ROUGH DRAFT Coye Vol 2 Ch 14

Coye’s mood had picked up by the time he reached the Guild at a little over nine in the morning. No one was in the entrance hall, so he passed by a few adventurers staring at the quest board on his way to the second floor.

In his dorm room, he stashed away his new folder and opened the third pack of cards that Shayla had slipped him. This time, the rare card was a Skeletal Lord from the Barrowlands in southern Rhoivan.

He would organize his cards into the folder at a later time, since Shayla and he were both itching for adventure. He donned his gear, packed his belt tight with everything he’d need and then some, and went to go have a closer look at what was on the quest board today.

He stopped before heading out of the room, as when he poked his head out, he saw Dorothy and two of the housekeeping staff in the midst of a discussion. It wasn’t a pleasant one, by the looks of it.

“I don’t care if he scares you, one of you has to clean Auguris’s gold suite, and that’s final!” Dorothy huffed, looking as tired as ever.

One maid turned to the other and then sighed. “Last time anyone tried that, they knocked into some of his chemicals and a rock exploded.”

Dorothy shut her eyes. “Yes, yes that was a thing that happened before. Do you think I don’t remember an explosion happening in my own Guild?”

The other maid laughed Dorothy’s stress off. “Maybe? You’ve always got a lot going on so-”

“Right now, Auguris is off on a quest- for once. This is our only chance to make the entire third floor stop smelling like sulfur. Just put some masks and gloves on, sneak into his room, and make sure everything he didn’t leave any of his magic rocks out. If he raises hell about it then I’ll take the blame, I promise. Okay? Is that too much to ask? For you two to do your jobs? Please?!”

The maids hesitated, and it looked like neither were going to budge.

Dorothy rubbed her eyes with one hand and dismissed the girls with the other. “Fine, go. Go clean somewhere else or something. I don’t care anymore, I’ll do it myself.”

Satisfied, the pair of maids hightailed it out of the hallway with smug grins on their faces. As they descended the stairs, Dorothy hobbled over to the nearest wall and slammed her back against it. Not a moment later and she was squatting, holding her temples in her hands.

‘Fucking yikes, what a wreck...’ Shayla commented. Even she was feeling a little sympathetic for the Guild Mistress after seeing all that.

Coye’s eyebrows were tightened with irritation, his fist clenched tight. His instinct told him to go and comfort Dorothy, but he knew that would be awkward and it wasn’t really his place to do so.

He had planned on giving Dorothy the time to recover, but she noticed the open door and the half-elf poking out of it. Right at once, she snapped back up, fixed her posture, wiped away a few stress tears, and pretended as if nothing had happened.

“Coye? Is that you?” She asked.

“...Yeah.” He opened the door and joined her in the hallway.

“Sorry you had to see that... I-I don’t like taking such a harsh tone with my staff, but... it’s not like it even helps, so what’s the point?” Dorothy laughed awkwardly and then pre-empted Coye from asking any further. “When did you get back home? I was really worried about you.”

Coye blushed. “You were worried about me? Why?”

“Because you weren’t on a quest and you didn’t come back. That’s never happened in the time that I’ve known you, so...”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to worry you...”

‘She’s not your keeper, Coye. It’s none of her business what you do during your time off!’

Coye ignored Shayla’s criticism. “If I’m gone overnight, just assume that I’m staying with a friend.”

Dorothy thought this was a strange thing for him to say, seeing as how Coye didn’t really have any friends as far as she knew. He spent most of his free time training out behind the Guild and that was it, no hobbies or anything. She felt somewhat sorry for him at times.

Trying to mask her confusion with a joke, Dorothy chimed, “So you’ll be staying out of the Guild more often from now on? Almost sounds to me like someone had a nice date, haha!”

Dorothy then learned that Coye had the worst poker face in all of Karnalle.

“...N-Nope.” He stammered, his face red and his eyes avoiding Dorothy’s scrutiny.

‘Smooth as ever, big guy.’ Shayla snorted, happy that she hardly even had to help him mess things up with his favorite Guild Mistress.

“Oh. Really?” Dorothy asked, obviously doubting his account.

‘Just tell her the truth.’

“...Ok, I guess it was kind of like a date.” He blushed, not enjoying the sinking feeling in his gut that came from telling his crush he stayed over at another woman’s place.

Dorothy looked like she was struggling to process this information, which Shayla enjoyed greatly. The Pixie couldn’t sense any romantic jealousy, thank the Gods, but seeing her stare like an idiot was just lovely.

“W-Well, good for you.” She blushed, looking away from Coye when she began to comprehend that this boy ‘stayed over’ in a romantic sense.

If Dorothy dwelled on the topic, she might start to worry about her own relationship woes- or more strictly her lack thereof. She pivoted, asking, “Are you feeling any better now that you’ve had a little- um, relaxation?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go see what’s on the quest board and try to get something a little meatier done today.”

At last, something to celebrate. Dorothy was relieved to hear that another one of her biggest earners was back in business after his funk, and she clutched her heart as she exhaled. “I’m so glad to hear that...”

‘She’s happy her meal ticket is back on the grind, don’t let her fool you!’ Shayla insisted.

“Thanks. Any quests you’d recommend?”

Dorothy thought about it but sighed and slumped her shoulder. “My brain is a little fried right now... I’m afraid I don’t remember what’s on offer at the moment, I’m so sorry.”

Coye didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, so he assured her, “That’s fine. I’ll figure something out for myself.”

“Okay,” Dorothy sucked in some air and pumped her fists. “You do your best, Coye, and I’m gonna do what I can, too! There’s so much to do today, and now I’ve got to clean Auguris’s room on top of all that...” She mumbled that last part to herself.

“Good luck today, Miss Whittle.”

“And to you, my dear adventurer,” Dorothy gave him a tired smile that shined on her exhausted face.

The two descended the stairs together but parted ways as Coye made for the quest board and Dorothy headed to her office. Once inside, she locked the door behind her and sluggishly dragged herself to her desk and sat down upon her leather chair.

Dorothy threw herself over the desk, scattering paperwork as her uniform’s sleeves brushed against the top. Just five minutes, she told herself. Just five minutes of alone time before she had to keep trying.

She took a deep breath, hoping to settle her nerves, but it didn’t work.

Failing that, she reached for an opened book across the desk. Dorothy skimmed a page or two of ‘A Guide to Ancient Karnallian Bestiaries Vol VII’ before finding it did nothing to help her mood.

Frustrated, the Guild Mistress thrust it back across her desk, scattering more paperwork in the process and increasing her future workload since it’s not like any of the maids plan on doing their job any time soon.

Dorothy bit her lip, remembering her years of work as an Assistant Guild Mistress at this very Guild. Things were different back then. Sure, no one took her seriously, but at least they listened when Dorothy could threaten to involve Mr. Eckerson if they didn’t comply.

He was a much better Guild Master than she could ever hope to be, Dorothy thought. Even if he was fired and incarcerated for his crimes, it didn’t change that the man got things done and that Dorothy struggled to remain above the red.

Comparing herself to her old boss only served to stress the poor woman further, which was against the point of ducking away in her office, to begin with.

She would have to resort to drastic measures.

Dorothy needed a hit of adrenaline and dopamine, something stronger and harder than coffee, booze, or any other vice she could think of. She kept an emergency stash for just such an occasion, for days that she just couldn’t handle.

She would do one now, and another after work died down for the day. That was Dorothy’s ritual, and so far, it always proved to be decent motivation. That’s the nature of addiction, after all.

Dorothy opened up a compartment in her desk and took out her drug of choice, smiling knowing that for at least a little while, her mood would improve.

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She's not doing drugs, it's setting up a punchline for the start of 15