lieutenantantichrist | [8] Video/Action for Goldenrod, backdated to around the 9th

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[8] Video/Action for Goldenrod, backdated to around the 9th

[Jail is fucking boring.]

[They'd stuck Blake in a cell for a while until they figured out something about community service. It was a lot faster than back in the real world, but even crazy bullshit island has red tape. Blake's not sure whether that's nostalgic or not.]

[Cells are the same everywhere, too. He's never been on this side before. The novelty wears off fast.]

[He wishes he had a ball to bounce against the wall or something. They didn't even leave him any of his animals for company. Maybe that's a good thing. He doesn't know how he's going to explain this to Steve.]

[There's nothing but a book, and there's only so much anybody can take of The Dratini Code.]

[Blake leans back on the hard bunk and tosses his phone in one hand. When he got in here the one thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to talk to anybody, but nothing weakens that conviction like a couple hours alone with the hot, uneasy feeling in the back of his head.]

[He flips the phone open before he can think about it too much and says the first thing that comes to mind.]

[The face that comes up on the screen will look a lot less combative and more withdrawn than usual.]

Hey.

You think they have the Shawshank Redemption around here?

Maybe with one of those stupid puns in the title, and he digs his way out with one of those mole things. A little tiny one for finding rocks.

Seems like everything around here is like back home but turned the local kind of stupid. Do they even make any real original movies?

[In the crappy florescent lights shared by jails everywhere, the lines on his face look deep and weathered.]

I'm tired of nothing but the same old thing.

((OOC: Open for calls and visitors! Blake's in jail for punching Parker, but you don't have to broach the topic if you don't want to. He's not real proud of himself, so he'll pussyfoot around it unless asked directly. If you definitely don't want it to come up, just put in an OOC note.))

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Yeah. [He sighs.] Looks like it.

What do you wanna start with, the girl disappearing or the pickpocketing?

_{[... So the girl didn't show up. Well, THAT part's not surprising. What IS surprising is that it's somehow connected to Blake landing in jail.]}

... You told me about the kid before.

How'd that get to this?

[There's no avoiding it, is there. He might as well bite the bullet.]

Well, she hasn't turned up.

[Blake's voice betrays how little hope he'd been holding out.]

I gave up looking a while ago. Figuring she'd been yanked home like everybody said.

Then, I was out screwing around at some park, and there it was. A lady with the ribbon Emily always used to have in her hair. Just wearing it in broad daylight, like she was showing off.

[His hands tighten on his knees.]

[Heather he can tell this, because even if they'd ended up yelling at each other about it at the time, she's lost somebody too.]

All I could think was she'd been locked somewhere for weeks, waiting for me.

_{[She listens, brows furrowed. Okay, things are adding up. She remembers that conversation well-- specifically how torn-up Blake had been about the kid's disappearance.]}

... So what happened then?

I tried to find out what was going on. Wouldn't answer me. It looked like she was gonna run, so I grabbed her.

Turned out her pockets were full of stolen shit and she wasn't happy about being found. She fought, I hit her, some idiot grabbed me and she got away.

[He scuffs his foot along the dirty concrete floor.]

Huh. Guess it's not that long a story after all.

... How did you know the stuff was stolen?

[Blake crosses his arms and looks at her flatly. This part he's sure of.]

Can you think of any other reason a girl would have a half dozen watches in her pockets?

Ones that guys nearby recognize?

Okay, yeah, fair enough, but since when are pickpockets kidnappers?

You see the kid's ribbon in the middle of a bunch of other stolen stuff and it doesn't occur to you that maybe she lifted it offa somebody?

Break one law, you'll break another.

[immediately] Then that would mean she had to've seen her, or whoever had it.

[Though the more he looks at it, the thinner the thread seems.]

There was something wrong, and she was getting away. I didn't have any choice. I don't go around hitting people because I want to.

That's not how it goes. _{[She's actually a little personally offended-- though of course she can't say WHY. Even if Blake wasn't a policeman, admitting that you've started shoplifting (again) isn't exactly something that Heather wants getting out.]

[But there's such a colossal difference between pinching trinkets off of shelves (or from pockets) and kidnapping a little girl!]}

You're a big guy, couldn't you have just, you know, GRABBED her? You had to throw punches?

How hard did you hit?

_{[Must have been PRETTY DAMN HARD if he landed in jail!]}

You like to think that, but then you see the same guys brought in over and over. A lot of the time, after they get out, somebody gets hurt.

I tried that! She tried to break my fingers and kicked me in the balls. Was I supposed to just stand there and take it just because it was a woman? No, you hit me, I hit back.

~~[And sometimes he just hits.]~~

[the anger and conviction in his voice drop down a little. Seeing the lady go flying..he couldn't say he really felt good about that.] It wasn't that bad. Barely slowed her down.

_{[There's not honestly too much that's wrong with his defense. And under normal circumstances, Heather is absolutely a believer in giving as good as you get, regardless of the gender of the opponent.]

[... But it's different when it's cops.]

[So she gives Blake a cold look-- one she's never given him before.]}

If it wasn't that bad, then why are you in jail?

[A lot of things are different when it's cops.]

[He lets out a long, long sigh, collapsing inward like a deflating puffer fish.]

Good question.

He leans against the concrete wall and gives the place a slow sweep with his eyes.]

Never thought I'd see this side.

You never do.

_{[She huffs out a sigh.]}

Look, I never told you this since you seemed cool, but I hate cops.

Because it seems like all of them are fine with hurting someone before they even know if they've got the right person. I've met maybe TWO who didn't.

[a little amused despite everything] You sound like an expert.

[Heather's not much more than a teenager. There's no way she's seen the inside of anything bleaker than a shopping mall.]

[That amusement fades fast. He bristles, though not as much as he might. He's tired ~~and she called him cool~~]

You and a lot of people who only see the guys ruining their fun and not the guys who make it so they can sleep safe at night.

Look, nobody wants to go in guns blazing, but hindsight is a luxury we don't get. The bad guys don't have neon signs over their heads. You have to do the best you can with the information you have, and you only get one chance. If you grab the wrong guy, that's what lawyers and trials are for. If you let the right one go because you're not sure...you know it when the next body shows up.

_{[To her credit, she waits until he's done talking before she speaks up, in a flat, cold voice.]}

When I was five I watched two cops beat the shit out of my dad because he killed someone who broke into our house to murder him and kidnap me.

So yeah.

I'd say I'm a fucking expert.

_{[She'd actually been closer to FOUR, and Harry Mason hadn't really been beaten up so much as just been handled (very) roughly, but when you're four and just had a strange man try to snatch you from your own living room, spewing jargon about "taking back what's ours" and "killing the heretic", and then you watched two of the badged men you'd been told to trust, that you'd CALLED (because you'd been a good daughter and hit '911' when your father, pale and still holding a smoking gun trained on the body of the Organization member who'd hunted them down at last, told you to) slamming your daddy's head against a car hood...]}

Holy fuck.

[How stupid can you be? For Christ's sake, people, you don't beat somebody up in front of their little kid! You take them somewhere else first!]

That's self-defense, that's obvious-

[But wherever he is, whatever happens, Blake is a cop, and taking a side against other cops is wrong down to his bones.]

[So he falls silent.]

_{[She shoots him a sharp look. If she could hear what he's thinking, it'd be even sharper.]}

Yeah.

It is obvious.

To anyone who isn't some crooked pig in blue! You wanna know what we got when it was ruled self-defense? Nothing. Not even an apology.

You know what it's like seeing your dad get taken away in a policecar by the people you called for HELP? Probably not, I bet!

So yeah, cops who hit first and ask later are shit. Sorry to burst your bubble.

_{[... Probably more venomous than necessary but... yeah. :I]}

[You had to bring up the p word.]

[Raw and on edge, Blake snaps back.] It's not that easy. Admitting you did something wrong, that's the worst fucking thing you can do. Then there's blood in the water, your whole department's in for it, and the whole time you're dealing with the circus assholes are getting away with shit because you're not out on the street doing your damn job.

You think nobody regrets the things they've done?

_{[Heather's never been a good example of keeping a level head in an argument either, so chances are she's not gonna make things any better.]}

When you regret something you did, the thing to do is make up for it.

Not just act like it was okay.

[They're a great team that way.]

There's not always a way to do that, all right? You can't spend every minute trying to deal with what you did wrong in the past or you'll lose your mind, and what good'll that do anybody?

Of course not, but when you beat the shit out of somebody who turns out to be innocent, you can't just blow that off as something in the past!

I mean, unless you've literally beat up too many innocent people to even keep TRACK of, in which case there's a HELLA bigger issue going on than just blowing things off...

[Blake gestures violently] I'm not blowing it off!

[Getting told off by a teenage girl is bad enough; the gnawing feeling in the back of his head that she has a point is worse.]

You think it's that easy to forget?!

I know it's not that easy to forget, but if you ACT like it's nothing, it doesn't matter if you remember it or not.

[Pacing the cell is a good reason not to look at her.]

[gruffly] Apologizing would just make it worse.

[8] Video/Action for Goldenrod, backdated to around the 9th

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