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KarmicBacklash
Shipping Trash
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2015
- Location
- Canada
I'm more than a decade late to this party, but I got into Hunter x Hunter a bit ago and have just finished the 2011 anime after several weeks of binge-watching. (Alluka is a precious little bean and must be protected at all costs.) I'll admit, I wasn't thrilled with it at first, I found it very slow to start, but once things picked up, hoo boy, was I hooked.
I didn't expect this going in, but I quickly became very attached to a character I didn't expect to like because of how straight-up weird I thought he looked at the time, and the vibe he gave off. He grew on me insanely fast, and he stopped looking weird and started looking smoking hot. Those smooth, seductive tones and that smug smirk didn't hurt either.
At this point, it's undeniable. I am down bad for Hisoka. Down horrendous, actually. I literally rewound parts that he's in just to hear him speak again.
Yep. Down horrendous. I admit it with no shame, I simp for Mister Morow. (And I'm a little bit salty that he didn't appear in the end montage of the last episode. The fuck, man. How dare.)
And so, that brings me here. I'm looking for someone to be my Grim Reaper. I know it's a long shot, because yes, this is an OC x Canon request, and I know a lot of people are a bit leery about that, for good reason. Too many Mary Sues out there. I'm wary of them too, so I get it. I'll be putting a short bio for my character down at the end of this post for that reason, so people who think they might be interested can decide for themselves if she's up to their standard. (The bio's pretty rough and doesn't cover everything, but it should give a decent idea, at any rate.)
As I'm requesting a canon character for my OC, I will, of course, offer the same to any potential partner. I'll play a canon character of your choice for your OC as well; HOWEVER, if your choice is Gon, Killua, or Kurapika, they will be aged up to at least sixteen in order to comply with forum rules, and your character must be of a similar age. They can be aged up further if that's your preference, but sixteen is the minimum age, and I'm not going to pair teenagers with a grown adult. I'm also only looking to do MxF pairings at this time.
Ideally, I'd enjoy playing out the events of the show (making adjustments as needed/as we like; putting our own spin on it, as you do), plus some storylines of our own, because sticking rigidly to a pre-established story doesn't require any creativity, and that's not fun. I'm open to other ideas, though.
As implied by the above, I'm not looking for a oneshot or anything short-term. Long-term only, please.
You can find more information on what I look for in a partner, as well as my limits and likes, here. Regarding the bit about post length that you'll find therein, I'm not necessarily after super long posts for this one; the über long ones can be saved for character introductions or other rare places they might be needed. I'd still want a minimum of six paragraphs, however.
I do believe that's just about everything, so I'll wrap this up with the rough bio I mentioned earlier. Please do keep in mind that it's far from complete, and subject to change. I wish I had art for this character, but I don't because I can't draw for shit and I have no money for commissions. RIP.
I didn't expect this going in, but I quickly became very attached to a character I didn't expect to like because of how straight-up weird I thought he looked at the time, and the vibe he gave off. He grew on me insanely fast, and he stopped looking weird and started looking smoking hot. Those smooth, seductive tones and that smug smirk didn't hurt either.
At this point, it's undeniable. I am down bad for Hisoka. Down horrendous, actually. I literally rewound parts that he's in just to hear him speak again.
Yep. Down horrendous. I admit it with no shame, I simp for Mister Morow. (And I'm a little bit salty that he didn't appear in the end montage of the last episode. The fuck, man. How dare.)
And so, that brings me here. I'm looking for someone to be my Grim Reaper. I know it's a long shot, because yes, this is an OC x Canon request, and I know a lot of people are a bit leery about that, for good reason. Too many Mary Sues out there. I'm wary of them too, so I get it. I'll be putting a short bio for my character down at the end of this post for that reason, so people who think they might be interested can decide for themselves if she's up to their standard. (The bio's pretty rough and doesn't cover everything, but it should give a decent idea, at any rate.)
As I'm requesting a canon character for my OC, I will, of course, offer the same to any potential partner. I'll play a canon character of your choice for your OC as well; HOWEVER, if your choice is Gon, Killua, or Kurapika, they will be aged up to at least sixteen in order to comply with forum rules, and your character must be of a similar age. They can be aged up further if that's your preference, but sixteen is the minimum age, and I'm not going to pair teenagers with a grown adult. I'm also only looking to do MxF pairings at this time.
Ideally, I'd enjoy playing out the events of the show (making adjustments as needed/as we like; putting our own spin on it, as you do), plus some storylines of our own, because sticking rigidly to a pre-established story doesn't require any creativity, and that's not fun. I'm open to other ideas, though.
As implied by the above, I'm not looking for a oneshot or anything short-term. Long-term only, please.
You can find more information on what I look for in a partner, as well as my limits and likes, here. Regarding the bit about post length that you'll find therein, I'm not necessarily after super long posts for this one; the über long ones can be saved for character introductions or other rare places they might be needed. I'd still want a minimum of six paragraphs, however.
I do believe that's just about everything, so I'll wrap this up with the rough bio I mentioned earlier. Please do keep in mind that it's far from complete, and subject to change. I wish I had art for this character, but I don't because I can't draw for shit and I have no money for commissions. RIP.
Name: Taliya Jaeger
Age: 26
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 125 lbs
Voice Actor: Amber Lee Connors
Hair: Azure blue (Specifically HEX #44C5F3, since apparently Google can't decide what shade azure actually refers to); worn in a style resembling a hime cut with a high ponytail (think Kanda Yuu in D. Gray-Man)
Eye colour: Pale grey
Distinguishing features: Fox-style eyeliner; small scar through left eyebrow's outer edge; slightly off-center lip piercing (also left side); climbing ivy tattoo sleeve (right arm) from wrist to shoulder, accented with deadly nightshade and ending in a large yellow and orange gladiolus flower on the shoulder
Occupation: Bounty hunter
Nen type: Conjurer
Nen abilities:
Knives Out: Creates two knives of the specified type and sheaths on her belt (six if throwing knives are specified); if unspecified, Knives Out grants Taliya a matching pair of knives chosen at random from the types she has conjured before. Throwing knives cannot be obtained without specification. Nen can be used to grant additional effects to knives created using this ability, though said effects are, at this stage, fairly limited.
Additional effects:
Envenom: Poison; fast-acting but non-lethal
Corrosion: Acidic; causes damage similar to a chemical burn. Non-lethal
Lockpick creation: Self-explanatory. Creates tools for picking locks.
Taliya grew up in a church-run orphanage several miles outside of Doli City in the Republic of Rakario, where she was abandoned not long after her birth. The identities of her parents are unknown.
Though the children in the orphanage were well provided for, the nuns and priests were not kind and the children were often mistreated. As a result, many of them were also cruel to each other, modeling their behaviour on that of the only adults they knew, and from a young age Taliya avoided spending much time with her peers, save for a single boy five years her senior who took her under his wing and acted as a surrogate brother.
Much of what she knew of the world outside the orphanage, Taliya learned from her brother figure. The boy, named Jacque, had lost his parents around the age of seven, and had spent a handful of years before their deaths attending a secular school that didn't limit what its students were taught to church-approved curriculum. It was from Jacque that Taliya first learned of the existence of hunters, and what it meant to be one.
Jacque spoke often over the years of his desire to become a hunter himself. Both of his parents had been hunters in their youth, and he often regaled Taliya with tales they had told him of their exploits. He would always end these stories by saying that one day, he would become a hunter just like his parents and leave the orphanage forever, along with a promise to take her with him when the time came.
It was a promise he didn't keep. When Taliya was ten years old, Jacque ran away in the night without so much as a word about his plans. Despite his vow, he had left her behind; the one person in whom Taliya had ever placed her faith had broken his oath to her with no explanation or apology. The betrayal was devastating, and it utterly destroyed any ability to trust that she might have had left. She never saw Jacque again.
Now alone, Taliya would have to find her own way out. She developed a sudden voracious appetite for reading that baffled the nuns, because although she was literate, she had never shown much interest in the books available to her in the library. Now she read every dusty tome she could get her hands on if it looked like it might contain anything that might teach her more about the outside world. If she wanted to make a plan, she had to know more; if she wanted to run away from this place, she had to know what she would be running to.
When she had learned all she could from the easily accessible books, Taliya set her sights on the forbidden tomes that the head priest kept hidden away from prying eyes, the ones that contained knowledge the church considered blasphemous. At night, she would pick the lock to the storage room the children called "The vault" - a skill she had been taught by Jacque before he had abandoned her - and peruse the books inside for anything she could use.
It was in one of these books that Taliya discovered the secrets of nen.
Over the course of several months, Taliya spent hours every night painstakingly committing the instructions in the book to memory. She began to practice daily, spending most of her time outside and out of sight of the orphanage to avoid being caught while she worked with her newly discovered power. Once she mastered the basics, water divination allowed her to discover her nen type, which in turn allowed for her to begin developing her abilities.
At the age of fourteen, Taliya finally decided that she had learned all the book could teach her, and that she was well practiced and well educated enough that she could make her own way in the world. But unlike Jacque, she would not be satisfied with just running away. Leaving without fanfare or any announcement of her departure was simply not enough to quell the hatred that burned in her heart.
On a hot summer night, Taliya rose from her bed and proceeded to slaughter every single inhabitant of the orphanage with knives conjured using nen. When she was finished, she doused every room and hall in oil, stepped outside, and lit a match, which she threw into the open door. The whole building was soon engulfed in flames. Covered in blood and a smile on her face, Taliya walked away from the inferno she had created, and she did not look back.
Taliya's childhood experiences left their mark, and have greatly coloured her view of the world and the experiences she has had in the twelve years since she struck out on her own. Having experienced egregious abuse of authority by people in positions that allow them to stand above others, she has come to believe that it is simply the nature of those in power to keep the weak under their boot. The only way to prevent the strong from crushing a person under their heel is for that person to become strong, themselves. In Taliya's mind, strength is everything.
Taliya is the very definition of "does not play well with others." She knows how to interact with people passably well, but not how to truly connect with them, nor does she particularly want to. People tend to view her as aloof and even standoffish, and find that she lacks much in the way of empathy. She keeps people at a distance and doesn't interact with most others if she doesn't have to. Taliya makes acquaintances and business connections; she does not make friends. Words like "trust" and "love" don't exist in her lexicon, and if asked, she is most likely to dryly reply that she has never heard of either concept.
Though she hasn't thought of Jacque in years, there is one thing he said that has stuck with her. "A hunter is the strongest kind of person there is." It was this memory that drove her to become a hunter herself. This, along with her skewed worldview, is also what led her to choosing the surname Jaeger; she believes that all people are, without exception, either predator or prey, and that in such a world, anyone who wishes to survive must choose to be a predator. Taliya takes this one step further in considering herself an apex predator, specifically, and she wanted her name to reflect that.
Despite seeing strength as a necessity, Taliya has come to find that there is a thrill like no other in doing battle with a similarly powerful opponent. Acrobatic, agile, and highly skilled with various types of knives, she actively seeks this euphoria through bounty hunting, although she has begun to grow bored with this of late; her lack of a hunter's license precludes her from being permitted to take any bounties higher than A-rank, and these no longer provide her with a proper challenge. Perhaps in obtaining a hunter's license, and in the higher privileges it will grant her, she will find the excitement she craves...
🗡 Taliya is able to conjure more than a dozen different types of knife using Knives Out, and is equally proficient with all of them.
🗡 Though her outfits change with some regularity, Taliya always wears the same black biker jacket, even when not riding her motorcycle, which is her primary mode of transportation. This is because, even though it looks like simple leather, it is actually made of a bulletproof material.
🗡 She owns a small music player that she always keeps in her pocket, and usually has at least one earbud in, whether anything is playing or not. She uses it to give the illusion that she isn't paying attention or listening to those around her, when she is actually acutely aware of her surroundings at all times.
🗡In addition to being an expert at picking locks, Taliya is quite adept at picking pockets. She developed this skill while living on the streets in Doli after leaving the orphanage.
🗡 It would be hard to guess by looking at her, but Taliya is excellent at holding her alcohol due to spending a fair amount of her time in hunter bars. Though she doesn't make a habit of it, she is capable of drinking men three times her size under the table.
🗡 Taliya got her eyebrow scar in her first barfight. Her opponent fared much worse.
🗡She doesn't swear often, but when she feels the situation calls for it, Taliya will let loose with a string of the most creative curses known to man; her talent for profanity would make even the saltiest of seadogs blush.
🗡Even after being properly introduced, Taliya never calls people by their names, instead opting to refer to them by a nickname of her own choosing. Generally, she picks a descriptor of some physical feature for this purpose, but she may pick something a little more inventive (or offensive) depending on her opinion of a person, and what she knows about them. (EX: The one-eyed bouncer at a hunter bar she frequents in York New City is "Cyclops." Hisoka, whom she finds interesting, might be something like "Magic Man" or "Mister Magician." Illumi, whom she does not see in a particularly favourable light, would receive a less flattering moniker, such as "Pincushion.")
🗡 Her choice of tattoos may seem arbitrary to those not in the know, but anyone educated in botanical symbolism would realize that this is not the case. The gladiolus represents strength and endurance, speaking to the struggles she has lived and fought through to attain the power she so values; the deadly nightshade warns of danger, suggesting to others that she is not to be trifled with; and the ivy holds the meaning of immortality, a simple and clear message to those who would seek to do her harm: "Against all odds, I survive; no matter what you throw at me, I will not die."
🗡 Though she wouldn't disclose details if this was indeed the case, or even openly acknowledge it, there is a possibility that two of these plants actually have a secondary meaning...
Age: 26
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 125 lbs
Voice Actor: Amber Lee Connors
Hair: Azure blue (Specifically HEX #44C5F3, since apparently Google can't decide what shade azure actually refers to); worn in a style resembling a hime cut with a high ponytail (think Kanda Yuu in D. Gray-Man)
Eye colour: Pale grey
Distinguishing features: Fox-style eyeliner; small scar through left eyebrow's outer edge; slightly off-center lip piercing (also left side); climbing ivy tattoo sleeve (right arm) from wrist to shoulder, accented with deadly nightshade and ending in a large yellow and orange gladiolus flower on the shoulder
Occupation: Bounty hunter
Nen type: Conjurer
Nen abilities:
Knives Out: Creates two knives of the specified type and sheaths on her belt (six if throwing knives are specified); if unspecified, Knives Out grants Taliya a matching pair of knives chosen at random from the types she has conjured before. Throwing knives cannot be obtained without specification. Nen can be used to grant additional effects to knives created using this ability, though said effects are, at this stage, fairly limited.
Additional effects:
Envenom: Poison; fast-acting but non-lethal
Corrosion: Acidic; causes damage similar to a chemical burn. Non-lethal
Lockpick creation: Self-explanatory. Creates tools for picking locks.
Taliya grew up in a church-run orphanage several miles outside of Doli City in the Republic of Rakario, where she was abandoned not long after her birth. The identities of her parents are unknown.
Though the children in the orphanage were well provided for, the nuns and priests were not kind and the children were often mistreated. As a result, many of them were also cruel to each other, modeling their behaviour on that of the only adults they knew, and from a young age Taliya avoided spending much time with her peers, save for a single boy five years her senior who took her under his wing and acted as a surrogate brother.
Much of what she knew of the world outside the orphanage, Taliya learned from her brother figure. The boy, named Jacque, had lost his parents around the age of seven, and had spent a handful of years before their deaths attending a secular school that didn't limit what its students were taught to church-approved curriculum. It was from Jacque that Taliya first learned of the existence of hunters, and what it meant to be one.
Jacque spoke often over the years of his desire to become a hunter himself. Both of his parents had been hunters in their youth, and he often regaled Taliya with tales they had told him of their exploits. He would always end these stories by saying that one day, he would become a hunter just like his parents and leave the orphanage forever, along with a promise to take her with him when the time came.
It was a promise he didn't keep. When Taliya was ten years old, Jacque ran away in the night without so much as a word about his plans. Despite his vow, he had left her behind; the one person in whom Taliya had ever placed her faith had broken his oath to her with no explanation or apology. The betrayal was devastating, and it utterly destroyed any ability to trust that she might have had left. She never saw Jacque again.
Now alone, Taliya would have to find her own way out. She developed a sudden voracious appetite for reading that baffled the nuns, because although she was literate, she had never shown much interest in the books available to her in the library. Now she read every dusty tome she could get her hands on if it looked like it might contain anything that might teach her more about the outside world. If she wanted to make a plan, she had to know more; if she wanted to run away from this place, she had to know what she would be running to.
When she had learned all she could from the easily accessible books, Taliya set her sights on the forbidden tomes that the head priest kept hidden away from prying eyes, the ones that contained knowledge the church considered blasphemous. At night, she would pick the lock to the storage room the children called "The vault" - a skill she had been taught by Jacque before he had abandoned her - and peruse the books inside for anything she could use.
It was in one of these books that Taliya discovered the secrets of nen.
Over the course of several months, Taliya spent hours every night painstakingly committing the instructions in the book to memory. She began to practice daily, spending most of her time outside and out of sight of the orphanage to avoid being caught while she worked with her newly discovered power. Once she mastered the basics, water divination allowed her to discover her nen type, which in turn allowed for her to begin developing her abilities.
At the age of fourteen, Taliya finally decided that she had learned all the book could teach her, and that she was well practiced and well educated enough that she could make her own way in the world. But unlike Jacque, she would not be satisfied with just running away. Leaving without fanfare or any announcement of her departure was simply not enough to quell the hatred that burned in her heart.
On a hot summer night, Taliya rose from her bed and proceeded to slaughter every single inhabitant of the orphanage with knives conjured using nen. When she was finished, she doused every room and hall in oil, stepped outside, and lit a match, which she threw into the open door. The whole building was soon engulfed in flames. Covered in blood and a smile on her face, Taliya walked away from the inferno she had created, and she did not look back.
Taliya's childhood experiences left their mark, and have greatly coloured her view of the world and the experiences she has had in the twelve years since she struck out on her own. Having experienced egregious abuse of authority by people in positions that allow them to stand above others, she has come to believe that it is simply the nature of those in power to keep the weak under their boot. The only way to prevent the strong from crushing a person under their heel is for that person to become strong, themselves. In Taliya's mind, strength is everything.
Taliya is the very definition of "does not play well with others." She knows how to interact with people passably well, but not how to truly connect with them, nor does she particularly want to. People tend to view her as aloof and even standoffish, and find that she lacks much in the way of empathy. She keeps people at a distance and doesn't interact with most others if she doesn't have to. Taliya makes acquaintances and business connections; she does not make friends. Words like "trust" and "love" don't exist in her lexicon, and if asked, she is most likely to dryly reply that she has never heard of either concept.
Though she hasn't thought of Jacque in years, there is one thing he said that has stuck with her. "A hunter is the strongest kind of person there is." It was this memory that drove her to become a hunter herself. This, along with her skewed worldview, is also what led her to choosing the surname Jaeger; she believes that all people are, without exception, either predator or prey, and that in such a world, anyone who wishes to survive must choose to be a predator. Taliya takes this one step further in considering herself an apex predator, specifically, and she wanted her name to reflect that.
Despite seeing strength as a necessity, Taliya has come to find that there is a thrill like no other in doing battle with a similarly powerful opponent. Acrobatic, agile, and highly skilled with various types of knives, she actively seeks this euphoria through bounty hunting, although she has begun to grow bored with this of late; her lack of a hunter's license precludes her from being permitted to take any bounties higher than A-rank, and these no longer provide her with a proper challenge. Perhaps in obtaining a hunter's license, and in the higher privileges it will grant her, she will find the excitement she craves...
Trivia
🗡 Taliya is able to conjure more than a dozen different types of knife using Knives Out, and is equally proficient with all of them.
🗡 Though her outfits change with some regularity, Taliya always wears the same black biker jacket, even when not riding her motorcycle, which is her primary mode of transportation. This is because, even though it looks like simple leather, it is actually made of a bulletproof material.
🗡 She owns a small music player that she always keeps in her pocket, and usually has at least one earbud in, whether anything is playing or not. She uses it to give the illusion that she isn't paying attention or listening to those around her, when she is actually acutely aware of her surroundings at all times.
🗡In addition to being an expert at picking locks, Taliya is quite adept at picking pockets. She developed this skill while living on the streets in Doli after leaving the orphanage.
🗡 It would be hard to guess by looking at her, but Taliya is excellent at holding her alcohol due to spending a fair amount of her time in hunter bars. Though she doesn't make a habit of it, she is capable of drinking men three times her size under the table.
🗡 Taliya got her eyebrow scar in her first barfight. Her opponent fared much worse.
🗡She doesn't swear often, but when she feels the situation calls for it, Taliya will let loose with a string of the most creative curses known to man; her talent for profanity would make even the saltiest of seadogs blush.
🗡Even after being properly introduced, Taliya never calls people by their names, instead opting to refer to them by a nickname of her own choosing. Generally, she picks a descriptor of some physical feature for this purpose, but she may pick something a little more inventive (or offensive) depending on her opinion of a person, and what she knows about them. (EX: The one-eyed bouncer at a hunter bar she frequents in York New City is "Cyclops." Hisoka, whom she finds interesting, might be something like "Magic Man" or "Mister Magician." Illumi, whom she does not see in a particularly favourable light, would receive a less flattering moniker, such as "Pincushion.")
🗡 Her choice of tattoos may seem arbitrary to those not in the know, but anyone educated in botanical symbolism would realize that this is not the case. The gladiolus represents strength and endurance, speaking to the struggles she has lived and fought through to attain the power she so values; the deadly nightshade warns of danger, suggesting to others that she is not to be trifled with; and the ivy holds the meaning of immortality, a simple and clear message to those who would seek to do her harm: "Against all odds, I survive; no matter what you throw at me, I will not die."
🗡 Though she wouldn't disclose details if this was indeed the case, or even openly acknowledge it, there is a possibility that two of these plants actually have a secondary meaning...
Patience, they said, was a virtue. A necessary one in this line of work, for a multitude of reasons. Gathering information, staking out locations, verifying sources, to name but a few; the importance of having patience could not be overstated. A necessary virtue...but not a particularly enjoyable one.
Taliya Jaeger hated playing the waiting game.
At least this venue made it slightly more tolerable. In a hunter bar, she could have a drink while she passed the time. The dim lighting and drone of many conversations were a familiar background, puntuated by the occasional crack of a cue ball breaking apart a triangle of its fellows on a billiards table, or a bout of racuous, drunken laughter from another table. Here, she could sit tucked away in a booth near the back, listening to the music softly piping through the bud in one ear and watching the ice melt in her drink as she waited for her moment.
That moment came at last several hours after she first sat down. Places like this saw some business throughout the day, but they only truly came alive after the sun set. The bar's tables had been sparsely populated when she arrived, but now that it was dark, the place was packed. The bartender was too busy taking orders and fixing drinks to pay attention to anything else, and the trio of heavies that worked as security here had just moved in to stop the fight that had just broken out across the bar. There wouldn't be a better opportunity than this, so Taliya turned off her music and made her move.
Silent as the grave, she slid carefully from the booth and made for a nearby door, opening it as quickly as she dared and slipping inside. She made sure it closed quietly behind her before starting down her chosen route, cautious footsteps carrying her slowly but surely toward her destination.
This bar, like others of its kind, was open to the public, but it was primarily meant for hunters. While hunters of all stripes gathered here, the back room was reserved specifically for bounty hunters. Civilians and amateurs were strictly forbidden from entering.
'Amateur.' Hardly an accurate term, as far as she was concerned. Taliya preferred 'freelance' as a descriptor, personally. She might not have been an Association-official hunter, but she had the skill to contend with any one of her card-carrying peers back in the barroom. What difference did that little square piece of plastic really make?
She stopped in front of the correct door, one that would have looked just like any other if not for the Hunter Association insignia that was carved right into the wood. This wasn't the first time she had stood in front of it; she'd been here enough times, in fact, to know that aside from the bar's rules, there was nothing that actually kept anyone out. It wasn't even locked, not during business hours, at any rate. Though she pulled the handle down very slowly, Taliya still heard the soft, telltale click of the latch opening, and she was just about to push the door open when there came a gruff voice from behind her.
"What do you think you're doing back here, Taliya?"
The young woman froze, inwardly cursing her luck. She had been so sure the coast was clear, no one had been paying her any mind, and yet here she was, finding herself once again stopped in her tracks mere feet from her goal.
Releasing the door handle, Taliya turned to face the speaker and made sure to stumble just slightly as she did, giving the impression of someone unsteady on her feet. "Jus' lookin' for the bathroom," she said, words slurring together in the manner of one who'd had too much to drink.
"Bathroom's in the other hall. You know that." The owner, a tall, muscular man with a shaved head and a dark pair of sunglasses, scowled down at her. She couldn't see his eyes, but Taliya could imagine that they were narrowed behind the tinted lenses, judging by the furrow of his brow.
"...Shit, really? M'all turned around," she replied with a dopey, drunk-looking grin, following the words with an excellent imitation of an intoxicated giggle. Good as the impression was, though, she could tell he wasn't buying it. The smile vanished in an instant, along with the rest of her act, and she sighed heavily as she straightened up. "Can't blame a girl for trying."
"Let's go," the owner demanded, thoroughly unimpressed. "I've told you a thousand times, you're not going in there."
"Come on, Shades, you know damn well I'm more than capable of handling any mark on that board," Taliya protested, a spark of frustration igniting in her chest. It was the same song and dance as always, and she had grown tired of it.
"This isn't about whether or not you're capable! You don't have a license, that's the problem, same as the last half a dozen times we've had this conversation," the bald man snapped. Clearly, she wasn't the only one sick of repeating this scenario.
"We wouldn't have to keep having it if you'd just look the other way for once."
"We wouldn't have to keep having it if you would stay the hell out of the back rooms!" Shades fired back, ignoring the twitch in Taliya's eye as he grabbed her by her upper arm and marched her back in the direction from which she'd come. He didn't release her once back in the bar, however; instead, he continued to haul her past the tables and toward the front door. "This is the last time I'm gonna tell you. I'm not letting my place get shut down just because you think the laws don't apply to you!"
He opened the front door and pulled Taliya around from his side, positioning her right in the doorframe, and she had only a few short seconds to brace herself before he pushed her onto the sidewalk. "Get out, and don't come back without a license!"
Despite the force he'd shoved her with, Taliya managed to keep her balance as she staggered back a few steps, sparing her the embarrassment of falling flat on her back. Shades turned his back on her and slammed the door behind him, and Taliya got the distinct impression that he was still standing there waiting for her to try to get back in.
"Yeah, well fuck you, too!" She snarled furiously, stormy grey eyes flashing dangerously. She would have loved nothing more than to kick that door open and put a knife to that bastard's throat, but she knew quite well that it would end very badly for her if she did. While she wasn't afraid of what Shades and his security guys might do to her, or any one of his patrons, for that matter, she didn't want to deal with the headache that would come after. Killing the owner of a hunter bar would guarantee that she'd be blacklisted from every other one on the continent, and possibly several others.
Though she doubted she'd done enough to earn a lifelong ban in this case, chances were pretty good that after this, she was going to be barred from the majority of them anyway. Word traveled fast, and in hunter bars, owners and staff alike took licensing very seriously when it came to their bounty boards. Anyone could take a mark A-rank or lower, but S-rank and higher were offered to licensed hunters only.
Unfortunately, those marks were the only ones that offered any challenge these days. Taliya could bring in eight A-ranks in a fortnight if she applied herself, and the only reason that number wasn't higher was because of the time it took to gather intel and track the target. She didn't bother with C or B-rank jobs at all anymore because those ones generally came quietly once caught, and the ones who didn't could barely throw a punch. The rewards weren't very good either, but Taliya didn't care so much about that. She didn't do this for the money, she did it for the thrill.
But now there was no thrill, and Taliya was bored. There weren't even any nen users among the bounties she could legally take - at least, there were so few that the number might as well have been zero. She could quite literally bring knives to a gunfight and come out unscathed; it had gotten to the point where she almost wanted to get shot because the handicap would make things more interesting, if only a little.
"Told ya you should have quit while you were ahead."
The voice of the bar's bouncer snapped Taliya back to the present, and she turned toward him with a sneer.
"I had it this time. Shades must have eyes in the back of his head," she growled, that much more irritated by the unsolicited opinion and the chuckle that followed her complaint.
"Maybe. But I feel like just sucking it up and getting that hunter license is a lot easier than trying to sneak into the back room. Less time consuming, too," the bouncer told her with a shrug, folding his beefy arms across his chest. A mountain of a man, he had even more muscle than Shades, if such a thing was possible. Much less temperamental, too, though he looked more intimidating at first glance, in no small part due to the patch over his right eye that Taliya knew concealed an empty socket. "They're holding the exam in a couple of days, y'know. Just sayin'."
Galling as it was to admit, he was probably right. Taliya had been trying without sucess to get into the back rooms of various hunter bars for years. It was a wonder she hadn't been banned from any before now, if she was honest with herself. If she obtained a hunter license, those doors would be open to her with no questions asked, and they wouldn't be the only ones. There were many permissions granted to licensed hunters that weren't afforded to anyone else.
"'Sides, the hunter exam attracts all kinds. You're bound to meet another fight junkie or two, maybe you'll make some friends," he teased. Taliya didn't bother to dignify that with a response; he was being entirely too familiar with her, as always, and she didn't like it any more today than any other day.
"Keep your opinions to yourself, Cyclops. You'll live longer," she said tersely. Her pride still stung, and although passing the hunter exam could only bring positive results, Taliya chafed at the idea of being forced to do things someone else's way.
"Sure, sure. Good luck, kid!"
Taliya didn't respond, at least not with words. Instead, she settled for flipping him the bird as she walked away, heading for the side street where she had left her bike. She had a lot of ground to cover, so she might as well be on her way.
Taliya Jaeger hated playing the waiting game.
At least this venue made it slightly more tolerable. In a hunter bar, she could have a drink while she passed the time. The dim lighting and drone of many conversations were a familiar background, puntuated by the occasional crack of a cue ball breaking apart a triangle of its fellows on a billiards table, or a bout of racuous, drunken laughter from another table. Here, she could sit tucked away in a booth near the back, listening to the music softly piping through the bud in one ear and watching the ice melt in her drink as she waited for her moment.
That moment came at last several hours after she first sat down. Places like this saw some business throughout the day, but they only truly came alive after the sun set. The bar's tables had been sparsely populated when she arrived, but now that it was dark, the place was packed. The bartender was too busy taking orders and fixing drinks to pay attention to anything else, and the trio of heavies that worked as security here had just moved in to stop the fight that had just broken out across the bar. There wouldn't be a better opportunity than this, so Taliya turned off her music and made her move.
Silent as the grave, she slid carefully from the booth and made for a nearby door, opening it as quickly as she dared and slipping inside. She made sure it closed quietly behind her before starting down her chosen route, cautious footsteps carrying her slowly but surely toward her destination.
This bar, like others of its kind, was open to the public, but it was primarily meant for hunters. While hunters of all stripes gathered here, the back room was reserved specifically for bounty hunters. Civilians and amateurs were strictly forbidden from entering.
'Amateur.' Hardly an accurate term, as far as she was concerned. Taliya preferred 'freelance' as a descriptor, personally. She might not have been an Association-official hunter, but she had the skill to contend with any one of her card-carrying peers back in the barroom. What difference did that little square piece of plastic really make?
She stopped in front of the correct door, one that would have looked just like any other if not for the Hunter Association insignia that was carved right into the wood. This wasn't the first time she had stood in front of it; she'd been here enough times, in fact, to know that aside from the bar's rules, there was nothing that actually kept anyone out. It wasn't even locked, not during business hours, at any rate. Though she pulled the handle down very slowly, Taliya still heard the soft, telltale click of the latch opening, and she was just about to push the door open when there came a gruff voice from behind her.
"What do you think you're doing back here, Taliya?"
The young woman froze, inwardly cursing her luck. She had been so sure the coast was clear, no one had been paying her any mind, and yet here she was, finding herself once again stopped in her tracks mere feet from her goal.
Releasing the door handle, Taliya turned to face the speaker and made sure to stumble just slightly as she did, giving the impression of someone unsteady on her feet. "Jus' lookin' for the bathroom," she said, words slurring together in the manner of one who'd had too much to drink.
"Bathroom's in the other hall. You know that." The owner, a tall, muscular man with a shaved head and a dark pair of sunglasses, scowled down at her. She couldn't see his eyes, but Taliya could imagine that they were narrowed behind the tinted lenses, judging by the furrow of his brow.
"...Shit, really? M'all turned around," she replied with a dopey, drunk-looking grin, following the words with an excellent imitation of an intoxicated giggle. Good as the impression was, though, she could tell he wasn't buying it. The smile vanished in an instant, along with the rest of her act, and she sighed heavily as she straightened up. "Can't blame a girl for trying."
"Let's go," the owner demanded, thoroughly unimpressed. "I've told you a thousand times, you're not going in there."
"Come on, Shades, you know damn well I'm more than capable of handling any mark on that board," Taliya protested, a spark of frustration igniting in her chest. It was the same song and dance as always, and she had grown tired of it.
"This isn't about whether or not you're capable! You don't have a license, that's the problem, same as the last half a dozen times we've had this conversation," the bald man snapped. Clearly, she wasn't the only one sick of repeating this scenario.
"We wouldn't have to keep having it if you'd just look the other way for once."
"We wouldn't have to keep having it if you would stay the hell out of the back rooms!" Shades fired back, ignoring the twitch in Taliya's eye as he grabbed her by her upper arm and marched her back in the direction from which she'd come. He didn't release her once back in the bar, however; instead, he continued to haul her past the tables and toward the front door. "This is the last time I'm gonna tell you. I'm not letting my place get shut down just because you think the laws don't apply to you!"
He opened the front door and pulled Taliya around from his side, positioning her right in the doorframe, and she had only a few short seconds to brace herself before he pushed her onto the sidewalk. "Get out, and don't come back without a license!"
Despite the force he'd shoved her with, Taliya managed to keep her balance as she staggered back a few steps, sparing her the embarrassment of falling flat on her back. Shades turned his back on her and slammed the door behind him, and Taliya got the distinct impression that he was still standing there waiting for her to try to get back in.
"Yeah, well fuck you, too!" She snarled furiously, stormy grey eyes flashing dangerously. She would have loved nothing more than to kick that door open and put a knife to that bastard's throat, but she knew quite well that it would end very badly for her if she did. While she wasn't afraid of what Shades and his security guys might do to her, or any one of his patrons, for that matter, she didn't want to deal with the headache that would come after. Killing the owner of a hunter bar would guarantee that she'd be blacklisted from every other one on the continent, and possibly several others.
Though she doubted she'd done enough to earn a lifelong ban in this case, chances were pretty good that after this, she was going to be barred from the majority of them anyway. Word traveled fast, and in hunter bars, owners and staff alike took licensing very seriously when it came to their bounty boards. Anyone could take a mark A-rank or lower, but S-rank and higher were offered to licensed hunters only.
Unfortunately, those marks were the only ones that offered any challenge these days. Taliya could bring in eight A-ranks in a fortnight if she applied herself, and the only reason that number wasn't higher was because of the time it took to gather intel and track the target. She didn't bother with C or B-rank jobs at all anymore because those ones generally came quietly once caught, and the ones who didn't could barely throw a punch. The rewards weren't very good either, but Taliya didn't care so much about that. She didn't do this for the money, she did it for the thrill.
But now there was no thrill, and Taliya was bored. There weren't even any nen users among the bounties she could legally take - at least, there were so few that the number might as well have been zero. She could quite literally bring knives to a gunfight and come out unscathed; it had gotten to the point where she almost wanted to get shot because the handicap would make things more interesting, if only a little.
"Told ya you should have quit while you were ahead."
The voice of the bar's bouncer snapped Taliya back to the present, and she turned toward him with a sneer.
"I had it this time. Shades must have eyes in the back of his head," she growled, that much more irritated by the unsolicited opinion and the chuckle that followed her complaint.
"Maybe. But I feel like just sucking it up and getting that hunter license is a lot easier than trying to sneak into the back room. Less time consuming, too," the bouncer told her with a shrug, folding his beefy arms across his chest. A mountain of a man, he had even more muscle than Shades, if such a thing was possible. Much less temperamental, too, though he looked more intimidating at first glance, in no small part due to the patch over his right eye that Taliya knew concealed an empty socket. "They're holding the exam in a couple of days, y'know. Just sayin'."
Galling as it was to admit, he was probably right. Taliya had been trying without sucess to get into the back rooms of various hunter bars for years. It was a wonder she hadn't been banned from any before now, if she was honest with herself. If she obtained a hunter license, those doors would be open to her with no questions asked, and they wouldn't be the only ones. There were many permissions granted to licensed hunters that weren't afforded to anyone else.
"'Sides, the hunter exam attracts all kinds. You're bound to meet another fight junkie or two, maybe you'll make some friends," he teased. Taliya didn't bother to dignify that with a response; he was being entirely too familiar with her, as always, and she didn't like it any more today than any other day.
"Keep your opinions to yourself, Cyclops. You'll live longer," she said tersely. Her pride still stung, and although passing the hunter exam could only bring positive results, Taliya chafed at the idea of being forced to do things someone else's way.
"Sure, sure. Good luck, kid!"
Taliya didn't respond, at least not with words. Instead, she settled for flipping him the bird as she walked away, heading for the side street where she had left her bike. She had a lot of ground to cover, so she might as well be on her way.
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