Absent Faith

[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"][font color="a0522d"]"That seems very strange."[/font] The eighties was a colloquialism for the years from 1980-1989. Laine had not existed then. She was aware of many events that had happened during those times, but her awareness was limited to data points. She had read books of history, but she did not like the ones that implied feelings were meant to be had. Laine's ideal of history was a list of dates and occurrences. Context could happen through appropriate cross-referencing. Also, many historical works were inaccurate or misleading. Laine did not like that.

[font color="a0522d"]"I don't know anything about all of that. I have lived underground for the last fourteen years. I am informed that this is relevant."[/font] Laine did not leave L-14 unless it was on an assignment. She was not a human personnel, after all. She was an anomaly, and she was supposed to be contained. Since Laine preferred it that way, it was for the best on all accounts.

[font color="a0522d"]"I always wear skirts,"[/font] she added, tangentially, in case that was relevant. [font color="a0522d"]"Unless I'm providing security. I don't like pants. Is this relevant information?"[/font]
 
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She couldn’t help herself. The moment that Laine asked if her not liking pants was relevant, the question slipped out.[font color=purple] “Do you think it’s relevant, Laine? Does it mean something to you?”[/font color]

The door slid closed behind them, and Kallie started to walk down the hall to the next warehouse. She didn’t exactly feel bad for the questions, but she did regret asking them. Now wasn’t the time for psychoanalyzing the agent. They were meant to look for anything out of place. She sighed softly and then looked in Laine’s direction.

[font color=purple] “I apologize for asking that. Sometimes the psychiatrist I used to be slips out. I quit being one because of that tall bastard, but that’s a story for another day. The point is, I didn’t mean to slip into that. You don’t have to answer those questions if they make you uncomfortable.”[/font color]

Of course, if she was comfortable, well. That was another thing altogether.

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"][font color="a0522d"]"Researchers are expected to ask questions,"[/font] Laine answered, as if this were meant to be the natural state of things. [font color="a0522d"]"Researchers are also expected to ask questions about things that are not their subject. They exhibit statistically significant levels of curiosity. It is generally considered a beneficial trait for a researcher."[/font]

Laine made a little movement that might have been a shrug, it was hard to tell. She generally didn't tend to be very expressive in terms of body language. It was something that she was aware of, but she also had trouble interpreting that sort of response, and mimicking it wasn't usually something she felt she could get right. Accuracy was important so as not to be misleading. [font color="a0522d"]"If a question makes me uncomfortable, I will not answer it. That one does not. I do not think it is relevant, but I am sometimes not good at knowing what is relevant."[/font] All of those things were correct. Laine was, in fact, very good at not answering questions. She had a particular way of staring blankly in the general direction of someone asking intrusive questions while failing to make eye contact that eventually made them uncomfortable enough to go away. This, she had learned, was very useful when someone thought they ought to be her researcher. Laine already had a researcher. She did not need another one.

[font color="a0522d"]"I just like the way skirts feel. That is speaking in a tactile sense and not an emotional one. I do not think I am emotionally attached to the concept of skirts."[/font] Perhaps it was not a very interesting answer, but perhaps that was not a problem. It was likely not surprising that an anomaly who had already exhibited bery strong preferences on touch as a general rule would have tactile preferences.

If Dr. Kallie was able to ask questions, though, then Laine felt that it was only fair that she be able to do the same. [font color="a0522d"]"Why do you refer to him as an expletive? Councilman Strings."[/font] If they had been talking about someone else, she might not have understood the reference, but she generally understood when people were talking about him.
 
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Tactile, she said. Well, that certainly made sense. Kallie had no idea what other answer she was really expecting. There could have been dozens of answers, but this one made sense for Laine. She nodded, ready to ask more questions about it when Laine correctly identified that Kallie was talking about Strings.

She bit her lip, a smile threatening to break free. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, but the kind you make when you’re far too irritated for any other expression. It was more of a sneer than anything else, as Kallie didn’t know a word to accurately describe the facial expression she had made. She turned it towards Laine as it finally broke free, and with that distasteful look on her face, she answered.

[font color=purple] “Councilmen Strings and I used to work quite closely when I was still practicing psychology. I’m going to have to ask you to forgive me for what I’m about to say, Agent Cantrille. That man is a fucking sociopath, and I don’t think he’s ever helped anyone in his goddamn life. He likes to break things and if he can’t piece them back together, he just leaves it for someone else to put back together. Namely, people like myself. He’s incredibly petty and a fucking asshole on top of that. I can barely stand the man on a good day.”[/font color]

Her breath was coming in small pants by the time she finished speaking. She hissed in a long breath to try and calm down. Talking about Strings got her worked up and raised her blood pressure, something she couldn’t really afford to do at her age. She had spent eight years picking up after his messes when they had both been in the psychiatry department. She’d taken on a lot of the younger kids at the time in order to protect as many as she could. She had defended none of them quite as fiercely as she had Pepper. She liked to think it was the reason the young woman managed to retain that spark of happiness.

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"][font color="a0522d"]"You are becoming agitated, Dr. Kallie. It is not conducive to resolving the current situation."[/font] There might have been time for conversations while they were working, but Laine was a security agent first, and whatever was happening with L-14 right now was very much her priority.

She paused for a moment, to ensure that the researcher's biometrics were within acceptable parameters before continuing. [font color="a0522d"]"The Foundation made Strings a Councilman being fully aware of what he was like before doing so. It was not a decision made on false premises."[/font] There wasn't even a hint of one of those almost-shrugs this time, Laine was perfectly certain of what she was saying. [font color="a0522d"]"His methodology is effective. It produces results. It produces data. It contains anomalies. Sometimes, it contains them terminally, but many other Foundation personnel also experience terminal events."[/font] The Foundation was not considered a safe career for either researchers or agents.

[font color="a0522d"]"He is frustrating to many individuals. It is my belief that the Foundation considers this beneficial. He is... exactly where he belongs, I think. And the Foundation's needs come first."[/font] Laine's gaze shifted, drifting over Dr. Kallie in a sort of way that could have been analytical or could have just been scanning the room in standard security procedure.

[font color="a0522d"]"Also, he is statistically less petty than you are."[/font]
 
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Kallie unlocked the door to the new warehouse, nodding her head slightly at what Laine was saying to her.[font color=purple] “I’m aware that he’s incredibly beneficial to the Foundation. I would even go as far as to say that Strings is a good Councilman and good at what he does. I would never claim otherwise. While all of that may be true, is true, it is my personal opinion that he’s a right bastard.”[/font color]

She stepped into the room. Here, the room looked less like an archive. Instead, there were various containment units of varying functions and sizes. They lined the open shelves, as several were behind other doors, stored in small rooms. This was where they kept low-grade Risky anomalies. She turned to Laine as they walked in.

[font color=purple] “You acknowledge he’s frustrating, then? I understand your opinion on the Foundation’s needs coming first. I would never disagree with that. But I’ll disagree with anyone’s opinion that that man is anything other than batshit crazy and meaner than a shark.”[/font color] She sighed, crossing her arms. For a short moment, she was silent, and then as if she had composed herself, her voice returned to its prior, clinical tone.[font color=purple] “Well, Agent Cantrille, is anything missing?”[/font color]

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"]Laine didn't answer either question right away. She stepped in behind Dr. Kallie, paused for a moment, then closed the door behind them.

[font color="a0522d"]"No, Dr. Kallie. Nothing missing here."[/font] The door was still closed, momentarily, and she paused for another quiet moment. It was much like Dr. Kallie's pause, though it seemed to have the opposite effect - rather than becoming more clinical, she let herself slip into a matter of opinion, since she had been asked about it.

[font color="a0522d"]"I don't think he's frustrating. I think he's terrifying."[/font] Frustrating was the wrong word. It implied a desire for change. That was not how Laine felt about Strings. She did not want change. She wanted separation. [font color="a0522d"]"You are not an anomaly, Dr. Kallie. He is most dangerous to things he is interested in. I spent a long time not being interesting."[/font]

Her hand moved behind her, fingertips lightly brushing the door - ascertaining that it was still closed, or merely anchoring herself to L-14, where she belonged and Strings did not.

[font color="a0522d"]"Alex suspects it was an instinctive defense mechanism."[/font] Laine did not talk about Alex. Except, recently, Laine had started talking about Alex. Whether or not Dr. Kallie had gotten the memo on this depended largely on whether or not management thought it was something she should be looped in on. [font color="a0522d"]"That I... became what I needed to, so that he wouldn't regard me as... prey, perhaps."[/font] If someone else had said that, it would have been a metaphor. With Laine, it was not likely to be a metaphor.

[font color="a0522d"]"I don't know. I was very small at the time. But she thinks that I knew that if I stayed still and quiet and didn't attract his attention, he would go away eventually and I would be safe."[/font] A motion - that was a shrug, or as much of one as Laine ever made. [font color="a0522d"]"But none of that is in the paperwork. It was not an oversight. Alex thought it was a prudent omission at the time."[/font] Alex had planned to put it into the official files eventually, but then things had changed, and Alex wasn't here any more.

And Laine had not wanted to attract any more attention, at the time.
 
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Morosis. A noun, meaning “the stupidest of stupidities.” Maybe it wasn’t quite that serious, but Kallie definitely felt like she had inadvertently triggered something in the young agent. Kallie could recall a time when Strings had been interested in things she hadn’t wanted him to be. It had only seemed to make him more interested in them. Or maybe by Laine’s logic, he had been interested in her and thus was doing whatever he could to destroy what she wanted to build up.

She wouldn’t have put it past him, with the way they had… met. It was hazy, but she could still remember most of the important details of it. She just couldn't place when it was or things like his name or his age and that was the result of some very good amnestics. She remembered how interesting he had been at the time, and how much she had wanted to rip into his mind with a hacksaw until she could piece together how he worked. Maybe that had been the wrong way to go about it because he quickly chose to go into the psychology department thereafter. Kallie was still not sure if she had unintentionally directed the monster into the most dangerous place he could have gone.

Maybe Kallie was also just the littlest bit triggered.

But Laine was standing in front of her still, and she was talking about Alex. She had heard some rumors from other Class-Ds about this, but she hadn’t been sure if she could believe them or not. She was also talking about how terrifying Strings was, and how being uninteresting had been a self-preservation method. That was… fascinating. But now wasn’t the time to try to dig into that. It was well known that Laine did not want to be researched anymore.

[font color=purple] “If Alex felt that, then it must have been for logical reasons. She was quite intelligent. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had been right about it being a defense mechanism. A lot of the kids I studied at the time would try their hardest to be insignificant in order to avoid him. And the few who didn’t know better, the ones who arrived later or were just relatively new, well. They also learned. I tried hard to protect them from his… practices. It’s why I agreed to work with the kids in the first place.”[/font color] She paused, debating how to phrase the next part. It felt important to her that she say it.[font color=purple] “Laine, I always thought you were one of the few who didn’t need me when you were young. You never seemed to want me to be there. So I left you alone. I’m sorry if that… if that affected how much he focused on you. It was never my intention.”[/font color]

She moved closer to the door, and consequently, to the young woman. Laine was a little taller than her, so she had to look up ever so slightly to look her in the face. There was a soft balance of severity and compassion on Kallie’s face as she searched the other woman’s face. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular as she finished speaking– it was more that she was making sure Laine could see how much she meant what she was saying.

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"]Laine shook her head at the apology. She was not dismissing it, because such things should never be dismissed. It was merely a correction of something before it could become too deep of a misconception.

[font color="a0522d"]"No, Dr. Kallie. Your initial analysis was correct. I had it under control. He didn't bother me. And I am very good at being patient."[/font] She did not wish to be quite so close, and so she opened the door behind her and stepped back through it.

[font color="a0522d"]"Being petty with respect to the other anomalies was a good decision."[/font] Statistically petty, as she had mentioned before - had Dr. Kallie not devoted herself to working with younger-presenting anomalies specifically so that Strings wouldn't be able to be the primary researcher with any of them? It was something that had heavily factored into Laine's analysis of the process.
 
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For some reason, that reassurance hurt her heart. Kallie took in a deep breath before following Laine out the door. It wasn’t Laine’s fault that Kallie was constantly feeling like a failure these days. It wasn’t Laine’s fault that Kallie felt responsible for not finding the connection between the two girls sooner and discovering that Pepper was traveling through Ira’s mythical waking world. It wasn’t Laine’s fault that Kallie could never bond with Ira, no matter how hard she had tried. And it certainly wasn’t Laine’s fault that Kallie had left her to the not-so-metaphorical wolf.

[font color=purple] “I will accept your reassurances. Though I will say that petty is an odd way to describe my actions, though I do understand how it could be perceived that way.”[/font color]

With that, she took off again, traveling down the hall to the entire other end of the facility. It would take them a solid ten minutes to arrive there, as they had to travel through the maze-like lower levels. Kallie was quiet for the first minute, and then her curiosity got the better of her.[font color=purple] “So you’re talking about Alex again. Or was that a slip-up back there?”[/font color]

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"]Dr. Kallie accepted the reassurances, though Laine felt that there was still something that she was not accepting. Whatever that happened to be, Laine wasn't sure. She was not good at reading people. As Dr. Kallie was usually much better than most at telling Laine what she wanted to know, Laine would assume that if this was something Dr. Kallie wished to discuss, she would say something about it.

Laine knew quite a lot about having things she did not wish to discuss.

The question about Alex was not unanticipated. Dr. Kallie was a researcher, after all. Not Laine's researcher, but a researcher. She took a few steps in silence - not the heavy all-pervasive silence, just the silence of someone gathering their thoughts and pulling an answer together. [font color="a0522d"]"It was not a mistake. I have been working on it. Dr. Redd and Agent Cotta are aware."[/font] This was a reassurance, as it meant that management was already informed of the behavior and it was not something that Dr. Kallie needed to be concerned about at this particular moment.
 
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Kallie looked at Laine from the corner of her eyes as she walked, her lashes slightly obscuring the look. It was quick, just a flash of irises before she was looking ahead again.[font color=purple] “That’s a big change. What brought this on, if I might ask?”[/font color]

Kallie remembered when Alex had still been at L-14. The girl had been bright, and intelligent, and while she had never seen any of the work up close until… after… she had been working on something impressive. Her Synergy theory. She also remembered that day when she had tried to trigger a site-wide breach. Kallie had been told it was because she came into contact with a memetic hazard, one she didn’t have clearance to question too much about. She wasn’t entirely sure it was the truth, no matter how much they had stressed it was.

And then she’d disappeared after the Breach.

She couldn’t imagine how that had been for Laine. She knew they were close, but not how close, nor did she know how Laine had reacted to the news. She just knew that no one could get Laine to work with them after it had happened. That had been nearly six years ago.

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"]Laine didn't miss the veiled glance, but she didn't meet it either. Her eyes stayed forward, looking ahead of them rather than at Dr. Kallie. [font color="a0522d"]"No."[/font] It was an initial answer, but it was one that curtailed discussion rather than encouraging it. It was not particularly helpful. Laine was supposed to help Dr. Kallie.

[font color="a0522d"]"Not yet. Wait."[/font] It was still not a helpful answer, but it gave Laine more time to prepare. She reached out her hand - not towards the researcher, but on the other side, her fingers trailing along the corridor wall. L-14's corridor wall. They were inside L-14, where she belonged. Once, Alex had belonged there. Now, she-

No.

Not that.

Not Alex, not right now. Just L-14. Security. Containment. Laine let the silence settle, because sometimes things needed to be quiet. It was not silence - there were footsteps in it, hers, Dr. Kallie's. There were other noises, because there were supposed to be. They were expected, anticipated, normal.

[font color="a0522d"]"The Foundation adopted her theory."[/font] It had been brought up, not long ago, or maybe very long ago. This was a matter of opinion, something unspecific. Any opinion would be inaccurate by other means. [font color="a0522d"]"Alex is not here."[/font] Laine was attempting not to have feelings about that statement. It was very difficult not to have feelings about that statement. Laine did not have the same sorts of emotions that other people did, but she definitely had a number of emotions about Alex. They were not helpful right now.

She closed them off. The Foundation had to come first. [font color="a0522d"]"Alex is not here, but I am. So, if her theory is being used, then I need to be able to-"[/font] Laine needed to be able to talk about it. Laine needed to be able to talk about her. The Foundation needed-

No. Alex didn't belong in the Foundation.

The Foundation needed someone who knew her though. Someone who understood her theory as more than just paperwork. Someone who understood her. Someone had to belong in the place where Alex-

No. No. Not should have been. Alex didn't belong here.

Laine shook her head a little, rejecting her thoughts. [font color="a0522d"]"The Foundation needs-"[/font] I need- [font color="a0522d"]"- someone to be here -"[/font] - her to be here- [font color="a0522d"]"...For her."[/font] ...for m-

No.

Alex didn't belong there.
 
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Kallie was patient, and let Laine feel her way through her statement. And it was clear that Laine was feeling something, even if her face didn’t betray it. The hand that touched the wall, the way she looked around like she was trying to find something specific to lay her gaze on– Her actions spoke for everything her face did not. So she let her feel her way through it, and when she was done Kallie nodded.

A hug wouldn’t be appropriate. Not only did Kallie not like to hug anyone, ever, but she doubted that Laine liked it much more than she did. Maybe younger Kallie would have hugged her, but this Kallie didn’t do physical touch anymore. She hadn’t since 1996, and she sure as hell wouldn’t begin to again. She could have delved into that fact, that specific emotion of betrayal that was attached to it, but now wasn’t the time. Now was never the time, but especially not this now.

Instead, she nodded her head and made sure that Laine wasn’t put through all of that emotion for nothing.[font color=purple] “The Foundation did adopt her theory, you’re right. I think it’s admirable that you’re doing your best to be there in her place. It's not an easy undertaking. I would never presume to speak for her, so I won’t say anything like she would be proud of you. I will say that I am impressed that you are trying, for whatever that is worth.”[/font color]

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"][font color="a0522d"]"I am... not very good at it."[/font] This was not so much self-deprecation as a simple statement of fact. Being good at it would have meant it was something that Laine could talk about fluently. It certainly was not. The words got mixed up - the words that the Foundation needed her to say and the words that she couldn't possibly say. And there were feelings all mixed up in there too, and Laine was not good with feelings, especially when they were about Alex. She preferred not having them, or having them about things that were not people, like L-14.

Dr. Kallie did not try to hug her though, and that helped. Laine was aware of the non-motion, a deliberate choice rather than something left out. She appreciated the inaction. It was not doing nothing, it was considering an option and deciding that the best course was not to take it. That was proper. It was good practice, with anomalies.

[font color="a0522d"]"I would like to not talk about her now."[/font] Laine was direct, as usual. She had talked about Alex a little bit, and it had not been so terrible, and then she had talked about Alex more and that had not gone well. Extrapolation of these data points suggested further conversation on this subject was likely to be problematic, and they had another task that needed to be considered, even if right now they were only moving from one area to another.
 
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Kallie appreciated Laine’s candor. It was honestly refreshing to not have to drag the truth out of people for once. For some reason, people didn’t always say what they meant. It was frustrating trying to pull it out of people.

[font color=purple] “Then we won’t. Thank you for telling me what you have. And thank you for your honesty on how you’re feeling.”[/font color] Laine might not consider it honesty about feelings, but to Kallie, it was. Laine was expressing her discomfort at further conversation, and that kind of honesty was important to Kallie. Too many people would have let her continue to press and would have answered despite being so uncomfortable. She liked Laine’s directness.

In front of them, the hallway turned and a doorway appeared at the end. Kallie slid her badge over it and the main door opened, revealing a hallway full of other doors. This was one of the halls where they kept some of the more volatile and dangerous Risky level anomalies. In fact, Kallie knew for a fact that ACF-327 was located in this hallway. It was exactly twenty-seven doors down, on the right-hand side. The box they had chosen for it, in the end, was a plain wooden box with a simple padlock on it. It was bolted in place on its stand, preventing it from being taken from the room.

But she wasn’t here to go and stare at the box like she had for so many years when she first joined the ACF. In fact, this was the first time she had thought of it in many years. She made room for Laine to step into the hall. Hopefully, she would be able to tell if anything was missing from this hallway without having to check every room. It would have been easier to check each of these rooms- they had observation windows on most of them.[font color=purple] “Can you tell if anything is missing, Laine?[/font color]

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"]The subject was closed, which was a good thing. Laine was very much ready for that subject to be closed. They moved onward into the hallway, which was full of many doors, all of which were closed as well. Dr. Kallie asked about missing items, and Laine thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. This would have simplified things, but this was not a thing that was supposed to be simple. Sometimes, complication was important for security purposes.

[font color="a0522d"]"I'm sorry, Dr. Kallie. I don't have the ability to do that at this time. The doors are closed. And the hallway is open."[/font] The rooms before had been closed, and so Laine could determine the contents, but it didn't work that way with a hallway, because she wasn't in the same place as the anomalies. This was important.

Laine had always just assumed that this made sense to everyone, but according to Dr. Kallie's recent information, this was not something that everyone could do. That meant that more explanation was required for reference. Laine was not entirely certain if the information she was providing was helpful or not. Words did not always mean the same things to everyone. Laine was careful to be particularly accurate, but this was not always sufficient.
 
[div style="background-color:purple;border-top:purple 4px outset;border-left:purple 4px inset;border-right:purple 4px outset;border-bottom:purple 4px inset;"][div style="border-top:purple 4px inset;border-left:purple 4px outset;border-right:purple 4px inset;border-bottom:purple 4px outset;"][div style="background-color:white;color:black;padding:15px;font-family:courier new;"]
[font color=purple] “I see. That’s helpful to know for the future– do you want me to update your file with any of this information, as it seems to be something new that’s related to your anomaly? I can omit it, as you aren’t one of my subjects. I leave that up to you.”[/font color]

Kallie moved to the first set of windows and peaked into their observation windows. One was a heavy lead box, chains holding it shut. The other held a diving helmet on a pedestal. In all honesty, Kallie had no idea what most of the anomalies in this wing did. She could tell you which head of department had which mental disorder, or which ones were suffering from what internal disease, but the actual anomalies somewhat eluded her. Pepper had always taken care of that alongside her interdimensional studies, as somewhat of the designated cataloguer.

She walked down to the next set of doors and examined them. A chest was in a cage at the back of this room, and in the next was a jack in the box sitting squarely in the middle of the room. She looked up and realized she was on the right-hand side. That meant she’d have to look at the box.

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[googlefont="Fira Sans"][div style="border-top:4px #CCCCCC solid;border-bottom:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:2px #A0522D solid;border-right:2px #A0522D solid;"][div style="border-right:4px #cccccc solid;border-left:4px #cccccc solid;border-bottom:2px #A0522D solid;border-top:2px #A0522D solid;padding:8px;background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'Fira Sans';font-size:12px;"][font color="a0522d"]"No. You are not my researcher."[/font] Updating an anomaly's files was something that should be done by the primary researcher. Laine had a researcher, and while she liked Dr. Kallie, Dr. Kallie was not her researcher. That was important.

Proper updates were also important. Laine was aware of this. The Foundation needed the paperwork to be accurate. [font color="a0522d"]"I will write it up as an addendum."[/font] That would allow the information to be present. Still, Laine was not a researcher. [font color="a0522d"]"And I will send it to you first to look over."[/font] That way there would still be a researcher involved, but it wasn't Dr. Kallie being Laine's researcher. She was simply a senior researcher with the Foundation, looking over the work that others had done. That fit well enough.

It might have amounted to the same thing, once the necessary discussion and editing had happened, but this was Laine. How something was stated was just as important as what was said; sometimes more so. Phrasing was important. She had found one that would be sufficient.

The other anomalies were still present as she checked on them, with no notable issues. Laine noticed that Dr. Kallie had stopped, pausing. This was nonstandard practice and indicated something. Laine was not sure what it indicated. This was something that would have been easier to understand if she had been good with people.

[font color="a0522d"]"Would you like assistance?"[/font] It was an appropriate question, and could allow Dr. Kallie to determine what it was that she wanted to happen, or provide more contextual information if she wished to do so.
 
[div style="background-color:purple;border-top:purple 4px outset;border-left:purple 4px inset;border-right:purple 4px outset;border-bottom:purple 4px inset;"][div style="border-top:purple 4px inset;border-left:purple 4px outset;border-right:purple 4px inset;border-bottom:purple 4px outset;"][div style="background-color:white;color:black;padding:15px;font-family:courier new;"]
[font color=purple] “Understandable. I would not think to assume I was. It was simply an offer of convenience. Your method will work just as well, so we’ll do that.”[/font color]

As soon as Laine spoke, Kallie realized she had in fact frozen up. It had been almost a decade since Kallie’s last flashback episode. After the first ten years, it had become easier for her to withstand them. But right then, on a day she hadn’t expected to have to be anywhere in its vicinity, she was not handling it well. She looked down at her shoes and saw blood splattered across them. She could hear the sound of flesh tearing and bones cracking. She could feel the splatter of blood on her clothes.

She closed her eyes, shutting out the memory. She took a deep breath. She took a second deep breath. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Laine. She knew that neither of them would be in danger if they stepped up to the room, or even within a few feet inside the door. The radius of its effects was three meters, and the room was five meters by five meters. They had absolutely no risk checking its window. But still, the icy fingers of fear rose up to her heart, caressing it as though it was an old friend coming to say hello.

[font color=purple] “Laine, I would… like to switch sides. Would you take over the right side and allow me to do the left side? ACF-327 is on the right side of this hallway, and I can’t… I can’t look at it.”[/font color]

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