animatedsmoke | (no subject)

(no subject)

Who: Sol/Frederick, Potemkin
When: AU
Where: Lab
What: A meeting under odd circumstances

With saggy chairs and desks with none of the items on them aligned, the rooms of the lab has the appearance of a place truly lived in, which is probably not divorced from an area where scientists work in defiance of any idea of regular hours and sleep schedules. The atmosphere spread and leaked into the attached holding area, deprived of all objects but surprisingly by lit same light instead of leaving it under sterility.

Today there's nothing written in, no experiments started or continued, because all the focus of the day would be going to the introductions going on.

Would you accept an invitation to look at our next over unit? We would be honored to have your interest. There are results and findings that can't be found anywhere else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sol was fairly certain that he didn’t want to accept the invitation, that there were a lot of things that he could be doing with his time that would be more valuable than looking at someone else’s experiment and telling them where they fucked up — or even worse nodding politely and not telling them that they’d fucked up at all because of politics.

But he was here, reluctantly but present nonetheless, waiting impatiently to find out what this was about so he could get it over with.

The workers at this location seems to be aware of the scientist's notorious testiness, working around it even. Their efforts to not piss him off might be annoying in their own right, just from the sheer cleanliness of their facades.

The people who show up are enthusiastic to show snaking rolls of paper, bloated binders and data files each describing new discoveries of the vagaries of the human body. In their politeness the scientists' presentation is so far centered on just the results, ripped mostly from context or anything that could be bragged about, but what comes up repeatedly is the unique thoroughness of their testing.

Sol was up to three things that pissed him off about this situation. The first, that he’d been summoned without a real explanation. The second, how careful they were being around him. The third had to do with the data, the fact that it didn’t really mean anything separated from the context of it, or that it meant things but not enough.

Sol leaned back on his heels, his body language hostile (but not really any more than it had been since he’d entered, not explicitly violent). “When are ya goin’t stop bullshitting and say something?”

That seems to start a spark under them that could be fearfulness, or not. More in the vein of that annoyingly ambiguous way of theirs, but they change subject at least.

"Ah-hah, what we do here is research. Not energy like what your papers are about, but the other, human element." The wording is technically humble again, but the emphasis is as if that human interest is being laid out as bait. "We wanted you to come here and see, to offer the use of everything that we have, under your will and direction. Our infrastructure, our machines, our specimens," there's a gesture torward the general representative of each item, with the last one ending in the other side of the room with the attached holding area.

Edited (extra a) 2017-10-23 06:54 (UTC)

"Yer trying to hire me?" Sol's voice was flat, disapproving and disbelieving, and he let his eyes flick over their setup until his attention focused back on them. In a moment he'd closed the distance between himself and the person doing most of the talking, and the look in his eyes showed that he was a half a second away from grabbing them by the throat.

"Better tell me about this human element."

That's the crux of their meeting laid out, but the presenters aren't able to let it sit. The speaking scientist's tone speeds up even faster than from how Sol was already digging them to be. Could this be a crack in the act? Either way it's a sign that they're being forced to adjusting on the fly.

"Years worth of experiments! It was years ago, the founders of this project were able to acquire a series of unique individuals. Because of we could do here, we gained so many observations on, free from constraints of any normal subject." A pause, in the middle of almost breathlessness, and then a polite laugh. "We actually brought out our 'star' for this day."

Yeah, Sol is starting to cotton on to what they're about, but what they are saying smells a lot like shit. And of a particular brand that he’d very badly prefer to avoid.

“Did you,” he says, his voice toneless in a way that could be taken as dangerous, or could just be Sol’s usual reluctance to say five words when two would do. Still, years worth of experiments and this is the first he's hearing about it? On ‘unique individuals’, human subjects? None of this foreshadows anything good.

"Indeed!" is the reply, that only acknowledges Sol's minimal input into what they were talking about while in the same breath, any tension in the air gets ignored breezily. With the same carefree attitude in the face of any hostility that may exist, the people on the tour turn and step over to the unexplored side of the room that doesn't have desks and papers.

True to their word, there was something here this whole time past the wall-length window. It's enormous, too big to be human like what Sol had been thinking, but with continued observation it does turn out to be a curled body. The man's eyes swing to whoever is walking up to his window, and they show unexpected clarity.

"This is - Potemkin!"

“What,” Sol asked, and there wasn’t any hint in his tone to what he was feeling, since he was always terse, “Did ya do to him?”

His eyes, though, settled on Potemkin’s, locked with them and tried to read from there what the scientists’ words couldn’t say, what they wouldn’t say. Keep them talking for a moment longer, Sol thought, but it wasn’t doing anything to calm him down and he didn’t think it very likely that it would start.

As expected, the scientists didn't notice a thing. Or they continued on like they didn't, moving on like Sol wasn't being a poor conversation partner. "Oh, if you mean his body then that was done for us. But we've tested out various drugs to see if we can get him to work harder than he already can, or what can make him drop like a rock..."

The lecture passes over Potemkin, too. He knows, with a resignation that comes from just knowing his place, he's not the one being talked to here. But while the words become part of the background, Potemkin keeps looking at Sol. Potemkin blinks when he realizes that one of the men really is making eye contact with him. He slightly shakes his head, like he can't believe it or why. Potemkin's life had very few new things introduced to it, and always covered with some sort of protocol and ceremony, so this stranger who seems to be addressing him through the cage is unexplainable.

Done for them. Like it was some kind of gift that had just happened to fall into their lap.

The cage is unconscionable, and Sol's eyes refuse to let acknowledge it as a barrier. "Am I meant to study him from here?" he asked eventually.

For the first time the answer comes off as lightly puzzled, less dumbfounded though and more in an unearned, amused tone that acknowledges their lack of understanding for their invited genius. "We have the equipment do everything one could ask for."

"It's generally our protocol to leave it at that. It's too dangerous to be in an enclosed space with the subject when he's not asleep." There's no need for elaboration; despite Potemkin's docile expression and how fine he seems to be with do nothing more than sitting on the floor, a slow swipe from one of those arms could break a man in half.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't part of making your protocol and I need more." Heavily implied is the idea that Sol needs more because he's better at his job than they are.

He waves a hand, as if to shoo them off. "Go somewhere safer if you want, I'm not doing anything with a wall between us." And Sol can take care of himself, he knows that.

For a second the facility's entourage seem to have been truly shut up. There's a pause, out of confusion at what to what to say next, until they arrive at the conclusion which seems to be nothing, except for a small "If you wish."

There's a gesture at a door, the arm raised stiffly like under order. Perhaps Sol is assuming control of the facility even further than expected. From the other side, Potemkin sees all the waving and talking but it's meaningless to him. He can make note of it, but it would only be for stimulating his daydreams. There's no way he can control or change any of what's going to happen.

Sol nodded to them, and approached the door. He wanted badly to just let Potemkin out, and if he chose to rip apart the people who'd done this, well. Sol wouldn't exactly object. But that wasn't what he was doing, so he entered, giving Potemkin what space he could within the area, but not out of fear.

"How long have they kept you here?" he asked.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only