Lab: It Definitely is Rocket Science. [Switzerland & Austria]

Roderich found himself settled on a lab bench of one of the many science rooms of the school. Ordinarily, the alp had no classes at this time of day. Ordinarily, the time was instead spent eating lunch or taking a nap. However, today had decided not to be ordinary and to instead mess up his routine. The teacher had asked older students to sacrifice their break time to help the younger students with a particularly difficult lab. Roderich remembered the lab quite well actually. The Austrian had ended up breaking a few beakers in the process of doing it. The teacher, on the other hand, did not seem to remember the boy's short comings, thus he, along with a few more students from his year, were all waiting in the room for the younger students to arrive.

Eventually the younger students started to show up. They had all managed to take long enough to irk the waiting upperclassmen. Roderich payed them little mind though, instead choosing to examine the array of things in front of him on the chemistry laboratory's table. There were several obviously dangerous chemicals in the center of the table. Around those, some iron and brass samples sat innocently. The glassware and other objects needed to do the lab were set discretely off to the side. He resisted a chuckle at the sight of the beakers. Hopefully the kid he was partnered with had a better grasp of the laws of physics than Roderich had when doing the lab the first time.

The teacher finished assigning tables to the students, and suddenly there was a hoard of students moving back to the lab tables. Roderich blinked, only just starting to examine them. Idly, he ignored his own short stature and wondered if he had ever been that small when he was their age. He certainly hoped not.

Lab days were often the ones the other students enjoyed the most. It was a break from any kind of lecture and you typically got to see something that at least bordered interesting. Vash would have been of the same opinion, except it also meant a bunch of undisciplined students poking each other with rulers and being much to close to the fire of the Bunsen Burner. Teachers rarely saw as much as they said they did.

Vash was still quite dedicated to getting a solid grade. Even if the whole building burned to the ground, he'd make sure his records survived and if not, he had all his graded assignments back in his room. The foolish behavior of others wouldn't be ruining his future. Assuming this school was even recognized enough to count for anything when he attempted to transfer to something higher.

He walked into the classroom last, not wanting to compete with anyone else and really not wanting to touch anyone else if he didn't have to. He had yet to meet anyone who didn't have some dark secret he didn't need to know. Oh, older students, right. He had forgotten about that. Hopefully they'd actually be more mature than his peers. He doubted it, but didn't argue when he was assigned a table. He didn't know any of them, so he had no grounds to complain. He walked over to the table and took his place. “Hallo, I'm Vash.” He said, paying more attention to the tools than his partner. He had been told to introduce himself, not make friends.

Reclusive chimed Roderich's brain when his assigned partner finally walked up to the lab table. He was quick to pass judgment on the blonde boy and did so without a single pang of remorse. The way the blonde hung back, looking far to serious and seeming to avoid his peers struck Roderich as odd; almost boring. He had no right to judge the younger student for this, seeing as Roderich was not exactly warm and friendly toward his own peers, but he knew himself to be a hypocrite. He was not ashamed of that either. The young aristocrat would judge and look down upon others as he pleased.

“Good day, Vash. I am Roderich,” greeted the Austrian in a tone sounding painfully polite. It was said with the sort of politeness that really meant “Oh, alright, we can pretend to be equals if that makes you feel better”. However, unless one were to listen closely, the condescension being conveyed could be easily missed. It was the sort of thing one would realize much later in the day, perhaps over dinner.

“You have the instructions for the lab written down, yes?” inquired Roderich, already finished with the painful task of pleasantries. “I may of done this once before, but I assure you that having me do the lab from memory will end in disaster.” As he spoke, he busied himself with setting up what he knew they would need. Stools were snatched from the lab table next to their own, the Bunsen Burner was attached to the gas valves, and chemicals were carefully moved from harm's way.

Vash was well aware that the equivalent of 'good day' was a the normal greeting in many languages, but for someone to say it in English sounded pretentious. But at least the older student wasn't treating him like a child. He'd take formality over that and a lot of other things. He could ignore formality in a way that he couldn't ignore stupidity or ignorance. He wasn't trying to forge a lasting friendship, after all. Just a working, temporary partnership.

His eyebrow twitched a little. Okay, he had been wrong. This guy was going to treat him like a child. Or more, he thought he was going to treat Vash that way. Well then the blonde would just have to show him that he was fully capable of doing the task. “Yes, I wrote it down. No need to over exert your memory.” He said it levelly, but he wasn't as in control of his emotions as this Roderich, so some annoyance was bound to have seeped through.

Vash searched through his small bag to get out his notes on the pre-lab and the instructions. Usually the notes weren't needed, but he always kept them handy in case he could use them to answer a question or two. From what he could tell, Roderich remembered the lab well enough, as all the matierals they needed were present after he had finished his procurements. “Alright, let's get it going, then.” He looked down at his paper and looked for the needed container. “What's so hard about this lab, anyway?” Had to be something if they called in reinforcements.

Roderich raised an arrogant brow at the small blonde beside him. He struck the Austrian as a horribly sensitive individual. Already it appeared that the boy was restraining a level of annoyance. Baffled, the elder student turned his head away from him, deciding that someone must have bothered the other boy, this Vash, before they had encountered one another. Roderich could find nothing wrong with his own slightly condescending actions.

“Good, good,” hummed Roderich in an approving tone, hoping that it would gain him some favor. “Some students are not smart enough to actually bring the instructions to the lab. I was merely making sure you were not one of them,” he tried explaining in a horrible attempt at a friendly tone, but the sound felt horribly foreign on his tongue. He could not help but feel that it sounded more mocking than anything else.

“Nothing really, unless you are an idiot. If you mix the wrong chemicals you will get an explosive reaction...And that acid is terribly corrosive. If you break the beaker dropping the metal in, then it gets everywhere. It is just that the harder to kill students have caused a few problems over the years,” explained Roderich uninterestedly. He leaned back, giving the table a lazy look. To any onlooker, he looked as though he planned on doing no work at all, merely boss his partner around. It sounded like a good plan to him, but he somewhat doubted that the small blonde would accept that.

Vash wasn't sure what to think of the humming. Most people either annoyed him or freaked him out. Actually everyone he had meant since his abilities had emerged fell into one of those two categories. It was the inevitable next step that came once introductions were out of the way. But no one was like this one. Then again, they had just met. Too early to consider this guy special in any way.

It felt like his blood vessels constricted for a moment. That tone. “I wasn't asking for an award.” He said defensively. What was this guy's problem? He was used to being treated like an outcast or a psycho. He encouraged those rumors. It kept people away. When people were away they weren't close enough to touch him. Then he didn't know any of their filthy secrets. But he had never been treated like a child or a fool. Somehow he felt like both with this lab partner.

“Shouldn't be a problem. You stir the compound lightly once I pour it in. I won't put in the wrong ones.” It was a fact, not a promise or a desire.

(If I had been any later with this, it wouldn't have been in the same year as your last post... Sorry...)