Penny had shown the way to the meeting room and went in before me since she was also part of the board. Along the way, she helped me prepare myself for the appointment.
"Be confident, be truthful, be polite!" she said, "This is really only a formality since we have to take our guild rules seriously, but I'm sure that with Alan and me vouching for you it'll all be okay."
After a short wait, somebody's assistant opened the door to the room and let me in.
They called it a board meeting, but to me, it felt more like a trial than anything.
The room was bigger than I expected. On the opposite wall from the door, the board sat in seats that were tiered up like in a theatre. It looked like where the jury sat in a courtroom. I saw Penny sitting there and she gave me a big smile and a thumbs-up.
In the middle of the room, there was a lone empty seat that faced a massive mahogany podium. Three people sat at the podium and watched me as I made my way to the empty seat.
The first was Alan, who looked like he barely fit in the seat provided for him since he was so big. He had his arms crossed, which showed off his bulging muscles and nodded at me.
The second was Leslie Rift, a fourth Gen Player whom I've only heard about. She looked like she was in her early forties. She was someone who Registered but did not take part in any Dungeon Clearing since her unique ability was ill-suited for it. I heard it had something to do with speeding up her mental processes, but since her other Attributes were only fractionally better than mine when I Registered, she opted to be the guild's chief financial officer and oversees the funding of the guild.
The one who sat in between the two was Edward Pritcher. He was dressed in another fancy—looking, gold-lined suit and since the podium meant that all who sat behind it were positioned higher than where I sat, it accentuated his 'looking down on you' demeanour since he literally looked down on me.
The assistant shut the door as she left the room. I looked around awkwardly as I struggled to get comfy on the chair that they provided.
"Let's get things started," Edward spoke, "Eric Stoller, today you have been brought in front of the board for misconduct unbecoming of a Hero's Stand guild member."
He looked down at a piece of paper and read, "Ms Jaquelyn Alloson, one of our staff members reported that you had physically attacked another member in the guild gym eight days ago, is this correct?"
I remembered what Penny told me to do. Confident, truthful, polite.
"Yes, it's true," I answered. I tried to sound confident, but it was so nerve-wracking sitting there that my voice wavered a little bit.
It was eerily silent as I looked up at the podium. Leslie was writing some notes, while Alan tried his best to seem impartial. Edward watched me closely in silence as he placed down the paper that I assumed had the report made by the staff member.
Leslie spoke up next. She spoke in a calm and measured way, "I believe you are a new member of our guild, yes?"
"Yes, ma'am, that's correct."
"I'm sure that you were given the standard materials when you Registered, correct?" she continued.
"Yes ma'am, I did."
"And you were told the guild's core values and rules?"
"Yes ma'am."
Her dark eyes were impossible to read as she watched me answer her questions. My stomach started to hurt from the anxiety that was balling up inside me.
"Would you care to tell us what happened?" Leslie prompted, "From your perspective."
I recounted the events that led up to the altercation as best and clearly as I could, though I stuttered a few times due to my nerves. I explained that Darren had approached me as I was minding my own business and started to harass me about a personal matter. And that was when I lost control and managed to put him in the chokehold.
I glanced over at Penny as I tried to avoid explaining what the 'personal matter' was, but she was watching the three that sat at the podium in front of me.
Unsurprisingly, Edward spoke again, "What was the personal matter about?"
I froze as I panicked to think of a way to answer the question without dragging Penny in.
"Well," I slowly said, "He…made fun of me."
"How so?" Edward prodded, like a shark that smelled blood in the water.
I gritted my teeth as I softly said, "My weight."
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Edward had a small, hard-to-see smile on his face.
I could hear the board members to my side start to murmur and my face went red.
"He made fun of my weight, sir," I said whilst looking down at the carpeted floor of the room.
While my head was angled down, I heard a sneer come from Edward, "How old are you, Mr Stoller? I thought only kids acted so volatile when they're teased."
"Hang on a sec!" Alan roared suddenly. Everyone who was muttering stopped and looked at him. I looked up and saw that his face was also red. Not because of embarrassment, like me, but red with anger. He had been biting his tongue to seem impartial, but what Edward said broke his will.
"Edward, how can you belittle him like that?!" Alan turned to his colleague, "You know what he's been through — what his family's been through — and look at him! Look how hard he's been working to improve himself!"
"That doesn't remove the fact that he still went against our values when he decided to get physical," Edward nonchalantly replied, "And though Mr Mannis is also a new guild member, you know how important his involvement in our guild is, right Leslie?"
Leslie continued writing as she spoke, "Mr Mannis is connected to sponsors that would be beneficial for the guild."
"That doesn't mean he's able to just go around disrespecting anybody he likes!" Alan retorted.
Edward turned back to Alan, "The fact that this whole situation arose because Mr Stoller overreacted because of his immature sensitivity to his —"
"God, Dad!" Penny suddenly yelled. The board members around her jumped in their seats at her interruption, "Eric was protecting me, okay?"
Even Leslie was surprised by Penny's interruption. She stopped writing and glanced over at Penny before looking back at me.
"Penelope, just sit back down, you know you're not supposed —" Edward tried to speak calmly, but his calm, judge-like demeanour had been shattered.
"Darren was saying some gross shit about me, and that's why Eric reacted the way he did, okay?" Penny jumped up on her feet and spoke over her father, "Also, Alan is right. Just because the guy has sponsors that might be beneficial to us as a guild, doesn't mean he gets to shit-talk everybody he deems lower than him."
"Penelope! This is very improper—"
"You don't think it's improper that Darren was talking about how he wanted to have his way with me?" Penny ignored her father.
Shocked at her exaggeration, I glanced over at her. I wasn't the only one who was shocked by what she claimed. Edward's face paled severely. His mouth moved open and shut as his mind scrambled for a response, but none came.