Chapter Text
It has been four days since Sylvester's co-worker, Johan, was converted into a Catte. Johan wasn't the sharpest mind, however he puts great work to keeping the facility squeaky clean. He'd known him for a while, and it still upsets him that he wasn't there to get the bucket off his head before it was too late.
No one knew why he was in a location so isolated from everyone else. Sylvester heavily dismissed the claims from the RCP—Raytraxian Control Personnel—that Johan had MDD, because he personally talked to him, and he knew that his behaviours expressed anything else but depression. Such a weird claim for them to blurt, he thought. Again, Johan wasn't the sharpest mind, and he was seen trying to communicate with Raytraxians and handle risky objects without realizing they're risky. It seemed to him that it was the result of Johan being careless, however he didn't want to lean to that idea either.
'He's not dead, Sylvester,' the comment from Bethany, an RCP whose a close friend of him, pops in his head. It's true, but not quite. Johan is still here somewhere—now as a Catte—but the mind that was once him is now gone forever. One time, he had encounter the Catte that was once Johan, and it pained him to see it look at him with unfamiliarity. He knows, but his heart wouldn't stop grieving at the sight of his former colleague suddenly being a stranger.
Perhaps it's best to move on, he must be happier this way.
Sylvester sighed, before he gets up from the couch. He'd been resting in the locker room often for much of his break time, and stretching for a bit became a habit of his. He wears some cheap earphones connected to his phone, and plays his own Linkin Park playlist, before getting his janitorial cart and off to cleaning.
——Meanwhile, in Hazzy's POV——
Hazzy is leaned against a pillar in the Security Sector, dozing off. It had been waiting for a human to pass by, so it could observe and skulk their behaviour. It didn't question why it woke up. It never remembered of what happened to it previously. It simply woke up and began thinking about stalking on someone and mimic their behaviours. But because no one appeared for a painstakingly long time, it just napped into boredom.
Suddenly, a sound woke it up. A button-controlled metal vertical sliding door seemed to open, and along came footsteps and wheels of what seemed to be a cart rolling, coming from the opposite side of the area it is in. Perking its ears up alertly, it listens intently, before swiftly turning to peek around the corner.
"I need a little room to brea—aw crap!" A human whispered in a rather musical accent before abruptly switching to a tone of mild agitation. He looked to be wearing some kind of protective suit colored orange with a peculiar logo stamped at the center of it that matched with the logo Hazzy has on both sides of its arms.
The cart he was pulling had 3 platforms, with the bottom and top ones sticking out in different directions, and with the top having a kind of yellow compartment that suspended at the center of the outer part down to the lower shelf. The lower shelf has four wheels attached at different corners at the bottom. It is stacked with unfamiliar objects, all in different shapes, colors, and sizes, that look associated with a specific purpose. This made Hazzy curious and puzzled. What kind of Triple-Decker mystery am I even staring at?
——Back to Sylvester's POV——
"They should really try implementing ramps to some places..." Sylvester muttered, while trying to lift the janitorial cart down each step carefully.
He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, with the song One Step Closer by Linkin Park blasting through his low quality earphones adding to his lack of spatial awareness.
When Sylvester reached the last steps of the stairs, a puddle of soap suddenly made him slip and fall, bringing the cart along with him. He winced in pain as the 35 pound janitorial cart toppled onto him. It didn't hurt as much compared to when he got hit by a Buck throwing a bucket at him, but it still hurt nevertheless.
Sylvester groaned as he slowly got back up and arranged the janitorial cart back upright and along with all the cleaning products that flung off back into place before going back to the locker room to fetch some water in a bucket because he seemingly forgot to. After returning, he inspected the puddle for a bit before grabbing the mop and cleaning it up.
"Some random Sircu might've left this puddle here. Poor thing must've been hunted down by the RCP's by now." He muttered.
Once the floor is back to being unsoiled, he placed the mop and bucket back onto the janitorial cart, before he moved over to the Reception Room.
As he cleaned up some accumulated dust and trash on the floor and carefully wiped the reception desk, he can't help but feel like someone or something is watching him. Sylvester went on to lower down the volume on his phone, before entirely pausing his Linkin Park playlist to attend to any sudden sounds. Just for safe measure, he looked around squinting his eyes whenever he looks at the automatic horizontal double sliding door windows. The windows themselves still looked pretty clean, so they don't need any wiping for now.
If any Raytrax is around and thinks I'm undefended, I have a knife to protect myself. The knife that Sylvester keeps has been with him since he first started work as a Janitor for self-protection. It's been worn, dulled out after some encounters in the Flooded Area in the Northwest Wing and in the Crystal Chasms, however he'll be stuck with it until it breaks.
After he was sure that nothing is around with him, he goes on to enter the Northeast Wing to sweep some leaves from the garden. He casually continued his playlist and increased the volume up before walking through the automatic horizontal double sliding door and through the open button-controlled gate leading to the Laminax Garden.
——In Hazzy's POV——
I sense that the Human has left that room by now. Hazzy stepped into the Reception Room where the human it was observing, Sylvester, last entered.
It walked through the automatic horizontal double sliding door, looking at its surroundings. Hazzy could notice a subtle change in the environment, and how it felt cleaner. However, it didn't pay much attention to its surroundings much, and focused more about spying on the human. It continued walking, its footsteps controlled and soundless, before leaving the Reception Room.