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Betty Rohmer (i_jump) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2010-02-23 19:46:00

Entry tags:

betty rohmer, charlie crews

Another Dead Hooker [tag: Charlie]
Dead hooker.

Why was it always, more often than not, a dead hooker? Betty sighed as she walked onto the scene, new black heels that matched her black and teal dress perfectly clicking on the pavement. She'd beat the law enforcement, but not early enough to remove the soul prior to death. Shame, she liked to do that as a courtesy on the more tragic cases and from the looks of things, this was tragic.

It wasn't even going to be easy to identify the individual judging by the looks of the face and body. Betty had been late for her appointment, which was horrible. And unlike her. But this City made it difficult to keep appointments, what with the City always changing and one place never being in the same place as they were moments before.

It really made things difficult.

Now as Betty approached the dead prostitute, she reached her hand forward to release the soul from the body, taking care to not step in the blood that surrounded the body. She had to move quickly, before someone showed up and started asking questions.

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i_zen
2010-02-24 02:05 am UTC (link)

Charlie wasn't a ninja, but he had a strange way of sneaking up on people when he wanted. He had arrived on the scene not long after she had, and while he wished his partner were there, he wasn't going to not have a look around. A very careful and curious look around. Seeing her though...He moved quickly and grabbed her wrist to keep her from actually touching the body. He remembered her face, somewhat, with a warm rush through his body, and he knew that something had happened between them. Then again, something was always happening between him and other people, it just wasn't always the same something. Or maybe it was. Maybe everything was the same when it mean that connections were being made...

"You can't touch the body." He gave her a slight smile. "Well, you can, but it might make life difficult for you, which wouldn't want that, unless you did this and then maybe I would. Not that I really want anyone to have an overly bad life, not most people. You're not most people, but I still don't want you to have a bad life. Do you think you have a bad life?"

His head tilted as he regarded her, still holding her wrist. It wasn't a crushing hold, not warning. It was simply one that meant she wouldn't be allowed to touch the body.

"Did you do this?"

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i_jump
2010-02-24 02:23 am UTC (link)

She very nearly jumped out of her skin when he stopped her. That voice, that face... Betty was pleasantly surprised to see that face again. Then she was annoyed, not so much because of who was stopping her from doing what she needed to do, but because it was someone stopping her from what she needed to do.

And she needed to do it. It was her job to do it. She was a reaper, a psychopomp for the dead. It was her job to touch the body and release the soul. But she couldn't just come plain out and say that to Charlie. Could she?

He wouldn't understand. But she had to do it and he was keeping her from doing it. "No," she said in response to his question and tried to pull her hand free. She was going to have to be discreet, find a way to touch the body, or at least get close enough to it try to force it out.

Though how would it look now for her to start talking to someone Charlie wouldn't be able to see? This was going to be complicated. This was why she liked to either get things taken care of before the law enforcement showed up, or anyone else for that matter. The only other option was to do it before a large enough of a crowd that everyone forgot she was there.

"Was looking for signs of life," she said a moment later, not all that far off from the truth.

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i_zen
2010-02-26 03:01 am UTC (link)

Charlie didn't let go of her wrist just yet, just watched her. Signs of life. He looked down at the woman, or what had been a woman; he didn't care that she was probably a hooker.

"I'll check." He let the mysterious woman go and reached down to touch where a pulse should have been. None. "She's dead. Now please back away."

He sounded very professional, but he gave her a slight smile. "They'll be here soon, and you don't want to be questioned, do you?" She was an odd one; he remembered that at least about her. That she was different, but then everyone was a little different. Especially here. He knew he was different, yet he was a cop, and there did not seem to be so many cops. yes, he was definitely different. Caring beautiful women? They were actually more common than police detectives in the City, or so it seemed. Then again, he hadn't met every single person in the City, so his assumption might be making an ass out of him and possibly her. No, just him.

"Please." He motioned for her to move back as he stood.

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i_jump
2010-02-28 04:03 pm UTC (link)

Well darn.

Betty was going to have to get creative and quickly. Before the rest of the law enforcement showed up at the scene. He was obviously not going to just let her go and touch the body. Stupid City for slowing down her time in getting here. There had to be a reason she was late. But to have someone also interfering with her work, regardless of the affinity she had for him, was a touch annoying.

Maybe if she dropped something near the body. Then she could 'accidentally' touch it. That was a possible plan.

She knit her hands together, discreetly loosening the ring she had gotten from that lily-livered ex-fiance of hers. She wasn't losing the ring, she'd gone so far as to pry it off her own corpse when she'd died to keep it with her. But maybe just drop it near the body.

So that was what she did. "Oops. My ring!" Then, as if it was instinctive, she bent down to pick it up, then pretended to fall off her balance, hand reaching for the body to steady herself.

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i_zen
2010-03-01 02:21 am UTC (link)

Lucky for Betty, or unlucky for her, the sound of the siren caught Charlie's attention, and he let her go. He didn't stop her from picking up the ring, meaning maybe she was about to get away with freeing the poor woman's soul. He watched the end of the alley to make sure the over zealous types, who know the City had some of those, didn't come barreling down and upset the crime scene. He looked back at her, just in time to see that she was using the body as a support?

"Hmm." His lips thinned. That didn't look good. "Guilty conscience?" Well, it might explain why she kept moving as if to touch the body. Then again. "Unlucky in that you touched her, I suppose. We'll have to take your prints now. We would have to take them anyway, I guess. You are here. It's the price of wanting to help; you have to be eliminated from the line up."

He knew what it was like to be thought of as guilty until proven innocent, but he had a job to do. He motioned for her to step aside.

"Better get out of the way before they make you touch more of her."

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i_jump
2010-03-04 02:18 am UTC (link)

Well, what was that supposed to mean exactly? Before they made her touch more of the corpse? Betty returned to a standing position and her eyes followed the newly freed soul. She was still a hooker after all and even in death, Betty learned that you didn't trust hookers.

Why did she get all the dead hookers?

"Oh my god, is that me?" The soul asked, voice shrieking in surprise.

Betty nodded. "Settle down, Sweetcheeks," she said and brushed her hands off. Something about touching corpses just disgusted her. Especially hookers. You never knew what you might catch from touching one.

Then she stepped aside, reaching out to grab the soul Charlie couldn't see and guide her out of the way. They would have to stick around until the cops were done questioning her and getting her prints before she'd be able to guide the soul to wherever it was it was going to go.

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i_zen
2010-03-10 02:20 am UTC (link)

"Sweet cheeks?" Charlie had caught that much of the conversation anyway, his attention quickly turning back to the reaper. "Crews, Charlie Crews." Just in case she forgot.

Charlie shifted his weight and stepped back as the guys and gals in blue came down the alley way to start doing their jobs. He instructed a few, informed a few others. The ME was one of the first to arrive. They were normal City dwellers, so there was something a little off; yet, they always seemed capable enough. Why the City bothered with a police force...Charlie wondered that often enough.

"They'll want to take your statement." Charlie was standing beside Betty now, his hands in his pockets.

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i_jump
2010-03-13 06:19 pm UTC (link)

Betty just nodded at Charlie. What an odd thing to say. She knew perfectly well who he was. Frowning and eyes following the soul of the hooker that was walking around, she said to her, "Going somewhere?"

"I can't... I just..." The hooker's soul said, stuttering and pacing back and forth in the trashy heels she wore.

"Listen, you aren't going anywhere until I'm done here. Then we'll get out of here." She was still talking to the hooker but perhaps that would be unclear to anyone around them who wouldn't see her. Betty wasn't thinking of that. All she was concerning herself with was her new charge and what she was going to say was her reasoning for being at the scene of a crime.

Though, it wasn't like she hadn't been caught at the scene of a crime before, though usually there was a crowd around and not just her and the law enforcement. It was easier to blend into a crowd.

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