(no subject)

[sociallychallenged]

[Text]

This is Hank Anderson, and I recently got my promotion so it's now Det. Hank Anderson. Which is why I wanted to make this announcement.

[Hank still wants to research into the missing people and initiate his vague plan to devalue the iterations. Right now the public see them as a protective force for good. Hank wants the people to see other fucking people as their reliable protective force. That in the many variations of temperaments and personalities and creative resolutions to conflict, they can find their safety.]

I have a case that could use some assistance from some specialized outsiders. If you could come to me and lay out your experience and training, I would like to offer you temporary deputy work in helping solve this case.

Necessary qualifications include:
-Combat against armed opponents
-Negotiation and Interrogation
-Ability to secure an area until CSI arrives (cursory crime scene analysis a bonus)

Due to Dualis's policy on providing payment through credit, if you would want rewards we would have to attach a name to your activities. However if you'd want to work off-record [which is as close to anonymously as he can get] we could come to some sort of arrangement such as donated payment.

I'll be at the cat cafe to conduct interviews 4:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon for the next week. You can show up when it's convenient to talk. Sounds like a fucking weird place for it, yes, it'll make more sense when you're there.

I've also arranged for donated goods to be offered when people come in and might find themselves in a state of disrepair or any nicer version of saying fucked the hell up. New clothes, medical things like crutches for people with chronic conditions, sanitary supplies like soap and toothbrushes, things of that nature. So if you want to donate something to the people coming in there's a donation box in the dormitory's lower entryway and they'll be taken to the temple.

[Action]

Like he promises, Hank's waiting around at the cat cafe whenever someone shows up. Usually reading a book, sometimes bored, sometimes deeply into it. Right by his side though? A mammoth green cat, purring and resting her head against his arm. She's twitching her tail to and fro.

Hank is pretty sure he'll be able to tell if someone is bullshitting their credentials and whether they'll do intentional harm with their new role. It's hard to do background checks when different universes are involved, but he thinks he's figured out a way to beat the system without having to use any of the department's lie detectors.

Note: Plotting post here.

Comments

b) /slams in here gently

[silentnarration]

"They're paranoid. I don't blame them." He doesn't approve of it either though. That's not how they should have asked for help at all. He pokes at his own badly-sliced cake. He doesn't feel like eating, not after what he's learned.

"Did you get promoted too?"

/slammed!!

[notalive]

"Me? No." He shakes his head, but he's not particularly put out about it. "Hank got here before I did, and he has a lot more experience. I only ever worked one case."

For about three days. Of his three month life. He's not really surprised he hasn't been promoted yet.

"I don't blame them for being paranoid, all things considered." He jerks his head towards wherever Hank is in the room - meaning, what Hank just told them. "But they have to offer us something in return for what they're asking."

He looks thoughtful as he takes a bite of cake...but didn't realise that cake is very crumbly and half of it falls apart in his hand. Smooth. He stares at it in sudden consternation.

"That one meeting they had with us..." And, pretending that didn't happen, he puts the remains of the cake on a paper plate instead and turns back to Squall. "Were you there? Did they talk to you?"

[silentnarration]

Squall sees that cake crumble, stares for a second, and then looks to the side. Totally didn't see anything. We good.

"I was there. I didn't talk to them." He did listen though. "It doesn't feel like they agree with one another. If it comes down to it, they might sacrifice us to save themselves." And he can't really blame them for that either.

Though, hang on. He turns back to Connor with surprise.

"You can eat?" He refused the ice cream before, didn't he?

[notalive]

"I can now." He sucks frosting off the pad of his thumb without any shame, then grins around it. "I got a couple upgrades. I can heal from wounds now if I ever get hurt and..." He nods at the remains of cake. "Now I can eat. It felt like I was missing out on a lot."

Turns out he was. There's something truly satisfying about it, once he got past how strange the feeling of fullness was at first, the extra weight in a place he had never experienced extra weight going.

"I talked to a couple of them," he says, and his tone is neutral at first, but then, "They have no idea what they're doing and I think you're right - recruiting us means that they have someone to put into the line of fire before them.

"Not all of them," he clarifies, because he wants to be fair. "One of them's friends with Hank, she told him about all this."