Ash fixed his tie and wondered for the hundredth time if he was over-dressing for his first day at SRG. He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his blue, Egyptian cotton dress shirt, and pulled the black tie down an inch and a half, then looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.

He'd cut his hair yesterday in a nervous panic, and now it looked horribly dorky. That wasn't the impression he'd wanted to give to his new coworkers. Ash winced and dug around in the only drawer in the entire bathroom until he found his hair wax. Ash was cursing himself that he hadn't checked how much storage this house had before he'd bought it. There was almost none. Lesson learned.

Ash dipped his fingers into the container of hair wax and used it to spike his hair slightly. He bobbled his head from side to side before deciding it was an improvement.

Ash really wanted this job to work, he wanted to get along with his coworkers, and he wanted them to like him. He'd gone out on a limb when he'd quit working at the hospital. In all reality, he'd been lucky the hospital had hired him in the first place. The Asian stereotype was that all Asian's were brilliant, graceful, and competent, but in reality, no one should ever let Ash get near a scalpel. Ever.

In fact, he was surprised he'd ever managed to complete college and his residency, let alone pass his USMLE to get his license, that was how bad he used the utensils of his profession. He was great with kids though. It was his one saving grace in the medical field. The kids called him Doc Ash and they adored him. The other doctors would always call on him to help when a child was brought into the ER.

He shook his head to stop his train of thought, so he could once again focus on the day ahead of him. He slid studs into his pierced ears and blessed all the little baby healers that he could wear them again. You didn't wear jewelry when you might have a thrashing patient accidentally rip it off. He'd seen that happen to a woman in the first year of his residency. It wasn't pretty. Ash stepped back from the bathroom counter and tried to back up far enough to see what he looked like.

If he added a studded belt, he might be able to push it from business casual to almost casual. He wanted to look nice but didn't want to seem pretentious either. Ash probably should have worn jeans with his dress shirt, but his only pair was ten years old and so out of fashion that he'd feel self-conscious. Maybe Ash would go shopping after work, that way he'd know what the dress code was and could buy a few things that would let him fit in better with the others.

After leaving the bathroom, he dug his way into his closet, looking for the belt he was sure he'd seen yesterday. He spied it and snatched it up in triumph. As he was leaving the closet, his eyes caught on his favorite boots. He looked at his black slacks and azure shirt, after a minute of contemplation, he grabbed the boots.

The handcrafted genuine leather boots were also ten years old, but these beauties would never go out of style. They were the perfect footwear for Doc Ash, and he grinned as he made the silly reference to the name of the boot and his nickname.

Ash was satisfied with how he looked now, and he was just in time too, if he wanted to get there a few minutes early. He grabbed his messenger bag and dumped some things into it that made sense to an artist but would confuse anyone else. Ash also tossed in a little med kit, some sanitizer, and tissues, because he was a klutz and sooner or later he'd need those. Then he grabbed his keys, phone, and sunglasses. It was time to head out!

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“I always find all the good ones in the parking lot.” A woman's low voice commented with a laugh, and Ash turned to look behind him.

He immediately recognized the tall, slender woman as his new boss. “Hello!” Ash called back, even as his heart sank. She was wearing designer jeans with a shirt that said, Smeghead, with the picture of a smirking man with dreads. Ash was very overdressed if the head of the department wore something like this.

“I like your look, you could be in a band,” Tempest said as she strolled closer.

“Me?” Ash looked down at himself before looking back at Tempest.

She nodded her head, then flicked her long dark brown hair behind her head. “Yes. One of those classy rock bands, or maybe one of my son's K-pop or J-rock bands that he loves so much.”

He blinked and realized she was right. Ash groaned internally, he was off to a great start. “It's too much isn't it?” He felt himself blush.

Tempest shook her head and draped her arm along his shoulders and started to lead him towards the building. “Not at all, Ash. Everyone in my department is encouraged to express themselves in any way they feel comfortable. That includes their clothing. You'll see when we get to the department.” She patted his shoulder.

In his mind, this woman was genuinely amazing. She was the driving artistic force behind the best game that had been released in the past eight years, but she was just so down to earth. He had a little fanboy crush on the woman. Not a sexual crush, of course, but Tempest was his idol, and here she was with her arm around Ash's shoulders talking to him like they'd been friends for years.

On top of being a fantastic artist that he worshiped, she was beautiful. Tempest was like a piece of artwork herself, and his doctor's eye felt she'd had work done to look this perfect. Ash was sure there was a story behind that though, because she didn't play up her perfection like any number of women he'd met usually did, including Hanami. Tempest's cheekbones were high, her nose was small, and her eyes were softly slanted. He couldn't place her ethnicity, and it made him think that maybe she had a little of everything in her family ancestry, perhaps even a little Asian too. Her milk and mocha skin with golden undertones helped substantiate his theory.

“You're going to find that this place is... special. It will feel like you've fallen down the rabbit hole.” Tempest warned Ash.

“Are you saying I'm going to feel shell shocked, and I should brace myself? Because I'm kind of used to rolling with the punches so to speak. Working in an ER for three years will do that to a person. Though I can't say, I really liked working there. It was too much pain and suffering, and I wasn't able to shut off that give a shit mode that so many doctors and nurses manage to do to keep themselves sane. So, in reality, I was relieved to get a chance to work my dream job, even if I do have to drink the Kool-Aid to do it. Maybe I'll stop having nightmares now. Of course, it's been almost two months since I quit my job and last night's dream was amazing until it was interrupted by the doorbell.” Ash babbled.

Tempest held open the door for the two of them, and Ash quickly moved into the reception area of SRG.

“Welcome to HQ, Ash.” The woman said as she led him towards a strange space-age front desk.

A man stood behind the desk, he had a droopy mustache that seemed to make his face look sad. The man smiled, and it changed him into a different person. “Yon vision is delightful to mine eyes, fair Tempest. Didst thou capture yon knave whilst in the wilds?” The man asked, and Ash froze. He blinked a few times as his brain interpreted the words.

Tempest laughed and replied before Ash had finished working out what the man had said, “Poe, I did find another new employee out in the parking lot. This is Takashi Takahashi, call him Ash. He's starting in my department today. Ash, please meet the honorable Poe.”

“Ohiyo gozaimasu. Korekara ganbarimasu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.” Ash bowed slightly to Poe. He figured if Poe could say something that he had to translate, he could at least repay in kind.

Tempest snorted at Poe's confused look and translated, “He basically said good morning, that he would work hard and to go gentle on him.”

Ash's already high opinion of Tempest boosted even higher. Poe's confusion cleared, and he said, “Yea, verily!” and waved to them as they moved past the reception area.

People left and right greeted Tempest, and she introduced him to each person who stopped them. One man called Ink had huge muscles and tattoos everywhere from the neck down. Ink looked like a stereotypical biker dude, and he would have been intimidating if he didn't have such an amiable disposition.

Eventually, Tempest and Ash made it to the art department, and his jaw dropped at the people in the office. There was a man dressed as a gothloli, another man wore a cape, and still another one was wearing a rockabilly style, his hair was done up in a greaser pompadour. A woman was wearing a tailored pinstripe suit and there was another who wore a pajama onesie of a blue and white bunny, complete with ears and a poof of a tail. There were a few who dressed like Tempest mixed in there, but his boss was right. He felt like he'd just fallen down the rabbit hole.