BACK TO THE GRIND [ Police Station / OPEN]

[jamesthorn]

Normal people aren't like James. He is happier when he's at work, getting things done. He likes the focus, likes his cases. He likes his co-workers, most of the time, when Grant wasn't waving Cornettos in his face, Alex kept her feet off the desk, and June didn't traipse through the station to flirt with Levi. This afternoon, though, his first day back to duty following his kidnapping, he isn't handling it all that well. He is overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork sitting on his desk; Levi really hadn't been lying about everyone just leaving it all safe and sound for him. His desk looks like it hasn't been touched in weeks, except for people just piling things in his chair. A pile he dumped on the floor next to his feet once he'd arrived, a pile that would likely still be there a month from now.

That was hours ago. He is still attempting to just make it through his e-mail inbox and his phone messages as most of them aren't practically incomprehensible. He doesn't even know where to start with this to get back into the mindset. He places his head in his hands for a few seconds, attempting to scrub away the brain fog. He removes his hands and blinks at the computer screen.

Maybe he thought he would just pick back up where he left off, but it's obvious he's going to need a short reintroduction to all of this. Though there's a tiny voice in the back of his mind shouting at him that the job isn't the reason. He is brilliant at his job; he knows what to do. No, if he was being real with himself, he would know his brain fog is due to Moira freaking Coombs and the night he'd spent with her. He shakes that thought away quickly, or tries too, and goes back to his e-mail.

Comments

[tarnishedbadge]

There weren't a lot of people that Levi was comfortable bringing his idea to initially. If the wrong people got the wrong idea about it, things could get ugly. It would take someone fair, impartial and able to look past their prejudices. Someone wise able to keep a clear head in all of this.

Or, someone like James Thornton, who looked like they weren't doing anything too important at that moment.

"Hey, Hop Along Cassidy," Levi called out. "Got time for seven minutes in conference room heaven?"

[starsfallen]

"Oh, so that's what the conference rooms here are used for. Hot. Always wondered how the true blue of Siren Cove spent their days."

Corrine tilts her head towards James and smiles. "I'm sorry. We seem to have horrible timing. Please, go have your seven minutes, I'm happy to wait."

[jamesthorn]

After several minutes, having hashed it out with Levi, James returns to the main lobby only to find Corrine Flynn--Siren Cove's very own famous actress--still standing in the lobby. He figured she might have jetted off by now, but she's still looking every bit like whatever she's about to ask probably isn't a very important police matter. But they are supposed to be friendly to public, or try too, Chief says. He walks over to her, putting on a good enough smile.

"Still here, huh? What do you need?" he asks.

[starsfallen]

"Such a gracious welcome." Corrine smiles and hands him a Manila folder. "I've recently acquired some commercial property. I want to ensure everything moving forward is smooth sailing and in full legal compliance." Certainly, there are lawyers involved. So she assumes. And if Lara doesn't have them at the ready, Corry will call a few of her own. But this is as much show as productivity. She wants to make it clear to the department that she wants to keep in good company. Good graces. "I've got the rundown on codes. But you, officer. Is there anything on your end that needs to be squared away or monitored in the future?"

[jamesthorn]

"Acquired some commercial property..." James 'tsks' his tongue against his teeth as he takes the folder from her. He breezes through it in a couple of page flips, noting that she had purchased the rundown old Waterhouse near the Boardwalk; nothing that he needs to concern himself with or the rest of his officers. Business deals were for City Hall and sly business dealers like Lara Quinn. But there was one thing about the Waterhouse that was his concern. "I assume this means you have a key now?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. "Other night some neighborhood residents reported seeing a female, red hair, about your height breaking into the back door of the very property you just purchased. You know anything about that by chance?"

[jamesthorn]

That's another thing James isn't too thrilled about upon his return. Jokes about his foot. His foot hurts okay. But his story about taking a spill down a flight of stairs isn't exactly thrilling. If everyone knew a giant cave troll had snapped his ankle like a twig, he suspects they would've been more highly impressed about his injuries. Alas.

He looks up at Levi then back at his overflowing inbox. He shrugs because he hates paperwork anyway. "Is this about the coffee in the break room again? Because I can't do anything about that," he asks, sliding out of his chair, grabbing his crutches.

[tarnishedbadge]

"Oh no, this is way more exciting," Levi promised him, waving a small manila folder at him, which promised at least some reading material. True, he could have typed something up about the coffee in the break room and now he kind of wished that he had, but it was too late for that now.

"I need a brain to pick and I figure yours is nice and healthy coming back from all that vacation you took."

[jamesthorn]

He follows behind Levi scowling a little. "I wasn't actually on vacation. I was kidnapped to hell," he declares. He knows Levi knows that, but he's being rather crabby over all the grief he's been catching over his time away. He takes a seat at the table in the conference room, laying his crutches against the ledge. He can't wait until he is rid of these godforsaken things. "So what's up?" he asks curiously.

[tarnishedbadge]

"Unless they had you fill out paperwork in hell, it was a vacation," Levi said.

He knew that it hadn't been a fun time for James. Whatever had happened was pretty miserable, but one way that cops dealt with things was by giving each other a hard time. As much crap as people gave James, they all had an equal measure of respect for him.

"So I was talking to someone at the art festival the other day," he said, closing the door behind him before having a seat. "And I mentioned an idea to one of the sellers that sold 'special items'. I brought up the idea of something that would be able to neutralize any unusual abilities someone might have."

[jamesthorn]

No, but this crazy snake-haired lady tried to seduce me and feed me cake. That was worse than feeling out a police report, just barely, but worse.

Without really meaning too, James' mind blanks out at the words art festival because he wonders in paranoia if maybe Levi caught sight of him and Moira eating lunch together, or worse. Though there's no way there could be worse because the bulk of their evening had taken place at his house which was surrounded by acres and acres of thick woods. There was no way anyone else knew. He was still just feeling weird, stressed, and freaked out over the entire thing though. He realizes that Levi is still speaking and manages to catch the last few words.

"Neutralize?" he asks, raising his brows. "What does that mean?"

[tarnishedbadge]

Apparently the art festival was a bit of a touchy subject with James because he started thinking enough to give Levi a headache. Whatever James and Moira did, he didn't care about it, at least not enough to deal with the headache that he was starting to get. James and Moira were adults and could do whatever it was that they wanted. He really, really wanted James to start paying attention.

"It means they couldn't use magic," Levi said, deciding to just throw it out there so that James would pat attention. "Like handcuffs for witches."

[jamesthorn]

Levi's mention of magic does indeed catch James' attention, and his mind leaves all thoughts of Moira aside and jumps on the mention of being able to stop witches from using their powers. "Couldn't they just mojo their way out of it?" he asks.

The idea though, of being able to capture witches without them using powers on their officers was an idea worth hearing out.

[tarnishedbadge]

"Well not if it cancels out their mojo," Levi pointed out, glad that James was paying attention again. He wasn't sure how well received the idea would be around the station, mainly that it might be too well received and people would jump on the chance to render witches powerless.

"The witch I spoke to said she could make something that would cancel out a few powers, but not all of them. Of course, then she would know witches ones didn't work and might spread the word so getting someone outside the town to do it might be the best idea."

[jamesthorn]

Cancels out their mojo. James purses out his lips, thinking. It did indeed sound like a good thing. The ability to cancel out a witch's powers, render them helpless, if only for a few minutes. He doesn't know why, but he also thinks that may be dangerous in the wrong hands.

"Who was this witch that brought up the idea?" he asks, not altogether suspicious, but cautious maybe. "Did they just bring up this idea outta the kindness of their hearts? Knowing we'd use it on their own kind?"

[tarnishedbadge]

"I brought it up with the witch, wondering if it was possible," Levi explained. Of course, originally it had been for entirely personal reasons he had mentioned it. "Her name is Alodia Coombs. I'm guessing if she was the one to make the charm or whatever it is, she'd know how to break it and if she did, then the rest of the Coombs family would too."

Which would entirely defeat the purpose of the charm for a portion of the people it might be used against. Not that Levi expected the Coombs family to suddenly go crazy at some point, but you never knew. That's why you handcuffed everyone you brought in, no matter how much stronger you were than them. you didn't take those kinds of chances."

[secretarialsiren]

Leaning back in her chair, feet kicked up on her desk, Alex tosses a pen at Levi's head as he goes by. Bugging the guys at the station was one of her favourite hobbies and she was feeling a severe lack of annoyance radiating off of him at this particular moment.

"I hope you're keeping everything above the clothes. Not that you'd have much luck getting further without removing the stick from his butt," she calls.

[tarnishedbadge]

The pen hit Levi square on the side of the head and while he hadn't seen who had done it, he knew exactly who was responsible. He was an excellent detective like that. Also a mind reader. Also Alex was Alex.

"Well the HR mandated sexual harassment videos made it very clear that I can't invite you," he said, altering his course to bring him to Alex's desk as he flashed her a smile just to show her he wasn't annoyed. "Despite being hopelessly in love with me you'd rebuff my advances. Don't deny it, I see the way you look at me with your eyes narrowed and brow wrinkled, cleverly masking your attraction with loathing."

[secretarialsiren]

She bats her lashes at him, giving him her best 'completely brainless' look. "I don't know what you mean, Levi! You must be projecting your feelings for James onto me. It's okay, I understand," she coos. "You'll get with him one day. I believe in you buddy."

[tarnishedbadge]

"Do you really think so," he said, sighing wistfully as he gazed over at James. James was... not exactly Levi's type. "He just so plays so very, very, very hard to get. Probably just making sure I'm really committed to the idea, right?"

[secretarialsiren]

Alex shakes her head, chewing on the end of a pen. "Exactly. He can't give in to his feelings until you've pined after him for at least a year. He's a good boy, you know? His momma raised him right," she drawls. "He knows better than to just hand out his favours to every nice boy to come his way."

[tarnishedbadge]

"A year? I've been carrying this torch since high school," Levi said. He could have been, actually, since that's how long he's known James.

"It's been so long the torch has burned down and I've had to get new ones. I think he's just not interested. Which breaks my heart. Where can I turn my affections now?"

[secretarialsiren]

"There's always Grant," she offers. "He's not nearly as stoic and grouchy but he does have a really nice butt. Plus he gives in to people a lot more easily after some flattery."

[tarnishedbadge]

"He does clearly use the squat rack on a regular basis," he said, chewing his lip a bit thoughtfully, as if considering it. "The woman I'm dating might take exception to it but you're making a very strong case for Grant."

[secretarialsiren]

Alex sits up a little straighter, curious now. She was a glutton for gossip and this sounded interesting. "You're dating someone now? Do tell me more," she grins.

[starsfallen]

Corry is riding on the rush of information that she is now, in fact, the owner of the Waterhouse. palace of her dreams. Grand notion suddenly materializing to reality.

But there are rather a lot of matters to figure out that come along with it. Business sense (which no doubt Lara can help with), manpower, design... but on the most mundane and less fun side of it all - legal matters.

So Corry, in a single-minded and productive moment, finds herself to the Siren Cove Police Department for the first time since that fateful day she and Leslie burned down a corndog stand. Not that there haven't been police run ins since then. Even in Siren Cove she'd danced with them on several occasions before her departure. But when caught cutting school or using fake IDs to get into smoky cabarets they simply picked her up and dropped her off at home. The police department is a whole other story.

"Hello?" She wears her most professional smile. "Who can help me with some matters of the law?"