Paying Tribute #2-1

Marble, a dark, muted green tabby iguanodon with spikes adorning his dorsal line, had long been a jailor of Atlantis. Not that they had much issues down here, until the outsiders started pouring in, but there was the occasional rebel he had been tasked to apprehend. He had worked alongside his colleague, Gaol for quite some time. His quilled companion had a pale base coat with a much darker sable and midline, as well as some very distinguished blue dimorphic stripes. Much to the duo’s dissatisfaction, they had been asked to leave their posts for the day in order to help the euoplos polish some armour. How dull, they thought.

As Gaol entered the armory followed by Marble, they were immediately greeted by a familiar face, Koi. A dark green, almost black, piebald euoplo with a distinct red spot on his head, much like a koi fish.
“Hello there, dear jailors. We really do appreciate you two taking the time to help us out in these trying times. I’m sure you two understand very well why we need things in prime condition.” Koi said with a friendly smile on his face. It really shone through his eyes.
“Sadly, we are not here willingly but an order from the Queen is an order. Move out of my way, guardian.” Marble huffed as he pushed past Gaol and Koi to get seated for his involuntary work.
“I understand very well that you would rather deal with your own job, Marble, but being polite has never hurt anyone.” Koi mumbled, displeased at the larger herbivore’s attitude.
He knew that they stood above him in hierarchy, but he felt like he had done nothing wrong and didn’t deserve such an attitude. With a forced smile, he turned back towards Gaol, who was still waiting in the entryway for orders, as he had been disciplined to do by his mother as well as his superiors.

“I appreciate your patience, Gaol. Come with me.” Koi said and waddled forward, past some other working euoplos and ovis to a more private corner where some armour had been lined up.
“I am sure this goes without saying, but if you find anything that is broken beyond your capabilities, just put them to the side and I or someone else will come get them to the primates for repair. Sadly we do not have their convenient hands.” Koi chuckled. “Don’t hesitate to call for me if you need anything.”
“Understood. I appreciate your hospitality.” Gaol replied as he sat down to look over the gear.
He looked back at his friend, Marble, who looked very upset to be in the middle of everything, but Gaol could not bother feeling bad for him. He put himself in that situation by being rude. It was not Koi’s fault they had to be here, so Gaol truly felt like Marbe was out of line.
With a slight sigh, Gaol got to work. He started by inspecting things and putting away the gear in need of repairs first, so he could focus on polishing and tending to the leather for the other things after without having to interrupt his workflow. Nice and methodical, just the way he liked it.

While Gaol was seemingly enjoying himself, Marble glared over at him occasionally, feeling rather miserable about this whole ordeal. Why should they need to work on this stuff, when they have much more important issues at hand? But, he also didn’t want to get scolded, so he did as instructed by another euoplo who had approached him after Koi left with Gaol.
Much to his dismay, almost every piece of gear handed to him was in good enough condition to just need polishing and some treatment for leather, so he couldn't just send them off for repairs. Very unfortunate, he kept thinking to himself.
Just as he was about halfway done with a large chestplate, Koi approached him to see how things were going.
“Is everything coming along nicely?” Koi asked, trying to be as friendly as he could despite their earlier interaction.
“It would certainly be nicer if I did not need to be here.” Marble huffed as he put the armour to the side to talk to Koi without any distraction. “Look. I have no interest in being your employee or whatever this whole situation is, I just want this to be over so I can go back to more important work. Who cares if the armor is all glossed up and shiny if it’s just going to get dirty again? Let me work in peace.”
Koi didn’t even bother answering the disrespectful iguanodon at this point, but instead opted to walk off and see if anyone else was more interested in his company. He just wanted to make sure everything was going well and meant no harm, but it seemed that Marbe was not interested in being friendly, regardless.

After working for a while to make sure everything he had been given was up to code, Gaol realised that maybe, it wasn’t so bad after all. He probably wouldn’t mind doing this again sometime. He spotted Koi, who was a bit further away who had seemingly been conversing with Marble, or at least Gaol assumed as much since he came from his direction.
“Koi, mind if I steal some of your time for a bit?” he called out, and the euoplo happily waddled over.
“What’s on your mind, Gaol?” the short statured herbivore asked as he sat down before the iguanodon.
“I just wanted to say that I would not mind coming back later, or tomorrow, if you still need more aid.” Gaol replied with a soft smile. “It has been somewhat therapeutic to sit down here and work, I must admit.”
“I am delighted to hear this, I will be sure to call for you specifically next time we need more help here. As for your colleague.. I’m not so sure..” Koi replied, going from excited to disgruntled as he looked over to the green, spiked iguanodon.
“He needs some time to warm up, I can always try to convince him, if you wouldn’t mind giving him a second chance.” Gaol replied.
Koi seemed to think a bit about it before responding. “Very well, I trust your judgement. But if his attitude doesn’t improve the next time he will not be welcome back.”
“Deal.” Gaol replied, now more determined than ever to convince his friend.

Rather than leaving Marble behind to work on his own, Gaol decided that he’d join him and finish the last pieces of armour together, so he made his way over to his grumpy friend and got to work as well.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on them. They’re just doing their job.” Gaol said to his spiked friend.
“I don’t care, it’s just that, their job. We should not be here.” the unamused iguanodon almost snarled.
“You are such a child.” Gaol sighed as he kept working alongside his friend. Arguing would get him nowhere, discussing this would better be done later, when he wasn’t as angry.

1182 words