Authors note: As stated in the last chapter the characters will be going by their new names, I'll be referring to them via those names from now on too.
also the mantle arc of this story will likely span until chapter 14 or 15, possibly longer because there's some significant events planned. the training arc and creation of the groups hunter weapons being two of them.
Point Of View: Cyrus
Cyrus arrived at the mining facility he worked at, a smile on his face as he slipped into the changing room. Changing into his uniform, a sorta heavy duty jumpsuit with a mining helmet. Picking up a pickaxe from a nearby rack, stepping out of the changing room. Despite the smile on his face, the man hates working at this shitty facility. The Faunus workers like himself were treated terribly, being sent down into these horribly unsafe mines to gather dust by hand. Just last week a damn Grimm had gotten in the mine, nearly killing everyone. Luckily a hunter had been nearby to assist, or the miners all would've died.
"It's okay me, just gotta deal with it for two years and then you're outta here. Soon you'll be up in atlas living the hunter life, don't let this get to you" Cyrus spoke to himself, before turning his attention to an older ram Faunus that was waving him over. Quickly rushing over to them, his smile coming back more noticeably. The older man was quite nice, rusty was his name. He was the foreman for this mine, so folks had taken to calling him foreman rusty all the time.
"Hey Cy, sorry for calling ya over but some guys went down into the mine. Apparently they're having a hard time hauling back all the dust, you're the biggest here so… figured you were the best option" Rusty spoke with a rather deep voice, that showed the level of experience the older man had. Cyrus had gotten to know the man over his time working here, even found out the man had a daughter that started working up in atlas. Apparently she works in the intelligence division of the atlas military, the older man seemed really proud of her for that. A sort of infectious pride, that almost makes you feel proud along with him.
"Alright old man, I'll head on down and see what I can do. You been sending messages to your daughter in atlas? Hear anything from new from her?" Cyrus smiled, grabbing some of the equipment he'd need for the trip down. Like a lantern which he strapped to his waist, and some matches he could use to light it.
"Yep, she's been doing good at her work. Apparently she's met a nice woman up there, and they're planning on tying the knot soon. So in a couple months I'll be making the trip up to atlas for their wedding" Rusty responded with a big smile on his face, honestly Cyrus was happy for him. His daughter was about to get married, that's an amazing thing.
"Congrats old man, I bet you're real happy. Let me know how that wedding goes when ya get up there, I'd love to hear all about it" Cyrus smiles and bumps a fist to the older mans shoulder, before heading off into the mine. Using a match to light up the lantern the further he got into the mine, allowing the light from the lantern flame to bathe the area in a dim orange light. The mineshaft was eerily silent, he always hated that. The only sounds being his own breathing, and the clacking of his feet hitting the solid stone of the mines floor.
"Damn, I already hate this. Why's it so damn dark down here? Couldn't they at least put some torches in the tunnel, instead of leaving us in the dark like this?" Cyrus spoke to himself, eventually hearing the sounds of chatter from up ahead. Smiling as he stepped into a fairly large cave-like section of the mine, finding a group of workers putting some dust crystals in heavy duty crates. Designed to hold the crystals safely, so they don't just suddenly explode. One of the workers turned to Cyrus and waved, smiling.
"Hey, did ol' rusty send ya down here? Guess he thought we needed some real heavy duty help if he sent you huh?" The worker laughed a bit after saying that, making sure they had everything situated in the crate. Before handing it off to Cyrus, so he could carry it back up to the surface. He'd need to make a good few trips, but honestly it was a better job for the day than swinging a heavy ass pickaxe all day.
"Yep, the old man figured I was the best option to send along. He sure wasn't wrong, that's a lot of crystals you need me to move. I'll probably be stuck doing this all day, guess it's better than the back breaking work ya did to mine it all though huh?" Cyrus responded casually, honestly he got along decently well with the workers. Most of them are Faunus after all, so it's quite natural for them to get along. Though Cyrus casually lifted the heavy crate of crystals, barely even seeming to struggle. Benefits of being a bear Faunus apparently, his strength was naturally pretty damn high.
"Alright kiddo, well we'll probably be taking a break to recover. Just deal with the crates and clock out for the day, doubt there's much else to be done down here" the worker just smiled as he spoke, Cyrus nodding in response to the more experienced worker. Now starting to carry the heavy crate back towards the surface, being as cautious as he could be. If he dropped the crate it could spell disaster after all, he wouldn't want anything like that happening that's for sure. So systematically he began the routine of carrying crate after crate out of the mine, making sure they were all placed in the appropriate sections for their dust typing. It was interesting seeing all this dust in one place, even more so knowing it was used to power most things or would likely be turned into ammunition. Once he was finally done he wiped some sweat from his brow, feeling a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head to find Rusty holding a sports drink out to him, he couldn't help but smile. Taking the drink before opening the bottle, taking a fairly lengthy drink from it.
"Thanks old man, I really needed the drink after all that haha. Didn't think it'd be that difficult carrying all those crates, guess they were heavier than I'd expected them to be" Cyrus made sure to thank rusty for the drink, honestly he enjoyed hanging out with the guy quite a bit. Sorta like hanging out with your dad, ya know? Watching him work, while you just do stupid shit. It was a… nice feeling.
"No problem kid, you can go ahead and clock out for the day. You've already been at it for a few hours, I'll be sure to send the pay for the day to your account. See if I can toss in a bit extra, since ya mentioned how ya wanted to head up to atlas sometime" Rusty responded casually, sipping a beer. The old man could usually be found drinking a beer, either by himself or with some of the workers. It's something Cyrus respected, a boss that goes out of his way to talk to his workers. Made them feel a lot more human in that sense, it's nice.
"Thanks old man, I'll be here tomorrow to do some more work. Stay safe, with that grimm we ran into a while back things have gotten pretty dangerous" Cyrus just went into the changing rooms, switching back to his usual outfit. A simple red hoodie, Black cargo pants and black and red boots. The bear Faunus smiling a bit before nodding, stepping out of the changing room.
"Alright, guess it's about time I got going. Need to make sure I arrive at the gates on time, oh speaking of" Cyrus would gather up some decently sized boulders to use, sorta like atlas stones. Putting them in a big bag before slinging it over his shoulder, starting to run on his way to the gates. Feeling his muscles burning a bit from the strain of running like this, but he didn't mind it.
Point of view: Dune(During his work hours)
Dune arrived at the warehouse he worked at, of course it was connected to an airship Dock. Needed to be for when they moved the dust shipments, as annoying as the job was it paid decently well. Probably because being exposed to high concentrations of dust all day isn't exactly healthy, or because the accidents were so… deadly most of the time. But jay simply put on his work jacket, clocking in for his shift.
"Alright, time to get to work. Hope my boss doesn't bitch at me today, always hate that" Dune spoke to himself, Stepping out onto the warehouse work floor, going to his post without a second thought. Seeing his boss tapping a watch and shaking their head, it pissed him off. He wasn't even late, cunt just thought it was okay to try to force his workers to show up early. Then refuse to pay overtime, the bastard. Jay hadn't put up with it and only showed up for his actual work hours, even threatened to contact HR about the manager for a while. To keep them off his back about when he shows up, that sorta thing. Upon arriving at his post though, Dune was greeted by a nice dog Faunus about his age. Named Apollo.
"Hey Dune, manager bitching at ya again? Don't worry too much, just focus on working. Long as we get our work done there's nothing they can do, can't fire us for doing a good job right?" Apollo joked a bit, lifting up a crate of dust to put it on the back of a shipment truck. These were used to deliver dust to the various weapon shops around mantle, or dust stores. Just whatever was ordering the shipment at that time, it was gruelling work lugging all this stuff around. But Dune can't complain, because if he does he'll probably get fired.
"Yeah, you know what he's like. Always complains because I refuse to fold and show you early, just because he wants me to work without getting paid. Almost like he thinks I'm stupid, why would I work for zero pay?" Dune responded, following Apollo's example with moving some dust onto the back of the shipment truck. He noticed something though, he and Apollo were being watched by some suspicious looking workers. Maybe they just seemed suspicious because they were watching the two, but they were also talking amongst themselves.
"Hey, Apollo. You notice how those folk are watching us? Think it's the manager tryna find something he can pin on us? To give him an excuse to fire us?" Dune asked the dog Faunus, Apollo raising his head to look around at the people watching them. Before shrugging, honestly neither of them really knew why they were being watched it seemed.
"I don't think so, if they were watching us for that they'd probably report to the manager at some point. But none of them have done that, we should try to ignore it. Better not to start trouble" Apollo responded, but Dune couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was off with things. His feeling only got worse when one of the suspicious workers approached, knocking on the side of the truck.
"Sorry for bothering you, do you happen to know when the next big SDC shipment is getting sent out? We heard there's higher pay on that day, me and my friends were hoping to clock in for that day" the rather suspicious racoon Faunus asked him, dune really didn't want to give an answer due to how suspicious the guy seemed. But Apollo ended up speaking up, so dune didn't really get to choose.
"End of the month, usually all the big SDC shipments are an end of the month thing. Because the entire warehouse is dedicated to only that one big shipment on those days, only the month's best workers get brought in for those" Apollo answered the suspicious individual, who let out a sorta tsk sound before turning and walking off. Dune only felt more worried about things thanks to that, luckily it was the start of the month. So he could potentially warn the manager about his suspicions, though there's a good chance that the manager would just ignore it. All the greedy bugger saw was profit after all, why should he care about a few suspicious individuals? He'd still get a fat paycheck from the SDC, he could just dock the workers pay to make up for any losses. Cause of course that's what the greedy bastard would do.
"You really shouldn't have answered Apollo, I've got a real bad feeling about them. I'm not sure who they are, but something about them just really rubs me the wrong way" Dune spoke with Apollo, placing the final crate of dust into the shipment truck. Letting the driver know that he could head out for the delivery, hearing the distinct sound of the old truck starting and beginning the drive out of the warehouse to make said delivery.
"Look Dune, I know how things looked. But they're probably just mad because it means they have to wait, you know how antsy people can get. They're probably desperate for Lien, scraping by with whatever scraps they get like the rest of us do" Apollo answered in his usual hopeful way, the dog always saw good in people. Even when chances are those folk were up to something sketchy, he wanted to believe that everything was fine. Dune could respect it, but at the same time knew that the world wasn't like that. He knew that Apollo probably wasn't gonna survive if anything did go bad, but he'd do his best to protect the dog Faunus if he could.
Dune decided to just stay quiet, continuing the rest of the work day with Apollo. Making sure all the shipments of dust they were set to deal with, were able to move out for delivery safely and on time. When all was said and done dune removed his jacket, slinging it over his shoulder. Looking over at Apollo, thinking about what he should say.
"We've finished our work for the day now, I guess I'll see ya tomorrow? If anyone suspicious tries to approach you when I leave, try not to answer them" Dune would smile, trying to make sure Apollo knew not to be dumb. But the dog Faunus just removed his own jacket, and gave Dune a goofy smile. Causing the man to sigh, since it was obvious he didn't understand how serious he was being.
"Oh come on man, don't be so serious. Things are gonna be fine, we haven't had any issues so far after all." Apollo responded and patted Dunes back, the two heading out of the warehouse together so they could clock out. Though Apollo ended up leaving first, Dune actually made sure of that because he wanted the boy to be safe. He didn't want anyone odd approaching them, once he was sure Apollo was safe he started heading to the gate himself. After all he was meant to be meeting the others for training that night, they needed to be ready for what was to come.
Point of view: Oliver Obsidia(Work hours)
Oliver arrived at his work and entered the employee lounge, sighing as he slipped on the stupid uniform he was made to wear. Basically had to dress like a butler, all so he can serve these damn racist rich human folk. Who treat him like nothing more than a filthy animal, he hates it and doesn't even really want to work there. But he has too in order to survive, it's that or being out on the streets. So as soon as he was dressed he stepped out to the restaurant, sighing as he listened to the head chef barking out orders to make sure the other cooks could make everything.
"Just need to do this for a while longer, then I can move on fully… that's all. Don't need to be here that long" Oliver spoke to himself, when the first order was handed to him he took it to the table in question. Handing out the food with a smile on his face, watching as the man of the family scoffed.
"See darling? I told you this place wasn't worth coming too, they even hire filthy animals here. Look at him, I bet that suit isn't even his. Disgusting little pet that he is" the man spoke, Oli didn't even really know what to say outside of just feeling disgusted by the man's words. How can someone just speak like that about someone? For no reason? All he did was hand over the food and smile, that's all he did.
"Calm down dear, as long as the food is good that's all that matters. Pay no attention to these… things that they have working here, it'll only sour the otherwise good mood" the wife of the man responded to her husband, only making Oli more pissed off. To the point he decided to just walk away, he didn't care enough to keep listening to them. They were racist jerks, why should he sit and allow them to talk down to him? If anything the only disgusting people are the racists in the store, he hated them. But he also really needed the job, even the manager of the place was racist towards him. But at least he still got paid, even if he was almost sure the manager was purposefully docking his pay to make sure he couldn't quite live comfortably. Or maybe it was so he would feel like he had to keep working, since he wouldn't feel like he had enough money to possibly search for a different job.
Oli would eventually take his second order to a table, serving it to the lavishly dressed woman who sat alone there. She seemed to be looking at him quite intensely, he didn't really understand why.
"Here's your order Ma'am, have a nice day and thank you for deciding to have your meal here" Oli politely bowed to the woman and took a step back, watching the woman take her first bite. She seemed to enjoy the food at least, he actually had a decent opinion of her at first. Until she looked up at him, and spoke.
"It's such a shame for a… specimen like you to be working in a place like this, how much are they paying you here? I'm sure I could offer more" the unknown woman spoke, asking the questions in an alluring tone. Yet there was something so sickening about it, he couldn't put his finger on it but something just felt off with it.
"I'm not sure what you mean, they pay me about the standard rate for any worker here. Maybe a little less, but. Why would you be asking that?" Oli asked her, raising his brow in response to her question. I mean what kinda woman refers to a man as a specimen? Hell why would she ask how much he was being paid for that matter, it's not like it's any of her business.
"Oh simple really, I was hoping to… purchase you. I'm sure I could talk the owner into selling you to me, I'm in need of a new… pet so to speak" the woman's alluring voice filled his ears again, but this time he felt fully disgusted by the woman. She was basically trying to buy him and force him into being her servant, and god knows what she'd do to him if she succeeded in that.
"I apologise ma'am but I'm not for sale, and I never intend to be. I would prefer you never bring this up again" Oli responded quite harshly to what she had said, before walking away. Spending the rest of his workday serving others, hearing the usual horrible racist remarks from them. When the day was done he just went and changed back to his typical outfit, black tank top, blue jeans with two leg satchels, a set of combat boots and some fingerless gloves. The man now stepped out of the changing room, seeing the odd woman from earlier talking to his manager. He just gave his manager a look, basically pleading to not be sold. He actually felt a tinge of relief when his manager actually turned the woman down, racist as the manager was he seemed to have morals.
With everything taken care of, Oli finally left the restaurant and breathed in the cold air of mantle. The smell of dust, gasoline and smoke filling his nose as he smiled. The man now started to run towards the gates, his smile growing more and more as he thought about all the training he'd do with his friends.
Point of view: Helios(work hours)
Helios was now standing in the forge room with Sebastian, the older man looking over his shoulder towards him. Honestly something about the care the old man seemed to look at him with, made him feel rather bad. I mean, he was really only here because having access to a forge would be advantageous to the plan he and his friends had. Plus he'd be leaving for atlas soon too, depending on how long they had to train.
"Alright kiddo, this is the forge. I'll teach ya what I can about the process, first things first thought. You'll need to get the material for the weapon, after that you need to heat it so you can start moulding it to the right shape. You'll want to make sure it has the right shape for the weapon you're aiming for, after that. It's a case of quenching it so it can cool, we don't want it to be too hot for the next step. Which is to sharpen the blade using a grinder, if the weapon needs sharpening at least. If not you skin this step and move onto polishing and adding the finishing touches, engravings for emblems that sorta thing." Sebastian explained things as best as he could