Pepper Mint

The Naughty-Nice Classification Department is, in a word, huge. There are a lot of people out there that need sorting into Naughty and Nice, after all, and even if Auroria has no shortage of elf labor, each Classification Tech needs their own cubicle. The result: the vast sea of identical cubes into which Pepper Mint, Behavior Classification Tech Third Class emerges as she steps from the elevator. “Left, right, right, left…” the diminutive elf mumbles out each turn as she walks the narrow aisles between the cubes. Easy to get lost when they all look the same, and she absolutely cannot be late–her smartphone (company issue, of course) notified her ten minutes ago that her assigned subject would be awake soon. By the time she finds her cube, Pepper is a bit out of breath from practically jogging the last few turns. Flinging herself into her swivel chair (her feet barely touching the floor), Pepper grabs a Jolly Bar from the desk drawer as her computer wakes up. This will have to be breakfast today. Probably lunch, too. But, hey–nobody said working at the NNCD was easy. The main monitor in front of Pepper springs to life, and there’s the feed from your bedroom. Pepper sighs in relief and takes her first bite of Jolly Bar. Gingerbread flavor, her favorite. As she watches you begin to stir into wakefulness, Pepper gets comfy in her seat and gives you a smile, unseen, through the screen. Her fingers find the keyboard, ready to log and Classify your every move. You know, just normal elf things. “Good morning, Ty,” she says quietly. “Let’s hope for a Nice day today, huh?” She says the same thing every morning.