For the first time while at Penumbral Guard, for God knows how long, and while searching and hoping... one day, just maybe... he'll meet one of his guild members. He was starting to think that the place was a ghost town and he was having a practical joke played on him. But eventually his prayers were answered. No longer would he have to deal with villains and the occasional hooker alone  for once. This hero will finally meet... someone. Whoever it may be. Gunter finds himself outside of this rundown, private eye looking building with a sign outside that says "PI for hire" that's half falling off the building itself. He enters and sees another sign pointing up the stairs that says "Weird Jones Upstairs". The sign just happens to be hanging next to a carving that says "sucks dick" to make out "Weird Jones sucks dick".

Eventually he makes his way upstairs, and finds himself at a receptionist's desk. Gunter lets her know that he received a message from one of his guildmates in Penumbral Guard that he was supposed to meet here for a job. He's told that his friend will be right there and just went to use the washroom.

Gunter takes a seat, and waits.

---

Word Count: 209/500

It had been a while since Tomoe was called forth for a cleaning job, but he always was good at sweeping. Janitorial duties and labor were a strong suit of his from all the muck and mud that he had to wade through as a kid in the slums. Joya was built on honor and glory, but its underbelly was stuffed to burst with blood and shit in equal measure. As a cleaner, Tomoe has had many grimy and sleepless nights digging up the horrible guts and waste of others - days long gone, and yet he couldn't stop thinking about it regardless. He held such thoughts as he left the washroom of the hideous and poorly kept building that made up the place of business of Weirdlock Jones.

The Penumbral Guard guild master was supposed to meet an unfamiliar face from the guild here, having requested his presence after noting that he was in Hosenka as well and they hadn't yet met one another. Sometimes it was annoying, keeping track of everyone and everything.

What a shitty job., Tomoe thought to himself, thinking both on his current task and his overall responsibility as guild master.

He'd probably want to pass the title off soon anyway, as it was interfering too much with his lovely pastimes of booze and women; sometimes only one, but most fun when it was both. Sometimes he longed for the days when he'd sit around as a low-ranking member of Fairy Tail and party it up nightly. Maybe losing his vampire status got rid of a spark. Ah well, it didn't matter now. For now, he entered the reception area and saw the only other person who had walked into the building in over an hour, and so close to the meeting time at that.

"'Ey. You must be Gunter. What's good?"

---

WC: 306/425 (15% reduced)

Gunter looks up at the unfamiliar face and says, "Yeah that's me, so what the fuck are we doing here?" The receptionist pipes in and informs them that they are to help Weirdlock Jones clean his office of clutter. Gunter looks at the receptionist and back at the guild master and says, "What the fuck kind of name is Weirdlock Jones? Is that his stripper name or something?" With the help of the receptionist and his guild mate, they find the detective's office and get inside.

Inside, it's disgusting. A thick layer of disgust, hair, spiderwebs, and a slight smell of piss emanating from open bottles as if someone has been pissing in water bottles, constantly trying to stay awake and work. Oh, the B.O. is nasty enough to make him gag. Gunter blurts out "Holy fuck! This place is filthier than Farmer Jim's barn." As soon as Gunter says that, he thought back to Farmer Jim, turns to Tomoe, and tells him that Farmer Jim was very happy with the work of Penumbral Guard and that if we ever want happy times with his sheep they could swing on by. Guild master gets a discount.

Gunter starts organizing the books that are piled all over the main desk in the middle of the room. As he's working away, he notices a man sleeping below them. He's lying starfish, face up, snoring away. Gunter, slightly annoyed by the man lazing around, simply hocked a thick loogie into the man's mouth as he was snoring. The man got up, coughing. He looks around the room and says, "Oh. Heya folks, you must be the individuals from Penumbral Guard. Ahem. Sorry, I think I swallowed a fly while waking up."

Gunter looks at the man and says, "Yeah no worries. You talk to my boss and I'll keep cleaning."

---

Word Count: 516/500

Tomoe was asked about what they were doing here, but it was simple. "Well, as Tomoe Tanaka, guild master of Penumbral Guard, I need to get to know all of my comrades. Or, uh. Some shit like that. Aegis hasn't really given me a script to go off of so I just kinda wing it, y'know?", the Joyan explained, his eyes tired and uncaring as if he would rather be literally anywhere else right now; the life he lived wasn't a tough one, but it was one that demanded he smile and wave a whole lot when requested.

Tomoe felt the desire to hold in his laughter when Gunter commented on the investigator's name. It really was a stupid name, wasn't it? That's the name of somebody who'd get killed the moment they stepped foot into the real world. The crimson cutthroat wasn't the kind of person to judge people based on their names and appearance, as that sort of thing proved fatal many times throughout history - but that didn't mean he couldn't laugh anyway. At best, he let out a smirk and a slight chuckle, amused at the idea of a detective stripper.

Eventually they entered into Weirdlock's office, and boy was it a spectacle. It legitimately smelled as if someone had died. "Sweet Illumin above. Maybe before he investigates around the Crimson Quarter he should search his own place for missing fucking people. Do we need to put in an order to case the joint?", Tomoe said aloud the moment the receptionist had left, only Gunter in sight, scratching his head in wonder and awe.

Walking forward, Tomoe kicked books and papers around, searching for bloodstains and missing limbs. In crime dramas it was always the point at which the heroes gave up the search that something would be found. Mr. Tanaka, not being the kind to be patient with things involving thinking, turned around as if to try to trigger the narrative cliche and get things going. In the process, he turned around once Gunter started talking about some Farmer Jim. As the pale man talked more about the farmer, it became obvious that either him or the farmer he spoke of were seriously coked out. Then again, what else was there to do in the boonies? Marigold was in need of help. Serious help.

"We're not doin' anything with sheep, what are you even on about? I should blast that asshole's house for even saying that. Hell, why didn't you kick his ass right then and there? As guild master I'd have given you permission to kick his ass for sayin' that dumb shit."

Tomoe was exasperated, his face twisted in disbelief. The faster they got away from Farmer Jim, the better; both in conversation, and in reality. He couldn't let the young bloods of the guild like Masami or Rinni hear this heresy. Farmer Jim would receive a visit in the future, to be sure, but not for the reasons that dastardly dirt digger would think.

The idea was derailed when he saw Gunter blast a 3-pointer shot into the starfish-like investigator sleeping on the ground. "Dear god.", Tomoe muttered, continuing to clean without looking Weirdlock Jones in the eye after the job was explained.

After dusting for a while, Tomoe took note of the pinned notes on Weirdlock's walls, showing evidence linking gang violence within Hosenka. Interesting, but not immediately relevant. He'd have a stress headache by the end of this after meeting his new guild member and this decrepit excuse for an investigator in the same half-hour. For once, perhaps, he knew how it felt to be the Aegis watching a Tomoe do his thing. Was it age, experience or something else that caused him to see his younger, more dickish self in the ghostly white man before him? Because this man was really, truly a piece of work.

"Think I've got my share of the work done. How're you comin' along, Gunter?", Tomoe spoke after more minutes of diligent cleaning, knowing that the stress wasn't worth the pay at the end and just wanted somebody to pick a fight so he could cut loose.

---

WC: 425/425 (15% reduced)

Gunter eventually finishes sweeping and throwing all of Detective Stripper's garbage into one bag and his useful books in another. He looks at Tomoe and confirms that he's also done. "I can take out the garbage and you can get the pay. I'll meet you out front once I'm done taking this shit down to the garbage bin out back." He continues packing up the bags, watching Tomoe leave the room to go deal with money, paperwork and whatnot. He specifically takes down the bag of useful notes, leaving the bag of garbage in the investigator's office.

Gunter makes his way down to the garbage bins outside and says to himself "You wanna be such a lazy piece of shit? Eh, you wanna live in filth? Then go find your notes in the trash." Gunter dumps the notes in the garbage, flying everywhere. To put the cherry on top of the shit cake, Gunter hasn't gone to the washroom yet, so he relieves himself all over the detective's notes.

After that, he meets Tomoe out front. "Pleasure doing business with you, call me if you need anything." He'd grab his share of the pay, make his way away from the investigator's office, and be on his way. A smile on his face, knowing that today was a good day, he'd pack it in and call it a day. As Gunter's walking away, he looks back at Tomoe one last time to inquire into any future guild training like tournaments and whatnot, and that he'd love to show up. "Make sure they're actually going to be a challenge or I'll break them in half."

With that, he gives a little wave goodbye to his guild master, immediately cross the street, and go into the nearest bar. "Time to get some hookers. Come on Kratos, let's go in." As he says that and enters the building, a Dardian comes out of the ground and follows Gunter enthusiastically into the bar.

---

Word Count: 844/500

Exit

Tomoe would handle the money, of course. Why wouldn't he? He was the one who wasted an hour being here, so he deserved to be the first to grasp the compensation for his pain. It was an hour of crass language and unwelcome revelations. Farmer Jim... oh lord, Farmer Jim was going to pay for whatever was going on at that farm. An investigation, at the very least, if not far worse.

The jingle of coins was something sweet to the Joyan, who hadn't known money for the first half of his life. Or at least, not enough to buy food and survive with. Perhaps the same was true of ol' Weirdlock, a man stuck in the middle of the Crimson Quarter with the potential for dark mages to bust down his door at any given second. What a life that must be. Tomoe was about to leave the office when he noticed a large bag still remained on the floor. Clearly somebody hadn't finished their side of the work and had neglected to take some garbage down - a sad sight to be sure, but as guild master it was sadly his duty to cover for the shortcomings of the lower ranked members.

Bidding Weirdlock farewell, the thought of the gang investigation ongoing still in his mind, Tomoe made his way out of the office and into the sweet, moldy, crusty air of the Crimson Quarter. It constantly smelled of sex, for better or worse. As Gunter departed for the bar loudly proclaiming his love for brothels alongside some weird, stupid mole-looking thing, he went over to the garbage bins to toss out the last bit of garbage Gunter had left behind from upstairs.

Going to the bin, he was met with the surprise of piss smell and scattered papers all over. "Oh... oh, for the love of god, no. Nah, Jones can take care of this bullshit, I'm done. 25,000 Jewels is NOT enough for this. The job didn't detail this and I'm already paid. It's done. I'm done."

The crimson cutthroat went on like that as he tossed the remaining garbage on top of the bin and left with all haste. Gunter was a problem, and needed a solution like Farmer Jim needed his sheep. There was no redemption or golden gates waiting for Gunter after death - that much, Tomoe had deduced from his brief encounter with the man.

---

WC: 425/425 (15% reduced)

- EXIT -