#sinquest

Biography:

Shir is a member of the Sandscale tribe, a nomadic, peaceful tribe of lizard-men who wander the deserts of Chazin, following its faint trails of water magic. They strongly believe that they are the protectors and caretakers of the Sandsea, and believe that following the ebb and flow of water magic leads them to destinations that the sands send them to.

As with most members of the tribe, Shir was trained in their traditional art of hand-to-hand...or rather, claw-to-claw combat. As he grew, his combat prowess improved to such that he was selected to enter a yearly contest to prove the strongest fighters of the tribe. His aptitude for brawling, combined with his exceptional fortitude sealed his victory, and after that, he joined a very elite group within the tribe: The Sandeyes.

The Sandeyes are a small group of scouts that are sent out to survey large portions of the desert, often in complete solitude. Sandeyes are taught advanced survival techniques to survive the harsh deserts, and navigational techniques to find their way back to the tribe once their surveys are complete. To this end, Shir has learned about the cosmology of the stars, as well as how to detect water in the air without the use of a magical focus.

In a small territory between the borders of Twinsun Ma'at and Chazin, Shir came across a trade caravan going from Chazin to Ma'at, that came under attack by desert bandits. The caravan was guarded by only one person: The lizard-man Nakhti, an Arms-master from Ma'at. Although outnumbered, Nakhti held his own, but Shir noticed a small group of archers that Nakhti didn't seem to notice, and he stepped in, taking out the group in very short order. Once he caught Nakhti's eye, Shir moved into the fray, helping the crocodilian fend off the rest of the bandits. Nakhti, impressed by Shir's combat ability, showed his respect for the Sandscale as a “true warrior,” and the two became good friends, often meeting during Nakhti's trade runs to Chazin.

It was during another one of his scouting trips that he came across a broken down sand-skiff, belonging to Old Man Loch, while ferrying Ken'pai the Mechanist and Tomis the Warlock to their destination. After a brief disarming, he quickly took a shine to Ken'pai, as he had never seen a lizard-man of that distinct green color before.

Shir invited the three back to his tribe to stay the night, Loch opting to stay with the skiff. Ken'pai and Shir hit it off rather well, both of them completely eager to learn about each other. After a night of “sharing warmth” with Ken'pai and Nakhti the Arms-master, he accompanied Ken and Tomis on their adventure, and when finished, decided to travel with Ken'pai for a time, often keeping him company when Tomis would leave to take care of his own affairs.

With the blessing of his tribe, Shir can sometimes be found at the Guild Keep, but also travels back to Chazin in order to stay in touch with his fellow lizard-men, also stopping by to visit Old Man Loch at Ken'pai's behest.

He isn't an official member of the guild, as he didn't necessarily want to join up, but it isn't very hard for Ken'pai to convince him to assist if needed.

Personality:

Helpful to those in need, and above all else, Shir is fiercely loyal to those he considers his allies, to the point of sometimes being overprotective. The first night he slept with Ken'pai was actually because he was keeping watch over his friend Nakhti, to ensure the crocodilian lizard-man didn't hurt his new friend. After stepping in to intervene, he was invited to join them, albeit hesitantly.

Whenever Shir’s protectiveness starts to show, it becomes very clear in the lizard-man’s attitude and behaviors, rather than his words. He will grow quiet and often give stark warnings to those he has his eyes on.

Otherwise, Shir is rather reserved in most social situations, tending to whisper to allies or pull them away in private, rather than speak up to the group, unless he feels he has to take action, and for a Sandeye, “taking action” has a very combative meaning. If he feels he doesn't understand a situation, he shows hesitation on asking questions or speaking his mind, something Ken'pai has caught on to, and he will often explain things to Shir with seemingly no cause, but the truth is that Ken can see when Shir is getting a bit lost in thought, and does so to explain without forcing the brawler to speak up himself. This is something Shir truly appreciates, as he feels embarrassed at his lack of knowledge about the world...desert-wandering nomads don't tend to keep up with affairs, after all.

With people he considers true friends and allies, Shir completely opens up and his truly inquisitive nature begins to show itself. Shir wants to know more about the world, and interestingly enough has shown fascination in Ken'pai's machine-building occupation.

Sexuality:

Shir is pretty much pansexual, and somewhat demisexual, only finding a person sexually attractive if he has a bond with them, whether that's friendship or...something more. He has shared warmth with both Nakhti and Ken, together and separately. He also finds Tomis somewhat attractive, due to Ken'pai's trust in him, and due to the Warlock's protection of Ken'pai in turn. However, he has never come forward with desires to bed down with Tomis, because Shir can just sense that there's something...off about his abilities, and doesn't know what it is.

Enamored by him originally, Shir actually feels the strongest bond with Ken'pai, choosing to uproot his life in order to accompany the Mechanist. He often says that he enjoys when they “walk the sands together,” and Ken suspects that Shir may have deeper feelings for him, feelings that Ken himself feels for the Warlock.

Abilities:

Shir's combat ability is his tribe's unique form of brawling. It's an unarmed fighting style that mixes elements of Judo, Wrestling, and Kickboxing, and Shir is among the best in his tribe. Able to easily take down his friend Nahkti, who towers over him considerably. Shir is a master at using his opponent's strength against them, and fitting of a Sandeye, even when outnumbered he has the ability to get the upper hand.

Shir has some knowledge of weapon use, but often prefers not to use them with the exception of fist weapons to improve his strikes. He's fairly decent with a spear due to the tribe's need to hunt, and to an extent can do fairly well with a quarterstaff.

Shir's unarmed combat prowess can be quite damaging or even lethal if required, as he knows how to easily dislocate limbs, cut off air-flow to the brain, or even snap somebody's neck. When outnumbered, he often turns to swift joint-locks on his opponents' legs in order to incapacitate them at the knees, and if he gets his hands on a set of metal claws, he'd most likely tear the enemy to shreds.

Shir also has very minor magical aptitude, or at least, enough to conjure water from the moisture in the air in order to detect its flow, however has no other applications for this ability, as the amount he can summon is just about enough to make a single drop and not much more.

Because of his training as a Sandeye, Shir has fairly good knowledge of navigation, particularly by using the stars in the night sky. He also has a very extensive knowledge of survival, even more so than Ken'pai learned from his tribe.

1. They’re good friends with benefits. Ken’pai often dotes on Tomis, because he was the first person who befriended him after he was left truly alone in a world that doesn’t tolerate him. Ken’pai secretly hopes that the friendship would develop into something more romantic, but he also understands if it’s not something the warlock wants. He also doesn’t know about Tomis’ need to consume souls, or the source of his magics, so he doesn’t know that Tomis is keeping them a secret for Ken’pai’s sake as well as his own. Ken’pai is a problem solver, for sure, and I’d think that Tomis knows very well that Ken’pai would abandon everything, including his own work, to try to figure out a way to “fix” the warlock’s condition.

Tomis is a pretty heavy flirt though, and Ken’pai still loves the attention he gets from the human. So it’s a bit of a contrivance. Tomis knows that Ken’pai is pretty…devoted to the warlock, sexually.

And of course the sex is very, very nice. Ken’pai’s tribe’s magic actually protects him from soul consumption, so Tomis can really push his powers further with the lizard-man…with consent of course.

2. They met about a year after Ken’pai’s master, Gray died. Ken was alone in the world, and while there was one village that accepted him because of Gray, he often had to travel to get the metals and parts he needed for his machinery. In one such village, he was taunted, and physically attacked by one or several of the townsfolk, and Tomis came to his rescue.

It took a long time for Ken’pai to open up to the warlock. Ken was a very guarded individual, being alone, different, and outcast not only by his former tribe, but from civilized society as a whole. For awhile, he was convinced that Tomis was only manipulating him, and merely wanted something from him (and he was technically correct!).

He finally relented after awhile, because deep down, he didn’t want to be alone, and this one human was his chance at that. He noticed, and probably could smell or sense Tomis’ agitation, not knowing why, and it was probably mentioned to be sexual frustration. Eventually, Ken’pai opened up completely and they bedded down for the night.

At the height of passion, and unknown to Ken’pai, their magics clashed. To Ken’pai, it felt like an explosive climax, but the warlock seemed to change, like flicking a switch. Angered, frustrated, and desperate, Tomis left quickly, leaving Ken’pai alone in the room, wondering just what he did wrong.

This sent him into a deep state of despondency. His sense of self-worth plummeted with the idea that even sexually, there was something wrong, and unwanted about him. A third rejection, from what he felt was his only chance of finding a place in the world.

We haven’t figured out the details about their paths crossing a second time, but Ken’pai didn’t expect it, honestly. He also didn’t expect the warlock to actually approach him and apologize…and it probably took some doing for it to stick. I kinda want to think that in a rare moment for Ken’pai, he just angrily laid it all out on the table, telling the human just how much it hurt him and how angry and lost he felt, and how he was close to giving up on the notion then and there. Tomis is wise though, and through his interactions with people, very understanding, and somehow managed to convince Ken’pai to allow him to accompany the lizard-man. (How this plays out could entirely change of course, we haven’t gone into it in detail yet.)

Since then, Tomis has been somewhat of a guardian and mentor to Ken’pai, both physically and emotionally at times. The bridge had burned, but it was to make way for an even stronger bridge, one that Ken’pai is deeply grateful for. He knows that Tomis doesn’t keep many friends (but doesn’t know why), so he feels honored that he’d be admitted into that small group.

I also think that Tomis would slowly start picking up on Ken’pai’s ability with machines and engineering, given that the warlock is very keenly observant. It’s a slow learning process, compared to what he gains from soul consumption, but I’d bet it sticks a lot better.

So there you go! I’ve actually been thinking about this lately since writing “Midnight Snack,” and maybe if we get some time we’ll sit down and really hash that out, so that I can turn it into a story.

…

And as a bit of admission…that part about being…abandoned during sex…that’s actually happened to me before. In real life. It happened many years ago, and it’s a long story, one that I’m…not ready to tell, but it really did a number on me and my sense of self-worth. I’m really just putting this out there because…well, if it takes me a bit to write that scene? It’s because I’m not ready. Apologies in advance for that.

Sorry for the sudden downer note, but I wanted to be honest.

Light drifted back into his eyes, catching onto a pair of armed men in the far corners next to the door, wearing combat gear that didn't match SecuWatch, that much was certain. Still, it looked rather factory-new, right out of the assembly line, which made sense. Mercenary units were often better equipped for the most part.

A third man stood off to Ken's right, looking away and hunching over a small table. He wore a black t-shirt that clung tightly over his large upper body. Lower down, he was still wearing similar armor to his cohorts, but it was clear that he was in charge. A large holster sat on his left hip, his right hip had an electrical baton hanging down the side. Short, professionally cut hair adorned a light-skinned head, atop a thick neck with a deep scar on the back that ran under his shirt, presumably into the center of his back. On the table were all of Ken'pai's belongings that he had been missing.

“Finally awake?”

His voice was deep, gravely, experienced. Ken'pai had only heard one other person with that level of worldliness to the way they spoke, and that was Tomis. He was definitely in charge.

Perfect.

He had to hold back his smirk.

The man turned around and clasped a thick hand onto the lizard-man's shoulder. “I'm not going to mince words or play up the theatrics. You know why you're here, and so do I. My client knows that you saw something that they didn't want you to see, and they want to make you an offer.”

Ken'pai cleared his throat, smacking his lips and tongue after being dried out from the drugs.

“An offer? From BIOSERV? Can't wait to hear it. How much?”

“How much? You keep quiet, and you don't get to lose teeth. Or implants. Or arms. Or legs. Or maybe...”

A thick, metallic boot stomped down hard on Ken's tail, the reptile yelping in pain.

“Hmm...that was an interesting noise. I wonder if you actually like this...”

Ken'pai growled. “Not...from you...”

The man let out a hearty laugh, walking on Ken's tail with the same foot and putting all his weight on it before stepping off. His merriment wore off quickly, as circled the chair and grabbed Ken's snout like a dog's, forcing their eyes to meet.

“You see...the fact that you know it's BIOSERV is actually a problem...I was hoping that you'd be a little more forgetful than that.”

Ken'pai struggled to speak before the man forcefully released his snout. “It's hard to forget something like that. Industrial sabotage on that scale looks to make BIOSERV a pretty penny whey they have the solution. I'm guessing they're kicking you a little off the top to keep little guys like me quiet.”

The man's eyes widened. He forced a heavy blink in effort to hide his surprise. “To keep criminals quiet, yes.”

“Criminals. Right. Interesting talk from a mercenary.”

“You're quite smug for being tied to a...”

He was stopped short from a noise coming from the nearby table. A deep, rumbling hum, followed by a delightful beeping ring-tone coming from the phone that lay there among Ken's other possessions. He scooped it up and swiped the screen, seeing the words “Incoming call” and a number he didn't recognize. He scoffed.

“You...gonna answer that?” Ken'pai asked.

The man casually lobbed the phone onto the ground, forcing a chuckle as he stomped it, sending bits and pieces of electronics splintering into the air.

“Hey--!”

Ken was silenced by a powerful backhand to the side of his face. He grunted in pain, the sudden impact causing his teeth to slice open his lip slightly. He spat the resulting blood onto the ground, keeping his head hanging there just in case.

The man grasped the top of Ken's head. “Mister Haggard, I don't think you understand how much trouble you're in.”

Not as much as you think, considering you don’t know my real name.

“I know that...” he sputtered, spitting out another load of blood-drenched saliva, “...that even if I do agree, you're still not going to just let me go. Gotta...get your kicks in...right?”

The man huffed and smiled. “Just need to make sure the lesson sticks, that's all.”

“That's...fine...” Ken smirked. “...I had...other plans anyway...”

The red light above the door blinked from red to green, the telltale beep of it unlocking put all three men on high alert, readying their weapons and aiming them toward the door.

Tomis.

The black-cloaked figure darted into the room, wearing a metal mask with lit, purple-tinged eyes under a dark hood. Immediately he thrust a heavy kick to one of the guards, slamming him against the wall and using the momentum to propel him toward the other guard, wrapping his arms around his neck. As the other guard started to stand up, long nanotech-powered metallic tentacles slithered from under the man's black coat, darting across the room and constricting the far guard's throat. They twisted sharply, causing a satisfying snapping sound...almost as satisfying as the one he'd made on the other guard with his own arms.

The two fell the floor, lifeless, as the mercenary leader grabbed a huge pistol and held it against Ken'pai's temple.

“One more step...”

“Do it,” Ken'pai ordered.

Tomis chuckled. “Yeah, do it.”

Growling, the man pressed the barrel in harder.

Tomis took a step forward.

He pulled the trigger, the room echoing its hollow “clink” sound, followed by three warning beeps, and a red LED light on the back of the gun blinked.

“...What the fuck--”

Before he could inspect his gun, he found that Tomis had a machine pistol aimed right at his face, the light on the back blinking green. Ready to fire.

“Now, you're going to put that gun down, and you're going to release my friend here.”

The man slowly, delicately lay his gun on the ground, raising his hands up when he was done. He moved behind Ken'pai, pulling out a small key and unlocking the handcuffs. When finished, Ken'pai darted out of the chair and behind Tomis, rubbing his wrists and rotating his shoulders.

“Sit,” Tomis ordered.

The man kept his arms up, and sat down in the chair. Tomis scooped up the cuffs and attached them to the man's wrists and forced them behind the chair, the captor becoming the captive. Satisfied, Tomis put his gun back into his coat, handing Ken a small device.

“Here's your phone.”

“Thanks man,” Ken said, unlocking the screen and pulling up a few windows within seconds. He moved toward the nearby table and began to pick up the rest of his stuff, shoving it into his pockets.

“Sorry it took so long.”

“Long? Man you were maybe like...a couple seconds later than I thought, that's all.”

“I don't understand!” The bound leader shouted. “How did you get in here?! How did you slip past my men, and the cameras?!”

“Cameras?” Tomis asked playfully. “There were cameras?”

“Oh right,” Ken'pai nodded. “Those cameras.” The lizard-man leered close to his new captive. “See...those cameras haven't been recording anything for the last six hours...they've just been playing an hour-long video loop over and over again.”

Before he backed off, the reptile spat one last round of blood onto the man's face.

“Now mister...Mehnkov, was it? Dmitri Mehnkov?” Ken asked.

The man grumbled. “Filthy criminals...”

Tomis gasped melodramatically. “Criminals?! Man, he called us criminals! That's awful!”

“I know! Especially since SecuWatch has a warrant out for one Dmitri Mehnkov for the kidnapping of a SecuWatch operative!”

“...What...?!”

Ken flicked through his phone, bringing up a screen with Dmitri's face on it, showing his full name, home address, phone number, and ID number. The charges on the warrant matched what Ken'pai had described, showing another status on the bottom. “Wanted: Dead or Alive.”

“I...what is this?! Who are you two?!”

“Just a couple criminals.” Tomis shrugged.

Ken snorted a little, the joke still hilarious in his head. “Sorry about the gun, by the way, but you really should try to distance yourself from the ID-tag system. It's pretty easy to do...well it's easy for ME anyway...and almost undetectable. Plus, you don't run into the issue of having the ID-tag signals jammed from a single cell phone. Mostly why my partner here didn't have to worry much about the guards here.”

“Might want to hire a few more people for patrols too. Without having to worry about the cameras, your security is nothing but holes.”

Dmitri growled and strained against the cuffs, but even his frame wasn't powerful enough to budge them. “So what do you want?!”

“Well, we were thinking we might need your help in taking down BIOSERV. See...we need to make sure that when we do go after them, that we don't get interrupted, so we could use some extra manpower,” Tomis explained.

“And why would I help you do that?”

“Well,” Ken shrugged his shoulders, “other than being tied up here, I could make this nasty warrant go away, because I'm the SecuWatch Operative that you'd kidnapped. It'd be pretty easy for me. But...if you want more incentive, how about this...we pay you what BIOSERV was going to pay you, courtesy of the MegaCorp themselves?”

“What? Why would I ever...”

“Let's see...”

Ken'pai swiped through the phone faster and faster. “They were going to pay you...25000 right? Well here's the thing...somebody working for BIOSERV actually fried quite a lot of valuable, sensitive electronic equipment of mine, so I hope you don't mind, but I had to take that for myself. Reimbursement, you understand.”

“You lousy reptile!”

“Oh, oh don't worry, I didn't take that out of your paycheck, Dmitri. I took that from BIOSERV themselves. What's interesting though, is that your paycheck is never going to arrive.”

“What?!”

“Aww, he doesn't know!” Tomis smiled.

“Know what?!”

“That BIOSERV was never planning on paying you,” Tomis chuckled. “Mercenary units in this city are wise to the MegaCorps' method of hiring by this point, but you...you guys are new here. As evidenced by the traditional, by-the-book methods, the factory-sealed, new equipment, your reliance on ID-tagged gear...it was all your undoing, and BIOSERV knew they could play you for saps.”

“That's...”

Ken'pai shook his head. “It's okay partner, he's not gonna believe us. But maybe he will when I send him copies of the company's emails. They were going to pay you through a dummy account, one that's been designed to look like it had a specific amount in it--namely 25000 credits--but as soon as the transaction was going to be completed, 'oops, the account was hacked! We'll get back to you on your payment!'”

“I...”

“Yeah, I know. They played you in order to get to us. But here's the thing...that 25000 I skimmed off the top? I can do that again, it's actually pretty easy, but this time I'll do it for you instead. Sound good?”

Dmitri growled again and stared at the floor. It was obvious that he knew he didn't have much time to make the decision. Neurons fired as his eyes darted around the room, so many revelations hitting him at once. He didn't like being played for a fool by these guys, but he hated getting the exact same treatment from the MegaCorp that hired him in the first place. All of this as his business was just getting off the ground...

The man looked toward Tomis and Ken'pai, and slowly nodded his head.

“Good!” Ken affirmed, moving behind Dmitri and undoing the handcuffs. Before the man stood up, he found the machine-pistol aimed at his face again. “Stay,” came the command. Like a dog.

Ken'pai moved toward the door, which slid open in a satisfying hiss. Tomis backed toward the door himself, staying between the two and making sure Mr. Mehnkov remained seated. Ken flicked through his phone again, waiting for a process to finish before nodding.

“There. The emails should be in your phone now, this might be a good time to look through them, because this door's lock isn't going to open again for another 45 minutes. I'll contact you in exactly 72 hours. Be ready to respond. I'll use Haggard as my call sign.”

“I...understand...” Dmitri replied, pulling out his phone.

“Sorry about having to do this by the way,” Ken conceded, “it was really the only way to get your attention on the matter without you getting so...hostile.”

“Take care,” Tomis said, waving while holding the gun.

The door hissed shut, leaving Dmitri alone with his device. The first thing he did was run a search on any warrants for his arrest, which he was relieved to find were non-existent...the lizard kept his word. Soon, he opened his emails and found that once again, Ken'pai was correct. They corroborated what he'd said almost down to the letter, even the part about blaming the dummy account being hacked.

A single light bulb burned its light against his skin.