Researcher

Hassium stops at the door, looking rather confused and lost. He hears someone talking about Lurkers, and decides to take a chair to observe. After all, Lurking was something that had always helped Science... or so he thought. He was rather used to lurking, or to sending his Assistants to lurk, to see what could be learned through silent observation. It could be a real test for any would-be researcher, and he also like to set it as a test for any fellow who wanted to come and work with him. Go lurk in this-and-that-room, and come back with notes on what you could observe: then write anything that you could conclude from those, and/or plan for further studies! With a small nod, Hassium finds an empty chair and sits down... ... and promptly finds himself looking at the ceiling, prone on the floor and completely lost as to why he is not sitting at the chair that he can still see sticking out from his belly...

I am probably not the best person around to give feedback on stories, but I wanted to say that this one caught my attention (maybe because the nice observations on the nature of the metal trees were so intriguing that my researching mind also wants to find out what exactly they are, and what is their purpose!) The only thing that made the reading a bit awkward for me was that it is all written in the present tense, so it feels to me like a D&D adventure, with you telling the DM all the actions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it might come from my own background as a once-D&D-player; it's just that I'm hardly used now to that kind of brisk pacing, and it actually makes me want to take part in the story as another fellow-player Unless that is the effect you want, I could suggest expanding a bit more on description of background, on the character own's observations/feelings/thoughts (for example), so that it doesn't feel so much like a fast-paced one-to-one RP (I mean, player-to-DM roleplay). I feel that unless the story is rather short, it might end up being a bit tiresome to read exactly because of being focused almost solely on actions. Though it would be a rather nice story to be roleplayed.... who knows, maybe you want to try something at the Conservatory Room? I'm not very active at the forums myself, but please feel free to reply and discuss what I said. I might take some time to answer, not because of any disregard for your person but because I myself am quite busy, and sometimes it's hard to make time to be here. And I think that whatever you have to say, other people might jump in this thread to share their opinion too! Oh, and welcome to the Pen, hope you like this community! ~~~ Note: created this thread to not disturb the flow of the story at the main Assembly room.

Hassium blinks, finally realizing that there is something nudging his elbow rather insistently. With his mind still partially locked into the complex reactions he had been analysing, he risks a glance down and arches his eyebrows seeing one if the guinea pigs almost nibbling through his lab coat at the right elbow. He mumbles, sorely tempted to pick the small fellow by his neck and throwing him back to the lab, with a small yelled note to his Chief Assistant to mind the test subjects better unless he wanted to lose his job. His always attentive mind signals, though, that this is a sibling of his now infamous Talking Guinea Pig (his assistants had quite a time catching all Pig's siblings, half-siblings, and littersiblings, and tagging all of them with color-coded collars), and so he sighs and turns his full attention to the little rodent. Well, what do we have here... He takes the note tucked into the collar of the guinea pig before pushing it towards the end of the table; the rodent quickly jumps to the bookshelf, and then down a strategically-placed wooden board that takes it to a tiny flap-door, where the hand of the Chief Assistant is wainting for it. The Chief Assistant sighs, happy that the trick he had taught the little guinea pig worked -- it was always safer to not be disturbing the Professor personally unless one wanted to risk becoming a test subject. Hassium takes some time reading and re-reading the note, until it finally dawns on him that he has not visited The Pen Keep, specifically its Cabaret Room, for quite some time... Thank you very much for the honor of the promotion... sorry for not having been around lately, I have been completely caught up by the weirdest of reactions, and my mind seems unable to leave unasnwered questions of that nature! I cannot promise more frequent vocal visiting, but please be sure that I always have an eye in here and will try to contribute more as time permits. Congratulations to my colleagues in this happy event!! With an apologetic smile, Hassium bows and leaves the Cabaret Room, most of his mind already caught by a sudden insight into the reaction kinetics of transuranic elements. However, for once he also forces part of his mind to stop to see what is happening in the several rooms of the Keep that line his way back to his laboratory.

Joran observed little Marisia running back to Lady Seara after a somewhat long talk with the spice merchant. He kept his eyes on Master Kurston, until the merchant looked back at him. There was wariness in him, and he saw it reflected on the merchant's eyes. Who better to infiltrate a band of travelers than an innocent merchant? ~~~ OOC: Vote for Ozymandias/Routh Kurston...

Joran nodded at Seara, by now being able to guess why she had been frowning. He rode in a relaxed way, with the ease of years as a guardsman; however very few who mistook his relaxed demeanor with carelessness were alive to tell the story of a swift fight. Marisia's light giggling called his attention, and he turned to the little girl. She saw him daring the farmer with a direct eye contact, and hid a grin. This little girl isn't so little anymore... I see why Lady Seara tries to control her. But the truth is that the little kitten is not even aware of her effect on men. He let his horse canter, stopping for a few moments besides Marisia to ruffle her hair and whisper a warning. "Lady Marisia, I would not displease your sister anymore today. Ride near us, and maybe we can tell some stories about House Stark's direwolves." The girl perked up hearing the word "direwolves", and looked at Joran with eagerness. He waved her towards Seara, and then cantered to reach Stephen Lark. He was also worried with the whispered news about bandits, and the murder at the stables. His mission, and of the three men with him, was to protect Ladies Seara and Marisia and see them safely to King's Landing; the rest of the travelers were nothing of his business, but he knew very well that if events came to a confrontation with bandits, they would have to fight alongside the mercs. He let his mind account for every one of the travelers as he passed them, and instinctively started to assess their reliability. There was always the possibility of a bandit hiding among them, to open the way for an easy attack. I wish the group were less mixed... merchants and farmers won't do in a fight, they'll most probably just be in the way. The boy with the knives might be useful if he has the freedom to throw them... how about the others? Someone willing to join the Night's Watch is certainly no so common, but at least that means he knows the basics of fight; probably more than the knife-guy. The one that looks like a soldier... I wonder how much of his memory is truly lost. Who will he attack in a fight? Joran's eyes fell on Dane, studying him. Mercs sold their allegiances for money, so memory was more of a handicap than not; however, the amnesiac fighter troubled his mind and he had learned to give some thought to his gut feelings. A muffled curse made him turn around; he saw the merchant hurriedly trying to close one of his spice sacks, the cords tying it shut having been loosened somehow. Joran shook his head. If there was someone hiding among then, wouldn't it be under the most harmless of appearances? "Hey, Lark!!" He sided his horse with Lark's, and started a whispered conversation.

Apologies for the lack of answer. I am still here too!

When the floating octopus appeared out of thin air, Professor Hassium's brain finally decided that too much was too much. And so, he just stared at Octy, gaping. He lowered his hand without thinking, and if it were not for Octy's quick grasping reflex, Pig would have experienced a quite high drop to the floor. Without noticing that Octy had now his prized talking guinea-pig securely in one arm, Hassium just let himself fall on the first available chair, shaking his head and passing fingers through his hair in utter disbelief. He looked at Patham, who at the moment looked pretty much like the only normal person around him. Then he remembered that he had actually glimpsed Patham become an owl some time ago, at the same Cabaret Room, and groaned. "Please, can someone tell me what is normal around here?" He whispered to no one in special. "I seem to be in need of some paradigm shifts..."

Joran Griswold, 30, leader of lady Seara's escorts. He is an experienced fighter, and his family has worked for the Ryswells for generations. Outgoing, also easygoing, is however a fierce and loyal fighter. Has been chosen personally by Lord Ryswell to lead the men escorting his daughters to King's Landing, and considers his ultimate duty to guard them with his life. ... let me know please if this fits the setting...

Alex looked at his palm, shocked. Pig looked almost like sleeping peacefully. He questioned himself rather harshly about bringing his little pet with him, berating his impulses. For once in his life, his mind drifted not to chemical formulas, but to cages and wheels. Cages and wheels... are we not really living in cages and wheels, made of our own desires and impulses? He petted Pig, using light fingers to caress his soft fur and the white spot at his side. And on the other hand... He curbed his thoughts on the strangeness of molecules, always swirling around and trying to find their proper place in reactions, and tried to concentrate on their situation. Someone was too dangerous in their group, apparently... but dangerous in what way? He looked around, sighing and swearing against the waves of perception that had made his life change so much. ~~~~~ OOC: Vote against Akallabeth/Codex

Alex was suddenly awakened by a hand shaking his shoulder. He jumped, almost screaming, and the flight attendant stepped back quickly. Alex reddened, mumbled apologies and something about nightmares, and returned the seat to the upright position. They'd be landing in NYC in 15 minutes apparently. He patted Pig, who was once more in his pocket, and hoped he was alright. For some seconds he was not sure why he had ever brought him into that.... and then his mind got distracted by a very nice combination of atoms that came from the recesses of his mind. Something about the molecular soup that gave life to everything in the universe, including guinea pigs... =========== OOC: vote for Nathan/Patrick

Hassium lifted his hand slowly, gulping and licking his suddenly dry lips. "Eeeerm... I ... beg... your pardon?" His hand touched Pig lightly, and he had to make an effort to not wriggle his fingers in an attempt to grab him. "Maybe... we should... talk about ... you... if you allow me to?" Why am I talking to a guinea pig?! He closed his hand tentatively around the body of Pig, lifting him from his head and putting him on the palm of his other hand. Maybe because he is talking to me... I think... if I have not gone insane... "Are you actually talking to me?" He frowned, looking closely at Pig.

Haeme in red cells... iron coordinated to nitrogen atoms... Alex' mind wandered, the smell of blood clinging to his nostrils. Metallic smell, of course... metallic taste... He shuddered at the memory of the times he had cut himself by accident. What are the properties of Haeme, why does it keep the iron... wait, there is oxygen somewhere... where? He frowned, trying to remember his biology classes. Somehow, he could always remember the chemistry-related parts, but never the exact function of all that stuff that was around the molecules. Oxygen. That's what I need. He panted, not used to running like this. His mind rushed more than his legs. Who? No one had come near them so he supposed whoever killed that girl was around them.. maybe with them... Why? No one had bothered to tell them what was happening, why they had been unrooted... How? Well, no one was paying attention to anyone besides that strange man... or so he thought... well, he wasn't anyway... Alex glanced to his side, then the other. Where was everybody going? He noticed the small man. Small... small molecules have so many chances of interaction... sometimes more than the big ones. Their size helped to reach pockets... Would a small man also be good as a sneaking assassin? ~~~~~~~~ OOC: Lord Panther/Zach Petit/Pico on pure guesswork... sorry!

Alex gasped in shock, staring at the girl bleeding on the ground. He had just been on his way to greet the others, and the last thing he expected was to see someone dead. His stomach churned, and he tasted acid on his mouth. HCl... strong acid, funny how it does not just melt away the cells in my mouth... or my stomach... His mind wandered, lost in reactions involving acids and bases and organic materials. Someone pulled him by his arm, and he heard Pig's outrageous squeak as he struggled to not fall from his perch on his shoulder. Somehow, Alex found himself running, gasping for air and focused only on following whoever was just in front of him. His hand closed on Pig and tucked him into his shirt pocket.

The Professor gave a most undignified yelp as he was bitten, and immediately crouched to try to get hold of the panicked, running guinea pig. But Pig was too fast for him, and he saw from the corner of his eye the rodent darting out of the lab. Seems he made good use of the exercising wheel... He swallowed a very un-scientific curse, and unconsciously sucking his bitten fingers he ran after Pig. His assistants looked very surprised seeing the Professor bumping on tables and crashing on chairs while running with eyes locked on the floor, but no one dared to ask anything. Only one of them said something -- a shouted "yes" when the Professor, running by him, asked whether all rabies vaccines were updated.

The Professor smiled, ready to take his guinea pig back to his laboratory for more detailed study. He closed his hand very gently around the trembling rodent, while making soothing sounds. "You will not be hurt, I just want to take a good luck at you, little one." Pig looked up at the Professor, thinking about commenting that he was getting tired of running on wheels and being poked for half his day. What stopped him was a somewhat unpredictable event, triggered by all the ink on his fur... As Hassium closed his hand on Pig and lifted him, he felt the rodent slip a bit and held it more firmly at once. But the final result of his squeezing was the launching of a very surprised, squeaking, and slicky guinea pig, right towards the ceiling. The equations of acceleration and velocity, plus the gravitational attraction, did cross Hassium's mind as he gaped and watched the momentarily flying guinea pig.

Not two minutes after Pig, The Researcher came into the Cabaret Room. He looked at the scene and his eyebrows shot up as he slowly took the scene in: something that looked exactly like a cabbage wriggling in the middle of a table, being nudged by a guinea pig. And his own guinea pig jumping up and down besides a chair while a wolf seemed to be appreciating the dinner qualities of either the cabbage or the guinea pig besides it. Wolves don't eat cabbages, I believe. But guinea pigs... He breathed out slowly, letting his analytical mind take over. He swept his hand under Pig as he jumped, having him landing onto his stretched palm. Meanwhile, he observed Chiroq in a most intense manner.

Alex could feel his little mascot squirming, and sighed. It wasn't certainly the treatment he was used to... of course, he hardly knew what Pig was used to besides being fed a couple times a day. But he had been doing the feeding since he had got the guinea pig, and was quite sure that someone in one of the worlds he used to play had a guinea pig as pet. And as far as he remembered, that guinea pig did not use to go into shirt pockets and be smuggled into a flight to an unknown place... Alex forced himself to stop wondering as the woman repeated something to him, pointing to a telephone. Gulping, he forced his voice to be calm. "Hello?" Unfortunately, his calm voice came out as a high-pitched squeak.

Hassium deftly rose the net, bringing it to eye level. Then he could see clearly what he had caught, and smiled. "Ah, so my little rodent has now learned how to disguise himself? But that does not seem very adequate at the moment... " He chuckled, and reached into his pocket for some procedure gloves. However, holding a struggling net while putting on gloves did not go too well for the professor this time. He tucked the handle of the butterfly net under one arm, put on the right glove, then as he was pulling the left one in place Pig managed, through much squirming and struggling, to dislodge the net. Pig squeaked in protest as he thumped into the floor, still entangled into the net. The professor stepped on the net to keep Pig from getting free, but he had overlooked Pig's gnawing of the strands. As Hassium stooped to grab Pig, he managed to get free and, slick because of all the ink, slipped through Hassium's fingers and half-tumbled, half-scurried out of the professor's immediate sight.

The Professor sat down at the surveillance control, and started checking on his Test Subject. Unfortunately for him, the camera was at a slightly wrong angle and so he could not see the whole of the cage. But what he could see made him frown and mutter. He scribbled several notes quickly, sometimes missing the paper and writing on the desk, in his eagerness to not miss anything he could see. He stared at the camera for some minutes, unwilling to believe what he was seeing. The small guinea pig was carefully smoothing the newspaper cut-out of Sooty. And as he left the camera field, Hassium went back to the lab and silently opened the door. Crouching at some distance from the cage, he peeked into the nest and could finally see what the camera did not show him: the guinea pig, his Test Subject #5, had two or three pictures up the walls and was in the process of pushing another one to their side. He gasped in surprise, and the noise made the rodent turn with an alarmed squeaking. Two beaded eyes stared at him, and Professor Hassium could swear that there was more to them than the mindless fear of a laboratory animal. "There there, little one..." he muttered, and putting on procedure gloves he opened the cage to pick up the guinea pig. "Let's take a better look at you, shall we?"

Alex frowned at the e-mail, annoyed to have had his game interrupted. His mind was still at the strategy he was running on that world, when the information finally sunk in. Gasping, he now stared at the screen while taking quick notes. Flight number, time, destination. He never doubted one word of it, it just seemed as natural do him as the reactions he studied. Cause and effect, electron donor and electron receptor... he was just one electron around the nucleus of some element, and he was now being irresistibly attracted by a nearby atom. Pushing chemistry thoughts away for the minutes he needed to get out of the house, Alex grabbed his Chemistry notebook, his PocketPC (called Pocky for short), and his guinea pig. He stuffed all of them in his backpack, tiptoed past his mother in the kitchen and took his usual way out when he wanted to be out secretly. In the pantry, he opened the window carefully, threw out his backpack, and then squirmed out himself. He turned the corner at the same time a car stopped in their driveway. It wasn't too hard to convince the guy at the check-in counter that someone had messed up completely his middle name, turning Alex Hamilton Scott into Hassium Scott. By the time he boarded the plane, he had managed to hide Pig from security checks by passing him from one pocket to another, either in the backpack or in his jacket. More difficult was to pretend he didn't see the stare of the flight attendant when he tucked a leaf of lettuce from his dinner into his pocket, and he sighed. At least the flight was long enough to allow him to have dinner... "Phone call for Hassium, please contact Information Desk. Mr. Hassium please, contact Information Desk." Alex squared his shoulder, patted his pocket to make sure Pig was there, dropped some peanuts in said pocket, and walked to the Information Desk. "I'm Hassium... there is a phone call for me."

Seems interesting... let me try it... *ahem* Character: Alex Scott, 17. Majoring in Chemistry, with special interest for anything weird and unpredictable in the world of Chemistry (like new, synthetic radioactive elements). All his free time is spent playing MMORPG's. And while at it, he cannot avoid thinking that there is something lurking just behind the screen, or behind those atoms and molecules in his Chemistry books and notebook, that is waiting for him to grasp and show to the world. Alias: Hassium

Congratulations, little friend And congrats to Da Yog and Preprise too. Seems this researcher has been too busy researching to be around much...

The Researcher, who had been lost in though while staring at one corner of Wyvern's office, was brought out of his reverie by the squeaking. That immediately reminded him of Guinea Pig, and he glanced around. His eyes were used to the almost tedious observation work, and his brain was well able, by now, to observe in the background. So, while looking for a fluffy brown guinea pig, something moving on Wyvern's desk caught Professor Hassium's brain's attention. Although it took a while to reach his conscious mind, soon he blinked as the caught sight of a most intriguing creature. A new specimen?! Professor Hassium's hand reached for his lower left pocket and took a net, the one he often used to catch butterflies in the field. Expertly, he swung it towards the strange black, spiky ball covered with scraps of paper and feathers that was darting around the piles of applications.

He wondered at the little guinea pig that squeaked between his fingers; it was the dye-resistant one, and both squeak and twitching of whiskers reminded him of a very annoyed pet. He took a minute to examine his test subject, this time with an eye on fleeting facial expressions. "I must be getting hungry, " Hassium muttered to himself. "Looking for facial expressions on a guinea pig?!" He shook his head, and released the guinea pig in the cage his assistants called "guinea pig spa". As the little rodent started to run in the wheel, Professor Hassium set a timer then turned to the cage that had been occupied by the now exercising guinea pig. Carefully, the researcher put on some procedure gloves and started the clean-up. He would usually tell his assistants to do it, but from time to time he liked to see if there was any change in the guinea pigs' behavior; and according to his ideas, the way they built their nests was a good way to check it. He probed the nest with careful fingers, and started taking out all nesting material. He made neat piles as he took them, and lastly he put the cage into the "Sterilize" cabinet. Then, with a pair of tweezers, he started sorting them out. The Professor frowned as he examined the pile of small crumpled papers. He smoothed one of them, and looked at something rather familiar. A little bit intrigued, he smoothed yet another of them. He distractedly uncrumpled still another one, clearly puzzled by the neatly clipped-out article. He wasn't quite sure he had read it before. "Ha!" he finally exclaimed, hitting his palm to the desk. "Those buggers...! I will have to have a talk with them again!" Finishing his notes, Professor Hassium picked a new, bigger cage. He carefully put in new nesting material, making a list of what materials and in which quantities. After adding food and water, he put the cage back to its usual place. As he turned to pick the by now exhausted guinea pig, his eyes fell on the piles of material had taken from the old cage. He hesitated, then with a sigh he mixed all the piles and took a random handful of old material, throwing them in a corner of the new cage. "Let's see if he has grown attached to the old material..." he muttered, also taking notes about "random pieces of old nest material with the purpose of reducing the stress of a new environment". He carefully released the guinea pig into the new cage, and sat down at a distance to observe.

Professor Hassium blinked, and looked at the "ACCEPTED" paper on his hand. "Hmm... sure, Mr. Wyvern. I'm looking forward to having a chance to discuss my grant application with you, I'm quite confident that we'll have great results once you can back us with your resources..." He frowned, trying to locate in his memory files where he had seen that specific talking lizard before. "Oh...!" Wyvern looked at Hassium, whose eyes were very bright. For those who knew the researcher, that had only one meaning: his mind was already pursuing some line of investigation, usually centered in whatever had come to his mind in a given second. In this case, the Professor's mind was full of hypothesis to be tested on giant talking winged almost-dragons... But the small squeak of a Guinea Pig snapped him out of his reverie, and he sighed. I need that grant, though. Maybe there is some way to convince him to be a willing test subject? I might have to write another project down to submit to him! Professor Hassium nodded to Wyvern, thanking him again, and looked around searching for the guinea pig he had been tracking. Had he escaped again?