-Avi-

"Cats and water? I see your point. You could have mentioned the feline DNA before, though. Anyway, if it isn't that, we could try something simple, like extra dexterity or being able to temporarily defy gravity. That would be easy and quick, and then we'd leave you alone. Would that be good?" The boy smiled and it made Avi smile a bit too. 

He didn't think this golden boy, this Relven, could be so empathetic. Relven was actually asking Avi for his opinion on what they were going to do to him. Maybe in another life they could've been friends, Avi thought.

"Yeah, sure. I guess that works. Leskie?" Avi thought he might as well have the best relationship as possible with these students. As long as they weren't being jerks, he wouldn't either. It was just hard lowering his spiky emotional armor.

i know Colin tries not to be mean, but i'd say doing anything to them really is still hurting them. honestly you could say that Spiderwort is hurting them by not actively protesting against BIG. i think i get what you mean though. I'll try to post the experiment as soon as i can

~Spiderwort~ 

“I dunno. I’ve never worked with you before. I want to see what you can do.” Colin heads over towards Via.

Spiderwort’s heart sinks. So Colin thinks he’s going to be some genius. Sure, he doesn’t try hard in school - but he used to. The result was about the same, and it just hurt more when he inevitably failed everything. And sometimes it’s better to be seen as willfully defiant than just not smart. At least that way you’re still allowed to have a will.

Colin looks back over his shoulder. “So are you coming?”

He hesitates. Maybe he should just draw. But for some reason it sounds nice to not be alone for a bit.

Then the teacher clears their throat. “Spiderwort, go with Colin. If you don’t… perhaps I’ll report you.”

Spiderwort glances at Colin. Energy builds up inside him like fizz in a soda someone won’t stop shaking, and he paces and clicks his tongue. Finally he shrugs and heads after Colin. 

But he’s not going to let him do anything. All these people, trapped, used for other peoples’ benefits at their own expense… for a second he can’t breathe, and he feels helpless again, and he’s not sure why. 

His hands fidget with Cat, and he waits for whatever Colin is going to say next.

I'm not justifying Colin's actions. Again, he is a morally gray character. What I mean is he literally does not cause them physical pain, because when I say "hurt" in this context I mean "to bring about physical pain" rather than its alternate definitions such as "to bring about emotional distress and/or trauma."

~Colin~

Colin was slightly disappointed to see Spiderwort only followed him after the teacher threatened to report him, but he brushed it off and turned to Via.

"Hey, Via," he said, smiling. "How are you today?"

Via held up Penny and smiled. "I'm okay," she said. "What are you doing to me today?"

"I'm going to try to avoid doing much of anything," Colin said. "They'll kick me out if I fail this class, though. How do you feel about being able to run slightly faster?" Making Via more fast of a runner wouldn't affect very much, and probably wouldn't even be a change that lasted very long, considering how young she was. Spiderwort wouldn't even have to participate if he wasn't comfortable, he could just keep Via calm and make sure she wasn't being hurt so Colin could focus on his work.

While Colin was super interested in science as a topic, the live subjects made him uncomfortable; he preferred the other science-focused classes, which, unlike lab, did not force him to experiment on people. Lab was more of a class he got through. So, time to start getting though it…

*Adine*

Adine took a look at Cress' sketch - she could have done a better one, but oh well. Make the experiment stronger? Maybe... She didn't want to do anything sloppily, though, or hurt Aerona more than was necessary.

Naturally Aerona objected to Cress' new idea too, volunteering, "By the way, because of the DNA that's been injected in me, I don't have the brain of a regular human. All my scans are in the corner, in that folder over there. Anyways," she added. "Sorry if I'm being annoying. I'm tired. I think I'm gonna take a nap."

Adine suddenly found herself stifling a smile. For some reason, she wanted to laugh. Either Aerona was deliberately trying to slow them down by chattering on about science and personality, or she was doing it without realizing, but either way it was working. Clever tactic, Aerona.

"We could make her temporarily more agile," she agreed, walking over to the corner to supress her amusement. Not that it was amusing to be forced into experimenting on a live subject, but maybe it was just that the particular subject's bland annoying-ness had made her feel as if she and Aerona shared a joke. "Not for long, because, as she pointed out, fluctuations would mess things up. If we just enhanced her senses, it wouldn't be damaging to her - or, um, I mean, difficult for us." She glanced at Cress. "And then you could go to archery."

&Leskie&

"I have feline DNA woven throughout my body," the experiment said, looking repulsed. "I'll pass on that one."

Leskie thought that the experiment could've mentioned it earlier, but stayed silent as Rel voiced her thoughts. 

"Cats and water? I see your point. You could have mentioned the feline DNA before, though. Anyway, if it isn't that, we could try something simple, like extra dexterity or being able to temporarily defy gravity. That would be easy and quick, and then we'd leave you alone. Would that be good?" Rel smiled and the experiment smiled slightly as well, surprisingly.

"Yeah, sure. I guess that works. Leskie?"

Leskie nodded, slightly surprised that they were interacting verbally. Usually she never talked to experiments, so today was a first. An experiment. "Seems pretty good. Though if you ask me, I would say extra dexterity over defying gravity, because defying gravity could be potentially dangerous to health. I apologize if it sounds like I'm nitpicking," she added. "But yeah, extra dexterity sounds great."

{Aly}

Aly measured out the pigments, taking around two teaspoons of each colored powder and putting it in a container with separated boxes for each container. As she measured out the pigments, she thought about Lee---her eager smile and sparkle in her eyes as she talked about the lab was inspiring, making Aly want to care about lab as well.

Aly took the container and went back to Lee and the experiment, where Lee was adjusting the angles of the feathers to reflect light.

“I brought the pigments,” Aly said. “Should I start applying them yet?”

-Avi-

They both seemed annoyed that he didn't tell them about the cat DNA sooner so he said, "I thought it was rather obvious, the cat DNA, given that I have a tail." He said it dryly; all this was wearing him out.

Avi listened as Leskie finished talking about dexterity, and then abruptly got up and walked away. He went to a small lab, where everything smelled chemically and the walls were lined with organized things a person could need. 

He knew what to do, but he thought he might as well let them lead the way. If something was going to go wrong, then he would step in. In the meantime, he closed his eyes so he didn't have to talk.

@periwinkle: I'm sorry, I don't know what's happening next with Colin and Spiderwort? I feel like anything that happened next would be a result of Colin's actions as he does something scienc-y and don't want to take him over. i could probably come up with something if you want though

also i will get the experiment soon. and your picturing (and Moon Wolf, yours will come after that). I made it a bit more complex than I had planned to and have mostly been tinkering with perspective lately because i'm bad at it heh (it's not even a difficult perspective in this case, i'm just bad at it and then i have to get the person to fit in it... *sighs* XD). I'll also probably be drawing Colin at some point but i need to get these done first.

/Relven/

To Rel's relief, the experiment smiled back, slightly hesitantly. "Yeah, sure," he answered. "I guess that works. Leskie?"

"Seems pretty good," Leskie said. Thank goodness she wasn't objecting. "Though if you ask me, I would say extra dexterity over defying gravity, because defying gravity could be potentially dangerous to health. I apologize if that sounds like I'm nitpicking. But yeah, extra dexterity sounds great."

"I thought it was rather obvious, the cat DNA, given that I have a tail," the experiment returned, and rose abruptly. Relven watched, rather concerned, as he stalked away and vanished into a small side lab.

"Well, extra dexterity would be wonderful, then," he said, feeling an urge to cover the awkwardness of the situation. "How should we do it? I think we could just enhance his existing abilities to make him quicker and more reflexive."

@Bobcat: okay here's something; it's sort of short though

@Amethyst and sera: sorry I know absolutely nothing about science this complicated so I'm just making stuff up T.T suspend your disbelief for my sake

@Celine: if you are still wondering, Zinnia's wings are feathered! 

>Via<

Via looked up to see somebody join Colin -- Spiderwort!

She smiled big. "Hi Spiderwort!" Spiderwort was among Via's favorite people, and one of the only students Zinnia didn't seem to mind so much.  

*Zinnia*

Zinnia twitched as Lee tweaked their feathers with the pair of tweezers. Lee was right; it didn't hurt, but it did feel strange. 

Aly returned with the pigments and asked if she should start applying them yet. Zinnia sat through all this quietly and wondered how their wings would look when all this was done.

-Cress-

AA-573 objected to Cress's idea, but gave them the helpful information that her brain scans were in a file over in the corner. She then declared she was going to take a nap. Adine seemed to be stifling a laugh as she got the files, and then she said, "We could make her temporarily more agile.  Not for long, because, as she pointed out, fluctuations would mess things up. If we just enhanced her senses, it wouldn't be damaging to her - or, um, I mean, difficult for us." Adine looked over to Cress. "And then you could go to archery."

"She doesn't get hurt, we get an easy lab grade, I go to archery. Perfect. Let's go, then." 

After a quick examination of the files, they logged onto the computer. It was connected to a small chip in 573's brain, and it wasn't required she be awake while they did things like this. "So I think what we should do is start here." She gestured to one part of the brain. "We can easily just program it so her senses are temporarily heightened without having to make anything over at our lab station," Cress said. "But I guess we could make something if you want."

&Leskie&

"I thought it was rather obvious, the cat DNA, given that I have a tail," the experiment returned, and rose abruptly. They both watched as he stalked away and vanished into a small side lab.

"Well, extra dexterity would be wonderful, then," Relven said, feeling an urge to cover the awkwardness of the situation. "How should we do it? I think we could just enhance his existing abilities to make him quicker and more reflexive." 

Leskie nodded in agreement. "We should especially heighten the area of cat DNA with the claws and balance, because cats are already known to be dexterous. Either way, that sounds great. The most simple but longest way to improve dexterity would be doing activities such as drawing and painting, but I don't believe we have enough time in our lab for that. Another way would be to do breathing and aerobic exercises, which would also take a bit. The best way, from what I know, is to send more signals to the experiment's brain to improve dexterity. What do you think?" 

Periwinkle (and somewhat Moon Wolf): lemme know if i wrote Via or her bunny wrong or such! Also just so you know it’ll probably be like at least another week for the picturing (probably more). Also before i finally get the experiment posted, though that's probably going to come first. My orchestra concerts are coming up (it’s two in the same program) and I have a concerto solo and just switched violas so i have a lot of fixing/changing things to do still. and besides that I’m debating coming out because i don’t want to be my deadname and such for the concerto but i probably have to be and that sort of thing and either way it’s majorly messing up my mental health so! Fun. anyway. 

~ 

Via grins at Spiderwort when she sees him. “Hi Spiderwort!”

Spiderwort grabs his notebook from his bag. Sometimes he’ll draw little pencil or pen and ink sketches for the experiments - it makes it look like he’s working, and they seem to like it, and even like him. people don’t usually like him. “Draw something?”

Via nods furiously, leaning forward in her seat. “Can you draw my bunny? They should be drinking tea.”

Spiderwort grins. “What tea?”

“The one you make for Zinnia.”

Spiderwort nods resolutely. “Rose petals. Strawberries. Honey.” He grins, adding “More honey.” He then sits down and begins his sketch, starting with the bench Via’s bunny will be on. Once the perspective is in place, he can draw all the plants that are snaking up its sides.

He’s not going to help Colin. Colin will do what he wants, and there’s no way for Spiderwort to stop him. He’s smart enough to do something without hurting someone, anyway. But the experiments are some of the few people here who treat him like he’s normal. And if he tries to help, he’ll only mess it up.  

well this took longer than it should have! here's Rigel. Ae's open if anyone wants to talk to aem! also @periwinkle i sincerely apologize for the quality (or lack thereof) of your Zinnia picturing... *sobs*

~ 

Name and experiment number: Rigel, maybe like 136? If that doesn’t make sense let me know, i can’t do math

Pronouns and gender: Mainly xenogenders, largely ghost and star stuff (ae doesn’t really have names for them but probably has a list of things that ae considers for it). Ae uses ae/aer/aem/aemself.

Age: Maybe 18 or 19; nobody really cares or remembers, and ae prefers to keep it vague. Aer age feels both far too young and far too old. Ae is often jealous of younger kids, but feels like ae’s been alive a long, long time. 

Appearance: Probably like mixed Japanese and white??? Something like that. Ae has curly, fluffy medium/light brown hair that’s probably short, either greyish hazel eyes or dark brown eyes (i like the idea of aem having hazel eyes but am also tired of every single mixed character having “pretty” (light) eyes heh), and medium-light brown skin perhaps??? And probably kind of East Asian features in general. But nothing is decided until i’ve drawn aem a few times. Ae’s probably pretty masc but wears a lot of feminine accessories and such (or would if ae had the option). then see species

Personality: Competitive and pushes aemself too hard. Ae expects aemself to be perfect because it’s dangerous to not be perfect, although what “perfect” means changes and is based on what ae wants, not anyone else. Ae’s deeply cynical and pessimistic, and considers it a fluke when things go well. Ae’s scared very easily and usually anxious, but deeply hates it and will cause aemself great pain to not admit it and to not let anything change because of it (this usually results in things that going far worse than they would have if ae just hadn’t done anything). Ae is somewhat bitter (though ae would never use that word, ae considers aemself realistic) and generally somewhat callous and cold. Ae doesn’t really mind hurting others, but also can be very caring at times. Ae’s deeply terrified of losing things and people (and also is very good at misplacing things). Ae sometimes does the opposite of what ae’s supposed to even when it’s a bad idea. Always spacing out and generally misses half of what other people are saying. Aer mind generally runs pretty fast, so ae can also blurt things out too much. Ae has a very cynical, sarcastic sense of humor and enjoys making others laugh, but also tends to isolate aemself. Ae could probably be very charismatic if ae wanted to be. Ae just doesn’t talk to others enough. 

Species: Ae’s been here a long time, so ae has a lot of features, largely feline: claws, padded feet, and eyes that work well in the dark and are very good at detecting motion. Aer eyes are an old model; though aer eyes are brown, they flash yellow tapetum lucidum and the dark vision is not as good as newer versions. Ae also has moth wings. Ae likes this feature; ae likes flying, and ae likes the way they look. Ae always wanted wings. Ae used to want a lot more other features. Ae’s never really liked being a human. Ae used to be pretty loyal to BIG/SOCS anyway; ae was raised being told that helping it was aer only purpose.

ae also has some failed experiments: ae can’t do much without getting out of breath because of a failed attempt to improve aer lungs and has a chronic cough, and ae has some noticeable scarring on aer hands and arms. It doesn’t affect aer range of motion very much, though ae can be a bit clumsy, but they can hurt.

Likes: stars, ghosts, anything space-y really but mostly stars, bugs (especially flying ones and nocturnal ones like moths), aer wings, daydreaming, reading and writing/making stories, the idea of being able to embroider and draw someday 

Dislikes: sentimentality and optimism, anyone who’s overly cheery, being scared

Fears (putting this in a separate category for ease): Deeply scared of medical stuff and any sort of injury, even like a paper cut. Scared of the dark, and is grateful that the lab doesn’t get too dark. Scared of losing things if ae likes them. 

Skills and abilities: Flight, very sensitive vision (ae would probably be able to see someone even if they were hiding), 

Shipping: probably not romantic but open for people to talk to and possibly befriend!

Other: Whenever there is a window, ae wants to look out of it - especially if it’s at night. Stars are aer favorite things, and ae taught aemself to read on books about stars so ae could read them. Sometimes ae will get a new library book if ae does well, so ae tries to be good. ae imagines ae used to be a ghost who lived among the stars. Stars are why ae chose aer name: Rigel is easily visible from the main window the experiments have, and ae finds it fascinating. Ae loves everything about them, even though ae’s horrible at remembering things.

Ae has few stable memories from here, and none from outside. Ae must have been here aer whole life. Ae doesn’t want to know if there was anything before. Ae barely knows what it’s like outside. when ae was younger ae probably either had a friend/sibling who ae either took care of or who took care of aem (it could have been both), and then they died in a way that ae considers aer fault, but i don't have that completely figured out yet/not finalized.

@Bobcat: I really like Rigel! Maybe Zinnia could be friends with aem? I think Via would also like aem and it'd be interesting to see how a friendship between them would look. And don't worry about the picturing I actually really liked the lighting! Also lmk if I ever use Rigel's pronouns wrong; I'm still learning how to use those pronouns 

@sera yeah ahaha I am super interested in neurology and the brain and stuff but my school curriculum is set up so I learn a lot of biology next year. For now I'm loosely basing some stuff off sci-fi things I like (the chip thing was inspired by Star Wars T.T)

Ah and I don't think anybody named the lab teacher yet so everybody meet Mx. Frost! They/he/xe pronouns.

~Colin~

Colin considered what he was doing. He could give Via an injection; that'd be the easiest way to successfully make her stronger. But he had a feeling she wouldn't like that very much. He decided to instead make her something to drink. It wouldn't taste great, but it shouldn't taste terrible either.

Spiderwort seemed to be drawing Via a picture of her bunny. Colin smiled to himself. Having Spiderwort around really was a help. Colin didn't really like group projects in the first place, because he was smart enough to figure out how to do things on his own, without the help of others. Spiderwort let Colin do his work and got along with Via nicely. 

When Colin finished triple-checking his work to make sure it was safe, he handed Via the drink.

"Don't worry, it's completely safe," Colin assured her. "It shouldn't taste too bad," he added nervously. Luckily, Via nodded and drank it all. 

"Okay, that should have an effect that will successfully build up your physical strength over time. Considering the fact that you don't get nearly as much exercise as someone your age should be getting, you probably won't naturally be building up as much strength as you're supposed to. So I made something that will do it for you, so you don't have to worry about that. Does that make sense?"

Via looked sort of confused, but nodded. "I think I get it," she said.

"Great," said Colin. He turned to Spiderwort. "Well we've finished our lab ahead of schedule. Thanks for the help, Spiderwort. You're pretty cool. If you're not done with your drawing yet, you can stay here with Via. I'll just tell Mx. Frost you're still taking notes." He winked.