Who: Damien Thorn, plus a clerk and his personal lawyer (NPCs) When: Morning Where: Courthouse What: Obtaining legal protection methods Rating: PG Status: Complete
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Damien had a feeling that this probably do very little for him in the long run. But he was the type of person who liked to have all his bases covered. There were quite a few things he was going to do, actually. But this came first. He had to get a personal protection order (PPO), or in layman's terms, a restraining order. Probably wouldn't help very much. But at least he would be covered in the eyes of the law. Second thing he would do today is beefing up security a tad more at his work. Like having a few more guards or installing some new secret video cameras where none were at the moment. He was even going to look into spytech equipment.. maybe a micro-camera inside a coat button or something.
But, first things first. He had just pulled into the parking lot of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Courthouse located on Hill St. He was already talking on his cellphone as he left the car and approached the entrance of the building. It was one of his lawyers at the firm. "..Yes, that's correct. I think it's good to have my bases covered, so to speak. And this is one way to do that. Yes. Yes, exactly. Alright, I'm here," he said as he opened the door to walk inside, "so hold on for a minute. I might need you to talk to them, you guys know the legal talk better than I do." Pause. "Sure, that works fine. I can just call you back."
He hung up and had to wait as he had taken a number. It was about fifteen minutes. Finally, it was his tern, and he approached the clerk. "Hi.. my name is Damien Thorn. I need to obtain a restraining order. More than one, actually."
She nodded, smiling briefly. "Alright, Mr. Thorn. Is this domestic?"
Hell no, he thought to himself, he was glad for that at least. "No, ma'am. It's civil. Or criminal. Short version, I don't like being harassed or attacked by certain individuals in public. I.. well, wait. I think my lawyer can explain it better than me." He dialed the number and spoke after several rings. "Hey, Larry, it's me again. I'm gonna let you speak to the clerk, Miss... Jacobsen, now. Okay." He handed it off to her.
The woman held the phone to her ear, nodding once in a while, answering with "Mm-hmm," "Yes," or "Uh huh," in reply. Along with several questions of her own. After a few minutes, she seemed satisfied, then gave the phone back. "So, Mr. Thorn... let me see if I got the list right. Bart Allen, Virgil Hawkins, Bruce Wayne, Tim Wayne, Victor Stone, Terry McGinnis.. sure that isn't Terrance?"
Damien shrugged. "I don't really know.. the short name is close enough, anyway. Last name should be good enough too. There's also Clark Kent as well. He might also use Kal-El as an alias."
The woman arched a brow at that. Come to think of it, some of the other names seemed familiar to her too.
Damien replied, "Don't ask me. Maybe their folks weren't sober when they named them, or maybe they're comic fans. Besides, didn't Nicolas Cage name his son that on October 3rd of last year? Kal-El Cage."
"Okay," she said with a nod, deciding not to think too much on it. That did seem to make sense now. She passed several papers to him in the slot then. "You'll just need to fill these out now. For each person individually."
He took them and went over to the seat. He began to use a pen to fill in the information on each form. For the address, he used a post office box number. Then he read under the Personal Conduct order section. Harass, attack, strike, threaten, follow, destroy personal property. He had to smirk at the last part. He was definitely familiar with that. He immediately checked that particular box. He read the next one. Contact (either directly or indirectly), or telephone, or send messages or mail or e-mail.
He paused, thinking on that for a moment. Then he shook his head. That wasn't necessary, really. He could just choose to ignore such things instead. No need to have an order for it. Everyone used the boards, and besides, it was a form of free speech; he wouldn't use an order to change that. Besides, phone calls, email, and boards just involved words and nothing more. It was mostly just the public meetings he was worried about. So he went to the next item, the Stay-Away order. A section about how many yards to stay away from person in pubic. He wrote in for 30 yards. That was a good enough distance.. it was pretty much larger than the width of a massive public pool at the YMCA. There were other boxes for locations: self, home, workplace, vehicle. He checked all of them.
He sighed, going over the rest of the forms, filling them in, considering each point. He had not known how much of a process this was. But it was needed. Perhaps this would also put some space between him and.. a few people. Finally, after looking them over yet again, he took them to the clerk. "Done. So, what happens next?"
The clerk quickly answered, "These get forwarded to the office of your attorney, and after review, if they are approved, the court-ordered restraining orders will be sent to the listed parties. Could be within five days.."
"Five days?" He asked, perplexed. "I... can't wait that long." He had a gathering planned in two days. He needed this done well before then. That way, he'd have an excuse to turn someone away without looking like a prat, he'd have a genuine legal reason. "Oh. Okay, I got it. Can you fax these to my lawyer that you were talking to? You remember the number?"
She paused, then nodded. "Yes, that's fine." She stood up and went to the fax machine. Sent the papers through. One at a time.
Damien then dialed again. "Me again. I know, sorry to bother you once more.. ohh. Alright, thanks. Some files are being faxed straight to you. I think it's all set on this end. They through yet?" Pause. "Now? Oh, okay.." Pause again. "..Really? You got them. It's more than one form. Yeah.. yes, that's all the names. Yes." He turned away, speaking quietly into the phone so he could hear, "So, now.. think you can use those resources, whatever you do, to get it accepted? Oh! Ohh, awesome.. yes, certainly. That's good. I also got a request, can you have it mailed 1st class? That way, it gets in the mail tomorrow. Oh, yes.. that's perfect. Okay, I'll let you go now. Thanks, sir."
He hung up and turned back to the clerk at the window. "Okay, I'm set now. Should be all set. I might be back in case an update is needed, or if I forgot something. But it should be fine. Thank you for all your help." As he saw her smile, he quickly left the room and was heading to his car. He sighed with relief as though a weight was lifted. But he couldn't relax yet. He still had to look into getting extra security, just in case. Not to mention dealing with caterers and other such people. And he still had to show up for work in an hour! Sure, he was a CEO, and can come or go as he wished.. but it was important that he keep a steady schedule. This was going to be a long day.. he could hardly wait to get some rest later this night.