Mingle Log!

[notscrapmetal]

When; July 5th through July 7th!
Rating; G+
Characters; Open to ALL, 4th Wallers and Citizens!
Summary; The celebrations continue, and the Anonymous regime has summoned guests that Citizens might (not) prove very thrilled to see! As opposed to other Fourth Wall events, all visiting characters will have been invited to the City, or they must arrive here of their own will.

Mingle! Explore~!

Log;

There's so much to do and so much to see in this City of cities. From tromping through Xanadu, long walks along the shore, shopping in the Square, hunting in the forest, meeting a contact in the Underground, or getting as many answers as possible at the Welcoming Center how can anyone decide on just one. In three days time so much can be done!

Shops and restaurants are having specials. Happy hour has become happy days in some bars. This is quite the occasion! When the City decides to celebrate, it becomes contagious. Why not smile and strike up a conversation with a stranger? After all, a stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.

Comments

[actsharpbesharp]

Uh huh.

[They don't talk for all that time. Cooper steels himself to put more into this exchange. In all the wide world he's here with his own former boot.]

I talked to one of the peace officers. They deal justice the best they can. I've been treating myself like back up. We're supposed to go back later.

[Then a shrug.]

That's a lot of hearsay for me, but there's nothing else to pull from.

[superboot]

[Ben sort of looks at John out the corner of his eye.]

Back up.

[Like having your partner's back. He had John's once, John didn't have his. He had Sammy's multiple times but...]

Came without a cruiser too, huh. I walked out of the station and bam, here I am. This ain't Alvarado.

[Or Hollyweird.]

[actsharpbesharp]

Best idea I have.

[The longer they speak, the more defined that chill is between them. Fine. No damn surprise. It's been months. Being with another officer already helps stop John's own loud thoughts.]

You can say that again, Dorothy.

[Heh. It can't be stopped. Just subdued like a perpetrator.]

What're you doing?

[In this time, in this space.]

[superboot]

[Dorothy he says. Ben's got the right mind to call John the Cowardly Lion but now's not the time or the place.]

Canvasing I guess.

[One day he's going to be a detective, you know. He hasn't taken the exam yet, but he's going to.] You?

[actsharpbesharp]

[And it's deserved. At least it was at one time.]

Two heads are better.

[Fact and observation. Well, Cooper?]

Like old times.

[Canvasing together.]

I saw two clowns go at it with giant fish from a meat store. Cut that out fast. Good thing because a man was trying to eat a chainsaw. Got him some help. Just another circus.

[superboot]

You're answering calls? [Sort of. Metaphorically speaking. But also literally. That's community policing for you. Ben just sakes his head.] Asshole rodeo right? Old times.

[Sometimes the assholes are in uniform, not that he's implying such a thing this very second. Ben's already resigned himself to patrolling on foot with John.]

It's good to see you, John.

[Good to see him not a dead man walking, a fucking train wreck.]

[actsharpbesharp]

Just the ones I can find on my own. Asshole rodeo major league.

[Asshole rodeo. That was what he told Ben and many, many others before him. All that time and effort. It wasn't for nothing. Not in Ben's case.]

Now you an show me what you got. I'll try not to call you boot.

[Which is going to take a gigantic ton of effort. Just when Cooper is about to get his stride, that personal touch. He wants to shrink back.]

Same, Sherman.

[superboot]

It's P2 now.

[He clarifies (again) for John but it's not so bitter or full of cool indifference like the last time they met and he called the younger officer a boot. Ben's not sure which is worse, Boot or P2 Pup. Both of them come from equally influential sources.]

[actsharpbesharp]

I bet you studied your ass off.

[Or they made the tests easier. The first one would make more sense in the big picture of who this person is. Cooper still wonders what sort of developments will solidify his final, true personality as a cop.]

P2 Sherman. Is that something the ladies eat up?

[superboot]

[He narrows his eyes a little which quickly turns into a roll. Ben Sherman passed probation under John, no studying necessary. Passing it under Sammy Bryant on the other hand, well, Ben doesn't have the years under his belt to automatically rise to P3. Yet. He will thought. Just watch him.]

You've heard all the rumors? Twins, actresses, running off the roof when the husband comes home. [One of these is actually true.] I don't find them, they find me.

[actsharpbesharp]

[All hands on, and with so much considered he had a smooth FTO period. It might be the still youthfully smooth plane of his face or his general tendency or sheer luck but it made Cooper want to push him harder. He really did believe that there was greatness if he'd fucking get over himself. Has he had that breakthrough now that he's a P2?]

I've seen you operate.

[Women do find him. It's that Beverly Hills air to him.]

It was already ridiculous when you started. Now I can only imagine. Nothing but fodder for a memoir right? Something to cozy up to in those twilight years?

[Ten years from now, Cooper guesses. If he can stick it out. Ten years is longer than what he thought Ben was capable of. He's already at P2.]

[superboot]

[Why are you being so nice, John?? Is it because of Lucero? Ben's always felt John Cooper wouldn't change or if he did he'd internalize it. This is a bit much. It doesn't help their last interaction with each other was cool and indifferent, almost apathetic.]

I wouldn't say a memoir. Maybe one of those reality shows.

[Because Officer Ben Sherman has a face made for television.]

[actsharpbesharp]

[Push him away or try and repair? Both of them feel like too much of an effort to undertake. Does he even have it in him? Sherman and Cooper are not partners anymore. Lucero was his partner.

Nearly everything could be linked back to Lucero. The wound is not healed.]

I hate most of that shit.

[Cooper shakes his head. He starts to say something about how he pities Ben's partner but he doesn't want to talk about partners, no matter what's on his own mind.]

[superboot]

No you don't.

[Dancing With the Stars, much?]

[actsharpbesharp]

A few shows isn't all the shows. You don't know me.

[A playful phrase has more bristle to it than it should.]

[superboot]

[At first Ben looks like he's going to laugh it off but something about John's tone doesn't sit well with him.]

You wanna take east and I'll take west?

[Canvasing. Simple canvasing. Split up if it suits the old man which seems to be the case. No John Cooper, no Sammy Bryant, well fuck that because Ben Sherman can make it alone.]

[actsharpbesharp]

[A little can go a long, long way. Cooper is quiet. He's got shades on and they only offer so much of a shield. A swallow. A look around and then a look to the concrete.]

No.

[In the event that Sherman gets ambushed and hurt, Cooper would never sleep at night again. He better try and say what he wants to.]

The radio doesn't work.

[They both have cellphones though.]

[superboot]

[Ben's about to say they have phones but that's not exactly proper protocol either and you can't dial a number too well when you're tumbling in a brawl.]

Right. Old school foot patrol?

[Ben talks as if he's old enough to have practiced that. Hell even Cooper's not old enough to remember those days...or is he?? Heh heh heh.]

[actsharpbesharp]

Academy only taught one school that I know of.

[Smooth enough transition. They quietly ditch the concept of cellphones even when it was a fairly passionate and lengthy conversation with the Peace Officer Freddy.]

Patrol and explore. I haven't covered that much ground. They must have a map.

[superboot]

They have a welcome center.

[Ben could have mentioned that earlier but seriously. It's a welcome center. They're the ones who usually put up community resources like that, not actually use them.]

[actsharpbesharp]

I'd rather count how many coffee shops they got.

[Give the civil servants less crap to deal with. Except...]

Did you stop in? Stage a photo shoot?

[How much longer are they going to run on this lukewarm temperature? Cooper is trying to find an angle to approach.]

[superboot]

No. [To the photo shoot thing. Snort.] I haven't earned a medal around here, yet.

[He adds the 'yet' as an indicative remark, he knows what you're implying, John. Fff.]

[actsharpbesharp]

It is early. You're right.

[He is only just starting to make a mark on the radar. Boy, this might be keeping them from fighting but if Ben's head swells... That can't happen.]

Would you go for a pink haired girl? How about one with a tail? That's still Hollywood.

[superboot]

[Snort.] Would you?

[It's no crack on what he might have heard about John Cooper. It's never been official but there are rumors. Ben catches his own potential mistake.]

I like bunny girls. They gotta have an excuse to go into heat every season.

[actsharpbesharp]

You're a dog, Sherman.

[And the sky is blue.]

I've lived this long without bunnies. Badge or otherwise. I like it that way. That is hard for you to wrap your head around, I know.

[Bright, clear day. Decent weather. It could be California.]

Who's your partner?

[Even though he doesn't want to talk about partners. Shop talk has got to come on up.]