[PRP] Up to somethin'

[insidiousEnigma]

Safety goggles, check.
Rubber gloves, check.
Hair pulled back....

Zacharie dug around in the little pouch attached to his belt and pulled out a ponytail and a few barrettes Faleen had given him. Grunting quietly (it still hurt to raise his arm too high) he pulled his shaggy hair into a low, small ponytail and hastily pinned his bangs back. He glared over at Lu, daring him to say anything about his scars, before readjusting his safety goggles.

Hair pulled back, check.

"Alright Lu, we're ready to begin." He said as he rubbed his gloved hands together. "I hope I don't need to remind you of how delicate of a procedure this is going to be so let's be extremely careful with where we put ourselves and the other equipment." He'd be damned if he had to find all of these ingredients again...and by that he meant he wasn't sure he could get Jerome to go out and get the stuff that he didn't have a second time. "Hand me the ether and two Oran berries." He ordered as he snatched up a test tube and swirled the clear, slightly boiling liquid inside.  

[Venti Mico]

Science could be really scary if you thought about it. You could make things explode or start a fire that wouldn't go out or make yourself go blind on accident. Probably. But Zacharie seemed to know what he was doing, so Lu went along with his experiment.

Already having prepped himself, Lu had his gloves and safety goggles on, and his hair was tied back in a loose bun so it didn't droop. Lu looked away when Zacharie glared at him, not speaking up at all- though he was curious about those scars. He hadn't seen them before, but asking would probably be rude.

"Ether, two Oran berries..." Lu repeated quietly, going to their little supply station and picking out the necessary items. He stood a ways back and held them out to Zacharie, watching the test tube cautiously. "This is, uh... safe? Right? It won't explode or anything..?"  

[Tori Honoo]

During her stay in the base, Riley had taken almost every opportunity to become acquainted with both the physical location in which she now resided and the people within it, though so far, her ventures had only been so successful. Thus far, she had spoken only at length with Tambrey and a man the others had called Seth, to her surprise, the owner of Kaiba co, and a handful of others that had gone about their duties as assigned. Her tasks had been menial, not unlike what she had expected, as per Tam's explanation, and she went about them quietly and obediently. If there was even the slightest chance she could further her work here, and that people would be interested in it, she would do as she was told... and hope that they didn't ask for anything too drastic.

Today, as she had finished her 'chores', the girl found herself wandering through the halls, and though it was a bit chilly, she had selected a slightly less traveled area to explore for now--though only after making sure that it was within her boundaries, and not just for higher ups. Quietly, she walked through the halls, her leafeon Molly following behind her curiously, until two voices reached her ears. Frowning in concentration, Riley stepped toward the door from behind which the voices came, and peeked through the cracks, holding her hand out just the slightest bit to open it a little more when she realized an experiment of sorts was taking place. Their uniforms... They were trainees, like her. Was this sort of thing allowed!? In her surprise, she might have pushed the door a little more than she had expected.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"It will be fine, don't worry so much." Zacharie said, rolling his eyes as he took the ether from the taller male and dripped three drops into the test tube. "It won't explode don't be stupid...." He licked his lips and stared intently at the liquid. "As long as we do everything right there will be no problems." He snatched up the two berries and dropped them in with a little 'plop'. The berries dissolved almost instantly, colouring the mixture a charming shade of blue. "Trust me, you'll know if it's gone wrong and is about to explode." He snickered as he reached to grab a glass mixing stick. He didn't know what everyone's deal was with explosions, he personally thought they were fun! "Ah, I need you to crush up some bay leaves...they'll need to have a paste consistency."

Was that the door squeaking?

The teen turned sharply towards the door with a fierce glare. "Who's there?!" He barked, setting the test tube into the holding rack. "Don't lurk in the doorway, what's wrong with you?" He hated it when people startled him, luckily for them he hadn't dropped the test tube. He didn't think that another room full of noxious gas would go over too well with the higher ups.  

[Venti Mico]

Bay leaves, paste consistency... Lu nodded and turned to start his work- then, realizing Zacharie couldn't hear a nod, he said a quick, "Yes sir," before going through their supplies. He was glad he was useful for this at least though, plants were a specialty of his. Plucking up the aromatic leaves, he placed them in the small mortar Lu assumed Zacharie had either brought on his own or gotten from his friend Jerome. Using the pestle, Lu started mashing the leaves as he was told.

And then the pestle was on the floor when Zacharie snapped at whoever was hiding behind the door. Lu had jumped hard enough he was just glad he hadn't launched the pestle into the wall out of shock. Scrambling to pick it up, he stared, wide eyed at the door as he bent down to fetch his lost tool.

"...Are we going to get in trouble?" He asked in a quiet voice, moving around so Zacharie was between him and the door.  

[Tori Honoo]

As startled as the two in the room seemed to be, the girl appeared almost as much so, jumping as she was sharply addressed by the smaller one. "I-I'm sorry!" she apologized quickly, in hushed tones, as they were clearly on edge, her hands slowly rising in a defensive gesture, palms forward. She did tilt her head in confusion, though, as one of the young men put himself behind the other, as if she were some sort of threat. "I-I didn't mean to interrupt your...work."

Curiously, she peered over the materials from where she stood. In moments, a unique leafeon's head would appear next to her feet as it sniffed the ground, curious about the berries being used in their concoction.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie eyed the girl critically for a few moments before giving an irritated huff. "No we're not in trouble, she's a trainee as well. Just look at her uniform." He motioned to the standard red outfit with a mild look of disdain. He wouldn't admit it out loud but he was relieved that it was just another trainee. Not that he was afraid of the higher ups or anything, but he was trying to get promoted so he could start working on more interesting things without the possibility of getting caught. "Come in and shut the door behind you, was anyone following you?" He asked, turning his attention to the girl still standing in the doorway. "And don't stutter. I've already got one stuttering idiot in here, I don't need another."

With that friendly invitation, the teen turned back to inspect the contents of the test tube. "Lu, hurry up and sanitize that pestle. Don't you dare touch the bay leaves before you do...also, change your gloves. You touched the floor." He muttered the last part more to himself as he gingerly stirred the concoction. "New girl, I would suggest putting some safety goggles on...and some gloves if you decide to come closer. You can find them in my bag." He made a vague hand motion in the general direction of his messenger bag, which happened to be laying near the door.

Oh...right. He was forgetting something.

"I don't know your name, obviously." He straightened up and turned so he could fully face the girl. "My name is Zacharie and this is Lu." He pointed at the taller, dark haired male. "If you're any good at following instructions you're welcome to help." He glanced around the room before shrugging slightly. "And if you aren't, as long as you stay out of the way you're welcome to stay anyway....just refrain from doing anything idiotic."  

[Venti Mico]

Just another trainee, good. Lu sighed, moving out from behind Zacharie to peel off his gloves and toss them into the garbage can. With a nervous glance at the girl, Lu set about fishing out some cleaning supplies and a new pair of gloves from Zacharie's bag, leaving it open so the other could get a pair herself, if she wished to. After he'd done his duty and cleaned off the pestle, he returned to the bay leaves he'd so graciously abandoned. Not sure what to say, he simply gave the other trainee a wave(eyes on the floor), before he turned away from her.

"L-like a paste, right..?" Lu asked, gazing down into the mortar.  

[Tori Honoo]

At the purple haired teen's demand, Riley immediately stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, still completely bewildered at their initial reaction to her. My, the smaller one was demanding.... She shook her head at the sharp question, then looked over at the boy called Lu, her brows furrowing as he still appeared to be shaken up.

New girl? Her attention was again drawn to Zacharie, and she hesitated, just looking at him a moment. "I'm...Riley, and I think I'll just watch for now..." she told him, still standing at the door. "It's...nice to meet you?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie cocked his head slightly, "I would say not seeing as you posed it as a question, Riley." He snorted in amusement before leaning back over his project. Good thing he'd tied his hair back. "Lu, hurry it up or we'll have a problem on our hands." He worried his bottom lip between his teeth as he watched the solution start to turn a faint pink color. "Have you been here long?" He asked, trying to start a normal conversation. He'd been told countless times that snapping at people wasn't the best way to begin a conversation but...he couldn't help it when they did something to irritate him. He'd work backwards then. Snap first, start a normal conversation later.  

[Venti Mico]

Lu was actually grateful Zacharie was there to be the one to talk-- Lu might have loomed over the purple haired boy, but Zacharie had a knack for people that Lu didn't. And by that, Lu meant Zacharie was a grumpy grouse and spoke up. The brunet liked that about him.

"Sorry, sorry-" Lu said quickly, hurrying up with the mashing and bringing it over to Zacharie quickly. He was good at this sort of thing, he'd helped his mother plenty of times when she was coming up with herbal remedies. Now, whatever Zacharie was making, Lu didn't know... but as long as it didn't explode it was okay. Hopefully. Putting the bay leaf paste near Zacharie, Lu moved away from the experiment site, returning to his 'station' with the supplies. Riley just standing by the door made him feel a little intimidated, like he was being watched... he didn't know what to say to her, he'd already tried to wave and that was about as good as a 'hello' from him was going to get. She was scary, so he'd let Zacharie do the talking. Thank goodness for Zacharie.  

[Tori Honoo]

Molly, the leafeon that had made her interest alongside Riley, sat carefully next to the door, her head tipped curiously up at her girl. What an odd situation they had stumbled upon, it seemed.

Riley continued to watch, shaking her head a little as Zacharie gave his amused retort then barked another order at the other boy. Unwilling to confront anyone, especially after just meeting them, the girl rubbed her arm quietly, speaking only when actually spoken to directly; it had appeared Zacharie wanted to be distracted as little as possible, but the opportunity to meet more trainees was nice. "Just a little over a month... and yourselves?" she returned, offering a small smile to both, but slightly more directed toward Lu. It was clear that Zacharie was not afraid of her in the slightest, while the larger boy seemed much more skittish, something she understood rather well.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Plucking a flat, metal tool up from the table, Zacharie carefully scraped the paste into the test tube. He said nothing as he intently watched the solution change to an odd green colour and begin to turn into more of a solid. "...Interesting." He muttered, his eyebrows furrowing in thought. Setting the test tube down and grabbing a nearby pencil he began scribbling down his observation and notes in his notebook. He distantly wondered where Virus had gone off to (It'd be easier to have the Porygon take notes) but he didn't have time to dwell on that thought for long. "Lu, hand me the magnesia. Careful not to spill any." He muttered before slapping the pencil down to turn back to Riley. "I've been here eight months." He stated, absently picking the test tube back up to set it up on a Bunsen burner. "A friend of mine recruited me." He left it at that. Talking about his past, especially to strangers, wasn't something that he was particularly comfortable with. "I'm surprised you have free time to be wandering around if you've only been here a month."