Stranded in a Limousine (Charlie)

Charlie. Hated. Highway patrol. So much. Now, in a normal town, there were highway patrol officers wherein their entire job was pulling people over and suchlike. But in the little town of Pilot Ridge, there were only three cops in town so everyone had to do highway patrol. And “everyone”, turned out to just mean “Charlie”. Renee had seniority, so she wouldn’t do this kind of stuff often. He wasn’t sure how Sloane got out of it, since she and Renee didn’t get along, but he wasn’t about to make trouble for her. Mostly because that wasn’t really Charlie’s style. Also because Sloane was a little alarmingly intense. Which may or may not be a more manly way of saying that she kind of scared him. But that was neither here nor there.

While Charlie acknowledged that highway patrol was indeed incredibly important, he just…didn’t like to do it. He had no qualms about pulling people over for speeding or being irresponsible, but he always felt bad for writing people up for silly things…

…Like a broken taillight. Dammit.

Charlie heaved a sigh and turned on his siren, pulling up behind the (admittedly charming) large van, following as it made its way to the side of the road. He ran a hand through his hair and pulled himself out of the car, pulling out his little clipboard…thing. Whatever it was. He just hoped that whoever it was wouldn’t be belligerent about this. It wasn’t as though Charlie particularly like it. But maybe the guy should have gotten his taillight fixed!

He was secretly a little relieved when the fellow in the car looked about his age, maybe a little older. At least it wasn’t some punk teenager. Unfortunately, this also meant that Charlie was going to be writing up someone who very well could have been a friend had they met in different circumstances. Hopefully he’d be reasonable.

“Good afternoon sir.” Charlie greeted, keeping his face pleasant, “You are aware that having a broken taillight is a traffic violation? One that does require a ticket?”

Charlie nodded, trying to keep the majority of his apologetic feelings off of his face. He was proud of his occupation and he would never apologize for his job. However, he really did feel a little like a douche sometimes. Especially because he was aware of the stereotypes involved with police officers, especially ones who seemingly pulled people over for little things like broken taillights. But dangit, he was going to do his job!

“Call me Charlie.” He replied almost automatically, then winced inwardly. Christ, it’d been a while since he’d had to pull people over. The mention of a hospital visit gave him pause. Great. Charlie sighed, “I’m real sorry to hear that. I know this is probably the last thing you wanted to deal with today.” He ran a hand through his hair, “All the same, I have to do my job. But…” He scribbled on the citation sheaf, “I’ll write it up as a citation, instead of an actual ticket. That way, you won’t get a mark on your record and the fine is something along the lines of twenty dollars.” He handed the receipt with a shrug, “It’s the best I can do ya.”

Charlie could tell the guy didn’t have a good idea of what was actually going on. This was made all the more clear when he offered to pay the citation up front. “Ah, no. Fraid not. See, the citations don’t go to me, or the police team itself, they go to the state. So you gotta go to the DMV and report this, and give the money to them, and it gets processed by that department. I end up not doing anything with it, really.” He offered the other man a friendly shrug. He didn’t know what else to say to the man and was a little bemused by his efforts. It was just a citation, Charlie couldn’t see the big deal.

“Do you have anymore questions for me, then?” Charlie was all too willing to clear anything up the man might have, “Also, if you don’t mind, I don’t think I know your name?” He grinned, “I’m new here, and this is kind of a shitty way to meet a new person, but you take what you can get.” True, Charlie could just ask for the license and registration (which he realized belatedly that he’d forgotten to do), but it was nicer to actually talk to a person.

“Saturday will be fine.” Charlie shrugged, “I’ve been down to the DMV yesterday, they run it far better than in a larger city, I gotta admit.” The DMV in San Francisco was a zoo. Additionally, he was glad that Sean didn’t seem to be (1) still upset about the citation and (2) not put off by the absurdity of Charlie introducing himself after giving him said citation. Pilot Ridge must be a ludicrous place.

“Nice to meet you Sean.” He grinned, “Forever? Well, that’s fortunate for me. I moved here about a week and a half ago. From San Francisco. You’ve ever been there?” He loved talking about his city. It was a great place.

Charlie was sure Sean had a billion other things he’d rather do on a Saturday, but there wasn’t much else that Charlie could do about it. “That’s true.” He nodded, “And it’s easier to get to know everyone. Even if it means pulling them over.” He gave Sean an apologetic grin and nod.

Charlie laughed a little. “Well, I guess if you were to stay somewhere forever, Pilot Ridge seems like a nice enough place.” At least everyone was fairly friendly, and he didn’t expect to have to do anything beyond issuing citations and arresting bored teenagers for speeding or drinking. He nodded at Sean’s slightly surprised expression, “Yup. There’s only three of us on the force, y’see. So we all gotta start working right away.”

“Well.” Charlie figured it was time to let Sean get on with his day, “It was nice meeting you, Sean. Circumstances aside. Hopefully, I’ll see you around.” With a little salute, he turned and strode over to his car. Well. That was certainly one way to meet new people.

[ooc: closed for Charlie! thanks ^^]