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[oom: You really shouldn't have said his name.]

When Matt walks in a whole lot of noise follows him. The police station he's exiting is in a state of chaos and Matt is speaking to someone behind him as he leaves.

"It's alright, Sergeant, I'm fine. Foggy or I will be around to check into those files later."

An apology from Brett Mahoney follows Matt as the door closes, and Matt sighs.

Matt is tired, and frustrated, angry even, but he's also just realized where he's walked into.

After a moment he decides he could use a respite from the cacophony he's just left and so, using his cane, Matt crosses the room and takes a seat up at the counter.

"Cup of coffee, please," he requests as he folds up his cane and sets it down on the counter.

Bar provides a cup along with a bowl of hearty potato soup with half a club sandwich tucked next to it.

Matt's stomach rumbles in response to the smell, but his expression is less enthused.

"Do you mother everyone who sits down?" he asks, to which Bar responds by providing a cloth napkin and a spoon.

Matt's jaw tics, but he withholds another sigh.

[ooc: warnings for violence and npc death in the oom.]

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"So was I," Matt replies, raising his voice just a touch so that the comment is directed at Bar. Obviously he and Rae were both going to take care of themselves. Eventually.

Matt's smile holds, but there's a shadow to it now to confirm Rae's suspicions about the complicated nature of things.

"Yes. On recommendation from a friend. We're going to try and help a woman take on her landlord who's looking to force out her and her neighbors from their rent controlled apartments in his building. He wants to put up new condos, they want to stay in their homes."

From her unspoken reaction, that doesn't seem complicated in the slightest.

"Piece of shit landlords are the absolute worst," she says. If her vehement tone suggests personal experience and strong opinions, well, it's not Matt's imagination. "I hope you're able to help them."

Because a case like that, only one person may technically be the client, but all of the building's residents are the ones needing defending.

Matt's brows lift slightly and he smiles at her reaction.

"I tend to agree, but we'll probably try and be a little more... diplomatic in our opening argument." Rae's response does make Matt like her even more.

Realizing that the surface of the case doesn't seem far from straightforward, Matt takes a drink of his coffee and gives a little more of the details.

"The landlord did offer a sizeable payout to move the tenants but, when they didn't accept he sent men in to destroy the place. He did it under the guise of making repairs, but the goal was to make the space unlivable. Now many of the people, including our client, are without utilities and they've had parts of their home torn down."

Matt's jaw tics on the thought, and then he gives a sigh that's more exasperate than angry and adds, "On top of that, the firm that's representing him is a large one with a lot of manpower and plenty of influence in the city. It also happens to be the same firm my partner and I interned for and left after being offered permanent positions."

The further ill deeds by this landlord have Rae fuming. "That's such a scummy, low thing to do. Providing 'incentive.' Oh, there's hardly any crime in owning buildings where the tenants live like rats and the rats live like kings, but they can certainly make it out to be a crime to dare live in one."

Most of the apartments Rae could have hope to afford right out of high school had been dire. Beyond dire. Frighteningly dire. Rae had gotten very lucky in finding her landlady when she did.

"Better you try and be diplomatic than me. I've never excelled in diplomacy at the best of times." The food service industry encounters plenty of horrible people, but they are horrible in smaller, personal ways, and are easy to get rid of. "Probably why Charlie pulled me off waitressing when I was old enough to work full time and gave me the bakery."

Dough is very good for taking one's frustrations out on, and it doesn't talk back.

"Glad you didn't take that job offer. You could've been the ones having to rep this guy."

Matt listens to Rae rant and it does hearten him some after the day he's had.

It's good to be reminded that others carry strong feelings about people and their neighborhoods, too.

"We can only hope the court feels the same if and when we get there," he says, giving her a smile.

Finally lifting his spoon, Matt gives the soup a try and nods in satisfaction.

"I could have been," he acknowledges on her last. "I can't say the experience of working there wasn't valuable but, I was pretty miserable the entire time and don't think I could've lived with myself very long if I had accepted."

Sunshine sips her tea again, as though to wash a bad taste out of her mouth. The spicy-sweet ginger and the sharp lime are a surefire aid in lifting her mood, usually.

"Maybe your time there was useful as a... negative example. How not to lawyer," she offers a slight, wry smile. Then a thought strikes her, and she grimaces. "Is it likely you'll be up against people you know from there?"

"At the very least it taught us the tactics they'll be using," Matt says, taking up another spoonful of soup.

Setting the spoon down he nods, a touch grim.

"Possibly. They're a very large firm so they'll likely assign the case to a team. Chances are Foggy and I will have known at least one of them."

By his tone and the shrug he gives Matt isn't too bothered by the prospect.

"We were only interns though, and didn't rub shoulders with too many of the other people there."

'Acquaintance' is probably the highest status he'd assign anyone else from the firm.

"Probably for the best that you didn't," Rae murmurs, dry, as she scoops up a spoonful of the potato soup. "No telling what could have rubbed off."

... Okay, so the soup is really good. And not just because of her empty stomach. Rae had been ignoring how hungry she was. Not any more.

In between bites, she muses, "Can I ask, Matt, what made you want to become a lawyer?"

Matt gives a chuckle and he nods. "You might be right."

Rae eating prompts Matt to continue working on his soup (it really is very good), and he even takes a couple bites of his sandwich.

He stops on her question and, wiping his mouth with his napkin, Matt gives a smile and answers, "My father."

Truthfully in more ways than one, but Matt sticks with the brighter side for now.

"He was a boxer, but he didn't want me using my fists to make a living. He made me hit the books instead. Growing up, I was always interested in justice, and I wanted to help people so... "

Matt holds his hands out, palms up in a gesture of 'here I am'.

"Becoming a lawyer fit all of that."

Sunshine can't help but be curious, even if she generally keeps her curiosity on a short leash. Safer that way, generally. She smiles at his answer. Something in his wording catches her attention, but she doesn't remark on it.

"I'll admit helping people is not my first association with the profession - but you're doing a lot to change that," she remarks with a wry smile, though it may feel like Rae is not saying exactly what is on her mind. "You've got the mind for it, the drive to help, and the stomach for arguing professionally."

She certainly wouldn't. Rae only argues as an enthusiastic amateur, and the results are never pretty. Or helpful. Best she sticks with cinnamon rolls.

"I'm hoping my little brother is up to it, as well. He's in his second semester, currently, and is still set on going into law."

Edited 2020-03-19 03:47 (UTC)

His head cants a little, listening to her reply. To him it seems like there's more she wants to know, and more she isn't saying, but like her Matt keeps his curiosity to himself.

"There is a certain reputation that proceeds us," Matt admits, amused.

He gives a smile then and asks, "Is that one of his law books you're lugging around?"

"Good guess," Sunshine chuckles, and doesn't ask how he guessed that. "He let me borrow it, since the school wasn't going to buy it back at the end of last semester and he'd rather it not take up space in his dorm room."

"Light reading," she adds, wry, though it's not. Much of it so far is beyond her, but familiarizing herself with some of the terminology surrounding Other law at least makes her feel a little less useless and out of her depth.

Matt's smile grows and even though she doesn't ask, he gives; nodding in the general direction of the book sitting on the counter.

"I could hear it was a pretty hefty thing when you set it down. And textbooks have... a certain smell about them."

Wrinkled, dusty pages, old glue, coffee stains, stale dorm air, musty book shelves, those things and more all mixed together and bound in the paper and spine.

'Odor' might be a better word for it, but he's trying to be nice.

"Learn anything interesting?" he asks, a brow arching.

Sunshine chuckles. "That makes sense."

Her brother had not let her see his dorm room. She did not insist.

"So far most of what I've learned is that I need to respect Kenny a bit more. And maybe send him more frequent care packages," she replies. "I've always known my half-brothers are clever, but reading this has made me very appreciative of the familiar and practical chemistry of baking."

Give her discussion of how different brands' specific wheat cultivars and the differing fineness of their flours can affect liquid absorption rates during mixing and thus increase the possibility of errors in nonspecific baking recipes...

"I'd rather make ten dozen croissants by hand and a fifty-layer crepe cake than try to untangle the convoluted and infuriating Gordian Knot of Other law. It was 1996 - ninety-six! - before Part-Blood Others were even allowed to sit on juries when Others of Part-Blood Others were on trial - and then only because this one guy kept appealing and making a stink about there being a jury of the defendant's peers. Before then, it was just assumed Part-Blood Others would be biased or couldn't be trusted. And '96 is just when they were 'allowed.' They're still almost never picked to actually sit on the jury."

And full-blood Others? Don't even bother considering it.

Laughing lightly in response, Matt replies, "Well, I think the closest I've ever come to baking is making pancakes. And the one and only time my dad and I ever tried making them from scratch we ended up with frisbees so... you won't hear me knocking the 'practical chemistry of baking'."

Besides that, her baking is amazing.

His smile dims as she describes what she's been reading on, and Matt gives a short, solemn nod.

"Unfortunately the law does find itself behind the times. On my world it was a long road towards Civil Rights for people of color and women, and even now the laws are on the books, but discrimination, prejudices and unfair practices still happen."

Not to mention how politics and money can buy influence. And then of course there's the corruption.

"Some days, when the system isn't working, infuriating is a good word to apply."

Today would be one of those days, when a woman fears the loss of her home, or officers sworn to uphold the law murder a witness in custody.

"People find it easier to re-define 'people' instead of treating people like people," Sunshine mutters, nodding without thinking.

"Special Other Forces, the very law enforcement agency in charge of policing all Others, still doesn't allow anyone but purely humans to serve. Which is... the most straight-forward of the charges against the Goddess, but it's the one I don't want held against her. If things are going to change, someone has to push. And... this is an opportunity, even if it's risky."

Sunshine would like the Goddess to be punished for what she did - and in the process discover the extent of what she might have done, in addition to what Sunshine knows she did - but doesn't want the Goddess punished for what she is.

Matt gives a solemn nod to her first statement, wishing it was otherwise but there is definite truth in it.

Listening to her, Matt is impressed by her resolve. Such a brave thing to do for a local shop baker; although Matt is sure there's more to her than that. Still...

"You told me you would try for that route," he comments quietly. "It may be risky, yes, but it is the right thing to do."

Situations and cases like this are how things change.

"For what it's worth, from what you've said of what happened I believe you'll still have a strong case without those charges."

Sunshine takes a measured slow breath, and holds it a moment before letting it out.

"I think so, too," she says, though her tone suggests reservations. "Director Misra has... tentatively agreed to try and set aside that particular charge against her. In... hope that it might set a precedent."

Rae picks up the hefty tome. Too much of law seems bound by precedent, by what someone else thought and how they interpreted something, however many years ago.

"I'm... not a lawyer, and not officially SOF, so it's going to be up to Director Misra and others to do the actual crafting of the case. I'm... going to have to testify, and lurid, multicolored hells is that a daunting thought," she remarks, giving the word 'daunting' a tone like another person might say 'terrifying.'

A non-zero percentage of her recent insomnia has absolutely been spent trying out how to word replies that aren't lies but also won't leave her either in jail or disappeared to some secret lab somewhere.

Matt listens to her lungs filling and the cadence of her heartbeat as she gathers herself.

He hears the reservation in her tone; wavers in her voice of uncertainty that he attributes not to misgivings of her decisions, but fear over facing a scary scenario.

And yet, he can also hear her determination to do it anyways.

"I know you're afraid. You can't give into the fear."

He offers her a comforting smile, and a moment later lifts his hand to rest on her arm; ready to pull back if the touch is unwanted, but he's hoping to impart some reassurance in this daunting situation.

"If there's anything I can do to help... " he offers.

"Obviously I'm not up on Other law," he adds, just a touch wry, "but I can go through what you have on it and see if anything pops up that might be useful? Or, I'm sure your team will prep you for testimony before you have to go up there, but if it helps to have another practice round I can go over it with you, too."

Matt couldn't help her before, when she was going to face the Goddess or after, but maybe now there's something he can do.

Edited 2020-03-20 17:30 (UTC)

The offer and the comforting touch are much appreciated. They pull a smile from her, at least, and ease some of the tension she carries. "I appreciate it. I may take you up on the offer for... testimony prep. I don't really know what to expect."

"Even just being able to talk about all this helps. The turmoil at SOF has pretty much kept my SOF regulars out of reach. They're not... keen on trying to set aside the charge of impersonating a human in a position of trust, or whatever the official name is, and they'd be upset if they knew I was borrowing Kenny's lawbooks. I didn't even feel..." safe "...comfortable telling Kenny why I wanted to borrow them."

Rae chuckles, faintly. "Told him I wanted some light reading to help me sleep."

He had laughed, and given her a hug - a sure sign he was worried about her - and hadn't asked any further.

Matt gives her arm a light squeeze and then pulls his hand back.

"Alright. I'm here when you need me."

Or he'd try to be.

Listening to her, Matt suppresses a frown and asks, carefully, "Do you think any of them will take exception to what your doing? Maybe retaliate?"

Two cops just killed a witness inside of the precinct while Matt could only listen. He doesn't want to think the worst in people but, he's been fighting an uphill battle against corruption for awhile now, and he just doesn't want Rae to get hurt.

"Retaliate?" Rae echoes. "I... couldn't see them doing that. Pat, Theo, and Jesse have already shown far more faith in me than I had any right to expect, even though this situation puts them at risk, too."

("I've got you guys' back, too, you know," she had murmured, thinking of him and Pat and Theo, of Jocasta and the faces of the Other SOFs she had seen this morning, and of Director Misra as well. "All that... 'to the last gasp' stuff. It goes both ways.")

"We - they and I - know we're in this together, even if no one is comfortable. But they've got my back. And I've got theirs," she replies, adding, "for what it's worth."

"Good," Matt says simply, glad for that and hoping her judgement of them is correct.

"I just... want to make sure you're safe," he says, tone softening.

Or, at least as safe as she can possibly be, given everything.

He knows she's taking a big stand, and that it's scary, and that, and what's happened already, are why he worries.

She can't quite mask the barest exhale of a faint laugh. "I've forgotten what safe is, at this point," she remarks, trying to go for dry rather than bitter. "Might as well chuck it in the bin with 'normal,' and 'well-rested.'"

Matt's head tilts slightly, his sightless gaze beneath his glasses moving past her to settle on the far wall, silent for a minute.

He doesn't really know what any of those things are anymore, either.

"I guess it is harder to be careful than it is for someone else to say it," he says finally, tone and the short smile he brings up going for wry, but both falling shy.

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