Coal Mine Street Police House

[Eleri Mortymer]

As Eleri walked down the road, she was vaguely aware of a loud crashing noise behind her. She sighed - no doubt there'd be more for her to tidy when she got back.

As she walked, she thought. She knew there was a Tesco, and an Asda... but they were both in the town. She wondered if there was a corner shop or something nearer, but she doubted it. The only people she'd encountered on the edges of town were either rich enough to have their food imported or send someone to get it for them, or the type that'd rather raid a shop than pay for their food.

She felt the mass of change in her pocket, rolled her eyes and decided. She was going home.

((Continued in the Mortymer House thread))

[Eleri Mortymer]

As Eleri approached the Police House again, she braced herself. No doubt there'd be some mess or another that hadn't been there when she'd left.

Opening the door she saw that she was right. She dumped the bag on the floor, kicked the door shut and put her hands on her hips.

"And where, exactly, did this come from?" She asked, pointing to the assorted mess from the attic.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright looked around the room, and gave an innocent shrug.
"Where did what come from?" He asked, barely containing his own grin. Oh, he was going to get such a Looking at, and yet it was still worth it...

"Oh! Good news!" He suddenly said with a sarcastic optimism. "I found the phone! The bad news is....it was in the attic, and, well..."

He lifted off of the pile a very old, very grubby, very smashed phone, which fell apart into several pieces in his hand.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri, knowing full well he was probably expecting it, gave him a Look, one which said 'I'm not impressed and you're lucky I can't do anything about it.'

She reached into the bag she'd brought and pulled out her phone.

"I think mine is in better condition, somehow." She said lightly. She put it back into the bag and pulled out the kettle instead. Without a word, she handed it to Wright.

"Seeing as I'mn going to have to clean all this up, make yourself useful and make some tea." She instructed him. "There's teabags, milk and sugar in the bag."

She turned away and inspected the mess. This was going to take some cleaning...

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright fumbled with the kettle, and eventually tossed it onto a nearby pile of papers. Tea? If she left him to make it, he'd make it his way. Which usually meant letting it stew for an hour and drinking it cold and congealed. Wright thrived on bad food.

"This place doesn't need a clean!" Wright protested, waving his arms at the area around him. "It just needs some creative naming. Look, that pile there, it's not a pile of papers, it's a chair. That big pile, that's a filing cabinet. That there's a table. That massive one, that can be your desk. See! We're tidy! It's not rubbish, it's vital station equipment."

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri gave Wright another Look and then glanced meaningfully at the kettle. With a sigh she retrieved it and put it back in the bag.

"I'm sure it is, sir, but the... uh... 'vital equipment'... looks somewhat in disrepair, and as such probably needs replacing." She pointed out calmly.

Two can play at that game. She thought, supressing a smile. With an 'I'm going to clean, whether you like it or not' look at Wright, she re-cleared a space on the floor, fetched the roll of black bags, knelt down and started sorting the mess once again.

[Nicholas Wright]

"What are you doing!?" Wrigh cried sarcastically. "That's destroying police property!" He had liked that chair. It was his favourite one to sit in. And by that, he meant it was the pile he sprawled in drunk the most.

He then, with a spiteful purpose, went to a pile, pulled out an old rusty kettel, and gave Eleri his version of a Look.
"And I'll make the tea. With station equipment!"

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri ignored the first comment and went on cleaning. It was just easier.

However, when Wright mentioned tea, she lifted her head and looked at the kettle in his hand. Well... I suppose rusty tea is better than no tea.. She thought to herself.

"Good idea, sir." She said blandly. "Milk, no sugar for me please."

Then she went back to her pile of papers.

[Hadrian Beaumont]

Hadrian stared at the mess in the main station office, then he looked at the Captain and his rusty kettle and Eleri from where she was cleaning. Damn she was a brave lady to drink anything from that thing! He would be too worried about lead poisoning or HIV or something like that.

"Christ, I leave you people alone for five minutes and the floor gets three feet more 'stuff' scattered across it." He mused outloud, waving a baggy sleeve at the thing from the attic sprawled across the floor. He grinned at them, "I don't think I'm quite 'man' enough for the uniform sir." He told the Captain simply.

He was already wearing the smallest uniform they had and even then it practically swallowed him, sometimes, he cursed his sister for giving him her statue, he was short goddamnit. Short and scrawny, and now he looked like a child playing dress up in the oversized police uniform. Christ his mother was going to pinch his cheeks into the next life if she ever saw him like this.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri looked up and smiled as Hadrian came back into the room.

"I have worse things to worry about than a rusty kettle." She told him mildly. Then she cursed herself for reading Hadrian's thoughts without telling him.

"I had nothing to do with this." She said, looking meaningfully at Wright. "And don't worry about the uniform, I'll be ordering new ones soon. Well..." She paused and looked doubtfully at the mess. "Once this lot's done."

She resisted the urge to get up and hug him, pinch his cheeks, take his picture or any other motherly act, and busied herself again.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright meanwhile, fell about laughing, and wished he had a camera, because he was pretty sure if Hadrian was going to be sticking around, he had better never live this down.

Eventually he calmed down, and gave Eleri a meaningful look.
"Don't listen to her. She had everything to do with this." He insisted more to her than himself. "I would never have 'cleaned' the attic without her influence!" And yes, he somehow managed to pronounce the inverted commas.

Wright grinned at Hadrian, and simply said, plenty loud enough for Eleri to hear;
"She's right. Don't worry about the rust." He then lowered his voice (just enough to for Eleri to still hear), and added: "It's the milk she should worry about." He didn't add on the bit about in this station, where did she think he'd find milk from? He figured she'd be worried enough as it was...

[Hadrian Beaumont]

Hadrian grinned at the laughing captain, "Yeah yeah, laugh it up. You wish you were as cute as me." He declared poking at his nose grinning cheekily.

"And yummy lumpy milk." He poked his tongue out in disgust yet still managed to grin at the same time before beginning to roll up his sleeves.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri ignored both Wright and Hadrian as she tied the top of the black bag she'd just filled. That was a lot of paper, and yet somehow the room didn't look any cleaner.

"I told you, sir, there's milk in the bag." She said, pointing without looking up. "From the looks of the station, I figured the tea-making facilities would leave rather a lot to be desired, so I came prepared."

She looked up at Hadrian. "There's a clean kettle too, if you'd prefer. And see he doesn't poison himself with bad milk, would you? I don't think I could cope with vomit tonight as well." She said mildly, before looking back down, tearing a new black bag from the roll and starting on a fresh pile.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright looked rather annoyed at the suggestion he might get sick from bad tea. The man lived off bad food and drink. If anything, ordinary tea would make him ill. His stomach was lined with lead and prepared for the worse. It had never been given anything good.

"Been drinking the station milk all my life. Never made me ill!" Wright said proudly. "Although... I've never actually had to buy new milk. It just...kind of...refills itself. I think it's been growing..." He pondered.

"And there's nothing wrong with this kettle!"

[Eleri Mortymer]

"Of course not, sir." Said Eleri without looking up. "But it can't be doing you any good."

She shifted slightly and started another pile, which caused a minor landslide. She sighed.

"In that case, Hadrian, make sure he doesn't poison either of us."