Find the Ring (LogicalParadox)

First day on the job, huh? Ezriel Lobos could give a sigh as he stepped out of the train station, having travelled all the way here from Era to deal with a certain errand that the Rune Knights had put him up in. He tried to ignore the stares from the people who hurriedly rushed past him, as they tried their best to escape the massive gray werewolf, as if he was going to eat them on first sight. Though they were polite enough to try to limit their staring, the staring that they did not limit were still hard to ignore, causing Ezriel to continue sighing as he quickly moved away from the throngs that moved in and out of the station and headed instead to the address that he had been provided, on the little note that was just far too small to fit even in the palm of his clawed hands. Just as he was about to round a corner to get closer, a tomato smacked him in the back of his head. Ezriel simply shook it off, resigned to his fate as he kept on walking, closing the additional tomatoes that a small group of townsman were now sending at him out of his mind.

Well, what a giga-unlucky first day. First of all, he had woken up nice and easy, avoided smashing his head against the far-too-low ceiling of his room back at the Rune Knight HQ and breakfast had been acceptable, though he had to admit he was not terribly enthusiastic about the bean sprouts and celery. Then he had to do his usual errands, help with hauling equipment, become a punching bag for the young Rune Knights so that they can test out their power, nothing too awful. In fact, he had to giggle as he recalled that little more than an hour before, he got the chance to brawl all-out with ten of the rookie Rune Knights. He can't help but feel amused at the memory of their groaning forms as he beaten all of them with little more than finger-flicks. Sometimes, hybrid vigour does have its benefits.

But then, now he just had to take one look at the Rune Knight's task board and then he suddenly got thrusted by a senior Rune Knight into doing one of the jobs. Not only that, but he had little choice but to be forced into going on the job that the Rune Knight had chosen for him. And the content of this mission irks him a great deal.

He has to find a ring in a river.

Now it's not just the sheer difficulty in doing something like that. Oh no, Ezriel was confident he could do this with his eyes closed and his nostrils open. The scent of the ring was going to be easy to find. The problem is getting it out of the river, because that meant he had to go into the river. And like any normal canine, wolf, fox or any similar relatives, he hates getting himself wet. It was just the way his wet fur sticks together most annoyingly, the way it formed collected tufts of hair that seem to make him look like a porcupine on steroids. No doubt if he returned to the Rune Knights like that, he would be laughed at. Not that they never laugh at him before.

As Ezriel casually dodged an onion(he was not appreciative of its ability to make him cry), Ezriel took another turn around a house and finally found himself where he had to be. And where he dreaded to be. Right in front, its accursed water scrapping against the sides that restrict it like claws desiring to get their ugly fingers on the werewolf, the river was a true monstrosity. And right now, standing in the middle of its thankfully gentle current, no doubt searching for the ring, was Emy Milton.

Trying his best to stay away from the edges of the sacred platform that held him above the beastly waters that separated him and his goal, Ezriel Lobos almost tiptoed on his lithe and clawed feet, trying his best to get as close to his client as possible, but without getting into the water(oh god, he will never go in there). His breathing slow and controlled as he edged close and closer towards the blonde-haired woman, Ezriel could feel the perspiration that dribbled over his scalp. Realizing that Emy had her back turned towards him, Ezriel gave out a small call, not too loud to shock her from her ring searching , but enough to get her attention. "Ms. Emy!"

"Huh?" Her voice was soft and sweet, as if laced with honey, immediately causing Ezriel to imagine her as a nice and gentle woman. And a very desperate one as well, if the anxious annoyance in her voice was anything to go on. The fright in her next voice however was something that Ezriel was always familiar with. Whenever anyone meets him for the first time and see his burly and lupine form, they would say, without fail, "Who are-?!"

Well, most of the time they would say "Who are you?!" but given that in her panic, Ms. Emy fell into the river and was now being pushed away by the current pressing against her entire body.

Maybe that is a bad thing.

"HOLD ON!" He did not know why he said that, but Ezriel said it. Given that the woman was right now rolling through the river screaming and yelling for her life while the current threatened to steal her into the depths, telling her to hold on was the least helpful thing in her situation and he understood that. Even so, he still said it, as he got onto all fours and was now bounding his way beside her struggling form in the river, almost flinching when stray drops nearly touched his precious fur. He knew that it was very selfish to be so self-conscious in this situation, but how can you blame this little wolfey being afraid of a dip?

Alright, self-deception aside, Ezriel knew that he had to do this anyway when he must search for the engagement ring, though it is shame that when he gets back to HQ he will have to spend the rest of the day tidying and grooming his fur back to normal. He might as well do it now, rather continuing to have to deal with the tiring sense of dread of touching water for a little longer. Hence, after two more preparatory hops, Ezriel pushed himself as hard as he could as his back legs drove into the ground and lifted him off in a wide leap towards Emy.

When he entered the river, Ezriel could hear his mind(and Emy) screaming in utter terror at the sensation of water now molesting his scalp and skin. As if he needed more reminder of his plight with showers and baths. Wrapping his tree-trunk-thick arms around the waist of the struggling Emy, Ezriel gritted his teeth as he immediately jammed his legs into the riverbed, his claws sending murky sand and dirt as he successfully brought himself back up and against the river current. Eventually, lifting her over his shoulder, Ezriel broke the river surface as he stood up, having now regained his footing and thus no longer in danger from the current.

As Emy coughed and cackled out the water that had filled her mouth onto his furry back, Lobos just shook his head as he felt the ugly touch of the liquid. "Ms. Emy, would you mind not coughing out your saliva on me?" Ezriel asked politely as he put down the now shivering Emy, making sure that her feet had a good hold on the river bed, so that they can stand facing each other in the middle of the river, while not being swept away by any surprise current or flood.

Now that they are face-to-face, Ezriel got a better look of this young lady and he must say that he was not really surprised that this woman was willing to dive right into a river to get her engagement ring. She probably would do it to save a screaming child, just like he did for her. Her stance was that of pretty much courage and steadfastness, a warrior woman who was just in civilian clothes, though when her voice came out, it gave a totally different story of a sweet and kindly woman. Though as a matter of fact, it might not be that much of a stretch to say she could be both. "T-Thank you!" Her teeth chattered. It was autumn, one of its colder days, and the rising wind was not very helpful for her drenched body.

"You got to get yourself warm. Get out of the river, Ms. Emy, and get dry. I am here to help you find your ring." Maybe it was the water now binding his fur together into horrendous needle-like tufts or his struggle with the river having knocked his head a bit, but Ezriel suddenly felt a sense of desire to help this lady out. Maybe this is what pulls Rune Knights to do what they do and while obviously some are in it for the power it confers them, Lobos wondered whether the Rune Knights are one to help people, rather than being a force of destruction that fights against other forces of destruction.

After a few more exchanges of gratitude, a bow of once again thanks and a considerate description of how her ring looks like, Emy was now out of the river and getting back to her house(the address of which she provided Ezriel), leaving the werewolf alone in his standing in the river. Time to get to work.

Getting down onto all fours but ensuring he is not entirely dunked into the waters, Ezriel recalled the scent of Emy's shirt and thus her body 'perfume'. He felt it rude to call it odour and in fact it would do it a great injustice to call it that. Too bad this woman was getting engaged, else Ezriel might have strove to get to know her better. Not to woo her, ah he was too humble to do something like that. But maybe a friend. A human friend would be nice, as Ezriel tilted his head to dodge a rock being thrown at him by the once again returning angry crowd of anti-were-wolf people. Returning to the task at hand, Ezriel begun to sniff out the ringer, looking for any lingering scent that matched hers. He started out at the far side of the river, slowly letting his nose creep over the water surface in his search, going in deeper in modest steps. When he had reached around three quarters of the river's width, he finally caught what he wanted. A scent trail, straight down the current of the river. This must be the very spot that his client had dropped her ring.

Quickly turning on his heels to follow the trail, Ezriel leapt forth after the ring, hoping that he had been fast enough that the ring had not gone too far down-stream and into the ocean. If that happened, not even his mentor would have the nose to smell it out of the vast entity known as the sea and 'hell' to many a werewolf.

Thankfully, within two minutes of running, Ezriel found that the trail had ended and at its end, as he grabbed it out of water with a swift swipe of his hand, was the sapphire-jeweled ring that shone in the sunlight bath, as if congratulatin Ezriel on a job well done.

At Ms. Emy's house, the lady herself was ecstatic. As the well-soaked and dripping probationary Rune Knight werewolf stood politely at her door, attempting to limit the pools of water that he created around him, Emy was almost cheering in happiness at the sight of her lost ring. No doubt the possibility of losing it forever had crossed her mind and to lose such an important gift from her future husband must indeed have such a depressing effect, so to have that horrible outcome averted made her very happy indeed. And very grateful too, as she rewarded the caught-off-guard Ezriel with a small friendly peck on his wolfish nose. "You got yourself very wet, Mr. Lobos. Perhaps you should stay with us for a while and dry yourself out." She offered with a darling smile, causing Ezriel to slightly stumble as he tried to deal with the jumble of feelings that had sprouted from having a human kiss him for the first time.

Just as he tried to answer that he would rather not make an awful and wet mess in her house and express his appreciation for her heat-warming offer, Ezriel stopped himself when he heard the house door open. Right at the entrance, staring with wide eyes was none other than Emy's husband. Then, his hand went for the broom.

Not much needs to be said about what happened for a period of time. Ezriel getting battered on the head while he stood there nonchalantly and watch as the frightful husband tried to push himself between Ezriel and Emy, which was a very difficult thing to do given that Emy herself tried to push herself between Ezriel and her husband, her voice yelling in an attempt to explain why Ezriel was here. Clearly though, Ezriel could see that both of them were as strong-headed as the other and though he was not one to speak in a house affair, he quickly took action to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

He showed himself the door.

A day later, back at HQ, Ezriel received a letter of thanks from Emy, as well as her husband, who wrote a thousand synonyms of sorry in a single paragraph for his mistake. It also held the jewels he was promised for completing the task, but when he looked at the tiny pouch, he could only felt his eyes fall as he gave another heavy sigh, the werewolf once again rising to his feet so that he could go and get himself some practice in the training grounds. The pent-up aggression in him needed some desperate release.

Of course, he was not careful once again and smashed his head straight into that ever-low ceiling.