Darius patrolled the hallway with quick, measured steps. His footsteps echoed around the empty halls; there were no threats here. There would be no threats here, in fact. Darius knew it. Everybody knew it. His vigilance was entirely unnecessary; on the off chance that something did attack, it would be at the gates or the walls, not here in the heart of the academy.

But this was a good place to be regardless. He heard the drops spattering on a window before he saw the rain outside. No doubt Darius' partner would have found that disagreeable, had they been stationed outside. Himself as well. Unlike some people, he had actually checked the weather forecast for the day and requested this patrol specifically.

But that was Darius. Intelligent. Practical. Reliable.

In a word, a nerd. In two words, a huge nerd.

His feline partner was... somewhere around here. Who really knew, with that girl. Halting a moment to take a quick survey of the hallway, his eyes fell on the window. Darius could see a lone student patrolling the courtyard. No umbrella. Tsk, tsk. That one would be miserable by the end of patrol. If he had to stay behind during the field trip, at least he didn't get stuck out there.

Now there was a sore subject. [i]"Since you guys seem so exciteable, how about watching over the school?"[/i] But Darius wasn't excitable; he was precisely the [i]opposite[/i] of excitable. Drab, really. Maybe even boring by some accounts. How he ended up getting roped into that whole fiasco would be a mystery for the ages. He was just glad to know it wouldn't go on his record. Too many black marks and he could lose one of his scholarships; how embarrassing that would be, to lose funding because of a [i]cafeteria incident[/i]!

The cafeteria... was it almost time for a lunch break yet? ...His mind was drifting off. He'd only stopped for a moment to look out the window, but now he started up again. Darius patrolled the hallway with quick, measured steps.