тнє вιg вα∂ ωσℓf (redruby) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-08-01 19:50:00 |
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Nick was pretty sure that his luck was not with him that morning. It wasn’t the first time he’d left his coffee at home, nor was it the first time that he’d been a little behind in his morning routine. But today seemed to be pushing its luck. He’d forgotten his coffee, been a little behind, and dropped the coffee he’d run into a coffee shop for...only to find that there wasn’t even any shit coffee at the station. All things considered, worse things could have happened to him that morning, but he was focused on his bad luck for the morning as he sunk into the chair behind his desk. Today he was on desk duty because his current partner was out on vacation. So he sat and glared at the piles of paperwork sitting on the desk. He was pretty sure no one warned him about how much paperwork there was to do when he switched sides and he had yet to find someone who would do it for him. It was a tragedy. After a few minutes of glaring passed, he sat forward, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to figure out how to get out of doing all the backed up paperwork he’d already been avoiding by making excuses for why he had other things to do. But there was no such luck. He’d gotten a message from the Chief saying he’d better be doing the paperwork or he’d have worse than that to deal with. “Maybe if I say the paperwork attacked me and nearly caused a serious injury, I can get out of it,” he said quietly, still not moving to do any of it. He’d get there eventually, he just needed to give himself a paperwork pep talk. Never fear, the coffee fairy was here! Well, that was one of Ruby’s duties - yet one she took seriously. Since being hired, she’d done her best to really prove herself - not difficult, considering the other administrative staff royally sucked but this way she could just shoot to the top of the food chain even faster. Right? Grabbing coffee and meals for overworked po-po’s, keeping records, filing, data entry, answering questions (she was still learning, but her sunny disposition made it look like she knew what she was talking about), managing the office supplies - hey, just call her Superwoman. Or something. And she was there to hear Nick muttering to himself about paperwork too, what a doll. “Doubtful,” she answered, likely slashing any notions that no one had observed him talking to himself. Oops. “It’d have to be some pretty vindictive paper. But here - “ Ruby set the coffee down on his desk, the cup piping hot. “Americano, shot of espresso. That’ll perk you right up.” For her, it was a lavender caramel latte - the place she stopped in made all their flavorings in-house, so like hell she’d turn down something so bizarre. “So you take that and I’ll take this.” She then proceeded to gather the mountain of paperwork, slipping a rubber band around it so it wouldn’t get loose on the way back to the front desk. “You’re welcome, sugarloaf,” she added with a wink, perching her backside on the edge of Nick’s desk. Ruby didn’t dress like a school marm either - that skirt she had on was pretty short. “Having a rough morning?” He stared at the coffee dubiously for a moment, waiting for it to develop sentience and fly at him or tip over on the paperwork. When nothing happened, he reached for it and pulled it closer. Maybe he wasn't going to die after all. At least not because of a lack of caffeine early in the morning. “...Thanks.” Because manners were a thing he figured he should have when his karmic footprint seemed to be in question. “And you clearly haven't met the paperwork in this place.” Sugarloaf? Nick looked at her and then looked at where she was sitting on his desk. He did notice the skirt and how short it was. He was pretty sure none of other staff he remembered dressed like that. But his gaze went back to her face. “Two things. One, my name isn't sugarloaf. I don't get the weird obsession with pet names or whatever you call it. Two, why are you sitting on my desk?” “Because there’s nowhere else to sit?” Ruby responded, her tone conveying the great big duh. Honestly, it wasn’t like Nick had chairs and a welcome mat for any visitors - he hated people, remember? Or was ‘anti-social.’ Weirdly emotionally stunted was what she’d prefer to call it, but anyway. Some people were just like that. Still, she did her best to be friendly - especially to her own co-workers. Even the cranky ones. Maybe he was just jaded because of the darkness the job brought - it definitely wasn’t easy. Cops, they saw things. Things that stuck with them, that they often didn’t talk about and instead held all that inside for it to fester. It didn’t seem healthy. She leafed through the paperwork she’d picked up, shrugging. “Which sort of begs the question, Nick - why exactly did you become a police officer if you despise the ones you’re tasked with serving and protecting? Just, you know, curious,” she squinted hazel-green eyes at him. Yes, riddle her that. “Exactly.” Which was on purpose. He'd have people get chairs if he had to talk to people, but why entertain people when he didn't feel like it? Her question caught him off guard for a moment, but he didn't show it. “You have to be a little less of a stranger to get that story.” Not that it was exactly a secret among the older cops about his being a reformed criminal. There was just too much to explain about his existence and why he was the way he was. “But here I am. And it's not despise. It's exist in a state of long-standing suffering because of them.” Which was true enough. People were fucking stupid. They did stupid things. He'd done stupid things. That's how he'd gotten caught. But he'd been given a chance to change things. Sounded pretty grim. And potentially overdramatic - because longstanding suffering? Woe! Tragedy! The inhumanity! Ruby snorted a laugh, one sculpted eyebrow quirking upward at the admission. “You should have a little more faith in people - some may surprise you,” she said, switching legs, crossing the left over the right. Though she didn’t make any effort to move off Nick’s desk. In a minute. You couldn’t rush her. “But fair enough, I’m all for being more than strangers so I can hear this interesting story of how you came to be one with the po-po’s. You want to grab something to eat after work tonight?” “Maybe people should be less shitty and I’d have more faith in them.” But he knew people. There were a few here and there that made him want to believe in humanity again, but he wasn’t exactly good at that part. Yeah, he’d gotten a second chance because someone believed in him, but he couldn’t say that he would ever completely understand it. He kept hoping that if he made himself difficult to know people would stop trying. Somehow this didn’t seem to work for everyone. Apparently Ruby wasn’t going to be stopped by his being difficult. He didn’t really get why she cared, though. “If I say no, what is the chance of you leaving me alone?” Because really, that would probably determine his answer. Also because he liked to know how frustrating she was going to be about this whole ‘getting to know you’ thing. “Well, considering we work together and I’m doing the paperwork you don’t want to do...” Ruby trailed off, as if seriously considering the question (spoiler alert: she wasn’t). “I’d say it’s not very likely I’m going to leave you alone at all. So you may as well just try to make a new friend - if you expect people to be less shitty, you have to give them a chance to show you how not shitty they are.” Hey, she thought it was sound logic. Poor Nick though, damn. She just wanted to be like who hurt you?! No one was this prickly without hidden angst in their past or something. Maybe he was lying to people and dreamed of being a porcupine rather than a fox. That would do it. He let out a long sigh. This is what he got for letting other people do his paperwork. Even if he hadn’t asked them to do it for him. This was what he got. “Fine, fine. We can get something to eat after work.” This was almost as bad as carrots blackmailing him into helping solve a crime. Something that apparently some people found cute and endearing. Yeah. Not the case. Blondie could find it cute all she wanted that the rabbit and the fox were still hanging out because the rabbit had a problem with not solving a case that had nothing to do with him, but it was annoying. At least, he reminded himself, there would be food and probably coffee after this. Then again, he’d probably need a beer by the end of the night. “There’s a place close by that has pretty good food at a decent price.” Chill out, Foxy, it wasn’t a trip to the dentist for a root canal. Ruby liked to think that she made for slightly better company. “Sounds like a blast. I even liked your advertisement - good food at a decent price,” she quoted him, clearly teasing. But alright, she supposed she had some work to do - so she wouldn’t stick around here, looking like she was just lounging. That wouldn’t get her in the good graces of the boss. So she hopped off of Nick’s desk, still carrying the paperwork. And adjusting her skirt slightly with her free hand - though it wasn’t like she had many scruples, when it came to perking up his day by giving him a show. “I’ll see you when your shift’s done, then. Need anything else before I head back to my desk?” Which was just her post up front, really, right as you walked into the station. “You should hear my advertisements for the places I really like.” He shrugged. “Or the ones of the places I don’t like.” He wasn’t sure he was exactly the sort of person that said things as they were unless he was trying to con someone into something. Mostly, he wasn’t trying to get anyone to do anything but leave him alone...which didn’t really happen. If Carrots ever showed up, he’d never be free. But maybe he was too hard on people. Dan wasn’t terrible, but then Nick knew that he wasn’t exactly on the law-abiding side of things. He allowed for a small smile. “Thanks for the paperwork and the coffee. Who knows. You might prove to be less annoying than I anticipated.” And okay, he did look when she adjusted her skirt. It wasn’t like he’d made some promise to be a boy scout about things. Plus, he’d been laughed out of the boy scouts as a kid anyway. He was fucked if he was going to do anything they’d approve of...current employment not included in that. But this job was sometimes like a backwards con in order to get people to admit to things. “Just don’t make me regret saying that.” He considered her question. “I think I’ll be okay. I’ll let you know if I start running low on caffeine.” Probably. “You’re so sweet, thanks for the compliment,” Ruby rolled her eyes - but okay, she’d take it. That was probably the best Foxy Nick had to offer in terms of compliments anyway. But at least she’d gotten dinner out of him (not in the sense that she’d make him pay, that was kind of rude) and a chance for conversation. Having friends wasn’t a bad thing, he just needed to see that. Well, anyway, back to work. There would be time for more chit-chat later. |