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 Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:50 pm
"I can see that having an audience to your game would be troublesome." To which Melvin looked up over the rim of his goggles to look at her. He looked back down at her paperwork. "Would you be bored, if you win? You two seem to have been playing this game for a while, right? You're both risking a lot and spending time working to not get caught."
Turning a page, he continued to read. "Do you have any sort of prototype golems yet or just research before going into production?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:34 am
"It's all just research as of yet. I want everything to be perfect before I approach the Doctor with my work. Once he approves what I have in mind, I'll work with the techs to see what they can come up with. With the Doctor's permission, I'll have a small team work for me."
The smile she flashed was genuine. She became more animated when talking about her work and research, more passionate.
Her excitement waned slightly when Sasha replied to his questions about Rep.
"It isn't as if we spend every waking hour at one another's throats."
She paused.
"What was your childhood like, Melvin? Did you live a normal sort of life?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:40 am
"You have a very high opinion of Doctor H." Melvin noted, still reading. That was until a question was directed at him. Eyes narrowing, he looked back up at her. Since the line of questioning had been about her and Rep, he had to wonder why this one was suddenly thrown out.
"I grew up in a normal enough environment to be well adjusted considering I saw shadows since my childhood." Melvin heard Saliva snicker in his head which caused him to mentally frown at her.
He offered her the paperwork, suddenly no longer as interested as before. "Why do you ask?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:46 am
"I admire the Doctor. He's what I aspire to be. He's opened my eyes in many very different ways, and I credit him for all of my successes since arriving here on the island."
Sasha was quiet for a long time, watching Melvin carefully before she spoke again.
"Nothing about my life was normal. Rep's, either. I think our similarities start there. It is also this difference between you and I that makes it more difficult for you to understand why we do what we do."
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:50 am
"Did you have a parent that didn't care? Did you live on the streets popping drugs and drinking just to handle your life?" Melvin was curious as to what type of background she had. "I know a lot about Rep. I might not understand every aspect of him, but I am interested." He picked up his coffee again.
"What did the Doctor help you see, Sasha?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:57 am
Sasha let out a low bark of laughter, shaking her head.
"It's private, and personal. I don't like to talk about my upbringing."
She put the pencil down on the desk and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I know a lot about Rep, too. Probably more than anyone on the island. We're cut from a very, very similar mold, we merely handle ourselves in different ways.
She narrowed her eyes.
"The Doctor has always been very honest and upfront with me. He procured something for me that I needed very much at the time. I have broken his trust only once, and it is something I will never do again. He is a man who knows what he wants, and he knows how to take it - either directly or through subterfuge. What did he help me see?"
A slow, terrible smile curved her lips.
"That I was capable of accomplishing anything that I might put my mind to."
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:04 am
"Any poster in a 3rd grade classroom can tell you that." Melvin commented, drinking some more coffee and submitting that it had gone too cold to drink. He set it aside again.
His opinion of Dr. H was not turning any rosier the more and more he talked to Sasha. "If Dr. H takes what he wants regardless of the method, don't you feel he could be using you for whatever he wants without any care of how he goes about it? I didn't take you as the tool type."
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:20 am
"It doesn't matter. I can handle being a cog in some greater scheme. Aren't we, already? The salvation of humankind or some other such bullshit," Sasha waved her hand.
"I was never in any classroom, so I've never seen such a poster," Sasha responded slowly, lips tightening.
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:31 am
Melvin watched her lips tightening. "Even cogs can turn production in one direction or another, or slow and speed it up. There is still some control." He said, not wanting to be associated as a mindless tool without any sort of power in the grand scheme of things.
As for her little morsel of information, he continued on. "No such classroom? If you're like Rep, I doubt homeschooling. So either no schooling at all, which is surprising if you can come up with this level of research or something else." He was making assumptions out loud, wondering if she would bother correcting him.
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:38 am
"I had home-schooling." She tilted her head, but said nothing more on the topic.
"I think that the Death department would be able to utilize these golems in the field for short-term recon, like I said. They're created to self-destruct in the field after a set amount of time, as well, which will leave no trace of our equipment."
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:41 am
"Homeschooling? I thought you were like Rep in your childhood. I guess you had one nice Mom or Dad?" He continued to press despite how short she was with her answers.
"The golems, despite small, would start getting a bit pricey I imagine, but if Death saw them as a great tool, then you're own budget would greatly increase. I do like projects that benefit the other departments. I'm currently working to help assist the Moons at the moment. Would you like to see?"
He gestured to the door, picking up his mug.
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:46 am
"I don't know how homeschooling equates to one single gentle parent."
She loathed the way that she felt prodded and poked at, like some sort of experiment. However, she did very much like the aspect of learning more about Melvin's research.
Maybe if he was talking more about his project, he would ask less about her history.
"Lead the way."
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:52 am
Melvin knew she was being shorter, and wanted her to keep talking. Research was one part of it. The other part was understanding that Sasha had pointed out he would never get. It sounded like a very nice challenge.
"Oh, so you're parent or parents were not kind when they taught you? I just assumed since Rep's own mother wasn't really there that your parents weren't either. I'm sorry." He wasn't.
He lead the way through the turns, carts, and misplaced machines in the hallways before he turned to the right and opened the door to his lab. "Not my own office, but a shared lab space as I work on my own project."
The lab was larger than her small office, but it was meant for a group. Since he got the workspace in the afternoon and night, and being the only person working on his project, he got the entire place to himself. Several books, binders, and his tablet were set at a tablet neatly and with the same order as Sasha herself exhibited. A wall of tanks with minipets dozed in the back under specific light settings and a machine was set in the middle of the room.
"Oh, they finally brought it over. Good." He shut the door after Sasha and walked over, pushing the machine, which stood all the way up to Melvin's stomach, and pushed it over to a outlet to plug it in.
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:02 am
Sasha was not stupid, and she knew when she was being baited. She refrained from commenting on his apology and his assumptions, instead moving forward to peer at the machine that Melvin had approached. Her eyes were bright with interest, and she offered him a slight smile.
"What is it? You have so much room in here. I don't even know what I would do with all this room," she let out a low, humorless laugh as she shook her head.
Sasha fell silent and gazed around the room, rather pointedly ignoring the other topic.
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:15 am
"A very long name even I have trouble saying. It gives a Fear readout. Usually the other departments, especially weapons research, hoard these machines. They're really valuable and they have about 2 machines they have on a wait list to even borrow. Waited 2 weeks before I found out it was coming today. I need it to record the fear that's being emitted when a runiced artifact is activated and not activated. I'm hoping I can use this one machine to do it. If not, then I'll have to bribe the techs in weapons development to help me." He pushed it against the wall and waited. "I still have to wait for the one tech to show up to supervise. They won't just let me poke at it even when I read up on how to use the machine."
As he waited for the machine to warm up, he walked over to clean the coffee mug in the sink. "My work is on the table on the binders. I'm also doing some research before I start on testing. Right now, I've just been using my own artifact."
He continued to clean.
"This lab is used by a bigger team in the morning. I just have it for the afternoon and evening. We still have tanks not being used. If you don't have room in your own office, I wouldn't mind you using some of the empty tanks or shelves. I know you'll keep them orderly."
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