Chapter One - Don't Forget
"I'll fade away if you let me-
-Please don't forget to forget me."
Hunter Squad: 7 (Working title)
Original Universe By @daffooo
The feeling was still all too surreal to them, a daze of unplaceable, unchecked, and rather unpleasant emotions welled up inside them constantly these days. It still felt wrong that they were even kicking around this earth, let alone that they had made it as far as they had. The friends that had passed on before them, the life they had led up until this point... It had been making them think recently. When they started hunting demons, it was a very privatized, hush-hush type of profession, the kind you really couldn't just walk into without a life altering event or freak coincidence.
These days, however? It felt like everyone knew about demons and the supernatural these days. Admittedly, in light of ever escalating events revealing themselves to the public, it was a little hard not to know. It felt like a double edged sword, and they couldn't get over it. Would people be safer if this stuff was still handled secretly, or is the system of more or less turning hunting into semi-public mercenary work better for the people?
The instances of people making contracts with demons had skyrocketed over the past year. The same is the case with the discovery of niches in the population, the phenomenon of humans with special little powers inherent to them. These things becoming public knowledge felt like a two-sided coin to them. In the position they now held, it was something they had to be thinking about regularly.
"Nameless..?" A calling voice broke them out of their little trance. It was one of the only few voices that they regularly heard that still gave them joy. One of their best friends, and now, much to their own reluctance, their employee. He was a rather peppy and upbeat man with colorful charms in his hair, and long, pointy teeth. Some would describe him as 'not all there.' To them, however? He was as reliable as reliable gets, they knew they could always count on him, despite his faculties.
Hunter — Carmen David - Tracker
Picrew Link: Here
Character by @daffooo
The hunter raised their head off their desk and sighed softly. Brushing their long, crimson red hair out of their face and sighing, they revealed their similarly colored eye, the right one specifically. Their left, being covered by a large eye-patch. They gave the other hunter a soft smile as they stood up to their feet. "Oh, Carmen, hey buddy. Did you need something?"
The man with the vibrant hair stood there for a few moments, lost in thought. He knew he had something important to tell them, but remembering what it was is currently his challenge. "Oh, oh! Ms. Belmont uh," he paused, tapping his foot for a moment as he got lost in thought.
His nameless boss snapped their fingers softly. "Eliza wanted you to say something? C'mon, on topic buddy." They gave him a soft smile.
"AH! Right!" He clapped his hands together. "Ms. Belmont wanted me to tell you she has things to tell you." Carmen paused, clearing his throat before continuing. "So I'm telling you... That she wants to tell you."
They lean forward, giving a supportive smile and pull a Milk Dud from a little baggie they had in the inner left pocket of their suit jacket. Flicking it into the air, the man didn't miss a beat, he effortlessly sprung forward and caught it in his mouth, and began chewing with a joyful look on his face.
Hunter - N / A (Nameless) - Squad Lead
Picrew Link: Here
Character by @whore-of-babylon(That's me!)
The crimson hunter let off a tender smile as they stepped out from behind their desk. "C'mon then, buddy. I imagine that we're heading out after the debrief from Ms. Belmont, so make sure you're ready to leave. It'll probably be pretty a long trip." As they walked by him, they ruffled his hair just a bit.
They walk up to the front desk of their office space, knowing that's where they'd find the woman they were looking for, their current 'secretary' and informant. As of recently, she had been stuck in a rather strange state. Her body, as much as you could call it that, anyways, was a pitch black perfect sphere, with a piercing white spot in the middle. She resembled an inversely colored, simplified rendering of the human eyeball.
It didn't really feel like that long ago to them when this woman was actually their boss. Her name was Eliza Belmont, the woman of the century. She's head of the now mostly defunct Belmont Association, one of the main groups of hunters active before the supernatural became public knowledge. Thinking about those days is all Nameless had been wanting to do lately.
This unfortunate individual had a tendency to cling onto the memories they still had. Their main demon contract was with the demon of gambling and games, known to most by her moniker of 'Ante.' Binding the two together, this deal allows them to gamble nearly anything either physically or metaphorically belonging to them, gaining surges of Ante's power if they win, but losing said 'thing' if they don't. One of their primary choices was their own memories.
They still remember the day the woman with the third eye approached them like it was yesterday. She was the first person they had met who could see Ante, despite their contract making the demon linked to them invisible to most others. It was the first time they could remember in their admittedly short memory span that they felt recognized and comforted by someone.
They had gambled away everything that had mattered to them to the 'Mistress of Games' before Eliza had found her. Their name, their gender identity, and of course, their money. Back in those days, working for the Belmont Association was the only way Nameless could have a semi-normal job again. Plus, at this point, Nameless would have taken anything to have a group of people they could bond with.
? ? ? - Eliza Belmont (Past) - All-Seeing
Picrew Link: Here
Character by @daffooo
The floating eye-thing let out a hum, a voice emanating from it with an ethereal warbling undertone as she spoke. "Hey, are you still with us? You seem like your head's off in Timbuktu." As she finished her sentence she let out a quiet laugh, eerie with no mouth for it to come from.
As Nameless came to, a slight pink twinge ran across their face, looking back at the large white pupil concentrating on them. "Eh..? Oh, heh..." They glance off, suppressing a nervous tic, before they refocus on the floating presence. "Sorry about that. Carmen told me you had a report?"
Eliza went to start her planned debrief, but not before letting out an otherworldly sounding chuckle at the hunter before her. "Well, I've spotted an overwhelming amount of crows from all over the country making their way to a specific location in Portland. There's a flood of birds surrounding just one building, It's already making local news. I believe the demon of crows has reincarnated."
"Hm..? Well, can you tell me how much of a fight I'm in for, at least?" Nameless said, clearly a bit perplexed. A crow demon doesn't sound like it'd be that big of a concern to them, yet Eliza spoke as though this was urgent.
It was as if the woman read their mind, she responded to their internal question. "I know birds don't sound too scary, but don't forget how significant crows can be to certain cultures and myths. This, along with their close association with death makes the demon of crows quite the force to be reckoned with every time it pops up." She said, with slight worry in her tone.
"Nameless, listen." Eliza continues, floating closer to them to emphasize her point. "I know you're on the lookout for another major contract, but if you want to choose this one, I need you to be very careful. You'll have to really impress it, or really back it into a corner if you want a contract that won't cost you an actual arm and a leg."
Nameless tapped their fingers on the desk, caught in thought for a few moments, then looked deep into the 'eye' hovering before her. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Don't worry Eliza, I'm planning on coming home safe." The look they gave her showed their unspoken admiration for her. As they finish speaking, they push themselves back off the face of the front desk and turned, making their way to the front door. "Carmen, Buddy! We're taking the van, and picking up a few old friends if we can help it. Gonna need all the help we can get."
The restless man soon made his way by their side after they called, nodding as they finished talking. He did look rather excited at the prospect of seeing old friends. "OOOO! It's been forever since we've had a road trip! Can we get snacks?" Nameless nodded as they walked with him to a large black van, with a large, bold, red logo reading "VOIDST★R", the space underneath said logo reading: "Supernatural Exterminators".
Soooo, I finally finished it! It took a little longer than expected, but it also ended up BEING longer than I expected so, y'know, what can you do? Had a few hiccups along the path, but I think I figured it out in the end. One last thank you to @daffooo for all her help and for letting me write her characters! ♡ From Eve, With Love ♡
