WELCOME TO MAX SEC

J.D. Landon had come over on the ferry and hadn't really got to know any of the other guards on the ride. A few said hello to im but apart from that they mostly left him on his own. That was fine, he was so nervous about his first day on the job that he felt sick, but maybe that was just the ride on the ferry. The water was choppy but J.D. didn't think he was prone to sea-sickness. He really didn't know. It had been a long time since he'd last set foot on a boat of any sort. He hoped it wasn't sea-sickness, he didn't relish the thought of turning up to work at each shift feeling under the weather. He wasn't sure if any of the other guards suffered that problem, they probably hid it well. Who would want to be the butt of work colleagues' jokes? J.D. was fairly sure nobody would want that and he was pretty good-natured but even he wouldn't want endless jokes made about him so he told himself the sickness was just nerves and chances were, it was. He didn't feel like throwing up. He just felt sick in the stomach about what he was to expect at work.

He presented his paperwork and ID at the gates and once checked he was told to follow the others up to the prison but at the prison they didn't know whether he was to go to the Warden's Office of the Guard Station and in the end they told him to go to the guard station. Sooner or later somebody would work out where he was to be. This was not encouraging for J.D. It didn't bode well for the organisation of this place he now worked or maybe things had changed... or maybe he'd just come across some really lazy employees and that's why they only got to work on the gate or the prison entrance. So, he found his way to the guard station and stood there, waiting... and feeling like a real fool because he didn't know what he was supposed to do. J.D. tried to ask a couple of guards but they just shrugged their shoulders, said something about a roster but couldn't tell him where he'd find it and of course he'd not been sent anything to tell him what or where he should be expected, just to turn up on time... and here he was. Now what?

Carli rubbed at her tired eyes with one hand whilst carrying a steaming cup of freshed brewed coffee CO Faith Roth had bought her. The two women had become friends as they shared something in common. Dangerous men. While one was an ex and the other a present fixture both women had their fare share of worries. It was with this in mind and a heavy heart that Carli had begun her day. It had started out as any other. The ferry over was uneventful, she'd made no attempt whatsoever chatting up the other members of staff heading in for the morning shift at Manfried. Another day, another dollar, Carli thought to herself as she sipped at her coffee. It was good and a necessary eye opening on mornings such as these. The coffee did what it was expected to do and Carli was waking up growing more and more ready for face the day. The first order of business was to check the guard assignments in the guards room. It was there that she saw a new and unfamiliar face.

She was just walking through the door when she first saw the man. He was new, had to be she hadn't seen him before and she imagined she'd atleast seen most of her co-workers in the time that she'd been working at Manfried. With a friendly smile on her face she approached the young man and introduced herself. "Well, Good Morning. You must be new? I'm CO Richards. Pleased to meet you Mr......" she trailed off, giving the man the time and the opportunity to give her his name. Carli continued on past him to where the clipboard hung on a peg on the wall that would outline their daily assignments. As she waited to be given the new guy's name she scanned over the sheet clipped to the clipboard her coffee still clutched in her other hand. Finding that she was due to report in at the mess hall for breakfast she turned to glance over her shoulder at the young man. Once she'd learned his name she'd check the assignments to see where he was due to be and if he needed help finding where to go, she'd be more than glad to help him.

When the female CO entered J.D. was leaning against a bench with his arms folded, waiting and wondering. He’d tried to engage two other COs in conversation when they’d entered and they’d just given him something akin to a death stare before looking at this thing or that and then leaving again. So it was a great relief when the woman entered and looked at him and walked towards him, not past him and smiled as well. He certainly was new and he returned her smile with a boyish smile of his own. He didn’t seem to realise that he had a smile that could quite possibly melt even the coldest hearts.

”Landon,” he said in a hurry, unfolding his arms and standing up. ”James Landon… J.D., most people call me J.D.,” he offered as she moved towards a clipboard and started looking at it. She had coffee. Oh God what he would give for a coffee right now; an iced coffee to be sure but right now even an ordinary coffee would be enough. He moved towards her, trying to peer past her at the clipboard she held. ”Um, you wouldn’t happen to know what I’m supposed to be doing, would you? Nobody’s told me anything and I didn’t get anything in my paperwork before I started. I’d really appreciate all the help I could get right now,” he told her. He caught a glimpse of one of the guards at the monitors shooting him a hard look and he sighed. They had already decided he was going to be useless, he realised. That’s why they hadn’t bothered talking to him. Friendly lot, not! At least CO Richards seemed nice enough. It didn’t occur to J.D. that he was probably in one of the most misogynist workplaces in Stepford Falls and that relying on a ‘woman’ might not earn him any points with the other guards but even if he’d realised that, J.D. hadn’t come to make friends for play-dates. He was here to do a job and he intended on doing it well.

Carli recalled how difficult her first day on the job had been. She'd felt greatly out of place and wasn't entirely sure what to do. Upon first seeing J.D. she figured he must be feeling the same way. Not one to let someone's discomfort, if you could call it that, go unnoticed she'd spoken to the young man as the other guards in the room apparently couldn't be bothered to. With a sigh and a slight roll of her eyes she'd turned towards the new recruit and offered him a kind smile. He was cute, she thought to herself but gave him not other thoughts in that regard. Just an observation on her part. She was given a smile in return and wasn't she a bit charmed by it.

"Are those your initials or your real name?" she asked curiously. After learning his name the new Co approached and peered down at the clipboard she held in her hand. She scanned the names and now that she knew his she looked for it on the list. She saw that it had been penciled in as though it were a last minute change. Her brow furrowed a bit as she wondered at that then she turned her head to get a good look at J.D. He'd asked if she knew what his duties were and now she did after finding him on the assignment sheet. "Looks like you're with me in the mess hall. Not too bad for your first day." If it was help that J.D. wanted and needed Carli was the right woman to team him up with for the day. "I haven't been here too long. You'll get adjusted in no time and until then you can stick by me if you'd like. If you're assigned with someone else I could talk to CO Roth, she does our scheduling, about having it changed. Some guards here you won't want to work with." It was a bit of a warning though Carli didn't want to get into it here and now so she'd added the last in there murmured under her breath. "You're nervous aren't you?" she blurted out.

J.D. sighed a bit. He should have guessed that was coming. He’d offered James and then J.D. and hoped it would end at that. While he didn’t mind his name at all, there were reasons he used J.D. James sounded so formal, though his mother always used James and he didn’t use Jamie because his father insisted he wasn’t a ‘Jamie’ and J.D. knew for sure he couldn’t come at being called ‘Jim’ so he’d become J.D. ”My initials,” he admitted and then, more quietly, almost as if he didn’t want anybody to hear: ”James Dean Landon.”

”Mess Hall duty… with you… that sounds perfectly fine for me,” he continued, quickly moving on from his name so it didn’t have to be discussed. He didn’t mind his dad being a fan of James Dean; when he was small he didn’t understand the significance of his names. It wasn’t until Junior High that he really started to understand its significance even though he’d sat through the same movies over and over with his dad and some actor who had a name just like his.

”I’d like that, sticking with you.” he frowned slightly when she said there were some guards here he wouldn’t want to work with. He knew people didn’t get on and stuff but should he believe that on his first day? After all, he’d only just met CO Richards and while he thought she seemed okay, he’d only had these few moments with which to judge. Still, he thought he was a fairly good judge of character and decided CO Richards was probably worth listening to.

Nervous?

He looked at her and grinned a bit sheepishly, leaning close to her he murmured very, very quietly so only she would hear. ”Nearly pissing my pants,” he confessed honestly.

Carli was well aware of the sigh coming from beside her. She'd asked about his name. After being given his full given name she inclined her head towards him and gave a half smile, her lips tugging upwards at their corners. She understood now why he'd sighed. James Dean. One or both of his parents must have been a fan she thought to herself and Carli chuckled softly under her breath at the way in which J.D. had spoken. "Ahh. Well, that's a great name."

Though she didn't know J.D. from Adam she didn't think that he had the look of someone that would do a lot of complaining and he hadn't. He'd accepted that he'd been teamed up with her. Seeing as how they were on rotation together Carli explained what was expected of them. "Mess Hall rotation isn't bad. We just make sure no one tries to spork someone or steal their food. It's usually pretty calm there. Not as bad as some other rotations."

Carli imagined that would be the first of many times J.D. would frown because of Manfried. It wasn't the sort of place you looked forward to arriving to each day at least it wasn't for Carli. But she was making a difference for some inmates and that was enough for her to keep her driving forward. "Good, we'll get along just fine. In fact we already are. If you'll just sign off at the bottom here, I'll sign off and we can hang a few minutes before reporting to the Mess Hall."

J.D. leaned in as did Carli and she gave a wistful smile at his being so nervous. She'd felt that same way on her first day of work at Manfried. "So far you're doing just fine and if you have any questions just ask." J.D. had a reason to be nervous, a very good reason he was in the belly of the beast, literally. "We got a little time to waste before reporting to mess hall. Did you grow up here or move here recently?" Carli asked with a friendly smile, thinking some small talk might help J.D. not feel so nervous.

Mess Hall rotation. He almost laughed when she said they had to make sure nobody tried to ‘spork’ somebody or steal their food but he realised that he wasn’t in Kansas any longer. Sporks were probably as good a weapon as a properly crafted shank. He again smiled when she said they’d get along fine. He liked Carli, she at least put herself out to help him when none of the others had and she seemed pretty nice as well. He took the pen she offered and signed off at the bottom where she showed him and handed back the pen. That was something else he had to remember. The only thing meant to be carried on his person was his identifying badge; his baton; cuffs jangling at his belt and nothing else. No pens, no cell phones, no car keys. Nothing that could be used for weapons or some other nefarious deed. ”Can you show me where my locker would be? I need to put some stuff in it… nobody’s shown me yet.” He was ready to start work as soon as his keys and phone were safely in his locker… he hoped he actually had a locker and they hadn’t forgotten that either.

After Carli signed off and they were moving out of the guard station, J.D. hoped they were heading for the locker room first. He shook his head. ”I’ve been here a few years now but I didn’t grow up here. I was born in Houston, Texas but my family moved here when I was five.” Which would explain why he didn’t have the characteristic Texan drawl so I guess… well,”[/b] he laughed a bit. ”Guess I did grow up here,” he conceded. He shook his head and gave Carli a sheepish grin. ”Guess I’m more nervous than I thought, nothing’s coming out straight.”

Taking the pen back from CO Landon Carli hung both the pen and the clip board back onto it's rightful peg for the next CO when they can looking for it to sign in. As far as Carli went everything had it's rightful place so why not put it right back where you found it. With a bit of a sigh, a small exhalation of breath she glanced to J.D. out of the corner of her eye. He was nervous alright, reeked of it, but it was his first day and to be expected. She'd felt much the same as he on her first day, which seemed like only yesterday at times. A favor was asked and Carli readily agreed with a shake of her head and a kind smile offered to J.D. "Your locker! Of course. I'd forgotten that. Yes, let's locate your locker before going to the mess hall. They're right through here." Carli motioned with her hand at an opening without a door and she stepped through it then checked over her shoulder to see if J.D. was following. Along the side were short thin yet deep lockers to put things in. She quirked a brow at J.D. She'd forgotten to check the locker assignment page for his locker number!

"Oh wow. Umm. Do you happen to know your locker number and it's combination? We don't use keys, inmates can steal them." Carli rolled her eyes at herself and how forgetful she was being this morning. Carli listened attentively as J.D. spoke of his years spent in Stepford Falls. "Odd. Sounded straight to me J.D. Crystal clear. You like it here in Stepford Falls or do you miss texas?" she asked as she turned to face the CO. "Mind if I ask what you're most nervous about?" Maybe she could help aleviate his nervousness in some way.

Yes, at least the paperwork that he'd received, as minimal as it was, had told him his locker number and combination. Carli showed him to the guards' locker room and he was able to locate and unlock his locker, storing the few things he had with him inside and closing it again. He understood completely that having keys for lockers wouldn't be wise, though he did wonder how on earth a prisoner would manage to get anywhere near the guards' locker room... and then he chided himself for even thinking that. The keys wouldn't be valuable for that purpose, they were good for other things, like weapons. Once done he headed off with Carli to their first duty.

J.D. explained to Carli that he was nervous because he had been warned that the prisoners were likely to test him, since he was the new guy. Just like new prisoners were new fish, he knew prisoners would test a new guard, try to push the boundaries and stuff but he was fortunate for his first day. While he was with Carli, few of the prisoners tried anything and most weren't prepared to push it beyond a slight argument or so. A new guard and a female guard... they weren't sure what they were getting. They could try push their weight around with the female guard but they could never be sure what the new guard would do... and they wouldn't test a new guard too much in front of a more experienced one. Still, the day went smoothly enough and J.D. was relieved to go home at the end of his shift and sit down to just think... and wonder how long before he really was tested, not just by prisoners, but by other guards.