Closed [The Fish Market] Hunger Strike (Ricky)

[Khrassvallen]

513 AV, 24th Day of Summer

People milled around him, bustling and shoving and talking. Always talking. They were so loud. Why couldn't humans learn to be quiet? He shoved an elderly woman aside, who'd been shuffling too slowly. She protested loudly when her basket of market goods toppled to the ground, but he kept walking. A few people who stopped to help her threw insults at his back, but Khrassvallen was too busy to bother with them. He was in search of food, and not the kind one buys. Or really, he was following the man he'd already chosen as a meal. He was a chubby human, this one. His slight stomach hung over his tightly fastened broad belt, and he was dirty. Obviously not a wealthy man, so why he was fat, Khrassvallen had no clue. Possibly cursed by a horribly slow metabolism.

The stumpy human veered to a stop at one of many of the fish stalls, so he made himself look busy as well, a few stands away. The woman attending smiled at him, showing off her crooked, dirty teeth. He curled his lip and looked away, eyeing her wares. Mostly crabs, nets, and coils of ropes. "Can I help you with anything in particular?" she asked, with a surprisingly sweet voice. Too bad she had the mouth of a sea hag. He didn't answer, and luckily she got the hint and lapsed into an awkward silence. Every few ticks, Khrassvallen glanced at the chubby man he'd been following for almost half a bell. He was in a fierce debate over something in his hand, but he couldn't see it.

He fingered the frayed end of a length of rope, examining the unkempt fibers with disinterest. Come on. Ships and boats of all sizes bumped against each other and the docks behind him, adding to the din of the crowd. Waves lapped against their hulls, against the docks, and rolled against the shore. The creaking of timbers was almost pleasant, but also, he realized, distracting, so he glanced back to his prey. Gone! The man had disappeared into the crowd. Instantly furious, Khrassvallen shoved his way into the throng, violently pushing the humans out of his way. Voices rose in protest, a one woman even tried to hit him, so he cuffed her over the back of the head. "I'm going to get the guard!" she snarled, tears in her outraged eyes. He hissed at her, and she took a shocked step back before turning on her heel and rushing in the other direction, possibly heading to do just what she'd said she would.

A little faster, he forged onward through the crowd. Where are you, fat man? His eyes narrowed when he caught a flash of the man's dreadlocks bobbing behind a cluster of raucous fishermen enjoying a smoke. Khrassvallen stepped on someone's foot as he circled around, heard them shout. But he was so close. His stomach growled, both from its emptiness and anger. No more chasing, fat man. I will drag you into the alley and snap your chubby neck. Finally, he broke through the other side of the thick mass of shoppers. Again, though, the man was gone. He looked around wildly, turning in several quick circles and scanning the crowd. The stumpy human was nowhere in sight. How?

Khrassvallen hissed under his breath, glaring at some children who'd lagged behind their mother to stare at the peculiar look on his face. They balked and quickly ran to catch up, grabbing their mother's skirts for security. He sighed and ran both hands through his hair, making it stick up wildly. Then, knowing it wouldn't work, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. Nothing. He didn't even know why he tried. This human nose was too weak, and the odors here were too strong. Khrassvallen smelled nothing but smoke, sea, slop, sweat, and fish. He stopped suddenly, realizing he'd been pacing, and fisted his fingers in his hair. How could he have gotten away?

[Ricky Maze]

"Please Laviku and Zulrav, just make this day go easy for me." Ricky thought to himself as his gut told him expect trouble today, the way the sun felt as the humidity blanketed the city had Ricky already in a sweat. His uniform being one that wasn't favorable in these conditions, the guard garbed in azure stood near docks rather unenthusiastic about being posted in a place with little shade. He would certainly have to start wearing a hat or something to cover what skin was bare to avoid being sunburned, even though he was already tan enough he still had that possibility of dealing with a painful kiss from Syna's rays. That was when he noticed it, a woman frantically scurried her way to him, fear and rage in her eyes as tears seemed to flow. "Mister! Mister! I'm here to report an abusive man in the crowds over at the Fish Market, blackish brown hair and blue eyes and a rude nasty temper!"

Ricky raised his eyebrows as he thought this should be interesting, although he felt he met someone like that he brushed the idea away with the assertion that it could be any guy in Zeltiva. "Can ya tell me more 'bout his appearance ma'am?" He inquired as he turned his head over to the market area.

"He's kind of muscular, a bit taller then average but no where near as all as you. He's not hard to find!" She cried with a hand to the back of her head, Ricky placed his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

"Okay lass, okay. I'll find and question 'em, just take it easy and try to enjoy the rest o' yer day. Thank ya for notifyin' me." He assured her as he went on to the Fish Market to find this guy who should be easily seen. He doubted it to be the case of course since he had to brush through the hustled crowd of the market, but eventually after pressing on he found something relatively suspicious prior to what the woman had said. Ricky spotted a man with dark brown hair almost black as he pushed his way out of the crowd, a hand curled into a fist in the midst of the mess on top of his crown. When Ricky caught a better view of what this man looked like he immediately remembered this man from somewhere before. The man who had next to no respect at Leila's party, and he apparently seemed to be the one in a aggressive mood. "No petchin' wonder why she was bawlin', this guys got one bad attitude after all." He mused rather sourly, the irony in the womans decription matching that with his own personal observations. Ricky took in a deep breath and put his game face on, a bit of aggression now in his step as he approached this man with authoritive confidence.

"Oi!" He called out to the disrepectful lurker with sharp eyes on him, his approach ended with just several feet in distance between the both of them. "I hear ye've been stirrin' up shyke with the locals, ya got a petchin' problem ya need handled." It came off as both a question and a hintful suggestion, a bit of red in Ricky's face as he crossed his arms. Of course he wasn't red from the sun, sweaty but certainly not red. No this was a bit of agitation at the sight of this man, already a rather distasteful impression being put in Ricky's mind from their first time seeing one another. Now of course he simply felt a bit angry about having to confront this man, clearly his attitude towards others wasn't better than his manners. The guard will make sure to see that change pretty soon...

[Khrassvallen]

"Of coursssssse, I have a problem!" he hissed, his lisp accentuated by his anger. Khrassvallen had almost slipped into his native tongue, but he rarely if ever spoke it when not around his kind, or other snakes, so he managed to catch himself out of habit. He swung around to face the man, but was startled by the wall of flesh he was met with. He looked up, and then up a little more, into the red face of... oh. Khrassvallen smiled, but it looked more like a sneer. "You," he grumbled, automatically remembering him from that party he'd gotten a free meal at. Leila's, that was her name. How could he forget such a large, dumb looking human? And the grammar. Even Khrassvallen's limited knowledge of the Common tongue told him the boy had butchered his own language.

He filed that away into the assurance at the forefront of his mind that this one was a complete idiot. All brawn and no brain. Khrassvallen sized him up, rather obviously. A smile tugged up the corner of his mouth. A uniform. "Ahhh," he sighed, putting two and two together. He'd seen men and women dressed like this in the city. Guards. The bane of his existence in any city that actually had them. "You are here to... handle me? Isss that it?" He looked around the boy, at the crowd. Several had turned to watch, having caught the guard's... what, threat? Warning? "Sssomeone hass tattled?" he crooned. A few onlookers glanced away, uncomfortable from his stare. He looked back up at the guard.

"It isss nothing for you to worry over, boy. Do you not have any... what iss the word? Hoodlums! Yessss, hoodlums. Do you not have thossse to chassse after?" He was a little delighted over the fact that he'd remembered that slang word for criminal, or miscreant. One had to enjoy the small things, after all. Maybe the big human would be annoyed by the pleased smile on Khrassvallen's face, maybe not. "I wasss going after... food. And it disssappeared. I wass very upssset. After all, I am famisssshed." He practically purred that last sentence, holding his hands up as if to say, I don't see the problem.

Of course, he also didn't see the problem of hitting a complete stranger over the head. Especially if that head was human.

[Ricky Maze]

This mans accent was almost foreign to Ricky, but he remembered the Dhani he encountered before. Bones had a lisp that made it a bit difficult to understand in the couple of times they met, but nonetheless that was the first time Ricky had met a Dhani. He had to also remember the strength and power they held as well, although this one was smaller so he could likely be more reflexive. "Damn, wish I knew more 'bout them, 's far as this guy goes he gets under me skin." He irked as the man flashed what appeared to be a sneer, although Ricky couldn't tell if it honestly were a sneer or smile. The foreigner simply made the assumption that Ricky was "here to handle him" as he put it, Ricky nearly scoffed at that as he wouldn't just handle the problem; he'd nip it right in the bud if he were allowed to. Already civilians were aware that an authoritive figure was here, and Ricky did take notice of the sneer Khrass gave them as they passed.

"Hoodlums? Naw, they ain't barnacle shyke compared to the problematic pain in the asses, much like ye really." He retorted with a vengeful smirk of his own, arms crossed as he glared down almost angrily at the man. He listened with the patience he had being tested as Khrass went on about hunger, his intent clear as he had planned to devour a civilian from what Ricky could tell. Fish would've had a hard time getting away from anybody here, as the water was more than a journey for them to even try to handle. No,unless there was a small.animal on the loose, this man had intention to murder. That was inexcusable. "I'll cut it to ya mate, if we've any missin' people to come up in our reports; then I know just who to look f'r." He quirked with an attitude to the man, unchanged in hid expression as he did so. "If yer so damn "famished" I suggest ya try t' eat sea food or somethin' non-human," he exagurated the last word to make his point clear, "Otherwise ye've been flagged with a warnin', and comin' from me that's more than generious f'r the trouble ya caused." He added with a disapproving shake to his head, a bit of a disgusted look on his flushed face towards Khrass.

oocBy the way, this is Ricky's opinion to Khrass IC. You can find more details about it in the "Relations" section of his plotnotes. Just a friendly pointer as I've nothing against either you or Khrass. Happy writing!

[Khrassvallen]

Khrassvallen couldn't help but wonder how strong this human was. He was bigger than himself, and he hated that he had to look up at him. It made him feel less dominant. That was only fuel to the fire of anger crackling in his bottomless gut. "What ever do you mean?" he purred in annoyance, feigning innocence. Keep prodding, Khrassvallen. Test him. "Ssssome asssidentally let a rabbit loossse. I wass running after it. After all - fresssh red meat is more delisssiouss than fisssh." His eyes crinkled with a smile, and he licked his teeth. Was he really that obvious about his not being human? Maybe so. But he couldn't help toying with people, even if it gave him away. He loved testing them, seeing how much it took for them to break or snap. This one was no different. He obviously was showing a lot of restraint, but the Dhani wanted to keep pushing.

He was angry, and didn't want to play it safe. His smile quickly slipped, distorting into a look of loathing and animalistic savagery. He leaned up a little closer, and his pupils dilated. "What will you do? If sssomeone... disssappearss? When you come look for me, there would be no evidenssse. Yess, I have been warned. But isss that enough to blame me?" He smiled, but it was only his lips twisting up in an imitation. It didn't reach his eyes. "Would you kill me? Ssscare me away? Fight?" He smiled a little wider. "I am curiousss who would win that battle." He sighed a little, almost longingly, and he looked Ricky up and down. This human was a meal a half. He almost wanted to test it here, but looked around at the bystanders watching with poorly masked interest. "Would it be ssso horrible if just one ssstopped dirtying thessse ssstreetsss with their filth?"

Khrassvallen looked back at Ricky, shrugging and holding his hands up in mock surrender. "You can leave now. Warning noted."

OOCI wasn't for sure what to do, really.

[Ricky Maze]

oocSince Ricky is lawful he's prone to use as high of an authority he can to uphold peace while on duty, while off duty he more so respects the law and less authoroty is used. He still takes to protecting Zeltiva very seriously of course, but if you wanted to challenge him you can. Although it is better to challenge him while off duty.

Ricky's brow furrowed as he thought this man to be demented, just how and why would anyone let a rabbit loose here in a city where next to none could be found. At least that's what Ricky believed, for all he knew there could be rabbits along Mirahil Pass. "I call barnacle shyke." He quirked silently with a challenged expression, clearly rather irritated with this foreigner. Then came the reflective question that was turned on him, the hypothetically uselessness that stated "maybe I will do this, but what would happen if I did" when someone pointed it out. "Oh believe me," He slightly scoffed with bitter amusement, "We've ways of knowin' when someone does anythin', when we warn ya 'bout somethin' ya generally can't wipe yer own ass without somebody knowin'." He quirked with his arms still crossed, his statement almost sarcastisc in a sense but also nearly true. There were many people that knew what wad going on, generally those that sat back in the shadows and listened to everything that happened in the city. "And if somethin' did happen that leads to ya, I could only hope it falls on me t' fight and end yer sorry life. At best yer likely t' be exiled though." He hated sharing that last part with this man, exile was a rather too kind of gesture for troublesome ilk like him.

"Teh, better let decent folk litter these streets than ravenous beasts who eat 'em f'r a livin. If ya want t' play predator go live out in the Wildlands, there's plenty o' damned prey f'r ya to handle." He added with hands at his waist now, a quiet rage slumbered within as he kept his cool. No doubt this man, Khrass as Ricky recalled, messed with him. Ricky could see it in his eyes when he would glance at them, his peripheral vision showed revelment at best. For Ricky there was no telling what this sick and twisted man had running through his head, but another scoff came from the guard as he just shook his head. "Me? Leave? No sir. Ye can leave. Either get some shyke from the stalls ya can eat or go home, I'm on patrol here and I don't take kindly t' petchers causin' trouble." He stated rather coldly in an authoritive tone of voice, a glare shot down to Khrass as his face still showed a bit of flushed color.

[Matthew]

Ricky

Experience Points:

• 2 Intimidation
• 1 Observation
• 1 Socialization

Lores:

• Dhani: Basics of the Race
• Intimidation: Detailing Exactly What You Will Do To them

Additional Notes :

Krass, if you return, update your CS and shoot me a PM. I will be able to edit in your grade at that time. Ricky, good work at doing your job and playing true to your alignment. Let me know if you think I missed anything.

If you have any questions or concerns relevant to your grade, don't be afraid to send me a private message so that we can work it all out! Please remember to mark your Grading Request as Graded.

A shout-out to Ollic Rimesage, who was kind enough to make this template for me.