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

[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."

[jamesthorn]

Alodia Coombs.

He sighs taking a moment, not meaning to think about Moira again, but this time he actually can't help but. For different reasons though. "No offense. I like new ideas, but a Coombs? Since when are we going to them for advice?" he asks.

[tarnishedbadge]

"Because if I asked another witch, it would get back to the Coombs anyway. Then they would think we were trying to go around them and they would see it as a threat," Levi said. Of course, that was all logic he had thought about later, after he had lied about why he really wanted the nullification charms.

"This way all of our cards are on the table. Except not because we'd be dumb to not try and get someone from outside Siren Cove to work on the charm too."

[jamesthorn]

HIs sighs, putting his elbows on the table, trying to think, but he isn't in the mood to think about the Coombs as a threat or otherwise. "I just don't know," he says, shaking his head, peering back up at Levi. "Using magic against people we're arresting for using magic illegally? Is that...ethical?"

[tarnishedbadge]

"We also use guns against guns who use them illegally," Levi pointed out. This is why he'd brought the idea to James, because he didn't want someone that would just jump at the chance to have another form of attack or defense against the witches. This was not something to rush into.

"I'm not saying all of us should have dewitching guns. One holding cell for witches who are arrested for using their magic illegally."

[jamesthorn]

"I know. But guns didn't curse the entire goddamn town," he says, shaking his head. He isn't sure that the police should be operating with magic too. Aside from the moral legalities of it, the Mayor would never fund it. That would be like acknowledging the town had a magic problem in the first place.

"Hey, the Chief may go for it though," he says in the end. "Too much has been going on lately, not to consider beefing up the security."

[tarnishedbadge]

And therein was part of the problem. Side-stepping the magic community just because they could do something terrible felt wrong. Normal people could do terrible things too and they still enforced the laws on them.

"If someone is going to curse and entire town just because we lock them up for breaking the law, we're going to have a problem with them anyway," Levi said. "And it's not a magic problem. Magic is never the problem. People are always the problem."

[jamesthorn]

"You don't have to tell me that," he mutters, thinking back to everything Moira's told him about her mother lately. He had started to wonder if this town didn't have a witch problem, but if instead it had a Violet Coombs problem. She had been responsible for almost everything that's happened in the past few weeks, and if he was right about her involvement with his mother's death, who knows how much that woman was responsible for.

Levi had a point, but James didn't know if he was ready to say magic is never the problem. "Can I ask what made you go to Aloida Coombs with this idea in the first place?"

[tarnishedbadge]

"I didn't know who she was when I first asked her about it," Levi admitted. It wasn't like he had the Coombs extended family memorized or anything like that. Maybe going forward he should look into that, just in case.

"She was selling artwork at the festival, some of it of a special nature so I asked her if it was possible. I was mostly curious if it could be done."