* Paul drives his campus police cruiser through the amazingly quiet campus streets, towards the DCL.
* A small black and white hamster face pokes out of a pocket, whiffling whiskers, followed by an apricot one from the other pocket.
* Paul chuckles a bit, and uses his free hand to skritch the two hamsters as they come to a stop at Wright and Springfield. "You two want to get out on the dash and take a look around?"
{Tau} Yay! I'm good. Nobody to give us strange looks, Paul?
* Paul shakes his head. "Nah, it's late at night, and I sometimes drive around with the hamsters on the dash, anyway. Real hit with the freshmen."
{Tau} So you're the Hamster Guy? {rodentile grin} And hoik us up so we can have a looksee.
* Paul pulls the two out, and plunks them up on the dashboard cowling, where there's lots of additional police-cruiser stuff and air vents. "That, and a campus fixture proper." *slight grin* "And watch out for the air vents."
* Muon is poking his nose into one. "Um...why?"
{Paul} *offhand* Well, you don't want to fall in, do you?
* Muon pauses. "Oopsie!" {shuffles away}
{Paul} One time Shosh was riding when I was in pursuit of somebody, and I took a turn hard, and he tumbled in.
{Muon} What happened then?
* Paul continues driving, as the light's changed, and he turns left onto Springfield for the DCL. "Well, we had a very confused mechanic who wanted to know WHY we wanted the entire AC system pulled out carefully... He got wedged in the middle."
{Muon} Eeeep.
* Tau gets this "Oo, I have *dirt* on the Seneschal" look on his muzzle.
* Paul nodnods. "Mind you, this was a long time back. And this is why you've gotta pay attention when you've got a living host... the world's a big place." He arches an eyebrow at Tau.
* Tau looks innocent.
{Muon} ...Yeah. {twitches whiskers} Leaving the host harmed is Bad. You take care of them. Always. {wipes alongside his nose with a paw} I mean, I'm new. I know this, but I know that. It's always in the gut for alluvus. The Dominations I mean.
* Paul nods, and gives Muon a skritch as he parks the cruiser outside of the DCL. "So I've heard from Shosh... doesn't hurt to have reminders." *slight wry look*
* Muon is scritched happily and nodnods. "Same with other stuff! This is really cool, all of it."
* Paul smiles. "Glad you like it. We're proud of how things have turned out down here..." He shuts off the car, and opens the door. "Come along, you two...."
{Tau} Hatcha!
{Muon} It's um...well, I dunno.... S'hard to explain how s' different from up n' Heaven. Not as clean and *bright*, you know? But more, well, something, in exchange, you know? {looks around with bright inkdrop eyes again}
* Paul offers an arm for the two to scamper along.
{Paul} "Dynamic", perhaps? Or "Polyharmonic"? I've heard those terms used before by some others...
{Muon} Hmm....yeah... {awkwardly scuttles up, followed by Tau} Dunno...maybe I'll think of a better word later. S'problem with English versus thingy. Celestial.
* Tau hehs.
* Paul nods, sagely, closing the cruiser door, waiting for the Kyriohamsters perching on his shoulders, before heading indoors.
* The hamsters perch!
* Paul heads into the DCL! It's quiet, and mostly locked up, but there's the standard after-hour lights. Paul hms, and redirects his route to the building's small security office, to check if anyone's there.
* Tau uses his amazing Hamster Nose to check for any unusual scents.
* Tau's capable of smelling the scents of cleaning fluid, some door-hinge grease, human scents, and cheetohs.
* Paul hms, as there's a light on in the security office... he raises an eyebrow, and looks in.
* Inside, another campus cop, in his mid 20's, is watching the monitors and eating cheetohs.
* Paul clears his throat.
* The cop starts, and jerks around. "Oh! Officer Mansfield!"
* Paul quirks an eyebrow. "Everything on the level, Jansen?"
* Jansen tries to hide the cheetohs behind his back. "Everything's all quiet, sir... Physical Plant was in around noon to take care of the loading dock repairs, and to get some extra security up at the ACT. Officer Alveirez thinks the building'll be ready to be used again tomorrow..."
* Paul nods, slightly. "Sounds good. I'm gonna go up there and give it one more look-see, before heading back to my office to check for mail and heading home to -try- and take a break tomorrow." *slight grin*
{Jansen} Yessir, sir!
* Paul waves a hand as he turns to head out the door. "Take care, then... and don't get cheetoh fingers all over the boards."
{Jansen} . o O (Merp.)
* Paul moves out of earshot of the security office, heading for the stairs that'll reach the third floor.
{Muon} {q} What're Cheetos?
{Tau} {q} Horribly evil but very tasty corn product with unnaturally bright orange colored imitation cheese flavoring.
{Muon} {q} Oh. {pause} Are they good as gyros?
{Tau} {q} I prefer gyros.
{Paul} *q* Fresh-cooked food is generally better than the 'snack food' stuff, though I can personally recommend Triscuits and Ho-Ho's....
{Muon} {q} Ho hos?
* Tau mutters balefully about possible collaborations between Gluttony, the Media, and Technology.
* Paul arches an eyebrow at Tau. *q* "Rolled-up chocolate-and-whipped-cream snack cakes coated in chocolate."
{Tau} {q} Sooorry. Just some of that crap's so bad for you and so full of chemicals and it still tastes good that you wonder... {whiffles whiskers}
{Paul} *q* Well, I haven't heard any evidence for or against it....
{Tau} {q} Oookay...
* Paul reaches the ACT, and pulls out a cardkey, which he uses on a door-partition that's been set up in front of the original doors. He gets them through, and heads into the darkened ACT, flipping on a light switch. The HamsterCage can be seen on one of the tables.
{Tau} So what now?
{Paul} Well, you boys hop in the cage, I swing by the station to check on my mail and things, and then we head to my apartment and I crash. *wry look*
{Tau} Woiks! And then...hm....permission to use your computer? We probably can try to get some reference done whilst you bob around in the Marches. {wink}
* Paul chuckles. "I've got no problems with that at all."
{Tau} Good then. {twitches nose} Then we can report in to Boss maybe on what we have found and all.
* Paul nods, and heads over to the cage. "In y' go..."
* Tau nodnods and pops in, followed by Muon.
* Paul closes the cage door and picks it up... he then heads out of the ACT and out the DCL, back to his cruiser.
* The hamsters act like good hamsters during this process, though Muon sneezes as he snorts too many cedar shavings.
* Paul chuckles, and starts the car back up, and drives further into campus.
* Somewhere in here, the radio turns on for no apparent reason and starts hunting for channels.
* Pop, Rock, Classical, Techno, Ska, Celtic, Blues, Thrash, Oldies....
* Paul takes the radio coming on by itself with aplomb. One might think he was used to this.
* Tau seems to settle after a bit on a station that more or less plays the more melodic forms of techno, then bobs around happily to it. Muon joins in after listening a minute or two.
* Paul chuckles, and hums along, quietly. Eventually, they reach the main campus police station.
* The hamsters calm down their dancing around as they get closer to risk of mundanes seeing them
* Indeed, yes, there's some mundane cops going about their work as Paul parks. Fortuantely, it's late at night, so there aren't as many right at the station. He gets out of the car, taking the cage 'o Kyrios with him.
* The Kyriotates, naturally, go right along with him.
* Paul heads into the station proper... several other officers give him nods or words of welcome, though Paul's slightly tired appearance also garners him some suggestions to take the next day off with a chuckle. Paul smiles slightly, nods in agreement, commenting that he'll be in and out in a few, and reaches his office, which he keys open.
* Paul's office is decently arranged, and relatively tidy... campus maps are on the walls, and the single window is reinforced and barred. There's an office PC on one side of his desk, and on the opposite wall on a shelf is a coffeemaker. There's also a habitrail setup on that same shelf.
* Paul closes the door, sets the cage on his desk, and seats himself in front of the PC, logging in. "Feel free to look around a bit, boys...."
* Muon tries not to drool. . o O (....toys......muahahahahah.....)
* There's assorted pieces of campus police equipment relatively sorted, and some photos and awards on the walls as well.
* Tau hops out and trots over to the PC, whiskers twitching.
* Muon, on the other hand is....er....distracted.
* The PC is standard 2070's human issue, not JeanTech. Paul logs in, and checks various campus bullitens and police emails.
* Tau hms and checks out the works. "Lemme know if there's any joy on the situation last night?"
* Meanwhile, the coffeemaker lights up.
{Coffeemaker} . o O (Bow....BOW before me! For I am.... MR. COFFEE!! NYAHAHAHA!)
* Paul nods. "Just a couple of emails from the other cops verifying that nothing else's been damaged.... oh, wait... Rebecca got us the names and addresses of those Records could ID from the video tapes. I'll forward the files to my apartment machine."
* The various little devices around the Coffeemaker fail to quail before its might.
* The coffeemaker is somewhat disheartened by this lack of fear and awe.
* Paul does this thing, ignoring the antics of the coffeemaker.
{Tau} Coool. Mf. Hopefully these kids can be salvaged from probation or worse. Given it wasn't exactly their fault...
* Paul nods. "Hope so. That's for the campus admins to decide... hopefully they'll buy the 'under hypnosis/coercion' explination..."
* Tau nods, scratching rapidly with a hind leg.
* Paul raises an eyebrow. "And oh, -this- is good... David's got something for us on the theives we arrested." He goes, and forwards that email as well.
* Tau might notice that although the computer is human, Paul -is- using a Lightning-provided encryptor.
* Tau sits up again. The LEDs on the coffeemaker blink rapidly as the other hamster waddles over.
* Paul glances over at Tau and Muon, before going back to look at his mail some more.
{Tau} What'd he get?
{Paul} Well, FBI rap sheets, prints.... *reads some more* ... looks like these folks were pretty notorious.
{Tau} Joy. Not surprising though, if it was a gang of Thieves. I take it was all over the place?
* Paul nods, pointing to a map that has marks all over the continental US. "Looks like their controllers kept them moving pretty often... the clues were sketchy, this is over -years-...."
{Tau} Yeah, sounds like typical Thief MO. Dissonance conditions, don't ya know. Matches with that David was saying about being all over the place.
{Paul} Yeah... well, a copy's on my home computer now, so you and Muon can send it to your bosses.... *checks a few more things* ... and that should be it for the night.
{Tau} Cooool beans.
* Paul nods, and logs off the computer, and glances over at the cage again as he stands up.
* Tau waddles over again, pausing to bap Muon a second as he seems distracted. The coffeemaker suddenly flashes in several interesting colors.
* Paul just chuckles a bit, and waits for the hamsters to get into the cage.
* The hamsters do, and settle down again in prep for transit.
* Paul picks up the cage, and heads out the office door, switching off the light and locking the door behind him. He heads out through the station, exchanging goodnights with the other officers on duty before heading out into the brisk november air for his cruiser.
* Muon snuffles the brisk November air, noting smells that you just don't get up in Heaven.
* And yup, there's a darn -=lot- of them... all the smells of a city and Life, going about its business.
* Paul gets into police cruiser, setting the cage on the passenger seat before buckling up and starting the car.
* The radio turns on again to the aforementioned techno station, and Paul is again treated to the sight of dancing hamsters.
* Paul chuckles softly, and trie to suppress a yawn as he drives to his apartment through the mean streets of Urbana-Champaign.
{Tau} Paul. Sleep. Is good. Prevents crashes.
* Paul mrfs, and nods. "Yes, yes it does. Don't worry, we're going to be in the vicinity of a bed soon..."
* Tau nodnods, but keeps a careful eye on Paul so he doesn't nod off, and if he does, to take control of the car Real Quick Now.
* Paul doesn't -=look- like he's about to, and before long, they get in visible range of an apartment block, decently maintained and well-lit.
* Muon ponders this architechture.
* The architecture is not modern-modern... more like late 2010/20's. Not hyper-ancient before the turn of the century, but not advanced, either.
* Paul parks in a small parking lot in front of this particular block. He gets out of the car, taking the Kyriohamster cage with him.
* Tau dances around some more.
* Paul heads for the apartment complex, stifling another yawn. He stops at the entry foyer, grabs his mail from his mailbox, and heads up the stairs.
* The stairs are ascended, and Paul lets himself and his kyrio companions into his apartment, which is down the hall aways.
* The living room of his apartment is -dominated- by a large habitrail setup along one wall, as well as two cages that are holding a parrot and a cockateil, respectively. The Habitrail has some more hamsters running around it.
{Muon} ..ooooh....
* There's also a couch, a large picture window, and in a niche a rather more-advanced-than-normal computer setup. There's a coffee machine still percolating in the back kitchenette area.
* Paul sets the cage on a shelf next to the habitrail, and opens the cage door and a door on one of the top habitrail surfaces.
{Paul} Feel free to move around, you two... I'm gonna get a bite to eat, something to drink, get cleaned off, and call it a day. *wry look*
* Muon hops out first, nose wriggling, and dives in, curiously. Tau hms, shrugs, and follows. "No prob! Rest up....we'll probably end up having to make free with the birds and computer, but other than that..."
* Oh, and a TV/Vidplayer setup in the corner opposite of the TV... some little robotic toys, some of which can transform into different shapes....
{Paul} No problems. I'll pull the curtains closed so you don't get too many weird looks. *he chuckles* Though admittedly, we're on the third floor....
{Tau} Ya never know.... {ponders the toys, thoughtfully} You definitely have the deluxe Kyriotate playground here. {wink} I....think I'll also have to tutor Muon a bit while we have the time.
* Paul nods. "You do that...."
{Tau} And you go sleep. May you stick to Blandine's side of things...
* Paul goes inside the kitchen, rummages about, and gets out an open box of triscuits, and a bowl of peanuts and dish of water. "Thanks, Tau..."
{Tau} Yay! You're welcome!
* Paul makes a cup of cocoa, and while it percolates, he goes and draws the window curtains shut, leaving the lights on in the room at a low level. Once it completes, he nods to the two hamsters, taking triscuits and cocoa with him, leaving a few for the kyrios, before heading into the back hall and presumably his room and bathroom area.
* This leaves the Kyriotates alone for a time, in the Habitrail...
* ...And the night progresses in relative peace.