Politics and Thanks
Ian sat up with a start when there was a harsh knock on his window.
He stared ahead of him blearily to find Henry looking inside with an exasperated look on his face.
Ian yawned, pushing aside the old worn sleeping bag and crawled out of the back seat of his powder blue old Ford Angelia.
“Why must you constantly insist on sleeping in that barely functioning vehicle?” Henry sighed as Ian grabbed the coffee that Henry had brought him, black with four sugars, yum!
He tossed it back with an impressive speed of consumption and endurance for the hot temperature that Henry had not thought possible in humans until he had met Ian at the academy.
“What? Its cheaper then paying rent,” Ian grumbled, tossing the cup over his shoulder, landing inside the nearby waste basket. Ian popped the trunk of the powder blue vehicle and rummaged around the pile of junk that Ian had collected in the last five years, pulling out his slightly wrinkled uniform and a fresh pair of underwear.
Without care Ian stripped from his PJ’s and wandered over to the rusted spigot that was his main source of water for bathing.
“But you know that Vera and I would not mind having you stay,” Henry sighed, handing his naked friend his toothbrush and toothpaste.
“You know I can’t do that Henry, things are tight enough for you guys as it is without my arse taking up valuable space. Besides, I just need another few weeks until my paycheck comes in then I’ll have enough for an apartment.”
Ian began brushing his teeth while Henry hunted around for Ian’s hat, finding it buried under a collection of books on mythology.
Henry pulled it out only to spot a familier title in Tenctonese on the cover.
“I hadn’t realized that you could read Tencton?!” Henry exclaimed, honestly surprised. His friend had never shared with him before that he was interested in even learning Tencton before. He did know that Ian had lived on the streets in Little Tencton for a few years before joining the force though, so maybe he had picked it up there? Ian was never one to talk about his past much, still, it hurt that his best human friend of over two years hadn’t told him.
Ian rinsed and spat, looking up at his friend and sighed at the injured kicked puppy look.
Ian cleaned his face and got dressed, explaining awkwardly.
“Um, well, I guess you could say I picked it up awhile back. I...you know I don’t like talking about my past Henry, and you know more then most about it already, and to be honest it never really crossed my mind to mention it.”
Henry sighed, he supposed that he shouldn't be surprised by that answer. Ian always played his secrets close to the vest, as well as being a bit absent minded on the mundane things from time to time. For a human as young as Ian was, he was oddly world weary at times.
Henry handed him his hat after Ian had changed and the two climbed into the Ford Angela, which seemed agreeable to running today.
As they drove, Henry enjoyed some of his morning squirrel, while Ian tossed back another coffee and bit savagely into his own, more cooked, Squirrel.
Henry wondered if there were any other humans out there that caught there own breakfast. He rather thought not.
He also wasn’t bad at crafts either. Henry’s favorite winter hat was made from furs of his friend's kills that Ian had given him for last year’s Day of Decent celebration.
Ooo ooo ooo
Even after a third cup of coffee at the precinct, Ian was still a little groggy.
He slauged his way through his paper work, and only got a chuckle or two when Sikes sat on that cream pie he had left on his chair earlier.
“Really Matt, you need to clean your desk more often,” George tsked, shaking his head.
The one spot of good that came out of that day was that Cpt. Grazer had called Ian and Henry into his office and informed them that they would be starting beat duty finally with each of them paired with a more veteran officer.
Henry was disappointmented he wouldn't be partnered with his best human friend, but understood orders.
Ian also understood orders and such, but he had no problem speaking up if he didn’t agree with them.
“Excuse me sir,” Ian said politely, deciding to dust off a little of his ol’ Slytherin charm, “I think its a great idea that you care so much about your officers that you would want to make sure that we learn from the best.”
“Oh well...of course!” Cpt. Grazer puffed out his chest, “It's good see that some of you new rookies recognize that.”
Ian’s first opinion when first meeting Cpt. Grazer was of a healthier, slightly smarter Minister Fudge with a dose of Percy Weasley thrown in. He was certainly not the first politician that Ian had ever encountered, and after observing Malfoy Sr. manipulate said politicians in his school years, he had come to see a certain advantage in the skill when he had grown out of his ridiculous Gryffindor righteousness.
“Of course!” Ian exclaimed, eyes wide, “How could I not? It’s obvious who runs this place! Why, without you here to keep the image of the department in mind...why I don’t know where we would be!”
“I’m glad someone appreciates my hard work,” Cpt. Grazer sighed, eyes briefly straying to where Sikes and Fransisco were hurrying out on their way to investigate that stolen corpse no doubt.
Grazer’s eyes strayed back to the rookie, blushing when his eyes were caught by those earnest vibrant green orbs.
Ian's eyes also briefly strayed to the leaving dream team and smirked internally, outwardly he mused, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if...oh, but I’m sure you wouldn’t even consider...”
Grazer, interest caught, asked “What would be amazing?”
“Well...” the rookie said hestiantly, “I was thinking...your idea to put Sikes and Fransisco together as partners was really quite brilliant!”
“It was?...I mean, yes, it was!” Grazer nodded.
“The reputation of this precinct as a place of diversity and equality, protecting the city under the united clasped hands of Newcomer and humans alike is brilliant in these times of social unrest.”
Grazer made a mental note to write that down for later.
Then the excited look dimmed and the rookie sighed, “its such a shame that there’s only one Newcomer and Human pair of partners, especially of the same rank, imagine the bragging rights...er, I mean, message of peace that it would send to the city if you had more then just one well-matched inter-species team, imagine how impressed everyone would be with us! why, I bet the mayor would give a commendation to some one who has the foresight to to promote peaceful co-existence between our two peoples..."
Grazer perked up. A commendation from the mayor? that would certainly be a feather in the cap of anyone's resume, his resume to be exact. In fact, having a slew of Newcomer/Human partners of equal ranks would actually not be a bad idea, but who else did he have to work with? Amos Andy was partnered with their human head Coroner, but corpse jockey’s weren’t exactly sexy and he'd been hearing a few rumours that said human head coroner might be a purist, and Albert was a Janitor and...Albert.
His eyes strayed to Officer James. This Newcomer was a rookie as well, and even if he did partner him with a more experienced officer, as was his original plan, they wouldn’t be on the same equal footing as Fransisco and Sikes were. But who...?
“...Its such a shame to see such prime Newcomer/Human relations being so close to reality!" The rookie continued helpfully as he tuned back in, "After all, a passion of mine is equality among all Humans and Newcomers. I was just telling my best friend Henry here over dinner with his family that its a shame he and I couldn’t do our part towards achieving your dream sir...”
Grazer had an idea, if this surprisingly intelligent rookie was so keen...and he did need to have something in his back pocket in case Human/Newcomer Resources breathed down his neck again -hell, as great as Sikes and Fransiaco were working out, Sikes was still a walking PR problem- and if he remembered both these rookies files correctly, these two had trained and graduated together...Grazer smirked satisfied.
“Officer James, Officer Freely, I’ve changed my mind on those partner assignments. I want the both of you to become partners. You’ll both still have to do some part-time work with more experienced ventrans in the field of course, but I believe otherwise you two are officially a team.”
Grazer mentally rubbed his hands together. It was actually perfect! Being rookies they were both prime moldable material. He could create the perfect figureheads of equality and diversity for his...the department's image, both of them touting the brilliance of their chief, and of course, making him all the more desirable for the commissioner's seat in a few years.
“Oh! That's a great idea!” Officer Freely enthused, eyes sparkling happily, and Grazer felt his blush deepen, before coughing and shooing the two away with there part-time partner assignments. He leaned back in his chair with visions of sugar coated PR Plums dancing in his head.
Outside the captain’s office, once they were out of ear shot, Henry just stared at his new human partner, both impressed and confused at the same time.
“What just...happened in there?” he asked.
Ian smirked, patting his new Tenctonese partner on the arm, “Politics my dear spotted friend, politics.”
Ooo ooo ooo
Ian frowned down at the newspaper, and looked up at what felt like the hundredth street sign.
He sighed in relief when he spotted what he was looking for, finally!
The sun had already set, and he was sure that landlord Ian had planned to meet had given up on him by now. Not exactly the best impression a possible new tenet could make.
Ian leaned back against a brick wall under a blue neon sign advertising some alcoholic beverage. His eyes strayed into the street, taking in the busy bars, the brightly lit convenience stores, the old buildings that had seen better days, but had yet to slip into destitute, the first hookers settling in for the evening.
It actually wasn’t much different from some of the places Ian, then Harry, had dwelled during his on the run days back in his old world, it was easy to lose oneself in crowded urbaniziation. He supposed it wasn't surprising that he would find himself in such venues again in this new world.
Henry was going to owe him that lunch he had bet when Ian insisted that he was just going to get lost apartment hunting with Henry disagreeing, saying that between maps and all the helpful citizens to choose from to guide him it was a near impossibility to get lost looking for a place and had told him to quit stalling.
Well, Ian, who was pants at reading any map but the magical variety, and was not inclined to ask strangers for directions, had of course gotten lost. Thus, while this had turned into a fruitless exercise, had at least earned him a visit to Mc D's.
Harry was mentally planning his future meal when trouble brewing caught his eye.
A group of drunk middle aged men had stumbled out of the bar across the street from him, laughing about something or other as most soused individuals do, when they spotted a well dressed Tenctonese woman getting out of a red car nearby.
They elbowed each other then swaggered up to her, and Ian could tell from their leers and the aggressive posturing that they were up to no good.
He had seen enough of this in Little Tencton to know what was going to happen.
Ian moved.
Ooo ooo ooo
Cathy Frinkel had a long busy day at the lab and was looking forward to a quiet evening at home with a good book.
As always, her work was satisfying and her co-workers were brilliant people and they shared their knowledge and ideas without a care to the head-shapes of those who shared them. Unfortunately they all also shared in the paper work and cataloguing of lab results, one of the more tedious and time consuming chores. It was why she was looking forward to something other then the glare of her computer screen that night.
Then three human males, nearly overwhelming her sensitive nose with the smell of booze and a much more alarming hint of salt water, descended on her and began to talk to her inappropriately. They cut off easy escape routes and one of the men grabbed her arm.
Cathy was about to scream for help and retaliate, when a pale hand grabbed one man by the shoulder.
“Excuse me,” a clear tenor drawled, “But I think you should let the lady go now.”
The three unkept men whirled, only to laugh when they saw that Cathy’s rescuer was in fact a rather short teenager and all three of her assailants looked nearly twice the human’s size.
“Run along home to Mommy slag lover, or we’ll teach you a lesson you wont soon forget,” one of them threatened, and as one the group dismissed the boy and turned back to their fun.
Another tap on the shoulder, and the leader of the group whirled again, raising his fist snarling, “I said get lost you- argh!” the man screamed as pale hands grabbed the descending fist and suddenly the leader of the disreputable group was sprawled on the cement.
Another man let go of Cathy’s arm and went to help his friend by rushing the youth, who grabbed the second man by the arm and used his momentum to carry him into a nearby wall, where he fell with a sickening crunch.
The third man pulled out a knife, but a knee to the groen by Cathy had him joining his fellows in the pain club.
Cathy grabbed Ian’s hand and said, “come on! Lets get out of here before they recover!”
She dragged the human youth behind her, then let out a sigh of relief when she ran into Matt.
“Matt!” she yelled.
Matt reacted just in time to nail one of the men, who had recovered and given chase, knocking him flat on the ground with left hook, then pulled out his gun, pointing it at the other two who had straggled determinedly behind.
Then, much to her startlement, the young human who had helped her extracted himself and pulled out a pair of shiny handcuffs and a badge.
“Cathy, go call 9-1-1, we got this,” Matt directed the goggle-eyed woman who shakily nodded and rushed inside to do just that.
Ooo ooo ooo
“Here,” Matt said, handing the kid a beer, who took it with a grateful sigh a few hours later in Matt’s apartment. He had been the one to deal with giving his statement and generally making damn sure that the three sleezeballs that Matt was ashamed to admit had once called casual friends, were locked up.
“So, your one of the new rookies,” Matt hummed, as he fell into his favorite faded recliner, “I’ve seen you around a few times Babyface, but I can’t remember your name.”
“The names Ian Freeley,” Freeley paused, as if waiting for something, then added “Ian Paul Freeley.”
Matt blinked, then after a minute or two he suddenly cottoned on and laughed.
“That’s it, lets yuk it up now and get it behind us,” Ian said sagely, taking a tolerant swig.
“Ugh! Gah! That’s some awful stuff! What brand is this?” Freeley glared down at the bottle.
“Cheap,” Matt replied, once he had gotten control of himself. No wonder this kid was scrappy! A name like that all your life you’d have to be!
“So Cathy told me how you took down those dickheads,” Matt commented, leaning back in his favorite chair, with his guest currently sitting in a hastily made spot on the couch next to a pile of semi-clean laundry, blankets, and chip bags.
Freeley shrugged, taking another swig despite his disdain, “I took Akido and Karate in my spare time during my...formative years, I lost interest after I got my black belt equivalent, but some of the lessons stuck I guess.”
Matt eyed the unassuming innocent looking baby faced rookie, and made a mental note to watch out for this one.
“You know, I don’t understand you,” Ian said finally, after a short contemplative silence between the two.
Matt lowered his bottle, “What do you mean?”
“You say things that you know are offensive to those around you, and you put forward this persona of barely tolerating Tenctonese, yet you helped that little girl, you helped that neighbor of yours, and you even have this amazing repertoire with your partner, as much as you may deny it.”
Matt glared at the kid. Observant little bugger wasn’t he?
“Its complicated,” he snapped, irritable.
“Ri-igt,” Freeley grumbled then pinned him with a look, “just...don’t use that bigoted crap around either me or my partner, or you might just develop an intimate understanding of hard surfaces...sir.”
Matt was both annoyed and mildly impressed with the insubordination.
"It's none of your damn business how I talk, but I will try to be less of an asshole around your partner if it bothers you two so much."
Ooo ooo ooo
Ian didn’t stay much longer, both of them had a rather early shift tomorrow, and both were looking forward to their bed/backseat.
Ian was just passing Cathy Frinkel’s apartment door when it opened. The woman met his eyes and said.
“It took me awhile you know, to figure out why you seemed familiar to me.”
Ian froze, biting out, “I’m sure your mistaken...”
Cathy shook her head, her familier eyes way to knowing.
“I remember, on the Day of Descent, when I and others were trapped in the creche on board the space ship, I remember the fire and the smoke that filled the room, the debris that none of us could move. I remember reaching out for help...and then I saw a human, the first I ever saw. Black hair, green eyes, wearing a bloody uniform. I remember that he saved us and many unborn pods.The first human, I would later learn, that my people came into contact with.”
Ian met her eyes steadily, face closed off, not revealing anything.
Ian remembered, how could he not? He remembered almost everything about the Day of Decent, with the exception of those final moments on the ship before he lost consciousness when his magic had tried to save that tenctonese boy...something he was unsure if he was even successful or not at.
Cathy’s face and voice softened, “I wont tell anyone, if your worried, I just wanted to say thank you. For now, and then.”
He nodded and he left.