[spoiler]I’d worked on this story through mid-February until mid-March, sometime, though I hadn’t completed it at the time I started writing. I think that was about the time I had a wind-down from my RP activities, and I just lost interest.
Recently, I tried to write more and finish it up, but just couldn’t seem to match the story’s tone and writing and the like. So bear in mind that this is a cliff-hanger, and is likely to remain such.
With most other story posts, I wouldn’t bother to post it incomplete. However, I wanted to paint a picture of the current climate of Ivlya. Not the physical, weather/environment related climate; but the political climate. I wanted to explore tensions and differences among the various communities and mindsets of various species that call Ivlya home, and try and construct a bipartisan sort of tale.
Regardless of my intent with the story or whatnot, I hope y’all enjoy it enough that I’ll feel bad for not finishing it rightly.[/spoiler]
Downtown Ariz, Ivlya, 02.12.18
Hrthoriy Kravets grimaced as he examined the crime scene, the flashing red and purple lights giving his Ariz P.D. badge a small shine. The victim had clearly been stabbed and cut repeatedly to the point of being beyond recognition, other than his species being lutryne. Of course, the words “GLORY TO THE SOVEREIGN” scribbled in blood on the wall made the culprits obvious: Saenist cultists.
The Saenists were a very, very small minority sect who practiced the ancient ways of the Tyali: the original inhabitants of the land currently known as Ivlya. While the modern nation as a whole was often considered traditionalist - conservatism was cultural, family values reigned, women were often homemakers and fathers were often breadwinners, religion was widespread and valued - it wasn’t traditional enough to carve up citizens and sacrifice them to a long-dead god-king.
A small group of lutrynes and humans, with a vulpine or two thrown in, started to congregate. Snapping shut the book in which he’d been recording his findings, Hrthoriy sighed. There wasn’t ever a good time for gawking passersby. The flash of the crime-scene photographer’s camera behind him silhouetted the vulpine as he began to wave the crowd off.
His partner, Danna Moreno, stepped up to him. “Hold on a second, Hrth. I’ve got this one.” Despite only being a half-year younger than her partner, Danna was vastly more passionate and full of life than her counterpart. She tapped his shoulder, then walked towards the small gathering forming to watch. After a minute or two of talking back and forth, the concern on their faces slowly turned to that of a grim understanding, for the most part. Danna turned back to her partner as the crowd began dispersing. As much as he hated admitting it, she did have a way with people.
“Told you I had this one,” she said slightly smugly as she looked Hrthoriy in the eye. While Hrthoriy was neither short nor tall for a vulpine, Danna was tall for an Ivlyan human woman, so their eyes were almost level. After a moment, the vulpine glanced away. “Here comes the forensic team,” he commented.
Feeling somewhat useless at this point, the pair faded into the shadows of obscurity as he watched the forensics experts do their jobs.
[hr]
“Come in,” a voice in the forensics lab responded to Hrthoriy’s knock on the door of the forensics lab. Stepping in while sipping a mug of kavy, followed closely by his partner, he marveled yet again at the methodical disorderliness surrounding him. How someone could act as though this was organized was beyond him.
“I’m over here,” the voice beckoned again, derailing the vulpine’s train of thought. “I’m Forensics Officer Anita Mehera. Something I can do for you, officers?” She noticed Danna for the first time and nodded apologetically. “Officers?”
Hrthoriy nodded. "We need whatever information you have from tonight.
A sort of tense smile appeared on Anita’s face. “Nothing too conclusive, yet. It was definitely a knife murder, but ” she exhaled. “The victim was identified as Denys Hryniuk, so there might be a lead there. But the killer’s good. Haven’t been able to get a decent DNA sample of him yet.”
“Alright. Keep me informed.” He turned to leave, and heard Danna thanking the woman before catching up. “Hold up, Hrth. Wanted to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“What do you think should be done about all these Saenist murders springing up in the slums and more impoverished neighborhoods? I mean, nationally.”
The two moved quickly down the precinct’s stairs. “I think we need to encourage more people to carry guns in such areas. Since they’re no longer safe, really.”
Danna nodded thoughtfully. “What about outreach and education programs to dispel Saenist myths? Its followers, evil though some may be, probably think it’s all they have. Maybe if the superstition surrounding it could be corrected, then ”
“…that would do very little, if anything. Leave outreach to the Church, and don’t burden the taxpayer with educating cultists who will, probably, remain cultists.”
“It’s better than increasing the number of guns out there!” she replied, her tone rising slightly."
“Look,” Hrthoriy stopped for a moment, “guns protect people. That’s why you carry a gun. That’s why I carry a gun. The more guns in the hands of responsible owners, the better.”
“You can’t guarantee that every owner will be responsible,” Danna countered. “And I’m not anti-gun. I just think that sensible regulation wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
“Any government regulation is a bad thing.” the vulpine huffed. “We’re blessed in Ivlya to have a small government led by people who want to keep it small. The less oversight, the better.” A pause followed. “I don’t even know why we’re talking about guns. This was a knife-murder. And it’s our job to find out who did the knife murdering.”
Danna hesitated. “Right. Our next move being looking into Denys Hryniuk, right?”
Hrthoriy nodded. “Yes. I’ll get a list of relatives, and meet you back here in the morning.”
Danna snapped a slightly sarcastic salute. “Copy that.”
Hrthoriy gazed at her, face imperceptible. After a moment, he just shrugged. “Also, get some rest. It’s late, and I’d rather you sleep well. For the purpose of me having a better-performing partner tomorrow, of course.”
“Of course,” she mimicked. “What about you?”
“I’ll try to sleep when I can. For when I can’t,” the vulpine gestured with his now-empty mug, "I’ll always have kavy.
[hr]
Ariz, Ivlya, 02.13.18
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’d be better, Danna, if I didn’t have to hear a variant of the same question over and over again,” Hrthoriy grumbled. “Besides, I have kavy.”
“And what happens when you run out of kavy?” Danna challenged, smiling slightly.
Hrthoriy shrugged. “I’ll always have kavy.” He tried to blink away the sleepiness in his eye unnoticeably, leading to the police car swerving slightly.
“Woah, there,” his partner warned. “How much sleep did you get last night?”
“It was a good night.” A pause. “So three hours.”
“Only thr-”
“I have kavy…”
Unable to challenge this indisputable fact, Danna changed the subject. “You don’t think it’s weird that a random lutryne dead in the downtown area turns out to be a high-living corporate slave-owner?”
“Slave-owner’s a bit melodramatic, Danna. He has employees, who get paid-”
“-Minimum wage for hard work! If even that.”
“Not the minimum wage thing again. It’s basic economics that-”
“Yes, the minimum wage thing again!” she inhaled sharply, then exhaled slowly. “You know what, we’re off topic. My point being that it’s not every day you find some sort of businessman in normal clothes dead in a gutter.”
“No,” Hrthoriy assented. “No it’s not.” His eyes flicked briefly from the road to the GPS. “Our questions might get answered shortly. We should be there in about ten minu-”
“Viktor 1, do you read? Over.” The car’s radio blared to life.
“Go ahead. Over.”
“We just got a frantic call of breaking and entering at the following address: 389 Vyblenochnyy Vuzol Street; PPZ-code 9310. You’re the closet car. Over.”
“We’ll be right on it. Over.” Hrthoriy turned to Danna. “Isn’t that ?”
“The address of Hryniuk’s family. Yes.”
“Well,” the vulpine turned on the flashing blue and purple lights of the police car and the siren blared to life, “we should get there quickly.”
[hr]
The house was an absolute disaster. Shelves had their contents strewn about on the floor, tables had legs seemingly broken off, lamps had fallen and shattered from their various perches, and the house faintly smelled of gunpowder. Though perhaps most noticeable was the trail of blood leading upstairs. The two partners drew their sidearms and slowly, cautiously ascended up the steps, careful not to disturb any evidence or step on the blood. Turning into the bedroom, they beheld a sight that could only be considered horrific.
Strapped down to the bed was the corpse of Mrs. Hryniuk, prepared much the same obscene way as her husband’s body had been. In the corner stood a huddled, trembling, short lutryne. Both guns snapped towards whoever or whatever it may be.
“P-please don’t hurt me,” an unusually high-pitched voice wept. “The bad men they killed mommy ” his speech devolved into a series of wracking sobs.
Danna lowered her gun. “It’s alright,” she slowly began to approach the vertically-challenged individual. “We’re not here to ”
“Danna, stay back,” Hrthoriy muttered. Danna ignored him, taking another step forward. “Danna ” her partner repeated, with a slight edge in his voice. She continued to ignore him, kneeling down and placing her hand on its shoulder.
The next few seconds happened so fast. The lutryne whirled around, revealing himself to be wearing an arcane mask, and bit her hand. Danna yanked it away with a yell of pain, snapping her gun back up. As she did, her adversary produced a knife from seemingly nowhere and lunged.
BANG! The lutryne crumpled to the ground. Hrthoriy lowered the smoking gun in his hands and quickly strode over to Danna. “Are you alright?” he asked somewhat more earnestly than usual. “Let me see your hand.” Still somewhat shell shocked, she presented it upon his request.
The vulpine gave it a cursory examination. “I don’t think it’s infected ” His concern instantly turned to anger. “But what in all of Koshmar were you thinking?”
“I-I-”
“You weren’t,” Hrthoriy retorted, not expecting her to look as hurt as she did. He sighed and softened his tone apologetically. “Though, I suppose what’s done is done. Besides, you’re still alive, thank Troitsa. Anyway, an ambulance should be here soon to take a look at you.” He gestured to the corpse on the bed. “And that.”
[hr]
Danna examined the bandage on her hand for the umpteenth time, still unused to the rough fabric against her skin. Walking into she and Hrthoriy’s joint office, she coughed to get his attention.
As the vulpine looked up, it was completely apparent that he still hadn’t gotten any rest over the past few hours. As she opened her mouth to speak, he seemed to read her thoughts and simply said, “Kavy.” An awkward silence hung about the room for the next several seconds before Hrthoriy asked, “How’s the hand?”
Danna waved off his concern. “It’s been better, to be sure, but I’ve had worse scrapes.”
Her partner nodded. “Anyway, the lutryne that bit you and then bit the dust was identified as Matías Lopez. He commonly frequents the jail on counts of robbery and assault along with his brother Marco. This is the first count of murder, though.” He shrugged. “It had been noted that he had some traditional Saenist symbols on his outfit those times, so it’s almost a certainty that he’s a cultist. If Hryniuk’s wife’s ritual dissection wasn’t indication enough.” He sighed, rubbing his temples as his eyelids seemed to fight to stay open."
“Hrthoriy, honestly, get some rest.”
“Kavy.”
“No. Rest. Now.”
“I’m fine. Anyway, I’m going to pay Marco a visit. He owns a bar in downtown Ariz.” Hrthoriy rose from his chair, carrying papers under hand arm and a half-empty mug in his hand. “Are you coming, partner?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Danna nodded.
[hr]
Downtown Ariz, Ivlya, 02.13.18
The city streets were almost empty as the orange of the sky slowly darkened into the blackness of night. As one might expect from Ariz downtown, Marco’s bar - La Chica de Zorro Lascivo - looked as seedy as such establishments come. A little bell rang as Hrthoriy opened and held the door for Danna, the pair of them attempting to ignore the strong odor that pervaded the air inside. The female vulpine bartender, leaving little to the imagination by her choice of clothing, winked at Hrthoriy as she laid eyes on him. “Can I get you a drink, tsukor?” she tempted, her voice seeming to enticingly purr.
Danna responded for him. “No thanks. My partner has had enough to drink for the day.”
Under his breath, she heard Hrthoriy mutter, “Kavy isn’t alcoholic. Everyone knows that.”
Turning away from the barkeep towards her partner, Danna replied, “Who said anything about alcohol?”
“You said I’ve had enough to drink for the day. It’s implied.”
“It isn’t, necessarily…”
Hrthoriy brushed past her and approached the bartender. “Do you have some plain mechtaridyna?”
The female vulpine smiled. “Mm, coming right up.” In what seemed like the blink of an eye, she slid a glass across the counter, dropped a single ice cube into it, and poured the contents of a mechtaridyna bottle into it. “Enjoy.”
After taking a long sip, Hrthoriy set it down on the counter with an audible clink. “Is your boss in tonight?”
“And who wants to know?”
“I’m Yarostrat Tereshchenko,” he fibbed expertly. “And may I ask your name?” He raised the glass to his lips.
“Whatever you want it to be, sweetheart,” she winked, causing Hrthoriy to cough mid-sip, almost dropping the drink.
Recovering quickly, he replied, “Well, you know me, now. So about your boss ”
“I know your name,” the bartender corrected. “I don’t know you, certainly not as well as your partner-”
“Business partner.”
“Oh, is that so?” She grinned, and Hrthoriy felt a slight chill down his spine. “And what sort of business… do you two get up to?”
He met her gaze cooly. “Nothing that I’d tell the law.”
After a moment, she glanced away. “Well, then, Marco’s in the back.” She gestured to a moderately dilapidated door, then teasingly grabbed Hrthoriy’s collar. “And I’m free later tonight, by the way, tsukor.”
“Shame that I’m not,” he replied brusquely, pulling away slightly and flipping a coin onto the counter. “Thank you for the drink. That should cover it.” Tilting his head back towards Danna, he motioned for her to follow him, and the two approached the door. It opened with a loud squeal to a dingy office, of sorts. The furnishings were sparse, dust had gathered in force, and the various bottles and change that lay strewn about were joined on the floor by varieties of dried viscid liquids. Sitting behind a worn desk was a lutryne wearing a shabby suit, a bottle in one hand and an avaricious gleam in his eye. “Can I help you two with something?” his reedy voice sneered.
“Of course,” Danna replied. “Danna Moreno, Ariz P.D.” Immediately, Marco tried to reach for something under his desk, but was stopped by the sound of Hrthoriy’s gun being drawn and trained on the lutryne. “And you are under arrest.”
[hr]
Ariz, Ivlya, 02.14.18
“It’s one in the morning, Hrth. Get some rest. And don’t you dare say-”
“Kavy.”
“Enough with the chertovsky kavy. I’ll let you know how the interrogation goes in the morning. Now please, get some rest.”
Hrthoriy blinked twice, then nodded. “Perhaps you’re right.” He added, a rare tone of good humor creeping into his voice. “Well, not about healthcare, but ”
Danna rolled her eyes. “Just go and sleep already.” As the vulpine nodded appreciately, muttered something under his breath, and turned to leave; she called after him, “Wait.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think the interrogation techniques that Ivlyan police use are necessary?”
“To get information from scum like Lopez?” Hrthoriy hesitated. “I don’t know. It could save lives, though.”
“But do the ends justify the means?”
“Is cruelty a greater sin than letting people potentially die? I’m not sure. I don’t think so, but I’m not sure.”
“So you approve of torture of criminals for information?”
“That’s not what I-” the vulpine sighed. “It’s late. I need to get some sleep.”
“Just answer that, before you do.” Her tone softened. “Please.”
A pause lingered between them. “I don’t like torture. And, to be fair, the interrogation methods employed for use against people like Lopez are nothing compared to regular torture.”
“But it still causes unnecessary pain.”
“Is it unnecessary, Danna? Truly? Is being holier-than-thou and not doing what needs to be done worth lives lost?”
“Potential lives lost,” Danna countered. “While such aggressive interrogation techniques are definitely employed.”
“Look,” Hrthoriy took a step towards her, “like I said, I don’t like torture. I don’t like ‘aggressive interrogation techniques.’ I don’t like causing pain, or seeing pain. The people that do are khvoryy ebet. However, if this gives us the information we need, then it may be worth it. We’re not the Harkhire police, who get to act all shiny-booted and high-and-mighty. We’re Ariz. We have one of the biggest black markets in the nation, not to mention a greater number of murders and Saenist activity than most of the rest of Ivlya. We don’t just dally with darkness. We practically thrive in it. Sometimes, if we have to step a little deeper into it for the sake of light, then so be it.”
“A necessary evil is still evil, Hrth.”
“…alright.” The vulpine sighed. “I get it, Danna. Really, I do. I just I need sleep. Goodnight.” He turned and walked away without another word, leaving his partner alone.
[hr]
Ariz, Ivlya, 02.13.18
Every time Hrthoriy shut his eyelids, the brutally murdered corpses he’d seen today flashed into his mind’s eye. The day’s events kept replaying over and over again in his head, from the first argument with Danna to the last and everything in between. His head still heart slightly at the sound of him shooting Matías, and his thoughts pivoted guiltily away from that bartender from earlier.
At 5:00 AM, he awoke in a cold sweat and grasped at his side for where his gun would normally be, hardly even realizing that he’d fallen asleep. Hrthoriy inhaled and exhaled deeply for the next several seconds, frustrated at his bleary brain’s inability to remember what he’d just dreamt. He rolled back over and tried again to rest, but found only a mild case of stomachache.
Thirty minutes later, unable to fall back into the waiting arms of sleep, he slid out of bed onto on his tired legs and stumbled into the bathroom, rifling through cabinet for a stomach relief medicine bottle. Eventually finding one, he attempted to pour out two pills onto the cabinet. Cursing as three tumbled out instead, he fumblingly dropped the extra one back into its bottle and put the bottle back in its proper place. Hrthoriy poured a glass of tap water to wash down the pills after placing them in his mouth, grimacing slightly at the impure liquid’s flavor. Then he stumbled back to bed, not even bothering or remembering to turn the bathroom light back off.
At 7:15 AM, the vulpine felt absolutely overwhelmed with a complete and utter exhaustion, but still found himself aggravatingly sleepless. Sighing, he forced his body to stand from the bed to get dressed. He proceeded to fumble with the buttons, leave part of his shirt untucked into his pants, and sloppily knot his necktie.
At 7:43 AM, he arrived at his favorite kavy shop, Skromna Lysytsya Divchyna, after a somewhat perilous drive due to his exhaustion. Thanking his server as he received his order, he hastily slurped up the morning beverage. His brain cleared ever so slightly even as he felt a slide headache. After ordering a couple more, he paid and left for the precinct.
[hr]
Ariz, Ivlya, 02.13.18
“Hrth?” Danna’s face showed serious concern as she scrutinized her partner, catching up with his pace and walking alongside him. “Goodness, are you alright?”
Unconvincingly, Hrthoriy murmured almost unintelligibly back, “I’ve kavy.” Raising his weary head to look at the clock, he noted the time as 8:02 AM.
Let’s get this day over with, he thought. Aloud, he asked, “Did Marco say anything?”
Danna’s eyes stayed trained on Hrthoriy’s ragged features for another second, before looking away and nodding. “He did.” She replied, her voice saturated with worry. “Marco and his brother are a member of a small but extreme Saenist sect, apparently. Honestly, Hrth, I can work alone today-”
“Kavy…”
“Damnit, Hrth, I’m worried about you.” She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Her tone sounded almost angry. “Has kavy been the only reason you’ve survived these past several days somewhat lucid?”
Hrthoriy blinked, replied with an incoherent mutter, and continued walking. Irritated, she followed suit. “Aren’t all Saenist sects extreme, though?” he asked, ignoring her obvious annoyance.
“Well, some are more peaceful,” Danna replied, her voice returning to its normal level with some difficulty. “Still illegal, but not as bad as the knife-murderers hellbent on human sacrifice.”
“Doesn’t their Sovereign demand human sacrifice, though?” the vulpine replied, sipping a kavy mug that he seemingly produced from nowhere. “Why be a follower of the one religion that’s not even legal in Ivlya if you don’t practice it all the way?”
“Honestly, Hrth,” Danna sighed. “I don’t know. But, some do. And others, like Matías, don’t. Would you rather have all Saenists be knife murderers?”
“I’d rather all non-sacrificial Saenists just become law abiding citizens. They’re close enough, as it is.”
His partner hesitated. “Fair,” she replied. “Anyway, Marco had apparently just decided to quit. I don’t know if he was being honest, or thought it would get him a lighter sentence, but he does seem less dogmatic than his brother.” She paused. “He’d be much more dogmatic as a lupine, though.”
“…was that a pun?”
“It was.”
“I see.”
Silence reigned for the next several seconds. “Lupines resemble wolves, you know. Not dogs.”
“True.” Danna shrugged slightly. “It was close enough. They’re both canines”
“You realize that I’m vulpine.”
“…right.” Danna replied sheepishly. “Sorry. Anyhow,” she coughed, “what’s our next move?”
Hrthoriy stepped into the elevator. “I think I should have a little tête-à-tête with Marco.”
[hr]
Danna knew that her partner tended to talk to criminals alone. As he’d expressed in the past, she took away from any intimidation or fear factor that would loosen the delinquent’s mouth. And she trusted Hrth never to go too far during an interrogation or a conversation.
She couldn’t help but puzzling over what he was up to, though.
Marco had already been interrogated by officers with more skill in such matters than her vulpine partner. He’d pretty much given away his brother and himself as guilty of all charges. Not that it was of any concern to Matías, she reflected darkly.
And so, confusion toying with her thoughts, she waited outside the room where Marco was being held for what seemed like a half-hour, entertaining herself by sipping some kavy and solving a Setzdoku word puzzle or two. Finally, the door opened, and a weary but triumphant vulpine stepped out.
“Congratulations, Danna.” He smiled in an odd sort of way. “We just became cultists.”
After Danna’s mouth hung open for a full three seconds, Hrthoriy amended his statement. “Well, not really, obviously. However, in exchange for a lighter sentence, our lutryne friend is going to get us into the sect.”
“And then we can arrest or kill this upstart Sovereign.”
“Exactly.” He blinked, then blinked again, steadying himself against the door frame.
“Hrth, are you-”
“I’m fine,” the vulpine snapped irritably. Immediately, he regretfully added, “Sorry. Guess I’m just irritable.” He yawned. "I need kavy.
“What you need is a doctor’s visit. And some melatonin. Hrth, you’re clearly suffering from sleep deprivation.”
Hrthoriy stepped fully out from the door, closing it behind him and leaning against a nearby wall. “I’m just stressed and tired. So are you.”
“Uh-huh. And how much did you sleep last night?”
“Irrelevant.”
“It certainly is n-”
“We have a job. I’m not paid to sleep.”
No, no you’re not," Danna rejoined, clearly frustrated. "You’re paid to do your job well. Which you can’t do when you’re about as lethargic as one of the chertovskiy thing from The Stumbling Deceased.
“Zombies.”
“Right, zombies.” She sighed. “Hrth, I’m worried about you. But not just about you. I’m worried about me, too. As your partner, I need to be able to trust you out in the field. Mentally and physically. Now, I trust your intentions. But I can’t trust your instincts, I can’t trust your judgement, and I can’t trust your body not to fail. And it’s not just about you or me. It’s about the innocents that trust us to defend them. It’s about the crazed murderers that might kill you or get away right out from under your nose. It’s about selflessness, not this selfish lack of regard for you and your body.” Danna rose from her seat. “Now, I’ll explain it to the chief. He’ll understand. Just go home, take some sleep meds, and get some rest. We can always become cultists tomorrow.”
Hrthoriy looked at her for a few seconds, slowly processing and dissecting her words. After an interminable moment, he nodded and muttered “Thank you” as he started to walk away.
“Wait, you shouldn’t be driving. You’re practically half-asleep right now.”
“I’ll be fi-”
“Like Koshmar you will.” she interrupted. “Now, just wait here. I’ll talk to the chief and be right back.”
Without waiting for a response, she rushed by him to arrange for his day off. To her surprise, Hrthoriy was still there when she returned.
[hr]
Ariz, Ivlya, 02.14.18
As he stepped into the precinct, Hrthoriy seemed to look almost naked without a cup of kavy in his hand. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d slept so soundly, and was still in the process of blinking away his grogginess as Danna approached him.
“Hi, Hrth,” she greeted warmly. “Feeling any better?”
“Yes, actually,” he replied, stifling a contented yawn. “Though I still might need kavy to help me wake up.”
“Well, there is a machine for that here.”
“I’m aware. I’m it’s main customer.”
“Right. D’oh.” She hesitated. “Er, well, glad you’re feeling better. What’s the plan on the whole Saenist thing?”
“Marco informed me that there were two minor cultists that more or less fit our appearance. That is, vulpine and human female.” Hrthoriy shrugged. “We’re going to need a bit of makeup, but not much. Anyway, due to the Saenist penchant of wearing masks, they shouldn’t notice the difference anyway.”
“And how do we go about capturing the two of them?”
Hrthoriy looked down at his watch. “I arranged for that before I left my place. Just give it a few minutes.”
After a moment or two of quiet, Danna piped up, “So we’re just sitting here waiting for a few minutes?”
“That’s right.”
“For what?”
“You’ll see.”
“And there’s no conceivable way that we can continue this conversation and come back to this?”
Hrthoriy, who somehow was now miraculously armed with a kavy cup that Danna hadn’t seen him procure, took a sip. “Nope.”
“And you can’t tell me what we’re waiting for?”
“I mean, I am able to.”
“…then can you?”
“Again, I am able to.”
“Hrth, don’t be an ass. May you tell me what we’re waiting for?”
“Wait and see.” He paused. “Language, by the way. In my day, we’d have our mouths washed out with soap for that.”
“You’re only a year older than I am-”
“Half a year, I think.”
“-and saying the word “ass” isn’t swearing!”
“Eh. It can be.”
“I was calling you a donkey, not a derriere.”
“Was that purposefully alliterative?”
“It was indeed.”
“Hm.” He took another short ship. “Not bad.”
“Thank you.”
“Welcome.”
“…when is it going to get here?”
“Who says that it’s an ‘it’?”
“When, though?”
Hrthoriy checked his watch. “It should have been here by now.”
“You just said ‘it’!”
“So I did.”
“You told me it wasn’t an ‘it’.”
“It might not be. But I didn’t tell you it wasn’t an ‘it’. I asked you, ‘Who says it’s an ‘it’?’”
“Do you know what could be taking ‘it’ so long?”
“Not a clue.” Hrthoriy slurped from the cup slightly. “You should really have some kavy.”
Danna sighed, exasperated. “But-”
At that moment, the doors to the precinct were thrown open. A surly grey-furred vulpine and a tall, blonde human woman were led through by six armed police officers.
“That’s it.” Hrthoriy gestured towards them, a slight look of triumph on his face. “And, in a few hours, that’s us.”
[hr]
“You need the tattoo, you know.” the police makeup artist commented, applying the finishing touches to Hrthoriy. “There. How do you look?”
It was unsettling for the vulpine for some completely different vulpine to gaze back at him from the mirror. “I look like a cultist. Well done.”
“Thank you. But,” she coughed, “you still need that tattoo.”
“No,” Hrthoriy stated firmly. “I’m not emblazoning myself with a symbol of a cult. I’m a Troitsan, after all.”
“Without it, you’ll more than likely be discovered quickly.”
“So be it.”
“Hrth,” another chair swung about, containing the newly blonde and lighter-skinned Danna Moreno, “get the tattoo. I’m getting the tattoo. You can always get it laser-removed at a later date. I’m sure the department would even pay for it.”
Hrthoriy sighed. “I don’t understand why it’s difficult to accept that I don’t want a symbol that represents a demonic power anywhere on my person.”
The makeup artist had long-since fallen silent. Danna’s tone adopted a gentle quality. “This will save lives. Or you can unnecessarily risk yours.”
An awkward quiet descended on the room as thickly as a tarp. No one spoke as all eyes other than his own were trained on Hrthoriy. Finally, the vulpine sighed.
“Where will the tattoo be placed?”
“Most of the cultists we’ve seen bear it on the back of their left hands.”
“And it can be removed later?”
The artist nodded. “Correct.”
Reluctantly, Hrthoriy nodded assent. “Just get it over with.”