Skye strolled through Onyx's quiet halls, wondering why it was that everywhere on a Sunday was silent as freshfallen snow between the hours of six and eight AM. She reminded herself once again why she was angry, and stomped her feet a little as she walked out of spite. Nick had come in late, promptly passed out, stolen -her- blankets, and then almost edged her off of the bed. She thought about pouring ice water on him, but decided that while she was awake she may as well run by Onyx to drop off some data she'd been going through for Lucien's records.
She wore her standard 'out' clothing, which consisted of a pair of twill khaki coloured pants, tennis shoes, and a pastel peach coloured tank top with a white button down left open. It was strange how utterly innocent and unintimidating Skye could appear, but everyone well knew the established killer within. She left the data on Lucien's desk as per request, and was headed back down the hall when she caught a whiff of Ebere.
Ah, so she was awake! Skye always enjoyed the company of her other Pakana counterparts, and since Nick was hogging the entire bed and didn't miss her one little bit, she decided she'd stop in and see what the woman was getting into. She followed her nose.
Hunters sometimes kept strange hours, a fact that was proven that moment by Ebere. She had just come in, after having been up half the night off taking care of a mark. She smelled (at least to the sensative nose of another pakana) like blood, but you wouldn't really know it just by looking. She'd cleaned herself up fairly well.
Thank heaven for shifter blood - while she was a bit tired, she'd still be able to function that day more or less normally. Speaking of shifter blood....
Ebere looked up suddenly, the motion incredibly bird-like, when she thought she... well, sensed something familiar nearby. It wasn't exactly that she smelled whatever it was, or heard it, or felt it, but sensed in a way that seemed to somehow be a mixture of all. It was that 'sixth sense' feeling. Instinctive. And when you were a hunter, you learned to trust your instincts - therefore, she stood and walked out into the hall. And broke into a smile.
"Skye!"
Skye was almost on the door when Ebere popped out the other side, and she extended her arm to wrap it around the other hyena. These were little moments that she lived for - when she'd first met Ebere she wasn't sure how she was supposed to behave around her, but with the addition of Stella into the little group, things had finally slowed to a comfortable roll.
"Hey," she said warmly. It was a tone she reserved for very few people; the other Pakana and Nick were the only ones who were so well received by Skye, despite her naturally friendly and sweet disposition. "Whatcha doin?" she asked, peeking around.
Skye had normal hours, unless she had an engagement that ran over her personally alloted time. She tried to match her schedule with her husbands, taking longer jobs on nights where he would be gone until extremely late. It allowed them some normalcy to their hectic lives. This was still kind of early, but her day was certainly already better.
"Seen Stella lately? She left her Lion King DVD at the house. I think she did it on purpose. Nick saw it yesterday and I swear to god he actually put something on top of it." She smiled.
It was still strange to be around another pakana, and strange to want the nearness and the hugs and all the rest of it. Strange in a good way, though.
"Nothing much, I just got in." She laughed a little, softly, somewhat ironically. She seemed almost normal, she would have seemed normal were it not for the hint of something wrong still at the bottom of her gaze, but then that seemed to be the case a lot. She often seemed to be at her most sane when she was with the other pakana, or Ash, or even Ritya. With the exception of times when she felt like doing stuff like remove all the blood from her body, but whatever. Besides, that wasn't crazy. No, really. "So it's more the absence of doing something, which is a nice change. What about you?"
"And no, I haven't seen her."
Skye would always pick up on Ebere's unrest, but she knew that the woman had many more things to bury before she truly let the rest of the past go, and she wasn't going to try and capitalize on that fact. Quite the opposite, actually, as she nuzzled into Ebere's cheek for a moment. Affection, love, pure and kind. Then the moment had passed, and Skye pulled away, to listen to what was being said.
"Ah, I remember those days. I think I alternate between a stable day and night schedule and an out-all-night schedule enough to know which I prefer," she said with a chuckle. She was damn good at her job, but she would take being at home over it any day of the week. There was just something much more appealing about laying on the couch and watching TV than there would ever be anywhere else, but she could attribute most of that to the fact that her husband would be on said couch. She smiled a little at the thought.
At the mention of Stella, she grunted. That girl had the worst schedule. DJing for the local rock station at night, and then sleeping until 3 PM. She was larger than Skye by a margin of height, but Skye still somehow felt responsible for her. It was sort of silly, the group of girls had become glued together so instantly. She was glad, though - Ebere was teaching Stella how to defend herself. That girl was a walking target.
"How has her progress been coming? I assume better than Ritya's did? Or worse?"
Ebere didn't know if the past would ever be buried, really. She would like it to be, would like for it to be gone altogether... but then what would she be?
She shied away from the thought. She didn't know. Her past was why she was what she was, and while she hated so much of that past, this was all that she knew how to be.
Ebere shrugged a little in answer to the question, and then laughed. "There are days when I wonder.... She doesn't like hurting things, that's the real problem. I'm hoping I'll be able to cure her of that, but thus far, no such luck."
Skye tugged at her own hair a moment, and smiled a little when Ebere described Stella's unwillingness to hurt things. That sounds like her, she thought to herself.
"Well, you have to understand she hasn't had the same sort of lifestyle a lot of us have had, especially those of us in the Guilds. I'm sure you're far more patient with her than anyone else would be, though." She paused. "Get her to think about her ex. I'm sure she'll gladly punch through as many boards as you can stack up for her."
It was a sore subject. They all had them, mostly, anyways. Skye had very few precious things she didn't deem necessary to ever converse about, and most of them were specifically surrounding the death of her parents. She would normally just breeze through that part; she didn't prefer to allow people any pity, because she was just fine.
"That's true," Ebere said. "Very true." Thank the heavens for such things. Words could not tell how glad Ebere was that Stella hadn't had to go through the same things she had. It was the same with Skye. Her parents had been killed, true enough, but that was as nothing to what seemed an eternity, a lifetime, spent at Midnight....
She laughed a little at the other hyena's suggestion. "That might help," she said with a smile.
She wished they were touching again. It was strange and new, the sensation of wanting physical closeness with another being. Any other being. She had clung to Ash at first, yes, but that was more to convince her that everything was still real, that it wasn't merely signs of a world gone mad. That was in desperation. This... this was different. This was a desire for closeness merely for the sake of being close, and it was so strange....
"Are you hungry?" she asked suddenly. It occured to her that she hadn't eaten yet. "Walk with me while I grab something?" she asked, even if Ebere said no. Skye liked company. She unconciously reached up and pushed a few strands of Ebere's constantly disshevled hair away from her face, and smiled warmly again.
These were small moments that she lived for. She had never found completion among mortals the way she had around other shifters, especially Pakana. She could never hope to explain to Nick what exactly she felt, though she felt that the pull was just as strong towards him sometimes, and it was a good thing.
Stella and Ebere were thus far the only that she had known since she had been infected when she was a child. She had searched, and given up. Stella said her mother was a Pakana, too, which gave her some lingering sensation of hope. Maybe there were a lot of them somewhere, waiting for the three girls to find them. Maybe.
Ebere automatically closed her eyes and leaned slightly into the touch, enjoying the closeness and instinctively wanting to prolong it as long as possible. This... it was still all very new to her. She'd never met a pakana before that she knew of, and had never known to - or even been able to - try looking. Her brother was one, yes, but she hardly even knew that she had a brother. Sometimes she seemed to remember faint scraps of something, but....
In any case, neither of them had shifted until after she had been taken. Neither of them had known.
"Mm? Yea, sure." Ebere probably wouldn't have cared where they were going, it was... nice to be with another hyena. Very nice. Like wrapping up in a soft, fluffy, fuzzy blanket that just came out of the drier and was still all toasty.
Skye walked with Ebere slowly, engaging her in casual chitchat as they proceeded to the kitchen area for her to get something to eat. She had tried to put into words over and over what it felt like to be around her own kind. She had been told by the sparrows even at a younger age that Pakana were set apart from all the other known shifters for their constant want and need to be around eachother. They were terribly social and gentle creatures when given the chance to be.
She fixed herself something light, knowing she was going to catch a nap before she started her day. She leaned against the counter, trying not to spill her peanut butter toasted banana sandwich thing on herself, and wiggled her foot as she spoke to Ebere.
"So, other than, how have things been? And what's on the agenda for next week, or are you engaged?" Skye had begun to refer to targets as engagements to make things sound easier than they actually were, though she knew even an actual engagement was hard.
"I think Nick will be gone all of Saturday and I was hoping the three of us could go do.. something. Or stay in. I don't care which. Nick will be gone and we will have the couch, and that makes me happy."
Ebere and Stella would both know well the Neverending Battle For the Couch that was a nightly war in the LeCroix household.
"Not that I know of," Ebere replied, smiling a little - as usual - at how Skye referred to marks as 'engagements.' "I suppose something could come up, but unless it does...."
She decided that the peanut butter-bananna-toast thing that Skye was eating actually looked pretty good, and began to move around to make one for herself. "Hmm... yea, Saturday should work." And Ebere wouldn't particularly care which it was, as long as she got to curl up with the rest of her pack, as she still thought of them. She laughed at mention of the couch. "Good. So then, you gonna go talk to Stella later, or you want me to?"
Skye watched Ebere move in on the bananas, and stepped aside from the counter. She'd learned not to get in the way of animals and their food, as had been proven in her own household several times. She'd jabbed Nick with a fork before for much less of an offense.
"You can call her. I'm sure we'll hear from her before the day is out." She sighed a little. She was damn awake now, and it was a foul hour. She couldn't understand how people could be up before the sun.
"You know, I wondered something. Do you think other Pakana that hear her on the air can pick her voice out? She always does a little giggle thing at the end of her sets and I swear it's like she moves into demi form just enough. I remember when I heard it for the first time I almost drove off the road."
Stella, their homing beacon.
"I'm sure we will," Ebere said as Skye moved away from the bananas. She was tempted to sigh a little herself - because really, she didn't want innocent Stella exposed to this world as much as she had been. No helping it though, the hyena was like a stray that followed you home as soon as you paid attention to it. Besides, Ebere also didn't want to cut off contact, though she now had Skye. She didn't want to do that to a surrogate sister. Stella, after all, wouldn't understand. She barely would herself.
At least she could do one thing - Stella did not know most of her history. Skye knew more, but she didn't know all of it either. She could protect them in that much, at least.
Ebere rarely told people her history.
Skye asked about Stella's show then, and Ebere paused. She rarely listened to the radio, and wasn't quite sure. When did Ebere ever do anything normal, though? She said as much. Not the 'never doing anything normal' bit, the 'I don't know.'
((OOC: To give them subject matter, making this thread after Jason is found))
Skye smiled brightly, moving into more mischevious topics. "What do you think of Jason?" she asked coyly, bending into the fridge for a bottle of water. Not that it went with her sandwich, but she was feeling like it was too early for anything soda just yet. The bubbles would have her buzzing all day.
She threw the uneaten crust away and shook the water lightly before opening it, then took a long drink of it. Myah. She still had peanut butter stuck to her mouth. Even being a hyena couldn't avoid the globby mess that the substance was.
The other hyena cocked her head and looked at her, grinning in a mischievous way. "What do you think of Jason?"
Ebere knew what Skye was really asking with that question. "No," she said, looking at her sideways as her mouth twisted to hide a smile. "Stop it, Skye."
"What?!" she asked innocently, setting her water down. "Eh, what did I do?" she demanded. She stopped playing coy after enjoying the laughter she roused, and sat down on the counter.
"Oh, come on. He's attractive. He's obviously totally smitten with you. Well," she paused, frowning. "He's kind of smitten with the idea of having three incredibly hot female Pakana surrounding him, but the problem herein lies that one of us is very taken by a very large cat who will very well put his foot up Jason's ass for coming near me, reguardless of my pack position." She swigged some more off of her water.
"But, yes. He's nice, and he's Pakana. I think you should... I don't know. Hang out with him. Feel him out." She smiled. There. No need to frighten Ebere off by saying GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES RAAR. Not that she would, anyways, because Ebere didn't seem like the type. However, she did deserve someone like Jason, because Jason would never hurt her.
Skye didn't think he was even capable of it, actually.
She laughed a little as Skye played coy, and then the other woman gave it up and acknowladged what she'd been saying. And then Ebere's mood turned, from lighthearted playfulness to something much more serious. It was serious, no matter how Skye may paint it.
"Yes, but..." she began, and couldn't think of any words, not really. She tried again. "Skye, he's so...." She looked away, then walked across the room and curled up in a chair someone had shoved up against a wall. And she as she looked up at the other pakana, this time her eyes were pained. She still tortured herself, and all because others had tortured her in the first place. What had she ever done? "He's so innocent." She looked down and away again.
"If I start spending time with him, he'll loose that. Brutally. How could I do that to him?" How could she live with herself? He was innocent, and he deserved the chance to remain so; all of them did. She wanted, yearned to be around them, but... but the effect was like acid on tissue paper. There was only so much she could do.
Can't live with them, can't live without them, as she'd once heard someone jokingly say. How true it was in this case, though. How painful of a situation to be in. She closed her eyes and sat still, almost torn in two by the situation.
"Oh, hush. You stop that right now," Skye said softly, walking to her friend. She ran fingers through Ebere's tawny hair, the colours always never the same as the next, and the cut despite having grown out still characteristically uneven. It somehow suited her; Ebere somehow made it 'work' without looking like a psycho. It must've been her conditioner.
She crouched down to look at Ebere from a more eye-level position, though the petite brunette now sat below her counterpart. "Listen, we all have our faults. And nobody is saying that you have to just up and run away to Tahiti with this guy. I'm just saying, give him a chance. I think he really likes you," she pressed.
She sighed inwardly. Ebere had every right to be concerned about hurting him. She figured she'd have to... have to train with Jason seperately so that he could take care of himself. The problem was, however, that once again, if she came home smelling sweaty and Jason-like, she wouldn't be able to move fast enough to stop Nick before he ripped the poor guy limb from limb.
"Stella's innocent, too, but we still keep her around," she offered. Ebere really just made a good point, nevermind the stuff surrounding it. "I think Jason would be willing to learn if you'd teach him. Jason, I think, would be willing to run across water if he thought it'd make you happy."
She almost, almost, pulled away from Skye's touch when she felt the hand run comfortingly through her hair. In the end though she didn't, and it felt so nice to have the other hyena that close.
It was wrong, of course. Skye didn't know, after all, how broken she was. She turned her face slightly away, eyes still closed, but didn't move more then that.
It was so hard to want to be around someone so much, and be so afraid of hurting them that you hardly dared, to know that if you were only strong enough you should stay away. But she didn't think she could, and in some ways that was the worst thing. Because it sealed their fate - Stella and Jason and even Skye. It was tearing away something utterly irreplacable.
She laughed a little, sadly. "That's the problem, I don't want to pull him into this world. He doesn't know about the guilds, why can't it stay that way? Why does it seem, now, that no one can live without knowing what goes bump in the night?" Ebere was a protector, that was her problem. She tried too hard.
"Yeah... I guess I got lucky there. I'd probably still be single if it weren't for Nick, but then again, I don't think knowing about the Guilds is a bad thing. Ebere, he's in more danger not knowing, just drifting around day to day, waiting for some deranged vampire to snatch him up." She sighed. She knew well the rarity of Pakana on the trading circuit, but thank God she didn't know first hand. Just what little Ebere had told her, which was.... enough.
She put her hands on either side of the chair, looking Ebere in the eye as she spoke to her. "You deserve this. You are not broken. You're just... a little banged up. Like UPS boxes. Nothing some good ol' fashioned Pakana glue can't fix."
And Skye was the optimist, refusing to believe that any of her pack were irrepairable. Ebere wasn't feral, so that was a big point in her favour. And obviously feelings of conflict in this area told Skye that while she had her moments, she still had every ability to think rationally and clearly. In her opinion, Ebere was still... recoverable. Not that she expected it to happen overnight, oh god no. Skye knew better. But she hoped that maybe the Pakana girl could know the warmth of another's touch without thinking there was some dark meaning behind it. That a hug could just be a hug, not a hurt.
((OOC: Omg Skye is trying to make me cry! LOL))
As much as she hated to admit it, Skye was right. Knowing all about the guilds would make a person safer.
What a stupid way for the world to be. Ebere shook her head in frustration, burying it in her arms breifly. Silky, tauny hair spilled over her shoulders as she did so, and she just... rested like that for a moment, and thought, and wished she could do more. There was nothing, though, or at least nothing she could think of, other then keep most of her memories to herself. Skye had no idea how little Ebere had really told her, and it was going to stay that way. It might have helped her to get it all out, but that was Ebere for you, always trying to shield others, even at her own expense....
There was a darkness in her that almost no one really knew of, because all anyone saw of it were the shades that seeped through the thin veneer of normality that she surrounded herself with. Or, at least, that's how she saw it. Someone else might argue that viewpoint.
She smilied slightly as she looked at Skye, and it was almost a regretful look. "Not giving up on me, huh?" They both knew it wasn't a question, not really. "Mm," she sighed, and rested her head on Skye's arm.
Skye made a noise, and kissed Ebere's hand lightly. "Not at all, m'dear." She smiled, a warm thing, and rose, ruffling Ebere's hair a bit and trying to rouse her from her slump. Skye needed her to stay moving and positive, at least try to get her mind off of whatever it was that bothered her.
"C'mon. I haven't been to Onyx in a while. Let's walk around, hm? Maybe we can catch a glimpse of Lucien. Is it true he's been seeing a vampire?" Skye asked, giving way to some girlish gossip to try and put Ebere's attention elsewhere. She wrapped an arm around her and gave pause just a moment to bury her nose in her hair and nuzzle her, in that way only Pakana could do without being completely creepy.
Ebere rose like a cat to the brief contact, as she usually did, then stood up and sighed a little. "All right," she agreed easily to the plan. "And fine, I'll... go see Jason. The bit about Lucien is true, by the way." She rolled her eyes a little. "Though really, why he of all people should suddenly...." She broke herself off and shook her head, then sighed and contentedly turned her face towards Skye. Honestly, if everyone didn't already know about the two of them being pakana and what that entailed, they would really make people wonder.
"Do you know what happened with your leaders eyes?" Ebere asked in return. "I'd heard that a vampire got him, and he was blind."
Skye shook her head and pulled away from Ebere long enough for the two of them to walk, though she still hung an arm lazily around her shoulders. "Not sure," she said honestly. "Capricia just says it's been fixed. I guess they took care of the problem, whatever it was," she said with a shrug.
Skye tried not to delve into the affairs of the Guild too much, only when they directly concerned her. She hadn't been worried about Connor's ability to perform as leader, though, despite. He was a strong, capable man. She'd seen he and Nick talking about her on several instances, and wondered idly what it was they were saying, but never felt the need to pry. It simply was what it was. She bet they were trading stories about how neurotic she could be.
"How has Ritya been?" She dragged the subject back into familiar territory.
"How has Ritya been?"
Ah, if only Skye knew what can of worms she was opening with that question....
"He's a hawk," she said without preamble. "I told you how he said he was sick and so locked himself in his room - well he wasn't. He was infected somehow." She sighed a little. "And that's not all, right up until he locked himself up in his room he was gone half the time and acting strange the other. I hardly knew what to think." Or she did, but refused to let herself think it, rather.
She looked over at the other pakana, and her emotions were clear in her eyes. "I'm worried about him."
Skye frowned. Ritya was young enough, sure, but he should have known better than to make severe vanishing acts on top of using his room as a bunker. The Guilds did use some measure of discretion, sure, but he was still a trainee, and therefor not entitled to as much as the full-fledged members.
"Has Lucien spoken with him?" she asked, raising a brow. Lucien was a fairly level-headed man, aside from the whole vampire thing. Skye wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole, really; she'd inquire politely, but she didn't want to go digging around. She was scared of what she might find, and Skye was the type only to ask thorough questions when she was prepared for the answers.
"He's still very young. I don't know how he was raised, but it might be a bit awkward for him. You might want to put him with some other avians to try and get him familiarized with things," she offered.
"Actually, I don't think he's having that much trouble adapting to being a hawk," Ebere said, and her tone seemed oddly careful. "He didn't like the idea at first, of course, but he seemed to be all right with it after he shifted for the first time...."
"And yes, I do think that Lucien spoke to him. I'm not sure what it did, but..." she stopped, sighed, and shook her head.
"It's not him being a hawk that worries me, it was the before. I told Ash about how he was acting, and he said that maybe a vampire had gotten him addicted...." Good for Ebere, it was the first time she'd ever really spoken of it, especially so calmly.
She looked up again, expression pained once more. "I think he might be right. Only how can he be, Skye?"
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, stopping to stare at Ebere in disgust as she suggested the boy was addicted to a vampire. "Does he not comprehend the things they're capable of?" she asked, stunned. Oh, Skye knew all too well; Ebere did, too, though she didn't know just how much.
"Have you beaten some sense into him?" It seemed the time for talking had passed, to her. Becoming the willing consort of a vampire while being under the Guilds was a big no-no in Skye's book. Especially the kind that went around getting people addicted to them, because it never meant it was a normal or healthy relationship. She supposed she could have accepted Stella's boyfriend, but Daniel sounded somewhat normal, if not a little unfulfilling. This? Not acceptable.
"I don't know," she said softly, looking away. "And I don't know if it's true yet, and I don't want to believe it, but he's been acting very strange." She sighed a little, closing her eyes. "Skye, I don't know what to do. I do not know what to do."
She was perfectly willing to try beating some sense into him, as Skye put it, but she wasn't sure if it would work. And if he... if he really was.... Ugg, the idea practically made her ill to even think about.
Skye squeezed her lightly. "Hey, calm down. We'll find a way. I'm sure if you corner Lucien he's got a plan; or if he doesn't, he will soon. Promise," she added, for extra comfort. Lucien was smart and capable, right? Skye didn't know what she would do personally if someone she cared about was ever in a situation like that.
She didn't know if she could resort to beating it out of them.
"Maybe you can try to make him see the vampire for what he or she really is?" she suggested. "Spy? Or... something. I've seen it work before; not just with vampires. People in general."
She looked over at Skye with a slight smile. "Thanks. Another of his teachers is already following him though, but he hasn't said anything yet." She smiled a little. "No news is good news, right?" Or... not. Way, way not. Luckily for Kaz, however, Ebere didn't know that. Luckily for him she didn't have the slightist inkling. At all.
When she found out, it would not be good for a certain falcon/cobra crossbred.
"I think," Skye said, "That if you really want to soothe your fears, you should follow him around yourself." She smiled. "Believe me, I have the sort of job where if I don't do it myself I feel like it isn't getting done right, and it really is just my sort of personality. Yours too, I think."
She rubbed her shoulder and smiled again. "You might not like what you find, Ebere, and it might not even make you feel better, but some of that doubt might go away. If you want, bring someone with you. I mean, they'd understand, wouldn't they? I know if any of my guild members were suspect to something like that I'd be more than happy to tail them and see where it got me.. so long as it didn't get me dead."
Ebere nodded, and sighed a little yet again, then smiled at the other pakana and nuzzled her shoulder. "Thanks. And... yes, that might help." In some ways she didn't want to find out, but Skye was right in that it was worse not knowing.
She looked up at her, expression slightly playful, eyebrow cocked. "So, would you like to be the one to come with me? Nothing that a pair of hyenas can't do, right?"
"I'll see what I can do, but you name the time and I'll more than likely be there," she answered without hesitation. She instantly regretted it, but moreso because she knew that Nick wouldn't like the idea of something like this. It wasn't her normal work - Hell, it wasn't even sidework. It was Skye doing something that was potentially a lot more dangerous than her normal half-a-mile-away sniping fests.
She glanced down at her watch, and raised her eyebrows. "I should get back to the house. I have a massive amount to do, and I think I'll run the vacuum now that Nick's comfortably passed out to make him regret edging me off the bed."
Ebere laughed out loud when the other hunter announced her plans pertaining to the near future of her husband and the vacuum cleaner. As Nick would say, she and Stella were a bad influence on Skye; and it was true, that was the odd thing. Who would have ever thought Ebere would have a mischievous streak? Really, Ebere?
They walked to the entryway together in that companionable silence that people who don't need to say anything to understand each other perfectly can fall into. When they got there, Ebere smiled a little and dropped her head so that it was on Skye's shoulder again - some days she was so like a child.
"Thank you," she said, and then paused for a moment before clarifying. "Thank you for agreeing to come with me; I know it's not usually what you'd do. And just... thanks for everything."
~*~*~
You wouldn't believe how many times I started this post, and then something happened.
EDIT: Woo! 333 posts for Ebere! =D
Skye wrapped Ebere up in a hug and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Just tell me when you need me to come. I'll tell Nick I'm working. I mean, technically, I am. Guild business is Guild business, no matter what sort of thing it actually is." She smiled and gave her hair a ruffle.
She exited stage right, pausing to pick up some paperwork and a healthy paycheck from the office, and then headed down the hall back to the parking garage. Time to clean house.