Participants:
| Scene Title | Donut and the Parolee |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Yi-Min's first meeting with her parole officer goes better than she expected. |
| Date | June 19, 2020 |
The little slip of a middle-aged Taiwanese woman passing through the hallways of Fort Jay, dodging occupied SESA employees and the occasional harassed-looking intern on her way up, doesn't really fit the mental profile anyone would have of an ex-war criminal out on parole.
But, there it is. And here she is.
On Dr. Yeh's side, this is totally uncharted territory for her, too. The last time she had entered any building even remotely affiliated with the US Government had been back in February, helping Wolfhound to plan out their joint assault on Praxis Heavy Industries.
Several months had passed since that point, and many things had changed. Yi-Min's general inclination towards peaceable cooperation with the US government officials who crossed her path, however, had not.
Rapraprap. She is here right on time (three and a half minutes early, technically) for her first meeting with her designated parole officer, and she stands now just outside the partly-opened door to the conference room she'd been directed to, head tilted in politely.
"Mr. Cooper?"
Cooper was finishing the last touches on the plate of donuts he brought in to try and break the ice, when the voice interrupted his concentration. “That’s me.” Then he sees it’s his appointment. Oh shit. Brushing off his hands and his tie, Thomas offers her a bright smile to the woman, rather than a serious face.
“Oh hey! Hi. You’re early. Come on in.” Thomas motions her in and to a chair across from him. “And don’t worry, Dr. Yeh, I appreciate early,” he compliments brightly.
“I brought donuts, in case you're hungry,” Cooper sounds a touch awkwards as if questioning that choice. “Oh, and Nicole sends her best and has threatened bodily harm upon me if I do wrong by you… so that’s nice.” He says it so casually, like it’s a normal thing, but also he doesn’t stop being upbeat or smiling. So he might be joking or maybe just used to it.
Like for like, the saying goes.
The resting stoniness of Yi-Min's expression immediately becomes slightly softer when she witnesses not only the grin that Cooper puts on, but the— atmosphere of the room that he had apparently set up for her.
In her muted fashion, there is curiosity in her gaze when she swings the conference room door open enough to let herself in, taking in the sum of the SESA officer's appearance in a single sweep as she does.
Once she is inside, her gaze falls on the plate of doughnuts, and she actually laughs outright where she stands just in front of the door that falls shut behind her with a click. "Why, I do not mind if I do. Delightful." For better or worse, one thing Yi-Min has gradually been taking on here is a sweet tooth for the sugary abominations that were most American treats, courtesy of the Amish baking in Providence.
“Did Nicole suggest these, too?”
“These?” Cooper points to the donuts with raised bows. He shakes his head and opens her file. “Nawww. It’s all me. Ask anyone in here, that’s my thing… My schtick.” He puts an over emphasis on each syllable, flashing her a toothy smile. “But anything negative they say, don’t believe it…. Or it is an exaggeration.” He nudges the donuts closer.
Turning his attention to her file, Cooper’s brows go up as he flips. “I gotta say, this file is pretty impressive. I mean, of course, working for Praxis wasn’t great, but Nicole thinks highly of you.” Which seems to be a positive.”
He taps a certain page and looks at her like seeing something amazing. “And this ability is so cool. Reminds me of this guy Frank I knew. He had like…. acid saliva.” he wrinkles his nose a bit, “Cool party trick, but man sucked for his love life.” There is a beat and his grimaces. “Sorry… uh….”
He closes the file for a moment and folds his hands over the top of it. “So a little about me, since I know at least what they have on paper…. But… Been a cop all my life. Not exactly the profession my parents wanted for me. Dad wanted me and Tad to join him in the carpet cleaning business. Cooper and sons… Just Cooper and son now. Anyhow… rambling…” He leans back and flips open the file. “I was NJPD, then NYPD, then Home Sec and now SESA. I was in the war, didn’t see a whole lot of action… I was a bonafide smuggler. Kinda miss it… life on the road.”
Cooper sighs out heavily, “And now we are here making sure you stay on the straight and narrow… or slightly curvy and fluffy.” Yeah, it’s a joke. “Just… not being a part of a terrorist group that is trying to kill everyone.”
Listening with interest as she leans towards the enticing plate Cooper is pushing at her, Yi-Min plucks a lemon-glazed doughnut off the very top, swooping a napkin beneath her prize just before she sits down with it.
Adjusting in her seat, she reclines back against it. Her brow arches up at the mention of this man with the acid saliva. "Yes, such abilities tend to be simply destructive more than they are 'cool,'" she says more than a little skepticism, adding on a shake of her head. From her tone, that’s probably a commentary on her own ability, too.
"I'm curious how much they did put on my case file that they gave you," she continues on from that, the small lilt of interest in her voice genuine. "If I was a terrorist trying to kill everyone, I wouldn't have stopped the bioweapon that would, in fact, have killed much of everyone." There isn't any weight behind the statement, unfriendly or otherwise. It's just the dry pointing out of a fact. "Same with Praxis. I would assume my various nefarious misdeeds are all on official record, but not, perhaps, what I actually did to Praxis while there."
It wouldn't surprise her whatsoever if this was the case, this being the U.S. government in question.
Otherwise, she assumes, Cooper wouldn't have felt the need to qualify that working at Praxis wasn't great.
“Point,” Cooper agrees, picking up a cake donut with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles, while looking over the file.
“Unfortunately, it is never that simple in the eyes of the law and the government.” Yi-min at least gets an apologetic look. “But neither is it always fair. I’ve seen people hung for less and people forgiven for far more. I’ve seen good people that did the right thing strung up, while evil SOBs walked. Comes down to lawyers and who you know… I guess.” Cooper’s nose wrinkles. He takes a bite of his donut like he’s trying to get a bad taste out of his mouth.
“What I think you did was freakin’ cool, still gotta do this thing,“ Cooper comments around a mouth full. “Soooo has anything fun and exciting happened since you got out of the clink?”
"Oh, no. The only thing I care about is that you know." Seeming completely appeased, Yi-Min works on splitting her doughnut neatly in two down the middle. "The system is something else, but it'll make both of our lives easier if the one responsible for my parole already knows that my last interest is to… what is it you say? Stir the pot." With a half-flick of her wrist, she very lazily pantomimes the action with half her doughnut pointed downwards like a stirring stick.
Yi-Min has to let out a slight laugh too, letting the remainder of the doughnut hover just above her napkin before she sets it down. "Yes, it does come down to who you know. I am lucky in that way. As for 'fun and exciting…' well. I have taken the recent opportunity to re-introduce a great deal of alcohol into my life, and I have a job interview in a few days with Raytech. If either of these things count?"
“Raytech?” Cooper is only mildly concerned. “Working here, I can’t help but hear a lot of interesting stories about that place. Like robot raptors greeting people at the door. They are known to give a lot of the higher ups around here gray hair.” He writes down what he needs too, taking another bite of the donut in his other hand. “Richard’s a cool dude, tho. He let my bestie and his family stay at his bunker during the war. My daughter, too.”
Setting the pen down, Cooper leans forward a bit, “Don’t tell him, but those Spots?” his eyes widen a bit, “They are kinda creepy if you ask me. Pass those making deliveries on my way home.”
"I am on the same page as you," Yi-Min assures wryly. Robotic animals aren't terribly high up on her list of favorite things. Not after what she has come face-to-face with, in her lifetime. "No, it is well. Someone needs to keep an eye on any scientists with such large aspirations, and I do not envy your company this job. Still. I hope to be able to do some good while I am there. For their… eccentricities, there is lots of good work that Raytech does for the Safe Zone, too."
She pauses, popping a bite of lemon-glazed doughnut in her mouth before adding with another dry laugh around it— "If you would like, I can keep you updated should I encounter any robot raptors."
“Naw, not necessary,” Cooper says with a wrinkle of his nose, “Thanks for the offer tho. They’ve got plenty of eyes on them, I’m sure.” He offers a rueful smile while he writes in her file. “Oh… nice! Lucky you. No drug test.” Realizing how that might sound he quickly amends, “Not that I am saying you are a drugged out loser or anything. Just that your case is unique that there isn’t the same restrictions that a lot of them have.” Which he doesn’t seem to have a problem with. It makes his life easier.
“Okay…” Cooper looks up again, brows ticking up. “These things are pretty quick really, unless you’ve been up to things you shouldn’t. Oh wait..” He looks down at the open folder. “I should note what type of job you’re interviewing for?”
"Don't worry. I would not have guessed that you were calling me this." Another reply from Yi-Min completely wrapped up in wryness. "There would be little point in doing drug tests on me, anyway, so I am glad that is a non-issue. As for what I am interviewing for, I hope to secure a position tied to biochemical research, my area of expertise. Specifically: medical biochemistry and the business of producing specialized vaccines. And so on."
It would be an easy thing to delve into technical details all day, but that seems gratuitous. Cooper might even already be able to guess what one of the first 'specialized vaccines' she intends to work on might be.
…Or not.
By the look on Cooper’s face, that might be greek to him. Still he offers a… “Oh? Wow. Cool!” That is written down to the best of his ability. Interviewing for cool science and medical stuff for Raytech.
“Well, that’s pretty much that…” Cooper says after a moment of looking over his notes. “It will pretty much be like this. You come in, tell me what you have been up too, where you have been. Just confirming you haven’t been up to any shady stuff and you are free again to do your thing until next week.” He’s rather upbeat about that explanation.
“So any questions, Dr. Yeh?” Cooper asks as is required of him.
"Just one." With an aura of patient intrigue, Yi-Min taps a single fingertip on the partially-consumed chunk of doughnut she is still holding.
"From where do you buy these?"
Cooper gets an excited look in his eye at the question, pulling apart his own donut. “So you want to know the name of my dealer huh?” He gives her a sly, smug smile because he knows he has the hook-up for the good stuff. “Well,… you can find her down in Red Hook, working out of a truck. Rings of Juniper,” Cooper, trying to act all sly, gives a snap and finger guns at Yi-min.
“Tell her Cooper sent ya.”