The coffee-maker gurgled, the last drips of dark brew falling one by one into a heavy metal decanter. Aven, personal assistant to the head of the necromancy-division, glanced at his watch before sliding the decanter off the heater and onto the metal tray waiting to receive it.

5:20 AM, and still no sign of Jin.

If he's late again...

Miss Avanay, even with her mind on everything at the same time, had already noticed his brother's repeated tardiness. She didn't seem to weigh it very heavily considering what else she dealt with daily, but the fact that their boss had noticed at all made Aven anxious.

One negative report from Miss Avanay to the companymen upstairs, and Jin could lose sponsorship. And that could be worse, in the long run, then having never had a sponsor at all.

The possibilities, the thought of what they might be driven to, made Aven's chest constrict, but his hands remained steady as he backed through the swinging doors into the necro-lab.

Miss Avanay was already there; indeed, her disheveled appearance suggested she had never left the previous evening. Her dragonic eyes were dark from sleep-deprivation, her black hair stuck out in odd directions, and her tufted tail twitched erratically like it always did when she got agitated. In this state, she circled the same three cyborg corpses from yesterday, examining them with an intensity bordering on mania.

"Good morning, Miss Avanay. I've brought you some coffee," he said, startling the dragon-woman out of her trance-like pacing.

"Oh, Aven. Good morning? Is it working hours already?"

"Yes, ma'am." Aven put his little tray on a side table and began to work. First the coffee, poured into her favourite morning mug - the one with a little cartoon true-dragon curled around the circumference, himself holding a cup - then in went the sweet cream and a sprinkle of spice. He turned, handing the finished project to Miss Avanay quickly enough that she could still see the cream swirling amid the coffee before they finished mixing.

Aven was rewarded with her little smile as Miss Avanay watched the swirling clouds, then her sigh of contentment after that first sip.

She had never told him how to make her coffee; he had figured it out on his own. She had never even mentioned that she liked watching the clouds in her coffee, but one incidental glance had been all he needed. That one extra smile made it worth the effort.

Even her tail-twitching slowed slightly after a few sips of coffee. Finally, with a heavier, less happy sigh, she looked back at the work tables.

"I'm just not quite sure,” Miss Avanay admitted. "This one," she motioned at one of the cybernetically-repaired corpses, "just feels wrong to me, after all. What do you think?"

Aven looked at the dead human critically. His family didn't have an ounce of magic in their tree, nor did he know anything professionally about cyber enhancements, but for some reason Miss Avanay seemed to be interested in his opinion on these things.

Or, more honestly, his instinct.

"I don't know, ma'am," he said honestly. "It seems like any other cyborg we get through here to me. Except I don't like his facial hair."

Miss Avanay nodded, as if the dead person's grooming habits in life meant everything. "No, no, you're right. This is no good, no good at all. I shall have to send that one back, tell Tech to scrap it. Thank you, Aven. Would you send your brother to let them know to expect it?"

“O-of course, ma'am. Do you need me for anything else right away?”

“No, no, go get breakfast. Thank you, my lad.”

~~

Aven leaned against the elevator wall as it rose to the Tech Center, letting the shudder of mechanical movement sink to his bones.

Jin.

Criminally-irresponsible. That was the only way to describe his younger brother's behavior. They were legally bound to do everything Miss Avanay - as the official and signed representative of Imptuus, their corporate sponsor - said. That made it Aven's personal law as well. Jin, on the other hand, had never held his signature on that contract as seriously as it deserved. In fact... he treated the whole affair with contempt.

Even Miss Avanay, who had always treated them so kindly, he looked at with a total lack of respect. That, more then anything, made Aven's heart sink into his stomach.

If it had just been Imptuus in general Jin hated, Aven could understand that. They hadn't been kind to Jin in the brothers' early years with the company. But Miss Avanay had gotten them out of their former arrangement, granted them more freedom then they had ever had. She, at least, deserved to be obeyed.

He just hates the whole world. Aven let his shoulders sag. Teenagers. He had no idea how to handle them.