Checking in...[OPEN]

[Cassidy Rivers]

Driving all night, Cassidy made it to the city right before seven a.m. She drove through, taking in the sights and smells of the city on her first tour. Her nose crinkled, smelling more than just humans and also more than just wolves.

She packed the thought away, remembering to check it out later. But first, she had to find the police precinct and report in…even if she was a tad early. Cassidy was one who never was late to anything, or so it seemed. So, her arriving a day early wasn't that much of a shock to anyone who knew how dedicated she was.

Parking the black Hummer H3 in the parking lot of the precinct of the NYPD, in an undesignated spot, she breathed deeply, and then exhaled, trying to calm her nerves that had arrived suddenly, out of nowhere.

Okay…not now. They don’t want to hire someone who is weak…

She breathed in deeply again and released it, nearly jumping out of her skin as there was a peck on her window...

[Tanith Korakas]

"Aaaah!" Tanith scolded, standing roughly fifteen feet back from the SUV. Her left hand was casually in the pocket of her gray slacks, while her right was clasped around a cup of black coffee, keys on a little brightly-coloured coil around her wrist. They jingled as she pointed a finger out, uncurling it from the coffee for a moment to target one of the birds perched on the H3. "Go on, get out of here," she commanded.

The birds regarded her curiously, but the raven in her stared right back. She tilted her head slightly, a jerking motion, and took a few steps forward, causing them to scatter. She could see inside the SUV enough to know someone was in there, and she nodded a little, making a small waving motion. It was a vehicle she didn't recognize, but then again, people came and went in this precinct a lot without her say. She'd been working nights up until last week, so for all she knew, this was something she'd merely missed by lack of presence.

[Cassidy Rivers]

Cassidy stared out the window curiously for a moment as the woman motioned her out. She looked over to grab her phone and her wallet as well as taking the keys out of the ignition and sticking them into her pocket.

As she opened the door, she smiled, and stopped herself before turning her head to smell, knowing that it would not do well to show any signs yet.

Interesting...

Cassidy took her keys out of her pocket and pushed the lock button as her SUV honked.

She offered her hand, "Cassidy Rivers. First day...well, I'm a day early, but first day and I am supposed to report in to SVU."

[Tanith Korakas]

Tanith shook her hand in return - it was a firm shake, but not quite as manly as some of the other women on the force. Tanith was warm to the touch, as well she should be; Avians naturally were quite hot. It didn't help that the chill of the morning air had already left as the sun rose, promising to make it one of those hot city days everyone talks about.

"Tanith Korakas. SVU, huh?" she asked, a brow raised a little. She was still rubbed wrong about being switched to a different part of the program, but she couldn't do too much about it. O'Donnabhain had pulled strings not to have her completely tossed off the force, and that was about as good as it got, considering she got to hear the in's-and-out's of everything Tanith was doing and thinking before, during, and after her... small oversight. She found it taxing that she couldn't bend the truth around her Sergeant, not that she would have, but still. Humans were easier to emphasize and under-elaborate.

"That's my old stomping ground. Do you know the way in? Building is like a damn rat maze, except there's no piece of cheese. If you want, I can show you. Where'd you transfer from?" she asked, already on the move. Lively one, she was. She glanced down at her watch, a small smirk on her face. DeMortei was due any moment, and a morning person he was not. Too bad caffeine didn't really affect shapeshifters, because he could've used some.

[Cassidy Rivers]

"I'll take you up on the offer if you don't mind. I don't think I would like to be found roaming about in the precinct...especially a day early," she stopped...

You're rambling...mouth is moving, no one is listening...

"Sorry, old stomping grounds? I worked SVU back in Fayetteville...and wanted a transfer where I could help more people. Back home, cases were starting to dwindle. And, I know that's not the case here," Cassidy said as she could tell SVU brought up a sore subject with Tanith.

Cassidy followed in behind Tanith not trailing to close, but close enough where she could listen.

[London DeMortei]

'Not a morning person' was an understatement.  Few people knew just how much of an ass London DeMortei happened to be, and he avoided those people whenever he could that might see through him.  Tanith was his partner, and so she saw more of his dark cynicism than most people did, and she saw more of just how bad of a person he could be.  You couldn't hide all the time, and they had a sort of 'understanding' there.  They watched out for each other in the field as partners were supposed to, he knew her brother was into some bad shit and covered for him, and if she ever got any inkling about the sort of trouble he was involved in, she never said anything to anyone.

It was a good situation.

He was just VERY careful about his home situation where she was concerned.  He knew a few things about her history, and could guess the rest.  Of course, it was all VERY different from what was going on with his own son, if you asked him, but that wasn't the point.  He kept his home life where it belonged: quiet and in the dark.

He pulled into the parking lot in his black Jaguar (inside joke, and it was an older model that he ADORED, so don't fuck with the car), sunglasses on against the sun that was already rising and a cup of coffee in his cupholder.  Just because the caffeine didn't do a damn thing for him didn't mean that he didn't like it, but the fact of the matter was that it really didn't do jack shit.  It was just a good cover for the humans in the station, who insisted that he didn't get enough coffee in the morning.  So, he drank it, and he still bit their heads off if they looked at him sideways.

Fucking mornings.

He got out of the car and approached Tanith without any concern about the woman she was talking to, because he really, really didn't care.  Once he walked up and smelled dog, sorry WOLF, he cared even less.  "There something interesting going on here to explain why we're standing in the fucking parking lot, or can we go inside so I can nap a few more minutes at my desk?"

He was finished talking by the time he really registered what was said, and oh god.  'I need to help more people, cases dwindling, want to heeeeeeelp!'  He was going to be sick. 

[Tanith Korakas]

"Yeah," she sighed. "Smaller towns tend to do that. I had the good fortune to grow up inner-city, so I was always bustling with things to do, but I'm not with SVU anymore. Meltdown, they said. I say I finally did the world a favour." She had a dry sort of laugh that followed, and tossed her dark hair out of her face absently as she turned to smile a little to Cassidy.

"If you want to help, and you've got a good head and a good heart, you'll do just fine. The temper, though, is the tricky part. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, after all." She glanced up as London approached them, and a smile split on her face that previously hadn't been seen that morning. Something about how crotchety and unfriendly he was always made her smile - his most inappropriate comments usually got a laugh out of her. Probably because he'd come as close to she had on the matter of being canned for 'misconduct', but both of them wormed their way out of it.

"And there's my ray of sunshine now," she sang, holding an arm out to take him by the sleeve, directing him clear of Cassidy's path - for her sake more than his. "Cassidy, don't mind him. He's worthless to try and get anything out of before one in the afternoon." She winked a little, trying to take the edge off of his personality, and most likely failing. She cast her olive eyes up to him, and raised a brow. "So the missing SWAT guy - popped up yesterday. How you like them apples?" she asked nonchalantly.

[Cassidy Rivers]

Cassidy smiled, smelling the scent immediately, but as with the others, tucked it away and followed behind Tanith as she was supposed to. She didn't want to lose her job the first time in the door...

"Thank you. Don't mind me. I mind my own business," Cassidy said as she looked from side to side as they walked through the hall.

The smell of coffee assaulted her nose, as she absolutely abhorred the aroma.

She was quiet the rest of the way. Silently observing the happenings and making a mental note of who to steer cautiously around and what not.

So...I need to make sure I keep my nose...head clean. No lashing out...got it? Cassidy had to reason with the wolf in her so that she could keep it at bay.

For now, she had the upper hand.

[London DeMortei]

He wasn't all that surprised when Tanith took him by the sleeve and started into the building with him, probably trying to lead him away from the wolf who seemed about to piss herself.  Whatever, he didn't care so long as the bitch kept her mouth shut and left him alone until later.  Later, he could tolerate her without teeth getting involved.

"I told you he'd turn up.  You've seen what those retards do with their downtime.  I don't even notice when their desks are upside-down anymore, it happens so often.  If I run into another fucking doll, I might shove it up that redhead's ass, though," he growled out.  Later, he'd be much nicer to said redhead, after he'd had some time to wake up.  Mornings were just bad, even if he wasn't quite this bad for as long as Tanith suggested. 

Wait, what the fuck? 

London looked over at the blond woman when she said she minded her own business, like she'd heard anything that they might have to worry about her talking about.  He didn't know how else to take that, and really didn't see any reason to.  "That's good, because nobody was asking."

See?  He was trying!  That was mild!  He could have called her dogfood face, or Fido, or anything like that, and he'd refrained.  He was behaving himself for the ungodly hour of morning it already was.  He couldn't believe there were people who CHOSE to wake up before 11.

[Cassidy Rivers]

Cassidy sensed he was trying to deal with the morning more than anything else. And, she let the rest of her thoughts go. At least some have gotten sleep. I drove all night, but my choice. No matter.

She followed on in.

She yawned slightly...

[Tanith Korakas]

Tanith glanced back at Cassidy as London started in on her, and shrugged a little. She'd told her that he wasn't a morning person - why did everyone choose to disbelieve her at first? She'd really never understand, but the again, there was a lot about people Tanith didn't understand. Like why her brother had food in his fridge that had hair growing on it, or more importantly, why he let it sit there for months at a time. She was pretty sure on her last visit she'd found a bodypart, too - a thumb? He gambled too much, and when she started finding fingers in his freezer, that was a sign to try and get him to ease on off of it for a while. Of course, if he did, he wouldn't always have spectacular information to feed her, and she somehow felt that their visits would become less meaningful if they had to spend them actually talking about their feelings. Being an identical twin was one thing; what they had, the Fine Line, she called it, was quite another.

She gave London a little nudge as he got snappish, trying to remind her partner that he'd had a first day once, too. She knew it wouldn't do any good for anyone, but he was more likely to listen to her than to everyone else in the building - he knew it, and she knew it. What was it O'Donnabhain had said when she'd chained them together (metaphorically, of course) in her office? Oh, that's right - "Do yourselves both a favour and just keep your mouths shut.". Charming girl, really. She couldn't fault Cassandra, though - that vampire had a knack for good pairings.

Tanith made a strange noise as she nearly snorted coffee through her nose, the sound echoing in the hallway unpleasantly along with the swishing of fabric and click-clack of feet on the ugly olive-green tiled flooring. "The dolls?" She laughed out loud, and it was a sort of silvery, tingling sort of laugh - one that almost seemed to soften the hard, jagged edges around her. "Seriously, DeMortei? You and Silvera have the same complex? Or is this where I throw in a gay joke about you and Richardson? Speaking of which - Bishop, the big one - " and she paused, turning to Cassidy to explain:

"Big Bishop is Wesley Bishop - SWAT. His younger brother, James Bishop - Little Bishop, is SVU. You'll probably meet them both," she said, making no mention of anyone's status on the human/shapeshifter standpoint, "and trust me, there's no real reason why one is big and one is little. They're both huge friggin' guys - although we guess Little Bishop is called Little because he's younger." She frowned, and then went back to her story --

"Big Bishop stakes out Silvera - Doll Man's - apartment. Sneaks in. Hides the doll. Then he and Richardson climb onto a neighboring rooftop and use the scopes off of their rifles to watch Silvera lose his shit over finding this talking, blinking Chucky doll stuffed in his bed. I don't even know what he's going to do in retaliation, but I can only guess it'll involve things like a large box and a postmark to Abu Dabi. He was really hot about that one, although I think Big Bishop could probably take him."

She snorted at London's grunt, expecting some sort of inflammatory comment from him, and cut him off. "You can't even say anything after some of the shit our guys have done. Did you see Kat scare the shit out of two of the forensic newbies? She fake drank a blood sample. One of them puked all over the office floor. At least the SWAT guys are funny," she remarked, wrinkling her nose.

In a flourishing gesture, she pushed open the door to the area for SVU, and gave a nod to a rather good-looking green-eyed man that towered over her. "Bishop, this is Cassidy. First day," she said. "Sarge in?" She frowned when he shook his head, and then rolled her eyes. "You're also useless before one," she said, turning pointedly away from him to look at London.

"Why don't you go hide in the break room and take fifteen while I get her situated in here?" she suggested. "O'Donnabhain is apparently running late, which I'm betting has something to do with having to be at that meeting for the fire down in Greenwich Village last week." She turned to Cassidy. "It's not a case you'll be handling, but to get you up to moderate speed, we think some assholes torched a good portion of a nicer, historic side of the city for... Actually, motives are up in the air. People are saying gang related - but they always say that." She frowned. "Anyways, O'Donnabhain is our crowd control, and she's had to do meeting after meeting to explain why we don't know who did it yet."

She rolled her eyes. "It's a clusterfuck. Be glad you're SVU. Your cases are a little more cut and dry than this bullshit we get." She said it through clenched teeth, though the well wishes were sincere enough. Tanith missed the old aspect of her job - she missed James. Old partners were like ex-husbands. You never quite got them out of your system. "Although I guess that's unfair to say," she added. "We've all got it pretty rough here. This summer has been..." she trailed off, making a flighty motion with her hand. "The crazies are out in full force. People getting snatched left and right. Makes for a lot of sleepless nights."

Boy, did she know. She was thankful for the contacts she did have. When someone went into Midnight, the normal world didn't know that. The fact that a vampire was in charge of them, one worked in blood splatters, and they had a good stock of shapeshifters on the street - well, it gave them an edge. They knew when a body wasn't going to turn up, because it had gotten up and walked off. Alternately, they knew when someone was... gone for good.

[Cassidy Rivers]

"Fair enough. I understand the typical crap you have to wade through in order to gain any sense of purity. No matter how hard you try, a part of you gets tarnished in the process. And, I'm not saying I am a pro...but if you ever need a fresh pair of eyes to look over a case or evidence, or a fresh pair of ears to listen to the story, I will be glad to offer a helping hand," Cassidy said as Tanith stared at her.

Cassidy reassessed what she had said in her mind.

Did I say something out of context? I don't think so...

"Did...I say something out of context?" Cassidy questioned.

[London DeMortei]

Personally, London didn't really like O'Donnabhain.  He knew what she could do, and so he kept his shit to himself.  He wasn't getting into personal conversations with her, nor was he going to ever give her an opportunity to question the things he did on the side.  He got the feeling that she had an idea, and so they didn't interact more than was necessary.  That wasn't even taking into consideration the number of times he'd had to talk to her because he'd gotten into some shit.  He was known as a good cop, but everyone knew he had a streak of something darker.  He played it well, but it wasn't exactly a secret, and he'd gotten into shit with O'Donnabhain over sketchy details on cases.  Some of them, he really hadn't done anything that he felt was wrong, but he'd still had his problems.  He and Tanith had been partnered for a reason, and he still didn't know why, but it worked, so he didn't question it.  Even right now, with Tanith chattering away like the little bird she was and him knowing that if it was anyone else he'd want to swat her right out of the air, it worked.  He didn't want to swat her, not Tanith, and he was actually enjoying listening.  He didn't have to say much, which he didn't feel like anyway, to keep the conversation going, and she still managed to appeal to his darker sense of humor.

Case in point, she knew it'd entertain him to hear about the retarded SWAT guys and their prank.  He'd snorted about her asking if he and Silvera shared the doll complex or if she should make gay jokes, not even willing to offer a response to that one.  No, he wasn't afraid of dolls, but it got really old really fast to find them all over the place.  The first few times, he'd been startled by just how random and eerie it was to find the little bastards hanging in the last places he'd expect, but then he'd discovered what was going on and why they were there, and now they were just annoying.  For some reason, he had a habit of coming across them, too.  He didn't know why, but if there was someone who was going to find one of them before Josh Silvera did, it was him.  Too bad the SWAT guy wasn't friendly with London, or he might have had a valuable friend there.  Anyone who could help Josh avoid those damn dolls had to be appreciated.  Regardless, London wasn't about to tell him.  In fact, if the doll wasn't hidden well enough anymore, he sometimes helped out a little.

If he was going to have to find them, they were going to do their job.

He didn't let anyone know about that, though.  There was no sense in letting anyone think he might have anything but a cynical, dark sense of humor, and while that didn't exactly count as lighthearted (since he did it for malicious reasons), it was still more light than anything else he'd been caught doing.  If London ever got involved in pranks, one could bet that things would get malicious and painful rather quickly, so it was best for everyone that he stayed uninvolved.  Really, it was.

He didn't even get a chance to comment on the SWAT prank before she was mentioning Kat, and he actually smirked a little.  He liked Kat, too, but that was because she was cute and a total weirdo.  The quirks were what made her so interesting.  "At least it wasn't Sullivan.  He wouldn't have had to fake drink the blood if he didn't want to, and he spends an awful lot of time with that girl.  I give it a month, maybe, before we start to see the results of her rubbing off on him," he predicted.  He didn't know it for sure, but he'd heard things through connections he had that suggested that Mr. Gabriel Sullivan, mild-mannered forensics geek, was much more than that.  Sure, he knew the guy was a vampire, but some vampires were still losers.  Being a vampire didn't make you instantly cool and badass.  The problem was that even the people who knew Sullivan were a vampire around the station didn't know how old he was.  The running bet was that he was from the 40s or 50s, but London wasn't so sure.

One day, he was going to find out, and when he did, he was going to file that information away and just save it.  It would come in handy someday.  He just got that feeling.

He seriously, honestly considered taking Tanith's offer for him to go 'hide in the breakroom' for fifteen minutes while she got Cassidy settled in SVU, since it was obviously going to take Tanith doing so to get anything done.  With O'Donnabhain running late, it wasn't like Little Bishop was going to be overexerting himself just yet.  London didn't blame him.  He settled himself with a perch on the edge of an unoccupied desk, and decided to watch while he enjoyed his coffee.  "No, I'll stay.  This may have entertainment value yet," he asserted.  Entertainment value, or information value.  He'd been listening closely for information on the Greenwich village fire, simply because he knew there was no way it was gang activity.  What he thought it was meant that O'Donnabhain was in trouble trying to appease the public, because the culprits wouldn't ever be caught, but he couldn't be sure.  That was why he was listening up, in case he could find out for sure.  He was a firm believer in the fact that the more you knew, the better.  Information was power, right up there with ruthlessless and immorality.  You couldn't get anywhere with a conscience and no brains.

"She's not kidding," he added in, aware that nobody was really paying much attention to him while Tanith continued on about people disappearing left and right, but anyone who knew about the supernatural world knew why people were vanishing.  Midnight was getting active, big time, and there wasn't much the police could do.  Personally, London thought that most of the idiots who were grabbed deserved it if they were so stupid, but he never stated that factor.  He knew that all it took was a weasel, some insignificant little worm with a grudge and no guts to go behind someone's back and sell them in.  He was only glad that his son seemed too stupid for the thought to have ever occurred to him, and London would be watching for that.  He would go batshit before he'd let that little creep do something as stupid and damaging as try to get back at his father by selling him in.  He wouldn't put that sort of a stunt beyond the boy, however, and he knew Carmine had so little control over him that even if she knew about it, she wouldn't stop it.  She was weak where the boy was concerned, and it pissed London off to no end. 

Cassidy was jumping in on Carmine and Tristan's territory this morning when it came to pissing London off, but that was fine.  He didn't need his thoughts on his family at work, not with vampires running around, and Cassidy was just so random that he had to stick around and see what else came out of that mouth of hers.  It was like spinning a wheel and seeing what popped up.  Tanith had gone over some serious information about the station and its residents, told her valuable things such as who people were and what they were doing, and Cassidy started talking purity and offering to look over Tanith's cases and listen to stories?  WAT?  And asking if she said something out of context right after saying something out of context?

Whoa.  This girl was just too much.

"Are you here?  On Earth?  Did Korakas explaining things to you even get through the ozone around your skull, or were you sleeping?" he demanded, narrowing his gray eyes at her.  He could handle goody-goody people who wanted to help others and worry about purity and being with God or whatever.  He could handle it.  Hell, he went to church every week and Carmine was pretty damn religious.  He was fine with that in others.  It made him want to gag when people got all 'I'm here if you need a shoulder', but that was just him.  What he couldn't tolerate was stupidity.  Given his desire to know things, his belief that knowledge about your surroundings and paying attention to the events around you was power, he couldn't handle people who didn't pay attention or who were just dumb.  It didn't compute.

This girl?  She'd taken a hell of a lot of information, and somehow turned it into 'crap to wade through in order to gain a sense of purity'?  Who cared about purity?  He shot a glance at Korakas, and he had to admit to himself that he really didn't think she cared.  He'd met her brother, he knew a few things about her.  You didn't have that sort of shit go on in your life and feel 'pure'.  Hell, her brother gambled and lied, he was a cheater and a thief, and then he turned around and fed them information.  London wasn't even sure if the guy got as deep into the messes he did because he was that messed up, or because he wanted that badly to be able to give his sister useful information.  Sometimes, it was a toss-up with that freak of a man, and London still didn't know for sure.  Purity was definitely not a common trait in this station, though.  London could look at just about any of his fellow police, and he was pretty sure that there was something fucked up about each one.  Something, somewhere.  This new one was just stupid, he was certain, which was actually good for him.  Stupid wasn't a threat.

"I think your brain is out of context.  Stop thinking about your fairy tale purity and being a hero to people who really don't give a shit if you die on the sidewalk, and focus on the job.  She's not speaking for her own benefit.  She's telling you this so that you're not completely steamrolled when you have to get on the job," he pointed out, and then, he smiled.  It was a mean expression, nothing reassuring or friendly about it, but more because he felt like being a bastard.  "Though, feel free to continue in the fashion you are.  I love watching altruistic rookies hit the street."

[Cassidy Rivers]

“I’m sorry, but my brain out of context? Do you even know what that means? I think the animal in you has control of your mouth and your brain more than you do,” Cassidy said as her eyes narrowed, would’ve called the self-righteous bastard a PUSSY-cat, but I thought I’d save it for next time, “I also don’t think I asked you for your opinion on the matter. I was trying to be in a civilized conversation without Saber-tooth getting involved. When someone calls for He-Man, then you can come in.”

I had tried to be civilized…I had attempted to ignore him. But this pompous idiot had no desire other than to meddle in other people’s business.

“And, if you think I am naïve, naiveté is for those who can’t grasp the concept that there are others walking around with enough sense to keep their mouths shut,” Cassidy said as she could tell her blood was boiling.

[London DeMortei]

He just watched her.  She was handing him ammunition, so he didn't need to interrupt.  You didn't interrupt you enemy when he was making a mistake, the good General Bonaparte had once said, and London was in full agreement.  Cassidy was making a mistake, a few in fact, and London would not interrupt.

Instead, he set his coffee down on the desk he was still perched on, calmly, quietly, still smiling. 

"Ms. Rivers, let me straighten something out for you, because I have a teenaged son and know these things.  Sabretooth is X-Men, and He-Man is very different.  You're thinking Battlecat, who was a tiger.  I am a jaguar," he explained, and he did so in the calm, talking-to-children tone that he was famous for when he was gearing up.  London was many levels of mean, and this was just one of them, usually not a good one.  Before, he'd gotten on her ass because he was genuinely annoyed and was putting her in her place before it got worse.  Now?  Now, he was pissed, and he was thinking malicious.  London didn't get like this with people when he wasn't thinking malicious, and he was the wrong person to put there.

That bit about pranks getting painful and mean if he ever bothered with them?  That was only pranks.  That wasn't something that he was genuinely angry enough to plot out, and he had connections that even the police force didn't know about.  He really wasn't the one to address on this.

"Yes, I think you are naive, and besides my former reasons, you just gave me another one.  You obviously can't grasp the concept that you should have enough sense to keep your mouth shut, and that is going to get you into trouble you've never even dreamed of if you keep going.  It may not even be me, but this city is not a place for stupid girls who shoot their mouths off to people who can ruin their world.  I advise you to shut up, learn your job, and pay attention to your surroundings before you say another damn word," he told her, and that was it.  Proceeding from here in the same vein could potentially push him into another phase of his anger, which would require Tanith and Little Bishop removing him from the room. 

That wasn't a good idea.