It's a Beautiful Day (Justin)

[Isaac Clarke]

Isaac rubbed his eyes as he got out of bed, It'd been another sleepless night for him the night-terrors had been keeping him awake.. at least this time they were not as violent.. Shifting out of bed he moved over to the window and opened the curtains allowing the sun to shine through his window, The world outside seemed so peaceful and beautiful - He figured he might take a walk and seeing as he was still on break from work. Walking over to his wardrobe he pulled out a pair of jeans and his red t-shirt.

After slipping into his clothing he proceeded down into the kitchen and grabbed himself a bowl, he proceed to pour cornflakes into the bowl as he retrieved the milk from his fridge - He stood there eating his cornflakes as he looked at the morning news paper on the counter scanning it for anything that seemed to be important to him, nothing new just dog attacks in the area.

Placing his bowl in the sink he ran the tap and washed it before placing it on the drying rack. He walked towards the front door and grabbed his jacket before closing it behind him. After a brisk walk into town he began browsing some of the clothing store windows looking at various trends and fashion.

Isaac had been perusing the shops looking at various gifts and gadgets to purchase for himself but he didn't have the heart to buy anything. After grabbing himself a sandwich and a cold cola he found a nice quiet spot and sat down to eat his lunch in peace. He observed as a couple of people passed by here and there not taking notice to facial features or anything, he began to think about the times he would come out with Diane - Even though it had been three years, he still had fragments of her in his life that he'd needed to shake. And he'd not kept in contact with many of her friends after she had passed instead he became focused on his work.

Standing up from the bench he placed his wrappers in the bind and sat back down looking up at the sky and wondering whether heaven truly did exist and if Diane had been watching him. . Did she want him to forget... did he need to be a happier person and seek more friends... These where questions he'd faced daily and he needed to find the answers to them, at heart he was just a lost soul looking for guidance.. but he perked himself up and smiled as he carried on enjoying the people walking past and the fresh air he'd been breathing - He figured things could be worse he could have been in some apocalypse, and that was a thought he least kept to himself, He shrugged it away from his mind and looked out into the distance watching the world spin by as he observed from that bench.

[Justin Taylor]

Sometimes Justin loved the feeling of just getting lost in the crowd and there was no place like Longacre Square for that. The wandering masses of people that meandered through the street would wash you away if you weren't careful. Every one of the masses had a destination in mind, well except for Justin who didn't particularly mind where he ended up, the cop in him scanned the crowd looking out for potential pick pockets and the such but for the most part he was switched off and on auto pilot. It was funny how he could blend in amongst the melting pot of cultures that swept over the City, teenage kids wearing the latest trends and such strolled alongside high end business executives rushing to make their 12 O clock meetings, all of them either too busy or just didn't care enough to notice how beautiful a day it was. Justin on the other hand loved the sun peering out from behind the very light clouds, it was truly a great day to be off work. Whilst he loved his job, it was nice to just disengage from protecting the City, even if only for a day and relax, besides the problems weren't going anywhere.

He was walking beside a group of university Jocks, football players he assumed as he noticed the man sitting on the bench. He almost did a double take, it had been weeks since he had seen his face but he was sure it was Clarke, he was on extended leave for personal reasons, Justin never went into too much detail with his co workers. That of course was due to the fact he suspected half the department were dirty and the other half just didn't care enough to see what was in front of his face. That said he had never had any problems with Clarke and he didn't see the harm in saying hello, the poor guy seemed down on his luck. Justin removed his sunglasses and placed them in the breast pocket of his jacket as he approached him. "Clarke is that you, you son of a bitch? How the hell are you doing?" He sat down on the bench next to him and took a sip of his bottled water, his eyes returning to their almost duteous watching of the crowd.

He wasn't quite sure what to think, perhaps he was intruding on the man's privacy if so Justin would be the first person to stand up and get out of there. He considered a man's solitude a sacred thing and if that's what he was looking out here, then Justin wasn't going to get in his way. Sliding his cell phone out of his pocket as he glanced over at his fellow detective waiting on a sign either way, he noticed he had received another annoying chain message from Shy on it, with some sort of smiley face on it. The fact that she was in good cheer brought a smile to his lips, the fact that she was texting while supposedly in school not so much. But that was him getting away from the point, he slid the phone back into his pocket and glanced over at his fellow detective. " Man if I'm interrupting just say the word and I'll be out of your hair."

[Isaac Clarke]

Isaac had been daydreaming before he'd noticed one of his work colleges Justin come and sit down. Clarke was stunned for a moment before letting out a small smile; "Ha-ha, if it is not the guy I'd like to see I'd figured you be too busy with work to spot me out of the crowd mate.. and You're not bothering me, in fact if you were bothering me I'd have said so a few years ago.. " Isaac chuckled remembering the first time he'd met Justin at work and he was one of the people he felt he really trusted in the department.

"I'm just enjoying the sunshine, my therapist says i need to enjoy life more, and i figured what's not better than coming out into the crowded streets and observing what happens when I'm not on the job, And hey I'll be heading back into work next week so we'll have to grab a beer or something after.. I mean I've still got my old motorbike I'd figured if you'd want we could take turns and piss around like we used too. " He thought back to the time Diane had to bandage his arm up after he'd been fooling around with Justin and the motorbike.

He dropped his smile and took another sip of his drink, It'd been nice to actually see someone he thought as a friend and it made his day slightly better already. He wondered what Justin had been up to since he'd last seen him but he figured he'd probably been busy with work like he usually was. He'd missed work after awhile and he'd longed to get back into action and it's the only thing he really had left after losing Diane. it was like his purpose and his only way to feel like a person and not a wreck.
"I don't suppose I've missed much at work, apart from some of those wild dog attacks that i keep reading about in the paper. Tragic stuff.. i remember when the only thing i used to read in the paper was about sports and stuff.. but i suppose everything goes downhill when you really look at it properly." He sighed lightly and wondered if there was a connection to be made between the attacks and he'd figured once he'd get home he'd draw up a connection between all of them.. perhaps the police were missing some key evidence, and he'd needed a new hobby otherwise he'd just end up riding his motorbike for the day.

[Justin Taylor]

Clarke finally snapped out of whatever day dream he had been stuck in for long enough to respond. Then the man finally responded and seemed almost like his old self, for a moment Justin was preparing to hop up and be on his way. But once he heard Clark speak he was firmly planted on the bench. He would have told him so a few years ago, perhaps he would have but for a moment when he saw him in that trance like state he was beginning to believe the stuff he had heard around the office. They had said that he had completely lost his marbles, he was a shell of the man and more importantly the cop that he used to be. Losing a loved one would fuck with anyone's head and true enough it was to be expected that his wife's departure from this plane would mess with the man's head. The two of them had been close, hell Justin had rarely seen a couple so in love and to lose that after having it for a prolonged period, he'd be crazy not to be affected by it.

He started talking about his therapist, that's when he fully snapped into attention, when the talk was more than just banter. He'd be back at work next week, that was the first bit of good news he'd heard since he sat down. It would be nice to have another friendly face around the office, he was growing bored of the other detectives, not that Justin ever bothered to talk to them. He moved swiftly from talk of his therapist to asking what was knew with work, if Justin was honest the City had gone to hell in a hand basket. It was hard to imagine that a place that held the potential to look as beautiful as NY did today could conceal such horrors. Things had been popping up all over the City, stuff that belonged in horror stories, the stuff you used to scare children at night. Instead file after file was pouring across his desk and with each new file, his suspicion and paranoia rose. With so many animal attacks being reported, he had to ask where the hell these supposed wild animals where during the day? When darkness descended upon the city, a pack of wild dogs did, according to the reports his colleagues filed, some called it speculative at best, Justin called it sloppy police work.

"Work, well that's a completely different bag of tricks, the latest theory is that the mafia have started importing wild dogs or mountain cats from their mother lands and are feeding their enemies to them. Of course that would hold up if all the bodies turning up were remotely mob related, which of course they aren't. Just last week we had an honour roll student, a doctor and 2 pensioners in amongst the casualties. You tell me how they fit in with what the Italians or Tri ads are doing?" Justin paused for a moment, allowing the ridiculousness of the situation to sink in. "Then on top of that, you have bodies showing up drained of their blood like a side of kosher blood, hell if I can make head nor tails of it. The City has gone to shit, I make do with knowing I lock up the evils we can see and leave the dogs and weirdness to the others. Hell screw next week, I could do with that beer now." He made do with gulping back some of his water, talking about the stuff made it all the more ridiculous, what he wouldn't give for a good old fashioned turf war.

[Isaac Clarke]

Isaac heard what Justin had to say about the oddities that had been appearing more and more around the city, strangely Clarke was not one to believe in fairytales and stories so he'd have to come to his own conclusion about what was happening. Isaac had heard Justin mention going for a beer and he was debating it in his head and figured it would be a nice relaxing change from park benches to a nice relaxing pint of Guinness.

Isaac stood up from the bench and looked at his friend - "I presume we'll be heading to Finley's tavern, hopefully they've still got our drinking poncho's and we can have a proper laugh. " Isaac chuckled around Justin an old time friend of his he felt like he could actually lighten up and socialize and not many people really found Isaac fun to be around but he never really cared - It was more about being supportive and showing people you could be polite.

Isaac began walking down the path towards the tavern with Justin in tow - It really was like old times, the two of them getting off of work and heading for cheeky drinks. Isaac walked up to the counter and nodded at the barmaid. - "I'll have a Guinness, and he'll have one too " Isaac paid the barmaid and took the drinks down to the table the usually sat at. Isaac picked up the glass and took a long sip of the liquid allowing it to fully pass his lips so he could enjoy the taste of it. The bar still looked the same and Isaac could not really complain seeing as it still was in the right place, all that mattered was he got his drink and he'd be happy
.
"Blimey matey, we've had some weird old times in here, it's like your second home is it not?.. " Isaac said jokingly, referring to the numerous times he'd caught Justin in here. He'd looked around the bar at some of the familiar faces that lurked in every area of the bar, a stranger here, a stranger there.. This place was like a home away from home to him too and he'd realised this was where most of the good things in his life had happened.

"So apart from all the crazy things that go bump in the night, what have you been up to Justin, i feel like we've not really caught up in awhile and y'know me I'm interested in everything it's a trait i hate.. but most people find it funny.. " He chuckled and took another sip of his drink before placing it on the table. He'd figured Justin probably had been too busy with work to actually have a social life - Either way it was good to actually have seen him as he trusted Justin like a brother and this was a trust he rarely gave to anyone the only other person he trusted was dead and buried, So it was a rare thing to earn Isaac's approval.