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“What if a tornado picks up the bus?”
Zhu Yuan nervously smiles, watching the small boy lower his hand. “Ah…good question; I think the safest option would be to plant yourself under your seat, and cover your head with your hands, or any jacket you might have.” She nods, looking back to the rest of the children seated in their plastic chairs. “Alright; any more questions?”
Zhu Yuan is gifted the sight of the same young boy lifting his hand once more. Clearing her throat, she turns. “Yes, Damian?”
“What if the bus is on fire while in the tornado?”
She smiles, and glances to the back of the class to watch as Seth and the teacher smile; the older woman gently covering her mouth before moving it to mouth an apology. Her associate, however, seems happily focused on the subject.
“Well…” she begins, looking at the child. “It's very, very unlikely that would ever happen. But if it were to occur, you'd listen to the driver's instructions.” She nods, turning back to the rest of the group. “Any final questions–” she catches a glance at the boy raising his hand again before anyone else can. “Ah…y-yes?”
“What if our bus driver is an ethereal? Do we listen to them then?”
Zhu Yuan starts to comprehend the concept of Qingyi's life as a robot. Her brain is short-circuiting, essentially, but she quickly pulls it together. “So…in this scenario, the bus has fallen into a hollow, your driver has been corrupted, the bus has now been lifted by a tornado; still in the hollow, and the engine has caught on fire?”
“I didn't say the engine; that's too specific!” He clarifies.
“Right; that's…too specific…” she hums, clearing her throat and looking back over to see Seth looking to the teacher beside him, who is sitting with her head angled down into one hand.
“Ah-! You know what?” she snaps her fingers, her other hand on her hip. “I think my partner could help you on this one; if it's okay for me to maybe go around and answer some other kids' questions?” She beams.
Ears twitching, Seth looks up and slowly gets to his feet upon hearing the word ‘partner’.
Zhu Yuan looks up and calmly nods to the side to signal him to come up.
“Ah…yeah, that's okay.” the young boy nods.
She smiles, and bows a bit, before moving away and letting Seth happily take up the space by the young boy. He towers over him a bit, and quickly resolves to squat down next to the kid. “Alright! Run me through the question again.” He smiles.
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Seth is happy to answer questions back to back as Zhu Yuan handles the rest of the class. She's almost concluded, and is talking a bit with the teacher as the kids pack up to leave. However, looking over, she perks up at the sight of the other officer with his pad and pen out, seemingly going into detail with his explanations. The teacher quiets down with her, and simply watches as well.
“He's good.”
Zhu Yuan looks over and smiles. “...Yeah. He has this sort of…constitution? That you can't find anywhere else.” She chuckles. “Very honest.”
“Well, thank you both for all your help today. It's been long for you I'm sure.”
Zhu Yuan gently shakes the older woman's hand. “We're happy to educate the youth. Knowing how to be safe in serious situations is always important to be aware of.”
She nods. “Going home after this, then?”
Zhu Yuan rests her hands on her hips. “Packing up the boards and flyers, and moving it back to the station is all that should be left. Then we do it again for the next two days at the other schools.” She sighs with a smile. “Public Safety Awareness Day is more of a week, y'know?”
Saying final thanks and goodbyes, Zhu Yuan walks over and taps the Thiren on the shoulder, hating to interrupt him mid-speech. Seth perks up and tilts his head back to look up at her. “Ah! Just one more second.” He smiles, looking back to finish scribbling and speaking. He's done in under a minute, and looks up at the clock to briefly panic. “Oh! Everyone's packed up already; you're out of here in a minute!”
The boy jumps up from his seat and begins to rush. The thiren holds his hands up with a smile. “Don't worry, I'll help you! I kept you, after all!” He says, getting up and scanning the classroom. He leans back down, and points to the mini lockers on the other side of the room. “Which one is your backpack in?” He asks gently.
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Seth sets the box of flyers into the trunk of the car, with a gentle thud. He turns it in place, before sliding it back to make room for Zhu Yuan to put in the box of novelty items next. It's full of things like pencils, stickers and little notepads for the children to take home with them; all bearing Pubsec branding.
Leaning back, Zhu Yuan dusts her hands off. “We have plenty for tomorrow…I'm wondering if we could just ask to keep the stuff in the car overnight, so we don't have to repeat this process twice as much as we have to…”
Seth rests his hands on his hips, looking over the items. “That would be efficient, but the chance of another officer needing it is very likely…there's no guarantee we'd have the same car tomorrow morning.”
She folds her arms, and tilts her head, staring at the open trunk for a bit before sliding out her phone. “We should be the only officers pre-registered to have any extracurricular use of a PubSec vehicle; but I'll check real quick…” she says, looking through her phone before perking up. “Ah, I'll do this; could you make sure everything's packed?”
Seth nods earnestly, and takes a step back to look over the contents as Zhu Yuan holds her phone to her ear, pacing down the sidewalk. He leans down to pick up the last box, propping it on the edge of the open trunk as he looks for a spot to put it. Seeing no opening, he sets it back on the ground and bends in to nudge some stuff around to make it work.
Rotate this here…push that to the left…stack this on top of–
“hh–!”
A cold chill runs down his back, but he's quick to note it as something more. It's more as if a feather was dragged along the nape of his neck: very lightly, very quickly, but there nonetheless. Enough of a feeling to make him jump up straight, only to–
*thHnK*
“aaAGH–!” He launched a hand to the back of his head, rubbing where he had hit it on the open door of the trunk. Squinting through the pain, his eyes catch a glimpse of movement into the corner of his eye. He's quick to tilt his head to follow the calm, keen movement of a slippery line of gray–
“You know, even through a facade, I've gotta say…”
“Mh!” Seth perks up, leaning to the side to peer around the car; still whilst rubbing his head.
The thiren woman leaning against the side of the vehicle is calmly gazing at her nails. She touches at the gloss with the pads of her fingers, before quickly whipping her head to look over. “You really need to be more aware of your surroundings…”
“Ah! Miss Jane!” Seth stammers, dropping the hand from his head. He steps around the car to face her more officially. “What are you doing here?”
She smiles; all a little too keenly. “I heard there was a Public Security event going on–” she shrugs, “-and who am I to miss that?” She pushes herself forward from leaning on the car door.
“You…usually do.” Seth tilts his head, perking up with a smile. “I always thought you didn't really care too much about personal involvement with the face of PubSec.”
Jane tilts her head back at him, and lifts her brows. “Well, I've been considering just coming to a few things…since the face of PubSec is so cute~” she smirks.
Seth's ears twitch as he listens, and he's quick to lean forward, his fists energetically lifted to his sides. “I'm glad to hear you're showing an interest in public events!! I think Officer MewMew is pretty cute, too!” He boasts.
Jane falls flat a bit, and loosens her demeanor. She's tempted to be blunt, but can't help entertaining the ecstatic joy coming from the other. “Mh, yeah,” she coos, folding her arms and looking at Seth's beaming expression, “can't stand that thing's voice, though…” She opts to say. Thinking back, she notes she's probably only talked to an Officer MewMew maybe…twice in her life?
Seth perks up again, his tail going still as he brings his arms down and flushes a bit.
Jane's eyes sharpen, and she tilts her head. “What's got you like that~?” she asks, her tail flicking sharply.
Seth leans up, straight as a board, and rubs the back of his neck with a meek smile. “Officer MewMew is usually a staple to bring to the schools during Public Security Safety Awareness Day, but we couldn't do it this week.” He explains, slowly taking a step over to the rear passenger door of the car and gesturing a thumb back. Jane is quick to take a step over and look into the back of the car, where the mascot costume rests, empty.
“Yeah? That…revolves around my comment, how?” She hums, glancing over to him.
He clears his throat, and folds his arms. “Two officers, and Officer MewMew are the usual, but since Qingyi needed a repair, I had to fill in for her as the second officer.”
“...okay?” Jane deadpans.
Seth turns his head and smiles, a bit embarrassed. “I would have been in the costume if she were here.” He says, glancing elsewhere, but still smiling.
She perks up. “Oh, well I'm sure your voice wouldn't have been annoying.” She laughs.
He shakes his head, and gently raises his hands. “No no, the voice is part of the character!” He laughs back. “A lot of kids didn't seem to mind it being absent this year, though.” He admits, putting them down and calmly turning to walk around the back of the car.
“Then it works out.” Jane cooes, following behind him and stopping when he does, at the trunk. He's already back to adjusting things to fit the last box in, and Jane opts to lean in and inspect the cargo.
Making room, Seth smiles, and squats down to grab the last box. “Sorry you kinda missed it. We're heading back now, but there are more assemblies at schools tomorrow.” He explains, lifting it up and setting it on the edge of the open trunk, ready to put it in, only to see a box of memorabilia with the lid off. Looking to the side, he watches Jane squeezing one of the many leftover Officer MewMew stress balls.
“Jane!”
“Man, we are so fucking screwed if elementary schoolers need stress balls en masse, now…” She chuckles, toothily grinning as she watches the little printed face of the white cat squish out.
Seth's ears perk up, and his eyes widen. “Jane, you can't say that sort of stuff!” He huffs.
She stops squeezing, and shifts her eyes, but not her head, to look at him. “Oh, does that not align with your political views?” She smiles. “So sorry.” she beams, tossing the ball back into the box.
Seth is quick to slide the lid onto the box with one hand, before transporting the last box to its designated space. “No; We're in front of a school, you shouldn't swear.” He hums, taking a step back and rushing his arms up to slam the trunk shut; only to pause. He softly looks over to Jane, who's still leant on the open trunk. “Please move, you'll get hurt.”
Jane is still for a second or two, watching his eyes settle with a certain kindness she wishes she was more familiar with seeing. Not a second later, she smiles, and slyly slithers to the side.
Seth slowly starts to shut the compartment–
“Mr. Officer!”
Halting, Seth snaps his hands off the door and looks to his right. A young girl is calmly approaching with her pink backpack; whilst wearing a hi-vis vest, almost too big for her person. He's already kneeling down to be at her level, and notes she's holding back tears, but doesn't address them to her in the slightest. He smiles, and rests an arm on his bent knee. “Hey there! What can I help you with, young lady?” He beams, eyes looking over her quickly to note any more details.
Staying back by the car, Jane still somewhat leans to look over his shoulder to observe the scene passively.
The child sniffles, and squeezes up her backpack a bit more before opening her mouth. “I–” she squeaks, before breathing a bit faster.
“Hey, hey, hey, it's okay!” He holds his hands up. “Take your time, I'm not going anywhere.”
Cleaning her throat, the girl gently points over her shoulder, assumingly in the direction she came from, around the corner. “I-I'm on safety patrol…? It's my first day, a-and my bus left without me, and I don't know what to do…”
Seth perks up. “Safety patrol?” He repeats, smiling. “That's so cool!”
The girl looks at him, kind of confused.
He slowly gets to his feet. “I was on safety patrol too. You help the younger kids who have their parents pick them up, right? You make sure they behave, and aren't in danger with the cars pulling up?”
Slowly, the girl nods, and wipes her tears. “Some of them could run into the street, and it's dangerous…”
“Not everyone can do that, you know.” He beams, holding a hand out.
Hesitantly, she takes it.
“I'll help you, okay?” He states, calmly pulling her over to Jane. “I just gotta shut my car's trunk.” He smiles, lifting one hand, only to stop and look at the Officer MewMew stress ball hovering in front of him. It's elevated with a thin tail wrapped around it to gesture it to him. Glancing over, he sees Jane dismissively holding her arms and looking across the street.
He smiles, and takes the ball, briefly touching her tail in the process. She snaps her tail back to lay relaxed behind her, but the lightspeed motion makes the little girl jump.
Seth turns, and gestures the ball down. “I-It's okay, she's my friend.” He laughs, watching the girl take the ball. “I don't think you saw the Public Security demonstration, since you're in an older class, huh?” He says, lifting his hand to now shut the trunk. He's quick to fumble his keys out, almost dropping them before the tail whips back over to catch them and click the button to lock it. Seth clears his throat and straightens up, looking at the girl. “You don't mind if my friend comes with us, do you?” He asks, feeling the keys drop back into his pocket. He switches hands to hold the girls with, looking to his right at Jane, who looks at him with a bit of confusion.
“That's okay.” The girl pipes up.
Seth nods, glancing back to her as they start walking. “Thanks! Three heads is better than two, I always say.”
Jane reluctantly pushes off from the car and walks behind them, moreso behind the officer.
Seth leads them down the sidewalk, listening to Jane walk behind before calmly leaning down to the girl as they keep walking. “Really, I'm doing safety patrol, too, you know…”
The girl looks up, slowing down to properly put her backpack on so she can squeeze the ball easier. “Really?”
“Yeah!” He beams energetically, his tail up and happy. “I always have to make sure people are safe.” He explains, briefly glancing back at Jane.
She smiles very lightly when he does, before glancing off to the side, and sliding something from her back pocket. He watches her slide on some sunglasses, and looks to the little girl to continue speaking to her.
“Even the ones who are always running into danger.”