Finished filling out my character profile and other stuff I do for my OC Ryder so now it's time for his little short story.
This story is more lore heavy than Inigo's was and has more relevance to the actual story I'm going to write. I also wanted these short character stories to only have the character I'm writing it on, but this one kind of has others, but it's just mentions and little flashbacks, but it's okay. There's some stuff in this story that might need a bit of context because of my world building which I'll explain at the end, and anything else that is confusing that I didn't explain can just stay confusing I guess.
Here's the moodboard I made for the story and ejoy :)
He was left alone on the edge of the market, a bag of coins Drenge had given him in his hand before leaving with his dad to find some supplies for the ship.
“Narme doesn’t have any sort of translators or transfers,” Drenge had explained. “We don’t have the same sort of technology and machines that other planets have. So you have to use our coins.” Drenge had given him approximately 1100 Kowne, Narme’s currency, which Ryder knew exchanged to about $200 in his home planet’s currency. That should buy him a decent amount while he roamed.
Saria had gone with Drenge and Al, meaning Ryder was free to go wherever he wanted, within reason of course. He supposed Saria wanted to spend as much time with their father and their teacher as she could. Drenge and Al were leaving that night, taking one of the baby-patrol ships and using it as their new home, roaming space together while Ryder took over as captain. He was looking forward to it.
Almost every person he passed smiled and waved cheerfully at him. Narme was such a friendly planet, he thought. Every person he had met so far seemed extroverted and bubbly and more than happy to start up conversations with everyone they came across. It was strange that Drenge of all people had come from here. He was definitely the odd one out within his people, quiet, seemingly unemotional and introverted as he was.
A couple people at some stalls called out to him, offering the items they had on sale. The market stalls ranged from selling clothes and garments to food and drink to little trinkets and collectables. Ryder eyed some of them, admiring some little wood carved animals on display. They reminded him of the little creations Drenge used to whittle for him when he was little, and later on for Saria when she came along. He picked up one that was of a cat, turning it around in his fingers to inspect it. He was interested in how different Narmein cats were from other planets’ cats. It was well known throughout the universe and other galaxies that all the animals and creatures were similar, and although words changed from language to language, the names all remained the same. But each planet’s animals had key differences that separated them from others. It was almost as if whatever gods possibly created them had blueprints for the animals, and simply changed small things about them to make them more unique. Now that he thought about it, people were like that as well.
“Hello young man,” the person at the stall greeted, speaking in the universal tongue every planet understood. They must have recognised from Ryder’s clothes that he was not from there. “I see you have your eye on that there. Tell me, would you be interested in buying something at my stall today?” They smiled brightly at him, their hands clasped together in front of them.
“Maybe,” Ryder replied. “How much are they?”
“Small ones are 80 kowne, large ones are 140, and the middle ones are 110.” They gestured to the cat in his hand. “That would be 80.”
Ryder flipped it round in his hand again, his thumb grazing the smooth wood. For such a small piece of wood it was beautifully carved and whittled, and the cat itself was rather cute looking. “Did you make these?”
“Aye, I did. Me and my partner. My partner made that cat and all the other animals and I made the rest.”
“They’re very good,” Ryder said, meaning it. It wasn’t often he felt the need to compliment people, but he felt the crafter deserved it. They beamed at him.
“Why thank you,” they smiled. “So, are you interested?”
“Sure.” He placed the cat on the table again as he dug through the bag of coins, producing 80 kowne. $15, he thought to himself, exchanging the money in his mind. He handed it to them, the coins clinking in their hand.
“Thank you. It’s much appreciated. And I’ll be sure to tell my partner your kind words when I see him tonight. Have a good rest of your day!”
“You too,” Ryder replied, and walked away. He kept inspecting the wooden creature for a little while more as he walked away before pocketing it. There was a small group of people playing what looked to be homemade string instruments, and one person hitting a make-shift drum. There was a singer standing at the front of the group, performing a song Ryder had never heard before. Very folksy feeling.
Another stall caught his eye up ahead, Narme’s red sun glinting off of the items. Beautifully crafted knives and swords were on display, strong and well-weilded blades and hilts ranging from plain and simple to bejewelled and elegant. One specific dagger drew his attention the most. It was a pitch black blade, a Bevingede Øgle decorated the hilt. A Bevingede Øgle, Ryder knew, translated in the common language to Winged Lizard. Essentially, it was a dragon. Narme was one of the only planets he knew that actually had dragons, or dragon-type creatures. But so far, during his stay, he was yet to see one. The dagger was definitely not suitable for fighting, but Ryder didn’t need another weapon. He had plenty. But there was nothing wrong with having a collection of beautifully crafted daggers such as this. He peered at the price card set in front of it. 550 kownes. A lot cheaper than he had expected.
The person at the stall finished up a conversation they had been with another customer and noticed Ryder. They turned to him, leaning their hands on the table in front of them.
“Why hello there,” they greeted. “How can I help you today?”
“Just looking at this,” Ryder told him. The seller’s eyes slid down to the dagger, and they nodded approvingly.
“Yes. I’m rather proud of that one. You can pick it up if you want. Just try not to stab anyone with it.” They laughed and Ryder gave them a half-smile. He picked up the knife, turning it this way and that. The sun gave the blade a slight red tinge, making it look like it was lightly coated with blood. It was very appealing.
“Say,” the seller said, an interested look crossing their face. “You’re not from here are you? I can hear it in your accent.”
“And I can hear in your accent you are from here,” Ryder replied and the seller laughed good naturedly.
“That I am! I can also see it in your clothes. And that weapon on your belt. You won’t find any of those around here.”
Ryder looked down at his gun. Narme was a very old-fashioned planet, or as his dad would call it, very medieval. No devices, technologies or machines were found anywhere, other than the ones tourists such as Ryder would temporarily bring in with them. Their clothes were all plain coloured, a huge difference to the graphic hoodie with the giant Queen crest Ryder was wearing.
“So where are you from exactly?” the seller asked.
“Earth,” Ryder said, looking back to the knife. The seller’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
“Never met anyone from Earth before,” they said. “I heard you were all closed off from everyone else. Something about your governments not wanting contact from outside.”
“Something like that.” He left out the fact that he hadn’t actually been to his home planet in twenty-four years, and he had no memory of it. If he were to go back somehow, he would be a foreigner in his own home. But it felt irrelevant to bring it up.
“Shame what happened to it,” the seller said, then changed the subject. “So, are you interested in buying?”
“I might come back later,” Ryder put the knife down. The seller nodded their understanding.
“I get it. Wanna look around a bit more first? That’s all good. But it’ll be waiting for you if you come back. As far as I know you’re the first one that’s been interested in it.” They made a farewell and Ryder continued on. For about another ten metres before a sign stopped him in his tracks.
Katter som søker et godt hjem.
Ryder quickly translated the words as best he could, remembering the lessons on Narmein Drenge had taught him. Cats looking for a good home. Low prices. Maximum 550 K. That was only $100!
Ryder had been thinking for a while he could use a pet. People were so annoying and boring. He was alright with spending most of his time alone, but spending it with a pet would be even better. The sign had a big red arrow painted on the bottom, pointing down a small trail. Without hesitating, Ryder followed it.
It was a very quick walk, but sure enough up ahead Ryder could see a small wooden pen housing a least dozen cats inside. Four people were sitting around. Two adults standing at a small table, talking, and two children inside the pen playing with the cats. One of the adults, a person with long blonde hair, looked up as he approached.
“Can we help you?” they asked. Their smile was the same as the two other stall handlers and every other person he had met so far.
“You’re the ones selling the cats?” Ryder asked and they nodded.
“Yes we are. Are you looking for one? We’ve been having some trouble getting rid of them.”
The other one seated at the table, a tall and well-built person, stood up now, walking up to them and wrapping an arm around their partners shoulders. Married, probably. “We work with rescuing animals,” they explained. “We find them, help them, and then try and find a home for them. But this lot specifically has been rather hard to sell. They were all rescued together, you see. They’re from the same litter and they’re very attached to each other. It seems they don’t want to leave without at least a couple of the others coming with them, and most people aren’t willing to buy multiple cats at once. We’re just trying to get them a home. So we marked the prices down so they might be more appealing. But so far no luck.”
Ryder looked over at the cats. A couple were jumping around the children, others were resting in the afternoon heat. One was curled up in the corner of the pen, appearing to be resting but Ryder could see its bright green eyes peering out from its black fur, staring at him.
“Can I see them?” he asked and both people nodded their heads enthusiastically. They opened the pen for him and spoke to their children in Narmein, telling them to move out the way. Two of the cats approached him immediately, rubbing their long fur against his legs. He bent down and gave them small rubs along their back, marvelling at how soft they felt. But his eyes were on the cat in the corner.
“Ah,” he heard from behind him as he moved closer to it. “That one. This’ll be interesting.”
Ryder glanced curiously behind him for a second but mostly ignored them. The cat moved when Ryder was a few feet away from it, lifting its head to watch him. Ryder stretched his hand out to it. It looked at his fingers for a few seconds before standing and walking towards him, sniffing at his finger tips. Standing as it was, Ryder could see it properly. Its long fur was black across most of its body, but its legs were white, fading into red at its feet. Under its chin was also a dark shade of red. It made it look like the cat had torn someone apart and had walked through the blood.
One of the children gasped as the cat began to lick at his fingers. “Han stiller ikke til valg!” they exclaimed.
Ryder moved his hand to stroke the cat behind its soft ears, and the creature leaned into his touch.
“Wow!” The taller partner said. “I’ve never seen that one do that before! He’s usually more cautious of strangers. He must like you.”
Ryder almost grinned at that. To him, hearing an anti-social animal liked him was the highest honour. “How much is he?”
“450 kownes,” they replied. “Will you take him?”
Ryder nodded. “I think so.” He stood up, leaving the cat temporarily as he sorted through his coins. He was directed towards the table where they produced some papers and a box full of coins.
“Place the coins here,” they said. “Ada will count them while we sort this out.” Their blonde partner, Ada, scooped Ryder’s money into a pile as he dropped them on the table and began counting at a shockingly fast pace. While they did that, the other seller pushed one of the papers towards Ryder, a quill and bottle of ink next to it.
“Sorry it’s not in Felleskee,” they said. Felleskee, Ryder knew, was the Narmein word for the universal language—every planet had a different name for it. “But it’s just the legal papers saying it’s your responsibility now and legal ownership and all that. You promise to take good care of him, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Ryder said. He could read a good majority of the paper, and it was just as they said—a bunch of legal crap he didn’t care about. There was a space at the bottom of the form for his signature, which he wrote down with a quick swipe of his hand. Another two papers were pushed next to him.
“This one here,” the seller said, tapping an identical form to the one Ryder had just signed, “is the same as that one. It’s your copy that you get to take. We keep the other one.” They moved their finger to the last paper. “And this is just an adoption certificate. You could put it on your wall or something. But you need to sign both of these as well.” They kept explaining a few last things as Ryder wrote his signature on the other two papers. “All the cats have been checked and as far as we know they’re all nice and healthy. None of them have names yet. We thought the kids would get too attached if we did. So naming him is entirely up to you.”
“All paid for,” Ada said, having finished their counting and confirming Ryder had paid the correct amount. “He’s all yours.” Then they turned to their kid. “Hilde, kjære, kan du være så snill å ta med katten hit?”
The kid nodded and picked the cat up. Ada eyebrows rose in surprise as the cat made no protest to being lifted, and made no attempt to stay with his family.
“Seems he’s more than happy to go with you,” Ada said to Ryder. “Usually they would all start clawing at us to stay together.”
Some of the other cats walked after the kid and the cat, wanting to say goodbye to their brother, but the cat himself made no move to be released. The kid gently lifted him into Ryder’s arms, and Ryder held him gently, feeling his soft fur brush against his arms.
Ada picked up the papers and handed them to Ryder, he awkwardly took them, trying not to drop the cat. He thought for a couple seconds about what the best way to hold them would be, then gave up and just held them between his teeth. Ada and the kids laughed.
“That’s one way to do it,” they said. “Take good care of him, will you?”
Ryder nodded. “Of course,” he said, or tried to say. With the papers in his mouth it came out more as “Mmf mmm.” Ada smiled again and waved him goodbye.
The cat seemed very comfortable in Ryder’s arm, looking at him curiously with his bright green eyes. The sun was setting behind the distant hills, and he decided it was about time he got back to the ship, the ship that was now his. He decided to walk back the way he came, but first, he wanted to stop back at the weapons stall and buy that dagger.
Lots of people he passed gave warm smiles to the cat and a couple kids pointed him out to their parents, who then calmly told them it was rude to stare.
When Ryder got closer to the stall, the seller recognised him instantly. Ryder spat the papers out of his mouth, hoping they wouldn’t just fly away. Luckily, they didn’t, and instead landed on the cat and the edges tucked themselves in between the cat’s body and Ryder’s chest. A much more efficient way of handling them.
“Ah, you’re back,” they said, then paused. “With a cat?”
“I bought a cat,” Ryder told them, rather unnecessarily.
“Yes, I can see that. And are you going to buy the dagger?” They lifted the dagger in question up, holding it out to Ryder. Ryder nodded.
“Yeah. How much was it again?”
Ryder fished through his coins, quickly got impatient of counting and just tossed the whole bag. “Just take the whole lot and keep the change. It’s only like another twenty.”
The seller nodded and dumped the whole bag into a box under the table. They took the knife and wrapped the blade in a fine cloth, which they then tied with a piece of string. Then, they handed it to Ryder hilt first.
“There ya go,” they grinned. “It’s all yours. Pleasure doing business with you.”
Ryder stared at the knife for a few seconds, then down at the cat. Understanding dawned in the seller’s eyes. “Oh, right,” they said. “Hand the cat here for a moment so you can get everything together.”
Ryder moved to do so, but the cat protested, digging his claws into Ryder’s hoodie and tearing tiny holes into it. Ryder looked down at it, annoyed. “Really?” The cat just stared back at him, with the most unimpressed look a cat could muster, matching Ryder’s own look. Then he squirmed around before jumping out of Ryder’s arms. The papers fell with him, but the cat quickly sat down on them, preventing them from flying away.
The seller laughed. “Smart one, it is.” They held the dagger back to Ryder, who could now take it. Ryder shoved the wrapped blade into the waist band of his jeans then bent down to pick the papers out from under the cat. He folded them into smaller squares and slipped them into his back pocket. He was just about to pick the cat back up but the second he stretched his arms out, the cat jumped back into them, and snuggled up to him comfortably in his hold.
Ryder looked down at him, and only someone that knew him well would be able to see the fondness in his gaze. The rest of his face remained blank as he farewelled the seller, and walked away, knowing he had chosen the right cat.
Al said goodbye to his kids, as did Drenge. They had boarded everything they needed onto the baby-patrol ship that would be detached from the ship and become their new home. The ship had five of them, and at most only three were used at the same time, so they all decided it would be okay for the two men to take one. They had everything set up, and they were ready to go off on their own, roaming around space together and leaving the ship and crew in Ryder’s hands.
Before they left, Ryder’s ID card had been updated from an orange stripe, to a red one—the sign of a captain. Now, he was lying on his bed in his room, having nothing else to do but ponder about his new freedom and the responsibilities that would come along with it. He always knew one day he would take over as captain, Al and Drenge had been training him for it ever since he was old enough to hold a sword, and if he didn’t want it, the job would go to Saria. But he didn’t think it would be this soon. He always imagined it would be when Drenge and Al both had grown older and decided they couldn’t keep up the job anymore, not when they had simply gotten bored and wanted to travel. Or when they died. And he certainly thought he would be much older. As many people would say, early twenties is way too young to be piloting and commanding a crew and ship as big as his. But he knew he could prove anyone who said that wrong, and he knew it would be hilarious when he saw their faces as they realised he could do the job much better than they ever could. It was the benefit of learning the craft since the age of five.
The cat was lying on his chest, his tail flicking back and forth slowly and lightly wrapping around his arm. Earth cats, his dad had told him once, usually did that when they were annoyed, but Drenge had assured him that Narmein cats did it to show affection.
Ryder felt like he had been chosen. When he had introduced the cat to his family, he had not responded as well with them as he had with Ryder. He seemed comfortable enough around Saria, sniffing her fingers and giving her a calm stare before returning to Ryder’s side. Al had instantly showered him with pats, scratches and affection. The cat had made sounds of annoyance, but had made no move to walk away or stop him. He was irritated, but in a way he enjoyed it. It mirrored Ryder’s own feelings towards his father’s displays of affection.
The real fun had been when Drenge tried to meet him. Instantly, the cat had hissed at him, and swiped at his hand that had barely been near him, his claws cutting Drenge. Drenge had broken his usual blank expression to glare at the cat. Al laughed at his friend as he bandaged his hand, making jokes that because Drenge was also Narmien, the cat saw him as competition.
“There can only be one Narmien on board,” Al had laughed. Drenge muttered something in his language, that Ryder could roughly translate to “won’t be round for long.”
The cat was licking Ryder’s hand now. Al had told him Earth cat’s tongues were rough, and felt like sand paper. But this felt soft, in a strange way like silk. It was nice. Ryder rolled onto his side, the cat falling off him onto the mattress as he did. He crawled up on his pillows so both cat and human were facing each other directly.
“You need a name,” Ryder said aloud. “I can’t just keep calling you The Cat, right?”
Ryder smiled as he stroked his new friend’s ears. “How about Drenge Jr? I bet he’d love that. I bet you’d love that.”
The cat gave him the best scowl a cat was capable of. Ryder laughed.
“Fine. Not that then.” He thought for a few seconds, but no names came to mind. He decided he needed some inspiration.
He jumped up from the bed, startling the cat, and ran to his wardrobe, where a box of his dad’s old books from Earth was kept. He pulled it out and flicked through pages, trying to find a name that stuck out. Eventually he pulled out a dirty-yellow and black coloured book. The book had some cartoon character on it. That wasn’t relevant to him however. He looked at the author’s name: Adrienne Kress. Neither of those names sounded cat-like. He flipped through the pages, seeing if any of the character names would catch his eye. Finally, he found one. He looked up at the bed, where the cat was sitting on the edge, watching him curiously.
“How do you feel about Sammy?”
The cat gave a small flick of his tail. Ryder slammed the book shut and tossed it carelessly back in the box. “Cool. You’re named Sammy now.” He stood up and kicked the box back into his wardrobe. He jumped back on the bed and pulled the cat, now dubbed Sammy, onto his lap. Sammy made no protest, just accepted his fate as Ryder stroked his back for the next few minutes.
That night, Sammy slept right on Ryder’s pillow, directly next to him. And the next morning, as Ryder was getting breakfast with Saria, he carried Sammy around with him, introducing everyone to the new addition to the crew. Shortly after, as Ryder’s first command as captain, he made it a rule that anyone who hurt Sammy would be, in his words, “condemned and trialed for their heinous crime, before getting ejected from the ship and fired.” The outcome of the trial didn’t actually matter, it was more of a formality. Anyone who hurt Sammy would be gone.
Thank you for reading it. Now, for some context:
The knife in the moodboard is the knife that I found that inspired the one that Ryder, and the cat in the moodboard is a Norwegian Forest Cat, which is what Sammy is based on. He looks closer to the one on the left, except he doesn't have the white on his front, just his legs, and then he has the red. I also didn't know this when writing it, but apparently Norwegian Forest Cats are bigger than usual cats, so Sammy's a big boy.
Narme is Drenge’s home planet, and the culture is based on Norway, so the language is Norwegian, and the currency is just the Norwegian currency but with a different name. Ryder’s home planet currency is New Zealand dollars since him and Al are from New Zealand originally.
Drenge and Al used to captain the ship together, but then left to do their own thing. They semi-retired so they could just travel around, but they still sometimes respond to distress calls that are nearby. The baby-patrol ships are little ships that can eject from the main one. They’re probably about the size of three bedrooms put together. They usually get sent out whenever they need to do a job but there’s no point redirecting the entire ship to it, because that ship is massive. Drenge and Al just take one of those to live on, and it is very small for them. They share a room with Drenge’s giant badger named DJ.
Narmein’s don’t have a concept of gender. They have sex’s but they don’t assign genders to them. They heard other planets using pronouns and just thought they sounded cool and sounded like an easier way to address each other and chose pronouns based on what they thought sounded the best, and they change them sometimes. Drenge used to be a she/her before meeting Al. That’s why I just used they/them for everyone but Ryder and Sammy, and it did get a bit confusing when Ada and their partner were there, but I think I pulled it off. Their entire planet is agender technically.
Sammy is technically named after Sammy Lawrence from Bendy and the Ink Machine. That book by Adrienne Kress is a Bendy book and he found Sammy Lawrence’s name. Al used to be a Bendy fan. He was born in like 2018, since this is set in the future. So yeah, he’s a gen alpha.
Right, that's all the context I have. If you've read this far, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And feel free to tell me what you thought of it and what you thought of Ryder.
