[ 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]

'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]

Hmph. Mars. Waste of time.

If only because he can't see any point in it.

'Earth's got enough problems t'fix before zooming off elsewhere jus' to have a look-see. Waste o'money.'

And there's no hiding the look of disgust on his face on the news re: cars.

'Well, you're a bloody Londoner, ain't you? I ain't surprised you don' know anythin' about cars, you probably get to a crime scene on th' bloody Tube.'

[diced_tartan]

"Well, no. I work a localised area that allows me to patrol on foot, but occasionally, my partner and I do take a car."

Beat.

"Besides, a fair amount of the calls we take involve the Tube stations."

Nicholas is familiar with the Tube, but he avoids it if he can help it.

[the_gene_genie]

...this bloke makes him think of cartoon characters, or similar.

'You walk. All the time.'

If Gene lose his car, it'd be like losing a leg.

'Were you castrated at birth, son?'

[diced_tartan]

"No, not all the time," Nicholas defends. "I have a mountain bike that I ride when I'm off-duty."

As for the second question, well, Nicholas ignores that one.

[the_gene_genie]

'You ride a bike. Why am I not surprised?'

Though...wait a minute.

''ang on...you mean you don' drive? At all?'

[diced_tartan]

"I do if I need to," Nicholas says. "But I don't actually own a car, no. It's not all that uncommon in London, though."

Especially not with congestion charges and road fees and petrol taxes and value-added taxes...

[the_gene_genie]

'Well yeah, bu'...'

The idea of anyone not owning a car fills him with horror. Why would you do that to yourself?

'...you can always get out o'the city when you're off duty. Plenty of places to drive to then.'

[diced_tartan]

"I don't usually have a whole lot of downtime," Nicholas says. "Usually, the only time I do is when I'm on a mandated LOA, like right now."

But it ends on Monday, and he's very happy for that.

[the_gene_genie]

Gene makes a point of trying not to slag off other coppers too openly, because they are all, in fact, coppers. (It doesn't count if you're a) a plonk, b) a twat, or c) DCI Litton, or any member of his team of RCS pricks.) He takes the piss, sure, and is rough on his lads at times but when it comes down to it, they're all in the same business of catching the bad guys.

...Nicholas is making this really difficult.

'Bit of a workahlic, ain't you?'

Something occurs to him and he has to ask the question. With his usual amount of tact, of course.

'Are you, y'know, alright?' He taps himself on the side of the head to indicate general brain health, or mental-ness or whatnot. 'Up there?'

[diced_tartan]

It's a question Nicholas doesn't enjoy talking about, unless the other person is a) family, or b), his counsellor (who he only sees twice a month, thank you very much).

He does have a ready-made answer for this question when it does get asked, though.

"I wouldn't be allowed on duty if I wasn't," he says simply.

[the_gene_genie]

'Dunno abou' that.'

He does, after all, have Chris on his team.

'I 'eard the Met wasn' all that particular about who it takes on.'

[diced_tartan]

Well, Chris is just special, isn't he?

"There are psych evaluations," Nicholas says. "And yes, I passed them."

All of them.

[the_gene_genie]

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

[diced_tartan]

[ooc: sure!]

[the_gene_genie]

[OOC: Awesome, later! :D]