Ten Forward Private log - E in the Cooler // Pinched by the Fuzz

[tanteiotaku]

To say he felt like an asshole was an understatement. He hated apologizing for shit, but he supposed he had to this time. Even if he couldn't control anything that was going on. But Philip needed one most of all for that period of time he had to deal with his punkass self.

While he was down here, he was running through what he'd done and what had been going through his head while everything was going on, and all he could conclude was that would have been his fate without the influence of Sokichi Narumi. And he knew it wasn't entirely inaccurate. If it hadn't been for him he probably would have been a very different kind of man now.

He was stretched out on the bed in the cell, his feet crossed at his ankles and his hat down over his face. They'd taken all the Memories and the Driver when he'd reverted back to himself, but at least they'd let him keep his hat.

Overall, he was more upset with Q for setting this up than he was with the crew for locking him up. Even if he hadn't actually been put on ice like this since high school. He still had some of his patience left. Too much longer, and it might run out.

Comments

[decideformyself]

Philip was still reeling at what a creep he'd been. The memories were hazy, but as best he could tell, his memories and personality had been altered such that he'd manifested as an actual member of the Sonozaki family -- by bond as well as blood.

The scary part was, aside from how warped his morals had been... the basic concept wasn't that unappealing.

But he was glad to be back to his usual self. He was not glad to find the Cyclone Memory crushed to pieces in the same way its Museum counterpart had been, but he was sure he could fix it. He'd just need time.

First, though, he had to find Shotaro.

He stood outside of Shotaro's cell and curiously prodded at the force field, recoiling at the shock.

[tanteiotaku]

Shotaro didn't know he had company until he heard the buzz of the force field. "Oi," he chastised him as he took his hat off his face and sat up. He set it down next to him and got up to walk up closer to his partner. Sadly with the field instead of bars he didn't have anything to lean against, so he just rested his hands on his hips. "You okay, partner?"

[decideformyself]

Philip nodded. "I'm glad to see that you're all right, too." He smiled. "Considering your alter ego's penchant for trouble. Then again, that's hardly unusual."

[tanteiotaku]

"Oi!" he said a little more indignantly this time. He was glad to see his spirit was fine after everything that had gone on.

"This is kinda backwards, though. Detectives aren't supposed to get pinched like this," he huffed. "Sorry about the black eye, though."

[decideformyself]

"It happens all the time in the books you read," he pointed out. "And it's not a problem, as you can see. I... Raito Sonozaki saw fit to check in with sickbay." The skin around his eye was as good as new.

"But more importantly, how long will you be stuck here?"

[tanteiotaku]

"Eh, maybe. But it doesn't happen to me." Fortunately, Jinno was willing to let him get away with a lot. Aside that one time Makura thought he'd collared him for murder but that was too absurd to hold a grudge about.

"Not too much longer." He opened his vest to show he'd had everything confiscated. "Unfortunately there's no daring escapes in our future."

[decideformyself]

Philip shook his head fondly. "That would only make things worse."

He was carefully dancing around the subject of what had transpired over the last week. He didn't really want to talk about it. Shooting the breeze with his partner was so much nicer.

[tanteiotaku]

Everything he'd done, especially to Philip, played through his memory quite keenly. Including the look on Philip's face at a certain moment. "Ah, dammit. You're my partner forever, okay? That wasn't me that said I wasn't." He turned a little red and couldn't keep eye contact.

[decideformyself]

His eyes widened.

It had hurt at the time, but he knew logically that Shotaro hadn't been in his right mind. All the same, hearing this now... It brought a smile to Philip's face.

He reached out to place a hand on the force field, forgetting that it wasn't just plain glass. "Ow!"

[tanteiotaku]

He recovered after a moment. "Stop that!" The last thing he wanted to see was Philip do damage to himself or get hassled by the guards for messing with the force field too much.

[decideformyself]

Pouting slightly, he held his hand close to himself as though it were wounded.

"I am glad to hear that, but I never doubted it," he said. "I'm sorry for any particularly obnoxious things Raito Sonozaki said or did, by the way."

[tanteiotaku]

Philip was Philip, and Q for all his omnipotence was never going to be able to change that. "Raito had his own sins to count up. They have nothing to do with Philip."

[decideformyself]

He wouldn't say nothing, but Shotaro had a point. Philip nodded slowly. "And you're stuck counting up somebody else's."

[tanteiotaku]

"The only thing I'm counting is how long it's been since my last cup of coffee. This replicator won't do it," he whined. An uncaffeinated detective was truly a horror to behold.

[decideformyself]

"I'll have a cup of coffee and a bowl of Fuuto Ramen waiting when you're released."

[tanteiotaku]

He grinned. "That's my partner."

He paced a bit inside of his cell. "What right does Q have to make a gold Cyclone anyway? The last thing we need is aliens with those damn things..."

[decideformyself]

Ah, on to that subject. Philip cringed.

"I think Cyclone just happened to be collateral damage of the alteration to my subjective history." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of the shattered Cyclone, now back to the refined form Shroud had created it in. The windy C logo was visible.

[tanteiotaku]

Shotaro just shouted at the pile of circuits and plastic in Philip's hand. That was his fault. "No way!" Seeing Cyclone like that was like seeing his partner severely wounded.

"You can fix it, right?" Being without Cyclone at their disposal would be manageable, but it was no accident that the GaiaMemory Philip used that worked best with Xtreme was Cyclone. Just as Shotaro's was Joker. Going without Joker would be like going without his hat.

[decideformyself]

At Shotaro's reaction, he slipped the pieces back into his pocket. "It won't be impossible. But it will take a while. Fortunately, we don't need to transform very often here."

[tanteiotaku]

He nodded at Philip's conclusions but he still paced. He didn't like it at all, but he had no choice in the matter, really. "And I totally smashed the shit out of it, too..." He leaned his forearm against a side wall and let his head hang. Even if it hadn't really been him, he was still kicking himself for it.

[decideformyself]

"Worry about your own mistakes, Shotaro, and not somebody else's," Philip chided him. "Besides, he had every reason to react as he did."

[tanteiotaku]

He nodded and strode nearer to Philip. "It's probably better that it was that instead of the Driver..." He scrubbed at his hair. "It's in your hands, I guess."

[decideformyself]

Philip nodded. "I'll take care of it, partner. Don't worry."

[tanteiotaku]

"I didn't think I needed another reason to punch Q in the face next time I see him, but I have it now." He grinned and cracked his knuckles.

[decideformyself]

"Do be careful," he admonished. You aren't Benjamin Sisko, Shotaro.

[tanteiotaku]

"I'll try not to bust my hand on his thick skull." This was totally going to happen.

[decideformyself]

"Try not to anger him so much that he sends you back to the Cretaceous period, either."

[tanteiotaku]

"He's the type that enjoys people being afraid of him! I'm not going to be!" He crossed his arms over his chest.

[decideformyself]

Yes, that was just like Shotaro.

"Would you like me to stay a while longer?"

[tanteiotaku]

"I'm not in a hurry for you to leave..." he said, again suddenly having trouble with eye contact.

[decideformyself]

Was Shotaro still feeling bad about what he'd said to Philip? Oh, well. Philip could stay.

Even if he was going to pull out his book and open it up.

[tanteiotaku]

"I can't even read in here," he complained. He turned and sat back down on the cot. He fidgeted a bit with his tie.

[decideformyself]

"That's all right. Have you ever heard of the Scoville scale?"

[tanteiotaku]

Oh god here he goes. But it's not like he had any better options at the moment. "The what?"

[decideformyself]

"It's a scale that measures spiciness. It was invented in 1912 by an American pharmacist named Scoville. For example, a milder bell pepper ranks 100 Scoville units, while Jalapeño peppers rank around 10,000." Raito had been looking into this subject after running into some intensely spicy alien food, but when it came to something as benign as this Philip didn't mind picking up where he'd left off. The subject was highly fascinating.

[tanteiotaku]

"I think I ought to stay away from anything you get out of the replicator for a while..." he replied, laying down with his hat over his face again.

[decideformyself]

He grinned mischievously. "Pure capsaicin rates at 16,000,000 units. Intriguing..."

[tanteiotaku]

"Hey!" he picked up his hat and shouted at his partner. "That sounds like it would kill someone!"

[decideformyself]

"Then you'd better be on your best behavior so you can get out of there and make sure I don't do anything stupid." Yep, he knew exactly what he was doing.

[tanteiotaku]

"I'll get out of here and kick your ass if I hear anything shady going into my ramen!" he pointed at his partner, with the peak of his hat between his other fingers.

[decideformyself]

Philip fiddled with the corner of a page, a smirk on his face.

[tanteiotaku]

"You're just doing this because I can't get at you," he grumbled. Not that he would really do any damage to his partner. Maybe put him in a headlock.

[decideformyself]

He spread his arms invitingly. "Ah, you know me so well, Shotaro."

[tanteiotaku]

"Don't worry, you'll get what's coming to you once I get out of here." With any luck the guy guarding the brig today won't be taking all this too seriously.

[decideformyself]

He laughed and looked back down at his book. "I'll need to test some other foods independently... There's no information here about alien cultivars."

[tanteiotaku]

He just chuckled and shook his head while he put his hat back over his face. Sure Philip could get a little manic about these things sometimes but it was adorable too. His fond smile was hidden by his fedora.

[decideformyself]

He could sense a fondness coming from Shotaro. They'd been partners for so long it was impossible not to.

He took a seat against the wall and continued to read.

[tanteiotaku]

Sure they weren't really talking right now, but just relaxing together was nice too. He was glad to see that he hadn't done any lasting damage to his partner or their partnership. Not even Q was strong enough to do that. But the real question was if it was strong enough to take the stakes getting a little higher. If Philip didn't feel the same way Shotaro did, would it change things? He had been supposed to take care of Philip, not fall in love with him. This wasn't how this was supposed to work.

He lifted his hat a bit to take a peek at his partner. He smirked a bit and let it drop back into place.