Eclipse [IC/M]

[Anti-Hero]

"Grimm Eclipse"

The sign read, "Grimm Eclipse" and beneath that a plaque that read "We will walk in the light together." This building was a little old and a bit tattered but it held its own, this place was home to the guild Grimm Eclipse and its head office. This place was where the hunters met for bounties or for meet ups. It was placed at the center of small town just outside of Noel, The City of Light, or at least what passed for light these days. Noel was a gargantuan hub, its growth contributed entirely to the rise of hunting as being the most popular profession. Noel had facilities of all kinds, from homes to business, to its own government system set up to govern the area, even though government was mostly uncommon these days Noel had been in need of some kind of rule.

The small building lay just outside the main walls in a small outer village called Seraph, there were actually alot of the villages around Noel, but the city didn't have the resource to just adapt any area into the cities extremely high walls, nor the capacity to burn what resources they had to manage on a small area that couldn't self sustain. This small village was one of the larger ones, offerings its grassy areas to several guild halls all of which had the same goal in mind, bring back the light.

Everyone in Grimm Eclipse has been called to gather for an announcement to be made by the man himself, Grimm, Saire is already present sitting among the crowd after just coming off a hunt the previous day he'd decided to just stay in the guild hall overnight.

"Welcome, new comers and veterans."
A man stood before a mass, his shoulder strong and back straight, his very existence commanded presence. He looked out over the crowd and smiled with a sense of satisfaction at his accomplishments. The guild had never been very big and only recently had it gained any notoriety at all. He pulled his hands from behind his back and faced them, twirling something small in his fingers.
"We found it."

Recently the guild Grimm Eclipse had taken to more than hunting monsters and sometimes that meant following wild goose chases or long trips geared at hunting artifacts hidden in old cities, this all was why it had begun to raise its name. Grimm Eclipse had located certain books, artifacts that all pointed to a resurgence of light. That meant something everyone young and old longed for, an end to the darkness. The young-ins didn't understand it much but anyone who was anything over twenty knew light and its warmth and the older ones? Well, they knew even more, they saw the beginning of it all.

The man that stood before crowd, his name was Grimm, the leader of Grimm Eclipse. He had taken over after his father had been killed and even Grimm was worse for ware, in all his commanding presence it was never missed that his leg was fake, as such he didn't do field work, but his management skills were bar-none, the best. As the words left his mouth the crowd got a bit riled up wondering exactly what they had found, it couldn't be an answer, not yet, but it did point to something in that direction.
"We found something that belonged to the world before us, something we all had thought lost to ages, a 'source'." He held in his a small orb that gleamed with immense power and pulsed, distorting the very air around it. "This source will allow those chosen to accept its power and maintain a link to it that will allow an old magic, but only so long as we can hold the orb...With that in mind I'll soon be choosing a select few to act as my envoys in certain priority missions, I just wanted to let you all know, the light is coming back and it begins with this."

He held up the item, smiling so much so his teeth shown through parted lips. "Its beautiful."

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Saire Vile

He sat in the crowd watching and listening and while he wasn't as openly ecstatic as some his eyes definitely beamed toward the object and his brain began turning like a clock. This was big, for Grimm, the guild, and honestly everyone. It was proof alone that the old world wasn't something falling to myth, until this all they'd ever had were stories. Now? They had tangible evidence, something had been there before the darkness had taken over and even though he knew light, he couldn't remember its warmth, it was almost as if it had all been just stories. He knew better, but he didn't know much about the old world either hell if anyone did, they'd have to be in the early stages of death from old age, only a few made it to senior years and even less lived them out.

Saire leaned forward in his chair more enticed to listen to Grimm even as the speech ended and Grimm walked from the stage eyes locked to the orb, no different than Saire. There was something about it, ominous, but something fantastical, what did it do even? Grimm knew, maybe he could end up catching a word with him..."Hmmmmm..." He thought out loud while listening to the theories being spouted from ear to ear but he didn't care for them, he wanted to see it..As a hunter, a magician, and a blacksmith...what if he could duplicate it?

"That would be something, he said aloud while slapping his knee and standing from his chair. He looked around for Hunters he'd worked with before, someone he'd recognize, maybe he could pick up some information or if nothing else, some bounties still needed to be filled and he was short on money again.

[Juder]

Juder was not paying attention.

He gazed at the wall with dreamy, distant eyes. It wasn't that he was unexcited by the discovery---this truly was a momentous find, and would greatly aid the guild in its future missions---but when memory called, he found that he must answer. All of this commotion, all of the hubbub, reminded him what he was truly fighting for. He fished a small object out of his pocket---a soiled gold ribbon, much like the kind a young girl would wear in her hair---and gazed at it sadly, eyes dark.

"Milly..." he whispered the name softly. The name brought along with it a plethora of feelings---grief, anger, guilt---sending a stabbing jolt of pain to his stomach. Milly, his sister, though not by blood. Milly, the little bit of light in his life that had broken through the darkness. Milly, the girl he had been unable to save.

It was true that the main purpose of the guild was to dispel the darkness. Most of the hunters here fought for the light they hoped to find. He fought to avenge the light he had already lost.

Years ago, when his entire family had been slaughtered by daemons, he had immediately marched down to the guild and applied for membership. He had excelled in training, especially in combat. He guessed it was because of anger, the anger of all that had been stolen from him forever. Every daemon he slaughtered, he was doing it for Milly.

He forced himself to tear his eyes away from the ribbon and fix his attentions on the man's speech. This was the find of a lifetime, after all, and he did not want to miss something important.

And yet as soon as Juder looked up from his reverie, Grimm stepped off of the stage with his eyes fixed on the "source," showered with applause by the members of the guild. Juder swore. He always managed to miss the good stuff. With a sigh, he slid off of his stool and made his way over to Saire Vile, who was staring at the orb in amazement.

Juder had to admit that he was fascinated by Saire. The quirky blacksmith had joined Grimm Eclipse only a short year after he had, his origins as obscure as the reason why anybody would want to eat their eggs with ketchup and mustard. There was something in the way his eyes sparkled that reminded him of Milly, something selfless, unwavering and wholeheartedly clean. Besides, Juder was amused by the idea that---with his dark magic and Saire's light magic---they were like opposite sides of the same coin.

Saire was musing when, all of the sudden, he let out an enthusiastic "wouldn't that be something else!"

"Dear God," Juder gasped in mock horror. "You aren't contemplating another one of your infernal contraptions, are you, Saire?"

He was kidding. Juder had learned over the years that Saire was a blacksmith of surprising skill. Juder had broken several weapons in combat and brought them to Saire to be fixed, watching the smith work like a cat watching a laser pointer. The dark mage wished he possessed such skil, but alas, God didn't give from both hands.

"Unfortunately, I missed most of the speech," Juder began. More like the whole thing, he thought. "But it is a rather fascinating object, isn't it?"

[ｒａｂｂｉｔ]

“Welp, that’s one big bulls eye on Grimm if he’s ever had one!”

It was unclear where Eve had exactly been during the speech – at least, probably to the two men she now stood in proximity to. She’d appeared just over their shoulder and only announced herself with that statement.

“Inspire hope, sure,” Eve had an expressive face, especially when she talked, “but announce a major lead to bringing back the light?” Eve sucked her teeth and made a worried little face, “Maybe something to play a little closer to the chest.”

The crowd Grimm had gathered was slowly starting to disperse. She twirled the lollipop she held in her fingers and then popped it into her mouth; the oral fixation was strong with this one, and Eve’s mouth was pretty enough for it. Her eyes darted from Saire to Juder, curiosity reflected back from the lights in the room.

“Who do you think he’s going to select for these priority missions?” Eve asked with raised eyebrows just as soon as she pulled the candy out from between her lips.

[Anti-Hero]

"You almost know me eerily well Juder, I've got a couple things cooking in my head but if I'm being honest? That beautiful thing keeps tugging at something I've been wondering for awhile. What else is out there? But more importantly is there a way to locate it, I don't think Grimm would be keen on me breaking that artifact into a bazillion pieces to study it....but man...what I wouldn't give." He offered Juder his hand, it felt like it had been a few days since he'd seen his 'partner in crime'.
There had been a number of hunts when Juder had been Saire's back up and due to the nature of both their magics isn't wasn't uncommon to see them together or vying for the same team, it was oddly easier to work with each other than was to work with anyone else, or atleast that was how Saire saw it.

Saire was half focused on Juder, and barely noticed when Eve walked up as his attention was still focused on the speech and Grimm's new toy. But it snapped him back when Eve mentioned the next hunt. He thought to himself how awesome it would be if they got selected, but Grimm was a strange one and his way of selection wasn't something anyone knew...so, there chances? Saire tried to calculate thinking the best case scenario would end up with maybe one of them. The truth was that as good as they all were they weren't even necessarily the best hunters, they just had...unique abilities, least Juder and Saire did. Even so, Eve was usually close by the other two.

"Eve, it would be a long shot to even consider that we'd end up on the hunt...but here's hoping right?" He ran his fingers through his hair and thought about his late bills wondering if the two would possibly help with the list he had to burn through.
"But on the note of hunts, I've got a few licences outstanding if ya'll are interested, we can pull the usual three-way split."

[Juder]

"Of course I know you, Saire. We've only been hunting together for four years." Juder mused.

He smirked, but was caught off guard by Eve's sudden appearance. Where had she even come from? Blast it all, he hated being snuck up on! He was about to snipe at her and make some witty remark about announcing one's presence when one appeared out of thin air, but was cut off by Eve's remark about the revealing of the source.

"Welp, that's one big bullseye on Grimm if he's ever had one!" he had heard Eve say. Juder couldn't say that he didn't agree. It was true that the discovery of such an important artifact would boost morale, but what about the more sinister types who joined the guild? There were some who cared not to push back to the darkness but hunted only for the gain it brought them. And while rare, he had heard story of rogues who infiltrated the guild to stop its progress. Announcing the source's discovery was practically a neon sign for those who had joined the guild for the wrong reasons. What if someone decided they wanted it for themselves, to harness its power, or those who simply wanted it destroyed.

Then Eve inquired about the missions. Juder sighed inwardly. Speculation and gossip was not really something he enjoyed; he really preferred conversation with purpose, but whatever. It's not like he wasn't the slightest bit curious himself.

"Obviously me. I am the most good looking of the bunch, after all," he declared, hands on his hips. "And if Saire is not picked, I will simply invest in a rather large briefcase for him to tag along in. They'll never know. Right, Saire?"

Juder stuck his tongue out at the blacksmith. He was right when he said the chance of any of them being picked for the missions were far fetched; there were plenty of hunters in Grimm Eclipse that exceeded him in seniority and experience, though perhaps not fighting spirit. Still, it didn't really matter to him. A daemon killed was a daemon killed, no matter how prestigious the mission was.

Then Saire mentioned a three-way split on the bills. He laughed.

"I can't say that my bills aren't rather large as well, buddy, but we can try," Juder said. "I like to take rather long showers. Let's just say it doesn't lighten my water bill."

Then his expression became more serious. His mind went back to the source, the bright, flickering sphere that Grimm had been holding a minute before. The world was changing, that was for sure, but was it change for better or for worse? There were still many things they didn't know about the source. Perhaps not everything was as it seems.

"Saire, as momentous as this discovery is..." he said. "I feel like, just maybe, there is something our guild is missing. We should be very careful."

[ｒａｂｂｉｔ]

Eve’s eyes darted between Saire and Juder, watching them consider her speculation on the missions Grimm had spoken of. She slipped her candy back into her mouth to hide her smirk, her fingers moving up to adjust and tighten how her hair was curled up and secured.

“Y’all really need to learn to pay your bills. Budget, yo,” she spoke around the lollipop and then rolled up the sleeves of the button-down shirt she was wearing. The times Eve had actually turned down a hunt and the extra cash were few and far between. Most memorable was the ‘denial’ phase after her father’s death; on the opposite hand, however, was the ‘anger’ phase that followed and had been expressed, mostly, as a hunting spree, each more vicious than the last.

“But I’ll help,” Even gave a little twitch of the shoulders as a shrug. She made a little ‘lead the way’ gesture and smiled cheerfully, “I’ve been a touch stir-crazy as it is.”

At Juder’s change of tone, Eve blinked and slightly canted her head. He hadn’t been speaking directly to her, so she felt no need to reply, but she minded Juder’s caution all the same. He wasn’t wrong.

[Anti-Hero]

Saire sighed and flopped back down in the chair, nearly toppling it to the ground but then plopping his feet firmly and throwing his hands behind his head. "Juder, you always know how to bring down a mood, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt you aren't wrong." His hands fell back to his to his legs and he thought about what Juder had said. Grimm was smart enough to know he'd literally painted a massive target on his back and the fact was he'd still done it. Granted this was an announcement to the guild it was basically like he'd screamed in it, while holding it out in the middle of a town square.

"Grimm isn't an idiot...He must have had his reasons? But still." About that time Saire started to notice the guild hall had all but cleared out. A few stragglers here and there, but not near as many as there had been before. The guild hall was home to a few people who either chose to stay or had no where else to go, but most people tended to only show up for hunts or meetings and even then alot of your hunters never showed at all. For there to be this many? It wouldn't have been surprising if anyone had falsified their entry. Not like getting in the front door was hard. You turned the handle and walked in.

"So I'm guessing ya'll are down for those hunts? If that's the case, who wants to drive? Its not to far away about a thirty minute drive or so." Saire was a decent hunter, but there was one thing that made things difficult, he couldn't actually drive.

[Drakkon]

Hope. That's what Grimm had filled Karim with during his speech. The discovery of the source, and the return of light. It was an amazing thought. For a moment envy struck Karim. A desire to hold the object and to go on these missions to return the light.. but that was not his place. He was too inexperienced, and far too new to be trusted with such a task. He knew it, but he was still jealous. He sat quietly through it all, and quietly still when he was done. He could hardly remember the light at this point. He was too young to fully appreciate it. His brothers; Ashim and Madir remember it fondly. How they would cry if they could see it again.. how many others would cry as well.

Sighing softly Karim started picking at the food he had brought with him. He rotated living here and staying at home as much as he could. Typically whenever he was in abundance of money that he had no desire to spend would he go home for a short while. He found that he was spending less and less time there and more time here. His last trip he merely stayed for the night and dropped off most of the money he didn't need for food. (Ashim had helped him budget his expenses awhile ago.)

A quick glance around him revealed that he was one of the few people left in the guild hall. And a quick twitch of his ears showed that many of them were discussing going out on missions. His hopes were raised until one of them mentioned a three-way split. Oh well, there were other missions, other chances. And hell, it's not like he needed to spend all of his time out hunting daemons was there? He had a life.
Exactly. There's my brothers.. uh... my brothers. And... I don't really hang out with anybody too often do I? He thought for a moment. He recalled drinking with fellow hunters but no one really stood out for him, either from a lack of effort on his part or just too many drinks. He never considered himself unfriendly though, maybe just tense from his family's situation.
"Since when were you able to fight monsters?" "We don't need the extra money Karim.. you can come home." "If you want to help people I could find something for you. . . "
"Are you happy, or are you avoiding everything."
"I should go hunting." Karim muttered to himself. Finishing the last of his dinner and carefully cleaned up after himself. When he was done he wandered over to the bounty board. Typically nothing of a high priority but they were always good for extra cash.

[KawaiiChiyan]

Elissa watched through the holes of her mask. Her arms were crossed across her small chest, seeming to protect her heart from words that may possibly reach it. "Hm." Her voice sounded out as if she was in thought- but she wasn't. She had no interest in becoming impassioned with any wars or even battles. She was simply waiting for the next hunt- the next kill.

"Look, that's fantastic, but what can we do now? What does this do for us?" She asked. "Will this help us fight back? Will we really get to bring back the light? Or will we be stuck in this darkness?" The mask muffled her speech a bit, but she spoke loud enough that her voice made it to Grimm.

Underneath her mask, her jaw was clenched now.

[Anti-Hero]

Story Post

Saire checked his bounties on his phone and realized something was slightly amiss...Each bounty was required to be done by at least five people. There were a couple problems here, one, to do any bounty without following the set guidelines would forfeit any kind of bonus or reward, the second? Who in the hell was Saire supposed to take? He slumped down back at the table and thought to himself how much of an idiot he'd been to overlook that detail. He also was long past the date of getting the refund for purchasing the bounty in the first place so he'd be out even more money. He let out a loud groan and dropped his phone on the table with a loud rattle.

"I'm....such...a moron...."

Both Eve and Juder had jumped on the opportunity and he'd given Eve the keys so she could go pull his registered vehicle out of storage, Juder had decided to go along with her, they had the second chore of picking up a couple more items along the way. Mostly just medicine and a few extra rations, they'd be atleast half an hour or so.
"Wait...wait wait wait!" He picked his phone up of the table with a slight amount of renewed vigor. He actually kept a few contacts on retainer and one atleast was in the area as well a newbie had just shown up and their contact information had been sent to squads with outstanding bounties, lucky for protocol huh?

"K...k....there it is...Karim..." He shot a text to the guy. To be honest? It was a last ditch effort Saire wasn't exactly a person who loved going around inviting random people or for that matter even liked talking to those he didn't know well.
"And....there it is, Elissa..." Another text message away.

Half an hour or so later.

It hadn't taken long to get a response from either, even if one was new and neither knew him very well. Fact of the matter was Saire's bounties usually paid out pretty well and if people were moderately intelligent about how they did things, sometimes the bonus reward for trading in materials was an easy extra buck. When Juder and Eve got back, Elissa and Karim were already with Saire.

"I suppose introductions are in order? Well, I realized pretty quick we needed five people for atleast two of the three bounties so, I invited a couple people along. Juder, Eve, I'd like you to meet Karim and Elissa."

Eve was going to be driving them, kind of funny how you had someone who wasn't legally allowed to drive, by guild standards, and yet could have a vehicle registered in his name. Their first bounty was going to put them through their paces. They were hunting a specific creature who'd been aptly nicknamed 'Ironclad'. It was a large beast roughly three stories high that had recently become aggressive and started encroaching in on surrounding small towns. The beast listed looked as though it was covered in plates made of bone, its actual species was known was 'Eroch'.

"Well Eve, here's the bounty listing and I wrote the coordinates for the last sighting on the back, everyone ready to go?"