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Get In Losers, We're Doing Research

who: Openish - Floor Six Mingle Post
what: Ed and Chloe Initiate Phase II: Research and Explore
when: Sometime After New Arrivals Show Up (July 10th?)
where: Floor Six
warnings: Please hit up Ed's Permissions Post, as he's a CRAU and may recognize your character or talk about being in various other worlds.

The kitchen is laid out with whatever (reasonable) refreshments one can imagine available within the quarantine, snacks and beverages to accommodate varying tastes spread across the kitchen island and counter tops. Enough seating for 20 (10 from the kitchen, 10 from the entertainment area) had been arranged around Chloe's display, however she chose to set it up - since it had been put on her as the tech savvy one between them to do the presentation.

New arrivals, whether they cared for the research and exploration party or not would easily find themselves surrounded by books, notebooks and other papers with various notations - all regarding Riverview, the history of the quarantine, rumors surrounding it and comparisons to other worlds that similarly pull people through portals. These are out in the open and free to browse, should one be so inclined.

[Anyone with relation to floor six is welcome to attend - resident, friend of resident, etc. If you're unsure whether or not your character would get an invitation please contact the player you have CR with. Should your character be the type to show up uninvited, feel free to crash. Pretty much anyone Ed has CR with would be notified, and he'll be making a public post on the network before this event actually takes place IC. However if you have any questions don't hesitate to hit me up:

TransmutedSelf]

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Ed had just about finished up getting the "party" stuff together, and was about to disappear to start gathering the copies of their notes when Chloe spoke. He was, honestly, equally impressed with what they had uncovered so far, but that was always that itch in the back of his mind that more could be accomplished. It had been a long time since he'd had a research project even close to this magnitude, and pacing himself was not a skill that came naturally.

A quick glance around located the charger and notebook, so he changed course to grab them real quick before moving across the room to where she was setting up. Charger pinned against the top of the notebook as he held them out to her with a smirk.

"Sure, here you go."

"Thanks." She's distracted enough by her task that she doesn't really glance away from her screen, instead reaching out to take said charger and notebook with both hands—

Which come directly into contact with something... different. Solid. Hard. Completely outside the realm of what one would expect a typical hand to feel like. Chloe raises a brow and glances up at him, open surprise playing across her features.

At first Ed doesn't really notice, because he's watching her - not his own hands. Automail didn't exactly have the capability to feel something brush against it, so it's not until she's giving him that weird look that his eyebrows raise in question. He was pretty sure he hadn't done anything worth that expression, but he notices she's not even taking the notebook and golden eyes glance down in confusion.

His automatic instinct is to jerk his hand away, and if that dropped the notebook and charger in his panic he definitely wasn't thinking that outcome through too well. A blush stains his features as he glances away as if even that little contact was lewd in his mind, hands now firmly at his sides looking almost violated by the accidental slip.

"Yeah, no problem."

His tone is clipped, about as closed off as his expression. So much for not letting anyone know, and at this point he's more concerned about her looking at him differently now than he was about anything else. Which he was sure would be the exact outcome just based on her initial reaction.

She caught them just as he let go, the cord of the charger making an abrupt clanging noise as it swung and hit the side of the desk. But it's the sound of his voice and sudden jerk away from her that automatically tells her she made a mistake. And while this situation is not the same, it brings to mind the first time she saw Lucifer's scars. How unprepared she felt, seeing the ropey, raised flesh spanning his back, cast out like wings. How that ache had settled into her chest and stayed there like a hot coal.

He's from a military society, she recalls suddenly. And there are always casualties in war. And prices to pay. And it makes so much sense, why he's always so private about certain things. Keeping covered up just enough.

It's not that she views him as less competent or less of the person she's come to know. But it's still a surprise, and it does bring up some gentle concern for him there. But she shakes herself out of it quickly enough.

"Sorry," she says, clearing her throat before giving him a small smile. She's not going to question him about it now, when they were still getting ready for guests to arrive soon and he obviously seemed so uncomfortable. She gestures at him as if by way of explanation. "You— I was caught a little off guard, is all."

He winces at the sound, jaw clenching some before she speaks once more. His gaze flicked up again uncertainly at her words, his own tone and expression still tense but more reserved than the initial glare had been - glancing away almost as quickly as he'd looked back up in the first place.

Ed was sure that now she'd be able to put some of the pieces together about his discomfort at the festival, the way he'd automatically moved away to minimize any risk of contact. Although he doesn't make the connection that she might pick up one a few of his other habits being related, as well. Avoiding human contact, sleep, showering when anyone else was around...

His eyes widen slightly at the "you" as if preparing himself for the inevitable direction of this conversation when she switches gears. He still looks almost as if he was the one that had done something he shouldn't have, clearing his throat awkwardly before speaking.

"It's fine-" It wasn't, but it wasn't as if either of them had the option to go back in time and change what happened, either. "I just... Didn't want anyone to know about it." There were a number of reasons for that, being in a new world and not knowing how the populace would react being a pretty big one - but even at home where just anyone could have automail and no one else bothered to conceal it, layers had been a habit. Anything to hide it for as long as possible, only to act as if it didn't matter once revealed. Which is exactly what he was doing now, it's fine let's just move on like nothing happened. Definitely don't start looking at him as a victim of war, Chloe, that was always the worst of it - when he'd done this to himself.

He offers a small reassuring smile, as if none of that awkwardness had just happened with the shift of gears. "I still need to start getting the notes from the other room. It's going to take some time to put it all together before everyone gets here."

Edited 2017-07-06 01:10 (UTC)

She's still watching him silently as he speaks, as if assessing him. He seems intent on shifting the conversation away from the elephant in the room, and she's inclined to let him. Honestly, it's not any of her business. And while she would usually be the type to offer an ear or supportive shoulder to lean on should it be wanted, he obviously doesn't want that, and they're in the middle of preparing for guests that should be showing up soon. Now's not the time for a heart-to-heart or discussing his private matters.

"Probably," she responds, mind already turning to their small storm of chaos in the other room. "Want some help? I've pretty much got everything set up here, aside from a few things." She adjusts her screen, as if preparing to show him. "Organizing everything wasn't that hard, but condensing everything we had into one presentation took some time."

He's aware of her eyes on him, the way she's watching him still. He is the type to brush it off, and not only has it been so long he certainly doesn't need a shoulder, but it would contradict the whole keeping it a secret thing he was working so hard on. Part of him is frustrated this happened now of all times, when they needed to be focused on what they were doing, but another part of him was full of relief - arranging things for this get together meant there wasn't really any free time to dwell on it. Which meant it was easier to dismiss and not be grilled about, whether she's the type to feel inclined or not, he definitely didn't want to feel backed into a corner.

At the question, he tenses, because that would provide her the perfect opportunity to do so if she was inclined - but this is Chloe he's dealing with. Nothing about her struck him as the type of person to push into his personal business by force. It was likely meant as the helpful invitation it came off as, with no ulterior motive.

"Sure..." Ed glances at the screen curiously when she shifts it to show, but it's not the most attentive look. Computers were still a foreign thing to him and he had a tendency to brush aside things he didn't understand unless he found the motivation to dig deeper into figuring them out.

"It'll be worth it when we start adding more people with more information. I think the stacks of paper might reach their limit with what we're dealing with here." He might not understand or even like the new technology, but he can appreciate that it seems to keep things tidier, and as long as she knows how to navigate it he doesn't want to sound ungrateful for all that effort either.

Edited 2017-07-07 00:50 (UTC)

"I'd actually been meaning to talk to you about that," she says, pulling up some of the information she'd typed up to scroll through. "I'm glad we're finding so much information, but I think we might be better served in the long run if we considered storing it online rather than in physical files. We'd be more organized, and we wouldn't have stacks of paper lying around all over the place for anyone to pick up. That, and we'd have everything in one convenient place, if we wanted to check something quickly."

And no, Ed, hiding them doesn't count when they've literally filled their entire room full of notes.

His head tilts at that, regarding her instead of the screen. "You think you can handle it all on your own?" Ed's self aware enough to know that he's of no help if everything's digital, and he really wouldn't even know where to begin. He was fine with doing both, but if she wanted to move everything to a computer that didn't leave him with many options - typing wasn't exactly a skill he had mastered, nevermind the knowledge of using something that advanced. Which - he realized by now was practically a joke compared to some of the other tech available in this place... Not that that made him feel any better about it.

Hiding things is pain, this is why he writes in codes. His methods are flawless, Chloe.

"I don't think I could much help." He's not about to admit that whatever was on the screen was just gibberish to him since he didn't have a mental reference for scrolling text to fully understand what she was doing.

"Well..." Her voice is thoughtful as she glances down at everything, considering how to word it. She knows he's not one for technology, otherwise he would have participated more in putting this presentation together. "I could handle it, but I was actually thinking it'd be easier if you learned how to use it too. It's pretty easy, once you get the hang of it."

He wouldn't have to be an expert at it, but learning how to search information and save documents would suit their purposes just fine. If her eight-year old knows how to use this stuff, she knows he could pick it up as well.

An eyebrow raises at the 'well' golden eyes glancing from her to the computer again - particularly the keyboard this time. He's not aware that she's comparing him to an eight-year-old at the moment, but that's beside the point.

He lifts a gloved hand in indication he's not exactly talking about an inability to grasp the concept of whatever she has in mind. He knew she noticed the automail so there wasn't a point in pretending like it wasn't there anymore. "Might be harder than you think..." Learning how to type with a hand that couldn't detect the location of keys wasn't exactly going to be easy.

It didn't mean he wasn't up for the challenge, but he imagined it wasn't going to go as smoothly and quickly as she seemed to believe it would.

"Probably," she admits. Sensory information is important, of course, but she can't imagine that it would stop him if he set his mind to it. It may just take some extra time, though she didn't plan on getting into that now. But since he's the one that's brought it up, it's permissible for her to discuss it with him too. "But I think it'd be a valuable use of your time, and there are ways to accommodate your needs. They've got speech to text features. It's also not even just for storing information, but for finding it too. The books here have been helpful, but they're also old. There's some things we can only find online. Probably less time than combing through pages of pages of books, too."

Ed's very much concerned about keeping the research going, and since this was obviously something that was going to take time and learning he didn't see benefit in stopping what they were doing so far. Of course, he doesn't realize what she's thinking either.

At the mention of speech to text his expression changes just slightly, as if in realization. "I've used something like that before..." The Purg terminals couldn't be compared to the technology she had, he hadn't even seen it yet and he was already sure of that - but if the concept was similar enough he could figure that much out fairly quickly. The rest would be another matter.

"As long as it doesn't distract too much from the actual research."

She's happy to hear he's familiar with similar technology, at least. It'll make this go a lot faster, rather than teaching him from the ground up. Not that she's not expecting a few bumps in the road, but hey, she'll take what she can get. For now, she gives him a firm nod, satisfied with his response. "I think you'll find it actually helps with the research in the long run. I can find entire pages of information on alchemy just by clicking around a bit."

Which she does, typing in her search terms before showing him the screen. It may be this world's version of Wikipedia, but it still gets her point across, doesn't it?

It better help with the research in the long run or she's going to have one frustrated alchemist on her hands, having wasted time and effort to make this thing work.

He looks skeptical at the mention of alchemy, but gives the screen a glance - even if only to humor her, he wasn't going to admit to being curious, after all. Ed doesn't get far into the article before making a face though, looking away again. "That's a bunch of garbage... You can't transmute lead into gold."

At the moment he doesn't seem to care about the concept that things can be different on other worlds - and he's already heard of alchemy unlike his own plenty of times, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow.

She's dealt with Satan whining at her about cases being too boring before. She can deal with a frustrated alchemist, though she's confident that she's in the right on this anyway.

She tries to hide her amusement at his quick irritation, because she figured something like this might come up. "It's a website that anyone's allowed to edit, so some of it's not always correct or it's missing information. Most of them are supposed to have sources at the bottom to show where they got the information, but it doesn't always happen."

Clearly, Chloe just has the patient of a saint. Or needs better friends. Maybe both.

He blinks at the concept of just anyone being able to edit it with no viable resources - two thoughts occurring to him at once, not only that he could eventually edit that page himself but that it meant any information they did find would - once again - only be as reliable as rumors.

"If just anyone can say anything, that's not very solid evidence."

"It depends where you're looking," she replies, scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking on a more viable, academic looking source. "This just happens to be an example of a website where everyone can edit. Not every one of them is like that, though. It's just a matter of examining your sources and figuring out what's relevant or not. Just like with books."

"Which you have more experience with." So she was likely to find more reliable information. Honestly, he's not trying to be difficult, it just kind of comes naturally sometimes.

"Maybe we should worry about getting the rest of the paperwork sorted for now." Just to make sure she didn't think he was bailing outright, "This is something we can go over when we have more time... Like tomorrow."

This day was already building itself up to be his most exhausting in the quarantine, so he wasn't about to offer to look into anything after everyone left tonight.

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