Antoine yawned with mighty effort, straining to stretch his mouth as wide as it could go, to truly enjoy the simple pleasure of [i]yawning[/i]. He felt he captured it fairly well, and so yawned a second time, and a third as his body seemed to feel it was appropriate. One of his fellow shift-mates frowned at his display as she walked past his terminal, seemingly unimpressed by the wink he tossed her way in response. She stomped her way down the hall, painting a nice picture for the medtech to dutifully appreciate, but one he wouldn't be adding his own touches to anytime soon.

A pity. Though maybe for the best for now, and for a short while to come. But that was just the same misfortune life loved to throw in the way. It would pass, just like the change had, and everything before. And when it did? [i]Well[/i], there would be more than one nice picture painted with his mark found within the brushstrokes.

Turning his attention back to the display before him, Antoine ran the checklist one final time. Everyone slated for the current shift was awake, everyone else's cryo beds remained in perfect condition. A couple problems had arisen during the waking process, a few more stemming from hasty corrections or problems everyone would know of soon, but nothing major. The bugs had all been flushed out, none of the sleepers were in danger, and everyone awake had already been checked out and briefed on the discomforts cryo-sleep would have for the next few days. All in all, a job well done by Antoine and his peers.

He yawned once more for good measure, arms reaching almost to the rounded ceiling as he stretched. The hall bearing this terminal was filled with those still sleeping , the last sector he had needed to check, and now it was finally time for a well-deserved vacation... After the auditorium meeting.

"Wonder if they'd notice if I didn't show..." He mused the thought aloud as dexterous fingers logged out of the terminal before him. Eyes blinked down at the last moment before the screen went dark, narrowing as they caught the time, a slight sigh escaping the man's lips. "...Eight hours already? Where [i]does[/i] the time go?"

Walking away, Antoine pulled a small plastic box from the pouch slung across his shoulder, partnering it with a plastic bottle of clear water. The box was barely larger than a bottle cap, opened to reveal a quartet of pills the man promptly popped into a waiting mouth. A swig of water washed it down, followed by a second as he recognized the truly refreshing qualities that water held. Amazing how a liquid that held so little could somehow taste so good, it warranted a third swig, for sure.

"Speaking of 'where did something go'... [i]MOWZER![/i]" The words echoed up and down the empty hall as Antoine meandered towards the auditorium. His Bengal was nowhere to be seen, having wandered off sometime before, though he was hardly worried for the cat. Mowzer was his own cat, perfectly capable of taking care of himself. It was something of a blessed miracle when Antoine discovered his pet had been placed in one of the few beds tailored for animals. That fact was more than enough to let his pet wander about without concern.

"Mowzer! Mowzah Moouuuuwzer Mousayer!" He shouted through the halls because he could, taking another swig of water for good measure, and feeling he would probably make it to the auditorium with time to spare.

~-~-~-~-~

Mowzer had been content to lie down on one of the strange things his Human had slept in for a while, watching his Human stare at a blinking thing and occasionally scritching him behind the ear where he liked it. He amused himself by watching the little symbols on the blinking thing- especially the ones that kept changing yet repeating. First the close one would change, then the middle one, then the close one would repeat, then the middle would change again. Finally, the far one would change, and the close and middle ones would repeat. It was really quite fascinating, enough that Mowzer had tried to catch the symbols and keep them for himself.

His human had stopped him though, a grave offense that Mowzer repaid by turning his back to his human for some time, looking back only when he realized how much he missed the repeating symbols.

After a while though, even they got boring. His human would still give his scritches and say soothing sounds from time to time, but it took far too long before he did it again. Obviously his human was more interested in the blinking thing right now, so much so that he wouldn't share. [i]That[/i] meant that Mowzer would just have to find his own fun thing, one that he wouldn't share with his human.

So there.

He took off on his own then, wandering through the giant tubes that weaved their way through his home. She rubbed his cheek and chin on each corner and jutting object he found, marking this newest of paths so he would always know where it was. He came across some other humans as well, most walking quickly, some exceptional members stopping to coo or pet Mowzer- which he repaid with rubs against their hand and leg. 

One very, very bad human tried to [i]pick him up[/i]. A grave offense indeed, but Mowzer scolded him harshly and pushed himself free, gallantly choosing not to claw the human's arms to pieces and instead trotting off to slip into one of the various small-tunnels that wove through the large ones. 

He traversed those for some time, leaving only when his nose caught the scent of food. The humans who held the food were good humans, responding well to Mowzer's demanding purr and offering him a few samples of what they had. It was a ritual he repeated across what turned out to be a rather large area of the house, and finally he was left deliciously full, and well-scritched as a bonus.

Time [i]very[/i] well spent he thought, and so it seemed it was time to find his Human once more. Likely his human had gone and gotten lost somewhere, as he usually did when Mowzer left. But it wouldn't be a problem. This house was large, but his Human was always easy to find.

So he trotted off once more, stalking through corridors and crawlspaces and he searched to tell his Human of all the fun [i]HE[/i] had, and didn't share.