Jonathon had lead us to the table at the back corner of the break room, a solid two, maybe three tables distance from the nearest person leaning back way too far in their plastic chair checking their phone. A news channel droned on, muted, on a super old CRT-TV mounted up in a corner by the ceiling.

"S-so," I said, taking a breath and trying to calm myself. "What did you want to talk about? Am I in trouble?"

"What? No, not at all," Jonathon said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Why would you be in trouble?"

"No, I just--" I said, collecting my thoughts. "You spend a lot of time talking with the boss, so I thought maybe you had heard some rumors or something."

"No, actually, also that would be gossiping." Jonathon took another long sip from his mug. "I don't condone gossiping. This is actually about last night."

"Oh, I see," I said, not exactly relieved to hear those words.

"So, last night you had asked me what it was that I wanted to do, and well, didn't really have the chance to talk more about that." He leaned back in his chair and started scratching the back of his head. "I dunno, I just thought it was an interesting question and wanted to hear your thoughts on it."

"Oh, that's it?" I said, unable to hide a strange mix of relief and annoyance, like I felt my time was being wasted. I had to remind myself that I am, technically, on break and that this WAS the time for idle chit-chat with coworkers. "Well, I'm not exactly... experienced with those sort of team-building parties, or parties in general. I've... been told that you're supposed to break the ice with questions, y'know 'be interested not interesting', and get to know the other people." I sunk in my chair a little, embarrassed both at realizing exactly how child-like my explanation was at its core, and at having to say it out loud. "I kinda just... asked the first question that came to mind?"

Jonathon, however, was sitting there, keeping eye contact and leaning forward in rapt attention. "No, no I get you! I've been to tons of those things, but a lot of people just do it to make themselves appear more dedicated to the company or something, or they just want to get drunk and rag on others with gossip or other garbage." He folded his hands together and rested his chin on them. "That's why I asked you and Violet to come, I try to get as many different people to come as possible, and having people that genuinely wanted to get to know each other is exactly what I wanted!"

I scanned his face to look for any sort of hint of insincerity, but every word he said seemed genuine. I let myself rise back up in my seat. "Really? Well, was there more to your answer, or did you want to talk about something else?"

"Well, no there isn't exactly more to my answer," Jonathon said, letting his head dip a little. "A job is a job, and you need a job to pay the bills!"

"Yeah, but I can't imagine you actually wanted to be an accountant," I said. "I mean, who really does?"

Jonathon let out a nervous sigh and tried to hide his reluctance behind a smile. "Well, that would be my dad. He suggested it, y'know, since my math grades were good. I wanted... to do something else, but, well, I guess you gotta do what you're really good at." He dove into his mug once more, downing the rest of the liquid in one, strong chug. "But, I'm doing great! Actually, what I wanted to ask was... what was it that you wanted to do?" I was so taken aback by this question that I had forgotten to speak. "Y'know, like you said, not many people really WANT to work as an accountant or something."

"O-oh, I..." I hadn't thought about this in some time. For the past year or so, I had been more in a survival state with this job, trying to get myself financially secure with a stable house and a stable life before going after anything on the side, but nothing had really worked out. Well, at least from what I know now, I can tell that this was the entire intent of the system. Dangle the carrot, but always have it out of reach.

But when I thought about what it was that I wanted to do, what I really wanted to do, I could only find myself reminded of those art electives I had taken in college. The drawing, the painting, the pencils, the charcoal, the oils, all of it had brought me to life. Seeing an image come together with each stroke, as colours blended together and became something they weren't before until finally the world was reflected back at me through the canvas, but in a different lens.

Even as I thought of it now, it filled me with a sense of longing and washed away many of my worries, a sort of confidence like, right this instance, I could march into my boss's office, quit with a double middle-finger, and go do what it was that I wanted to do.

"Sue?" Jonathon's voice snapped me back to reality.

"O-o-oh, sorry, was I day-dreaming?" I asked, and Jonathon nodded. I could feel my face flush. "W-well, it's a little embarrassing but--"

"--This way! We gotta get down to the first floor stat!" The voice of the lizard daemon rang through the room, clear as day. "I just got the order, we gotta move!"

"What's it we're doing now?" The meatball daemon asked. "Seriously, I'm so sick of all this movin' around."

"You know that girl down in the lobby, that gloomy one?" I felt a pit sink in my stomach.

"Violet..." I whispered

"What was that?" Jonathon asked, cocking his head.

"O-oh, uhh..." I said, standing up abruptly with the loud scraping of plastic on laminate. "Sorry, I just... remembered something. I have to go right away, it's super urgent."

Jonathon failed to hide the disappointment that flashed across his face before the cheerful facade was back up once more. "Hey, don't let me keep you! You gotta do what you gotta do."

"Thanks, again I'm so sorry," I said, about to dash out the door before stopping on the spot. "Oh... and by the way..." Jonathon looked up at me. "I don't know what it is you wanted to do, but maybe don't listen to your dad. Don't give up too easy. OKAY I REALLY GOTTA GO, BYE."

As I dashed out the room, I only got a moment to glimpse the small smile crack onto Jonathon's face. Not the charming smile that didn't mean anything more than to get people to like him, but a real smile.