[FIN] Crack the glass [ Lex & Tambrey]

[Gwennythe]

"I'm... honestly not sure how to respond to that." Tambrey replied with a grin. She understood, but the way he'd just worded it was, again, kind of humorous.

"Ah. Well. Yes, but, um, the current composition is always green. Had you picked Perceptor up next week, though..." She gave an easy shrug "I suspect you'd have seen him enjoying a just slightly more 'blue' hue... There are a few tanks that legitimately currently need the solution swapped out for decontamination protocol though, that's true. Percy's is, um, actually one of them now you've picked him up."  

[Shaddaling]

"Any way you want, you really aren't going to insult me..." Lex looked about and nodded, making sure to lock his wheelchair before getting out and sitting down on the training room floor with a slight omph. "Alright then, I been looking for a way to get into the labs... would tank cleaning help?" He started to peel off his socks, bundling them up.

"Probably would work nicely on toning up my body." He did need to be working on recovering and should be focusing on getting more time in the labs, even if it wasn't doing experiments.  

[Gwennythe]

"Ah. Uh, well..." Tambrey considered the question. "You /do/ have familiarity with pigmentation genetics." She remembered that from a previous conversation. "It's not quite the detailed science background they, um, tend to go after, but grunt work is -always- necessary and pigmentation, or the, uh, unique editing of, is rather where Rocket's profits tend to show up a lot of the time... You'd have to, uh, work /really/ hard to pull yourself up into an Agent level with basic grunt work, and the standard genetics like that, but... Yes, uh, I can say for sure that tank cleaning would end up being quite a large duty portion if you became a lab grunt... You /could/ apply yourself to learning as much as you can and playing at science in your, uh, 'down time' or days off, that would likely help too."
Tambrey nodded a little; she'd had her university work to back her out, true credentials even if she'd abandoned the path for Rocket, yet she'd still had to prove herself through the grunt rank and given up a lot of time, her own time, to do so. She rather thought Lex could become a lab grunt, but she imagined he'd likely have quite a tough time without specialist qualifications backing him up.
"You'd have quite a climb," She emphasized "but that's on you to make it through, understanding how tough you'll have to be and, um, how much effort you'll have to put in... If you think you can do it, all I can tell you is to apply." The scientist said with a smile.
No matter what she thought, she wouldn't be making the decision; she certainly wasn't going to try to actively discourage him, but she did feel he ought to know how hard he would probably need to work compared to some 'over qualified' colleagues.

She wasn't going to comment on the 'exercise' point he'd made; the toning... As she'd experienced, lab work, and grunt lab work in particular, tended to run both body and mind rather ragged.  

[Shaddaling]

Lex listened as he shucked out of his sweat pants and then his shirt. He folded them up, setting the bundle in the seat of the chair. "I expected to hear that. I never been really good with structured classes... Grooming wasn't that bad but it was really hands on." He had enjoyed his classes.

"I think I will... and at the very least get an idea about that tech/robotics can do for my eye." He shifted, carefully standing up in his swim trunks and wiggled his bare toes against the floor. "Deep pool I hope?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Mhm... Well." Tambrey thought about her response for a few seconds. "Biology, and genetics in particular, is, um, a bit of an odd Ducklett... 'Hands on' isn't really technically, um, correct for a lot of the work done, but it's not /all/ mountains of documentation... Just... Uh. Most of it." At least most of it was electronic rather than 'paperwork' now, though hard copies did still form a rather nice secure back up.

"Oh. Um. It can be. There are settings." Tambrey gestured toward a panel on the wall. "Standard is, um, about 5ft at the 'deep' end, I think, but you can raise it or lower it and set the, uh, steepness." The differing settings of the training rooms had, over time, become some of her favourite things about them, though she still have some unpleasant memories regarding the electrical traps and the 'hail machine'...  

[Shaddaling]

"Mmhm, thanks," Lex stood carefully and slowly walked to the panel, chewing slightly on his lips as he fiddled with the depth. Perceptor was going to be huge and deeper would be better.

"See what happens... I was rather young when I finished up my Groomer courses." It had been years since he thought about the last time he was taking actual classes instead of reading what ever he could get his hands on. "Think that should do."  

[Gwennythe]

She watched and tapped a few times on the tablet she still carried with her, noting the settings that Lex had chosen for the pool.

She wasn't really sure if he wanted more advice or not, but left a couple more pieces anyway.
"It's, um, probably a really good time for a refresher then and, um, a look back onto any more scientific endeavors you might have had a hand in over time... Reading and, uh, practice, like anything, I suppose, play a huge role in capability..."

Tambrey happily refocused her attention after that, back to taking notes on how Perceptor's first outing would go.
"Seems about right... This is rather exciting."  

[Shaddaling]

"Thanks for the advice," Lex replied, making sure the pool was maxed in depth and width before slowly stepping in and giving a slight sigh of relief. It felt good to be in the pool, it was cool and the water natural took a lot of the weight off his bad leg. Buoyancy.

He stroked over the pokeball before releasing Perceptor into his new environment, (as much as he could call it that) and waited on baited breath as he settled into existence.


A bit groggy it seemed.

Percy shifted, slowly raising his head, large eyes half lidded and coils lax as he took in his surroundings.  

[Gwennythe]

Tambrey nodded, smiled and almost bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for Lex to bring Perceptor out of his ball.

As soon as the elongated form was present, Tambrey brought up her tablet, hoping to snap a quick picture of trainer and pokémon for documentation purposes, no flash, of course, but photo quality wasn't so important as long as the image was clear enough.

She was silent, but grinning, ready to tap out as many observations as she could make.  

[Shaddaling]

Lex swam back to the edge of the pull, getting out to momentary grab his mango, no use to him outside the pool now was it, and slid back in, peeling the skin back. "Hey, just relax and take a moment to figure things out. You're fine." He kept peeling, voice calm and soothing.


Percy stretched from tail to head and dipped underwater before surfacing as if attempting to wake up. His fan like tail slid through the water, creating a small wave as he situated himself.  

[Gwennythe]

Well, here would be a fun thing to document; did Perceptor, the Milotic, enjoy mangoes...
Tambrey tapped a few more times on her tablet, then tilted her head to watch the movements, smiling to Lex, before commenting with a raise of her eyebrows, as though she'd just remembered.

"Oh! Uh. Don't worry about asking if you need me to fetch something or, um, do something to help at all."  

[Shaddaling]

"You wouldn't happen to have a pocket knife on you? Sort of want to slice this up." Lex swam back towards Tambrey, watching Perceptor do some more head dips, slowly livening up. "Is it bad his behavior at the moment reminds me of birds in a bird bath?"

"Less preening or cleaning, though it might be slightly that as well and more ugghh, why do I have to get up?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Uh... Not exactly but I have an idea." Tam' smirked, and reached down to tap a button on a pokéball.

A red and black Aggron, Ella, stood suddenly, surveying the scene and adopting an amused head tilt at the Milotic.
A newbie, she supposed.

"Ella, um, mind being a knife?" Tambrey asked, gesturing to the sharp protrusion and horns the Aggron happened to possess.

Ella rumbled and dipped her head toward Lex, spying the mango and putting two and two together.

"Don't worry, she won't want to eat it. Admittedly it's a little unwieldy but will she do? And, hey, that, uh, covers meeting her properly too." The scientist smirked.

It was also a good test to see how Perceptor reacted to another pokémon, one not of his master's team; Ella was a good choice, calm and controlled when she needed to be.

"Hm. Well he was in a tankful of gunk." An unscientific term for the hard won formula but she liked it "Perhaps quite a bit of both?"  

[Shaddaling]

Lex looked over Ella and gave a slight noise of surprise and glee. She was rather aesthetically pleasing though the overall effect was more lady bird then fearsome. "Hello Ella." He said and carefully laid a hand against her partly to keep steady, partly because he wanted to know what she felt like, and started to slice the mango.

"If she wants a slice that would be fine." He was planning to have one himself to show Percy that it was edible. "Might help even."  

[Gwennythe]

Ella grunted happily, seemingly happy to stand there and be touched, or even used as a knife. Tambrey would probably have been pleased to hear she still resembled a ladybird, though she'd rather thought she didn't so much as she did as an Aron or Lairon.
She did keep an eye, a glance, on Percy though, quite interested in the new pokémon.

"Well, she probably won't refuse if you offer her some. She's one of my best, for, uh, behaviour. She won't try to take anything she doesn't know for sure is, uh, hers."