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Anya comes in the door. Yes, Anya is capable of leaving Security Central, and
hence coming back. She has a huge stack of printouts in her arms. She's a
tiny lady, and it's a large pile. She drops it onto the desk corner with a
thud, "I don't know -what- you said to him, Niko. But could you say it again?
We haven't been this close to caught up as long as I can remember. Let alone
in the midst of an Interegnuum."
Niko looks over from where he's been dividing his attention between the monitor
and some more of the routine paperwork. "I didn't say anything to him, Anya.
Quite the opposite." He eyes the stack with a small shake of his head,
inquiring, "Did he do -all- that today?"
Anya nods, settling down into her seat and typing in several commands. "That lot plus several more stacks almost that size. He's even gotten down to stuff out of 'The Closet'. Prior to this morning I would have told you that anything that entered that Closet never came out again."
Niko's brows lift fractionally at that, and he peers towards Riley's office.
"Wow. He -has- been busy." He lets out a low whistle, shaking his head once
more. "Well. That's a good result. Maybe."
Anya is simply stunned by the morning's events, and regards her terminal with bemused confusion. "It's certainly a unique result. There will be diplomatic offices all over the Complex quite suprised this afternoon. I've had to keep three folks just running courier to the fourth floor. It's like some kind of paperwork returning holiday, Christmas signed in triplicate."
Niko pushes his chair back a few inches, giving him the extra distance he needs to reach another form. "Maybe you can get him to spread it out a bit more?" he offers tentatively. "Instead of doing a massive amount in one big crunch."
Anya turns to regard you, one eyebrow raised in an amused expression, "And you
think he'd -listen-?" She does sigh however and stand, "I'd better at least
go try. Nons moritus salvete."
Niko clearly doesn't get the quote, but lifts a hand in a vague salute-wave
sort of thing. "Good luck, Anya." His lips quirk faintly, and he adds, "Don't
forget your pen."
Anya scoops up the pen with a bemused nod, dissaspearing into Riley's office.
Anya returns approximately a half hour later with another armful of paperwork, her pen tucked behind one ear, and a disturbed expression.
Niko looks as he hears you enter, and his brows promptly lift. "What's wrong?"
Anya shakes her head slightly, adding the paperwork to the pile. She moves to the dispatch board to call someone up to haul the documents off. "That's just frightening. Once I started ragging on him he just ignored me and did more paperwork. And more paperwork, and... I think you get the idea."
Niko blinks several times at that, expression mingling surprise and concern. He
initials the end of the form he just completed, inquiring, "Mind if I give it
a try?"
Anya regards you with suprise now. Gee, this has just been a day of suprises
for her, "You're more than welcome to give it a shot. Daring soul,
aren't'cha?"
Niko shakes his head as he gets to his feet. "I think it's called stupidity.
Might as well, though. It's that, or more paperwork, and we're ahead." With a
faint grin, he heads for Riley's office.
You walk towards the Chief Addison's Office.
Chief Addison's Office
This office is something of a haven from the chaos in security central. It only
has one viewscreen, although there are controls to direct it to any of the
observation lines. A large desk takes up the bulk of the room. It's a
battered affair, and shows the signs of great age. It doesn't really fit in
with the polished atmosphere of the Complex, but neither does the man it
belongs to. Piles of paperwork, scattered datapads, and a lurking terminal
take up the majority of the space on the desk, but somehow room has been
found for several photocubes and a small plastic penguin. The floor is
carpeted in institutional gray carpeting, and the walls are a slightly darker
shade. It would be a dank hole of a room if it weren't for several large
electronic maps on the wall, each aglow with various telltales and marker
lights. In front of the desk are two uncomfortable chairs and one battered
and exceedingly comfortable looking couch. A handful of bad noveldisks are
piled at one end of the couch.
Contents:
Riley
Obvious exits:
Central
You walk here from the Security Central.
Niko closes the door behind him and leans easily against its frame, folding his
arms lightly across his chest. "Hiya, Chief. You've been busy today." His
tone is a standard one: mild politeness, fairly pleasant, nothing too
spectacular.
Riley has actually found another pair of boots from someplace, although his
uniform is no less rumpled than usual. His desk is piled with literal
mountains of paperwork, and a closet door is open with paper cascading out
across the floor, "Anya, go..." He trails off at the voice, startling as if
hit by an electric shock. "Niko."
Niko nods amiably, not moving from his relatively relaxed pose. "That's me,
yup." He pauses for a moment, then adds, tone offhand, "I'm not actually
angry with you any more, Chief. I'm a little curious as to -why- you made
that particular comment, but no longer angry."
"I made that particular comment because I have a severe inability to reel in my
tongue when I ought to." Riley notes quietly, turning back to a pile of pink
forms. "I had you mentally filed away with Anya and Denner, who I can abuse
because they know how to abuse back. It was wrong of me to trest you like
that and I'm sorry."
Niko takes a long moment to consider that statement. "Thank you. It's okay. And, to be honest, if it had been any other topic, or if she hadn't been -there-, it would've been fine. I'm not usually quite so thinskinned where friends are concerned. It'd been too long a day, that's all. So don't worry about it, okay?" He hesitates a moment, then adds, "Just on the off chance that something like that happens again? Please don't apologize until I'm not angry any more. It's less... interesting... that way."
Riley sets the pen aside long enough to rub at his eyes with the palms of his
hands, attempting to clear the afterimage of pink complaint forms from them.
"I think I can manage to avoid the situation."
Niko inclines his head. "Good. That'd be even better." He unfolds his arms, straightening his uniform jacket, then adds, "Why don't you take a break, huh? You've done a phenomenal amount of work. Anya's in awe, I'm in awe, couriers are running their feet off to keep up with it all."
Riley stops rubbing at his eyes, instead rummaging for a coffee cup amongst the
piles of forms. "After I finish these pink ones." He manages to quirk a grin,
although it's strained. "They're glaring at me."
Niko eyes the stack thoughtfully, then nods. "Whoever decided to make forms that color ought to be taken somewhere and shot," he says pleasantly. "Blue is a much nicer color for forms." He pushes off from the wall, adding, "You won't mind if I tell Anya you said you'd stop after that, right?"
Glancing up from the coffee, Riley notes dryly, "Setting Anya on me is cruel
and unusual punishment, Niko."
Niko's grin is utterly guileless. "She's concerned, Chief. And you're working
too hard, and -I'm- off-duty..." He peers at his comm-unit. "Well, I'm
off-duty -now-. Anya'll do better than I ever would at keeping you from doing
too much anyway."
Riley hmpfs softly, tugging another form from the stack, "Skedaddle Nikolaos,
go enjoy being off duty."
Niko's brows lift just a bit at the use of his full name, even if it's the
middle one. "Aye, Chief," he says, with a quick salute--oh, the horror.
"Don't work too hard."
You walk towards the Security Central.