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You know what? You want this shift to be done and over with. You're not going to push yourself too hard. You let them drag you over to a nearby chair so they can 'inspect' you. You're fine, really, but you doubt they'll take no for an answer.
You've <span class="mu-s">endured</span> worse, at any rate.
Ashton lifts up your shirt to examine your chest. There's a cold glint in her eye as she inspects your body. This feels less like a medical examination and more like she's judging the grade of a piece of meat.
"c'mon, ashton, not now." She mutters guiltily.
"well, you got lucky. there's some swelling here, but you'll be fine. just...take it easy, okay?"
The <span class="mu-b">Man</span> concurs. Not that there's a lot of time left in this shift. You only respond with a grunt, more than ready to get this over with.
Ashton quickly wraps your chest with some of her bandage wrap.
>Your PHYSICAL HEALTH is now <span class="mu-b">DOING FINE!</span>
"Alright." You launch out of your chair the moment she's done. "We're going to wrap things up here. I'm ready for this fucking shift to be over with."
What, you didn't enjoy getting your bones crushed by a giant baseball bat? The <span class="mu-b">Man</span> rolls his eyes, clearly just trying to rile you up.
"yeah...yeah, i uh. please tell me you're not going to work on any more anomalies today."
"I won't. We'll check on some samples or something." You briefly glance at the <span class="mu-b">Man</span>. You gesture at the computer, silently asking him what was going on with it. Openly addressing him isn't a great idea since, well, Ashton can't see him.
The <span class="mu-b">Man</span> quickly picks up on what you're trying to ask. He explains that the error message radically changed while you and Ashton were inside its containment cell. He wrote down a whole list of the various ways the error screen manifested itself.
He'll give you the paper after the shift's over with, since he assumes you already have something in mind. He will note that the error screen <span class="mu-b">stopped appearing after you two shot the anomaly</span>, but he didn't have enough time to research anything. His attention was elsewhere.
"It's fine. You did your best." You whisper, trying your best to not look insane in front of Ashton. "Okay. We're going to cook some food, study some samples, and then we're gone. Ashton, do you know how to cook?"
"a little! i'm probably the only one in my squad who actually KNOWS how to cook. imagine that, you know?" She said it with the cadence of a joke, but you don't get what the 'joke' was meant to be. "oh, wait, that's what the wine is for, huh?"
"Mmh hmm."
You set up the grill with the help of your two coworkers. This isn't your first time cooking with this weird wine, so, ideally, you'll make something better this time around. Time to use up some of this old spam.
Ashton gags as you crack open a can of spam. You catch another brief glance of her sharp teeth before she hides them again. "eugh. THAT'S what you used??? spam??? really???"
"What? What's wrong with spam?"
