Welcome to Choteau, Montana, in 2018. What was once only a small city focused on fossils, has now started to turn into an equestrian mecca. Everyone still knows everyone, so the question remains, what will you become?
06/04 - Site opened 18/04 - Update log #01 including new features! 27/04 - A New skin has been released!
With all the hard work he had put in at the sporting goods store, the owner was gracious enough to let him have a half day off. Help close and get to sleep in a little. Not that the dogs or the farm agreed on the whole sleeping in concept, and so, Kristian was still dead on his feet. Meraki Coffee, as chance would have it, was between Wildflower and Buck's. And for once, he could drop by and actually enjoy his coffee instead of sprinting in and out like usual. The barista actually was quite surprised to see him order a scone with his usual coffee and cream. The wait wasn't horrendous, but it might have made a more time sensitive Kristian antsy.
He was surprised when he glanced around at the other patrons and saw the detective sitting at a nearby table. They had...a history together, but Kristian had nothing to worry about. Outside of getting his license plate renewal sent in the day of the deadline, he had steered well clear of criminals and criminal activity. Until now, but that secret was safely locked away. Along with a few million from Berkshire Hathaway stashed in an offshore account.
Kristian forced a smile at the barista when she handed him his coffee and food before going to find a place to sit. There technically were some free tables and couches, but he made a beeline for the detective. Not to stir up trouble, mind, but because he couldn't recall them actually speaking more than five words to each other in the past year when Justice arrived in town. "Morning Detective. How's your day going? Read any good books lately?"
While to most people the detective would, for all intents and purposes, be apparently engrossed in the morning newspapers, it was very much a ruse. Oh he was reading them, but he was equally listening in on conversastions. While he strongly doubted that he'd hear anything of interest in such a place as Meraki one never quite knew. You did sometimes pick up leads from just listening. There was a group of individuals that he somehow doubted would pay in the corner. They were from the Pandora, and oh how he wished he could find some cause to take them out of the equation. While they were technically only exercising their legal right to protest, it proved a nuisance every time.
As he reached to take a sip of his coffee, black, strong, just how he liked it in a morning he found his reverie broken by a face that was somewhat familiar to him. Unfortunately for its owner, for rather the wrong reasons. He was still irritated by the idea that he'd got away. Which meant that he narrowed his eyes in displeasure as he took a rather more hasty sip than originally intended, and his scowl only deepened as he burnt his tongue on the hot liquid. The fact he'd been asked a question meant he had to dignify it with some answer, and he was only marginally soothed by the use of his title.
"It is unfortunately blighted by protests, minor misdemeanors and other such issues sent to plague all men who seek only to do an honest days work" so maybe he emphasized the 'honest' rather strongly.
"I am, also, part way through Les Miserables, and I am so far relieved to find that the protestors are not copying the lawless students of the book, or I fear the whole world would descend to total anarchy,"
On a technicality, Kristian's criminal record was clear. It wasn't that he hadn't done illegal activities, but the information he offered was too good to pass up. And well, Kristian had kept his end of the deal. Kept his nose clean, didn't cause any stirs, and basically toed the line. He rarely used his military ID to get veteran discounts, though he had retired from the army honorably, and worked an honest job with a perfectly legitimate side business of producing cashmere.
"I can only agree with you on the nuisance of protesters. Business suffered last fall when they tried to protest deer hunting even though it's completely necessary to manage to populations. And I've heard complaints about the fact that I raise cashmere goats because of ecological problems in Mongolia. And I can assure you, Detective, that it was honest work that permitted me a morning off.
Les Miserables was a book Kristian hadn't touched since university. It was long, mind numbingly dull in some spots, and just not the sort of fiction he usually liked. But he remembered enough of the plot to understand the conversation. "True. At least they're not occupying buildings and barricading the streets. Though, I can understand their anger at the system that neglected and punished the down trodden even if the execution was poorly done." He took a few sips of his own coffee to enjoy it before it got cold. "There are some causes that are worth getting angry over. Problems in the country and the world that truly need to be fixed for the betterment of everyone. But these protesters seem to find self righteous causes like a monthly magazine subscription. An overall waste of everyone's time."
Much as they didn't see eye to eye, Kristian could admire the Detective's conviction in his work. It just might have gone too far.
Post by Justice J. Dickson on May 28, 2018 8:18:09 GMT
"The layabouts over there are, technically occupying a building, though they claim they were allowed to stay their rent free" and maybe the tone of his voice would indicate what he thought about that.
"I'm merely grateful that, other than handling some aspects of their protesting when it's grown to disruptive, I'm not having to deal with them constantly," though he knew how he would prefer to deal with such. Lock them in prison if they were so interested in having free rent. Meals would be provided, comfortable beds.
They may even learn to be productive members of society. "Also, the system was there to protect all, to ensure that there was some baseline preventing the chaos that human nature insists on manifesting and surrounding itself with turning into the carnage that the students themselves caused, along with countless deaths that could otherwise have been avoided"