#I feel like Elwen MUST see something in all the Vancoor members

[akar0ku]

Promising

Thanos hadn’t even been back at his desk for ten seconds before he heard the thumping of armored feat against the wooden stairwell just down the hall. He paused, trying to guess who it was before they came into view. He had already seen Caesar leave for the night and it didn’t sound like Gerald’s heavy fast strut. The only other person here was…

His eyes shot down to the mess of papers laying across his desk. He frantically tried to gather everything into a messy little stack, attempting to give the illusion of some form of organization. He crossed his arms against the table, back straightening as Elwen rounded the corner into the lobby.

“I was hoping you would be back by this time.” She said, the echo of her voice thought her helmet making it sound almost ethereal.

“Hey chief, I actually just got back…great timing.” Thanos replied awkwardly. It wasn’t the first time and probably wouldn’t be the last that she would have such impeccable timing. Though Thanos had a great deal of respect for the woman; as did everyone else, her seeming omnipotence was rather unnerving at times. “Tell me, what do you think of Jack?” Cutting right to the chase, so that’s why she was down here.

“Seems okay, I guess…” Thanos replied, unsure of where this was going. It wasn’t like the chief to initiate pointless small talk. “I talked to Gerald briefly, said he seems promising, though inexperienced.” He remembered Gerald seeming pretty pleased actually, especially considering how their last few recruits had ranged from less than stellar to down right useless.

Elwen nodded in reply, “I think he’ll be a good addition to the guild.” She fell back into silence again, staring past Thanos as if lost in thought. Thanos waited attentively, struggling to contain his growing impatience. He jolted when she suddenly spoke again.

“We’ll place him in Jarvis’ squad tomorrow.” Thanos gaped at the armored woman, opening his mouth to make a comment before slamming it shut when he realized his opinion was out of line.

“You look like you object.” Despite the statement her voice was not accusatory, instead tinged with amusement.

Thanos struggled with the urge to speak his mind and the fear of repercussion if he didn’t bite his tongue. It wasn’t something he cared about keeping in check with anyone else, but Elwen was not anyone else. Being on the other end of Elwen’s anger was not something a sane person would ever willing choose.

“It’s alright.” Elwen urged. “I’m well aware you must have an opinion on everything.” Thanos’ face heated slightly at the comment. He could have sworn he could hear the barest hint of a patronizing tone in her voice.

“It’s just…I mean he seems promising. Why not put him on Alica’s squad? Or even David’s?” He didn’t particularly like the two mentioned Sergeant’s, especially the former, but there was no denying that they would have more to offer a young warrior like Jack.

“You don’t have faith in Jarvis’ abilities?”

“You do?” Thanos couldn’t keep the sarcastic chuckle out of his voice.

“I wouldn’t have made him a Sergeant if I didn’t.” The cold shift in Elwen’s tone instantly wiped the smirk off of Thanos’ face. “At one point in time, his passion and drive made up for his lack of execution…A better trade off I think than lacking any desire to better ones self at all.” It was blatantly obvious the guild leader was talking about him, his resignation from active duty after losing to Alicia was not taken very well by anyone and even years later people were still making snide comments about it. 

“I think Jack is the type of person who will learn best under less than ideal situations.” Elwen shifted the discussion back to the new recruit. “And I'm hoping having such a talented subordinate will push Jarvis back on track as well. Of course Danial’s abilities could only improve as well.”

“You really think that’s how it’ll work out?”

“I’ll admit it didn’t work well for you…”

“Huh?”

“...but I think things may turn out a bit differently this time.”

“Right…” Thanos was quickly growing irritable at the onslaught of personal attacks. He turned his attention to the messy stack of forgotten papers on his desk and began aggressive sorting through and organizing them. He heard Elwen turn and begin to leave, only for her to pause by the stairwell.

“Let Jack know where he’ll be assigned tomorrow, and give Hecton squad a mission. I would like to see how they manage early on.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Thanos replied with poorly veiled sarcasm, taking the first mission request form he saw from the pile and, none too gently, smacking it down on the edge of the desk. He scowled at the amused titter his boss gave in response before she ascended the stairs once again.

#Radiata stories #Fanfic #Thanos #Elwen #It's thanksgiving break and I got all my pre holiday prepwork done so i decided to use the extra free time to do some writing #This is just a practice story to get the ideas flowing so it's kinda aimless but I kidda liked it enough to share #Also why do I abuse the characters I like #Sorry Thanos but you suck more than Jarvis #At leas he didn't quit when Jack kicked HIS ass #I feel like Elwen MUST see something in all the Vancoor members #How else would we get such gems like Rolec and Carlos