Zuri, Abby, Strips ~ Private

[petdr89]

((Ewww! Abby puked in that tub. ))

Strips was about to respond to Zuri, but Zuri ran off before he could. So, he gave an enraged growl, eyes following Zuri down the hallway. He turned to Abby, "Did you hear that? He's tryin' to accuse me. 'What were you doin', anyway'," he mocked.

"Yeah, I heard. Unfortunately, I also saw," she muttered that last part, turning her head toward the ground.

Strips growled again, shaking his head. "I gotta get outa here. I'm gunna go for a run or somethin', while Zuri's in the shower. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"You're gunna run for two hours?"

Strips smirked, turning his head back to look at her, having already headed for the door. "I need ta vent," he replied, and then walked outside, shutting the door behind him.

Strips was long gone by the time Zuri got out of the shower. Abby had plopped herself down on the couch, grabbed the remote, and began flipping through channels.

[zash]

And yes, Zuri did look at the shower, nearly puke again and then cleaned it out. "Nasty man." twas what he said while gagging. But yes, he had gotten out of the shower and went into the living room, looked "Good morning Abby." and walked for the kitchen. "Want anything from in here? Something to drink?" Zuri was scrounging around for something to eat. He eventually found some eggs and a pan and turned on the stove top.

[petdr89]

Abby stared at the TV like it was the most important thing in the world; she was watching the Darigan news, and the weather forecast for tomorrow was rain. They began talking about how it would make fighting in the tournament uncomfortable, but they weren’t going to postpone it. Abby was so wrapped up in the news that she almost didn’t hear Zuri, but she replied with a, “No thanks.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so he hadn’t been completely honest, but, he hadn’t lied either. Strips was running, just not where he led Abby to believe; he ran to the battledome to sign Zuri and himself up. It was crowded with eager young people looking for a chance to prove themselves. When he finally reached the counter, he wrote down Zuri’s and his full names. As he was writing, he heard someone call his name behind him, and turned around to see who it was.

[zash]

Zuri heard Abby, "Alright." He turned back around and threw a slab of butter onto the frying pan. The butter sizzled as it hit the pan. Zuri smelled the butter sizzling and his stomach grumbled. "Mmmmmm smells good." Zuri enjoyed the smell of the butter, it was rather good. He then cracked the eggs onto the skillet and let them sizzle, while he tried to find a spatula, bad idea not to get that first. He looked around and luckily found one. He had to wash it though. He got back to his eggs and then flipped them, he kept the heat down low that way they wouldn't burn. "Oooo maaaannn thats good." He then went over and started to fix some toast while the eggs finished cooking. He went back over and took the pan off of the skillet and the toast popped up. He buttered his toast and grabbed a clean plate and put the toast and eggs onto the plate. He then got a glass of milk and went back into the living room and sat down on the couch. "Whats ya watchin?" Zuri asked Abby as he ate his breakfast.

[petdr89]

Abby turned her head to look at Zuri, greeting him with a small smile. “Just the news; say’s it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.” The news was over by now, though, and they were now covering sports. The big story was how Darigan had won the Altador Cup. “Well, Strips’ll be happy to hear that,” Abby mumbled, eyes returning to the TV. “So, what are your plans for today?” Though she was talking to Zuri, she never turned her head to look back at him, but merely looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jaserik!” Strips greeted a darigan zafara that had approached him. Jaserik was Strips’s oldest and only remaining friend, on Darigan that is, and they hadn’t seen each other in ages. They greeted each other by extending their right arms as if to shake hands, but as their hands clasped together they both pulled each other into a half hug, patting each other on the back with their other hand; this lasted only a few seconds.

“Ah, it’s so funny seeing you here. I was just thinking about you the other day! How have things been?” Jaserik was grinning, and they were both acting like two little kids who hadn’t seen each other in weeks. It was amazing they weren’t bouncing around and giggling like little schoolgirls.

“Ah, well, you know, same ol’ same ol’,” Strips replied.

“Well, maybe not exactly the same old thing,” Jaserik replied with a hint-ful wink. “We haven’t been doin’ the same ol’ stuff in years. Which is why I was thinkin’ about cha, actually. Someone got in contact with me the other day, said they had a job for you.”

Strips shook his head, “Na, man, you know I don’t take jobs anymore.”

“But I think after you hear the, um, salary for this one you’ll change your mind. Here, how ‘bout I buy you a beer. We can talk and you can think about it. And, if ya still don’ want it, then I’ll tell ‘em.”

“Heh, we’ll if you’re buyin’ then how could I refuse? ‘Sides, it’ll give us a chance to catch up.”

So that’s what they did; left the battledome and hit the closest bar.

[zash]

"Well, I honestly don't plan on doing anything. Since I was drunk most of yesterday, I don't want to do to much. I might go to the mall or something. I could really use some new clothes. These are starting to get kinda rank." Zuri said while eating still. He felt like doing mostly nothing and resting for the tournament tomarrow. He continued eating his delicious breakfast, it was quite good. "What do you plan on doing?"

[petdr89]

"Oh," Abby replied, "I thought you might get a little training in for tomorrow. Shopping sounds fun, though." She perked at the thought, and almost hoped Zuri would so that she could go with him. "I'm not really sure what I'm going to do, I haven't decided yet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Strips and Jaserik arrived at a dimly lit bar, that only had a few other people in it. They sat and both ordered beers, and just relaxed while they talked.

"Alright, tell me about this job." Though Strips didn't have any intention on accepting the offer, he still wanted to hear about it.

"Okay, here's the thing. They are offering you 2.5 million to take this guy out." Jaserik waited to continue until he made sure Strips was interested.

Needless to say, Strips became intrigued. "Alright, keep going."

"Alright, well the guy's name is Mizturugi, and apparently he's been causing these guys quite a bit of trouble. First he stole a large sum of money from them, then he blew-up one of their bases. Actually, they also told me that you were there with the guy when it happened. That's why they want to hire you, 'cause they know you've been hanging out with him, and probably because they know you have no morals. They also said that if you completed this task for them, they would shred your file and never bother you again."

Strips face grew cold as Jaserik spoke; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Mizturugi, you say?" He shook his head, "Ain't no way, man. Even if I wanted to, which after what happened last night it's very tempting, I couldn't. I just couldn't. Yeah I know him and yeah I was there, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, first of all, that guy is impossible to kill. His skin is as hard as a rock; can't be broken by mere knives. And second, I just couldn't do that to him even if I wanted to. I mean, the guy's about as harmful as a three-year-old. He and Abby seem to get along real well, and well I wouldn't call us friends but I think we respect each other."

"All the more reason why you're right for the job; you've already earned his trust." You could tell Jaserik was pushing Strips on this matter; if Strips did take the job he would get a cut, and that was a lot of money being offered. "They want an answer by tonight."

Strips closed his eyes, deep in thought. There was the matter of Abby and Zuri being close, but then as he thought about it, he realized he didn't care. When he thought about it, he didn't really care whether Zuri lived or died, and he really wanted his name erased from the underground. "Alright, I'll do it," Strips finally replied, sighing.

"Good, I'll tell them you're in. They said they'd wire you the money. They also wanted me to give you this, said it would make his skin penetrable if you coated it on your weapons." Jaserik handed Strips a bottle of yellow liquid. "So, when are you going to do it?"

"I don't know, I'll have to think about it. We're both entered in the tournament tomorrow, but it won't happen there; the tournament judges won't allow it." Strips sighed again and paused. "Tomorrow when we fight each other, I want you to be in the stands watching his every movement, then report back to me."

Jaserik smiled, "It would be my pleasure. Just like old times, eh?"

"Yeah, I suppose so. But if you'll excuse me, I left Zuri and Abby in my house, and there's no tellin' what they're gettin' into."

"You mean ta tell me he's at your house now? Well then, mind if I come with you? I'd like to meet him."

"Yeah, sure, I don't care."

[zash]

"Mmm yeah. Probably aint much else to do but to go shopping. Ya wanna come? I'd imagine its better than sitting here watching TV all day. Its better than training probably too. We've been doing so much lately and so much fighting that I'm pretty sure we'll be alright. We probably deserve a few days off. Plus I'd imagine that the tournament is gonna be full of little Darigans trying to prove their worth or something and it'd probably be alot of guys in armor screaming "Prepare foo'! You, you're gonna regret coming here today. Your gonna regret ever being born. You're gonna regret ever leaving your mother's womb, where it was warm, and safe....and wet. I'm gonna show you pain that you never knew existed. I'm gonna show you a whole new spectrum of pain, like a raaaaaaiiinbow. Zuri said in a mocking voice miming what he said. Making a rainbow with his hands. He was also talking kinda like Mr. T. He then burped and coughed a bit. "*cough* Ou, strained my self. Then we'll just yell boo and they'll probably just run away."

[petdr89]

Abby giggled, shaking her head. "Guys are so weird." She didn't quite know what else to say. She imagined that even if most of the competitors were young, they'd still be hard to beat. Most of them were Darigan's, after all. "But yes, I would like to go with you to the mall and look at your pretty rainbow. Just give me a couple of minutes to shower and get ready?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jaserik paid for their beers, Strips put the bottle of yellow liquid in his pocket, and they both left. And hey, while we're at it, let's describe Jaserik. Something tells me he'll be with us for a while. And with any luck, he'll become an actual character one day. Jaserik isn't as tall as Strips, but then again, who is? He was probably 6'3, maybe less. He was muscular, but not excessively so. He had red fur, like any Darigan Zafara, and red bat-like wings. He didn't stand like most anthro; he walked on his toes with his knees bent, like a t-rex or a rabbit. His long tail had a tuff of black fur at the end, and he had black spikes running all the way down his back and tail. Eyes, like Strips's, were blood red, and his hair was also black, but a lighter shade than Strips; it was almost gray, but not quite. It was also long, reached the bottom of his shoulder blades, and was pulled back in a loose ponytail. Two teeth jutted from the roof of his muzzle like fangs, making him appear vampiric when he really wasn't. And finally, he only had three fingers and three toes per hand and foot.

[zash]

"Alright, thats fine. I still have to finish eating." Which Zuri did. He ate his breakfast and watched TV. Not much else to do. "Though I don't know where we will be going so yeah. Wherever we can find a mall probably. If they have one here." Zuri said to Abby while eating and watching the news. He found it cool that the Darigans won. He figured they probably would, though Shenkuu was close.

[petdr89]

Abby nodded, "True. We may have to wait for Strips to get back and ask him. Ah well, I'll be right back." With that, she left and headed for the bathroom. She was busy getting ready to get in, turning the water on and getting undressed, when she suddenly felt sick again. This time she had enough time to lift up the toilet seat and lid before vomiting again. She was starting to get a little worried about herself; the first time she threw-up she thought it was because of the alcohol and what Strips and Zuri were doing, but now she wasn't so sure. Her stomach felt weird, but she couldn't describe it. She tried to ignore it, though, as she flushed the toilet and got into the shower.

Strips and Jaserik arrived back at the house while Abby was in the shower. Strips didn't knock, of course not, because it was his house. He saw Zuri on the couch, "Hello, Zuri." He didn't bother to introduce Zuri and Jaserik, who was right on his heels. He just kind of left them there in the living room while he went into the kitchen. Jaserik didn't mind, he was used to it.

[zash]

Zuri looked over. "Uh hi. Whats up?" Strips just left. "Alright." Zuri noticed Strips' friend and said, "Hi, I take it your Strips' friend. Yeah." Zuri turned his head again and ate his meal and watched TV, he was so close to being done. He had but a few bites left. He really didn't care much. What was he to do. Go up to the guy, shake his hand and introduce himself, he could but he wasn't. He just continued eating till he finally finished.

[petdr89]

"Yeah, I'm Strips's friend." Jaserik extended a three-fingered hand toward Zuri, but Zuri was eating so he stuffed it back in his pocket. "Yeah, the name's Jaserik. But, yeah, you can call me Jaz. After all, any friend of Strips's is a friend of mine. And yeah, you're Zuri; Strips told me a lot about. You and that girl; Abby, I believe. He said y'all were friends, and yeah..." Zuri was making Jaserik uncomfortable, oddly enough; he shifted his weight to one leg.

[zash]

"Ah cool. Alright Jaz. So what are you doin? I've been stuck here in this house for about a day and its boring. In fact I had planned to go to the mall to do some shopping. But yeah, what are you up to man? Tell me of yourself." Zuri was interested in the Jaz person. He wanted to know about him. Heck, he didn't even know Strips had friends.

[petdr89]

It is odd, isn't it? Finding out Strips had friends would be like finding out Santa Clause was a pimp; it just wasn't something you heard everyday. "Ah, really? Well, I don't know what we're gunna do, but probably just hang out and do some catchin' up. It's been forever since we've seen each other. We found each other at the battledome about an hour ago; he said you two were gunna fight tomorrow. I look forward to watching your match; he told me you're quite the fighter." Most of the time Jaserik wasn't being truthful, but there were parts of it that were true. He walked over and flopped down beside Zuri, feeling more comfortable now.

"Hey Strips! Is that you?!" Abby had gotten out of the shower but in her hurry to get in, she forgot to grab some clothes. She heard a man's voice coming from the living room and assumed it was Strips, so she walked into the living room with nothing but a towel on, intending on asking him if she could barrow some clothes. Come to find out, there was a stranger in the living room; she would have blushed if she was capable of doing so, and quickly turned and left the room again.

Jaserik grew wide-eyed, and he couldn't keep the word, "Damn," from escaping him.