This is not some new revelation. This is something Riz has known since he was four and first called a gobby. He has known it since he yowled and hissed when his tail got pulled in second grade and got sent to the principal's office for being frenzied while the kid who pulled on his tail got off scot-free.
He has known it since he was nine and his father stopped coming home.
When the shatterstar first touches his chest, he expects the sharp sting of glass digging into his skin, but instead it is the smooth sensation of wading into a pool of cool water. It spreads throughout his entire chest, down to his limbs, and for a moment, it blanks out the adrenaline of battle, the rapid beat of his heart, and the rasp of air in his throat as he gasps for it. For a moment everything goes still and so perfectly crystal clear.
Life is so unfair and he's sick and tired of it. He's sick and tired of having to work five times as hard as anyone else to get half the recognition. He is sick and tired of watching his friends drive themselves to the point of exhaustion cleaning up everybody else's messes while some people just sit back and kill fucking rats.
Though he usually tries to tamp it down, Riz knows what it feels like to let goblin frenzy sweep through him. This is like that, but deeper, sharper. His blood pounds in his ears, his tail twitches sharply at the end, and his claws curl into his own palms until they draw blood. He can't hear his friends' voices over the rush of blood in his ears, and when the portal opens up to his side on it, his eyes snap to it, his body reacting almost on instinct as he throws himself towards it.
Whatever he wants to fight isn't here, so he shouldn't be here. It's pure logic.
He doesn't quite know where the portal spits him out, but it is fine. He can work just as well from here.
First things first -- the weight that has been put on Kristen's shoulder as Cassandra's sole tether to the world is too much. Kristen doesn't deserve that. Riz isn't made to be a cleric, but belief can take many forms. The negotiations are short and quick, and by the end of them Cassandra has a warlock, and Riz has a divine retribution tingling at his fingertips. And if that pact means he has Kalina dipping in and out of the shadows at his shoulder, functioning as a conduit between him and Cassandra, well... Kalina's memory stretches far and wide. He doesn't need to like her to know he can make good use of the information she holds. Nobody knows more about the countless of corrupted ways in which the system protects those that don't deserve that peace.
The system might not be able -- willing -- to deal with them, but Riz has no such problems. It's rather easy in some ways; Collect the information (Kalina helps there), kill them, and then make sure the evidence of their illicit dealings gets brought to light, so no one can try and deny what they did.
And meanwhile Riz works and works, from some tiny crappy office in Bastion city, adding names to his list as quickly as he strikes them off. He doesn't see anyone except Kalina these days, but that is fine. He's working hard to make things better for everyone. He knows they'll understand.
no subject
This is not some new revelation. This is something Riz has known since he was four and first called a gobby. He has known it since he yowled and hissed when his tail got pulled in second grade and got sent to the principal's office for being frenzied while the kid who pulled on his tail got off scot-free.
He has known it since he was nine and his father stopped coming home.
When the shatterstar first touches his chest, he expects the sharp sting of glass digging into his skin, but instead it is the smooth sensation of wading into a pool of cool water. It spreads throughout his entire chest, down to his limbs, and for a moment, it blanks out the adrenaline of battle, the rapid beat of his heart, and the rasp of air in his throat as he gasps for it. For a moment everything goes still and so perfectly crystal clear.
Life is so unfair and he's sick and tired of it. He's sick and tired of having to work five times as hard as anyone else to get half the recognition. He is sick and tired of watching his friends drive themselves to the point of exhaustion cleaning up everybody else's messes while some people just sit back and kill fucking rats.
Though he usually tries to tamp it down, Riz knows what it feels like to let goblin frenzy sweep through him. This is like that, but deeper, sharper. His blood pounds in his ears, his tail twitches sharply at the end, and his claws curl into his own palms until they draw blood. He can't hear his friends' voices over the rush of blood in his ears, and when the portal opens up to his side on it, his eyes snap to it, his body reacting almost on instinct as he throws himself towards it.
Whatever he wants to fight isn't here, so he shouldn't be here. It's pure logic.
He doesn't quite know where the portal spits him out, but it is fine. He can work just as well from here.
First things first -- the weight that has been put on Kristen's shoulder as Cassandra's sole tether to the world is too much. Kristen doesn't deserve that. Riz isn't made to be a cleric, but belief can take many forms. The negotiations are short and quick, and by the end of them Cassandra has a warlock, and Riz has a divine retribution tingling at his fingertips. And if that pact means he has Kalina dipping in and out of the shadows at his shoulder, functioning as a conduit between him and Cassandra, well... Kalina's memory stretches far and wide. He doesn't need to like her to know he can make good use of the information she holds. Nobody knows more about the countless of corrupted ways in which the system protects those that don't deserve that peace.
The system might not be able -- willing -- to deal with them, but Riz has no such problems. It's rather easy in some ways; Collect the information (Kalina helps there), kill them, and then make sure the evidence of their illicit dealings gets brought to light, so no one can try and deny what they did.
And meanwhile Riz works and works, from some tiny crappy office in Bastion city, adding names to his list as quickly as he strikes them off. He doesn't see anyone except Kalina these days, but that is fine. He's working hard to make things better for everyone. He knows they'll understand.