World of Demi-Humans: Freshmen Orientation(w/audiobook)

Class 09J09 - Ivanov, Vladimir [Pride and Honor]

"They say every day is a gift. Well, not anymore. Not after this. Now every day is a reward. A reward earned by every person who made it through these times. A reward we will cherish. A reward we will pass on."

-General Theodore Smith, 1972, Victory Speech After The Horde Invasion

Pride and Honor

Vlad walked the back lanes whenever he could. People weren't scared of him exactly, but they always seem to keep an extra eye on him. Move a little more carefully. He didn't blame them. He had claws that could cut them clean open. It would have been as stupid as leaving heavy machinery unsupervised to just drop one's guard around a ludoyashay. No matter how peaceful they were. Even a pacifist like Vlad.

So he walked the back lanes that were just wide enough for emergency and utility vehicles to use as needed. Of course, this was plenty wide for Vlad. Even the largest of the ludoyashay were outsized by an ambulance, even if they could turn it into ribbons.

Vlad stopped at the edge of one housing block and scanned the street in front of him. No one was on the sidewalks and the road itself was also empty. Vlad stepped back and in a single leap crossed over into the back lane of the next block and continued on. He was just about halfway through when the feeling hit him. Something was hunting him. Vlad opened his senses and searched the area. His eyes were capable of individual movement and his sockets were near the corner of his skull which allowed him to rotate his vision to an almost full circle around him. His ears and nose were just as advanced in the task of detection and even his tongue could pick up extra information. However, none of them could sense anything. Still, Vlad felt his hearts increase their pumping. His large primary fed the whole of his body and brought his muscles and skin the extra oxygen they would need in a fight. His smaller sub-heart that usually laid still began its circulation around his organs and kept them functioning as his first heart focused on the fight at hand.

Rather it would, if there was a fight. Nothing came at Vlad but still his senses told him danger was near. His scales shifted loose, ready to provide both protection and flexibility, in response to the unknown danger. Vlad kept on marching. If there was something then he needed to get home, to the safety of his family. As he came to a cross way he looked down both directions. Left, then right. All clear. He started to continue when a rattling came from the left. Vlad snapped his body to the sound and saw the lid of a trash can rolling around. At the exact moment it became too late Vlad noticed that there were no trash cans around for the lid to have fallen off of.

A massive bulk slammed into Vlad and he flew into a wall sending a web of cracks into it. The bulk followed and grabbed Vlad around the neck before he could do anything. The bulk hoisted him up squeezing his neck enough to prevent him from slipping out and started to viciously rub the top of his head bellowing, "Noogie, noogie, noogie."

Razputin laughed as his little brother struggled under his strength. "Raz! Let me go."

"Come on now little Vladimir." Raz tightened his grip around Vlad's head, "It's your fault for letting me sneak up on you."

"I didn't let you. I tried to find you." Vlad explained.

"Da. Like prey you watched and waited. You must learn to act. Not react."

"Whatever. Just let me go."

"No. You must free yourself, as I know you can."

"Raz, I'm a pacifist. You know-"

"Bah!" Raz cut him off, "That means nothing. You are still ludoyashay. Act like one."

Vlad continued to struggle, but Raz's grip was too tight to slip. He couldn't claw his way out and Raz was too tough for even his strongest blows. Vlad instead took his tail that was as nimble as a needle and as strong as a sledge hammer and wrapped it around Raz's ankle pulling before his brother could even notice. In the loss of balance, Vlad shifted his weight into Raz and leaped using his body to rotate them into a position that had Vlad slamming himself down into Raz and then using the moment to break free and leaping again. Vlad landed on his feet and balled his fist ready to fight. But Raz just laughed on the ground.