[b][color=007236]The office, Level 72:[/color][/b]

By the time Athena had called out her response, Uthaleia was already seated and acting as though she thought giving one minute in five to paperwork and the other four to online gaming was her honest idea of 'hard work'. Uthaleia wasn't much offended by Athena's remarks... or by anyone's...since it provided an opportunity for the ever-watchful intelligence that dwelt behind the sunny smile and the head-in-the-clouds demeanour to take the measure of those she worked with. In the case of Athena; she really was rather interesting- her inteactions with Jess and with Rey hinted at... insecurity. 

Perhaps that was the last thing most people would attribute to the woman, but the indicators were there: That she could continue indifferently in the face of cat-calls and jeers without a problem suggested she was used to such things, had faced other hardships and was innured to it. However, her interactions with Rey revealed something else. The smile and the flirtatious manner, in combination with the pose, suggested she genuinely had wanted Rey to take an interest, or at least had hoped for an obvious reaction from him, something that would give her an indicator or insight into what feelings he might have for her. Thus, the lack of any overt response was, to Athena, an unexpected thing- a failure where she expected success, casting doubt upon something (in this case her looks) that she was otherwise confident in. Subsequently she felt hurt and rejected, a little piece of confidence tarnished by insecurity, and her mood towards Rey had soured as a result. That, in and of itself, wouldn't suggest insecurity, but there was another factor to consider; that of Athena's interaction with Jess.

When offered a sincere compliment, Athena responded with venom. To Uthaleia, this suggested that Athena was accustomed to insult and hardship, but unused to genuine praise and uncertain of how to handle it. Subsequently, she distrusted the compliment and its source, insincerity or condescension upon the part of Jess being easier to believe than sincerity. Thus, Athena revealed both a need for wholesome attention, for those she could lean on and, at the same time a fundamental lack of trust, feelings of insecurity that prevented her from seeing that a co-worker might be genuine or that a lack of response wasn't rejection or a could-shoulder.... it all made Athena quite a fascinating co-worker to have... and made Uthaleia wonder if whomsoever had been responsible for her own creation hadn't had espionage and infiltration in mind and done all they could to optimise the natural psychoanalyst within her? It was certainly possible. Uthaleia briefly attended to office paperwork on her computer again, as she considered another of her co-workers: Rey Westing.

Uthaleia suspected that, for all his gentle, shy demeanour, Rey might actually be more confident in some ways than Athena- perhaps not confident around people, or in unexpected situations, but quietly confident within himself... perhaps 'possessed of inner strength' was a better way to put it? That he had a deferential demeanour made that less obvious than it might be.... and indeed, it was possible she was mistaken... but still, Uthaleia suspected that inner strength was there. If he was confident of himself though, and his art, which were things he understood, he seemed tentative and uncertain when confronted with things he was less certain of how to handle... like, for example Athena's bold flirtation. Far from brushing her off or dismissing her, Uthaleia believed that Rey, with the sort of ingenuouseness that appeared native to his character, simply didn't know whether Athena was serious or not, or how to handle her and so, had handled her the only way he knew how: by giving no response at all to her advances, and instead keeping his attention focused upon the situation he could handle; that of needing to borrow the monitor from Xell. 

As for Xell himself... well, he was a whole mountain of issues underneath the various medications... courtesy of the company and those he brought with him.... that Uthaleia preferred to take her time to process. The anxiety was evident of course, even if the root of it was anyone's guess. On that note, Uthaleia suspected that, if she asked Rey to show her the letterheads for the business documents he'd designed, that might just give Xell a moment or two to gather up his 'private' med supply. Rising to her feet, with Jess's characteristic spring in her step, she'd hardly gone two steps when, unexpectedly, someone collided with her!


Looking around, Uthaleia beheld a pretty, silver-eyed bunny girl in a nurse's uniform just rising from having landed hard on her behind upon the office floor. Though her outward expression as Jess didn't change in the slightest, inwardly Uthaleia's caution rose a little- by virtue of the circumstances surrounding her creation, she had an active distrust of... and inclination to harm... anyone wearing a medical uniform. However, since this girl was (probably) not part of S.E.O.'s more clandestine practices (or at least, not knowingly so) Uthaleia chose to ignore the gut reaction which screamed to her that she should eviscerate the medic upon sight. Instead, she listened attentively as the girl addressed her.

“Jessamine Halecourt?” Fleur uttered, in a formal British accent with apologetic undertones as she rose up to stand.

“I’m ever so sorry. I didn’t see you come in.”

“I’d like to pose this question to you if that’s alright. Have you noticed anything unusual take place in Mr. Weaver’s cubicle just moments ago? This is a rather serious matter and head office won’t be too pleased if any correspondence relayed proves to be deceitful.”

Uthaleia considered the question put to her. Very probably, the girl in front of her had seen that Xell had his own meds and wanted confirmation that someone else had seen as much too. Whilst Uthaleia owed Xell no particular favours and had no reason to lie, at the same time Xell looked like he was stressed enough and didn't need any further problems with his day. Giving the girl Jess's sunniest smile, Uthaleia delivered a response she felt befitting the situation.

"No worries!" She beamed in response to the apology, "this place is all go a lotta the time, so you can't be blamed for missing someone now and then! Saaay though..," she continued, taking in the other girl's appearence,"if you aren't the cutest thing in the world I don't know what is! I bet if you smiled you'd be the ultimate poster-girl for marketing everywhere... that face, with a smile, could sell anything! And those stars on your cheek, those are just outright adorable!"

Just as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Uthaleia reached out and gave Rie's right cheek a gentle pinch, before continuing. "As for unusual stuff at Xelly's cubicle," she informed Rie, "Well, I'm not quite sure what'cha mean? 'Unusual  stuff' is a bit vague after all. I mean, I saw Athena pose like a model whilst talking to Rey, saw Crispin pop underneath the cubicle and saw Xelly leap to greet him like they were long-lost brothers...that's kinda unusual isn't it? Or did you mean some other sort of unusual?"

Her question asked, Uthaleia gave Rie another of Jess's sunny smiles, wating patiently to see what sort of answer she would be given. On another day, she might have been somewhat cautious about the mention of the displeasure of head office, but with a summons to the Director's office already a given, a vague possiblity of displeasure from higher-up amounted to so much smoke where a fire was already kindled. Moreover, since she hadn't lied to the bunny-girl, or failed to failed to answer the question as given, what happened next would depend entirely upon how the medic chose to respond.