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 Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2025 4:12 pm
Elias stayed late again, long after most of the students had left DCU behind to go home. It didn’t bother him, not one bit, because he needed to have everything graded and prepped for tomorrow. Keeping the class running smoothly despite the stragglers and less than enthused students, who were there just to fill a credit slot, took a lot of extra time. When he finally locked up his office and headed out through the natural sciences building to peek over some of the project boards that might be up from the Ornithology department. It wasn’t something he pursued professionally as his parents had, he hadn’t had the wherewithal to take risks and go out to new places they had, but he still enjoyed seeing what others did with their research. What caught him off guard was a flash of blue hair he saw, something that seemed so familiar as he turned the corner to follow. “Marissa?” The question came out hesitantly, given it had been so long since he’d seen her. He wasn’t sure what had happened but people came and went as they graduated and moved on to better places to work. Elias was comfortable, though financially he’d be lying if he gave that answer, it would take time to get up to the goals he wanted but DCU was also the safest route in his mind. But he never really had gotten close, just knew people in passing and remembered names. It was a bit odd to see someone reappear after so long though.
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Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2025 12:38 am
At first, she didn’t react. Marissa barely registered the voice at all, dismissing it like background noise, someone calling for a stranger. She didn’t even think to turn until something in the speaker’s tone made her pause. By then an awkward silence had stretched just long enough to be noticeable. Her name… Her name. That was why it didn’t register. Barely anyone called her that anymore since she rarely walked around Destiny City while glamoured. Masking her hesitation, she casually tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, mimicking the motion of removing an earbud and slipping it into her pocket. “Can I help you?” she asked as she turned towards the other person in the room. The familiar face hit her faster than the name had and to this, her surprise was genuine. “Elias!”She hadn’t seen him since college, and even then their connection had been one of proximity more than deep friendship, but they knew each other well enough to at least be considered a friendly acquaintance. Still, something about seeing him again in this place stirred an odd mix of nostalgia and curiosity. “Didn’t think I’d run into anyone I actually knew today,” she admitted, shifting her weight slightly. “What brings you back to DCU?” Marissa asked, already curious if this was just a random visit or if he had business here as she did.
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Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2025 7:07 pm
At first, he'd thought he'd been mistaken, it had been awhile, but then he felt relieved as they fully turned and called out to him. "I hadn't expected to see you either, I teach over in the math department. I come over this way to look at the Ornithology reports that get put up from time to time." Gesturing slightly back towards where he'd come from, there were just a few photos up right now as it wasn't the best time to see birds with how the weather had been lately. "I haven't seen you in a while, are you coming back to work on research? I thought you might've found a better-paying university if you wanted to stay in academia." It wasn't all great here in his opinion but he'd be damned if he didn't work at it and make his way to tenure. The benefits alone would be worth the hard work if he could survive long enough for them. "It's kind of late though, I'm only here because I needed to stay late to grade. Hopefully, you haven't been here all day working on things too." It was one thing for him to work long hours but he felt bad when others did.
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2025 7:15 pm
“Oh no,” she waved her hand almost dismissively. “I’ve only been here for about 20 minutes or so. Not long at all.” Enough time remaining until her glamour wore off and she’d need to leave for the Dark Kingdom before he found out about her secret. “But yeah, I’m here mostly for research purposes and you know… reliving those nostalgic memories of college days.” Marissa chuckled nervously, feeling kind of like she was out of practice with normal conversation and was fishing for answers while evading, or remaining vague, about certain topics. “I finished my degree in oceanography, but the company I’ve been working for has me on a research project that falls a bit outside my area of expertise and more within the realm of geology. So I came here to see what resources were available and to look at some mineral samples for comparison.” “The pay is decent and at least I get reimbursed costs for continued education.” Work was work, even if it wasn’t in the form of quotas or participating in Negaverse business ventures. Researching the Rift and its oddities, uncovering mysteries as they present themselves, it was at least relevant and she was afforded her own office space which is more like a mini-lab with display cases of peculiarities she’d brought back from her solo expeditions. “It’s a shame the cafeteria is likely closed by now. But if you’re done grading papers, maybe we can go to that cafe off campus, if it’s still open, and chat for a little bit.” She suggested just so they weren’t standing around in the hallway awkwardly and could sit for a bit.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 11:11 am
"Ah, that's a relief, at least," he sighed and checked his watch again. It was good to hear that someone was here for more pleasant reasons than working to get out of debt. "Oh, geology? That's not something I expected from you, but I guess if it pays well enough to cover things." It wasn't something he knew much of either, outside of how some birds preferred to gather certain stones over others, but even then, he only knew the names of things half the time. Thinking about it as she brought up the cafe, it took him more than a second to remember if it was, in fact, open or not. "Yes, I think it might be. I haven't been there in a while. I just come here to work and go home when I'm not out on those hiking trips of mine. Though it has been a while since I've been afforded the time off to take one." It was one of the many things he hated about his situation but he'd rather keep his nose to the grindstone and get by as he could for now. At least until he was lucky enough to get tenure or maybe offered a job that sounded at least half as decent financially as she might have. Shuffling his work bag so he could check to make sure he had his wallet, he figured he could afford a cup of coffee before pay day. "If you're done looking into things, we can head over. No rush, though. I don't mind waiting if you need to check a few more things."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 12:11 pm
“Honestly, I can come back at a later date. Nothing I’m working on is time-sensitive.” However, it has been a long while since she had checked in with either General Kin Axenite or Queen Laurelite with an update on her progress. But neither of them had requested a progress report and a glance in her office would reveal an expanding collection that it probably wasn’t necessary. “I only have about an hour before I need to get back to my lab.” If only she’d used the sample of ore she received from Almadal then perhaps she’d have a longer time to chat. But at least her glamour restrictions gave her an out if the conversation became uncomfortable or awkward. “Do you need to lock up your office, or anything? Or are you good to head over there now?”
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 8:36 pm
Sounded easier, if the project might not be as time-sensitive. Honestly, it sounded like a dream to him. Tenure was his goal here, but even then, there was the endless flow of deadlines and planning that he'd always have to deal with. "I locked up before heading this way. I can't have anyone trying to sneak in and change their test answers or poke around for the answer key. It hasn't happened yet but I figure if the opportunity came up, at least some students would take it." Shaking his head a bit, he started walking towards one of the side exits. "Well, just coffee should be alright if you only have an hour. Maybe you can tell me about what you're working on?" If it was geology, it might not make much sense to him, but he was still curious about what they were working on. He made sure to keep a slower pace, trying not to get too far ahead of her.
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2025 2:50 am
"I'd like that!" Though she offered him a smile, Marissa felt her insides twist into knots. A part of her expected, if not hoped, that he had other obligations since she had never rehearsed what it was she did for work. Consequences of not socializing more," she scolded herself. It is what it is... She'd just have to make sure she told only enough of the truth that if he asked again later, she could at least be consistent with her replies. "I know I probably don't need to explain this part, but you're familiar with minerals that conduct electricity, such as: copper, nickel, and silver, to name a few. Mostly metals." Basic chemistry everyone learned back in high school. "Then there are minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite, that are crucial to battery performance and longevity in electric vehicles, so on and so forth." Marissa waved her hand almost dismissively because she knew that she was rambling. "Imagine for a moment there was a mineral that could not just conduct electricity, or energy, but could hold it. If lightning struck sand and created fulgurite, the mineral would retain that energy when collected." The mention of fulgurite brought to mind the movie Sweet Home Alabama. It'd been an age since she last watched it, but she remembered the male main character would put poles in the sand to use as tethers to create the fulgurite, which he later turned into art pieces. However, those looked much different than the actual clumps of fossilized lightning. "Well, a few years ago, an acquaintance had gifted me a unique ore. He was rather secretive about it and gave no clue where he found it. It looks similar to obsidian, a black stone that's smooth, but has an impressive hardness to it." Not as fragile as the aforementioned mineral. "It's not a piezoelectric crystal either; it doesn't change shape. However, when he gave it to me, I could feel that it retained energy like when you put your hand on an old TV and know it's still on despite the screen being blank.""Although my company has allocated funds for me to have a lab of my own and it might be possible for me to create a synthetic version with the equipment I have access to. I've been hesitant to do any tests on my only sample and have been searching for more ore or a vein I could harvest if it's like granite or marble. But I haven't had much success." "So, I decided to start back at my roots and try to look at this from a different perspective, which was why I was here." All mostly true so far.
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