Polished dress shoes clicked against the stones of the office as the tall, slender man made his way to the front desk. The offices of the Sapphire Myriad were no eyesore, sparing no expense decorating the luxurious military office. The man adjusted the cuffs of the black, pin-stripe suit jacket and tugged at the collar of his crimson dress shirt. Small draconic horns stood in place of his ears, brushing up against his collar irritatingly. As uncomfortable as he may look, tugging at his collar and pulling his cuffs away from the small patch of reptilian scales upon his wrists, he did enjoy the attire when the occasion called for it. The young soldier looked up from the documents on his desk as the man stepped up to the freshly waxed marble counter, tossing him a curt nod.

"Name?" The man spoke bluntly through his tired face, one crooked eyebrow raised as he eyed the man.

'Kieryn Tetrinos" He spoke up in return. Though the small patches of scales scattered around his sun-kissed skin gave off a more reptilian, tribalistic tone, His voice came across as sophisticated and calculated, a light gravelly tone coming through an otherwise formal accent.

The man looked back down at the documents, flipping through. "The Ashenborn Investigator, yeah?" He tilted his head to the side as he reached down, grabbing a clipboard and pen, flipping it across the counter Kieryn. "With that last name, I'd had expected a prison trial."

"Well, four years ago, you might have been right." Kieryn snarked back with a small smile, tilting his head to the side as he grabbed the clipboard.

"Take a seat over there, 'Investigator'. They'll be with you shortly." The man replied nonchalantly, waving Kieryn away to the seats across the office.

He sat down in the seat, notably too small for his frame. Very few people built chairs that fit the Ashenborn people in this part of Rhenvale. Their tall, lanky frames constantly brought on back problems, and the top of the chair digging into his spine certainly didn't help. Though they may look near identical to humans except for the horns and small patches of scales, they stood out like a sore thumb in this continent. The few others in the waiting room sent passing glances Kieryn's way, both of curiosity and xenophobic disdain. He ignored it, Idly fiddling with a small pair of glasses in his left hand while filling out the paperwork. Officers coming from behind the desk brought their gaze upon him as well, but those of morbid familiarity.

The light beaming through the open-concept front office was almost too much to bear as the sun sweltered over the desert city. As breathable as the suit was, most chose to lessen their clothing when within the streets of Senei, not layer a suit jacket on top of a dress shirt. Kieryn placed the clipboard down next to him, biting his lip, taking a wider look around the room watching the eyes quickly drift away from him. His foot began tapping, clacking against the floor while he began spinning the circular pince-nez glasses between his gloved fingers like one would a shiny coin.

"Could you knock it off?" One of the soldiers grunted over to Kieryn, meeting his eyes and jerking his head quickly to his shoe, clacking with an echo through the whole room. Kieryn shrugged lightly with a small, nervous smile, crossing his legs to stop the restlessness. "Force of habit, everyone gets a little nervous."

Minutes went by, and Kieryn scrunched his lips to the corner of his mouth. Just as patience was wearing thin, the doors to the left of the waiting room swung open. An elderly, grizzled, official dressed in a dark navy military coat looked over to Kieryn. "Tetrinos," he said discourteously through a bushy mustache, the informality causing Kieryn's teeth to grit. "Mikael--Good to see you." He struggled to politely let out.

"That's Officer Mikael to you, boy." He spat back. "You lost any chance at informalities the last time you were here. We're ready for you, hurry up." he finished, before turning around without a moment's hesitation to wait. Kieryn quickly stood up and slithered his way through the one-way door before it would close behind him, tossing his glasses onto his nose shortly afterward, the red, semiopaque lenses obscuring his eyes from the view of the old man.

Mikael took his seat upon the panel, a short few steps above the small table in the front of the room, two others from the other governing companies of Rhenvale sat alongside him, both patiently waiting. Were Kieryn not privy to the meeting's purpose, anyone in this situation would likely believe themselves to be on trial.

"Have a seat, Mr. Tetrinos." the green-coated, younger gentleman furthest from the man who brought Kieryn over said, gesturing to the seat that the three of the men towered down over. "An honorific, much more tolerable!" Kieryn spoke out to the group with a half-assed smile, who all looked at him with a dead stare.

Kieryn sat at the desk, leaning back in his chair a bit. Though tense, he tried his best to keep his appearance calm and collected with a soft smile towards the man in green. "Thank you, Elijah. Good to see you and Mikael in good health." Kieryn sneered over to Mikael, who grunted in disapproval at the sly comment. "Tactful as you are ballsy, Tetrinos." He'd emphasize at the end, raising his brow up and down quickly towards the Ashenborn who sat below the group. He knew it bothered him.

Kieryn shook his head, waving off the comment. Today wasn't the day to let it get under his skin, and half-cocked jokes were only going to make things worse. He turned, nodding to the woman who sat in the middle of the three. She was middle-aged and wore traditional garments of the Whorl elite. Dark red trim around a long, billowing onyx coat. "Ava, a pleasure as well."

"You as well, Kieryn. Let's get down to brass tacks?" In situations like these, Ava always was straight-to-business. She didn't want to be there any more than Mikael, though her issues had more to do with the company she kept up at the table. Kieryn appreciated that about her, it kept things moving smoothly, even if that meant occasionally shutting him up.

"We're here to discuss your formal application for the license to run your own detective agency..." Elijah tiredly spoke to the room.

"An application that hardly needed to even be considered," Mikael interjected.

"An application that, might I add, most people don't need to go through three months of probation for." Kieryn clapped back, somewhat bitter.

"True that may be, these are...extenuating circumstances." Elijah would add before Mikael had a chance to speak, smiling softly towards Kieryn. His lengthy facial features, quick tongue, and green coat almost had him rival Kieryn in reptilian features.

"Well," Kieryn spoke back, raising his hands up from his sides to gesture to the group.  "Given the lack of warrants that would have led to my apartment being searched, I'm wondering what more there is to discuss."

"Several smaller occurrences we'd like your answer on." Elijah calmly spoke before folding open a folder, skimming his finger down the paper. "While it's no doubt that your solo practice, Crimson Raven, has helped immensely in more of the special investigations around the country, we noticed you spent an alarming amount of time working around your home city of Rujin."

"Didn't think we'd have eyes and ears out there?" Mikael blurted out, cutting to the point more abruptly than Elijah would have. "Back to your old ways?"

Kieryn bit his tongue at the comment but put on a smile nonetheless. "I think you'll find the reports filed by the city guard there prove that work was done by the book. Besides, you know full well the laws within the city. I figured it'd make sense to work out there."

"Laws your family skirted around for generations," Mikael muttered, not quite loud enough for the whole trial room to hear. Ava spoke to the crowd to make it clearer.

"And yet your family worked for years out there, despite the strict weapon laws within the city." 

"I'm aware. Call it personal retribution, then. Maybe, I'm not sure."

The room stood silent, all three of the panel members eyed Kieryn, expecting more. Perhaps the 'apathetic' approach wasn't doing him any favors.

Kieryn rubbed his eyes behind the small, red-tinted lenses. "Listen, I know my family did a lot wrong out there, but the work I did with Ambers Investigations should more than explain that I'm not out to go back to those ways."

"Unfortunately, there's not many out there anymore to back up your claims of your work with the Ambers family." Ava spoke straight, causing Kieryn's stature to drop. "None we can put our full trust in, that is." She was right, the governing companies only knew the locations of two of the previous near-dozen agents before the dissolution of the agency. 

"I know, but I think you'll find that the paperwork done for the investigations would be satisfa--"

"The paperwork was done by your former colleague, Mashuto. One of the only ones around who could still vouch for your other work. You expect us to take his word on faith? You two worked mighty close together, Tetrinos." Mikael blurted out.

'Apathetic' wasn't cutting it, and neither was 'formal'. As much as he wanted to keep biting his tongue, Mikael kept drawing Kieryn's patience thin. "It's Kieryn. Just Kieryn." He spat quickly, leaning forward, his hand pointed lazily in Mikael direction. Both Elijah and Ava blinked at the accusatory stance, exchanging gazes before slowly returning them to Kieryn. "And any modicum of investigation done by your 'crack team' of detectives," Kieryn's accusingly pointed hand clenched to a near fist as he glared at the man "that have been following me for around for months, might I add, would have led them to a squeaky clean record from him. Mikah didn't get where he was by fumbling around the underbelly of Rhenvale. Don't put him in that group. He's a good man."

Mikael crossed his arms, slumping in his seat. "And yet he partnered with you for years." The rough old man's body language spoke clearly that he knew he had begun to overstep. Elijah putting up a hand to Mikael only further emphasized.

Ava's gaze met Kieryn's and her lips pinched together, jerking her head forward slightly, widening her expression in quiet frustration. She wanted his attention.

She wanted him to calm back down.

Kieryn took note, taking in a deep breath and trying to lean himself back into his chair. There were only a few things that would set him on edge like that, and Mikael knew them like the back of his hand. Elijah spoke up shortly after Mikael ceased his judgment. "As it stands, Mikael, Officer Mashuto spent a great deal of his time under service with us Lyranwood. I would not have recommended him for transfer to Rujin if he hadn't had worked with Kieryn. His ties to him helped him understand the city, and what happened behind closed doors. I trust his reports." Kieryn smiled, Elijah knew how to control a room, knowing how to save the day. "As it stands, I vote to formally approve the agency known as 'Crimson Raven'." Elijah would smile back at Kieryn. As squeaky-clean as Elijah's appearance on the surface was, personal gain was his primary objective.

Elijah's eyes gazed at Ava, who opened her file. "I really only have one question for you, Kieryn. And I expect an honest answer. No silver tongue." A smirk was visible on Ava's face for a fleeting moment. The chances to see her small wise-cracks in a professional setting are few and far between. Kieryn would simply nod in response.

"Prior to you taking up this approach to formally recognize your agency, you worked against Voidfallen tirelessly. Demons, supernatural beings of all kinds, even doing some of it for us in the Azure Whorl. We began to almost rely on your expertise in the field. Since Amber's Investigations dissipated, very few took up that work due to the danger. We can hardly spare any men for the cause as it is. But since you went through this process, you stopped. I saw not one report of it in your months of probation. Why?"

Kieryn leaned forward to remove his glasses and place them on the table, to look Ava in the eye. The simple act caused her to relax in her seat, her eyes towards the glasses on the table. "Look, Ava. I think you know the answer here." Kieryn spoke tiredly. He had gone through this monolog countless times with her before. "Work on the voidfallen always forces me to chat with people in my life I was worried all of you wouldn't look favorably at. People who delve into the shadier side of magic, people who, if questioned during this hearing, would go to great lengths to make things worse for me. I figured you all would use it against me, casting me in a bad light. I intentionally avoided it for now for fear of losing favor with the three of you, but I intend on returning to it once the dust has settled." Kieryn paused, realizing how bluntly he was speaking.

"I get that answer might cast a bad tone on the meeting, but as you said Ava, too few take up the work to let it fall off to the wayside. It may occasionally require working with people the Companies may not deem safe, but the fact of the matter is it's a necessary evil to a happier ending."

Silence pierced the room, Elijah's face puzzled over Ava, whose face remained blank as she slowly would close the notebook. Her gaze met Kieryns, the limbal of his eyes were a cloudy, nervous grey, but after a moment of exchanging looks, the rings sparked to life, turning nearly as blue as the sky, and she spoke up. "I vote in favor as well."

Mikael slammed his open palm to his desk. "You're kidding me!? He just told you point-blank that if you approve this, he'll go back to working with those..." He coated his mouth and spoke gutturally towards the group. "People his family worked with. Scum."

Kieryn went to open his mouth, but Ava beat him to the punch. "You see this very different from the others in your position Mikael. For one, the Tetrinos family never allied with those who utilized magic like this, all of their practices were tangible. Their psychological methods of getting what they wanted were based on rigorous study and science. Not magic, ludicrous as that theory even would be. I'd advise you to quit being so close-minded."

"Why you little--"

Ava spoke louder, commanding the room. "Secondly, the Tetrinos family kept the city of Rujin crime-free on the surface for decades. People could walk happily down a dark alleyway with their children without fear of being mugged, or worse. Their methods of psychological warfare went against everything we as the governing military, as well as myself, hold dear. Crimes against humanity which far exceeded that of normal murder. But the truth is without them the entire city-state of Rujin would have been chaos. The man in front of you is the last surviving remnant of that control of anarchy, and he's made it clear that he intends on using those years spend analyzing the human mind for good, to investigate that which, quite frankly, none of us have the time or talent for. Furthermore, he's willing to put his practical expertise towards the Voidfallen, while we've been ignoring their recent uptick in behavior. Wouldn't you sleep better at night knowing the thing that going bump under your bed is scared, too?"

Again, silence. Mikael froze, hand palmed on his desk. Mikael's folder was larger than the others, stacks of nitty-gritty that picked and prodded at every minor thing that bothered him about Kieryn and his family. Those things that bothered him were the very reasons Ava voted in favor.

"...Fine. In favor" Mikael would begrudgingly spit out, and Elijah immediately took the stage to speak before anything more could be said. "With that in mind, Kieryn, we have a few requests should you continue the Crimson Raven Investigations Agency."

"And that would be?"

"Really only one - Crimson Raven cannot continue as a solo practice."

Kieryn's brow raised, and his head would tilt. "Can I ask why?"

"It may seem rather specific, but we need to ensure that you feel a sense of commitment to the task. Your work in the past has been sporadic. Between fallings out with other agencies, spouts of personal or family problems, or even your penchant for alcohol when things don't go your way. We need you to be consistent with whatever you're doing, and whoever you're doing it with."

Elijah raised valid points, and Kieyn nodded. "Of course." Kieryn sighed at the final comments made by Elijah. "I know I haven't instilled confidence these past few years. But trust me, this is a new leaf. Hiring will begin soon here."

"One final order of business, Kieryn." Ava spoke up, tossing him a small mailing envelope. It was weighted with a small object inside. Kieryn opened it to find a key.

"Elijah and I agreed that the best place for you to house the agency would be within our jurisdiction. The Ambers estate in Lyranwood officially foreclosed a few months prior. It's beaten down and dirty, so fix it up."

Kieryn's limbal rings flared blue once more, a genuine smile came across his face that caused Elijah to raise a brow. Ava nodded approvingly. "Welcome to the first day of official work, Investigator."

Kieryn cleared his throat, feeling a small ball swelling up within it. "Thank you, you two. I'll see to it it's cleaned up right away. I promise you won't regret this."

"You better." Mikael grunted, stepping up from his chair and stomping out of the room.

"Once you hire some new agents, and get a few cases under your belt, come speak with me at the Lyranwood office. We have a few things piling up we need help with."

Kieryn stood up, nodding with a smile. He spun on his heels and began clacking his dress shoes out the door. "You forgot your glasses, Kieryn." Ava piped up, and Kieryn would stop, reaching with his lankier arms to grab them. "You'll need them, I'm sure." She'd say, and Kieryn caught another wise-crack smile across her lips.

Kieryn stepped back through the one-way door, looking back out to the blinding light of the city.

For the first time in a while, the sun beaming down on him didn't seem as harsh as it once did.