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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 17, 2019 18:32:58 GMT -5
(Yeah it’s starting to get late for me so I might go to bed. Goodnight!)
She had caught what she thought was the start of a smile, one she suspected she was seeing for a number of reasons. Perhaps he was pleased that she was choosing to talk to him about this, perhaps he appreciated her joke. She was not certain.
She nodded in response to his question about her wearing her civilian clothes. It was how she felt most comfortable, and she needed as much comfort as she could get in the courtroom. But as she listened to his words she thought about it and realised it never made much difference anyway. Her behaviour on the stand was not about what she wore, but it could make a big difference to the jury if she looked the part.
“You’re right,” she agreed about the clothes
She didn’t like her dress uniform. She looked professional in it, sure, but it was stuffy and she didn’t like the vibe it gave her. She wasn’t the approachable, how-can-I-help-you kind of detective, she could be harsh and angry and didn’t really like people. But she knew that it would give the jury a good impression, make her feel like she looked the part, and would emphasise her job role and the vows involved in becoming a detective to the jury. They would instantly associate her with honesty, which was what she needed. She had never really thought about it that way.
“Right. I have to find a way to play nice with the lawyers and make the jury like me at the same time,” she responded before sighing and looking defeatedly at the captain
“I’m going to have to smile, aren’t I?” she muttered “I hate playing good cop.”
Well, she’d rather smile in front of some lawyers than let this perp walk free. At least if she was focusing on smiling she wouldn’t be tempted to rise to the lawyers’ challenges or think about how much she wanted to beat them up.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 6:30:54 GMT -5
(Hi! I’m around but I’ve got a class starting in a minute so I’ll get a response up when it’s over )
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Jan 18, 2019 6:36:01 GMT -5
The effect of the uniform on the public and their initial impression was almost impressive and certainly an easy way to get the jury on your side. He could tell from the expression on her face that she was thinking about how much she disliked wearing it, and by her everyday dress he could understand why. The two outfits could hardly be less to the contrary. He personally quite liked his dress uniform, it suited him well and he liked to look well dressed, but it was easy to forget the responsibility that a uniform came with. With civilian clothes you were just a part of the crowd, once you had a uniform you were the person to whom lost children were directed, or troubled members of the public with their petty concerns. He could see why aloof, unapproachable Ruiz would be reluctant to wear it.
"You wont need to wear it for long, and most of that time you will be on the stand or waiting to be called up. It's not like you'll be on the beat helping old ladies cross the road." He folded his hands in his lap, sitting tall in his chair. He was quite a tall man 6'2, made taller by his general presence, which could either be comforting or intimidating, depending which side of him you found yourself on.
Playing nice with lawyers was not an easy ask, especially when their sole purpose was to pick holes in a case. It was something he wished he did not have to ask his officers to do at all, but it was part of ther jobs, inavoidable. "I don't expect you to invite them out to drinks. You are there to state facts, nothing more than that. Smile if it feels right but in my opinion, a crime has taken place, this is serious business and smiling is not always a requirement." Sometimes there was nothing more offputting than a witness who was grinning, it was a courtroom not a comedy club. "What is ill advised however, is scowling." He knew the scowl was one of Ruiz's favourite expresions, and the general disdain for the defence was almost certain to elicit a sharp look or two. "Glaring at people is a sure fire way to unnerve them." The image of her on the stand and glaring daggers at everyone around her was an amusing one.
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Jan 18, 2019 6:36:36 GMT -5
(Hi Semp, I'm at work anyway so will be slow to respond either way )
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 7:52:07 GMT -5
(Hey! My class is over so I’m gonna reply but no pressure on your response)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 9:20:47 GMT -5
Couldn't actually get a reply up, got really busy. I'm gradually working on one]
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 9:44:22 GMT -5
She nodded when he said she wouldn’t have to wear it for long and she wouldn’t be on the beat helping old ladies across the road. And thank God; she had not enjoyed being a beat cop. It was just not her thing and she did not enjoy talking to people, particularly the young children and old ladies she generally had to deal with. She was not a kid person, she did not have that kind of patience and she really did not relate to children at all. She didn’t know how to speak to them - less than she knew about speaking to adults, anyway.
As the captain sat she couldn’t help but notice his height, even when sitting. He was very tall, and while Ruiz was tall for a woman she was not as tall as the captain. She was glad of it; her height gave her intimidation factor, but sometimes it was awkward to be the tallest person in a room.
“Alright, fine, no glaring or scowling,” she said with a raised eyebrow “and I can’t lose it on the stand. As long as I do alright on the stand, the evidence I uncovered should hopefully speak for itself. I just don’t want to mess this up.”
She genuinely believed in this case. It had been months of patience, hard work, and putting herself in more danger than she ever had before. She could have died if she had made too many mistakes. And she didn’t know how she would cope if the man was found not guilty and it was because of Val. She was determined to do everything she could, even more than she would with any other case.
Not glaring or scowling was going to be hard. Sometimes she scowled when she was feeling perfectly fine. And she just knew these lawyers were going to pick her apart, try and force her to get angry. She just had to control herself somehow. She had never been very good at that, even as a child she had never been the kind of girl to hide her feelings. She was not afraid to show when she was angry, and she had been angry a lot. She didn’t talk about her childhood, and she never would with her colleagues, even if they were her friends. But she knew that people like Captain Ellis knew more about her than most because he had access to records and files that the other people in the precinct did not.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 10:00:24 GMT -5
(Haha yay for the weekend!
Oh my gosh both of them would be amazing. Why not have a secret playboy? I could see that being funny)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 10:03:31 GMT -5
(I still haven’t decided on a whole lot for Val’s history.
I mean I could always go the route the TV show went, with the ballet school and Catholic school, etc.
Or I could go with something more dark, like she didn’t have a great childhood and has a criminal record and all that stuff.)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 10:10:15 GMT -5
(Yeah I think playboy then it’d be fun Okay, dark past it is. She has a record. That’s why she’s good at sneaking and picking locks and all of that kinda stuff)
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Jan 18, 2019 10:24:42 GMT -5
He turned his attention back to the case file. He would scrutinise it more closely later, but having looked over many of the previous files presented to him by her, he knew this one would be near flawless. "You are a good detective" 'Good' for him was the equivalent of excellent for anyone else, higher praise was hard earned and reserved for exceptional accomplishments. He found too much praise made people lax, it allowed for foolish mistakes and that was not something he ever wished to encourage. "Your evidence will do the talking for you. All you have to do is back it up."
He made it sound effortless, but it was easy to offer advice, much harder to live by it. He wasn't worried, he had faith that she would do just fine. He got the impression that not many people had done that for her before, just believed in her. Being Captain he had seen her file, and although his personal preference was to not pry too deeply in to anyone's files he had seen enough to get an understanding of her personality.
"Most importantly. Don't overthink it. This is an open and shut case, the jury would need to be incredibly foolish to rule in any way other than guilty." He gave a slightly stern look, knowing she almost certainly would overthink it anyway. It was hard not to when it had taken up so much of your life.
(Sorry its short, trying to get some jobs done)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 10:51:07 GMT -5
Val nodded once again when he called her a good detective, unable to avoid a small smile at those words. She knew that praise was huge coming from Captain Ryan Ellis, who often underpraised his staff in order to encourage hard work from them.
Plus, maybe seven years ago she would never have thought she would ever be a detective. She had grown up thinking she would not amount to anything, because that was what she had always been told, and she had most certainly not thought she would end up in law enforcement.
“Thank you, Captain, I appreciate your help,” she said as she stood, preparing to leave
She didn’t even often say more than ‘thanks’ when someone offered her help, so this was a very unusual kind of conversation for Ruiz.
But she paused as she went to put her hand on the door handle, looking back over at the captain.
“Sir, I know they’re going to ask me about stuff in my file, stuff I would rather not talk about but I’m going to have to. If the others are there when that happens they’re going to want to know more. If they do could you... not tell them?”
She had been in court before, and not when she was a detective. The lawyers would undoubtedly try and use her history and her nature against her, and she was going to do everything she could to fight that. But she was not ready for her friends to know. She didn’t like people knowing things about her and a part of her was afraid they would judge her a little for who she used to be.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 10:51:24 GMT -5
(Don’t worry about your reply length, I get it!)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 12:25:05 GMT -5
(No problem! Haha I hope you got it all sorted and it wasn’t too much of a surprise for you
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 12:35:59 GMT -5
(By the way just so you know from 6 PM I have to disappear for an hour and a half for a Latin lesson but I’ll be back Well a drink is good )
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Jan 18, 2019 14:03:05 GMT -5
He dipped his head in response to her thanks, saying nothing more. His attention was about to return to his work as she turned towards the door. When he didn't hear it open his eyes raised once more, sharp and blue. She still had her back to him and he observed her as she hesitated. When she spoke up again he wasn't surprised. He folded his arms across his chest, that stern look on his features once more. His eyebrows knotted slightly as she voiced her concerns, letting her finish speaking before he commented.
"The information in your file is not public domain. I will not disclose anything." His voice was deadly serious, he took the privacy of his detectives incredibly seriously. He wouldn't be the one to say anything to highlight the nature of her past. No matter how hard the other detectives may try to convince him to. He wasn't a man easily convinced to do anything he didn't want to. "If you decide to speak about your own life it will be on your terms, not mine." He gave the smallest of smiles, a look that changed his features entirely.
"Now Detective, don't you have work to do." It wasn't a question, he knew there were many open case files on her desk. All of his detectives had heavy workloads, the downside of being situated in the center of the city.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 14:32:05 GMT -5
(gonna read this and work on a reply)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 14:38:09 GMT -5
Also, I’m gonna have her leave but we can always either skip or do something with Lexi. I’m trying to think of some big overarching plot stuff we can work on. Obviously I’m going to do a court scene with Ruiz to reveal her real name and past at some point when we have the other detectives but that’s not really a plot. We need to have some fun stuff happen, and I would love to see more of Captain Ellis Any ideas for plot things you want to have happen?)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 14:41:54 GMT -5
Her smile grew a little at the Captain’s words. She didn’t smile for much, but Val would for this because she was generally appreciative of Captain Ellis’ words. The detective valued privacy, especially on matters of her past, and so she appreciated that he had promised not to disclose any information to the others in the precinct about who she really was. She felt that if the others knew that they would maybe want to avoid her, might try and avoid even doing cases with her, and they might not trust her. They might even outright dislike her. She was lucky to even be on the force.
His smile helped things too. She appreciated someone who was able to control their emotions and was stoic like her, but it was also comforting to see a little smile on the captain’s face. It made her able to relax.
“Thank you,” she said. This was probably the most times she had thanked anyone in a day
When he asked if she had some work to do, she glanced at the pile of open cases on her desk. It wasn’t too terrible but she would definitely need to get moving sooner rather than later if she was going to get a decent amount done.
“As always, Sir,” she responded
And with that, she opened the door and left, closing it behind her as she headed back into the bullpen.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 15:03:01 GMT -5
(Yeah I’d claim him but I don’t want to have too many...
Well we can totally have Lexi and Ellis interact.)
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Bisexual
Kurai
I can't answer why... I'm a blackstar...★
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Post by Kurai on Jan 18, 2019 15:35:03 GMT -5
He watched her go, wondering when the last time he had heard her utter a thank you, one that was not sarcastic at least. Once the door had clicked shut he let out a small exhalation and attempted to turn his attention back to his paperwork. He was a meticulous worker, everything he filled out careful and neat, an eye for detail that most lacked. He had worked through a good amount before pausing, tapping his pen subconsciously on the table. His blue eyes scanned the page yet seemed unable to take in any of the words on the paper. It was the signal that it was time for a coffee, one of the Captains unavoidable vices was his need for caffeine. He rose from his chair, pushing it back under his desk, before stepping out in to the bullpen. Here the noise was far more stark than from the secluded confines of his office. People chattering, discussing cases or talking on the phone. Taking witness statements all amidst the whirr of the printer and the rustle of papers. When the door to his office opened people tended to look around, he set them at ease with a wave of his hand, moving to the break room to pour himself a drink. He was a bit of a stickler for his coffee and the over brewed sludge that was synonymous with the 99's coffee maker was certainly an acquired taste. It did the job however, and if he visualised the carefully pressed coffee he drank at home it was at least bearable. Caffeine addiction appeased he returned to the main room, stopping before the precincts administrator's desk. She was tapping away at her phone, seemingly unaware of his looming form watching her, sipping his coffee silently. He fully expected that she was actually aware of his presence, she seemed to have some innate sixth sense, some almost spiritual awareness. Not that he believed in any of that nonsense. He said nothing waiting for some kind of response.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 15:38:27 GMT -5
(Whoop whoop Lexi time
Not gonna lie I love Gina XD This will be fun)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 15:48:21 GMT -5
Mine too! I am having a lot of fun with Lexi right now.)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 18, 2019 15:51:41 GMT -5
Alexandra Ackerman was busy on her phone with some extremely important texting, though she was still acutely aware of everything happening around her. It was one of her many talents. She thought she was perhaps more highly evolved and her abilities were an evolutionary adaptation to allow her to be on her phone and take in her surroundings at the same time.
This was why she was completely aware that Captain Ellis was standing in front of her, sipping his coffee. She chose not to respond immediately, taking a few leisurely moments to finish her texts before turning her gaze to the captain.
“Morning, Captain,” she said with a smile “what’s new, boo?”
She put her phone down on her desk and clicked on her computer, opening up a page on the screen.
“I noticed you had more work than usual on your desk, so I moved the appointment you had with the captain of the 98 to tomorrow morning instead, so you have the whole day free to clear off your desk.” Lexi said before adding “I swear you babies would be lost without me.”
She didn’t do a lot of work, but she was pretty observant and she knew what she was doing. She did more than she was generally credited with, but that was all part of how she did things. She had a knack for doing less than expected so when she actually did her job - the minimum expected of her - people were pleasantly surprised. Lower expectations meant less effort on Lexi’s part to seem great.
She liked to think of herself as the smartest person in the precinct. Maybe not book-learned, but she knew how to play her colleagues like fiddles. Even Val and the Captain were more easily manipulated that they liked to think.
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