Open Imperial Army Barracks/Imperial Condos When Duty Calls Me I Must Go

[Rhana Redd]

Rhana said nothing at first, taking another bite out of her mushy food before the ferret’s paw upended her plate, sending its contents all over the table.

She forced herself not to react at first, eating the last mouthful in her spork before calmly setting it down by the overturned plate, letting the others argue about what she’d said and what she’d meant.

Then she got up. Looking to the marten who’d spoken up on her behalf – Aran, she thought she’d overheard his name was – she offered a polite smile, though very obviously forced, with an anxious undertone to her otherwise friendly, upbeat voice.

“Sorry luv, it just wouldn’t be the same.”

Turning to the ferret, she kept the same expression up, though there was nothing genuine left in her words, only a mockingly friendly tone.

“But – say, how about your food, Aginpole? I bet the good Colonel would want ya to offer your meal up to a fellow soldier in need, right? Bein' the good patriot he is. Oh, those kinds of beasts just love sacrifice, don’t they?”

She didn’t move towards him, didn’t get up in his face. But anyone could see her fur starting to bristle, smiling face hiding her tensing frame, ready to fight if the ferret decided to go for it.

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

The big ferret youth seemed to consider Aran's words for a moment, his eyes going from the marten to the stoat, before he shook his head and balled his fists. "That's not what she's sayin'. She's shamin' the beasts who laid down their lives un'er their command, an' I ain't gonna let some nobody twerp from th' countryside get away with that. Git outta my way, mate."
His expression only darkened further, muzzle wrinkling and neckfur going up on end as Rhana uttered her challenge. His paw was shaking by the time he lifted it.
"Sacrifice yer face, muckraker!" he shouted.
There was a sizeable audience by now, some whooping and hollering as Aginpole swung for the stoat's face, putting his whole body into the punch.
"Aw, shucks-" Tomas said, as she, Thalia and the rat, whose name was known by some as Sulfer F. Todkin, all scrambled up out of their seats and backed away, giving the fighters room.
Tomas yanked at Aran's sleeve. "Let 'em sort it out, pal, this is 'ow we do things sometimes. They'll either hate each other th' resta th' assignment or be fast friends by tha end o' this."

 

[Aran Mateu Jan Vidal]

Aran Mateu's spirits crashed as the stoat rejected the out he'd offered her. It seemed that she and the ferret were gunning for a fight no matter what, and the only question was whether or not Aran Mateu would be caught in the middle. He was already on thin ice with the drill sergeant, and while Tomas seemed clever enough to get her vengeance on the she-marten without being caught, this stoat didn't seem to have the same subtlety. He shook his head and stepped back, joining Tomas and Thalia in the audience. "Good luck," he advised the stoat. She was going to need it, especially once the sergeant found out she was picking fights.

 

[Rhana Redd]

Rhana thought she was ready. She was fast - just fast enough, in the end. Throwing herself out of the way of the ferret's powerful blow, she slammed back against the table, rattling plates and upending several nearby mugs before launching herself back off, trying to throw the ferret off balance before clobbering him.

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

Aginpole scrambled backward, upending a weasel and the chair the weasel was occupying and knocking over more plates and sporks as he did. Clay shattered and danced across the floor as more recruits moved out of the way, excitement hanging thick in the air. A fight among recruits was always good entertainment.
The ferret managed to avoid Rhana's enthusiastic swing and taking one of the clay plates, attempted to smash it over her face whilst kicking out at her leg, snarling.

"Heh." said Tomas, shaking her head and throwing a skinny arm fondly over Aran's shoulder. "Welcome to the Imperial Army, pal. My brother got inta a fight his first day 'ere too."
She looked across the tables at the marteness who'd been hurting Thalia, Ames Gladdenberry, and snorted softly. "We're gonna get 'er when she's asleep." she muttered to Aran "Any ideas?"

 

[Rhana Redd]

This time she wasn't fast enough. The plate shattered against the top of her muzzle, sending the female stoat reeling, a paw clutched to her face. There wasn't time for recovery, though - the ferret's kick easily catching her leg, tripping Rhana sidelong against the table once again, smashing yet more of the Army's bulk order mugs and plates.

With a curse, the dazed stoat tried to recover, grabbing a still intact mug from the table to toss back at the ferret.

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

Aginpole caught the hefted mug straight in the jaw in an explosion of clay shards and water, and he staggered back in a daze for a moment, shoving one of his big paws in someone's tuna melt as he steadied himself.
"Oiii!" The rat whined. "C'mon!"
The ferret wiped the paw across his face, smearing tuna across his features, and then said "Alright, bumpkin, that does it..."
He dropped his shoulder down and drove straight for Rhana's belly, seeking to knock her breath out and tackle her to the ground.
The corporals, a stoat with an eyepatch named Colfax and a sable named Firlocco, finally began moving towards the chaos to break it up, and paused when the Drill Sergeant, who'd just walked in, held up a paw to still them.
The muscular weasel looked to the fighters, arms crossed as other troops gathered aboit him in a ring surrounding the ferret and stoatess.
"WHOEVER LOSES GETS CANTEEN AND BARRACKS CLEANUP DUTY FOR A WEEK, WORMS!" Moltover's voice boomed through the canteen. "I EXPECT THE BEST FROM THE NATION'S DEFENDERS. SO I BETTER SEE SOME BLOOD AN' FUR!"
A cheer arose from the onlookers.

 

[Rhana Redd]

Rhana couldn't help but grin as she watched the ferret reel backwards. The moment of victory gave her the time to recover she needed, and the stoat managed to dodge his shoulder drive with new burst of energy.

"Hear that, ferret? Extra duties for ya!"

She didn't wait for a response, grabbing an upended plate - by chance, her own that Aginpole had flipped over earlier- taking it in her paw to throw back at the ferret, before launching herself at him again.

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

"What-" The big ferret ducked under the plate, and then when the stoat launched at him, attempted to catch the smaller beast in his arms and swing her through the air before releasing her, a ploy that would send her airborne and soaring for the mural if successful.

 

[Rhana Redd]

Rhana yelped with the successful grapple, trying unsuccessfully to break free on her own terms before being sent flying. She was silent midair, either from surprise or frustration, but hit the mural with an audible thump and a deep gasp, all the air instantly expelled from her lungs.

She slumped to the floor immediately, dazed and panting for breath, but made an effort to try and push herself up before Aginpole could capitalize on her vulnerability.

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

The ferret grinned in triumph and raced over to her, leaping over a fallen chair.
His foot landed on some fallen green beans as he did so, and the ferret's foot shot up into the air and he landed hard on the ground, cracking his head into the side of a table as he did.
There was a sharp intake of breath from several of the onlookers at the resounding CRACK!
Aginpole lay there groaning on the floor for a few seconds, and when he sat back up and made an effort to stagger back onto his feet there was blood stuck to his headfur.
His eyes were dazed but fiery and his nostrils flared as he got back up, snarling at his opponent. "You n-no-good bloody tripe!" he barked with some effort, swaying unsteadily. "I'm-I'm gonna bash your bloomin' face in! Just you s-see!"

 

[Rhana Redd]

Rhana watched the ferret fall, still trying to get up off of the floor herself, breathing hard. Her lungs hurt, and as she finally rose from the ground it was easy to tell she was dazed herself, though not to the degree of her opponent.

When Aginpole threatened her again, she merely spat at him in response, trying not to waste her breath. Even wounded as he was, however, she took his capabilities seriously. In an escalation, she put her paws on the back of one of the room's many chairs, seemingly as if to prop herself up and catch her breath while standing.

As he drew close, however, she put all her strength into lifting the chair up - and flinging it directly at him.

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

Aginpole only had enough time to watch glassy-eyed as the newest and biggest of the projectiles yet swung into him, knocking him again off his feet.
He stumbled back, lost his footing, and collapsed against the table, knocking it onto its side and bringing its dishes down with him.
The ferret slumped in a heap on the floor and didn't get back up.
"Alright." said Drill Sergeant Moltover. "That's enough. Good work, Private." He nodded to the corporals. "Break it up."
The stoat Colfax and sable Firlocco moved in, Colfax standing between the two combatants and watching Rhana closely with his good eye while Firlocco and the rat private Todkin hauled Aginpole up into a chair.
"Good show." Colfax told the stoatess. "Don't make it a habit."
Moltover strode up to Rhana and prodded her with a paw. "Keep in mind, that though I've decided not to discipline you given your abilities, you cause any more unneeded strife and I'll change my tune fast. Get checked in the infirmary and then rejoin us outside, Private Redd."
It was a long white-painted building not far from the canteen.
The weasel waved her away with a paw, and turned stiffly on his heel. "Dismissed! The resta you maggots- OUTSIDE!"

 

[Aran Mateu Jan Vidal]

Aran Mateu watched the fight, disconcerted by the randomness and the unorthodoxy of the tactics. Surely, he thought, the drill sergeant would step in -

"WHOEVER LOSES GETS CANTEEN AND BARRACKS CLEANUP DUTY FOR A WEEK, WORMS!"

Oh.

With that extra bit of context, one part of Aran Mateu chewed over the request for ideas about how to get revenge on the other marten. "I could take her uniform in a şize while che şleeps," he suggested. "Che'd wake up and think che must have gained twenty pounds overnight and grown four inches. Che'd look like a complete fool and be extremely uncomfortable all day."

He was still leery of engaging in acts of targeted violence. This wasn't how Miklarians settled their disputes; those were taken to the training ring, where beasts could pick their weapons - sword, ganive tipal, or claws - and have it out. Brawling like this would never have been tolerated. Violence was a tool and a skill, one with which the Miklarians prided themselves, not a hobby to be engaged in willy-nilly. And yet, he reflected, they had yet to win a war on their own ground against the Imperium. Was that the Vulpinsulans' secret - that they were so violent at all times that they were constantly primed for battle?

Just as soon as the fight started, it was over. Aran Mateu nodded in acknowledgement of the stoat's victory; it was truly well-fought, even if it was not the tactics he would have used. "Şo," he inquired of Tomas as they started to file back outside, "şoldiers in the Imperium just fight whenever they feel like it? Wouldn't that be corroşive to unit cohechon and morale?"

 

[Rhana Redd]

Rhana was still breathing hard, trying to catch her breath. She tried her best to stand at attention for Sergeant Moltover and Corporal Colfax, satisfied enough to be out of the fight (victorious, even) without punishment. The stoat didn't grin or celebrate her triumph, though - any relish in the victory had been stolen from her by the sergeant's - and therefore the Army's - approval.

Before she headed out to the infirmary, she cast a final look around - catching Aran nodding to her. It occurred to her that the marten had been willing to pretty far to stick up for her before the fight - he'd even offered her his food, wished her good luck. Walking away towards the white-painted building (and doing her damnedest not to appear hurt or winded while doing so) she wondered if she'd already made an ally in the camp.

...

She came back only a few minutes later having received little more than a look over and a dab of stinging attention to some superficial cuts left on her face by broken plates. Wary of the attention she'd gathered, she would try to file in near Aran among the assembled recruits.

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

Tomas stared at the marten at his suggestion of making her new rival's uniform a size larger as revenge. "What, why would we do that? No, no, I was thinkin' th' ole brick in a sock trick, or dirt scorpions down 'er pants. That'll show that rotnose we ain't playin' around."

As they filed out and Thalia jogged alongside them, Tomas shrugged her skinny shoulders. "Makes th' bonds with who ya don't fight stronger an' makes ya gooder at fightin', that's gotta mean more 'n 'cohechin', right?"

They lined back up in ranks, Rhana slipping back in shortly after. A ferret with a broken fang nudged her and winked.
"Good show," he mouthed, and opened his jacket enough to show a red pin with 'BULLY HARBOR SOC. OF RED BERETS' emblazoned across it.

"Alright, you pathetic sacks of fishbait." said the Sergeant, standing before them with a megaphone provided to him now as he looked critically over them all. "You're in the Imperial Army now. Your life belongs to the Imperium, and to a lesser extent right now, to me. I am your smith, and you are my misshapen lumps of iron, and I am going to chip and burn and shape and sharpen you until you're as deadly as a keen, oiled blade, as sharp as its edge and as sturdy as its steel and as lusty for blood as its... whatever you call that groove that drains blood."
The weasel paused a moment in mild embarassment, cleared his throat. "You'll be seeing your first assignment in a month, sent across the sea to Pricklee Pointe to maintain the peace there. And I tell you, the woodlanders there are savages, will just as likely open your throat as look at you. So you're going to train, so that when you're on the Southern Continent, you'll be ready. One hundred jumping jacks, in time, NOW. You're going to work off that food we gave you. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four..."
There was a resounding sigh as all the recruits began attempting to perform the jumping jacks in tandem.

 

[Aran Mateu Jan Vidal]

Aran Mateu couldn't help but feel slightly disspirited as his idea for a peaceful form of payback was roundly rejected. He was swiftly realizing that violence wasn't a first method of solving problems among these beasts, it was the only method of solving problems. That he could respect, if they didn't seem to be taking any excuse to treat each other as problems in turn. What would happen when they were out in the field, surrounded by enemies? How could they possibly rest enough to be in fighting condition, it they had to keep an eye open against the enemies in the tent with them?

These thoughts followed him as he started doing his jumping jacks, finding himself grateful that he'd eaten so little at lunch. That moderation had spared his stomach the cramps and nausea that came with heavy exercise, and afforded him space to think instead.

He was swiftly learning the landscape of opinion in the unit, and it was a messy one. Most of the unit hadn't seemed to like him, including that fox who had called him a Kharrie. He honestly seemed less an out-and-out vulpine supremacist like Calaisee and her gang had been, and more the sort of casually hateful prick that was common in Vulpinsulan society. Tomas and Thalia didn't seem to like him, but they also seemed the type to ally against the powerful, regardless of circumstance, given how quickly Tomas had come to Aran Mateu's defense, and how eager they were for violent retribution on that pine marten. Those two were dangerous, and certainly if he went along with their plan, he'd make enemies in the process. Then again, could he afford to spurn them and maybe make enemies of them himself?

He glanced over at the stoat, eyeing her warily as they jumped. She'd proved herself to be willing to pick a fight and state the unpopular opinion. So far she'd shown that she could win a fight, but if she kept saying out loud what Aran Mateu only dared to think privately, she was going to get herself in a fight she couldn't win, or even court martialed. The drill sergeant might accept a degree of lip against other trainees, but if she spoke too boldly, she'd be out in a flash. If only there was a way to marry her skill and fire to Tomas's guile and subterfuge...

Aran Mateu carefully drifted closer to Tomas and Thalia as he jumped. "We chould get the ştoat in on the plan," he said as softly as he could manage through the jumping Jack's. "Che could help... And I think her enemies will be ours as well."

 

[Perila Z. Mogul]

"Rhana?" Thalia gasped in between jumps, looking a bit like a puppet soldier bouncing on its strings in her well-fitted uniform, her bushy red tail soaring up and down with her.
"Yeah, I- huff- bet she's- huff- great at- huff- taking revenge!"
"Not so- hff- loudly, Tal!"
"Sorry- huff- Skeerdy!"
"Yeah-" said Tomas, her own honey-colored tail swinging and her oversized uniform risinh and falling with her. Such an ironic state the uniform was in, given Aran's suggestion. Tomas must've been wearing a hand-me-down. It was patched up in parts with poorly-matching fabric too, and the collar looked as if someone had bitten a chunk out of it.
"I'm-puff- down for- hff- Redd ta - hh- help us-hff- fer sure but- hh- what do ya mean by her enemies'll be ours? Cuz I dunno if I want that."
"KEEP JUMPING, SAILOR!"
"Uughh!" The vixen groaned and started up the jumping jacks again.

 

[Aran Mateu Jan Vidal]

Aran Mateu reconsidered his statement as well. Was it worth making enemies here? Then again, it seemed like he was doomed to it by proximity either way. If he tried to stand alone, he'd wind up with no allies, and these Vulpinsulans seemed inclined to make enemies just to pass the time. Being a Miklarian, standing alone, he'd be easy pickings.

He decided to change up his tactics. "Don't tell me that Şkeered of Nothing Tomas is worried about şomeone who got beat by a lone jill," he remarked. "You don't mind tangling with a pine marten, but that idiot ferret worries you?"

 

[Rhana Redd]

Rhana was less thankful she’d eaten so little. Lunch had looked pretty good, all things considered. Free food always tasted better, and in this case she could’ve used the energy it gave her.

The stoat had rejoined the ranks with little issue, even seeming to win the favor of another ferret, one with a broken fang and, seemingly, a shared favorite color.

Red Berets? Here? She shouldn’t have been surprised. They were as eager as any beast could ever be to lay down their lives for the Imperium. In a sense, she actually respected them. Sure, they wanted to prop up all the same rotting institutions that her family had fought so long and hard to tear down, but they embodied some of the same strengths and shared many of the same enemies. Vulpinists, woodlanders – they even butted heads with the government they tried to be so patriotic for.

She returned his smile, showing off her set of far more intact fangs. Perhaps she might have even said something, but then the sergeant set out the afternoon’s business, and she was suddenly much more busy trying not to tire out during the jumping jacks.

The stoat looked proper, for an Army beast. Her uniform, taken from the pile of surplus issued out to recruits without them, ragged and poorly made as it was, fit her well enough, and her determination not to show weakness in front of her peers came off rather more as professional focus to the unknowing observer.

If only they knew. The thought swirled through her head.

They’d be shipping out to Pricklee Pointe soon. Fighting woodlanders, no doubt. Her father had told her stories of that sort of thing, both in the navy and his years before the Imperium. It was what they were supposed to do. She didn’t feel too badly about it, even if it was for the Imperium.

She looked sidelong over at Aran while doing her jumping jacks. The marten had already made friends, and seemed to be talking with them. It was possible he’d moved on from whatever support he’d had for her.

Breathing a bit heavily from the exercise, she managed a few words back to the ferret who’d sought her out, just to keep her options open for allies.

“Nice pin.”