Work Text:
The late hours continue to tick away, the clock above Z's door a soft white noise and the scratching of her pen against paper an accompanying harmony. At this hour, most lights are turned off, save for the desk lamp that shone a light over the paperwork she's been doing. New intelligence on Manus, sent to the Foundation only a few hours ago. Someone needs to process this sensitive of information before it gets carted off to be used by Laplace and all other channels that wanted it. Despite the hour, her sleep schedule be damned, Z has to put priority on finishing this.
Z signs her name on the paper for the nth time. The same time she strokes her signature across the paper, the doorknob to her office clicks.
Her attention is only caught when the door opens and someone lets themself inside her office.
The visitor is a woman in a dark coat and burgundy dress. In the darkness, the mason jar cradled in her hands glows a soft gold, the light a contrast to the harsh white of Z's desk lamp.
She looks up from her work. "Tooth Fairy? Are you in need of something?" It was quite late of an hour to hold an audience in her office, so this must be something urgent.
"Yes and no."
To listen better to the dentist, Z takes away some of her attention from the papers, setting her pen down. She takes the mug sitting by her left, taking a sip of the coffee there, nodding at Tooth Fairy to resume whatever it was she was going to say. If she had paid enough attention, she would've found the doctor narrowing her eyes at the sight of her mug, as if the item with her face and filled with coffee had committed a personal slight against her.
Tooth Fairy adjusts her hold on her jar, laying her hand over the lid. "You do know that Vertin looks up to you, Madam Z?"
"Huh?" She sets her mug down, watching as Tooth Fairy raises a delicate brow at her. "Is there... anything about it, Doctor Campbell?"
The doctor looks to soundlessly sigh. "Miss Z, whatever you do, Vertin will try to copy it. Even if she doesn't consciously think of it." Her fingers run on the sides of the jar's lid, imitating the motions of opening and closing it. "For example, she sometimes does the same smug smile as you do." Wait. Did Vertin really...? "The child writes a report the same way as you do, eats ramen noodles raw just like you do, has even the same preferences for pens as you do, and currently," In those soft brown eyes, Z cannot help but turn away from Tooth Fairy's gaze, away from the thick feeling of judgement laid (and will continue to be) upon her.
By now, Z is getting an idea where this conversation is going.
"Miss Sonetto has been worried over Vertin making overtime a habit. While she may not be over-indulging herself in caffeine like you are doing right now," This Z flinches at, not missing the way Tooth Fairy glances at the overflowing mug next to her. "Her assistant has told me that she's been going through several jars of picrasma candy at a worrying rate."
Ah. Guilty, Z looks down at her report. That was a problem, indeed. Glancing at the sizable and ever-growing stack of files and paperwork at her desk, Z starts to go through the internal checklist of work to do in her head. She finds it backlogged to heaven and back. Though, it was a schedule that she'd been long used to. The Manus won't lay low just for a tired scientist. Her workload within the Foundation continues to grow— juggling Committee work while still being the Vice President's Chief of Staff will do that to you. And the Storm certainly won't stop for anyone, and—
Tooth Fairy purses her lips.
She sighs. Yes, she does have a habit of working well within the witching hours. But does this mean that she wants the Timekeeper to take after such an unhealthy habit? No, certainly not. Even if the girl had the entire weight of her duties and the world on her shoulders, she is still that; a girl. Aged sixteen, still growing. Just because Vertin had all those duties does not mean she should run herself to the ground and take on the habits of a middle-aged working adult with a desk and government job.
"I'll... try." Z sighs again, running her hand through her hair. "I will delegate the rest of my work to the others for the evening."
"And the next one."
"That too."
"Preferably for the next week too."
"Mhmm."
"And you have to give Vertin a talk about sleeping late and not taking too many picrasma candies."
"Yes, yes."
With that, Tooth Fairy finally looks satisfied with her answers.
Only thing is, she does not leave her office.
"..."
"...?"
"..."
The silence is... oppressive.
"Do you need to... discuss anything else, Miss Campbell?"
"No, nothing more." Tooth Fairy says. Yet the dentist still remains in front of her desk, holding onto her jar of fairies, watching her.
Alright... then?
Z begins to busy herself, starting with fixing up her desk. It doesn't look like she's going to get anything done by now. She arranges her papers into a neat stack, puts her pen into the penholder, and tidies the rings of coffee stains left on her desk with a handkerchief. On the other side of the office, the dentist continues to simply just be right there. Standing. Watching. Z reaches out for her mug, then Tooth Fairy breaks the silence with an "Ah-ah, Coffee won't do your sleep schedule any good, Z."
But the mug was still full? Z tells her exactly that. Wouldn't it be a waste to throw that all away, no?
Tooth Fairy gives her a look. Simply impassive, utterly unimpressed.
Then, the dentist reaches out for the mug. The two of them brush fingers as she takes away the mug from her, to bring it up to her lips. Tooth Fairy's braces lower, and then:
She proceeds to drink down the entire mug down. All of that bitter black coffee Z made from the break room hours ago and kept warm by an arcane spell, all drunk down to the very last drop.
Lightly, Tooth Fairy sets the mug down on her desk. Thunk. She wipes what's left of Z's coffee on the corner of her lips with the back of her hand.
"Don't worry. Caffeine doesn't affect me." That is what she says after throwing back an entire mug of black coffee. Tooth Fairy ignores the way Z gapes at her.
What was it that the researcher Medicine Pocket said, when Ad— er, Enigma, when he downed an entire bottle of French absinthe in the middle of the day once? "Absolute fuckin' powermove", or something along those lines. That's what crosses her mind right now. Both Hofmann's could absolutely drink most people under the table, and if Enigma was not one, he certainly would've ended up in the clinic from alcohol poisoning instead of falling down from the fourth floor.
Tooth Fairy shrugs. "It runs in the family. You need not worry about it keeping me awake.
Z would say something, but she finds herself a little too much of a loss for words.
It does look like Tooth Fairy is really invested in making sure she gets out of her office and to bed. Z wonders, was it her tendency for overtime to become so worrying that she had to intervene, or was it Vertin doing the same that led her to do all this?
At the very least, she hopes that the Timekeeper will take after her in what she had promised to the dentist. She can only hope that Sonetto won't do the same thing Tooth Fairy did, and attempt to eat an entire jar of picrasma candy in from of Vertin to prove a point. The mental image of the young red-haired investigator doing that was... oddly funny to think, if she was being honest. Z shakes the thought away, which catches the attention of Tooth Fairy.
The woman turned her head to the side, questioning. Z waves her off by stacking the last of her paperwork together in a neat file.
Then, finally there is nothing more to do in her office. Z takes her empty mug and gets up. She takes in a breath, stretches and winces at the multiple pops of her joints. Yeesh. Tooth Fairy was onto something with taking a break.
She presses against the tightened muscles of her back. It's a bit sore from being hunched over a desk for hours. "Shall I?" She asked, sliding her chair into her desk.
Tooth Fairy nods, finally a small smile on her face. "We shall. Let's go home, Miss Z."