[ 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]

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]

In many, many ways.

'Did you cheat?'

Has to ask. Or maybe, just wants to.

[diced_tartan]

"How would you cheat on a psych evaluation, exactly?"

It doesn't seem like something a person can cheat on, Nicholas doesn't think.

[the_gene_genie]

'Christ, I dunno. I don' 'ave t'take 'em.'

Whish brings up an important point.

'If there ain't nothin' wrong with you, why do you?'

[diced_tartan]

"Everybody does," Nicholas says. "I suppose it's a way of making sure a person isn't likely to kill a suspect or something."

The narration isn't sure where Gene is in canon, and has no idea how he's likely to react to this.

[the_gene_genie]

He's not yet at the point of thinking Ray needs to have one. But then, he wouldn't subject his mate to that sort of psychotwattery anyway, regardless of what he did.

'An' that's the modern Force, is it? Bloody 'ell.'

Over his dead body will this happen. As it is, he sighs and finishes his drink, picks his smokes up.

'You're a right cheerful sod t'have a drink with, you know tha'?'

[diced_tartan]

Ray did need one.

Nicholas manages to refrain from pointing out that Gene's the one that brought the subject up.

Instead, he shrugs. "That's just who I am," he says, sounding like he gets told this sort of thing quite frequently.

[the_gene_genie]

Ray always needs one.

'Then I'd feel sorry for you if I could be bothered.'

He stands up, stretches and doesn't look in the least remorseful for the insult. Nicholas is a bloke and a copper, he figures he can take it.

'Enjoy the rest o'your holiday, Angela. Some of us 'ave got work t'be gettin' on with.'

[diced_tartan]

He can take it. In fact, he's been taking this sort of abuse from other people ever since he can remember. Far as he's concerned, this is just how people behave.

"Right," he says.

And then he goes back to his crossword, still stuck on 17 down.