Working for a Killing

[SceneMod]

Day 15, after Urban Jungle, open

The coroner's office is in a sweeping skyscraper that houses any number of other offices and a half decent sandwich shop. The building is quite art deco and was likely quite handsome, once. They have a few floors to themselves, for their offices, laboratories, and storage. A lot of it is cold storage.

On the first floor devoted to the coroner's office, entering the offices from the rickety, gated elevator, the welcome mat is heavily stained with blood from a murder. It was evidence, once. Now it is trodden under foot and forgotten, like the case to which it belonged.

Dark hardwood makes up the floor and accents, made darker by smoke, age and grime. Brass finishings likely were quite dapper, once, but they've been neglected. There are few windows. This is not work the outside world wants to look in on. The lights are slightly yellow and flicker. A telephone booth is tucked away in one corner. There is a spot on the wall where there obviously used to be a clock, but the clock is gone. Inside the refrigerator, in addition to lunches, there is a coffee can of decaying brains and a chocolate box containing computer chips regurgitated by Mecannibals.

There is a harried-looking administrative assistant at the main desk, wearing a black veil over her face. Her skin has a fine blue tinge to it, and the veil covers the dark lines under her eyes. She looks of faintly reptilian extraction, though that must have been a long way back up the evolutionary tree, scales long since extruded to fine quills that are not quite hair, not quite feathers. No sooner does she put down the phone does she have another call.

Front and center, there is an office with gold lettering proclaims to belong to a "Dr. Rio Dan". It looks dark inside, and there's dust around it, like it doesn't get much use. Then, there are smaller offices. On one, the silver name sticker has recently been peeled off, and the door is ajar. There seems to be someone inside, to judge from the moving shadows at the door frame.

Someone has tacked up a hand-lettered sign saying, "Welcome to the Country Club".

[Perceptor]

It is much as Perceptor had been expecting from the state of the rest of the world, and the obvious apathy of the head Coroner. Disused, forgotten, neglected, and abused. Just a brief glance at the poor administrative assistant has Perceptor putting in a private call to Clipper, inquiring if she would be available and willing to come assist.

Not surprisingly, the young Micromaster jumps at the chance, eager to do something, and especially something in her own chosen field. Getting out and active again would be good for her, anyway, get mer mind off of her recent ordeal. If Holi doesn't murder Perceptor for suggesting that Clipper return to the planet's surface, that is.

As soon as the assistant manages to hang up the phone once again - Perceptor waits patiently at her desk - he interrupts her before she can reach for it again when it promptly rings.

"I have reports to submit. Additionally, I have contacted an associate to assist you. She is a skilled administrative assistant and will be here as soon as she is able," he explains quickly, holding up the clipboard with the properly filled out reports.

[Glyph]

Not far behind Perceptor is a smaller green robot carrying a larger box of various office supplies and lab equipment. One must always be prepared, after all!

Glyph almost bumps into Perceptor, finding it a bit difficult to see around the box given her stature in comparison to it, but she is there nonetheless. For the moment, she waits patiently for them to start moving again.

[SceneMod]

The assistant looks at Perceptor coolly and then over at Glyph for a moment. Snatching up her nail file to get her claw-like nails a bit more tamed, she replies, "Ah. The new robot. Happy told me to be expecting you. Didn't think you'd be so... prompt." She glances at his clipboard for a moment. "Got some forms for you to fill out."

She pushes a stack of forms over at Perceptor. A lot of it is boilerplate. Curiously, there's no background check - that's been waived. There actually aren't particularly weird clauses, and the salary is... more than generous. About a third higher than one what might expect to be paid for such a position. Dr. Rio Dan having an in with city hall has some benefits, if only to himself and his staff.

She then points over at the office with the name sticker missing and the door ajar, "Your office is over there. Pyrope's clearing out Garnet's affairs now. Honestly, the man's been gone a year. Y'think she'd get over him." She rolls her eyes and tsks.

"You can duke it out with the rest of the boys over lab space," though the way she says it, there may not be much of a fight. There's the sound of gentle snoring coming from one of the other offices.

"As for your lil' secretary friend... eh, there's probably money in the pool for another girl, if she's got the stomach for it." She flashes a smile, and the veil doesn't quite hide the points of her teeth. "Or is that fuel tank?"

[Perceptor]

"I'm sure," Perceptor replies drolly. He accepts the forms and looks them over, checking for those weird clauses and odd notations. "I am not, ah... in the habit of tardiness." Or laziness, either, but he'd probably better not say that part out loud. He's not completely clueless.

Decent enough salary, although Perceptor has the sneaking suspicion that he will be earning every last shanix, given the state of the office. Actually, given the state of the office... well, of the government here, Perceptor suddenly realizes that he may need to have a nice, long discussion with Xaaron.

"Fuel tank," he replies absently as he reads. "Thank you. If funds are lacking, perhaps some other arrangement can be made." Gathering his reports and the new paperwork, he turns to head to... well, his new office. Apparently, even if Dr. Rio Dan has no clue that he's hired someone new, everyone else is accustomed to the situation. He nods his head in that direction, indicating to Glyph that she should follow him; he's grateful for her help, even if he does feel a bit guilty for the minibot carrying such a large load.

Perceptor pauses for a moment and turns back. "What were the circumstances of Garnet's, ah... departure?"

[Glyph]

Glyph follows the nod to head into the designated office, and finds a place that's clear to set the box down. Really, she doesn't mind it - it's not too much for her, and it lets her be more useful outside of the Event Horizon.

While Perceptor is finishing with the lady at the front desk, though, Glyph turns her attention to Pyrope. "Ah, miss...Pyrope, was it? Do you require assistance?"

[SceneMod]

The administrative assistant is reaching for the phone when Perceptor asks her another question. She rolls her eyes and snaps, "Geez, you Doctor Talks-A-Lot? People go missing on Pz-Zazz all the time, but Garnet was a gambler, and people really go missing at the race tracks. Just vanished one day, 'bout a year ago."

Pyrope is a red cubic Rock Lord, blocky in build, though still slenderer than say, Perceptor. Her armour is slightly translucent. She has on a thick, splatter-stained apron over working clothes, and while pretty, her face doesn't look like it's smiled in a year. Someone chemically sensitive would notice that her apron is stained with different fuels, most of them delicious.

She's been boxing up some of the effects and is in the process of reaching for a framed holo that shows her in a white dress and a male Rock Lord in a black tuxedo. He's a red cubic, too, and if you were drunk out of your mind, he does look a bit like Perceptor. Garnet.

Pyrope corrects, sounding a bit distant, "Mrs. Pyrope." She laughs, bitterly. "I suppose they're eager to have his things out of here, hmm? Sending you to 'help'?"

[Perceptor]

Oh, but she has NO idea. Just wait until he starts wandering off at the processor about some oddity or another during a post mortem! Of course, she'll probably just pop on some headphones or something, in such a case.

"Ah, thank you," Perceptor replies, and then follows Glyph into the office in time to see that holo and catch the Rock Lord's comment.

"No, ma'am," he offers diffidently. He hesitates, wondering if he might be able to suggest that she simply leave Garnet's things here, since Perceptor certainly isn't planning on making a career out of this office. But, after a year missing, the likelihood of Garnet being found again is rather non-existant, and she will have to take this step at some point, soon or late. If not for Perceptor, then for the next poor unfortunate that gets hired.

"I am sorry for your loss, Mrs. Pyrope. It is not our intent to rush you at all. Glyph merely comes at my behest and was looking for somewhere to set her burden down, not to hurry you along. Please, take your time."

Not that he really expects the Rock Lord to be molified by his offer; grief is an illogical, tumultuous process. He is hoping, however, to at least put off alienating his colleages - as he guesses from her apron - until working with them for a short while, like he is used to doing anywhere else.

[Glyph]

"No, no, that's not what I was getting at..." Glyph starts, but then Perceptor comes in, and says it better. Glyph just nods along with him. "What he said - I merely saw you working there, and wondered if you desired assistance." The situation is rather awkward, yes.

[SceneMod]

Pyrope sighs and smiles grimly, "I'm sorry. I should have done this months ago. I just... keep hoping. It's stupid, though."

"At least I know that no one will have touched his glassware." She snorts. "I'm just about done here. If you want, though, you can help me pack his tools up - I'll show you where the lab is, even if you don't. Think I could find it blind, I had to pull him out of there so many times, when he was working late." She smiles faintly, as if those were the good days.

[Perceptor]

Perceptor shakes his head, steping up to rest a comforting hand upon Glyph's shoulder. "No, hope is never foolish. I refuse to think such a thing. Sometimes... Sometimes hope is all we have."

He hesitates for a moment, before asking, "Do you feel that there was a sufficient investigation into his disappearance?" Because given what very little he has seen of the department thus far, Perceptor has his doubts.

"I would appreciate that, and, yes, I will assist you. You do not work here as well? And why would his glassware be unused?" he asks, although he has a sinking suspicion that he knows why a tool of scientific investigation might go unused here in this department.

[Glyph]

Glyph glances up at Perceptor, blinking a couple of times. This Perceptor is so...different compared to the one she knows - and that's not even considering the different appearance - this one not only still has emotion, but seems to get caught up in it as well. It's rather refreshing, really. Perceptor back home did do good things, but with his lack of feeling, they often lacked impact.

It's enough to make the little archaeometrist smile slightly.

She then turns to Pyrope and gives a curt nod. "I will aid as well."

[SceneMod]

Pyrope gives Perceptor an odd look as he speaks of hope, like she's wondering if he's a few bits short of a byte.

She replies quietly, "He got on well enough with some of the more progressive cops, so they made sure to look. Professional courtesy. But they all got pulled off or shunted to other cases. But that's... common enough. People vanish all the time here. I figure it's better than most get."

Is she happy with any of that? Not really, no, but Pyrope's trying, struggling, really, to accept it. It was easier to pretend Garnet might be coming back someday, as long as Rio didn't replace him, but now that Garnet's been replaced...

She snorts again. "No. No offence, but working with a bunch of stiffs would creep me out. It was bad enough, picking Garnet up. At least it wasn't work he could bring home. As for why his tools wouldn't see much use... because most of the people here don't know what half of them are for." She tilts her head up and glares at the ceiling.

Then, she looks down at Glyph and up at Perceptor, frowning thoughtfully. Pyrope doesn't comment, though, and simply leads them to the laboratories, which... are a lot more primitive than Perceptor is likely used to. Some highlights:
- Three dented brass cuspidors
- One curio closet
- Another telephone booth
- Four filthy rugs
- Several chairs, two broken, one destroyed
- Three wooden file cabinets
- Two spots on the walls where there obviously used to be clocks but there are no clocks now
- A few rolltop desks, one in bad shape
- One coat rack
- Four wooden wardrobes, one in several pieces
- Test tubes, scalpels, flasks, a scale, a small brass microscope, burners, distillation equipment, and so on
- A fridge, containing a great deal of raw liver, in addition to other samples
- Dissection tables

There is a reasonably well stocked chemical cabinet, but some of the chemicals are mislabelled, and some are expired. Anything remotely recreational is empty.

There is no modern electronic equipment, nothing like a mass spectrometer. This is the scientific equivalent of 'roughing it'.

[Perceptor]

That smells of cover-up to Perceptor. He isn't liking this. "We have access to resources," he offers, coming to a snap decision. "If you have any access to any aspect of his case, please bring them to me? I will see what I may collect from my new station here. I will see that it gets a second, thorough look. I promise."

Hopefully Xaaron can offer some assistance regarding this matter as well.

"None taken, ma'am. I understand that such lines of inquiry are not that appealing to most individuals. But surely someone else in this office must..."

His voice trails off as he takes in the state of the "lab". And winces. It's much worse than he'd expected, and he really hadn't expected much at all.

"Oh." Is it too late to ask for a raise to cover his duties as both deputy coroner and the laboratory?

[Glyph]

Glyph follows the pair to the lab, and is just as shocked as Perceptor. It's...it's like it's not even been used properly. With the damaged bits, seems like all it -was- used for was a fight of some kind.

//...perhaps it would be prudent to bring more materials from the Event Horizon, sir. Or purchase them from somewhere on-planet...//