‘Put him over there and untie him.‘ The centurion pointed to a spot on the floor next to a brick wall in the Black Citadel stockade. Dinky carried Poppler over to the wall and set him down, untied him, then turned toward his boss. ‘Now unchain him and give him his armor back,’ Grimcrotch said, nodding toward Grimpaw. ‘But boss, I…’ Dinky began. ‘DO IT.’
The legionnaire stared at the centurion for a few seconds, then turned toward the jailer’s desk to get the key for the chain locks. With a grunt Grimpaw slowly began to move his arms and legs around a bit while Dinky dropped the chains, grabbed the prisoner’s armor and tossed it down, then turned back toward Grimcrotch, paws on hips, staring daggers at his commander.
The charr engineer bent over to pick up his gear, watching the situation unfold with his superiors.
‘Legionnaire Dinky, Poppler, and Grimpaw stay, the rest of you get out.’ Still returning the gaze to his 2nd, Grimcrotch waited for the door to close. ‘I’ll get back to you in a moment, soldier. You better put an end to that anger before I beat it out of you.’ You could physically see the rage in Dinky; somehow he kept it under control.
Grimcrotch stepped over to the desk and sat on the edge & leaned back; ‘What are we gonna do with you two…?’ he said, looking first at Poppler then to his engineer. ‘You both pulled weapons on me, threatened three legionnaires and several soldiers…. Nevermind,’ he said, holding up his paw as Poppler began to speak, ‘I already know. Now you two listen up.’
The centurion inspecting the Black Citadel stockade
‘First of all, Poppler, this has nothing to do with any friendship with Grimpaw. You pointed both pistols directly at me and dropped three turrets, threatening not only me but the rest of the soldiers and two legionnaires on that cliff with them. I know what you were doing, I have to consider the fact that you were helping my soldier, not your friend.’
Grimcrotch walked over to Poppler and picked him up off the floor by his shoulders, then stuffed his snout into the asura’s face, ‘I didn’t authorize anyone to touch you while you were locked up here for three weeks, I didn’t know you were getting beaten. But consider yourself lucky what happened is all you got out of this. You should be dead, you little bastard,’ fangs bared slightly.
The centurion dropped Poppler down, turned and gazed toward his engineer, paws on hips. ‘You,’ slowly stepping forward, ‘are a different story. You attacked your legionnaire twice, drew your rifle on me, then attempted to pull a pistol on me, Grimpaw. The fact that you were nearly killed in a mission for Blood Legion has absolutely no bearing on this, you are a soldier, that’s what you do.’
‘Your friend here interfered with an official operation, every day is a gift to him now, courtesy of the 12th. But striking your legionnaire twice and drawing a weapon on a centurion….you know you should be drawn and quartered.’ Grimcrotch walked back to the desk and leaned back sitting on the edge, quietly looking at Grimpaw. ‘We’ll work out some kind of punishment.’
——
‘WHAAT?!’ Dinky bellowed angrily. Stomping over into his friend’s face, he bounced his snout off the centurion’s, growling ‘If you think you’re letting him off the hook for all this you have another thing coming, by Light! I want a piece of him myself!’ Grimcrotch drew himself up to his full massive height, glared down at his 2nd and roared, ‘YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY TO ME LIKE THAT SOLDIER YOU BETTER HAVE A WEAPON DRAWN!!’
The centurion threw a glare laced with fire at Poppler and Grimpaw & growled, ‘Now get out before I change my mind.’ The two engineers ran out the door toward Grimpaw’s shack, the sound of centurion and legionnaire in full blown brawl behind them fading. Dinky pulled his sword and reached for his shield, but Grimcrotch punched him in the snout, knocking him back into the cell bars.
Legionnaires Shredskin, Wrathclaw and Fyon the Wraith stepped into the holding cells to see what the commotion was after the engineers ran, only to quickly turn and exit, grinning broadly. Grimcrotch was knocked out the door behind them into the hallway; as he stood they noticed both fighting charr had dropped their weapons in the holding cell and were duking it out.
When the streetfighting cats had rolled out into the main doorway of the Citadel, hissing, clawing, fist pounding blurred into a ball of fur, a crowd began to gather. Shredskin and Fyon the Wraith ran into the Citadel and grabbed two chairs, pulled out some snacks from their kits and had a seat, getting into it.
Poppler at home, Rata Sum
The crowd began to cheer them on; a soldier stepped to the front of a group and began taking bets. ‘Hey, you’re not taking any bets here soldier. Unless I get a cut!’ Shredskin grinned and those around laughed along. Poppler and Grimpaw jogged back up to the crowd near the other legionnaires, ‘What is this?’ Poppler asked Fyon.
‘This fight? Oh these two do it once a month at least. They go way back, always fought like the dickens. One of ’em will say something the other takes offense to, and they just beat each other senseless ’til they get tired. It’s become a ritual. Here,’ the legionnaire said, tossing Poppler a bag of nuts with a grin, ‘have a seat.’
Grimpaw stood beside Fyon quietly watching. ‘Hey.’ he said patting the charr engineer on his thigh, then motioning him down to listen. ‘The centurion’s out there doing that because he’s defending you and your friend this time, you two better appreciate it. There was no beef between them….yet, heh. You came back in one piece, no one died, just leave it at that.’
The charr engineer leaned back up and nodded, a new-found respect for his centurion clearly giving more than he was getting with no sign of either stopping soon, then reached over and patted his little asura friend on the back, ‘Thanks, buddy.’ Poppler half grinned, just glad to see his friend free, and alive. ‘Any time, my friend.’
Grimcrotch.com 
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