curious, interesting. [break][break]

today was a rare day off, one where she could go and sit herself down to pick up a book. very rarely does marisol pick up a novel - a sci-fi one, no less - to read at her leisure, especially not when there's still so much research and so much work that she needs to do. but she needs to remind herself that imagination and the unknown are the foundations of science, discovery, and so forth. it's the backbone that is science, the questions of philosophy that lead into curiosity, then experimenting, then discovery, then more questioning, and the cycle repeats. [break][break]

these questions only ever arise in fiction, or what people think could be fiction. years ago, centuries ago, perhaps some age would have laughed at the idea of humans being made up of little organisms. they would laugh at how the blood that flows in the body was being pumped, laugh at the notion that an apple will fall from a tree, or laugh at the idea that the earth was a globe, and that they revolved around the sun, rather than the other way around. humans were egotistical like that, but the compulsion leads to advancement. [break][break]

it's how technology develops, let it be for medicine or for everyday life. [break][break]

so she finds herself engrossed in a novel that she read, rather quickly might she add. a pen is in her hands and she scribbles in a notebook, equations in black and red pen circling, and crossing out, and replacing and redirecting ideas across the pages. the woman will glance at the book, read a passage, then return her attention to the paper to take a gander at what scribbles she's had on the page. [break][break]

although her investment is suddenly broken at the sound of a man's voice, and as per usual, her habit of suddenly jumping from sudden noises show as she jolts in her seat. she takes a moment to compose herself. "oh.. hello." the woman tilts her pen down, slightly. he's a big man - how did she not realize he was there? "ah.. yes, well.." she starts, narrowing an eye ".. it'll sound silly if i tell you."

Ryan Arcken

☉

With naught a speck of judgment, he simply gave a shrug in response, smiling a bit more. Shaking his head faintly soon thereafter, he leaned back in his seat while resting the book he held more comfortably within his lap as he crossed his legs to further promote his own comfort.[break][break]

”I mean…I’d like to say I like silly~?” he mused, a chuckle twined clear within both tone and words, alike. Bicolored hues of a crimson and golden curiosity shifted towards the paper by her once more, and he nodded in the direction of both it and the all too familiar book within her vicinity. ”You just seem really sucked into what you’re doing, I guess. Kinda hard not to be curious.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

.. he doesn't look to b suspicious. [break][break]

years of caution has done this to her; he's just someone who's interested in the book she's reading, and all the scribbling being done with pen in hand and paper on desk. she sighs, and glances back down at the words she's scribbled. the paper is littered with formulae, circles of red with arrows to insert in between equations. physics, chemistry and bits of notes of biology are sprinkled together, with messy diagrams around and about - though he probably wouldn't be able to read it. [break][break]

doctor writing exists, and it's very real. [break][break]

her left hand gently opens her fingers, expanding the page of the book, slightly. "... i'm just reading a sci-fi book." not something that she would normally read, but the current science was always once thought to be science fiction, and now look at where they are now. "and.. was trying to see if some of the tech and chemistry proposed in this text could hypothetically be done in reality."

Ryan Arcken

☉

Holy fucking shit, this looks like my elementary school handwriting.[break][break]

A thought far from spoken, of course, and buried far beneath an eager and curious spark within his eye as he leaned over—ever so slightly, of course, lest he risk invading her space—in order to observe the diagrams and such she’d offered into his line of sight. He hummed in idle response and acknowledgment of her later words, raising his brows and glancing towards her from the corner of his eye as he noted the latter end of it.[break][break]

”So the stuff in the book is actually possible, then? Maybe?” he asked, a tone of faux (yet perfectly guise) inquiry coating the words as they left him. His lips pursed in further interest that had been less faux, and he shifted his attention towards the page once more. ”Not every day you see that, honestly… So how realistic is it, then?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

"possibly." her tone cuts through the air, her response is curt and short. as it always is. [break][break]

is he curious? perhaps he's as much a nerd as she is (only when she feels like it; she's akin to a glameow in that sense) and would like to know more about her findings. maybe he's finding amusement in her attempts. maybe he's genuinely curious and isn't trying to just find someone to talk to. the reason doesn't matter. it never does. [break][break]

eyes glance back at the pages, her lips pressing thin. "in practice, highly unlikely." the red pen held between her fingers taps upon the notebook "in theory? after a few adjustments, entirely realistic." the pen glides over the pages, however only to make a few red circles around the substitutions (or what he'd see as scribbles with an arrow following them) "specifically if there's the assistance of pokemon. the weapons would be possible with enough the proper energy, the tech would be possible with assistance of pokemon, and if we had technology that was capable of hypothesized processes.."[break][break]

the issue was today's technology.

Ryan Arcken

☉

Far be it for him to misunderstand bluntness as someone of the same mind, sometimes, but he did have to admit that being on the other side of it was a bit…jarring.[break][break]

Not always, but sometimes. Nevertheless, however, he kept a front of genuine interest as he listened to the words she spoke to him, all while casting an occasional glance towards the pages before her— seemingly and specifically when she seemed to begin running her pen along the paper, once more. The equations, themselves, had been things that he’d already known were beyond his expertise and comprehension from the very start.[break][break]

Even then, though, he had to admire the amount of actual thought she was putting into the matter.[break][break]

It was flattery beyond what she’d likely ever know to him, specifically.[break][break]

He hummed as he listened. He hummed as he processed.[break][break]

After some time, a smile of both understanding and curiosity tugged upon his lips as he narrowed his eyes. With a soft, humming sigh, he leaned further back into his chair again.[break][break]

”Ahhh… So then it’s really just the state of…our technology? Machinery? That kinda stuff?” he asked, raising a brow. ”...That’s, like, the main inhibitor, I mean?”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

"yes." [break][break]

and if there was a way to fix that, she would. though alone, she wouldn't be able to complete it, and with her limited knowledge with machinery and technology, even less so. she's only relying on her knowledge of chemistry and pokemon (two things that were shoved into her mind from young; it pays to have wealthy parents). [break][break]

"i have a--" she pauses, furrows her brows as the ball point pen presses a bit harder than it should against the paper ".. an acquaintance" she continues "who might be able to help otherwise, but.." but he's busy, and she couldn't bother him. as she glances back at the papers, a frown tugs at her lips. "he's busy."[break][break]

a soft voice whispers "... it's interesting." under her breath, "it's too bad i can't do more."

Ryan Arcken

☉

...A friend, huh?[break][break]

Given the situation at hand, it would’ve been an understatement to say that he was intrigued by the mystery person in question (it was hard not to be when he had just been told that they could possibly have the power to make a concept that he thought of—a concept that, all things considered, he’d thought had been absolute bullshit—a reality), but the fact of the matter was that questioning as such might’ve been a bit too much.[break][break]

He barely even knew the woman across from him, after all.[break]
Curious as he was, he normally hadn’t been forward enough to push for finer details about acquaintances, let alone acquaintances of acquaintances.[break][break]

So, in light of that, the first words to leave his lips in light of the conversational trajectory had been, ”Yeah, but I guess there’s not much you can do~,” as the whisper—soft as it may have been—managed to catch his ears.[break][break]

He smiled, eying her for a while longer before peering back to the paper once more.[break][break]

”...It’s cool that you’re that passionate over a fictional concept, though~.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

"i wouldn't say that i'm passionate." [break][break]

it's a bold faced lie when she says it so straight, especially after he's seen the amount of effort she's put into the scribbles, trying to figure out the technicalities. it's only a shame that she isn't as familiar with physics and engineering as she is biology and chemistry, and that's the wall she hits. [break][break]

school takes too much of her time, she can't research more of the things that she's curious about. learn more about the things that she would wish to learn about (granted she doesn't know what it is that she would really like to pursue, insisting that nursing was only a front. its only a matter of time until she realize that it isn't). [break][break]

that's enough of her. [break][break]

"are you interested in this, too?" she asks, head tilted slightly towards the notebook.

Ryan Arcken

☉

He blinked, hearing the topic shift somewhat suddenly.[break][break]

Truthfully, it caught him slightly off guard, prompting him to give a small smile in both amusement and thought as he pursed his lips softly. A hum escaped him as if emphasizing the aforementioned thought, and he relaxed further against the cushions of the chair behind him.[break][break]

”Ahhh… Yeah, but I’ve never really been big on that sorta stuff, though. Not in depth, at least,” he laughed, shaking his head. His tongue clicked softly a couple of times in instinct as he paused shortly in order to gather his thoughts. ”Like…I’ve always loved books and writing, myself. Sci-fi stuff like this is one of my vices, honestly…”[break][break]

He shrugged, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck softly.[break][break]

”...Just a simple teacher, though,” he went on, chuckling. ”Super techy stuff isn’t really in the resume~.”

MARISOL SIMONE [break]
notes

☉

... just a teacher, then?[break][break]

... this guy? he looks like he'd sooner be a bodybuilder, with his physique. arceus. well.. she's not someone who can judge someone's occupation, but she'll still glance back at her papers with a ".. good luck.", knowing full well how difficult that path must be. [break][break]

though still, she hums, taking a glance towards the book cover once again. it's still embarrassing for her to admit, though, that "i tend to read.. a few of this person's books." her eyes narrow, idly flipping through the pages. ah, yes, the smell of books. she revels in them. [break][break]

"he has quite a bit of sci-fi" she hums "but there's a bit of mythology, as well." which intrigues her, what with how difficult it is to find anything about it. "and you can usually tell when a writer gets excited, based on how much thought is put into their work."

Ryan Arcken

☉