Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 24, 2012 9:42:06 GMT -5
Month 6, Week 2, Day 6, open
Donal "Shades" Costigan rode passenger on one of the dump trucks up from his final quarry inspection of the day and duly punched out his timecard, then noted the time in his notebook. Six hours to charge to this contract. Nothing special to worry about today; no unexpected jointing or fractures to interfere with blasting free neat limestone slabs.
As he made his way out to the dusty, blindingly white parking lot, he adjusted his sunglasses, pushing them up his nose to sit closer to his face. His eyes watered from the white light leaking in at the corners and he felt a tightness at his temples that signaled an impending migraine.
"Slag this for a lark," Costigan muttered to himself as he opened the door of a battered old pickup truck. It was once navy-blue, but was so covered with limestone dust from the parking lot as to appear light gray, now. After sliding in behind the driver's seat, he muttered as he ran through a mental checklist: "keys first, gear in park, start engine, clutch, THEN shift--not forward, reverse you moron!"
With a few lurches and halts, he got his truck turned around and headed out the front gate. In spite of driving all his adult life, he'd never quite got the hang of it; it never felt quite right, and something in his mind expected his car to do things it never did when he was at the controls. This could be a problem if he was in any kind of traffic--fortunately, the road from the quarry wasn't very busy and it was a simple, two-lane road. All he had to do was keep his car between the stripes, and Costigan could handle that.
He braked to a stop where the quarry road crossed a much busier state highway, and turned into roadside bar & grill situated there. Here he could turn his cell phone on and catch up on any messages--safety rules forbade active cell phones at the quarry. Too much blasting (with radio-activated detonators) going on.
Dark eyebrows slanted low to accompany a puzzled frown as he stared at the message list. "Detroit Salt Company? Ah told them Ah wasn't available today!" The message was simple enough, but eyebrow-raising:
Mr. Costigan, we have an urgent problem we'd like you to look at on one of the lower levels. Please reply as soon as possible, no matter what the hour. We will triple your normal rates if you can see to it within the next 24 hours.
He dialed the number and replied, "Ah'll be there in three hours."
Yes, sir. We'll have someone waiting for you at the main gate.
"Fine. See you then." Costigan hung up, and muttered, "Supper first." Finnegan's Roadside Bar 'n' Grill had pretty good hamburger and steak fries, and passable beer, and Costigan had six hours of hungry to subdue. He pushed open the door and walked in, casting a glance around the bar as he did so...
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Post by Pee-Dee on Jan 25, 2012 20:58:49 GMT -5
There's a redhead at the bar, motorcycle jacket sliding down her arms to expose bare skin and a Kevlar blue vest. There's an untouched beer by her elbow, and she's dipping her fries in barbecue sauce, licking the sauce off, then eating the fries.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Jan 25, 2012 21:25:02 GMT -5
There's a teal-haired woman dressed all in black sulking somewhere down the bar, staring broodily at an iced tea, as if she is trying to see if she can make it combust by thinking hard enough.
She's waiting for her burger and watching the rest of the bar like she expects to be very annoyed in short order.
As if on cue, a drunk asks, "Hey honey, does the carpet match the curtains?"
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
|
Post by Hellbender on Jan 25, 2012 21:46:55 GMT -5
Shades Costigan, still wearing indoors the mirrored sunglasses that earned him his nickname, nodded politely at the two women sitting at the bar and sauntered over to a stool, though not right next to either one. He's here to eat and head on to a job, not hit on good-looking ladies.
"Yo, Bill," he said as he leaned on the bar. "Blue-Cheese Special, medium-rare, with fries, please. And a Sam Adams."
Bill, a stocky black man with a receding hairline, turned and repeated the order through the kitchen pass-through. That done, he opened the bar cooler and got out Costigan's beer. "Tired of eating your own cooking again, Shades?"
"Ain't got time," Costigan replied. "Still got to back to work again today."
Bill shook his head. "Hope they're paying you plenty of overtime. Man shouldn't have to go to work twice in one day."
"They pay me well enough," Costigan replied, smirking as he sipped a taste of his beer. No more; slamming it down on an empty stomach when he had to drive was a bad idea. It would wait until his burger and fries arrived.
Then some idiot just had to open his yap and say the wrong thing. Costigan set his beer back down, turned slowly around and walked over to the drunk. Several inches past six foot tall, he loomed over average men, and looked rather like a young Tommy Lee Jones--dark-haired, craggy and tough. In a deep Southern accent, he said with deceptive mildness, "Son, you talk to your mother like that? Or your sister? 'Cause you just might want to reconsider your words."
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Post by Pee-Dee on Jan 25, 2012 21:55:02 GMT -5
Petunia shifts in her seat to watch as the sunglasses-wearing man confronts the drunk. Part of her thinks about the badge in her pocket, another part reminds her she's off-duty.
There's a dead certainty in her that it's best if they sort it out themselves. She should only step in if it gets serious.
She slides her beer across the bar. Another thing that doesn't taste as good as it smells. Disappointing.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Jan 25, 2012 22:05:43 GMT -5
Sable is not entirely sure what means, but she is fairly certain she's supposed to be offended. She starts to curl one small hand into a fist where she sits. One blow to the solar plexus and...
Then another man intrudes on the conversation. Sable blinks once.
The drunk slurrs, "Aaaah-h, she's asking for it, dressing like that here."
Sable is wearing all black from neck to toe, it should be reiterated. Her eyes narrow, and her fist tightens.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 25, 2012 22:25:19 GMT -5
Costigan sighed and shook his head regretfully. "Son, Ah gave you a chance, but you don't have the sense God gave a gopher."
One hand snapped out and grabbed the drunk by the collar, dragging him up close. When the drunk tried to pull away, he discovered that Costigan's grip was like iron. "See, son, Bill runs a nice place and serves right tasty burgers, and Ah like it. Ah don't like you, or your manners. This ain't some red-light dive downtown, which you seem to have gotten all confused about. Comes of too much drink, Ah reckon. Ah think you ought to step outside and sober up a whole lot."
Costigan turned his head to glance at Sable. "Ma'am, just to check Ah'm not makin' a mistake--this ain't a friend of yours with poor taste in humor, is he?"
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Post by Sable Conolly on Jan 26, 2012 17:20:12 GMT -5
OOC: Switching order with Det. Dahlia by player request.
"Most certainly not," Sable says coolly in reply to Mr. Costigan, her eyes narrowed and her hand still clenched into a fist. She appraises how he handles the drunk. If the drunk was someone more dangerous, just how would this be playing out? How dangerous is he? What is his angle in playing the White Knight?
Because Sable is ever a Black Knight.
The drunk's head lolls around loosely, and he spies the redhead. Oh, there's things he could say about her, too, but what's she wearing makes him say something else, "Hey. Hey, that outfit just for your clients, or are you a real meter-maid? You just gonna let him do this?"
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Post by Pee-Dee on Jan 26, 2012 18:37:00 GMT -5
Petunia turns all the way around, leaning back against the bar. Yeah, she's wearing full Kevlar under that leather motorcycle jacket and down to her boots.
"Thing is, I'm off-duty," she says. "If you want, I'll call someone on-duty, but it's a pretty safe bet you're going to get a drunk&disorderly and Shades there will get a free dinner."
Come on, the man is wearing mirrored sunglasses indoors. What else is she going to call him but "Shades"?
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 26, 2012 20:50:37 GMT -5
"Glad to hear that, ma'am."
Shades Costigan is playing the White Knight because he believes he was brought up to respect women and doesn't like men who don't. He's not putting the drunk's head through the wall because that would bring in cops and ambulances and make a big fuss and Bill would not like him as a customer and he wouldn't get to finish his dinner in peace and get to his other client's problem.
"Son, you really don't know when to shut it, do you? Bill, don't worry, Ah won't make a big fuss. " Costigan grabs the drunken idiot with both hands and frog-marches him outside, across the parking lot, and finally slings him into a ditch. "Don't make the mistake of coming back," he growls with far more menace than he showed inside, cracking his knuckles briefly.
Back in the bar, he nods politely to both women. "Sorry about that, ladies. Folks 'round here are usually pretty decent, but there's always someone who's had one too many." He looks directly at Petunia. "Ah didn't hurt him none, though he's likely a mite unhappy."
"How about that, your burger is ready," Bill announces, serving the plate up to Costigan, back at the bar now. He does not seem entirely happy, but keeps his own counsel.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Jan 26, 2012 20:58:02 GMT -5
Sable wonders if she ought to say something. Allowing someone else to fight a battle that she knows she could have won feels wrong to her. At the same time, she does not want to attract attention right now. Sable has some very not-legal things she needs to accomplish and spending a night in jail would throw off her timetables considerably.
She does not think she would have had Shades's self-restraint there if she had fought. The drunk would have had something broken, she is quite certain.
What would a normal, unremarkable human say? Sable does not know. She decides to wait and see if the policewoman will say anything.
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Post by Pee-Dee on Jan 26, 2012 21:03:14 GMT -5
"Long as he's only unhappy," Petunia says, turning back to what's left of her fries. "Thanks for dealing with him. It's annoying to have to hold punches when someone talks like that."
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
|
Post by Hellbender on Jan 26, 2012 21:57:49 GMT -5
"You're quite welcome, ma'am. Ah can't abide that kind of talk to a lady; it's not the way Ah was brought up," Costigan says, starting in on his hamburger. After a few bites he adds, "Well, the main reason Ah held punches was that Bill here would be mighty put out if I busted his place up, and then I'd miss out on dinner, and Ah got places to be and things to do. Besides, Ah don't think that fella was worth much of a ruckus."
Sable isn't the only one who doesn't want to be detained by the law, or doesn't want too much official attention.
After another bite or two, he glances over at the silent sable-clad woman. "Everything all right, ma'am?"
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Post by Sable Conolly on Jan 26, 2012 23:39:03 GMT -5
Sable, perhaps oddly, finds herself more or less in agreement with the policewoman's sentiments. Holding her punches was very annoying, indeed. She inquires, genuinely curious, "Would you have done the same if I was male?"
Because she is, really. A male space robot who would like to conquer this planet.
"But yes, I'm fine, thank you. Something about being female seems to provoke idiocy around me."
Something about being a petite female trucker and stopping at truck stops to be a bit more exact.
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Post by Pee-Dee on Jan 27, 2012 10:47:44 GMT -5
Petunia certainly listens, but she's largely excused herself from this conversation in favor of her fries. They do good fries here.
Skippable.
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