First impressions were important. Well, they were important to most people. For Jasper, interacting with humans was boring and a waste of time. She liked to do things quick and dirty – which was odd considering she worked in an office. She looked like she could have been a professional football player or wrestler or bodybuilder, but here she was, typing away at a computer. No one ever quite knew what made her take this job, considering that her stature looked like it was made for heavy duty work, but it couldn't be denied that she was one of the smartest people in the building. Brains AND brawns, the whole package.
But this morning Jasper couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong with her computer. Well, the computer was fine, it was the browser that was giving her trouble. The internet was just supposed to work. It always worked. So she'd put in an emergency request with the IT department and they were sending somebody down. Jasper had never really cared who came to fix her computer problems.
At least, not until today.
Jasper had a habit of breaking things, so calls to the IT department were frequent. She knew of everybody over there. So when the new intern approached, she was a little caught off guard. The woman shuffling toward her had short blond hair that didn't even reach her shoulders, and it was flared out in the back like she was some kind of Anime character. Probably because this nerd watched a shit ton of Anime. She was dressed in a short sleeved white t-shirts and jeans, with a lanyard attached to her keycard around her neck. Jasper didn't even have one of those. Gees, the IT crew had the run of the place.
Peridot observed the brutish office worker as she approached. Her shirt was in disarray, and Peridot wasn't sure why it was even tucked into her pants at all, with how messy it looked. She was wearing suit pants, which were far too long and hung down near her shoes – so far down that the woman was, in fact, stepping on the edges. Her shoes almost looked like slippers, unlike the dress shoes that adorned the feet of literally everyone else in the office. Her hair was white, undoubtedly bleached. She'd better enjoy that full head of hair while she had it. With all the chemical dye she was sure to go bald. But Peridot wasn't here to criticize, she was here to do her job.
"So-" Peridot scrolled through a pocket PDA looking for the request ticket, "-Jasper, what seems to be the 'emergency'." The last word came out sounding sarcastic. Jasper didn't appear to be freaking out, her computer wasn't on fire, and in fact everything seemed to be normal and working fine. This was probably going to be a waste of her time.
"None of my browsers are working!" she replied, as if she were bored with this idle chatter. Of course, she hadn't listed the problem in her IT request, so there was no way to actually avoid this conversation.
Peridot looked annoyed. This was definitely NOT an emergency problem. "Let me take a look." Glancing at the screen, she could already see that there were only two different browsers to choose from. From the way Jasper had talked, Peridot had expected at least four or five.
Jasper nonchalantly observed the new intern. She was so short, all she had to do was lean over the desk to get a good look at the screen. Most interns asked to sit in her seat while they fixed the problem, so they wouldn't have to bend over. Peridot was leaning over the desk, her butt sticking out ever so slightly past Jasper. Since she was preoccupied, it gave Jasper the chance to ogle at the deriair before her. With Peridot leaning over the desk, Jasper could have just as easily check out her boobs – if she'd had any. If Jasper leaned over like that, her generous chest area would be spilling from her shirt.
She had the urge to slip a finger – one of her thick fingers was the only thing that was going to fit – into the pocket of those tight jeans. But of course, that would be inappropriate work behaviour.
"Your wifi was off." Peridot opened a browser to make sure everything was working properly. Sure enough, the page loaded without any trouble.
"Oh." Was all Jasper said.
Peridot rolled her eyes as she walked away. A "thank you" would have been nice. She thought.
Over the next few weeks, Jasper seemed to have more computer trouble than usual. Peridot was always the one sent down because she was in training, and was handling most of the technological problems in the office. The second time, it was the wifi again. The third time, somebody – Peridot suspected Jasper herself – had taken a screen capture of the desktop and then cleared everything off and replaced the background so it LOOKED like all the folders were there, but nothing could be clicked on. The fourth time, her keyboard and monitor had come loose from the back of her system. And the fifth time, Jasper complained that she couldn't get her computer to boot up at all. It turned out that it was just unplugged, something Jasper should have easily figured out. She was starting to wonder if she was being pranked. Maybe this was some sort of elaborate initiation her coworker's put Jasper up to.
After solving the latest very simple problem, Peridot turned to leave and head back to her own desk. Annoyed at the firth problem in two weeks from the same employee, she mumbled as she walked away, "How did this idiot even land this position?", unaware that she was still in earshot of Jasper.
Jasper was on her feet in a moment, hands grabbing Peridot's shoulders. "What did you say?!" she yelled, flipping Peridot around to face her. Peridot's eyes bulged so wide that Jasper thought they might pop out of her head. Shit. Jasper thought, as Peridot blocked her face with her hands. So much for making a good impression. "Whatever, nerd." she released her, rushing off somewhere else.