#harmfuls

DETECTIVE DAWSON was the newest member of the district 51 intelligence unit, brought in by referral. tim bradford and jay halstead didn't give him a choice. he had just left new york city, he needed something fresh, something new. so he was renting an apartment downtown. awesome. great. it wasn't much, but it was a place to live ( for now ) that he could pay on a month to month lease until he found a more permanent living situation, so it worked. for now. the only problem— no, scratch that. one of many problems he had with that apartment? was that there was a washer / dryer hookup . . . but no washer or dryer included. and he wasn't about to buy them for a temporary living situation. so the laundromat it was.

he threw all of his clothes from the week into one washer because— look, he was a simple guy. he didn't separate out colors and he didn't own anything white that needed bleaching okay? he poured the detergent into the machine and pulled a card out of his wallet ready to pay. except, the damn machine was made in like, 1983, and it only took quarters. who the hell actually had a roll of quarters? brown eyes scanned the laundromat, but he only saw two other people there. an old lady that looked mean as hell, and a young man that was eyeing cooper's wallet like he was about to take it which . . . would have at least made the night entertaining if he tried. then he saw another person and she looked harmless enough, so he walked over, sliding a hand through his hair. "hypothetically," he started in lieu of a proper introduction. "do you know how many quarters these damn things take?"

it's not every day lucy got a call that brought her to a— 'well, well, well.' lucy was leaning over the edge of the well, well, well in question, trying to shine her flashlight down the stone basin, trying to see . . . whatever she was supposed to be looking for. dispatch just said there was 'suspicious activity' and asked her to check it out. she listened to the joke in full before the sergeant stood up straight and turned around to face the male. the look on her face was more skeptical than amused, one brow arched to her hairline.

jay halstead prided himself in having a damn good poker face. literally and figuratively. at a card table, on an undercover mission, whatever. it was kind of a prerequisite of the job of detective, to be a good liar. and hailey upton saw right through him. "i have no idea what you're talking about," he lied, fingering through the case file on the desk absentmindedly, fluttering through page after page too fast to absorb any information from the document.

“ Nothing too intense. I burned it at work. Crazy, huh? ” He burned it on the stove cooking dinner for everyone — it looked worse than it felt, he knew it. It had blistered, and was pretty gross to look at. “ Did you know oil in deep fryers is like, really hot? I was trying to make egg rolls. They were pretty good, by the way. I'll make some for you — once this heals. I'm scared of deep fryers right now. ”

               ❝   i’ve   faced   bad   before.   ❞      one   could   say   she’s   almost   numb   to   it   all.      she   is   currently   on   the   hunt,   trying   to   track   a   man   who   had   slaughtered   everyone   she   loved.      it   had   been   the   hardest   day   of   her   life,   coming   back   from   a   supply   run   to   see   her   father,   step-mother,   older   brother   and   little   sister   dead   at   their   family   farm.      all   that   had   been   left   behind   was   a   single   firefly   pendant.      ever   since   she   has   been   searching   for   this   man,   interrogating   fireflies,   even   killing   some.      so   far   she   hasn’t   gotten   much   information.      she   finds   it   hard   to   believe   the   fireflies   would   go   after   a   family   who   wasn’t   even   associated   with   fedra   or   the   military.      so   this   guy   was   either   a   rogue   or   someone   who   left   the   group   completely.      she   was   hoping   to   track   down   marlene,   who   was   the   head   of   this   whole   organization.      maybe   that   woman   would   have   some   answers.