Grishin's Office

[Grishin]

Spring of Era XIV PF

The Prefecture had taken up roots where the previous building had stood. There was no roof anymore and the walls were burnt - in fact, the front wall where the entrance would have been was missing altogether. A few citizens had been gathered together to restore some semblance of a structure to the building and a canvas served to protect the building from any rain that might come.

When any citizen walked into the Prefecture they would find the Senior Assistant Prefect and acting Deputy Constable sitting at a poorly constructed desk that was pushed against the right wall. More often than not he could be found reading through the Articles of Imperium or going over old case reports as well as reading complaints filed by some of the citizens.

There was a make shift divider of nailed together pieces of old wood that had been found here and there that allowed for the separation of the front of the Prefecture and the back. The back was where Looie was often kept to guard 'top secret files' and any people they may have to keep prisoner for a little while. Mostly Grishin just wanted him back there to keep him out of the way.

Two men - just ordinary citizens - stood where the fourth wall should have, serving as guards. They both held thick wooden clubs in their hands and looked menacingly at anyone who approached that they didn't know. They were more for show than anything else, they never questioned anybody who approached and they wouldn't attack unless ordered to. Anyone was free to approach Grishin and speak to him directly - a policy that the Dracon had adopted from his boss Roland.

There were a few stools near where Grishin sat that would be available for anyone who came to visit. The law man also made it a policy to keep at least one full bottle of mead on hand at all times. He found that it was much easier to deal with riled up citizens when they had a bit of fermented honey in them.

[Roland Moonstar]

Looie sat in his back room, wearing a white powdered wig and black robe. Now and then he would bang his gavel against something, but mostly he kept quiet and did his job.

Unlike his various other jobs and designations, Looie actually had law and politics training, and sword training, long before he met Roland, and seemed tailor-made to be Prefect, and so he did a competent job doing all the boring paperwork, filing reports with Roland and keeping an eye on the Prefecture Staff.

He simply didn't like his job, explaining at one point that his parents wanted him to do it, and so he had dutifully complied with their wishes. He actually wanted to be an artist of some sort, perhaps a scultpor, but feared he wasn't good enough, and that no one would pay any crowns for his work.

And so, even though he was technically Prefect, he was happy that Grishin was ambitious, and would be quite content to step aside once Grishin's probation was up. Looie, as evidenced by the way he followed Roland and others around, clearly wasn't a leader. He just didn't believe in himself enough. Once, in a moment of self-pity, he told everyone in the prefecture the story of how he had lost his true love because he hadn't been strong and decisive enough for her, and he had vowed to never to return to the Lutran world undersea until he had become otter enough for her.

Mostly, though, he kept quiet, content to read his various law books and journals.

[Duncan Sythe]

“Serale, I've heard the Constable is now in residence?”

Came the quiet, utterly controlled tones of the man who had entered the Prefecture with his hands in his coat pockets and an attitude that bespoke of either ability or arrogance in the extreme – whichever of those two was appropriate.

He was dressed like a noble though, albeit a casually dressed one. The coat in question of fine brown leather trimmed with silver and his breeches, gray and boots, black, of similar quality...albeit worn. The sword at his hip looked like it belonged there too, half-hidden as it was beneath a light gray travelling cloak.

Swivelling his eyes across the place though Duncan Sythe thought no less of it for being a wreck as most of Paxia bar his own estate seemed to be – having been far enough away to avoid Orcish interference.

His eyes then settled on Grishin since the guards looked precisely like their job description and Looie was, well, Looie...known to Duncan and by and large left to his own devices whenever encountered.

“That might be you?”

Duncan asked Grishin directly after having addressed the guards before hand, striding over to the partition and the desk and waiting there, pose unchanged, hands still in pockets.

“Moonstar might have mentioned me, might not. I am Duncan Sythe, former Imperial Mage and Paxian resident.” A dry smile. “Or as Roland might have it 'Councilman Sythe' for the time being. I believe I might be able to be of some assistance to you. Or my assistants may, although they aren't presently here.”

He offered simply.

[Roland Moonstar]

Looie came out for a moment, introduced Grishin to Duncan, but then shook his head. "The Constable, Mr. Gorgon, is away with Roland right now. Off to see some guy named Eleven. Hilo Eleven? However, Mr. Moonstar has appointed Grishin as Deputy Constable, with power to be Acting for both Roland and Gorgon when they are away, so he can certainly help you." He then went back inside and excused himself. He appeared to be studying for an examination of some sort, and was, at least for him, taking it rather seriously. Books were out on his desk, and he was busy reading and writing.

[Grishin]

Grishin simply looked up at the man who named himself Duncan Sythe. Grishin personally couldn't recall him from any meeting they may have ever had or from any mentioning of him in the herald or by Roland. He looked like a noble, a bit too well to do to fit Grishin's image of a mage. Of course, his only real image of what a mage was was forged by his two experiences with them; one where one was trying to kill him with purple bolts in the middle of a battle, and the other was Roland. Neither of the two images fit Duncan, and Grishin was beginning to think that maybe mages were real people too.

Looie, as usual, had to make an entrance and behave as though he were in a position of authority. It was quite the odd dynamic, Looie technically being the boss but by Roland's own words Grishin was in actuality the one in control. A few times Grishin had contemplated solving the problem by simply eating the otter, but he had a feeling that while he had been given full leeway to kill Leon Kraus if he so desired, he doubted that Roland would also give him that same leeway with Looie. At the very worst Looie was still comical, if not utterly useless.

"I'm sorry, you seem to be a bit misinformed. I don't really need help with much of anything. All in all the citizens are good people as should be expected of any citizen of Arium. There are of course a few roughians and idiot kids who like to think they can form their little gangs and take over this place, but a quick look at me or a fierce glance from a few of those Falcon soldiers and they smarten up real quick. Was there something in particular you wanted to address? I don't see how your men can help me unless they're somehow able to read minds." Grishin chuckled a little - although coming from him it seemed more like barking laughter and if anything might come off as a bit of a warning. It wouldn't be hard to figure out from talking about mages for long with Grishin that he was rather ignorant when it came to them. Through and through he was a warrior who had taken a liking to the law.

His hand idly went to a pocket and in it he felt the necklace and ring that he had taken from that mage he had killed so long ago...he wondered. If the man was the Imperial Mage at some point could he identify the items? Grishin rather liked to think that they had some value beyond being nice to look at. Being uneducated in magic of any kind for the most part, he simply took them out of his pocket and left them on his desk, expecting the mage to immediately know about them.

[Duncan Sythe]

“Someone once said I could although I believe it might only have been a rumour.”

Duncan replied deadpan, shrugging.

“I think we have a case of miscommunication however in that I can entirely help you in the point where reading minds is precisely what is required Constable.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets and explained, deciding it was probably easier than assuming the man would eventually realise the point.

“Whilst for now you are dealing with disorganised, discorporate elements...I suspect before long that with a returning city will be a resurgence in crime. Before the fall of Paxia there was an extensive criminal element and I would, honestly, not be surprised if they are not already at work rebuilding their powers. An organized one Constable, not the kind that can be warned off by soldiers.”

Duncan nodded out the door.

“Out there are the people that those I am talking about bribe off. It is these people I think I could help you with, if you ever hear any rumours of that kind.”

As to the necklace and the ring Duncan had noticed them being placed but, so far, not paid any great attention to them, now though he examined them a moment with the recollection that Grishin had placed them on the table, whether he'd be able to tell anything depended entirely on the strength of the enchantments and/or imbuements in the items; how obvious they were.

OOC: Depending on how much you know about the items you might be able to help me or else you'll need Striker to tell me the answer.

[Roland Moonstar]

Finished with his studying, Looie closed his books and put everything away. He actually tidied up a bit, whistling to himself.

Then he came out to where the two men were talking. He still had the same serious expression as before: what ever he was up to, it was apparently at least important to him, if incomprehensible to the others. "Well, wish me luck. I'm off." He handed some papers to Grishin indicating he would be out of Paxia, meeting with a Pescado Branch about something he'd read in the Herald, and then he was out the door and on his way.