In hindsight, I probably should've waited for FFN to have character tags for the DOA6 newcomers. On the other hand, NiCO needed more stories regardless, even odd drabbles like these.

"You really think you're a special case, don't you?"

"I prefer to consider myself a prodigy. Nothing less than that." NiCO's stoic, blunt retort to her fellow worker was just a factor of how little she cared about conversation in the midst of work.

Christie gave barely a damn about it – being an expert assassin, having to sit around alongside another's business far and away from opportunities to spill some blood. She was lucky that the gloomy genius had a silver lining of cuteness – if anything, it gave a few ideas about how she could pass the time. This was a sort of stepping stone to more satisfying though twisted ideas to ensure she still had what she considered fun around here.

NiCO briefly continued, "I know what I've agreed to – I'd rather you not patronize me on my craft."

Christie scoffed, "Spoken like a young lady with nothing but herself and her work." She leaned against the back of her MIST coworker's seat, a usually-untrustworthy smirk a near-permanent feature across her face. "You need to be more flexible with how you come across to yourself around here."

NiCO rolled her eyes in calm contempt. "Am I supposed to trust advice from someone who kills, maims and tortures for a living?"

"More from someone who doesn't deal with deskwork like that; it has to be boring to be so reclusive, so alone..." Christie's body leaned further against the back of the chair, and her hands took position on the technomancer's shoulders. "At its worst, it can drive even the strongest minds mad. Madder than I, even... you haven't even considered building any sort of relationship, have you?"

Even with the grasp of the Englander's lethal hands rough on her shoulders, NiCO didn't let up at all with her fingers at work – her eyes barely even focused away from what was in front of her, either. Still didn't disregard the fact that she wasn't taking kindly to it.

"I'm not one to bother with influences," she said. "Just tell me what you're trying to get at."

Christie's roaming hands briefly slithered out of reach at that moment. To admit, she was dealing with a new loyalist to the organization – but it never stopped her before. "Hmph. Do you want me to be blunt with you...?" She grabbed onto the side of the chair...

Before NiCO expected anything, she saw her sight towards her research get obscured by the body of her assassin cohort, who had straddled her, without warning, and wrapped her arms around the back.

Christie's eyes read of teasing temptation over her colleague. "...Or are you just more willing to figure out how much of an influence I can be?"

NiCO didn't necessarily have many choices of elsewhere to look, as the shapely curves of Christie took up much of her close proximity. On the other hand, the scientist's hands laid at rest against the hips of the femme fatale, and the leathery trousers of the latter were admittedly smooth to the touch.

NiCO had a lot to think on in just this moment alone...

Minutes later, it was back to normal business for NiCO – gathering valuable data, as usual, though a little disheveled.

She admitted, "Whether or not I'm as 'unsociable' as you assume of me, it seems like you've been trying hard to be worse."

A few feet away, it was clear the scientist had freshly demonstrated some of her 'electric' inner depths, as Christie was laid out in a charged-up mess – clearly not from an example of love-making, but of combat.

Despite the discomfort of the crackling energy, she distracted herself from it with that cocksure smile of hers. "No matter... everyone gives in eventually."

"You say that as if it's a fact," scoffed NiCO. "I assure you, it's not."