cop_an_attitude: (Talk)
Sally Donovan ([personal profile] cop_an_attitude) wrote2012-04-14 04:31 am

02 | [Written/Voice/Action]

[Early enough in the morning that it's clear someone couldn't get back to sleep, a series of doodles appear on the page: they're Sally's best estimate of the floor plan of her apartment, with little rudimentary sketches of furniture in various placements. Over the span of a half hour, several are drawn with different configurations and crossed out before one ends up circled. A check mark is drawn next to it for good measure.

She was too lazy to get out of bed and find real scrap paper, but she figured no one would care.

Much later in the morning, at a reasonable hour, Sally makes a voice recording.]


Right. I've got a question, much as I hate to ask it: since I've been a bit of a dosser when it comes to actually talking to people since I've come here, what with the rampant madness of...everything, and being busy with a few things, I've run short of friends who're willing to do me favors. That being said, I've several articles of heavy furniture that need to be moved up seven flights of stairs.

My usual find-help-moving-house tactic of offering free beer and crisps is moot here, but if there's anyone who can help me out, I'd be happy to negotiate some sort of payment. A favor in return, or something. As I said, I wouldn't ask, but...well. Some of you lot have magic and super strength, and I'm just a regular copper with one very slightly weak ankle. [A self-deprecating laugh that's a little more rueful than she intended. Sally really hates asking for help, but she also really wants her flat not to look like a room in a mental institution, so something had to give.] Thanks, everyone.

[In the afternoon, Sally can be found poking around the item shop, looking for home decorating items and some things she's hoping will show up from her world, and in the evening she'll be at the library doing some cursory research of other worlds and waiting for something interesting to jump out at her.]
notquiteheartless: (This got interesting)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
Brilliant.

[It's whispered, something of a mix between horrified and delighted.]

I knew there was someone, but right under my nose. Yes. Always there. Watching. Staring. Not unusual at Scotland Yard. [It's not even arrogance. It's simple fact. Most of the officers there stare at him when he's around.]

Quiet, unassuming, currying favour without being too much.

Oh, he is brilliant.
notquiteheartless: (All it takes)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
[For a moment, he seems surprised that it isn't perfectly obvious.

There's the usual Sherlock.]


Moriarty.

I told you-- he planted that idea in your head.

[Still bordering on almost gleeful here, even if there's a drive to his words.]

I was looking for someone experienced passing information to him. Even unknowingly. But a rookie--

[He almost smiles. It's a relief, in a way. To know.]

Best way to keep him close to Lestrade. Ready to strike. He'd keep an eye on anyone new. Especially who needed that sort of influence.

Once again, the planning is absolutely elegant. [...Probably not good to sound almost like you have a crush, Sherlock.]
notquiteheartless: (Part time violinist)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 04:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[He looks at her, as if surprised by the idea that it sounds anything like that.

Then:]
Why would I ask? If it was my doing, why reveal my own insider?
notquiteheartless: (Unsettled)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[Give him a moment... Give him a moment...

...Nope. Not worthy of a reply. Instead, he takes a step closer to her, somehow seeming drawn up and leaned in at the same time. Close. Dangerously so? Hard to say with him.]


Watch him. When you get back, watch him.

A good man's life may depend on it.

[So simple. So ingenious. Lestrade would think nothing of being alone with a rookie, would turn his back to the man...]

Watch him. And hope that you catch him before I do.

[That? There is no hinting, no questions. That is a threat against the man.]
notquiteheartless: (Not bored now)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
If I get to him first, Sally, [now he's calm again, dead serious] then you'll be able to make a case to charge me with murder.

[Even if the man had never pulled a gun on Lestrade, he'd only been waiting for the call to do so. That was guilt enough where Sherlock was concerned.]
notquiteheartless: (Part time violinist)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 07:03 pm (UTC)(link)
No jail. No police force. No law of any kind.

[He pauses. And he sounds almost cocky as he hits upon the word she said before that he hated.]

Here, you're as useless as I am.
notquiteheartless: (Prefers to text)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't think that would look good, breaking a man's wrist with no physical provocation.

And that is what matters, isn't it? [He hasn't forgotten your "real people" remark, Sally.] Appearances. Looking like you're doing the right thing. Playing nice. That's what normal people care about, isn't it?
notquiteheartless: (Easily nocturnal)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[A pause.

Then, simply:]


No, it's not.
notquiteheartless: (Faithful friend)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
There aren't many of those.

[It isn't that he doesn't know about morals. It's that he learned an entirely different set. He'd rather, as she put it, be "an obnoxious, arrogant prat who speaks his mind" than couch his responses to people and be better liked.

"Honesty" over "acceptability."]
notquiteheartless: (Contemplates every option)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I know three. [A pause. This is as close to sentimentality as he'll get when speaking to her, but it's... something.]

None of them are particularly gifted intellectually. Smart enough for their chosen fields, of course, but not exceptionally brilliant otherwise.
notquiteheartless: (Easily nocturnal)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[He actually hesitates.

He stops sorting through the small objects on the shelf-- which was just multi-tasking, not a distraction-- and just... stops. His hand hovers over one, but he doesn't pick it up to examine it.

He just thinks.

It isn't the kind of silence where he's intentionally keeping something to himself or pausing for effect. He does like his dramatics, but this isn't part of them. The expression on his face-- which might be notable even in profile view-- is one of uncertainty. He doesn't know whether he should say it or not.]
notquiteheartless: (Distant)

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless 2012-04-15 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[Silence.

Then a breath.

Saying it would be putting too much out in the open, revealing too many weaknesses to someone he doesn't-- can't trust not to exploit them. His hand withdraws, and both fold behind his back. A common enough posture for him.]


It doesn't matter.

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-15 22:21 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-15 22:59 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-15 23:22 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-15 23:38 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-16 00:41 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-16 01:35 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-16 02:01 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-16 04:23 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-16 05:04 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[personal profile] notquiteheartless - 2012-04-16 17:00 (UTC) - Expand