#((Smug Garuru is my fav Garuru....one of my fav Garurus LOL))

[gll-chui]

☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲

★彡( 𝙻𝚘𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙾𝚗 )彡★

Well, today was fairly uneventful if you were to take it at face value. But if you were Lieutenant Garuru, he’d call this day a success.

It all started in the early morning, Garuru woke up and did his usual morning routine; getting cleaned up, going on a jog around the nearby park, and then making an incredibly fast breakfast to go with his piping hot cup of coffee. He moved like his body was on autopilot around this hour, head filled with absolutely nothing but residue of whatever it was he happened to dream about during the night or those ‘life contemplating shower thoughts’ that rack his brain relentlessly. Garuru happened to just be recalling the dream he had last night that had something to do with him going on a mission with his platoon to stop an evil ruler on some desolate planet who enslaved her own people. They managed to stop her by using nothing but music--yeah, as if THAT was a thing--when his communicator rings. Well, not really ‘ring’, whenever it’s a text message the sound that plays is the sound of a chamber being reloaded and then a short burst of three shots from a gun.

The text message was a notice that was being sent to all military personnel at the main military base in Gerosect, the notice was so wacky that Garuru had to stop himself from taking a bite of his egg sandwich in mid lean. He scrolls back up to the very top of the short message to reread it.

‘Attention all military personnel: due to recent circumstances we are now ordering that ALL stickers receive a soldier’s salute from now on. Verification of identity is no longer required for stickers. Thank you!’

You got to be fucking kidding.

Starting from the very beginning when someone is just a new, wide-eyed recruit in their training uniform you’re taught that there are specific times and places you are to salute to someone, and you can only go into ‘at ease’ once you’re addressed. It’s literally drilled into you all the way until the end of your military days for most. Some instances can be made, for sure, like if you were to specifically realize that the soldier is a higher officer than you salute. If you’re greeting a soldier from another platoon, or greeting a comrade back after a prolonged absence, etcetera, etcetera. The stickers that the notice was speaking of were referring to military stickers that can be seen on space crafts and vehicles, something that definitely does not affect him or his department but DID in fact interfere with the work of the gatemen.

Ah, he remembers those days when he was a young private and he was given the task to stand at the gate for eight hours a day to check space crafts and military vehicles before they entered into the base’s facility. It definitely wasn’t fun at all, it did pay rather well however and he only had the assignment for a good two months. Also, he wasn’t technically alone, he had a spotter with him, a Corporal or Sergeant that would stand beside him with a weapon in hand to ensure his safety (since he was not given a weapon). Thankfully his spotter was quite kind, chatting with him briefly when their shifts got slow and even guiding Garuru on how to recognize the different stickers, spot the anomalies on identification cards to determine their authenticity….oh, and his “personal favorite”: how to chat with cute girls.

Usually, you didn’t even have to ask for identification to tell that the spacecraft that was tied to the military sticker belonged to that soldier, but Garuru remained thorough in checking their cards anyways and saluting when the soldier came in. Sometimes though, you’d get those times that a spouse of the officer would be using the vehicle--no problem, more times than naught the spouse was also a soldier so Garuru just had to give the craft a pink slip or yellow slip to the vehicle. A pink slip for the spouses using the vehicles, and yellow for ‘other but still a soldier’ using it, be it a son, daughter, father, aunt, grandmother, so on. Then you get those rare instances where you get a civilian vehicle coming in, mostly those belonging to businesses bringing in supplies for the base’s hospital or construction crews coming in for repairs. Usually, they present their licenses or permits then they’re allowed in and they do not get salutes. Nor do the civilian spouses who come driving in sporting their lover’s spacecraft that bears the military sticker on it, though Garuru knows that some soldiers will not really care and give the spouse a salute. He remained firm on his own ideology: Are you a soldier? No? Then you don’t get a salute.

Something must have happened the day before if the base was now giving out a notice for all stickers to be saluted to, no doubt an entitled spouse who thinks that they deserve a salute because their lover is laying their life down for Keron. Thankfully he’s only ever dealt with a couple of them, not even worth counting on one hand, mostly because the moment the spouse sees the burly, threatening, mountain of a soldier behind him holding a semi-automatic in his hands the spouse would just make a face, throw him an insult under their breath, or curse him quickly before driving through. Unfortunately, there weren’t many soldiers with skin as thick as his, and it was the pointless rule changes like this that made all the cursing, swearing, and threats he had to put up with as a private all for naught. Not just him, plenty of other soldiers had gone through this. Garuru had stepped in more than once when he saw someone screaming at a poor Private because they can’t ‘park in their husband’s military space’, yes lady, even though your husband’s a Staff Sergeant and you got his vehicle with the sticker that doesn’t mean YOU are a Staff Sergeant and can park there.

Garuru was still making a face when he took a long sip from his coffee, now nearing lukewarm because he kept staring at the little pixelated words on his com. Did his father pass this? How could he? There had to be a misunderstanding...or worse. Maybe his father just saw ‘new mandate’ and signed it off like it was no big deal. He usually doesn’t try to text his father so early in the morning but he was curious about the old man’s thought process when it came to confirming this rule for the base. So Garuru sent him a good morning, asked how he was, and then asked about the mandate. Then his com went radio silent.

Well, so much for getting his father’s input on that.

While he was walking to the Main Base the Lieutenant thought deeply about the whole thing, trying not to let it show outwardly that the notice was still bothering him. To think that someone thought it was a good idea to salute to every single sticker that comes onto the military’s property, who in their right mind would salute a sticker? And what if it was fake? Or not a military sticker to begin with? That was when the lightbulb in his head went off, when he was waiting patiently on the street corner for the light to change he took out his com and read the message again just in case. A small smile pulling at the tug of his lips before he turned his com away, all stickers then? Sure thing.

When he reached the base Garuru did not pass the opportunity to put his plan into motion, there was a construction crew just on the corner fixing some pipes and they just so happened to have a sticker with their company’s logo on their helmets. Garuru stopped walking, saluting the gentleman and standing there at attention while they stopped and stared back with confusion and fear. Well, fear at first because they thought that someone of a higher rank than Garuru was behind them trying to get their attention or chastise their work. But no, no one else was there except for the five or so men that were working. Realizing that it was just them, one of the men quickly and awkwardly inquired what he was doing.

“It’s a new mandate. Soldiers are required to salute all stickers, sir.” The construction crew had a short laugh about it, finally realizing that Garuru was saluting their helmets and ‘ordered’ him at ease. The Lieutenant even grinned a little as he left when he heard one of the men going on about his own helmet that was completely covered in stickers, stating that if the stickers reflected a rank then he’d be a captain. Thankfully today he had desk duty, the rest of his platoon was off doing their own work according to their ranks and a little part of him thought if Tororo was doing the same as him. Being that the tadpole was notorious for being annoying and finding loopholes Garuru could definitely see him use this new rule to his advantage to stay home because he’s saluting to a sticker on the toaster all day.

Thankfully, it looked as though he was not the only one who came up with his idea. There were three soldiers saluting at the reception desk and the poor girl there was looking absolutely mortified. She was not a soldier so having three of them standing there, saluting, and not moving was probably confusing the hell out of her. Garuru stops walking right at the reception desk, seeing the small Pekoponian ‘Hello Kitty’ sticker on the woman’s planner, and salutes to it as well. The other soldiers there share a grin but don’t say anything else as they go back to being stone-faced, the poor girl looks desperately to Garuru,

“Sir---what are you all doing?” Even though she works here she didn’t get the notice? That just solidified Garuru’s suspicion that the mandate extended to soldiers--all soldiers--and just solidified his plan. He explained to her that it was a new notice for all soldiers to salute stickers from now on, giving her another minute before he nods his head towards her planner. Her reaction was priceless, pure unadulterated confusion made home on her face as she looked at the soldiers individually and realized that, yes, they were doing the same thing. She stutters out a small "at ease", getting a collected sigh from the other soldiers who greeted the other before leaving like they weren't just standing there for twenty or so minutes.

Garuru asked the girl for his P.O-box key and wished her a good day while making his way to the elevator with a few other soldiers. He's in the middle of twirling the little keyring around his fingers when he looks up to see a "fire safety" sticker. Well, a rule is a rule. He salutes, prompting surprised and puzzled expressions until the other soldiers looked up and saw it.

Now, if someone had told Garuru that they had somewhere important to be or was on their way to a meeting then for sure he would have excused them, this order was not that important that it had to keep someone from running important work to be trapped in an elevator. But no one said a thing, instead, they all looked at each other and then saluted as well.

Silence fell in the little metal and glass box, even when the elevator had opened doors three times to let soldiers off, closed, then continued climbing upwards. The longer the soldiers kept standing there in awkward silence doing nothing but saluting to the withered fire safety sticker above the doors the more Garuru was enjoying this. He would never admit it in a million years but to be ‘defiant’ was something he’s always wanted to do when he was young, he never had a rebellious teen stage aside from playing music so loud it threatened to affect his hearing. His life always revolved around being a better example, pulling through the closest of odds, being the best he could be and sometimes he just wondered what happened if he would have snapped back those years ago. What if instead of following that one rule that nearly cost him and his men their lives he told the higher officer to go pound sand?

Well, he definitely would never be where he is today, but it made moments like this where he was following foolish orders to a T that made all those ‘yes sir, no sir’s worth it. A bit of some malicious compliance if you will, it was his lifeblood.

Someone on the higher officer floors had called the elevator now because instead of them going downwards towards the ground floor they were now climbing upwards. Up, and up, and up, and up. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife now from all the anxiety the other men were building up, the soldiers began to shimmy a little in place as they looked at one another in panic before tensing up again when Garuru turned his gaze to them. Even when Garuru’s com makes that familiar ‘ka-chlick, pow, pow, pow’ noise he doesn’t bother reaching for it. He lets his arm relax just for a moment without even removing it from his salute, loosening the muscles just enough so that it doesn't feel like his arm would cramp up.

Who they were greeted with when the doors finally opened on the twentieth floor was absolutely perfect. It just so happened to be the Demon General Guroro himself. Garuru’s father.

It took the much older Keornian a good minute or so of seeing a whole elevator full of saluting men before he could really react, his sharp eyes quickly scanning over the soldiers before him and finally landing on Garuru’s confident-looking gaze. Guroro asked quickly what they were doing, putting his hand out to hold the elevator door open as he still couldn’t fathom the sight. It took just about every muscle in Garuru's body to resist the urge to smile at his father when he answered clearly and calmly that they were just following the new mandate, unlike the receptionist, however, he didn’t bother nodding his head to what exactly they were saluting at. He mostly did this because he wanted to see if his father actually knew of the rule that was passed, or if he just did the usual ‘I’ll just sign whatever is in front of me’ shit. Unfortunately, Garuru got his keen mind from his old man, because the moment that the word ‘mandate’ escaped his lips Guroro is already frowning in disapproval, taking a single step inside the elevator to look up above its metal and glass doors to see the fire safety sticker and then let out a frustrated growl.

“For the love of--all of you are dismissed, and I better not see this again in the elevator.” Guroro snaps, almost immediately the soldiers all dispersed from the elevators and ran off in different directions, even though this wasn’t their floors. Garuru was the only one left inside, standing a little more comfortably with a hand on his hip as his father comes aboard and presses the thirteenth-floor button.

“Fifth floor, if you please Pops.” Garuru insists, cool as ever even when his father looks at him at the corner of his eye with a threatening glance. “Oh, right,” he reaches for his com to look at the message that was sent, coincidentally, it was from Guroro himself, explaining that the mandate was in effect and remains in effect until further notice. No wonder his father was looking a bit frazzled, he probably had put two and two together the moment he saw him with the other group of soldiers. “Sorry I couldn’t reply fast enough, I was too busy saluting--”

“Do not tell me that you started all of this.” you could hear the poison drip from Guroro’s words the moment he said them, what usually would leave a good hundred men quivering in their hats only did nothing but fuel the giddy Garuru felt. It would have been an honor if people had copied his idea, but no, it was not nearly as satisfying as knowing that there were other soldiers out there just as peeved about this rule that they went out of their way to do the same as him. Oh, nothing was as beautiful as knowing that people had gathered together for a cause out of pure pettiness.

“Started all of what, Pops? I’m just following orders like everyone else.”

“You cheeky little bastard.” Guroro sighs out a groan, taking the moment to tap his hand against his arm while he has them crossed over his chest in contemplation. The First Lieutenant made sure that the smile on his face wasn’t seen by his father when the doors opened to the thirteenth floor, being greeted to the sight of a dozen or so higher officers all saluting a menu standee that had cute star stickers decorating it. Guroro turns around, grabbing the doors of the elevator open and looking at Garuru right in his eyes, pure unadulterated frustration housing themselves there. “The new mandate will be ineffective by this afternoon, if I find you out in some--some hallway saluting a damn wet floor sign then your ass is cooked. Am I clear?”

“Yes sir.” Garuru salutes, going at ease when his father lets go of the elevator doors, about to turn around. “But remember Pops, the mandate is for stickers, not wet floor signs--”

“You know what I mean, young man!!” Guroro yells back, Garuru lets the smile slip just as when the doors are closing, waving to his father from behind the glass doors as the elevator finally descends to the fifth floor. It was a shame that he didn’t get to run into his father again after that incident, he only managed to catch a glimpse of his dad yelling at the officers in front of the standee to get back to whatever it was they were doing.

It had been hours since then, now nearing the end of Garuru’s desk duty shift as he’s enjoying his third cup of coffee in hand. Garuru is casually watching the little window with a frog emoticon hopping across the screen with a little file in its hand while it’s sending the papers he filed out to his superiors while he recollects the day. The First Lieutenant has been in a good mood since the morning and being that his day was almost done he decided to take out his communicator so he could look back at the new message that was sent to all the soldiers by lunch,

‘Attention all personnel, due to unforeseen incidents following the new mandate we have decided to recall the order. Please go on about checking identification for all MILITARY stickers on VISITING vessels. Thank you!’

Mission Complete.

☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲

★彡( 𝙻𝚘𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙾𝚏𝚏 )彡★

#╚»★«╝ LT in Command ╚»★«╝ (Self) #╚»★«╝ Buck Private ╚»★«╝ (Tororo) #╚»★«╝ Father in Command ╚»★«╝ (Giroro/Garuru's Dad) #╚»★«╝ Mission Log ╚»★«╝ (Stories) #TW swearing #((Smug Garuru is my fav Garuru....one of my fav Garurus LOL)) #((Also I like to think that Guroro--Giroro/Garuru's dad--acts very similar to Giroro so he's cool one minute and then silly and angry the n #((Garuru got his cool head from their mother ;P))