Open Air (Open Thread, too)

[Conrad Manne]

The research lab at Hammel was a nice establishment. It wasn't as big as some of the others around the world, like in Japan or the Czech Republic. But it was a decent size (and deceptively large, it actually branched out quite a bit from the perimiter of the building of which it was supposed to be the basement) and comfortably furnished. Unfortunately, it was still underground, and that meant that Conrad didn't have a window to open to let some sunlight and fresh air into his office. Also, he didn't have an office of his own, just a desk in the back of the lab.

So after letting the Head of the Research Department know where he was going and that he could easily be reached by cell phone--now that he wasn't under the ground, it should be easier--he headed out into the bright sunlight of the grounds of Hammel.

Conrad stretched out his long legs under the shade of a tree out by the pond, his netbook in his lap, as he started reviewing the data he'd gathered in the past few months. He still had at least six months of observations to do before he could start drawing conclusions about his suggestions for training young metas, but he was meticulous with his details, and so he was already ready to revise some of the things he'd included in this project proposal. Most of the conclusions about the amount of energy used by young metas were fairly common sense--the longer they trained, the less energy they had to use to use their abilities. But he had started noticing some patterns in the energy use based on type of ability. This meant he was going through all of his data and adding a little more to the anonymous profiles of his subjects. Of course, he'd kept track of which subject had what power, but he hadn't noted the classifications of each power, so that was what he had to do now.

And it was just nice to do it out in the sun. There were a few staff and more than a few students out as well, just enjoying the good weather.

((OOC: Open to all, but I'm looking for people who I have not threaded with yet, particularly new players.))

[Danicca Waylan]

[D]A[N]I[C]C!?

It was the most perfect day so far, and Dani was up to no good.

She had a plan, and it was way too simple, but it was fun. She had mixed some corn starch in quite a bit of water, so that it still acted as a liquid--at least, until it was dropped onto somebody and they rushed to get it off. Of course, the fun part came when she had added random bright food colorings. She had already ambushed a cute couple under a tree with fuchsia pink, and now she was headed for the man under another tree, prepared with a water balloon filled with the mixture sitting in a Tupperware container for her safety. She silently climbed up the tree behind him and peeled back the container lid. She was prepared to drop it when she noticed his notes. Damn, She thought, and tried to find a graceful way of backing down from the tree. She didn't ruin hard work on purpose all the time, and in fact she tried to avoid it.

A branch snapped as Dani was stepping onto it, and that caused her to drop the container and have need to hang from a branch just to the right of the man. Dani realized that she looked not only stupid but suspicious, so she dropped from the tree, landing on the ground on her feet with a muted thud and straightening up to face him. "So, what's that?" She asked, pointing to his notes and moving closer, trying to take a peek at the words on the paper.

She moved so that her messenger bag was not in the way and sat next to him, pulling out a pencil as random inspiration struck. She scribbled furiously for two seconds to get the thought down and then looked back to the almost-victim as she put her things away in the bag. "So, you seem all official-like, but I never see you around. I generally see everyone around at one point or another."

[Kevin Venear]

A few birds flew over head, their wings flapping and causing a small sound to reach Kevin’s ears. The teen looked up and then slowly looked back down as he walked slowly across the grass. He was out enjoying himself today, taking in the warm sun and allowing the cool gentle breeze to cool his face. There was quite a few students out today, even a teacher or two, but none of his friends were in sight, which bummed him out a little. He was just looking for something to do, not wanting to be stuck in a stuffy hot room while the was plenty to do outside. And he was in no mood at all to train his powers, he was annoyed with not being able to focus right. It must have been the weather.

The pond was close by, as was a group of kids joking and be loud. Kevin was not going to try this group, he hated loud rude kids. Nothing seemed to present itself as a fun activity, until he noticed a man sitting under a tree, working on what looked like a important set of paperwork. But what Kevin noticed more was the girl in the tree above him, with a container and a balloon, both filled with an odd substance. The man was deep in thought, busy with work, and this trouble maker was about to ruin it and piss him off most likely. Kevin had to do something to help. With a fast start he took off running, his small legs pounding the soft grass as hard as he could. But he was a good ways away, and would not be able to stop her or warn the unsuspecting man.

Arriving to the duo, the girl was already on the ground. Luckily the strange contents of the container were not covering the man, and the girl had gotten away with almost ruining his notes. Kevin was unsure what had gone on, but he was glad that the man was not aggervaited, to bad he no looked like a weirdo, out of breath and panting, sweat dripping down his face. He stopped and looked at the two, who had started a conversation, trying to think of what to say now that he didn’t have to warn the man.
“…Hey guys…whats up?”
He realized he looked like a loser, and a rude intterupter now. So embarrassed he just looked down afraid to look at the two.

[Conrad Manne]

The first indication that the researcher had that anything was wrong was when the dark-haired young girl fell out of the tree in front of him. Though Conrad was pretty relaxed in his place in the shade, he still jumped when he saw her hit the ground (even if it was on her feet) out of the corner of his eye. There was something about working at Hammel that made him feel old, particularly when he met students who were clearly closer in age to Jean than to himself.

Also, she'd just jumped-or-maybe-fell-gracefully out of a tree. That was very Jean-like.

So it was natural for Conrad to react in a typical older-brotherly fashion. "Are you okay?" he asked, putting his netbook to the side and moving the papers next to him so they wouldn't get dirty if he had to get up and help her. When she asked about them, he looked down, however, then shrugged and turned them towards her. There weren't any names on them, so it wasn't a breech of privacy. "They're spreadsheets of the fluctuation of the amount of energy used by different powers by different people over three months." It was a lot of data, and he was still reviewing it, so there might be more patterns there that he just hadn't seen yet.

"I suppose I am pretty official at this point." Conrad had been working at Hammel for more than six months now, and he was fairly certain that his job was secure. "I'm Conrad Manne; I'm one of the researchers here. You might know my little brothers, Jean and RC?" RC was less likely, but it seemed that almost everyone knew Jean, and Jean knew everyone.

At this point, when the boy ran up to them, Conrad gave up getting any more work done for a while. He smiled up at the kid, shrugging a little at his awkward question. "Not much, man. I would say her," and he pointed to the girl who had recently been up the tree, "but it seems like that's no longer true."

[Danicca Waylan]

[D]A[N]I[C]C!?

Dani nodded in response to his concerned question, and inspected the papers more closely. They seemed to be rather important, and Dani found them actually interesting for a moment. She sped her eyes over the page, and pointed to something that suggested very little energy use in one subject. "That person." She said, tilting her head to the side. "That person is either very lucky or very controlled." It was an observation she was jealous of.

"Conrad. I'm Dani. I refuse to disclose my full name as the rest of the staff may have told you something." she sounded proud of the fact, and honestly, she was. On top of the fact that he had those kids for brothers, Conrad was made five times as cool by the fact that he was a researcher. Researchers had amazing access to things that would help with her evil plot formulations. Dani nodded when he said she might know his younger brothers. "Jean! I know Jean. Cute kid. Really fun to hang with." She remembered hearing the legend of him and Ginny Campbell sneaking into the staff lounge and getting ketchup everywhere. "And RC... Sir Raoul is someone I have very little info on." And by info, she meant dirt. She only had his name from that time she hackedlooked through the student registry to get Mia Keystone's number. She may have been good, but she was still no Mia.

Another student came running up, and Dani was surprised sweat wasn't dripping from him in buckets. He looked exhausted, and he had just sprinted from practically the other side of the pond to stop in front of them. When Conrad replied to the boy's question, Dani grinned. It was cheesy and simple, but hey, a nice joke is a nice joke. "The clouds. The clouds are definitely up." She said, looking at the sky through the leaves above.