ic (IC) Eat at Joe's

[Heritage]

Casey nodded at Moe, trusting the waitress to best know her restaurant and its clientele. As far as her earlier display went, she tried to shrug the whole thing off as no big deal, despite her friends' stunned response, which actually left her feeling a bit self-conscious. "It's...I have a red belt in taekwondo; I can take care of myself."

 

But then the old man made his terrible announcement, and her eyes went wide with shock. "What?! That can't be, I just-" The former Scout lunged out of the booth and onto the floor next to the pale boy, and began to rapidly recheck his vitals and start textbook CPR. "No no no, he was out, he wasn't- Come on! Come on!" Anguished tears began streaming down her face as Casey became more frantic in her attempts to revive him.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Heritage

[Cool Homosapien]

Moe was stunned by the words coming out the old man's mouth. She looked at the body on the floor, hoping the man was lying, but she didn't detect any emotion coming from the lifeless person on the floor. No, this had to be some cruel joke. Her powers didn't harm people. Her powers took people's minds and made them think different things. Sometimes all at once. But thoughts weren't dangerous!

 

Moe looked to the man, not trying to read his mind - that was fruitless - but she stared holes in him with her blank black eyes. Something didn't seem right. Right now she was quiet for a moment. Opening her mouth only wanted to lighten the mood. Now was not the time. Confounded now that one of the girls that vehemently opposed the boys was now trying to revive her harasser.

 

"Casey, dear," she knelt down and spoke in their shared tongue with a voice that evoked the calm she was feeling, "you mean well, but he's right." She looked Casey in the eyes, trying to make things right. "Let me tell you something, I read emotions. That's my gift. Right now you are a stew of them. But this will pass." She was trying to skip around the fact that she had no remorse for the guy laying there, but the death may have been her fault. She was not a killer.

 

She looked up at the old man, speaking in English again. "I'm going to stay here. You are too. We're going to figure out what happened."

[BlazingCoconut]

The old man gave them a patronizing smile, "I am a doctor dear girl," he said.  "I am sure the coroner will determine what happened.  However, I assume this is a case of post-traumatic bradycardia.  It's rare, but not unheard of.  I recommend calling the police.  They'll know what to do.  In the mean time, I would love a coffee to go please."

 

As he spoke he was taking off rubber gloves which he had used when examining the youth, he turned to the others, "this really should be a poignant lesson for you.  Life is fleeting and you should respect it far more than you do.  This is a tragedy, but I should be going.  I have many appointments to still get too.  Frank, a coffee if you please."

 

Frank looked at him oddly, "you're leaving?"

Edited December 14, 2017 by BlazingCoconut

[Heritage]

Looking up from her position on the floor, Casey looked between the waitress and the mysterious doctor, unsure which one she found to be more vexing; she shook her head as angry tears rolled down her cheeks. Finally she looked up at Moe, continuing to speak now somewhat more broken Japanese due to her powerful emotions.

 

"I don't understand! That boy, so suddenly dead, doctor acting strange. What 'appointments' has he at this latest hour? Does not make sense!"

 

Darlene slid out of the booth to put her arms around her friend's shoulders. "It's alright, darlin'. You heard what the doc said; sometimes these things just...happen."

 

But Casey wasn't having it; she locked eyes with the young waitress, the pleading look in her eyes clearly saying 'tell me this doesn't seem wrong to you.'

[Cool Homosapien]

Moe nodded at Casey's inarticulate assessment of the situation. Poor girl, she didn't know this side of town. Moe felt sorry to have her subjected to the situation. This? While not this severe was a nightly thing. She looked to Frank, wordlessly asking him to stall. "Doctor," she aimed her voice first and then her eyes, staring daggers into him, "I really, really, want to know what happened to that boy. Any information before you leave would greatly be appreciated. We could step away before you leave." Her words cut through the awkward silence with malice.

 

"Don't worry dear, you'll have your answer soon," she assured Casey with a calm quiet voice, "very soon."

[BlazingCoconut]

The doctor tutted at her, "what happened is exactly what appeared to have happened, the poor boy fainted... likely from whatever illicit cocktail was in his bloodstream and hit his head.  They call it post-traumatic bradycardia and it's a shame of course.  Well, given his company, perhaps not as much of one as otherwise might be expected.  I assume that Freedom City will have one less ward to hold in it's cells moving forward.  Yes, truly a tragedy, but there's nothing to be done about it now."

 

Frank caught Moe's glance and sighed.  He was a good guy, but living in the Fen's had conditioned him to not want to be involved in things that the didn't pertain to him or his restaurant.  "Yeah... sorry, I knocked the coffee pot over in all the excitement.  I gots another one starting to brew.  You're not really going to leave me with a dead body are you?"

 

The doctor looked at him for a moment, "I suppose I can forgo coffee at this late hour.  It's a vice I should likely kick.  You can keep it Frank and yes I am.  I'm not a coroner or a mortician."

 

Frank growled, "I said I just put the pot on.  Give me five and it'll be done."  He flashed Casey a look that said, 'yeah, I did it.'  Although he didn't look particularly pleased by his success.

 

As the cafe returned to a less charged atmosphere, Blue finally recovered his fleeting courage and shouted from his booth, "what do you mean he's dead?  He ain't had nothin wrong with him never!  One of those damned girls must have done somethin!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cool Homosapien]

Moe steadied herself. The cops would be here... soonish. They don't come around these parts fast as other parts of the city. She wanted to calm the group of guys, but she'd rather not have a repeat. The blue haired guy started laying blame. And to be sure, Moe didn't know if it was her powers that lit the fuse to that guy's death. Drugs are bad enough, but with an overload of emotions, who knew what would happen. "still, you need to stay here," her steely-eyed gaze locked on to the doctor, "I'm sure the cops and the medics would love to hear your side of the story."

 

She looked over to Blue, "you need to calm down," she said softly, "I know you're upset, but until the cops get here, there's likely nothing we can do."  She looked at the other guys and then back to Blue, "be the leader they need right now."

[Heritage]

For whatever reason, this so-called 'doctor' was extremely insistent about leaving Joe's; perhaps because he was eager to leave the scene of the crime? Casey couldnt see any signs of blunt trauma, but then her x-ray vision only showed her bone, not soft tissue damage. Then a thought occured to Casey, and she once again spoke to the Japanese waitrsss in her native tongue; she was much calmer now, so much of her fluency returned. 

 

"Look, if he insists on leaving, maybe let him go; I don't trust him at all, but we can't legally restrain him." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I have powers, like you; if need be, I can follow him and see where his late night 'appointments' take him." Then she nodded dismissively towards Blue and the rest of his boys. "And if these clowns give you any more trouble, I am very hard to hurt; I can get people outside to safety."

[BlazingCoconut]

Blue snarled, "look, just cause we're Fens Rats don't mean our lives ain't worth nothin!  One of you had to have done somethin too him!"  Perhaps it was Moe's influence, perhaps not, but he didn't advance on them even if he did wave his arms at her in a threatening manner.

 

The doctor smiled affably, "young man, there is no crime here, you'd be a fool to start something that will just get you arrested as I am sure the authorities are on their way.  Or has no one seen fit to call them?"

 

Frank responded, "yeah.  I called them.  Don't want a dead body in the middle of my diner."

 

The doctor replied, "excellent, then I will leave my card and you can have them call on me if they need a statement."  He looked over to the belligerent youths, "I'm sorry for you loss, but don't be stupid."  With that, he started walking to the door, nearly tripping on one of the stools as he went, his rumpled suit seeming to fit him a little better now that he was moving.

 

The girls were still staring at the body and Casey as she spoke in Japanese, before Steph stated, "what are you talking about... and do we have to stay, I'm not sure I want to sit near someone dead."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cool Homosapien]

Moe stopped for a moment when Casey admitted she had powers. That was either the alcohol talking or, being Freedom City, it could be true. She nodded, either way, she wasn't about to put the over emotional college girl in the way of danger. "Yeah, paper thin disguise, I guess," she said softly conversing with Casey in her mother tongue, "I'm more brains than brawn though. Eh, more heart then brawn... That doesn't even make sense. Just don't get too far away. I don't want to have to pick your pretty corpse up."

 

She looked to Stephanie, with a smile and her native language, "don't worry dear, we're only discussing the seasonal Netflix shows," she said trying to alleviate some tension.

 

She looked to the doctor with a much more sour grin, "you have a nice night, doctor."

[BlazingCoconut]

The doctor gave her a comical tilt of his hat, nearly losing it in the process, "yes of course.  Oh!" he exclaimed patting down his jacket as if looking for something.  Finally he flashed a thin smile as he managed to locate his wallet and pull out a few dollars.  "For the coffee, of course."  

 

Frank grumbled, "it ain't done yet."

 

"Then for making the coffee," he shrugged as he turned to the door.  Along with the bills, the doctor had handed to Moe one of his cards, it read: Albert Johnson, Md.  Centegra Health Centers.  "In case the police need anything."

 

He was just about to the door when two officers entered the diner along with what appeared to be a pair of paramedics.  Their entrance had a ripple effect through the small diner.  Blue who had been waving his arms accusingly at the girls, suddenly decided that huddling in the booth and pulling his hood up was a much better idea than drawing attention to himself. 

 

The doctor paused and looked rather irritated as he stopped in his tracks, "ah, officers, the boy in question is over there.  If you will excuse..."

 

The officer looked over the gangling doctor and nodded, "thanks, but you know the drill.  No one's leaving until we get some statements and get the paperwork started."

 

Frank huffed in agreement and seemed rather pleased with himself, flashing Moe a nod that seemed to say, 'well done.'

 

As the paramedics walked over to the dead youth, the officer who seemed in charge, stepped up, "okay, who wants to tell me what happened here?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Heritage]

Casey nodded and numbly played along. "Uh, yeah, we were just talking about Stranger Things; that poor kid, Will..." Then she turned to her sorority sisters and spoke to them in a harsh whisper. "Look, we have to stay until the cops arrive and release us; I know it sucks, but that's the law, and I really want to make a statement about our so-called 'doctor'!"

 

Once the cops and EMTs arrived, Casey could not hide her delight as she looked over at 'Dr. Johnson' and spoke to him in obvious mock sorrow. "Oh no, you're going to be late for all your late night appointments! Darn!"

 

When the officer in charge asked for witnesses, the Girl Scout eagerly stood up...and then really thought back over everything she'd seen, and the smile drained from her face. Really, there was nothing but her 'expert analysis' of the victim (the word of a civilian with some first aid training versus a doctor) and her gut, which told her that this man was no good, nothing that on paper could possibly be incriminating.

 

Casey then volunteered her view of events, given in a small voice without any of the glee or confidence she felt a few moments before. She did her best not to provide any opinions, just the facts as she knew them. She described Darlene's flirting, Red's approach and how he appeared at the time, the old man's attempt at gallantry, Frank and Moe's attempts to calm the situaton, Red's collapse, her own efforts at CPR and what she saw about his condition, the doctor taking over his care, and then the sudden announcement of Red's death and what the doctor said might be the cause. For what it was, it was excellent testimony.

 

Feeling completely drained, Casey slumped back into the booth and put her head in her crossed arms on the table, only for her 'sisters' to put their arms around her shoulders or pat her on the back.

 

"You did good," muttered Steph with a certain amount of admiration. "You journo majors have a real eye for detail."

 

"Thanks," she mumbled wearily.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Heritage

[Cool Homosapien]

Moe grinned at Casey's forward attitude. She didn't know what power she had, but bot did that girl have gumption. Her little talk to the blue haired guy worked. Everything was 'calming down'. then the police came. She could see the punks flair up, chafe at last! To be fair, that was one of their friends lying on the floor. And she had no idea why. Could her large jolt of emotion been the catalyst of his demise?

 

Moe had to lay down some truths when the officers asked for her statement. She mentioned the boys harassing the girls, that there was a big cross up. That he was dead when he hit the floor. That she could see emotion, or lack there of, considering he was dead. That little tidbit was known to Frank, but was something no one else in attendance, except maybe Casey knew. When the officer asked if that's all she could do, she white lied and said that's all she could have done to see if he was alive.

[BlazingCoconut]

The lieutenant, who had introduced himself as Officer Davidson, listened attentively and took a lot of notes with all of the patrons in the cafe.  He was rather personable and didn't seem to be overly worried about any of them in particular.  Moe's mention of her emotion reading had gotten an eye raise along with a casual shift to the back of the cafe out of earshot for a few follow up questions determining if there was any further information she could provide.  Overall, the two officers were very professional and polite with the people within. 

 

Even more surprising was how well they treated the four punks at their table, given their bellicose attitudes.  Davidson would let the verbal barbs go, but seemed to always address the questions they were directed too.  Even the grumpy doctor was treated well enough, although it was clear he wanted to be anywhere but here and his answers were cordial, but abrupt and to the point.  Tapping his pen on his notebook Davidson finally concluded his interviews and closed up the little book.  "Okay, we have all of your contact information.  Thanks for being so responsive in your statements.  I'm pretty sure that there's nothing more we are going to be needing tonight."

 

There was a sigh of relief from the seated patrons as both the thugs and the doctor got up to leave.

 

"Hold on..." the paramedic finally said with a note of confusion in his voice, "I've checked this kid out, he has no head trauma.  Someone used powers on this kid... I think they caused his death."

 

"What?" Davidson replied looking back at the paramedic.

 

"It's a low level gift of mine... I can sense the residual use of power and there is nothing else wrong with him.  I'm certain of it."

[Heritage]

Casey suddenly clapped her hands together and pointed at the empowered paramedic as her eyes lit up. "Yes! That's what I was- " But then, she had to stop just as abruptly, as she couldn't reveal the existence of her x-ray vision to the cops, or at least not in front of the whole restaurant. "I mean yeah, that's what I kind of, uh, saw during that, like, brief minute I was treating him..." She held up two fingers to indicate a very small gap.

 

You know, Case, anytime you want to claim that 'World's Worst Liar' trophy, it's waiting for you down at the Idiot Shop.

 

Taking a deep breath and putting her hands on her hips, she turned to look back at her sorority sisters, who were all giving her various interpretations of the 'WTF?' face, and God help her, all she could do was shrug and look apologetic. "We're, like, so close to being done here, guys, I promise!"