trans_9 | Science is kawaii

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Science is kawaii

It had been a few days, so Russel and Fletcher Tringham knew... pretty much where the most important areas of the ship were. They spent most of their time up on the top deck, only briefly exploring the lower areas -- they hadn't even ventured into the city, for example.

They hadn't announced to Dr. Sera that they were going to be stopping by the science labs, but he'd said that he was there all the time, so it was okay. Fletcher was still a little uncomfortable dropping by unannounced, though. But if they were going to be part of this ship's crew, well, they would have to get used to doing things the way everyone else did.

He still held his brother's hand while they walked, though. It was going to take him a while to break that habit.

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Russel stuck his head in the door, having much fewer qualms about invading another's lab. "Knock knock," he called, letting himself in, and leading Fletcher behind. "Dr. Sera? Are you in here?" Of course, he wasn't actually looking for the greasy Spaniard. His eyes were on his surroundings.

Greasy? Ouch. Luis preferred to think of it as a break from his usual obsession with his appearance in the name of science. Incidentally, he was in his usual spot, hunched in a corner, staring at a microscope and obsessively taking notes with his free hand.

He glanced up and across the room with his glasses on, noticed the two blond kids, and stared for a moment.

"You called?" he asked. "Oh, you're the ones from the network, sí? The two brothers."

Trailing behind Russel, still holding his hand, Fletcher looked around the lab in wonder. Some of the devices he could see were familiar, some were completely unknown. He was a little jumpy about being in another researcher's territory, though. He knew that back home, he and Russel guarded their notes and research with all the ferocity of a guard dog.

He jumped when the man spoke up. "Ah-- yes, sir. I-I'm Fletcher. This is Russel."

Russel was perfectly content to dispose of the pleasantries and get right to it. "So what are you working on?" Contagion and stuff weren't really his thing but he still had an intimate, working knowledge of the human body and all its systems.

He let go of Fletcher's hand, and went to try and sneak a peek at Luis's notes.

"Hey hey hey hey, you don't just wander in and start digging through a man's notes," Luis said irritably-- he immediately snatched up the notes Russel had gone for. It's not that he minded letting people look at his notes. It was just these particular notes that were definitely off-limits.

He shuffled the notes together and stashed them under something else, stepping away from the microscope and brushing his hair back out of his face. "You two want on staff, right? Well it'd help for a start if I knew what you could do."

Fletcher felt uncomfortable having Russel move away from him; this whole being-on-a-spaceship with his world destroyed thing was still really overwhelming. But he hung back, glancing at a microscope on the table he was standing by and idly fiddling with its magnification settings.

"Um... we can do a little alchemy. And we know a lot about plants." It was just a rehash of what he'd said over the communicators, though. Russel would be better at this.

"We're pretty much the best botanical experts you'll ever find. Ever seen a lemon tree grow to full size and give full yield its first growing season in a desert?" Russel smirked, leaning on a counter, somewhat near Fletcher. "You've heard of alchemy, I hope."

"Oh, botanists. That'll be useful." That was a nice change of pace. Luis wasn't all that interested in plants and focused most of his work on invertebrates, but you never could tell when a plant expert might be useful. Or two tiny kids who fancied themselves experts, whichever. Either way, it was a valuable addition to the science team.

Alchemy though... he'd heard of it. As a joke about medieval science. He decided wisely to keep these thoughts to himself. "I have. Never really seen it in action, but I also have never seen alien spaceships and whatnot in action and here we are," Luis said with a shrug.

That reassured Fletcher a little, at least. If they could be useful, if they could do something, he would feel better about this whole situation. "I'm not sure we're the best," he clarified, just to make sure Dr. Sera didn't get the wrong idea. Privately, he decided he needed to have a talk with his brother about that ego of his.

"You... you've never seen anyone use alchemy?" This multiverse thing was getting stranger and stranger.

Russel helped himself to a stray empty sheet of paper and a pen. He drew a very precise circle. He pressed it against an exposed bit of Luis's plant suit under his clothes. It glowed and sizzled without heat, and came up over the waistband of his pants, making a cute skirt. Russel stepped back to admire his handiwork. "Well, that confirms one theory of mine."

Oh gee. Luis was just loving this kid already.

"That's cute," he said with a perfectly straight face, as though Russel had just asked him about the weather or something like that. Within a few seconds the plantsuit started forming itself back into its ordinary shape. Which itched. A lot.

He still kept a straight face though, turning back to the microscope and thumbing through the notes set next to it. "So this sudden interest in the lab here doesn't have anything to do with your secret desire to be a fashion designer, does it? Because I wouldn't quite call that an efficient allocation of resources."

"Brother!" Fletcher approached his brother and grabbed his arm to pull him away. "I'm sorry, sir-- um, no, we, um... we want to help the science department. He won't be doing that again--"

Doing that again.

Fletcher paused when he processed what had just happened. Russel had already analyzed the biochemical makeup of the plantsuits in this amount of time? Unsurprising, knowing him. Fletcher should have thought of that... "These are botanical, aren't they..." He glanced down at his own suit -- he still hadn't covered it with normal clothing.

Russel still smirked a mile wide while watching the suit regain its previous form. "At any rate, that was your demonstration. Alchemy breaks down matter at the elemental level and manipulates it. I can't create something out of nothing, though. It's all governed by the Law of Equivalent Exchange. I can change the form of things, accelerate the growth of other things, and change other various properties of a material, but I can't change what that material is."

"All right, I believe you, now quit staring at my suit," Luis said, waving him off. Couple of kids watching a plantsuit grow back around him under his shirt. There was no un-awkward way of putting it.

"The suits are, in fact, botanical. Like no plant I've ever seen of course. Same goes for what Stacy herself is made out of, which I've been meaning to look into but sadly, haven't had a chance to since I've been pretty wrapped up in projects since I got here." There. It was done fixing itself. Luis hurriedly adjusted his shirt again and then fixed his glasses. "But if you two want to look into that kind of thing on your time, be my guest. As long as I don't have to run around explaining my department members' proclivity for crossdressing--"

He paused. "And as long as you use the equipment ethically, you can do what you like."

He didn't let go of Russel's arm, but Fletcher smiled. "Thank you so much, Dr. Sera. We won't do anything bad with any of it, honest. Brother likes to play pranks, but his heart's in the right place."

That was almost as embarrassing as being naked with that other guy. But he just talked past it. "No problem. Any experiment subjects will be willing." Russel started pacing a bit more around the room, checking out some of the equipment.

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