Teal 'Twitch' McNeil

Growing up at the edge of civilisation was probably not the best idea of the McNeils, but their duty of maintaining the relay tower for the Trans Continental Transmit System necessitated their living in such a dangerous place. As what would naturally happen when surrounded by such marvels of modern technology, Teal quickly learned the family trade of repairing and maintaining the various widgets and doodads that helped the relay tower run at peak efficiency. Of course, their life at the edge of Grimm territory meant that the Grimm were drawn to the relay tower like moths to a flame, and young Teal soon learned to be quick on his feet and fast with the trigger whenever the proximity alarms sounded and the grimm came to call. Listening to the hired hands and roaming hunters that came in with the supply wagon told Teal of the great academy where the best hunters and huntresses train, and soon he had made up his mind to venture to this Syne Academy, with the hopes that the lessons learned there would let him make the world a bit safer for his ma and pa. Unfortunately not soon after his sixteenth birthday, that decision would be made for him. In the still of the night, the proximity alarms sounded much louder than usual, signalling a large horde of grimm was approaching. As one Teal his family took up arms and headed to the perimeter along with the hired hands and flee lance hunters. The Grimm hit with force, the Beowulves and Borbatusks throwing themselves at the defences whilst the humans defended their home with methodical efficiency, Those with ranged weaponry keeping the fell beasts off the flanks and from surrounding the group whilst the melee fighters smote any who got close to the gun line. Despite the crushing numbers of Grimm, the tactics of the defending homestead was allowing the humans to survive the brutal raid. But through all the sound and clamour of battle, they never noticed a second series of proximity alarms trigger from the other side of the tower. Catching the defenders by surprise, a pair of Ursa Major, drawn by the conflict and waning emotions of the humans made its presence known, coming down upon the humans in a fearsome display of claws and teeth. This soon routed the homestead, panicked shouts and sporadic gunfire being drowned out by the roars of the grimm. A stray round must have impacted one of the dust storage tanks that powered the relay tower, for soon the facility erupted in a ball of fire, the blaze incinerating all who were nearby. In the chaos, Teal and a hunter managed to escape the inferno, saving their grief for when they reached the safety of the hunter’s old home: Syne academy.

A single light illuminated the desk where Twitch was working, silhouetting his scrawny form in the dark of the room. The scratching of a pencil across scrap paper was heard among the silence of the late night, schematics and ideas becoming tangent with each doodle and question written down. “Hmmm…what if I…?” Twitched mused to himself, writing down ‘Steel bearings?’ beside a quick sketch of a box-like object with a pair of prongs sticking out of the bottom. “Keep it small, probably need bigger for bigger Grimm” was soon written underneath before a small beeping came from his scroll, telling the student to get to bed. With a disgruntled sigh, Twitch closed his notepad and got out of his chair, a staccato of pops racing up his spine as he stretched before dragging himself over to his bed, slumping down and checking his old assault rifle was next to the bed head before pulling the covers over himself. He could get back into his designs in the morning.