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[Ricky Maze]

Collision
Winter 70th 513 AV; 11th Bell
Location: East Street

So now as a good time to go look into some new clothing for Martin to fit into since he’d started to grow bigger, but not without cause to look for some toes the baby could play with in during the time Ricky spent away. The fisherman absolutely loved every single tick spent with that kid and loved him beyond words as well, thus it was imperative that Ricky went to West Street quick as possible in regards to a little light shopping. "Seventy-six days ole. Damn ‘ow ‘e’s grown fast." The fisherman thought with admiration towards the cruelty time gives, one moment the baby rests in his arms fresh from the womb, then within the notice of a simple blink and it feels like the child he and Telion made was already slipping out his fingers. Yet it was far too early to be thinking like that; Martin had just barely started to make noises similar to words, and the boy had already gotten to where he could almost hold his head up to crawl in due time. Just the other day when Ricky played with Martin, the boy was able to sit upright with the help of his father. Of course there was also the need for the child to grapple everything he could, while the chance would occur every so often, just so he could attempt to feel it and likely attempt to put it in his mouth.

Indeed Ricky and Telion were both on their toes as parents but they both spent so much time with their little one, and with a great job to support their family Ricky found himself rather happy to be right where he was. It was almost as if it were too good to be true on most days, the ideal dream he always wanted an actual reality. Such fantasies never really happened in such a cruel world, but then the ones that did never really last long either. It was something that made Ricky greatly content, yet overly cautious to avoid holding his breath. Anything might and still happen if it could consider his luck through the year, but the man had all but to think just what damnable thing might prove cause to his speculation now. Dressed in his cotton blue jacket with both white shirts on underneath for layers to protect against the cold, Ricky walked down the street with eyes full of wonder ahead of him. The people that passed on by were of no mind to him as he clearly focused on the road ahead, much like the bright future he ever so hoped for along the lines.

Yet it was all too good to think on it seems as the fisherman spotted a face that slowed his advancement, and caught his attention with each passing that came around. Natalie who’d shown herself as some form of a “ghost” or “memory” that only he could see, she’d seem rather elusive in confronting Ricky. Whereas she’d normally taken to directly confront him upon her appearance, this time she seemed amused in blending in with the people around Ricky. This caused the fisherman to stop in his tracks as he tried to pinpoint just exactly where the brunette would come from, but no matter where he looked he could seem to find her origin point of appearance. Flustered with her smug little snicker each time he saw her pass by, the once proud smile of a father turned to a scowl as Ricky pressed forward with little mind to anybody around him. All thought was to get to the other side where the shops resided on West Street, and continue his day spending time with Martin before he had to get dressed and head to work.

[Shall]

The West Street was crowded with people. The snow was dancing merrily, fluttering and twirling so beautifully in the cold morning air. The new day was riped with golden sunlight, snow white cold and chilling wind. There's a figure amidst the dancing snow. Her name was Shall. She's walking down the road with with slow steps, one hand tugged deep into her coat's pocket. She silently looked around, eyeing the colorful shops and vendors. A veil of thin white fog escaped her lips. The path leading to the clinic must be somewhere around here. She could still feel the pain from the wound she had received the day before. It was deep, running along her left arm in a straight line. It had kept her from sleeping for the whole night. Shall wobbled and almost fell down. Her vision blurred as burning hot pain pierced her mind. Her body was so stiff and stone-like and she had a hard time dragging her legs forward. There's that inviting feeling that forced her eyelids to close, to fall into a sweet slumber. The loss of blood was worse than she had thought. Passing by the busy streets, Shall followed the direction leading to a Clinic. Stepping through the hallway, Shall said to the shopkeeper: "Hello, I come to treat this wound...Where could I find the treatment?" The shopkeeper smiled at her and called out to another person. She appeared to be older than Shall. The woman then led her to a table and began to gather her tools. After sitting down on her chair, Shall rolled up her sleeve and let the woman examine her wound. Trying to fight with her eyelid, she tried to absorb every details from cleaning the wounds to wrapping bandage. She knew little about medicine anyway. After paying the woman, she stepped out of the shop, feeling still the same as before. Shall took in a deep breath. She passed by the West Street again to buy some food for lunch. Her purse was empty after buying the food. Tugging her purse into the pocket of her coat, Shall wobbled her way home. Everything happened in a flash. She was looking right ahead and didn't notice the running boy. The young boy was running really fast. He slipped his hand into Shall's pocket and grabbed her purse then ran. Still affected by the wound, Shall turned around and began to chase after the boy. She kept running after him and then bumped into someone on the street. Everything went black.

[Ricky Maze]

With the inevitable build of irritation in seeing her face over and over Ricky shut out every image of her possible as he just kept moving forward, no word could describe the complexity of emotion he started to feel as he wound his way through the crowd that swam all around him. Yet she just kept appearing. Over and over with nothing but the same amused grin on her soft face, until at last Natalie seem to have changed her course and run straight directly into him. More like the force of a weak tackle that failed to even budge the fisherman, Ricky stopped in his tracks as he watched his ghost literally fall to the floor as those around him parted. Some people were astonished by the girls sudden drops but nobody was as surprised as Ricky, yet alone the fact others had reacted to watching Natalie fall… wait. Nobody else could see Natalie but Ricky, as she’d made that pretty clear upon his first encounter. Yet here she was on the ground now, with everyone around Ricky wide eyed barreled down on him. "Dis can’t be roi! Since when ‘as she been?..." His thoughts trailed off at closer observation, as the fear that everyone around him saw the fisherman as a brute.

Though this girl looked a lot like Natalie there was still major differences that had to be taken into account, for instance this one was just a bit smaller compared to Natalie. That and her hair wasn’t the same either, even if women allowed it to freely flow in the wind. In short Ricky acted quickly to make up for being the large obstacle to put her down, and knelt beside her as he scooped her within his arms to get her out of the middle of the street. He didn’t see her… he saw Natalie coming but he didn’t see her. Or maybe he just mistook the girl as Natalie, considering they looked similar at first glance. Yet even now Natalie seemed to no longer tease Ricky with her appearances, so instead of dwelling her he thought to dwell on the little girl he’d taken to help. "Lassie," He murmured in a gentle tone as he brought her to the corner to sit against the wall, "are ya okay lassie? Sorry Oi bumped int’ ya like dat, didn’t even notice it was yew til’ that last tick." Of course the yew was “you” in the butchered form of speech many could call an accent. Ricky had a pretty strong one too considering he’d lived around two sailor’s most of his life. "Are ya okay?" He inquired respectively as he knelt next to her, hopeful that any personal injury inflicted upon her wasn’t because of him.

[Shall]

Having falling down flat on the ground, Shall fell into a state of semi-conscious. Minutes later, darkness dispersed and her senses came back. Her cheek was pressing against the cold ground, her hair 's a mess scattering around her face. She could not move, not even her eyelid. Her body somehow seemed to turn to stone. She could still felt the bad headache thumping at her temple, her sight blurred. She tried to take in a deep breath but in vain. It felt like something was clogging her throat. Then, she felt something wrapped around her shoulder and legs. She was being moved...Who? There was a small murmuring. It was a gentle one, laced with worry. With her back met the hard wall, Shall thought about the situation a little. Yes, she was running after a boy who tried to stole her money although there's not a single miza in it. Then, she bumped to someone on the street and end up fainting because of the blood loss. A person moved her out of the road out of worry. She couldn't believe how silly she was. If she hadn't chased after that boy, this wouldn't have happened. What? She couldn't understand the whole sentence. It must not because of the blood loss. It was a voice of a man, and it had an accent to it. So it had been the one who she had bumped into. The situation didn't help much. She couldn't afford to stay in this state for long. Shall opened her mouth to talk, but no words come out. Instead, she began to cough viciously. After a few ticks, Shall opened her eyes and looked up at the stranger. His crystal blue eyes bore into hers, filled with concern. He had a strong jaw with short brown hair. His expression over all looked meek and kind. "I'm okay" She answered, and found that her voice had returned. "How long have I been passed out?" She had lost her grasp on time, but she guessed that it wasn't too long. "Thank you for helping me, and sorry for bumping into you. I was chasing after a kid." She said , a bit tired "He must be gone with my purse by now" It was lucky that she had carried just enough miza with her, or she would have trouble for days without any food. Crime was not common in Zeltiva, but there were definitely cases of crime happened around. She had a taste of it first hand. "Anyway, my name 's Shall. It's a pleasure to meet you" Shall offered out her right hand, a curve of a polite smile appeared on her face.

[Ricky Maze]

"T’ank de Gods." He sighed in relief as she seemed responsive to him, her state of consciousness returned not too long after her fall. This had to be a good sign at least, even if she’d seem to have suffered some form of injury. "Ye only been out f’r a chime ‘r so, nevertheless dere be no need t’ t’ank me lassie." He assured her with a friendly smile as he patted her shoulder, he still felt slightly guilty in his part of her fall even if there was no real blame to pin on him. With her story about chasing some boy because he was a pickpocket Ricky found himself at a loss, it was hard to hear that he’d been the one to cut in at the wrong time when she needed to tail someone. How unfortunate, yet somehow ironically fortunate, that a pickpocket would go for a pocket that seemed light in the regard to coin. Still the bugger was lucky Ricky wasn’t on duty right now, he would’ve hounded the blighter down if that were the case.

Upon her introduction Ricky flashed a hearty grin at the girl; the name Shall completely unfamiliar to the fisherman’s memory. "Shall, not a common name dat is. Call me Ricky lassie, it’s de name everyone else seems t’ know." He humbly returned with a gentle grasp to the girls hand, instead of shaking it like any normal greeting though, Ricky held her hand in both of his larger rough hands and patted it in a kind gentle manner. He didn’t see her as a child, at least not a direct child, but took to hold a friendly approach none of the less that called for his touch. Meaning letting his natural charm do the talking as he interacted with this small lady before him. "An’ believe me lassie, had de pocketpicker gone ‘bout his business while Oi was on duty, Oi’d surely ‘ave caught ‘im by now." It wasn’t no mere boast but a certain assurance to the call of duty he would feel, as he is rather obligated to protecting and serving his city.

"Tell ya what t’ough," He brought up an idea that was sure to better the day, "’ow ‘bout Oi buy ya somet’in t’ eat t’ make up f’r bein’ de obstacle in yer path. At least lemme make it up t’ ya f’r knockin’ ya down de way Oi did." Considering he’d planned to browse around shops for some things for Martin, Shall could go with either choice and Ricky would be fine with it. He just wanted to make up for the small doses of guilt he felt, and at the same time brighten someone’s day.

[Shall]

The stranger sighed in relief while Shall sorted things out. Under her hood, she tried not to wince when he patted her shoulder. Pain began to run along her left arm. She's lucky the wound didn't seem like it had reopened. Shall hoped that any sign would escape the stranger eyes. She didn't want any questions about her wound right now. So his name was Ricky. Ricky, someone I bumped into when chasing after a pickpocket. My purse was empty and I was wounded. Shall made sure that she had memorized it carefully. She found that the situation kind of funny. Unfortunate yet lucky. She noticed how the man gently grasped her hand and in stead of shaking it like normal greeting, he patted her hand. She listened to the man with attentive ears. Shall guessed that he must be a guard. If that is the case, then it certainly fitted him. Just to be sure, she spoke up:"Are you a guard, Mister Ricky?" Knocking her down was by no means his fault. Shall looked up. She found guilt in his eyes. Thanks to her konti form, she could practically felt a mild guilt in the air. So he felt guilty of knocking her out. A meal seemed nice. She intended to have one anyway. Having her answer, Shall smiled to the man called Ricky: "That sounds lovely"

[Ricky Maze]

For some odd reason she seemed to feel uncomfortable by the looks of his approach, yet the fact Ricky had placed his hand on her to begin with might’ve been the reason why. He could only surmise that she might’ve been injured when she’d hit the ground, which could’ve been understandable considering she did so pretty hard. Note t’ self, be aware dat she’s ‘urt dere. He told to himself privately as he offered a friendly grin, he was at best casual about the fact he observed her so well. After a while he’d learned how to read into things with people due to being so social, sometimes it was a good thing but other times it wasn’t. However he always tried to avoid reading too deeply into things, body language, expression, verbal tone. They were all key elements that allowed him to at least grasp at detail about another, yet no matter what Ricky always tried to keep his focus on the surface of a person, rather than pay closer attention to every detail about them in an effort to learn more.

It was a principle of privacy to him really. Yet when it came to obvious things that gave away simple details that one could learn, it didn’t take much to pick up on things about them to begin with. For instance the fact Ricky spoke about his job, that made it easy for the girl to guess what he did for a living nowadays. And he was definitely impressed with the question when she’d brought it up, considering one actually had to be a bit observant to guess such a thing. He usually would be so brazen about it and share it firsthand upon meeting someone, yet by now he felt that being a Wave Guard was by all means just an honorable job given to him. Thus his pride in being one may be big, but he kept it in check as far as sharing such information with everybody most of the time. One way or another, everybody would always learn what Ricky stood for anyway. "Aye, just an’ ordinary man servin’ wit’ de Wave Guard is all." He answered with a grin to her; he had to admit she did pay attention well in regards to listening.

Half the time Ricky thought most people would tune him out somehow, likely because of the sailor accent he grew up with which in turn butchered much of the vocabulary he said. It was always refreshing to him when he seemed to come across clear to someone, even if he made it difficult to understand at times. And when she accepted his proposal to go eat somewhere he nodded in agreement to her compliment, the chance to make up for being such a large obstacle in her way was indeed a lovely one. Ricky always enjoyed being able to lead on to better first impressions than the one he set to begin with, considering half the time he felt like he’d done terrible jobs with the first few impressions on others. "Aye, guess we better git goin’ den. The World’s End Grotto ‘as some o’ de best fish a lassie like ye can eat!" He enthused with mirth as he held his hand out for the girl to take, so that he could help her on her feet when she would grasp it so. "Can ye stand? Oi dun wanna force ya int’ doin’ anyt’in ya don’t feel capable o’ doin’." He was courteous and considerate towards her health first off, being the kind of guy that always thought to place others before him anyway.

Should she feel up to heading to the Grotto now then he would certainly lead the way for them, and remember to be the proper gentleman about it in the process. Of course there would still be a dividing line between him and her in the regards of what could be considered any possible romantic advances, not that Ricky was one to practically flirt to begin with anyway. He was far too modest to even think so for one, but the most important reason behind it was due to the coppery mark under his left ear. It was difficult to notice at first, but upon setting out for the Grotto it would finally be visible to Shall if she’d stood to Ricky’s left while they walked. The mark belonged to Cheva and remained a symbol of unity between Ricky and someone else, a reminder of his oath he swore as he took vows with the woman he would call his wife. That was the reason why he thought so little of making any advances to another, because he already belonged to someone as it was.

[Shall]

Shall lowered her gaze while listening to the stranger talking. She looked at the space at his right shoulder with controlled smile. He answered her with a big grin, which she silently judged inside her head. It was almost instinctive, she had the habit to criticize everything she came across. He seemed like a normal Wave Guard to her, friendly and sociable. But you could never guess, outer appearance could be deceiful. Shall used to travel a lot, she thought she must know it better than anyone else. A neglected child might come back at her with a knife in hand when she didn't look. It had happened before and although it didn't cost her her life, it was still a valuable lesson. To her, seeing something like that was normal. She have met a lot of people on her way and there were certain things about different races that intrigued her. Human rarely caught her attention but it was still interesting. Human didn't have many special features in appearance or in cultures. However, their ambition, their pride and other things that drove them to do what they did and shaped them into what they were never failed to put questions in her head. They were weak by nature yet their desire to live just swept away any obstacle. By change she had run into a Wave Guard in a port city. World End's Grotto was a familiar place with her, anyway. Although she hadn't had very nice memory with it. After all, the wound she had received came from that place. She wondered the troublemakers from before were still there. Maybe she was heading to another big trouble now. Shall couldn't stand more than she could in this state. When she was thinking, Ricky offered his hand out to help her stand. She started to wonder if he had caught any irregular signs. Shall was always careful whenever others were around. She kept her body in check, her head high and still, arms and legs relaxed and other emotions on her face never appeared except the smile she usually allowed herself to show. Maybe she hadn't done a good job at hiding her pain. He had accents. It was hard for Shall to understand what he said. She always the kind who spoke slowly so in order to answer him, it took her double the time. Shall reached her left hand out and used the strength in her legs to stood up. From where she stood, she was shorter than him. Shall looked up. There was a coppery mark under his left ear. She recognized this mark. It was a mark of unity between Ricky and his wife. That made sense for someone his age. Falling down to earth for eighteen year but having a deep relationship with someone else never crossed her mind. What use of love for her anyway? It could only be a hindrance. Human could easily fell into the comfortable and sweet delusion of something like love and moral. It was something she couldn't afford to have, or bear.

[Ricky Maze]

Though Shall did work well to avoid revealing the fact she still felt the pain within her, Ricky’s own observation couldn’t shrug the fact she looked to be hurting off and on. It was a quick brush of observation led on by the simple gathering of details in one’s, particularly the language of the body, as that did the speaking for that said individual. For Ricky he could see well enough Shall had some kind of injury she tried to hide, even with her attempts to be loose and inattentive towards her pain there was still a residual appearance of discomfort within the facial expressions. Particularly the eyes seeing as they were the easiest indicators to read.

Yes Ricky did look around her eyes but that was only to gather what information he could out of a silent means, it served him well enough to sharply pay attention to such details even when he would engage in the conversation. With her finally up on her feet Ricky gave a friendly smile and a gentle nod of encouragement, pleased to see that not only could she stand but hopefully make a trip to a place where the two could very well share a meal together. De question is can she make it. He considered after his quick notice of her pain, though he hadn’t any idea the seriousness behind her injury, he felt that maybe they should go someplace a bit closer to avoid chances of her further fainting.

Then it hit him. The fish market still had the stall with a grill next to it, and if Ricky recalled that then sure enough the grillmaster still had to be making sandfish. "Tell ye what lassie, Oi t’ink Oi know a spot dat’s closer t’an de Grotto." He pointed out with a bit of enthusiasm, a bit excited to finally try grilled sandfish once again. How long has it been? Gods. He couldn’t even remember, all he knew was that it felt like ages. Especially since the first time he ate there with Telion, who became his best friend when that happened and in turn, became the love of his life later on when the years passed. "Oi recon ye’ll like dis place better dan de Grotto anyway." He mused with a hearty chuckle as he started to lead onward, though he made sure to take it slower than usual for the girl’s sake due to her injury.

[Shall]

It looked like the pain in her arm have subsided, it only pained her a little in the shoulder where it hit Ricky earlier. Her head still spun a bit and it felt as though a thick fog was covering her vision. She hoped she could keep her pace without staggering around. It's better to change the location so she's glad Ricky had asked her about that spot. Still, she's a little curious now, he left his sentence a open hole without saying the actual place. Shall spoke up with a small smile: "Sure. Can you tell me about that place? You seems to like it" He seemed to be excited about it, but she's not sure. Ricky was walking with a slow pace, much slower than a normal person would, which confirming her suspicious earlier. She took note to herself to be careful and keep herself in check better next time. Shall had never liked the idea of other people knowing what she was thinking or feeling. It felt as though she was being watched with bulbous, bloodshot eyes that kept track all of her moves, waiting for the change when she slipped something to strike at her a blood-spitting punch. She could never move, never run away from the dark and cold corner that she had been driven to. That's why she hated nosy people who dared to step into her life with their little reason and poke her until they got their satisfying answer. Thinking about that, she suddenly realized how much she hated Silan and her damning smile. She had endured a lot, all the questions and dragging and pestering. But, the Ethaefal wouldn't speak up. People like that girl could only be a nuisance, not something to care about. And she wouldn't lose and show a sign of defeat, she's sure of that. Shoving the ugly image of Silan out of mind, Shall beamed at Ricky and started a conversation: "You know, it has been a while since I last had lunch with someone else. I have just recently moved into this city so I haven't had the change to meet with other people." The Reimancer disliked talking. She didn't know what's so nice about it, all the buzzing and laughing. Noise and more noise to the ears, yet people liked it, engaged in it like licking honey from a beehive. People might not notice, but one day they would get addictive to the substance and then it would become poison. They would rot, inside out, while still alive. Even the sweetest form of perfume couldn't hide the living corpse's stench. She didn't know who decided that talking was the best way to form a relationship, yet she thought he owned her an explanation. And while it pained her more than the wound she held, she had no choice to put on her best smile on her flawless porcelain face. It was just a tightening of muscle, then stretching to show teeth. It meant nothing, nothing at all. In order to survive, one must learn to adjust themselves in this dark and cruel world or he would receive his fateful end. And that also meant connection. Connection. A relationship. A Crowd. They leaned on each other for help and support, for food, protection and other things inferior mortals would seek. Like lost little lambs, they was scared of loneliness, looking blindly for warmth without considering anything. They craved other people. They didn't even deserve pity. Stupid fools. No, not quite. When the relationship collapsed, when they had to put their safety on the line, they ran and left others to preserve their little life. Mortals did have common sense and listen to their nature after all. That's what she was doing. So here she was, talking and smiling, as if it didn't matter.