Brida Aiolfi

---

^{Inside the Grand Hotel Mohad, Avent City}
That tall, pale woman at the bar was the bunter leading the first round of exams hadn’t surprised Brida; the woman’s confidence alone singled her out as someone who was used to both seeing and wielding power beyond that of those around her. The man on the other side of the bar had been strange too, and he moved with the similar confidence as the woman he was tending to, though muted. However, the man didn’t claim the same authority as the ghostly woman did, and so Brida noted him down and shelved the thought as she listened to the woman.

Idiot, Brida thought, turning away from the tattooed man who had loudly protested the pale woman’s authority. If nothing else, he should see that — by her confidence alone — she’s strong. Perhaps well-versed in deception rather than in physical strength, but that’s hard-earned as well.

The ensuing squabble Brida chose to sit out on, figuring that the free pass — while tantalizing — wasn’t worth the effort it took to jump the bar to the first story of the restaurant, beat out all the other desperate contestants gathered, and deliver the badge to the pale woman. It was too much publicity for Brida’s tastes, and she had finally managed to flag down a second martini.

The exam itself, as explained by the pale woman, was the type of battle royale that Brida expected from the Hunter Exam, serving to both weed out weaker contestants and allow the stronger to establish themselves within the ranks. Lone wolf, or pack leader? Head low, or teeth gritted? Brida was used to both of the former, but — looking around — she figured that she’d probably have to step down from her platform for this exam. There were many proud spirits in the restaurant tonight, and the most she would be able to get out of them easily would be some sort of joint leadership, if not vague teamwork.

Brida’s martini arrived sometime in the middle of the woman’s explanation, and Brida only turned to it after the pale woman had finished talking. Picking it up off the table, Brida was in the middle of giving the people near her a final sweep when the sound of a heavy glass being set down on her table alerted her to someone’s arrival. While her face had been casually blank as he sat, the man’s words — especially his condescension — had prompted her into narrowing her eyes. However, the man held himself well, and Brida decided to trust her gut and play along. Many men had tried making moves on her in the past, and although she didn’t like entertaining them, she was used to it as well. Such was politics and business.

“I’m flattered,” Brida said, holding her martini to the side as she reached a hand across the table. She decided not to mention the man’s strange selection, pegging it as a nostalgic choice, or just his sweet tooth — although there were better choices for the latter. “Brida.”

Even the vaguest teammates needed something to address each other by, and since Brida didn’t feel that her number was the right tag to assign to herself — the chance that there would be some test that used the contestant’s numbers as their names was high — she figured that names would work well. Sitting back down, Brida brought her glass to her mouth and swept her eyes around the room again. A team of three would be favorable in this scenario, especially since there were no loyalties. The strong would survive, and the weak could be cut.

“Would you mind a trio?” she asked, meeting eyes with draconian woman she’d spotted before. She raised her glass, a small but clear motion. “The draconian — she’s seen battle before. Although she might not join us, it seems.”

Looking away from the draconian and the light-haired woman sitting beside her, Brida finally took a sip of her martini. The gin bit, but the vermouth softened it. “I don’t suppose you have an idea as to who the first badge comes from?”

---

@Rai @Demous

---

Migrating to the center of focus, the rebellious tattooed fellow, Túlio stands on the outskirts of the 'clearing' around the man. Slowly unfastening the knots which upheld the jars dangling from his body, Each is placed onto the ground. Also duly noted, the thud or clunk emitted from the jars would have been far louder, or heavier, than anticipated. Speaking loudly, and clearly as he can. Túlio hopes he's understood.

"Those jars, sacred among my people and used as deadly weapons. Please keep them safe during exam. I would hold no honor, if I wore them during a weaponless trial."

Attention narrows onto the man protesting his dismissal. Honesty and possibly arrogance lacing his voice with a wicked smile to top it off. Several steps taken forward, bringing himself into the 'mix of the mess'. A few head nods to the left and right occur as audible pops emitted from his neck. Along with a few more stretches being performed as he spoke. By the time Túlio finished talking a loose, yet obviously well versed, stance was assumed.

"I will remove this problem. But, I only desire his badge to reward time wasted on a fool. For I hold zero desire of taking shortcuts in earning my hunter license..."

As Guiles quickly found out, wearing his lumberjack shoes was a bad move. Before he even got into the elevator, he was stopped by bodyguards, and all of his weapons, or anything that could have been used as a weapon, was confiscated. His axe, and his climbing spikes. They wouldn't have taken the shoes, but Guiles cheerfully informed them that his shoes could be used as weapons too, as they were spiked, and used for kicking logs. So they took the shoes too, they considered taking his camera, as it could be used as a blunt weapon, but decided that if Guiles was going to use anything as a blunt weapon, it would likely be his fists, so they let him keep the camera.

So, Guiles spent the elevator ride up shifting from one foot to the other, because his socks were thin, and the floors were all marble, even inside the elevators. When he finally arrived at the 101st floor, he had no idea what a sight he was. An incredibly tall man with no shoes, who looked like he got into a street fight right outside the hotel, standing next to a small black haired girl who definitely did not look like she belonged in the exam. "Y'can come sit with me, if y'want to. Oh! I nearly forgot to introduce m'self. I'm Guiles, nice to meet you." Guiles made sure the small black haired girl he took up to the 101st floor felt welcome, partially because it was good manners, and partially because he would take any company right now just to distract him from how nervous he was.

He made his way to a nearby seat, so he could get his feet off of the cold floor. He made sure that he took a table with at least three chairs, so that if anyone wanted, they could sit right down. Guiles certainly wouldn't mind any company, no matter how many people, he enjoyed talking to people, and he hoped people enjoyed talking to him. He drummed idly on the table, while letting his eyes drift across the room. There certainly seemed to be many imposing looking contestants. Guiles spotted the pretty girl from before, a shirtless man with jars on his belt, and a woman with what appeared to be scales on parts of her body all caught his eye rather quickly. But there were many more strange contestants, far more contestants than Guiles expected there to be.

After a few minutes, a waiter came by to take Guiles' order. "A tall glass of apple juice, please! Gotta keep my vitamin C levels high, for the exam." To his credit, the waiter merely raised an eyebrow, nodded, and hurried off. After a few more minutes, the promised apple juice was delivered, ice cold, and sweeter than any apple juice Guiles had tasted before. He drank it slowly, to savor the taste.

Mere moments after he finished his drink, a tall woman made her way to the stage, and commanded everyone to return to their seats. Luckily, Guiles was already seated, but some people were not so lucky, and were too slow for the woman's liking, as she commanded them to leave. Guiles was already on edge, but this woman kicking people out because they took too long really got him nervous. He tried to make himself scarce by slouching more in his seat, but he was a really big guy, with a red plaid shirt, and bright blonde hair. So he was anything but scarce.

One of the contestants, number 105, stood his ground, and refused to leave. Guiles admired his courage, but was glad he didn't share his courage when the tall woman stated that whoever brought her his badge, would get a free pass to the next round. Within seconds, people were lunging at him from every angle. He fought back well, clearly he was well disciplined, and trained in the ways of martial arts, but he was still vastly outnumbered. Guiles thought this was incredibly unfair, this guy worked just as hard as everyone else to get here, and he had to leave because he wasn't fast enough to get to his seat? Fear and outrage warred in his head, until they came to an agreement.

So, Guiles scooched around in his seat, so the tall woman couldn't get angry at him, picked up a nearby table with one hand, and lobbed it between #105 and some of the people attacking him, momentarily catching their attention. "Now hold on! Don'tcha think that 105 here deserves just as much of a chance as the rest of us?" The answer, was a resounding no. They didn't even consider Guiles' words, and immediately returned to rushing #105. "Oh. Okay then."

Guiles stood up, holding his chair against him with one hand, and charged into the fray. Not attacking 105, or the other contestants, but instead just pushing people apart, to break up fights. Of course Guiles was one guy, and there were tons of incredibly competent examiners, so his efforts were in vain.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the chaos died down, and 105 was sadly defeated. (Guiles had no idea who did it, he gave up the whole "peace keeper" thing when someone smashed him upside the head with a bottle of wine, and decided to save his strength for the actual exam.) The woman, who Guiles learned was named Aleksandra, explained the rules, And Guiles immediately realized that by defending 105, he had unintentionally painted a target on his back.

He considered asking the small black haired girl he brought up to the 101st floor to team up with him, but realized that if she teamed up with him, they'd likely target her too. So, Guiles, out of politeness, and respect for the other contestants, didn't ask a single person to be on his team.

That wasn't to say he wouldn't accept anyone if they offered to join up with him, but he didn't want to rope anyone into partnering up with him, what if someone did it just to be polite, and then they got taken out of the running because of him? He'd feel terrible! Guiles suddenly wished he had more apple juice to steady his nerves.

Lily Natche

Lily was beginning to take a liking to this man. She didn't usually build friendships fast but she found herself liking the straightforward attitude that the man displayed. She hated those who made conversations mean more than whatever they said straight up, so Guiles simple introduction had earned her favour in a way. She decided that she felt that she needed to pay Guiles back for his kindness at the beginning of the exam, and decided to declare her intentions to the man that had brought her up to this floor with her.

"I will protect you for this phase of the exam. Feel free to conserve your strength or grab some badges, but I promise that within this section of the exam, no-one shall lay a finger on you." Lily spoke with an extremely blank tone, almost as if it was a robot speaking to Guiles.

Deciding to take a break from the grueling run that she had to undergo on the way to the exam, and finding herself thirsting for a drink more and more in the desert heat that she found herself in, she decided that she would relax until the stage begun, and leave the socialising and team building to Guiles. Turning to the bartender after her brief statement to Guiles, she felt a craving for calcium and decided to order her beverage of choice.

"2 litres of milk please." spoke Lily nonchalantly to the bartender who seemed to have a much more varied amount of emotion to the order, surprised that a girl as small as her would want that much to drink before the exam. Lily found herself guzzling the cold milk the moment the bottle touched her hand, and within 30 seconds, she had finished her drink, wiping her mouth and sighing. Her thirst had been quenched, and the ice cold drink cooled down her warm body quite well. She figured she'd analyse the situation and make a plan. She noted that Guiles was an extremely big figure, and the two of them together would likely be the strongest in the room, but she figured they needed some intelligence to their lineup. Neither of them seemed to be big on thinking, so having a higher intelligence member of the squad might help the group figure out if there's some special conditions to this trial.

"Guiles, find the smartest looking person you can." Lily spoke, whilst giving a thumbs up to her temporary companion.

Sayuri's smirks feeling a number of eyes on her as she receives her drink. She scans the room seeing if anyone caught her eye as notable competition or as a potential ally. Sadly she was disappointed. Many of them weren't even worth a second glance let alone teaming with. There were a handful of exceptions though. A woman with purplish hair drinking by herself being one of the more noticeable along with a dark skinned black haired man. Shrugging she grabs her drink and takes a sip smiling at the familiar taste. Turning back back to the entrance she smiles as she catches Basil walking in. She nods in greeting as he walks up and takes the offered card, “That's quite alright. I don't like people spending money on me. I prefer debts paid in more useful ways. Provided we don't die I'd like to ask a favor after the exam is finished,” she takes another drink as he orders a bottle and talks about how useful a makeshift weapon would be. She looks back out at the other participants before responding, “That's true but I think I'll be fine with just my fists.”

She laughs when he takes a drink and spits it right back into the glass obviously displeased by the taste. It reminded her of the first time Irene had her first wine. She'd reacted similarly though she had swallowed unlike him. Her laughter died down but a smile remained, “Bad choice for a first time drink. You probably should have gotten something closer to a Pinot Noir for your first drink though,” she notices the woman she'd figured was the examiner get up and head towards the stage, 'Looks like things are getting started.'

---

After watching the examiner explain the rules of the first exam Sayuri hums interested, “So... It's a kind of team battle royale... Interesting...” she turns and looks at her companion, “So are you gonna want to team up? If not that's more than fine with me. We could make an alliance rather than team up. Either way,” she glances over at the brawl in the crowd, “I'm going after that free pass. I'll be right back gonna go take care of that.”

Downing the last of her drink she places the cup back on the counter and motions for a refill as she stands up. As she makes her way over to the fight she notices the dark skinned man get up and make his way over to the purple haired girl. She sighed noting his mannerisms and instantly disliked him having dealt with many of his type. Reaching her destination she notices the tribal warrior from earlier walking forward announcing that he would remove the problem but only desired his badge not the free pass. She pauses for several seconds thinking. She didn't want him to squander the free pass but saving her energy was also important. Smiling when an idea comes to her she walks calmly up to the man making sure to get his attention, “Well then looks like we have a problem. I'm interested in that free pass. Stealing badges without having to worry about passing sounds like a fun to me. So how about we make a deal? Don't worry it's a win-win,” she points at the tattooed guy with her thumb, “You wanna take him down right? Go ahead and kick the shit out of him and take his badge for all I care. When your done I can drag him over to the exit and toss him out like yesterdays trash. You get to take care of a nuisance and I get my free pass. That works right Miss Aleksandra?”

Rain

"Rain is The name I go by."
Rain knew little as to why the hunter exams were so straight forward. Supposing it was the means of weeding out the weak he shrugged to it. It would provide great Cover for his deciphering eyes. Most who avoided the straight forward fight were not overly confident in hand to hand combat. He found this intriguing as he himself could easily be seen as a nonfighter and be taken advantage of. It was clear a team of two minds would only serve to achieve so much. He had only a small contingency plan for hand to hand against monsters such as that girl with the claws or perhaps the tribal man who seemed honed from rigorous activity in the wilds.

A contingency plan he held firm on his person that would surely surprise anyone aiming to overwhelm him. But it was best to be swift in situations like that. Situations like this required correct timing he figured. Since he found his ideal partner perhaps attaining a few badges would be a proper secondary step. Rain pondered with his spoon hanging from his mouth.

“I guess a good first step is to reveal our means of success with each other. That way we can organize our strengths and defend our weaknesses.” Rain placed the spoon in the half finished bowl and scanned the area. Besides those making a ruckus for some bonus points, which was clearly to him intended to draw out the strongest and most arrogant one, were quite various characters indeed. It was a bit sad to see what individuals thought this would be a viable thing to do.

Normies was the word for them. At least for Rain. Those who aimed to be a niche hunter. Something that did not involve killing. It was a shame to see such easy prey but. “It’s all going to be too easy once the chaos spills over to the weaker ones on the sidelines.” He mentioned this with a smile on his face as he scooped another ice cream piece into his mouth. “Then we, who seem weak, will shine.” He licked his spoon. “But that’s if it spills over. If not I may have to make it.” He turned his head to the bar and looked at the patrons who were around it. One broke some glass it seemed in preparation it was clear to see.

“I must admit I’m getting a little fired up.”
He lifted his scarf over his face to hide his growing grin. He looked away as he scanned the area. “Have you any plans yourself Brida?” He asked with smiling eyes forming from his cheek bones pressing up beneath the scarf over his nose, chin and mouth.

Brida Aiolfi

---

^{Inside the Grand Hotel Mohad, Avent City}

“Well, sadly, we have no weapons in hand,” Brida said when Rain mentioned their means of success. “Without weapons, all we have are our innate abilities, so I suppose some planning is in order.”

She paused, looking around for something specific.

“What do you say we pick up some muscle?” she asked, spotting a rather loud and muscular man with an afro who was currently arguing fiercely amongst a small group of people. “Afro over there seems like he could use a team. He can do the grunt work, and — worst case scenario — be the last badge,” she said, glancing at Rain with a small smile. “He’ll probably try to steal our badges, but, keeping that in mind, we should be able to knock him out first.”

"Oooo~ not a bad plan." Rain said with a cheery tone. "I'll leave the luring up to you.. beautiful." He winked playfully and glanced at the target

The smile stayed on Brida’s face as she started towards her muscular mark, morphing into a mask of confident apathy in a few more steps. Afro seemed like a man who bowed to strength more than anything else, and Brida could pull off a good bluff any day — not that I’d need it for this one, she thought. A few sweet words should about soften him up.

“Tell me, are you lot blind, or just plain stupid?” Brida said, setting a hand on Afro’s shoulder and arching a brow. “Because there’s a real winner in front of you, yet you all seem to be turning him away.”

“Who’re you?” a man asked. Brida figured him to be the main face of the forming triad.

“Better question,” Brida said, swinging around to face Afro, “who’re you?”

“Metra,” Afro said, grinning.

“Brida,” Brida said, returning his grin. Got you. “Say, Metra, why don’t you join a group that truly values your strength? I have a friend waiting over there — he’s the one that pointed you out,” Brida said, nodding in Rain’s direction, “and we all know that these lowlifes that can’t even understand how much talent you have don’t deserve to be on your team in the first place, so what do you say?”

“I’m going to crush you three when the test starts, so you watch your backs,” Metra said with gusto before turning around to face Brida, the grin still on his face. “Lead the way, little lady.”

Rejoining Rain at the table, Brida met his eyes and relayed silently that patience was needed just as Metra sat down, stirring up a small quake in the immediate vicinity. “Metra,” Brida said with a courteous smile, “meet Rain.”

“Don’t get crushed,” Metra grunted, smirking. “If you two stay out of my way, I’ll help you pass.”

---

@Rai

---

Sayuri spoke enough for Túlio to oblige. Worst case scenario, this individual would get the free pass and Túlio will be left to complete the exam without any head start. Good thing and only focus for Túlio is finishing this phase and beginning the next. Only words spoken in response to Sayuri. Involved keeping a helpful eye on his jars of 'sacred and religious value'; while gifting the crowd with his name. Then, a flying table reached a screeching halt before Túlio. Movement of the object was ceased by him for the simple reason of saving any nearby people from getting hit. Sliding the table aside quickly as he stopped its trajectory. Túlio finally starts to close in on the target. The target, whi i might add, was successfully holding his own against several combatants trying to earn the free pass.

An odd thing, seeing this tribal boy fight. Túlio aimed to match the strength of enemies, aiming to show as little of his potential as possible. (A feature that may have influenced others to now begin underestimating Túlio .) Onlookers may perceived Túlio as stupid, foolish, or a madman. This was because Túlio held far to much pride to 'take advantage' of the situation. Far too honorable was Túlio to jump into the battle and fight a man severely outnumbered. Which meant anyone partaking in the brawl between himself and the target were quickly ushered to the sidelines, by force if needed. Some men, merely grabbing onto their shoulder would cause Túlio's fight to transpire. Of course Túlio was not perfect, or maybe out of practice? Especially fighting without his favored jars, what he considered extensions of his will and body. Enemies of the Tribal man occasionally landed hits, some even causing Túlio to grimace in pain. However, a trained eye would notice one factor of Túlio's fighting. The longer he fought, the better his style evolved against his opponent.

Eventually the floor was empty again, only Túlio and the problematic fellow remaining within the circle. Crazy part existed with a few moments of Túlio actually fighting alongside this man, to lessen the eager beavers aiming for the free pass. The man noted to Túlio.

"Your primitive and tribal fighting style is good. However, if you planned on fighting me alone, you are dumber than you look."

The sentence didn't even finish before the fight started. Alike the few fights before, Túlio seemed on the losing end of the battle to start. Then, time would come and less hits were being received and more were being made. Until Túlio would be left standing and the man would fall to the ground in defeat. The fight was not flashy, a bit long, but biggest spectacle being their use of martial arts so extensively. Though Túlio made sure to show unflavored and very old fighting styles during this fight. Likely explaining his ability to 'evolve' the styles against foes quickly as he did. Standing back at the jars which he left, even counting them and seemingly weighing them to assure everything was accounted for. Finding all items to be just as he left them, Túlio awaits for the event to carry on. Greatly itching for a smoke, but refusing to do so indoors.

Rain

With a suppressed smile he welcomed the newcomer with gleeful eyes. Like a fox, or a coyote, his eyes narrowed to a sharp glare. His concealed grin underneath his neon blue scarf. "Then let us begin. I believe we have all waited long enough." He lifted a foot to the edge of his seat and pushed off. He slid back and stepped forward and lifted himself up with no assistance of his hands.

He strolled forward with wide steps next to their new friend. Both lock eyes before Rain stopped to look at the both of them, the air seemed to stand still as he locked eyes with Brida. "Metra. Do me a favor. Crush anyone who comes after me. But act like you don't know me. For assurance Brida here will watch your back in the shadows. This way you can crush till your hearts content." The end of his speech had a bit of a tune to it.

That said Rain went ahead toward the crowd of people who did not have a seat or chair or wall to lean their backs on. He eyes his back briefly as he steps further from Metra. Soon Metra follows but remains a distance to seem inconspicuous. This meant people would get closer to Rain from behind. A flaw in the plan so it seemed.

Rain stopped before the crowd, some fighters, others of a different caliber. Rain lifted his hands up confidently. Standing half a dozen meters away he spoke before the crowd. Face still halfway hidden before his hand reached for the scarf and slowly brought it down. Revealing his grandeously expressive smile. "I don't need partners. I'll take on whoever comes my way."

Rain waved his hands his way as if to say bring it in kungfu movie fashion with both hands extended out. One arm pointed to his North east and the left to his north west. A display saying it was not directed to anyone in particular. Just those whom who would take the challenge, and the bait.@Dusksong

Guiles sputtered at what the small girl said to him. She would protect him? It was an appreciated gesture, but she was so..small! If anything, Guiles should have been offering to protect her. But, he figured that she had to be capable, she was taking part in this exam after all! So, he decided to offer a compromise. "That's awful kind of you, but I'd feel bad taking advantage of your kindness like that! All I did was bring you up here, there ain't no need to repay me, if that's why you're doin' this!" Guiles exclaimed cheerfully, before holding his hand towards the small girl, for a handshake. "But I'd love to form a team with ya!" He gave her a goofy grin after speaking.

After several minutes of awkward silence that Guiles would normally fill with conversation, if he weren't so nervous, he found himself once again scanning the room, he felt out of his league here, despite his large size. As if he were a rookie baseball player, playing in the most important game of the year. How could he compare to all of these other people? He shook his head to clear those thoughts, if he got too caught up in negative thoughts, he'd end up giving himself the yips!

The small girl suddenly spoke, and Guiles realized that he had not asked her what her name was. She told him to find the smartest looking person he could. He frowned, looking slightly pained, as he always did when he was trying to solve something in his head, as if thinking was painful. The smartest looking person? Guiles looked around the room, who seemed smart to him? That pretty girl from the lobby, maybe- That train of thought was very quickly interrupted, when Guiles saw that she had already formed a group. Oh well, there were sure to be other smart people. He glanced over several people that most would look at and say 'Oh, they look smart.' And finally, his eyes landed on a clearly foreign gentleman, who Guiles recalled had some strange ink jars on his person, until he willingly gave them to security. Guiles' mind works in mysterious ways, because the conclusion he drew from this..was that this stranger must have been a master of deception, to be able to smuggle in weapons, perhaps poison, in his ink jars, and then he also must have been a good person, because he turned around, and gave them to security anyway!

Clearly, Guiles was a moron. Regardless, he believed it would be an excellent idea to walk right up to this ‘mastermind,’ and begin a conversation. "Howdy! My name's Guiles. Y'wanna team up with me an' my friend?" He gestured to the small girl that was his partner, who looked like she didn't belong here at all. This was Guiles' idea of tact.