JGOB, Monday Morning (5/28)

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

Mary has a craving for banana cream pie. She had a rough night and was still a little drowsy so there was also a large cup of coffee. She brought her to-do list with her, but so far the only thing she's accomplished is doodling all over her notepad.

[Open for anyone else needing baked goodies!]

Comments

[stanleykeyworth.livejournal.com]

Stanley wanders in, looking for some cheesecake and coffee. Mmmmmbreakfast.

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

Mary recognizes someone else who was at the brunch yesterday that she didn't get a chance to talk to.

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

Aiden took a break from the office about mid-morning, drawn to JGoB by a craving for coffee and muffins. Couldn't very well deny a craving like that.

She smiled and raised a hand in greeting to the woman she'd seen at the hotel yesterday as she went about ordering.

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

Mary smiled and waved back.

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"Morning," Aiden greeted, collecting up her food and coffee and giving a nod of thanks to the server. "Nice seein' a new face around here. Least, I assume you're new, an' not just someone I've not met yet, anyway."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I'm new to Fandom," she said, reaching over to offer her hand. "I'm Mary Connell, the new manager over at the Arms hotel."

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

Aiden smiled, finding seemingly sane newcomers was always so refreshing. "Nice t'meetcha," she said shaking the offered hand firmly. "Aiden Burn, I run the islands private detective agency."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

Mary blinked rapidly as her brain tried to process this. "Now, this is interesting. So far, I've met the sheriff, am FBI agent, and now a private detective. Is there some sort of law enforcement convention going on here in Fandom that I don't know about?" she asked.

At least she kept her cool this time and didn't start babbling like she did when she met the sheriff.

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"If there is, I don't know 'bout it," Aiden replied with a shrug. "What I do, not exactly law enforcement anymore," she continued. "Not in the strictest sense anyhow."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"I see," said Mary, thinking. "What kind of cases do you get here in Fandom?"

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"You're obviously new here," Aiden said with a chuckle. "This place is full of so much weird, I wouldn' even know where to start on cases here."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Everyone's tried to warn me about that, except for that really odd guy at the bar. He was more interested in his tequila," chuckled Mary. "I'm a Las Vegas native and I thought I had seen the strangest things there. A few days in Fandom and I'm starting to question everything I knew."

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

Aiden jerked a thumb at herself. "Used to be a CSI in New York," she said. "Everything has a logical explanation when you're dealin' with forensics. All goes out the window around here."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"I had some very good friends who worked in surveillance and security, and I even got to help out once in a while," said Mary. "And given enough cameras, you could always get to the bottom of things."

She paused to sip her coffee. "I used to think in absolutes. People were either good or bad. Something was either right or wrong. That guy at the craps table either took the woman's casino chips or he didn't. And now my logic is all jumbled up. I don't even know if I'm a good person anymore." She stopped talking for a moment, looking down at the slice of pie that she had been eating. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"You make more sense than you think," Aiden told her. Considering Aiden's own exit from law enforcement, the other woman's words hit a strange sort of chord with her. "Once you look closely enough, there are so many shades of grey out there. It's impossible to tell the difference half the time. Enough time here, away from anything you knew, you might just start to work things out."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

She still had to hang onto her secrets, but it felt better letting that little bit out. "Working things out is just why I came here," she said. "There were some things that happened in Las Vegas and I couldn't stay anymore. I had some problems and someone close to me helped me realize that unless I got away, I wouldn't be able to get past it and move on with my life."

She grimaced. "And there's my high school sweetheart who's living with one of my good friends. I thought I was over him, but it hurt so much to see how happy they were together."

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"I think the whole concept of this place, is somewhere to go when you just need to be... elsewhere," Aiden said with a sympathetic nod.

"I didn't exactly move out here under the best cirumstances," she continued vaguely. "But distance, can be all you need."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"So starting over in a new place worked for you?" asked Mary. She needed reassurance that she would get past what happened to her.

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"I'm doin' okay so far," Aiden replied with a smile. "Fine, so the place is a freakshow, but least you can't ever get bored."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Then I don't need to worry," said Mary with a grin. "Between the weirdness that everyone is warning me about and my plans for the hotel, I should be too busy to worry about what's-his-name in Vegas."

And it would truly be weird if she could get over Danny that easily.

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

Aiden nodded. "That's the way to think about it," she said. "I thought I'd be bored, have way too much time on my hands when I first arrived. Then those damned trolls bust up my office. Hasn't slowed down for long since."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

Mary heard a little bit about aliens yesterday, but this one caught her off-guard. "Trolls?" she squeaked.

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"Disgusting things," Aiden grumbled. "Office didn't smell right for weeks after that."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

Mary tries to imagine how Ed and Danny would handle a troll marching through the Montecito casino. Ed would probably pull some martial arts move, Danny would call Mike for back-up, Mike would freak out and not leave the surveillance room, and Sam would extend a line of credit and comp its suite if she thought the troll was getting ready to drop some money on the craps table.

"So there are trolls and aliens that I have to worry about. Anything else? Vampires? Werewolves?" she asked.

[outofbrooklyn.livejournal.com]

"Probably 'All of the Above', plus zombies, merpeople and if I'm hearin' the radio right the last week or so, psycho killers," Aiden replied counting them off on her fingers.

"An' there's the odd kiddy invasion," she added. "But they're usually harmless and kinda amusing when you aren't involved in 'em."