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Riley arrives from the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.

Riley has arrived.

Niko, as he's trucking back from dropping some papers in the 'out' box, offers a grin as he spots you. "Hiya, welcome back." He drops lightly into his chair, though he doesn't take up more work yet, as he adds, "How was the vacation?"

Riley comes ambling in, a stack of paperwork in one hand, and decked in his dress togs. Despite these conditions however there is a lightness to him, certainly he does not appear likely to fall over at any minute as was the case when he left. He offers an easy grin in return, the expression lighting his whole face, "It was good, a good thing indeed. Things seem a lot saner now, I really am sorry I left like that, though."

Niko shakes his head. "No worries. You obviously needed the break." He pauses a beat, then adds, "While we're apologizing and all, though, about that comm-call... I really am sorry about that. It had been an interesting day, didn't mean to take it out on you."

Riley drops the folders onto Anya's desk, perching on the corner. Great, and Anya had thought she'd broken him of the habit. He scoops up messages, his polished boots kicking lightly at the desk's leg as they swing. He shakes his head dismissively, "Nah, that's okay. Confused me a bit, but hey, when am I not confused after all? I've made quite a study of the condition. Anything wild or loony sprout up while I was gone?"

Niko shakes his head. "Nothing wild or loony--or no more than usual, at least. Little bit of insanity with the vid folks and all. Oh, and Corian's popped in a few times, to see if you were back yet."

You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.

And of course it's at that point that Riley gets Corian's message, regarding it with lowered brows. He nods, gesturing with it, "She left a message, I'll have to comm her. I was in the official offices all morning, tormenting the powers that be. Quite amusing."

Niko's brows lift at that. "Everything okay downstairs?" he inquires, with perhaps a hint of trepidation. He doesn't like the officialness of the official offices, after all.

Riley nods, without a hint of trepidation of his own, in fact obscenely cheerful as he slides from the desk and to his feet neatly. "Yep. Just normal everyday lunacy, I was just awake enough to make their lives difficult, I think they thought they'd won. They were startled to find out that was not the case. I was amused."

Niko shakes his head at that, trepdiation replaced by wry amusement. "Glad to hear you had fun. Oh," he adds, expression going neatly bland as he turns back from the papers he was shuffling. "Terrence got here. I mentioned that you were here on Linnae as well, though I don't know if he'll look you up." How's that for trying too hard to speak casually?

Okay, that dims the whimsy a watt or two, Riley's reply is dry, "Hopefully he'll prove as unwilling to look me up now as he has in the past." He moves towards his office, "That bad huh?"

Okay, that dims the whimsy a watt or two, Riley's reply is dry, "Hopefully he'll prove as unwilling to look me up now as he has in the past." He moves towards his office, "That bad huh?"

"I guess we get in trouble for tangling him and locking him in the back of the brig?" Riley's question sounds distinctly hopeful, he'd love to be contradicted.

Niko ponders that for a moment. "Probably," he decides, albeit with obvious regret. After another moment of consideration, he adds, "I think it'd be worth it, though." He adds something else in Hellenic, likely about the unmarried state of Terrence's parents.

"We've the space," Riley says, tilting his head towards the brig. He shakes his head, "-He's- not worth it though. Loser like that doesn't deserve the effort." With that he ducks into his office, one message still in hand.

Riley walks towards the Chief Addison's Office.

Riley has left.

Niko peers thoughtfully towards the brig for a moment, then shakes his head. "Nah, he's right," he murmurs, before starting on the next segment of paperwork.

Riley walks here from the Chief Addison's Office.

Riley has arrived.

Riley wanders out of his office, looking faintly troubled but still in general pleased. Tucking a datacrystal into one pocket he heads for the door, offering a wave.

Niko looks up with a wave off his pencil. "Hello and g'bye, boss."

"See ya in a bit, Nick." Riley ducks out.

Literally. ;)

Riley heads towards the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.

Riley has left.

Kyara arrives from the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.

Kyara has arrived.

Niko works! Big surprise. He has a fairly tame stack of paperwork before him, though the one beyond that one is suited for life in the wilds. "Hiya," he calls, upon seeing your arrival. "Riley's back from his trip, though he's gone off somewhere again. Busy, busy."

Kyara looks rather pleased at that bit of news as she takes her seat. "Is he looking well? I'm hoping his vacation did him some good."

Niko nods, with an amused grin. "He looks much better, yeah. Looks like he rested and such, whatever else he did."

Kyara nods approvingly. "Did you happen to ask him what Cori'd like for her birthday?"

Niko shakes his head, snapping his fingers. "Sorry, went right out of my head. But he was also kind of in and out," he gestures towards Riley's office, "Then in and out again." He gestures towards the exit. "Not all -that- much time to talk."

Kyara chuckles, rapidly prioritizing paperwork. (Say that three times fast.) "That's quite a change from the norm."

Niko's shrug is agreeable enough. "Maybe he's going to start taking it easy." Yeah. He sounds utterly positive of that. Really. With a mumble about horsemen, he pages through the evil book o' query rates.

Kyara snickers. "Yeah, right, and you're going to start wearing ribbons in your hair too."

Niko hasn't quite mastered the art of sounding innocent and naive without sounding fake. "Oh, do you think I should try that?"

Kyara giggles. "Sure. It'd give Anya an excuse to haul out the camera."

Niko snorts softly at that. "Joy, rapture, just what the world needs--more stupid pictures of me."

Kyara mhmmms, casting a thoughtful look toward you. "It'd make a world a brighter place. Hey Nick, is there any sort of listing of everybody who's come through customs in the last few weeks that I could get a look at?"

Niko mumbles something about there being limits to what he'll do to create a happy workplace. "Uh, yeah," he says, in answer to your last question. "The customs manifest would likely have it."

Kyara's mouth quirks. "And where, pray tell, kind sir, would I find that?"

Niko has to think about that for a moment, as his attention is still half on his forms, but he eventually remembers, and rattles off the appropriate directory. "That's just the last... two weeks, I think? Maybe three."

Kyara nods, typing rapidly. "That ought to be enough," she murmurs. "Thanks."

Niko nods absently. "Sure, no problem. Looking for somebody in particular?"

A fairly long pause goes by before Kya mutters, "I'm wondering what the chances are that two Terrences would arrive here recently."

Niko casts a sharp look your way. "Did he bother you?" Hello, protective? Look out, conclusions, Niko's about ready to jump -on- them.

Kyara glances over, faintly surprised. "The man I met was quite courteous, actually."

Niko snorts softly. "Still could've been him. He was trying to flatter the pants off a couple girls when I met him--and I mean that literally. Was he a bit shorter than me, hair going white?"

Kyara winces slightly, shutting down the customs manifest. "He was," she sighs. "And I was quite flattered by his words. Not /that/ flattered, however."

Niko chooses his words very carefully, "I'm not going to tell you what to do, Kya." Even though his very posture is screaming 'stay away from the Antichrist whose name is Terrence'. "Just... be careful, okay? He seems to be really good at running away, and at not taking responsibility for what he's done. And I don't want to have to go knock him around because he's hurt you." Well, no, he'd -love- to knock Terrence around. He casts a wistful glance at the brig, then shakes his head.

Kyara looks amused. Ah, the naivete of youth. Youthful-er, at any rate. "No problem, Nick. He said he's only here temporarily anyhow. We're just going to talk about the temple. Besides, I told him he could comm me. It'd be rather impolite of me to turn him down after telling him that, wouldn't it?"

Niko again speaks rather carefully. "There are worse things than being impolite, and I think that Terrence definitely qualifies. Just remember, Kya, he's got three kids scattered around--that he knows of, he may have more, depending on how many so-called careless women he seduced--" Niko takes a breath. Getting angry again is really not the best solution. "Anyway," he concludes, with relative calm, "He didn't stick around for -any- of them."

Kyara looks a bit less amused now, and after a moment she promises, "I'll be careful, Nick." A slight pause of paper-shuffling. "/Three/?"

Niko holds up three fingers. "I've got a half-sister in Mathraki because of Terrence, too. Talaxi." With a wry smile, he adds, "Had the biggest dang crush on her when I was twelve. And it took me to this year to find out why my mother had such a duck when I told her about it."

Kyara tries to hold it in, but the snicker escapes. "Yes, I can understand that. I take it Hellas does not care for incest either?"

Niko nods an affirmative. "Rather a strong taboo, yeah, especially with such close kin." See, if they were -cousins-... nah, it still wouldn't have been okay.

Kyara hmmms. "Okay. As for Terrence, he's very... Well, I wouldn't have ascribed all those negative qualities to him just upon last night's meeting."

Niko mutters, "I'd suggest that you give him time, but, well, I don't want to recommend that."

Kyara glances away. "That sort of brings up another point I wanted to ask about..."

Niko inquires, "Yes?"

Kyara gestures vaguely. "The temple. I haven't had a chance to see it yet."

Niko looks just a bit confused. "Uh, okay? You should check it out. It's a neat place, even if my own experience there wasn't all that super."

Kyara looks rather sheepish. "But it's in the Underground..."

Niko doesn't look any less confused. "You could go down with the archaeologists, if you're nervous? I think that's what Corian does, though I'm not sure."

Kyara snickers. "No, I'm not nervous. I just wanted to know if I'd get in /trouble/ for going down there again."

And lo, more confusion. "In trouble? Uh, not with me." That would be Niko that says that, of course.

Kyara glances toward the office. "No, not with you..." She shakes her head. "You're probably right. I should be okay escorted by the archaeologists or... somebody like that."

Niko just shakes his head. "If you want to know whether you'll get in trouble with Riley, maybe ask him? Why don't you go down there with Cori, eh? She's there every couple days, I think."

Kyara brightens, "Oooh, now /there's/ a good idea. Nobody could object to her."

Niko looks puzzled for a moment, then just shrugs, with an agreeable nod. "Don't see how they could, no. She's too nice for that."

Riley arrives from the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.

Riley has arrived.

Riley wanders in, having aquired at some point a stack of papers as well as a plate of vegetable lasagna. He's frowning at the papers, "Nick? Huge favor? Can you run to customs for me with a query?"

Kyara nods. "Oh yes, she's very nice. Even nicer than you." Now /that/ concept's a boggler, apparently.

Niko gets to his feet, looking more than thrilled to run to customs. "Sure, boss. Glad to do it." If he's carting paperwork, he's not doing paperwork. Kyara gets a snicker, and an extravagant bow. Too bad he's not wearing the dress uniform.

Kyara looks a tad startled and, muttering something about family traits, goes back to the paperwork, though she gives Riley a fairly cheerful wave. "That smells good, whatever it is."

Riley hands over the stack of papers with a nod, "Thaks Nick, I appreciate it."

Riley returns Kyara's wave, nodding. "It is good, Cori had some things to tell me, and fed me in the bargain. Life's good." He seems faintly troubled however, despite his overall far much spiffierness than when he left. He moves officewards.

Niko, nosy sort that he is, glances at the topmost paper. He blinks a moment, casts a startled look at Riley, then heads off briskly towards the exit. "No problem, boss," he calls over his shoulder.


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