Out of the fatigues and into a lab coat

[jadethenecromancer]

Characters: Jade Curtiss and OPEN
Where: Esdham, Palitutu's lab in Aqures Ixen.
When: Backdated to January 7th
Summary: Jade has officially left the Esdham military to focus his attention on SCIENCE.
Warning: Nothing expected, will edit if needed.

1) Esdham, early morning

So that was it, then. Jade slung the knapsack holding his personal belongings over one shoulder and strolled out of the barracks with nary a glance back. Every now and then an Esdham soldier -- usually the younger ones -- would salute as he passed. He'd have scolded them for saluting a civilian, but that was no longer his business. It was good to be remembered, anyway.

Even if the thing he'd mostly be remembered for was the sadistic training he'd inflicted on new recruits. Teaching could be surprisingly enjoyable if you just had the imagination.

The airship to Aqures Ixen wouldn't leave for a while yet. The walk past the Military Headquarters to the airport wasn't a long one, either, so Jade still had some time to kill. He paused near the entrance to the HQ, where the morning shift was starting, to see if any of the others happened to be around.


2) Palitutu's lab, afternoon to late evening

He'd only stopped by home to drop off his things before heading straight to work. The lab was bustling with both humans and Moogles -- in fact, it seemed busier than usual. The Custom Jobs had likely attracted interest.

Jade would rejoin the Custom Job research eventually, but that could wait. If the Sage was right and the Calamity was indeed going to start spreading soon, they needed to find a way to stop or at least slow it down. Last time the spread had halted when they were sent back to Aqures Tosf; they couldn't count on an outside force buying them time again.

The rest of the day was spent on little else besides poring over Palitutu's documents late into the night -- unless someone decided to drop by, that is. With friends like his, Jade didn't hold much hope for going more than a few hours uninterrupted.

Comments

let me know if you need this changed! ＼(^o^)／

[lastfonmasterguardian]

When Anise heard Jade was coming back from Esdham, she'd been really excited. Things in Aqures Ixen were good, but there was only so much fun she could have messing with people on her own. She'd missed her partner in crime.

Once he was back, it wasn't long before she'd found her way to the lab. She'd originally planned to be as good and unobtrusive as possible, but that was before the minutes started turning into hours. How late was it now, anyway? It had to be the middle of the night, already!

Where she had originally been sitting attentively, she was now slumped over on an unoccupied desk in the most unladylike fashion possible. If the boredom wasn't obvious enough from looking at her, the tone in her voice drove the point home.

"How much longer is this gonna take? You've been at this for hours."

It's fine!

[jadethenecromancer]

"Hmm?" Jade looked up, apparently surprised. Though with him, it was always hard to tell. "My, is it really that late? Time certainly flies when you're having fun."

He had been having fun, anyway, insofar as work counted as fun. Nevertheless, pulling an allnighter would probably backfire on him the next day. Jade gathered up the documents he'd been perusing -- quite possibly far more unhurriedly than Anise would have liked -- and slipped everything back into the files where they belonged. It was a good enough place to continue from tomorrow.

"You didn't really have to wait for me this whole time. We live in the same house," he said, standing up and putting the files away. "I could have just met up with you back home."

Re: It's fine!

[lastfonmasterguardian]

Anise frowned at that remark. Fun? Paperwork wasn't fun. Paperwork was boring and took forever; she'd hated it when she had to do it for Ion, and she still hated it now.

If Jade was going to take forever putting things away, she was going to take forever leaving the desk. She'd started getting up, but only gotten as far as was necessary to shoot Jade her trademark "displeased small child" face.

"But no one else is home right now. It's boriiiiiing." She drew out the last word, as if it could convey exactly how unexciting being in the empty house was.

[jadethenecromancer]

"Goodness. I hadn't realized I was your only source of entertainment." The fake concern wouldn't have fooled anyone. Not that it was meant to. "From here on, I shall endeavor to be at your beck and call at all times."

Thankfully, Jade didn't have much left to do. His work station was generally kept neat enough that it didn't take him long to clean up after himself. A moment later he was at the door, looking over his shoulder at Anise.

"Of course, if you were afraid of walking home alone after dark, you should have just said." It was such an inaccurate thing to imply about Anise's capability and they both knew it, but if she was going to make a face like that...

[lastfonmasterguardian]

"Boooooooooo," playing right into Jade's hands, Anise continued to pout, "I can take care of myself, y'know!" She was pretty confident that anybody who tried to rob her would be in for a very nasty surprise.

Thankfully, Jade packed up rather quickly, and so there wasn't anything more for Anise to complain about. Yet.

"Wanna stop anywhere on the way home?" They could terrorize innocent people. That was always fun!

[jadethenecromancer]

Luckily for Anise, Jade eased up on the teasing... for now. After all, her company was enjoyable enough even when she wasn't angry.

"Hmm..." He gave it some thought as they stepped out into the chilly night. Looks like it had snowed while they were indoors. "I haven't eaten in a while, come to think of it."

There were a few places open even at this hour, he knew. And with Anise along, the chances of wrangling a discount out of some poor employee were much higher.