"Bye for now." Hal responded, before sighing quietly.

"...Mira..." he mumbled.

"I hope you'll be okay..." he said.

As she walked, again, Mira couldn't help but feel someone was there. Watching her.

She whirled around again, and saw Zeke down the hall, talking to someone. He looked over and gave her a friendly wave.

But he was so far away. And he hadn't given her this feeling before. So what WAS this?

Jake in particular, being close friends with the both of them, seemed to notice that Mira was getting extremely and entirely TOO focused on the spear. Again, it'd happened before, and Peyton was understanding to it, but... well, it was clear she was feeling a little on the lonely and ignored side.

And Jake didn't like that.

As such, on one of the breaks he took, he made his way down to the R&D lab, let himself in with his omni-card, and made his way to Mira's office... where the door was shut.

He sighed as he heard scuffling and such inside, before knocking.

"Mira? You in?" he called.

Jake was silent, almost taken aback by the snappishness of the response, before he cleared his throat.

"Mira, just... wanted to stop by and say hi." he told her.

"Been a while since we went out for an evening of drinks. Not even drinking, just... grabbing something at Helscape." he said further.

"We've all noticed you've been a little... distant." he continued.

"...probably the spear. How's that going, anyway?" he asked.

"Y'almost done restoring it?"

"...not... not really." Jake responded.

"Just wanted to ask if you wanted to get a beer or something after work." he told her.

"I don't have the night shift for the next few days, so... might be a good time to." he continued.

"Whaddya say? Helscape? Slam down some of their house brew?" he suggested with a smirk.

"I know you love to show the people there how much of a tank you are for alcohol." he chuckled.

"...." Jake was silent as that happened, and stood there, stunned, for a moment.

"What the...?" Ilias then mumbled, having overheard the last part of that as he was walking by.

"You heard that?" Jake asked.

"End part." Ilias replied. "And... it's... kind of concerning." he said. "I've never known her to... well, all but brush you off on an offer like that." he commented further.

"...yeah..." Jake responded with a small sigh.

"Anyway... see ya..." he then said, before leaving the area, and R&D itself.

"..." Ilias was silent, lingering for a moment, and then slowly and distractedly made his way to where he was going; a lab room that had Kiah in it. When he walked in, she noticed him looking QUITE distracted, and concerned... to the point where he almost walked straight into one of the tables there, which would have collapsed the set-up they had on it. It wouldn't have resulted in anything dangerous, but it would have meant 5 hours would have gone to waste.

Ilias was silent for a moment as Kiah asked her question, almost like he was gathering his thoughts, before he looked at her.

"I'M fine." he said. "And... I'm going to be honest, seeing a ghost would have been more normal than what I just saw earlier." he then told her, his tone slightly joking, but mostly serious.

"I... overheard the end of a conversation between Jake and Mira. He was at her office door, and they were talking, and he invited her out for beers at Helscape sometimes in the next couple of days." he relayed.

"...all right...?" Kiah responded, wondering where this was going.

"Kiah, she... blew him off." Ilias then told her.

"She said, and I quote, 'Oh. Ok. Sure.' followed by 'I'll call you.' and then she went back into her office without even saying goodbye."

"I'm not, either." Ilias responded.

"She's gotten absorbed in weapon restoration before, sure, but... she's NEVER blown off going out with a drinking buddy." he told her.

"It... yeah, that spear is cool and all, and it was found in that ancient unknown armoury, but... I dunno, is it THAT cool?" he asked her. "I'm not a weapon nerd, so... I wouldn't know." he admitted.

"...neither would you, come to think of it..." he then realised.

"I dunno, maybe I'm just overreacting." he muttered. "I hope I am, anyway." he said further.

"Jake seemed pretty bummed, to put it lightly, though..."

Her hopes had been well-placed, as she saw her friend sitting at his desk, looking a little distracted and distant. However, before she could really make any sort of instant judgement, he looked over towards her.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"...you look like something's on your mind." he then commented.

"What's up?" he asked her, sitting up a little straighter.

Though he had a feeling he knew what this would be about. He was thinking the same thing, probably.

"..." Jake was silent for a moment, before sighing quietly.

"Yeah..." he said.

"She's really thrown herself into that spear repair and restoration." he commented. "Hasn't shown any interest in going drinking with me or anyone else." he went on, pausing for a moment.

"...but what have YOU been noticing?" he asked.

"What's been happening?"

Jake leaned forward and took one of her hands in both of his.

"Pey, if it's gotten THAT bad, that you're worried about such a thing, talk to Hal." he told her.

"Because this is clearly something that needs to be addressed. Not as coworkers, not as boss and employee, as friends." he said.

"I can see that this is weighing on you heavily, to understate it. So go and talk to Hal. Confide in him. You two are quite close, after all." he reasoned.

"I'm sure he'll do all he can to try and help." he continued.

"Because, while I'm sure you won't lose her, she needs to see what this is doing to you."