by Arcaii » Sat Nov 28, 2015 9:35 am
Choices:
1: Right
2: Right
3: Left
4: Right
5: Right
6: Right
Roll says... 2: Right.
Well, maybe the tree will have something. You trot off, ears perked and eyes open. At first, you're focused on finding food, but you quickly realize that there's a second set of paws right behind you. You turn your head to see Tag only a few inches from your tail, watching you intently.
You blink, but just turn your head again and start searching. He stays at the exact same distance, following you step for step as you circle the tree and sniff inside the shopping carts. You catch sight of a lizard sunning on a rock a few feet away, carefully stalk forward, jump for it, and kill it, and he's right there with you. You glance up once or twice from your weak meal to see him sitting down across from you and eyeing you down.
Skill Leveled Up: Hunter (Jou).
After half a minute, you swallow and say, "Do you want some of this, or-?"
"No," he says tartly. "I already ate."
"You could've gotten something extra, brat," says Card cheerfully somewhere behind you. "He doesn't know."
"Doesn't know what?" you call back.
"There's a hierarchy of feeding around here," Gabber says to your left. She walks out of the grass and sits down beside you with a pathetically small mouse. "You won't get there for a while, but we have a mess hall for the higher-ups- oh, calm down, scout, we're just talking."
Tag's hackles are raised. He's staring at the mouse like it just insulted his mother.
"Anyway-" Gabber looks back at you. "Us soldiers need to catch our own food, but if you've ascended past that, you get food caught for you."
"That so?" you say, munching on your lizard's tail, which is the fattest part of it.
"Yeah." Card joins you with some sort of animal that you haven't seen before. "There's soldiers, right? We do all the dying, so we're the lowest rank. But above us are the scouts and the watchers - cats like the brat here who provide surveillance and tattle on us when we make fun of our captains. The difference is that scouts actually go into enemy territory sometimes, while the watchers stick close to home base and mind the army."
"Do we need that much minding?" you ask.
"They've taken you to borstal by now, haven't they?" Gabber says softly. "You've seen the poor girl they have locked up in there. No one's keen to see that happen again, least of all the higher-ups."
You lower your head.
"Anyway, above the scouts and watchers are the lieutenants," Gabber continues, nudging you gently to bring you back to attention. "They're kind of all over the place, but if they're on a patrol, it's because the captain needs a second-in-command to help them along. Most captains worth their salt don't need them, though, so they have a small group themselves to patrol and deal out punishment and orders as they see fit."
You grimace, remembering Dandelion's story.
"Yeah, they're a-holes. Nobody likes them." Card grins at Tag's face, which has scrunched up in outrage. "Next are the captains, which each run their own patrol. You've seen that. Then, let's see... Blabs, am I missing anything?"
"Just the generals," Gabber says. "They're the captains of the captains. Some of them are, anyway. Some have graduated to being part of the war council or just interrogate the newbies."
"Then there's the Major," Card says. "She's the head honcho of everything."
"You've met her, I assume," Gabber says, and shakes her fur as if to get rid of a bad chill.
She wasn't much.
What, the stern-faced fluff-butt?
Yes, I've met her.
Say nothing.