"So. You wanna be a deputy." Timothy 'Lawman' Whitfield paced back and forth before a group of what was, to him, a bunch of fresh faced yokels who were a little too proud that they could fire a hand cannon without breaking their own arm. A bunch of gunslinger wannabes who watched way too many action vids. Almost as bad as the Hunters from the tower. Almost. "You think you've got what it takes to defend your friends and family, got what it takes to defend our ill-begotten land against enemies who are tryin' to ill-beget it right out from under us. You think..." He turned on his heels, snapping to face the hopeful recruit nearest him. He didn't know the young man from a can of paint, but that didn't really matter. This world, and in particularly the regions of it called 'The Wild' by civilization, was a place full of people with stories. Everyone has a story. Lawman didn't try to know them. He just tried to play his part. No matter what the recruits, and the one he was now in the face of, thought about this interaction it was absolutely certain to have some assumed context. It would make them think he knew something they didn't. It would make the recruit think he knew something he didn't. It would make everyone question if they knew anything at all. Lawman often questioned whether or not he knew anything at all. But then he'd catch a glimpse of how his duster blew in the wind, or how his wide brimmed wanderer's hat sort of concealed his eyes, and he realized it didn't matter if he knew a damn thing or not. He was the Lawman. The Sheriff. The Boss. And damn good at it. "You. Think." He spelled out slowly, taking in the fresh shaven face of the young man. A bit shorter than he was. Barely more than a boy. Staring straight ahead. Soldier-ish type. Probably would've been a Titan if he wasn't born in the dirt out here in Bask. "You think you've got what it takes. To be a hero. Boy?" The recruit didn't answer him. He just stared straight ahead. Lawman saw his nostrils flare, but otherwise he said nothing. "Boy!" Lawman shouted. "You freezin' up on me? You scared of me? You think I'm scary? You ever seen a Fallen quarter a man, tear him in different directions, one limb to each arm? Well? Have ya? I sure the -blam!- haven't. But if I did, I wouldn't want some piss-poor excuse for a deputy behind me who was too afraid to even speak up in the---" "Lawman, ya just told us all to shut the whole hell up. I'm shuttin' the whole hell up and listenin'. Wasn't sure if ya wanted me to---" The recruit was correct. Lawman didn't care. Lawman kneed him in the gut anyway, and finished pacing down the line. "That, recruits, is what you're going to get as a deputy! You are gonna get people, and things, who think they understand the law of the wild because of what they've heard! They are going to be wrong! Do you know why they are going to be wrong, you line of shitty excuses of possible deputies? Do you know why?" He tucked his hands back behind his back, continuing to pace. He got no answer from the line. This was perhaps his favorite part of being Sheriff. Something about taking a bunch of wide eyed, idealistic, scrappy young morons out into the woods and giving them hell before telling them the one thing they really needed to know just embodied the frontier to him. This was what it was all about. The City yuppies could hide at the tower---out here it was dirty, dangerous, unregulated. Wild. "Damn right you don't know." He continued. "You don't. Know. Shit. You don't know why they're wrong because you don't know the most important thing about being a deputy yet. I'm gonna share it with ya. Ready kids?" He turned to face the line again. "[b]I am the law.[/b] You, by extension of me deciding you're worth more than half a turd, are the law. Ain't no books. Ain't no codes. Ain't to 'fair'. You've either grown up in this shit, or you're fleein' the city like anyone else with some sense. Don't give a -blam!- who you are. Don't matter out here. You're gonna be what's between Bask---or 'Outpost' to you City -blam!-ers---and complete chaos, by shootin' the most chaotic mutha-blam!-as around before they shoot you. You're gonna be what's between Bask and those Fallen incursions. You're gonna wear a badge. You're gonna act the -blam!- like it means something. Are there any questions?" The recruit he'd kneed in the stomach, still on the ground, slowly raised his left hand. "Stand up, boy. What's your question." Lawman shouted at him. "...rumor has it there are Guardians millin' about town. How...how do we feel about... about Guardians?" The boy asked. Lawman balled his fists. Guardians. Guarding what? Bask had been on its own as long as anyone could remember. "Ain't nobody told me about that, boy, so it probably isn't happenin'. Were it happenin', I'm certain I've got ammo t' spare for it. Let them crazy rumors die. City don' give a -blam!- that we're here, and we don' have a spare -blam!- to give'm back." Looking from face to face, Lawman saw mostly approval. No one out here liked the City, its war mongering, and its assumption that anything human answered to it. "...Guardians aren't so bad." The boy continued, finally pulling himself up. His knees were covered in mud, sticks, and leaves now. "...Momma said my papa was a Guardian." "I know your Momma, boy, and she wouldn' know if your papa were me or half the town or all've the above. Wouldn't trouble yourself with much more thought on that." Lawman grinned. He knew his grin was crooked, as were his teeth. He thought it added personality to his personality. He turned away not to hide his gnarled maw, but because it would be easier to light his cigar if he was facing out of the wind. "...talkin' that way about my momma... You're an ass." The boy muttered, though the rest of the line of recruits were holding in laughter. "Le's not even get to talkin' about an ass, on the topic of your momma, boy. I ain't no ass. I'm just..." He got his cigar lit. Puffed twice. Took a moment to enjoy the sweet scent and simmering burn of the cloud filling his lungs. "Just..." he exhaled. "I'm just the Lawman. Keepin' the wild, wild. And ours." Get Part One [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/99134880]HERE![/url]