Red In Finland

Viinikainen doesn't have a great big office, pretty much just a big desk and a fireplace but at least it has its own entrance even though it is lying next to the other government buildings. The law-man himself is behind his desk, trying to catch up with the paperwork that he so often neglects.

Matti sets his skiis outside the building, planted into the snow, along with his skistaffs. Peeling away the top few layers of clothing, as well as taking off his hat, he makes his way to your quarters. Upon arriving there, he seats himself without asking on the chair across from you, offering you a slightly resentful smile, "Jari, you wanted to have a chat." Barely covered insolence is in his every gesture and word.

Viinikainen doesn't have a real problem with letting someone from the Mannikainen bloodline wait a few moments extra as he sorts the papers and puts them away before looking up. "And you of course have no idea about what." He puts on his serious stern lawman face at the same time, the smile doing the trick in annoying him a little bit extra.

"Of course not. What would a great herra like you want with the likes of me?" The sullen smile stays on Matti's sharp, angular face. Matti's grey-blue eyes glitter in the lamplight - he knows precisely why he's been called. This isn't the first time, and it almost certainly isn't going to be the last.

"You must have more traps in this area than there's trees", Jari becomes a little more direct. "And I found where you had taken down a bigger animal." Direct accusastions although both knows he has no real evidence. "Or maybe you would like to show me your hunting permits?"

"It's winter, Jari. You know as well as I do that we don't hunt moose in this area, in the winter. Now I wouldn't go hunting without permits, now would I?" Matti's look of feigned innocence is not very convincing. But still, the smug defiance stays there - he's been poaching for almost 15 years, so he feels confident in his ability to hide the evidence. He leans a bit closer, looking at you carefully, "Maybe it was the tracks of a groose that you saw. Dr. Korhonen told me that you've been having a little trouble with your short-distance vision." Probably a complete fabrication.

"Don't think you can try to get to me with your insults." Jari leans in a little closer too. "The laws are here to be followed, followed by everyone. If you don't like it, I will lock you up." He glances out the window quickly, "Or maybe you would like it better on the other side of the border? Laws that you would like better? I have often heard how great it went for you friends there."

"Insults? What a vivid imagination you have, brother-in-law." The last is offered in a rather ironic tone. Matti raises an eyebrow, chuckling as you speak of prison, "For what? That's going to make you really popular, around here." As you speak of the border, Matti's face twitches, the smile sliding off his face. He slowly rises in his chair, his jaws flexing and his angular face flushing red as he stares at you with suddenly kindled anger. "You shut your goddamn face, you bloody White Butcher. You don't know anything about it." Without asking for permission, more or less automatically, the Red hunter reaches into a pocket of his rough vest, pulling out a metallic flask, presumably of hard A.

Viinikainen looks somewhat pleased that he wasn't the first to lose his temper. "If it wasn't for people like my family, the border would have been to the west instead." He flashes a quick smile. "And judging by your reaction, you would not have liked that either." He leans his elbows on the desk. "Following the law is the duty of every man in this country. Including you." That he probably is willing to look the other direction every now and then with people who are less red is not something he mentions now though.

"Your law." Matti's answer is muttered with a sullen grimace - the unvoiced continuation being 'not mine'. His jaws flex, and he defiantly unscrews the cork of the flask, taking a swig. Wordlessly, he offers it to you with a resentful stare; he might not hold you in much value, but you are his brother-in-law, after all. "I don't make trouble here, Jari, so it's no use you sniffing around my ass. Don't you have anything more important to do?"

Viinikainen holds up his hand in a no to the offered alchohol. "Maybe you don't cause a lot of trouble like some others do" He leans back in his chair "But we all have to follow it, big or small crimes, and if you just would realize that I would not have to use my time to talk with you now. Other men can live without breaking the law, if you just would get a real job you could too."

Matti laughs bitterly, staring at you directly, "A real job? You know my family history. No one would hire me. Besides, I don't want to work as any rich herra's ass-wiper." The angular man stares at the flask sullenly, screwing on the cork. He stares at you for some time, before muttering, "I've heard the howls… Wolves. There haven't been wolves in these parts for decades." Matti wipes his lips on his sleeve, "I know these woods as well as anyone. You just stay out of my business, and I'll make sure that the local dogs and cows don't start disappearing." This is not a veiled threat, but rather an allusion to the extreme destructiveness of the canines, even in such an agriculturally marginal area.

"Nobody would miss them" Jari says, "But that is the only thing nobody would miss." He takes out the papers he was working with earlier again as a sign that this little metting is coming to an end. "They might already be gone." He looks down at the papers and then up again. "Now don't give me a reason to ask you to come in here again. Good day."

"Still wolf tracks, out in the woods." This is the laconic answer. Matti stands up, putting on his fur hat. He touches the grim, muttering, "Good day." Providing no answer to the Nimismies' other words, he walks out of the office.

Later that day…

Two men and a draft horse plod back into town from the north. Antti walks along at the front, leading the animal, who in turn drags a sled stacked up with firewood. "Don't be late," he advises Matti simply, in answer to some previoously voiced words.

Matti skiis behind the sled, watching the sled and making sure that it doesn't get thrown aside from the tracks. He shakes his head at the other man, shouting out over the wind, "Don't you worry. I don't want Aila to yell at me again." As the pair reach the road, he moves closer to his brother, absently grabbing the bridle of the draft horse. In a lowered voice, he mutters, "Our charming brother-in-law, Jari, got on my case earlier today. I think he's closely attached to the moose out in the forest." Matti wagles his eyebrows lewdly.

Antti sniffs once in amusement, breath misting out of his nose, as he idle pats the stout neck of the horse. Voicing back to Matti, in an equally low voice, "Careful. You know how men get when you shoot thier sweethearts."

"So it seems. That and his other love, the Law." Matti's voice is mocking - an absolute adherence to the rule of law doesn't seem very to be one of his character traits. He walks to the sled, extracting a bag of hay. As he refills the pouch tied under the draft horse's jaw, he mutters, "Wolves, out in the woods. Maybe we'll make a nice winter coat for your wife."

"Hey," Antti mutters back evenly to the initial mocking. "Don't go causing trouble." Nothing more is said, unless Matti presses the teasing. The concern is short lived, as he adds to the latter, "We'll take ten shots, and go out later. Loser buys the drinks."

"No, I don't want trouble, and I'll have no trouble. I'm smarter than that Civil Guard pig. I'm surprised that he could even recognize moose tracks." The words 'civil guard' are not uttered particularly reverently. Matti offers a slight, sullen grin at his brother, inclining his head towards the village's only tavern, "After you, brother. I haven't been known to spit in the glass."

"No," Antti agrees without pause, "You save your spit for other mens' eyes." The brothers must be related, as the sullen grin Matti gets from Antti is a match to his own. Belatedly, he makes the token scolding, "And don't call Aila's brother a pig."

"You know I'd never insult Aila. But damn… She must have been the black sheep of that family." The slighter brother shoots Antti the inevitably sullen, Matikainen grin, "Come on. Arguing about Jari is not worth our breath." He tethers the horse, releasing his grip on Antti's shoulders. With a nod towards the tavern, he kicks off his skis, sticking them upright in the snow next to the animal.

Antti sniffs again, nodding once, mute, and patting the draft animal's neck again as Matti tethers the horse. "Right," he mutters, following suit with kicking off skiis, before stamping his boots outside the tavern to knock loose dirty snow, and stepping inside.

Matti stamps off the worst of the snow, as he makes his way inside behind Antti. Walking to the counter, he shouts for the present absent barman. "Hey, Teppo!" Not surprisingly, the pair are old acquintances with the burly man, who gradually arrives at the counter. "Two shots of Koskenkorva Vodka." Matti glances at his brother, muttering, "It's a year, almost to the day." He salutes his brother with the glass, draining the shot in one. As he grimaces, his eyes seem a little unfocused. Memory Lane calling.

"At least you came back," Antti returns, raising his own glass back at Matti. Though taking the vodka down in one pass as well, the elder of the Matikainen brothers isnt quite as quick to down the stuff as the younger.

"Lots of boys didn't." Matti shakes his head, grimacing with disgust. As he orders another shot for himself, he mutters, "Some of them were just kids. Kids with rifles… Especially the locals." Matti doesn't seem particularly pleased at his own words, shaking his head bitterly. "I hope nothing like that happens here."

"Kids with guns already died here, Matti. Fascists already tried to take over our country." He motions for a second vodka of his own, as he voices, "But the Civil War is long over. And the damned Lapau lost." The vodka is raised in a short toast. "Long live home," he offers evenly, taking the hit.

"There's no end to war." Wow, that sounded almost like philosophy - if it wasn't for the bitter certainty in Matti's voice. Despite this, he answers the salute with a raised shot glass of his own, "To home. And to our beloved lords, in Helsinki." The more or less sober first words are followed by the dripping irony of his latter statement.

Antti sniffs again and shakes his head, setting the vodka glass down, and wiping his mouth with the back of one hand. "You need to find a girl who isnt a moose, little brother. Might stop your bitching for a moment, but I doubt it." A dry grin, and another shake of his head. "Any Lords come poking around, they'll have thier noses rapped."
"Maybe. Haven't really felt like looking much, after Anna." A sure sign that Matti is a little drunk… Talking about such private matters, even if it his brother. He shakes his head at Antti, as he finishes drinking his Koskenkorva. "Well, we have our own lords here. Like that bastard Tapper-Rautakorpi. Jari might be a pig, but he's an honest one at that. Can't say the same about our beloved cousin."

Antti grunts once, before returning, "You hav'nt felt like living much, either. Running off to get yourself killed like that." Another shake of his head. "So long as they leave us be, let them be bastards," he declares with a short snort. Aside, he adds, "And don't call Aila's brother a pig. Even if he is an honest one."

"I don't know. Maybe I was younger, back then." An odd argument. As Matti orders his third shot, he shakes his head gloomily, "They're bastards without morals. If they need or want to, they'll mess with us. Lets hope that they don't." As you speak of Jari, he chuckles, a rather harsh, ugly sound. "Oh, come on. You shouldn't waste your breath defending him. He might be allright, as lawmen go, but still too damn nosy for his own good."

"Obviously you were younger back then," Antti retorts, shaking his head in negative to the tavern-keep when another drink is offered him. "You were younger yesterday. But you were more stupid back then. Otherwise you'd remember people don't mess with us, without getting messed back." A sniff, "I'm not defending him. Just don;t call Aila's brother a pig."

"That's probably true. I'm not sure if I'm very smart now, either, but at least I know it." Matti chuckles again, holding his vodka glass thoughtfully in hand. He seems to be slowing down with the drinking now, as the alcohol is kicking in. The slight, angular man nods grimly, offering Antti a humourless smile. The pig comment just receives another headshake. "Okay. I'll call him a White Butcher, then." He looks at you with grim humour.

Antti snorts again. "Stupid. Her brother is'nt a White butcher. That's her Father." With a mirth-less laugh, Antti stands up and adds, "Heading back home. Be awhile before supper is ready, but don't be late," he reminds Matti once more.

"I suppose you're right. To the old bastard!" Matti raises a glass to his brother, downing the rest of the contents before grimcing, and setting down the empty vessel. He glances over his shoulder at Antti, stifling a yawn, "I won't be. Wouldn't want to be locked out on the porch, eating cold food… Again. Now you get gone, before she comes to drag /you/ home." Apparently, Aila can be a tough lady.

Antti comments before starting toward the door, "I won't drink to anyone who refused to come to my wedding." Of course the fact that he didnt want another vodka helps in turning down the toast. Over his own shoulder on the way, "I'll take the horse and sled back. Until later, then." And with that he steps out.

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