Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Oct 9, 2006 0:26:45 GMT
Richie sat on the bed in his hotel room, his Glock in front of him, silently cleaning the weapon, his gaze almost blank, his moments sure and steady. He could do this task in his sleep and one could be forgiven for believing that he was doing just that. Richie had quickly learnt that mindless tasks led to a state of mindless, his brain blissfully shutting down, giving him rare silence.
He snapped the barrow of the gun shut carefully, looking down the sight with a critical expression. Apparently satisfied, Richie placed his weapon next to him on the bed, standing up to stretch, his back muscles popping as he did so. First day at my new station tomorrow… first day when I have to look for a new home. A new life…
Richie shook his head fiercely, roughly wiping his sleeve across his face before sitting down and picking up the gun again. It could, he decided, do with a little more cleaning.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Oct 10, 2006 15:58:54 GMT
The gun had been cleaned over and over again, until finally Richie had realised that it could be cleaned no more. It was clean. So much so that he was in danger of cleaning it into nothing. Quietly he packed the cleaning items away, always keeping his weapon within easy reach of himself. It wasn’t that he was expecting trouble, not really.
Just that recent experiences had left him bitter and suspicious of the world. For all he knew, the ‘Silver Sands’, while seeming to be just a nice, respectable hotel, would turn out to be a hotbed of illegal activity. “One can hope…” he muttered dryly to himself, knowing that he would relish the chance to get into it.
Shaking his head, he stood up, pulling out a folded photo from his pocket. “Good night Lisa-Ann,” Richie said tenderly, lightly stroking the face of the smiling woman, uncaring of the tears that then spilled down his cheeks, remembering his wife.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Nov 5, 2006 1:08:25 GMT
Richie lay flat on his back, staring up the ceiling silently. He couldn’t sleep – not that was a surprising fact, these days he could rarely sleep. Sleep brought images and sounds best left forgotten, nightmares of answering what he had thought would be a routine call. Every sight, every sound and ever smell would be remembered much more vividly asleep. He blinked a few times, not having the energy to do anything else.
He honestly didn’t know which was worse, sleep where he would remember what had happened or being awake where he would remember what was happening.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Dec 8, 2006 13:35:36 GMT
A clock ticking on the mantelpiece… Richard turned, looking around the room. Flowers… no, petals. Pale pink rose petals falling to the ground… Lisa-Ann’s favourite flower. In the centre of the room a low ash wood table and on it the head the petals were coming from. A dying flower… Richard bent, picked up one of the petals, rubbing it between his fingers.
He blinked, staring at the petal in his hand, watching as a blood red began to bleed into it. A gun shot and Richard looks up, suddenly standing on the street, petals now blowing past his feet. No screams. No sound. Silence.
A body hitting the ground and Richard is watching, watching the body impact without noise, long blond hair spilling over a face he knew so well…
With a gasp he opened his eyes, hand flying to his face to rub away the sudden wetness on his cheeks. Cursing slightly, Richie sat up and looked around the quiet hotel room as he tried to control his breathing.
“Damnit…” One of these days perhaps he would be able to fall asleep and stay that way for a couple of hours instead of the nightmares plaguing him at every turn.
Until then, there was always coffee.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Jan 23, 2007 0:35:26 GMT
Sleep seemed an impossible dream for Richie now. Normally he could get to sleep again after a nightmare – he didn’t always try, he wasn’t that much of a masochistic – but when his wife appeared in one, he knew he was finished for the night. Even blinking now brought flashes of Lisa-Ann to his mind, like an old flickering movie that was already breaking in the reel, edges crumpling up. Sometimes, Richie thought he wanted that reel and that movie to just crackle and burn.
Sometimes he wished Lisa-Ann had never been born. Wished that he had never met her, never loved her. It wouldn’t hurt so much if he had never even had her for the short time he had.
Such thoughts were cowardly and Richie could picture her reaction to such things. She had always thought him brave and it would have angered her… he laughed softly, noise catching in his through and becoming almost sob like as he pictured the scene. Lisa-Ann was so beautiful when she got angry.
Had gotten angry.
Past tense, not present. Had.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Feb 24, 2007 21:01:22 GMT
Post-Skip
Richard had been awake since dawn. Before dawn really, sitting on the edge of his bed fully clothed with his Glock held between his hands. He had stared down at the weapon as if it was a foreign object to him, something he had never seen before and didn’t understand its purpose. The evil it could create and the suffering and misery. The good it could do, the way it could end everything with just a little squeeze, a split second bang and one single, solitary metal bullet.
Normally he hated these thoughts and refused to entertain them. Self-pity disgusted him but in the long hours… the long dark night-time of the soul as Lisa-Ann used to call it. It was hard to fight the pull of depression when the night seemed never ending and even when day came there was nothing to look forward to. Richard shook his head angrily, and practically jumped to his feet. He wasn’t going to let the cold win, not today. As for tomorrow… well it was another day.
He slipped on his jacket as he went, automatically checking one final time for all his weapons, his wallet and his keys. There was one good thing about his life still. His precious Buick Riviera.
Continued in: Central Community Police Station: Station Parking Lot
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Susie
Rogue Werewolf
Orphan
Our cracking bones make noise and we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
Posts: 13
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Post by Susie on Aug 27, 2009 2:03:36 GMT
POST TIME-SKIP
It wasn’t the most comfortable place in the world, motels rarely were, but to Susie who had been sleeping rough for the last four months the bed in Richie’s room was the most comfortable thing she had slept in since she had slept in her own bed in her own home, the place now a distant memory that she could never quite find beyond all the fear and horror of the more recently, more powerful memories. In reality she hadn’t meant to fall asleep like she had, but exhaustion on an eight year old girl didn’t wear well, and her body had over ridden her mind and the moment she had sat down she had started yawning, and once that had started and she had begun to sway lazily on the spot it hadn’t taken much to get her curled up on her side and sleeping. Susie had been out like a light for the entire day; wolves being nocturnal her sleep pattern had adjusted dramatically over the last months and she tended to fall asleep at dawn and wake again at dusk which was exactly what seemed to be happening.
Before all this, before she had been turned into something no longer human, Susannah would have known never to go anywhere with a stranger, she was a very intelligent young girl, but that had been before instincts and before she had been forced into eating garbage and waking up with blood on her hands and face, in her mouth. The man she had encountered in the park hadn’t been threatening to her, he hadn’t tried to grab her, he didn’t small like the Bad People she had encountered and her general fear of all things unfamiliar had been suppressed by the fact that she hadn’t slept properly or eaten a sufficient amount in weeks, she was tired and frightened and that tiny moment of kindness that he had shown her had been enough for her to go with him. He wasn’t one of the Bad People. That allowed her to find the sleep from which she began to stir softly, rolling over and sighing calmly, blissfully ignorant of her harsh, painful memories for a few moments longer.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Aug 27, 2009 23:52:45 GMT
Taking children back into his motel room was not a practise that Richie regularly partook in. He was sure he got an odd look from the attendant by the desk when he had brought the little girl into his room; then again, Richie supposed he would be more worried if they had ignored him completely, it didn’t say much for the Silver Sands as a whole if a single male adult could smuggle a little girl into his room without raising an eyebrow. All in all, he would just be happy when he had taken her to social services and they could help her. After bringing her back to room 83 and letting the nameless child fall asleep on his bed, Richie had stayed up the rest of the night and the day. Arranging himself as comfortably as he could on the single chair in the room he had kept watch over her as best he could, fearful that she might have a nightmare or something. The detective really hadn’t wanted her to wake up alone.
Thankfully her sleep had seemed peaceful, perhaps simply too deep for any bad dreams to be able to take a hold of her small frame. He was glad for that small mercy at least; the dirty blond had looked as though she’d gone through so much pain recently and while he knew child services was the best thing for her right now, he also knew it could be a scary change. Any chance of peace was one to be grabbed at.
Richie wasn’t usually a patient man by any means, but this time at least he had been more than happy to simply let her rest and recover. There was no point in sending her straight to the home, or so he told himself, ignoring the fact that her eyes and her face had pulled at his heart in a way he was unfamiliar with. As the evening had lengthened, Richie had risked a quick jaunt outside, locking the room on his way out and speeding as fast as he could to the nearest food place and then back again, returning moments before she began to stir. Admittedly, a children’s meal of fast food and grease wasn’t the healthiest of meals but it was something at least; plus it came with a toy. He’d always been a sucker for meal toys.
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Susie
Rogue Werewolf
Orphan
Our cracking bones make noise and we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
Posts: 13
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Post by Susie on Aug 28, 2009 19:30:21 GMT
Compared to her recent diet of garbage and rats, or whatever it was she’d been eating while in wolf form, Susie didn’t actually remember or understand anything about the Black Times in between her streaks of awareness, anything that was hot and fresh was like a banquet and it wasn’t as if she didn’t needs the fats and carbohydrates the food would provide, she did need them desperately. Four months on the streets had made her rail thin with malnourishment. Brittle to look at, like a little china doll. A very dirty one, granted. It was actually that smell which roused her from the ebbing folds of sleep, not Richie’s coming and going and she stirred a little more before blinking and reaching a knuckle autonomously to rub at her eyes blearily.
It took her a moment to wake up properly and when she did she tensed visibly, small, thin muscles straining and she froze, half curled up, eyes locked on the man in the room. Just as quickly though she calmed again, memories coming back to her properly as her mind skipped and jumped to catch up. It was okay, she remembered that she had come with him because she had wanted to and because he didn’t smell wrong or like he might hurt her or trap her. Susie sat up and yawned but she didn’t speak. Just watched him with wide eyes.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Aug 29, 2009 23:41:53 GMT
“Hey kiddo,” Richie said gently, still somewhat worried and nervous that he might say or do the wrong thing and scare the little girl, something to be avoided at all costs. He didn’t have any real experience with children, and what he did know tended to involve treating them basically as miniature adults. Somehow, the detective didn’t believe such an approach would be helpful in this case, but even he knew enough to know that he couldn’t just say ‘oi you’ or anything as vulgar. “I brought you something.” Hesitating a moment, Richie finally stepped forward and placed the small brown bag on the bed, moving back again so that she shouldn’t feel too overwhelmed by his presence.
With an encouraging smile, he nodded towards the bag he had just put down. “It’s not much, but I thought you might like something to eat.” Richie was used to carrying whole conversations by himself but most of the time he didn’t feel so unsettled as he did right now, that same familiar rush of anger directed at whoever had done horrible things to the girl. Awkwardly, he shuffled backwards a little, sitting back down on the same seat he had watched over her from. “Do you think you could tell me your name kiddo? It’s okay if you don’t want to,” he added quickly, “We can stick with kiddo if you prefer.”
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Susie
Rogue Werewolf
Orphan
Our cracking bones make noise and we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
Posts: 13
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Post by Susie on Sept 3, 2009 1:16:30 GMT
It wasn’t until that cue in the form of a nod of his head that Susie actually moved o open the bag, her nose drawing in the greasy, warm scent of fats and meat, things that her body needed so badly right then. First her fingers parted the paper where it was folded over and then her nose and mouth went into the bag, peering in there, taking in the scent. It seemed okay. Nothing rotten for a change. One hand slipped in there too and pulled out the squishy lump that was the burger, glancing at Richie once before she put it on the bedspread and started to pull the wrapping back, revealing the prize at the centre, still hot. One more glance at him and she picked it up and took a huge bite out of it, barely able to close her mouth while chewing, her stomach rumbled hungrily.
Sadly, she didn’t speak, not to answer with her name or to thank him, she just stared at him for a long minute and then looked back at the burger in her hands. Ketchup was squeezing out from between the bread and the burger, the yellow cheese and mustard smeared her dirty fingers. Susie ripped a chunk off of the burger and extended it towards Richie, her head tilting questioningly. It seemed rude to eat it all on her own.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Sept 4, 2009 22:56:30 GMT
It almost broke his heart to see how she reacted to what had seemed such a simple action on his part. The way she hadn’t moved until he had visibly encouraged her and that hesitation when confronted with the food before the speed in which she had begun to attack it. It all screamed of someone who had been starved and who had suffered God knew what in her recent past. Richie only hoped that she wouldn’t eat so fast she threw up. He didn’t mind the mess she was making on the bed with the dirt, or the ketchup or mustard. That was nothing, unimportant in any way. Sick was another matter; everyone had a quirk, even detectives and vomit was Richie’s. He could handle a corpse with bits missing for example, but chunks of half digested food were another matter completely.
“Oh… no kiddo, it’s all for you.” Richie assured her; slightly amazed that in spite of everything, the girl still seemed to remember manners, or at least kindness. The little blond clearly needed every bite far more than he did. She didn’t seem to mind being called kiddo, which was a good thing, Richie at somewhat of a loss as to what else to call her; the child was obviously traumatized and not keen to speak but they didn’t really need two way speech to communicate, the man once more motioning at her to carry on eating. It would go cold quickly enough and she hadn’t even moved onto the fries or the – already – cold can still in the bag along with the toy. Belatedly, Richie considered the fact he should have really got her juice or something healthy like that to drink, but reasoned that possibility of a kid sugar high or not, she needed sugar right now.
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Susie
Rogue Werewolf
Orphan
Our cracking bones make noise and we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
Posts: 13
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Post by Susie on Sept 9, 2009 23:52:46 GMT
Luckily for Richie the little blonde girl had been half-starved for the last few months meaning that she would not only eat every bite but that she would keep it down too. Thanks in part to her werewolf metabolism and constitution. Not that she had any idea that she possessed such things, but that wasn’t the point. Susie had no fear of throwing up, and she still remembered to chew her food too. Mostly. It was half chewed at least and then swallowed thickly. For a moment the hand held out towards him hesitated slightly but he seemed sincere in wanting her to eat everything and when he said that it was all for her to consume she did just that. Not needing to be told twice.
As she ate her eyes stayed largely on him though, an undertone of wariness in her gaze and the readiness with which her tired muscles held themselves. As if she were ready to run at the first sign of trouble no matter what. Those big blue orbs only wavered when she had polished off the burger and had to look into the bag to find the fries, cradling the cardboard tube in one hand and picking the deep fried potato stick out one at a time to eat.
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Richie
Human
LAPD Detective: Anti-Crime
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
Posts: 55
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Post by Richie on Oct 5, 2009 2:25:16 GMT
He relaxed slightly when the food was withdrawn, glad that the little girl wasn’t going to be stubborn or worse, upset at his refusal. Every mouthful could only make her feel better and better, hopefully resembling more human and less tormented skeleton. It was probably wishful thinking on Richie’s part, but he hoped that the meal would loosen her tongue a little as well, at least enough to get her name from her. It seemed wrong somehow to carry on without some name to put to her face, as though he was wronging her in some fashion. Everyone deserved a name, their own identity and Richie wanted to be able to give that to her.
Belatedly, an idea occurred to Richie, mind finally connecting the dots, the state of her clothes and the fact that in such a thin, dirty outfit, she had to be cold, if not outright freezing. Slowly, always conscious that he might spook her, the detective stood, making sure to keep his movements slow and fluid, a deliberate call back to their meeting the night before. It had worked then, kept her from running and hopefully it would do the same here, noting with approval that she had finished the burger and was moving on to the rest of the food. “I’m just going to get something from the wardrobe, okay?”
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Susie
Rogue Werewolf
Orphan
Our cracking bones make noise and we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
Posts: 13
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Post by Susie on Dec 27, 2009 23:27:12 GMT
One of the worst tings about what had happened to Susie had to be that she had been changed forever right as she was starting to recognise herself as a human being; a child beginning to identify with the world on a more intellectual level, starting to understand in a bigger way that her actions affected the world around her, that decisions were important, to understand that one day she was going to be an adult and have to craft a life for herself. At eight she had hardly even started down that path and that was the problem, her development was well off course to the point where she didn’t even really have the capacity to see herself as human; the word had lost definition to her, she was a thing, an entity without ties to the world. It would take more than a burger to remind her of what or who she was, especially when those things hadn’t been given the chance to manifest in the first place.
There were some perks to her existence, for one thing she didn’t generally get cold, her body was much more hardy than that of a regular human eight year old, but of course Richie couldn’t know that. As he moved her big blue eyes tracked his movement, and while she didn’t respond to him she didn’t move either, not to balk out of the room or to attack out of fear. Susie just sat where she was and polished off that mouthful of fast food she had been working over, reaching for more French fries steadily.
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