|
Toxicology and Analysis Lab (March 2011 - Jan 2014)
|
Text Cut: Aron and Jade Blahblahblah. Derek rolled his eyes while exiting the Break Room and Jade kept talking to Aron how she would love to join them in the lab and watch them and yadda yadda. Whatever. Moving on. Derek led the way to the beloved lab and carefully opened the door. He considered that place to be... almost holy. He shot a don't-you-touch-anything-you're-not-supposed-to look at Jade before entering the room before the other two. The young man moved around pretty quickly - there was no other place he felt more at home than in the lab - indicating a couple of things to Aron. "Right here I have the drool samples." He stepped closer to the counter and grabbed the gloves he had been wearing earlier, putting them on again. "You both had better make sure you wear some as well." Derek added, not looking at either of them. He was too focused on each of the labeled vials. There were three drool vials in front of them. One labeled Kensington Whitworth, another one with a Demetrius Clay tag and a third one with the name Dimitri Burton. "These two I collected before the Christmas holidays." The green eyed guy gestured towards Kensi's and Demetrius' vials. "This other one I collected a few days ago, during the Employee Orientation." He explained briefly, then he moved on to another counter. This area was colder than where they were before, but Derek didn't seem to mind it at all. He himself had cast the spells to make the space almost freezing cold. "I keep the vomit samples here." Smoke came out of his mouth as he explained. "If you have any vomit samples there with you, you can leave them here too." There was enough space. And Aron could label the vials too, if he wanted. Derek eyed his vials with bege substances. Kensignton Whitworth and Dimitri Burton had their names on those vials too. The former Gryffindor almost smirked at the samples before turning around to finally face Aron and Jade. "I have their files over there." He motioned to the warmer area. "I believe we should compare the information you have with my notes." To see if they could already find out something in common between all those infected people, yes? The 24 year old stood there, looking at the other two people, not being bothered by the coldness of the area at all. |
both of ya ;) I apologize for Jade's behavior- Aron has that effect on her! Quote:
Oh well. She didn't care as long as she could be around Aron a little more. She was like a love sick puppy all of a sudden. She hurried and walked next to Aron the short distance from the break room to the lab. She inhaled deeply. Yep, she did really like his smell. Jade smiled a goofy smile and then lost it as she noticed that Aron and Derek weren't paying any attention to her-- more focused on discussing the samples. Well Aron wasn't paying any attention to her but Derek was--giving her his usual glare of what Jade liked to call 'Keep your grubby hands off everything or ELSE!' She chuckled softly-- Derek did know her well. Except for when she had work herself in the lab, she made a point of interrupting his work just a little in order to get on his nerves and annoy him. It was one of the best parts of her day. As she and Aron followed him into the lab, Jade desperately wished that she dared to pull a prank on Derek in front of Aron. But she wouldn't want Aron to think that she was really immature and unprofessional. Besides with this Drooler thing going on-- she had to be on the top of her game. So she settled down to listen to what the two men were discussing. |
you two ^__^ so short...sorry *tired* Entering the lab, Aron slipped the cooler's strap off his shoulder and removed the lid while just his eyes followed Derek as he walked around explaining things. Drool over there and vomit over there, got it. He only had one vomit sample, so that was quickly dropped off with the others and then Aron aligned his drool samples with the others - including one he had quite literally just taken 30 minutes ago. Once all the samples were in place, Aron took his MLE notebook with him and walked over to where Derek was - completely oblivious to the way that Jade was ogling over him. SPOILER!!: labels on the samples & also listed in his notebook "Everyone of these people told me they started feeling weird after eating in the cafeteria," he began, flipping through his notes. "Although, Beckett wasn't able to confirm that his cookie was from there, although he suspects that the International Magical Cooperation Head took the cookies he ate from there. They also mentioned having issues performing magic..." |
both of ya ;) Quote:
In order to distract herself AND get up and close to Aron (it was killing two birds with one stone which she was all for!), Jade came to stand on Aron's other side and glanced at his notebook. "Is this all the samples?" She asked, "I find it interesting that most of the affected are pure blood and only one is half-blood. So I suppose it is likely connected to their magical genes perhaps." She frowned, of course that was obvious duh Jade she thought to herself. What else did Aron mention? The cafeteria and cookies...that was interesting. She uttered "The cafeteria?" She continued talking to herself albeit a little more loudly. "They all ate there and it must have been during a specific day or week. The cafeteria does those huge advertisements on daily or weekly specials. Maybe the cookies or other food items were specially prepared off site..." She trailed off as she realized that the two men were staring at her with annoyed expressions. "Sorry." She blushed and shrugged. "I love detective stories." |
Soorryyy it took me so long! Derek is picky and wanted a detailed post =S Derek pursed his lips when he realised none of the other two had put on gloves. He had just told them to do so. Inner eye roll. Quickly conjuring two new pairs of rubber gloves, the young man handed one pair to Jade and the other to Aron. "Better safe than sorry." Put them on, now will you? Onto the good part! Derek was about to step closer to take a better look at the notebook Aron was holding when Jade was faster. He stopped dead on his tracks and stared hard at her. She was doing such a good job being quiet. Why did she have to start bothering now? "Yes, the caffeteria." So don't go eat there, okay? "The Related to their blood status? "I am not sure if this proceeds." Derek said looking at Aron, frowning slightly. "I don't think there is any genetic difference between a pureblood and a muggleborn." They all had the magical gene, so it was all the same, genetically speaking. "I do believe this has something to do with food poisoning." He would say 'only', but he couldn't be sure. "The... volunteers" Ahem. "have also the same physical symptoms, like bloodshot eyes, excessive drooling and sometimes they might... have some sort of seizure and stare blankly at nothing." Derek told the other two - since Jade should be interested in these things as well, if she wasn't already informed. "And one of them bit me." He added. "I haven't found out if this is contagious yet." Though he didn't think it was, otherwise half of the Ministry would have been infected by now. Or so he thought. Issues performing magic, exactly. "Yes, two of the people I have collected the samples from were lacking magic at the moment." Dimitri himself couldn't perform a simple Aguamenti spell, for crying out loud. It was one of the simplest spells there was! "When... their eyes go out of focus," Derek was having a hard time finding good words to describe the symptoms, since everything about this... thing was so unsure. "apparently they lose consciousness, but they can still move around." And bite you. Derek refrained himself from rolling his eyes at Jade's comment about detective stories. Instead, he just stared through Aron with an annoyed expression. |
both of ya ;) Jade rolled her eyes as Derek handed her the gloves. She definitely wasn't planning on touching anything but he was right better safe than sorry. She put them on. Seeing that he was glaring at her more than usual made Jade feel satisfied. Had Derek really honestly thought that she would actually stay quiet? That was so adorable of him. As if she would be quiet on this interesting case that she had a feeling that sooner or later Althea would tell her to look at the infected's memories. So she had every right to be here. She did like whenever possible to get as much as possible in terms of background information before she went and looked at the memories. So she would know what to look for. Just then a paper plane came flying at her. She smiled apologetically to the men and stepped aside to read it. They, of course, took no notice of her. After finishing to read the message which was from Althea notifying her that she was now attached to the case. She stepped back to the table. "It is official. I'm now the Reminisciator attached to the "Droolers" case." She announced. "Aron, who else is on your team working on the case? I need to get in touch with them in order to get in touch with each of the known droolers to get their memories from them." Her demeanor towards Aron completely changed now that she was officially attached to the case. Yes, she did have a crush on him but there was no way that she would let it affect her work. And if she was hoping that she got to work with him on this case? Well that was a lovely bonus...which she should not think about too much in case it distracted her from her actual job. |
for you know whoooooooo Making his way to the lab with all his samples - including those wands - Aron began to set things out and gathered some other vials and glass containers and...well...everything but the kitchen sink really. Hopefully his 'no touchy my things' co-worker wouldn't get all honking daffodil about this. She shouldn't considering they weren't even in their department's lab. Aron quickly divided up the drool and hurl samples into controls and testers - for comparative reasons - and then drew his attention to the wands. "Droolers had been experiencing a lack of magical ability...and then they were gnawing on wands...like they were trying to heal themselves or something..." he grumbled to himself, mentioning something about beavers under his breath as he began to boil some distilled water to dissolve some of the gnawed on wands into. |
I know whoo ;) Quote:
"huh um." She cleared her throat, "I think that I might have a clue from the infecteds' memories-- it is based on plants and the only thing that was plant-like in the memories were vegetables which I found that most if not all the infected had consumed in varying quantities in the cafeteria food." |
Quote:
Aron was just the drool collecting guy. His ears did perk up a bit at the mention of plants. What? He WAS a Herbologist after all. "Plant based?" he repeated while ladling a small amount of the wand wood liquid into one of the petri dishes containing a sample of infected drool and setting it to the side to see if there were any changes in the DNA's composition. "Why do I get this image of everyone grazing on poison ivy leaves in their salad?" That was a rhetorical question....and some bad humor. |
Quote:
Then when he made a comment about people grazing on poison ivy leaves, Jade forgot about her shyness around him. She couldn't help but laugh at his bad humor. "God, thank you! I really needed to laugh. I wish that it was true though. It would make locating the source and the cure much easier. speaking of which, what have you found out so far?" She took a few steps nearer to him to glance over his shoulder. |
quoting pixie, but the post is for anyone/all. Quote:
This lab was heaven. Elinor was sad that she would not have time to enjoy the extent of this laboratory. She wanted to bring Nigel here. It was obviously equipped for potions brewing. Unfortunately, they needed a cure for this infection. Right. Now. The woman found Aaron and Jade already there. Lovely. She set down the folder she had been carrying around for the last few hours, and opened it on the table, indicating that the information inside was available for select eyes. I.E., the team in the lab. She also set down a case filled with the latest DNA samples, as well as several samples of the Scottish Fern leaves, one of them indicated with a label "WILD". She placed her palms down on the table and hung her head in thought, trying, once again, to collect her thoughts. People kept... Gah. She was trying to work. Thankfully, there was a select team of people in this lab today. Good. Good. WELL. All she could do was finish what she had started earlier. She sliced off a bit of the leaf labeled "WILD", and started an analysis, keeping a copy of the analysis from the ferns hanging in the cafeteria nearby. |
both of you ^^ Heh. See?! His humor WAS appreciated - even if some people But his thoughts were interrupted when Miss No-Touchy herself entered the lab...with ferns? "Well...maybe not poison ivy," he said while leaning in to whisper to Jade. Standing up and walking over to see what Elinor was doing, Aron took a look at the ferns. "Dryopteris semicristata, if I am not mistaken," he said as he leaned over a bit to look at the fern. "Muggles believe it to be an extinct species of ferns." But Herbologists in the know knew better. "I hope you aren't implying that people were grazing on this stuff...or..." he paused for a moment to look at her. "You thinking it's spores produced something in the air?" Dryopteris semicristata was known to produce some nasty stuff during germination as a defense mechanism. |
Quote:
But there wasn't a lot of time to spare on such things. She nodded, appreciative that he had information to fill in little blanks. "I'm thinking these plants definitely have something to do with the infection, but... I can't figure out how. I know the samples from the ferns in the cafeteria and the samples from the most advanced subjects have... it's apparent that the plants have had affect," she spat out, having difficulty expressing her thoughts without sounding as crazy as she looked. So she focused her gaze on the leaf that had been marked "WILD". "The thing that bothers me the most is this leaf... Well... Here." Elinor pulled up a second microscope and slid one of the other samples under the lens. "Look for yourself. The ferns hanging in the cafeteria are clearly different. They've been altered somehow. I'm not a herbologist, I can't-- I can't... figure it out." The woman ran a and over her brow and then pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's almost as if they were... I don't want to sound accusing. It seems to me that they've been treated somehow. Chemically, magically-- I don't know. I... don't know." It was obviously painful for Elinor to utter those three words, but she was less stressed about saying it in front of these few people than she was saying it in front of the entire level two. Nevertheless, being clueless was not something Elinor liked. At all. The woman wanted a hug and a stiff drink. |
Plants...TAMPERED WITH? Well, that was just cruel... Aron took an even closer look at the two leaf samples and didn't take him long to see that there was something different about the two of them. And yes, maybe he did smirk a little when she said that she didn't know. "Well, good thing I am a Herbologist then," he grinned as he scooted a bit closer. "You want to trade? I do plants and you take a look at these wands? I just can't shake the feeling that wand woods are connected to the cure. Those droolers had to be gnawing on wands for a reason." And then he sort of sat there all awkwardly in his white lab coat and just sort of looked at her. |
The woman from level two was on to something, with her theory of tampered plant spores getting into the food. Meanwhile, the analysis of the leaf labelled 'wild' started bubbling... |
For all of you x) NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Nooooo!! There were TOO MANY people in He had silently slipped back into the room after the Elinor woman when he noticed she had ferns with her. The young man actually heard their last words and pursed his lips slightly. He did NOT like group work, but apparently he would have to deal with it this time... heavy sigh. "Um..." Aaargh, his voice sounded louder than he wanted it to sound. "Um, I uh... have tested some plants from outside the Ministry as well..." To see if they had anything different from those inside the Minstry, because he was no Herbologist, so he needed to compare and all... "They um... they are fine." The plants from outside the Ministry, he meant. They understood him, right? Because he didn't want to keep talking. The wand talk, though. Derek has caught himself thinking that the infected people were trying to get their magic back by... eating wands. Weird thought, and probably not very accurate, since they also munched on anything that was made of wood, so it probably didn't m- Whathebloodyh- the thing was bubbling! Derek quickly approached the woman, forgetting completely he was surrounded by THREE PEOPLE, pulled his wand out and waved it in the air, making his other experiments get FAR AWAY from that bubbling thing. Ugh, how he hated sharing The bubbling was something interesting, though, and caught his attention. He eyed the other analysis nearby. "Are those the ones from the Ministry?" Derek asked the woman, pointing towards the other plant's analysis. "What exactly happened to those when you tested them?" Wait, had she tested them in any way yet? OhMerlin, working in a group was SO FREAKING DIFFICULT. Ugh. |
Elinor nodded once. Switching was fine. She just wanted answers. She looked to the man who had not been there previously. Mr... What was his name? Oh. She knew this. Ugh. Forget it. "Thank you," she nodded, knowing this was the lab of... this... quiet fellow. The woman jumped when he whipped out his wand, but understood the clear look on his face that said he was not having fun. She felt sorry for him. She knew the feeling. But, again, there was work to be done. She eyed the leaf, which had begun to bubble, but since they had switched projects... She made no comment. Aron-Ashbury-blah blah blah was the expert. She turned her focus on the wands. Even though it didn't fit her own theory, which she decided was the time to voice. "I really don't think the wand wood has a specific significance... I mean... they'll chomp on anything made of wood... However, the loss of magical ability is strange. But I can't help but want to think it's merely being sick..." she was talking mostly to herself-- Brainstorming. They had to figure this out, so it was time to put all the cards on the table... |
"Derek," Aron said with a small nod of the head when his lab "buddy" - the term used in the loosest of meanings there - entered the lab. Ug. Why did he have to be in a group with TWO people who were always 'DON'T TOUCH MY THINGS!':whaa: Woah, wait, he was actually allowed to touch this stuff? Oh, now that was a nice gesture from Elinor and earned her a genuine smile. Yep. "I know that these people will gnaw on anything made of wood, but one bloke was specifically going on about wanting wands and not just wood," Aron explained as he eyed the bubbling leaf. Oh, that was interesting. "Since wand woods are magically infused themselves, seems like a survival instinct to want to gnaw on something that has components of something you are lacking. Just like how we will seek out proteins when out body craves them. Wood in general would balance out any poison that enters the body from these spores..." Which is what he was investigating now - including eyeing the wild specimen. "...but magically infused wood would counteract things even more. Instinctive, I believe is the term you used once to explain this." But now Aron's attention went back to the bubbling leaf...now THAT was weird. What had Elinor done to this thing to make it bubble?! Leafs just didn't bubble like that! Unless... "Elinor, hand me one of those samples of the ferns from the cafeteria," he demanded GENTLY while grabbing a glass container and stuffing the bubbling sample inside it. Couldn't waste all those spore fumes from the WILD sample going to waste...not when there was a theory that may or may not work. "Better yet, toss one of those samples in here with this one," he said as he pointed to the container that was quickly becoming fogged over from all the bubbling and fume puffing. Maybe...just maybe these spore exertions could counteract the zombie spores - for lack of a better name. |
Awkward nod back at you, Aron. Blink. Okay now... It was NOT just merely being sick, unfortunately... Derek would also like to point out that he witnessed a infected man swallowing a piece of furniture that was not magical at all and the guy seemed quite pleased with his lunch, even if it wasn't a wand. He would like to point it out only in his head, though, because... he had done enough talking for now. And maybe that was just one guy. No, really, maybe that was relevant but TOO MUCH TALKING ALREADY. And he was getting NERVOUS with all those people in Even though Derek had not really asked, he listened closely to what Aron was saying about woods and whatnot. He was no Herbologist and no wandmaker, so he didn't really know that many details. Besides, who knew when such information could come in handy? Suddenly, Derek remembered something and raised both of his eyebrows. He rushed to the colder area of the lab and came back a minute later, with some files and small vials on his hand and some others floating next to his head. "Um, these are the samples we collected a while ago." Yeah, he still had them stored. "And some uh... tests." Derek had tried mixing the vomit and drool with different substances to see how they reacted and whatnot. Obviously, he had not had time to look through the botanical - or whatever - tests. He had not even worked on those, actually, since most people, including himself, believed the poisoning - or whatever - had happened through the food. Sigh. Derek had always known that working with people made him stupid... he placed all the vials on a counter and put the files next to them. But... he just stood there, very uneasily and watched the other two do stuff |
Not quoting but I am referring to all of you ;) Jade blushed as Aron leaned in to whisper to her. He smelt so good. But she needed to get her mind back on the case. She looked at Elinor, "So you're sure that it is the ferns that are the source? It does make sense from the infecteds' memories--they were all eating something that had a leafy element to it that I could see. Isobel Ferguson was eating a salad so it would be easy to put some fern leaves in that. Even the people who had stews/a hot meal mentioned the fact that there were too many herb leaves in it." As Elinor showed them the fern and Aron made a comment about the wand wood being connected. How? Jade thought to herself. She just happened to glance at the fern in that moment and saw that it was bubbling. Her eyes widen, that was definitely new. Just at that moment, Derek came and waved his wand around his experiments to get them away from the bubbling fern. Jade smirked at the sight. Elinor was commenting on the wand wood and Jade agreed with her, "Yes, I agree. They will chow down on any kind of wood. Although I think that we should look at wood itself and see how it influences or is influenced by the fern" And YES Aron totally got it as he went on about the wood and the spores. Jade sighed in admiration of him. Seeing that Derek was more than a little out of his element, Jade reached out to him. "You've done great, Derek, really great. From the memories, I was able to find out that all the infected ingested the fern leaves through their food. So you're not wrong. What have you found out about the samples?" |
GlassXRose is right about the tampered spores getting into the food - not leaves The sample leaves that had been bubbling earlier were now slowly stewing, as though they were waiting for something to be added to them. The employees needed to act fast, before they lost their lead and before the infected employees got worse! |
Sorry about him... =Y Ohwhatthehell. Talkative people made Derek's brain get worse. That was not good. And that stuff bubbling in WAIT! The former Gryffindor eyed again the files he had just brought and was suddenly reminded of something. He quickly went to his personal stock and came back just a few seconds later with some ingredients. Would Aron mind if...? Well, no time to ask. The thing was... stewing? He had to do something then. And quick, from the look of things. "Um, excuse me." Derek said to Aron before stepping in and adding a few things every now and then as his brain worked almost faster than his hands. No time to talk now, was there? No. And he liked that. And woops, he was kind of taking over the situation and not working on it as a team. Derek pursed his lips at that thought and actually stopped what he was doing like he had frozen. Merlin... now what? Should he... let the others do everything? How was a group of people supposed to work together on... the same thing? He had no idea how to deal with that. He was about to step back but hey! That was Oh bludger. How could he work like this??? What was he supposed to do now?? Uuuuuurgh. Straightface. Now what? |
Jade happened to glance down at the leaves and her eyes widened. "Hey guys- I think that there is some chemical reaction we need to be looking into-- the leaves are now stewing. This is getting weirder by the second." |
"I came as fast as I could." Which wasn't very fast at all, considering the cane he used to help him walk. The doctor silently cursed the centuries, as he joined the others. "If we find the cause, we can find the cure." Nero had no idea about what was going on, only that some mystery malady was causing people to crave wood. Leaning over the stewing leaves, he struggled to recognize the smell. "You need to add...add..." The great Nero Nykto was once an expert at this sort of thing, but he was old, and his memory was not what it once was. |
Thanks to the combined efforts of everyone in the lab, and especially thanks to the quick work of the man who felt very possessive of the lab, the bubbling sample started to spread. It looked like it needed to be split into a few more test tubes... like say, at least a dozen test tubes... or however many infected employees there were.... |
What?? NO! NO. MORE. PEOPLE. UUUUURGH!!! Derek took a few imperceptible deep breaths when an old man walked into Since he had no idea who that person was, it made Derek VERY suspicious. How did he even manage to get in there?? Who had let him in?? WHO?? No. That was not right. Get away from HIS THINGS, OLD MAN!! Hnnnngh! The 25 year-old used his body to kind of protect the analysis he was working on, turning his back to the unknown man. Get away. AWAY! Derek was very suspicious. He silently hoped the other people would do something about this, since he was clearly busy with the mixture there. Group work, yes? That would make some sense now. Derek forgot about the people around him for a fraction of a second when his inside flipped in excitement. The thing was spreading! That was a good sign! He quickly conjured several vials and filled each of them up to the top with the... cure??? "I... I think..." Was that it??? Was that the cure??? "I think this is..." The young man turned around as his face lit up, holding up one of the vials. He felt warm inside and |
Apologies! Quote:
She stepped up to where he ad filled several vials with the... substance, and looked over to him "May I...?" before hesitantly picking one up herself and holding it up to the light. She wanted to analyze this, but wondered if-- AH, SCIENCE! She wanted answers! Elinor popped open the vial briefly and, finding a sterile dropper, took a very tiny sample of the substance, re-plugged the vial, and moved over to place a tiny drop on a slide. She loved these muggle machines. They were so much better to use, in her opinion. "Sweet Merlin," she breathed as she stared forward at the screen of the machine she put the tiny glass slide into. "The Potassium levels are through the roof..." Did that mean her previous theory about the nutrients held water? Maybe? She looked over to the quiet, nervous, paranoid fellow and nodded once. "I think... I think it might be," she said, swiftly looking over the screen again. There wasn't a second to spare, but there was neither a second to be sloppy... |
By Merlin, it WAS a cure! Quick, to the quarantine room! Before the bubbling bubbles all bubble away!!!! |
Derek hadn't felt this happy in a very long time. If you knew him a bit, you could see it in his face; not that he was grinning widely, he was not. But his face was definitely lit up. Though... he was not going to the Quarantine Room. Actually, he would go if he had to, but he didn't, since there were a lot of other people there that could do it instead. "Um, so... one of you should take these to the... infected people." Because he was staying right there. There were even MORE people in the Quarantine Room than there were in the lab. But take them! Hurry! There was no time to lose, really. Who knew what could be happening to the '''''zombies''''' right now. They could be killing each other or something! Hitting themselves against walls or... whatever. Someone should take the vials there fast! |
sorry >__< been dealing with a fussy newborn T___T Okay...so maaaaaaybe he was getting a little caught up in the whole plant aspect of this situation. It couldn't be help, he was a Herbologist after all. When Derek went all mad scientist on them all, he sort of just stood back with his giant vial of liquefied wand woods, swirling it like it was a cocktail of some sort - shaken, not stirred - and then glanced at Elinor as she did something else and the leaf and all its spore goodness continued to bubble away. Wait, they did it?! Wood juice in hand - maybe as something to wash down the after taste of this cure and supply some extra nutrients later? - Aron reached for the vials containing the cure and smirked at the other two No more collecting drool and vomit!! Giving everyone one last nod - and the old man a raised eyebrow (was he even allowed to be in here?!) - Aron turned around and made his way out of the lab and to towards Level 2. |
I've been out the whole day so this is so late I'm sorry! Jade took a step back and let the three scientists of the team work on the bubbling/stewing fern. She watched in fascination how they all worked together. This was one aspect of the process that she, personally, had never witnessed first hand. And she was so caught up in what was happening that she never even noticed the old man who wandered into the lab. And then they FINALLY achieved it--the cure to the zombie sickness! Jade felt so giddy at the prospect that she didn't say a word as Aron left to administer it to the infected. But then she realized that she also needed to be on hand to help out so she called out "Wait!" and rushed out of the lab after him. |
Swooooshhhhhhhh!!! New timeline!!! Swoooooshhhhhh!! Derek walked into Staring down at the bubbling orange substance, the 26 year-old watched it for a moment before deciding what to do next. He walked over to his supply cabinet and retrieved a few recipients with odd looking, thick goo in them. Each one of a different colour. Brilliant. Now all he needed was to wait until the Potion spread to take samples and start testing them out individually. |
*shifty faces* ".....I would." Althea agreed, continuing an in-progress conversation as she made her way into the lab with Aron. |
Quote:
Which hopefully Derek wasn't mulling over at the moment. Had seen more than enough of that stuff for a long while. He did nod his head in the man's direction before turning his attention back to Althea Her next comment that took him off guard a bit. It wasn't that he lacked the confidence to run the place - the man practically had that in spades - but he would be the first to admit that Althea somewhat intimidated him. She was no honking daffodil that was for sure. "Seems to be straightforward enough," he agreed with a nod. He had worked in this sort of field before at STATUS. "Anything else I should be aware of?" |
Quote:
The blonde woman, always working, used the opportunity to casually (or not so casually but with the appearance of casual so as not to alarm Derek overmuch) began inspecting the lab. Not that she touched anything, just eyeballed everything, having stopped to apply protective charms to herself just in case something exploded or the like. |
Quote:
Should he be writing this all down? Nah. If he needed something and didn't know where it was he could always ask someone to fetch it for him. Proper wording wouldn't make him look like he didn't know what he was doing. "I think I'll be spending some time in the conference room then," he nodded. Sorry Seren, looked as though he would be having a long work weekend to make sure he was up to speed on things before orientation. He didn't need an orientation on how to use lab equipment. He knew that stuff like the underside of a palm leaf. "The Ministry will sure miss your presence," he said said as he shoved both hands in his pockets and sort of rocked back on his heels. He really meant that too. She was one of the few women here he could put up with. "What made you decide to do this? If you don't mind me asking that is." |
As soon as the Potion started to spread, Derek skilfully collected various samples in different tubes. When he put the mixture into the last testing tube, though, the door opening and people's voices startled him. Good thing he didn't drop anything, otherwise he would have gotten quite upset. Hm. The former Gryffindor glanced behind him and saw his Head of Department talking to that Aron bloke. He acknowledged the both of them with a short nod, and turned around to face his experiment before any of them could see in his face that he wasn't pleased with the... visit. Derek couldn't help to overhear what they were saying, of course. Not that he wanted to, but well, they were in his lab, which was a rather quiet place, especially when Derek was there alone. Just how he liked it. Alone. A.l.o.n.e. But now that he wasn't alone anymore, he couldn't focus. What was he doing, even? The young man eyed the tubes he was holding and blinked. Oh. Right. He tried to concentrate again, but people. Really, Derek was trying his best not to pay attention to the conversation, but it was almost like they were doing it on purpose. They knew he could hear them, right?? Ugh. Finally managing to get back to work, Derek started to pour a little bit of goo in one of the tubes. He watched as the substance changed colours when his name was mentioned and he froze. Was he supposed to look back and... do something? Talk to them? About... his lab or something? What? What?? The 26 year-old was suddenly really nervous and couldn't keep working on the experiment. So he just held the goo recipient and the testing tube, standing still with his back to both people. 'The ministry will sure miss your presence.' What?? Althea was leaving?? Ugh, no! Derek would have to get used to a new boss and new rules and new EVERYTHING. He did not appreciate that! He slowly put the glass tube and recipient he was holding as his palms became sweaty. Still facing the cauldron in front of him, Derek could not help it anymore but pay full attention to their conversation. |
Quote:
"I don't blame you, there's a lot of interesting things in the books and scrolls there." She said with a touch of Ravenclaw enthusiasm. Because... well, she did that sort of thing for interest's sake too. |
sweet merlin I hope this post makes sense *ish tired* Good thing he enjoyed reading then, yeah? "I wouldn't have it any other way," he said with a small wink. He was going to ask her to be on the Board anyway, so it was nice knowing that she had already accepted said spot without him having to even ask. Very efficient when two people were photosynthesizing on the same molecular level. But now that all the logistics were talked about and business was turning more towards casual conversation, Aron glanced over at Derek whose ears seemed to have doubled in size in the span of a few minutes. Eavesdropping much? Only the Australian hardly saw the harm in it. Wasn't as though they were discussing the man's paycheck or anything. They had done that earlier. Heh. "I am familiar with it, yes," he nodded. "Send my congratulations to him." And then she struck a cord with him when she mentioned the word family. It was partly why he had accepted the position as Department Head when she had offered it to him since he had already been considering speaking to Wes about receiving a promotion in his former department. With a baby on the way and Seren working at Hogwarts - which was now in the poor house - he knew he had to step it up and really REALLY bring home the bacon. Long and potentially strenuous hours were ahead he was sure...but it was all for the sake of a family. "Ah." That was really all he managed to utter since his own thoughts were very much preoccupied at the moment. Oh. She was offering some helpful advice now. He better refocus. "I'll ask Seren about getting that situated," he nodded. "That will be especially useful when she gets closer to her due date." He had this sinking fear that she would start going into labor while in the middle of a lesson or something to that regard and he wanted to make sure he had the quickest route to her side when it happened. Although it would be nice if their baby would wait until they were together before it decided to come. |
"Lucky for you I know what I'm doing." She answered, returning the wink. Althea was more than confident that she was a benefit to the Committee, and she enjoyed it. She could contribute a lot of insight into the magical metallurgy side of experimental charms, which was a specialist area after all. |
Alani Marie was looking for her boss. Or the woman who was almost her former boss. It was saaaad, wasn't it? Her first boss at her not-really-that-big-but-still-a-big-deal government job, and she was quitting. It was sad. Alani had a moment of gum popping silence for her almost former boss when she found out. It had been so much more important than rushing back to finish the assignment she'd been working on. So much more. Now she had a different assignment. She had parchments that her boss lady still needed to sign. Also, she'd knew that Schirmer was showing the level to soon-to-be current boss, and so why not get her to sign the papers now so she could check out this new person who'd she be assisting? The young woman sauntered into the lab and let her green eyes settle on current boss after the two men in the room got there share of appropriate looks. A little wave and smile for Derek, and a... this is who she'd be working for? Hi. Hello. She waved. And smiled. Hot. This job was getting so much better. "I still have some papers for you to sign, Althea." She motioned to the parchments in her hand. Her other hand holding a fancy quill. |
He wasn't entirely sure if that was her version of dry humor or not - considering that it was rather obvious that she knew what she was doing or else she would not have been appointed Department Head in the first place. "You know how strong women are," he said with a soft chuckle. "You tell them to take it easy and they give you the stink eye." Which was how Seren typically was. She was being a bit more reasonable lately, however. Must be those mother hormones or whatever kicking in. Her mood swings were hard to keep up with - as were those late night cravings for Bertie Bott's...and she only wanted certain flavors of them too. Like sardine and peanut butter. "That isn't a bad idea," he nodded while scratching his stubbly chin. "You're on the Board of Governors, maybe you could bring it up in a meeting? I can get the Department to back that movement and perhaps get some assistance from other departments as well." Short pause. "Unless you think going through Seren may be better. I hear that battle ax of a Headmistress isn't accepting donations." He found their conversation momentarily interrupted by the appearance of Althea's personal assistant. Or, well, his personal assistant now it seemed. Weird. He had never had one of those before. Hopefully she knew how to make good coffee because he heard that Level 3's coffee was much better than Level 2's and he intended to keep it that way. Of course she wouldn't JUST be fetching him coffee - he wasn't THAT sexist - but wasn't that the sort of thing you asked personal assistants to do from time to time? Giving her a gentleman's nod, he found himself distracted by some chewing action going on in her mouth. So, before even giving her a proper greeting, he leaned forwards a bit and stared. "Are you...chewing gum?" |
SPOILER!!: the assistant and the replacement Hmmm did she know how strong women were? Did she? Althea just raised one eyebrow, not quite the stink eye from her, but perhaps an indicator that she herself was more than capable of hard, gut bunching looks. |
Okay, okay. He needed to focus and try to pull himself together. Both people behind him had probably realised he was just standing there listening to them. But Merlin, he was so nervous now. He wished people would stick to their jobs permanently until they retired. That would make his life way easier. Right, his experiment needed attention. Taking a deep, silent breath, Derek stared at another testing tube before picking it up and slowly adding some greenish-yellow goo in it. Then the lab door opened again. Derek glanced at the newcomer and simply eyed her as she smiled and waved at him. Alani. More people to crow his lab. ... Deep breath. Fine, he could do it. Focus, Derek. The young man turned to face his work again and frowned as the three people kept yapping behind him. He couldn't concentrate anymor--- what was that about loaned equipments?? Not HIS equipments, he hoped! Not equipments from that lab. Right? Because that would be mental. And kids at Hogwarts most certainly wouldn't appreciate and take proper care of those. Ugh, just the thought sent shivers down Derek's spine. Hm... other Departments. Derek eased a little at the sound of that, because that meant the equipment wouldn't necessarily come from his lab. Besides, it wasn't like the Ministry was going through financial problems like Hogwarts, so they could send new equipments even. And none of his. None. 'Alani, this is Aron Ashburry-Hawthorne, he's joining us from level 2 and he'll be replacing me when I leave.' And Derek's palms resumed sweating. |
He was staring AND he was leaning. This made it so much easier for Alani to stare back at his pretty face and not seem rude for not giving her current boss her undivided attention. "Yes, it's peppermint flavored. I have more if you'd like a piece after your done with Althea." She was so generous, offering to share with her future boss. He should accept, since sharing didn't often happen with her, especially not her gum. But she did have to give her boss some attention when she spoke to her, it would be rude not to. She handed over the quill, still unconcerned with the gum issue, and more concerned with the eyes Derek was making at her, and meeting her new boss. "Nice to meet you Mister Ashburry-Hawthorne," She offered him a hand now that hers were free. "You're making a good move up from level two." Figuratively speaking. Did he want that gum? The offer had an expiration date. |
I have to crash the party \o/ Jade had a sample that she needed testing and thought that now was a good time as any to go and annoy Derek to get it done for her. It was one of Life's little pleasures for her. As she stepped into the lab she noticed that Derek wasn't alone. 'Thea and Alani were there alongside...McHottie Beefcake himself, Aron Ashburry-Hawthorne aka her ultimate crush. Jade was slyly watching him so she almost missed what 'Thea was saying to Alani "...he's joining us from level 2 and he'll be replacing me when I leave." Um WHAT?! Jade's eyes became wide. Aron was going to be her BOSS??! OMG!!! a tiny voice in her head asked, but what about 'Thea? Aren't you sad about her leaving? |
The explosion could be heard all through level 3 and even some of the other nearby levels. Equipment is broken and in pieces. The brewing stations are all but destroyed. Several vials that once contained various potions lay shattered on the ground. The storage cupboard are on their hinges if not blown off completely. Enter if you dare, but be sure to cover your mouth and nose as there are some nasty smelling fumes about. |
Quote:
It couldn't be? Quickly sprinting out of her cubicle she raced to the toxicology lab coughing as she tried to see through the smoke. Raising her voice she called out "Derek, are you in there?" Eyes getting red by the fumes Natasha wondered idly if she should brave going into the lab or fetch help first. |
zomg HAHA so EVIL!! Surprisingly enough, for the first time ever Derek had decided to go to the break room instead of going straight to his lab. Even he himself thought that was odd, but went along with it. For some reason coffee sounded brilliant that da--- The explosion sound was so loud that it made Derek literally jump and spill the coffee all over the break room floor. "Holy..." Was it just him or had the whole level shaken as well??? Merlin, no time to ponder about things. Leaving the coffee cup and the coffee itself all over the floor, the 26 year-old rushed towards his most beloved place in the entire universe. Deep down he was being optimist enough and didn't really think it had come from there, but it would definitely be the first place he'd che-- Natasha? There? Why? The young man quickly ran pass her and walked into the lab. .... ... ..... ... Air. Air. What. Air, what was. Air. Derek stood petrified at the entrance, right between Natasha and his precious lab that was now........ completely........ destroyed. "...W-- W---" His eyes drifted from one side to the other, absorbing the truth he did not want to believe. "Whatthehell----" He could feel himself shaking from head to toe. Shaking. All over. And were his legs failing him? Was that it? "Whatthe... bloodyhell..." |
O______________________________O Ashley had been sorting through paper work at her desk when she heard it. The blonde fell right out of her chair and when she'd finally regained her composure, she took off towards the sound. Blink. Oh. MY. MERLIN. ...The. Lab. Was. Ruined. O__O Ashley just stared in horror. And wrinkled her nose. And covered both her nose and mouth with her hand. This was really bad. The worst. "WHATTHEHECKHAPPENED?" She managed through her hand, not wanting to breath in any fumes. She cast a sideways glance at Derek and felt most bad for him. This place was like his baby, practically. Meep. |
Roxanne had heard the explosion all the way from her office on Level Four. At first, she had thought that one of the creatures from MC had somehow escaped it's cage, broken the door she'd had installed and was running rampant in the workroom. But the moment she'd stepped out of her office, she realized that wasn't the case at all. So, she'd decided to check on the two labs in the Ministry. Lo and behold, it seemed that the explosion had come from the first one she'd checked. "What happened?!" she asked, choking on the fumes slightly. Waving her hand in front of her face, she looked around to see who else was in the now destroyed lab. Derek, Ashley and Natasha. Okay, she was pretty sure Derek and Ashley knew how to not cause a lab to explode, so her slightly narrowed gaze landed on Natasha. Also, had anyone alerted Aron yet? Though, she was pretty sure that if she had heard the explosion from her office, he was sure to have heard it. |
Aron had been on his way to the conference room for the level wide meeting, paperwork and assignments in hand, when he had heard the explosion. Holy holly did this really have to happen? On his FIRST day as Department Head? Althea was going to kill him. Especially after those kind words she had said about him in the Daily Prophet. Oh yeah, GREEEEEEAT first impression to the wizarding world here. He takes over. The department explodes. He may as well turn himself into the shrivelfig Seren kept insisting he was when he refused to get those midnight cravings because he needed sleep. Following the smoke, Aron cast a Bubble Head Charm on himself as he approached the lab and.... "WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?!" he asked, glaring at anyone and everyone. Was Derek doing some sort of ridiculous experimentation in here and....wait, probably not. The bloke seemed as though he were about ready to pass out. And not just because of the fumes. "And WHY don't any of you have Bubble Head Charms cast on yourself? You don't know whether or not those fumes are hazardous or not." Honestly people. Did he need to go over contamination protocol with them all? They SHOULD know better. That was an order, by the way. "Someone hold Derek. He looks like he is about to faint. I need someone to help me get the lab's ventilation system open so we can remove these fumes. Someone else get to cleaning up those spills and broken glass. Everyone check for fires. If you see any throw sand on them. There should be some in that cabinet," he said as he pointed his wand towards one without a door on it. Bloody brilliant. Bloooooooooooooooooody brilliant. |
Everything was all fine and then suddenly LASDKALSDAALKALSKDA EXPLOSION. Wide eyed, Cora immediately ran towards the lab since that sounded like where it had come from - and was where several other coworkers and the And turned out it really was logical! But it was also sad that it was because that meant the lab actually had EXPLODED. And that wasn't good. A nonverbal Bubble-Head Charm was quickly cast, and then she looked over to the DH who was barking orders now. Eh, nah, she wasn't gonna hold Derek. Not when there were far more interesting and spell-requiring tasks to do instead. "I can help you with the vents," she offered. And fires. She'd keep an eye out for those. |
His lab...... destroyed...... everything.... completely gone.... Derek's head was spinning 100 miles per hour and he was pretty sure his knees were going to give in any time now. He could hear some other people speaking from a distance as he squinted his eyes to try and see better. The sight of his precious lab totally torn apart and broken and simply.... awfully... gone. All of his experiments.... gone. The equipments.... all gone. Even the furniture was almost non existent now... His thoughts were everywhere and he wondered if it had been done by magic, otherwise they would be able to reverse and fix evertyhing with spells and whatnot. But if it had been magic... then it was hopeless. It wouldn't be that easy to fix.... his lab... his....... lab........ Good thing there was a wall right next to him, so he was able to lean on it some and keep himself relatively steady for now, even though he was still shaking like a leaf. Derek didn't even realise when his new boss showed up and started giving orders around. Too busy trying to stand up. And he still couldn't stop staring at the awful scenery. His eyes was starting to burn from all of the fume, but he didn't attempt to wave it off in any way. He was petrified... and completely destroyed inside... just like his lab. |
Ashley was there all of 2.5 seconds before more people arrived, one being the new department head. The blonde was so startled from the explosion that she didn't even respond, just absently cast the bubble head charm over herself and focused her attention on Derek. Homeboy looked like he was about to pass out right there on the floor and she couldn't exactly allow that to happen. The guy had tried to protect her from a bear before. She sort of owed him. Sort of. Casting a nonverbal bubble head charm on him, she stood behind him and sort of just hovered there in case he fell. She was on fire watch as well, for reasons but yeah, she had Derek duty covered. |
Bubble Head Charm! Why hadn't she thought of that?! Van, Wes, and Elinor would've had her hide they found about this! After all, all MLEers had been taught to be ready for anything and anything right now included toxic fumes. Roxanne quickly cast the aforementioned charm on herself, then headed towards the cabinet Aron had indicated. Sure enough, there was enough sand in there for several fires. She scanned the room then for any flames and spotted some near a charred..... well, whatever it had been. Casting a silent cutting spell across the top, she hefted the bag up and quickly smothered the small fire with it. "Anyone see any other flames?" Because that information was important. |
Throwing on some protective equipment, Aron gave EYES to the others to do the same. Seemed like his agenda at his meeting was about to change drastically. And for the love of tulips Derek, pull yourself together. He was just about to get to work when it registered that Roxanne was here. He hadn't noticed in all the chaos. "Roxanne, what are you doing here?" he asked in a judgemental tone. "Look, you aren't trained to work in this lab environment nor have the authorization to just walk in here, so I would appreciate if you would leave this to my employees and myself. You would be of greater use if you would go inform Wes and the Minister that we may have a breach of security on Level 3." Because none of his employees would be this careless. And if they were, well, they were being fed to a snargaluff. Seren had plenty of those. That off his chest, he turned his attention to Cora. "You check the vents on that side and I'll do this one." And good, Ashley had Derek. "Cast a Bubble Head on Derek while you've got him there, will you?" |
Tone noted. Well, excuse her for running to check on things when she'd heard the explosion. "Could hear the explosion all the way from my office," she said by way of explanation. Because she wasn't going to stoop to starting another fight. And she still wasn't sure that the explosion hadn't been caused by someone in this room, but yeah, she'd go alert Wes and the Minister. Roxanne turned and sauntered towards the exit, not seeing the need to rush anymore, thanks to actual lab people and Aron being there now. |
Catching up.... Tasha was sniffing in the air indecisively standing on the threshold to the lab when Derek ran straight past her. "WAIT! You can't go in there. There might be another explosion." She shouted after the disappearing man. Shaking her head Tasha quickly conjured up some protective gear that she had just suited up in when Ashley arrived by her side to peek in at the disaster zone. Giving her colleague a sideways glance she responded. "Something must have exploded. Do we have anything in the lab that is highly explosive?" she wondered out loud. Tasha felt really sorry for Derek. The lab was almost like his baby. He spent more time in there than anyone else did. The next person to arrive at the entrance to the lab was the last person Tasha wanted to see on level 3; Roxanne. The narrowed glance Roxanne shot Tasha was unexplainable. Rather than asking why the glance the blond just decided to ignore the other woman for now. There were bigger things to focus on then starting a quarrel with Roxanne. Resolutely turning her back on the other woman as her new department head; Aron arrived Tasha quickly casted a bubblehead charm on herself, before she said to Aron. "I'll start cleaning up the spills and broken glass." With her wand in her hand the blond woman ducked into the lab and cautiously started to clean up the spills of chemicals from off the floor along with the broken glass whilst looking out for fires. Tasha saw with relief that Ashley was hovering by Derek that looked like he was going to pass out any minute from the shock. Working swiftly but with a steady hand Tasha disposed off all the spills and broken glass that she saw along with putting out the fires she spotted here and there. Coming back to where Aron was opening up the vents together with Cora she asked "What else do you need me to do, Sir?" It was irrelevant that she usually didn’t spend much time at all in the lab. In a crisis everyone pitched in. |
Don't mind us.. Now Howard, already nervous about his first day in Accidents and Catastrophes, was finding it hard to control his breathing as he made his way through the ministry towards what would be his new home for goodness knows how long. He was rehearsing what he was going to say to his manager and to the other staff over and over in his head to make sure he wouldn't babble out any old thing when he got there, which was often the case when he was having anattackofthenerves. What he wasn't expecting, was to be greeted by an ear shattering explosion as he made towards the department. Shocked facial spasms prevail.. The thirty-two year old jumped. Literally. A hand flying to his heart which had begun to thump hard against his ribcage. The fright, however, had the reverse effect to what you might think, and Howard was jolted to his senses. Nerves temporarily forgotten, for some reason he continued towards the lab where the explosion had come from and didn't turn on his heel and leave the building. The stench and smoke was something awful. Howard coughed and wafted at the air in front of him then reached into his pocket for his handkerchief and covered his nose and mouth. The clouded scene that greeted was a destroyed lab and the tail end of an angry boss barking orders. ..Uh-oh. Someone was in BIG trouble for this.. He came to halt beside some of the other staff, one of which looked like he was about to keel over at any given moment. It appeared that although the nerves had dissipated somewhat in the explosion, Howard's awkwardness had not and he just sort of hovered there uselessly, seemingly suffering from a severe case of Cat Got Tongue Syndrome. |
Joining in \o/ post is for everyone :) Jade had just sat down at her desk to go over some paperwork when the explosion knocked her out of her chair. "Oof! What was that?!" She could smell some strong smells coming from the Lab and her fellow A&Cs were as stunned as she was. Something happened in the Lab! DEREK! was her first thought. She quickly got up off the floor after taking the time to check that she was alright. Running over to the labs, she quickly did some protection spells (Bubble Head Charms, etc) on herself so that she wouldn't be affected and see how she could help out. The first thing that she saw was a relatively uninjured Derek who looked like his whole world had come crushing down on him at once which Jade guessed that it sort of did. A few of her fellow employees, including She walked up to Derek and petted him a little on the shoulder in sympathy--she knew how much he cared about his lab before turning to Aron, "What can I do to help, Sir?" |
The sound of faint scurrying could be heard near one of the ventilation shafts. If people were not talking so much that is. However, the sound of another vial being knocked off the table and a glimpse of small pinkish movement over by one of the broken magical analysis machines certainly were noticeable to anyone close by. |
As more people arrived and all of them started talking to each other and well... cleaning up the lab, Derek just stood there by the wall. He didn't notice when Ashley cast the spell on him or that she was standing behing him just in case. The sight of the lab was still too terrible for him to take his eyes off. When someone came and tapped his shoulder, he was slightly awaken from the shock. He slowly stood up a little straigther - but still kept a hand on the wall - and slowly started to walk. He didn't pull out his wand or did any mention of getting any cleaning material to help out. Derek simply drifted through the lab at such a slow pace as if he were in a funeral. Why? ...Why his lab? How could that have happened? He took such good care of it! Even during holidays he wanted to just stay there, yet he knew he couldn't. Maybe now he would be able to convince his boss that someone should stay in there through the holidays as well to make sure nothing went wron-- As Derek walked pass a table that was still there somehow, he caught a glimpse of a vial being knocked off and moved like a ninja to retrieve it. MERLIN! HE HAD SAVED IT!! Widening his eyes, he quickly looked around. There was still hope!?! This vial that was now on his hand was intact! ??????????????????????????????????????? It was still happening?? While they were there!!? Derek's brain was still messed up, but he was trying his best to make sense of things. Though he was pretty sure that small pinkish movement he saw was completely in his mind. "What..." He absently mumbled as he looked around some more to see if there were more things untouched. |
all of you? ^__^ She'd done that already, cast the charm on Derek, so she simply nodded her head at Aron and watched Derek carefully. He was bigger than her so if he did happen to pass out, it was going to be a heck of a job keeping him upright. She'd need to just levitate him right out of here, probably. Probably not such a bad thing considering the look of utter shock and horror on his face right now. Poor guy. He might be weird but Derek was brilliant and she knew how attached he was to this place. Ash understood he was probably feeling broken about this. And then more orders were being barked and more employees were there, old and new. The blonde remained calm, quickly putting on some gloves and watching as Derek was brought out of his shock. She followed his path at a good distance, watching for fires and wanting to be there in case he got faint again. She heard the vial but didn't see whatever had moved it and when Derek caught it, she turned in his direction and blinked. "What was...that?" That had knocked it over, that is? At least he'd saved it. |
Aron didn't really have anything to say back to Roxanne. If she had been concerned the least she could have done was stop by his office first. But all was well. The honking daffodil was on her way to tell the proper authorities about a potential security breach. Vital information was in this lab. Maybe someone had a personal vendetta against the department? Holy holly what had he signed up for? Not to mention he was positive that the Minister was probably hitting himself for giving him this opportunity. Just, you know, don't mind us over here. Just going to BLOW UP part of the department and cause a scene and make a grand entrance. UG. Cleaning up some messes as he went, Aron managed to flip the switch on the vent and noticed that parts appeared to be...melted? That seemed a bit off considering the proximity from the estimated explosion location. At least from what he could see and the radius of the damages. He turned back towards his employees just as Ashley and Derek were...looking at something? "I think we've done all we can for now," he said as he looked at his watch and then back towards Jade and Tasha. "I'll need a team of you in here later to see what is salvageable and to figure out just what happened. Derek? You think you can pull yourself together by then? I would like you to head up the investigation." Or was he going to need someone with him to continually hold him up? |
Derek didn't realise Ashley was keeping an eye on him or anything. He was still looking around to see if there was anything else that had been saved, but he couldn't spot anything. Sad... The former Gryffindor looked down at the vial he was holding and stared at it, only to be slightly startled when his boss' voice called his name. He looked up at Aron with a blank expression. If he could pull himself together by when? What? Aron would like him to head up the investigation? Oh. Derek nodded his head as a response. Investigation... explosion... magic? His brain started to work quite randomly, but well, at least it was working. He was pretty sure none of his experiments had blown up by itself, he was sure of that. |
Aron, Derek and Ashley Text Cut: Aron and Derek Jade just nodded at Aron's order and replied, "Yes Sir." She turned her attention back towards Derek and Ashley and what they were looking at. That was very suspicious...something was happening and Jade definitely didn't like it not one bit. But there were urgent more pressing things to think about, "Derek? Are you okay?" She worried about him. Sure they had an annoying brother-sister relationship and well she did her best to get on his nerves but she did care about him and the lab was his baby. Thinking that, Jade turned to Aron, "Um, if you don't mind Sir," she was trying her utmost to appear professional, "I'll help Derek with whatever he needs if that is okay with you of course!" |
just wrapping this bit up....off to the conference room! Giving the lab another look over, Aron mentally groaned. He could just FEEL the migraine coming already. Not to mention all the paperwork he was going to have to fill out about this. He ventured a glance at Derek again. Seemed awfully out of character for Derek to allow one of his experiments to go BOOM or to leave the lab in a condition where there could be potential BOOMage. He was going to take that head nod as an okay. Assuming that Derek had actually heard what he had said. Quick reminder in the meeting that they were now all late too was a must. "Unless Derek objects, consider yourself part of the investigation team," he said to Jade with a firm nod. "Until then, I'll close the lab and no one is to enter without my permission, understood?" That went for everyone - especially nosy Department Heads from other departments. Conjuring up a sign, Aron lead everyone out of the lab and then locked the doors. The sign went riiiiiiiiiiiiight across it and read. |
Frantically scurrying, the pinkish mass began clawing at the floor, desks, stools, walls, anything it could get its unnaturally long fingers on as it searched for an exit. It began to gnaw on one of the stools with its gleaming yellow teeth and gnawed right through the leg, causing it to collapse to the ground as it was unable to stand on just three legs. The noise frightened the creature and thus it scurried off, seeking refuge in the darkness of one corner of the room. |
Derek's thoughts were still not very clear as he made his way back to the destroyed lab. For a fraction of a second he hoped everything would be perfectly fine just like he had left it all. But no. He reopened the lab door and he felt his inside sink again. The young man stopped at the door again and simply looked at the mess... again. He didn't even hate on himself for having such stupid reaction; he actually didn't even think about anything else but about how terrible all of that was. Too busy being miserable to notice the marks of claws all over the furniture and any sort of movement that could be possible going on inside his precious lab right now, excuse him. SIGH. |
Temperance made her way to the lab. Knowing she was expected she pushed open the door and surveyed the mess in the room. This was going to take awhile she thought. She glanced around the room again, this time looking for people. To the only person in the room she said, "Are you Derek? I've been asked to come and assist you with your investigation into what happened in here." |
Quote:
Quote:
Jade knew that under normal circumstances, Derek wouldn't be one to introduce himself and everything. Under these special circumstances? She knew that he didn't see anything much other then the destruction of his beloved lab. So she came up to the woman and smiled, "Hello, I don't believe that we've met. I'm Jade and one of the team that our head assigned to investigate the explosion." |
It wasn't like Derek wanted to lock himself in the destroyed lab - well, alright, it was -, but the presence of more people in there made him feel worse, as if they were make a bigger mess instead of helping him at all. But orders were orders. And his boss wanted a team working together, so there wasn't much he could do but accept and... see how things would go. The former Gryffindor turned around to look at the unknown newcomer, but Jade appeared and spoke before he could formulate any sort of answer. Women... But whatever; yeah, he was Derek. He hoped the unknown woman would take his short nod as a good enough answer. No need for any further introductions now. Derek decided to wander a bit around the lab; there was no plan yet, so he didn't say anything at all to any of the women there. Besides, walking around would make him get more used to the idea... He might just accept the sad truth; that way he would be able to pull himself together sooner than later and start working on... a plan or something alike. Or whatever. He just wanted his lab back to normal. He walked over to a knocked down stool and absentmindedly tried to put it up. The thing almost fell over again, which made him move fast to grab it before it did so. What in the name of Damocles...? Derek held the stool upside-down and noticed the marks of... "Teeth?" He said in a relatively low tone, but since there weren't many people talking at the moment, it was pretty audible. Almost as audible as... that creepy sound that Derek was able to hear now, although he had no idea were it was coming from. He looked around holding the stool with one hand and the vial with the other. What in the world...? |
Following the others back to the lab, Cora was briefly tempted to cast a Bubble-Head Charm just as a precaution in case all the fumes and things hadn't gone out the vents yet, but as the others walked in easily, she decided the vents must've fully done their jobs. Good! This would be a lot easier not having to worry about that being a problem. She noticed Jade introducing herself to the woman that had interrupted their meeting and figured she could quickly do the same before getting to work. "I'm Cora! Nice to have another person helping out." They could use all the help they could get, she supposed. The young woman wandered around on the side of the lab opposite of Derek, eyes scanning over every detail she could find, wondering if anything would stick out or indicate what had happened... Did Derek say something? "What's that?" she asked, looking up from the table she was examining and over in his direction. |
LOUD gnawing could be heard even over the chatter of all the humans from the dark corner of the lab where the creature was currently hiding. Ooooooooooooh how it lived to gnaw on things and this beaker was exceptionally gnawable despite it being made of glass. Among the gnawing and glass breaking noises was the subtle sound of something....fizzing? Beaker all broken now. No fun. It's jaws needing SOMETHING to chew on, the creature scurried across the floor when it found the PERFECT thing. It looked almost like the leg of the stool it had been devouring earlier only BETTER. Overgrown teeth grinding and it scurried, the creature latched them onto the shoe of a woman and began to gnaw. *NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM* |
The mutant! Ashley had been getting on her protective gear and followed the others into the lab, her brow furrowed. It was a disaster area in here and they had lots to sort out. It definitely wouldn't be a quick cleanup, especially since they'd need to gather evidence first. The blonde's gaze flashed to Derek when moved quickly towards a stool, her eyebrows raised, "What in the world was-" And then she felt a sharp jab and...something was ON HER SHOE. O______________________O WHAT.WAS.THAT?! *SQUEAK* She fumbled for her wand and said clearly, "Immobulus!" Uh....GUYS? |
Cora didn't get the chance to listen for Derek's answer because some other sound caught her attention. What...was that? Sounded like...something chewing or gnawing or something on something. What was it though? She looked in that direction and started to walk slowly over there but then something ELSE happened when she heard Ashley. Spinning quickly around to face the other woman, she saw her cast a spell right down at- What in Merlin's name was THAT?!?! "Stupefy!" Cora quickly cast, aiming it at the THING gnawing on the shoe. |
Derek was still looking around, trying to listen better to whatever sound that was. He wasn't crazy, he COULD hear something somewhere... He was about to repeat himself so the others could see the marks of the teeth on the legs of the stool he was still holding upside down when Ashley spazzed and made him quickly turn to look towards where she was. His eyes widened when he saw a disturbing-looking thing gnawing on the woman's shoe and he dropped the stool when both women sent spells at... whatever that was. The young man switched the vial to his left hand and also pulled out his wand, but didn't cast any spell. He pointed his wand at the creature anyway and tightened the grip on the vial. |
*nom nom nom nom shoe nom nom nom nom* It had gnawed off the top of the woman's shoe and was about to proceed on to her toes when there was BRIGHT lights coming from various directions. It did not like lights like these. It could not gnaw on them. And yes, it had tried once. Resulted in it's jaw becoming numb. "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!" Flight instincts took over and the creature was now running rampant around the lab, knocking more things over as its teeth clattered together in fright. Perhaps someone should send for some Creatures experts? |
sorrry for the late reply. so hot here i didnt want my laptop to over heat! She watched as this little creature thing, what WAS IT?, ran rampant around the lab area. Perhaps this had something to do with what was happening here. But WHAT that was, she didn't know. Two of the women in the room had introduced themselves to her, so she turned briefly to them. "I'm Temperance Gray, I'm the internal investigations liaison from DMLE." Her eyes followed the creature around the room, hoping maybe one of these people would know what it was. Or perhaps how to catch it. For now, it was probably best to not let it escape through the open door. Taking out her wand she quickly congured up something that resembled a baby gate to block the door partially but still allow employees to enter. |
Jade was going through some of the debris of the lab, grimacing as she waded through some pink stuff whatever it was, when she saw that Ashley was shooting a spell at her shoe! Cora was trying to help her. Derek for some reason wasn't but Jade didn't stop to think why. She immediately pulled out her wand and said "Immobulus maximus!" while pointing it at the creature who was wrecking the lab anew. The spell helped a little but not much so it was a good thing that Temperance had created a small gate to stop the creature from getting out of the actual lab. Heart racing a little, Jade continued and said, "Maybe we should get someone from 'Creatures to see what that is..." |
The person called Temperance was really introducing herself as the mental creature FLIED around and destroyed even more the lab that was already destroyed?? Was that it?? REALLY??? >_______________> Derek ignored her completely and for a few seconds couldn't decide what to do with the vial he was holding. When the thing zoomed closer to his head, he automatically pocketed the vial and tried to follow the creature with his wand. ALJHLGJFKCBHCDHSGSN The bloody thing would NOT stop destroying his beloved lab! And he had NO idea what that was - had never been a Magical Creatures expert; besides, he had never SEEN such a thing. HIS LAB!! ALGHJDNGNCNFBNX "IMMOBULUS MAXIMA!"Derek yelled at the same time as Jade. STOP, YOU THING. ALJGNJBDHKFKHNDHJ |
Jade was secretly amazed that despite their spells, the creature was still going somewhat strong. She repeated her spell as she waved her wand frantically at the creature. The creature had to be connect to the pink stuff around the lab. They desperately needed someone from 'Creatures like yesterday-- none of them were qualified to deal with the pink stuff much less the creature. Having decided that she needed to go and someone who could help them, she edged towards the door still wary of the crazed creature. |
O_________________O Ashley stood, wand at the ready, and gaped as the crazy creature further destroyed the lab. Thank MERLIN she'd noticed it before it'd sunk it's horrifyingly large teeth into her foot. Who knew what kind of diseases something like that could carry. Not to mention, the thing could be contaminated what with all the potions it'd been knocking over all over the lab on its path of destruction. The blonde watched on as Derek and Jade seemed to have the same thought at the same time, trying to immobilize the creature. She didn't think it wise to throw any more spells out now, agreeing with Jade that they needed the nearest creature expert STAT. Spotting her coworker heading for the door, the blonde called out, "Be careful not to let it out. If we lose it, we'll be in serious trouble." Because by looking at the state of the lab, she couldn't even imagine what other kind of damage this thing could do. |
"SCREEEEEEEEEEECH! SCREEEE SCREEE SCREEEEEEEEECH!" Running around and knocking into anything and everything in its path, the small creature suddenly stopped dead in its tracks and flopped over on its left side as one of the spells finally hit its target. Eyes wider and saucers, pink drool began to seep out of its mouth and onto the floor. A low fizzing noise could be heard as the drool began to eat away at the floor. |
Still with his wand held up and a horror expression on his face, Derek stared at the creature as it fell onto the floor and stayed there. When he realised they had finally managed to freeze the thing, he hurried in its direction and stared some more. "Hurry!" He told Jade as she walked away to get someone from the Magical Creatures Department. Derek honestly couldn't care less what that thing was; right not he just wanted it away from his la-- WHAT! The young man finally noticed its... saliva? and how it was making fizzing noises and HOLY MERLIN was that thing corrosive??? AWAY FROM HIS FLOOR!!! asdfhjlgbxjbdsfhgdkl Derek levitated the odd-looking creature and kept it hovering over the least important thing in the lab - the stools. After an almost non-existing moment of consideration, he conjured a special type of vial - Merlin, he kind of got excited whenever he had to use those - that wouldn't be corroded... if that stuff was really corrosive. He made the vial float underneath the creature and watched intently as they all waited. |
Jade almost got to the door before she noticed how the creature's drool actually ate away the floor!! That was shocking and made her decision to get someone from the relevant department all the more important. "Guys, try and completely paralyze it so that it can't do any more damage. I'm going to get someone from Creatures so that they can come and help." She quickly went to the entrance and got out making sure that she hadn't disrupted the protective spells Temperance had put there. |
*pretends Ella followed Jade so you don't have to double post* :3 Ella followed Jade all the way through level three and into the lab. Once she was in, she found a lump on the floor and discovered what must have been the unknown creature. "What in the name of..." Ella trailed off in slight awe... and maybe a little bit of disgust at the corrosive drool. She had her wand out, ready to defend herself and knock the sucker out if it decided to not be paralyzed anymore. Ella crouched down a few feet away from the gnarly looking thing and inspected the creature. "Do you want to get a sample of that?" she asked the employees in the lab, pointing to the pink drool that was eating away at the floor. She hoped they had indestructible vials to hold it in... Ella continued to eye the thing. It didn't even resemble any magical creature she had ever seen before. "Do we know what the cause of this was? The explosion?" Maybe whatever chemicals they had in here that exploded had somehow... altered its DNA..? "And do we know what it was before it became... this?" |
Derek's levitating the thing and already collecting drool xP With his wand still pointed at the creature, Derek watched as the levitating vial filled up with that strange stuff. For a few seconds he even managed to ignore his destroyed lab and started to ponder about that corrosive saliva. If only the creature had appeared somewhere else and NOT his lab, it would've been way better. Derek turned his head to look at the door when he heard people coming in, never putting his wand away. When the Head of the Magical Creatures Department asked if they knew what it was before it became that thing, Derek resisted the urge to squint a little. Ugh, the explosion. "Not yet." He replied almost dryly. They were all just back from holidays... did she really think Derek would leave any living creature there on its own that whole time? Did she really think he'd do that? IN HIS LAB?? No. This Ella woman didn't know him at all. "No creature was left here during holidays." And she was aware that they had literally just come back, right? No need to point that out. And Derek also supposed that answered her last question as well. |
Finally the creature thing was still, and Jade had a chance to go get a creature expert. Cora wasn't about to let her guard down though, so her wand was still pointed at the thing as Derek levitated it and tried to collect its drool. Gross. The way it had actually affected the floor too...just...gross. What WAS this thing? That was the million dollar question. And finally Jade was back with the Creatures Department Head. Thank Merlin. "The explosion seems to be the only possible cause at the moment," she said. What specifically about the explosion, though, was the mystery. What things had combined and mutated to form it? Or... "Unless maybe...maybe this thing was the cause of the explosion somehow? And the explosion turned it into...this thing." Just a thought. She might be totally wrong, but it seemed possible. Nearly anything was possible when they currently had so little go to on though. |
heh I didn't see that he was already taking samples :3 Well... he didn't seem very happy. But considering the current state of the lab, Ella could understand why. She listened to the man and also to the woman who tried to help explain what had happened. But it seems no one really knew. "Interesting," she murmured, squinting her eyes and pursing her lips in concentration. "Well, I will take this little guy back to level five then, if you don't need him any longer. I suspect he won't stay knocked out for too long." Ella stooped over and conjured up metal cage on the floor. She opened the door and waited for the man levitating the creature to help put him inside. "I'll be keeping him in back, in the creature holding room. You all can come back when you need to for more information and work. How does that sound?" she asked. Surely no one would oppose. |
Sorry got busy with RL Jade bit her lip as she thought of Ella's question. Knowing Derek, there was no way that he would have let in a creature like that into his lab. Listening to Cora, Jade realized that she had a point though and Jade turned to Derek, "Derek, I know that you keep a list of active experiments and their ingredients. I think that we might find a clue about the explosion and the creature." Turning back to Ella, Jade smiled gratefully, "Yes, that sounds okay to me. You will be able to determine what the creature is right? I think that would help a lot." |
Ashley was just staring at the creature, wondering what it might have looked like before. That is if it did get altered by whatever it had been exposed to in the lab. It was a good thing Derek had collected some of its drool because that would certainly be useful during their investigation. "Either way, it's definitely a creature I've never seen before. I'd be interested to see what you find out about it," And her eyes traveled up to the woman who was an expert on the subject before traveling back down to her exposed foot. Thank Merlin she brought an extra pair of shoes for the walk home. She then listened to the others quietly, her thoughts on explosions and what might cause set them off. Could a creature really have caused this and if so, how did it even get in here? |
Derek agreed with Cora. The thing was definitely the cause of the explosion, since there was no other way such thing could have happened to his lab. He took very good care of it, mind you. He looked at Jade when she spoke up and considered what she said. She surely meant they could find what information about what had happened to the creature, that was, right? She knew that sort of explosion would never take place in his lab out of nowhere like that. Right? Right? He gave her a hard stare as if to confirm his thoughts before turning again to the whatever-that-was. Derek levitated the creature to inside the cage and eyed the vial following it around. With a flick of his wand, the door of the cage closed and the vial came floating towards him, now completely filled with that strange drool. Derek held it up and took a good look at it while the women talked. He nodded his head at Ella when she mentioned them going over to check on things. If he ever wanted more samples of any kind he knew where to find them. Alright, now what? He looked around his messed up lab again. He was almost getting used to the sight now, but that didn't mean he felt any better about it. Far from it. |
Ella watched the creature carefully as the man levitated it into the cage. She put a sealing charm on the door, just for extra safety measures and then picked it up, being sure to keep it a good distance away from her side. Didn't want any of that drool disintegrating her nice clothes. "Well, I'm interested to see what kind of creature this thing is, too. I'll keep you updated, and I expect the same from you lot." She wanted to know what happened here, and how. And with that, Ella gave them each a nod in appreciation and goodbye and let herself out of the lab and headed back to level four with the little demon. |
we are merging timelines all over the place here wooooooooot make it work! <33 Having finished all the necessary paperwork regarding the explosion, Aron filed it away and then sent a few flying paper airplane memos off to various Department Heads with some further requests and instructions. He figured it was about time to go check on the progress in the lab when his copy of the Daily Prophet arrived on his desk. He only had time to read a few articles before he heard MORE boomage going on in the lab. But a few articles was really all it took. Holy holly WHAT now?! Aron entered the lab and stood in the doorway when he saw the Creatures Department Head in there. Oh? Did she think she was like Roxanne and could just come waltzing in here and.... WOOOOOOOOOOAH baby. All he could really do was stare at the creature Derek had just levitated into the cage. Shaking his head for a moment to stop himself from gawking and the beady eyed thing, Aron removed the rolled up Daily Prophet from his jeans back pocket and handed it to the person nearest him - which just so happened to be Ashley at the moment. "Take a look at this, all of you." His eyes glanced back at the thing for a moment and then to Ella and then back to his employees. |
And to think Ashley was worried work would be a bit slow. The blonde's mind was all over the place as she watched the creature curiously, wracking her brains trying to think of what it might be or what it might have been before. Then Aron appeared and held the daily prophet out to her and the blonde quickly scanned it, her eyes growing wide. They shouldn't be testing on creatures like that. It was barbaric and totally against what Ashley believed in. She also couldn't help but think that setting the creatures free wasn't the smartest decision but yeah, she didn't know what she would have done had she been aware of such things going on. She'd like to think she would have come up with a better plan. One that didn't involve crazy creatures with large teeth who liked to eat everything. "Well, it looks like whatever happened to that thing wasn't caused by anything in this lab." She said as she handed the paper over to Derek. That was a good thing, yeah? ...Maybe? |
Jade looked up as Aron entered the lab. She noted that he looked very harried and carrying the newspaper which he told them to look at and handed it to Ashley who read it and said something about that thing not being caused by anything in this lab before handing the paper to Derek. Whatever it was-- Jade knew that it wouldn't be good news (when did the papers ever print good news but it might be a great lead for the cause of their lab explosion. |
Derek was still studying the vial carefully when Ella left. Once his boss said something, he glanced in their direction, but since Ashley had gotten the newspaper first, he let her read it first. No need for everyone to get their heads together to read it at the same time. Never. He went back to eyeing the strange substance in the vial when Ashley finished reading and mentioned something about \'this lab\'. That made Derek perk up and look over at them again. He got the newspaper Ashley handed to him and his heart skipped a beat as soon as he read the first words of said article. A LAB. Lab. That word got his attention really easily, but the creature rights activists soon made him wonder if things could possibly be related. He continued to read, still firmly holding the vial. Several other unidentified beasts? Did Aron think...? "Do you reckon..." Derek started, glancing up at his boss, but stopped mid-sentence to resume reading the article. Once he was done, he looked back up at Aron with a frown, billions of questions and different thoughts spinning in his brain. That thing that had just left his lab in a cage was most definitely not a crup. That would be impossible. Because for Merlin\'s sake, nothing in his lab would transform a crup into... that... thing! Honestly, it would take a lot of magic to turn anything into that little monster, in Derek\'s opinion. But then again, how in the world would any of those creatures get in there? In HIS lab?? Or had it been one of the activists? Nonsense, that couldn\'t possibly be. The Ministry was highly secured. ............Wasn\'t it? |
| All times are GMT. The time now is 01:47 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.3.2 © 2009, Crawlability, Inc.
Site designed by Richard Harris Design