Incline 23: Hrurim

"No calls back?" I ask Ivahstar, passing him a steaming mug of meat broth. He takes it into his paws, not daring to put his lips and mouth near the thing while it's fresh off the hob. I look back towards the cooker, letting it continue its simmering boil without much mind. Might as well prepare some long-term rations while we wait. Not like there's any danger to it.

"No, none of the contacts are responding." Ivahstar explains, a thoughtful noise keeping his throat in motion. I lean on a nearby bit of house, crossing my arms and minding the low-hanging roof. Way too close for my liking, but, thankfully, it's cavernous enough for those at a hwardgon's height.

"You got a backup plan in that head of yours? Might be worth coughing up the money in another way." I point out and my old friend shakes his head, his nose flaring up to take in the fat-laced steam. He better not wait too long, I can't be asked to hear him complaining about white specks. His fault for letting the fat cool down, if that's the case.

"I do, but... Mm." he answers, not doing a whole lot of good for the confidence I have in him. Thankfully for us both, we got a pleasant history together. He might not have a proper answer now, but he'll have one in time. He'll get there.

"Make sure to enjoy that while it's hot." I say, patting the nearest door frame and heading off. Reaching the garage, I fling open the door and rummage around for some parts. The contents of the cage shift and I glance up.

"Any for me?" Nin asks, his bug claws all tied up for a pointless reason. He ain't getting through this steel here, not while he is completely magic absent. Certainly not now either, not enough passive stuff in the air or in his food. 

"Probably best you don't, all things considered." I laugh, mentally testing the idea of giving him a magic-rich meat broth. Well, relatively rich. This town is no mountain-state on the surface. It actually makes a Ravineer town an attractive arcane prospect, really.

"That's a shame. I've got some nostalgia for cheaply made foods like that," he explains, his mandible thingies chittering away without a care. I grab what I need and pass by him again, giving him a hard stare.

"Ooo, another story about the city that went boom." I comment, not getting any form of response from him. He smiles, his mellow eyes never once twitching out of it.

"Tobaballe did indeed." he says, his arms crossing over his gut. His eyes close and the bug-man goes back to the only thing he can do while in his cage. Sleep.

"Sleep tight, creature." I say, banging the door behind me.

I dump the items across the kitchen island and swing around to knock the hob. The gas fire dies, leaving the pot to finally cool down without any fight about it. Taking up a skewer, I set aside the pot's lid and find my face drenched in steam. I open my eyes and stab for a brown chunk, pulling it out into the open.

Smokey hair rises from it, narrowing to a wavy tip as a beard of juicy water drips away. I bring it close to my lips, snacking on the flavour-lost meat. It bounces around my mouth, way too hot to stay still. I chuckle to myself, throwing the scolding meat all the way down my throat and to my gut. My body keeps a good eye on it, following it all the way down.

My eyes shift to the kitchen window, and I spot someone coming up the front. My eyes widen a little and I turn the way of the door. Ivahstar glances away from the phone, a hand on his gun. I keep my hands to myself and wait for the telltale signs of who it might be. The door opens, the hidden key going into the lock.

"Ah, look who's back-!" I start to call out, surprised that Heiya is back already. Her sniffling shuts me up and I stare. The poor girl rushes by, practically sprinting up the stairs. The first door she is through slams shut, rocking the house.

Ivahstar gets up, slowly meeting up with me as we reach the entrance to the house. We look left to the open door and right up the stairs. I carefully close the former, minding all the weird specks on the wood panels. Ivahstar puts his first step on the first bit of the climb, clenched fists either side of him.

"What was all that about...?" I let out, worried for my old friend's daughter.

"I... I will find out," he explains, going up the stairs with stomping rage. Heiya has not upset her father, she has not done anything like that. But Ivahstar cannot keep himself contained. He sent his daughter off to have a moment of joy and she's come back... Well, not even my thoughts need to say it.

I look back at my work and shake my head. Grabbing the bottom post of the stairs, I catch up with Ivahstar as he opens the door. Despite his steps before, he could have not been more gentle with the door. He leaves it open, leaving my chest tight as Heiya's crying reaches me without issue.

I arrive in the room she's hiding in, my brow furrowing as that is all that it can really be called. Hiding. What even happened...? Heiya's a tough girl. How does someone like her even end up in this state?

She looks up at us, the fur on her arms stained with what is left of her make-up. My eyes shift to her quills and the ruined remains of what she proudly showed off before. She keeps her knees close to her, her arms occupying the sides of her head. There are no wounds anywhere, none to be worried about.

Doesn't take a genius to figure out what is going on, on the inside, however. Girl like her has had bullets fly at her and monsters gnaw. She's not shaken up by anything scary. Not while she still has a means to fight back.

Her voice breaks, whatever it is she's saying to Ivahstar not reaching my ears. I keep my distance respectful and let the father hold his sobbing daughter. She weakly gestures to her face and then her quills. Pointing out each problem and going into detail about it.

My jaw shifts about with an eager click. Guess we're going to be taking a slight detour to our plans. Fine by me. We've gone so far off the beaten path that we'll have no trouble at all. We got an easy way back, just fine indeed. 

Ivahstar looks at me, nodding his head towards a nearby chair that's tarped up. I pull the cover away and toss it. The worrisome father urges his daughter to the chair, and she does so with shaken confidence. Not a single injury and her legs are all but quivering like they are.

"So...?" I dare to ask, keeping my hands together and my eyes timid.

Ivahstar opens his mouth and Heiya stops him. She struggles to find the words even with an open mouth. Her chest shakes and buckles. Ivahstar pulls her against his chest, running a soothing hand through her top end quills. He keeps ongoing, shushing her in the one moment of anyone's life where it's not condescending.

"They... S-She ruined it." Heiya lets out, not giving too much to make sense of it all. But, enough to understand what the problem is. No doubt this 'she' had others with her. No way some random townie is going to get Heiya like this.

"She ruined your make-up and tore off your quill stuff?" I ask, looking for that one piece of information I need. Not to set my mind in stone, that's already done. Just to make sure I am going to get angry over something quite horrendous. Not like it matters, I suppose.

"Yeah... Y-Yeah..." Heiya repeats, nodding against her father's chest. A sniffle shifts her nose about and she looks around.

"Go and have a shower, Princess. Get changed and cleaned up." Ivahstar insists, patting her along, and she gets going with no resistance. She walks away, an awkward shuffle to her posture and I look back my friend's way.

"So, what happened?" I ask him, knowing he'll probably spill it all out in a far clearer manner.

"The people who invited her to the party did so to publicly humiliate her. They put something into the pool to ruin her makeup and then had their friends restrain her. They tore away at her quills, ruining all that work she had done... They mocked the memory of her mother." Ivahstar snarls and growls, his teeth grinding against each other as his fists curl up tight. 

"I see." I say, doing much the same as I recall where I left my weapon.

Ivahstar moves up to me, putting a paw against my chest with harsh firmness, "You will stay here. Look after her. I've got work to do."

"Not a speck of dust will cross us." I tell my friend, grabbing his hand and squeezing it as an old look returns to his eyes. The kind of look I've not seen in a long, long time. All the firefights we've had in recent years and he's not been like this. Every moment up until now and he's not been like this.

We're on our way to dealing with the very man who killed his family, and he's not been like this. His daughter just came 'home' crying and sobbing, an emotional wreck beyond care. That is what has brought him back to that point. Some cruel youngsters about her age, that is what has drawn out this forgotten evil.

Him and I have our history, we're both people of the criminal underworld. All of us are. Even so, what Ivahstar used to be is something I easily call evil. Whoever these people are, I hope they have made their peace because they will never find it now.

"Be prepared to move out if needed." Ivahstar warns me, and I nod, thinking up what I will need to do. It's a risk, a needless risk, but there is no talking him out of it. These people will pay for abusing his daughter like that and he will leave a bloody trail. The police and others are out in force and Ivahstar does not care at all. There is only one way this ends.

I follow after him, leaving Heiya to have some privacy again. He heads for his infamous choice of firearm and I grab its ammunition. I shake the hive up, buzzing the blood wasps into action, and he hooks it up to his suit. I toss him a heavy coat, knowing he's going to need something to hide it with.

"Be back soon," he promises with not a single bit of doubt in him. I nod as my friend leaves and I follow him out. Heiya shuffles to the top of the stairs and I meet her eyes. She sniffles, her mind still shaken up, and a smile comes to her lips.

"Fear nothing about it again, Heiya. This ain't no school with useless teachers. Your daddy cares for you and he's going to set things right." I tell her, puffing my chest proudly as sadistic glee comes to both of our faces.

"G-Good." she stutters, shivering, although there is no chilly breeze. I nod my head the way of the shower and she nods back, heading off. The door closes, cutting her off from view.

"He'll make sure all is sorted. Do not worry." I repeat, sighing as I head back downstairs. We might have one serious mess coming our way now. Ivahstar is a man of a dark past and these clueless kids are about to find out what that implies.