Namee: Theodore "Twitch" Witt

Class: Arbalist

Hair: Black

Eyes: Black

Hometown: Pierce's "Rad City for Attractive People"

Age: 23

Charm Point: Afro

A coolheaded young man who talks little of his life before meeting Pierce. He earned the name "Twitch" due to his ability to shoot arrows at a fast rate with ease. Twitch's cool attitude makes him a lady's man, but every true relationship he has become a part of has ended in betrayal. He is known to be too optimistic for his own good.

He is a talented singer and enjoys harmonizing, but mourns over the fact that there is no one to harmonize with. Pierce suspects that there is a hidden meaning behind this, but has dismissed the idea of pushing his best friend's personal values.

The five of the newly formed group were passing the time in Aman's Inn. It isn't too late, and nobody is particularly tired. Twitch is currently shooting at empty glass bottles off of a branch outside, earning praise from those who happened to walk by. Rina is reading a book in one of the rooms that they had booked. Dorian is out and about. Harvey and Pierce are currently sitting alone at a dinner table. The air in the room is a little awkward, but Harvey doesn't let it bother him. Pierce is open to having a conversation, but for some reason they just don't seem to be clicking. The older man has been trying to keep a talk going and hasn't had anything to eat or drink since they entered.

"Not many adventurers here aside from us, huh Pierce?"

"Yeah. This place is pretty nice; I'm surprised there aren't too many people staying here," Pierce replies. The inn's interior is made almost entire of wood. The room is decorated with many palm plants and cultural symbols made out of wood. There are numerous screen doors and large windows that present the ocean and beach just outside. Pierce spots the young innkeeper boy walk by the dinner table. "Hey, could you get me a chowder? Any kind will do. No string beans, please." Pierce wasn't sure if chowder really had string beans to begin with.

The boy straightens up like a pencil and nods his head thusly. "Sure thing, boss!"

"Shit, man. That's going to be your third helping of food tonight." Harvey says.

The boy prepares to turn around, until someone takes the seat across from Pierce.

"I'll just be having whatever he's getting." The new patron says.

The boy is surprised by the newcomer, but takes the order anyway. "Of course!" He bows and leaves. He has tanned skin and bowl-shaped hair. He appears to be the only person working, and at his age the dedication he is showing is admirable.

Pierce stares across at the newcomer. It's a girl, not too tall, and pretty skinny. She has short red hair with a single braided tail and blue eyes. Her face bandage stands out among everything else she has on her. She isn't looking at him, but her smirk and the focus her eyes give to the wooden table suggests that she's paying close attention to the two adventurers across from her. This makes her give off a strong determined vibe. Still, Pierce decides against making conversation.

"How far in have you gotten?"

The girl smirks and stares him down. She's expecting an answer.

"Well, actually, we're going in for our first foray tomorrow." Pierce says.

"Seems like we're on the same page, then. Me and my squad went in for the first time at noon. It's not as dangerous as others make it seem to be. You just have to be cautious and skilled." Her smirk doesn't fade and her eyes never leave his.

"I'll keep that in mind. How was the Labyrinth? What were you able to find there?"

"Fish, fruits, frogs, tigers; all of them had large-ass teeth. We weren't allowed to go too far in," She says. "We'll go on ahead tomorrow now that we've finished our first quest."

"Quest?"

"Yeah, didn't you go to the Senatus yet?"

Harvey speaks up. "We registered our guild about an hour ago. The Guildmaster gave us our guild card and told us to report there, but it's getting late, so we'll do that tomorrow. What kind of materials did you salvage?"

"Not much, mostly just dead monster body parts. We did find a few flowers, branches and such. Our farmer takes care of those things. Here's a fruit we found." The girl reaches into her bag and pulls out a plain fruit.

Harvey studies it. "An Anra fruit. I can't say I've never seen that before. I could buy those at the super market."

"Well, we also found this." She takes out a jar of fluid from her bag.

"Nectar; brings people back when they're out cold. A lot is required for it to actually take effect though. About as much as this jar is holding." Harvey seems to know a lot about the Labyrinth.

She nods and takes a good look at the two. "Where are your other members?"

Pierce answers. "One is outside shooting rounds. Another one is upstairs reading. I'm not sure where the last one is. We all woke up this morning having never seen each other's faces." As Pierce says this, Twitch walks in speaking with an even skinnier girl with brown hair, green eyes and a hood. She's wearing large trousers not unlike Twitch, and is carrying a humongous crossbow, again not unlike Twitch. Her trousers are being held up by thick, leather suspenders. On her chest is a tight, brown top that ends just below her bosom. Her face is young, but her confident and cheeky visage suggests that she's a little older than she looks. Even so, she's still ridiculously flat-chested.

"You're back Twitch, I see you're making friends." Harvey says.

"This girl's just as good a shot as I am." Twitch responds. The innkeeper boy sets the chowders down on the table. "Hey, boy," Get me a Merlot."

"Got it, boss!" The boy hurries into the kitchen.

"Apparently I'm not the only one making friends. Who's this?" Twitch asks, eyeing the red-haired girl.

Pierce wipes his eye and yawns. "I haven't actually caught your name yet."

The red haired girl smiles. "The name's Fei Yen. I'm a monk from the Valley Near the River. Glad to meet you all. I'm the leader of the Saturos Guild."

Pierce smushes his fist into his hand. "I'm Pierce. This is Harvey, and that's Twitch. Hey," Pierce eyes the girl next to Twitch. "What's your name?" He motions towards her.

"The name's Sprit, you hear?" The brunette speaks with a heavy Oceania accent. "I'm the Arbalist for the Saturos Guild." Her rugged manner of speaking matches the intense stare she gives him.

"Well, seems like we're making some allies," Fei exclaims. "Where are the others?"

Sprit sets her crossbow on the floor and takes the seat next to Fei. "Zinovia's gettin' some shuteye upstairs. Carrick's out bein' a jackass. Not sure where Al might be."

"Do you know when the guys are coming back?"

"No, Al just disappeared. Carrick said he was going out for a walk."

"Damn those two, they better be back within the next hour."

"Why? Are you in a rush?"

Twitch takes the seat next to Pierce and wipes his goggles with his handkerchief. He's happy. He and Pierce were making friends aside from those within the guild, and they just arrived this afternoon. "Sprit told me that you guys just started today too." He begins.

Fei scratches the back of her neck. "Well, technically we started yesterday. We almost had an accident until one of our members, who wasn't a member at the time, warned us about a group of fish sneaking up to attack us. This was some kid named Al who was wandering around the labyrinth by himself. After that debacle, one of our existing members decided that he didn't want to do this anymore and left us, so we went home."

Harvey raises an eyebrow. "Why was there just some kid wandering around by himself?"

Fei shrugs her shoulders. "I don't really know. He told us that he was looking for a plant that he wanted to study. We ran into him again in this inn last night and he decided to join us. I still don't know how he managed to enter the labyrinth by himself without anyone stopping him. Anyway, we didn't really get started until today, but we entered the labyrinth yesterday, even though we didn't really get very far."

Harvey puts a hand on his chin. Twitch thinks to himself for a moment.

"Hey Harvey, did Dorian tell you where she was going?" He asks.

"No. I have a few questions for her. I hope she actually comes back."

As if on cue, Dorian walks in through the doorway. "Hello," She lazily greets. "Who's this? Are you meeting new people?" She yawns after she says this.

"I suppose so," Pierce says. "Come take a seat."

Dorian sits next to Sprit and is introduced to the other two at the table.

"So, Dorian… that's quite a wardrobe there." Fei comments.

"Yeah, I need to look presentable, after all." She isn't actually looking at her and is wiping her eye in tiredness. Sprite's analyzes her person intensely.

"You don't need to stand out above everyone else by wearing that, you know. You're an adventurer, not a celebrity. That tiara of yours is also kind of useless." Sprit points out.

Dorian's eyes grow intense. "I'm not the one wearing loose pants and half a shirt."

Sprit put her hands up. "I'm just sayin'."

Fei looked up from her chowder. Her expression became stern. "Don't be like that, Sprit."

"Dorian, say sorry," Harvey says. "You didn't need to respond like that." The inn boy appears and sets Twitch's drink down on the table.

Dorian grunts and looks away. "We're all friends here, don't become hostile." Harvey assures her.

Pierce scratches the back of his head. For some reason, the atmosphere was ruined once Dorian came in, although Sprit was the one that said something out of hand. "I'm gonna go check on Rina to see if she's still reading that book. Excuse me." Pierce stands up and exits the room.

"Damn it, where are those two bastards? I'll go look for them myself," Fei snaps. "Sorry, I'll have to go for now. See you tomorrow morning." Fei takes one last large portion of her chowder and eats it. Then she places 30en on the table and exits the room.

Twitch takes a sip from his Merlot. "Hey Sprit, where did you learn how to use that thing?"

"Oh," Sprit pats her crossbow. "You mean this?" Twitch nods his head. "I trained to be a Labyrinth guard a few years ago and learned a few things. Had to lie about my age, of course. They gave me this junk," She taps her crossbow. "I came to really like using this thing. Eventually, just a few months ago, they kicked me out of training due to detrimental conduct. Their own damn fault, if you ask me. They were so boring and we weren't really learnin' anything. Of course, it was also because they found out that I had been lying about my age," Sprit's voice trails off. "Three years and my chest is still flat."

Twitch chuckles. "Three years and what?"

Sprit straightens up and turns red. "Oh, nothing."

"Well, how old are you now?"

"I'm sixteen."

Twitch leans back in surprise. "You began training when you were thirteen? Wasn't everyone bigger than you?"

"Haha, yeah. Not just that, but it was mostly just men. The women I saw were all adventurers," Sprit sighs. "Whatever, I'm glad they kicked me out now. I'm in a team of my own, and I'm making friends. No friends to make in that damn training squad I was on."

Dorian looks up. "You've got an accent. Where are you from?"

"A small town called Winterdune. Funny thing is, it was always cold, but the chances of snow there were the same as the chances of having two yolks in an egg."

The two Arbalists are then tightly engaged in conversation. Harvey excuses himself and retires for the day, leaving with an "Oh, Dorian? I have a few things to ask of you." Causing Dorian to follow him out the room.

Upstairs, Rina's room is shut and locked. Pierce doesn't want to go back down without anything to say, so he goes into his own room and sits down on his bed. A good time to reflect on the day's events. Not only did he finally arrive after a 4 day cruise, he also made a few friends. Tomorrow's going to be a big day, possibly even the last one in his life. Of course, there is nothing to worry about; after all, Pierce is a powerful force. Pierce chuckles at the thought. People often told him that he had a big head, especially her, but in truth, he was just being confident. After all, there's no good in believing that he couldn't achieve the things that he wants. Suddenly, he hears Fei's voice outside his door. She sounded pretty pissed, but since the door was closed, it wouldn't hurt to try and eavesdrop, would it?

"Sorry Fei, this guy at the Bistro was playing poker for money! I thought I could take the chance." A man. He sounds a bit mature, but he had a sheepish tone to his voice.

"When I found you, you had 10en in your hand, and that was all you had in your possession." This from Fei.

"Well, this world is all about survival of the fittest right? That guy didn't look good at all. You have to take risks to get to the top, and I didn't think I was taking that big of a risk." The man again.

"Tell me, does Sprit look like someone who's good at fighting?"

"No."

"Is she?"

"Well, yeah."

"See, all you accomplished was making me walk around in the dark to find out you lost money."

"That's why you're the leader," His voice trails off. "And not me…"

"Carrick, you're a dumbass."

The man, now known as "Carrick", sighs.

"How about you Al? Anything to say? You haven't said anything since I picked you up."

"No, ma'am." Al's voice is a bit high pitched.

"Calling me ma'am? I thought you said you were twenty years old."

"Yes I did."

"Well, what were you doing?" Fei's voice softens, but not by much.

"I was trading in the material we got. The lady at the Firm also gave me this," Al could be heard searching through what is probably his bag. Fei pauses for a moment, probably examining Al's item. "An Ariadne Thread. The lady told me that we need to use these to take us back to town whenever we might be in big trouble. Although she did kind of force me to pay 100en." He explains.

Fei huffs. "These seem like they're going to be important. You're off the hook, Al."

"Yes, thank you." Al's voice sounds happy.

"Carrick…" Fei's voice sounds tense.

"Yes, Fei?" A terrified voice.

"Let's talk."

"Aww."

Footsteps, and then silence. From the conversation, Pierce could guess that Carrick is a bonehead who didn't take things for granted, and that Al is a responsible and well behaved kid. Somehow, someone older than him has a high pitched voice. Pierce shrugs and lies down on his bed.

Harvey is the last one to sleep, and the first one to get up. He has never been in the Labyrinth before. He never even considered entering it. He had just overheard their conversation and decided to humor himself by joining them. Of course, death is a high possibility, and his guild mates are just kids! If he wanted to back out, it still isn't too late to do so. Still, it would seem cruddy for the oldest person present to suddenly back out for no reason and ruin these kids' plans. Still, they all seemed like they might be capable. Pierce's muscles hopefully aren't just for show. From what Harvey saw last night, Twitch was a pretty good shot. Rina is a little cold, but undeniably mature, so she probably knows what she's doing. Dorian was his main worry, however. He'd never seen Dorian carry a weapon before, even with all of that impressive armor she had on. If there's a problem, Harvey would have to figure out a way to resolve it.

Harvey puts on his vest and ammo belt, then his scabbard and slacks. Lastly, he takes his cutlass and slips it into his scabbard. He finally goes to wake up everyone else.

"We'll have breakfast here, and we'll go down later." Harvey says.

"Well, we might as well go with you then." Fei appears from the doorway, wrapping tape around her hands and her orange coat slung over her shoulder. She is wearing a a sleeveless mahogany gi. Then, a rather large man appears behind her with a goofy grin on his face. He has long, messy brown hair, similar to Twitch's afro but smaller. He is wearing a titanium breastplate and iron greaves. His armor seems to be incomplete. Upon seeing them, the man smiles.

"Nice to meet you folks. My name's Carrick. Carrick Kavanagh." The man puts his hand out to Harvey, who shakes it. The five introduce themselves the way they usually do. "We've gotten a head start over you, so we'll be doing most of the discovering."

Pierce doesn't take this lightly. "We'll catch up to you eventually; you should be surprised if we don't get to the second stratum before you." He boasts.

Carrick smirks. "We're not a guild to overlook, Pierce."

Fei stomps his calf, causing Carrick to lurch over and grab it in pain. "These are our allies now, Carrick, don't belittle them," She says. "Also, you're gonna need better greaves if I hurt you that much."

Carrick doesn't say anything. Another young man walks into the scene. He has brown hair and green eyes. He wears a red shirt and a long sleeved blue shirt underneath. His head sports a huge blue hat. He looks more like a peasant than an adventurer.

"Morning, Al." Fei says.

Al yawns. "Who are these?" His eyes focus on Harvey.

Breakfast is slow, but there is much conversation. Everyone seems excited to finally get going. Just as they were wrapping up breakfast, a small girl came into the room and took a large glass of orange juice. She had long, straight, brown hair and yellow eyes. She wore a white beret along with a long white trench coat. She was half the size of Harvey.

"Good morning. Sorry I woke up late." She greets. She has no emotion in her high voice.

"Who's this?" Dorian asks.

Sprit saunters over to the young girl and places a hand on her head. "This is Zinovia," Sprit says. "She's cute, isn't she? She's Delta Renzimius's daughter. Delta herself actually forced us to let her in, but we don't mind. Can't you believe it? This is Delta's daughter." Sprit pats her hat.

"Never heard of her." Pierce quickly says.

Sprit's face shows great shock, "Hey guys, this guy doesn't know who Delta Renzimius is!" She proceeds to laugh.

"You didn't know who she was either until she appeared with her daughter." Al says.

"Yeah, I don't think I did either, for that matter." Fei says after taking a swig of milk.

"Oh, hey. Uh…" Sprit's face becomes red, and she takes a step back.

"I know who she is," Harvey says. "You kids probably haven't because she was only famous for a year or so. She's around my age; when I was around your age, she set half of the first stratum on fire. It was pretty crazy, my folks back at Plainloch made a big deal out of it because our mayor's son was there at the time. Of course, the mayor's son apparently died later in the third stratum." Harvey lets out a hearty laugh. Fei raises an eyebrow.

"The third stratum?" She asks.

"Yes. Poor kid probably didn't stand a chance."

Fei bits her lip in concern, but doesn't say anything.

"Dude was strong enough to even make the third stratum and still died? I'm getting pretty excited!" Pierce exclaims. "Let's show them what for!" Pierce runs out the door wearing just his shorts and tank.

Rina doesn't watch him go. "He'll come back. I'm gonna go get ready. Nice to meet you, Fei, Carrick, Al, Sprit, Zinovia." Rina goes back to her quarters.

Harvey and Twitch settled down on a pair of sofas. "We'll wait." Twitch says. Fei claps her hands twice.

"Carrick, go get the rest of your armor, we're going to leave as well," Fei commands. Harvey could spot Pierce sneaking behind the Saturos guild and up the stairs. "Zinovia, go eat breakfast. Al, go with Sprit to Napier's Firm and stock up on Medicas." The Saturos Guild do what they are told, leaving Fei alone with Harvey and Twitch. She pays them no mind, however. The young leader places her hands on her hips and watches Sprit and Al out the window.

"Have you ever been inside before?" Twitch asks Harvey.

"Not once," Harvey answers. He chuckles. "It's a shame I have to bring four kids with me."

Twitch smiles. "I'm twenty-three years old, not as much of a kid as you think I am. Besides, you're new to this yourself, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but you've got a future ahead of you. Won't do you any good if you die."

"I would worry about myself if I were you."

"And why is that?"

"Well, for one thing, you've got wrinkles coming on, and you seem to lack depth perception." Twitch points at his eye patch.

"Hahaha, you got me there," Harvey says. "You know, The Saturos Guild is full of teenagers also. Is risking your life for no reason a trend now?" He's still conversing with Twitch, but this statement was directed at Fei. She doesn't look away from the window.

"You're risking your life every time you step outside of your house. People live to die, and you've got to realize that. I thought someone you're age might have gotten that into his head already," Fei turns her head to him. "I guess not."

Harvey opens his mouth for a second, and decides against arguing. They sit in silence for a moment until Carrick and Rina walk into the room.

"Dorian? Do you have a weapon?" Rina asks. The blonde girl had been so quiet that they forgot she was even there.

"Of course I do! I just have to go get it." Dorian rushes into her quarters.

Zinovia appears as well. "I'm finished."

"Alright then, Carrick, let's go." The three leave the inn, and our heroes are alone.

"Boy, that Fei girl really has that leadership role under control, huh?" Twitch says.

"Yes," Rina says. "I don't expect any different from you, Harvey."

The buccaneer lets out a breath. "Huh. I guess I'm the leader." Harvey says. It was more of a question than a statement.

Dorian walks into the room with a small sword, and then Pierce appears behind her with a much bigger one of his own.

Harvey stands up. "Alright, are we all ready to go to the Senatus?"

Twitch and Rina nod their heads, and the group heads out.

"You're outsiders aren't you? Let me guess, you were drawn here by the rumors of the Labyrinth." An old woman greets them as they enter. Harvey merely nods his head.

"Yes, Senator." Harvey says. He's never been in her presence before, but he knows how much power she has.

"Then you'd best remember this; you stand in an assembly hall of the Senatus, Armoroad's government. I am she who wields the Senatus' authority to manage explorers such as yourselves. This is where so-called explorers' skills are tested to sort the true warriors from the cowards." Harvey nods again. "If you want to be recognized as true Armoroad explorers, accept the mission I issue you now." She hands Harvey a professional looking slip of paper. According to the sheet, they are to draw their own map of the Labyrinth's first floor.

"The guard at the labyrinth should get you started. Don't waste too much time!" She gives them a warm smile. The buccaneer hesitates for a moment and frowns.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I don't think any of us have drawn a map before." Harvey explains.

"Oh, of course, it slipped my mind. Here, it's a blank map I give to explorers. Use it well," The old woman hands Harvey a handbook filled with grids and icons. It appears to be very simple. "There is a guard near the entrance inside the labyrinth who will explain the basics of cartography. If you are as talented as you'd have me believe, there'll be many more opportunities to come here. Just don't get lost in the assembly hall on the way here! What is your name?"

"My name is Har-"

"No, no. That isn't important to me yet. Give me your guild's name."

Harvey looked back at his guild mates. They were expecting him to answer. "Eridani." He says. It wasn't random. He had discussed this with them earlier.

"Eridani… Strange name, but it has a sort of ring to it. Something about you intrigues me," She squints her eyes, as if trying to peer farther into their souls. "I'll be expecting more from you, Eridani." Then, she doesn't say another word and turns away from them and closes her eyes to meditate.

"But of course." Harvey nods and leaves the room, his guild in tow. The name and title "Senator Flowdia" is shown over the doorway.

"You handled that well." Twitch comments.

"Of course, she's professional and of high status, unlike most of the new people I've met these past few days." Harvey answers.

A guard escorts them out of the Senatus, and the guild makes its way to the Labyrinth and finally begin their adventure.

I finished this quicker than I thought I would. Of course, the lack of school really helped me out, but my mind was just full of ideas. I think I need to make the characters' personalities stand out a bit more. They all seem a bit plain. Next chapter I'll try and make them more colorful, and with all the stress in the labyrinth, it should help me out a lot. Expect to see a lot of Saturos in the future. Next bio is Rina's.

Revised on October 23, 2016