Lincoln stared at his sister with a soft glare. He was about to sneer when Lucy extended a finger for Fangs to hang from.

"I thank you for the compliment. Lord Edwin also likes the dress." Lucy stated as she started to walk out of the bathroom. Lincoln scoffed, rolling his eyes as he followed her out.

"Oh really? Old Edwin likes the dress? I thought he only liked dull colors." Lincoln said, making it blatantly obvious he doesn't like his sister's company.

"Things change with time, Lincoln... and I think you should come back," Lucy said as she walked into the living room. "This is almost depressing."

Lucy looked at the conditions her brother was living in. She could already smell the alcohol in the air and it almost burned her nose.

"Oh boy, are you gonna give me living advice?" Lincoln asked sarcastically. He walked by her and sat on his broken couch, turning the TV back on.

It wasn't even 2 minutes before Lucy stepped in front of the TV, blocking Lincoln's view.

"We need to talk, Lincoln. About you coming back to the family guild." Lucy said. Despite having known Lucy for all her childhood, Lincoln could've sworn he heard both worry and urgency in his sister's voice.

"How about when I drop dead," Lincoln said, shifting his body to try and watch the TV. But Lucy moved her body according to Lincoln's gaze, making sure to block his vision at every turn, all the while Fang hung from her finger.

"You do realize that I can raise the dead." Lucy retorted, making Lincoln roll his eyes.

"Yeah, and you can hypnotize me. So why haven't you done that yet?" Lincoln growled.

"Because I want to bring you back willingly. You're the only person I wouldn't dare hurt... not like this, anyway." Lucy said, moving closer to her brother in an attempt to block his vision more.

"And that's stopped you before?" Lincoln looked up at his sister, staring her in the eyes. He was a good foot taller than her as Lincoln stood up. Looking down at his sister, he growled in agitation as Lucy wouldn't back down.

"Lincoln, I have enough power in my finger to send you to a hospital bed. Choosing violence is not the best option here... we can talk... just like when we were kids." Lucy said as she reached up to cup his cheek.

But Lincoln raised his hand to block the touch, but her hand phased through him as she then rubbed his cheek. She felt the 5-o'clock shadow growing on his face as her eyes softened and shook her head.

Lincoln sneered, blowing air in her face as he gently pushed her away.

"Go touch grass," he said, pointing at the open window. Lincoln turned off the TV, leaving the living room in a fit. He walked to his bedroom, a single mattress on the floor, and closed the door behind him.

He turned on the light and saw Lucy standing in a corner.

"You've been drinking," she stated.

"No shit sherlock," Lincoln replied, turning the lights off. The only thing he could see was his sisters' blue eyes, shining in the darkness as he crawled onto the floor and laid down on his mattress, pulling up the one blanket he had over his shoulder.

The white-haired man closed his eyes as he waited for his sister to leave. But instead, he heard someone sit down next to him and felt someone start playing with his hair.

"The family is making it even harder for you to stay in guilds as of late. They're trying to push you back into their arms. They're offering deals no one can refuse. They even offered your latest guild enough gold to pay for an entire renovation of the guild house and more... they're just gonna keep doing this over and over again. Making your life miserable until you come back." Lucy stated, twirling the cow-lick that was in Lincoln's hair.

This only confirmed the brother's suspicions though. His family was sabotaging his life. They're the reason why he can't seem to keep a job... and why he's living in a pigsty. In response to his sisters' speech, Lincoln pulled his blanket over his head, leaving his feet exposed to the cold. He heard: "Sigh." and then felt a weight press down across his mid-section.

Peeking out of his blanket, Lincoln could barely make out his sister's figure laying on top of him, sideways.

"What are you doing?" Lincoln asked.

"Annoying you... is it working?" Lucy replied.

"Yes. Now beat it." Lincoln pulled his blanket back over his face, closing his eyes as he waited once more.

"Sigh," Lucy said, "Lincoln. You have to make a choice here shortly. I'm only telling you this because I love you."

Lincoln then felt the weight on his mid-section vanish. Peeking out of the blanket again, he saw his sisters' eyes staring at him as she floated right above his face. He then felt her kiss his forehead and then a claw-like fingernail poking his nose.

After the poke, his world suddenly started to darken even more so that he could imagine. His eyes felt heavy as they slowly closed and the image of his sister vanished from view. Within seconds... Lincoln was asleep and his sister was nowhere to be found.

The Next Morning:

Lincoln walked through the city with the card his last Guild Master gave him in his hand. He was currently looking for the Guild Hall with the symbol on the front. Despite all the guilds in the city, he couldn't recall a new guild popping up. Sure he's heard of some new guilds, like 'Raging Buzzards' and 'Mouthy Monkeys', but this guild name was weird, even to him.

The name of the guild that his old Guild Master had given him was called 'Grizzly Dragons'. Usually the first of every guild had an Adjective on the front and then a noun. But this one had two nouns in the name.

But he didn't have much time to think when he saw a walking pile of boxes and bags in front of him. It looked like it was about to fall over before Lincoln rushed over, jumped into the air, and took a couple of boxes and bags off the top, landing next to the person who was carrying them.

"Here, let me help you with those," he said as he looked beside him to see a female Orc. She was about 2 feet taller than he was, with small tusks poking out of her mouth and long, curly black hair, flowing down her back. She had large, brown eyes and a lip-ring. She was wearing a bear-belt dress that touched her ankles and what seemed to be dazzling dragon scales made into a necklace around her neck.

Lincoln gulped at her stature and noticed that her arms were bigger than his thigh! She was jacked! Well... half-jacked. His gaze then traveled downwards and saw that she had a swollen belly with a shield covering it. She was also pregnant!

"Thank you, young man." He then heard come from the Orc lady. Her voice was a combination of rough and smooth. It almost reminded him of his mother. It sounded stern, but at the same time, it was calming.

"You have no idea how much help you are," the lady said, "could you help me further by following me home?"

"O-Of course, ma'am. It would be my pleasure," Lincoln replied as he began to follow her. 20 minutes would fly by before Lincoln saw the Orc stop.

"Are we here?" Lincoln asked as he turned his body to see in front of him. He saw what seemed to be a giant... shack... with the symbol of the bear on the front door.

"Yes, I'm home. You can set the boxes down next to the front door." She ordered him. Lincoln did as he was told, setting down everything on the spot she pointed at.

Lincoln took a couple of steps back, taking out the card and holding it up. He looked at the door, the building itself, and the card, making sure that everything was matching up. Shaking his head, he looked to the Orc for answers.

"Hey, before I go... is this Grizzly Dragons?" he asked her, to which she put down her boxes and bags and looked at him.

"Yes it is, may I ask why you're asking?" Lincoln got the answer he wasn't hoping for. He handed her the card and sighed.

"My name's Lincoln Loud. I'm here to apply for guild membership." Lincoln said as the Orc took the card.

A smile appeared on her face as she grabbed his hand and started to shake it.

"Welcome! Welcome! My name is Ushug! I'm the Guild Leader's wife! I'm very sorry, but my husband isn't here at the moment. But allow me to welcome you into the guild! I'll try and have your papers ready right now!" Ushug said excitedly, almost ripping Lincoln's arm off. She then dragged Lincoln inside, into the run-down Guild Hall, and sat him at the only table in the building.

She then ran into the back behind the bar and came out with a pile of papers.

"Before we start to sign anything, you need to read this 25-page introduction packet, this 5-page license agreement, this 50-page monster manual packet (summarized), and this 32-page pamphlet. Any questions?" Ushug asked, sitting back down across from our hero. Lincoln shook his head to give the Orc his answer. "Then I'll leave you to it! I'll be back in a few hours. I've got to put everything away... that is if grandfather doesn't come along to help."

Ushug stood back up, taking deep breathes as she placed a hand on her stomach and patted the shield. She stood still for a moment before she walked away, leaving Lincoln to read and sign papers.

1 Hour Later:

Lincoln yawned as he turned over another page in the monster manual packet. He was about halfway done with all the papers before he heard a knock.

"Come in!" he heard Ushug yell as she was putting away some large bags of flour. Lincoln wanted to help her out, but she said it would be quicker if he just did the papers while she put everything away.

''I'm not as helpless as I look' my ass.' Lincoln thought as he heard footsteps behind him.

"Well, well, well. I didn't expect to see you here so soon, Lincoln." Rick said from behind the white-haired adventurer, much to Lincoln's surprise.

"Master Rick?! What are you doing here?!" Lincoln said in response as he turned around in his chair.

"I'm here to help my granddaughter of course. While my grandson is away on his jobs, I'm here helping Ushug." Rick explained as Lincoln spotted Ushug walking up to him

"Rick, thank you so much for coming! I hope I didn't take too much time out of your day." Ushug said as she walked up and hugged him.

"Nonsense. It's always time-well-spent seeing you." Rick replied, hugging her back.

Lincoln looked at this interaction with a thousand-yard stare. To think that Rick's grandkid was married to an Orc. Not only that, but Rick's grandson also got that Orc pregnant. But he then shrugged, knowing that despite interracial couples where rare, they were still couples. And if this guy was doing jobs that required him to be away for long periods, you know that's commitment.

2 Hours Later:

Lincoln leaned back in his chair, bored out of his mind as he was finally done with his papers. Ushug sat across from him, reading them over to make sure he didn't miss a spot. When she was done, she nodded in satisfaction, taking the papers with her to the back.

Lincoln then heard the sound of hissing and a small 'pop' before Ushug came back out with a card in one hand and a stamp in the other. She sat back down and gave the card to Lincoln. To his surprise, it was a card containing all his information.

"That is a new Guild-Members-Card. It contains all the information that you put on those papers and a picture of your face next to it. It even contains your rank that updates when you pass a Ranking Test." Ushug explained, pointing at Lincoln's Silver ranking next to his name. "Now where do you want your Guild Marking?"

Lincoln rolled up his sleeve to point at his shoulder, "Right here." he said. Ushug then promptly placed the stamp on his shoulder. It was almost a searing feeling, almost like being branded with a hot iron, but the feeling passed as a black bear breathing fire was left on his shoulder.

"Alright, everything is set-and-done. Welcome, Lincoln Loud, to the Grizzly Dragons!" Ushug said, extending her hand for Lincoln to shake. Lincoln took the hand and to his surprise, it was a pleasant hand-shake. When they were done shaking, Ushug pointed at a board across the room.

"So, how about you choose your first job? I'm sure you can find of concerning your 'special talents'." Ushug stated.

Lincoln got up from his chair and walked over to the board, giving it a look over. There were a lot of Bronze-level jobs. Most of them are around the city. There were also some Silver-level jobs and a couple of Gold-level ones too. Much to his astonishment, there was also a single Platinum-level job. He certainly wasn't gonna take that job. Lincoln was also in desperate need of money, so a Bronze wasn't gonna do either.

So, he settled for a Silver-level job, grabbing the highest-paying one, he marched back to Ushug and placed it in front of her. She looked it over, smirking as she handed it back.

"Going out Gobling killing, huh? Fine by me. The town is about 3 days out. I suggest you go back home and get ready." Ushug said, standing up.

"Alright, just wanted to make sure. Have a nice day, Ushug." Lincoln said, taking the bounty paper and walking away, waving goodbye.

"See you in a week or two, Lincoln! Safe travels!" Lincoln heard Rick shout from the backroom. Lincoln said his goodbyes as he walked out of his new Guild Hall and went home to prepare for his first job with Grizzly Dragons.

[Ok, this was long as fuck! But I liked writing it. Hopefully, those who read this won't get bored, as for this one I'm going for longer chapters, as I'm averaging 5-8 pages in google docs for this book per chapter. So I hope that isn't a deal-breaker for some of my readers. And I can't believe I'm gonna say this, share this story with your friends or... something along those lines. I strive for quality when I'm writing and I think that's hurting my view count, as I'm not posting as regularly as I want to.]