William was resting his forehead on his hand, writing away with the other; he had been sitting like this since quite early in the morning
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Sacharissa's sleep had been about equally as bad for precisely the opposite reason.
It turned out that sharing a bed with Maladicta was not conducive to getting any rest, although Sacharissa suspected there were better ways that could have been the case. Either way, it didn't help her mood when she walked into the office to spot William at his desk, at work like nothing was out of the ordinary.
Frowning, she sat down at her own desk. Shoulders back, head up, and she was pulling out her papers and her pencil, setting them down on the desk with more force than usual.
William did look up at the over-emphasized thump of papers and pencil on Sacharissa's desk, frowning over at the offending items without yet actually glancing all the way up at Sacharissa.
"I'm up to Castus, you can start from there," he said, because he wasn't particularly in the mood to discuss anything else.
The problem was his mood probably wouldn't have any say in the matter.
"Already covered Borogrovia, have you?" she asked coolly. With her eyes focused on her papers, Sacharissa shuffled through them, looking for her notes from the night before. She resisted the urge to say anything else about the matter. Her willpower had always been considerable.
He did look at her then, with another frown, eyebrows drawn down. "No, as a matter of fact, I haven't. V for von Borogravia is at the end of the alphabet," he said, irritated; he'd managed to lose himself in the work for a minute there, and then Sacharissa had with one comment removed any chance of his doing that again, probably for the rest of the day.
"Good." Sacharissa tapped her pencil against the desk, but never once looked up. Her own concentration was shot to pieces, but then that had been true since long before she'd reached the compound. Maybe she was more irritated with him than was fair, but what he'd done hadn't been fair either.
"Good," she said again. Finally she lifted her head - not to look at him, but to turn her chin higher, eyes turning toward the ceiling. "I'll take that one. I'll work from Ziegler and move backwards."
William stared at her for another extended moment. He'd rather been planning on doing it himself, just to prove that he could without that part going wrong, at least.
He wasn't sure who he'd be proving it to, though, or what that would be worth.
"Fine," he said. "Hand them to me when you're done so I can edit them if I have to." Then he hesitated and couldn't stop himself from adding, "I'm quite capable of doing it, you know."
"Yesterday proved nothing of the sort," William said, voice snippy as he bent over his work again. "A single incident doesn't prove anything, and whatever you might think of how it went it's certainly not indicative of my ability to write a simple candidate summary."
"We can't allow bias in this office," Sacharissa said coldly. "Yesterday proved you simply can't be objective concerning her." Her inner editor was pointing out quite readily that this conversation was proof that she was equally incapable of objectivity, but she ignored it. That wasn't the point. She didn't go around harassing the people she loved.
"Yesterday was- not what I'd intended," William said. "I can and I will. At least wait until you've seen what I write before you dismiss me as incapable." This last was accompanied by a hard glare that was sourced as much in the memory of some of what Maladicta had said last night as anything Sacharissa was accusing him of now.
"And what did you intend, William?" Sacharissa asked, voice shaking. Her hands were shaking, for that matter, and she couldn't even remember the last time she'd been this angry with him. Whatever he'd meant to do, he'd failed. The look on Maladicta's face the night before had been proof enough of that.
He closed his eyes and massaged his forehead with the fingertips of one hand, because apparently it turned out that he was just going to have to go from horrible argument to horrible argument.
"To ask hard questions to show that she wasn't going to get any special treatment," he sighed, eyes still shut. "You know that already."
"It was just another kind of bias." It was easier to be angry than to cry. It was easier to be frustrated with him than with herself. "I know what happened and it wasn't objective by a long run, William." You made her cry.
"I know that," William snapped, as angry with himself as he was at Sacharissa right this moment. It was just a lot harder to yell at yourself. "I didn't do that on purpose, it just happened. It was a mistake, and I'm going to write the damn summary, properly, to correct it."
Since there didn't seem to be much chance of him salvaging anything else, just then.
It turned out that sharing a bed with Maladicta was not conducive to getting any rest, although Sacharissa suspected there were better ways that could have been the case. Either way, it didn't help her mood when she walked into the office to spot William at his desk, at work like nothing was out of the ordinary.
Frowning, she sat down at her own desk. Shoulders back, head up, and she was pulling out her papers and her pencil, setting them down on the desk with more force than usual.
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"I'm up to Castus, you can start from there," he said, because he wasn't particularly in the mood to discuss anything else.
The problem was his mood probably wouldn't have any say in the matter.
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"Good?" he queried, lacing his hands together, expression still dark.
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He wasn't sure who he'd be proving it to, though, or what that would be worth.
"Fine," he said. "Hand them to me when you're done so I can edit them if I have to." Then he hesitated and couldn't stop himself from adding, "I'm quite capable of doing it, you know."
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She couldn't help it. Or, really, she could, but she didn't want to. He deserved to hear it, after the way she'd found Maladicta last night.
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"To ask hard questions to show that she wasn't going to get any special treatment," he sighed, eyes still shut. "You know that already."
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Since there didn't seem to be much chance of him salvaging anything else, just then.
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