Story ???

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"Old friend, please... come back."
"..."
"The Order needs you..."

The noontide sun beat harshly down on the dilapidated building that served as the headquarters for the region's sole source of local law enforcement. Emptiness; utter nothingness defined the surrounding area except for small hills and cacti as far as the eye could see. It was a barren wasteland; an all too familiar setting for the young woman who now stood awaiting a response from the solemn figure that leaned against the weathered wooden wall. He was tall and lean, as she was. The sun that fell on his half-shaded body glinted off of his black, coattailed suit. The eyes... his eyes... once bright and full of wonder... how they stared so dimly at her now.

"This is no chance meeting then?"

She started, jerking her gaze away from his.

"N.."
"Of course not, what am I thinking? How else could you have found me?" he asked, gesturing casually to the emptiness that surrounded them, eyes never leaving her's.

She saw it now. Behind that mask of apathy, a fire burned in those eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief internally. For a moment, she had worried that she had been talking to a completely different person.

"18 told me you were back" she said with some relief.
"Is that so?" he asked, a small smile spreading across his face. "I should have known he would have spilled the beans..."

His voice trailed off. A frown replaced his smile, and she watched as his face took on a thoughtful expression.

"But not to you. That's the question, isn't it? Why? Why him, and why you? You certainly have come quite the distance to see me. Now I would like to believe it's because you just wanted to pay your old friend a visit, yet something tells me..."
"I'm afraid I don't follow you."
"Hm?"
"'Why him?' What do you mean?"
"Oh, that. Well, Gifted One, I'm surprised Roke wasn't the one to tell you. I'm also surprised he allowed you to come all this way alo..."
"What?! You mean to tell me that he knew?!"

An uncertain expression crossed the young man's face.

"Oh. Well, yes actually. In fact, we've kept in touch all this ti..."
"Ugh, that man! I swear by all the Order stands for, when I get back, I'm going to... well... really let him have it!"

He cringed. Wonderful. Roke is going to kill me for this. The least thing he needs right now is a talking-to from this girl.

"Now, now" the young man said, raising his hands in a conciliatory manner. "From what I understand, he is quite the busy man nowadays. Not that that is going to change anytime soon considering he has just obtained the glorious red aura."

Her eyes shot up and locked with his.

"How did you...? Did he tell you?" she asked incredulously.
"Well... no" he replied.
"Then how do you know? This occurred no more than five days ago! Considering how slowly news spreads around here, there is simply no possible way you could know without..." she hesitated as a voice from within the building interjected.
"Is that the voice of a certain Cuddle-monster I hear?"

A bit of movement inside the door caught her eye. A familiar armored-covered body made its way past the batwing doors. A helmeted head looked down at her.

"Fancy seeing you here, your redness!" said the figure teasingly as he bowed. "Sure, you might have the red aura now, but can you stand against the mighty power of kevlar?!" The man stopped for a moment to proudly tap the layer of armor strapped on top of his already armor-covered body. "Well, what do you think? How do I look?"
"Positively ridiculous, as usual." said Cuddle, trying to stifle a giggle.
"Agreed" remarked the man in the suit, as he rolled his eyes and tried to hide a smile.
"Take that silly helmet off and quit fooling around 18." she said.

18 removed his helmet to reveal a slightly offended expression on his face.

"It's not silly, silly. It's fearsome! Ugh, neither of you have any taste. I mean, look at this guy, pardon me... look at this walrus! Can you believe that after all these years, he still hasn't lost that hairy caterpillar!?"

Cuddle giggled.
The mustached man sighed.

"Are we really going to have the mustache talk again?"
"Wait!" Cuddle said before 18 could reply. "So you were the one who told him about Roke's aura?"
"Yes indeed. I swear the man tells me everything." said the suited man, grinning at 18.
"Oh please, I do not." he replied, exchanging an annoyed look for the grin.
"Why don't you tell her what else you've told me about her and Roke?"

18 shifted uncomfortably as he was subjected to the suspicious glare that was quickly shot in his direction.

"What? What did you tell him?"
"Oh, only rumors. That's all." said the suited man, still grinning at 18.
"Rumors? You aren't leaking Order proceedings to him, are you?"
"NO! Of course not! Besides, your relationship with Roke hardly qualifies as either 'Order proceedings' or ru...mers..."

18 stuttered off the last few syllables of his sentence as he let his voice trail off into a silence that lasted a few seconds too long to be completely comfortable. Suddenly, he jerked his head over his left shoulder and yelled into the doorway.

"What was that?!"
Cuddle raised an eyebrow. "What was what?"
18 swiftly turned back to face her.
"Sorry about that. Just got some news. Something about a raid, Wildgrass base, and BOTW. Gotta run!"

The two watched as he rushed down the hallway, yanked out his compass, and fiddled with it momentarily shortly before vanishing.

"Well that couldn't have been more typical" remarked the man in the suit.
"Indeed. He truly never changes, does he?" giggled Cuddle as she turned her gaze back from the still swinging doors to the man in front of her.

His mirth had already faded.

"No he doesn't. Now, I..." he hesitated. "I think that I've avoided the topic long enough. Cuddle, what is all this 'coming back' nonsense? I support the Order. Heck, I've always supported the Order. I've even served my time on the council. I have nothing more I can give it."

She watched as his eyes glazed in sadness.

"You know that isn't true old friend."
"Yes it is. My hand would fall off if I wrote any more letters to the Order than I already do."
"You would rather speak to the council in person then?" Cuddle asked hopefully.

The man shot a wary glance in her direction.

"Perhaps. What of it?"
"So you would? Good. I was hoping you might. That is why I traveled all this way to see you. To ask you to come back. To really come back."
"To the Order?!" he asked incredulously.

Cuddle nodded.

"To the Order."

She saw how his body tensed. He ran a hand through his hair, sighed, and looked at her questioningly.

"Just like that?"
"Yes, just like that."
"Since when is it the Order's custom to extend their hand in this sort of invitation? This is unheard of!"
"On the contrary, we just extended an invitation to someone else recently."
"..."
"The Order has changed, friend."

He sighed.

"Has it? I suffered much loss due to Brittan's incompetence when I served the Order. Who so poorly maintains a land that it must be tossed aside as though it is worth nothing?"
"Don't worry, Brittan has been banished from the land."
"I'm aware of that. SGG faded shortly before he did."

Cuddle felt a bit of anger as she noticed the accusatory look the man subtly sent her way.

"I assume that is also due to both his incompetence as well as his diminished power in the last few days before you managed to drag him out of that tower he holed himself up in?"
"We did what we had to."
"Oh I know. That spawn of hell had to go. His maintaining of FpsHG was the only good thing he ever did."
"Well, you seem to have found a bit of a new home here, have you not?"
"Not a chance. This will never be my home. However, I have grown fond of it, so please tell me that you've found a real caretaker this time."

Cuddle shifted uncomfortably.

"Well..." she began.
"Well what?"
"He is immensely talented, so you shouldn't have to worry about what happened in the past occuring again."
"That's what people said about Brittan. Tell me plainly. Who is it? I deserve to know."
"It's... Mario." she said after some hesitation.

The man's fists tightened in anger.

"Wonderful. Who's idea was this? Putty's? I would have thought that he might have wanted someone he could put on a leash after Brittan. But no! It had to be Mario, didn't it? I sincerely hope that the great coffers of Chaploo haven't waned. That's the only thing that can control that man."
"His green aura burns bright you know."
"With greed! I don't care if his aura turns the heavens green! He doesn't truly care!"

A burning sensation began to build in Cuddle's chest. Her red aura began to flit around her fingertips.

"Well then that's where you can come in!" she said with a raised voice.

The man gazed at her in silence. She sighed in frustration.

"What has gotten into you? Since when have you regarded the Order so negatively?"
"Ever since I left it."

She forced the burning sensation down as it tried to leap up once again.

"Do not fall into the same behavior that you yourself observed in certain other individuals who left the Order."

He chuckled, lowered his gaze to the ground and shook his head.

"Oh alright, I'll try not to. But you still haven't convinced me. Why should I come back?"
"We need you. We don't have enough of our Gifted Ones here. Your experience would prove invaluable."

He nodded slowly.

"Anything else?"
"You'll be back with your friends again. Roke, 18, me..."

He continued to nod, smiling now.

"Anything else?"
"It will be good for you. You have your hands tied sitting here in this rickety old shed writing letters to the council" she said, gesturing to the sheriff station.

The man rolled his eyes.

"You got that right" he said in mild frustration.
"Not to mention that the Order has grown. Many new members have joined our ranks since you left. Poixmine, Featherpaw..."

She got no further.

"What? Feather? She's part of the Order? She's there now?"

Cuddle looked at him with some surprise.

"Why yes... you... know her?"
"I knew it. From the day I met her I knew that's what she wanted. And I knew she would make it too. The Order is fortunate to have her. She will go far."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
"Because?"
"Because she reminds me of you. Her aura, her desire to help, her kindness. She's..." he hesitated.
"She's what?"
"An immensely valuable asset to the Order."

A sly smile broke Cuddle's face.

"Is that all she is?"
"No?" he said, glancing suspiciously at her. "Why the sudden interest? Go talk to her yourself. You'll see what I mean."
"I will."

She watched as he stared off into the dusty distance, apparently lost in thought. This continued until she could bear the silence no longer.

"Well? Will you come back?"

He returned his gaze to her and for the first time since they began talking, he stopped leaning on the wall.

"Goshdarnit Cuddle, why do you have to be so darned convincing?!"

She giggled.

"So that's a yes then, right?"
"Ugh. Yes, it is. Might as well get going now. No sense in wasting time."

He pulled out a compass and began fiddling with it. He stopped suddenly and looked at her.

"You don't know how to work a magic compass, do you?"

She shook her head.
He sighed.

"Right, standard training for sheriffs only. Guess we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

He walked past her, put his fingers to his mouth, and let out a piercing whistle.
Nothing.

"This is going to be a few minutes he said shaking his head. For whatever reason, a stable wasn't in the budget." he said rolling his eyes.

She walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned and met her gaze, raising an eyebrow.

"This will be good for you. This will be good for everyone."
"We'll see about that."
"You won't regret this Random."

He chuckled.

"We'll see."

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Dates of Importance
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This story takes place shortly after this one.

Randomcitizen1’s first promotion: November 4, 2014
fpsHG is dropped without warning. SGG takes its place: February 20, 2015
Randomcitizen1’s first resignation: May 7, 2015
Randomcitizen1's Post Staff Hypster Syndrome thread: July 15, 2015
SGG is officially shut down: September 2, 2015
Brittan is demoted from coder: September 18, 2015
Featherpaw is promoted to jmod: November 2015
Randomcitizen1 is promoted to sheriff: April 11, 2016
PoixMine is promoted, making him the first handpicked jmod: May 7, 2016