Land of the Living (Open)

[Faith Carracci]

It wasn't all too often Faith Carracci stepped out of her office, unless it was the end of her shift. She spent hours on end in the mourge, even taking her lunch break there on slow days. It was because of this habit that her skin was so deathly pale, and sometimes those who were new to the office confused her with one of the corpses, especially when she sat on one of the slabs and just waited for someone to come in. It was one of her favorite practical jokes, and the one she always played on the new guys.

Sufice it to day, seeing the young coroner out of the mourge was a surprise for those who actually knew her. It wasn't like she didn't like to leave the mourge; she did have a normal life, after all. She had favorite television programs; she read the latest Nora Roberts novels with ease. During her job, though, she rarely saw any point in leaving the mourge. That was where the CSI needed her. She could work and eat there. There was no point in leaving, especially considering she could always be called back in.

So for her to have stepped out of the mourge, during one of her shifts, and nibbling on a snap in the break room with quite apart from the norm. Especially considering she was actually sitting at one of the tables, her sandwhich laid out before her, with her favorite little kitten sitting on the table before her. It was almost as if the pair were sharing the sandwhich.

She needed a life.

[Daniel Royce]

"Wow!" Daniel said as he entered the break room. He'd met some of the other members of the staff the other day, and Faith was one of them. Of course, after meeting her he hadn't seen her anywhere else around the building. "You know, I was starting to wonder after meeting you if you ever left the morgue. I half imagined you just sleeping down there on one of the slabs." The words were in an entirely joking and friendly tone, contrasting just a little to the fact that Daniel didn't seem to actually smile much. He was quite nice, but it just took a special situation or person to make him crack a smile.

He set his lunch - a yogurt, sandwich, and an apple - down on the table, looking at the food sitting in front of Faith before turning his eyes up to her face. Now it was time to test his memory. If he was going to be good at his new supervisor job here he would have to learn the names of his colleagues and team. He tilted his head just a bit before speaking. "Your name was.... Faith, right?"

[Faith Carracci]

Faith nearly fell out of her seat when she heard Daniel enter the break room, but quickly recovered. She wasn't allowed to let anyone, especially not the new guy, see her sweat. It wasn't printed in the job description, but it was implied. And the last coroner had told her just that, before he had give over his office. You're the stomach of this place. Don't let 'em see you sweat, kid. Then he had clapped her on the shoulder and left without looking back. Soemtimes she envied him.

Faith placed her sandwhich on her napkin, looking up when he moved to sit across the table from her. In one easy move, she reached over, grabbed her stuffed kitten from the other side of the napkin, and placed him back in the pocket of her lab coat. Quietly she listened as Daniel spoke. She watched him, eyes travelling over his features and imprinting them into her member. This boy was new; he was going to be her supervisor when she worked the Swing, so it was best that she got to know him now. Especially considering she rarely left the mourge.

"Sometimes I do," she commented, quietly responding to Daniel's comment about her sleeping on one of the slabs. However, before he could fully believe her, she let a light smile curve her lips upwards, and picked her sandwhich back up, "It just depends on how many shifts I've worked in a row." Giving a little wink, Faith took a little bite from her peanut butter and honey sandwhich. She waited until she had swallowed to answer his question about her name.

"Yup. Faith Carracci. Point for the bossman." She ran her tongue over her teeth, as if thinking, and then tilted her head back slightly, "And you're Daniel."

[Daniel Royce]

Daniel had to do something of a double take as she said she sometimes slept in the morgue. She was smiling, but he couldn't tell if she was joking or being honest with him. Maybe it didn't really matter. Everyone had their little things that made them unique here. For Faith it was sleeping among the dead, for Dan it his violin. He'd stuck with that aspect of music through everything, and he felt at peace when he played. No matter what sort of hell he went through during the day, music gave him a way to let it out.

He gave her a slightly nervous smile, but it shifted into a real grin when he found he'd gotten her name right. "Well, that's one name down," he said. "And yep, I'm Daniel Royce." Well, now that he had that out of the way what could they talk about?

"So, what made you decide to be a coroner?" he asked. Maybe that wasn't something most people would talk about over lunch, but Daniel's stomach wasn't exactly weak. He may not have to autopsy the bodies, but he still had seen and would be seeing a lot of them doing his part of the investigation. Eventually you just had to learn to get used to it.

[Faith Carracci]

Faith saw the way Daniel acted upon her admittance that she slept with the corpses, and couldn't help but chuckle softly at the look on his face. With another grin on her face, though this one rather cheeky, she shook her head, laughter dancing in her eyes. "Relax, bossman, I don't really sleep with the dead. They hog the covers." Ah, yes. Daniel was getting a taste of her famous "humor" now.

She paused, taking another bite of her sandwhich, as Daniel asked his question. Impressed but not surprised by the question, Faith waited until she had finished her bite, swallowed, and then taken a few more sips of her drink to answer.

"As much as I hate to sound cliched, I think it started when I was a kid. I lived in the South," Faith paused then, wondering if she still had a bit of her accent left, but then shrugged it off and continued, "so a lot of my time was spent outside, playing in the woods and on the side of dirt roads. With that said, there were a lot of dead animals around. When you're six or seven, seeing stuff like that is fascinating, and it makes an impression on you."

She gave a little shrug, "What 'bout you, Danny? What made you want to join the life of glitz and glam that is CSI?" She turned his question back at him. After all, if they were going to work together, then she might as well know a few things about him. Especially considering that she was under him in rank, despite having worked there for years.

[Daniel Royce]

He was starting to think this girl just had a sense of humor, which he didn't mind so much. So many of the CSIs he'd worked with before being moved up here had been so rigid. It had driven Daniel just a little crazy at times. No one could be serious all the time, or at least Daniel couldn't. He may look serious, but he could take a joke and he appreciated them once and a while.

He started eating his yogurt as she explained how apparently dead animals had fascinated her and had lead to Dr Faith Carracci becoming a coroner. Of course, then she asked the same of him. He laughed a little and said, "See, I always thought my story was cliche too." After that though his face went a little more somber as he remembered what had lead him here. "When I went to college, it wasn't originally for Criminal Justice. I changed my major after one of my classmates, one of my friends, was beaten to death by her boyfriend. He was from the big city, and it didn't seem to phase him at all. I grew up as a small town boy, and I'd never really grasped the reality of brutal crimes until then. For someone like me, up until that moment, they were just something you heard about but never really experienced."

Daniel gave a small smile as he went on. "The guy didn't get away with it thankfully, but after that moment I just wanted to do something about people out there like him. I couldn't sit by and not do anything about them, so I changed my major the next term and here I am."

He shrugged. "Leave it to me to go from a naive small-town guy to a CSI in Boston. Everyone in my graduating class talked of getting out of our home town, but I doubt anyone would have pictured me ending up here."

[Faith Carracci]

Faith finished up the other half of her sandwhich as Daniel spoke, revealing to her his own story as well. She had to admit: she had heard stories like this before, but this one seemed genuine. It honestly was as if that one flash of brutality against his friend had changed all of his views on life, and made him want to go into something like this. Well, it was better than the old, "My father was murdered in the line of duty, so I decided to pick up the shield" story she heard every other new guy.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Faith said, drawing her drink up to her lips for a quick sip. She held up her fingers as a way of saying "I'm not done yet, just thirty," and then continued once the bottle was on the table again, "But I'm sure you've heard that before, so I'm not going to gush or anything. Just tell you that I'm impressed that you actually stuck with your resolution to go from normal college student to aspiring CSI. Not too many people actually stick with that commitment. Lord knows I've seen plenty of Interns walk in this door, see what we do, and walk right out. You get props for staying."

Reaching up, the Chief Coroner tucked a strand of dark hair behind her left ear. She placed her hand back on the bottle, and looked Daniel in the eye, "With that being said, Danny-boy, I'm also gunna give ya props for getting out of the small town and making it halfway big here. I'm from Memphis, so I know a little bit about what you're saying. It's not the smallest town, but it's no Boston, either. So far we're two-for-two, and, at the rate the scorecard's piling up, I have a feeling we'll get along just right."

And she pulled out a notepad right then and there, writing down what she had just learned about Daniel, and a few other observations she had made. When she was done, she placed the notepad and pen by her water bottle and looked up. "Welcome to CSI, Daniel." There was an absolutely serious look on her face, too, though her eyes were warm. It was a genuine welcoming, not a mocking sneer many others would give. She may have joked a lot, but Faith Carracci did know when to be serious and genuine.

[Daniel Days]

Danny was never really the sharpest axe in the shed but he knew how to get a job done right. Maybe that’s why he was hired as a measly intern for a large crime lab. It just felt so “Epic.” to be standing in the way of something so big. Like a wave of change that washed over the shores of ideological views. Danny really wasn’t gonna let anything get him down on his first day here.

Danny wasn’t like other normal people, he preferred a challenge rather than a small puzzle. He twisted and turned his nimble fingers in front of him watching the coloured cube which stood in front of him fold onto itself so many times. He could never actually manage to complete one of these damned things. Maybe one day but it became apparent that the mystery of the rubix cube had once again eluded his own grasp of victory. He dodged and weaved out of the roads of unsuspecting employees and visitors who seemed to be socially unaware that he was even there.

His eyes remained focused on the cube, twisting it in every way imaginable before taking a right (at least he thought it was a right) into a different room. He twisted one more corner before realising something truly remarkable. A person who was colour blind would have a better chance of solving this puzzle. Danny lobbed it onto the air as it came to a thud behind him. Did he care where it landed, not in the slightest. “Hi” Danny said bluntly at the two people in the room hoping they would notice him. He needed the attention.

[Daniel Royce]

Daniel smiled at Faith's words about them getting along. He appreciated that she hadn't said much in regards to Stephanie's death. Not many people seemed to realize that he had moved on now, and that while he'd been sad about her death had been what had pushed him here. She was the reason he hadn't lost his resolve. He was trying to honor her memory, and he was done needing sympathy.

"Thanks, for the props and for not trying to give me any sympathy talks. A lot of people don't realize that Stephanie, my friend, died several years ago now. I've basically moved on past grieving, and I'm not really looking for sympathy. I can't bring her back, but I can make sure her death meant something." His mouth did twitch just a bit there. Thinking of her still made him sad sometimes, but he certainly wasn't going to burst out into tears.

"I think we'll get along alright," She welcomed him to the CSI unit and then there was a voice from nearby. Daniel's head turned to face the newcomer. "Hi," he said. He held out his hand to shake, introducing himself as he did. "Daniel Royce, the new swing shift supervisor."