Her mission had been a success, and Evan had not been disturbed. At least, not until a moment or two after she'd left. His eyes fluttered open and he looked around sleepily for a few seconds.

"Ngh... whu...?" he murmured. "Something happen...?" he asked quietly. Getting no answer, he fell back asleep, tossing and turning for a few seconds, and then dozing off once more.

Meanwhile, in Bast's office, the man himself was sitting behind his desk, twirling a pen in his fingers.

"Hmph." he grumbled.

"Slow day." he said.

"Could just clock out now. Wouldn't matter." he reasoned, as the pen slipped out of his fingers and skidded across the desk, falling over the front of it and landing on the floor.

"Goddamn it all." he growled, reaching over the desk and extending his arm down to try and get it.

Bast looked over towards her with annoyance at first, but it quickly disappeared, turning to a more blank expression... before it then turned to a subtle smile, as he sat back down properly behind his desk.

"Meh." he responded with a shrug.

"Just feeling blah, I guess." he told her.

"So. What's up?" he asked. "Didn't know you were stopping by." he commented.

"...or was that the point?"

"..." Bast was silent as he looked at her, narrowing his eyes for a moment, and then just sighing heavily, slumping down into his chair. He shook his head slightly and pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbling a little to himself.

"I don't know." he said.

"Lately just been feeling... off." he told her. "Heavier, but... spiritually? I guess?" he went on. "I don't know how to describe it, admittedly." he lamented.

"Which doesn't help my overall mood." he continued.

"Lunch DOES sound good, though."

Bast raised an eyebrow at her.

"For starters, I guess get out of here for an hour." he said. "See if a change of scenery helps. Maybe I'm just stressed or something?" he continued, shrugging again, and then looking at her far more softly.

"And I REALLY can't see this being your fault, or you having anything to do with this." he then stated.

"No, seriously, at this point, you're something... someONE... I look forward to." he told her. "Like, your presence lights that small fire in me still." he added. "And I am being honest with you on that." he insisted.

"...hope it doesn't turn into my being obsessed and clingy with you, but... uh, feel free to shove me away if that DOES happen." he quickly added.

Bast paused for a moment when he heard that.

"You did, eh?" he asked.

"...all right. All right then, sure. You're on." he told her.

She then handed him the camera and scrolled to the pics she had taken. Bast looked at them, and smirked.

"Heh." he chuckled.

"Lookit that. Nappin' on the clock."

Bast did just that, and nodded a bit when he saw the photo of Jake.

"Good one." he said.

"Good quality, as usual." he told her, handing it back.

"Sooooo... been using that camera a lot, haven't you?" he asked.

"And I don't just mean for your course. Seems like you're just really into taking pictures... all the time now." he said further.

"New obsession?" he asked with a small snicker.

Bast just sighed. Loudly.

"I did NOT say that." he told her, before pausing a moment, and looking at his computer screen as a tone chimed.

"Oh, god damn it." he cursed.

"I forgot I had a video call today." he said. "Appointment. Meeting. Whatever you want to call it. Scheduled for the next half hour, starting in 5 minutes." he told her further.

"...if you want to hang around, we can have a delayed lunch." he offered.

He sighed again.

"Well, it'll be bad form to text DURING the call, even if it's winding down." he stated, though he was thinking to he seriously considering it... like, for an alarmingly long pause.

"Then don't." she stated. "Let me know when it's done." she insisted.

"Ugh, fiiiine." Bast groaned.

"Just... be careful not to get too close to R&D." he warned. "Heard they're doing tests on some new liquid compound they've come up with, and don't want you to gte caught up in an explosion." he said.

"Beyond that, have fun."

Bast blinked a couple of times when she said that.

"...didn't think of that." he admitted.

"Make sure you get PAID for it." he then told her. "She makes damn good money off of lonely simps on the internet, the least she can do is pay you for giving her MORE power over them." he reasoned.

"Anyway, shoo." he said.

"Go on outta here and I'll see you... half-hour, 45 minutes later."

"..." Hal was silent as he looked at her, after she had snapped the photo, and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." he replied.

"She is." he told her. "She's currently in the cafeteria, getting lunch." he reported.

"...and you're lucky my head was down, and I don't keep anything remotely sensitive out in the open." he then told her. "Otherwise that photo would have contained extremely sensitive information." he warned.

"But regardless. That appears to be a very nice camera."