Free Doug Pearson!

[Douglas Pearson]

Sighing quietly, Doug lightly bounced his head against the cement wall behind him, creating a rhythmic thumping sound. Flanked on either side by two of his old protest buddies, his current location was less than ideal: surrounded by metal bars and depressing grey walls, the gang had spent the night in a Ministry holding cell. Their Gringotts protest had gotten a little out of hand, Doug was caught in the fray, and before he knew it he was behind bars. The last time he'd been arrested like this, it was the result of a poorly-thought-out attempt to break into the Department of Mysteries on the suspicion of animal testing. Wait, no: he'd also been arrested a few years later for a poorly-thought-out attempt to crash a rich person's party and free their house elves. There were a lot of poorly thought-out attempts at things in Doug's past, was the point.

Still, he felt his arrest was a grave injustice. He expected outrage in the streets! Cries of "Free Doug Pearson"! Tee-shirts emblazoned with his face! He briefly forgot this fantasy, however, when he looked up and saw the long-suffering face of the person who'd come to pick him up. "Mr Pearson, you're free to go," were the nicest words he'd ever heard, and he quickly hopped up, shaking the hands of his compatriots, whose friends had grown a little less willing to drop everything to bail them out of jail. As he exited the cell, he exhaled deeply and held his arms out to the side, as if he'd been locked up for years, before looking at his savior. All he wanted was to casually brush off what had happened last night. "What do you think, has prison changed me?"

(ooc: Anyone who would know Doug at all, feel free to bail him out! <3)

[Sarah Watson]

((ooc: Sarah seemed like the natural option, hope you don’t mind!))

Sarah wore that expression of barely suppressed exasperation as she waited for the guards to process the paperwork so Doug could be freed. There was a lot of bureaucratic red-tape to get through, she knew that, but mostly her exasperation was saved for the temporary prisoner himself – this had to be like the third time in so many years that he’d been banged up for an ill-thought-out protest or publicity stunt. Tapping her right foot impatiently she cast the young guard a highly unimpressed look which seemed to speed up the process… well it was either that look or the fact she wore her Auror ID badge that gave her priority, it was anyone’s guess which was the real clincher.

“Mr Pearson, you’re free to go,” the guard announced as he nodded to his colleague to unlock the door. The blonde trailed over to the doorway, crossing her arms over her chest in a gesture of irritation, as she watched Doug prepare to leave, shaking the hands of his fellow protestors who, unfortunately, didn’t have their deceased best friend’s former girlfriend/secret bride to bail them out. She narrowed her eyes at his question, “Mmm. Well, prison never seems to change you enough to make you stop protesting and so avoid it for the foreseeable future now, does it? I hear it was Gringotts this time. What did they do to offend you in particular?” Sarah asked with a touch of disdain in her tone for his penchant for activism.

[Douglas Pearson]

"Would you say that to Nelson Mandela? Would you say that to Pussy Riot?!" Doug asked, a little deliriously, waving his hands around. As he walked down the hall to the outside world, glancing at Sarah every so often, he decided that prison hadn't changed him too much -- as he still felt the all-too-familiar and barely-repressed urge to re-enact scenes from The Green Mile.

Still. Disappointing Sarah felt like disappointing his mum, somehow, though he was wise enough not to tell her that. "Gringotts is shady as hell, man. Shrouded in secrecy! Does all that money even exist? They've got Curse Breakers stealing gold from ancient tombs like we're entitled to it, what's up with that? Plus, all that... one percent of the population controlling, uh, ninety-nine percent of the gold... Brooks explains it better," he trailed off vaguely while gesturing back at the cell containing Brooks, an intense-looking mohawked young man staring off into the distance.

As someone who wanted very badly to incite meaningful protest and social change but who perhaps lacked the foresight or organizational skills to make it happen, Doug didn't want to admit that he'd only gone along because his friends needed last-minute poster art and he missed doing this sort of thing. Also, he'd come up with some fantastic puns. "I'm very tired, okay. Also, I need to use the toilet. Couldn't bring myself to go in the cell. I have... seen some stuff, Sarah Watson."

He sighed and glanced at Sarah, less defiant and more suddenly vulnerable. "I'm really really sorry. I'll pay you back for this, I promise. Don't... tell anyone I got arrested, okay?" He scratched his cheek, thinking about his older brothers who already thought he was a fuck-up or the very nice girl he'd just starting seeing.

[Sarah Watson]

Sarah’s eyebrow raised dangerously, “Yes, I would say that to Mandela and Pussy Riot, if they were in a Ministry holding cell. Which I highly doubt they are.” She wandered down the hallway with him, looking at him surreptitiously as he considered his actions of which she made no secret of her disappointment. She listened patiently as he explained about Gringotts, nodding along and managing a non-committal ‘mmm’ every so often in response. “I’ll let you into a little secret about banking, most of it is just people moving numbers around on a screen. That’s essentially what money is, those little coins only mean something by virtue of the value we attach to them… there’s no inherent value at all. I advise you not to think about money too much, it tends to be a bit… mind-blowing-y,” she commented, adding in concession, “Though I agree on the whole ‘what’s up with the stealing gold from ancient tombs’ thing. I mean, come on, I thought we’d got past that Age of Empire years ago, well that and the mentality that everything should belong to us just because we happen across it.”

“The disparity in wealth, yes it’s awful isn’t it. You’re not going to ‘Occupy’ the Ministry are you? Because if so, think you could manage it on a day where I don’t have to fight through crowds of protestors to get up to work?” the blonde asked jokingly, barely casting a glance back at Douglas’ friend and fellow protestor – she knew the type. “Yeah, yeah, seen some stuff, lack of sleep, prison has changed you for good,” she rolled her eyes luxuriously at this, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets as they fell into a momentary silence.

She stopped in her tracks, however, as Doug became suddenly oddly vulnerable and his voice quieted into sincerity. She paused and turned to look at him properly with a small, sympathetic smile, “Look, you don’t need to pay me back for anything, Doug, and you don’t need to be sorry,” Sarah replied seriously, “I think it’s great you give a shit about something enough to protest. And for what it’s worth, I just play the disappointing, disapproving maternal figure, you are exasperating, sure, but… I don’t’ know, it’s… it’s oddly… endearing.” Her brow furrowed slightly then at her own words and she added in a faux-threatening manner, “But if you dare tell anyone I used the word ‘endearing’ to describe you, I won’t be bailing you out next time, got it?” before she smiled in a somewhat mischievous way, “Now… which person do you least want me to tell about this whole thing? Your mum? Dad? Brothers? The cute redhead?” she asked, tilting her head to the side purposely as if to tease him a little about said ‘cute redhead’.

[Douglas Pearson]

"I might do," Doug offered thoughtfully at her suggestion that he might Occupy the Ministry, wondering if Sarah knew that she was just giving him more ideas. "It's cool. I just need a piss and a strong coffee and then, you know, start on the long hard slog toward re-integration with society," he added facetiously.

Doug mirrored Sarah by putting his hands in his pockets, his jacket covered in specks of paint and mysterious debris that even he couldn't identify. "I want to make it up to you, though. You didn't ask for this, you just... got stuck with me, I guess," he laughed. There was a subtle implication there, the implication that she'd taken over what was once Tom's role in Doug's life, but he didn't actually mention it. He then shrugged. "My parents never cared. When you've raised five boys with varying degrees of psychosis, if the sixth one still has all of his limbs at the end of the day, it's considered a rousing success." Rapping his knuckle against each brick on the wall next to him as they walked, he continued, "I'd rather not give my brothers more supporting evidence for the whole 'Doug's a fuck-up' narrative, you know? And with said cute redhead..." he sighed. "We've only been out a couple of times, I don't know if we should be breaking out our arrest records quite yet. Well, my arrest record, I suppose."

[Sarah Watson]

“Oh God, I just inspired you, didn’t I?” Sarah asked, closing her eyes for a moment in despair that she might unwittingly have actually give him an idea for a further protest. “Just don’t say I ever mentioned the idea. And try to do it when I’m off-work, I’ll give you a copy of my schedule,” she joked dryly with a sniff. “A piss and a coffee? Well both of those can be accomplished in a coffee shop which was actually where I was headed until I got wind of your incarceration. Care to join me?” she offered casually – even though he had been partly joking around, she would appreciate his company, since they’d ‘reconnected’ she’d realised how much she valued Douglas’ friendship. Of course, she wouldn’t ever admit this aloud whilst sober, and would barely admit it whilst drunk.

“Yeah but you don’t need to,” she retorted quickly, shaking her head with a sigh at his choice of wording, “I got lumped with you because of Tom. I know. I can say it. It doesn’t… I’m trying not to let it hurt anymore,” she admitted, in a barely audible voice before she added, “But just while I’m being emotionally candid, let me say that I don’t mind that I got stuck with you by default because of what happened to him, I don’t mind fulfilling his role as carer and bail-er, bail-ee?” she paused over the correct noun before shrugging it off. “You provide enough comic relief to make it worthwhile,” she explained with a slow-forming smile quirking at her downturned lips.

The blonde shook her head, “Your parents will care, you think they don’t, that they’re too wiped out to give a shit but… they must do. It’s the very condition of being a parent. Besides, I don’t think spending a night in a Ministry holding cell qualifies you as a ‘fuck-up’, you need to do some really serious shit to be classified as that.” She absent-mindedly turned her gaze to her hands, in a show of casual disinterest, but was curious about ‘said cute redhead’, “You like her. I can tell,” Sarah murmured, as if hating the fact she could do so. “Go for it. As far as I know, with her you only have one potentially psycho ex-boyfriend to contend with, that Noah guy, yeah? Not quite Scott Pilgrim,” she attempted a light joke, barely realizing such a reference hinted at her occasional perusal of comic-books, obviously a testament to the parts of Tom’s personality that she’d assimilated.

[Douglas Pearson]

"Sorry, what I meant to say was... I've learned my lesson and will never do that sort of thing again," Doug responded rather unconvincingly, grinning mischievously at Sarah. He nodded casually at her suggestion to get coffee, recognizing it as a gesture of friendship even though they didn't have 'mushy' moments unless they were both very drunk.

"Oh. Okay," Doug smiled weakly. "I get that 'comic relief' thing a lot, actually? I assure you it's completely unintentional." He looked down then and patted Sarah on the arm lightly, as if their roles were reversed and she were Tom's hyperactive little nerd friend he now felt oddly protective of. "You know, I find you 'endearing' too, Sarah Watson."

Doug shook his head. "Oh no no no no, man, I'm not trying to get pity because my parents don't care about me or something. I mean, they're nice people. They're fine. They turned me loose as a child, which I think they feel bad about but they don't expect too much out of me in return and it's honestly better for me that way." He smiled slightly at Sarah's Scott Pilgrim reference, surprised but pleased by it. "Ha, you saw me talk to that guy? That was crazy, right?!" Doug exhaled suddenly and put his hand to his forehead. He hadn't realized how much he needed to talk to someone about the incredibly awkward interaction he'd had with Casey and her ex. "To be fair, I don't think he's an 'evil ex-boyfriend' so much as... someone who maybe shouldn't drink that much..." he laughed. "It's just an awkward situation for me. This guy probably still has feelings for her and they have like, some intense unresolved issues I guess, and I'm just over here all 'Hey, I just want to have a good time and see how this goes'!" he explained while waving his arms about.

He walked out onto the street, inhaling like he hadn't experienced fresh air in years. "The Coffee Bean?" he asked, pointing in the direction of the coffee shop.