[Mkguild] A Day in The Life III

[Jack Moore]

AN: Thanks to Matthias who pointed out that the Watch comes off as corrupt here. Hope I fixed this.
A Day In The Life III
 "What do you do for fun?" I frowned.
 "Excuse me?"
 "Fun. Janie you've been training me for three months now and I've never seen you outside of work. You do have fun right?"
 "It's Corporal Janelle while we are on assignment Warden; you need to maintain your professionalism." I gave a small smile. "When we are on duty we have to be professional at all times." Remmie tried to roll her eyes, except her eyes were two massive speckled pea green orbs with pupils that looked like knotted ropes. Eye rolling is impossible when your eyes are always looking out.
 "You don't find this fun do you?" She gestured to the Market Square. "I like the job too but it's work."
 "It's an enjoyable kind of work."
 "I guess." Remmie mumbled. My partner for the morning was a blue-spotted orange gecko. While the Curse had given me a little height (and more muscle mass), Remmie had shrunk to little taller then an anthro rat.
 Her scales were a light blue that almost matched with her cloak and irregular splotches of unnaturally bright orange broke them up. Not only that but they looked loose on her body, like she was wearing a poorly fitting lizard suit.
 Remmie had been in Metamor for a little over a year and had been a full warden for about two months. Why a stranger to this cursed valley would choose a line of work that involved protecting that valley still confuses me. 
 In the Watch you're supposed to spend three months as a cadet and six months doing supervisory work. Remmie had been a cadet for one month and been supervised for another month. After the Assault the Watch needed anyone who could volunteer, so she became a full Warden in January.
 Remmie would be a good Warden, like all those who worked on the Watch. I could tell she was tired, we both were tired. I don't think Remmie had taken a vacation day since starting. Her crisp uniform was showing the first signs of sag, her chipper expression drooped a little.
 'As Justicar I'll find a way to relief our workload.' I frowned. 'I'm not Justicar yet though.'
 For now we patrolled the Market Square and the connecting streets, over and over in an endless loop. That doesn't sound like fun because it isn't; it's tedious and boring. But it's necessary; we stop the highest number of criminals on patrols.
 "When you're off work what do you do?" Remmie fell behind me the longer we walked and had to sprint to keep up. Her walk reminded me of a bowstring being released. "I mean, I know you never are off but you've got to stop working at some point right?"
 "I go home. It's been a long day and I want to rest. I recommend you do the same."
 "I find a pub." Remmie said. "I like talking to other scalies." Why on Earth some reptiles insist on calling themselves scalies I do not know. I do not like the term and you will never hear it from me.
 "I have a son." I said. "He needs his mother."
 "Most scalie kids I know are independent." Remmie said. "Besides, can't you find someone to watch him for a night?" I sighed.
 "Warden I appreciate your attempts to get me to open up but I am not comfortable discussing my personal life, especially on patrol. I am asking you to please let this drop." 
 "Yeah, yeah I bet." She said dismissively. "I'll figure out something fun for you to do. You can't spend every night taking care of a kid, you need to go out and get a drink sometime!"
 "I don't drink." I said. Remmie would improve but it would take time. A Warden needs to pick up on signals when speaking to someone and they need to not ignore when someone tells them to shut up. They also must remain impersonal at all times.
 I learned that the hard way. I hoped Remmie wouldn't.
 We turned back onto the Market Square. Now the sun was up and the little square was packed with carts, stands, bodies and scents of all kinds.
 "I have apples and quinces!" "Finest in all the Keep!" "Discount just for you!" "Lemons and oranges!" "Beautiful cloths!" "Fresh vegetables!" "Come buy from me!" "You can't do any better!" "Everything you've ever wanted!" "Will put years back on your life!" "My personal guarantee!" "Come buy, come buy!"
 "The Assault left the Watch in pieces and smashed the Keep but it never even slowed down the Market." I smiled. "It's wonderful."
 "Oooh! Bullaces! I want some!" Remmie ran over to a mud-splattered stand with a male ox manning it. The Ox had a gray head with two long straight horns and beady black eyes sticking out of the mass. He wore a barely fitting green tunic belted over bulging grey pants. The fur on his body was black and knotted with dirt caked into it. 
Behind him was his musty looking wooden cart with the right wheel cracked, loaded with wooden boxes of fruit. Remmie began pointing and jabbering faster than I could keep up with.
 "Remmie we are on duty." Remmie ignored me and purchased a full box of bullaces. I sighed. "Remmie you know you're going to have to carry that all day right?"
 "May the gods bless you Warden." The ox said.
 "No problem." Remmie giggled, taking her box. Her smile wavered when she saw my expression. "He hasn't sold a single box and I need fruit, it's a win win for both of us Janie!"
 "Corporal Janelle." I said. "Remmie our job is to patrol the Market, not to buy fruit." Admittedly that was a bit cold but it was still true. Carrying a box of fruit around will not make your job any easier. 'Still, that's a positive moment this vendor had with a Warden. I must encourage that.'
 "Yeah, yeah, well I'll carry them." Remmie said. The two of us resumed our slow patrol around the Market. The Square is small but it's easy for cutpurses to work here. As the okapi said earlier, the Watch had little presence in the Market, something I was now all the more aware of as people thronged about.
 "Warden may I have a word!" A boney hand gripped my arm and tried to pull me away. I humored the individual and moved with them. Said arm belonged to a woman, a bony and pale thing. She had a dark brown cloak that covered her skeletal form almost completely. Her hair was wispy gray thread on her skull and her teeth were stained brown. Her eyes matched her teeth and they never blinked while focusing on me.
 "I couldn't help notice you are your partner browsing for things to purchase and I was hoping to interest you in my wares." The woman tried dragging me to a stand holding knick-knacks and various overpriced trinkets. "I thank you but I am not interest." I said.
 "Your partner just bought fruit, can you really say no until you've seen what I've got?" Damn it Remmie.
 "I promise you I am not interested." I said, yanking my arm free. "Now I'm afraid I must-
 "Hey what're you guys doing!" Remmie came skipping over with her spotted eyes lit up. "Oooh you're buying something too Janie?" 
 "No in fact I was telling this fine merchant that the two of us are working and in fact have no time to buy things. We are busy with our patrol." Remmie went back to ignoring me and now was investigating the woman's trinkets.
 "I've not had a sale all day." She said to Remmie. "I'm going to be broke very soon." I Tapped her mind, to see what thought was on the surface. I could hear the Merchant's thought: Do you really believe this line?
 This is going to change soon for Remmie. I frowned. She doesn't listen to orders and she's too personal. She's going to be hurt. I need to make sure she doesn't lose this love for the work.
 The Market Square was above all else two things, cramped and loud. All the buildings surrounding it were shops and in between shop doors you would find a merchant trying to sell something overpriced. A good rule of thumb I find for merchants is they are always looking to sell you the worst product for as little money as possible.
 I also love the Market though. It never slows down, it never lets a threat frighten it into submission. If people want things they come and get them, they aren't afraid to display their animal forms or new genders.
 As Remmie and I made our patrols I kept my eyes focused on the Square as best I could. Merchants aren't in danger of being robbed at the busiest part of the day but rather when opening or closing shop. Instead the customers were in danger, especially those with loose hanging coin purses.
 A black haired human was bent over investigating a table selling some kind of leather goods. From his left a canine of some kind (dingo I think) with yellow fur and in a green cloak approached, hood up and head down. I stepped in front of him, causing him to bump against me.
 "Hey watch..." His eyes widened when he saw the lantern of my tabard. "Uh hello Warden."
 "Good day to you." I said. He grinned and took a step back. I didn't break eye contact until he turned tail and left the Square.
 "Was that guy a thief?" Remmie asked as we resumed our walking.
 "Most likely yes." I said. "In the Square people come and go. They're all funny people; you have to be suspicious until you determine their intentions. The longer they go without making it clear what they want, the more suspicious you should be."
 "Janie if you think like that you gotta be suspicious of everyone." Remmie said. "That's no good. We'll catch the bad guys and if we miss a few it sucks but it happens, you know?"
' Why even bother warden? You can't change shit.'
 "For me that's not good enough." I said. "One criminal escaping is one too many." And no price is too high for safety, I believed that absolutely.
 "Maybe for you." Remmie shrugged. "I wanna believe that people are good. Even the mammals." I frowned. Odd that she singled them out.
 "Warden! Uh Warden." We turned to the voice, coming from an open door. The emblem on the sign above it identified this place as a cobbler's shop, or at least one that did work with shoes. The speaker was a female gray furred something in an ill fitting and dirty linen cloak.
 She was a massive woman with a cloth tied to the top of her head and red ears poking out. Her face was filled with confusion and her fur jiggled with each step. "Uh Warden can I uh get some uh help?" She managed to scoot between two tables and as she came closer I realized she had nothing under her cloak.
 "What species are you?" Remmie cried out. I cringed.
 "Excuse me?" The cobbler's black nose began to tremble.
 "Species? You look like a living fur ball." Damn it Remmie.
 "I got a problem and you asking about my species?"
 "I really have to apologize for my partner." I stammered. "She's not great with people and we will-
 "Don't you recognize a colugo when you see one?"
 "No."
 "Stop!" I shouted. All eyes turned towards me. I swallowed. "You have a problem you need assistance with?" The colugo paused and nodded.
 "Yeah, yeah. I got a room above my shop, you can see it." She pointed to a window above the sign, grimy and dark. As I observed it flashed purple. "I think that's not normal."
 "We need a mage." Remmie said. For once I was in agreement. The way the Watch was supposed to work was on patrol each pair would have one magic user and one without magic. Except that didn't happen, as previously mentioned the Watch needed bodies now and couldn't be picky. I have a kind of magic I use; it was a secret from my co-workers and not magic as most people think of it.
 "First let's survey the situation." I said. "Then we decide the appropriate course of action."
 "Are you crazy? We don't have magic."
 "I know." I lied. "Come on now." I lead my protesting partner through the shop and up the stairs. Of course the criminal would be on the second floor, why wouldn't they be? "I hate stairs."
 The door at the top was a flimsy wooden thing with purple light pouring from it. I gently touched the light and felt nothing. "Alright, get your axe ready." Members of the Watch carry whatever weapons they can acquire on their own. For Remmie it was a hand axe and a short sword like mine.
 We forced the door open and stumbled into a single room with the bed, table and all furniture pushed against the back wall. The center of the room was bare except for an open book with purple light pouring from it and a figure sitting behind it.
 "You're too late. The day of my triumph is at hand!"
 "Janie who is this?" Remmie asked.
 "Not a clue." The figure was nude; of course they were nude, and male. He smelled like a wine bottle that had been left in the sun to long. Big black ears, a thin blunt muzzle (with an arrow-shaped pig nose) and bulging green eyes popping out of white fur. He's an Aye-Aye! He's so cute!
 "Yesterday no one knew my name but when I finish this summoning everyone will know!" He cackled. "Everyone will appreciate me and I will make them lay prostrate before me! Including those jerks who wouldn't let me into the Long Scouts!" On the one hand this individual had declared his intentions to destroy us all, but he just looked so adorable.
 It was like being threatened by a stuffed animal.
 "Janie am I the only one noticing nothing is happening but bright light?" Remmie whispered to me.
 "No." All of the light came from the book, none of it from him. The aye-aye stood. I kept my gaze on his upper body.
 "I want you to bow before me!" He thrust his bony finger at me. "You will know my name! Soon I will be overlord of the Keep, I will be the new King of the Midlands! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" I Channeled from the book, trying to feel if anything living came from it.
 "No you're not." I walked over and kicked the book shut. Instantly the purple light vanished.
 "Hey no fair!"
 "Yeah this book has nothing in it." I said. "Not sure why it's full of purple light but there are no spirits in this." The book was black leather and gold etching all across it. From what I felt, there was nothing in it. Maybe you could use it for magic but if so the Aye-Aye didn't know how to do anything but make pretty lights.
 "You dare to stop my ritual!" He cried. "For this you must-
 I interrupted him with an elbow to the solar plexus. The Aye-Aye's gagged as the wind was knocked out of him. He stumbled then collapsed on his face. Remmie began clapping.
 "You kicked ass Janie!"
 "Remmie we're going to have to discuss how you speak to me." I roped his arms behind him. "One thing you need to remember, most emergencies involving magic end like this. Magic is dangerous if you know how to use it. Many don't."
"I wanna punch someone now. Can you teach me how to hit people like that?" The shop-owner colugo emerged in the doorway.
 "You get it?"
 "Yes." I said. "Do you have another cloak? Something we can cover this man with."
 "Uh yeah sure." The colugo said. "I gotta say, I didn't know he was like this. I wouldn't have let him rent my room if I did."
 "The cloak."
 "Right!" The colugo scrambled off. I returned my attention to Remmie.
 "I need you to stay here while I take this individual in. For now all he's guilty of is making vague threats and owning a purple light."
 "Mean Justice covers that?"
 "We might get a fine out of him. They'll question him when he wakes up, then we can find out if he's guilty of anything else." I'll create a harsher punishment as Justicar. I hoisted the Aye-Aye up. "Now back to patrol Warden."
 "Can I knock off early?" Remmie asked. "It's almost lunch." Almost time for me to visit Marnie.
 "No." I said. "It's only a little while more." Remmie gave an exaggerated sigh but went back out. The colugo came back and helped me cover the Aye-Aye. I thanked her and dragged his semi-conscious form to a holding cell.

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