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Second Floor Elevator Lounge
Despite being one of the major hubs of activity in the Complex, few people linger here. While there are usually people present, usually they are on their way to someplace else. The lobby is nice enough, with broad tapestries hung on richly paneled walls, and floors of veined black marble; but it is simply too busy for most people to stop and chat in. The occasional tasteful potted plant lurks in the corners, and large mirrors are hung near the elevators for passing lobbyists to check their appearances before descending to the main level. Corridors lead to the northeast and southwest.
Contents:
Addie
Obvious exits:
Elevator General Housing Library Security Maintenance Medical
Niko has a large bag in one hand, and very likely has Addie's hand in the other. "Y'ready, kiddo?" he asks brightly, though he takes the precaution of adding, "Remember, this is something we only do in Uncle Greg's office."
Addie nods quickly, obviously excited. Her pigtails bobble. "Only in Unca Greg's office. Sides. It's always messy. He won't notice."
Niko laughs as he heads for security, holding the door open for the little
girl. "He will if we make it colorful enough." He looks almost as excited as
the two year-old. This is a bad, bad sign.
Addie heads towards the Security Central.
Addie has left.
You head towards the Security Central.
Security Central
Unlike most of the rest of the complex, the security offices are designed for ease of use rather than aesthetics. Wood paneled walls and marble floors are not to be found here. Brushed steel and plate flooring take their place. The acoustics in this room are designed to muffle sound, so despite the metal flooring and the constant coming and going of security personnel, the area does not quite achieve a cacophonous state. A large bank of monitors takes up the bulk of the east wall. On each is displayed video from various security cameras as well as information garnered from customs and immigration. It is from here that security can keep an eye on most everything that happens in the Complex. There are always at least two uniformed guards on duty with nothing to do except watch the monitors. A broad desk is located near the entrance, with an officer present to handle queries.
Three arched doors lead from this area. One to the brig, one to private
offices, and the third to the elevator lobby.
Contents:
Addie
Kyara
Tally Board
Obvious exits:
Chief's Office Brig Elevator Lounge
You arrive from the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
Addie bounds in just ahead of Niko, waving to various people she knows and
going to pet the Lt. COmmander in the obnoxious way small children pet
animals. The dog endures.
Kyara glances up from her coffee- from her apparel she's apparently just hanging around waiting for Roland. Eyebrows don't rise, of course, but she does take a moment to get a clue. One fearful word emerges- "Addie?"
Niko grins impishly at Kyara. "Addie," he confirms. "Addie, this is Kya. It
looks like she doesn't want to paint with us, huh?"
Addie hears her -name-. Uh-oh, what's the old adage about not speaking the name
of evil? She bounds over to Niko at his introduction. "Kya," she repeats. She
pauses, "Oh, Unca Greg's little girl." She peers at Kyara, well, she's sort
of little.
Kyara turns red. And it's not just a little red, it's fire-engine red. "I am
/not/ a little girl," she notes stiffly.
Zen'Chi arrives from the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
Zen'Chi has arrived.
Zen'Chi says "hi!"
Niko nods amiably to Zen'Chi, starting to steer Addie towards Riley's office.
"C'mon, squirt. Don't you want to paint?" To Kyara, he murmurs, "Come on.
She's two. What do you expect her to say?"
Zen'Chi heads towards the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
Zen'Chi has left.
Kyara gives Niko a withering look. "I expect her to repeat what she's been
told. I'd just like to know who told her /that/." Her expression lightens
somewhat as she looks down at the child. "Now, don't forget to misbehave for
Uncle Niko."
Addie looks confused, "Are you a little boy?" Niko's remark gets a broad grin,
"Paint!" She nods to Kyara, "I won't forget."
Niko says helpfully, looking not at all fazed by the withering look, "She's a
big girl, kiddo. Uncle Greg's big girl." He seems vastly amused by this
statement. Maybe he'll put it on a t-shirt or a button. He doesn't seem
disturbed by the prospect of a misbehaving Addie, either. She's so cuuute,
after all. What trouble could she be?
Kyara snickers. "No, I'm not a little boy. I'm... what Uncle Niko said." She's
starting to look amused. "You make sure you do a good job on Uncle...
Greg's... office, and I'll have a chocolate bar waiting for you when you get
done."
Oh dear lord. Kya's suggesting sugar for the small child. Addies looks
thrilled. "Oooh, it'll be real pretty, yes."
Now that, on the other hand, does disturb Niko. "Sugar... ack. Well, we'll be
going back home once the painting is done..." He starts the childling-herding
once more, adding over his shoulder, "Have a good time at dinner, Kya. C'mon,
squirt. Let's go make Uncle Greg's office pretty."
Kyara chuckles softly, wickedly. "Pretty, yes. Do have fun."
Addie nods cheerfully, hair bobbling, and heads in the indicated direction.
Addie moves towards the Chief Addison's Office.
Addie has left.
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.
Somebody has not been idle during Riley's recovery. All of the furniture is
still exactly where it was before, and except for the necessary paperwork
Anya tackled, all of the piles still reside on the desk. However... The walls
bear a fresh coat of paint, and a rather cheery color it is too- a bright
fruity yellow, to be exact. The wall behind the couch bears a large picture
framed in cherry-stained oak. It's a painting of the Complex and the
surrounding landscape, backed by a beautiful sunset streaking the sky in
purples and roses, as seen from a hill outside the city. A patchwork quilt of
russet and burnt orange is draped over the back of the couch, and the pillows
now bear carefully knitted slipcovers of the same colors as the quilt. A
dartboard hangs on the inside of the closet door, and dozens of colorful (and
hilarious) magnets cling to the door of the refrigerator. And the office is
very very clean.
Contents:
Addie
Obvious exits:
Central
You walk here from the Security Central.
SECURITY> Kyara just... shudders.
Addie is looking around in distaste. "It's all different. Did Unca Greg hit his
head?"
Niko promptly puts down the paper bag, and bends down to take out one of several dropcloths. "No, Addie, he didn't. Someone just redecorated a little, like we're doing. It'll be... a surprise for him." He starts to spread out the dropcloths, incidentally shaking one out so it settles over Addie.
Addie squeals in delighted amusement as she's covered. Clambering from beneath
the drop cloth she admonishes, "Silly Unca Nick, goes on the -floor-, not on
the Addie."
Niko ohhhhs softly. Truly, he has been enlightened. "Maybe you can help me,
then?" This, he figures, is Anya's daughter, but he's still not going to make
any comments about men always needing help. She likely gets enough of that as
it is.
Addie considers this, regarding you suspiciously. But she nods, moving to take
a corner of the dropcloth with great care and begins to drag it across the
floor. "Should paint these instead and hang them up as curtains." Never mind
there are no windows.
Niko takes the other corner, straightening out the wrinkles. "Maybe we can do
that, too." Windows can be painted onto walls, after all. "Why don't we stick
with the walls, first?" He takes out another dropcloth and settles it over
the desk. He figures that painting paperwork would not be looked upon
favorably.
Addie continues arranging the dropcloth at length, so that it is just 'so'.
"Paint now?"
Niko tosses a final dropcloth on the couch, then agrees, "Paint now." He takes
out the containers of paint, which are, happily, large enough that even
adults can put their hands inside, and starts to open said containers. "Do
you know what you're going to paint?"
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
Addie pads over to peer at the paints, "Penguins. Blue ones. And green."
Niko grins brightly, pulling out some brushes and large sponges and other happy
painting equipment. He's definitely got young family-members. "That sounds
like a very good idea. Uncle Greg will love that."
Addie 's eyes light up and she takes one of the brushes, "Penguins and dogs,
and a fizzbee and..." She pokes the brush into a pot of blue paint and
advances on the wall.
Niko, on the other hand, snags a sponge and the red paint. "Are you going to
paint the Lieutenant Commander? He likes frisbees." The sponge is splorped
into the paint, wiped off, and splopped onto the wall. Yes, that's the sound
it makes.
Addie watches the splorping with interest before she begins painting her
'masterpiece'. She may be bright for a two year old, but she has no more
motor control or artistic skill. This doesn't look much like a penguin. Or
maybe it's a dog. "Penguin."
Niko grins as he peers at the penguin-dog. "Very nice," he approves, managing
to keep that adult-to-small-child condescension from his voice. Red is
exchanged for green. Ooh, it's Christmas.
Addie goes for the orange now, adding a huge sunshine. THe penguin is probably
getting burned. "Bright is good."
Niko nods his agreement. "Uncle Greg likes bright." Finally, he puts aside the sponge and opts for the finger-method of fingerpainting, using some of the blue. Yes, this is an adventure, and he's obviously having a blast.
Addie discards her brush as well. Squooshing her hands into various colors she sets about making handprints. "If we make it bright will he come back?"
Niko blinks at that. "Well... of course, kiddo, but he'll be coming back
anyway." He swooshes his fingers across the wall, adding, "Whether it's
bright or not. But he'll like the bright."
Addie nods after a pause. Wiping a hand on her shirt she then dips it into another color of paint. She starts on a new smeared drawing. "If you're sure."
Niko nods an emphatic agreement. "I'm positive. Absotively posilutely. Oh...
wait. You missed a spot. C'mere?"
Addie looks puzzled but pads over to Niko.
Niko pops a finger into a paintpot, very seriously padding at Addie's shirt.
"Missed a spot," he repeats, with a grin. "If you're going to turn your shirt
into art, after all..."
Addie's little brows furrow in confusion. "Mom's going to be maaa..." Ooh, an idea. She reaches over and plants a painted hand on your chest.
Niko promptly falls over backwards. "Ugh! I'm wounded! Oh, no!" Better hope
that wasn't red paint. Anya was going to be mad anyway. If Niko's going to
get her mad, he might as well do it with style.
Addie looks horrified a moment, and then realizes she's seen this gag. She picks up the pot of orange paint. "Oh no, he must be revivverfied." Oh dear. Sploosh. About a third of the orange gets poured onto poor Niko.
Niko makes an odd gacking noise as the paint splashes up his chest then hits his face as well. "Oh, wait," he decides. "I'm actually alive." He sits up slowly, though he's struggling to keep back a grin. "I am now, though... the paint monster." With a rumbling growl that's half a laugh, he reaches to tickle Addie with paint-smeared fingers. Anya's going to strangle him.
There's another pleased squeal, as Addie goes down onto the dropcloth,
squirming to get away. "Baaad Unca Nick!"
Niko keeps up with the tickling. "Uncle Nick? Who's Uncle Nick? I thought I was the paint monster." He refrains from pouring any paint on the child, but the dropcloths will likely be able to be used as curtains without additional help.
Addie crawls away and into the wall. Ooh, an Addie-print. "Niiiick, no." Sit,
roll over, play dead...
Niko rocks back on his heels, chuckling quietly. "Okay, okay," he says
good-naturedly. "Shall we go back to painting?"
Addie peers at you and points out, "But you're all painted. Been painting."
Niko snickers very quietly at that. "Good point. Allow me to rephrase that,
m'lady? Shall we go back to painting the wall? Or I could just smoosh my face
against it, if you'd rather?"
Addie climbs to her feet. Okay, you can tell who she hangs out with, she puts a pudgy fingered hand over her heart (not so incidentally making more of a mess of her shirt) and sort of bowing. "Think smooshing your face would be good. Then Unca Greg's have a picture of his bother." Yes, she says bother.
Niko returns the gesture, though with far less practice. His shirt is
interesting, too. "All right, then, I'll do that. Think I need more paint for
it to work?" Yes, he'll actually put -more- paint on his face, because he
thinks that nobody will get a picture.
Addie considers this at length, "It would be all pretty. Then your lady will
want to kiss you lots."
Niko pauses a beat at that, then shrugs and takes a paintbrush, starting to
apply the paint to the side of his face. "My lady? You know about her, too,
huh?"
Addie nods a lot, making some more prints on the wall, "Mommy talks about all
the people a lot."
Niko finishes coating the side of his face in orange paint, looking like some
deranged sports fan. "She does, huh? Well, good for her." He smooshes the
side of his face against the wall, then studies the result critically. The
paint had better come off.
... his face, that is. Not the wall.
Addie regards the result, "It's orange." Well, she is observant. "But -I-
wouldn't kiss you. You're all slimy now."
Niko touches up some of the spots that didn't quite transfer. "You -wouldn't-? Awww." He offers an exaggerated pout towards the small child. "But -you- said that painting my face would make me get more kisses."
"Yeah, but that's cause your lady likes slimy stuff. Like Scutterbotch." Yes,
Anya needs to learn to not say things in Addies hearing. "I liked you better
-before- your eyebrows were orange."
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
Niko pauses a moment in stunned silence, then makes a valiant effort not to
collapse on the floor laughing. He manages, fortunately, but it takes a great
effort. Instead, he takes up a paintbrush and starts to do a penguin of his
own, this one bright red. "What color would you like my eyebrows, then.
Green?"
Addie considers this, "You'd look like a jack'lantern."
Niko blinks at that, paintbrush uplifted. "Jack-o-lanterns have eyebrows?"
Addie nods emphaticly, "Green ones."
Niko ohs. "Green eyebrows, huh?" Like Riley's, but he's not going to say
-that-. Instead, he blobs a bit of green paint on one finger, after taking
the precaution of wiping his hand on his shirt, and smears said green paint
onto his eyebrows. "Better?"
Addie just peers. And with great solemnity she declares, "You look -odd-." And
with that she takes up another brush and some more paint and adds some fish
for the penguins to eat.
Niko grins brightly. "Thank you!" He turns back to his red penguin--and it actually looks like a penguin, albeit a cartoony one.
Addie reaches up with the blue to add careful blue dots to the toes of the feet
of your penguin.
Niko says gravely, "Thank you very much." He grins, then, and moves down the
wall a bit, starting to paint that window. Oddly, it looks like it's going to
have a view of the hallway.
"See, your forgot the toenail polish." Addie goes back to her fish.
Niko is not going to ask if penguins have toenails, let alone polish. After
all, jack-o-lanterns have green eyebrows. "So I did," he says amiably. "I'll
remember that next time."
Addie is two. In her world, penguins wear toenail polish. "It's a pretty
penguin though. Nice and bright." She regards the window, "Is that for the
curtains?"
Niko nods an affirmative. "It certainly is. We could've just put up the curtains without a window, but I thought this'd be more fun."
Addie nods her approval, "You're pretty smart for a grown up." She starts
adding in some spaceships.
Niko grins cheerfully at that. "Why thank you, Addie. I'm glad you think so."
There's a hint of Dali in his window, but it's clear enough what it is. He
starts on another penguin--funny, penguins don't usually have floofy hair.
Nor do they usually wear in-line skates. "Y'know," he says thoughtfully. "We
should likely think about heading back home, soon."
Addie looks altogether dissapointed at this, "But I thought if we made it
bright Unca Greg'd be back..."
Niko blinks at that. "Well, of course he will, kiddo, but not just yet. He's
still not feeling too well, after all." He polishes off the beskated penguin,
and starts on another, this one with red hair and a labcoat. At least, that's
mostly what it looks like. Niko's reasonably artistic, but by no means highly
skilled.
Addie sighs quietly, "Not -fair-." Yes, she's two. "Good penguin. Home I guess."
Niko efficiently cleans up, putting away the re-covered paintpots and tucking
away the brushes and sponges for later cleaning. "Thank you. Would you like a
piggyback ride?"
Okay, that rids any dissapointment, and Addie drops her brush to go attempt to
scramble up your legs, "Pig'a'back," she cheers.
Addie is well accustomed to shoulder rides, as her short little legs curl back under your arms and wedges herself in place. With a nod she locks her bepainted hands carefully in your curls. "Fun hair."
Niko grins at that. "Must be a woman thing," he murmurs. Then, with that, he heads for the door, hunkering down so that Addie doesn't boop her head on the top of the frame as he exits. "Thank you, kiddo. Glad you approve."
You walk towards the Security Central.
Security Central
Unlike most of the rest of the complex, the security offices are designed for ease of use rather than aesthetics. Wood paneled walls and marble floors are not to be found here. Brushed steel and plate flooring take their place. The acoustics in this room are designed to muffle sound, so despite the metal flooring and the constant coming and going of security personnel, the area does not quite achieve a cacophonous state. A large bank of monitors takes up the bulk of the east wall. On each is displayed video from various security cameras as well as information garnered from customs and immigration. It is from here that security can keep an eye on most everything that happens in the Complex. There are always at least two uniformed guards on duty with nothing to do except watch the monitors. A broad desk is located near the entrance, with an officer present to handle queries.
Three arched doors lead from this area. One to the brig, one to private
offices, and the third to the elevator lobby.
Contents:
Kyara
Tally Board
Obvious exits:
Chief's Office Brig Elevator Lounge
You walk here from the Chief Addison's Office.
Kyara looks up from examining her fingernails... and blinks. "Oh my... Do I
even want to know what the /office/ looks like?"
Addie here from the Chief Addison's Office.
Addie has arrived.
Addie waves from atop Niko, smothering a yawn. "Bright."
Niko has Addie on his shoulders, of course, so they came out at the same time.
"It's festive, Kya. Many penguins, with -toenail- polish." He grins broadly,
then heads lightly for the door. "I'll be back in a bit to finish cleaning
up."
Kyara's eyebrows widen. SHe gets up and goes into the office. A moment later a
faint scream can be heard.
Niko grins broadly, but beats a hasty retreat.
You head towards the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
Second Floor Elevator Lounge
Despite being one of the major hubs of activity in the Complex, few people linger here. While there are usually people present, usually they are on their way to someplace else. The lobby is nice enough, with broad tapestries hung on richly paneled walls, and floors of veined black marble; but it is simply too busy for most people to stop and chat in. The occasional tasteful potted plant lurks in the corners, and large mirrors are hung near the elevators for passing lobbyists to check their appearances before descending to the main level. Corridors lead to the northeast and southwest.
Obvious exits:
Elevator General Housing Library Security Maintenance Medical
You arrive from the Security Central.
Addie arrives from the Security Central.
Addie has arrived.
Addie has left.
Niko takes Addie home and all, but does it off-camera as Anya doesn't actually
have a home.
SECURITY> Denner posts a picture of a painted Niko on the board.