15th September, 9:55 am. Prison cell.
Sep. 15th, 2012 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
therealpm*Peter sits at his desk and sulks. He's already paced back and forth across the room 60 times (he counted), and is now waiting for the hour before he'll do so again. It's become a bit of a ritual, something to break up the day and stretch his legs in the confined space of the cell.
He glares at the stack of BIS work still left to do. The stream of paper is seemingly neverending, and that's part of the problem. There is never any sense that he has completed something- achieved anything indeed except knocked down one more briefing to a digestible size, with a thousand still to go. He makes no decisions, alters no part of government policy, merely reads in, concatonates and writes out a one page summary in what is now perfect longhand. He is bored out of his skull.
Peter hasn't tested the wards since Paddy was last on guard- all the guards since have been magical and rather more inclined to enquire as to what he is doing than previously. He supposes John has warned them to be extra vigilant and the lack of even an illusion of privacy grates. He hasn't managed to de-spell the phone either, and the knowledge that it has taken over a week to fail to do something he would normally be able to complete in under 10 minutes is yet one more frustration on top of the pile. It is growing incresingly difficult for him to maintain his temper, to keep to the social niceties and not just snap at the next comment, change into the wolf and howl at the door. But for now he bides his time with pacing and thinking up excessively creative means of revenge.*
He glares at the stack of BIS work still left to do. The stream of paper is seemingly neverending, and that's part of the problem. There is never any sense that he has completed something- achieved anything indeed except knocked down one more briefing to a digestible size, with a thousand still to go. He makes no decisions, alters no part of government policy, merely reads in, concatonates and writes out a one page summary in what is now perfect longhand. He is bored out of his skull.
Peter hasn't tested the wards since Paddy was last on guard- all the guards since have been magical and rather more inclined to enquire as to what he is doing than previously. He supposes John has warned them to be extra vigilant and the lack of even an illusion of privacy grates. He hasn't managed to de-spell the phone either, and the knowledge that it has taken over a week to fail to do something he would normally be able to complete in under 10 minutes is yet one more frustration on top of the pile. It is growing incresingly difficult for him to maintain his temper, to keep to the social niceties and not just snap at the next comment, change into the wolf and howl at the door. But for now he bides his time with pacing and thinking up excessively creative means of revenge.*
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Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 03:57 pm (UTC)Back to your room, Peter. Now.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:01 pm (UTC)Very well.
*Peter walks as calmly, steadily and as unthreateningly as possible back to his cell. Once back within the wards, he thanks John politely for the chance to get some fresh air.*
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:04 pm (UTC)*He then summons a large pot of tea along with a full plate of biscuits to calm his nerves.*
*Out of habit more than anything, he asks Peter if he would like a cup.*
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:08 pm (UTC)...yes?
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:11 pm (UTC)*He then goes back to his own plate and eats slightly less than half the chocolate biscuits he has left in a single go.*
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:15 pm (UTC)He waits for John to say something, at the rate John's going through the biscuits it shouldn't be long now.*
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:17 pm (UTC)How're the BIS briefs, Peter? Just as you remember them?
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:21 pm (UTC)Not quite. It is a very dynamic area.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:25 pm (UTC)Good. Good...
*John desperately tries to think of another conversation topic but all that comes to mind is revolves around how very easily something could have gone wrong in the car park. As such, John decides that remaining silent would probably be the best course of action.*
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:28 pm (UTC)*He pauses, wondering how best to frame the events of today to ensure he is allowed out again.*
...it is somewhat monotonous. Today's excursion was a welcome respite.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:33 pm (UTC)Moreover, if you're getting cabin fever, do not simply wait for one of your guards to pick up on it - we cannot read minds! - but instead inform us of your predicament and we shall see what we can do to alleviate the problem.
DEFRA may not hold werewolves in the highest regard, but they will intervene in a case of neglect if they have to.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 04:49 pm (UTC)*He scowls and considers pointing out that his guards hardly intervened when Fiona Millar tied him to a door, so he doubts any pleas to be let outside will be met with anything other than derision, but that would mean admitting to John that he'd allowed himself to be tied to a door, and Peter isn't in the mood for that humiliation either.*
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 05:38 pm (UTC)If you wish to have someone else take you on and be your legal guardian in the hopes that you'll get to go out for walks wherever and whenever you like, then I will fetch the forms in an instant and have you transferred on Monday. However, I hardly think it would do you any good in the long term.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 05:48 pm (UTC)As for working out how this came to pass- if you will allow me the freedom of my laboratory I can find out. Otherwise your guess is as good as mine.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 05:54 pm (UTC)Peter, I cannot let you into your lab unsupervised. At all. That is out of the question.
What may be possible is for you to go there with someone who actually understands what it is you are doing - namely, Vince. However, he is ever so slightly busy at the moment being in coalition and running one of the biggest departments in the country. Unless I administer a truth potion to you and have a guard or two watching you, there is no possible way you are going to get into your lab, Peter.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:00 pm (UTC)You know as well as I do that truth potions are highly risky and give unreliable results. There's a reason that even this government doesn't consider them suitable for interrogative use.
...would you be satisfied with two guards and a binding? As you say, Vince is busy. The only way it will be possible to determine the cause and potentially prevent future outbreaks would be for me to do the research.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:07 pm (UTC)I'll seek advice from Frances on this matter. I can't promise anything.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:11 pm (UTC)*He hesitates, wondering how far to press his luck*
It was good to see Freddie, Oliver and Jemima again today. I know you probably will not believe it, but they were never in any danger.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:12 pm (UTC)Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:14 pm (UTC)If you do not believe the potion has any effect, why continue to ask me to drink it daily?
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:17 pm (UTC)Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:20 pm (UTC)What further proof do you require?
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:24 pm (UTC)When you boil down the argument to its bare bones, this is the result: I do not currently trust you to be around my children for a prolonged period of time. You may argue all you like - and I'm sure you will - but you cannot and will not make me feel like an appalling individual for putting the safety of my children above all else, Peter.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:30 pm (UTC)I wasn't aware Westminster Palace had the facilities. Unless that's the point? I can't leave the grounds without a brain scan, I can't obtain a brain scan... without leaving the grounds.
Fine. But I see no reason why some secluded park or base should not be sufficiently difficult for the public to locate as to be safe for a brief stroll.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:36 pm (UTC)Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:38 pm (UTC)You told me that if I wished to leave the cell, I should ask. I have done so.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:40 pm (UTC)Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:41 pm (UTC)And rejected*Peter inclines his head.*
Thank you.
Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 06:44 pm (UTC)Re: 2 p.m.
Date: 2012-09-15 07:28 pm (UTC)