Law and Order

[Freyia]

((This thread spans many days))

In the griffon military, ponies are represented in two separate, but equally disrespected roles. The spies who gather information and the soldiers who deal with the offenders. These are their ventings.

[Freyia]

ding ding

December 21, Night

Freyia trots into the room, kicking the door shut behind her. With a loud slam it closes, allowing privacy. Her face was red with anger as she tossed her spear to its spot against the bunk. "I can't believe...those fools!" she exclaims as she kicks her chest, the armor rattling around in it. She continues her angry rant, not noticing her bunkmate. "Those idiot weaklings, I should go over there and pluck every feather from their pee brained little heads, till they..." she freezes mid climax, realizing that she is not alone. With a clearing of the throat, she relaxes, closing her eyes and assuming a more professional posture. "I'm sorry, I did not know you were here," she says not looking at the other pony. In the doorway she stands awkwardly, embarrassed and not sure what to do now.

[Sassaflash]

Shady looked up at her white and gold counterpart after a moment, raising a brow at the outrage she had yet to see on the mare. "Bad day today?" She asked while seated on her bed with her forelegs behind her head as a pillow against the hard wall.

Not shifting her gaze away from Freyia, she kept her usual semi-frowning expression despite the anger that was clearly hovering around her bunk-mate. "Well, what's gotten to you so much?" She asked, making her best effort to make nice with the mare she had a rocky start with. "Anger won't help your health."

[Freyia]

The ponies words were right, and on a better day she might have listened, but not this day. The anger stayed, "I have been cleaning the industrial district for this past week, filling carts with that endless rubble and dumping it somewhere else. I have hardly slept or eaten the whole time. Yet I have always met their quotas." Her face began to turn red as she recalled her story. "The new watch-bill came out, so I go to look. I'm not on it. When I confront the Sargent he acts surprised, like I haven't been here the whole week, cleaning dirt off of dirt, wasting my time in this disgusting city," her voice increased with each word, getting angrier and angrier till it reached the same level as when she first entered the room.

Freyia takes a second to breath, trying to control the rage inside her. Once calmed down a bit more she continues, "He comes back with another watch-bill, the same one, only now there is something scribbled into the bottom. "Freyia, rubble - " and I can't even read the rest of it. Not that I needed to." She pushed her back into the wall and let her body slide down to the floor, landing on her rump. The look in her eyes a mix of anger, exhaustion, and sadness.

[Sassaflash]

Shady listened to the words of the other mare, nodding her head to show she was listening. Normally, she wouldn't think twice about ignoring someone's complaints, but the same feeling from before compelled her to listen. "As I said before...the griffons stationed here are something else...it's disgusting. Sometimes I feel this city is where the rejects get sent." She replied bluntly while remaining in her relaxed position.

"Though, what can we do? We can't go against our home simply because a few soldiers act like idiots." She kept her eyes upon Freyia, eventually slipping from the bed and onto her hooves. Reaching a forehoof out towards the white mare, she made a gesture that betrayed her semi-frown. "We just need to work and see if we'll get recognized. If it helps, I'll let you take your anger out on me."

[Freyia]

Freyia began to calm down for real this time. "Yes," she says in between breaths, "Yes, you're right." She remained sitting, looking at the patterns on the floor. "And no, I don't take anger out on others. Fighting angry is good way to get yourself hurt or killed." She looks up at the pony, "I am sorry, its just, I thought I had done everything. But cleaning rubble off of rubble, that's a new one." She sighs, turning her head back down. "There is something though. Not all of your griffons here are this way. There seems to be a few reasonable birds in the flock."

[Sassaflash]

Shady kept her gaze upon Freyia, nodding her head softly. "That's true, I know the one I report to is one of the few I can stand being around for extended periods of time." She replied calmly with an ever unchanging expression upon her face. "Anyway, I guess it's time to relax now that you're able to be back in here. Don't want to give yourself an aneurism."

[Freyia]

Freyia chuckled a bit, "Yeah, at least today can be for rest." She flapped her wings softly to lift herself to her bunk, plopping herself down. She spoke with her face firmly in the pillow, making the words muffled, but still understandable, "Do you have any idea how dirty that rubble is?" The question was rhetorical, something to lighten up herself, after how angry she had been. Now mostly she was just tired, the adrenaline leaving her system.

[Sassaflash]

Shady tracked the pegasus before moving back to her own bunk to sit back down and rest herself. "Well, it would probably have been better if your coat was a darker color, but that's neither here nor there." She responded in her usual way. "But, anyway, at least your day is over. I have to sneak around the city at one in the morning looking at some burnt out building the featherheads think is suspicious."

[Freyia]

"You investigate crimes here?" she asked genuinely interested. It made sense, the griffons using ponies in such a way. Easier to get information when they aren't afraid of being eaten. She began to relax, letting the cold bunk and hard pillow bring her heart rate down. "To have such a job," she paused breathing in, "must be nicer than moving dirt." She let her mind wander to different scenarios, investigating crimes, finding those responsible, getting into fights to bring them down. Freyia let her mind wander a little too much maybe.

[Sassaflash]

"Investigating crimes? Ha. They think some hostile units have been hanging around there or something and want me to get information on them." Shady replied in a tired tone of voice. "It's all pointless stuff most of the time. Like when they wanted me to visit the pawn shop in Main Street because of an item they had in stock."

[Freyia]

"hmm," Freyia responded, only half listening. Still, she managed to hear the important parts, "So you are like their errand assassin," her voice becomes deep for this next line, trying to replicate a male griffons voice, "Find this, get that, kill him while your at it." Freyia is not usually a comedian, and her harsh demeanor can lead those to think she is a hardass. But in reality, she enjoys funny and fun things.

She laughed a little at her own voice, a small little giggle.

[Sassaflash]

Shady looked up at the bottom of the bunk over her, shrugging her shoulders slightly on reflex despite the gesture going unseen. "More or less. Most of my information finding missions usually come up with nothing since they won't give me anything overly important." She replied, slipping down a bit to lay on her back. "Well, what can you do? It's better than running around in the sewers or wherever most of the Equestrians hide."

[Freyia]

"The sewers?" The thought made her shiver, "So disgusting," Freyia may be a battle mare, but beauty was something she that should be held highly. "I think I'd rather live in a closet cleaning dirt than be in a sewer for one minute." A shiver crawls down her spin just thinking about, shaking her bunk a bit. "I would imagine the sewers here are similar to the capitol of the Tsardom? Long, endless, and filled with disgusting creatures," with this comparison she chuckled again. Talking to this assassin was becoming easier by the day. Who knew, maybe one day they might actually spend time outside their room.

[Sassaflash]

"I don't understand it either, but whatever floats their boat, I guess." Shady brought a foreleg up to her face to rest over her eyes. "I've never been down there myself, not that I'd want to be, so I wouldn't know about that. But, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to discover that some disease-filled beast was in there."

The black mare took a deep breath in and slowly let it back out. Despite the constant semi-scowl she wore, she was enjoying the moments of conversation she was having with her fellow pony in arms...though she probably wouldn't admit it.

[Freyia]

A few moments of silence passed as Freyia stared at the ceiling, thinking of the Kingdoms and her homeland. Finally she spoke up, "Do you miss it? Home?" She assumed that the assassin was, like her, from the Kingdoms. After all, any non Kingdoms equine is put in the levies and used as fodder for the most part. She continued to stare at the ceiling, imagining the night sky she grew up with. A small smile sneaking onto her face with the memory.

[Sassaflash]

Shady flicked her short tail behind her in response to the words spoken to her. "I suppose I do miss it sometimes. But, not really...seeing as I don't have any true parents or family back home like you probably do." She didn't know why she allowed the tidbit of information go to the other pony, but it was too late to remove it from the record and she let it go.

[Freyia]

"I left my parents before the war." The smile went away quickly and her tone became slightly solemn. "I haven't heard about them since." She let it end there. Odds were they died or fled, not that it mattered...at least that's what she convinced herself. She quickly got her mind off the subject, instead focusing on the good parts of home.

[Sassaflash]

Shady sighed heavily upon hearing the answer she had gotten from her fellow mare. "I guess we're in more or less the same boat, then." She stated simply, deciding that it would be best to let the topic die before anything else happened. "Anyway... Things have turned out alright despite that, I suppose. We have it better than some at the very least."

[Freyia]

"Indeed," she replied. There were many other jobs that could be given to her. Working alone is one of the best parts of her current situation. "Silver lining in everything, hmm?" She paused for a moment before continuing, "Just wish that rubble wasn't so dirty." This she said in a lighter tone, trying to return some humor to the atmosphere.

[Sassaflash]

Shady couldn't help but allow a rare chuckle to escape her after the comment made by Freyia. "Maybe I should have that kind of job instead. The dirt wouldn't show on my fur." She replied, trying her best to continue the lighter tone of the conversation. "Though, that would mean you'd have my job, and your colors don't really blend in with the dark."

[Freyia]

Freyia laughed a little, "Not at all. I remember one time during the war I tried to sneak into mess after hours with another from my unit. His feathers were black as night, so we called him Shadow." Freyia began to get into her story, an audible smile on her face as she recalled the memory. "Well, anyway, we got as far as the tent, but were spotted by a random soldier. Or rather, I was spotted." She began to laugh as she tried to finish, "So he calls out for the patrol while I am trying to stay perfectly still. I look to Shadow, and he shrugs and begins inching away. Literally on his tip toes." The laugh was becoming  louder, "When the patrol finally made it, he was no more than a wings spread away from me, just barely out of the flashlight's radius. I watched as he closed his eyes, and pretended not to be there! And the worst part is, IT WORKED." She finally let the laugh take hold, spending the next few seconds gasping for breath.

Once she calmed down, she finished, "Yeah, that was a one hell of a punishment too. Shadow helped me though," she paused for a moment as she reminisced on her squad mate, "He was a good bird." An awkward moment passed before she picked up, her tone sounding more solemn then previously. "I can't hide to save my life, I practically give off light," the smile was still audible, her attempt to not lower the mood with sadness.

[Sassaflash]

Shady's half-frown finally broke and a low laugh left the mare, loud enough to be heard by Freyia in the bunk above her. "That surely does sound like a good story to have in your mind if you need a laugh." She replied in a tone seen by no one other than possibly just once or twice by the griffons she was raised by. "I wish I had some interesting stories to share with you after that, but I usually just get sent out on my own. Not that I mind, though, I usually prefer it that way."

[Freyia]

"Being in a war makes for great stories. My fondest memories are with my old squad." She shifts to look at her chest. The bag she brought was still sitting there, just as it was when she arrived. A wash of sadness and longing flooded over her body. Quickly she shifted back, "Anyway, we all have stories," she says trying to shift the focus off of her past. Honestly she wasn't even sure why she told that story. She never tells stories.

[Sassaflash]

"I do have some to tell, but they're more of your violent ones...nothing entertaining like that one you had." Shady replied after calming down from the chuckles that had somehow managed to get squeezed from her. She still had no idea why she had laughed then, let alone smiled. She never felt such emotions were necessary for her to show. "Well...I'm sure we'll have more interesting things happen in the future. I don't see the tension winding down in my lifetime."

[Freyia]

"Nor with mine, assassin," this time the name was not used as an insult. Assassin was a good nickname for her bunk-mate. Perhaps this one was growing on her. "Best to get to rest. I've a big day of moving rocks ahead of me," she said smiling. Closing her eyes she shifted into a more comfortable position. Yes, having someone to talk to really does help, and it was something she never would have thought she missed.

[Sassaflash]

"I'll be back up again in a little bit, but may as well rest while I can. Can't afford to make any mistakes when you fear the punishment for it more than the death that might come after exposing yourself to the enemy..." Shady replied with a soft sigh and shifted into a comfortable position of her own. She still had no clue why she was allowing her usually sealed tight heart open up to the other mare, but it began to feel nice to have another she could talk so easily with.

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