love you anyway.  She's right though. You are the worst possible thing for my humility.  Teasing not withstanding, you're the most supportive boyfriend I can  imagine."

"Ok."  I said, irrationally offended that I was being told I was a good  boyfriend. "Can we get back to the meeting please? This is about  catching up with Stella, not putting my collecting habits under a  microscope. Amelia! Aren't you and Stella old friends? Don't you have  things to tell her? It's been a pretty big week for you right? So much  to fill her in on, don't you think?" I said almost desperately.  Literally anything to change the damn subject.

Amelia  just clucked her tongue. "Honestly Shane. Even I didn't buy the novelty  mugs." She said judgmentally, ignoring my glare. "But yes, hello Stacy.  wonderful to see you again. You look like you've fit into your role  here wonderfully. I've had a certain former paramour of yours staying at  my home recently. He talks about you when he isn't paying attention to  guarding his tongue. We all do so love our masks don't we?" She gave a  subtle wink of her own.

Unlike  Stella's joke, Amelia's produced visible results as the Guild Master's  face lit up tomato red as she squeaked. "Amy! Don't talk about my  romantic history in front of the kids!" She averted her eyes and  sniffed. "And I know he's here. If he wants to see me he can get off his  lazy ass and come visit. I'm not his nanny. I don't need to go running  every time he shows up in town."

"Well,  if you're going to tease my daughter and my poor little future  son-in-law." Amelia said, ignoring the wide eyed squawks of shock and  yelps of mortification from Callie and I because that was moving WAY too  fast. "I'm going to poke fun." She arched an eyebrow in challenge.  "Now, why don't you climb out from behind that absurd desk and come with  us to meet with Benjamin. I haven't seen the boy in years and I want to  make sure he hasn't blown himself up in any permanent fashion."

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Seeing  the normally implacable Guild Master look like a chastised teenager  made this entire thing worth it. As she climbed down, Amelia shot me a  conspiratorial wink and I had to fight a smile. It was nice to know she  liked me at least. As we met Stella at the other side of the desk (which  had an entire set of stairs for descending) she smiled at the younger  woman. "Jokes aside though, I'm here to register for intake. I've  recently developed an ability of my own, much to everyone's surprise."

Stella  actually tripped when she heard that, turning to stare in shock at  Amelia. "I...what? At forty? That is...so rare. I mean, dear gods, I can  count the number of times I've heard of that happening on one hand with  fingers left over." She paused, looking suspicious. "Wait, you said  Zeke was staying with you?"

She  came to pretty much the exact wrong conclusion, but I decided to play  into it. The WCP knew about my ability, and that would eventually spread  to the Unity, but for now having an alibi might keep the information  away from people like Midknight for just a bit longer. I raised my hand.  "I asked Zeke to get a wish for her. He had some favors to call in, and  he was drunk for my last like...eleven birthdays, so I figured he owed  me one."

I  felt a bit bad lying to Stella about this when she'd been so nice, but  worst case I could apologize and offer her a wish or something later to  make up for it. At the mention of Zeke's drinking she just rolled her  eyes with a huff, clearly distracted by my uncle's alcohol intake and  not thinking past the easy answer I'd given her. Callie twined her hand  in mine and squeezed, which I knew was a thank you, but which fit with  the story well enough anyway. I still felt a warmth in the pit of my  stomach at the gesture.

We  headed down the steps to Beaker's lab, Amelia telling Stella all about  her new abilities as best she knew them. She didn't bother filling her  in on stats since she had to do the intake anyway and we would all just  see them. I snickered internally when I remembered how impressed Stella  had been that I'd managed to hit H-rank before coming in. Amelia wasn't  quite there, but she was damn close. I foresaw a pretty lucrative  contract in her future.

We  remounted the spiraling crystalline stairs, and when we got a certain  part of the way down, Stella stopped and fished a key from her suit  pocket. I recognized it as the one Stricture had used all those months  ago. She slipped it into a spot mid air, that with my current Perception  I could BARELY see shimmering, and turned it with a click, letting the  same door we'd seen at my own intake swing open. She gestured us all in,  and Amelia took the lead.

Entering  with a sniff of disapproval, Amelia looked around and shook her head.  "That boy. Functionally incapable of not making a mess." She looked  around before calling out impatiently. "Benjamin! You have guests, dear.  Be polite and come say hello." It occurred to me that Beaker, being  F-rank himself, was probably older than he looked, and much closer to  Stella's age than the twenty he looked. He'd probably just ranked up  early.

Beaker  came stumbling out of a side room, carrying a glass tube full of  bubbling neon pink liquid, eyes bleary behind his glasses. He froze when  he saw Amelia, and I saw the carefree attitude melt from him as he  stood up straight, looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie  jar. "Miss. Amy! It's...so good to see you. What brings you to my  study? I haven't seen you in quite some time."

Out  of all the reactions I'd seen from other people, this was the first one  that seemed more afraid than fond. Not in a genuine way you might see  from someone who had been bullied, but in the sheepish way you'd see  from someone talking to a strict mother. Stella's generation had been  kids when Paul was active, so I guessed that made sense, but it was a  weird thing to see from Beaker of all people. Especially knowing how  things ended up. I remembered Callie saying that her mother spent most  of her time at the house when she was growing up. I supposed Amelia had  stopped coming around after Stella and Beaker's time, maybe when Callie  was born.

Amelia  gave him a fond smile. "It's nice to see you too Benjamin. I see,  you've managed to confine your messes to an appropriate work area.  That's excellent to see." She gestured down at herself. "As for why I'm  here, well...I'll be needing one of your intake devices. I've recently  developed an Ascendant ability of my own. I'm here to register my stats  for the first time."

Rather  than being shocked, Beaker looked excited. "Oh, really? That is  FASCINATING. You hardly ever see older people awakening an Ability. I've  never gotten to process one before." He turned to bustle off to one  side of the room to look for the device, breaking off conversation  without any acknowledgement as the same old manic energy reignited in  the spectacled man. He paused after he got about five feet, looking over  his shoulder. "Well...are you coming or not? I believe we have a test  to run." We all followed him with a chuckle. It was nice to see Beaker  had stayed the same. Visiting him was never boring, at least.

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