Story:The Merespem Civil Militia Division

Part 1

Came out from Shym station heading south, im a few minutes late as they've been doing construction on so much of the center city since the war ended that getting a train on time is a miracle, I was lucky enough to not be affected too much personally, I was on a work trip in Agreement for much of the battle, doesn't mean the city isn't affected, every other surviving wall is riddles with impact craters or stains, the oldest town in the country reduced mostly to a bunch of rubble and corpses, when i returned it was like seeing an old friend bleeding out in the street, I can only imagine how terrible it must've been for people that have lived here for a lifetime. My apartment is a new build, a part of the Teren housing reforms for all the people that lost livelihoods in the war, its nice, maybe too nice, the concrete exterior really does not do it justice, compared to the ancient hovels of the old town atleast, people will still complain about it though, as if it was their right to live in a rundown building that should have been converted to a museum a century ago. On the walk up to my flat i have to pass a group of youngsters, probably just got out of school, they are listening to Mrael tapes on an old portable tape system, older than me even, there is tape keeping the battery compartment in place and the speaker sounds as if it was dropped down stairs for half a decade, this does not seem to bother the young men. The one closest to the system asks me for a cigarettes as I pass by, I have to root around my mess of a bag but i eventually find my pack and give him the last one, "its your lucky day, friend" i say as i give it to him, he responds with a simple "Uchek Kekiril" and our interaction ends. The elevator in our building stopped working last Yenso and the mechanic keeps getting into fights with the local Sumaasyl about payment so its been in this limbo of no progress getting done for like half the Uewen at this point, I don't mind the stairs since I only live on the fourth floor, which itself is only about halfway up the building, when the elevator first broke my elderly neighbor chose to look at the uranium lining and be happy about the extra exercise he'd be getting, my job is active enough to make it a slog after work but im sure if you are an office worker it could be beneficial. The stairway itself is clean bar a couple bits of graffiti, likely added by the teenagers downstairs. I eventually make it to my apartment at the end of the hall, my neighbor is complaining about Einru to his wife, who is notably not interested in politics as I open my door, he is a good man but has this problem where he believes his teenage years in the late Ywylin period were the greatest time to be alive, he was a royal executor during the revolution and loves to tell me war stories despite the fact he spent most of the time in Tinlea doing paperwork for the dead. I specifically have avoided telling him about my job cause I do not need a lecture from a living relic.

By the time i finish fumbling for my keys and enter my living room the two have moved onto talking about the Deysachini immigrant who lives in the floor below us, he spends a lot of time in the common areas so the old people know him quite well. One of the nicer things about these new apartments is the heating is much better, back when I lived in the Kelna old district I had to buy a new fan every few lerpoks. I unpack my work bag and start cooking my dinner; the cheapest brenya meat i could get at the butchers, it wasn't even labelled what cut it was, as a side im going to eat leftover soup from last nights dinner, since I don't feel like cooking anything else. I'm about halfway through cooking this mysterious brenya steak when I start to regret not spending a few more Đ on something even a little nice, its practically falling apart in the pan, the garlic seasoning seems to cut through it, by the time im done it looks like a puddle of stepped on meat. The taste isnt much better, the seasoning isn't enough to mask the fact that my poor cooking combined with an even poorer meat quality is not a recipe for success. As im going for my second bite, watching Neri fishing reruns on Television, my telephone rings, its in the kitchen so I get up, "Awit srekyen hore?" its work, something urgent enough to call me in at 9:45 after I had already gotten home, apparently something terrible has happened and they are waiting for me to get to the precinct before fully elaborating, so I put on my uniform coat, grab my bag and leave with the television still on. As Im rushing to leave the building I trip going down the stairs, luckily covering most of my head with my elbow, leaving a mark that im choosing to ignore for the time being. As i reach the entrance of the walk-up the teenagers and I exchange greetings again, id love to stay and chat to some delinquents but I have places to be.

On the walk down to Shym station an incredibly drunk man leaving a bar thanks me for my service, I dont respond. He continues yelling at me until im out of earshot, at Shym station again and because of the construction I now have to wait a few extra minutes before my wonderful steel chariot arrives, i buy a cheap packaged coffee drink from the vending machine without inspecting the bottle too much, I dont realize its Mersyeyn brew till i take a sip and almost throw up on the platform, the only other person at the station just stares at me while this happens, he approaches and asks me whats wrong as if he wasnt looking at me the whole time, I explain how much i hate the taste of mersyeyn, our conversation ends with me giving him the drink and deciding ill find some real coffee at work. The train pulls into the station, its one of the new Syarb series, incredibly similar to the Syacan series except the seats are a different color and they sometimes have wraps showcasing various aspects of Utlian culture, the pulling in now is undercoated. The seat color is actually a quite nice change, i never liked the brown seats and think teal fits Unlaunen a lot better. I do not take a seat because the precinct is only a few stops away, i notice they've changed the posters on the train, theres now one showcasing Kalami-Utlian solidarity and a bunch about how great the House of Light is, its funny remembering the old ones that said the same shit about Akaria and Akuta, atleast the kalami have good food, I always hated when someone would suggest eating at some akarian resturant and id have to look at the putrid colored walls they seem obsessed with, not only that, then id have to eat food that seems to be more of a punishment than a culinary innovation. Kalami food on the other hand is as good as Utlian food id say, they have some real geniuses working over there, id love to visit one day, see the beaches, would be nice to generally get out of the snow for once, its been a brutal Uyrin and some sun might fix all my problems. In-between the political propaganda posters is an ad for the new album from Hens Ureok, i dislike all the keym stuff and shes the worst of it, id take a thousand bum teenagers listening to Mrael over it anyday, I miss the day they showed ads for that stuff, it was only a few years but it was the best time for music in this country. After enough judging the train pulls into Uebha station, its noticeably older than a lot of the other stations in Merespem district, being close to the center city means they get renovated every decade or so but Uebha has been the same since 20 PC, I mean the bulletin board has a ratty piece of paper praising the democratization under Hia El, its practically like walking into the past. Uebha is also the only non-elevated station in central Unlaunen, which I appreciate since it means less stairs to walk up, whoever decided to build this city on a billion hills deserves to be tortured eternally.

I walk out onto Ereneop street and make my way to work, Unlaunen Militia Merespem Division, ranked 4th best station in Unlaunen during the audits last year. Number 2 if you exclude all the fake militia divisions in places that nobody lives in, no other city in this country would give a whole precinct to a place with 100 people but i guess they do things different here in Azznin. The precinct building is wonderful, im biased of course but ill always love its grand architecture, you can tell it used to be the city hall prior to the annexation of Merespem into Unlaunen proper, has a very rural vibe for a place so densely populated. Before i head to debrief whatever this horrible situation is, I go to the break room, it has a little kitchenette but nobody ever uses it since everybody would rather make meals at home, I open the shared fridge and luckily someone has left some coffee out, its labelled as being Ureste's so i dont feel bad about taking it and drinking it, i need it more than his lazy ass anyway, he sits at his desk and acts like being in the social work division is the most mentally taxing thing ever. On the way to my desk i run into Neseyret, she gives me the rundown on the situation at hand, 3 dead in a robbery gone wrong in north Merespem, I was called in cause the robbed business was Casean and im the only homicide detective in the militia division who can understand Caseic. At my desk i grab my gun, a Hyren Nebek, I was luckily enough to be approved a gun transfer as well when I moved from Orena to here, everybody here uses shoddy Utrey pistols, i gladly paid the fee to get our little emblem stamped on my Nebek so i could continue using it down here, the Merespem emblem is interesting, atleast comparded to the boring shield of Rebyuna, it has a marmot of some kind and hes wearing an Unlaunen civil militia jacket, its whimsical in a way more precicints should be, im lucky enough to work at one that isnt always serious, except for Ureste but i cant help how much he sucks, he was transferred here a couple lerpoks after me and is very prideful about being from the most dangerous district in Balmor, to me he just comes off as an idiot with a gun. The rest of my coworkers are fun to be around but he ruins almost any work event for me.

I grab a blank case file from my drawer and get to the garage, I dont own a car personally cause they are expensive and just lead to more trouble than its worth, I still have to have all the valid credentials and pass the tests because of work, our vehicles are as old as the station itself, I dont mind but in the colder months it can be uncomfortable driving without proper heating, our vehicles are assigned to us personally and mine is among the oldest models, meaning its less safe but also looks a lot better, i dont think a militia car should prioritize safety, they should be about getting places as fast as possible to respond to immediate threats, this opinion is not shared by the council since that one militiaman skewered himself a few years ago. One idiot has to ruin it for everybody. I turn the car on and start driving, the precinct is in central Merespem and this crime has happened in north Merespem, which is the wealthier part of town, atleast wealthier compared to the part I live in. The tapedeck in my service vehicle is broken so i have to listen to the radio, lots of orchestral Keral performances and Arke for me at work, its like a punishment, luckily the drive isnt too long and i make it to the scene before they start with the Ideokeo night showcase. There is already another 3 militiamen at the scene, only patrolmen though, no other detective to help me here. One of the patrolmen is a good friend of mine, Sm. Lyremen Utek, he has declined 3 promotions since i got transferred and is a terrible patrolman, geniunely abysmal at his job, they only try to promote him so they can get him out of the field and behind a desk, hes a good man though, they had him assigned as my trainerwhen i first got here, one of the first things he told me is that his favorite part of the job is getting to drive around the district and getting discounted meals from local restaurants. He debriefs me on the situation, barely anything is known because the owner only speaks a little Utyis, this part of Merespem is overwhelmingly Caseic so its not that uncommon, what is known is that there are 2 dead customers and 1 dead workers inside, i play rank to avoid talking to the other patrolmen and enter the building, its a fairly standard shop on the first floor of a rowhome, entirely normal for the country, on the salesfloor is the owner, visibly in a lot of distress, I struggle with these situations and im sure the three idiots talking about the best cut of grylbo meat outside isnt helping with his stress. I conduct a uniform interview with the man, he tells me that at 8:30 pm, two men wearing masks entered the store and demanded money, the teller was the owners son and speaks only a little more Utyis than his father, one of the robbers went around the store and tried to rob the customers of the store, leading to the other two corpses in the store, i walk outside and ask the patrolmen if they've gotten any forensics out here, they have not so i have to use the store phone and get the weird fellas out here, the rest of the precinct dont like them much cause they are frankly quite weird but they are fun to drink some eiyye with at work events. I continue with my interview and at this point the shop owner is outside and has calmed down a bit, being away from the corpses is probably helpful in that sense. He tells me that he has a camera set up on the outside of his store, i request to view the footage and he takes me to the back room, the camera and its system are old, practically taking up half a room in this relatively small building, the men are unidentifiable from a combination of bad quality and face coverings, something does stick out to me though.

One of the men has a tattoo on his hand with the symbol of a local gang, loosely associated with Lwyin-hermaed, this gives me a headache cause i really do not want to deal with that group, even beyond the criminal portion they are just smug and annoying, I thank the owner and leave the store, the patrolmen outside ask me for the story and i reluctantly tell them that its a lwyin-hermaed job, they seem unreasonably excited about it, a lot of patrolmen have this mindset that doing gang work, and specifically lwyin-hermaed jobs are the peak of militia work, its a kind of "shootouts are how i can earn my place in the deep!" ideology. I hate this mindset as someone who just likes to do his job and doesnt care about the violent aspect, which is humorous for a homicide detective, but you have to remember that usually I get to the scene long after the violence has concluded. I finish my case report in the car and leave the scene. On the way back to the station I feel that craving for a cigarettes, its part of my ritual to have one after every case i report on, so i stop at a convenience store on sebreka road, the same way I stop at almost every other day since its so close to the station, the man who works night shift has learned who i am and when i enter the familymart he likes to yell out like an old friend "ARYET MY FRIEND!" I quite like him, I havent learned his name but he knows the exact kind of cig I like and has started giving me a discount, the store itself has lackluster snack variety and is kind of decaying on the inside, its in a rough shape but its like how people dedicate themselves to a specific shrine, ive dedicated myself to this rundown shop. Hopefully it makes up for the fact I havent been to a shrine in a decade, if Azzta is watching he must be quite dissapointed in me, I get my usual, a pack of neresen cigs and a bag of salt and vinegar eyren, which is my favorite flavor of the chip, neresen are my favorite cig as well but since all cigs are owned by the province, all the brand name parts of it and packaging is just smoke and mirrors, all that money still goes to the same place, they just like to make it look like there's more variety than there is, i get into a conversation with my cashier friend as he checks me out "eventful day at work today friend?" "oh yeah, quite eventful, had to get called in on a special case tonight" our conversation drifts into politics and I feel like I learn quite a bit about the average Utlian ideology "yeah I like the Einru president, that Teren is strong, hes like Yyme, I dont like all this new House of Light stuff im in honest, I was fine with the Casean immigrants they make sense but all these Deysachini and their little exclaves in town are are just annoying, hopefully those Einru fellas get the sense to realize its Utlia first and Utlia only" I disagree but im not going to get into a fight with my newish friend so I just agree and leave the store. Im driving back to the station when the Ideokeo showcase hour starts, Im not supposed to smoke in my service vehicle but I dont care, helps me keep my mind off how terrible this music is when you arent a 20 year old from Orena.

Parking at the station I run into Ureste, also getting back from a different incident in north Mersepem, I try to avoid him but like the leech he is he latches onto me and accompanies me for my walk inside "Yeah it was a rough case man, wife is an ardey and husband is a recent mirroi devout, i didnt even know you could convert to mirroi, anyway they are getting in this big fight and he throws a tome at her, like not a normal book, you know the kind of Mirroi book im talking about, shes got this huge gash on her forehead, I was first on the scene so I had to defuse, luckily their neighbor called before it got too bad, howd your case go? hopefully nothing too taxing" I reluctantly explain the triple gang murder I just got back from "oh man I hope you're feeling alright, that stuff can ruin your day and Lwyin-Hermaed is nothing to scoff at either, good thing you have that special service weapon right, OH hey just letting we are decorating for Herk Bell Fest next week and it would be a great help if youd wanna help me and Nersey put up the festivities." By Azzta this man never shuts up, im going to help purely because I like Nersey, though i have no idea why shes friends with Ureste, the whole station seems to like him more than I think I could muster and they are mostly sane Utlians. Before heading back to my desk I submit a copy of the case report to the organizational department, we had to get a new copier last lerpok and I had to get used to the controls, im still not very good as it as i accidentally press the Mepa button and print close to a dozen copies of my report. The lady who works in organizing doesnt like me, shes a new hire who seems to think im cursed or something, she does the most to avoid me at all costs, I think I may have told her I dont go to the shrine twice a week or eat mor-crab during festivals or something, shes the kind of Azztanist that has issues with that stuff. Despite all this she runs the organizational department quite well, before she got here we had a guy with no idea how the Braia organization system worked so he tried to get us to swap to a color system where each case type had a color associated, everyone told him it was stupid and eventually he just stopped coming to work, he said he was going to the east ocean for something and then just never came back.

As im leaving the station i run into Ureste again "oh hey you live by Shym station right, mind if i tag-along? Im only one station before you we could talk about work and life and whatever" I agree as to not come off as rude. We begin the walk to Uebha station together and he starts the conversation "So did you hear about forensics and corpses?" "No what happened?" "They got hit with a heavy fine last audit for improper storage of morgue corpses, something about the temperature of the bodies was wrong, the bigger part of it was that they were mistagging cause of death from autopsies, I heard a few of the patrolmen say that with these new civil militia regulations their department head is probably getting detained soon, i personally hope they send him to LS1S, his whole department is full of freaks, I wish theyd keep that stuff in a seperate building so we could interact with them less" Ive never heard this man be negative about something like this so i cant help but laugh a little bit in response "Haha yeah those guys are a little weird, they have like their own accent you know." "i never thought about it like that but yeah they do talk like theyve been isolated in their morgue basment since Swyl was in power." For the first time in the two ueuwen since ive worked here i feel good talking to Ureste, maybe i just had to see a few dead Caseans to make his prescense feel like comfort. Our conversation about the lads in autopsy continues until we reach Uebha station and run into two incredibly well dressed men, clearly of wealth, they look at us with a kind of disgust I didn't know was possible, Ureste notices this and intentionally bothers the men "oh hello sir nobles we just got done keeping the city safe for people like you! you should thank us!" At first the men try to ignore him but after I laugh one of the noblemen turns to us quickly and snaps while his buddy tries to pull him back "You and the civil militia has done nothing good, Yyme Braia was a failed experiment this country needs to return to the democratic state of justice, the death of Swyl Shote was the worst thing to happen to this country since the revolution, you and your entire division should feel ashamed, if our family still had the military you would be executed" at this point Ureste is practically hysterical and im not far behind, the men trying to play rank and mention their blood like being a Shote is some kind of birthright that lets you command respect

Ureste and I eventually get tired fighting with the nobles after the train arrives, they purposefully board a different car to avoid us anyway, we spend the ride to his station laughing about politics and I find we actually share a lot of opinions about the state of the noble families in this country, its like Unlaunen is one of the last places they get proper respect so they tend to flock here. At his station I bid him farewell and go back to looking at the train, the one that picked us up has newspaper displays in every car, a photo of President Terent giving a speech in Tinlea is the big story, he said some stuff about Einru ideology and world progression into a new age, stuff that people like I guess, other stories include "man in Serees district caught with 32 churgs in illegal breeding operation" "new tsunami protection and alert system meant to minimize causalities in natural disasters officially begins testing in Unlaunen-Ut" that ones good for the people closer to the west but Merespem is in northeast Unlaunen, tsunamis arent as big a problem up here. Eventually i hear the wonderful "next stop is Shym station" and get up, the walk from station to home is quieter than usually, its the middle of the night so i it makes sense, doesnt help but make it feel lonely, even the bar i passed on the way is pretty much dead, just one dude sipping eiyye in there now, my apartment building sticks out like a sore thumb, its the only big block renewal one they build in this part of Merespem so inbetween the gabled rowhomes its like a monolith to Einru. The walkup is empty and the air is cold, no Mrael playing, just the hum of lightbulbs and the faint whispers of life happening beyond the wall. On the third floor I do run into one of the teenagers from earlier and he greets me with a "CIGARETTE MAN! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!" as i walk by, i talk to him for a moment, complimenting his taste in music before heading up to my room, my neighbor is outside his room and hes reading some book about Akarian history and ashe spies me, his smile quickly turns to a frown as he spies my uniform "Oh i didnt know you were one of them, a shame isnt it mate, i figured you were the smarter than that, no hard feelings though" he says, clearly meaning hard feelings, im too tired to fight with him about it so i just get into my apartment, unpack from work, i didnt forget to bring my gun home today, its a habit i picked up back in Orena, since there we werent allowed to bring weapons home, here its encouraged, ill never understand the tiny differences between precincts, even between individual districts its like whole other cultures. The tv is playing some tv-film adaptation of the third Adventures of Nyis book, I always liked that one so I eat my eyren while watching it, my puddle steak from earlier still sitting on the table, i decide ill deal with it in the morning, the bedrooms in this building are one of the few negatives of living in these new build blocks, the closet is too small and the bed is too low to the ground, something about traditional Utlian living in a modern shell, I just want to be comfortable tradition doesnt mean much to me in this case. Just before I get into bed i recieve a call, i sluggishly make my way back to the living are and answer "Awit srekyen hore?" its the morgue, they got the bodies registered back at the station, cause of death is gunshot, which i couldve told you. I return to my bed and after a slight struggle with it, fall asleep.