Participants:
| Scene Title | Feeling Out Opinions |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | There's a delicate dance of information that Elisabeth's looking for. |
| Date | Mar 11, 2011 |
Textile Factory 17
It's fairly well known that JJ doesn't have an apartment other than the room he keeps at the FRONTLINE headquarters; usually he's up the latest in the evening and up the last in the morning, consequently. Last night, however, he left after his assigned hours and didn't come back. The clock's hands are approaching the next official shift when he comes into the hub of operations.
Outwardly, he looks healthy enough. The medical reports warn that he'll have some pain and stiffness for quite some time, but his movement is as fluid and frenetic as ever before. His hand is wrapped around one of his Red Bulls, and nods his head to those working in the center, reaching up with his free hand to pull out the headphones snaking into his ear from the iPod in his jacket pocket.
Elisabeth's been in operations all night. It's been a one, too. Although the dome is down, the teams are still cleaning up the aftermath. And it's not always pretty. She's setting the headset down as JJ comes through, and she tells the tech, "Go… get some rest. The next shift can monitor, but we're starting to get back to reasonable hours." With a smile the blonde turns and spots him. "Well, now…. you just heading in?" She walks off the operations floor and gestures for JJ to precede her toward the rec room. "C'mon… you can sit a bit. How's your back?" Because she's read the reports.
"I can work," JJ protests, brows knitting a bit. "My back's fine." The concern earns a smile but a wave of his hand as if he could wash away her concern. "It's nothing. What's on the agenda that I can help with?"
Still, he moves in the direction she's gesturing him in, not about to disobey entirely as he steps into the rec room. Rather than sit, however, he merely leans against the arm of one of the sofas, which lowers his height a touch so he can look up at her, green eyes widening as he waits for her to speak.
Those blue eyes are thoughtful on him. "I know you can still work. Believe me, I'll be putting you to work soon enough," Elisabeth informs him. "You're on light duty until Monday, after that you can resume as close to full activity as is reasonable." She too leans back against the arm of one of the couches, crossing her ankles with her hands resting near her hips. She's dressed casually, in a pair of jeans and a white pullover blouse topped by a pink cardigan. Pink! Really?? But yes — his CO is a woman and she occasionally dresses like it. Even her blonde mane of hair is loose.
"You keep to yourself a lot…. but I wanted to say thank you to you. You weren't… the only person I knew in the dome. Some good friends of mine were also in there. And I'm grateful to you for looking out for them. Ygraine spoke pretty highly of you."
JJ's brows knit a bit and he looks down, cheeks coloring as he reaches to set down his can on the end table. "No reason to thank me. I did what I could, to the best of my ability while I was in there, to the best of my ability as a FRONTLINE officer and as a person. You'd have done as much or probably more — my ability doesn't help much in any thing offensive, and it didn't do much for helping us find the guy responsible, but it is what it is."
He clears his throat, his pale green eyes moving up to her face. "Ygraine's great. She did a helluva lot more than me, civvie and all." There's a wry grin at that, and he tips his head curiously. "Who'd you know in there? Besides me and Ygraine."
Elisabeth shrugs slightly. "Couple of people." She smiles faintly. "You'll find I have my ear to the ground in all sorts of interesting places. Girl named Claire. Guy named Ben. Probably not people you know or anything." Liz's blue eyes are shuttered, as always. Her tone's casual though. "From all reports, you acquitted yourself quite well. Frankly, I'm grateful they didn't just jump you in there, Jones. You were a handy target. Although I suppose there were others who were wearing bigger ones." She studies him and says in a soft tone, "You don't need anyone around here babying you, you're a grown man and a solid soldier. But if you need some help, Jones… I've got two good ears, okay?"
He doesn't visibly react to either name, but nods to the rest of it. "I might not have said what I was except I was trying to get people to get away from the first explosions we heard, to move north and away from it, and yelling FRONTLINE seemed like a good idea at the time," he says with a bit of a chuckle. "After that, it was kinda hard to go back on it, but I think it worked out all right. I'm here, anyway, and it wasn't being FRONTLINE that almost got me killed, it was just being SLC." There's a bitterness to his tone that isn't often there.
He nods at her last sentiments, and crooks a toothy smile up at her. "Thanks. I'm all right. It's par for the course. Save your ears for Ygraine. She's having a rough time of it, I think."
Elisabeth nods slightly. "She is," she agrees. Glancing away from him, she says softly, "It's not surprising. What you guys lived…. " She grimaces and looks back at him. "We're going to be having a squad meeting soon. I've… got concerns. About some of the things we might be asked to do. And you all need to know where I stand, so that if shit hits the fan… you know why."
Green eyes study her face for a moment and he nods, a rare serious expression on his face. "I think you and I have some of the same sort of principles, Liz, if we have the same group of friends off the clock. I'm not gonna do anything to hurt innocent people. It's not why I took this job, and so if that's what you mean by the shit hitting the fan, well." He offers a humorless smile. "You know I'll be ducking the shit storm with you."
Interesting. Elisabeth watches him with a look that is part wary and part wist. She'd like to trust him, but she doesn't trust many people these days. "Then I think we're on the same page, at least insofar as we need to talk about it for now." Her own smile is less than amused. "I won't allow the squad to become Auschwitz guards on my watch. And it may pit me against Kershner and those above her." She pauses. "The OS squad has been engaging in some… questionable actions in my opinion. So… if you get out there on the streets and hear anything, I'd be much obliged to know."
His own eyes narrow and he nods. "I'll keep an ear out," JJ agrees, and then he lifts a hand, wiggling fingers. "Or a hand out," he adds, reminding her of his ability, "and let you know if I find anything. But I'm pretty sure they're more careful than that."
The Red Bull is picked up and sipped. "The others on the squad… they're good people. I think they'll be in line with your thinking. There's a reason they're not on Heller's," he adds.
Taking a breath, Elisabeth considers his opinion on that. And she murmurs quietly, "Oh, there are several reasons for that, I'm quite sure." A wicked twinkle invades those blue eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if they put you all here to try to keep me on the straight and narrow. I like to color outside the lines a bit… call me a rebel if you will. But I admit to being… ill at ease with some of the situations we're facing. Dooley really loves her new toys." The quirk to her lips should be a smile but it's not quite. "I'm not sure I like the drone program much. We'll have to see how that shakes out." She pushes upright, uncrossing her ankles to stand.
The mention of the drone program has JJ's eyes narrowing and his posture straightening as he crosses his arms, tipping his head at her curiously.
"I'm still getting up to speed and catching up. Is it just the one, that … proto thing… or do we have more?" he asks, and there's a wariness to his expression that says he is quite the opposite of Dooley on this note.
"Dooley's drone has been undergoing…. I'm assuming some kind of testing to make sure the technopath didn't damage it." The one Elisabeth got her ass reamed for bringing in. "I've also been informed that if we have any questions about it, we should take it up with the DoEA because there will be more of them eventually." She pauses and eyes him. "I don't know if you're aware, but there are also…. prototypes of another kind on the loose in Midtown. Carrying Evo detection equipment on board. We've been informed that it's a DoEA test run. So I would … advise you to tell anyone you know who might… take a shortcut through there… to not. If they can avoid it."
There's a twitch in his jaw and he gives a nod. No surprise. He either already knew or it doesn't shock him. "All right," he says, standing up and stretching a little, a slight wince that suggests doing so pulls at muscles that don't want to be pulled. "Thanks for the update," he adds.
Picking up his Red Bull, he takes another swallow, and nods to her. "Pink's a good color on you. You should see if you can get some Horizon armor in that color." The words are punctuated with a playful smirk and he's off to move toward the command center once more, to get back to his light duty.
"Ffft," Elisabeth retorts to his back. It's good natured, though. He made her smile, and she watches him retreat thoughtfully. "Later, Jones."