(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 89

Chapter 89: A meeting on the horizon Chapter 89: A meeting on the horizon Entering back into the conference room after stealing the Captain in front of so many people was making Kellen sweat.

He worried how everyone was going to view him, and in some ways, he was right to be worried.

Everyone had a little smirk on their faces as the two of them re-entered the room.  Kellen wasn’t aware of it, but his hair was mused, his lips slightly swollen, and it was very clear what he and the Captain had been up to.

The Captain?

Well, he’d had Kellen to fuss over him, so he was freshly assembled, besides his slightly ruffled collar.  Kellen could feel the gaze of the people he worried about the most.

It wasn’t Brent, nor was it Hill or Casper.

It was his parents.

Glancing over at them to see their reaction, he felt his face heat at his Father’s knowing smirk, and his Mother who was giving the Captain a death glare.

Her eyes were glowing purple, and she looked ready to choke him out.

The Captain placed his hand on Kellen’s lower back, ushering him inside.  “Didn’t you need to speak with Casper, Mr.

Woods?

I suggest you go do that.” Casper, as if he was able to hear the Captain’s words, appeared out of thin air with a smile.  “Shall we?” He asked, and nervously, Kellen nodded, glancing over at his parents once more.

Both had looked away from him, and it was clear to him that they were talking to each other in hushed tones.

He knew it was about him, and that only made him feel worse.

The Captain pushed back Kellen’s hair from his forehead, distracting him from his thoughts.  “Yes?” He asked, unsure if the Captain wanted anything.

Instead, he smiled, shaking his head.  “Nothing, Mr.

Woods.

I assume you shall be going for lunch after meeting with Casper?

Are you two going to go right away?” He asked them, and Casper nodded for them.  “Yes.

I plan to head back to the Guiding Division after lunch, since most of the Guides left here are more than capable without my hovering.

Hill might be lonely, but she should be fine.” The Captain smiled at them.  “Alright.

I’ll see you for our guiding session then?” He asked, and Kellen nodded.

His smile widened.

“Have a good rest of your day.” He told him warmly, before pressing a kiss to his forehead and heading back into the conference room alone.

Casper didn’t hesitate to take Kellen to one of the smaller conference rooms and the two sat down for a briefing.  The room was just off the hallway, and was classified as Conference room 3.

It was a small room, with a large projector, but only about six seats.

Casper had taken his tablet with him and hooked it up to the projector so that the two of them could look through the pages together.  Turns out, there were a lot of Guides from the Saturn Guild who were interested in becoming Field Guides.

That surprised Kellen, since most of the Guides didn’t have to do front line time like the Espers did, so they had no idea what it was actually like out there.

He worried it was just for the name recognition, and found he wasn’t quite wrong about it.

Casper told him that they had done a survey, about 6 months ago, asking among the Guides if anyone knew what a Field Guide was, and if they wanted to be one.

The results between now and then were almost night and day.

Six months ago, almost no one knew what a Field Guide was.

No one wanted to be one, because they hadn’t known it was an option.

Hell, Kellen had only known it was an option by accident.

He’d found a small video clip of a Field Guide at work, which he shouldn’t have seen because it was on his Mom’s computer, but he had been hooked since then.

They had looked so cool, with their glowing blue eyes and black leather outfit.

He’d wanted to be one since then.  Now?

Now that they had seen the interview that Kellen had done with the Captain and Gunther, and they had listened to the way he had been able to banter with two people most considered out of their reach, there was a huge demand for Field Guide programs.

Casper told Kellen that the school where he had gotten his basic education from was overrun with requests.  All of this meant that Kellen had his work cut out for him.

He had thought, at most, he would have about 10 people to train.

Between him and Brent, that would have meant that they would have had 5 people each to focus on and give detailed instruction to.  No.  It was double that.  Including the few Guides that the Captain and Casper wanted to be taught, there were 20 people who wanted to sign up for the program.

Granted, this was after Casper had mentioned that there might be a bonus monetarily to anyone who signed up, but they had been sitting at 16 people before he had mentioned that fact.

Casper was over the moon with how many people had signed up, while Kellen could feel his exhaustion raise.

It was going to be hard to manage that many people.  So, he suggested to Casper that he should hold a briefing, to make sure that they knew what they were getting into before signing up to be in the program.

It was only fair, since most of them had no idea what they were getting into.

Being a Field Guide wasn’t all rainbows and roses.

It was hard work, and he wanted people who were going to work hard to be in the program he made.

He didn’t want to disappoint the people who had put even a smidge of faith into him to think it wasn’t worth it.  Casper, thankfully, agreed that it was a good plan, before going through the shipments and things that Kellen had ordered.

Unfortunately, Kellen had ordered on the lower end of things, so he was going to have to wait for a second shipment to come in before he could start his lessons after the briefing.

The good news was that his shipments were priority, and would remain so into the future.

Kellen questioned this, at first worrying it was because he was the Captain’s partner, but Casper quickly fixed that fear.  It was actually because of Kellen’s personal reputation.

Most of the companies Kellen was ordering from knew who he was, recognised his orders from the past seven years, and wanted to keep a good reputation with him.

The Guild, who also wanted to build new relationships outside of their usual, trusted ones, wanted to make sure Kellen’s relationships were looked after.

A happy Field Guide, they had learned, meant more people survived the gates.  Casper also introduced the list of people who he wanted Kellen to take personal interest in.

It wasn’t a bias simply because these Guides were going to be a part of the next scouting mission that would go into the gate.

This was something that had been decided before the first scouting parties’ issues, even amongst the Guilds, so it was urgent that Kellen put them on the advance course.

The one they were focused on in particular was a B Class Guide named Bree Matheson.

Bree was an average B Class Guide in the sense that her powers were stable and she had decent compatibility with everyone, but what made her different was her pool.

The pool inside of her, that she was able to draw her powers from, was giant.

It had to be A Class, but the Center didn’t classify by just pool.

Her powers were bog standard B Class, so she wasn’t able to be anything but that.

It appeared that Bree didn’t take it to heart, since she had never protested or rebelled.

But it was clear from the way that Casper spoke of her, that he had high hopes.  She had vibrantly dyed purple hair, and gray eyes set into a slightly round face.

She was of average height, and from what Kellen could tell, she appeared decently fit.

Casper told him that she had done some extra courses beforehand.

She’d had more knowledge then most basic Guide training when it came to flora and fauna, and her physical tests were better then most Guides as well.

It wasn’t just the size of her pool that made her an interest to them, and Kellen appreciated Casper being candid with him about it.

He wanted to know Casper’s opinion, but he was also going to have to test her.

She wasn’t going to be able to back out like the others when he did his briefing, and instead she was going to have to prove herself to him, Brent and Casper.

Kellen worried for her, of course, since even if she had all the training he could possibly give her, if that first scouting mission didn’t come out soon, he was not going to feel comfortable sending anyone in there besides himself, or Brent.  Lunch came quickly, and Brent stopped by to pick up the other two Guides to go eat.

He was bouncing, pleased to have a break for food, and Kellen could only laugh at him silently.

When they got to the cafeteria, the line was long, but moved quickly, and soon the three Guides found themselves at a table taken up by mostly trays as Brent and Kellen went to town, and Casper ate an average amount.

“So, Kellen, you left your folder out in the open and Hill and I looked it over.” Brent started after he had finished his first two plates of food.

Kellen only paused eating briefly.

“20 000 to fuck him?

That’s insane.

S Classes are a different breed.

Are you going to be alright?” Casper nearly snorted an electrolyte beverage out of his nose.  “20 000?” He asked, concerned, and Kellen nodded.

He shrugged at Brent’s question, before taking a sip out of his own beverage.  “I’ll be alright.

It just means I need to have more calories stored away.

I’ve been kind of going to the gym, but I’m probably going to be working out a lot more now.

Before work, and maybe after work now.” He stated calmly, before he moved onto his next plate.

Brent leaned back in his chair, shaking his head as he looked over how calm Kellen was.

Casper was flabbergasted at the news, but Kellen?

Cool as a cucumber.  “Oh, I can’t wait to see the Captain salivating at the sight of you just shredded.

All so he can fuck your brains out respectfully.” His voice was gleeful, and Kellen felt his cheeks heat.

He cleared his throat.  “The Captain wouldn’t really care about that.” He protested, and Brent gave Kellen a look.  “Kellen, that man looks at you like you’re a full course meal and he’s starving.

Especially when you aren’t paying attention.

He couldn’t keep his eyes off of you in the meeting, and you didn’t even notice.

I’d almost feel bad for him if I hadn’t noticed the bite marks on the back of your neck when we ran the obstacle course.” Casper, who had foolishly been taking another sip while Brent spoke, nearly choked again.

Brent placed his hand over his heart.

“But, I’m a gentleman, so I didn’t say anything at the time.” Kellen glanced at Casper, who was struggling for air, and Brent, who was putting on a grand show of being a bigger person.

He knew his face was red, but there was nothing he could do.  “He wouldn’t care if I was soft and squishy either, Brent.” Brent rolled his head.  “But he is allowed to have preferences, and I have not doubt the man loves your rippling abs.” He winked and Kellen sighed, unable to handle his teasing in the slightest.  “Even if I agreed with you, I wouldn’t know why I had done it.” He muttered to himself, before continuing to eat.

Brent chuckled.  “Well, there is a purpose.

Don’t you have a preference?

Do you like the fact that he’s just as shredded as you?” Kellen had the distinct image of the Captain over him, shirt off, cock out and staring at him.

Kellen coughed.  “W-Well, it’s not the worst thing.” He managed to say and Brent snorted, his green eyes bright.  “He’s exactly your type.

You wouldn’t have done well with an Esper who liked to sit behind the scenes.

Me?

I couldn’t care less.” Kellen turned his gaze towards the Guide who was trying to act tough.

“Oh really?” Kellen said, his tone neutral.

Kellen could tell the man had realised he’d fucked up and left himself open for Kellen to attack him, but instead of doing so, Kellen smirked at him and ate his food.

That only made Brent flush.

Casper, who had just been trying to eat his lunch, sighed.

He didn’t think he was ever going to fully understand these two, or their dynamic.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!