[ 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

[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.'

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas sighs and then Pulls out his phone. In 2002, it's state of the art. After unlocking it, he hands it over to Gene.

"See for yourself. Everyone has them."

He trusts that Gene will be nice to it.

[the_gene_genie]

Gene stares at it. Turns it over, pokes a few buttons. He seems to, after a few moments, have discovered the 'adjust ringtone' bit because it lets out a sample ring which surprises him so much, he drops it.

He makes no move to pick it up.

'Wha' is it?'

[diced_tartan]

Nicholas quickly picks it up and makes sure that nothing has cracked.

"It's my phone," he says simply. And then he puts the ringer back on vibrate. "Most people have them, in my time."

[the_gene_genie]

'Everyone 'as a phone they carry aroun'? Like a police radio?'

This may seem like nothing to someone from 2002 but in 1973, they still have to talk to an operator to get connected on a normal phone. It's like space-age technology.

'You go' flyin' cars too?'

It's asked sarcastically but there's a good chance he's genuinally curious. Any TV show that depicts the twenty first century generally has something to say about flying cars. He's quite looking forward to it, if it turns out to be true.

[diced_tartan]

"Well, most people," Nicholas says. "My parents don't have one; they still stick to a land-line -- the telephones you'd be used to."

He does have to laugh a bit at Gene's second question, though.

"No, I'm afraid not. We still run everything on petrol, even in 2002. We don't have jetpacks, either. Or robots."

Well... not robots like Gene is probably imagining, by any rate. But we'll ignore that for now.

[the_gene_genie]

'An' I'm goin' t'guess from tha' that no one lives on the moon, either.'

He sniffs and looks away. Nicholas is such a let down. He so wants to meet someone who lives on the moon.

'Bet you've got some decent motors though.'

[diced_tartan]

"No, they're more interested in Mars right now," Nicholas says. "They've sent all sorts of probes, and supposedly want to send a crew within the nest 20 years."

The moon is so 1960s.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about cars, though." He decides it wise to leave out the part about how he doesn't drive on ecological grounds.

"Our panda cars are mostly Vauxhall Astras and Vectras. You can get them up to 100 miles an hour, but not that you ever need to in the city."

[the_gene_genie]

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

[diced_tartan]

[ooc: sure!]

[the_gene_genie]

[OOC: Awesome, later! :D]