20. Guild...or mercenary?

After a very awkward flight with a near silent trip, some people attempted to aproach her and talk, but the angry glare she shot at them was enough to keep those at bay, most of the time she was leaned on her friend, passed out, the last few months having taken its toll at last on her weary mind. After landing, she immediately leaves, giving no chance to anyone to stop her as she hops in her car, and leaves. Days go by and not a word, not even rumors, and those who were waiting eagerly for silver to make a new team, slowly grow weary, unaware the center of their subjects has been near comatose since arriving home, barely waking long enough to eat and shower. A week passes in the blink of an eye for her, waking up groggily on this particular Saturday morning,before even rolling out of bed, Silver takes her phone, posting a quick announcement on the hunters association board, all it says is her name as captain and recruiting for team, any class or level welcome. No discription, no declarations of forming a guild, no benefit offers or sign on bonuses. Afterall, she isn't like the guilds with money to toss away. After eventually crawling out of bed and getting dressed, she finds her way downstairs to a conversation between her parents and someone that sounds very familiar to her, eating at the dinner table this morning. Rounding the corner to stop dead in her tracks as all eyes lock on to her, the familiar person, is her childhold bestfriend micah, again he always finds a reason to be around.'why are they staring?' She thinks to herself, ignoring the awkward stares as she makes herself a huge plate of breakfast, stocked high with eggs, sausage, and pancakes,enough to feed four people normally,before taking a seat at the table. "Whats with the staring? Do I have something on my face?" She asks, already digging in before her parents can come out of their trance, surprised to see her up and about so soom after hearing about all that she has been up to for the last few months from micah. "Um,we are just surprised to see you up and doing so well so soon, its incredible! And we were also worried as well, we heard some of what happened over there..." At that her father stops talking giving a glance at her mother before looking back, a trace of pride and worry evident in his eyes. "From here on, it will only get worse, soon bounties for my head will appear in some cities, and many guilds will do everything they can to force me to join." Silver says tiredly, already predicting that her actions will not go unpunished easily. "On that note, I will be leaving out today to the arena grounds to recruit for my new team, I can't keep fighting alone, It'll get me killed if I do." Micah, having focused on eating as well,lifts his head up from his equally large plate before speaking. " I'll join!" He says without even considering it for a moment making the family laugh, the boy had always followed her around no matter what she did, he was happy to be there too. "Of course,I had every intention of making you my left hand!" Silver makes a joke chuckling a bit. "Get it? Cuz...cuz I need a left hand?" She intentionally rolls her left shoulder forward,showing off the missing arm, laughing crazily. Getting a bit of a laugh from the table as well. "Anyway,heh, since you will be my left hand, the new recruits will have to fight you in the arena and either do some form of injury to you, or manage to hold out for one minute against you, now if they deem me their challenge, well...then they are far too arrogant, either way I will fight with the same terms, if anyone can endure an assault by me for one minute they will have supreme benefits because strength talks." Silver outlines her plans to the table, hearing that he will have to accept the challenges of everyone first makes micah frown and feel as if he has already suffered a loss, afterall, thousands will probably line up for such an opportunity. Finishing dinner the two rush out with a hasty thank you to the two parents before one hops on a motorcycle that looks oversized for anyone else but just right for the huge specimen straddling it, while Silver slides over the hood hopping into her car, their competitive nature having never faded over the years as the two jostle through traffic doing their best to race their way to the arena. An hour drive to the far side of the fortress city, where its mostly training facilities and sparring arenas. An hour later, the two pull up almost at the exact same time luckily finding two parking spaces beside eachother, though and without saying a word or sharing a look my takes the left one, leaving the right for silver, which coincidently allows her room to deal with the door freely with only one arm, the move doesnt go unnoticed though as silver gives an appreciative nod as she clambers out. "So, do we want to rent a booth or just do the cheap skate way and stand there and holler?" Silver asks, her funds mostly drained after her construct purchasing, but her mentality has always been if you have it use it, money isnt useful to dead people. "Booth and a staff member, since we will most likely be fighting a lot...it would be better to have someone clear headed with the applications, and acceptances, Since your covering my gear, ill cover today go and find a good arena to set up." Micah says before splitting off heading to a nearby one story building, though its unmarked, its the site rental and official challenge agency, they are great for book keeping, and contract creation, most being lawyers or some form of paralegal, acts sort of like the official authority of Olympic officials when the city holds events and competitions. Silver walks into the arenas, searching for a large open arena, close to the front, trying her best to ignore the whispers nearby, 'is...is that the storm?' A small girl leaning and some dude wearing a guild jacket whispers and another in the group adamantly denies it, 'I heard its a beautiful woman who awakened a powerful storm call skill' trying her best to not laugh or beat someone to a pulp, eventually she comes across an empty arena that she likes and sets up, using her phone to send out an alert of her recruitment at arena number 135, before going in standby, using a form of meditation to doze on her feet, but given only a moment before a very cocky chuckle is heard approaching. "Well well, if it isnt miss mass murderer, what are you here for? Looking for a fight? You know its illegal to kill in the arena right?" Opening her eyes to see a young and very cocky acting male, with two dragon horns and scales under his eyes accenting his dragon eyes, though only half dragon, it gives him enough strength to be cocky...usually. "If you are here to pick a fight with me half blood then feel free to challenge me, otherwise shut up and get out of the way, there are others who wish to join my team." Silver says, having only opened one eye, revealing the rich and dark purple eye, seeing the mana running in him is quite low despite the dragon bloodline bolstering it, her only thought? Too weak. "Oh, someone's looking for a team are they? Not interested, but I have a proposition for you, a bet if you will, fight me, I win and...you'll be my slave from now on, you win, and ill give you one hundred thousand gold coins." The male says, laughing with the group, whether all of them are friends or bootlickers is unknown. "I will be putting my freedom on the line, let's make it a bit more fair yea? Hows my freedom against...hm..oh a single ingot of dragon scale steel? (Dragon steel has special proprieties that make it both extraordinarily hard, but has high mana channel capacity, though its typically rare, the price of it can exceed tens of millions of gold coin per ingot.why is it called dragon steel? Because after it is cooled, it will develop its own dragon scale pattern, making a beautiful piece. 1 ingot is roughly five pounds with a length of one foot by four inch by four inch.) The wealthy merchant son's stride pauses for a second, a frown appearing before he quickly regains his composure, already assuring himself of his victory. At this point Micah only gets back in time to hear the bet terms, a smirk forming as he moves to mingle with the groups. "I have 100k on the cripple!" And this sets off the official betting, and several officials come to overlook the fight,the rules of the fight are set, first to be injured in three minutes loses, and the count down starts soon after, a betting contract signed and officiated with no way to back out of it afterwards, the two get ready, silver being the troll she is, stands there on her end of the arena clutching her heart with her remaining hand, not attempting to put on armor or weapons, doing her best to sell of the poor lil hunter act, and in the mind of the half blood selling it with ease as he takes a look and scoffs, confused at why everyone says this weak poor cripple is so powerful, but with a roll of his eyes, his goal was to get her under him anyway in order to boast to his father, it was never her strength as he believed himself to be stronger than anyone his age.

Silver's pov: look at this fool, about to be handing me all the material i need for my arm, how generous of him, maybe ill thank him later...maybe, should i spawn any turrets? Nah, not this round anyway, lets make it real sellable this round heh' with this the fight starts and the half blood makes the first move, a mad dash to close the distance, though in the eyes of silver, and micah he looks quite slow his stats probably sitting in the low thirties of agility and dexterity, not nearly enough to even challenge silver, who is currently pretending to barely block his first attack, a hard midriff side attack, only barely slapping the blade off angle before taking a ginger hop away, seeming inexperienced but knowledgeable, as he attacks relentlessly now from this point on, and every strike, blow, and slash, blocked or dodged, this infuriates him to the point of ignoring his defense each slash making huge openings which silver sees, but chooses not to act on them. 'Not yet' she thinks counting down the time, thirty seconds left...twenty...ten...five...three, and she moves, looking like a desperate attempt, but it moves much like calm water, Reaching its target effortlessly, her sharp claws enough to pierce his skin, making only the shallowest of cuts, which heals almost instantly, but the fight comes to an end a second later, an official now blocking the sword that nearly made contact at the end of the fight, the confusion in the half bloods eyes evident. "I-its over?D-did i do it? Did i w-win?" She asks anxiously, though on the inside, all she can hear is the maniacal laughter at her baiting in yet another customer. "Winner! Silver hailstorm first blood!" An official says, her claws still dripping a tiny amount of blood. The halfblood looking down at her claws, and the tiny slash in his shirt stained with his blood makes him furrow his brow, gritting his teeth he calls out loudly in front of the crowd. "Again...Lets double it i dont believe you can do it again cripple!" He growls out, utterly unaware that he is getting played right into the pit. "A-again?...but....i won?" She says her eyes big and teary as she looks over. "I won fair and square!" She acts as if she is going to run now that she has won a nice prize. "Wait!. Keep the one you got ill challenge you again for double our agreements, two dragon steel ingots if you win." She falters, hiding a growing grin, the wealth she is unexpectedly gaining is lovely, and exactly what she has been after."...Okay...but only because i really need the money..." She says sadly before dragging her feet to the officials, signing more paperwork for this fight. Once, it's all legitimate, the fight starts soon after, and right away he repeats his rush forward, in the meantime silver ignores him and tunes into the bets in the nearby stands,hearing the fervor, she smirks as the bets are still climbing most of them against her, making their pay huge in total, so she plays along, barely dodging, not summoning her turret this time, feeding his false bravado. All the while dying of laughter at this fools ignorance, coming here knowing who she was and still thinking he is better.Leading the fight, she lets it get down to about ten seconds before attacking, cutting him in almost the exact spot in a similar fashion giving a surprised face as she is looking up st him being blocked by an official again. "I...I did it?!" She asks, still playing her little game, the crowd growing quiet as some start realizing whats going on but not the fools,and not the half blood as his face contorts in anger as he steps back. "How?!" He demands furiously. "How did you cut me! Was my guard down did i leave too much of an opening? How damn it!" He demands storming up to her. W-well, you started taking big long swings at the end, and i just moved when you finished attacking..." She trails off, not entirely lying,more she can move much faster than him in a shorter window of time...but who needs to know that? "Fine,one more time this time it will be dragon steel against dragon steel, i win i dont owe you the last three, you win i owe you three more, deal?" He grits out knowing that if he has to pay any of this,his father will be pissed spending years of his allowance on paying a debt will be disgraceful. "Deal.." She says softly, turning her back to him as she skips to her corner, a crazed look in her eyes, and a devilish smirk gracing her lips, making micah, who has been watching the fights, nearly faint from it, having been head over heels for the small demon he has for a friend, still rounding up a few more bets, aware this is the last round. And without any flare or buildup, the fight starts, but this time, silver becomes the aggressor, pushing from her corner like a blur across the arena, covering the fifty yards before the halfblood even fully draws his sword, with so little time to prepare, he tries his best by unsheathing into a wide swiping slash, only for Silver to contort unnaturally, as if made of water like a cat, twisting nearly all the way around at the waist, dodging the attack, while moving in violently, he claws finding the center of his chest before slashing violently, creating deep gouges in his chest immediately, blood soaking her hands, as she flies by him, unscathed, to the astonishment of the whole crowd, the fight over in just a few seconds, quiet murmurs can be heard everywhere. "Argh, fuck...how...what...what was that?" The halfblood asks, struggling with the pain as silvers claws had dug in down to his sternum, bone showing a bit in the gaping wound. "You had all that information on me and still assumed i was weak? Come on you had this coming, thanks for dragon steel i have great plans for it!" silver says cheerily, skipping off toward micah, to most people seeming like a crazy psycho for the blood still dripping from her hand as she happily skips over. "Sooooo how did we do this time? Get a good amount this time?" Silver asks all too sweetly, making micah laugh so hard he doubles over, his towering figure shaking from the laughter as he tries his best to reply inbetween outbursts. "We uh...we...we made a massive...massive profit...even split fifty fifty we are walking away with at least fifteen million gold each, so yea...phew damn, you shouldve been an actor or something, like you sell the innocent sweet act too easily." He chuckles once more before transfering her share of gold via the system before going back to setting up a booth many in the crowd having been wanting to talk to the lil cripple that kicked the half bloods ass and essentially robbed him of quite a bit of good stuff. "Alright, time to make an announcement, announce that the armored foxes are now recruiting, anyone who would like to apply or is interested can step up to the booth an ask whatever questions or apply, in the meantime, ill order us a feast, we are going to need it." Standing to the side, watching the tall dark and loyal, friend of hers get set up at the booth before letting his vocals rumble, the air trembling even without mana, demanding ones attention as he speaks. "The storm of the asari, is now recruiting any class, support classes will have a different exam than combat classes,I repeat, the storm of the asari, is here today recruiting!" Not even being able to catch his breath as a crowd gathers around the booth, some just wanting to meet the legendary storm, others wondering what it will take to get a gravy spot, though none have got in line, as of yet, though some questions keep flying around that silver overhears. "Is it a new guild, or a mercenary group? Maybe its a raid team for a super hard dungeon or something?" Hearing all of this, she doesnt bother answering, unsure if she seeks any of this as it is,glancing up from time to time, watching and admiring how easy micah is handling the recuitment, taking applications, challenges, and questions with ease, seeming perfect for his new role. Though none of those who tried the recruitment challenge so far has succeeded, showing the gap in strength and skill as few even reached halfway through. But after an hour, with many fails, the first wave of recuitment ends with a signal from silver for micah to come eat, and like that an impromptu buffet begins, silver and micah getting the first huge plates to eat, setting up at the booth with, pizza, ribs, tacos, brisket, and other options scattered around, some of the buffet goers, coming up to ask questions, or curry favor by dropping the name of guilds, or wealthy family members only to be ignored. Time passed and the two finish eating before micah, begrudgingly, enters the arena, and a young girl, with armor that has seen much better days, dark and damaged, and ill fitting, a faded mark on the shoulder, potentially an old family crest? Its too damaged to make out, but this is enough to catch silver's attention, being ill equip and still willing to challenge a beast in the ring. Watching as the match started, micah covers the distance in a flash, though the girl isnt any slower drawing an aged short sword and shifting to block his attack, only for micah to grip the blade and squeeze, causing the edge to chip and break with the force, what edge there was, dull as a butter knife. Without missing a beat the girl abandons the blade, swiftly dodging out of the way, assuming a barely percievable defensive position, to most it would look like a poorly trained amatuer, but to silver, she can see the inexperience but determination to make it no matter what, Micah advances quickly slashing low, block one way while shifting to meet the other, an effective trap for the slower or weaker fighters, but for this girl, she pushes forward shifting sideways like one would a sword to parry, moving in and throwing a solid punch, that lands, making a very dull thud, but nothing else, micah takes advantage and reaches to grapple her only for her to do a split, sinking out of his range before dodging quickly out of the way, although inexperienced, shows excellent fighting instinct, better than most people here, not even a full minute in. Silver continues to watch, as the girl dodges and attempts all sorts of attacks that dont even phase micah in the slightest, but one can tell he is growing flustered at the fact that she is dodging every attack or attempt at grappling. 'Jesus, if this girl had the strength to match up, it would be a second me almost, a vicious lil thang...teachable too, but i cant show favoritism yet, lets see if she passes first.' One minute goes by, then two, in the same pattern, micah struggling to keep up with the speedy little girl, though unable to make any injury, showing remarkable ability to avoid attacks,slowly, to the astonishment of the watching crowd, the first victor in the challenge is found, in a girl covered in armor too large and too worn to offer her any protection. Walking down, Silver gives an appreciative whistle, looking the girl up and down. "Whose family are you with, why did they send you out with scrap metal?" Silver asks as she nears, more curious than anything to her first new member. "My mother...though she cant fight, this is all she had left for me. Her old armor and weapon...though the weapon is destroyed now...a pity really, she saw the post and told me to come and try, that the leader is strong and could help earn us some money, i hope thats okay?" The young girl says, a look in her eyes that deceptively says, belittle me if you dare. "Its fine, whats wrong? Is she injured or needs some sort of assistence? I can make some calls, and grease a few palms to ease the homefront, distracted members are dead ones in my book" Silver does her best to shrug before turning around to walk up the stairs. "Return the armor, or scrap it, you wont be needing it anymore, you can stay or go home and meet me at saint tella's barbeque tomorrow,oh...and congratulations for succeeding as the first one."