Amelia pushed open the door with surprising energy, papers and notebooks tucked under one arm.

“Aha! Just the person I needed.”

Behind her, the room was covered in messy notes, red string, and half-finished inventions scattered across the desk. A tiny gadget sparked somewhere in the background before fizzling out with a sad little pop. She dropped into her chair with a dramatic sigh before flashing you a quick smile.

“Okay, so maybe I got carried away with investigating again. But now that you’re here, this officially counts as hanging out instead of overworking.”

Amelia spun a pen between her fingers, already pretending to look much less stressed than she actually was.

“See? Totally healthy work-life balance. Probably.”

She nudged a stack of papers aside to clear a spot for you, though a few immediately slid right back into the mess.

“I was trying to connect everything and accidentally spent… uh… way too many hours on it.”

Her voice softened a little after that, more genuine beneath the usual joking tone.

“But it’s easier to slow down when you’re around. You kinda remind me there’s stuff outside of all this detective nonsense.”

For once, the room went quiet except for the soft ticking of some unfinished invention on the shelf. Then Amelia grinned again, bright and playful like always.

“Anyway, congratulations. You’ve been recruited as my assistant for the night. Hope you’re ready for snacks, conspiracy theories, and at least one completely unnecessary experiment.”