Dove doesn't usually say no, in fear of a lot of things, not unless she could feel something wrong, which was ironic because she did feel something different with Annabelle. How she felt oddly worried about answering yes or no to the tall blonde, the way the girl seemed to have a powerful alluring presence yet an unnerving smile, like a Cheshire cat waiting to pounce. 

Her hair swayed like rope after she took off the hair tie and gave it back to me, so long that if she undid her braid, she could tie her hair into a noose.

Dove rushed inside the building after typing in her number and only that. Annabelle wanted to urge her to type in her email address too, but it didn't work on her.

She rushed back inside Macabre House, feeling oddly safe behind its doors. 

Of course I could tell how safe the building was, considering it worked like a repellant, keeping those other entities away and I never saw any inside, at least the ones that weren't invited.

Two of them took the lift while Dove willingly took the stairs, enjoying the few minutes of peace, and surprisingly with company for once.

Vernon continued to list all the plants with a silver appearance that her hair reminded him of, until he then listed a different color of flower.

"Balloon flower."

"Huh?" Dove said, shifting her body to face him as they paused on the stairs.

"Scorpion grasses?"

He tilts his head staring at her eyes, Dove didn't know that. She couldn't see his eyes behind his hair. She tilts her head along with him and hums.

"Virginia bluebells maybe."

"...."

"Borage?... No..." He walks off on his own, a hand up to hold his chin as he mutters to himself, trudging up the rest of the stairs, forgetting her presence.

Dove shrugs, feeling a bit bothered as she wanted to hear him talk more. 

I didn't have a lot of responses, maybe he got upset by that, I'm a listener not a talker. I must've messed up again.

The girl wiped her mouth one more time to check for any food remnants before entering the door on the fourth flight of stairs.

There was more noise, evidence that some of the other workers had come back from their cases, or there were people visiting from the other floors. The girl breathed in and out, holding herself upon entering.

A tall, gorgeous looking man in a lab coat was seen talking to Laurance at one of the desks, leaning against the desk with one hand as they both looked at the screen for something.

She chose not to bother them as she tried to dodge the other people kindly, getting to the filing room.

"Welcome back Dove, did you enjoy your lunch?"

The girl's spine shivered as she halted in place, hearing Bence's voice.

He had changed into a new suit with a redder tone, patterns of roses aligned on the collared lines of his jacket piece, and a small skull sat in his pocket square.

He was holding his book, previously having a discussion with a Dutch woman who was wearing a customized suit of her own, designed as an outfit with pants and a coat with a tail, tailored to expose her back, revealing an intricate, spinal tattoo. Her book, unlike his skull one, had the words, 'Captum', etched onto it.

It looked like they changed into different outfits for a new case to go on.

Dove restrained herself from also seeing the snake and centipede tattoos on the woman's exposed arms.

"It was nice. Were you two able to enjoy your lunch break?" She asked formally.

The beautiful Dutch lady chuckled at the young girl's lingering eyes.

"I'm not a lunch type of person, but it was a nice break thank you."

She turns to Bence.

"I better get going now. New Jersey is gonna be a wreck when I get back."

"I'm sure they will, but at least that state seems more put together than New York."

She sighs, shaking her head as she heads to the elevator.

"New Jersey?" Dove muttered to herself, standing in place as she watched the woman go.

"Merel. She's one of our Night guards, her designated area is New Jersey." Bence adjusted the skull book in his hands and went to his desk, waking up his desktop.

"Poor thing, got one of the humid states."

The girl hummed to herself, getting back to walking to the files room, before stopping again and deciding to try some small talk with someone she was growing trust in.

"Her short wavy hair, she looked like Marilyn Monroe to me."

The necromancer gave her a curious smile, leaning on his interlocked hands.

"Really? You're the first person to think that." 

I felt a little giddy when he said that. Being the first for anything felt like a tiny win, even though no one else would care.

"It's, her hair mostly, I guess."

The man propped his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on his folded hands thinking and humming.

"Ah, that would explain it. Don't know how I never noticed, I'm very meticulous."

"Maybe because she wasn't a corpse." Said a very handsome, hollow voice.

The handsome man in the lab coat had finished his conversation with Laurence and had been eavesdropping on theirs out of boredom.

His smirk that complimented the rest of his handsome features as he watched Bence's playful sneer.

"I'm sorry but I highly doubt you can be meticulous with how much I have to repair your exoskeletons, example the one today?"

"Maybe if you actually let the intern on your floor do more than just copy how to design prototypes, he can take over and make the exoskeletons for you. Then you won't have to bother with them." Bence tilted his head in a disturbing smile towards the scientist.

The handsome man, with brilliant dark skin, seemed to fume a bit as he smiled back forcibly.

"You're saying my designs are faulty?"

Dove wasn't afraid more that she felt the need to keep herself out of this as she backed away from the both of them. She could feel Laurence grab her shoulders and turn her around so they could both leave the two to have the whole for their sarcastic and mocking banter.

"If you say I managed to break them so often that you're complaining about repairing them a lot, then maybe the problem isn't me anymore."

He led her to the filing room, where he silently confirmed that the inner lock really is so that some people can just have a silent moment in the most comforting room on the floor.

"Is the lock necessary?" Dove asked, her voice near raspy with how quiet she was speaking.

"Maybe, hopefully not." The detective looked between her and the door lock, hands on his hips.

"But it's best we don't test the theory of simply standing in the same room as them. I honestly thought Bence was still changing, he's getting quicker every time. I should bell that man somehow." He muttered mostly to himself.

Dove awkwardly looked down and away, looking wherever or just searching around the room through the cabinet file of old cases.

"You sure don't question much." 

Dove seemed to purse her lips as she frowned and kept her back to him. 

"I learned I'd have an easier time if I just didn't. Besides, even if I did get the answers, what else is there? If I don't like it, there's not much I can do, I certainly won't try to argue with anyone about it... I'm too tired." She said much more honestly than she'd like, and proceeded to bite her tongue as she pressed a hand against her regretful expression, digging the nails into her face. 

The man with tan-brown hair eyed her actions as he studied her words, crossing his arms and leaning against the bookshelf. 

"You lost your motivation too?"

"... I guess you could say that..." She responded, taking out some files from the files in the Detective/Alchemist category, curious of it.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO GATHER THE MATERIALS FOR THESE EXOSKELETONS?" The hollow voice, now a booming voice, could be heard down the hall from the main room.

Laurence huffed in annoyance as he covered his ears, checking on Dove who had dropped some papers on the floor in surprise.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO HAVE TO SCALE AN OLD BUILDING WITHOUT FALLING, JUST TO CHASE SOME CULTISTS? ALL WHILE DODGING THEIR DAMN SACRIFICIAL THROWING KNIVES??"

Dove shrank from the noise as she leaned against the edge of the filing drawer, covering her ears tightly and sliding down, sitting in a fetus position, the booming voices sending chills down her spine, she was almost in a daze.

"I'm really sorry about this kid, they don't always fight." 

"... It's okay, everyone fights, this shouldn't be surprising at all. It'll pass. It always ends eventually..."

Dove's chest rose and fell just a bit more gently as she watched him, wondering if he was actually searching or simply making noise to cancel out the voices outside. Then she heard him curse to himself.

"Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I just realized Sienna was going to come visit today." He groaned into both his hands, rearing his head up to the ceiling.

"If they're still yelling when she and her buddies get here..."

The girl listened to him intently, then crawling over to press her ear against the door, wondering about any more noise outside.

"When will you finally admit you tend to be reckless?!"

"When will you finally admit you need to update the blueprints but are too overwhelmed?! You have a kid who makes his own prosthetics! I saw his leg when he came earlier today! Just get him to build you a ribcage, you'll see!"

"I have ingredients and materials in my lab that can explode upon impact! I have too many dangerous items for an overly eager kid too eager to be near them to use! He needs to practice more in the safer rooms first!"

Dove blinked as she thought of an idea while Laurence ruffled his neat hair, pacing in the room, looking down at some papers that never got organized.

Old cases regarding items and other such weapons or odd inventions.

She crawled over to pick those up, looking at the names and titles, flipping them over, almost getting distracted by the smell of the old pages as she stacked them together.

The girl stood up and unlocked the door, the noises becoming as quiet as brown noise to her as she moved with purpose down the hall, taking deep breaths with every quick step in her power walk. She pressed the button for the elevator as soon as she entered the main room again.

"Hela can show him the ropes! Or does the Siren honestly forget everyone around him thanks to his own voice?!"

"I'm fine!"

"Then why are you still complaining to me?!"

Papers divided into two stacks were shoved into both the men's arms as she then silently grabbed both of them by the sleeves, keeping her head low and pulling them to the elevator, just as the doors opened in time.

"Dove what are-"

"Joon is upfront, talk to him." She blurted out as she pressed the 5th floor button and ran back out, running away and not daring to look back as the two men called out to her in confusion through the closing doors.

The girl ran all the way back to the filing room, slamming the door behind her as she leaned against it and slid down again. Anxious.

Laurence stared down at her curiously, holding one of the books labeled psychology.

"Are you alright?"

Dove pondered the words to herself as she stuttered out.

"Do... Does Bence and the Scientist, do they get angry easily?... With other people? Do you think they are the type for scolding others for interrupting conversations?" She asked, mostly afraid for herself.

The detective stared down at her, seemingly grinning to himself as he gently closed the book, putting it back on the shelf.

"No kid, they have to be strong people, but they would never hurt others when fighting each other. I choose wisely."

"Huh?"