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"Young," he supplied simply from where he was sitting at his desk, attention directed down at the notebook he was currently writing in. He seemed entirely unbothered by the fact she didn't know his last name. He was secure in where they stood with each other, and formality had never been a facet of their friendship.

He kept writing for about two minutes longer, finishing off his thought, before setting the pen down and turning enough to look up at her. "What's shaking, girl?" She looked much the same as she always did. Tiny, but with attitude and personality enough to fill the room. It had the effect of making her appear less dainty.

Or maybe that was the hair.

"Thats what I said," he countered smoothly, folding his hands over his stomach as he sank down comfortably in his chair. "Work space, office, whatever." It didn't matter what it was called, the point was that it was his. His own space, dedicated to his work.

Sure, Harley and Lex helped, but it was still his name on the plaquered.

Under the microscope had been a water sample. Nothing terribly interesting there. The paper had been research notes, but under that were a stack of pictures of glowing runes on dark, wet walls.

Behind him, to the right of the desk, a runic tank. The inhabitant not currently obvious.

He reached out to collect the discarded photos without complaint and wordlessly straightened them and tucked them into a folder. Thankful, in that moment, that he'd had the forethought to label the backs of them so they could be easily sorted.

"Fear research, underwater specific." He didn't think it'd strike her fancy, but that was fine. It interested him plenty.

In the tank was a maidmer. Small and gangly, it approached the side of the tank as she wandered closer to it, small hands pressing into the glass, as it peered out at them. On the upper left hand corner of the tank was a lable reading "taco".

"Lex named it." Zeke didn't really care, but he wasn't going to change it after giving the junior trainee naming rights. That just seemed like a d**k move. He glanced at the mini, lips curled in something that wasn't quite a frown, but wasn't a smile either. "I don't think it cares either way."

He looked back at the Death at her observation and shrugged. "It lines up with what I'm working with quite a bit, so I'm sure we'll end up working together again." The more they explored Atlantis, the more information Zeke could gather on the former residence, and current specimens. It was a win win.

"What about you, you thinking of a specialty?"

"He's the fifteen year old with the pistol weapon," he counted smoothly, amused. "Actually kinda looks like me, superficially." Skin tone, hair, pale eyes. "Are you thinking of Zane?" Who else had a beard? He lifted a hand to feel the stubble along the side of his jaw. "Or maybe me?" This was said along with the Life sitting up and leaning forward in his chair, grinning at the petite woman.

"Recruitment seems like something you'd be good at. Have you mentioned it to your lead?" There was a beat, wherein he remembered who the Death lead was. "Or maybe Edith, or Lance." His lips twisted thoughtfully before he sat back in his chair again. "Anyone and everyone you think might be able to point you in the right direction."

"At some point," he agreed, smiling up at her. "He's one of the hunters that got. Bumped back down to mid teens. There's a lot of them running around. They even assigned one to me to be the guardian of. Apparently she's a pain in the a**, but I haven't seen it yet. Wild, I guess, but seems to have a good attitude for this place." It was still a little surreal to him, being responsible for a kid, but since she was his job shadow in the infirmary it took some of the weirdness out if it.

He snorted, amused, at the bottom of Caelius being helpful. "If you want to get thrown out a window, maybe. Or need someone to help you off yourself." The Death lead was, as far as he was concerned, off his rocker.

"You should do it though, the recruiting thing. You'd be good at it."