Notes in are edited in as 'interupts' to previous emails
Campbell steps from the dull grey car park into the welcoming metal and carpet of lift and twitches slightly at the tinny sound coming from the roof.
Girl from Ipanema Campbell turns, leans down and presses '13' and rests her back against the wall.
Cas steps through the doors as they close and looks up at the red floor display. Without taking her eyes off the level display she inclines her head towards Campbell and asks, "So, a cop huh? See, I dont get that. I mean low pay, people hate you and a 9mm retirement plan from some punk like me. Why'd anyone do that to themselves, huh?"
The display clicks over from 'B3' to 'B2' and Cas turns and grins at Campbell, quickly pressing the button for b3.
Cas grins, looks back at the floor display, moves her hand over to the b2 button and quickly adds, "Unless you're bent. Then I'd understand. Roll some Nathan for major green and retire large. That the plan C?"
Campbell sighs.
"Back when I first got into this line of work I wanted to make a difference - I wanted a career where I wasn't sitting behind a desk making money for some fat cat, but where I could be changing things in the real world, hopefully for the better. Obviously after some time on the beat, realism kicked in - I wasn't able to save people like Lindsay from people like you (no offense)."
"None taken."
"Things just aren't that straightforward - never have been. We're actually more like glorified garbage collectors - picking up society's debris and hopefully working out correctly whether it's actual trash or worth saving."
Cas just snorts.
She looks at the floor display - it reads G. She pushes off from the wall, and represses 13 a couple of times, changing nothing. She turns back towards Cas.
"But where I am right now in the food chain - Detective - there's a certain kind of power - you know? Access, knowledge, contacts, and a bit more freedom than the average citizen. And I find that useful. And I'm sure - although I'm hardly expecting a thank-you - Renee does too. And right now I don't want to jeopardize that, y'know?"
"Maybe one day - if this whole Heart-of-all-Sorrows thing goes well - I'll get my chance to sidestep society and all its rules and actually be able to make a difference on my own terms. Until then you're stuck with me as the straight one, okay Cas?"
Cas shifts her weight to her right foot and leans against the elevator wall, looking speculatively at Campbell. "So you really believe in all this stuff - this magicky-mysticism stuff, then?"
Campbell look straight at Cas. "Yes," she says. "I do."
"Figures it'd be something like that. D is right, you're all fucking 15%."
"15%?"
"Yeah, 85% of people are sheep, just dumb cattle pushed and pulled by the other two groups. First you got the 5% of people who know themselves or some Ghandi kinda shit and they wanna", Cas makes quotes in the air, "'help everyone' or make the world a better place. Then you got the 15% of people who know enough who know how the game works and use the sheep to feather their own nest."
Campbell looks puzzled, "Thats 105%."
Cas shrugs, "So? Whats that got to do with it?"
Campbell just nods.
"So, people like Ren, right, their 15%. I mean look at him. The guys rollin' in it, right? Seems to me he doesnt earn it. Its all old school fuckin' ties and who you know and now this mumbo jumbo voodoo shit. It's no wonder that Nathans like that get the Lexus, the green and the big fuckin' country house while D & Ic.., err, the people hang with get jack. We're just fodder to make the cars and serve the food and do all the menial crap that his highness aint worthy to do."
Campbell opens her mouth to reply, but Cas steps forward and points, quickly adding, "And its people like you that keep us down. Ren gets the green, pays his taxes and then paid gestapo like you keep us down. You got the gun and the law and the buddies who wack you if you screw with the boys in black. Guess that makes you 15%, huh? Guess your gun and your badge and your books and shit make you like ol' farmer Brown for us street trash, huh? Guess some pigs are more equal than others."
Cas pushes back away from Campbell and steps back to the opposite wall of the. She smiles and winks at Campbell. "...But, I can dig that."
(Im assuming that Campbell would be shaking her head at this stage :)
(I'm guessing that would be accurate. :) Why argue with someone whose world view is, like, at right angles to your own? :)
Cas and Campbell travel in silence for a bit. Cas idlly pushes all the floor buttons that the elevator has passed.
"See, I think we kinda got a problem, C. You say that I gotta be all kid gloves and Disney and shit, but it's not floatin' my boat. People are tryin' to ice us, and I aint gunna be all 'please stop and desist' back."
"I guess we could throw down over it or somethin', you know, challange for who's king o the hill, but who gives a damn? Im gunna try your tactic, Im gunna lay down my boundries."
Cas breaks eye contact with Campbell and her voice goes serious. "You said you cant accept morguein' people, well fine, but Im not going to jail, right? Im just gunna be who I am and if you dont like it then you can do something about it. I just wanna tell you that no way are you taking my sweet little arse to jail. Pervy warders and guards with night sticks aint my scene. So if you gotta stop me, then you gotta stop me. Just make it quick, ok? If you need help or you cant pop someone then Ill give you an excuse. And for fucks sake shoot straight. Hospitals creap me out."
"You capped someone, havnt you?" Cas looks over to Campbell, looking up again and smiling cheekily. "You know, some 'driving while black' or 'wont cut me my share' street trash who was just askin' for it."
Cas pushes the floor 7 button a little early and the lift lurches to a stop and the doors open. "Damn."
Campbell ignores the question. The doors glide open with a sanitized "ding". The musack stops. Campbell puts her head out - looks right, looks left, pulls her head back in. The doors close and the lift continues its journey. The musack resumes. Campbell stares speculatively at the closed doors.
"You're not bad people, Cas - I know that. You and I simply have different ways of looking at tight situations. In a self-defense situation, if I have to stop you, I'll do that, but I'm not going to send you to jail, or shoot you. In a sense we are as close to partners as there are in this group - no-one else has any sense of how bad things could get on the street or how to deal with that. I'll watch your back - if you'll let me - and I'd hope you'd watch mine. Even if you don't much like or trust me you've got to admit we're gonna live longer if we work together in adversity."
Cas looks confused "Where's Adversity? I thought we were staying in town?"
"Adversity. Trouble."
Cas shrugs. "Yeah, er, I knew that."
She turns to face Cas. "I'm a fair shot, but I shoot to wound. I'm a big fan of every life being worth something. No-one starts out evil, and no-one should be treated as if they can't turn their lives around unless there's absolutely no alternative. And although that's constraining, it's absolutely the rule I have to use."
She grins suddenly. "Mind you, I can completely appreciate how someone like you can dish punishment without regard for consequences. Renee completely had that smack-down coming. And no matter that he hit you back - and that was disrespectful - he sure got the message. I envy you that freedom."
"Dumb prick. If I'd wanted to hurt him, he'd be in hospital now, breathing through a tube and eating baby food though his teethless gums. Still, I should'a guessed that the game works the same up this end of town, right?"
"Ren thinks he owns me, you notice that? Like Im his own personal fucking slave that he can push around and like I gotta do what he wants 'cause he's Mr Money Mojo Book Guy. Screw that. I got enough guys wanting to use me as a punching bag or get their hands in the cookie jar without bein' paid for it like he's some pimp and Im his skanky little ho. I mean fuck that."
"Anyway, it's not freedom. It's not having any choice. I mean the Docs got this Mojo stuff right, plus he's got Claire and Michelle and Glenn to bone whenever he wants. Plus the Lexus and the money and the big arsed lawer. Then he's got the cops on his side too."
"Well when other people aint screwing with him."
"I mean lets look at the letter thing again, ignoring the 'we're all going to be killed' thing. Normally if I even touched him, I'd be in jail for assult or mugging or whatever, just 'cause Ive got tatts and the street trash grunge thing goin' on. He hits me? Self defence or whatever the hell his lawer says. Either way, Im goin' down and he gets whatever he wants."
"It's not freedom. It's just having to smack people down so they don't take everything you got. I mean you got the mojo and the badge and the cop friends and still more green than me, right? All I got is the 'fuck with me and you die' thing. Take that away and Im just some sluttly little punching bag for everyone to use. Na. Not goin' there. Been there, done that, got the tshirt."
Cas slides her sleeve up, showing the three tattoo cluster of the Egyptian head, the ice cube and the egyptian God. "I have, err, had two people who I actually trusted once. Maybe alive, maybe dead, I dunno. But if anyone's hurt them, Im gunna hunt the fuckers down and make 'em suffer, right? It aint freedom, C, its called holding on to the measly fucking scraps of a shitty fucking life. You gotta do something, then fine, whatever, but Im not gunna stop."
Lawyers take note: Faith belongs to related belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and fox..
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