The Praetorians, a fantasy cop drama. (Game thread Started/CLOSED Prologue)

[NinjaDeathSlap]

'Once, I had thought that skipping breakfast would have no terrible ramifications down the line... a more innocent time.' Jason thought, oddly poetic, as he took a second, lackluster bite of his sandwich. Still, the bland cheese and the blander bread wasn't the worst of it. Jason was half convinced that whoever had prepared this had just dipped the cups into the open drain outside, heated up the samples and called it 'coffee'. However, it would be bad form, not to mention just plain ungrateful, for him to voice his displeasure. Instead, Jason was complementary in the most honest way he could think of.

"This is certainly... filling." Even that was pushing it. However, he was saved having to say any more by one of the other guys hanging out by the tables, who seemed determined to out-compliment everyone right off the bat. Whether out of fear of making a bad first impression, desire to brown-nose, or just a complete lack of taste buds, Jason could not be entirely sure.

"nothing better than a good cup of coffee to start to morning eh?"

"Certainly isn't." Jason replied, raising his own cup in a casual toast. 'and what I wouldn't give to have one right about now.'

 

[CrazyGirl17]

"Oh really? In that case, may I offer you my apologies miss, it's just I saw you biting your lip earlier, and I thought it might have been a simple case of 'first day on the job' nerves."

"What, no, no, of course not." Cali thought about mentioning her... concerns about her fellow officers, but thought better of it. She was trying to be a good influence after all...

"Allow me to introduce myself miss. My name is Mordecai Vasir, medical practitioner under the tutelage of Dr. Henri DuPont. May I ask what your name is please, Miss..."

"Shaere. Cali Shaere. Nice to meet you."

 

[Belmarc]

Rat, slouched in the line-up, broke from it to grab a pin, mostly on his way to the food. He grabbed one and instantly put it into his mouth, placing a few others cradled between his arm and his shirt. Moving quickly, out of habit, he moved away from the food source and over to a window, eating quickly and scanning the room. He'd already noted each and every one of them, but keeping alert was what kept you alive. He didn't like being in a closed room with this many people, but jail was probably much the same, only a lot worse. He did his best to blend in, though it was a lot harder in here than they city streets, and nothing compared to hiding in the forest.

The last of his sandwiches vanished past his lips, his tongue barely able to register the taste before swallowing. He contemplated getting more, but decided against it. Better to not fill up in case he had to run, or shift. Something about changing your body structure around with a full stomach was just uncomfortable and nauseating. Staying solo wouldn't work for long here, so he began to look around for someone to at least try and get friendly with. Anything but a dark kin would do really. He'd been on the dark streets long enough to know that to be wary of them wasn't racist, it was justified.

 

[Voidrunner]

"Certainly isn't." Jason replied, raising his own cup in a casual toast.

Collin turned to face the man who had replied to him and immediately realised his assumption about the coffee being a test was correct. This guy was massive, towering well over Collin's diminutive height, and was probably built more solid than the walls of this dodgy place. If anyone would pass the coffee test with flying colours it would be this man, he probably couldn't even taste whatever foul toxin they'd put in the drink. Collin had without a doubt just found the most dangerous man in the room. He offered a brief nod to show that he recognised his fellow officer's skill before trying to finish the remainder of his own coffee in one gulp. Trying being the operative word there, the infernal beverage felt like it was trying to claw its way back up his throat.

"Vandar," he managed to splutter out, "Collin Vandar, beat cop, just got transferred over here. How about you? Don't think I've seen you before."

 

[EnigmaticSevens]

"What's wrong with cheese? Afraid of nightmares?"

Rory?s eyebrows scrunched slightly. Nightmares? Could cheese cause ill dreams? Oh the horror... though Rory could recall no such connection in all of his previous forays into the substance. Heh, well there was something worth investigating later. Thoughts of insidious lactose based toxins aside, some clarification was perhaps necessary, "Nothin' against cheese, mate, but with all the stories come certain... expectations. Marble colonnades, flying buttresses, grand fortresses and the like. A sword with runes on it or somethin' , humans love magic runes 'n shit. But this... hors d'oeuvres, rancid coffee, and a slum... someone's childhood is gettin' pissed on."

An almost gleeful sort of chuckle got tangled in amongst the last few words. In truth, this was great and glorious news for Rory?s kin. Some of the cubs had worried about ancient sorceries and a beloved uncle being turned into some sort of mindless killing machine by the evil humans (only Ducky?s brood could weave such conspiracy theories.) This was all a tad underwhelming to say the least, though Rory thought it best to overestimate a potential foe and plan accordingly. Though in this case, the foe was less of a great, snarling, vicious beast, and more of an adorable mongrel pup.

The watering hole drew a few more hesitant denizens, more and more little cheese sandwiches vanishing by the minute. Most were content to consume their treats in a wary sort of silence, though one fellow proved particularly enthusiastic. It was a tad painful to watch really, the human downing one cup of 'coffee' and following it up with a second. Rory could swear he was starting to change colors. The fellow introduced himself to a mountain of a man. The large one seemed cordial enough, though it didn?t seem polite to encourage the small one?s obvious attempt at self harm. Rory flinched a bit as the small one?s introduction proved a bit too wet. He offered the fellow a napkin and a word, "Colin? My dear little friend, please... stop, stop the drinkin'. If it feels like it's eatin' away at the walls of your stomach... it probably is."

 

[Voidrunner]

"Colin? My dear little friend, please... stop, stop the drinkin'. If it feels like it's eatin' away at the walls of your stomach... it probably is."

Collin hastily accepted the napkin and tried to stem the tide of destruction the split coffee was doing to his uniform for several seconds before giving it up as a bad job. If anyone asked how his uniform got like that he could always claim that someone had thrown acid at him, it wouldn't be too far from the truth anyway.

"Thank you, thank you kindly my... red haired friend?" tried Collin while inwardly cursing. He'd seem films like this before, if he kept this up he was going to end up as the laughably incompetent comic relief cop. It looked like Hugeo McGinormous was the tough guy and this red haired fellow? Possibly a wise old mentor figure, not that he looked old, but mysteriously appearing and giving advice was a mentor trait. Either that or hadn't realised there was a test and was trying to be helpful?

"I don't think a mere mortal is supposed to drink more than one cup of that 'coffee', I'll just stick with the sandwiches in future, much safer option if you ask me. Have you tried any of them Mr...?" As far as Collin knew, the sandwiches weren't part of the test but it wouldn't hurt to try and get some advice just in case.

 

[Trasch17]

Sameera watched the 'food' struggeling with the coffee. I can't be that bad, can it? She went to the table and noticed the other dark kin. She estimated him to be somewhere between 200 and 300 years old. It was hard to tell, even for fellow kin. She made a quick stop before him and payed her respects in the form of a deep bow. Her father taught her to respect her elders, especially when they were old enough to have lived during the time, when magic was still around.
She then continued her way to the table as if nothing happend.

After Sameera arrived, she took a cup and sniffed at the content. She deemed the drink to be... well drinkable and took a sip.

~What the hell is their problem? It isn't even half bad!~

She emptied the cup with one gulp. The coffee wasn't the best thing she ever tasted, but neither was it the worst. It was simply acceptable. To be fair, she was used to something worse, which was: her selfmade coffee.

Her mind began to wander again and she sighed, murmuring: "Come on... enough with the idle chit-chat. Where's the Boss?"

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Collin Vandar, beat cop, just got transferred over here. How about you? Don't think I've seen you before."

"Jason Hunt." he replied, extending the offer of a handshake, fighting not to laugh at Collin's efforts to bravely endure the coffee. "This would be my first day on the force, as it happens. I used to assemble motor cars on the productions lines down in Redfields."

By then they were a trio, joined by a red-haired man a deal older than Jason, who endeavored to save Collin from Suicide by Refreshment. This other one was a warg too. The beast part of Jason, even when hidden beneath his human form, could always seem to tell. There was something about this one that put Jason on edge, although that wasn't exactly unusual. Jason was not the most trusting soul.

Giving no outward hint as to his misgivings, his greeting of the man was friendly. "Nice to meet you, and you would be...?"

 

[Ruedyn]

Marc was vaguely disappointed to see his show ended so soon, but merely sighed. He made sure to commit the names to memory, Jason Hunt the burly one, race unknown, probable human, perhaps a shifter. Collin Vandar, ditto on the race, and finally a red haired feral looking man, name and race unknown though likely Warg. Mar noticed a slight shift in Jason, but nothing to act on.

"Nice to meet you, and you would be...?"

Marc was torn from his amateur Sherlock routine, and minor eavesdropping, by one of his kin. She gave a deep bow, making Marc feel a bit uncomfortable. He tried to quickly gather himself, and returned the bow a bit, keeping his eyes on her. Dark Kin, name unknown, carrying an expensive looking sword. She seemed unaffected by the coffee, perhaps it wasn't as bad as previously thought?

"Come on... enough with the idle chit-chat. Where's the Boss?"

"Over there." Marc said somewhat quietly, pointing at Novak, smoking in the window. Then pointed at the door he had entered through. "Came from over there; Higher up is probably sitting in that office. Wonder who it is... probably a human, actually." Marc shrugged and frowned, staring at the office door.

 

[Trasch17]

"Came from over there; Higher up is probably sitting in that office. Wonder who it is... probably a human, actually."

Sameera nodded while she grabbed another cup. "I figured as much. I just want him or her to show up as soon as possible, so we can start with..." She took a sip of coffee, "...whatever we're supposed to do." She looked around watching the others. "My name's Sameera Draven, by the way. You can call me Sam." She bowed again, not as deep as the first time though.

"They don't seem to trust us, do they?" She made a vague gesture into the dircetion of their colleagues. "Not that it really suprises me..."

 

[Ruedyn]

"My name's Sameera Draven, by the way. You can call me Sam."

She said something or other, a response to his mindless musing as Marc grabbed his cup again, intent to give it a try now. She bowed again as he took a sip. He really didn't like the bowing, it made it seem like he was superior to her in some way. He put the cup back down as he addressed her again.

"I'm Marcus Lloyd, please just call me Marc. I'm not really worth any honorifics."

"They don't seem to trust us, do they? Not that it really surprises me..."

"Well, I'm quiet and you brought a sword. Give us a week, and we'll earn it. Whether they like it or not." Marc said innocently, flashing a smile at his companion.

 

[EnigmaticSevens]

"I don't think a mere mortal is supposed to drink more than one cup of that 'coffee', I'll just stick with the sandwiches in future, much safer option if you ask me. Have you tried any of them Mr...?"

"Aye, I have; lovely bits of cheese in 'em. Suspect they're okay, little sandwiches never did anyone in, to my knowledge," Rory gave both men a polite little nod as the large man introduced himself and both fished about for his name. They'd given theirs freely enough, it'd be rude to hold back his own, even amongst such mixed company. To be entirely honest, Rory was a bit impressed by the rather cordial nature sprung from these two in particular. The little one was a human, though he neither trembled in the presence of monsters or scorned them, and the big one... a warg for sure, but not one Rory was familiar with. Jason Hunt... no... Rory knew of no Hunt Clan in the city, probably cityborn then, there wasn't much accent in his voice. A small pity for the big fellow found a little nook in Rory's chest. To grow up in a place that calls you monster, far from any woods, far from any land that would call you son, Rory couldn't imagine a bleaker fate.

"Ha, I'm not your 'mister,' mate. Just Rory, Rory Red, color coded for your convenience,? Rory chuckled and tapped his head, "And as for past work...?"

Rory paused for a moment and offered a little shrug, "Well... I got by. Suppose I'm a copper now! Aren't we all? Ready and able to beat on things in the name of truth, justice, and suchlike...."

 

[Pappytech]

From his isolated seat, Archibald could only manage to catch snippets of the others' conversation. Not intentionally, mind you; he would never eavesdrop on this ilk on purpose. It was only due to their boorish, annoyingly cheerfully volume that he was able to pick up anything they said.

Still. At least some of it made for good entertainment.

"They don't seem to trust us, do they? Not that it really surprises me..."

The girl seemed to know her place in the grand scheme of things. Or at least she knew how others would place her in said scheme. Archibald may not have had any desire to work with any of the beasts, but if he had to, then he would at least prefer to work alongside those who recognized how the world worked. It would make things quite easier.

The other, Dark Kin, on the other hand...

"Well, I'm quiet and you brought a sword. Give us a week, and we'll earn it. Whether they like it or not."

"Heh."

Archibald found himself unable to repress a deriding chuckle at the Kin's remark. To be fair, it wasn't like he was trying very hard to do so. Did the foolish thing honestly believe that it or any of its ilk would ever manage to earn respect? Please, this organization was a token movement, a pointless entity that only sought to soothe a few of the public's growing concerns, a placebo. The very idea that these creatures would be allowed to hold something even resembling authority... Ridiculous.

Smirking to himself, Archibald made no effort to hide his expression.

 

[Dogmatic99]

Mabel came out of her office, documents under her arm and ushered the recruits into a room off in the back of the building. They'd set it up like a makeshift conference room, complete with large table. After a brief introduction, as Captain Ackerman, she went straight into the seminar on the proper handling of iron and silver cuffs for the non-human officers and distributed a collection of gloves. They even practised a little on the human officers.

After that, and a brief talk on proper conduct while on duty, Mabel lead them on a walking tour of the precinct. They had already seen the main hall that was serving as the main working area/lobby. Along with that they passed the rooms that had been converted into cells, the most solid part of the building. They skipped over the break room on the second floor (It had a couch and an okay view) ending on the armoury and the meagre collection of firearms and batons that were available to them. Each recruit was given their service revolver, signing it out on the weapon ledger.

Once that was all over they went back up to the main hall and Novak was made to set up a map of Old Town that had been cut into 4 different coloured pieces.

"Time to sort your patrol groups. Most of you will be on foot for this, it's important to make ourselves known to the populace." Mabel stated flatly, the fatigue of the day showing a little.

She pointed to the north slice of Oldtown. "Rat, Ampere and Shaere. Your patch is up North. This parts more residential and it's got the largest human populace in Oldtown. Family neighbourhoods mostly, shouldn't be too tough for you."

Then came the west-side bordering Redfields. "This one's for Hunt, Hemingr and Lloyd. Talin Town. Keep on your toes here, we've had multiple reports of gang related activity in the past few months. Two talin gangs, The Pride and The Dawn Claws, have been duking it out recently and there's rumours that a Dark Kin group are trying to muscle in."

That just left the rest of Oldtown and Novak apparently saw fit to take over. "Draven, Red, Vandar and Vasir are with me." He growled. "We're in the car and covering a larger area, now officially it only sits 4 so someone's going to have to squeeze in the middle in the back seat."

"I'll be here at headquarters if you have any need of me." Mabel added. "Just find a phone booth or whatever phone comes to hand." She'd given them the office number during orientation.

Things were finally finished dusk was just beginning to cover the city in its faded light. The recruits were left to head out on their first day of active duty.

*****​

Novak left for the beaten up old car and waited for his team to pile in. He didn't care which one drew the short straw in the seating arrangement. He just turned the keys and the old wagon grumbled to life as they set off on their patrol. He drove on in silence for a while, leaving them to it before raising the elephant in the car and glancing at the silver sword at one recruit's hip. Thank god Mabel didn't kick up a fuss about that one.

"Does anyone else have any non regulation equipment on their person? I'm not gunna be angry but I will be very disappointed if you try and hide it from me."

 

[Trasch17]

Sameera paid close attention to the briefing and was directly behind Novak as he went for the car. She wore additional gloves, a police cap and popped the collar of her jacket, in order to protect herself from the sun. She got lucky and got the front seat. Her first ride in one of these cars! As if her first day on the job wasn't exciting enough.
She had difficulties getting in the car with her height and the rapier, so she banged her head multiple times swearing every time.
After she finally got on the car, she was quiet most of the time, curiously watching Novak as he drove.
Some time later, Sameera noticed his glance on her sword.

"Does anyone else have any non regulation equipment on their person? I'm not gunna be angry but I will be very disappointed if you try and hide it from me."

"Nothing besides the rapier...erm... I guess...uhm... Sir."

Non regulation equipment? She didn't even knew that that could make problems.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Pleased to meet you Rory." Jason returned. The man seemed easy-going enough. Perhaps Jason's first instincts had been wrong. For a warg, Jason was not very in touch with his wild side, while Rory on the other hand gave off an aura of being more comfortable in his own skin that Jason could ever be, and something about that rankled... was he jealous?

"Heh."

It was that human again. The one he'd passed be before. Jason knew he shouldn't rise, that would be a very bad idea indeed, but despite his best efforts a muscle twitched at the corner of his eye, and he wheeled round to give him a look that plainly said 'Got something to say, pal?'

Thankfully, the start of actual proceedings prevented the threat of escalation.

Some time later...

"This one's for Hunt, Hemingr and Lloyd. Talin Town. Keep on your toes here, we've had multiple reports of gang related activity in the past few months. Two talin gangs, The Pride and The Dawn Claws, have been duking it out recently and there's rumours that a Dark Kin group are trying to muscle in."

"Got it, sir." Jason replied, a determined expression on his face. It was a part of town he knew at least, and some people there knew him. It might help, but Jason just hoped there wouldn't be any trouble."

 

[Terratina.]

"Isn't this what city police stations are like?" He asked Mr. Red, finally.

The Shifter found himself blending into the crowd by the refreshments. Chris just decided to watch the assembled characters, making note of their quirks and their names. No doubt he would probably forget them later with all the hubbub. He listened carefully to Ms. Ackerman and heard the news. Alas! It wasn't an undercover assignment, but gang trouble. He could possibly go undercover but... Well, his little secret was bound to get sometime. However, he didn't want people to tell people to tell people that the Hemingrs were a bunch of lying, untrustworthy Shedders. Then again, things could turn out differently.

"Ah, forget that," He said with a cheesy smile to Red as he walked away, "It's a shame, but I've been placed in a different squad."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Mordecai perked his ears up at the sound of their senior officer coming in with a stack of files, and followed the other new recruits as they headed into a makeshift conference room. He payed attention at the briefing which Captain Ackerman gave, noted down all the protocol details and how to use handcuffs in the second notebook he carried.

Afterwards, they went on a walking tour of their facility, if one could call it that; Mordecai hoped that as the new Praetorians grew in reputation, they might receive some additional funding to allow some upgrades, making the place look more professional, perhaps even a room where he might put his medical skills to use. They soon arrived back at the main conference room, where a map of Old Town was divided into four separate pieces, each marked with a different colour.

"Time to sort your patrol groups. Most of you will be on foot for this, it's important to make ourselves known to the populace." Captain Ackerman said in a rather tired and flat tone, signs of fatigue settling in. The groups and their patrols were assigned one by one, until there was a handful of recruits left, Mordecai included. It was at this point that Sergeant Novak spoke up.

"Draven, Red, Vandar and Vasir are with me." He growled. "We're in the car and covering a larger area, now officially it only sits 4 so someone's going to have to squeeze in the middle in the back seat." A short while later, Novak and his team piled into the slightly beaten up squad car, Mordecai was fortunate enough to be sitting in the rear passenger seat, behind the Dark Kin who went up front with Novak.

For a while as the car pulled away there was silence, but eventually, Novak noticed the silver rapier that the Dark Kin was carrying.

"Does anyone else have any non regulation equipment on their person? I'm not gunna be angry but I will be very disappointed if you try and hide it from me."

"Apart from a couple of hand written medical notebooks which I carry with me at most times of the day sir, there shouldn't be anything else that is out of place." Mordecai said as he looked out of the window, as the streets slowly grew darker with the fading light.

 

[Ruedyn]

'Of course it was a human...'

Marc paid little attention to the tour, he preferred to go over himself more extensively. Basic layout was handy, though. Seeing someone get cuffed was mostly a game of staying way the hell away from the iron set. He knew what happened when he touched iron.

He took his weapon when prompted, and found he could barely tear his attention away from the thing. He'd never actually held one before, it was heavy and he kept his finger away from the trigger. He wasn't afraid to admit he was frightened of the thing, though he knew he'd have to use it. He fell in when they were told their posts.

"Time to sort your patrol groups. Most of you will be on foot for this, it's important to make ourselves known to the populace."

'Job seems stressful.' He noted, paying attention to her voice and other such things. This was to be his CO, then. Could've been worse, and it was good to see humans at least treated women better than they treated other races. Progressive in some ways...

"This one's for Hunt, Hemingr and Lloyd. Talin Town. Keep on your toes here, we've had multiple reports of gang related activity in the past few months. Two talin gangs, The Pride and The Dawn Claws, have been duking it out recently and there's rumors that a Dark Kin group are trying to muscle in."

[sub]"... I'm glad we were chosen for the most dangerous sounding one."[/sub] He murmured to himself, hoping no one else would notice. He didn't really want to be heard complaining already, but seriously first day was gang warfare. Fun for some, but he hoped at least one of the two others was a really good fighter.

"Got it, sir."

"We're on the same team, then. Good evening sir, shall we get going?"

 

[EnigmaticSevens]

The small talk bled away as the main event drew near, the head lady finally gracing the new recruits with her presence. Quick eyes sized the woman up, probing for weaknesses and deficiencies. This Ackerman held herself well enough, that much was certain, even if she seemed to lack a basic sort of warmth. Perhaps certain things had to be sacrificed to stay at the top of this particular lot. Interesting and certainly something worthy of further study, this Captain Ackerman would make a suitable Alpha for the present, there?d be time later to test her merit.

Rory nodded along with the seminar, only interested in brief, fleeting snatches. He noted the make of the cuffs, satisfied that he knew how to slip them, and the tour of the precinct was appreciated; it gave a grand opportunity to catalog the structure's entrances and exits without arousing undue suspicion, though he suspected at least a few hidden doors or tucked away rooms remained in this place. Those could wait though, it seemed the captain expected an afternoon patrol. Rory found himself lumped in with the blustery sergeant and the dear little friend, along with two others, both Kin. They'd be in a... in a patrol car. Rory fidgeted slightly at that news. He didn't find the prospect of be stuffed into a small metal box and putting his life in Novak's hands all that appealing. Meh, at least half of the area they were supposed to monitor, the southern portion of Old Town bordering Harvest Hill, was definite Red turf. Rory didn't foresee too many problems.

The car was... cozy.. to say the least. Rory volunteered for the dreaded middle back seat position, though he managed to make himself comfortable enough, stretching his arms back behind the headrests of his fellow backseat passengers and very nearly managing to lounge. He perked up at Novak?s question, the slight simper that seemed to make permanent residence on his face growing into a toothier sort of grin, "Well I'd certainly hate to disappoint, now let's see if I recall academy terminology... 1 steel blade, trench-class, 1 silver blade, dagger-class, 1 small iron blade, classified boot knife, and a hip flask with somethin' warm in it."

The list of contraband rolled off of Rory's tongue with a brazen sort of ease. Nothing too aggressive lingered in his voice; he wasn't out to be purposefully belligerent, but likewise, nothing in his voice so much as hinted at a willingness to part with any such non-regulation equipment.