Cause we got the fire - OPEN

[mathemagier]

WHO: Hermann & YOU
WHERE: Local Virginia Prison
WHEN: May 1st-23rd
WHAT: Hermann's been sentenced to prison for his crimes against the government. Come have a chat!
WARNINGS: None for now- tba.



In the interest of maintaining order, visits are conducted in a private room. Visitors are led in and sat on one side of a glass partition, opposite a door leading into the inner bowels of the prison itself.

A door that unlocks and opens with the loud echo of a complex mechanism. Clad in bright orange, wrists and ankles cuffed, Hermann's brought through supported by a pair of flanking guards. His pinched expression betrays discomfort, and a heavy hand on his shoulder pushes him to sit. He throws a positively poisonous look at the offending guard as he's chained to the desk- a tight veneer of disapproval that doesn't completely fade while he examines his visitor.

It isn't until the guards leave and the door has shut that Hermann leans back, raising his eyes in a silent gesture toward the cameras tucked into the corners of the ceiling. Alone perhaps, but ever presently monitored as a matter of course.

Hermann picks up the receiver with a look for his visitor to do the same.

"I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to come visit." A sentiment that may or may not be true, depending on the visitor in question. If in doubt, take it with a grain of sarcasm. "As you've seen, I'm afforded every courtesy here."

And okay, that last bit is very clearly sarcastic.

Comments

Set it for the 2nd

[dirtyredneck]

Daryl is no stranger to visiting someone in jail. Prisons like these were a bit more heavy handed than the local county lock-up he'd been used to with Merle, but it wasn't that much different when it came down to it. Just some extra glass to go with the chains and irons rather than a table bolted to the floor.

"Sure you are," he responded easily enough, leaning forward to rest his weight on his elbows, eyebrows raised. "You know, between the two of you, thought it'd be Newton that'd get his ass arrested someday. "

[mathemagier]

He both was and wasn't surprised to see him. Last time had been.. well, before the wedding. Their honeymoon and move into their new house had kept him from scheduling another gun training appointment. And then the Dream had started and Newton vanished.. And now, well-

"Yes, I've never pictured myself on this side of the law, whereas Newton is the one with rebellious nature. Perhaps it's his influence, only I'm not all talk."

He sighed, shrugging. "Though really, there were a number of factors at work here. The past few weeks have been a trying time for many of us."

[dirtyredneck]

"Never thought he was all bark no bite," Daryl said, tilting his head almost thoughtfully to the side. "Didn't figure you weren't neither. Just... not the sort to get yourself in the lockup."

Oddly enough, there was no judgement in his tone. Some curiosity maybe, definitely some amusement, but no judgement.

After a second he lifted his chin in a nod, "Yeah, heard shit went down while I was cutting myself off from everything. Stupid of me."

[mathemagier]

"..We all have our coping mechanisms," he said at length, encroaching on something akin to sympathy. Hermann was all too aware that he certainly wasn't in any position to judge.

"Newton and I have opposing problems when it comes to follow-through, but the end results are often similar. Only this time I overcame the theory and applied it- a bit hastily, I admit. At the time, I didn't have much of anything to lose."

[dirtyredneck]

"Wasn't coping. Was... was filming..." Daryl ducked his head, trying to hide the shame on his face but probably doing more to telegraph it. "Mako talked me into proposing a television show before she left and it got greenlighted. Started filming at the start of April so I turned things off to get it done with."

He figured if anything really went wrong, someone would get a message to him. Either over the phones or through the flowers. He underestimated how fucked up this world was. Even if he did need the disconnect to finally deal with Mako being gone.

"Sorry I... I shoulda been around for ya ta call on. Shoulda said something."

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

"Yeah." Sitting across from him through the glass, Jacob folds his arms across his chest and snorts gently. "I can really feel the love."

Jacob is wearing a suit today- he's here on official business as well as someone who knows Hermann. Despite having served with the Rogue ImPort Suppression Enforcement team for over a year, he hasn't had much face to face contact with actual, literal rogue imPorts yet. It figures his first would be Hermann.

"You doing okay so far?"

[mathemagier]

Hermann manages a fleeting, humored smile, though it swiftly fades to discomfort. He tries not to think too much about Jacob being an enemy or his position in RISE. Frankly, he'd been a little surprised RISE hadn't been involved in his arrest.

"I suppose it could be worse. The communal showers are honestly the worst part of this sentence. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage several weeks of it."

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

"I'm surprised you didn't have a plan for handling it, honestly." Jacob shrugs, his eyes flicking toward the floor. "From what I saw on the news, it sounds like you were expecting this. Did you want to be caught? Or is this where you tell me you were mind-controlled?"

Adding to the awkwardness is the fact that the last time he saw Hermann, he had been trying to put him into captivity on government authority- in the sick dream world where Jacob was a Soviet pawn, not a RISE agent.

Jacob wonders how much Hermann remembers of their strange remote battle. He remembers every moment, even the parts he wishes he could forget.

[mathemagier]

Hermann sighed, sounding very nearly wistful.

"Yes, I could have run- teleported away to another country altogether. But where would that have gotten me, Mr. Taylor?" The man in front of him didn't feel like the 'Jacob' he'd spoken with at the wedding. Whether or not that was a holdover from the Dream or the undercurrent of anxiety about the man's position in RISE was difficult to say.

He leaned forward, expression serious. "I'd be a fugitive, and I've already spent twelve years of my life under threat. I refuse to live in fear any longer. Bad enough I spent days waiting to be arrested at any given moment."

Squeezing his eyes shut, Hermann rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I am tired. I didn't want to have to do things this way, but at least I can look forward to going home after I've served my sentence here."

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

"It would have gotten you further away from the communal showers, for one thing," Jacob says wryly. But then his expression becomes more serious, and he nods with sympathy as Hermann rubs his nose.

"Still. It takes guts to cross a line like you did- but a lot more guts to own it, and stick around to accept the consequences. So I get it." In Hermann's place, he probably would have wanted to get things over with rather than draw out the suspense.

[am_i_a_monster]

Prisons make Abigail nervous. Being here brings up memories of her old life back home, where there seemed to be a constant threat that she'd be locked away for her role in her father's crimes, or the death of Nicholas Boyle, or framing Will, or any of the other things she feels guilt over. The idea of being locked away with that guilt is terrifying.

Even though she knows that she's just a visitor, watching Hermann being chained and the sound of the door closing makes her want to run. The only thing keeping in her place is the memory of her dream world life and a feeling that she is supposed to be watching his back even now when she is awake. She glances to the camera and gives a tiny nod of understanding, then picks up the receiver on her end.

"Yeah, it looks they gave you a new wardrobe and everything." Abigail replies with sarcasm lacing her voice, watching to see if he remembers her from the dream world too.

"Hi." She adds after a moment. "How are you?"

[mathemagier]

Now there's a face he hadn't expected to see. Hermann leans forward, looking her over with something akin to confusion.

"Hello," he returns cautiously. "I'm er- doing about as well as can be expected, considering the circumstances. ..I don't believe we'd gotten around to introductions before, though you've obviously learned my name since to be here of all places."

[am_i_a_monster]

"Yeah, you were in the news. " Abigail answers. She still doesn't understand the details; coming from a life full of serial killers, a breech of security doesn't seem like a huge deal if no one died.

She quickly adds. "Don't worry. I'm not a reporter or anything like that." The last thing she wants is to be perceived as a Freddie Lounds type, exploiting other people's misery for a story.

"My name is Abigail. So, you remember me then - from that other world?" It does seem more real to her than a dream.

[mathemagier]

"The Dream, yes." That both does and doesn't answer the question of why she's here. "You were an invaluable ally. I may not have survived that raid without you."

He remembers most of the Dream, for better or worse. ..The darker parts of which he's tried to forget and has had some degree of success. Hermann leans back in his chair as much as his restraints allow.

"Well I hope the news didn't paint too awful of a picture. I don't consider myself a criminal, but recent events have tested my patience in regards to senseless limitations."

[am_i_a_monster]

Abigail gives a little smile. It is nice to remember helping someone for a change and having a larger cause to believe in other than her mere survival, even if it wasn't a part of her real life. "I was glad I could do something."

"The news said that you pleaded guilty. You didn't even try to stick up for yourself. I don't get that. Especially if you don't think of yourself as a criminal." It's hard for Abigail to understand. She went to great lengths, including faking her own death, to avoid prison in her past.

"And now you're stuck here until there's a review."

[heckblazer]

Was there etiquette on whether you ought to visit someone in prison after you've crashed their wedding? Not that Constantine much cared for etiquette, but he wondered if it was a conundrum others faced. Perhaps it was more common in the South, among locals and other hooligans.

Still, he was impressed that a nerdy-looking gent could be so capable of perfectly good anti-authoritarian radical action. It was the sort of thing that got the attention of an aging punk like John. So he figures, an afternoon call can't hurt.

There's a feigned theatricality​ as John looks around the visitation space, then a shrug.

"Not as bad as some of the joints I've been locked up in, actually."

[mathemagier]

Though he looked vaguely familiar, Hermann was having a difficult time placing him. Surely he'd seen him somewhere before- in the Dream perhaps? Not helpful if he couldn't even recall which side the man had been on. Best to play it cautiously in this case.

Hermann's brows rose. Some degree of criminal?

"Well I didn't murder anyone and this is my first offense." Hopefully last, if he could manage it. ..Or at least avoid arrest a second time. For all he'd told Jacob he was unwilling to live as a fugitive, it was also due in part to the fact he didn't have any emergency plans in place for such an eventuality. If ever it proved necessary however..

"Now where have I met you before?"

[heckblazer]

There's a moment of hesitation that he may or may not read on John's expression or body language, depending on one's talent for seeing through Poker Faces. He wonders whether honesty is the best policy. On the one hand, what could the bloke possibly do to him from behind a fibreglass wall? On the other, what about when his sentence was up? Anyone smart enough to hack government files was likely going to remember a little white lie, so fuck it.

"I, err, might've given my best at your wedding." Technically, he mostly gave his regards to the open bar, "But I reckoned that's why I owed you a favor."

[mathemagier]

He was terrible at accurately gauging anyone's feelings, but it was difficult to miss the uncertainty in the man's voice. What it meant of course was beyond him. A guest at their wedding made more sense than the Dream at least.

Hermann looked him over, fairly curious about the reason behind this visit.

"A favor." The venue hadn't reported any damages after the fact, so he couldn't be sure what prompted this sort of offer. "What did you say your name was?"

[heckblazer]

"Name's John," he says simply, not troubling to mention his full name. Too easy to draw unwanted attention. Or invoke his own reputation. While a useful tool, it wasn't always the right one for the job.

A hand calloused from years of rough times and tobcacco use slides under a small slot in the window. He passes a pack of cigarettes with bright colours and whimsical lettering, devoid of government warnings with grotesque medical photos and legal jargon. Clearly this wasn't a world where they had to worry about people suing over natural occurrences. It was unassuming enough packaging that the guards would have little need to search it, really. And surely, they wouldn't notice the small, engraved amulet sitting in the bottom of the box.

"Something in there that you might find will ward off harm," John says calmly. "Made from the iron of a leprechaun's blood, very potent and lucky." - okay, so it had actually been a nun that lost a bet with him and donated a few pints willingly, but he couldn't help but embellish. "Should come in handy in the event that the other residents of this fine establishment harass you."

A beat. "And if I recall correctly, most places like this still use smokes as currency, so it might help."

[cantwalkwithoutit]

Gold has several potential reasons for why he's here right now. Personal curiosity could only bring him so far, and he's certainly had things to say about jailed imPorts in the past, but he's never come to visit them personally. Perhaps knowing Hermann a little better through Doc gives him better reason to go the extra mile.

As it is, there he is just the same, probably the last person he was expecting to see, one leg crossed over the other, holding the headseat to his ear and patiently waiting for the inmate to pick up.

He follows his gaze to spy the cameras, and he affords them a narrow look himself before returning his attention to where it should be.

"How often has your council been in to see you?"

[mathemagier]

Somehow, it's most always disarming to find himself face-to-face with Gold.

"Council?" he repeats, puzzled for several long moments. The term makes him think of an ancient council for kings and queens or perhaps a psychologist? Neither would make too much sense. Council, advice- legal advice?

"..My lawyer?" he guesses after another moment's consideration. He shrugs. "Not much to do, I imagine; I plead guilty after all, and my evaluation will determine my eligibility for release."

[cantwalkwithoutit]

Gold seemed to be examining his wrist under the cuff of his shirt, almost like he was checking a watch. However, it was more likely he was looking at his own tattoo. He actually had no idea whether Hermann was registered or not.

It would leave him questioning why his sentencing didn't appear to have happened in a military court.

"Coverage has been limited, but I recall seeing something about a formal complaint being filed. Does your silence on the matter have some bearing on when you're released?"

[mathemagier]

Someone came prepared Hermann decided, looking over Gold through the glass. And now he had a half dozen questions of his own.

"No, that was never a condition of my sentencing," he said finally. "I wasn't injured in the arrest, so I don't expect my complaint will merit more than an agitating footnote for the officers in question."

[cantwalkwithoutit]

"And they never set bail or something similar."

Not completely unusual, he supposed, given the situation, and this world was only slightly aligned with the laws and precedents his cursed self knew. In truth, Hermann's situation was part of a larger profile he was putting together on the people that brought them here -- begun only a little less than a year ago, now, that his own troubles stopped him pursuing at great length.