Dana exits the elevator door, eyes buried in a pile of interoffice memos. Fifty-six steps forward, quick right, thirty-two steps, a left, and another right, and she's in her office.
And she's face to face with the beard.
"Scully!" it greets, too heartily, as it spits (and misses) another sunflower seed into the wastebasket. "How was your vacation?"
Dana blinks. "Um, fine." She mimes pulling bubble gum out of her mouth. "What's with the...?"
"Oh this," Mulder echoes her motion, shrugs, and spins his chair around. "Nothing. Just playing.
"Say," he continues, "did you hear about the one with the cow and the machine gun?" Up until this moment, Dana has had nothing but contempt for the rubberneckers who line the freeways around DC, but now, she finds she can't look away, either.
The beard gesticulates wildly, expounds vehemently on its subject matter, and occasionally chews up and spits out more sunflower seeds. (Scully spares a second to idly wonder why someone who eats as many seeds as Mulder does still can't seem to hit the trashcan consistently.) She can't stop watching it, it's mesmerizing, and Dana only comes back to herself when she hears her name.
"Earth to Scully!" Mulder waves his hand in front of her eyes. She blinks again. "So, you with me, or what?"
"Uh, yes, sure, of course." Dana curses her one-track mind, as Mulder continues. "Great, then you can start doing the mummy research, and I'll get in contact with this guy I know..."