The Universe's Mixer

It was nice to have a moment to relax. Working and interning under Dr Brennan took much of his time. But he was in no way upset about that. Hannibal very much enjoyed being busy and having his mind stimulated so consistently. Brennan was a very good teacher, she held nothing back, and gave as much information at once as she thought he could handle. He only hoped that she was enjoying their time together as much as he was.

Still, sitting and watching the world go by gave him time to think of other things. To consider life and the things he had learned recently. To run through his lessons, to relive the moments outside of the wall. And to give attention to the lives going on outside of his own.

After all these years, the City still managed to surprise him. Throw new things in his direction, and he was glad for that. He never had a chance to be bored, or to have to seek out his own entertainment. Hannibal lived a very satisfying life here. He wondered how many others could say the same thing.

There was a full tea service in front of him. The coffee shop he was sitting in wasn't exactly a high class venue, but he had asked if they had this kind of thing, and they had said yes. Hannibal wondered if it was there because the City had known he was in the mood for it, or if it was there because it was there. Either way, he was quite pleased. The tray held a full pot of hot water, a silver box of assorted teas, steepers, small spoons, sugar, cream, and a small plate of biscuits. The other cups had gone untouched, and really it was a lot for one man, but that took none of the pleasure out for him.

Rufio had come to a bit of a rut. The days were all starting to bleed together and leave him with little to nothing new or exciting to do, and he didn't see Megan or Red enough to fill in the hole the rest of the time fell into.

He'd taken to messing around on the streets, but found that as he looked older more people seemed to be intolerant of his presence. Maybe growing up meant you really couldn't be different looking. After trading foul words with an old man he'd been called a deli-something and told to "get a job", and that had made him think.

Megan had a job. Annie, the girl who'd given him Buzzer, had a job. Maybe Red had a job, he didn't know. But they didn't seem to be bad things, and they kept people busy.

So the rapidly-turning-not youth had set about the city on his skateboard, exploring and looking at what people did here. There was no end of really boring looking jobs, from working in stores to garbage men, guys who drove trucks and carried heavy things around all day.

There were the weird looking jobs he heard about, like the people who had super powers and weren't well liked by the City (though the Mayor seemed to like the one girl, Rufio hadn't missed noticing his arch enemy's picture in the paper). But Rufio didn't really think he should be in that, either. Not when he still couldn't fly or find Toot Toot.

There were doctors (boring) and repairmen (it was more fun to break stuff than fix it) and one guy who would stand by the fountain all day and fish out the garbage and leaves that fell in it. There were the guys who pushed hot dog and ice cream carts around, but Rufio would rather eat those things than sell them.

After a while, licking an ice cream cone and walking down the street, Rufio thought the only job that seemed like fun was already taken by the girl who walked other people's dogs around. They'd been great fun, but then he found out he'd have to pick up thier poop and the position lost most of its appeal.

Frustrated the spikey haired youth considered giving up when he heard sirens. He blinked, ready to run, but the cop car passed by him swiftly, heading to a small restaurant. Rufio dropped his cone and scrambled up onto a dumpster, jumping up onto a fire escape just to be sure they wouldn't come after him anyway, then crouched down to watch the officers as they ran in. The uniformed cops soon emerged, each holding two different men who were beaten up and trying to lunge at each other. Rufio let out a low whistle as the police threw them against the car and cuffed them, and a crowd filtered out of the restaurant to watch.

Then it struck Rufio. Maybe he could be a cop. He liked to fight, after all, and driving around looked like fun. Sure, most of the cops here were stupid and useless, but Rufio could be the first good one, maybe. It would definitely be fun to beat up bad guys all day.

He wondered how somebody became a cop, and pondered the matter as he continued to watch the two officers and their suspects.