AN:Posting this was bloody hard, writing it like pulling teeth. LifeV: Know Your Place - A Ireturned to Metamor after the disaster that was my final exam with one goalin mind; safety. I knew this would be one place I could go to and neverbe in danger from Umaro and Mirna. And when I had returned I discoveredsomething. Iwanted to serve Metamor.
>>>A noble idea! Idon’t know when that happened. I don’t really know what made it happen. ButI wanted to serve Metamor to the best of my abilities. Without exposing mytalents of course. So the question was how do I serve? Notthe Knights obviously, not being trained in any kind of combat. Not in theLong Scouts, who I don’t think existed at the time. I’m sure if I had toldthem about my type of magic they’d have found a place to stick me. But asI said I couldn’t tell them. Most likely Andwyn’s crusty hands would havebeen directing me as soon as he discovered I could read minds. >>>Good point. The bat would use him. SoI found the Watch. Understaffed, underappreciated and underfunded even whenI joined it. The Watch had been around for two-hundred years already andprobably had a lot of pride in itself when it started. By the time I joinedthe Watch it had been drained of all its dignity and hope. Whatwas left was a skeleton of an organization which was the laughing stockof the whole Keep. Payments are slow, uniforms are old and we don’t havea training ground or reliable supply of irons. Buthere’s the strange thing when you cut an organization to the bone. Thosewho are left begin taking a strange kind of pride in it. You’ll see theKnights as the Metamor pretty-boys, the Long Scouts as show offs while knowingthe Watch does the real work. >>>The ironic part? The knights and Longs probably think the same way of >>>themselves! You’renot appreciated and most people don’t know you exist. So the joy you getis from what little justice you can dole out, the order you can bring tothe Keep. Every time you arrest a shaking, screaming Alligator who is threetimes your size, the feeling is indescribable. You’re making the Keep alittle safer, you’re bringing a little more dignity back to the Watch. That’show it feels every day on the Watch, that split between misery and optimism.Your goal is clear, an ordered Keep and you will make it happen. Andyou’ll be spit on and yelled at the whole time. >>>Sounds like a cop in real life too! TheWatch experience creates a kinship among its many Wardens. And beyond thatit creates an instinctive reaction to criticism, defend the Watch. It maybe a withered, barely living organism but we Wardens are keeping it alive. Soimagine that you are me. You’ve worked for years in the Watch, with the longterm goal of ascending to Justicar/Senchel and rewriting the poorly definedlaw codes. Then one day you read the mind of an arrogant knight and discoverthe Watch may lose its charter and be absorbed into the Metamor Keepmachine. Whatdo you do? Inmy case you rush into your Lieutenant’s office in a fugue state, doing itfor the second time in two days. With the benefit of hindsight I can say myLieutenant’s office needed a latch. I made a point of that when...actuallynot relevant. Triche’sfur bristled at my question. He licked his long lips and paused. Twicehe looked liike he was going to say something and then paused again. He’snot talking but I will. Triche’soffice has always been a brown wooden box, to match our brown woodenbox of a Watch House. It had a small fireplace behind Triche’s desk, alwaysmaking me wonder if he ever worried his fur would catch on fire. It hadone small window which faced a courtyard that didn’t get near enough light.And it was poorly ventilated, so even on the best of days it felt stuffy. >>>I've worked in offices like that! Todayit was warmed by a roaring fire, or as roaring as you could do. Light camefrom the candle on Triche’s desk and the two mounted on the wall. At alltimes of day the room was bathed in shadow, illuminated only by small halos,and thick with smoke. In truth I usually felt comfortable in there, perhapsdue to the warmth. Today though I felt nothing but panic. “Sirwe can’t lose our charter,” I said, “Doing so is what gives us the abilityto dispense justice. It gives us the right to exist! Without it we’llbe dissolved! We are the order in thiscity! How can the Duke do thisto us?” My tail was thumping a mile minute, to the point my Lieutenant’sdesk was vibrating. He snorted. “Calmyourself Corproal” Triche said. “And control your tail.” I grabbed it inmy hand. Triche’s eyes locked withmine.. “How did you even come about thisnews?” Oh boy. “Iheard it from,” I swallowed, “From Sir Moss. He mentioned it...by accidentsir. Look how I heard doesn’t matter, what matters is I heard it. Isit true?” Triche leaned back in his chair. He stared intently at his thin,pink fingers for a bit. “It’strue that there has been discussion to revoke the charter of the Watch.”He said. “But just discussion, not action Corporal. Before we continue,sit down.” The tone of his voice caught me off guard. Not loud orangry, but harder than steel. I slipped into the chair in front of his desk,tail wrapped around me. Thesailfin made it impossible to slip my tail into most tail holes. Icould only see part of my Lieutenant’s face, but I only needed to see part.Triche’s black eyes had turned to ice and the cold was penetrating my core.I began to tremble. “Iunderstand you are upset Corporal. If Iwas given this news I would be to. But I am your superior. The Watch is viewed as a pit with no respect forhierarchy, and by rushing into my office yelling you validated those views.”Triceh said. My heart sank. “I’msorry sir.” I said. “Iappreciate that Janelle, but you do that frequently.” Triche said. His pinklips lifted slightly when he spoke, showing fang. “Knock before enteringand adress me by title. Do not addressme by ranting. Understood?”My lieutenant seemed completely clam, but I could feel his >>>Typo - calm not clam and address not adress angerjust under the surface. “Yessir.” I said. Triche nodded. “Nowhave you told anyone else what Sir Moss told you? Or do you know if he toldanyone else?” I shook my head. “Well then let's hope he didn’t. The lastthing I, or any other Lieutenant needs is a Watch House full of Warden’sscared they’ll lose their jobs.” “Lose…”I let go of my tail. “I hadn’t even thought about that. I figured they’dsend me to work in a different part of the military.” Triche shook hishead. “I can’t lose my job, I have a son. I have a son I can barely affordto raise as it is.” “Noteveryone would lose their jobs, no doubt some of us would be sent to workin other places.” Triche said. “But again nothing has been decided yet.I’ve managed to be party to certain conversations about the fate of theWatch.” >>>Interesting! I am eager to see what happens. And can i make coffee and donut cop jokes? Chris
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