Completed The Broken Shell

[Ricky Maze]

The Broken Shell
Part I of Homecoming
56th Day of Autumn, 512 AV

Before them the streets bustled with the usual busy day as it once did when they left, but Ricky and Odis knew the city was not the same. The storm that affected the world affected here too, and they both felt the change as soon as they arrived.

The market seemed to thrive but not as lively, and though his hometown felt it was the same; he knew the feeling was far from the real truth. Something was in Zeltiva, looming over it like a dark cloud. Odis only whined as he strayed near his master. When the came to the docks though something was missing. An important piece to life's puzzles, one vital if they were to live.

It was their house.

The entire shack itself had fallen in, and what debris that was left was far from reusable. Heartbroken and furious, the fisherman threw a tantrum. Kicking sand everywhere and throwing his old iron sword at the house.

[Gale Austin McCenry]

One would probably stop this nonsense by now. Doing the same exact thing every day. Not Gale. Gale was once again seen walking around the city, drifting to the docks and sitting down in the sand. As usual, his sketchbook was in his lap, opened to a blank page. His head was raised, however, looking for a good picture to draw. It wasn’t normally hard to find a picture to draw, since Gale wasn’t exactly picky about a subject, but he did have some standards. The blonde had drawn the ocean many times so he figured he could take a break from that. Though, he didn’t have much to draw here anymore, at least if he wanted variety. The only thing really left to draw were people coming off ships and whatnot. But people weren’t usually as interesting in his eyes as other things were. People were usually the sam- huh?

Gale watched as a man and his dog came onto the sand and completely blew up. Acting like a toddler who didn’t get his way, he kicked sand and threw his sword. Gale’s lips naturally curled back to try and prevent from laughing. He shouldn’t laugh at this; he wanted to do the same most of the time. If he laughed then that would be rude and he’d practically be laughing at himself anyways. Though, it was almost as humorous as when he acted like a complete child and kicked the water and built a sand castle. But that was not out of anger. The kicking the water was from being in a good mood and the castle was for a picture.

The murderer watched for a few moments with a large grin smeared across his face before deciding this was too good of a picture to pass up. A man having a temper tantrum was going to be one of his more amusing and less depressing drawings. It would also give him a better idea of how to draw the facial structure of someone. It would help with that portrait of Hana at least, especially since he had so much emotion. He needed practice on more human looking things; however, he looked more like a raging rhinoceros then a young man at this point…

The Zeltivan lowered his head, shaking it slightly as he started the first lines. His outward snort came out once again as he held back as much laughter as possible. The picture was going to be of the stranger raising his sword in the air to chuck it at the ground, the dog behind him with his head tilted to the side. With the image in his head and picturing it on the paper, Gale made curved lines for the man’s sides. Making a few others for the legs below, the disheartened man watched the scene for a few more moments, chuckling subconsciously. Gale’s long fingers pulled his hair behind his ear as he looked at some of the people’s faces walking by, which only made Gale’s chuckle grow into a bellowing laugh. The additional noise from Gale only made more heads and eyes turn towards the two of them. Not that anyone can blame them for doing so.

[Ricky Maze]

Temper from the tempest churned as it changed its form, molding into a pouring drizzle that couldn't be contained. Dropping to his behind, his emotions gushed through his pride like a river through a broken dam. Such a reaction was below him, but what else could a man do once he discovers his fallen castle? Occasional passerby's stopped to watch, and Ricky buried his head in shame. Sobs could be heared to those who listened, but most people decided his problem was not their business.

"Odis boy, what are we to do? We're homeless now..." His sobbing lessend, but the pup still could feel his sorrow. With a short whine the dog sat next to his master, licking Ricky's arm in a loving manner. Ricky uncovered his face, as he wrapped his arms around the dog and pulled him close. Hugging his faithful companion as if he were more than treasure.

"It'll be ok boy, we just have to fix it thats all..." He sighed, slight sobs still escaping, petting Odis with comfort. He looked to the decimated shell that was left of his home. Seeing nothing that could be used to repair it. It was completely gone, with no hope of returning.

Odis gazed upon a man, sitting on the beach nearby. Growling lowly as his eyes rested on the man.

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Gale's laughed died down as his attention focused more on his drawing, now adding the hands gripping the sword handle tightly above his head. A few more snorts and Gale had stopped laughing all together and his eyes locked onto the paper once again. He went down to finish the legs and feet, the sand and the dog behind him. The dogs ears were perked p slightly in confusion. When Gale went to work on the face, he raised his head to watch the man again, but he was now sitting down and talking to the dog. Darn it. He'll have to do that part by memory then.

The young man had overheard a little bit of the man's short conversation,"We're homeless now..." Gale's heart sank slightly, holding his breath in realization. He was laughing at a man who had lost his home. Gods, how much more awful could he get? Gale's grin has instantly flipped upside down.

The artist sighed softly, wondering if he should just scrap the picture. Even though one person liked the idea of mocking people through pictures, Gale didn't find it amusing at all if it was something as tragic as losing a home. If he was just angry about something less valuable then it would be a different story.

His attention was pulled away fro his thoughts when he heard the dog growl, his attention fixed on Gale. Gale's face went pale, his body freezing. He wasn't exactly fond of dogs. Especially when they are fairly big. And not acting very friendly.

"Excuse me, sir." Gale said, hoping to catch the attention of the owner. Once the man's attention was caught, he questioned,"Your dog doesn't happen to have a larger bark then his bite, does he?"

[Ricky Maze]

OOC Note: pardon the uncolored sentences when ricky talks, the format is very time cosuming...

"Huh?" Ricky turned to see a stranger nearby, holding some sort of pad and pencil. Was he an artist or tax collector? If he were a tax collector then Ricky would be in a barrel full of pickles. The stranger asked him something though, something about a tree's bark having a bite? When Ricky noticed Odis' low growl though, he then made the connection.

"Oh! No don't worry, he's friendly unless provoked." He reassured, wiping the tears from his eyes. A thought then crossed his mind, one that proved to be rather embarassing. "Wait... how long have you been sitting there?"

[Gale Austin McCenry]

The murderer's face remained blank as the man turned to him with slight confusion. When he actually responded, Gale relaxed slightly, but still keeping the straight face. He only nodded, keeping an eye on the dog.

"I've been here for several bells, sir." He responded simply. "I couldn't help but notice you and your dog was all." Looking at the dog again as he mentioned it. He closed his sketchbook and looked back at the homeless young man. He hesitated to question, "I couldn't help but over hear your homeless?"

He didn't mention it to rub it in, as one might think, he just thought that they could come to some sort of solution. After all, Gale tends to be helping a lot of people out lately, why not keep the trend?

[Ricky Maze]

"Wha? Oh yea, that's right." Ricky glanced at the heap of broken wood and shambles of debris. It was a mess, and seeing as how there was little to nowhere to begin; it would take a long time to rebuild. Maybe it wad a sign that they needed to start sonewhere fresh, a new home better off further within the city.

Ricky stood up and recovered his blade, its iron now beginning to rust with age. Great now the next thing ready to break is my sword, what pitiful luck I'm havin. His thoughts traced back to the stranger, nearly forgetting the man was still there. "I apologize for my inapproptiate behavior, it's just that we were gone so long that we literally were expecting to have a house to come home to." He turned to face the house once more, his heart still heavy. "Guess you can't expect even that after the fury of the djed storm."

He faced the man once more, a slight difference in their height could be seen. As for the physique, a definite noticable difference. Yet it wasn't difference that mattered, or physical traits for the matter.

It was the mental traits, the ones that benefited a person's lifestyle; and Ricky wasn't going to forget his own. He made a steady approach to the man, Odis curiously following along. "My names Ricky, pleasure to meet ya." He held out a hand to signify his introduction, a formality among the common man.

[Gale Austin McCenry]

The blonde nodded slightly when he confirmed his statement. What a tragedy.

"We all expect to come home to something." Gale said, more of muttering to himself then actually saying it to Ricky.

Gale didn't pay much attention to the man's physical appearance much, never one to judge on such things. Though it was obvious the younger man was much more physically fit then he was and probably less likely to be a target for anyone interested in picking a fight or having the need to steal...With the exception of one man who thought it would be funny to literally push a clearly injured man into a fight. But not even someone like him would try to get in a fight with a man who had a sword on his hip and a dog at his side.

When Odis and Ricky approached to introduce themselves, Gale stood up with a soft grunt, wiped the sand of his hand, and then took the stranger's hand.

"McCenry. Gale McCenry. Nice to meet you as well." He chuckled. It was an odd way of meeting but a meeting nonetheless.

[Ricky Maze]

A name that wasn't at all familiar, but had an odd feel to it. When he shook Ricky's hand though it prove the signature of a beginning, a symbol now created to bind their roads together. Whether they were bound to remained crossed or not, that remained to be see.

When Ricky let go of Gales hand he nodded to confirm his agreement, and turned to examine the damage once more. No doubt about it, his house was wiped clean. Everything his father left erased, leaving only the few essentials Ricky had take. "What a mess," he sighed, "it'll be a while before i can even get started. When I do it'll have to be from scratch." He stated as he turned to face his new found aquaintance. Any emotion he had felt welling up within he had to veil. For it was his pride that was now at stake, and what was left demanded he look strong.

Odis took a curiousity to Gale, slightly sniffing his hand as a greeting. He followed with short licks to the fingertip, a gesture he was making to no doubt greet the man. Ricky manage to force a small smile in his grim expression. "That's my dog Odis, been my faithful companion since I lived alone."

Ricky glanced the pad and pencil again, slightly relieved to see that it wad more of a sketch pad. "Are ye an artist?"

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Gale gave a half of a smile after letting go of the man's grip. To him, it was probably another one of those greetings were you say hi, introduce yourself and never see them again until ten years later when you don't remember them. But that's how it was with everyone until proven otherwise.

Gale held back a chuckle when he said it was a mess Seeing that there wasn't much left, it didn't look messy at all. It was more clean in Gale's eyes. He knew what he meant, of course, but once again, Gale took it different at first.

"There isn't anything wrong with starting from scratch." Gale told him, looking towards the water again. Even though Gale was being completely hypocritical, not wanting to start from scratch with his own life.

Gale jolted when he felt a cold, wet nose touch his fingertips. Looking down at the dog, Gale blinked with a small amount of nervousness. He took Ricky's word for it, that the dog was friendly, but fear from past experiences can't be undone so easily. He watched the dog sniff his hand, not having much of a problem with that. "Hey there."He said softly to the dog. But when the rough, slobbery tongue licked his fingers, Gale pulled his hand away,"No, no." Gale wiped his hand on his shirt, muttering to himself,"Gross." He sighed but patted the dogs head.

He barely caught the man's question and looked up,"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's sorta the only thing I do." He chuckled at himself.

Of course, Ricky wouldn't understand much of what he meant, but Gale did at least. The only productive thing he does was drawing. Everything else was a desperate attempt to keep his past life or something that didn't mean anything to anyone, even himself. But things were changing rapidly and his methods have been failing in large proportions. He'd have to give it up sooner or later if he didn't want to lose his mind.