making a mark {hugo}

[avery carina dawson]

outfit

As far as Avery was concerned, the library's attempts to redecorate had gone too far. She'd ignored it when they were renovating the inside and renovating the outside, just as she'd ignored the public library for most of her life, but she could no longer ignore it when they announced the reveal of their new mural. This was particularly upsetting because the mural was not painted by any of the many artists on the island--rather, it was an adhesive hauled over from the mainland, carefully rolled out onto the side wall.

Not only was it applied in a way that offended anyone who could paint in the city, but the subject matter wasn't much better. In an effort to be more in tune with its "roots," the city had decided on a "cultural" mural. This involved some Native American tribe--it may have been specified, but Avery didn't care to know--dancing around a fire in traditional garb. If people weren't offended by that, most of them were at least confused by it.

Avery had been upset when she'd first heard about the ridiculous adhesive, but as she'd thought about it, she realized it was the perfect opportunity to do something awesome. She took time on most of her graffiti, but it was small and usually had only two or three colors. Since no one ever saw it, she didn't expend much effort. With this mural, however, the city had all but given her the perfect canvas on which to paint. No one would be upset that the stupid mural was gone and her painting would rock the socks off of the entire island. Probably.

The only way to find out was to do it, though, and so she'd spent the week preparing. She'd bought all of her colors as inconspicuously as possible in the beginning and then spent the rest of the week looking at all of the ways she could possibly get high enough to paint her mural. Because, of course, it was going to have to be tall--otherwise, it would just look silly. Avery was not a small person, but she usually didn't wear heels when she tagged--just in case she had to run--and she wasn't tall enough to reach the top of the mural.

She was afraid she'd have to bring a stool or something, but that afternoon, she'd figured out that some of the benches weren't drilled into the ground. It had taken effort, but she'd moved the bench all the way from the front of the library to the side where the mural was. She could have asked for help, but if any of her friends knew what she was planning, they'd want in or they'd pre-empt her. This way, she was assured her turf, especially since she got there at eleven instead of midnight, to assure that she would have enough time to drag the bench before she deemed it too late to be out safely.

The bench was doubly convenient, because then she didn't have to leave her expensive backpack anywhere she couldn't see and she had a wide range of mobility to paint the top of her angel. The only thing left to do was start. Even though her hair was dark enough to hide at night and even though she was also wearing a black beanie, she flipped her hood up so that the only part of her that was visible was the hand on her can of spray paint. Then, she started painting.

[hugo oliver bloom]

Hugo was tired. He'd just done a full shift patrolling the downtown blocks, which had consisted largely of playing on his phone, kicking a sleeping hobo off of playground equipment, and dealing out warnings to two slightly-speeding motorbikes and a group of teenagers loitering at a 7-11. Although it was slightly disappointing having to deal with the petty offenses, Hugo was confident that his big break was right around the corner. After all, nobody got to the top without starting at the bottom. Besides, it was obviously a good thing that there hadn't been any major crimes on his watch-- clearly, he was doing a great job of intimidating any criminals to keep off his streets. He knew he shouldn't wish for bad things to happen to the island, but at the same time, he was kind of hoping for a drug bust or a robbery or something to pop up so that he could really start to prove himself to the department.

Regardless, it had been a very long day, and Hugo was kind of tempted to use his last ten minutes on duty to "patrol" the streets that led to his apartment. At the last minute, though, he decided he'd better do one last round on the off-chance that someone had started burgling while he wasn't looking. Hugo made sure his lights were at their lowest setting and began quietly circling the area at about five miles per hour, because he had dreams of someday getting all the glory for starting the brilliant technique of sneaking up on criminals while in his car. It would be a thing someday, and then they would all thank Hugo Bloom for being the best cop in the world.

After about twenty minutes of snailing the streets, Hugo realized he was now overtime and sighed, accepting that there was nothing further going on that night and turning down a street that would head him home. It wasn't until he was approaching the library that was en route to his apartment that he realized he'd forgotten something. He slowed up to the front of the building and pulled into a spot on the side by the drop-off box, reaching into the backseat for a stack of books that Juliette had made him pinky-promise to drop off on his way home from work-- about a week ago. He knew if he procrastinated or forgot about these any later, she would get charged late fees and then she would smack him and whine and make him pay it and it wouldn't be fun for anyone.

He dumped the books carelessly into the box and then started wandering back to his car-- when he heard something. It was faint, and he probably wouldn't have heard it had it been daytime when the streets were populated by hustle and bustle, but it was nearing midnight and it was absolutely silent except for the sounds of his movement-- and something else's. He walked quietly over to the side of the building in the direction the soft sounds had come from, and saw a hoodie-clad individual tagging the side wall of the library where the new mural had been put in just a week or so prior.

The person hadn't noticed him yet, so Hugo stood at the ready, trying to plan out what kind of badass crime-show tagline he would use to alert this felon to his presence and put on the smackdown. He was having trouble thinking of anything better than "you spray the line, you pay the time," or "let me paint you a picture-- of you in jail!" With a frown, he stepped over to get a better look at what he was painting, for inspiration, and then tilted his head when he realized something:

It was really good. This wasn't just some git scrawling his name or a series of profanities over a public institution-- this guy was actually making art. He watched for a few minutes, arguing with himself over whether he should just drive away and pretend he'd never seen it, but he knew he couldn't; everyone knew the library was on his way home, and it would make him look incompetent if he didn't catch this, especially since the city had been so proud of its new mural. He opted instead to at least talk to the artist before bringing him into the station.

"The indians were a bit horrible, weren't they?" Hugo said, stepping closer to the bench on which the person was standing.

[avery carina dawson]

Avery had started with the top. She wanted to be on top of the bench for as short a time as possible, but the top of her design was the most difficult, so it wasn't really a short time. She couldn't move to the ground until she'd gotten the head and shoulders of her angel done and then she would have to move back to get the top of the wings. Now, however, she wasn't anywhere near the wings, but she had just finished the head and hair and was working on the chest/shoulder area.

She was so concentrated, she even had her tongue poking out through her teeth. Even if she hadn't been quite that concentrated, she had two different pieces of cloth covering her ears and so, over the sound of her spray and the muffling of her ears, she didn't hear anyone approaching. Such was the curse of trying to remain anonymous--also the fact that, when the person behind her made himself known, she sucked in breath and jerked her hand, making a tiny white dash across the golden hair.

"Fuck," she mouthed, lifting her finger off the nozzle of the spraypaint. It wouldn't be too hard to fix, but it was annoying that this stranger had interrupted her. She'd have assumed that it was one of her stupid friends actively trying to mess her up, but none of her friends had a vaguely british accent. "You should be careful what you say around strangers. Some people might find it offensive."

She started to turn around, but the first thing she saw was a cop car. She cursed again, silently, and lowered her arm as she turned. Then, instead of seeing a serious cop, she saw one that she was used to seeing at the station. He was cute and they sometimes chatted, but he never seemed to be on the same page as everyone else--at least, as far as Avery was concerned. She snorted with laughter and raised the can again, turning back to her painting.

"Man, you scared me. I thought someone serious was behind me." She shook her head and started up again. "Can you hand me the goldenrod? I need the fix the hair you made me fuck up." She gestured to her backpack with her free hand, continuing to paint the angel on the wall.

[hugo oliver bloom]

This was not exactly the response Hugo had been expecting. For one, he was an official member of the police force also known as a cop also known as someone people should listen to, but instead of being afraid or crying or trying to run away in fearful shame, this wrongdoer was laughing at him and asking him to pass her another color to continue her illegal deeds. And if that weren't unexpected enough, he'd kind of been expecting a dude.

"No, I will not hand you the goldenrod!" He said, crossing his arms over his chest and putting on his best angry face. "I am someone serious. Someone very serious. I am a defender of the law, and I will not assist you in your unlawful acts. Even if they do look cool." Hugo had been practicing his cop speak ever since he got the job, but he still couldn't help from sounding like he was trying to do an impression of a comic book superhero. Every time he went to say something that cops actually say, he ended up overdoing it.

It occurred to Hugo that he knew who he was speaking to. This girl was always down at the station for one reason or another; she seemed like a troublemaker as far as Hugo knew. Kind of a hot troublemaker, as "bad girls" tended to be, but he'd known when he joined the squad that he'd have to put those kinds of thoughts out of his mind if he was going to be a serious policeman. A real policeman couldn't find lawbreaking sexy. Or at least, he couldn't express that out loud.

"Look, I really need you to come with me," Hugo said, stepping closer to her. "I can't let you finish that. I'm on duty, and this is a serious offense. You should definitely get in the car. And don't try to put up a fight, because you won't win. I happen to be a black belt."

Hugo was strong, but he was not by any means a black belt. A little bit of intimidation never hurt anyone, right?

[avery carina dawson]

At his refusal, Avery sighed and stopped what she was doing again. There was very little that she expected the cop to do, but she figured she should at least stop painting until he left. She thought she could at least convince him to do that--after all, she was totally convincing. Ish.

"Fine, fine. Ruin my masterpiece." She knelt down to her bag, brushing her hood back as she did. Her hair was straight, for once, since that gave less volume to be in her hood, but it was still caged in by her black beanie. After stuffing her cans back in and zipping up, she wiped her hands on her jeans and stood back up. She'd have gotten off the bench, but she was a few feet taller than the cop when she was standing on it and that was preferable.

At his threat, she raised an eyebrow and looked at him. He was big, sure, and he had a baton and probably a gun, but that had nothing to do with being a black belt. She folded her arms and jutted her hip to one side. "What, are you gonna fight me?"

She wasn't particularly worried about being arrested--she had been arrested for graffiti so many times that half the cops had started escorting her home in the cop car so that she couldn't paint instead of actually arresting her.

[hugo oliver bloom]

If he hadn't been in authoritative mode, Hugo might have started to whine. Why was she making this so difficult? He had never even gotten to make any arrests yet, and the guys at the station were starting to doubt his awesomeness-- which he simply couldn't have. His awesomeness was like, the best thing he had going for him. He sighed.

"I'm not going to fight you," he said, "unless you give me a reason to. But I'm trying to make this easier on both of us." He really hoped she didn't give him a reason to, because he'd actually never had to use his police academy combat training on a real person before, and also, he didn't want to have to hit a girl.

Hugo really wished Teddy were there. If he had Teddy, he could at least try to play good cop/bad cop and get this girl to see that she needed to come with them instead of being sassy in a hoodie at Hugo by himself. Sure, he could have gone split-personality and played both the good cop and the bad cop by himself, which would be completely awesome, but he had the tiniest fraction of a feeling that it might not go over so well in this circumstance.

[avery carina dawson]

Avery was disappointed. He hadn't said anything worth responding to or goading him about, unless she felt like delving into the territory of what was and wasn't hard, but she didn't think that was an area of conversation that she should investigate at the present moment.

With a sigh, she hopped off the bench, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder in one fluid motion before her feet touched the ground. Years of practice in being sneaky had led her to perfect useless techniques like that one. She was disconcerted upon reaching the ground, however, when she realized just how short she was compared to this cop. The one night that she decided to wear better running shoes and she was not only getting arrested, but getting arrested and looking all tiny and damsel-y. It was so not worth it.

"I live in Aurelia Court," she said, walking past him toward the police car. She refused to let him take any part in her arrest--if she was going with him, it was on her terms, not his, and he was certainly not going to be putting any handcuffs on her. "You can drop me off on your way back to the station."

[hugo oliver bloom]

Where did this girl get off acting like this? When Hugo had enrolled in cop school, he had anticipated being awesome and people respecting his authority rather than acting like they had a million more important things to do than be arrested. He sighed.

"I can't take you home; I have to take you to the station, because this is a crime." He sighed. "Okay, well, just get in the car and we'll talk about it in there." He got in the front seat and closed the door behind him, waiting for her to comply.

"Why do you do this stuff, anyway? Do you just like getting in trouble?"

[avery carina dawson]

Avery rolled her eyes, but it seemed like he was really desperate for the arrest and she had no doubt that someone at the station would laugh at him for arresting her and she would be allowed to leave. It would be a little less convenient to have to walk home from the station in the middle of the night, but she could probably bum a ride off of someone leaving. She pulled the passenger door open--because riding in the back, behind bars, was just degrading--and slid in, carefully wedging her backpack down by her feet.

"You know, there are people committing real crimes out there," she said, buckling her seat belt. She had noticed that cops liked to drive like maniacs when they were arresting her, just because it gave them an excuse, and she wasn't taking any chances with anyone young. "Someone could be kidnapping children while you're sitting on your ass trying to arrest me."

She turned to look at him, deciding whether or not she should be offended by his question. She thought it was obvious why she was doing this--her painting was a thousand times better than the one it was covering. "Just look," she said, gesturing toward it. "Mine's so much better. If you'd let me finish instead of ruining it, people would actually want to come to the library." She rolled her eyes again and sunk back into the chair, arms folded.

[hugo oliver bloom]

"Yeah well," he said with a shrug. "Tell that to this bloody empty block. There's nothing going on. You're the only crime for miles. So boring." He glanced over at her while starting the car, noticing again what he'd noticed every time she came into the station-- she was pretty hot. She looked like she wasn't that much younger than him, and he assumed she attended the university on the island. Hugo wiggled a little, settling into his seat as he pulled out of the parking spot behind the library. He figured he had it pretty good right now; if he was going to arrest someone, it was pretty cool that he got to arrest an attractive female. Not that he could do anything about her being attractive, but at least she wasn't a scruffy homeless guy who had been urinating on the library rather than painting it.

"I'm not at liberty to agree or disagree with you," he said very officially. "But if I were at liberty, I might agree with you. But still. Everyone else probably thought it sucked too, but they didn't do anything about it. Who made it your job to make something better?"

He felt a little bit bad after saying this, but didn't say anything further, because cops weren't supposed to think graffiti was cool, therefore neither did Hugo.

[/justify]

[avery carina dawson]

"Obviously, you just don't know where to look for crime," she said, shaking her head at him. Instead of watching out the window, she was facing forward and watching Hugo out of the corner of her eye. If he hadn't been in the stupid cop uniform, he'd probably have been attractive--even if he could have just unbuttoned it. Having been around cops for most of her teenage and adult life, she did not really think they were attractive--unless they were male strippers dressed as cops.

"Please," she said, trying not to bristle at his question. If she got mad at him and yelled, then he might have a legitimate reason to arrest her. "Everyone was planning this. I had to get there first. Don't you know anything about the people you arrest?" She shook her head at him, making tsk-tsk noises as she did.

"Speaking of, did you know that everyone's going to think you're an idiot for actually bringing me in?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Perhaps it was also not the best idea to insult a cop, but at least she hadn't actually called him an idiot, per se.

[hugo oliver bloom]

"Obviously, I do know where to look for crime," he rebutted, "because I found you. Crime-ing all over that public building."

He ignored most of what she was saying to him, largely because he didn't like any of it, but when she brought up that the station would not exactly think he was awesome for bringing her in again, he thought for a second. Maybe she was right-- she was in the station a lot, and it wasn't like anyone really ever seemed to care very much. In fact, Hugo was pretty sure he'd seen officers offering her donuts while she was in the waiting room before.

"Look," he said with a sigh. "I just really need this one tonight. Unless you can find me another criminal tonight, you're it."

[/justify]

[avery carina dawson]

For the most part, Avery liked her friends--at least, she liked them enough to treat them nicely and spend time with them on a regular basis. Confronted with the choice of being arrested or sell them out, however, Avery had no qualms with stabbing any of them in the back.

"You should've said so sooner. Turn left at the next light." She pointed. She didn't know exactly where her friends were, because they mostly kept their tagging spots to themselves so that no one could take them, but she knew where the usual hangouts were and there was always the chance they would just happen to witness a crime if they drove around long enough.

[hugo oliver bloom]

Hugo eyed Avery with a smirk.

"Why am I not surprised that you know where more crimes are?" He asked. "You're like human police radar, except guiltier."

He turned at the light she pointed out.

[/justify]

[avery carina dawson]

Avery shrugged, not about to admit that she didn't know for sure that there would be any crime.

"What can I say? I guess I just know this town better than you." She looked at him, wanting to ask if his accent was British but not wanting to A) look stupid if it wasn't, B) look stupid if it was, or C) offend him.

"So did you move here just to be a cop?" she asked instead, before adding, "Keep going straight."