to protect and serve

[eudorapatch]

WHO: Detective Eudora Patch
WHAT: the face-to-face option for her network post, looking for clothes and ammo and other necessities, learning her environment by hitting the streets walkways
WHEN: whole month of July for most of it, though an immediate response to her network post would happen on the 15th, and a belated response can happen any time after that
WHERE: room 020, but also kind of everywhere?
WARNINGS: anything in response to her network post may contain detailed and blunt discussions of violence/death/dying - anything at all with her runs a small risk of her at least thinking about her own death. if this will upset you, please tell me so before we begin so that i can avoid it.

NOTES: I don't like brackets/action-spam. It's not natural for me to write that way, and I much prefer prose. I can read it just fine (but please don't make your bracket text super tiny) and don't mind if styles don't match. So you're welcome to tag me in action-spam, but just be prepared for my responses to come back in prose.

option A
After Patch makes her post to the network, she feels an odd moment of disconnect. What if no one responds? What if she is the only one feeling overwhelmed and out of her depth? What if she just aired her trauma, and she's the only one going through it?

Well, if she did, then she did. Can't change it, and wouldn't even if she could. Because she might not be alone. It might help someone else. Which makes it worth it.

She goes to the door of her room, unlocks it, opens it. It closes again on its own. Right. She opens it again, waits for it to try and close, and sticks her hand in the way. She's prepared to yank it back quickly, lest she lose some fingers, but the door halts its progress, presumably in response to whatever is blocking it. That'll work. She comes up with a little squat metal container that used to hold something, but now is only home to a vaguely musty smell. With that placed along the recessed metal track, it leaves the door to room 020 open about a foot, unable to lock, and accessible to anyone walking past.

option B
She doesn't have much. The clothes on her back, main weapon, ankle weapon, and a few extra clips of ammunition. Plus the junk from her pockets. Never thought she'd see the day when taking stock of her possessions would include a mental tally of 'eight mint lifesavers' but the universe seems determined to keep tossing up hurdles in her path. Well, bring it on. High school track about to pay off in a big way. Metaphorically. She checks her weapons, tightens her ponytail, and runs her fingers over the gentle ridges and valleys of her badge where it's resting under her shirt, like a talisman. Time to go learn her new neighbourhood.

option C
Also time to go shopping. If you can call it that. Some extra clothing would be a good start. Boots, jeans, and jacket she can make do. But a spare shirt, a change of underwear, and something to sleep in, that would be nice. Toothbrush, hair brush, maybe a book. Anything to keep her occupied.

option !
Wildcard! You know how this works. Come at me, bro! :3

15 July
afternoon - Ben comes to talk about how he knows Patch - room 020
also afternoon - Drake stops by for more cheery death talk - room 020
late evening - Cole waits until everyone else has come and gone - room 020

16 July
afternoon - finding out just what a tiny thing Peter is - R & D

Comments

A

[benhargreeves]

Ben had responded to her network post without pausing to think things through. Usually, he isn't impulsive like that, but this is the woman who saved Klaus, talking about dying. It must have struck some kind of nerve. So, in his hurry to respond, he'd forgotten that she doesn't know what he looks like, she doesn't know he was there at the time, maybe she doesn't know anything about him apart from his name.

And facing the prospect of trying to explain all that through a tiny communication device... well, it's just all wrong. Maybe it wouldn't feel that way if he grew up in a world with different technology, who knows? In any case, he sends a quick follow-up video to her, saying he would be there soon to explain. So he makes his way to the room number she'd mentioned in the video, and on the walk there, composes himself, thinking over what he wants to say.

Ben raps his knuckles against the open door even as he is slouching in, hood up, looking wary and solemn.

"Hey, Detective Patch? Sorry for the weird reply, before."

He pauses, visibly considering before offering his hand to shake and saying, by way of explanation, "Ben Hargreeves."

Ben looks around, finds the nearest suitable place to sit or lean, and does so. He wants it clear that this is a conversation that is going to take a little while, and have some weight to it. Though she could probably piece that together from the context. Folding his arms across his chest, Ben sighs.

"When I sent that video, I'd forgotten that last time we were in a room together, you couldn't see me or hear me because I was a ghost. I was at the motel."

He knows what it is like, to die. Knows she won't need him to explain which motel, and when. She'll know.

A- Later that evening.

[killedwithlove]

Cole gives everyone else time to visit, to talk, to sort out the complicated things of the siblings and Patch enough that they can all live with it for a little bit longer.

When he comes to find Patch, he just looks in through the gap, clinging to the edge of the door and slightly uncertain, because this isn't just about someone else.

"That was brave. I didn't reply, because I don't like the electric talking and writing, but I know what you did and how it helped others."

A

[braveoff]

Drake headed for Patch's room as soon as he sent off that last text -- and now he's craving a good cup of coffee, but nothing can be done about that -- and finds the door has been left ajar for potential visitors. That's him, right? Although it's a clear invitation he still knocks politely, peeking inside without pushing the door open wider or actually sticking his head in.

"Detective Patch?" Only then he realizes he didn't tell her his name, and text means she won't recognize him immediately, so follows it up with, "It's Drake Holloway."

! - for itsnotaonesie - on the 16th

[eudorapatch]

Immediately following a very brief chat over the network, Patch is on her feet and out her door and heading to R&D to get a good look at Peter Parker. There must be a reasonable explanation for it. There just must be. Her mother is sometimes mistaken for her sister, when she makes herself up and they go out together. Some people just look way too young. It's a thing, right?

That'll explain it, and once she sees it, she'll feel better. Also, wrench, and plumbering. Something slightly normal. She could use some normal, after the day she had yesterday.

He's not immediately visible when she enters the large space, but she doesn't let that deter her. "Peter? It's Detective Patch." She resists the urge to say knock knock, the way her father would. Mostly cause it still hurts to think of him.