"Wait- what do you mean you're working with the Welfare Department now?"
Jasper finished buttoning up his gray vest and glanced over to a topless Liz. She was getting ready for the workday when Jasper told her about his good news, which caught her off-guard. She lost her grip on the clasp of her bra, and nearly dropped the article. "Yeah, I've got an assignment with the Welfare Department now," he clarified, gathering his stuff from his desk on his side of their shared dorm. "Apparently they captured a new humanoid Anomaly, and they wanted my help with it…"
Liz successfully hooked-up her bra up, then stepped over to the wardrobe on her side of the room. "That's amazing! Working on a cross-department project is always big," she exclaimed happily, while grabbing a standard uniform from the wardrobe, "it's even more impressive, considering how little time you have with Lobotomy."
"Yeah, I know right?" he responded, checking through his work bag to ensure he had all of his equipment. "Apparently the project lead had a need for a 'Humanoid Expert,' and get this…" he gestured with a quick hand motion towards Liz, "Sefirot Chesed recommended me personally!"
Liz's surprise was audible, as she knocked something off of a shelf in her wardrobe. Hearing the commotion, Jasper looked over and watched as she fumbled with a purple thing. She hid it behind her back as fast as she could when she noticed him watching, and gave an inconspicuous smile. "No way! Did Chesed really?" she murmured through her forced smile.
Jasper scrutinized her for a moment longer, before shrugging and turning back to what he was doing. "Yeah, imagine my surprise when he sat next to me during the meeting," he shared. He dropped some pens into the bag, right next to his Standard Issued firearm.
Sighing, Liz put the item back onto the shelf from whence it came and commented, "I know he has a reputation for mingling with the lower ranking staff more than the other Sephirah, but to recommend someone from a different department?" She bent down and picked up the uniform she dropped earlier, and dusted it off.
Jasper finished checking his pack, and threw it onto his back. Peering down to his watch, he gave it a tap, and frowned. "Yeeaaah I don't know, but I need to get going so I'm not too late." He made his way to the door then reached to open it. However, he stopped…
"Hey Liz?" he started, "Make sure you stash your vibrator better so it doesn't fall out from a slight bump." Liz blushed, and tried to stutter out a response, but Jasper continued. "Just because I had the Libido Suppression done, doesn't mean others have."
"Waah- buh- I know but-" was all she was able to get out before Jasper swung open the door, stepped out of the room, and shut it behind himself, leaving the embarrassed and sputtering Liz behind. He then set off down the halls of the Control Department of the Lobotomy Corporation.
He weaved his way through crowds of Agents and Clerks, heading towards the nearest elevator that would take him to the Welfare Department. While the halls of both the Welfare and Control Departments were equally busy, people in the Control Department organized themselves differently. Instead of the near-hivemind level of awareness that people had for each other and where they were going that the people in the Welfare Department had, the Control Department seemed to follow a more orderly doctrine, staying on either side of the hall in organized lines. People would peel from their lines on either side of the hall if they needed to cross the hall, then wait in the middle for an opening to cross. Walking through the Control Department was probably the closest that many in the facility would get to driving a car again; until they retired, or left, if they did at all.
Jasper broke away from the line he was with, hurrying down a side hall that went to one of the many elevators. He slipped into the packed lift just as the doors were closing, cramming himself in. There, he was stuck in the middle a group of Clerks who all gave him a displeased look, as he had seperated the chatty group. He chuckled with an innocent grin, and waved shyly at them, as he tried to seem as small as possible. They all rolled their eyes at him, and went back to conversing amongst each other, ignoring the bright red Agent who was trying his hardest to become one with the floor. Although one of the Clerks kept shooting him dirty looks whenever she wasn't participating in the conversation. Jasper, feeling more and more awkward from his position, squeezed his way towards the wall of the hot, crowded lift, and tried to pretend what happened, didn't.
As soon as the elevator *ding-dinged*, Jasper immediately forced his way out of the elevator, getting out of the awkward situation he trapped himself in. He felt himself cool down almost immediately, no longer being packed into a small space filled to the brim with people. Of course, how much of it was the heat from everyone else that was in the elevator, versus himself roasting from the embarrassment, he didn't want to think about. He moved with the crowds of the Welfare department, and allowed himself to be guided to the main room by them.
A somewhat short walk later, he saw the familiar, neon sign of the Welfare Department HQ. After passing the threshold to the room, he went over to the appropriate secretary's desk to check in. There, the secretary checked his ID wordlessly, and in less than a minute, Jasper was back on his way, now going down a nearly empty hall. Even compared to the hallway he travelled the prior day, this hallway was dead. Occassioanlly a lone individual would enter or exit one of the many blast doors that lined the hall; blast doors that led to containment chambers. Like before, he counted the doors and cross-referencing the document he was holding, trying his best to memorize just where he was.
Soon he came across the test chamber which housed his new assignment. He stood outside the blast door for a moment and rereaded the document for what was probably the hundredth time, checking to make sure he hadn't missed anything. He hopped in place a few times outside the door and huffed, anxiety taking hold of him. He tried his best to shake it off of himself, and rolled his head. Being as ready as he would ever be, he punched in the code for the door.
With a hydraulic whine, the door opened, and he crossed the threshold into a very utilitarian control room. At the far end of the room, directly across from the door Jasper came in from, there was a thick, fortified, bulkhead door. It was locked into the wall with eight, sturdy, metal rods, which gleamed in the bright fluorescent light of the room. The door was locked down tighter than a fortress, and for good reason, as it was the bulkhead for the adjacent containment chamber's airlock. While the doors looked crude, Jasper knew from experience, that unless the door was holding back an Aleph (or a very angry Red Riding Hood) those doors would not fail.
Flicking his eyes to the right, the wall there was covered with rows, upon rows of monitors all displaying camera angles inside the containment chamber, with screens displaying environmental statics interspaced. Every possible inch of the cell was being watched, which was not an exaggeration. In the left-top most monitor, he saw the anomaly, and sole occupant of the cell, brushing her hair in front of a desktop mirror, her bed in frame behind her. Below the wall of screens, sat a line of computer terminals, with Clerks typing away at them, with a few, unoccupied seats interspersed.
Jasper frowned at what was a very obvious invasion of privacy, and double-checked the screens, sighing in relief at finding no cameras inside an anomaly's 'bathroom'. He shook his head, and remembered that debacle. He had to explain to that Project Manager, that no, 'your monitoring rights do not extend to what is a very gross breach of privacy.' He was at least thankful that the colloquially termed "Today's Shy Look" did not seem to need to use the bathroom.
"Turel, you're late," came the deadpan tone of Kiera as the heavy blast door whined shut behind him. Looking over to where it came from, Jasper saw that she was sitting at the head of a moderately sized, metal conference table, a frown plastering her face. To her flanks, dotted around at various seats at the table were a few Clerks and an Agent, who were, for the most part, also viewing the newcomer to the room. They had a myriad of expressions dotting their faces, from indifference, to moderately annoyed that Jasper had interrupted them in the middle of their work.
Jasper chuckled lightly, and approached the table. "I apologize! I didn't mean to be late," he started rambling, "I got delayed at the elevator, then the halls were busy and-"
Kiera just put up a single finger, directed at Jasper, as she rubbed her head. "Look… I- I don't care, just get over here so we can continue," she muttered. Her hand went through the haphazardly growing, short hair, tugging on it a bit. She frowned for a moment, before her attention returned to the procedure documents on the table.
Jasper approached the table, ignoring the looks his coworkers were giving him, and sat down. A copy of the sheet they were reviewing was slid over to Jasper, who promptly took it. "What'd I miss?" he asked, skimming the document over.
"Nothing more than the reviewing of containment procedures, which you will have to do yourself, later," she summarized, which confirmed what Jasper had picked up from the dry read. Kiera then slid over a clipboard with papers on it, and a pen to Jasper. "And those- are your tools."
Jasper took these in hand and flipped through the materials attached to the clipboard. However, there was not much to be seen. The documents summarized what was gleaned from the anomaly during the last few work attempts from the past several of weeks. Information such as her gender, her supposed and self-reported age of 'around 19', her name, her height, her weight, and her supposed anomalous properties. There was not much else unfortunately, other than a footnote about temperament, stating "The anomaly is very confrontational and uncooperative, treat with caution."
He glanced over to Kiera worriedly. "So… are you just sending me in there with just this stuff and nothing else…?" he trailed off, allowing the printed sheets to fall back onto the clipboard.
Kiera rolled her eyes. "Should have been here sooner," she dismissed. She hopped off of the chair she was sitting on, and gestured for Jasper to follow her to the chamber's bulkhead. Jasper took the invitation, and met her before the massive, heavy door, where she was sharing a quick word with a Clerk. She switched her attention back over to Jasper, looking up at him. "Today, you will be introducing yourself to the Anomaly, asking it some questions, and hopefully establishing good rapport with it." She gave a roll of her eyes before saying, "I'm sure I don't need to remind you about the basic restrictions that you need to keep in mind when working with sentient humanoids?"
Jasper shook his head. "Nope! No giving away 'vital information', such as: facility location, protocols, names of personnel, to a more limited degree personal information, and finally, when lunch is, correct?" He gave a cheeky smile to Kiera, and chuckled lightly at his own joke.
Kiera rolled her eyes. "Save your pathetic excuses for 'jokes' for the anomaly, mostly so I don't have to hear them," Kiera deadpanned at him. Jasper's smile fell a bit from her response at his attempt at comedy, but he didn't let it bother him. He had bigger things to worry about than a joke falling flat.
"Alright, let's get this door open and get this done!" Kiera commanded loudly, causing Jasper to jump at the sudden loud noise. The nearby Clerk gave her a quick nod, before typing away at her terminal. With a triumphant flourish, she smashed the 'ENTER' key with enough force it was audible. Suddenly, the gears of the door's lock rumbled to life, causing the locking bars to slowly retract into the wall. They whined and squealed, begging for even a drop of WD-40 to help lubricate them. The gears grinded together in a deep contrast to the whining of the bars, grumbling instead of begging for the lubrication that they should have received months ago. After a few more moments of noise, a *Ker-Klunk* reverberated out, signally that the locking bars had fully retracted into the wall. A sharp hiss emitted from the door as it rose into the ceiling, revealing the airlock on the other side.
Jasper looked through the unlocked door with trepidation and gulped, before glancing back over to Kiera. She stood there, looking at him expectantly, audibly tapping her foot on the ground. "Well? Are you going to do your job?" she questioned, motioning through the door with one hand, the other on her hip. Jasper hissed and cringed, looking back through the door.
"We don't have all day, you know," she growled quietly, "you've already thrown us off schedule, so I recommend you get in there."
Jasper gulped, before nodding and stepping through. As he cleared the threshold of the airlock, the door behind him dropped from the ceiling, slamming shut. As soon as it finished settling into the recess in the floor, the locking machinery kicked to life, deadbolting the door. At the same time, the filtration systems in the airlock started up, bringing to life a loud hum and drone. A strong wind caused his jacket and hair to start flapping, as the chamber quickly ventilated the previous room full of air, removing any possible contaminants. Soon, the airlock stopped humming.
As the wind died down, the far door started unlocking in the same way as the previous door, with all the same grumbling, moaning, whining, and hissing. Whoever was maintaining these doors, was obviously skirting their duties. Soon, the door opened up, revealing the containment chamber on the other side.
Jasper took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's just another Anomaly… You've met them before- they're just normal people…" he thought to himself. He took a mental pause, before continuing. "Normal people who are super strong, with super powers… who are also super deadly… and… manipulative…" He slapped himself across the face, then shook himself before jogging in place, pumping himself up. "Right! Let's do it!" he exclaimed, ignoring the sweat that started accumulating on his brow. It would do him no good to mentally clam up when there is a task to get done. He had to be top of his game mentally in order to be prepared for any psychic or mental onslaught he may face.
Without another thought, he strided through the open door. He took in the very bland, and utilitarian chamber, as the door behind him closed. The walls were bare, with nothing more than a solid yellow stripe positioned a quarter of the way up the wall, running the circumference of the room. In one corner of the room was a generic divider- one of which would be found in an office to separate cubicles- except it reached higher than average, separating that corner away from the rest of the room. In the other corner was much of the same, but this one had pipes running down the wall behind it. Obviously a 'bedroom' and 'bathroom', respectively. Across the chamber from those, was a plain metal table, with two chairs sitting opposite of each other pushed in under it. Sterile, would be one way to describe the room.
However, one thing was missing…
"Where's the Anomaly?" Jasper thought. Typically, whenever he first entered a new chamber, the Anomaly would be there to greet him, for better or worse, as the accompanying research team would inform it of his arrival if they had proven themselves to be 'not dangerous'. It was a practice he wasn't too fond of, especially after the fiasco with the Snow Queen. Although the same practice also saved his head when he first met Red.
He didn't have to wait for long, as in a shower of brightly colored fireworks, a girl flew out from behind the 'bedroom' divider. The Anomaly.
"Protector of the Innocent!" She proclaimed, doing a flip through the air. A bright, pink, nearly blinding glow radiated from behind her, casting everything in a pink hue.
"Defender of the Pitied!" She exclaimed, twirling like a dancer as she fell back down to the ground.
"Guardian of Justice!" She landed with a slight bow, before springing back up and catching a tall, pink staff out of the air. She twirled it around herself before striking a pose that would be at home in an anime. Pink hearts flew out from the star top of her staff, finishing the backdrop that she had set up for herself.
"Ami-Chan!" Ami exclaimed loudly.
Jasper stood in an awed-silence for a moment. He didn't know what impressed him more, the creative use of an anomalous ability, or the fact that the Anomaly- which was a cute, highschool age, anime girl- didn't immediately gore him and bathe in his entrails.
So, he went with his gut. He clapped and whistled loudly for her, shouting compliments for her performance.
She broke her pose, and with a smile, walked over to the enthused Jasper, her staff floating closely behind her. As she approached, Jasper reined in his applause, and took a better look at the girl. While the photo he saw beforehand was completely accurate to how she looked, it failed to really capture her height. She stood around two heads shorter than him, making it so he had to look down on her even though she was wearing heels.
"I haven't seen you before!" she exclaimed with a smile. "Did you like the performance! I've done it with all the new people I've seen, though you're the first to actually give applause." She floated up to his level. "The short guy told me someone new was coming, so I made sure it was extra special for whoever you are- who are you?" She tilted her head at him, causing the rest of her body to cant along with it.
He smiled at her and did a short bow. "I'm Jasper, and I'll be working with you today," he stood from his bow, "and I assume you're the aforementioned Ami-Chan?"
The girl smiled and flashed a peace sign at him. "Yep! Ami-chan! A Magical Girl!" she stated, poking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.
Jasper's smile widened a bit at the antic, before looking down at his clipboard. "Pleasure meeting you Ami-Chan, have you had a chance to properly speak with anyone else before you met me?" he asked, clicking a pen open in anticipation to take notes.
Ami flashed a frown, her mood changing quickly. "Yeah, and they've all been mean and moody," she pouted. She balled her hands, while her staff's height dipped behind her.
Jasper glowered a bit and looked up from his clipboard. "Did they all look like this?" he asked her, pointing towards his own face.
She nodded. "Yuhuh, and they were all business too, scribbling away on their clipboards," she gestured towards his clipboard.
Jasper started running his pen along his 'board in very large motions. "And I bet they sounded all like, 'hrrn I'm doing my job, leave me alone, hrnn I'm too important for you', right?"
She started beaming a bit. She attempted to hide her mouth with a glove covered hand, but failed to stop a cute snort from coming out.
Jasper was mentally smiling, both because his joking around was working in making a good first impression, and because that snort was adorable. He fell back into a more neutral expression. "Yeah, they can be very boring when they're doing stuff," he made a quick note.
She giggled a bit. However her mood fell quickly. "They called me names too."
Jasper stopped his scribbling abruptly, before looking at her from over his clipboard. He became cautious, and prepped his pen on an unmarred part of the page. This wasn't the first time an Anomaly had something similar happen to it. He remembered during his short working period with the 'Child of Galaxies', the young boy had mentioned being referred to by numerous less-than-stellar terms. Upon further interrogation of both the boy and the staff working with him, it turned out it was in an attempt by the researchers to prevent the boy's anomalous effects from targeting those who worked with him. While it did prove effective, it also started greatly affecting the child's own mental health, and by extension, the mental health of those who worked with him. After numerous discussions with important individuals, new rules were put into place to ensure something like that would never happen again…
Or so Jasper thought.
"And those were..?" he asked delicately. Ami-chan became recluse, shying away from him. "I don't know…" she muttered, playing with the lace of her Elbow length white glove, "I won't get in trouble, will I?"
Jasper shook his head. "No, of course not. I wouldn't dare tell anyone else."
She tightened her lips, before looking back at him. "Promise?" she asked with wide puppy-dog eyes.
Jasper held up a hand, as if he was swearing on a Bible. "Promise, I'm not here to be a tattletail." 'Technically not Untrue.' he thought to himself.
She thought for a moment, a wide range of emotions flashing across her face, before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. "They called me things like 'annoying', 'obnoxious', and 'irritating'," she exclaimed, hopping and flailing her hands into the air to emphasize her point, "and the one they repeated most was calling me 'The Anomaly!" She balled her hands at her side and looked down at the ground, a massive frown plastering her face. Tears threatened to drip down her cheeks, her eyes watering so much they were overflowing. "I'm not an anomaly, I'm AMI!" Her shout was punctuated by a small blast of wind that caused both hers and Jasper's clothes to flutter, and disturbed the papers on Jasper's clipboard.
Jasper finished the small note he wrote and lowered the clipboard with a frown. He sighed deeply, and looked at her. "I am so, so, so sorry for my coworkers' behavior," he said, putting a hand to his heart. "I promise you, that for as long as I know you, I will never, ever put you down like that, Ami-Chan."
Ami perked up at what he said, and wiped the developing tears from her eyes. "Do you really mean that? Or are you just saying that because they told you to…?"
Jasper shook his head. "I wouldn't ever lie about that. You don't deserve it," he said. He swapped the clipboard to his other hand, and gestured towards the girl. "Plus I think it's considered rude to lie to someone- especially a new friend." He gestured again, for a hand shake.
Instead of shaking his hand, Ami jumped into the air, then flew into his face, nearly causing their noses to touch. Jasper took a step back from the sudden intrusion in his space, and retracted his hand. Meanwhile, Ami's massive, joy filled eyes shone into his. "Do you mean that seriously! You'll be my friend!?" she blabbed out loudly.
Jasper chuckled at her antics and planted a single finger on her nose. Without much fanfare, he lightly pushed her, causing her to gently glide backwards. "Of course I mean it. I'm here to hear you, and I'll be here to help you get used to being here, and of course, to talk to- as friends," he finished with a small smile.
A burst of fireworks and magical hearts came from Ami and she flew forward and caught Jasper in a massive hug. He dropped his clipboard from the sudden 'attack' on his person, and could barely keep his balance as he supported the girl's weight. Her crushing hug was so enthusiastic, that he could have sworn he heard his back and ribs crack from it.
"Finally, an easy assignment for once…" he thought to himself, gingerly returning the hug, "and she's nice too…"
That's when Ami piqued up. "So… just where is 'here', anyways?"
And suddenly Jasper's good mood was dampened as he realized he is gonna have to spin a near impossible tale to her. He pried his way free of her vice-like grip, and took a big gulp of air to restore that which was stolen from him just prior. He fidgeted for a moment, trying to buy time for himself. "Well… uhm…" he started, after getting his bearings back, "It's… a long story, did they give you anywhere comfortable to sit?"
"There's the table, but not much else…" she said, pointing to the rather pathetic looking metal cafeteria table that was in her room.
James frowned and deadpanned at the same time, an impressive feat. "I'm fixing that as soon as we're finished here…" he said under his breath, following the air-skipping Ami over to the table.
"Wait," Liz spoke up, after having listened to Jasper while she was drying herself from a shower. "They are keeping a Nineteen year old girl, who also happens to be magical, locked up in a chamber with sparse furniture, no communication, and nothing to do?" she asked, counting off her list on her fingers.
"Yep," responded Jasper, who was skimming a print copy of the Sailor Moon manga. He decided, after spending time with Ami, that he should become more familiar with Japanese culture. After all, it did seem like her anomalous properties were either heavily based upon, or tied to, Japanese magical girl tropes. He chose Sailor Moon in particular as it was, in Ami's words, 'the greatest manga ever!'
Liz was quiet for a moment, before saying. "That's… not even the most fucked up thing I've heard the Corporation do."
Jasper looked up from the manga and over towards Liz. She stood by her wardrobe naked, trying to pick out an oversized T-Shirt to wear to bed. A bead of water dropped from her hair, and ran down her back, then splashed onto the wooden floor of the dorm. "Actually. You know how the Corporation is," he said to her, throwing one of his hands up. "'It's an anomaly, it doesn't feel'," he mocked, putting on a faux hoity voice, "or even better, 'It's an anomaly, it's never was, and never will be human.'" He flipped over his book, pages down, and laid his head into his arms. "It's bullshit."
Liz padded over from her wardrobe, and rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah, I know… we both know how the Corporation is about this sort of thing," she sighed.
"Honestly! Just because they're anomalous-," he lifted his head, to look towards her. He froze for a moment. "-please get your nipple out of my face, it nearly took my eye out," he deadpanned.
Liz gasped and backed up a bit. "Oh sorry- continue."
Liz put her shirt on, while Jasper spoke. "It's just, a lot of these quote-unquote 'Anomalies' either were people before, or have human consciousnesses," he explained with a hint of melancholy to his voice. "Just because they suddenly became 'weirdly powerful', doesn't mean that they still aren't at least partially human. Look at Red, for example!"
While he was talking, Liz had drifted across their dimly lit dorm to her bed. From there, she responded. "That bounty hunter, right? The one that looks terrifying in a dark hallway?"
"Yeah, her," he confirmed. His gaze shifted to the wall in front of him, his eyes unfocused. "Do you know how old she is? Do you know when she became 'weirdly powerful', or why?"
Liz sank into the covers of her bed. "No, not really. That kind of information isn't readily available, and odds are you shouldn't be sharing it."
"But I am anyways!" Jasper exclaimed, becoming animate.
"But you are anyways," Liz echoed at the same time, familiar with Jasper's eccentricities.
He stood from his chair and started pacing. "She's SIXTEEN!" Jasper yelled. "SIX-FUCKING-TEEN!"
Liz sat up in bed from shock. "Really!? She's a cold-blooded killer though! She carries herself like she's years older!"
Jasper spun on his feet and glared 'at' her. "Exactly! She picked up the Axe at twelve in an attempt to kill the Demon that killed her grandmother!" he roared, he collapsed into his own dishevelled bed and went quiet.
There was a beat of silence. Then another. Then another. The uncomfortable silence continued to permeate the room, lingering in the air in a heavy cloud emanating from Jasper. Jasper himself was huddled over top of his covers, staring towards the book that he left on his cluttered desk, deep in thought.
"Hey Jasper…" Liz muttered, breaking the silence, "are you al-"
"She lost the fight, and was nearly killed, only to be saved by a band of mercenaries. They happened to be travelling on the forest path where the fight happened," he muttered, nearly inaudible. "They performed an ancient ritual to bring her back, cursing her to forevermore become the perfect assassin and warrior."
Liz remained quiet as Jasper took a moment to breathe, before he continued. "It was with them, that she learned how to murder, to maim, and with the curse, she excelled. She has only killed ever since, trying to find the creature that caused her so much pain." Jasper went quiet once more.
Liz took a moment to think, before speaking. "She's just a young girl…" she trailed off.
Jasper snorted. "An incredibly traumatized young girl who's entire life was ruined because of something out of her control. So now? She's trying her damnedest to ensure she remains in control."
Another moment of silence passed.
"Human." Liz stated.
"'Weirdly Powerful' Human." Jasper finished. He laid in bed, silent, after everything.
Liz could have mistaken him to be asleep, if he weren't so audibly picking his nails. A nervous habit that he had likely picked up from herself, back when she was training him. He was always more empathetic, picking up on how other people were doing and feeling. He would try his best to help when he could, of course, but ultimately his mind would be focused on becoming the best he could at his job. The past few weeks were hard on him. Liz could see as much, from how he would act when he got back to the dorm at the end of the night. It's unlikely he would ask for help, but Liz didn't want to push it onto him. Instead, she would be a friend for him, when he needed it.
He got up from his bed abruptly, before shuffling his way over to his desk. He cleared a space on the cluttered surface, causing a cacophony of ruffling papers, rolling pens, and clinking knick-knacks. Then there was silence.
Liz shifted in bed, and looked over to him, curiosity piqued. "What're you doing?" she asked, stifling a yawn.
"I'm revising the containment procedures for Ami-Chan," he stated matter-of-factly. He set a tablet into a dock and pulled a keyboard over. "It's not okay- what she is dealing with. She deserves better."
Liz frowned. She rolled over in bed and attempted to fall asleep, but the light from the lamp, and the tablet… She got out of bed and went over to her wardrobe. There, she started rummaging through it, searching for something.
"What are you doing?" Jasper interrogated, opening up the document for the containment procedures. It was a fairly short document, with lots of jargon filling its lines. Many of the terms he recognized as 'drop-in' or 'filler' terms and procedures, used as a basis for starting a document of the like. Typically it is replaced or otherwise iterated on within a couple days, not several weeks. This one was obviously not being maintained for some reason. Jasper cracked his knuckles.
"If you're gonna be keeping me up late, I figure I should have some fun," Liz stated, her grin audible. Jasper was confused for a moment, before a *buzz* filled the room.
Jasper sighed, and flicked off his desk lamp. "At least keep it down this time, I need to focus."
Liz simply giggled in response.