[ happy hour ]

[almosthonorable]

Not one to pass up a good business opportunity, Ben’s behind the counter, aiming to earn some credit toward what’s left of his tab.

Specials
† bourbon
† milkshakes
† bourbon milkshakes


The bar is fairly quiet at the moment, so Ben’s leaning on one elbow, doodling on a napkin.


[ tiny tags: gene hunt, mark hoffman, moist von lipwig ]


[ ooc: have at, guys — open till 8:30 p.m. est; tag away, and feel free to threadhop all over the place!

eta, 8:33 p.m.: AHAHA, you people. THANK YOU ALL. closed to new threads, but i'll be hitting these as i can before bed tonight, and tagging back all slows tomorrow for those who want 'em! ♥! (threadhopping, o' course, is still encouraged.) ]

Comments

[diced_tartan]

"You never know," Nicholas says. "You might actually enjoy the way things are run in the new millennium."

[the_gene_genie]

This is about as likely as him switching his alligence from City to United.

'Oh really? Why's tha' then?'

[diced_tartan]

"For one, with advances in technology, there are all sorts of new ways to determine guilt in a suspect," Nicholas says.

Or innocence, but Nicholas has a feeling this won't be a selling point.

[the_gene_genie]

'Yeah, me DI's all intent on tapin' interviews. Load of bollocks.'

This is about as far as his interest in technology goes, so far. He can't even imagine what's to come.

[diced_tartan]

"Oh, I don't mean just that," Nicholas says. "Forensics make huge leaps and bounds every so often. I don't entirely understand it myself, but we get convictions now that we might not have been able to get in your time because of it."

[the_gene_genie]

'Forensics?'

Yep, Tyler bleats on about them as well.

And thinking about the similarities between the two of them is really weirding him out.

'We're lucky if we get a fingerprint match back inside two weeks. Useless twats. We don' need them to solve crimes for us. We use our 'eads.'

And he's pretty damn good at it too, when he makes the effort.

[diced_tartan]

"You can get prints back in a matter of hours, if the priority is high enough," Nicholas says.

[the_gene_genie]

'Gotta queue for 'em, do you?'

He sounds unimpressed (thought really, he'd love it if they worked that fast where he's from.

...except when he's feeling lazy and is quite happy for them to take their time).

'C'mon then, Spaceboy. Wha' other marvels d'you have t'sell me on the future? The place, I recently learned, where ragheads drive planes into buildin's an' its considered quite fine an' dandy to 'ave a woman in charge of a country.'

[diced_tartan]

That does strike a bit of a negative cord with Nicholas. It's barely even been a year, on his time line.

"Yes, well," he says stiffly. "That was a terrible tragedy, and security has been increased all over the world as a result."

Sigh.

"However, family members have been encouraged to bring in tooth and hair brushes for DNA analysis, because forensics can identify the victims, even if there isn't much at all to go off of."

[the_gene_genie]

'Some use to it, then.'

He doesn't sound like he's taking the piss on that one. What he saw in those pictures - that's not something to joke about, ever.

[diced_tartan]

"Oh, yes," Nicholas says. "And that same technology is used to track down criminals. Just by taking a small sample of saliva, you can get DNA to match from a crime scene."

[the_gene_genie]

Which brings up an important point, actually.

'Wha's DNA?'

[diced_tartan]

"What's--? Right." He hadn't realised 1973 was so lo-tech. "Everybody has it. It's like a special code in every one of your cells, and it's unique to just you. Sort of like how everybody has different fingerprints. Only, if a suspect leaves a single hair behind at the scene, the lab can analyse it and extract their DNA from it."

Surely, that's got to count for something.

[the_gene_genie]

Gene just blinks at him.

'Bollocks.'

The bloke's speaking sci-fi. Has to be.

[diced_tartan]

"I'm serious," Nicholas says. "I go out to the pub with a few guys from SOCO every week, and this is all they talk about."

Because even Gene would have to agree, SOCO are a bunch of nerds.

[the_gene_genie]

'Christ, tha' must be boring.'

Beat.

'An' they're pointless anyway, most o'the time. Bloody civilians doin' police work.'

Not that he ever enjoyed collecting evidence from a crime scene but then, they never did much of it to start off with.

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas tries a different tactic.

"How do you identify a killer, if the body was dumped somewhere away from the actual scene? What if the killer had been wearing gloves, and didn't leave any prints behind? How do you know, beyond any reasonable doubt, who your murderer is?"

[the_gene_genie]

'MO, usually. Eye witness statements. Knockin' me snouts around until they tell me which scumbag's back in town. Talkin' to the family, findin' out the history, workin' out why someone would want 'em dead.'

He leaves out the bit where they sometimes just pull someone off the 'most hated' list and charge them with it. It gets the press off their backs, anyway.

'Y'know, son. Proper police work.'

[diced_tartan]

Even if Gene doesn't mention that particular tactic, Nicholas strongly suspects he's omitting it.

"Most victims fight back," Nicholas says. "They scratch or claw at their attacker, and their attacker's skin gets under their nails. Using that DNA evidence, the case can be solved in under 48 hours. Especially if the attacker has priors."

He wonders if Gene's ever honestly solved a murder in under 48 hours.

[the_gene_genie]

The answer is yes! But...not many. They take longer, usually, and it's partly down to the lack of technology but also down to laziness and whatnot as well.

Still, there are occasions when they pull their finger out and do it right, and fast.

'OK, so it's fast. Bu' it don't exist in my time an' we still catch the bastards. So it migh' be useful bu' it don' make a bloke a copper.'

[diced_tartan]

"No, but it does make the job more efficient," Nicholas points out.

And then he shakes his head.

"Just wait until you guys have to start investigating computer crimes. I do not envy that job."

[the_gene_genie]

'Computers.'

He looks blank.

'They're the size o'my livin' room, as far as I know. Don' think anyone'd try an' nick 'em.'

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas shakes his head. "They get much smaller. The size of books. People use them for all sorts of fraudulent reasons. ID theft, especially."

[the_gene_genie]

'Oh, shut up,' he says, bluntly.

Now he knows he's talking shite.

'Computers are pointless an' for poofs an' eggheads who like to stand around an' wank over rubbish tha' no one else understands. They need t'get a real job.'

[the_gene_genie]

[OOC: Shit, 3am. Must crash. Slowtime?]