[u](Collaboration Post Featuring Tanderbolt's Robert Leland, and Major Ursa's Sherry Attar)[/u]

Robert was taking a break from his usual patrol, groggy from spending his morning searching the forest. Everything had turned out alright in the end, and he heard that the people at the hospital had actually found something out about who Jane Doe was. His job would be easier if he could find a similar breakthrough on the case of the mysterious woman, but nothing had turned up so far. He was leaning on his car in the station parking lot, looking at his surroundings.

Walking down the side of the road (thankfully on her comfortable pair of flats), Sherry’s hair swished gently and the slight downhill slope caused her to jog own towards the Sheriff’s—oh? In the parking lot, the sheriff was, well, for lack of a better term, ‘chilling’. There were a bunch of things she could ask about the Jane Doe search and rescue, but decided that she could go through different sources for information…better to collect the dripping sap, then to drill a tree. Wait, was that the phrase?

No matter. With her tote bag swishing back and forth, Sherry gave a friendly smile and wave at the sheriff, humming as she made her approach…quite suddenly, she couldn't help but notice, “Oh, tired I see? That isn't good. You are our faithful town sheriff, after all!” Smile widened considerably, as she teased the very serious man.

Reaching into her tote bag, the woman didn't lose eye contact as she pulled out a thermos, unscrewing the cap and pour some of the steaming brew into it. With a dainty hand, she held the cup out to him, “It’s an interesting tea blend to be sure, there are more than a dozen health benefits to this…but, admittedly, it won’t do you tired disposition much better. I tend to avoid the highly caffeinated blends, as they do increase the likelihood of heart disease.”

Robert raised hand to decline the drink, and stood upright. He said "Is there anything I can help you with, Sherry? By the way, I liked your piece in the paper last week."

The journalist’s smile faltered for a brief second, before she tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and looked anywhere but at him. Not pushing her tea on him further, she downed the hot brew in a second and poured out more, before giving the man a sweet smile, “You think so? You…think so…hm?"

Sipping her tea quietly, in an almost meditative manner, "Not much more than writing a short story to a book with no beginning. So many plot developments, but with no beginning, what could they possibly be leading up to, exactly...?”

He was intrigued by what she said, and decided to share a bit of what had been troubling him recently. "I know what you mean, recently I've got a whole lot of questions and no answers. It doesn't help that people seem to be hiding so much from me, even Regina's been less than cooperative recently."

Sherry couldn't help but giggle at Robert's mention of information being hidden. Being a sheriff, an awfully lawful one (even while working with Regina), he didn't have his fingers on the pulse of how strange everything has been. Not exactly. "You're just Regina's chew toy. The bitch needs your help to relieve stress, and to polish her [i]teeth[/i]."

Finishing the tea, she screwed the cap back and stored the thermos back into her tote, setting her hand on a hip and tilting her head. Sherry fixed the man with an enigmatic smile, "My gut is hardly ever wrong on this, the story is indeed missing the beginning. I'm shivering right now, because I know...I know..." Letting out a short laugh, she shook her head and started to hum...wagging her finger up at him.

Robert made a slight frown and said "Regina is this town's mayor, and the voting record shows that almost everyone here loves her. I'll always be thankful for what she did for me, before I came here I was shell-shocked and homeless, thanks to her I have a job and a place to call home. You may not feel this way, but I think Regina has good intentions at heart. Recent events haven't change my opinion, I just wish that she'd be more honest with me and show some respect for the law."

With every word from Robert's mouth, the woman kept nodding and 'mmmhmmm'ing, "Sounds like my backstory as well...make no mistake, I too appreciated she she has done for me, but she hardly seems like how I remember." Shrugging, she leaned on the other side of his vehicle, "Don't you get that sense?"

Robert nodded and said "There's a ton of weird stuff going on with her lately. It all started when Henry showed up last week, she's been odd towards him. She told me she saw him steal from her, but I can't find any evidence of his involvement. A few days later, they're hanging around together and he's even a teacher at the school, and she hasn't told me anything more about him."

Staring over at some weed growing out from the crack in the concrete, Sherry opened her mouth as if to speak, but seemed to visibly hesitate for almost a minute. The sheriff did his job, and not much else...should he have caught wind of Regina picking up other chew toys, or would it just suit him to know not much else other than things involving work.

Blinking dully at the weed, her mouth formed into a bit of a pout, "It's going to be all your own fault, later, since you don't follow the more obvious leads." Another pause, "It's almost tragic--no, a crying shame that I have too many pieces of information, secrets...and not an ear to whisper them into."

"If there's anything you want me to look into, just ask. If it's something that you'd rather not risk anyone in town knowing, go to the state attorney general, they can help. I'd be especially interested if you knew anything about the theft of Storybrooke's tax money or other crimes," He could tell that Sherry was looking for a story, but for now he just wanted to give her the minimum amount of information.

"Tell me, Sheriff Leland...do you know the foundation in which this town has been built upon?"

"This town is built on solid granite, both the literal granite that we stand upon, and the figurative granite of our moral foundations. Storybrooke has always been a beacon of honesty and justice, thanks to the good nature and hard work of this generation and those who came before us." Robert was moralizing a bit, but he interacted with others so little that he lept at the chance to talk about the town's history.

"Panties, more specifically, dirty laundry--dirty dealings! Dragging good people through the dirt, and burying others in it...but, now that you mention it..." Sherry feigned the whole 'thinking on it', but it had always been in the back of her mind, "I have two filing cabinets and a shelf worth of dishonesty and injustice, of the past five years..."

Tapping her left cheek with a finger, biting a lip with real thoughtfulness, before Sherry collected herself and smiled at Robert mischieviously, "You sound eager to tell me of the town's history...so I'll lend an ear." Leaning closer, she tucked another strand of hair behind her hear, "Please, go on."

"I'd love to, but I'm on duty. I've got to do another round of patrolling soon, if you have something related to my job as sheriff you'd like to talk about, I suggest you bring it up now before I have to leave."

Sherry shook her head and laughed...almost, it almost seemed like deja vu. Ask someone to recount something deeper in the past, and they seemed busy, or distracted, or tired. Holding a hand up, "It's fine, a girl like me prefers to be mysterious...and for that, I need secrets. I'm sure my secret stash of information will be discovered, far [i]after[/i] I die. Now, I believe Regina is the one I really want to speak to about the town's history, among other things..."

With a quick wink, she pushed off from the vehicle and lightly dusted the dirt off of her clothes, "I'll see you whenever I do, probably doing more work for Regina...like last week. If I don't turn up, at all...well," Sticking a hand into her tote bag to pull out her thermos, which she waved in his face, "I probably didn't die of a heart attack, at the very least."

Robert's voice grew quieter, and his tone became deadly serious "Ma'am, if you honestly fear for your life, let me know immediately. I can get a guard posted, I can arrange for you to stay at a safe location, whatever we need to keep you safe."

Brows raising on her face, the side of her mouth twitched slightly, before she let out a few chuckles, "I only joke, I could hardly think poking Regina about the town will get me killed...but, seriously, the foundation of the town is something you [i]really[/i] need to look into. You [i]know[/i] that quake should have been impossible!" Saying this all slowly, deliberately...she turned and left as quickly as she'd come. Time to confront a lady with all the secrets, while wielding none so powerful on her own.