Fragile Sentinel

[riku]

Riku sat on a large rock in northern Hyrule Field. The blue-haired boy stared with a certain amount of anxiousness toward the sky. Clouds moved and shifted along them but all he could think of was the thing that he'd never spot: Riku's birthplace, the City in the Sky. The Hybrid had made sure to check that his family was OK after a huge chunk of it had fallen to the land below, thankfully they were, but the fact that such a disaster happened at all was unsettling. As much as he spoke of wanting to protect his loved ones it was almost unimaginable that such a huge threat would actually fall upon them so suddenly.

"Did I find the Sentinels just in time or far too late?" the half-Oocca asked nobody in particular. The wind tickled his face and reminded the Hybrid of the dryness in his throat. Riku's hand almost moved to grab a bottle of water but he stayed it. Not wasting what water he could carry was part of his personal training. The teen was determined to prove that he could endure a little dryness until the real symptoms of his condition started to kick in.

Riku had met the other Sentinels and some Hylian Knights when he officially joined as a new recruit but didn't know what to think of them all yet. What sort of training would his new "Master" Rwaht put him through? That was a big question. Bigger still on his mind was what sort of beliefs would the Sentinels try to imprint upon him when it came to their duty.

Riku sighed. He wanted to become strong enough to go home and protect his younger siblings. Right now that idea was a joke but, while he wouldn't rush it, the desire occupied his mind as the half-Zora continued to stare into the sky.

[Hulio ... Heatstreak]

Riku was by no means a lucky boy. Cursed with a near vampiric thirst for water, a single, useless wing and a general crappy life, being inducted into the Sentinels was probably one of the happiest moments he'd had in a long time. However at this point, even the Goddesses would cringe at Riku's incoming fate. Finally, a spark of happiness for him, and some real training so he could get stronger and protect those he loved! Rwaht was a strict, but fair teacher and Riku would no doubt grow into a mythic warrior under his tutelage. Unfortunately, Rwaht was busy today.

Hulio was not.

Rwaht had told him to 'make friends' with Riku. To 'break him in' so to speak. Hulio had gotten the first part. The second, he had simply shortened to "Break him". The mexican had never before trained someone, he himself didn't have a clue where his own training came from. He chalked it up to simply being a god of a man and having a decade of experience under his belt. His boss had told him that Riku showed a lot of promise, that he had a sort of spark behind the eyes that was filled with an epic desire. He simply needed training to overcome his flaws. Hulio had also been highly warned not to take Riku with him into his normal haunts as Rwaht didn't want him horribly corrupting the boy. He pouted as he stomped through Hyrule Field to the meeting place. That meant that Riku would get no true experience, and it ran the risk of a break down in the middle of combat when he faced the real thing head on. So Hulio would circumvent the lack of experience with a simple tactic.

Make his training even more horrible than the real world could ever possibly be. Easily accomplished by just standing next to Hulio but Riku would have the misfortune of being forced to listen to his directions.

He had decided to wear his second-to-seventh most favorite purple leather jacket for this. He needed to show a bit of authority after all. His manner, appearance, and overall feel would no doubt jar Riku a bit. The rest of the Sentinels held some kind of common decency between themselves. Even Vriska could sugar-coat her words and act in a courteous manner. Hulio could not. He was a Consul, yes, but he was the man drenched in mud figuratively. Was a job just a bit too dirty for Rwaht? It fell to Hulio. Perhaps they needed information that came from sources so deep underground it was all in chinese? Hulio got the goods. No one in the Sentinels save Rwaht respected Hulio, and he was fine with that. Rwaht was a good man with a good head on his shoulders, so the gunslinger was fine with taking the heat for a good friend. After all, only he and Rwaht knew that what kept the Sentinels safe and going behind closed doors was all thanks to Hulio.

Riku would learn today exactly what kind of world he had stepped into. That even beyond his vast misfortune, there was still an entire level of society just waiting to rip him apart.

He arrived at the meeting spot and took a good look around, trying to find Riku. He found him perched on a large rock and held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. He seemed to like blue clothing. A single wing? That was odd. They were hybrids, but only Riku looked the part. Hulio was even more impossibly mixed than him yet came off as much less foreign in appearance.

"EY!!"

He called, probably popping whatever daydream bubble Riku would have.

"YOU!! YEAH YOU!!"

He shouted, waving his arms at the hybrid.

"GET DOWN HERE YOU LITTLE SH*T!! HOW THE HELL DO I TRAIN YOU IF YOU PERCH YOURSELF LIKE A FREAKING EAGLE UP THERE!!"

[riku]

Riku was just starting to have trouble keeping his mind on his goals and away from an ever-growing desire to drink all the water in Hyrule with one gulp. Thankfully(?) a certain distraction appeared just in time to keep Riku from becoming obsessed enough to attempt a rain dance in the hopes that the clouds he was watching might be amused and decide to offer some relief. Said distraction proceeded to yell at the teenager and call him a derogatory name, which easily captured the Hybrid's full attention.

Whoever this intruder of Riku's private thoughts was the man sure did look authoritative and jarring in that fine purple jacket.

Not one to keep people waiting the half-Oocca quickly turned upon his perch toward Hulio and pushed himself off of the tall rock with his hands. In an action that made him seem light as feather the boy with hollow bones lifted up off of the rock and then descended down toward the ground, landing with barely a sound. The movement would have seemed nimble to most Humans and clumsy to most Oocca but to Riku's standards it was neither extreme, just somewhere in between. The boy was still getting used to his new Sentinel-issued armour and the weight it added to his body. Luckily the swordsman's normal clothing was so light and baggy that he easily wore it beneath the garments he always had on, rendering the extra protection basically invisible.

"Oh! Consul Heatstreak!" Riku said with surprise once he was on the ground next to his superior officer. The boy was new to military life but held vast respect for anyone who lived it themselves. Upon identification of the newcomer the half-Zora promptly stood at attention, his posture straight as an arrow. "It is an honour to see you again, sir!"