Audience: Sheila Hammond

[probe]

Comments

[probe]

Why would you ruin perfectly good clams with marinara sauce...?

[not the point.]

...despite your someone blunt nature, Mrs. Hammond, it seems to me as though you've made yourself a rather valuable asset that people will leave unharmed here.

[toesies]

Yeah... I didn't even like the food at Japopo's? I can't believe I died for subpar clams.

[This is the point now.]

That's really nice of you to say? But not sure if it's true? Plenty of nice people have been killed before.

[probe]

[no my typos.]

Take comfort in the fact that there are worse ways to die. [is. is that comforting? no.]

Plenty of nice people have been killed before, but considering the track record of this group it's not necessarily kindness people take into account. It's usefulness. Not useful enough, you're an easy target like Suoh. Too useful, you may become a target to eliminate the chances of being caught. You have a balance of the two as it stands.

[toesies]

Th...ank you...?

[SLOWLY, UNSURE.]

Was that a compliment? Because it sounds like you're saying I'm smart, but not.

[probe]

[a pointed, polite bite of the sandwich.]

Is that a problem?

[they unfortunately do not see that as a problem.]

[toesies]

[POUTING, GRUMBLING.]

I thought it was nice week...

[probe]

What about that wasn't nice? Some of the best men at the precinct were the same way.

[toesies]

And you compliment them like that to their faces?

[probe]

Usually I don't compliment them at all.

[sometimes you just don't know how to be nice to people no matter what.]

[toesies]

They would probably appreciate it if you did, though. Just— sugar coated.

[probe]

Sugarcoating isn't really my style, Mrs. Hammond. If a compliment is to be paid, it will be sincerely and they will recognize it for what it is.

[toesies]

... Because they know you so well...?

[probe]

...I've been working with some of them since I was twenty. As strange as it is some of them know me a bit too well by now.

[toesies]

Oh! That's so young... You must have been the youngest person at your workplace for a while.

[probe]

[...looks at when this thread is. but they shrug.]

I was. I passed the bar not long before that. [like that's a problem and a reason why he wasn't working earlier.]

[toesies]

[this audience is very ripe]

The bar? [...] Wait. Hang on. You passed the bar at twenty?!

[probe]

Yes? ["what, like it's hard?"] I was active in court not long after that.

[toesies]

[...]

I suddenly understand so much now.

[It is kindness week so this just comes out. Kind of awed, when it is not.]

[probe]

...[they are not sure what to make of that, so there's a bite of their sandwich and a slow nod.]