[You head towards the station! It's a large, three story square building with big oak double doors out front.] * Kyon opens the door, and walks in, looking around as he does to see the layout of the room and who's around. Especially if the guy who took Shika out is there. * Katie steps in after Kyon, glancing around for similar, possibly identical, reasons. [Inside is a small room that leads to a receptionist behind a desk. There's two doors here, going left or right, and another corridor that leads towards the back. The receptionist is talking to a cop. Possibly the one that just escorted Shika out.] * Kyon steps up towards the receptionist and the cop, listening to the conversation a bit, looking like he's waiting for a good moment to present himself. * Katie waits near and behind Kyon, getting another good look at the place. She reaches into her pocket and quietly presses play on her tape recorder. ["And I think..." the cop was saying, but stops when you two approach. He turns to the receptionist, "Well, I better get back." And he walks off! The receptionist turns to you. "Yes, may I help you?"] * Kyon nods to the receptionist, and steps up. "Sorry to interrupt, but I was curious about the linked programs to becoming an officer after college." [The receptionist nods. "I see. Well..." She reaches under her desk, producing some brochures. "If you'd like, you can take a look through these to see what we have to offer. I don't know the details off hand, I'm afraid, but I do know that there's a three-year integrated plan for prospects."] * Kyon nods quickly. "Can I have two of each? My friend here is interested, as well." He nods at Katie. * Katie smiles a little shyly and waves. [She nods and produces more from the endless supply beneath the desk. "Here you are."] * Kyon scans them quickly, and looks up eagerly. "Would it be possible to meet with a younger officer who came through this program about it?" [She considers. "Maybe. I'll check." Then she picks up the in-office phone and dials a number.] * Kyon nods tersely and rocks back on his heels as he waits. * Katie looks through the brochures. There are a few. [After a moment, she speaks. "Sagara-san? I've got two youths here interested in the college training program. Could you send down someone who's done that recently? They want to ask questions."] ( Hmmm, Kyon, roll me a 2d6 :o ) (Well, depending on what that was against, I may have made it or not.) [After a few minutes, a young man, maybe 26, comes out of the door on the left. He grins with pearly white teeth and bows. "Hello there. I'm officer .... (uhhh....)" [" .... Officer Yoshiaki Tsuji! Pleased to make your acquaintance."] ( Sure :P ) * Kyon smiles back, and turns to bow back to Tsuji. "I'm glad you could make time for us. My name is Kyon Sorata, and this is Katie Andrews." He gestures over at Katie. ["The pleasure is mine. I understand you have some questions about our training program?"] * Kyon nods quickly. "If you have the time, yes." He hesitates for a moment. "Would there be anywhere we could sit down to talk? I'd like to take notes." [He nods. "Sure! Right this way!" He then heads towards the door on the left, holding it open.] * Kyon bows to the receptionist quickly, then goes through the door, watching to make sure that Katie follows along. * Katie does follow along, clutching her brochures. [He leads you to his office! If by office, you mean cubicle. Woo. There's a computer that looks a few years old, a thermos, half a cup of coffee that looks like it's been sitting there for a while, a phone, some pens and paper, sticky notes.... Y'know, office junk.] * Katie looks around, quickly noting what's on the sticky notes and random papers scattered about. [There are some spare chairs next to the actual offices, though. Yoshiaki grabs two, and sets them facing his cubicle. He gestures to them as he sits down.] * Kyon looks around as well, taking it in and sitting down. He looks around. "Thanks again for having us up. It seems pretty busy here. There was some sort of commotion by the entrance when we came in, even." * Katie sits down and lets Kyon keep doing that talking thing. She might eventually say something. * Katie idly listens for anything interesting, while she's at it. [He nods. "Sure, I'm happy to help."] [The notes don't contain anything that really stands out. Unless you count an apparent grocery list.] (I was curious about whether he likes ginger. =P) (Answer: He does.) * Kyon takes out a small notebook from his bag, along with a pen. "First, how competitive is the program? How many people are admitted for it each year?" [He cups his chin. "Hm, well, I'm not an expert, you know? So I can't give official numbers. But there were only about twenty of us in my year. And I wouldn't say it's very competitive if you don't really care what district you're assigned to once you finish the course."] [A phone rings in one of the offices behind you.] * Kyon nods quickly. "And if I want to get assigned to the main headquarters, like you?" ["Then it's a bit harder. Naturally, there's only so many openings at a given district in a given time, so you'll be competing with officers who have seniority as well. But they tend to reserve spots for a few of the trainees at HQ. And of course, the better you do in the courses, the more likely you are to get your top choice."] ( I'm sooooo totally making this stuff up as I go. ) * Katie nods and looks at Kyon's notes, then asks, "How hard is it?" (That's fine. It all sounds realistic.) [He scratches his cheek. "Hmmm, how hard is it? That's kind of a difficult question. I mean, there's the easy stuff like memorizing laws and procedures. That's not bad. But some of the questions are kind of philosophical, like 'How would you handle X situation under Y circumstances'. Those aren't so easy to answer."] Do they make you... play act? Like someone acts like they're selling drugs, so you have to pretend to catch them? * Kyon nods quickly. "All right. So it's not just rules and regulations. Is there much support from within the force while you're doing the program?" (Ha. Keep mine or Kyon's, or just bombard him with questions?) (Mmm... well, now we'll just seem over-anxious. =P) (We're talking to some guy in the force! Dude!) [He takes the questions one at a time, nodding to Katie. "A little, yeah. In criminal psychology."] [And to Kyon: "A little. There's some training, and some time spent riding around with officers... It's not unlike an internship."] * Kyon nods, and writes down a couple of notes. "How many of the people among the younger officers come through this program, do you think?" ( Hmmm.... Gimme soul rolls, you two! ) [He shakes his head. "I'm afraid I couldn't say. I'd imagine not many, though. It's a program for people who know they want to be on the force, and most people tend to not know what they want to do until after they get done with college."] [Behind you, a door opens up, and Sergeant Kenjii Sagara steps out. Luckily for you, he doesn't seem to notice you as he heads towards the lobby.] (By "behind us", is it out of easy view, assuming we were looking out Tsuji's door?) * Kyon looks pensive. "Well, how many officers within a few years of graduating are here, and what percentage do you think do the programs?" * Katie fidgets a little, smoothing her skirt. ["Here at HQ, there's three from my class, plus at least two more from previous years that I know about. Probably some of the older officers did it, too, but it's not the kind of thing I've gone asking around for. I'd guess.... maybe 15%?" He sounds a bit unsure.] I'm sorry, but I need to go to the bathroom. Where is it? ["Huh? Oh, uh..." He points. "Down that way, in the corner there. Can't miss it."] * Katie smiles with relief. "Thank you." She stands and hurries out of there. * Kyon smiles a bit embarrassedly as he watches Katie go off, then looks back to Yoshiaki. "Right. Any chance I could get contact info for the recent program graduates? Like their e-mail addresses? I just like to get a broad base, and if there are that few, it might be possible." ["Sure. If you'd like to give me some way to reach you, I can gather some contact info by tomorrow."] * Kyon nods, and shoves his hand in his pocket to pull out a business card case. He offers one to Yoshiaki. "My student council card." [He nods. "Excellent."] * Kyon stretches in the chair. "Do you mind if I ask what your workload in general is like here?" [He chuckles. "Well... I hope I'm not disappointing you, but it's not like on TV, you know. Most days are just boring days of doing paperwork. Sometimes I go out on patrol, but usually nothing happens. And sometimes I take calls."] * Kyon nods quickly. "I didn't expect it to be all car chases and tracking down serial killers." [He laughs. "Yeah, but I'm saying there's not even that many purse- snatchers and speeding violators."] * Kyon shrugs quickly. "It's all to help, right? That's what I'm drawn to, even if it's not always riveting entertainment." [Yoshiaki nods. "Yeah. That's why I joined the force. I mean, even though things are usually pretty boring, there's always a time when something serious happens. When that time comes, I want to be there to help, you know?"] * Kyon nods quickly. "Probably have a lot in common, then." He looks back at his notes. "Oh. Any animosity between the program graduates and non-program graduates?" * Katie returns, blushing a little. She has a seat without comment. ["Nah. They actually tend to like those of us who go through the program. It shows greater dedication to the team."] * Kyon nods quickly. "That's good." He looks sidewise at Katie. "I think I asked most of what we wanted to cover for now. I'll just share my notes with you, unless you have other questions you want to ask?" No, I trust you. * Katie smiles at the officer. "Thanks for talking to us." [Yoshiaki nods. "Sure, happy to."] * Kyon nods to Yoshiaki, and puts away his notebook. "I'll be in touch. Thanks for sending over the other contact info, too." He gets up from the chair, and bows. "Thank you for your help." [Meanwhile, Kenjii Sagara comes back. Soul rolls!] [Luckily for you (again), he goes into his office without paying you any heed.] [Yoshiaki stands up. "Anytime. Shall I show you out?"] * Katie stands and nods. "I'd like that." She looks to Kyon. * Kyon hesitates, then nods. "Sure, then." [He nods. "Very well, right this way."] [And here's a good place to end!]