Closed Rabbit Hunting [Ricky]

[Rabbit]

--Spring 51st-- For once, Rabbit was actually riding. He rarely used his dog to ride, not quite used to the feeling yet. It was still very strange feeling, sitting on another creature. The dog was well trained, and rarely bothersome, which was good for a novice rider like him. It's name was... Sivy, if he remembered the name the seller had given him. The Pycon didn't really care much for names, really only thing of it as 'dog'. It was a Silkena, too, a fast breed from what he'd heard. The creature was a light grey, but pretty, not like Rabbit cared. The whole concept of 'riding' was still so alien to him. He sat on Sivy's back, wiggling occasionally. They were moving at a slow speed, basically walking, but he was pretty high off the ground... and that was a funny feeling. He was practically at waist height for some shorter humans. The few people he passed shot him strange glances, as if unsure of this obscene sight of a rabbit riding a dog. Heck, the clay creature himself would have laughed at the scene. So he sat there uncomfortably, holding the reins of his dog with unskilled paws. Seeing a change in direction, Rabbit quickly pulled on the left rein, slightly too hard. The Silkene turned sharply in that direction, making an irritated noise. Though it was good with all this terrible riding, it still complained none the less. Rabbit sighed deeply, annoyed with himself. Remember... pull gently! He kept wanting to heave on the leather like it was his whip, which required a lot more force. He continued down that path, trying to make sure Sivy moved in the right direction. Luckily, the hound was pretty good at knowing how to go straight, so not too much effort was required. It even avoided people! Well... most of the time. While they moved, the Pycon scanned the streets for anything of interest, not quite sure what to do. His day was turning out to be pretty boring...

[Ricky Maze]

'Gotta be here somewhere.' Ricky repeated in the deepest reaches of his mind, his determination was still strong as he searched through the Eastern Quarter today. Hannah had to be here somewhere if he kept up his search, but Nyka was a big, no, grand city that seemed to stretch for miles on end. Had he come here to sight see then he would be unable to stop marveling at the architecture and culture here. Alas he came here on an important task, and it was imperitive that he tended to it before anything else. 'Laviku's balls, this isn't goin anywhere.' He frowned as he slowed his pace, already his sore legs were exhausted again. Each day spent here was an endless walk with occasional stops, mostly because he had nothing better to do than search. Search for the one person who had all the answers.

His days here weren't boring to say the least, oh no in fact they were FAR from being boring. Considering he's met several people during his time here, things in Nyka show to be very interesting. Alas even with his new acquaintaces he made there was still one thing missing, and that was the thing he still searched for tirelessly. Yet his determination was fading quickly now, each passing bell of each passing day wore him down enough to where he wanted to give up. Considering his injures still remained to pester him, Ricky's condition wasn't very favorable to his cause. As he relaxed against the wall near a street corner, he slid to his bottom with a sigh of relief as his chest heaved a bit. He needed to catch his breath as he clearly overdone himself this time, yet he was running low on patience and his hope was being put to the test. He was quite overly homesick really as Zeltiva had constantly been on his mind, and he hoped that his home was still safe without him there.

That's when something caught his attention from around the corner, from his peripheral vision an animal was seen poking its head out. When he looked over to further examine the furry creature he realized it was a beautiful gray dog, his interest immediately pulled in by the canine's appearance. "Oy pup, how are ya?" He cheered a bit excited to get the dogs attention, what he had yet to see was the rabbit clay figure that was riding the furry animal.

[Rabbit]

Rabbit had paused for a bit at a corner, attempting to decide which direction to go. Right? Left? It didn't really matter, neither of them led to any place in particular. He sighed deeply, adjusting his seat on Sivy's back. Part of him wished that something dangerous and amazing would happen, but his practical side dismissed that immediately. He'd had enough adventure for quite a while, considering what had happened recently... A voice called out from around one of the corners, in a direction the Pycon couldn't see. It was talking to his... dog. Apparently the Silkena had popped it's head around the nearest corner, and was now staring woefully at an approaching person. In an action unlike it's usual calm demeanor, the creature bounded around the corner, and stopped abruptly before the man, tail wagging furiously. "What the....!" The little creature exclaimed unintentionally, as his hound nearly knocked him off with the burst of speed. That thing could run down a deer if it wanted to. He held onto the saddle tightly for the few moments that he was moving, and was almost sent flying backwards when they stopped. He sat in the saddle, panting for a few ticks, before looking up to glare at the man who was standing above him. "Thanks" he said sarcastically, annoyed with the person who'd caused his dog to do this, intentionally or not. And caused him this embarrassment. Though it was a slightly trivial thing, Rabbit was still furious, slightly with this new person, but mostly with Sivy. So much for a 'well behaved' dog. One person says hi to it, and the hound goes sprinting in their direction. Well, if there was one thing he needed to get better at riding for, it was handling that speed... Calming himself down slightly, he continued "Why'd he go running to you like that?" The demand was slightly rude, and the Pycon knew it, but he still wasn't in a mood to be polite. His pride was wounded, and he wasn't about to go apologize to the man about his dog, which some people might have done. The guy had called his dog in the first place, hadn't he?

[Ricky Maze]

To say Ricky became startled by the sudden appearance of a rabbit riding the dog, now that would be a great underestimate to the surprise he really felt. He actually fell in awe as the clay like creature demanded to know why his... mount suddenly acted all excited. 'It's a clay... rabbit?' He wondered with one eyebrow raised, the practice of speech was nearly forgotten because due to his surprise. "Maybe 'cause he's a pup, and that's generally what they do?" He only naturally gave a smart ass remark, due to the fact it was a natural defence against the attitude this curious amazing creature had. Ricky found himself to be overly fascinated with this being.

"Just a dog bein' a dog I'm sure!" He enthused as he began to rub the dog's muzzle and head. He leaned a bit close to further examine the clay the creature had, amazingly it was sculpted and shaped like an actual bunny! How this was possible was beyond Ricky, as he wasn't sure what this creature was. "What're ya exactly? Some clay doll or somethin'?" He inquired curiosly as the dog licked his hands, his eyes never left the clay bunny though.

[Rabbit]

Rabbit sighed deeply as he heard the man's reply. He wasn't quite sure how to react, though given the obvious answer, but was still annoyed with his 'good dog's' behavior. Really... even moving slightly slower would have been better, but no... Sivy had to sprint all the way there at top speed. Well, actually, knowing what the dog could do, the Pycon doubted that that was actually it's top speed. "I am a Pycon" The said creature stated, rubbing his nonexistent temples with his paws. He said it slowly, since most people probably had never heard of his race before. The number of times he'd had to answer that question... True, it was could for annoying people, and tricking them, and was fun at times like that when they didn't know. But those were only for quick, planned encounters, generally when he had the upper hand. And by now, the person has realized he was made of clay, and pretty damn sentient, so some of his other tricks were pointless too. This was such an annoying interaction... "And I assume you're going to ask me what that is now?" He asked in a slightly irritated tone. Might as well get it over with.... "I'm living clay. Literally. I'm sentient, I talk, yes, I eat clay, I ride dogs. Happy?" Okay, that was possibly assuming too much that the man was stupid, but really... in truth the guy had shown more knowledge in dogs than the owner himself, so Rabbit wasn't really about to call the man an idiot, like he did with most people (though generally in his head). He sighed again, and looked back up at the human before him, waiting for the answer. "Are you a Nykan?" He asked, genuinely curious. He hadn't seen the guy around, and he didn't look exactly like a normal resident, but that wasn't saying much. The Pycon hadn't seen, or at least ignored, most of the residents of the city, and though Rabbit himself was a Nykan, he obviously didn't look like one. It had taken quite a bit of persuasion to actually get people to realize he lived here, and needed food. The first fifty times a monk had just laughed and sent him away, until the rabbity creature turned up every day, determined to get his fair share. And that was after all the effort of becoming a citizen...

[Ricky Maze]

'A Pycon? Interestin'! They can walk and talk like a human, mold into shapes they see fit, and Laviku knows what else!' Ricky's fascination kicked off fast as the Pycon went into a self explanatory description, for some reason Ricky picked up more sarcasm from the little clay figure though. Both of them seemed to have a bad habit of smarting off, but the clay bunny decided to ask about Ricky now and see if he was native to Nyka. "Oh, no I'm from Zeltiva." He said with a smug grin, his hands still rubbed the dogs head. "That's further down south from Nyka, we've the Sailor's Guild and University there. I'm part of the Wave Guard watch, as we keep the city safe."

He didn't know why he shared the whole detail of the city, perhaps because it was only fair trade for the Pycon. Information about one's self for the other, a social trade that automatically occured on its own. Still his curiosity pulled the better of his attention to the clay body of the rabbit, the detail life like and similar to that of a actual organic bunny. 'Are they organic? Do they have innards or just clay as well?' Fascination brightened his smile as his eyes lit up with wonder, the amount of questions that bubbled within him soon found themselves to be untamable.

"Say ya wouldn't mind tellin' me more about yer kind would ya?" He leaned forward a bit to further inspect the rabbit while also give the dog pats and rubs on the neck and shoulders. "I've never seen or met anythin like ya, tell me everythin if ye don't mind." He spoke with enthusiasm as he said this, and nearly forgot the task he meant to tend to. Of course he was still a bit wore out from the walk, so he believed this opportunity to learn about Pycons would help him in both physical and mental aspects.

[Rabbit]

Zelvita, huh? Rabbit had vaguely heard of the place before, but had never really visited. Well, he'd never been to anywhere but Nyka since he left his settlement, so that wasn't saying much. The man also said he was a wave guard... whatever that was. It seemed that they guarded the city, but the group sounded sort of specialized. What did they do, guard the city from giant waves? The thought brought up a slight mental chuckle, but he quickly returned his attention to the Zelvitan. Hearing the next question, the Pycon sighed. Everything? That would get annoying. "Could you be a little more... specific please" he asked, voicing his thoughts. He could really spout quite a bit of information on the subject of his race, but the request would be a little hard to fulfill. Well, as the two both seemed interested in each other, they could arrange... a deal of sorts. A question for a question. That was fair, wasn't it? "Actually, lets make a trade. I ask you one question, you ask me one. Specific questions please. And since I couldn't exactly answer that one... your turn" It was a good plan, making things equal, though the little creature would have preferred the man give him everything, and he give nothing. But it didn't seem like that was going to happen, but one could dream, couldn't they? At least he wouldn't be stuck handing out all his personal secrets while learning nothing. One nice thing that caught the edge of Rabbit's mind was that he didn't have to look so far up any more. Sitting on his Silkena gave him an extra few feet, so instead of looking practically vertically to see the human's face, his head was more of at a 45 degree angle. Much more convenient. Well, though the hound was prone to running up to strangers, as the Pycon had just seen, it at least provided this simple service. What a stroke of luck....

[Ricky Maze]

Ricky's eyes widened a bit at how the Pycon came up with the clever idea of asking in turns, a fair and easy way for the two to learn plenty about each other while he rested. Ricky had plenty of curiosity to kill with this creature that he had to think of a good question to start with. It was a easy basic question to ask, one that would likely kick off this conversation a bit easier. Or at least he hoped. "Ok then. To start, do ya turn into other shapes or just keep the same one?" He watched and waited with wonder in his eyes, his mind open to the answer that the Pycon might give him.

OOCSorry the post was shorter than usual, didn't have much to go on.

[Rabbit]

OOCNo problem! I guess it's sorta my fault for not writing enough... The man's question was a good one, to say the least. It was something Rabbit didn't particularly like to give out, but... well... they'd made a deal. Sighing deeply, the Pycon replied "Yes, and yes. We can change shapes at will, though it's slightly strange. I mean.... how would you feel if your hand flattened? But also yes to the other part, since we generally have a 'true form' of such, which changes over time...." It was a lot of info, but really was an answer to the question. In demonstration, he flattened and widened his paw, and held the appendage up. He tried to decide whether to give out the last piece of information... one he knew was sort of a secret, the ultimate goal... well, he had no real reason to keep it, other than the fact he liked to keep information to himself. So, on a spurt of impulsiveness, he continued. "On the true forms, it's a Pycon's greatest goal to find their perfect form, especially before they die. They try to learn as much as possible, since as we learn, we change, and come closer to our final shape. I hope this answers your question?" He finished with a small smile, personally startled at his actions. He'd started off so rude... but now was acting quite friendly to the happy man. Well... it was probably because he wanted his questions answered, right? Not really that he was warming up this much to a complete stranger, in the middle of the city. That would just be... strange. Knowing it was his turn to ask, Rabbit brewed up a question. He had two in mind, and wasn't sure which one to answer first. Finally, he decided on the first, and simpler one. The other might be a little personal... and people often got turned off by personal questions. And then that would mean he couldn't ask the other question... well, this was the more sensible way to go. "What in the world does a Wave Guard do??" He burst out, realizing that this was a funny way to say the question, but not really caring. "I mean... do they guard waves? That just sounds stupid. So... what do they...you... do? What's their job?" He was really curious about this, since the name explained... basically nothing. Most of the ways he thought of it were just plain silly. Guarding waves? Guarding against waves? Guarding with waves? All of them sounded stupid, and really quite hilarious. Stifling a small, uncharacteristic giggle, he stared up at the man expectantly. A small side part of him thought back to his previous statement. He, like all Pycons, was trying to find his true form. Learning and experiencing new things helped that. So all the new information he'd learn today... would help him grow, right? He mused about what changes would happen next, while mentally thanking the Zelvitan for getting him the chance to learn so much more...

[Ricky Maze]

Ricky looked sharply at the Pycon as the clay rabbit explained their process of changing form, he looked at his hand and pictured it flat when Rabbit gave the idea. Strange indeed when it came to the idea, Ricky had a hard time just imagining how weird he would feel. Then came the idea of a "true form" that this Pycon sought, or perhaps it was every Pycon that dreamed of finding this form. A shape that the clay creatures would take at their final ticks, a shape they would show the rest of the world forever. 'Interestin'. So they live their life to transform into the shape that reflects them best.' An eyebrow rose a bit when he made the connection, and he began to wonder if this Pycon wanted to be remembered as a rabbit in his time here.

Ricky's lips curved into a grin and he laughed when Rabbit asked him about the Wave Guard, sure enough other people may have thought the same as the little guy when they heard it, but the Pycon was the first to ever bring it up to Ricky the way he did. The guard's warm smile came with ease as he felt more relaxed now, already he became unaware that his injured ribs still lingered within him. Likely because the clay creature fascinated him just as much as the dog, and the both of them somehow lifted his spirits. "Think o' the monks here in Nyka, they watch and defend the city and its laws.They protect the locals that live in the city to keep them safe, where as the Wave Guard's just the same." He explained with a cheery smile. "As a Wave Guard I make it my obligation to protect Zeltiva, 'cause my home and my friends are most important to me." Ricky patted the dog a bit more and gave him a few chin rubs. "The Wave is just a symbolic name we have, as Laviku watches over pur fair city from time to time." He finished with a chuckle, as the dog tried to lick Ricky on the chin a bit.

He pondered on his next question curiously, aware that the Pycons seemed alive enough to feel and feed like other beings. Yet there still were somethings left in the dark, things Ricky felt he would eventually have to discover himself; without any questions asked. So instead of asking about Pycons in general, he decided to focus on this particular one before him. "So why did ya decide to live in Nyka exactly?" A question that could easily be answered, that is if Rabbit felt open enough to share his reason. Ricky kept his warm humble smile present as he waited for a response, eager to hear what Rabbit would have to say next.