The Fort Shefich Extravaganza

[Pando]

"You worthless bucket of slime! If you arrive late once more, maggot, I'll ensure you a world of pain that your grandkids will be feeling the bruises of! Now, for the last time, you scumbag, give me a valid reason why you're late - and it better not be another one of those "The boys were picking on me" excuses, or I'll ensure you that the only way they'll be picking on you is by picking you up with a shovel!" the Seargant exasperated with a spray of spittle across Huskarr's face. Huskarr would've wiped it off if he weren't afraid that his spleen would be ripped out and eaten infront of him by the monstrous Seargant. It didn't help matters that all the other recruits were snickering behind him.

To complicate the matter, another Ildemin standing behind said-Seargant, mimicing his every move, even down to mouthing the Seargent's speech - disturbing curses and all. Huskarr was apparently the only one able to see the Ildemin, and it was impossibly difficult for him not to be distracted by the Ildemin when he need to be on complete focus of the Seargent.

"I- I was-" Huskarr stuttered, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't involve having his liver carved out with a rusty butter knife. "I was on my way here, sir, when I was called forth by one of the cooks, who was having difficulty rounding up some chi-"
"Shut the hell up, you spineless worm! I'm sure I've defficated better responses then that!" The Seargent (With Ildemin still in exact mirror image) practically spat - actually, Huskarr felt a small glob of spit land on his cheek, it felt horribly gross.

Luckily, Huskarr didn't have to respond, as his Senior Seargant turned at that exact point of time to do his Pacing-Thinking that he does when trying to come up with a brilliant-yet-suitable punishment... pretty much just for Huskarr. The more he thought about it, the more he realised the Seargant really didn't punish anyone like he did Huskarr. But none of that mattered, as the Seargant's eyes fell on his Ildemin clone, who'd also spun around and had his leg lifted in the air in a prepared march that never came.

[Igellkott]

Tarou struggled to keep his eye from twitching as he dropped his leg slowly and attempted to walk inconspicuously towards the door but before he could take more than two steps was stopped short by the Sergeant, who lifted him up by his shirt.

"What. Were. You DOING!" The Sergeant said, his voice growing louder as he roared in Tarou's face. Blinking a few times, Tarou wiped his face before answering.

"To be honest Rickos, I was just passing by to see how you were going..but i think i found out." Tarou grabbed Rickos' hands and pried them from his shirt, landing on the ground lightly, but a little unsteadily. Sergeat Rickos looked at Tarou questioningly, before a look appeared in his eyes.

"Rickos....?" he said quietly. Tarou glanced up at him as he dusted himself off. "YOU!"

"Surely not." Tarou said, narrowly dodging a swipe at him by the Sergeant. Anger clear on the Sergeant's face, he struggled to control it before asking what Tarou was doing inside the compound. It had seemed like a perfect opportunity to sneak inside to see a "friend" of his, and before he could stop himself, he had seen an old comrade from his soldier days and decided to have some fun.

"You little dirtbag." Sergeant Rickos said menacingly, hatred in his eyes as he decided on how to keep Tarou from getting away a second time. Meanwhile, Tarou flashed a grin at the Ildemin standing in shock on the other side of the Sergeant and winked.

"Lovely day, isnt it just?"

[Pando]

Sergeant Rickos' angry snarl reversed into a devious - almost satanic - grin. The kind that one would only wear when they were about to do something horrible to someone. Unfortunately, Huskarr felt that the grin was somehow directed at him, even facing the new-but-apparently-old challenger. "Hm, yes, it certainly is a wonderful day to spend inside a prison cell - Huskarr, I want you to lead our friend here to the cells. Oh, and if he escapes, I'm holding you personally responsible, okay?" Although Huskarr couldn't see his face, he could practically hear the smug grin on the Sergeant's face.

"Yes, sir" He replied with fated resignation and a half-assed salute. He grabbed onto the other Ildemin's arm - a little sharply, actually expecting there to be nothing there when he did, but equally surprised and glad that the Ildemin was being cooperative - and led him toward his prison cell.

Once they were out of earshot from the Sergeant and other training soldiers halfway through some sort of marching practice - like they ever needed more of that - the silence was awkward. Though not for the other Ildemin, who seemed to hold a cocky grin plastered onto his face. Not able to take it anymore, Huskarr finally broke the silence. "So... another Ildemin, eh? Uhm... My name's Huskarr" he asked, figuring he should at least know the name of the person getting him kicked out or more-likely hanged from the Legionites.

[Igellkott]

Tarou sighed inwardly, a little irritated that Rickos should take such a similar path to the last confrontation. Maintaining his grin, Tarou waved at Rickos as the unfortunate Ildemin led him out of the room roughly by an arm. Tarou let his grin slip as they put distance between the Sergeant and glanced at the other Ildemin when he heard him speak.

"Tarou." Tarou replied shortly, his eyes darting around at his surroundings quickly, almost eager to find a path of escape.

"Pity i never got to see Ashye...." He murmured, his eyes glinting a little as he frowned, remembering the Sergeant's attitude towards Huskaar being painfully similar to the one he received.

" Yeah, another Ildemin.....stupid ass." Tarou said, "Not you, though." he added, looking at his captor apologetically.

"So why'd you join the Legionites? Curiousity? The chance to get your ass beat? Us Ildemin aint welcome in the armed forces, as you know."

[Pando]

"Well, I joined the Legionites mostly as necessity - I kind of ran into someone I knew as a kid, who just happened to be a recruitment officer. When he caught me picking his pocket, he kind of enforced me into the Legionites as part of my punishment. Of course, the fact that I hadn't eaten a meal in about four days didn't help his decision." Huskarr paused, his eyes scanning around him to make sure nobody was eaves-dropping. "He probably thought he was doing me a favour as well. I mean, yes, I didn't die of hunger, sure - but compared to the racism I get to experience every day - and Sergeant Rickos isn't helping that either - well... let's just leave it at that.

"Anyways, you seem to know the Sergeant well enough, what's your story?" Huskarr asked, just a few steps from the prison building.

[Igellkott]

"Necessity huh. The racism is familiar to me, to say the least" Tarou said, sighing. Bringing up his times in the Legionites wasn't the most pleasant of experiences.

"You really want to know? First things.. he wasn't really ever my superior, that came later. Rickos was a fellow soldier when i joined.." Tarou ground his teeth at the memories.

"Basically, he managed to get to his position through tormenting, disgracing and humiliating me. Ya know, new kid in the force, gotta show him his place. Sure he did some good things that got him noticed... but at my exspense. I learned to ignore him. after the first few months." He shook his head quickly.

"Till he became the leader of my group...I mean, being hit a few times during a patrol was one thing, but trying to beat me up constantly, leaving me without transport in the middle of raider territory.." Tarou bared his teeth in a vicious grin.

"Lets just say i got out of there before he could actually kill me and get away with it." Tarou fell silent for a moment, before looking at Huskaar.

"So what are you going to do, lock me up for trying to talk up a cook's assistant I never reached?"

[Pando]

Huskarr - who happened to be looking at his feet the entire time - looked up at Tarou's question in time to see himself running into the cell gate at the end of the corridor they'd been walking down. Rubbing his nose that'd been sufficiently flattened, he looked at Tarou, as he began reaching for the keys to unlock the cell. It was at this point he realised he never picked them up from the entrance guard.

"Crap" Huskarr, muttered, before finally answering Tarou's question. "Well, to be honest - it's either you or me at the moment, and I don't really want to be hanged at the moment... Hang on, I need to go get the keys." Huskarr sighed, "Do you think you could wait, uhm... like, right here, while I go get the keys?" Huskarr asked, a little dumbfounded that he'd asked that question in the first place, before turning and leaving without even getting an answer.

[Igellkott]

Tarou looked at Huskaar as he went off to get the keys and rubbed his face with a hand and sympathy, hiding a bitter laugh at the sight of Huskaar running face first into the cell gate his head was smashed into a year or two earlier.

"Yeah.... I'll wait." Tarou said, sitting down next to the door as if to emphasize his answer, watching Huskaar disappear, knowing he didn't hear. Glancing around at the room, Tarou frowned and stood after a few minutes, and began tearing up his shirt methodically.

"Stuff this. Rickos isn't going to kill me this time..."

All he left was a strip of cloth from his t-shirt tied on the cell door with a message written on it :


Kid, I know you said don't leave, but considering im your prisoner it would be logical that my only goal at the moment is to escape. And seeing as your part of Rickos' new kids.... im not going to sit by and wait for my death from that oaf. Ill be around town if you ever feel the need to catch me up. - The Prisoner who got away (x2)

Ps:Show this to Rickos if you want to laugh.

[Pando]

Huskarr, reach down - the keys attached to his belt this time - I read Tarou's message. His feelings conflicted somewhere between chuckling at Sergeant Rickos losing the same prisoner twice, despair because he would be blamed for Tarou's escape, and confusion as to how Tarou got out - it was an enclosed building, with the only entrance and exit being the one he went through, he would've seen Tarou exiting.
Huskarr finally concluded that it would be for the best if he returned to the Sergeant and meet out his punishment - and hope to the Gods that proper military laws would dictate he wouldn't actually be killed.

Upon handing the ragged remains of a shirt-with-written-message to Sergeant Rickos, Huskarr almost immediately regretted it. Almost instantly, a vein popped out above the Sergeant's eye, and his eyes looked like they were about to bleed, his face turned bright red in rage, and all the soldiers behind Huskarr were visibly scared that the Sergeant would have them all beheaded.

A horribly slow minute ticked by. Then another. And another. By the end of five minutes of blood having drained from Huskarr's face - apparently having been absorbed by Sergeant Rickos' face, as that was the only explanation he had as to how he managed to get so red at the moment - and the Sergeant finally exploded.
"You inbred piece of raggedy-ass filth! You filthy, disgusting beast! You-" the insults continued for longer than Huskarr cared, as after each sentence, his eyes seemed to tint more and more crimson. Just as soon as Huskarr was growling - which in retrospect, probably only gave Sergeant Rickos' more fuel to offend his Ildemin blood - he was gladly spared.

"Sergeant Rickos! Are you out of your mind?" Came the loud and authoritive voice of some knight or another - Huskarr didn't know, and put simply, at this point, he couldn't care. "For ten minutes I've heard more racism come from your mouth than I have from the entire Legion in the last ten years!" the Knight continued, "I'd like to see you and the Ildemin in my office. Immediately" the knight demanded. All of Rickos' rage seemed to have drained as quickly as the blood from his face - it was quite startling to Huskarr, the degree to which the Sergeant went from Scarlet to Ashen. "Yes, sir Knight, at once!" the seconds-ago-angry-and-commanding-now-pale-and-frightened Sergeant responded with a steady saluted to the knights turned back as he walked toward his office.

Much to Huskarr's dismay, the... talk with the Knight - who he learned was named Sir Wilhelm - went surprisingly well. It seemed that most of the higher-ranked officers weren't so racist... so much as they viewed everybody below them with disdain. It was actually quite refreshing, being called grunt and maggot because he was hated for being a lower rank, rather than mutt and maggot because he was different.

Still, after about an hour of the Knight berating Sergeant Rickos, and another half hour going over details on why letting a prisoner out of sight was such a horrible thing. The end result was Sergeant Rickos' being demoted, and Huskarr being relieved of duty... permanently.

Unfortunately for Huskarr, he now had no idea what to do. He always wanted to be free of the Legionites ever since he'd joined. But now that he had...
Exiting his home for the last six months, Huskarr looked down to the small town that had accumulated around the fort, and finally decided he'd pay a small visit to Tarou. It was the least that guy could do for getting him kicked out.

[Igellkott]

Tarou lounged around the corner of a street, wondering if Huskaar had been kicked out for letting him escape. He sighed and stretched, his smile slipping from his face as he pulled his hood up as people that had exited the tavern nearby, and clearly enjoying themselves, stumbled by. Tarou didn't trust many, especially if they were a human. Unfortunately those people happened also to be part of the Legionites, and Tarou tugged the hood over his ears subtly as they walked by.

"At least i got out of there a second time..." he muttered, before being tackled from behind by an apparently moving purring sound. Groaning as he hit the dirt, he tried to see who had tackled him, and purred while they did it.

"Ashye? Aww geez." Tarou said, realising that it was the cook's assistant that was now sitting on his back, grinning at him evilly.

'God... i hope that Huskaar kid doesn't find me like this.' Tarou thought as he was lifted up by Ashye and pulled into a hug, grimacing while he patted her back awkwardly.

Ashye simply grinned and hugged Tarou tighter upon seeing his expression.

"Tarrouuu! Long time no see little bro!"

[Pando]

"Oh yeah, and Huskarr says hi" Ashye continued, gesturing with a nod of her head to where Huskarr stood a few feet behind her. "Shame on you for getting him kicked out of the Legionites, even if was for his own skin - and likely his life."

Huskarr stood their, waving awkwardly with a duffel bag over his shoulder, as Ashye continued as Huskarr's Ambassador to Tarou. The two had met shortly after Huskarr had finished packing, whilst he was leaving the fortress behind, and after a conversation dominated by Ashye, complete with premonition guesses to what happened that left Huskarr wide-eyed with amazement. Apparently she knew Tarou all too well.

[Igellkott]

Tarou waved at Huskaar as best able, embarrasment clear on his face as he was still held onto tightly by Ashye, who stood there smiling brightly.

"Uhh yeah. I see you've met Ashye. Im guessing she knows what went down back there?" Tarou poked Ashye in the cheek none too gently, attempting to get her to let go, but affording only a bitten finger.

"And yes, she is actually my sist-ow" Tarou stopped, as Ashye bit his finger harder, frowning at him. Tarou raised his eyebrows as she let him go and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"What. What, what! You told me to tell anyone i met that we were related..." Tarou said, edging out of her grasp slowly, and walking around behind Huskaar, using him as a living shield.

'Stop trying to grab me, would you rather be my lover?" Tarou said, almost missing Ashye's slight blush before she turned away and started walking towards the pub in a huff.

"Ashy.... oh forget it." he called out, traipsing along after her slowly, waving to Huskaar, muttering so only he and Huskaar could hear. "And that's the lovely Ashye...."

[Pando]

"She uhm... she seems nice," Huskarr commented, having noticed Ashye's slight blush before she'd stormed off. "We should probably go after her, before she hurts somebody too severely" Huskarr said, already moving into the tavern. Spotting her in a dark and shady corner of the tavern, Huskarr started walking her way, narrowly avoiding getting trampled on in the crowded space. Finally reaching her table, Huskarr took a seat without even looking behind him.
When the chair next to him was pulled out and Tarou sat down beside him, Huskarr almost regretted bringing Tarou along if just to avoid the awkward silence and death-glare the Ashye shot at him. "So... how did you two meet each other?" Huskarr asked, attempting to break the silence.

[Igellkott]

Tarou laughed at Huskaar's question.

"You really want to know? Im not too proud of it actually...." Tarou said, glancing at Ashye with a tilt of his head. Ashye rolled her eyes and nodded at him, glaring at him a little less angrily.

"Well...uh. We kinda met a year back. Incidentally, we met on the day I joined the Legionites. Unfortunately, i only managed a quick, but none-the-less impressive greeting." Tarou grinned as Ashye stifled a giggle. Throwing a friendly arm around Huskaar's shoulders, Tarou continued.

"Late to the first day, almost forgot my sword and somehow managed to trip over my own feet in my rush to get through the gates. Lets just say I managed to surprise Ashye here, who was walking by the gate into elbowing me in the gut and flooring me in front of the Sergeant....and unfortunately Rickos."

Ashye threw a peanut from a small bowl at Tarou, who caught it in his mouth deftly. She continued relating the story, letting a small grin appear on her face as she remembered.

"Basically, after seeing me, a short, young, and most importantly Ildemin floor a new soldier......Tarou was hauled away for training. Of course, only after Rickos and some other soldiers who witnessed it had finished laughing."

Ashye rolled her eyes. "We more or less got to know each other over the 8 months genius here was in the Legionites. Not all of the story he probably told you was true, for instance he got beaten senseless twice... not seven or eight times." She sighed.

Tarou took over again "Anyway. She became pretty much my only friend in there. Sure a few others were less cruel to me, and her. But they never associated themselves with us when around others." He sighed, and grinned at Huskaar.

"So what about you, sonny boy? Whats your tear-jerking story, bound to bring a tear to the ever so sensitive one sitting opposit-" he was stopped as Ashye kicked him in the shins, his eye twitching a little.

[Pando]

"My story?" Huskarr looked startled by the question, though he probably should've seen it coming. "Uhm... well, there's not much to say really. I know I had a mother, I kind of have a fuzzy memory of her, but I don't know her name or anything like that - hell, I don't even know my last name. I don't really remember much else, but one day - and I honestly have no idea how or why, I realised I was living on the street. A few of my mother's friends kept in contact with me, but none of them could afford to take me in or anything like that - not to mention the whole 'Shunned-in-society-for-adopting-an-Ildemin' thing.
"Then, a few months ago, I was... procuring some coinage from some random person that I sort of recognised, but not enough to care. Turns out he was one of my mother's friends, named Amos, and also happened to be a Knight of the Legionites. Oh, he caught me, by the way, and probably would've punished me if he didn't recognise me.
"So, he more or less insinuated I should join the Legionites, if just to get back on my feet. At first, I wasn't too sure - I mean, I'd heard stories of the racism, and all that, and I like having my personal freedom, not to mention I'm something of a Pacifist, so I wouldn't do too well if it came to war... which knowing my luck, it probably would've.
"Still, he was right about me being pretty desperate. Turns out that being a 15 year old Ildemin on the streets of North Ideitess isn't the best of circumstances." Huskarr said that last bit with a bit of a chuckle. "So... about, two months ago, I approached one of their recruitment booth things they had at the gate, and by that point, even if I hadn't wanted to join, I was pretty much pressured into it."
As Huskarr finished his story, he took a deep breath from getting all that information out, then blushed deeply as he realised he'd pretty much told his life story. "God that made me sound like such a whiner" Huskarr berated himself out loud without meaning to, thus causing him to turn a deeper scarlet.