savetheearth | so an altered cop and a network cop walk into a.... park

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so an altered cop and a network cop walk into a.... park

Who: Melissa and Kotetsu
When: January 2nd, some....time....
Where: Near the park; a place where people might go for a run
What: The most awkward log to ever awkward.

Melissa had pretty much not talked to anyone at the office yesterday- some people knew she'd had some 'minor surgery' done, so several of them chalked her rather odd behavior up to that. But that wasn't it at all. She was distracted, upset, and very much not wanting to talk to people (which was not her usual behavior at all), and she was the only one who knew the reason.

She had today slotted off, and she intended to use it to get her head cleared up. And the best way she knew how to do that was to go out for a run. Even as someone who'd moved away from the country, there was a small part of her that enjoyed just being outside. A very small part. So once through her morning rituals, Melissa tied back her hair into a pony tail, pulled on her running shorts, and headed out.

She started slow at first-- the area around her apartment was pretty traffic heavy, so a brisk walk was safer than flat out running. Once she started nearing the park, however, she speed up. She was not expecting exactly how much she speed up, however.

With very little effort, Melissa was reaching what was usually her top speed. She probably should have expected that, and in a way she did. They had been modifications for a reason- obviously they were going to change her performance in some capacity and this was apparently one of them. What she didn't expect was the same feeling pushing through her body as had when she'd woken up.

Melissa stops quickly from her fast pace, catching herself on a lamppost with her hand at her heart. Just like last time... she knew something must have changed- that had to have been a 'Pulse'. But what had changed? And why in public, damnit?!

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It's a nice day to be out, isn't it? Apparently Melissa isn't the only one to have thought so, as can be seen by the presence of a certain middle-aged man strolling casually through the very same park, watching the various people talking and eating and playing fetch with their dogs or flying their kites. People-watching has always been something of a favorite pastime of his when he wasn't working, and now that the holidays are over, his bosses are less inclined to begrudge him for the couple of weeks he was gone, and he coincidentally happens to have the day off himself.

Ordinarily, off-days were a great time to check on the network or catch up on back-work, especially paperwork which was always the least desirable part of the job, but there's been a lot of stuff to deal with lately, and after the most recent incident with one of Sherman's getting a number, he's decided he doesn't really want to deal with anything at all today.

As per usual, though, the universe has no respect for Kotetsu Kaburagi's plans, because his path happens to coincide with Melissa's just in time for him to catch sight of a very familiar dead-eyed sort of glance. And with her hand over her chest like that...it couldn't be, could it? He stares a moment, debating whether to ask and how crazy he would sound if he did.

"...Melissa?"

Welp, guess decision is made on whether to approach, at least. A few moments of hesitation pass, and then he decides to just ask and get it over with. If he's wrong--well, it's not like she hasn't thought he's been acting weird for some time. Maybe she won't be overly concerned about it.

"This is gonna be a really strange question, but did you just--get a weird hollow feeling along with a sudden racing heartbeat?"

Edited 2014-01-03 10:53 (UTC)

Are you fucking kidding her.

Kotetsu, out of all her fellow cops, was the one she'd avoided most the previous day. Their conversation may not have ended with yelling, but it had started with it and Melissa was still not happy about it.

Her head jerks to look at him when he addresses her, and a frown immediately makes its way across her face. It shifts to confusion once he starts acting concerned. Well, she never did actually reveal herself, so... she was guessing he didn't know.

Doesn't mean she wasn't still mad at him.

"I'm fine," is her answer, which is conveniently avoiding the question. Unfortunately, she hasn't quite recovered from the Pulse yet, so though she tries and pulls her hand off the post to start walking, she ends up putting it right back on.

Out of instinct, he reaches out immediately to steady her, still entirely unaware of the full extent of the situation. He’d heard about the ‘minor surgery’ through the grapevine, and hadn’t put together the pieces to realize that the surgery had been the genetic modification. So he hasn’t thought much of her avoiding contact with people the previous day, or that she hadn’t stopped by as per usual to ask him if he wasn’t sure he didn’t want to talk about anything. She had her own life, and it was better for her not to be wasting her time worrying about him, especially when he couldn’t explain what had been going on.

...Or, at least, he couldn’t until now. Because he’s pretty damn sure that was a pulse, and maybe she’s too freaked out to want to talk about it. So instead of backing off, he pushes forward, smiling a bit, gently.

“I know I haven’t exactly been around as much lately as I used to be, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still talk to me, y’know. If you ever need something, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Melissa brings a hand to her forehead, more in frustration than anything, because where the hell does she start with this? This is way more open/talkative than Kotetsu's been in a while, especially in contrast to the last time they spoke. Just how nice he's been is throwing her, because yeah, he has been more distant lately and not around nearly as much, so why--

Oh, goddamnit. He saw the Pulse.

It sounds (and felt) like a thing that could be noticed. So, yeah. He saw that, and he knew she was on the network thing, and now she was either going to have to tell him she already knew about it or try to brush him off.

"I'm fine, Kotetsu." Door number 2 it is, then. Unfortunately, that's probably the door that looks kind of suspicious, as it is extremely un-Melissa like to not want to talk about... well, anything, plus the fact that she's clearly not fine.

The defensiveness definitely is odd, and ironically, reminds him a bit of himself when this had all begun. He'd distanced himself from everyone, been cagey and defensive, and unfortunately for Melissa her reactions are only convincing him further that she's a numbered.

Sure, it's a risk, but he thinks it's worth going out on a limb for. He remembers how lonely it was at the beginning, being a cop on the network and knowing you couldn't technically trust any of your coworkers.

"You don't gotta hide it from me, Melissa. I've got a number, too."

"Yes, I know you do." It comes out a bit harsher than she means, and she winces at her tone, pulling her hand down her face. She was going to need to get some control over these new... really irritating outbursts. This was not something she wanted to tell him, and certainly not like that. But... too late now.

"...Eh?"

She knew? But that doesn't make any sense. If she knew about the network, and that he was on it, then why would she have brushed him off when he asked about the pulse? Was she mad at him about something? ...Maybe about keeping it secret all this time?

"I'm sorry I never said anything, but you get why I had to keep my mouth shut, right?"

After all, they were cops. There was no way of knowing who was with Sherman, and who wasn't. Case in point--Kotetsu still hasn't connected Melissa to that person he'd spoken to the other day, because he just can't imagine Melissa being with Sherman.

Melissa is just staring at him now. Seriously? Even after that outburst he didn't get it? God, and she thought she was supposed to be the intellectually challenged one.

You know what. No. Two days in and she's already sick to death of this network. The Echo's passed in full now, so she just moves around Kotetsu, with the intent to finish her jog. Maybe, if she's lucky, he won't follow her. ~~Melissa is not that lucky.~~

Nope, definitely not that lucky.

He turns and follows, lengthening his stride with them ridiculously lanky legs.

"C'mon! Would you have even believed this crap if I told you without it happening to you first??"

Dammit, Melissa, stop and let him talk to you!

"And you must've seen what happened to that poor kid...that's why you never said anything either, right?? So you gotta know why I had to be cautious...."

No, you stop following and trying to talk to her!

She's going to keep walking, but... he's probably going to keep trying to follow her. Melissa immediately begins constructing a plan in her mind. What's the most tactful way she can explain this?

"I'm not mad at you for not telling me," she ends up saying, though she's still walking and not looking back at him.

...??? Man, now Kotetsu's totally confused. He actually stops for a moment before rushing to catch up before she gets too far ahead to follow.

"But you're mad about something. Right?"

Melissa is quite tempted to just scream into her hands. Good lord, Kotetsu, really?

"I'm going to have spell it out for you, aren't i," she mutters, finally coming to a stop. Fine then. She doesn't like having to say it, but it looks like if she wants to be left alone she's going to have to. "That cop that was on the network the other day? That was me."

Edited 2014-02-19 14:38 (UTC)

Yeah, if there was anything to get him to freeze in his tracks, it would be that.

"...What?"

It's there as a placefiller, something to say even though he heard her perfectly well. He just....but it's Melissa. She was one of the straightest straight-edge cops he's known on the force, second only to Nick.

"Y-you're kidding, right. You're mad at me about something and this is some sorta weird prank. Right?"

She couldn't--Melissa couldn't be with Sherman. There's no way.

Even straight cops can make mistakes.

"Why the hell would I joke about something like that?" She might still be swearing, but it's with much less force now. This is exhausting. But it's not like she doesn't know what the hang up is here. After what she heard about Sherman, he's probably not someone she would have signed up with so readily if she'd known. "Some of the higher ups starting talking to me about this a few months ago. Just joined Sherman's team recently. Obviously, they left out a lot of shit in the introduction." She's not sure how much she believes of the network's stuff, but at least that much is clear.

"Oh my god."

Oh god oh god ohgldjfkgjhh. He stares at her like he can't comprehend what she's saying, and the way his brain is desperately attempting to reject it makes it feel like she might as well be speaking a different language.

This sure is awkward for both of them now, isn't it. Now they both have a face of a respected colleague and friend to attach to a group formerly thought to be The Enemy.

Well. This is certainly comforting.

Melissa sighs, arms crossed and not sure what she should do with this. The both of them are clearly uncomfortable with the situation... and they both have every right to be. For now she'll just not look at him until he says something.

It's going to be a little while, because his mouth is moving, but no sounds are actually coming out, because anything he can think of to say immediately feels stupid or awful.

Finally, he sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face.

"...How'd everything get this messed up."

"Best question I've heard in a while." As far as she knew, a few months ago everything was perfectly normal. She'd thought the addition of the alien was a sign of things going up, but... apparently not.

She still doesn't really know how to address the whole Sherman thing yet, either. Kotetsu's word she (usually) trusts, but everyone else she's talked to...

"Ugh."

This sucks. Everything about this sucks, because Melissa is his friend, but Kotetsu knows where his loyalties lie, and they're not with the police anymore. He doesn't want their friendship to be permanently wrecked because of this, but...do they have a choice?

"So...now what?"

"I don't know." It's an honest answer, at least, if not very helpful. But hell, what else is she supposed to say? "I told you, I'm not gonna say anything. I just... I need to sort this out for myself." Now that it's put in context of who she is, the outburst and near speech he'd gotten on the network probably makes a bit more sense. Melissa really isn't the type to go into something for power or because she has something to gain... and the break of trust might as well be killing her.

Yeah, it does explain a lot of things about that conversation. But he doesn't know what to do now, because despite the harshness of how he'd said things, he hadn't said anything that wasn't true, or that he didn't honestly feel in his heart of hearts. And he would likely respond similarly to anyone else that threatened to compromise the network.

"Then--...then what does that mean for us, in the meantime?"

Edited 2014-03-04 09:25 (UTC)

"I don't know." Same answer, same amount of honesty. No matter what she ends up choosing, she's going to be put on the opposite side of people she cares about... and since she doesn't yet know about the other network cops, it's really hard to make that call. But in terms of Kotetsu, for now... she knows it's out of the question for them to just ignore that it ever happened. "Ask my again next week."

Kotetsu quietly sighs, shoulders slumping a little as he looks away. He knows he can't pressure her into siding with the network--it's neither good for her nor the network, but still. He hates the uncertainty that leaves them with.

Finally, he nods. "...Next week, then."

He shoves his hands into his pockets, and as a show of good faith, turns around and starts walking away. Over his shoulder, he calls--

"Take care, Melissa."

Edited 2014-03-04 23:04 (UTC)

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so an altered cop and a network cop walk into a.... park

idk why my icons aren't choosing ughhhh

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