"Come on, come on..." whispered the frustrated girl as the crosswalk stoplight was still stuck on red. She checked her watch while tapping her feet. 8:26 AM. She's got 4 more minutes if she's lucky enough. One minute later than this, she knows being late to her first day of work is guaranteed. Maybe she can blame the stoplight.
She didn't know how fast she reacted, maybe she could become a Formula 1 driver with that time reaction, but as soon as the stoplight allowed for pedestrians to cross, she bumped through a Tiefling office worker just to make the dash. "Sorry, Miss!" She said in a hurry. At least she still has a chance to get to work on time.
How lucky is she? Well, she never counted her blessings, but Katie Aiken was lucky to be accepted in Mahika University of magic to take up Forensic Magic and Science, the only university in all of Studiosus to offer such a program. She was lucky to graduate with honors; Despite the glory she sought in her program, she struggled to keep up with the magical parts of her studies. No matter, she was hired to work at the police department of the city, and she was supposed to come to work at 8:30 AM if not for accidentally setting her "alarm" on her phone's calculator.Â
Finally, she found herself at the entrance to her new environment, the 23rd Mahika Police Department. The area isn't too shabby, there's a cafe down the street if ever she had a craving for a Caramel Macchiato, and there's a library next to that cafe where she could maybe find books related to Law for study. All she needs to do for now is to step inside and get her boss's first instructions for her.
"You're late, Ms. Aiken. Or should I say, Detective Aiken." Her boss greeted on her way in. It seems that this man waited for her at the front desk, maybe hoping to guide her in the briefing room so she could familiarize herself with her new workplace.
Man, what a way to introduce yourself to the industry, Katie thought. She took a deep breath to catch herself, but just before she opened her mouth to say something, the higher-up went to tell her more. "Come with me. we have no time to waste for today's briefing."
So the two walked through the halls. It wasn't too busy today; maybe the people tend to cause trouble in the middle of the day? Or maybe Tuesday is not a good day to be causing crime in these streets? No matter. What matters is how amazed she is at the surroundings; She could see a police officer who bought a can of something from the vending machine, but one sip of whatever it was made his hair go from neat to all over the place. Hah, energy drinks.
It didn't take too long for them to get to the briefing room, they only had to take one flight of stairs to get to the small but practical room made for assigning cases and reporting cases. They both enter the room to meet with other people who Katie would only assume to be her fellow detective co-workers.Â
"All right, ladies and gentlemen, take a seat." The Captain who Katie knew would be the boss started as he walked straight to his podium. Man, that's a powerful move. Katie would hurry to the nearest vacant table, who she shared with a half-elf girl not much older than her. "First day on the job?" The girl whispered. "Captain Blackwood looks terrifying at first, but he's actually a nice person! My name is Natalia, by the way." Katie looked at her for a moment and chuckled sheepishly. "Thanks, uh... My name is Katie! Nice to meet you."
"Now, Detectives, we have a couple of cases to solve. But before I assign them to you, we have to welcome our newest addition to the team, Katie Aiken." Captain Blackwood, a very hairy captain, maybe a werewolf, mentioned. Katie stood up as an instinct followed by everyone else's greetings for her. "Now, she's the first human Forensic Scientist we have in a decade, so let's all try to make sure that she's treated well and in top shape. Sit down, Miss Aiken."
Captain blackwood did not waste time as soon as she sat, she could hear him talk about today's cases and distributing them to Detective Heinonnen, Detective Jang, Detective Virtanen...
Hey, he didn't mention her name! She doesn't have an assignment?!
"Miss Aiken, you are going to clean up our folder room for now." Captain Blackwood finally mentioned as soon as everyone, as well as Natalia left the room to start their shift. "The folder room!" Katie cried. Well, maybe not too dramatic, since she still wanted to solve her first case. "But I wanted an assignment!"
"And you got one, Miss Aiken, which is cleaning the folder room." The captain replied with a stern look. "I know you're fresh out of college and eager to find work, but I cannot let you out if you're late even for a minute. I have to make sure that you're going to be responsible before I hand you your first case. Now go. No more questions asked."
And with that, the rookie on the job went out of the briefing room, keeping a slight frown on her face.