Work Text:
June 23rd, 1996
Raccoon City Police Department
S.T.A.R.S. UNIT
For the first time in a while the station isn't buzzing with activity. Sure calls went out, but nothing worth sending out any of the S.T.A.R.S members. So what do these very capable group of people have to kill time with? Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. The bane of the entire stations existence as a whole. From the most basic cop, to the chief of police himself, even though he always hands it off to his secretary. So right now Chris, Jill, and Rebecca are at their desks wishing they found a way to escape paper purgatory. The other members of the force were luckily out doing a firearm safety demonstration at a nearby institution.
"Jesus. If I see another piece of paper after today I will scream", Jill said as she finished looking one document over, unfortunately reaching for another in hand. Chris chuckled at her irritation before responding in turn. "We're responsible to see that all of this is taken care of. Wesker and the chief won't take anything less than perfection. Besides, usually you're all for reading up on cases. Why the change?" He turns from his desk to fully face her. Jill does the same in turn, beret slightly askew on her head.
"Because we got stuck with all the boring stuff. And since the rest of the guys are out, there is way more than I'd like to tolerate. Look at this junk Chris," she turns to grab some papers before showing them to Chris. "Petty thefts, parking tickets, noise complaints, I mean come on Chris. I didn't come here to sit behind a desk all day." She sets her beret onto the end of her desk before pinching the bridge of her nose. Chris playfully rolls his eyes before patting her shoulder. "Well we protect and serve wherever we can Jill, just so happens that includes dealing with stuff like this." He turns back to his desk to continue his trudge through his stack of papers, only stopping after finding an outlier in the stack.
"Hey Rebecca..." He called out, expecting to hear from the new addition to the team. Unexpectedly, his call is met with silence. This is not normal, even snapping Jill out of her despair at the lack of a response. She peers over her desk to where the youngest member of their unit was face deep in what seemed to be work. Jill claps her hands over her head to get her attention.
*CLAP!*
The young woman yelps in surprise before her eyes lands on the now laughing Jill. Rebecca clears her throat before trying to act nonchalant. "Yes?" Her face a little red, clearly flustered at being caught goofing off. Jill smiles before talking. " Redfield wanted to ask you something.... You okay?"
"I- I'm fine. Just was a bit caught up with... stuff."
Jill and Chris share a look before directing their shared curiosity at her. "Like what?" They say in unison, full attention on her. Chris even put the paper that started this whole situation aside, clearly more invested in what kept her attention. The same goes for Jill, leaning over the desk to peek into the strange world that was Rebecca's desk. A wooden landscape riddled with medical books, chemical notations, and a device that each of them knew very well horribly hidden under a pair of small arms. Jill sneaks past the subpar defenses and holds up the small square console.
Rebecca helplessly tries to grab at it, failing as Jill leans back to ensure she can't. While she buries her face in her hands, Chris and Jill look over the Gameboy.
"Huh... never would have guessed you of all people would have one of these." Chris said as Jill handed it to him, failing to hold back a laugh. "I remember these came out when I was around your age Rebecca. I almost thought about getting my sister one. Claire never really gravitated to them though. What about you Jill? You ever had one of these?" He hands the device back to her, now wiping a tear that arose from her laughing fit. "Nope. Looked interesting though."
Rebecca stands and walks around to get the gameboy back. Face more red than either of the senior S.T.A.R.S members could ever fathom. "It's just something I had as a kid. Let's not dwell on it, what did you need me for Chris?" She asks, desperate to change the subject. Chris picks up the paper and rereads it before speaking. "An incident happend at a tanning salon, the one a couple blocks from here. Wanted to see if the injuries would be from the tanning bed or not." He hands the report to her, and with one glance she identifies what caused the injuries. Truly she earned her spot on the unit, her knowledge on this type of stuff was that of a prodigy. Unfortunately she put the gameboy down to examine the paper. Leading to Jill sneaking onto it, silently leaning in her chair as she played tetris.
"Hey! You planned this, didn't you?" She crosses her arms at Chris. He in returns put his hands up, a small smile fighting to stay neutral. "No. I really was trying to get your opinion, just so happens that Jill would rather focus on your little nintendo." "This beats paperwork easily. What do you do in this? I keep losing after getting a few hundred points." Realizing she's not getting her gameboy back easily, Rebecca concedes and explains the rules of the game. "Okay, the goal is to see how long you can last and how high a score you can get. You position the blocks, tetrominoes, as they fall to the bottom of the screen. You connect the pieces until you fill the row. Each clear of the row nets you points. A Tetris is five lines cleared at once. The better you do, the harder it gets, got it?"
Jill nods and give it a go. After a few tries she gets the swing of it, netting a new highscore. She hand's it to Rebecca, a smug grin on her face. "Looks like I'm the best around here. Or do you think you can beat my score rookie?" The childish challenge usually wouldn't work on Rebecca, but instead of politely declining she took her up on the offer. "You're on. As if I'd let you beat my score. Let me show you how a pro does it." Chris then chimes in not long after Rebecca presses A to try again. "I call next."
For the next hour the three members were all crowded around one another trying to beat each other in a silly block game. No one else would know of this small moment, just them. The rest of the day still consumed with menial work. But tomorrow when no one is looking, there will be a few highly trained professionals trading a small square device.