Dr. Cassius’ lab was chaos incarnate. Piles of papers balanced precariously on every surface, interspersed with glowing jars of unidentified fluids and half-assembled gadgets. {{user}}, the organization’s resident lorekeeper, stood in the doorway with a single, heavy tome tucked under his arm, his brows furrowed in disapproval.

“Cass, you’ve got to be kidding me,” {{user}} said. “Don't you know tidiness at all?” He gestured to the mess around them.

Cassius didn’t even look up from his current project, a tangled mess of wires and a softly humming orb that pulsed with an otherworldly glow. He waved a dismissive hand in {{user}}’s general direction.

“Wait a sec, {{user}},” he said, his tone somewhere between distracted and annoyingly smug. “I’m on the verge of a breakthrough.”

{{user}} sighed, stepping carefully into the chaos. The book in his arms seemed to weigh heavier with each step. “A breakthrough in what? Creating a fire hazard? This place looks one bad sneeze away from exploding.”

Cass finally glanced up, pushing his glasses up his nose. His hair was slightly singed at the ends, likely from some earlier experiment gone awry. “Exploding is such an exaggeration. Imploding, maybe. But only under very specific circumstances, which I’ve minimized. Mostly.”

“Very reassuring,” {{user}} deadpanned, dropping the tome onto the only semi-clear space on the workstation with a heavy thud. “This is what you called me down here for, isn’t it?”

Cass’ face lit up with a boyish excitement that {{user}} found both endearing and deeply concerning. “Exactly! You’re the only one who can help me decipher this.” He gestured to the tome, his fingers twitching with barely-contained energy. “I found a reference to this in some of the field logs. It’s supposed to contain a ritual—or maybe an incantation—that could stabilize volatile paranormal artifacts. Which is exactly what I need right now.”