Great Unseen Intrigues Lurk Deep

Russ coughed into his hand, trying to hide the blood that spattered out along with the sound. Of all the times for it to flare up, of course it would be right before he does the one thing where appearing strong is of utmost importance. He stood in line for the guilds entrance test with hopes of being accepted into the guild and having a good way to provide for himself. He had tried many different jobs around the city, but none of them fit just right... meaning that he had been fired from all of them after the first day. Any job where he had someone directly over him telling him what to do just didn't go well. He was much better when given a goal to complete and left to his own devices to complete it. That being said, it wouldn't be a good look for a wannabe adventurer to be coughing up blood, so he discreetly wiped the blood off on the inside of his shirt. Just when he thought that his actions had gone unnoticed, a girl tapped him on the shoulder causing him to turn around startled. 

"Woah! I didn't notice you there. What is it?" He inquired as to what she wanted. In answer, she only held out a hankerchief. 

"What? No thank you. I don't need it." 

She only pushed the towel out more, insisting that he take it. 

"Really," Russ holds his hands up as if to show that he is okay, "I don't need it." He said, getting annoyed.

She stared at him intently, as if waiting for him to take it. He huffed and started to turn around when the girl pushed it forward even more, hitting him in the face with it. Russ recoiled from the soft hit and saw that the girl had squinted her eyes in annoyance. 

"Fine." He roughly grabbed the cloth and tucked into his waistband so that she would stop bothering him. 

The line wasn't moving swiftly, and before long, Russ coughed again. This time, before coughing he self conciously brought the hankerchief to his mouth, covering it. He coughed blood up into the cloth and glanced uneasily at the girl behind him only getting a warm smile from her.

He waited patiently as the line slowly progressed, bringing him closer and closer to his dream job. Making a clear effort to ignore the girl behind him, he made it to the front of the line and a few moments later was called into the exam room. He took one step forward when he felt another tap on his shoulder. He glanced back to see that the girl was holding out her hand expectantly. 

"What is it? I have to go." He said, pointing toward the door. The girl furrowed her brow and re-emphasized the hand that she was holding out. 

"Oh. You want the hankerchief back? If you would use your words, things would go a lot smoother, ya know?" He sighed. "I got blood all over your hankerchief, so why don't you wait until we are done here so I can go buy you a new one?"

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

Russ grunted in frustration. "I don't have time for this." He handed the girl the bloody hankerchief and walked into the exam room. 

Luckily for him, getting a rank 1 guild membership was little more than and elementary test of knowledge and capability. That was because the rank 1 members only had access to the easiest quests, not that anything rank 1 was really considered a quest, more of a menial task, but the important thing is that completing them earned money. 

It was only a couple minutes after he walked in the Russ was presented with his very own guild Card

Name: Russ Skiler

Rank: 1

Special Abilities: None

Party Members: None

Threat Level: 1

He winced as he read over the special abilities part. 'No one needs to be special to make money anyways.'

He walked back into the lobby of the guild and passed by the handkerchief girl. He showed her his new membership card and she beamed, giving him a thumbs up as she walked into the room for herself. 

After remembering the incident with the handkerchief, Russ decided to wait until the girl was done with her own test. While he was waiting there was a commotion in the lobby.

"But you haaave to! You can't leave me hanging like this! Please please please please." A girl shouted. 

She was short in stature with blonde hair to match. It wasn't apparent if she was an adventurer from how she dressed, but the man she was pleading with was certainly an adventurer of some kind with his metal armor and the large broadsword on his hip. 

"It's out of the question." He said sternly, turning away from the girl. Her head drooped, but she picked it back up determinedly, looking around the room. Russ hurried to avert his gaze, but was too slow and she made eye contact. Her face was overtaken with a smile and she let out a sharp "Ah!" before making her way over to him. 

"You. You are an adventurer, right?" She said, pointing at him. 

"More trouble," He mumbled, nodding. 

"What was that? No. It doesn't matter. My name is Fitz, and I need party members. Let me see your card." Her words come out in a demanding rush.

Russ hesitated with his card in his hand, debating whether or not it was a good idea to hand it over to the little adventurer. He didn't deliberate for long before she snatched the card out of his hand, replacing it with her own for him to look at. 

Name: Fitz Ne Ryhnd

Rank: 1

Special Abilities: None

Party Members: None

Threat Level: 1

Fitz looked over Russ's card, tutting to herself and slowly nodding her head. "I see. I see." She said knowingly. "You're in the same boat as me!" She said with a smile. 

"The same boat? From what I know of you now I'd rather not be on open water with you." He said.

"Rude." She snapped back.

"True." Russ shrugged. 

Fitz sighed, "True." She conceded, "I don't know how to swim."

"Some adventurer you are." 

"You're getting off topic." Fitz, looked him in the eyes earnestly, "Look, both of us are in the same situation. We both have super lame guild cards with no special abilities or party members. Well, I won't stand for it. Maybe I can't just grab a special ability off the shelf, but I can get a party member to spruce up my card. What do you say? Join my party?" She holds out her hand.

Russ started working on the wording for his rejection when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You again?" He looked back at the handkerchief girl who was excitedly nodding her head. He looked at her then back to Fitz. "Wait. You're not telling me to..."

She gives her head a hard nod causing yet another sigh from Russ. 

"Great!" Fitz exclaimed. "The three of us will be in a party then." She gestured to the handkerchief girl, "Give me your card and I'll go register us."

Fitz took the card, and gasped when she looked at it. 

"What is it?" Russ tried to peek at the card, but Fitz just gave a curious look at handkerchief girl and took all three of their cards to the guild counter. With Fitz, gone he tried addressing the other girl.

"Do you know what that was all about?" He asked. 

She just puffed up her cheeks and shrugged.

"Any chance you could tell me your name?"

She pointed at Fitz, who was already on her way back.

"You want me to ask her?"

The girl nodded and Russ sighed. 

"And boom! The greatest adventuring group ever has been formed. We are 'Silent Voice'." Fitz said dramatically. 

The handkerchief girl looked surprised at this revelation, while Russ snatched at her card, unable to take it anymore. It wasn't hard to see what had surprised Fitz so much.

'This should be interesting.' Russ thought as he read the card.

Name: Ona

Rank: 1

Special Abilities: [Silence], [Silent Voice], [Gentle Touch], 'Confidential'

Party Members: Fitz Ne Ryhnd, Russ Skiler

Threat Level: ???