A few streets away, two Blood with a dark red-brown hue were cowering in an alleyway. Both were smaller than the average person and seemed like respectable civilians. The smaller of the two looked like a monstrous red squirrel. He had large, round, yellow eyes with light patches surrounding them. Over his left eye was a wooden monocle. His long bushy tail was raised. A thick brown fur collar with some wooden elements kept his neck warm.

The taller Blood looked like a quivering well-dressed chipmunk. She wore a thick velvet-purple fur collar, fastened with ornate wooden buttons. Wrapped around her wrists were intricate wooden bracelets. She was slender with a sharp, pointed muzzle and small but prominent ears. Her bushy tail was tucked beneath her.

The squirrel-Blood held an arm out protectively in front of her. “Stay behind me, Chippy,” he whispered.

It was an abysmal attempt to protect his companion from the two larger, bulkier Blood looming over them. Although they were quite buff, their faces appeared young — immature even. Chippy had offered to give them her favourite accessories, but they scoffed at the notion saying those things were “utterly-z worthlezz” to them. They were seeking jewels and precious metals, but regular metals were acceptable too.

The smaller of the two thugs had four muscular arms and resembled a wasp. He had a dark chrome complex and golden, bulging eyes. Metallic spikes protruded from his wrists. He also sported a fur collar around his neck, but it was black and less pronounced than the others’. Tattoo carvings — indented patterns — lined his arms. The one on his back formed a flying hornet. His silver wings were tucked away. Chippy had heard the other *ruag call him ‘Wassp’, who snapped back saying it was ‘Wazp-z’.

Wazp easily lifted the trembling squirrel-Blood by the collar. He squirmed as his feet left the ground.

“Kip!” shrieked Chippy. Her enormous, glossy pink eyes grew larger.

“What-z do-z you-z mean-z you-z got-z no-z welcome-z gift-z for-z the-z bozz?! Huuh-z?!” questioned Wazp, shaking him while talking so rapidly that his words almost slurred together.

“S-sorry … I c-couldn’t quite catch that …” said Kip with a shaky voice.

The other thug, a snake-Blood, looked very irritated at his partner. “It'ss
‘the bossss’,” he contended with a raspy voice.

The snake had lackluster yellow slit-like eyes. His back was dark chrome while his front transitioned into a dull yellowish hue, just like a garden snake. Fancy wooden accessories carved into snake-like patterns slithered around his forearms and neck. He had what looked like shed snake skin fastened around his waist, barely scraping the ground. Valuable stones were semi-embedded into his skin, mostly in his knuckles. Rather than having legs, he had a long thick tail.

The ruags had fought over the snake-Blood’s name. Wazp had mocked him, saying he couldn’t pronounce his own name right, which was Hyzzzz. The snake had hissed back that his name was, in fact, Hyssssssss. Chippy was certain that both had an accent, but was inclined to go with the snake’s version. After all, it was his name. She deduced that he was actually called Hyssss, since he pronounced ‘s’ two times longer than usual. Chippy couldn’t understand why the two ruags would be using their names so freely in the middle of a robbery — in fact, they hadn’t even bothered to disguise themselves.

“The-z bozz!” argued Wazp, tossing Kip in agitation as he turned to face the giant snake. Kip yelped as he crashed to the ground beside Chippy, crushing his precious monocle to pieces. The two looked at each other and nodded, Kip still slightly dizzy from all that shaking.

“The bossss!!”

The two civilians began to liquefy into silvery globs, slowly sneaking away as the thugs continued their debate.

CRUNCH!

Ruag - Rogue, delinquent