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In the mid fall of Raccoon City, the chill in the air has just started to become nippy. The leaves have already shifted from green to lovely shades of yellow and red. Citizens moved through the streets, wrapped up in coats and scarves to keep the wind away. The clock had just struck twelve for staff in the R.P.D. Jill stacked papers in order on her desk and tucked her eraser brick back into the drawer. Across from her, Joseph lounged in his chair with his arms folded behind his head. It was his chuckle that made Jill look up from her work.
“Uh oh, what is it this time?” She smirked. Joseph always found something funny to point out in his paperwork or report form. It was the corny things he said in those moments that made him fit right away into a group. He swiveled his desk chair to face Jill.
“When I was in school all those years ago, I kept telling myself that when it was over, I’d go out and find the first exciting job I could get. Maybe a park ranger, sport coach, somethin’ different…being a cop didn’t sound too bad! Yet I’m still sitting at a desk, pushing papers, and waiting on the bell to tell me it’s lunch time.” Jill nodded and cured her hair behind her ears.
“I agree with you on the school part but I found that having down time can be a good thing. No one in this city needs saving, they can just go about their day.” The man nodded and stood up from his chair.
“Yeah..you have a point. But I wouldn’t be against helping some old lady get her cat out of a tree though. Take care, Valentine.” Joseph smiled and made his way out of the office, no doubt going down to the diner a few blocks from the precinct. After laying out the rest of the work to be done on her desk, Jill grabbed her lunch bag and went down a floor to the break room. With files and accident reports on her mind she almost bumped into another officer on the way out. For the R.P.D. having balconies to match its grand ceilings and the endless hallways, break rooms A & B were standard. Both fitted with plain white kitchen appliance setups and tables. Kind of felt like a miny café. Jill poked into room B and saw a surprising amount of officers gathered around a table, the one in the center was weaving a tail about their thrilling car chase with a rouge speedster. She left them to the story and strode into room A. Sat at the table was Barry, enjoying (by the smell of it) a honey ham sandwich on whole wheat bread. Forest of Bravo Team was in the corner stirring a drink of some kind in a mug. Jill approached the table and set a hand on the chair’s back.
“This seat taken?” Barry cleared his throat after swallowing a bite and shook his head.
“All yours, have a seat.” He motioned to the chair before taking a sip of his drink. Jill set her bag down but moved closer to the man.
“Did you get another note in your lunch today?” Barry nabbed a yellow post it note off his sandwich wrapper and held it up for Jill. ‘Love from your three girls’ was written in marker. Below it was drawn a flower, a roughly shaped heart, and a stick man with surprisingly nice hair. “Aww~” Swooned Jill and placed a hand over her heart. Barry’s family notes were always a highlight during lunch. He was the only married man in both S.T.A.R.S. teams and spoke about his two kids often. “You should keep that one, it’s adorable.” Barry scoffed and set the note down.
“I used to think the same thing; but now I have stacks of these floating around the office. Jill, when you have kids, don’t make the same mistake as I and decide to only keep the best ones years later.” Jill went quiet a moment and unpacked her lunch, setting each item onto the table with a gentle thump.
“Thanks, but I don’t see myself starting a family right now.” She sat down and began to tug at the pop top on her can of pears. “Besides, I’m even not dating anyone yet.” Forest snorted and hovered near the exit door.
“If only your problem could be fixed by, I don’t know- an entire building of handsome cops per say?” He clicked his tongue and leaned against the door frame. Barry held in a chuckle as Jill rolled her eyes.
“Ha, ha, very funny…but maybe you could put in a word with one of these strong cops to help me open this?” she held out the can with a sly smile. Forest set his mug down and attempted to get the lid off.
“What on this green earth have you done to your coffee?” Barry remarked. The normally brown drink was now a tan color, and the smell of vanilla overpowered the caffeine.
“Can’t a man enjoy some flavor in his life?” Forest said with a shrug. He had some difficulty with the tinny handle but finally got it off after some man handling. He sighed and shook out his hand after giving it back to Jill. “Well..if that isn’t a sign I need to hit the gym then I’m going blind! Latter you two.” Jill thanked Forest as he headed out the door and stabbed a pear with her fork.
“Jill, I have full confidence that one day you will find the right man,” Barry crumpled up his wrapper along with his napkin and smiled. “women with your qualities don’t appear every day, I can tell you that for free.” He winked.
“Barry, need I remind you that I met your wife at the S.T.A.R.S. barbecue this summer?” Wesker stood in the doorway holding a blue mug in one hand and a fancy branded water bottle in the other. “Best you do not let your mind wander about co-workers when on the job, I need you to be sharp as nails should we be deployed in the field.” Barry nodded.
“You can count me in on the field work. But don’t go dreaming up any crazy schemes here! I was just giving Jill here a pep talk.” Jill quickly smiled back in hopes of Wesker dropping any ideas on what he had walked in on. The captain spied them for a moment then moved toward the kitchenette. Jill sighed in relief, Barry looked as if he was a naughty child who had gotten away with something. Wesker took the blue kettle out of the top cabinet and worked the screw lid of the water bottle. It was one of those bottles, the ones where the plastic was sturdy and didn’t try to crumple apart in your hands. He took a swig of the water for himself and began to pour the rest into the kettle. The words on the label boasted it was drawn from a fancy spring no one’s ever heard of. Jill crunched her pretzels in deep thought as she watched the blond. Wesker was running late today for his tea-making. The staff said he liked to come up here a little while before the lunch break. Wonder what held him up? The sound of footsteps drew Barry from his lunch to the door. There stood Chris, looking like a two-headed lizard just crawled in here to eat. He set his lunch bag on the other table and crept over to Wesker, a grin on his face did likewise.
“Captain, good that you’re hear, I had a question for you.” Wesker stayed silent. The sound of water dribbling into the kettle filled the room. Only when the task was finished did he acknowledge Chris.
“Yes?” he turned around and propped one arm on the counter. “Is this about the Kemp case?”
“No, I was wondering, why you are heating up da’ water?”
“For my tea, nothing more.” Surprisingly, Wesker didn’t sound bitter at that pointless question.
“Really?” Chris arched an eyebrow. “I always thought you put it in hot water to speed up the ‘tea-ification’ process, never knew there was a reason. I’ll be sure to do that next time.” Both Barry and Jill looked up from eating at the sudden revelation. Wesker’s eyebrows slowly rose above the frame of his sunglasses.
“You put your tea in cold water?” The man heavily emphasized the last two words of his sentence, his covered eyes no doubt staring in bamboozlement.
“You know how hot water makes instant oatmeal? I thought I was kind of like that. My bad for making it wrong.” The two lunch eating bystanders had but one question on their minds: when did Chris drink tea?? Wesker grit his teeth under his lips but held a neutral face.
“Tea-making is a slow process. Time is needed for the herbs to simmer.”
“Yes, yes, I’d do that from now on!” Chris swung his arm across his chest then set both hands on his hips. “I’ll just warm up it in the microwave next time. Thanks, Wesker!” he turned on his heel to leave but the shout of ‘stop!’ made him freeze. Jill desperately tried not to choke on her fruit punch out of surprise. Wesker glared at the young man before him, forehead tight with anger.
“You neva boil the water in a micrawave." His accent warped his tone of voice, making him sound more ticked off then stern. He sucked in a quick breath to recompose himself and continued "It compromises the drink. Smolders the poor leaves when you add them.”
“But cap’ I don’t have the time to boil it on the stove! I-I got reports coming out of my ears downstairs!” Wesker reached up and stroked the bridge his nose as Chris rambled on. (funny enough, it caused his sunglasses to start bouncing!)
“Chris. It takes 7 minutes for proper tea water to come to boil. You cannot fit that in with your lunch break?” Jill and Barry were locked in on this exchange. What was weirder? Wesker losing his mind over water or Chris asking if the said tea he drinks needs hot water?
“I mean… I could put the mug, with the water, on the stove like Claire does. That should speed it up-”
“You put the entire mug on the stove!?” Wesker shouted, activity grabbing the counter in horror. His sunglasses knocked out of their place and revealed his frenzy locked eyes. Chris acted unfazed by all of this and looked back at the now ghost white table occupants with a wide grin on his face.
“Any recommendations for a good kettle brand? Sounds like my sis could use one.” Wesker crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the sealing squares with a sigh. These will be the longest seven minutes of his life…
