Coffee Break (OPEN)

    In the last ninety-six hours, Ahmet had warded off sleep with nothing but coffee. The bitter black drink was all he'd consumed the past four days. Day in and day out the head scientist had holed himself up in one of the vacant laboratories working relentlessly on fixing the serum. Amongst the theories, calculations, data, and inventories, Dr.Benici had exhausted himself both mentally and physically. Living off of the hospitality of his colleagues who never failed to replenish his mug during the wee hours of morning and late hours at night, Ahmet had successfully completed a newer version of the serum. In only a few short hours he would testing it out on two patients, one of whom was patient 4310258629087 or as some of the faculty had grown lazy enough to call him, 'Feral'. Ahmet himself would never use such a detestable name. People named pets, children, things that they grew attached to. Ahmet had no intentions of investing such human qualities in his test subjects. They were experiments, specimens, nothing more.
    
    Should she not be consumed by her report, Gilligan may have noticed the head scientist morphing into the room. He moved quite ominously into the staff lounge, his footsteps made no sound on the hardwood floor. The only indication of his presence would be the wrinkled lab coat or the cold gust of wind that accompanied his entrance. A sharp stare traveled the room followed by a sigh. It was no surprise there would be someone else in the lounge. Most of the faculty would be taking a break soon, but Ahmet had still clung to the silly hope he might've slipped in, grabbed his coffee, and slipped out before confronted with another presence. Not so.

    Gilligan Fischer, just the sight of her caused a spark of annoyance within him. If the government hired one more female faculty member, he would resign. Well...not really, but he had already made it clear he found women inadequate. They were less intelligent, they were a distraction to his colleagues, and their coyness whittled away at his short temper. But protest as he might, America was a few country...or something stupid like that.



    Staring into the dark well of his mug, Ahmet trundled towards the sink, running the water to rinse out the coffee stain. The sudden noise would've been the first sound to alert her of his presence had he not spotted him before. In the time she'd been on staff, Ahmet had avoided her. He hadn't offered he a welcome or even shared a polite conversation. Holed up with his studies, the most he'd caught of her were glimpses from afar. But now that they shared the same breathing space did he offer a greeting? Nope, the weary scientists only rinsed out his mug, mumbled a dissatisfactory "hmm" in her direction before adjusting his spectacles and turning away.

    Ahmet? Excuse me? Did she think they were pals or something? That she could walk around calling him by his first name without earning it? None of his colleagues called him by his first name. It was 'Dr.Benici', 'sir', or anything else but Ahmet. His eyes became narrowed slits as he turned off the sink, pouring the distilled coffee down the drain. "While you are working in my compound you will do well to call me Dr.Benici." Her suspicious behavior was of little interest to him as he set his own mug onto the counter. "I did not say thanks." Was she conceited enough to think he would thank her for putting on a pot of coffee? Ha! That was rich.

    He owed her nothing. She might work for the government but she also worked for him and he had standards. He would expect her to make up for what he perceived as her inadequacy in every way or form. And while she might complain he acted like he owned the place, he did! With a growing annoyance Ahmet watched her from the corner of his gaze. He'd read her file, the one the government had so nicely put together for him. Her qualifications did little to soothe the position he'd already taken against her.

    "No thanks." Her offer was shut down quite curtly but Ahmet didn't move away from the counter. Instead, he hovered near the fridge, waiting for her to move so he could inspect their inventory. He hadn't eaten in four days, he was starving..literally. "What were you doing on that old computer?" He asked suddenly, his gaze shifting towards her. His sharp features looked to be chiseled from stone, the scraggly blonde hair and cold gray eyes gave him a somewhat stand-offish appearance.

    Watching the amount of creamer she poured into her cup, Ahmet frowned. If she kept drinking like that they would be out in no time! Besides, shouldn't she be watching her weight or something? Rather than deliver a sharp response, he only watched her until she stepped aside allowing him access to the fridge. Her sarcastic tone would receive little recognition from the man as he opened the fridge, resting a hand on his knee as he stooped to look inside. White strands of hair crept into his face, standing out as odd amongst the blonde. Men at forty usually didn't have white hair, and considering this was a large streak amongst the rest of his blonde locks, it made little sense.

    Pizza! The sight of cold leftovers had his stomach rumbling and Ahmet withdrew the box, turning his back to Gilligan as he opened it. Fetching a plate for himself, he piled four cold slices onto the white porcelain before slipping it into the microwave sipping at his coffee while he waited. Already he wasn't fond of Gilligan, as if there had been a chance of him liking her from the beginning. Stupid woman. "Tread lightly," the quiet words he offered her were nearly muffled as he took another sip of his coffee. 

    The demanding beep of the microwave would inform him the pizza was ready and once more he turned his back to Gilligan as he fetched the plate moving off to sit at one of the couches. If people were going to begin showing up, there was really no point in hurrying.