Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
Man, its been quite a while. This certainly doesn't feel normal anymore. Although I haven't had internet connection for about a week and a half so that's bound to happen. Its been great not having it though, because its so distracting when you do have it.
For those of you wondering, I've been up at summer camp as a counselor, which means that I've been leading a bunch of kids in activities and such. So far its been great, and I almost didn't want to come home this weekend.
At camp I've had a whole lot of inspiration for other stories and what I'll do with already planned out ones, so look forward to when those start to come out, whether it be here or on Fictionpress.
Anyways, there's my little life update. Now, on with the chapter!
We handed in our weapons and started towards the cafeteria.
"Grizzly," Wintanweorth started, the anger from earlier still in his voice. I looked up hesitantly. He bit his lip, "Thanks" He finally said.
I felt myself smile, "No problem!" I replied, "We're a team, right?"
He sighed, "Right" He replied, forcing a smile.
As we reached the cafeteria door Wintanweorth's scroll rang. Pulling it out and flipping it open, he sighed and said, "I have to take this. Hold on." He answered it and walked a little ways from us. "Hello?" He asked into the scroll, "Sorry, I'm in the tournament. The Hunter's Tournament, of course. I told you, I'm taking personal days. I'm out? Vacation days then. I can't do that? What do you mean?" He glanced back at us nervously, and I started to understand why he had been so off today.
"Then just don't pay me!" He exclaimed, then was immediately silenced. He hung up his scroll without and word and slipped it back into his pocket quietly. We all watched him for a second. He started pacing, frustration clear on his face. He slammed his fist against the wall, breaking through the plaster, "Dammit!" He yelled.
We started towards him, but he waved us away with his hand. "I'm fine" I stammered, punching another hole in the wall, "son of a-" he didn't finish his sentence.
"You okay?" Ember asked.
"No, dammit!" Wintanweorth replied, kicking a hole in the hall, "Mother of a flying goose fu-" He stopped himself before he finished the actual word. I knew that he wasn't the person to use language like that typically.
"What is it?" Ember asked.
"I just got fired" He replied.
Ember gasped.
"Where did you work again?" I asked.
"I was head of shipping in a cabinet company" He replied.
"Are office jobs very hard to find?" I asked.
"No, they aren't!" He replied angrily, "But it's hard to find one with decent people"
"So your coworkers were your friends?" I asked.
"No," Wintanweorth replied, "they were too stupid to be mean"
"Oh" I replied.
He stood still for second, then reached out towards the wall again. Ember reached out and grabbed his arms.
"Calm down, Wintanweorth," she said, "this isn't like you. Besides, with experience like what you have, it shouldn't be hard to find a new job"
Slowly he lowered his arms, "Right," he replied, "I'll find a new job after the tournament"
"How are you going to take care of yourself?" I asked.
"I think that I have enough savings." He replied, "I'll probably be fine"
"And if you don't?" I asked.
"Then I'll need to stay with someone else" He replied.
"Like Ember?"
"We already live together"
"Oh." I replied, "So are you guys married or something?"
"No," Wintanweorth replied, "she's my daughter"
"Oh." I said, "Then why do you have different last names"
"Why do you ask so many questions?" He retorted.
"Sorry." I replied, "I'm just curious"
"Well she's adopted." Wintanweorth said, "I didn't have any significant other when I adopted her"
"Have you ever been married?" I asked.
"Is this your last question?" He asked.
I paused to think, "Potentially" I replied.
Wintanweorth laughed a little, "No, I haven't"
"Hmm" I said.
"What?" He asked.
"Just processing all the information" I replied.
"Asked too many questions too quickly to process it all, eh?" He asked.
"Guess so" I replied.
Wintanweorth looked at the wall, then back at us, "Let's get out of here before we get fined" He said.
"Good idea" Ember said. We entered the cafeteria, ate, then left.
Line
Roy and I walked to the bus stop and stood there together. Wintanweorth and Ember had a car, so they returned home in that. We weren't so lucky.
"So can you drive?" I asked Roy.
"I'm sure I could figure it out" he replied.
There was a brief pause, "So where do you live?" I asked.
"Atlas" He replied.
"Well, duh," I said, "but I mean where specifically? Like, what street or general area?"
He pointed down the street, "Way down there" He replied.
"Oh," I said, "I live somewhere behind you then"
The bus arrived and we both got on. The seats were all taken, so we grabbed a pole to steady ourselves as the bus started moving.
"Hey," Someone started, "you guys were in the tournament today." We turned to him. I didn't recognize him. "Great job, by the way"
"Thanks" I replied.
"You guys could win the whole thing, maybe." He paused, "No, you could get close, but there's no way your winning"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked irritably. This guy was very rude.
"Well, Guenianne Radiance is in it this year" He replied.
I stared at him, confused.
"Guenianne?" I asked.
"Don't you watch the tournaments?" He asked.
I shook my head.
"Guenianne won last year," Roy said from behind me, "and every year for the four years before that"
"There we go," the man said, "this guy clearly knows his hunters"
"I read an article once online about it" Roy replied.
The man sighed.
"Who's her team?" I asked.
"She doesn't have one." The man replied, "It's what makes her so special. Every year she goes in alone, and every year she wins'
My eyes widened, "Seriously?" I asked.
"Yes." The man replied, "Her fights are insane. You should really watch some of them. Learn her fighting style and such. You'll have a chance then"
Foggy Cove!" The bus driver called.
"This is my stop." Roy said, turning to the opening doors, "Have a good night Grizzly"
"You too" I replied. The doors shut, and the bus kept moving. Roy stood still for second, looking around before finally starting in a direction.
The bus turned a few times, stopping occasionally until it reached my stop.
"Cider Isle!" the driver called.
The doors slid open and I hopped off the bus and onto the sidewalk.
The bus pulled away behind me as I started forward. My year at Signal had ended, as it was summer time, so I was living at home again. I arrived at the front door and used my key to open it.
"I'm home!" I called, walking in.
Nicole Rozovyy appeared from one of the other rooms, "Took you long enough" She said sarcastically.
"You leave early?" I asked, starting forward.
"I fought in the first match," she replied, "so yeah, I didn't have a lot to do"
"Hmph," I said, looking at her. She was wearing a pale pink sleeveless shirt and baggy white pants, and her hair was tied back in a single ponytail instead of the usual two on the sides, "How'd the fight go?"
"Good," she replied, "We're moving onto the next round, so that's exciting"
I nodded, starting to wander, "I still can't get over how big your house is" I said, looking around. The front area was already massive, with a door leading to two different rooms on either side, and a tall, wide staircase on the left. On the right side, just next to the staircase, was a short, wide hallway that leads to the kitchen.
"Only the front is big," she pointed out, "I don't have an excess amount of rooms or anything. All the rooms have a purpose"
"What, like your guitar room?" I asked, snickering a little.
She frowned, "It's not only for guitars!" She exclaimed, "I have… multiple guitars in it. And a violin, harp, and grand piano"
"None of which you can play"
"I can play the guitars"
"Right" I replied.
"I still can't believe that your parents let you stay here while you're at the tournament" Nicole said.
"Well you certainly are a nice person." I said, "I'm sure my parents saw that pretty quickly"
"I guess so" she replied, turning and heading back towards her instrument room.
"Hey, Grizzly?" She started, turning around as I made my way to the staircase. I stopped and looked over. "You wanna do some practicing before dinner?"
"Sure," I replied, "Hold on, just let me put my stuff away"
She disappeared into the room and I ran up the stairs. At the top there were four rooms. Nicole's room, a guest room (my room for the time-being) a bathroom, and an attic. Unfortunately, I didn't know where the attic was, and Nicole refused to tell me where it was.
I walked into the guest room and unpinned my green cloak, then hung it up on the end of the bedframe. Withdrawing both pistols of Barbed Gustav, I started to set them down, then hesitated and set them down on my bed anyway, intending on picking them up before heading downstairs.
I reached up and unbuttoned my brown vest and white shirt, pulling them both off and throwing them on top of Barbed Gustav. My pants landed on them soon after, leaving me only in my underwear. Going to the closet I pulled out a pair of green footie pajamas. The guys at Signal had made fun of me for still wearing them, but there were still sizes being sold that were big enough for me, so clearly I wasn't too old (I was also short for my age though, being fifteen and only about five feet tall). Either way, I donned them with pride. None of the other kids could understand the genuine comfort and freedom felt when wearing footie pajamas.
Making my way downstairs and forgetting about Barbed Gustav, I joined Nicole in the instrument room, where I played piano and she played her guitar.
As we hit the thirty minute mark of practice, there was a tapping on the door.
So there you have it. Not a whole lot happened, but another good ol' cliffhanger. The story is going to pick up from here on out, with the tournament being a bit less important, but still important nonetheless.
Also, Guenianne Radiance. She's kind of important. You may not recognize her name and that is because I (to my knowledge) made it up. It comes from the names Guenevere and Arianne I believe (its been a while since I made up this character). It'll make sense later on why her name is a combination of those two, but for now I won't say any more about her.
And yeah, that's about it. As usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.