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[The face that comes up on the screen will look a lot less combative and more withdrawn than usual.]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

_{[She heaves a sigh, some of her temper starting to leak away.]}

Then maybe don't apologize.

But at least admit you might've been wrong.

Sometimes that's good enough.

Well...Look.

[Blake looks down and lets out a long breath that seems to take the last of the nice, insulating anger with it. This isn't easy.]

Maybe I was.

_{[She's not gonna gloat. She's not gonna smirk and go 'There, see, was that so hard?' Because she hates it when people do shit like that and while she may be hypocritical about some things, she isn't about that.]

[Instead, she just kind of nods.]

[She doubts it would change anything for whatever poor lady he decked, but ... well, baby steps, right?]}

[He's kind of surprised not to hear any gloating. Lording it over you is what people want apologies for, isn't it?]

[He's taken off guard enough to admit]

Shit. I don't know what to do.

_{[Sometimes, maybe. But not right now. Besides, Heather's not the one he punched. She's got no business doing any lording-over.]}

... Well... you probably don't have to do anything for awhile.

S'not like jail is a prime opportunity for things outside of sitting around on a shitty cot behind bars.

Hah. When it comes down to it, it's not much different from what your mom used to say, is it? "Now sit down and think about what you did."

[His eyes drop down to his hands.]

It sounds simple, but it's nasty shit.

Well, I guess it's like with most things that're supposed to be good for you.

You know it's working when you feel like shit.

[Blake surprises himself by grunting a laugh.] Kid, sometimes you sound like somebody who's been on the force for twenty years.

[From him, that's a compliment.]

_{[... And she manages a crooked grin at that, in turn.]}

Y'think so?

I did go through a phase when I was little where I really wanted to be a cop...

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

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