The Cryptid Protection Bureau

Papers rustle as Teagan fights the urge to shift in the surprisingly comfortable plush chair. His eyes remain glued on the only other occupant in the room as she scans his application and resume. Oh god. He misspelled something on there, didn’t he? Did he use the right font? Should he have added all of those extracurriculars? Teagan runs a hand down the crisp dark green button-up that his sister and sister-in-law gave him just for this interview. So far there aren’t any wrinkles, but how long is that going to last?

The other occupant, Director Lena Pohlman, hasn’t said a word to him other than to greet him when he first entered into her office ten minutes ago. She has been going through his papers the entire time, scanning and humming to herself, making little notes here and there on something she has read and, honestly, Teagan is going out of his mind. Why didn’t anyone tell him that interviews were so stressful?

And not to mention that Lena Pohlman is one of the most influential people in the world, being in charge of not only the Midwest C.P.B, or the Cryptid Protection Bureau, but also is on the board for the International C.P.B, which not every director can say.

The C.P.B works all over the world to protect Cryptids and keep the public from experiencing massive panic. Most Cryptids don’t understand what is going on and most people panic upon meeting something that they don’t understand and that is where the C.P.B comes in. Agents of the C.P.B and some trusted Cryptids go around and investigate cases of possible Cryptids and bring them to locations where they will be safe and away from the public, who might try and hurt them. It’s not a perfect system, but since Director Pohlman has taken over, the reputation for the Bureau has gone back up. Or so Teagan has been told by his old classmates.

“Mr. Uri,” Director Pohlman says and Teagan straightens in his seat as she peers at him over her wire-rimmed glasses, “I must admit, I am quite impressed. Top of your class, honors all throughout high school and college. Volunteering and extracurriculars outside of school. Four jobs. And you even started a club called ‘Just Be Considerate’. I find that the most interesting. What exactly did that club entail?”

Teagan smiles slightly, folding his hands in his lap. “Oh, well, it was a club for those of us wanting to go into careers where we would be coming into contact with Cryptids and I noticed a distinct lack of classes on how to interact with Cryptids properly and I thought that if we are to be the ones who are protecting them, we need to learn how to properly socialize with them. And that was why I created ‘Just Be Considerate’ or the J.B.C.” Teagan reaches up, pushing black hair away from his face. “It was, and is, a space to learn proper etiquette while interacting with other Cryptids, especially those with intelligence, which most do, and how to make them feel more welcome in our presence. Make them feel and know that we take their safety just as seriously as the public's, and that they will be just as protected as everyone else.”

The director nods slowly, dark brown eyes remaining on Teagan as he speaks.

“So, essentially treating them like they’re human?”

Teagan pauses as he meets the director’s eyes. “Well, yeah. Many of the Cryptids out there were once human, or are still human with just a bit...extra. So, why treat them any different? They’re already stressing about what they’ve gone through, we shouldn’t be making it worse and should be trying to help them feel more at home with who they are.”

Director Pohlman picks up her pen and jots something down onto the paper, humming and nodding. Teagan’s stomach flips. Did he say something wrong?

“That is quite noble, Mr. Uri,” the director states, placing her pen down, a cool expression on her face. “Not many people remember that, say a werewolf or a vampire, were once humans, which is why most of the public reacts so poorly to them. And how did you accomplish this?”

Teagan wets his lips, smiling. “Being the president of the club, I would set up what I called, ‘Meet and Greets’. With a professor present, a Cryptid would come in and speak with us, talk about their experiences and, if they were fully human before, how their life has changed from their life before. We even had a few retired agents come in,” Teagan says, scratching his cheek sheepishly. “However, they weren’t usually as willing to come in and speak about their experiences.”

Teagan mentally winces as the director folds her hands and hides her mouth behind them.

“And who were the Cryptids that you managed to get these ‘Meet and Greets’ with?”

“Most of them were local to the St. Cloud area,” Teagan admits, “but there was Milly, she was a local witch who was practicing and had a little cafe near campus. Then, uh, we had Tyrone. He was part merfolk who lived near the lake and he spoke about how being half human and half Cryptid has affected how people interact with him. Max was next, she worked with Milly and she was a pixie. Her clan disowned her for wanting to get to know humans better but she said that she felt like she belonged more with humans than with her fellow pixies.”

Director Pohlman holds up her finger and jots something down on her paper. Teagan moves to brush his hand through his hair again before catching himself and sitting on his hands. Why does she keep writing stuff down? What on earth is he saying that is so important that she needs to write it down? Jordyn once told him that interviewers do that to just scare the interviewee. Teagan didn’t believe her until now.

The director clicks her pen. “That is quite impressive, Mr. Uri. And what about the retired agents?”

Teagan rolls his shoulder to hide a flinch. “Actually, our adviser, Professor Megs, was the one to contact the agents for us. They didn’t give us names only that they were X, Y, or Z. Something about protecting their identities.” Teagan drops his gaze to the glossy black desk in front of him. “They were the least enthused to be there and to speak with us, so we only had a small handful come in to speak.”

Director Pohlman narrows her eyes behind her glasses, running a hand over her gelled-back black hair. “Oh? And did any of them ever say why they didn’t want to speak with all of you?”

Frowning, Teagan shifts in his chair, scratching his thigh as his black dress pants prickle his skin. Ugh, he can’t wait to be back in his sweatpants.

“Well, a couple said it was because most of their cases were classified and hadn’t been released to the public yet. But,” Teagan pauses, drumming his fingers.

The director looks up at his pause, a ghost of a frown on her face.

“But?”

Teagan looks up and meets Director Pohlman’s gaze. “But the others made it very clear that they didn’t like the thought of us trying to ‘humanize’ the Cryptids. That they couldn’t be ‘redeemed’ or ‘saved’. Which wasn’t what the club was about. It was about trying to understand the Cryptids better so that there wouldn’t be so much tension between them and any of us who were becoming agents, field or base. We did have a few medical students who joined as well.”

Lena twirls her pen, a thoughtful look on her face. Teagan rubs his palm on his pants and drops his gaze to the papers before the director. She has them facing down so he can’t see what she has written on them, but he’s fine with that. It would just stress him out if he could see any writing.

“And why do you want to become an agent, Mr. Uri?”