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Post by breakhakkaistein on Apr 2, 2012 22:05:57 GMT -5
It had been five years since he'd felt the Kishin's wavelength, five years since he'd heard the snake witch's voice, and five years since the great battle on the moon. For once, Professor Franken Stein, the DWMA'S most experienced meister and its most accomplished madman felt at peace.
Or was it just complacence? As Stein gazed up at the moon through the tiny window in one of his lab's many concrete hallways, Stein wondered where he would be needed next. It was only a matter of time before Death would call on him again, if not to teach, then to do more of the Academy's dirty work. The moon mission had destroyed any illusions about his function. He was Death City's garbage man, no more and no less. His mission was to dismember.
He shook his head. Those thoughts were from another time, a past that no longer needed to be brought up. A madness that needed to stay dormant.
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Post by davian on Apr 6, 2012 4:05:26 GMT -5
Professor Franken Stein...
Standing outside the semi-famed (and mostly avoided) Patchwork Lab, Davian couldn't help but feel his skin crawl. Not with fear; he knew enough about the mad scientist and his patchwork abode on the cemetery's outskirts not to quake with ignorant dread like some silly schoolboy. After all, he and Stein had once been classmates... though, in all likelihood, Prof. Stein probably didn't remember him at all from back then. Davian had been perpetually lost in Stein's shadow, a mere footnote on the Shibusen record books, his own genius and achievements forever paled in comparison to that madman.
No, what Davian Boyle felt as he stood there, a dry wind teasing at his clothes and hair, was definitely not fear. It was more like hate... but a hate he knew he had to suppress. He'd purposefully avoided Stein ever since coming on staff -- it hadn't been hard, with the madman perpetually cooped up in this self-styled lab of his working on Shinigami-knows-what -- but tonight would break the barrier that stood between them.
They had business to discuss. Shibusen business.
The brown-haired professor took a deep calming breath as he pushed the doorbell button. A muted tone sounded and Davian began collecting his thoughts. Should he have called ahead? No... this was hard enough as it was, and besides which he didn't even know Stein's number (or if he even had one). He clutched the heavy steel-plated briefcase in an iron white-knuckled grip, willing his emotions to come under control. He hated Stein, yes, and perhaps even more so for the fact that Shibusen continued to tolerate such a person in its highest ranks... but that didn't change one very important thing.
Tonight, Shibusen needed Stein.
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Post by breakhakkaistein on Apr 15, 2012 15:43:56 GMT -5
Someone at the door. Since Stein wasn't at his computer for once, he was unable to access the security camera feed that his robotic mice kept for him. He would have to check the door for himself. Sighing, the professor trudged towards the doorway, knowing that it was probably someone asking him another one of Death's favors or Spirit coming over drunk after a night of revelry. He hoped for the latter. He was done with Academy business after what had happened on the moon.
The door creaked open on its hinges and Stein peered out to find...Boyle. So it was Academy business. There was no reason for pleasantries then.
"What do you want?"
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Post by davian on Apr 24, 2012 10:25:04 GMT -5
"Hello to you too." Prof. Boyle half-grumbled.
Since Stein had more or less "retired" after the conflict on the moon Davian hadn't actually encountered the insane dissectionist upon taking up his teaching post at Shibusen... until tonight, that was. Just seeing Stein's face peeking out from behind a half-opened door was enough to dredge up a sea of bad memories and Davian had to force himself not to glare angrily.
He only half succeeded. The nature of his 'errand' didn't help things any.
"I need you to take a look at something, get your analysis of it. Then I'll be out of your hair." Davian stated. He gestured to the briefcase -- more of a portable freezer, actually, judging by the dials and readouts on its surface.
"I take it you heard about the Greater Nevada Zoo incident? If you've been so cooped up in here that you haven't even turned on the news, here's the short version. Myself, a few other teachers, and a large group of EAT students were attacked while on a field trip to the zoo -- not Kishin Eggs or witches, but something else. Something we haven't seen before. It turned the animals into violent monsters and controlled them somehow. I have a sample here -- one of the parrots, the most intact specimen I could find after the fighting stopped. It's on ice to preserve it; should thaw out quickly, though."
"Biological sciences aren't my area of expertise. Shibusen wants you to dissect it, figure out what you can from its remains. I'll take your report back and add it to the other data we're gathering, so you won't even need to leave your little dungeon here." Prof. Boyle's tone made it clear he hated the idea of being a mere messenger like this, and for Stein of all people, but he didn't have much of a choice.
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Post by breakhakkaistein on Apr 25, 2012 23:59:36 GMT -5
The door creaked open further, revealing more of Stein's form. In his time spent away from the Academy, the meister's muscle mass had softened a little, showing the scrawniness that was natural to his build. The usual indents beneath his eyes, products of many nights without sleep, had decreased in their depth. It had been a while since Stein had been involved any real fighting or serious research, and he had no intention of getting involved in being Death's tool again. But a dissection was a dissection, and Stein wasn't about to pass this one up. Ignoring the other professor's barbed comments, Stein stepped outside and motioned to the briefcase.
"When will you need this back?"
His mind was already starting to prickle with possibilities. If he was lucky, Lord Death would let him keep the specimen indefinitely. It had been far too long since Stein had had anything top secret to study, and the prospect of picking apart a new strain of madness intrigued him.
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Post by davian on May 5, 2012 12:15:13 GMT -5
"When will you need this back?"
Davian scoffed. "Personally, if I never see another of those things again I'll be happy. You can keep it; I certainly don't want it and Shibusen isn't interested in the corpse beyond what you can learn from it."
"In the meantime, though..." The expression on Boyle's face was distinctly not pleasant. "I'm in charge of the sample. If you can make a few preliminary findings tonight I can leave you and this nasty little thing alone together... but for the moment I'll have to ask you to let me sit in on the... dissection. We were lucky to find this; all the rest of the affected animals were either reduced to ashes when whatever power was manipulating them withdrew or when our student teams killed them. I suspect this specimen was only partially effected somehow... which might give us some insights into what mutated these creatures and how."
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Post by breakhakkaistein on May 14, 2012 13:18:44 GMT -5
"Interesting," Stein took the briefcase in his left hand and turned back into the lab, forgetting to invite Boyle to follow in his excitement. Despite his usual deadpan expression, Stein always carried a passion within him, the desire to dismember, the desire to dissect. Whether that made him a threat or a benefit to the Academy was still to be determined.
Realizing he'd left Boyle in the doorway, Stein turned his head towards the door and called "Come in."
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