Trooper Station: Tuesday.

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

Yesterday the phones at the station were not working.

"RALPH!"

Today the phones were still not working.

"GET THE DAMN PHONES ONLINE BEFORE I SMACK YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!"

Ralph was not having a good day.

Comments

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

"Oh, come on, now, Gibbs," said Angua, finishing up some desk work before heading out on patrol. With the phones not working, having a man on the prowl was likely a good idea. "You know yelling and threats of physical violence don't help anything."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Gibbs growled as Ralph disappeared to do... God's knows what. "Seems to work for me."

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

And, really, that was a pretty good growl; Angua was impressed, anyway, and she would know.

"I'll accept that if and only if the phones wind up back by the end of the day, but it's really going to be a bittersweet occassion."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Gibbs grunted as he started going thorugh his paperwork. "You miss being cut off from the rest of the island?"

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

Angua took a second to look at Gibbs, and then she looked toward the door.

"Er," she said, then walked toward the door, opened it, and stuck her head out. She then pulled her head back in.

"Still there. Still no crime."

Of course, she might be spoiled. They used clacks sometimes in the Watch, but, really, if people really had a problem, they'd let you know.

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"You know what I mean," Gibbs replied in a no-nonsense tone.

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

Angua shrugged; she didn't, not really. She couldn't be cut off from somethign without completely chopping off her nose. She tried to consider that being without a nose might be what it was like for Gibbs without a phone, but just couldn't fathom it. They were phones. Borderline evil.

"Well," she offered, "if I come across anything while I'm out, I'll be sure to send you a telegraph to let you know."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"You're leaving?" Gibbs asked. "Patrol?"

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

Angua nodded. "I like patrol," she said, "and there's really nothing else going on with the phones out."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Sure," Gibbs replied in a distracted manner. "Just watch out for the squid in the lake."

Okay, he might be pulling her leg there. Gibbs's sense of humor is infrequent but he does have it upon occasion.

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

"Is it a curious squid?" asked Angua. "I've always wondered..."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"I'd like to think of it as just a squid," Gibbs replied as he slapped another batch of finished paperwork to the side and started the next batch. "And leave any idle thoughts as to its motivation to others."

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough," said Angua, shrugging and deciding to bring her course around the lake today. She was about to call it good at that, but then the...conversation from earlier that morning with Mina came to find, threatened to sour her mood again, but made her a curious squid in her own right.

"Gibbs?" she asked. "Kind of random, but I was wondering your thoughts on this. Do you think animals, like, let's say dogs, have a level of intelligence, or do you suppose they're just animals working on instinct rather than intellect?"

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

Gibbs looked over at Angua and just sort of stared/glared at her just to make sure the question was serious or not.

If it wasn't serious it was the type of look that would scare McGee or Tony away.

Of course Angua was definitely not McGee or Tony.

[colourfulscents.livejournal.com]

Definitely not.

"Yes," Angua answered that look with one of her own, "I'm serious. What do you think?"

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

Gibbs flipped the stack of paperwork he was finishing up into the out basket.

"I'd say both actually," he said sounding unhappy that he was forced to reveal an opinion. "Just like humans, just to a lesser degree on intellect and more on instinct."

[gunandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Easy, Gibbs." Reese said, appearing with two cups of coffee. She placed one on his desk.

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"I'll take it easy when the things that are supposed to work are working," Gibbs grunted.

[gunandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Coffee's workin'," Reese said before sipping her coffee.

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Only thing good about today."

[gunandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Amen," she poked the speakerphone button on one of the phones. "Still nothin'."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

Gibbs resisted the urge to shout out Ralph's name. He did. Though it looked like he was going to pop his cork any second.

"Give him a minute," he said with due restraint.

[gunandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Where's a tech when you need one," Reese said with a frown.