[PRP] Lab Sweet Lab

[Gwennythe]

"It can get pretty tedious," Tambrey agreed, frowning as she remembered back; so much had happened as an Agent, so much before that... Traumatic missions and events, and yet she could still recall the absolute boredom and frustration that came with some of the duties of grunt-hood.

She winced sympathetically.
"Well. As long as none of those particular people are put in a position to be... dangerous with, uh, that... Just keep going; it's not forever with your kind of skillset."

// Valentines Day was in February! // stated the talkative Jirachi, pouting at the reminder that Tambrey'd taken Ashbel to a party at the time, and not her.

"Hm. That does sound good. It's been too long since we did something like that... And breaks are always good for, uh, morale... Like having 'shore leave'..." She justified it for herself; justifying time away from work or training, even just for an evening.  

[TawnyAngel]

So very tedious. KO sighed softly and shook his head. "I know it should happen but I can't say I'm fond of waiting!... Do you know what it was that got you promoted to Agent?"

"But, either way," KO smiled a little and shrugged, "if this is recognised as worthy enough or not at least the science will keep us entertained! I've been thinking about my old project synth too, its drawbacks, I want to study those so I can eliminate them and I want to focus on its application on pokemon. It's already an attack and special attack boost but with," he frowned and gestured, "not quite a confusion drawback but it makes the subject emotional and impulsive. Now if we can dispose of the drawback and add in other stat boosts...." So many possibilities!  

[Gwennythe]

"Um. I couldn't say exactly what it was, honestly, except that I was pretty much always working, volunteering for missions often... I guess I had, uh, rather a lot of very... stressful opportunities to show loyalty too, as a grunt." She frowned, recalling some very specific missions and events. "Uh, but well, I was a grunt for a long time, and just as you're doing here, I gave up my time to pursue my work further..."

Tambrey nodded in agreement and then listened intrigued, nodding more slowly as she thought about the issue.
"You know, uh, not long ago I was involved in altering the genetic code with relation to brain chemistry in a, um, Zorua. Admittedly the work was to, well, pretty much deliberately create an anxiety disorder in the pokémon while improving its creativity without needing so much a conscious effort... Uh. To describe it in a word-salad-y way anyway. You're sort of approaching it from the other side- uh, externally- and with a rather different behavioral goal in mind, but perhaps a peek at whatever isn't redacted by rank might be helpful? It might not be applicable at all, but it might stimulate a few ideas? We had to deal with brain chemistry extensively though our focus was genetics of course..."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Humm." KO nodded acknowledgement to Tambery's explanation, privately wondering if one mission was sufficient. He hoped so, he didn't fancy going on another at all but if it was what it took to get promoted....

"Oh?" KO's brows rose with interest, his attention diverted from worrying about white uniforms for now. "That would be very useful, thank you Tambery! I haven't looked a synth properly in a long time, coming back to it with fresh eyes and some fresh information might be just what I need to get over that stumbling block. Whatever you're allowed to give me would be gratefully received. Hum, and lift or stairs?" He should probably take the stairs but he really would prefer the lift, it had been a long day and he was feeling lazy.  

[Gwennythe]

"Um..." Tambrey didn't get a chance to respond as Franklin swooped ahead and declared-

<>

"Well. Lift I suppose, if it's okay with you? Probably, uh, easier to continue the conversation in a lift anyway. But, um, yes, you're welcome. It was a really interesting project; specification driven rather than pure experimentation, so the goals were very clear."  

[TawnyAngel]

"The lift suits me," KO confirmed, stepping inside and them pressing the button for the canteen's floor once Tambery was inside too. "Can I assume the purpose of enhancing the pokemon's creativity was to improve its illusions?" he asked as the lift swooped upwards, that sounded a rather promising project to him. "Zoroark are good in battle but their real value is that unique ability, there's nothing else like it!" It wasn't his area in the slightest but the way they were able to create illusions that could even be touched was quite incredible and the idea that it could be improved upon further was fascinating.  

[Gwennythe]

The obvious outcomes- thus the goals achieved- most of them, certainly weren't classified, and Tambrey found herself nodding as the lift moved upwards.
"Mhm. As you can imagine, the illusory ability is rather linked with the survival mechanism- the flight or fight reflex. A pokémon that is, um, somewhat constantly 'on edge', so to speak, will have a greater urge to create illusions. By improving the creativity, and perhaps memory center, of said pokémon at the same time, we gain a pokémon with a hair trigger access to some very detailed illusions. A pokémon that can reproduce whatever it might have seen with very little exposure to it, and at the drop of a hat. Effectively, it, um, lessens the concentration needed by the pokémon to sustain what it creates, as it creates detail instinctively." Tambrey smirked a little as she added something, another little detail, that she knew wouldn't be redacted. "Also gave it a craving for dark chocolate. Brains; they're weird."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Dark chocolate? Really?" KO made a small noise of amusement. "Brains are very weird. And all of that makes sense to me," he nodded, "the only problem I can see it the anxiety itself interfering with the pokemon in the field, it going into a panic and acting on instinct or shutting down completely rather than following instructions. If the situation wasn't too high stress however, a covert ops sort of situation, it sounds perfect!"

As they arrived at their floor the lift binged and opened its doors, KO stepped out first and waited for Tambery to join him before continuing down the hall towards the cafeteria. "I've wondered about getting hold of a Zoroark, they do seem very useful, but I hardly have time to train the pokemon I have already," KO added with a shake of his head.  

[Gwennythe]

"Mmhm. It's, um, quite a delicate psyche to have deliberately created, and I, uh, don't think it lends itself well to offensive battling styles at all, but therein lies nurture over nature. The trainer must do the work if they wish to have the best, within reason, of, um, both worlds." Tambrey agreed and elaborated.

She nodded, agreeing further as they stepped from the lift.
"I know the feeling. I've gotten a decent rotation down for training, but there is hardly ever enough time and I've done well enough, um, without thus far. I have, um, found myself favouring psychic types lately, too, ever since the, well, the obvious..."  

[TawnyAngel]

Everything was down to the trainer in the end, well most of it anyway. If you didn't control your pokemon and direct them in training they were never going to be an effective team member and they weren't going to grown strong either.

"I've been considering getting more fairy types, despite what I just said," KO chuckled, nodding agreement with Tambery's sentiment. "I thought perhaps a Sylveon? I'd need to look into how good their moves and such actually are but most of the eevee evolutions are pretty good so far as I know?" he intoned this as a question and added; "The only one I have experience with first hand is Umbreon, and I use him only for supporting moves at the moment. Their defences are better than their offences anyway."

As they stepped into the cafeteria KO peered up at the board and squinted a little as he tried to read it. He was beginning to suspect that his vision, while still fine for driving, was not quite as good as it had once been. Ugh. Once you got past thirty everything just started to go downhill didn't it?  

[Gwennythe]

"Eevee and its evolutions are somewhat fascinating, for obvious reasons, for me, but basically, um, yes. They could pretty much, by the virtue of their 'adaptability', be considered the 'poster' pokémon for the types they represent in a few cases. Sylveon, I think, is certainly one of those. Aulus has one name, uh, Killer. Despite the name, I think he's rather likeable, but he's certainly a pokémon that I've seen Aulus use fairly often for good reason.Speaking of Umbreon, I should really look into doing more with Linnaeus..."

Tambrey was fairly happy to breeze past the board without much looking at it- despite the rank-change, she still seemed fairly confident about the cafeteria and what she'd be able to get.
The vegetarian option she obtained seemed to be a rice-dish with nuts and vegetables. A cup of tea was acquired to pair with it.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Killer, hu?" KO gave a curved smirk and shook his head. "Do you think he named him that to make up for Sylveon being so...." He gestured languidly before concluding; "Pink?" There was that perpetually pink-clad Sawk that often helped out at the Agent's karate class too, maybe he had a secret love for the colour? It was kind of funny to think about, not because he thought anything of a man liking the colour but because he thought that Aulus would.

After brief deliberation KO opted for the same meal as Tambery, though with a coffee in place of a tea. Once they had found somewhere to sit and KO had seasoned his meal to his liking he took a sip of coffee and then set the mug back down with a decisive click. "So, Oddish with oversized leaves or undersized bodies, what are your thoughts on the possibility?"  

[Gwennythe]

"I suspect that factored in at least a little, because... well, it's kind of, um, funny. But Killer also has a personality, I think, that was the main inspiration for the name?" She shrugged and smiled, before taking a sip of her tea and then moving onto a first bite of her dinner.

Apparently it was satisfactory, and she was hungry, because she immediately took another bite, and then another before KO had finished asking the question.
She swallowed and then nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh! Actually fairly simplistic from a genetic standpoint! We've 'made things smaller' before, and engineering plant DNA to create a larger leaf area is something that geneticists have been doing for years. I'm one hundred per cent certain we can utilize both without much trouble. I'm not entirely certain on what the limit of, um, the smaller bodies could be, but leaf-size... You want to keep it efficient despite making it larger, thus what you'll really want is a large, high-in-chlorophyll leaf to begin the first process of photosynthesis. All we need do is introduce the DNA of a larger-in-leaf plant than Oddish. You wouldn't end up with a normal Oddish leaf, nor an Oddish that grows the other plant's leaf, but a hybrid between them. It's my suspicion that a first generation reversion, or, uh, partial rejection, of the new genetic structure would keep the overall appearance and shape of Oddish leaves, but likely keep the larger size. It's a similar way people produce more efficient crops, but with some, um, let's say 'tinkering' because of Oddish's more... complex genetic structure compared to something like, say, corn..."  

[TawnyAngel]

KO nodded as he took a sip of his coffee. "That's good to hear," he said as he set the cup back down on the table. "What do you think the best approach would be? To alter the leaves first and then work on the other angle? Trying to make both changes at once strikes me as a little bit unwise." Better to get one or the other perfected first and then add the other, if you made things too complicated then you were just setting yourself up to fail. "Of course the next question is what kind of leaf to use," KO added, frowning a little as he considered the possibilities; another kind of pokemon? A plant plant?