AN: First off, this is my first long-form fanfic I've started in a while (hoping I finish it!)

I'll also be upfront about one of the main characters being a 'self-insert' of sorts/a character heavily based on be (but she's far removed from me at this point), and the hunter character being the character I play as in game. yeahhhh might be one of those fanfics but it's still something I'm passionate about. Feedback, favs, etc. are still very much appreciated 3

also idk how consistently I'll be able to update this, mostly because I'm busy with college myself

"Trish? You're telling me, you have three weeks to finish this paper, and you're worrying about it now?"

"I know but I wanna get it done now so I won't have to deal with it later... and my problem is, I don't have anything interesting to write about myself. Fuck, I don't even know why we're writing personal narratives its sophomore year!"

"sigh So, how about we start off with the boring stuff? Doesn't have to be anything big. Name? Major?"

"Well..," Trish glanced back down at her laptop and started typing. The glare from the sun made it a little hard to read, but it was nothing she couldn't manage. "I'm Trish, I'm a Nergigante, and I'm a student at Astera University," she typed and read out loud. "I am currently trying to major in journalism. I used to live with my parents, but I found a cheap house near campus and moved there."

"Boom, 3 prompts!"

Trish looked up from her laptop. "Three?"

"Mmhm! You can write about why you wanted to do journalism, moving out of home, or even why you moved out!"

"Nah, I already wrote about family for my application, and I'm only doing journalism because I don't know what else to do with myself," She leaned on her arm, slightly shifting the table.

"Trish? Um, that college essay? That was from two years ago now," Sayua pointed out. "I think it's ok to reuse the same topic."

"Well, I just don't want to write about that again!"

"Now you are just dodging around the paper girl!"

Trish slumped back into her seat. She needed some idea, they've been in this coffee shop for what, 30 minutes now? Sitting by the window, the leaves on the trees nearby falling, and it's almost sundown. At least Sayua was there to help. She's usually here at this time anyways before heading out to her classes. She sat at the other end of the table, a Nargacuga wearing a cold-shoulder top and large hoop earrings. Definitely more fashionable than Trish, who just wore a plain shirt with ripped-off sleeves. Trish sighed. Wasn't Odo supposed to come? She shouldn't be too worried though, she's always late.

"I guess I'll keep with this for now," Trish sighed. "The house is, um… white?"

"Excuse me, I asked for a medium triple shot espresso with layered caramel whipped cream on top and I don't see layered caramel whipped cream!" A voice yelled. Trish and Sayua cringed and looked towards the front counter. A Lunastra was snapping at one of the Baristas.

"I-Im sorry 'mam, but I don't understand what you meant by layered, whipped cream..,"

"Whipped cream with layers of CARAMEL in it!" The girl spoke again, now more condescendingly than before.

"Aaaand focus is gone," Trish facepalmed

"Of course it's Lucine," Sayua whispered. She knew her from her dorm, not for very good reasons either. "Hope she cools off before I get back. Besides what the fuck is a 'layered whipped' cream anyways?"

"Ugh I am giving this place a one star review how can you not know what a layered caramel whipped cream is?" Lucine grunted. She stormed over to the door, running into an Odogaron wearing a hoodie.

Shit, that's Odo. Trish thought

"Um, excuse me? You're in my way!" She snapped.

"Dude sorry, I-" Odo tried to apologize, only to get cutoff by Lucine scoffing.

"Ugh, even the people here have no standards," she complained, walking out. Odo shrugged and noticed Trish and Sayua waving her over.

"Fwew, some people man. I swear she's getting ruder every week," Odo said when she got there. "Uhh, still workin' on that essay?"

Trish sighed. "Just stuck. Lost my train of thought thanks to you-know-who."

Odo turned to Trish. "Why are you so worried about the dumb paper? Everyone else is pushing it off. Yunno, there's gonna be a lit ass party this sunday, might be nice to come down and unwind a bit,"

"How many times do I have to say it, I'm not about that life anymore." Trish sighed. "Last time I partied, nearly failed three classes and I'm not risking that again. Besides, I have a job now and bills to pay..,"

Odo put her hand on Trish's shoulder. "Dude, relax. At least take a break on your own."

Sayua nodded. "Listen, you've been at this for the past hour. Maybe something will come up you can write about when you're not worried about it, ok?"

Maybe…

It's been about 5 hours. Still nothing. She hoped something would come up during work but today was very slow and uneventful.

The convenience store, for what it is not much goes on outside of the occasional rude customer. There's also a mob of highschoolers that sometimes came by, but outside of joking around with each other they don't do much worthy of writing about. And even so they didn't come! The one day she needed something to inspire her!

Maybe I could make something up. She thought at one point. Something, like a mega combo of everything bad that happened during her shifts! It'll start off with a guy running up to her and demanding a refund while the highschoolers whacked each other with chip bags. One of them accidentally coats the floor with soapy water and it takes every employee working that shift to clean it up, only for the power to cut out. Then one of the fridges caught fire! But that wouldn't make sense, none of the highschoolers were a Mizutsune, what happened to the refund guy, and how would a fridge catch fire if there wasn't any power in the first place? She scrapped the idea.

Her shift was over anyways. She packed up everything she needed and left the store. A good thing about her job? It's not far from her place. The downside is she takes on 5-9pm shifts and has to travel in pitch black darkness. Trish stepped onto the sidewalk and spread out her wings. She felt a tight pull on her right side and folded them up. Really? Right when I have to get home? She grunted, rubbing the cramped area. Not the best idea to risk crash landing in the dark, best to walk instead. She's only wasting a few more minutes.

The streets were empty and quiet outside of Trish's footsteps. There's rarely anyone else out this late outside of other monsters going home from late shifts and the occasional group who had a bit too much at the bar. She took a right turn two intersections away from her workplace. Almost home.

*CRASH!*

Trish stopped. What was that? She looked behind her. There's just an alleyway. Last time she checked there's only a trash bin and a few smaller trash cans so something probably fell. She shrugged it off and kept moving.

*CRASH!* this one was louder, followed by a grunt. Ok, now she had to investigate.

"Hey, anyone down there?" She peaked into the alley. More shuffling. She took out her phone and turned on the flashlight before walking down. There was something, no someone trying to push themselves up in the trash bin! And there was another figure knocked out next to them, dressed in jeans, a plaid shirt, and carrying a messenger bag. The one pushing themselves up had purple hair tied back into a ponytail and was clad in armor patterned like a Legiana. There's a bug on her arm, and a long staff on her back.

The person looked up to face Trish. A human?! And not just any human, a hunter staring at Trish like a deer in the headlights

"Uhh... hi?!" Trish said. The hunter fainted.

Oh, uh, what the fuck? Is this even real? She opened the camera app and nearly snapped a pic of them... wait what am I doing? E-fame over their safety? I can't just leave them here! For fucks sake one of them's a hunter and who knows what they'll do if they're left alone like that?

She gingerly picked up both of them and continued the way back to her house. She had to pause several times thanks to how heavy they were. Even getting back there unlocking the door was a feat in it's own without dropping them. Once she was in, now it's time to find a place to put them... uh, living room?

Trish turned to the first room on her right and laid both of them down on the couch. They're still knocked out amazingly. But why, why out of all things were there humans in the trash bin, in an alleyway? Maybe it's just a wild fever dream, or she's hallucinating, she'll sober up and they'll be gone and she ended up taking two bags of trash here instead... ok maybe taking two bags of trash wouldn't be a nice alternative but at the same time, one of them is a hunter. For all she knew, she could've just let a murderer In the house.

...

She had to call someone, just in case.