forum Sounds of the Underworld// 4/4 Closed// stalkers welcomed :)

Started March 13, 2021 by @knightinadream group

tune

Oh how wrong we were to think immortality meant never dying…

At the beginning of humanity, there was one being who would travel around to take souls to the great beyond after death. Many call him the Grim Reaper, a human-like being with a long black cloak and a scythe. As the time went by, it was starting to get really difficult for there to be just one reaper. So the Grim Reaper and Fate joined together to create the Retrieval and Investigations Agency of Grim Reapers.

A lot of grim reapers were given the job as punishment for something they did in their past life. These days a good percentage of them voluntarily sign up for the job. New or old, all reapers are tasked with a lot of tasks like escorting souls to the afterlife and protecting them from evil spirits. Doing such duties are difficult and very risky, so each reaper has abilities to help them fulfill each duty thrown in their way. Along with these abilities, they also have scythes and other tools in order to protect souls and fight evil spirits. Some make reapers invisible to humans and evil spirits while others transport them to the underworld. When a reaper does come to retrieve a soul, they naturally become invisible to everyone else except for the dying person and other reapers.

They necessarily don't need to eat or sleep, but a lot of them tend to do so in order to blend in with humans better; plus some just really love food. Although, if they are terribly injured, they will need to rest and eat. Most are placed in a "post" or a city/town for a certain amount of time (ex. 5 years). When time's up, they will either move to another post, go back to the underworld, or they may stay there. Some work alone while others team up. Interacting with humans is allowed, but reapers are not allowed to fall in love with or kill them. Actually, reapers are not allowed to kill anyone, even evil spirits and demons.

Well friends, our story focuses on four particular individuals in the wonderful big city of Daross. Two grim reapers run/work at a second-hand bookstore, they use the place as a front for their actual job and as a place for them to live. Other reapers in the area tend to come over whenever they need something or just want to talk. Specific areas have a certain amount of reapers depending on the population, rate of deaths, and experience levels of reapers. In Daross, there are ten, including our three, but recently the number strangely changed to five. No one in the reaper business knows where they are. A lot of souls have also not made it to the underworld.

We also have two humans that posses almost the same abilities as grim reapers (seeing/touching souls, hearing and being able to communication with spirits, and so on). Why do they? Who knows. Rumors have gone around that descendants of reapers may have some abilities, but it's only just a rumor. The thing is, the two only recently have started to experience these right around the same time reapers and souls were disappearing. Like destiny, the two are drawn to the bookstore where they meet the two reapers. And with that….our story begins!

Rules

• Andrew's rules apply
• This rp is going to have some triggering things such as death, blood, murder, and so on. If you do have any, please let me know when/before joining so we can work around them.
• At least one paragraph per response with good grammar please.
• Although romance is not a big part of the rp, it is welcomed.
• ^No sexy times, we'll skip those if we somehow get there
• Swearing is fine, no slurs
• I may ask for a writing sample
• Please post as frequently as possible
• That's it for now, I might add more later. If you have any questions or anything, let me know.

Okie dokie, welcome to another rp! That was defiantly a lot to read, but I can assure you that it's all good. I always wanted to do an rp with grim reapers and the found family trope so here we are! I'll put up a template once we get some peeps in here. :)

(Here's the template!)

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Sexuality:
Appearance:
Clothing:
Personality:
Background: (Be sure to include how/why they became a grim reaper or got their abilities)
Other:

Name: Clue
Age: Doesn't remember
Gender: Genderless, uses it/its pronouns
Sexuality: Ambiguously queer
Appearance: Small, androgynous, wispy. Rather child-like in its appearance. It has short, white-blond, curly hair, dark eyes, and pale skin; it doesn't get out much. About 5'2," with a generally airy aura.
Clothing: Sweaters. So many sweaters. It doesn't matter what season it is, Clue is wearing a sweater. Clue layers sweaters on top of sweaters. Cardigans on top of turtlenecks. Light sweaters under dark sweater vests. It wears jackets and hoodies when needed, and generally it wears jeans or overalls, but it would be an incredible shock for anyone who's met Clue to see it without a sweater.
Personality: Never seems entirely present, always a bit spacey. Definitely doesn't have human vibes? Perpetually bored, but caring. It likes people, tea, mysteries, and good stories.
Background: All Clue really remembers is that it's had this job for a long time. It thinks it chose the job; it can't imagine having committed something awful enough to be given the job as a punishment. And it likes its job, guiding souls to their destinations, fighting off spirits, coming up with elaborate backstories for every town it inhabits. It's entirely possible that Clue has been a reaper for centuries, but it wouldn't know. It never had a good memory.
Other: It wants a cat so bad and feeds every alley cat it sees
(Let me know if I should change anything :))

Name: Zachary Noh
Age: 628, if his memory serves him right
Gender: Male (He/Him)
Sexuality: Demi-bisexual
Appearance: Zachary stands at around six foot three to four inches. He has medium brown almond-shaped eyes. His hair is dark brown; he prefers to have it cut short and styled neatly. All of his features are pretty much defined. His body is more on the lean side, but he is muscular. On the right side of his lower abdomen, there is a scar that's been there ever since he can remember. Also there's a small mark on his left ring finger too, it's really small though.
Clothing: When not doing his reaper duties, Zachary wears a white t-shirt with a long-sleeve light blue flannel along with some jeans. Other times he wears black shirts or tank tops with cargo pants. On his wrist, he has on a silver watch with "NMK592" engraved below the 12th hour marker. Occasionally, he'll have on reader's glasses.
Personality: If one were to describe him in less than a sentence, half himbo and half protective dad. Usually he is a laidback person who doesn't normally get too worked up about things. Zachary typically is a vibrant person who isn't afraid to take a leap into the unknown. He likes to be around people and to make others feel safe. He likes hugs, to give hugs, and to give more hugs. While he may be pretty talkative, he keeps many personal things to himself. In fact, he's a great listener if you ever want to tell him something. On the other hand, Zachary is extremely serious with his job. He can be a whole other person when focused on something or when he's angry, but no worries, he is, typically, a kind gentle soul.
Background: Zachary barely remembers a single thing from his past life. All he remembers is seeing his grim reaper during his moment of dying while someone was holding him, sobbing. Once he did die, he was taken to the underworld where he found out that he was to become a grim reaper. Because it was 1392, Zachary had to become one as punishment for disrupting the fate of his family and himself. Fate really hates it when someone changes destiny, so Zachary was given the job as punishment for the damages he's caused. They also erased everything in his memory, gave him a scythe, then sent him back into the world. Being a grim reaper is actually something that he oddly likes. He always comforted the souls he escorted while in the gateway from life to the underworld. The journey he calls being a grim reaper has been tremendously long, but he's been enjoying it for the most part. Zachary was given the name he uses now from a friend he had during the 1920s. He stopped using random names ever since. Eventually some decades after, he was stationed in Daross and opened up, what he calls, the greatest bookstore of all time.
Other: He uses a walking stick, which he always keeps at his side. Also he doesn't know how to use a phone nor will he admit it.

Name: Elizabeth (Eliza) Hollister
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Aro/Ace
Appearance: Eliza is 5'6 in height, with light tan skin and grey eyes. She has long black hair that's been dyed blue at the bottom, and is usually worn in a ponytail.
Clothing: Typically a shirt and jeans, but Eliza almost always wears a windbreaker that belonged to her father, and a pair of tennis shoes. She also wears a necklace that her mother gave her on her 16th birthday.
Personality: Eliza is loyal and caring, and is always willing to lend a helping hand. She's very stubborn, and is a bit of a thrill seeker, but she does enjoy peace and quiet sometimes.
Background: Eliza had a rough childhood. Her father left when she was three, and her mother had to work two jobs to take care of her. When Eliza was sixteen, she started working at a convenience store after school and during the summer to help her mom pay the bills. Her mother died two years later, and a few weeks after her death, Eliza could've sworn she had seen her mother everywhere, at the convenience store, school, and in the house. Eventually, Eliza decided to leave town and headed to Darros, where she is currently looking for a job, and also trying to ignore the strange people that no one else seems to be able to see.
Other: She has a pet cat named Momo.

Name: River Authement (Oh-t-mon)
Age: 21
Gender: Biologically male, but is considering being non binary
Sexuality: Demi-pansexual
Appearance: Blonde, short, somewhat wavy hair with slightly darker roots. He's slightly tanned with a fit form. He has a bit of freckling on his shoulders. His eyes are thinner and a deep brown, face somewhat of a rounder shape.
Clothing: Usually he dresses casually, but quite nicely. His favorite type of outfit being a plain colored shirt, jeans, and a longer jacket or trench coat.
Personality: He''s somewhat of the quiet sort, surprisingly not quite bookish. He's an introvert, but of the social type. He enjoys being around others in small groups, and is very friendly. A good handful of the spirits see him as a bit rude as he doesn't like looking as if he's talking to himself.
Background: He's always lived in Daross. He's never had that exciting of a childhood apart from experiencing divorce at a young age. His father remarried, to the same sex, and thus he grew up to develop an understanding that love can happen in many ways. Now old enough to be on his own, he woke up one night in his apartment, having strange dreams. Upon waking up, he notices a few spirits simply staring at him. Yelling was heard from next door, a neighbor coming to check on him. He pointed out the obvious group of people inside, but due to no one actually being there, he's often seen as crazy. If his parents found out, they would probably take him to a therapist.
Other: He really likes photography, a bit saddened that he can't take photos of any of the spirits.

Zachary waved to the customer as they left the shop. Twenty minutes till him and Clue can finally turn off the lights of the store and close up shop. As much as he enjoys talking to humans and smelling the wonderful aroma of old books all day, there is always something so satisfying about the time changing to eight o'clock.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a spirit appeared. He felt its presence but was too distracted by his own thoughts to acknowledge them at first. The spirit frowned as it waved its fingers causing a book to fall from a shelf in the back.

The thud caused him to jump. His hand clenched the walking stick that leaned against the back of the counter before releasing it. "My dear, must you always startle me everytime you're here?" He asked, beaming. The spirit shrugged as it chuckled.

Taking his walking stick, he trudged over to pick up the book. It was a pretty heavy book, you'd think a book with empty pages would be light. He tucked it under his arm then made his way back to the check out counter. After setting the book down, it opened on its own to a random page.

"Two wanderers will appear and change the course of destiny," He read quietly to himself. What could this mean? Zachary pressed his glasses back, getting a closer look at the sentence, then gazed back at the spirit. His mouth opened ready for questions to spill out, but suddenly the spirit disappeared before he could say a single word.

He looked all around to see if it would appear again, but to his dismay, it probably was off somewhere far away. A sigh left his lips. "Those spirits….Why do they always leave us with an ambiguous message?"

Zachary noticed that the sentence also disappeared, leaving him to stare at a blank page. Shaking his head, he shut the book then rested his elbow against it. On the side window, there were missing posters of all the other reapers in the area. He did his best to not make eye contact with them as he gazed out onto the street.

"Two wanderers will appear…."

At a cafè across the street from the book store, Eliza sat at a table looking at a list of job options she had written down. She crossed 'waitress' off the list with a sigh. She counted the jobs she had crossed off, then groaned and laid her head on the table. She had applied for nine jobs during her time in Darros, and she was turned down each time. 'You're just not what we're looking for.' Eliza had heard that sentence so many times over the past week, that she wasn't sure she'd be able to get a job here. She hadn't been able to find a convenience store in town that was hiring, so she'd had to look into some other options. She lifted her head and looked at the book store across the street. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to check it out." She muttered to herself, "Besides, I haven't had a chance to stop and read a book in a while." She stood and headed across the street, looking up at the sign above the door as she neared the building.

River hummed to himself as he sat on one of the benches lining the busy side walk. He had his camera of course, always looking at the world with that artistic point of view of his. The spirits often came and went as they pleased, some choosing to bother him, others simply to enjoy the day or chat.
Today was strange however, as one of them appeared straight in front of him, staring the male straight in the face. River blinked at it, clearly confused. He made no other sign as to confirm he had seen it. After finishing the one sided staring contest, it took off down the street. The boy furrowed his brows, finding the spirit's actions amusing. It was then that he saw it waiting for him. When he didn't move, it began making obvious motions at him to follow.
River sighed before standing to his feet. He knew if he didn't, it was more than likely he'd be harassed until he did. Here he was, walking aimlessly, following a being that supposedly wasn't even there. It was better than living a boring average life. Mostly.
A few blocks later, he found himself in front of a little café. He considered stopping for some warm tea before the spirit 'guide' stood in his way. River rolled his eyes lightly before continuing.
Eventually, he found himself just behind a girl who appeared about his age. The spirit he had been following seemed to be satisfied now, disappearing from whence it came. It was when River looked up at his destination carefully.
Books? Really? He didn't need to buy any books right now. He huffed before walking away. He had only taken a few steps before a spirit came again. It shook it's head at him, pointing back at the humble bookstore.
River cast a few glances around, noting there wasn't too much of a crowd. "I'm not interested," he hissed under his breath, before attempting to sidestep around the being in front of him. That didn't work though, as another appeared in front of him. He sighed again, turning around. When more than one were persistent, it usually meant he was better off listening.

Eliza stopped on the sidewalk and looked at the bookstore for a moment. Maybe a bookstore isn't the right job for me. I think it'd be too…quiet. She thought to herself, starting to turn away. Just then, she noticed a spirit gesturing at the bookstore. It wants me to go inside? Well…alright. I could check out a book while I'm here anyway. She entered the bookstore and looked around, taking everything in. If Eliza had to be honest, she loved books. She smiled and began looking for the fantasy section.