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 Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:17 am
To Nathaniel Jacobson Nathaniel,
One of the staff members has requested assistance with the labeling and organization of various herbs for certain diseases. Since I cannot help her myself, I have suggested you instead. You are a capable young man with knowledge of certain things in this area, so please report to the lab directed on the back of this note as soon as possible. My apologies for asking on such short notice and not in person.
Do a good job.
Head of the Science Devision
As per the usual, his bag was slung over his shoulder, but instead of a sweatshirt, he wore a shirt more appropriate for meeting a teacher. Not quite button-down, but appropriate enough to not look like he walked in off the streets. His hair, already getting annoyingly long, was pulled back into a small tight ponytail, but despite this, his bangs continuously refused such treatment and hung over his face, frequently getting into his emerald eyes. And as with all proper manners, he would knock before entering. So knock he did, before opening the door enough to make himself visible.
"Excuse me," he said as he stepped into the room and looked around for who he was sent to help today.
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Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:45 am
The woman Nathaniel was sent to help was, for the first time in her duration at the school, dressed well.
She wore women's black slacks over dress boots (shoes were still out of the question), topped by a black collared tee over a white undershirt; her equally black hair was in a loose ponytail, her usually sideswept bangs arched to frame her strong jaw. Turning to face the youth, Alex smiled, waving him over. "Hey," she greeted him in a kind and informal manner. Bright green eyes shifted between the bottle in her hand and the boy, her thumb tracing over the label; it was lackidaisical, but it was a nervous tick for her.
"I'm Alex, I assume Professor Veilwood sent you to help?" Her inquiry was polite, as she really didn't know Ardanay as anything more than the Head of the Science department. She was loathe to ask for help to begin with, but when it concerned Kenth's items, she wasn't quite so staunch in her stubborn nature. Even she was not above doing things right at the cost of her own pride.
She took a step to the side, revealing a small box full of bottles and even smaller boxes with minimal labeling. "These came in for Doctor Kenth, and while I'm not a complete dimwit in the way of herbology," she held up the bottle within her palm, showing that it had no label, "I'm not familiar with all herbs. Especially in liquid and powder form. It seems they had some heat issues shipping all these, and those da-...rn labels just weren't sticky enough."
Could she possibly be more uncomfortable? Stiff and formal clothing, check. Pounding headache, check. Heated herbs, double check. Keeping her language and temper in check? That had yet to be seen. Bending her pride for her not-so-secret crush? That check was going to be the death of her.
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Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:12 pm
Stepping more into the room, he was surveying the situation before she truly had time to describe it. Already he could see the fatality things were facing and worried that perhaps he was slightly lacking in this department. However, he was prideful and would do his best. He too could not possibly know everything, but he had to know quite a bit, seeing as a lot of herbs were very good for medicines and in turn... poisons. Smiling in that polite and meagerly obedient manner of his, he introduced himself, "Yes. My name is Nathaniel. Nathaniel Jacobson."
From her looks, he could already assume she probably didn't want to shake hands. Especially seeing as she was already nose deep in bottles that lacked labeling. Adjusting the strap of his messenger bag around his shoulder, he stepped towards the bottles and surveyed them all and then the room. Worse came to worse he would have to go get some books. Gently, though not too forwardly to show that he was still most certainly under her command, he lifted one of the bottles from the boxes and looked at it critically.
"Professor Veilwood did send me to help yes. He didn't tell me the assignment, but from what I can tell, you'd like me to help you relabel these herbs?" He looked up at the woman with bright green eyes, sharp and inquisitive as he held out the bottle to her. Clearly he liked to be set on track before doing anything. Rules and order were an important matter in such tasks, and Nat was loathe to do a bad job. Besides, it would be good training and research for the certain things he didn't know yet; of these he was sure he'd see quite a few of today.
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:42 pm
Alex could have jumped for joy; at least this one was polite! Quite a far cry from the angsty blonde that had helped her before! With a smile, she nodded to his inquiry, moving around the young man and pulling open one of the cabinets. "He already has some of these, so if all else fails, just match how it looks. He has books here too if you think it'll be necessary."
She walked around to the opposite side of the box, putting the bottle in her hand down and grabbing another vial. Her expression darkened slightly at the contents, which appeared to be nothing more than dried leaves, but she had been quite intimate with them before. "Hey, Nathaniel?" she had to say his name a little slowly, sincerely trying to be of good standing but finding it difficult. "How's your penmanship?" She paused, before adding bluntly, "Would you mind writing the labels?"
Did he have to know the real reason why she was asking? Of course not. Alex would make sure no one got that close again. That Scyeth kid had been enough for her to want to chew nails over asking for help from anyone.
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:08 pm
Authority over anything else. It barely mattered what she asked of him for today Nathaniel was willing to do almost anything for the sake of pride and reputation. So when she stalked around looking at vials, he took a chance to do a quick stock of the damage inevitably at hand. This was right before she moved to the box and lifted one of the said vials into her hand's and asked him a question. Simple though it was, and curious though many might be, Nathaniel had no desire to ask. Frankly, he didn't care. Besides, she could have simply told him to do it but instead she had asked. And for some reason, that meant something. It was far more polite than most he had met.
This would be a good experience, he was sure of it. And so, moving a bit of his ever-growing hair from his eyes, he nodded brightly, "I have no opposition to writing the labels, not at all." Canting his head to the side ever so slightly, he began leafing through a few of the worst labeled and most familiar looking bottles. He was careful and meticulous before finally picking up one and examining it. There was a slight sense of fascination as he tried to remember the properties of said plant, forgetting for a moment he was supposed to be helping. Oh well, he didn't know where the fresh labels were anyway.
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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:59 am
The woman smiled widely as Nathaniel accepted, giving a grateful nod of her head before moving back towards the door. Deftly picking up a folder she had left by it, she riffled through the papers, withdrawing several sheets of blank labels, two notepads and two pens. "Here we go. Anything else, you think?" Alex inquired good naturedly, returning to the box of mishaps and putting the items down. "Labels, notepads to write down the stuff we know so we can keep track...simple enough, I hope!"
Picking up the vial she had frowned at before, she put it in front of him, writing in a foreign tongue on her own notepad. "Lunatis pneum. Luna's Breath." She looked visibly annoyed at the vial, as though it had offended her somehow, tearing her eyes away to observe the rest of the box. "I hope that's the only one." A pause. "Thank goodness none of them broke."
Alex cynically wondered what would happen if that particular vial had cracked. No doubt some errant shipping boy would have the beating of a life time coming his way. With an unpleasant chuckle, she glanced over to Nathaniel, curious to the teen's expression while viewing the substances.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:21 pm
It didn't take him much time to accommodate himself to the work setup here. In fact, he already had his notebook open and was recording a few things in a simplistic manner. On top of that, he'd grabbed a reference book and had it open to a page with some of the more common herbs on it. He wasn't sure what sort would come into Shinkami, but he was sure some of them would be familiar to him. After all, he wasn't completely lost with this sort of task. Far from it in fact. The only problem was that he just wasn't an expert.
Scrawling out a label for the Luna's Breath, he placed it neatly on the vial and set it gently aside. He too quickly examined it for cracks first though and then went to taking notes in his own book. His, however, were in very clear and proper English. He raised an eyebrow as he lifted up one of the next vials, narrowing his eyes a little. Oenanthe? The extremely poisonous water dropworts? That was definitely odd. He flipped the pages of the book next to him, double checking that he was correct, found that he was, and scrawled up a label.
"It would be very unpleasant for any of these to have broken, especially if the school is importing things as dangerous as oenanthe and whatnot," and yet, as he spoke of these things, there seemed to be a slight gleam in his eyes. This herb in particular had roots poisonous enough to kill something as big as a cow, or so he'd read. (He'd never gotten to see it for himself.) He wondered what kind of wonders it would work on a foreign species. Storing the thought away for later, he picked up and examined the next vial, continuing his task.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:49 pm
The gleam did not go unnoticed by the older woman, her own expression free of the unease she felt at it. That? That was creepy. No one should be so excited by deadly plants, or at least as far as she was concerned, certainly not interested. Alex had to remind herself that it was for Kenth's catalogue to begin with, and that was the only reason that she herself was handling the unpleasant things. You had to know your disease to treat it, right? Sounded good enough.
"Yeah," she muttered, eyeing some Thyme, "we'd have an island rampant with diseases and the cure for 'em." She wrote the item down for inventory and put it aside - it was one of the few that was still with a proper label - and pulled out a bottle with vibrant pink flowers. Alex knew this one well, as it was one of the few things that had helped her to keep her health during her travels. "Echinacea," she offered to Nat as she handed the bottle over.
She was quiet for a moment before curiosity got the better of her. "So you must be pretty herb-savvy," she commented off-handedly, "for the Head to have you come help. That's pretty cool, not many students would be so knowledgable. What are you in for?" Of course, she meant the school, but even she had a hard time of breaking old habits from days of travel and wanderlust. It probably didn't help that her migrane was bad enough she thought her eyes were going to bleed.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:48 pm
Thoughts whirled themselves around and around in his head before he felt dizzy. Still, his toxic green eyes couldn't help from practically glowing with all the substances at his very fingertips. He barely noticed when she handed him a via. For a moment he just stared at it, confused, and then it dawned upon him: labels. Right. That's why he was here. So what kind of crazy kid was he? The kind that liked dangerous materials. The kind that liked things highly poisonous and deadly. Yes. That kind. And proud of it. Writing neatly on a little label, he placed it around the Echinacea vial and then looked over another in his general proximity.
That was when she spoke again and he looked up, tilting his head a little. The polite smile crossed his lips, a prideful one, "I'm not extremely knowledgeable, but I suppose it's enough for this task... oh uh... in for?" He paused, looking dumbstruck for a moment before he grasped what she was trying to ask, "Do you mean what I intend to study here?" His eyes simmered down a little, drowning out to their emerald green instead of the sharp inquisitive radioactive kind they'd been before. His eyes had a way of betraying the emotion inside him, but never deep enough to truly reveal anything of importance.
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:13 pm
A faint chuckle escaped her, light and musical. "Hey, if you were an expert, you'd be a teacher and not a student. Although," she added consideringly, "I bet you'll know more than all the teachers by the time you're out of here. Seems to be the way of things." Alex didn't bother to expand on her strange and convulted thought process, instead picking up another vial and eyeing the contents. Yellow flower, green stalk; she was unfamiliar with this one.
Riffing through one of Kenth's books, she nodded at the inquiry. "Mmhmm, what's your field of study?" She gave him a brief glance before she found the item she was looking for in the book, giving a short crow of triumph. "Tetterwort," she scribbled down the common name, followed by the proper one that the doctor would probably prefer, "Chelidonium, oooor...greater celandine? Jeez, why don't these things just have a name everyone can figure out?"
English language, oh how she hated thee. She used the language out of necessity, and even then she didn't fully grasp it. Alex was more inclined to use the latin names, but she'd prefer not to, if not only because she'd fall into old speech patterns that were definitely not of the English persuasion. The woman shrugged and handed the herb over, continuing their work.
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Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:07 pm
Politely listening to the woman talk, he managed to label two or three more vials that he knew as she spoke. His ability to multitask was rather interesting. On one level of thought he could very easily go between all the notes he needed to write, but at the same time, if he so chose, he could listen to someone speak. However, the latter was not a fond hobby of his. Rather it was an acquired skill his father demanded he have.
'If you neglect someone while they speak, they will be insulted. However if you let them distract you from your work too long, you will never meet any deadlines. Be sure to balance them properly Nathaniel,' his father had told him. Though he didn't let it show on his face, he wanted to frown at some of his father's silly antics. All of that was perfectionism at it's best. No wonder Mother had been so lenient. It was simply that she was normal where Father had been so strict.
But now that didn't matter. They were dead... he would grow into his own person. Take their lessons and live. And so when she finished her commentary, he paused in his work to give her his full attention, ignoring the rules he'd been previously following. A short pause to make sure she knew he was listening was sufficient enough to stop working for.
"If they were easy to figure out, then the world would be a simple place. Isn't that rather boring, Ms. Alex?" he said with a polite smile and a c**k of his head as he went on, "I'm here to study poisons. To create the ultimate one as our most impressive biological weapon." His voice seemed to fill with pride and excitement at the very idea. If he wasn't full of perfect composure, he probably would've been shaking with joy at the concept of the words he spoke so surely.
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:52 am
It was, perhaps, best that Alex could not hear Nathaniel's thoughts. Having lost two pairs of parents herself, including her older sibling, the woman knew well the suffering of loss and being alone. Never in her life had she any ill will towards anyone who did not deserve it honestly, nor would she understand the teen's angst.
"Just Alex. And no," she politely disagreed, scratching down a few more known vials, "I would take boring and clear over complicated anyday." It was her opinion, and be damned if she wasn't entitled to it. The woman, no matter how young she was, had been through enough to determine she would have liked a simple, normal life. Or at least that those around her be honest and straight-forward, unlike a certain white-haired doctor that drove her half out of her mind with his mixed signals--
Alex blinked down at her paper, having stopped at the teen's next words. Her eyes turned to him abruptly, and she could not keep the disbelief and mild distaste off her face. "Really." The one word was dry, devoid of any influence or thought. There was much, oh so much she could have said, but she really didn't want to get fired for bad-mouthing a teenager, nor did she believe anything she'd say would reach the kid. He was just too damn weird.
"Enjoying the school?" A polite question. No more personal ones. He was unnerving her enough she wasn't certain she wanted to know more. As it were, Alex was counting her lucky stars that she was in the soldier division of the school and would likely not have to help the student develop his unfathomable goal.
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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:20 pm
Ah. Another one. Another 'Just this...' person. Nathaniel mentally frowned; he got rather irritated by the request. If someone was quite obviously his elder in status or age, they deserved a title. Single names were for peers and ... friends. Well, for Jaden at least. But Jaden got a nickname. Anyway, he had to be a gentleman and oblige the request, however silly he may have thought it was. Smiling a bit half-heartedly he listened to her speak. Boring and clear? That seemed a little too simple. Far too simplistic for him in fact. He would much have rathered to waste his entire life away on one very difficult problem, so that perhaps he wouldn't have time to contemplate the tragedies of his youth. To put it as miserably as possible.
Frowning with a curious tilt of his head as she seemed to become unhappy with something he'd said, he turned back to the vials a little put off. Was something he'd said silly? Was it weird to want to create a poison? A chemical for his revenge? The potion of his ambitions? It would be comparable to finding the 'Fountain of Youth', he supposed. Apparently she didn't think much of his 'dream'. And so she changed the subject as he began to scrawl more names on the vials she handed him and the vials he picked up himself.
"Yes, very much so," he answered devoid of any real opinion on the matter. Perhaps it would be safer to keep personal ideals out of the conversation now that she seemed put off.
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Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:54 am
His answer to her questions and no offered words of his own let her drift back into silence, focusing on her work. She did not like titles, especially those that had no bearing on anything; the woman hadn't studied to be anything worth tacking a title to her name, and took it as an afront to assume otherwise. Doctors, lawyers, teachers...let them have their titles. She was 'just Alex' and quite frankly, she preferred it that way.
Alex had her own share of animosity towards the invasion years ago - older than Nathaniel at the time to fully absorb the magnitude of what was lost - but she had never thought of such a terrible thing to make. A biological weapon...something used for destruction. But of what? Surely anything used would be turned against them, just as it had the first time. And if that happened again, there would be no survivors.
She realized she was staring hard at a vial in her hand, not really seeing it, lost in her own thoughts. The woman blinked and glanced to the box, relieved to see it was near empty. "Good job," she offered off-handedly, "we're almost done. The doctor would thank you, if he was inclined to do such a thing."
Oops. So she was still sour. Somethings never changed.
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Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:56 am
Conversation was a fire that Nathaniel never seemed to feed. All fodder for such things was long dried up. Talking to people was a task that he never enjoyed. It consisted of people going back and forth about normally pointless things. There was no use for most things, except perhaps talking about hobbies or something. But wasn't that selfish? And so he spoke only when spoken to, and never inquired further than the boundary of himself. A closed in mind that would go no further than the wall ahead.
Vial after vial, label after label, he found himself accustoming to the task as well as various plants. Some of which he intended to research in his own times, others which he simply labeled and let go. It was a menial job that kept his mind occupied with a slight fascination. It was oddly enjoyable too and he found himself wondering not when it would run out, but if there was more that he could look over. Every single herb was far too interesting to just pass up!
"Hm," he said distantly as she commented on how they were nearly done. Smiling slightly to himself he nodded, "It's almost a shame... this is all so interesting." Was that Nat voicing his opinion? Why yes it was. "Ah it's... fine... I don't think I've ever met the doctor..."
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