Information Mining Characters: Aaron and Jeremy Setting: Cafeteria, Lunch
Jeremy was eating. It didn’t taste like much of anything because word was getting around that the nurse was dead, like really dead. Jeremy wasn’t the type to feel guilty for things, but that was sitting a little hard with him. He’d manipulated people into doing plenty of things, some legal, many illegal, most breaking some vow or another, but murder? He hadn’t set that up yet.
Which of course, in addition to making him feel guilty enough that his sandwich resembled sawdust, he got a bit of a thrill out of. He was that good that with the gentlest of directions, he’d convinced Pippa to kill someone. That wasn’t an easy task. All he had to do was make good on his promise to her, which he could, and he’d probably have her on his side.
Power had that sort of effect.
Aaron stepped out of the elevator, coming up from the office in search of something to eat. He had hoped for a quiet couple of days, after the jury session, but a murder put paid to that idea. The sooner they got the cameras back up and running, the better as far as he was concerned. At least then there might be some idea of a deterrent, even if the fucking Administration wouldn’t give them to evidence they needed to prove anything.
Jeremy glanced up when the elevator dinged, seeing Aaron and finding a smile out of his own self preservation. The man was curious and that law enforcement role seemed to fit, but the last thing that Jeremy wanted was to appear anything other than completely innocent, helpful, and friendly. "Afternoon," he greeted.
“Afternoon,” Aaron agreed. “Jeremy, right?” he checked. Aside from seeing the other man around and about the place, Aaron was aware they hadn’t really talked since his first day here. And how things had changed since then. He had a position now, one that would be far easier to get done, the more people he actually knew. This guy had seemed to have his ear to the ground, so Aaron crossed and sat. “You don’t mind if I join you, right?” he asked, though it was clear that it wasn’t really a question at all, especially since Aaron was already seated when he asked it.
"Not at all," Jeremy said even if in that moment he did. He didn't want to buddy up to the cop, if only because lying was just exhausting. "I see you've gotten settled in quite nicely." Since the guy had gone from wondering where he was to part of the government structure.
“Depends on your definition of ‘nicely’, really,” Aaron pointed out. He had certainly gotten himself into a routine. Swimming early each morning, a session in the gym every day - though both of those things were now being squeezed in between the duties of his new role. It wasn’t unusual for the man, if you looked over the span of the years, but it had been five years or more since he’d had to balance all the elements that way. At times he felt like himself again, at other times it was just downright frustrating.
"From what I've gathered you've found yourself in a role that keeps you busy enough. Better than still feeling like Dorothy in Oz." Jeremy smiled, friendly enough even if he was itching to ask questions that might make him look suspicious.
“Definitely - I was all wrong for Dorothy,” Aaron said, with a joking edge to his tone. “The job keeps me busy though - wish it wasn’t the way, but guess it doesn’t exactly surprise me,” he admitted. He was in with a load of criminals, after all. Crime was clearly a given.
"Not the ruby slippers type?" Jeremy asked, smirk in place. "I was on the jury the other day and saw just the first chunk. And I've heard there's been even more..." He paused for effect and to seem as if he was out of the loop. "I suppose it's to be expected, but still not something I was prepared for." The idea was to be civilized wasn't it?
“It never stops,” Aaron agreed. Word really did get around, didn’t it. Yet, that was really only to be expected - after all, two people had found the body, so that made at least three people outside of the law enforcement team who knew there had been a murder, without taking anything else into consideration. “What’ve you heard?” he asked, curiously, wanting to know that much.
"Just some commotion here and there, raised air of concern." Jeremy looked at his food as if he was hesitating before going onward. He didn't want to appear anything but innocent. "And there's been a flux in my neighbors. I haven't seen the ones on either side recently." One was dead but the other was just gone.
“People do seem to come and go,” Aaron agreed. He wasn’t going to change ‘an air of concern’ into more, if word of the murder hadn’t gotten out yet. Not unless he had any reason to suspect the guy he was talking to, which he didn’t. “Wish they’d let us know more when they do that - remove people. Doesn’t make a guy’s job any easier when people disappear in the middle of the night.”
"It'd make all of our lives easier. Less worry of just why it is they aren't in the program. Especially when people keep getting hurt," Jeremy said, shaking his head. It wasn't lost on him that Aaron didn't mention the dead nurse. That must be under wraps, which he distantly realized was the opposite of what he wanted from it. "So it hasn't slowed since the last trial?"
“We’re not going to be calling another jury just yet, you don’t need to worry,” Aaron said, phrasing that as a conciliatory answer to the question, when actually it was him sidestepping. They hadn’t had a chance to decide how they would approach the question of Violet’s murder. Brady no longer being around didn’t help matters either.
Jeremy nodded in understanding, but it wasn't in reference to what Aaron said. It was because he knew the comment was being sidestepped. He kept that knowledge off his face though. "That's good news."
“How did you find being on the jury?” Aaron asked, moving the subject away from things that he didn’t really want to be discussing. “Did you feel it worked as a system?”
It didn't. It had been mostly a waste of time, but it gave him time to watch his neighbors in their element. "It's still sloppy, but I think it got the end result. What did you think?"
“Pretty much the same as you. I think that it slows the whole system down, and with the number of people we’ve got here, it’s threatened by unavoidable bias, but people will respond better to this than they do to pretty much anything else. And what’s the alternative?” It was a rhetorical question, but he left it open in case Jeremy wanted to answer it anyway.
"Way I hear it they didn't take to people being given punishments without a trial well," Jeremy said with a shrug. As for an alternative, he was fine with anarchy but he knew it wasn't an option. "I don't believe there is much of an alternative. Just getting used to the current system."
“That’s what I heard as well. Doubt that we’re the most trusting group. Who the hell is gonna put faith in one or two people, or in a group of faceless whoever-the-hell-they-ares to decide what’s fair and just?” Aaron posed. “At least this way if there’s someone got it in for you, and you end up in front of the jury, unless you’ve also pissed off the other six people, you’ve got a chance of things going fair, even if it’s not the way you wanted.”
Except there was an actual conversation with the last jury of making the kid fight it out with the guy who he'd taken on and lost to to determine a true winner. That didn't instill more faith in their abilities. "I doubt they will considering most of us wound up here by a decision of faceless whoever-the-hell-they-ares. There's no way in winning people over properly, but maybe it'll convince people to hold back on the inappropriate behavior." Unless they were people like Pippa.
“You’d like to think, wouldn’t you,” Aaron said, though he sounded less than convinced. After all, something had gone awry pretty much every day since he’d been here. He had had a hope that such a relatively small group would be able to go at least some time between coming to blows. “I guess we’ll just have to take things as they come. Adapt if we find out specifics, or see patterns. That only comes with time though. This system’s still pretty young.”
"These sort of things don't work out perfectly from the jump. Rome wasn't built in a day and all of that," Jeremy said with a smile. "What about otherwise, making friends?" Aaron didn't seem the type, but it was better than going in circles about a system that wouldn't work and Jeremy planned on leaving before it would.
“I’m not really the ‘making friends’ type,” Aaron replied. “And somehow I doubt the position I’ve been given will help that much. Unless there’s people who think that sucking up will help. Which it won’t.”
"I would have guessed, but it's rude to assume," Jeremy said with a smirk. One look at the guy screamed that he was trying to be off-putting and that wasn't even getting into that gruff demeanor. "Though for what I gathered and sense of community is required for graduation."
“So people keep telling me,” Aaron agreed, dryly. “Though I’d point out that not everyone needs to get on in a community. I’ll pull my weight, I’ll act in the best interests of the community. All that shit. But you guys don’t need me to be sitting round the fire singing kumbaya to accomplish that.”
Jeremy shook his head. "No none of us need that, though the way you describe it that's more than a little solitary. You have to crave some sort of contact that isn't questioning victims and suspects. That was the perk of getting out of prison yes?"
“I didn’t do a whole lot of questioning of victims and suspects in prison,” Aaron deadpanned, purposefully taking in the wrong way as a dry joke. “I don’t mind solitary. Maybe, eventually, I’ll get to know people. Probably inevitable. But I’m not hurrying into it. How about you - you the life and soul of the community?” he asked, flipping the focus of the conversation away from himself.
"Why is that? Worried they'll let you down and turn out to be criminals?" It was a light joke, easy tone, but he was curious. "Hardly, but I've made some connections. I imagine working at the bar I'll make more."
Aaron laughed along with Jeremy. “Yeah - damn those pesky criminals. They really get around,” he agreed, but offered nothing more up. “Oh yeah, you landed a bar job. Not bad - glad they moved it from here as well. They got the basement level pretty well designed, I think. Apart from the fact that there’s no way in or out when the power’s out,” he said, recalling the fact he’d been stuck in an elevator with a claustrophobic Jae for several hours.
"It's a nice setup. You should come by, be friendly. Even if it's just with me." Jeremy smiled, something he knew was disarming and friendly. "Is the last place I want to get stuck I think, but I suppose that's the best you can do with what you have.”
“Not like we can just break through a wall and build ourselves a new staircase, is it?” Aaron agreed, not joking this time. They had what they had and that was that. “No doubt I’ll come down to the bar sooner or later,” he agreed. “But, in the meantime, I should grab some food myself.” After all, that was what he’d come up here for.
"No, we can't. There are doors that haven't opened yet though, so I suppose quite bit is still possible," Jeremy said. He nodded as Aaron said he was going for food, but leaned in slightly, enough to seem engaged in the conversation, but not too much. "Make it sooner, factor in a break for yourself."
“Hey, the day that people round here stop acting like shitheads is the day I’ll get a break,” Aaron said, rolling his eyes as he stood. “But, I work right next door, so I’m sure I can spare five minutes,” he added.
"I'll take convenience as an excuse," Jeremy said. "See you soon then."
“See you soon,” Aaron agreed. “Take care, stay safe,” he added, before heading off. Given the last few days, it seemed a pretty good warning.
If only Aaron knew. Jeremy waited until the other man was out of sight before his shoulders slumped in relief. Not found out, and no additional knowledge seemed to be floating around. That was a good sign for him. Giving up on what was left of his lunch, Jeremy got up and tossed the rest of it, heading out of the cafeteria as calmly as possible. All he had to do was keep a low profile.