Meeting Room:

Work work work. That's all the Stellans life consisted of these days. By now he had adjusted to his rather organized schedule, routine still wasn't much of his forte. Working wasn't much of his forte either. He had become more irritable since becoming a captain. He elevated through the ranks in such a short amount of time- the fastest anyone had ever reached this position, and now the Stellan was already in the process of being promoted to Captain-Commander of the secret services division. You'd be stressed too. As much as the Celdruan wanted to say he hated it, he couldn't. He'd be lying out of his ass. The truth was that Alejandro loved that he was skyrocketing through the ranks. Ambition was stranger to him more than it was stranger for most people in this building but Kingsguard? Boy oh boy, he could just taste it. He didn't the need to get there as soon as possible. It was just...the perks that he wanted, the money. The stability. It was much less about the political power. Alejandro just wanted to be filthy rich.

The Captain was well aware of what he was getting into. He knew that he was about to be meeting with two others who were strong candidates for the position. And yes, before you ask Alejandro did in fact do his research. Alas, he would lose no sleep if he wasn't chosen for kingsguard in the end. Athena was his Queen. Maybe, just maybe there would be another mysterious person joining them and perhaps a select few Lieutenants that stood out. Thoughts seemed to escape Alejandro as he casually strolled through the halls with a giant gun on his back and a Corvo's mask on his hip. Pages and Lieutenants walked passed him and gazed as if he was someone special. When he linked eyes with them to give them a friendly smile, they all just saluted him. It was cringey. Little did they know Alejandro just wanted to smoke and sleep. It was 8 AM in the morning. Who the actual fuck wakes up at 8 AM in the morning? As young as he was, he sure as hell didn't feel his age.

Once he finally approached the door he pushed it open and of course he was the first one to arrive. So, he took his seat closest to the door. Small rooms made him think of the quickest way to escape. This meeting was called for one reason and one reason only; organization. Alejandro himself couldn't stand disorganization and so he was glad it was happening. The captain commanders of each division would come together to discuss the reality of their situation; their numbers were dwindling. Naturally they would discuss the state of the country and what to expect out of each other moving forward, getting to know one another at least on a political level. They were the leaders of the Rune Knights, so this had to happen. The hunter placed his gun beside his chair and pulled a pen from out of his pocket. It was best to keep Punisher out in case he had to use it on a whim. You never knew who was lurking in the shadows in this country.

Slowly, he placed is glassed upon his face. Although he literally had a magical golden eye in his skull, he still needed glasses. All that was left now was the other two.

The captain was patient though.

The first to enter the room aside for himself, was the giant furry, the Captain Commander of the War department, Lucretia Wolfenstein. The Angel of Death met her back in Oak and fought alongside her against the Dark raiders. She was powerful, truly a force to be reckoned with and she was...a gentle giant. Alejandro smiled tiredly, "Always good to see you Captain Commander Lucretia." Nothing but respect for the Werewolf. Like him, she had been working endlessly. Such was the terms and conditions of leadership in the Rune Knights. She took her seat, taking up a bit more space than the even the average werewolf. It was kinda cute. "Unfortunately I didn't have time to stop for snacks and shit, so I guess we're eating air for breakfast." What a horrible host. No coffee, no food, just time and space, space and opportunity. All he could hope for was that all of the captains had breakfast before coming to the meeting.

Next to enter the space was Jove Augustus, senior to all of the other Captain-Commanders. At first glance he looked completely drained but he was oddly attractive? Alejandro raised an eyebrow before glancing up and down his body, catching a glimpse of his white eye and only briefly looking below for an indicator that he was a man of...worth. Jove addressed both of the knights who had taken their seats but only one of them he found pleasure in meeting. "Captain Commander Jove." Alejandro responded with a nod and of course, a friendly smile. "What? It's not a pleasure to see me?" He chuckled. Finally, one other slithered into the dimly lit room. Esperia Ivalice, the newest Captain of the Rune Knights. Alejandro didn't know much about her. She seemed to have a reputation that came and went every so often. However, he did find her alluring. "Mornin', Esperia.

The Stellan clapped his hands together once after she introduced herself and found her seat. And now it began. Alejandro was stuck for a brief moment, he didn't know where exactly to start. Being in such a high level room on the highest floor in front of two Rune Knight commanders was a bit...intimidating- not because he couldn't hold is own in a fight against them or anything like that, but because they were like seventy years older than him. Even Esperia was probably a couple hundred years old. "Firstly, thank you all for taking the time to meet." He smiled warmly. "As I'm sure at least some of you know, I'm Commander of the Secret Services Department as of tomorrow. I understand that there's been a lack of communication between the departments for while. I don't know why and I really could care less, but it's messy as hell." tapping his pen against the table he leaned into his right palm.

"It's time that's changed and I think it'd make our jobs a little easier, yeah?" The Angel's silver eyes met with each pair of irises in the room and he continued on. "For lack of better words, the country's goin' to shit." to put it bluntly. "Raiders, Midnight Cult, Eternal Nightmare, perhaps even a pending civil war now that King Reign decided to remove bounties. Then you have majority of the Northern folk who want to be liberated from the Crown...the list goes on and on. So, we've gotta tackle 'em one by one."

In a room full of people all so ambitious and outspoken, it was easy for the Nephilim to find silence more comforting. Most of his work required him to use his eyes more than his mouth, pay attention to detail, and get to the point most of all. All in all, Ale understood his role as a soldier, and more than that, he understood what it meant for him to be Captain Commander of an entire department. Although every person in this room fought under the same banner, he couldn't help but feel an immediate sense of divide. A battle- or a struggle rather, for the power to sway the direction of the meeting based on how they individually believed it should go. As an elf, he hardly experienced an an overpowering sense of individualism. It was something he could easily see in others though.

Lucretia was the first to speak. It seemed the Werewolf needed more clarification as to what the Nephilim was alluding to, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, Commander Jove chimed in. First the 9-5 sorcerer sighed as if he had already given up, and then he proceeded to to share his thoughts. He was correcting the trajectory of the meeting, or so it seemed. Apparently the pale skinned Commander thought it best to focus on building, you know, allocate their time to refining the knights and all that.  Needless to say that the young Celdruan didn't disagree, though at the same time that was something that should have been prioritized, organized and executed before they were at war. Unfortunately, Jove was apart of the reason why the Knights were as disorganized as they were. The silver headed hunter still kept his comments to himself, of course. His eyes shifted from Jove directly onto Esperia who had a lot to say.

The Celdruan pondered on a few things as he watched her speak. As the Vampress remarked, he lightly tapped his finger upon the table. Easily irritable. If there was one word Alejandro could use to define himself these days it would undoubtedly be "Irritable". It wasn't like the Vampire was saying anything wrong, she was just saying a lot . The Interrogation captain brought up Tomoe, more of Eternal Nightmare, more of Midnight Cult, and all Alejandro could see was her fiery passion for her sense of justice. She had already identified her enemy to him once and he expected her to bring up what she was pursuing. Her suggestions didn't come as a surprise. Above all else she seemed adamant on simply crushing Eternal Nightmare out of existence, the only guild with a connection to Oaks population."Eternal Nightmare ain't going anywhere." Alejandro said when Esperia was done.

"King Reign understands that Eternal Nightmare has reason to protect Oak city. It's all of us, against all of these raiders. It's the same with Sleeping Calamity. He's banking on them. Least we can do is have faith in the King and follow suit." The Stellan raised one of their hands, summoning a stack of papers from their pocket dimension before gently placing it upon the wooden table. They then tapped the Lacrima device on their wrist before a giant screen popped above the center of the table. "Secret Services, alongside Intelligence, were amongst the first to take precautions when Odin was murdered. These are motion pictures of Oak city in real time, right now..."


With each tap of the device on their wrist, the screen changed, revealing different parts of Oak city. "We're watching Oak very closely. And then here's Hargeon..." Another tap and different showings of Hargeon appeared. "Same deal there. We've got these things up in every city. We've sent S-S agents south to connect with Alisa and relay anything out of the ordinary. We're in fact taking precautions. However, we can't afford to focus all of our fighting resources on Eternal Nightmare. Not now. So, maybe we can try a different approach. Following in Your majesty's footsteps, we can not fight fire with fire and try diplomacy? "Oh my god Diplomacy? What're you thinking?" I know right? Not very common here, but maybe we can stop the war between Blue Pegasus and Eternal Nightmare without bloodshed and without destruction until this Raid shit is over, as long as they protect the people?"

There was just one more thing he had to say. With a swift tap, the screens vanished and he turned his attention towards the man next to him. "Jove- errrm- Commander Jove. I don't disagree with you, just wanna inform you of what we've learned since the rifts started opening." Alejandro slid the papers to Jove who he assumed would then pass them down. "Dopplegangers of Alisa, Jikan, Brone, Yuurei, and.." Alejandro's eyes gazed up at Esperia's. "Esperia. Possibly more. Everyday there's something new, and what's worse is that Kazimir has a Doppleganger here in Era. He killed my agents yesterday. We've also learned that there's a new entity, one we believe has also emerged from the rifts." Alejandro cleared his throat. He already spoke more than he liked too.

"Might just be best if you and I, Jove, dedicate to staying in Central to operate directly out of Headquarters, focusing on recruitment and refining our army and specifically building the Secret Service's numbers, hm? We're lacking more than the rest of the departments and right about now and we need the agents, can't lie. I think Together we can carry the load of recruitment primarily for Secret Services, all that other shit, and scouting. I know Lucreti-errrm-commander Lucretia, has a history with Eternal Nightmare, but alongside Esperia- if we all agree - can attempt a diplomatic approach until this shit is over."

The conversation pursued. Finally, it seemed like they were all coming to some sort of agreement. For the most part, everyone concurred with the Nephilim and the human in the room. Diplomacy was a safe option. Granted, Alejandro was very low on patience these days, he wasn't a completely violent person. If he could find a way to avoid battle and bloodshed he'd do it in a heartbeat. Lucretia reminded the room that this would only prolong the inevitable demise of Eternal Nightmare. Unfortunately, Alejandro himself knew this to be true. It was also a Sentiment Esperia shared, obviously. The two of them seemed to share their disdain of Oak's dark super power, rightfully so.

"Agreed, Lucretia. Should happen A.S.A.P"

Alejandro nodded. There was nothing more to be said. Jove, the Senior Knight felt the need to take charge. The Stellan wasn't one of those Rune Knights who took Fiore's laws to heart, nor was he someone that aimed to enforce them if they didn't feel right. Jove on the other hand seemed to be the opposite. He was Loyal to Fiore, he was Loyal to the king and he was clearly a Law abiding citizen  and did not play when it came to the Kingdom. Alejandro chuckled when the Commander of the interrogation department "put his foot down" so to speak. Cold, coarse with a bit of a superiority complex, Jove made it clear what type of Knight he was. Even for the sake of justice he didn't seem to be the type who would bend the rules. Treason though? Perhaps that was a little over the top.

The tired silver eyes belonging to the Captain of Secret Services jumped to Esperia after Jove summarized the plan. The Vampire had more to say before digressing and refocusing the conversation back to what was most important after apologizing for her passionate response. "Don't worry about it." He smiled lightly. With another tap of the device on his wrist a blue screen popped up yet again.


This time it was a general map of the entire country. "I suggest you only send agents west, Jove." Alejandro lazily pointed to the screen, too tired to do more than that. "Makes no sense to stretch Intelligence thin between three regions. I'll pull my agents from Oak and send them North instead. That just leaves this whole Diplomacy talk with E-N to you. Sleeping Calamity hasn't been a threat for years, but I'll keep them monitored just to be safe. See if we can work out a plan with Paradise Dawn as well or somethin'."

His finger slightly moved to point to the east. "Lucretia can send troops East. Apparently there's some new illegal guild there that we lack intel on- not that they've been easy to follow anyway, but more than that, evil Espy's been fuckin' everything up over there." Then finally; South. "And Esperia can head South. We still need to figure out what Alisa's plans are, and since you two seem to have history, Esperia, I'd say you'd be best to tell Alisa about this whole diplomacy shit." The screen remained in the air for some time as Alejandro quickly answered the question she asked earlier.

"There is another raider we've learned of but he's in Minstrel. Not our jurisdiction." He sighed, tucking his lips. Thank god it wasn't.

Well, it seemed the meeting had concluded. Quick and efficient for the most part Alejandro was pleased. Jove seemed to acknowledge what Alejandro said, but whether he would actually move as suggested was up to him, as was the decisions any of them made. It was good to know that at the very least they had all come to an agreement. Jove was the first to stand and followed after was Alejandro. As the Nephilim prepared to leave the room, the Intelligence commander placed his hand on his shoulder and told him he was doing a good thing. Alejandro raised an eyebrow. Although he didn't need the validation it was a good feeling coming from someone who was his senior. With nothing else left for the four of them to discuss Alejandro turned to the rest of them. Jove seemed to find comfort in seclusion as he left the room quickly. "I'm gonna go grab a bite at Izakumi's if ya'll wanna come?" He said. If not, it didn't matter much. Either way the former elf would turn and make his way to the restaurant for some well needed brunch.