Trooper Station: Wednesday

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

Now that the drama of Soap Opera Weekend had passed, Dale was looking forward to the simple day of drinking coffee, eating doughnuts, catching up on paperwork and taking normal calls from the simple townspeople of Fandom.

"No, Miss. I'm afraid we can't pass a law to enforce that young man to walk around shirtless. Especially with winter coming up."

Okay, the mostly normal phone calls from the simple townspeople of Fandom.

"... Yes, Miss. I'm sure he is very tasty."

All right, he had coffee and doughnuts.

[open]

Comments

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

Ray swung in somewhere at a reasonable hour. Had to keep busy and everything. Busy, busy, busy... "Hey, Cooper! What's up?"

Or maybe he just came there to flop and lounge on the chairs. Hey, they had wheels, he needed something to do, perfect match.

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"You'll be happy to know that the townspeople of Fandom are over their trauma," Dale said hanging up the phone. "However I do believe you would still consider them weird. You seem to be in a good mood today."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, tried getting up on the other side of the bed this morning," he snarked, rolling his chair back so he could see Cooper better. "Don't know how I feel about it. So, uh, this gig coming up this weekend, what's the deal?"

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Parents weekend at the high school," Dale said leaning back in his chair. "Though it seems to be a big weekend for the teachers and townspeople as well. Lots of visitors and there are usually a few incidents. Nothing to the extreme as the other weekend. Hopefully."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Sure. You say that now, tomorrow?" Ray clapped his hands. "Wham! We're all zebras."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Well I expect that's possible," Dale replied thoughtfully. "There was the weekend where everyone turned into a pony. However I think the island still needs to recharge from... well whatever caused the lunacy the other weekend."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"It was rainin' paint like three days later," he pointed out, swiveling a little on his chair before he went to go for coffee. "Experience, Cooper. Experience tells me it might happen."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"So you've attuned yourself to the strangeness of this island already?" Dale asked with an amused expression on his face.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"No, I said experience, I did not say attuned. I am not attuned, Cooper. Do you see me neighing like a horse on alternate Tuesdays? No." He grabbed hold of his coffee. "--Ow, hot." It was pretty much part of the deal by now.

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"I forget Ray... how long have you been on the island now?" Dale said imitating a thoughtful pose.

He knew he shouldn't tease Ray but his reactions were usually worth it.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

That just got him a glare for his troubles. Reaction that. "Do not make me have to get booked for assaulting a colleague with a heated beverage, Cooper. I got experience enough."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"My bad," Dale said holding up his hands in a mea culpa fashion. "Let's not let this get in the way of our professional relationship."

Plus Dale would hate to see coffee wasted.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Good," Ray muttered, going through his usual process of preparing the coffee for consumption. "My point is, I would not want to turn into a zebra." He nodded sideways. "It might mess with the, uh, hair. The style."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Well hairstyles not withstanding, I find that the occasional transformations can actually be a very rewarding experience," Dale replied thoughtfully. "Quite frankly my experience as a horse and and a woman were very enlightening."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Coop?" he said, "You're a freak."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"You didn't find your time as a woman informative?" Dale said doing his best to hide a grin.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Tell me," Ray said, lifting his coffee before sipping it, "Am I or am I not still holding a heated beverage?"

Well, okay, he'd had really nice jugs, but he didn't see why he had to go and agree with Cooper on anything. It wasn't in his religion.

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Fair warning," Dale said amiably. "Just trying to point out that everyone tends to have these experiences once and a while and you never know when such an experience could be helpful in an investigation. In fact a former detective and I used to spend a good amount of time making preparations in case these incidents should happen again."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"There's a difference between preparation, and spouting breasts in the middle of the night," Ray said, gesturing with the fingers of one hand to put that point across. "One, I can do over my morning coffee. The other, I get cramps."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Well, see right there is a case for preparation," Dale replied. "Since this had happened on the island before I had a women's suit ready for the experience, a sports bra and suitable medicine and materials in case the need arose."

Yes. Dale was an Eagle Scout. Can you tell?

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

Ray stared at him. Then shook his head. "Yeah," he said, "Fell asleep through half of that. Listen, did you get any of those 'preparation plans' on file?"

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"I have a set of binders in my desk and some in a fireproof safe back at my apartment," Dale replied. "I'm sure you'd appreciate the thoroughness."