Standing under an overpass in the rain [OPEN]

[pointofhonoria]

Who: Honoria Crabb & You!
What: Monthly shenanigans, truths/lies and otherwise
When: Throughout July
Where: Various spots around the ship
Warnings: None yet, will add
Notes: If anyone feels like helping me get this poor detective caught up on any plot stuff......


1. thinking, thinking (either library, lounge, Tauva, etc.)

Crabb hates feeling this idle for this long. Back in Gallery there's never a quiet moment, never a dearth of obvious work to be done. More often than not, she and Ferrier hop right from one job to the next, and she likes it that way. It's just the sort of person she is.

Maybe it'd have helped if she hadn't been far more rattled by her first months here than she'd expected, or if she just knew where to even start, but she was and she doesn't. Together, those things mean her "work" mostly amounts to sitting around places like the library, the lounge or Tauva, thinking and scribbling notes on everything from what little she personally knows, to the mountain of questions that cover what she doesn't, to the people she knows or has seen around enough to take note of.

Lately, this sometimes includes having a life-size plush of a strange little dog sat with her as she scribbles. Mostly, it just sits there, sometimes gets used as an arm rest, other times she almost seems to pet it idly or talking to it like she's using it to work out thoughts aloud.

Anyone who catches her doing so will be met with no sense of shame, just a, "What you looking at?"

2. caught in the rain (anywhere outside or just after coming inside, lies)

Crabb does her best not to get caught out in the rain, all things considered, but it still happens; she has to cross some open deck and ends up all drizzled on anyway. Much harder to completely avoid folks for an hour or two when that's how you end up wet, compared to all the more purposeful kinds like showers and so on.

Nice to know there's only different weather when it's inconvenient, she supposes.

"Bleedin' lovely weather we're having," is what she means to grumble, to no one in particular but aloud all the same, and in essence that's still what she actually says, give or take a couple words, but... it sure comes out sounding a lot more genuine than the sarcasm she was aiming for.

3. newfangled technology (Calgona's Gym)

When it is wet outside, Crabb has to shift the exercise routine she's fallen into. No running around the track out on the sports deck, which means if she wants to get a run in, she has to figure out how the treadmills work.

She is not having much luck.

She's got no problem with the concept, or the basic act of turning it on, but she's clearly a little more thrown by all the possible settings and might be cursing creatively under her breath. Maybe help the woman from 1917 out, here.

4. Wildcard

[ Catch her anywhere else; specify if you want a lies/truths thing and either pick which or I will, but otherwise I'll default to no effect. bluecitrine or artisticblueteam#5757 if you want to plot something specific. ]

Comments

[pointofhonoria]

"Gallery. You probably haven't heard of it, going by everyone else; ain't met a single person here who knows it besides Summer. City state, Europe. Currently stuck fighting in a war against Armoria, which you probably ain't heard of either."

It's one of the less important categories of information she's keeping track of. You have to wonder if at least one other world has the country you grew up in, have been trying to save from the corrupt upper society cannibalising it.

"Served the state for over a decade, was Chief Inspector for a few years before I called it quits. Seemed like the best way to do my part for my country, 'til I got shown otherwise." She eyes him as she goes on, not necessarily expecting a totally forthcoming response, "What about your government called you, then?"

[be_seeing_you]

"You're unfortunately correct. I've never heard of either place." How strange, Europe exists for them both but not these. It's more disconcerting than if they had come from some entirely different planet.

"Similar story. It seemed like the best way to do my part for my own country... until it wasn't." He's being coy, it's true, but this answer is remarkably truthful regardless.

[pointofhonoria]

"So far it's just me and Summer that've heard of either, don't expect that to change any time soon. Not unless someone else we know turns up. Which, y'know, they could. I arrived weeks after Summer did, but I'd only seen him hours before. Bleedin' weird..."

That's a bit of a tangent, but she shakes it off after trailing off into a grumble about it.

She eyes him for a moment, it certainly is a coy choice of answer, but yeah, it says something. Whatever branch of state nonsense he was under. "That's how it goes, I guess. I love Gallery. Everything I do I do to try and make it better, but the way to do that sure as hell wasn't from inside the force anymore."

[be_seeing_you]

"I wouldn't wish coming here on any of my friends or relations." Maybe a couple of Number 2's. No, not even that, or he'd have to live with them longer. Perish that thought.

"You know, I never got the chance to ask. How did you and Johnny become aquainted?"

[pointofhonoria]

"Neither would I, but it ain't like there's any choice in the matter."

Though there is a certain confliction between that, which is very much true, and sometimes wanting the help of those she's used to being able to rely on, the other members of the Lavender Jack team that aren't here already.

"Anyway, we met during an investigation he got wrapped up in, back when I was still a cop. Between that and a couple mutual friends, once I'd quit Ferrier and me set up our agency running out of his building. Been two years since."

Which is a very, very simplified version of events, because without knowing what Johnny's told people she tends to keep it simple, but Number 6 might be able to draw a connection between it and Johnny's mentions of the Black Note. It was that case.

[be_seeing_you]

"I see. So, it was serendipitous, you could say." Johnny had mentioned the blackmailing incident but Number 6 can't be sure if it's related. The topic had taken a sharp turn not long into that conversation. Still, he does tuck the thought away for examination after.

"I always wondered what it might be like to get into private practice. Would you say the majority of your cases are the garden variety of extra-marital affairs and missing people? Those sorts of things? Or do you have more interesting cases to crack?"

[pointofhonoria]

"You could say that, yeah." Johnny's been an invaluable ally, a good addition to the Lavender Jack team, and just a good friend besides.

"Sure wouldn't call anything we do garden-variety, nah. We tend to get the kind of stuff people won't take to anyone else. Ferrier's got a real reputation, y'see." World famous detective that she is. "Last case I finished before I ended up here was proving someone innocent of a murder charge, and the case we took after that, some bloke was worried his brother had been killed by the state. Now, that's on the extreme end, but otherwise that's kinda where our speciality lies."

[be_seeing_you]

"Now, that's more like it," Number 6 says, perking up with interest. These fall very much in line with the sorts of missions he went on. If something fishy was suspected abroad, he was often their man for the job. "Was his brother, in fact, killed by the state?"

[pointofhonoria]

"Not killed, as it turns out, but definitely kidnapped. We found 'im, but we ain't got much out of him on account of him being all..." She makes a spiral by her head. "They whammied him, somehow. Only just snapped back to reality not long before I woke up here. Didn't get chance to interview him yet."

Hypnotism of some kind, as far as they can tell, and it's not just poor Abacus Ma it's been used on.

[be_seeing_you]

"Drugs?" Number 6 asks, not sounding even a little surprised to hear of this outcome. He's been kidnapped (potentially by his own government) and they have been attempting to do similar things to break his mind.

"It's a relief that he is yet alive, but I have great sympathy for him and his brother. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that his mind may never be quite what it was."

[pointofhonoria]

"Less conventional than that. We think it's some new... mental conditioning science. It was partially broken by an external trigger, but yeah, we're getting him to the best doctors we can when it's safe to, but who knows what lasting effects it'll have. New science is dangerous at the best of times."

It's not like they fully understand what's been done to him, like they still don't understand a lot of pieces of this case. Like how there's a dead guy come back to life. She's not getting into that now, though.

[be_seeing_you]

"That is serious. I've seen firsthand what happens when science like that is used too liberally." He's lost at least one friend that way.

"I wish I could give you more valuable insights into it, but I hardly understand it myself."

[pointofhonoria]

"Sorry to hear that, guess it's too much to ask to hope people somewhere don't do that crap to each other."

She believes in the ability to make society better, she wouldn't be in the fight she is if she didn't, but sometimes you have to look at the world around you and see all the creative ways people are finding to hurt people and just feel tired.

"Still, hard to say if any insight's'd apply, anyway. Who knows what differences between worlds there are. If whole damn countries don't exist..."

She gestures vaguely, but with a point. There's no telling if these things work the same in other universes.

okay with you if we wrap this one up here?

[be_seeing_you]

"In my experience, there will always be a villain willing to harm others in every way, so long as there's something to be gained from it." He doesn't have a particularly rosy outlook on the world, unfortunately. That's a product of the times he lives in.

"Too true. Every day I encounter something strange and unheard of in my own world. Just when I think I've seen all there is, something new arrives. It's terribly disorienting."

That line of thought inevitably brings him back to the cold ending of his conversation with Johnny. Such differences he never thought to account for...

He looks at his wrists to check the time and then back to her saying, "It's been a pleasure, but I'm sure I've kept you from your work long enough. I hope our paths will cross again soon enough."

yep works for me!

[pointofhonoria]

She gives a resigned, accepting sigh at that—at all of it. There's always someone, and here, there's always something else new and insane she can learn about. Even a few months in. "Yeah, ain't that the truth."

But then she just gives a polite nod, agreeing nod. He seems a decent enough bloke. Hard to read in a lot of ways, but decent. "Ship feels smaller than it is, don't doubt they will before long. See you around."

thank you!

[be_seeing_you]

He nods, saying, "Be seeing you." Before he excuses himself from the library. He was unsure what to expect in meeting her, but he finds he's leaving this conversation with a much higher opinion than he anticipated.