D E C I S I O N S
Everyone sat at the massive conference table - and by everyone, that meant
everyone. Every Diamond had a say when it came time to recruit. It was one of the reasons the guild did so well for itself, and why it maintained on top of the game where most of the other guilds fell short. While Noelani usually had final say, it was very rare that they all vehemently disagreed on someone. In fact, there were no instances that anyone could really recall where she'd outright done a blanket allow/deny against the popular vote. She
could, of course, but Noelani tended not to make decisions based solely on the ability to flex her power. Everyone knew that she was in charge. If she had to keep reminding them, it would be time for her to name a successor.
Among the dossiers scattered across the table, Chinese food containers and napkins also sat - they did their scouting throughout the year, but quarterly they actually set up a time to discuss all prospects as a group. It was the easiest way to make sure everyone's schedule lined up. She pushed a container of cashew chicken down a seat to where Murphy sat, pinching his chopsticks greedily at the dish.
"Okay," she said, between bites of broccoli, "who's first on deck?"
Link Volta picked up a file before Nicolette could grab it, and turned it sideways to read the name on it. "Devraj Rashana," he said aloud. He sat back in his chair a little, a thoughtful look on his face. "I say yes."
Noelani nodded. "Okay, why do you say yes?" She herself agreed, but she wanted to hear what the other hunters thought of the prospects before she lent her own opinion.
"Come on, the dude was born into this," Link said. "He's one of the best interrogation technicians we've come across in a while, and that's saying something, because we've got a few on retainer that are pretty damn good at their jobs. " He rattled off a few statistics in the file, and a few that weren't. "So yeah, I say yes."
Everyone else murmured in agreement. "Okay, so put him in the yes pile - but don't get your hopes up, guys. He turns us down every time. Which is fine - if they truly don't want to be here, I don't want them here. No harm, no foul." She stopped for a second to drink some water, and gestured for someone else to grab the next one.
Nicolette snatched one out from Link's hands as he reached for it, and the Unseelie laughed at her. "Too fast for you this time," she teased.
"Mm, this time," he countered.
She ignored the obvious innuendo and continued. "Mary Ashford."
"Ah yes, the Virgin Mary," Murphy drawled, scraping a piece of something green from out between his teeth with a toothpick. "She's on our retainer as an interrogator when Dev isn't available, but I don't know that she'd turn us down. She's been at Crimson UK for a while now, and she gets bored easily."
"But does she get bored
too easily?" Noelani asked. "I'm happy with the work she's done for us, but this isn't a fair weather position. Maybe feel her out on other job prospects before we press her for membership." The room agreed - most of them would rather defer to Dev, anyways. Mary was an Unseelie, and they already had quite enough Fae for the time being - or so Murphy thought. Nicolette tossed it into the maybe pile.
Gunnar reached for the next folder, opening it and giving it a scan. He frowned. When Noelani prompted him, he said, "Quentin Fairchild. I vote no."
"What?" Murphy said. "Why?" He reached out for the folder and Gunnar slid it to him wordlessly. Murphy flipped through it, but it was obvious he couldn't find any discrepancy. "This guy is
good. This is the first time he's been on deck for us, but he came recommended by Salvatore Godric," he said, emphasizing the name for effect. Sal didn't recommend anyone lightly.
Gunnar folded his arms. "I don't know why. I don't like the look of him." Honestly, he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but whatever it was, it caused a deep and visceral reaction from him, and since he relied on his intuition to keep him alive a lot of the time, he wasn't in the habit of doubting it.
Eithne took the folder from her brother, and placed it into the no pile. "Okay, I say no as well, then."
Murphy rolled his eyes. "Of course you do," he muttered.
"Hey!" Eithne snapped. "How often does he veto
anything we do?" she demanded, gesturing to Gunnar. "Let's be real here, all of people we're considering will be good - some will be the best in their fields, or among the best. We can't just blindly say yes to everyone. So, I vote with him. No on Fairchild."
Noelani looked around, and saw everyone nodding in agreement. It didn't go unnoticed that Benjamin made a little face at Gunnar's reaction, but she chose not to bring it up. She was the only one who had seen, given how everyone took the moment to concentrate on their food for a change, so she let it go. She wouldn't bother asking later - Benjamin wouldn't tell her anyways, and she didn't deign to give him the opportunity to lie.
"Okay, next is Marcus Walker. Also, a recommendation from Mr. Godric," Irene said, plucking a folder from the pile. She shook her head a little. "I say no - but only on the pretense that he's already expressed that he has no desire to work exclusively for any guild. Mr. Godric might recommend people, but the note in here says that he wholly believes Marcus would turn it down. Doesn't say why." She glanced back up. "Let's not waste our time."
"Of course he wouldn't say why," her husband said under his breath. Salvatore fucking Godric
would absolutely surround himself with allies like Walker and Fairchild, wouldn't he? In another lifetime, perhaps he'd have explained to the man that sharing was caring. But as it stood, he was not interested in being driven to madness by whatever hung in the ether between this world and the dead. "I agree - of course - but I would further propose that Irene is right, and that we don't waste our time with anymore individuals who are inclined to turn us down before we even get out of the gate. It isn't that I don't enjoy spending this evening with you all, but I think we can all agree that this process will go a lot faster if we've got a chunk of that out of the way."
Everyone was in accord, and so Noelani had them go through the files and pull anyone that wouldn't return the call. Among them, Chase Paxton, Capricia Varekova, Alexander Darling, Theodore McClain, and a handful of others that they knew had interests other than the guilds.
Firuza picked up a folder after that was done. "Cory O'Malley - okay, that's an absolute no from me," she said, tossing the folder into the no pile with a quick motion. Murphy nearly choked on his food.
"Yeah, I'd say that's a hell no. He might be talented, but he's
very volatile, and I don't make it a habit of working with unstable Fae - Seelie
or otherwise."
"You think I'm stable?" Link asked, holding a hand to his face in mock embarrassment.
"Link, a fuckin' earthquake is more stable than that kid. Royal blooded or not. In fact, the only Fae in that pile I'd even consider would be Desmond Stark, and that's because we've already seen what he can do. He's part of Broadsword, sure, but honestly we could take all of them on and I'd be okay with it."
Noelani made a face, looking up as she tried to remember who was on the team. "Remind me," she said.
"You've got Emile Fawkes, Dez of course, uhhh.." Isabelle trailed off. "The siren - Keth? Kes?"
"Emile Fawkes, Desmond Stark, Samuel Croft, Ketevan Iosava, Harvey Greenfield, Eli Sterling," Oksana said, grabbing all of their folders. She looked up. "They're all in here. Put them all in the yes pile?"
"I mean, I have no qualms," Noelani said, shrugging. "I think Eli will probably say no. Harvey might, too. They've both had a little bit of a run of it. But I could see the rest of them saying yes," she guessed. When the group agreed again, all but the two went into the yes pile.
"How many more are there?" Isabelle groaned. "Do we really think that all of these people are worth job offers?"
"Yeah, there are a
lot left," Nicolette agreed. She glanced over at Dante, who had been unusually quiet for most of the night, focusing more on stuffing his face than any input besides a thumb up or down to indicate his vote. "What's up, you wanna do one or what?" she prodded.
Dante rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine," he said. He reached out, but Noelani held her hand up.
"How about we make this the last one for the night? This is taking way longer than I thought, and Belle is right, this is
a lot. It seems after the Midnight explosion and subsequent
fuckery that guilds globally faced, we've seen some of the best - and worst - out of what hunters have to offer us." Everyone agreed.
"Okay," Dante said, raising his eyebrows. "Last one. Stavros Arun."
Isabelle's brows perked a little, and she sat up from her slump. "That's a hell yes from me," she said. "Sean Arun if he's in there, too." She fancied not being the only Arun at the table - and though she suspected Stav would turn the invitation down, she figured Sean might not. It was hard to get out from under daddy's shadow, she knew. This could be a way.
"Sean should be in there, to," Murphy said. "Put 'em both in the yes pile and let's clean up and go home. We'll see where we stand after all the owls deliver the letters this weekend." He scraped his chair back with a loud noise. "Oh and, I'm taking this," he said to Noelani, picking up the shared cashew chicken that hadn't really been shared at all.