Sylas reached a hand up over his eyes and gently pressed his thumb and middle finger into his temples; rocking his digits in slow circles in a bid to lessen his migraine that still plagued him. Normally, when suffering from a hangover, a person talking at length about almost any subject would have annoyed Sylas to no end; to the point of his own less than cordial interruption. Gaia’s voice, however, was degrees more soothing than what even he had expected. As to why? Well, that was something his sluggish brain was not at all equipped to explore with any degree of reliability. Perhaps, it was her accent and how it smoothed out the corners of almost any word or phrase. Or, it was simply the tone to which her explanations of her Syth brethren was delivered. Maybe, something altogether different.<br/><br/>"Let me give you a word of advice." Sylas half growled as he leaned forward in his chair and rested his tired gaze on Gaia's immaculately attractive face. "No one is cut out for this job. Syth or otherwise." There was no malice in his words, of course, and the weight of his statement could not be found in his voice but, rather, the depths of his eyes. Though technically still 'young' by many standards, Sylas was one of the oldest, if not<i>the </i>oldest, detective still pulling an active role in investigations. Everyone else either transferred out of the department or were promoted up to lieutenant or higher, a position Sylas had turned down more times than he could count on both hands. "Don't let those tests go to your brain. The force needs all the bodies they can get, natural or not."<br/><br/>Still, Sylas couldn't chastise the woman so early without giving her<i>some </i>credit where it was due. With a sigh, he continued, "I'd heard about that break up a few weeks ago. Could hardly get the lieutenant to shut up about it after the bust. Poor bastards downstairs are probably still processing the perps if the count is to be believed." It had been one of the largest roundups in the last few years for the department and one that managed to nab several key players in the drug market. Not that it would make a difference in a month or two, anyway.<br/><br/>Reaching out, Sylas grabbed his cup of coffee and tossed it back; swallowing the cold contents in a single gulp. Grimacing, he pushed the now empty cup over towards Gaia. "Black. No sugar."<br/><br/>Turning back to his computer, Sylas swept away a few unopened files and pulled up open case files instead sorted from oldest submission to newest. Each detective or group had the freedom to pick any case that was open and devote their time to the matter. The faster the job was done and in a satisfactory manner, of course, the more pay would be denoted to their account at the end of the month. Special cases could and did get assigned to detectives if a client so desired and, most of the time paid considerably better as a result. Sometimes, even, the higher-ups might single out a detective to investigate a more<i>sensitive </i>matter with the express intention to report all findings directly to the lieutenant and no one else; off the record.<br/><br/>At the moment, and for the past few months, Sylas had been reliant on the 'public' board for his work. "Any preferences?" Sylas asked aloud as he scanned the work on offer, some of which dimmed as another person within the office took the contract in question. For his part, Sylas tended to take, and solve, cases that were a little too dirty for many of her co-workers to approach. A murder of a particularly grusome quality had been int he que for over a day now and the whole thing stunk of Slumrats but the pay was hardly worth delving into another brewing turfwar between the street gangs. Yet, it had caught Sylas's bloodshot eye all the same; he was just more curious as to what his new partner might find.