The entire situation was incredibly confusing to Vieru. The first humans to interact with him and didn't want him dead were incredibly strange. And he had just agreed to join a Guild, with people, who would almost certainly hate him. Then there was the matter of the Red Potion the girl had thrown him. Nobody had ever given him anything before, even something as simple as this. Vieru didn't think he needed to drink it right now, so he tucked it into the pouch at his hip for the time being. The girl who had thrown him the potion suddenly announced that she was hungry and sat down, pulling food out of her pack.

She asked if anybody else was hungry, and Vieru eyed the food for a moment. He barely trusted them enough to be on the ground near them, there was no way he was accepting food from them. Even if it did look good. "I'm alright, thanks." He said politely declining the food and making sure he was a safe distance away from the girls, and the Cuccos. He was thinking about how foolish he was. There was still a chance of getting away. One good breeze was all it would take to escape. But something was making him stay. Whether it was the fact that the girls had been so kind to him, or something else, he had no idea.

After taking a few nervous steps back, Vieru slowly lowered himself to the ground. Sitting cross legged. He sighed contently, finally he had the chance to rest. Even if he was still on guard with the girls around. "I uh, suppose I should tell you my name." He said suddenly, choosing each word carefully. He didn't exactly get many chances to talk to people, let alone introduce himself. "...I'm Vieru." Bitterly he thought that they must not have expected a demon to have a name. After all, they were monsters without feelings who murdered in cold blood. And were certainly not responsible for many monster deaths in the area.

Vieru took a deep, calming breath, and closed his eyes. Trying to relax despite the company he was in. He tried to forget they were there and just focused on the feeling of the wind. It was almost as if he was meditating. Which, he kind of was. After a moment he opened his eyes again, wanting to keep an eye on the humans. He definitely wasn't going to be able to relax around them. He doubted that he'd ever get used to being around humans. That is, if they didn't just kill him outright.

As the meeting started to get underway and more and more people left, Ruink had finished his sandwich and watched rather quietly as the situation unfolded. There were more people speaking up and making demands but there were one or two voices that caught the hybrids attention above all others.

@IceHeart

The first voice that caught his attention was the rather petite woman that was yelling about destiny. If her introduction was anything to go by her name was Tina Din and she claimed to be some kind of Oracle that would defeat a great evil. Her self importance and ego aside, she was kind of cute and her choice of outfit drew the eye, if only because of how outside of the normal it was. Someone to speak to later he felt...

@JoPo
The second voice to really stand out was one speaking about how everyone was here for some sort of reward or payment. Turning towards what turned out to be another woman's voice, Ruink's gaze landed on the rather captivating sight of a Gerudo woman. He had seen some of the Gerudo before back home through they were still a rare and exotic sight to behold... this one especially so. Provided of course that she didn't end up robbing him blind this trip was looking more and more like the correct decision to make as far as Ruink was concerned.

Still, the meeting got underway as 'Warden' took over, making it clear that they were relocating to somewhere near the foothills of the Death Mountain Ranges. While moving to such a place would fill most Zora with fear of dehydration (and with good reason) Ruink himself had much less to fear; The benefits of being a hybrid after all.

Thinking to himself for a moment, he removed a small wooden disk from a pocket of his tunic. On one side was a carefully craved picture of a crown while on the other was a likewise carefully craved fish picture. Flipping the disk into the air, he caught it in his open palm as it came back down before slapping the disk onto the back of his left hand. Uncovering the disk, the fish side was clearly on top.

His mind made up, when the party started to move out Ruink made the effort to be at around the same part of the group as the Gerudo woman. Offering her a warm smile, he politely asked "So, what sort of treasure do you think we'll uncover during this adventure? Even if it isn't the goal, if stories have told me anything the lairs of beasts and monsters tend to contain treasures and items that were either lost there when the area was originally abandoned or horded by the monsters themselves."

The young blonde boy quickly bowed to the Sheikah before tying his harp back at his side and following after the man who called himself Warden. Personally he'd seen guys like a dozen times over, they puffed themselves up gave themselves big tough sounding names. He hated the type, the gang leader who was just so much tougher, probably thought he was a genius two. He could have asked names or asked how people found their way to the guild. Instead he ignored most of them and planned to walk them up into the mountains, probably for some sort of test or initiation.

Following them he began to test his bow, it was nothing of legend. He'd taken it from some thieves he'd outsmarted back home, apparently it had at one point belonged to some great archer in the coastal town. Shrugging he made sure the string was taunt, moving up to the front of the group he watched the path, he needed to know the way back to town encase this turned out to be a waste of time. On accident as he drew back the string one of his glowing white arrows appeared, blushing a little he slowly loosened the string and the arrow faded. He really hoped no one thought poorly of him for that display.

Rida smiled at Vieru as he finally introduced himself. "I'm Rida! And the Cucco you first met is Henry." Rida said. At that moment Henry walked up to Veiru again. Since Vieru was on the ground sitting Henry decided to take advantage of it. He quickly got himself into Vierus lap and sat down. "Aww Henry likes you! I hope we get to be good friends too!" Rida said with a sweet smile on her face. To everyone else they would see Rida as strange due to her willingness to interact with a demon. Even among those in the guild it was quite weird.

Rida was certainly not a normal girl. No one had any idea who she had descended from. Many have said that she had descended from the Romani family due to her connection with the Cuccos. But in truth none of them could believe that she was truly descended from the Romani family, despite her last name she was adopted by them. Not all of those in the guild exactly trusted Rida either. Of course Henry helped with this quite a bit.

It was certainly a motley assortment of individuals that had gathered together to fight Evil. From a knight wrapped in death, to rangers, half-Zoras, and even a Goron had answered the call. It was like all the weirdos in Hyrule had decided to come together for a celebration. Well as long as they did not get in her way she didn't give one burnt crisp if they attempted to help but this Hero's Guild leader had only spoken a little and already she was rather ticked.

Warden was an enigma, but not one she cared to find out about. Between his ridiculous mask, attitude, and awful codename Tina already knew she was gonna regret going along. They would be grateful that she decided to stay to defeat the approaching darkness despite her person misgivings about present company. He also seemed overconfident, haughty, and all greater-than-thou like which she could not stand, such cheek. Well, she would have to endure for now as at the moment she had no other leads.

The other two pseudo-leaders, Ark and Kira at least seemed potentially competent so hopefully they could keep things afloat. As for the other tag-alongs...well most of them would probably just drag her down frankly though there were a few of at least some interest. For example, the half-zora was quite an oddity and his unique bloodline certainly had her interested in what facets of biology she shared between the races. The Sheikan she noticed could be quite a fine, as a member of a nearly extinct race there was potential for him to know something that could help her on her quest. Also the mighty Goron she had least had a grudging amount of respect for. As a race that lived in fiery locations they were somewhat closer to the Goddess Din, and in a sense her, than the others.

@Crimson Raven

Well, she was not about to just follow without learning something so Din decided to make use of Kira's offer of answering questions. "That Warden is quite the stuck-up sort." She could not help but mention before actually starting to ask questions. "So what in the world is this mission? A mini campaign? So you understand the only reason I'm tagging alone so I can get to the bottom of the source of darkness to destroy of seal it, course I prefer burning it to a crisp." To shed light on her point a small ember appeared in the palm of one of her outstretched hand, then she curled her fingers up and snuffed it out.

"I swear if this mission turns out to be some side-job unrelated to what is currently happening to this world, that masked jerk is gonna need some serious burn ointment. But I digress, can you at least explain why there is a need to head to the Death Mountain Range? There'd better be a reason besides something as droll as training which I don't need at all."

Oryx followed as behind the others, he preferred to keep his distance for now till he was able to gauge everyone's attitude towards him. A test of their abilities no doubt this mission was. He had run into quite the brave bunch of people in his living days and even though their hearts overflowed with courage or bravery, some of them wouldn't be able to hold up in a fight of any kind. The Darkness that was approaching came faster with every passing day, as the night gallops across the plains of the earth as the Sun retreats to the ends of the earth. Oryx had his suspicions at to what the Darkness was, but he hoped to the bottom of his ribcage that he was wrong in every way possible. One member of the group who decided to stick it out piped up with much confidence of destroying the coming darkness, even "burning it to a crisp".

"I admire your confidence, but this darkness is different, it holds a similar scent to evil from days long forgotten. Hopefully just an echo of those dark times..." Oryx said under his breath mostly to himself. However this Warden fellow seemed like he would be able to answer what dangers lay ahead of the heroes to be. His aura swirled around him with great strength and magic, definitely someone you wouldn't want to mess with or be on their bad side. It would seem however from the man's previous choice of words and tones that he was not a man of being polite, coming off very rude and gruff in his opinion. Though peoples personalities was not something he should be pondering about, the task at hand was far more important than such distracting thoughts.

Karu strolled toward the back of the group, holding his head high to try and hide his initial nervousness. He still felt slightly ridiculous with his spear and the strange whip on his belt. Having recovered slightly, he took a look at the crowd. There was one face he recognized - The goron leader, Argon, who he'd met once at a diplomatic meeting between their people. Speaking of gorons... He tuned back to the man who spoke to them - the "Warden", just as he mentioned going to Death Mountain. Death mountain? He shuddered, thinking of the heat. His last trip to Death Mountain had been fraught with headaches, nausea and dizziness caused by the heat. He felt ill even at the idea, but didn't want to back out now. He'd be a laughing stock.

Still, he wasn't exactly happy about it. It seemed unfair to him that their abilities would be tested in an environment that was so unsuited to his strengths. What was the point of this? He looked at the so-called warden, who had far too high an opinion of himself as far as Karu was concerned, just as he turned and began to walk out of the hall. He found himself agreeing with the crazy fire-lady about the Warden, although he'd probably still keep a fair distance from her. There'd be enough fire on the mountain as it was.

He couldn't keep his mouth shut completely, though, as the Warden continued walking in a way that seemed smug and self-assured and specifically designed to annoy him.

"Seriously, what's with him? I'd be surprised if he doesn't think he could stop the darkness himself, the smug-" Karu stopped himself from continuing, barely biting back his angry words. He shook his head, and turned to follow him out of the hall, looking particularly unhappy about it.

Kagumo had never been anywhere near Death Mountain on her adventures. She was excited to see where this was going. As she was walking, someone walked near her, asking a question. The zora smiled at her. She hadn't really seen that many zoras, but this one seemed different than most. She blushed a bit, but tried to hide it while answering his question. " I'm not sure what sort of treasures we'll discover, but imagine it wouldn't be much of anything the first time. I've been to many places and it happens quite often that the reward isn't worth the effort. So why would a zora like you be all the way here? Seems a bit far to me."

@JoPo

Ruink actually shyly started to rub the back of his head as he noticed that the Gerudo woman was blushing, even if she was trying to hide it. Still, at least she was being friendly and talking back which was something of a small, personal victory for the hybrid. Her counter question caused him to take a moment to think about it as they walked along. After a few seconds he answered tentatively "Well... A couple of reasons really. Every since I was little I've met different people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds and grew up hearing stories of their homelands and the journeys that they have been on and I couldn't help but feel the need to go out into the world and see it for myself."

"As for why I am here in relation to this group, I saw a flier and decided that one way or the other going to the meeting was going to lead to a interesting story that I could tell years from now..." In a strange burst of confidence, he turned and offered the Gerudo woman a shy smile as he continued "Considering that this adventure started off with meeting you, I feel like we're off to a good start. My name is Ruink by the way. If you don't mind me asking, what brings you here Ms?"

Kira laughed a little at the young girl's observation. [color=yelllow]"He does seem like that, but I assure you, you can trust him. This will be the first in a series of places. We are going there to eliminate monsters and we are looking for a certain place. I hate to be mysterious, but I belive it is best to leave that detail to The Warden.[/color] At the girl's bold proclamation, she smiled, knowingly. She looked at the armored figure who spoke. "An echo, indeed. Tell me, Stalfos, how old are you?" She said casualy, with that same knowing smile.

About that time, the group arrived at the edge of town, where Ark and another man were waiting with a horse, hooked to a large cart. As they got closer, the strange man waved, "Is this all?" He asked The Warden once he was within earshot. "More or less." He responded. The man grinned easily, "Well, which is it?" Any reaction the masked man had was hidden by his mask. The man turned to the group. "I'm the sane one of this group, my name is Kyogen, a bit odd, I know. Pleasure to meet you all." The was something inexplicably likable about the sandy-haired man, maybe it was how friendly and outgoing he seemed compared to The Warden. "So, intodu-" He was cut off by The Warden, "No time for that, now. Talk as we walk." He said, he did just that, leading the odd procession of people. The Journey starts again, but how will it end, this time? The Warden mused to himself.

Kyogen staired after Warden, frowning. "Well, that was abrupt." He said. "Right where were we? Oh, Names. Well you know mine, so what are yours?

---

@Bright_Ops@JoPo@Dragonfry@ColonelCaboose@Cuccoruler@Apollosarcher@AirBender@IceHeart @Burthstone @Double @Sigil @Ryuzaki

Kyogen huh? Well, I suppose I've met stranger people with stranger names in my time in the Wilds. Slinging the bow across his back once more, Joseph nods to the fourth stranger. "Pleasure Kyogen. Name's Joseph, a Ranger from the Wilds." He then looked at the others and realized he had no idea what their names were. Of course, he wasn't the unusually social type, but even loners liked to know the names of the company they had to travel in. "I suppose that's an introduction of myself to the rest of you as well."

The as yet silent Sheikah gave a warm, friendly smile upon meeting this latest person in their troupe. As it came to his opportunity for introduction, he locked eyes with Kyogen and extended his hand. Generally, a gesture such as this is initiated by one who wants to clasp hands; a sign of trust. This was not precisely what was in mind.

The white haired traveler turned his palm up, displaying a tiny black cricket. The little bug chirped twice, then turned about to face the young man in whose hand it rested. Still smiling, the slender Sheikah pointed his free hand at the cricket, and poked his chest with his thumb.

To reinforce the assigning of his name, he repeated the action slowly and with determination, a serious look on his face. Once the concept of his name had been accepted, he immediately returned a look of benevolent warmth to his features, despite the oft misunderstood markings around his eye.

In the attempt at a little joke, Cricket nodded his head toward their walking caravan's leader, the enigmatic masked Warden, and pantomimed a fearful shiver. His bubbly exterior quickly returned, and he moved to return to his position on the rear flank of the procession, nodding respectfully at those he passed.

As the Sheikah moved to the back of the group, he'd have competition for last in like in Rima, who was distractedly fidgeting with the various straps on his person. He would manage to remain attentive enough to his surroundings to nod to the individual as they passed him. He took a deep breath as he followed whomever was in front of him in the group. He looked about the town absentmindedly as they walked. He made a mental note of any and all turns they made, as well as landmarks to remember them. His thought process went something similar to: So... Right from the store from the misspelled sign to statue, left three roads from big fountain.

It wasn't until they had been travelling through the town for a few minutes that Rima realized that there was in fact taling going on. Aparently intraductions. Right, those were logical things to do when you were joining a group for an adventure. Waiting for an opening, the nervous researcher spoke up. "U-uhm. My name is Rima, but you can call me T-torotos if you want." He hesitated a moment, nervous. "Th-that's my last name." He clarified, finally forcing himself to stop messing with the straps of his belt as well as the ones holding his quiver, bow, and backpack on his back. Instead, he played with the clasp holding the flap of his shoulder-bag closed. He didn't bother to also add that he's a lot better at a number of things other than fighting. Like research, reading, writing, and generally figuring stuff out. He wondered if he could get a job as an accountant for this 'guild'.

Swifty nodded and turned around walking backwards he looked over all the other. Then he spoke up next. "Call me Swifty, it's not my name but its what I go by." The blonde Hylian smiled looking over the others. They were from all corners of the world it seemed. Pretty irregular bunch of people, still they at least seemed respectable, he wondered if any of them new anything about his power. He looked towards Kira next stepping over to the as she had heard her answer the of the other girl near before.

He pulled back the bow and let the arrow appear, before asking her the question he had. "Excuse me but do you know anything about this power? It's just that I was orphaned pretty young and I'm wondering if this might link me to my family, if don't know anything it's fine." The young boy asked hoping she would have some answer's for him on the nature of his abilities and as to why he might be related to Hero or even what hero he was related to. "I just don't see anyone else here with a power like mine so I was curious that's all." He said making the arrow vanish letting the tension go on his bow.

"How old am I is a great question, but sadly I do not know myself. As both the moon and sun have lost count to how many days and nights they have danced in our sky above, so have I lost count as to how many years I have been cursed to walk this land. If I has to say, I'd say around a millennia, give or take some perhaps..." The Stalfos said to the woman. They had arrived in Kakariko Village, not too far from there was the cementary where he had been forced to stand guard with his fellow brothers in arms for too long. Unlike his brothers though who slowly lost their mind to the darkness that cursed him, Oryx stayed strong, because he couldn't allow himself to fail, he wouldn't fail to see justice come falling down like a mighty hammer upon all that was evil and corrupt.

The Warden continued to show his rudeness, which Oryx continued to dislike as well. Whether they were in a hurry or not, there was no need to be rude. However he would hold his tongue, metaphorically of course since he had no tongue to actually hold. The new arrival had triggered an introduction of everyone and he figured he might as well pipe up to everyone as well. "I am Sir Oryx, a Hylian Knight in life, and a Knight of Darkness in Death..." He knew some probably were wondering of how he came to be in his current state, but that was a story for another time, as well as he feared speaking the Master's name would bring bad luck on them all.

As they continued to walk Swiftly pulled out his bow and summoned an arrow of light which made Oryx stumble a bit. He held up his hands to block the light from his eyes and move to the other side of the group away from him. Light magic was his weakness because of his cursed form. Under certain circumstances it had less of an effect on him but to be touched by one of those arrows would be a great deal of pain no doubt. "Aye young man, I know of that power you hold. I can say it is older than myself. However sadly I cannot say anymore for much of my memory has deteriorated like a Deku Tree infested with Gohma's. Perhaps with more time an meditation I could give you a clearer answer, but no telling when..."

"Names Mari. I own a small shop in town. Rida here is my assistant," said the girl who was seated on the ground. She looked over at the demon as he gave his own name. "Hi, Vieru. Nice to meet you. I'm sure you'll make a valued custo-" Mari stopped herself, "I mean Member of the Guild." She smiled to try to draw attention away from her Freudian slip. Reaching into her bag, Mari retrieved a pair of sandwiches and tossed one over to Rida. "Lets eat, then we need to get back to the Guild, we're probably already late anyway." With that the girl took a tremendous chomp from the sandwich before her.

After Vieru gave his own name, the girls introduced themselves. The girl with the Cuccos was Rida, and the other one was Mari. He caught the slip of the tongue that Mari pulled. Had she been about to say valued customer? She's be disappointed to find out that he didn't have any money. He lived almost entirely off the land. And what he couldn't get from the land, he swiped off the carts of passing merchants. He didn't really consider it stealing, when he made the passages they took safer and made sure they got to their destinations. A scrap of fabric or two really didn't make much of a difference anyway.

The demon was extremely wary when the Cucco, Henry, who had attacked him before suddenly jumped into his lap and settled down. He stared at it for a moment before deciding it would be best just to leave it there. It would save him the pain of being pecked at. The girl, Rida, said something about becoming friends with him. "I guess time will tell." He said vaguely, though he doubted that anybody would even consider becoming friends with him. As the two girls settled down to eat, Vieru's eyes darted around nervously. Sitting out here in the open was not what the demon was used to. He liked staying hidden, as it usually meant he was attacked less. Or at least tried to attack, he wasn't so proud that running wasn't an option.

The feeling of having something warm and fuzzy on his lap was unfamiliar and odd, but not unpleasant. Cautiously he reached down and pat Henry, hoping not to anger the fluffy creature. The feeling of being pecked when he did nothing wrong was still fresh in his mind. Mari mentioned the guild again and Vieru once again wondered what the guild thing was about. The guild, descendants, people interacting with him, none of it made sense. He really hoped that his questions would be answered in time.

Rida caught her sandwich with a happy smile on her face. Sitting with friends and eating, nothing could make her happier. She finished eating her food shortly afterwards. Henry got up off Vieru's lap once they were finished eating. He jumped onto Rida's portal using it like a parrot would a perch. "We should get going before the others leave us behind. Oh! I should explain a bit more about the guild, we are all descendants of the heroes who stopped the Tyrant a millennium ago. Our goal is to stop him again as he comes back." Rida said knowing that this boy must be terribly confused.

After a few minutes of walking they caught up with the others. "Hi everyone! I brought my new friend! His name is Vieru, and he has awesome wind magic!" Rida said with a smile on her face as he approached the group with a hop in her step. She wanted Vieru to feel like he was wanted and a friend. She could tell he was uncomfortable and wanted him to relax a bit.

Mari walked up to the front of the procession and nodded at Kyogen. She had met him before, both of them had been members of the guild since it's founding. She always got an uneasy feeling when she was near him, almost like something wanted to sneak up on her and stab her in the back. "Rida and I are back from the Final bit of recruitment. I think we found somebody that could be useful and fun," The smirk on her face almost shot to a full blown grin. Mari always reported to Kyogen instead of The Warden, since she couldn't respect somebody who barely ever looked her in the eyes. For a moment, she wondered if The Warden even had eyes. Shaking herself back to reality, she looked at Kyogen and said, "Big turnout! What did you do, give away the little of my merchandise that doesn't fit in my bag?" Giggling she turned away and began to move toward the back again. Some strange thought made her grab the ominous mask that hung from her bag as she observed the newest additions to the guild. She caught some familiar faces like Ark and Kira but among their ranks were now every possible race she could think of. As she reached the back, she bumped into a Sheika boy who looked a little younger than her, but she might have been wrong. "Oops! Sorry!" she said.

The one girl seemed to be very familiar with the speakers in the Guild Hall, and their newest introduction, Kyogen. She must be very outgoing and have arrived to the party early, or she was already a long-term member of this Guild. Interesting to note, many of these people, like himself, were very new. Almost as if this was a second wave of recruiting. The possibilities as to why there was an abrupt second wave swirled about in Cricket's forebrain, some benign and some horrifying. It was perhaps this preoccupation of thought that took his direct awareness away from the immediate surroundings, allowing this extroverted Hylian girl to run into him.

Unsure as to what would happen next, a tiny light with gossamer wings flitted from the youthful Sheikah's shoulder, blinking out of sight a half second later.

It seemed deliberate. His own Clan has an unspoken game among its younger members; the game had no name, but consisted mainly of various attempts to relieve each other of the items on their person or in their pockets. Most of the time these items were returned after a while, but sometimes kids got greedy.

It was accepted law that Sheikah don't steal from one another. There must be trust within their ranks as they depended upon each other to survive daily. Still, they found little ways to entertain themselves and practice their sleight-of-hand skills without actually stealing. One of the techniques often implemented was the classic "bump". Oldest trick in the Book, one could say, but it worked. Otherwise, it wouldn't be in the Book.

It could be that he was wrong, however. Far be it for him to leap to premature conclusions, his face assumed a vaguely amused look as he waved away the slight upon his personal space. Cricket beamed his usual warm smile for a second, before holding up a single finger. With a thoughtful look, he poked about in his pockets and patted his coat down, until an expression of minor victory asserted itself on his features.

Cricket drew a single, small, mottled green apple from an exterior coat pocket, and held it out to Mari. It was unlikely that anyone could deduce the origin of this diminutive fruit, as unlikely as any of these people visiting the Kokiri Forest and sticking around for a meal. Seemed as good an olive branch as anything, and with his limited communication it was probably best to start making connections early.

Purely coincidentally, this action also allowed Cricket to ascertain if the young girl had, in fact, lifted something from him.

@Ryuzaki