Too much free time

[littlekreen]

The last week or two Chrysanta lived at the office when she could especially after the situation a few days ago. The latest one of many before them they must have come for her after following Ivor dropping her off at home. Instead, they trailed him though now whoever sent them wouldn't get them back. Whatever Ivor's deal was they got eaten by it as security told her she didn't want to know. Not that sort of person to leave a question hanging after asking around she decided they were right. Muses were paranoid by nature when you found out your life expectancy was around twenty. At one percent of the population, there were roughly 35 thousand psychopath land mines she could walk by in the greater Dallas/Houston area. Some of those were cultists who likely wanted pieces of her.

So that meant being up late worrying or doing paperwork just to relax. Particularly as the MCU was a relatively hard security building. Often reading whatever books she had or eventually the employee manual. Though she'd picked up custom date wheeled ink stamps for this latest batch which sat in a box nearby. Chrysanta's pale hands tap to revisit cold cases and assess the evidence they had for signs of Unseen. Something the warden would have to dig through In the days before her arrival. Then she'd have to consider and assign to specialists. Instead, as an actual technician, she had enough authority to recategorize and update evidence on her own without bugging the warden. As long as it didn't mean entering a scene. Some of the cold cases in Dallas were rather peculiar but a much-abused computer withstood her impressive typing speed. Her summaries then updates were concise enough but still added a good five or six pages altogether to each case.

Catherine seemed like one that preferred paper but all of the pages were digitally filed in each case anyway. Chrysanta didn't want to have to go find the paper to find them later. The three-inch-thick binder she printed off was the product of a few nights organizing them by colored sections after digging through some disused office supplies left in closets. What she cleaned they let her keep. Though there was one case possibly close to the Warden in its very own folder kept out of the database by 'preliminary assessment'. That would leave fewer flags and fewer problems for either of them. That state left it warden's eyes only and didn't need a digital copy or notifying anyone else.

Chrysanta took the elevator to get to Catherine's office though she wore some comfortable waterproof slip-on shoes suited to the lab. A white lab coat on her and some simple khaki pants. While not out of bounds for office wear her job came with the dangers of needing to cram your foot in a rubber boot. Needing to put HAZMAT on quickly and tape pant legs around your shoes often overruled fancy ones.

Chrysanta knocked on Catherine's door report, folder, and a small box on top, "Warden? I have a bunch of paperwork done for you."

[Circe]

The door to the office was stood open, revealing a middle aged woman sitting behind a large cherry wood finished desk that was currently covered in various papers and reports. A computer and it's screen sat off to the side currently idle, featuring a blank black screen. A few framed photos of what was presumably family, sat on a filing cabinet behind her. "Alright then, just put them... I guess over there." Catherine replied pointing to a empty spot on the desk.

Her workload hadn't changed since returning, but it certainly felt like it. Council had at least given her one more specialist, but that hadn't made a bit of difference yet. Officers like Molly and Xiaolian were still at odds with one another, and then there were certain personal factors she hadn't yet figured out how to manage.

[littlekreen]

Chrysanta placed the book down where she was told and tried to put on a smile, "I caught up all of your cold case reevaluations I only need testing or new data for. The second look ones from mundane cases are classified by unseen interest, unconfirmable, or non-interest."

The box went on top of her thick file with a nod, "These are this year's standard-compliant approval and disapproval stamps with the date so you don't have to write on them all. I've got more ink if you need it."

Singlet problem folder she'd separated placed over some other nearby bits of paper, "This one seems close to you and a preliminary keeps it off the radar. Do you know this guy? He's not as dead as he's supposed to be. Bank sent fraud activity to us weeks ago. He bought some coffee."

Squint to her eyes the tech rubbed her head for a moment. In standing too close to the boss her head squirmed as the innate part of the Muse tried to inspire or bolster. Not to mention Catherine had to be damn strong for just one person to make her feel so tired. Bronze eyes return and fixate as Chrysanta restrained breathing by practice to keep her mind orderly and focused. Odd primal places that her muse's Id kept draining her personal energies to get to did her no favors. It wandered where it needed to as the muse's inner fire tried to bolster whoever she was near.

[Circe]

"Why is the bank sending us fraud activity?" Catherine questioned raising an eyebrow. Normally that wasn't something they got in the daily mix of small cases and larger problems they were asked to solve. "That's not our territory and they know it." She added picking up the folder Chrysanta had set down. No doubt someone had the bank had likely tried to flag an unseen business owner as fraudulent, and the local cops not wanting to deal with it had kicked it over to them.

Flicking through the documents in the folder, she frowned. The name certainly did not match the image from the security camera the local coffee shop had provided. "I know the person, but the photo doesn't match... unless he's suddenly decided to start using a glamour." Catherine confirmed. Glamours could be problematic, given that most of the mundane had little experience with them and the unseen could often change them like a person changed their clothes. "That may have been the reason the bank sent it our way."

[littlekreen]

Chrysanta sat down in the far chair common to many offices and answered, "Check the background on the bank snapshot in the other photo. Just behind him. It's a very old bank with actual silvered mirrors. I don't know if they keep the mirrors on purpose but on monitors security saw that come in the bank to inquire about the account."

Leaning back Chrysanta took an exhausted breath giving Catherine a moment to fish out the other photo and complete her answer, "There are, ah, a few types of rituals I could say might cause that kind of markings. Most of them not particularly healthy. Given the state of things now they sent it up here. They unlocked his account that got shut down because he was supposed to be dead. Just to get rid of him."

[Circe]

Catherine took out the photo in question and looked at it for a moment before taking her glasses off and setting them aside. Pale and primordial blue eyes stared almost blankly out at the world before drifting back down to the photograph. Squinting at the grainy details, she frowned. The mirrors should have revealed the presence of a glamor, but instead showed nothing different from the man in the photo. "Well I think we can rule out a glamour then." She muttered setting down the photo and reaching for her glasses again.

"The rituals were supposed to have been lost, but I see once again that I'm being proven wrong on that point." Catherine sighed with annoyance. Whatever Walther had done to get himself into this mess, it appeared that he had counted on her at least being alerted to it; either through the Courts or MCU.

[littlekreen]

Chrysanta raised her eyebrows to lean forward with a corner of her smile raised, "It's hard to destroy knowledge. Librarians and mages have had too much practice with people carrying torches. Just its theory of existence might inspire someone to recreate it. Mages are like that."

Leaning back Chrysanta tapped her knees, "Though if it's a recreation of whatever you're thinking there's no knowing exactly what it's done to him but at least he's still what he was before via the silvered mirrors. If it's the actual thing then there's also questions on where it came from, who has it now, and what they intend to do with it if it's a concern of public security."

A flourish of both her hands her copper hair bobbed in submission, "I'm just thinking out loud if you want to handle it. But I can't go home until the security company scrubs my place for bugs so I'm yours if you need me to look into anything. I'll even do some of the grunt paperwork."

Grabbing one forearm she flourished with the other hand scrunched her lips to one side and looked down, "Just, uh, not here. I don't think I'm strong enough to be near you for too long, Warden."

[Circe]

"As have others throughout history Chrysanta." Catherine admonished. Anything out of the normal or beyond what was understood quickly met the torch of many an angry village under direction of their aldermen or church. It was a well known problem within the unseen for those who could not pass or maintain their secrecy for whatever reason. Similar things were happening once again under many of the same as the unseen was once again out in the open. MCU's case log of shootings, arson, and murder had skyrocketed in the past year or more, Catherine had lost track of when exactly things had gone from bad to worse.

"I'm not thinking of anything or one thing in particular." She added referring back to the documents she had been given. It was going to require speaking with Tyrus, and that didn't come cheap for anyone's budget; especially given that it required time, money, and food to get the mage's attention. It also probably wouldn't hurt to have something interesting to persuade him with either, be it a shiny bauble or precious text. "Rituals are strange things best left to be done after All Hallows and the Solstice." Catherine explained plainly. There was a lot less free magic to work with then, and a decreased risk of something going wrong.

"I'll have to ask Rahal about this, he has access to texts that our archive doesn't cover." That didn't mean MCU was a slouch in that department, it meant that Tyrus's collection was just that much more extensive. "But yes.. I would like you to look into the bank logs and any other modern information." She added thoughtfully. Walther had always been a bit of an odd ball, but for a time the two had found comfort in being able to befriend someone of a similar nature. But like all good things, it had had to come to an end.

Looking back up at Chrysanta, she frowned before she realized what was going on. "What? Oh... no.. you should have told me!" It wasn't something that Catherine often even thought about, and given how well warded her personal spaces at work and elsewhere tended to be, it was easy to relax and allow her own personal magic field or aura to expand.

[littlekreen]

Chrysanta raised her hands and shook her head, "It's fine. It's fine. This is just the longest I've spent near you so far. Just me talking to you makes my Logos amplify. That's why I'm sitting in your aura way over here without much effort on your part. If you tried to pull away it would just make me burn brighter."

The brass eyes closed as Chrysanta took a deep breath and sat back, "I get the unseen have it bad. Fire, Murder, kidnapping. I'm in the top 5th percentile for the age of living Muses. Whoever it was that followed me and Ivor home to get some changes of clothes and ended up in your meeting room usually causes that. We just get it because humans find us more useful than different. That ritual, whatever it may be, strikes my instincts as useful enough that no suitably inspired human wanting power will ever let it die."

A moment remembering the endless parade of thugs and psychopaths that met her .45 looks down at the warden's carpet. Instincts goad the whole truth from her body as those same instincts help decide it's a problem worth dealing with. Dad always said you don't let a chaingun stay in the black market when you can help it even if there are no buyers.

Her brass eyes looked up, "My old carpet had too many dark red stains. Anyway, if you need me to hang around Rahal for a while to get information out of him I'll only do it as a favor. I refuse to be an 'asset'. Just tell him I'm a 27-year-old Irshi. I'm sure he'll know enough implications. I'll look into the bank transactions and try to find where he's been squirreling assets away and with whom. I should have enough basis to get a subpoena for the cell tower logs at the bank given their report."

[Circe]

Amplification in her experience generally didn't mean good things, it could either burn the user out or create uncontrollable chaos. "Sadly, I don't think you'll enjoy being around Rahal either, Chrysanta. His magic ranks as high as mine." So far he was the only one that Catherine had ever met that could at least channel and disapate her own magic without either going insane or dying from the effort. Part of that she suspected was whatever training he himself had been subjected to, and the other was just due to sheer stubborness and force of will.

"Don't worry about me forcing you to get information out of him, that's something I'll do or send Lt. Boyuan for." Tyrus could stand to deal with Xiaolian right? Most people tended to willingly spout information around the tiny lieutenant, something about her either put them at ease or reminded them that if they didn't consequences could ensue.

[littlekreen]

Chrysanta sat back up with a smile and raised one brow, "I guess if you call me down to a meeting later then make sure you're both not in the same room. For now more than one of you and you'll definitely be still my heart. And not in a good way."

A hand upturned to one side she adds, "Heh. I've been casting every waking moment since theory of mind. That's why us muse can't cast anything. Just self-perpetuated rituals. A shifting and pivoting veil disease you live to stop paying attention to or die before you can read. Being near you strong mages is the only way I can get stronger."

She taps her chest, "Speaking of Lt. Boyuan though, I can't feel the Logos attach to her so she's safe to drag me off if I pass out somewhere. That R&D department meeting I accidentally walked into the other day was bad enough. Well, do you want my findings on that guy by email or on paper? Have her stop by with any leads to run across for subpoenas and such or just keep me in the loop and I'll keep looking."

The Logos hit a dozen researchers at once that day in R&D. Cue a sudden wave of over-caffeinated researchers for three hours after Chrysanta stumbled away to a stairwell for somewhere isolated to hide. Ivor physically contained his researchers so they didn't cause too much trouble. This left Chrysanta to crawl off alone to the basement near the only coffee pot down there. Ivor couldn't help without making it worse and they both knew it. The tech drank coffee in the basement for three hours reading cold case files until it was safe to sleep. Maintenance and security sent the must mundane they could find to keep tabs. The Logos finally quieted and the flame wouldn't drain her dry. A scant few hours later woke up at a hard concrete furnace room in a stupor. Back to the elevator returned upstairs needing that new set of clothing from home. Ivor was glad to assist after a quick stop to have her checked out.

[Circe]

"He rarely attends meetings and generally keeps to himself." Generally was the keyword, given that he had inserted himself into personally overseeing the reformation of Broadmoore. Catherine had insisted that it was unnecessary, but Tyrus didn't tend to listen well, if at all to anything she often had to say. Most discussions dissolved before any consensus was ever reached, the man often didn't understand how obtuse he could be when it came to most of what MCU dealt with. "He's not currently on our contractor list, so I don't think we'll be seeing much of Tyrus Rahal anytime soon." For that she was thankful, given that their first meeting hadn't gone well when he had practically insisted he was above work as a contractor.

"You can email me things Chrysanta.. and contrary to popular belief, I do know how to work a computer." The warden deadpanned. Just because her eldest nephew had shot one once, didn't mean that she herself was afraid of the things. In fact, they often made her job that much easier and in theory should minimize the paperwork.

Closing the file the other had given her, Catherine couldn't help but have a thousand questions and even fewer answers. What exactly had Walther done to this poor kid, and why did the kid have access to Walther's accounts? "I'll be sure to let Lt. Boyuan know, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to deal with someone other than Bronson."

[littlekreen]

Bronze eyes stare a moment to reassess then with a nod answers, "Aright. I just wasn't sure if you wanted things in paper format. It's all associated and scanned in with the case filing system now. Including the groups for my recommendations. After adding a lot of missing tags the search would work right now. That one case I have raw data squirreled away on a thumb drive instead."

She stands and brushes her lab coat and office outfit, "Well if Tyrus won't be here anytime soon that makes things easier on me. The unrecognized sim I found from a phone from the debris is in the Mazar ranch file now too. Lt. Boyuan can stop by the lab anytime if she needs more information. I've mostly cleaned up and I'm not going home until my house is cleared."

Chrysanta eyes some of the official markings of the office and considers if she was even physically capable of ever talking to the council. Much less more than one Catherine. Though wavering from foot to foot by the effort required still had eyes attentive to the Warden.