Stark's, Wednesday, 02/10

[sciclone]

For the first time in months, Cosima was excited to come to work today. Jessica's email offered a chance to work on a genuinely useful project that was far beyond any tech she was likely to get to play with at home. What budding scientist could resist that?

It took Cosima most of the day, but she managed to isolate the inhibitor's active mechanism to the point where she thought it could be adapted to work on non-human DNA. Not that she could actually prove it worked given her very-human-as-far-as-she-knew genetic material.

So, of course, she sent out another email.

To: Science Babes & Dudes
Re: Project Assistance

Hey, I think I made some headway on Jessica's jail enhancement but I need bench test subjects to make sure I'm on the right path. Anybody want to stop by and give me some nonhuman blood to play with? I promise I won't drink it or sacrifice it to an elder god or anything. This time. - Cosima

[OOC: Open shop/post! Give me your bloooood!]

Comments

[imafuturist]

In no way was Tony's blood helpful with that one, but he was finally emerging from an engineering daze in search of coffee. And probably food.

"Tell me we have caffeine in the building." He might due on the way to the Perk.

[sciclone]

"Probably. Check the cabinet by the coffeemaker," Cosima said, barely glancing away from the telescope until she finished talking.

Tony got a half-apologetic smile when she finally looked up. "Sorry. I'm not really a coffee person."

[imafuturist]

"Might change your mind in college," Tony replied, breathing a sigh of relief when he found they were still stocked. "Then again, I was so sleep deprived that I don't remember defending my thesis."

Fond memories.

[sciclone]

Cosima was more likely to defend her thesis while baked, but she wasn't quite sure she and Tony were at the "sharing about recreational drugs" point in their relationship.

"I've heard that happens," Cosima said, pushing up her glasses. "The coffee addiction, not the 'can't remember defending my thesis' part. But I'm willing to wait and see."

As an afterthought, she added, "Where'd you go to school, anyhow?"

[imafuturist]

They were not. Maybe if she was about ten years older?

"MIT. Not a bad campus if you're interested in it."

[sciclone]

"It's on my list," Cosima nodded. "I'm looking at Berkeley, too. Better bio program, plus I miss SF."

[imafuturist]

"How I felt about New York by the time I left school," Tony replied. "Massachusetts was just... stuffy."

He shrugged, starting the coffee pot.

"I'd offer to write you a letter of recommendation, but I don't think it'll carry much weight where you're from."

[sciclone]

"Boston just seems so gray," Cosima said, scrunching up her face. "Gray and uptight."

She leaned back against the counter. "I'd take that letter anyhow," she said. "Even if they don't know your name you're closer to a real scientist than the people at the school."

[imafuturist]

"It really, really is. But good school."

If he had an MIT flag, he'd wave it.

"I'll even sign the letter Dr. Stark," he promised. It was like working undercover and that amused him way too much.

[sciclone]

"Do you want me to call you Dr. Stark?" Cosima asked, amused by the possibility.

[imafuturist]

"Nah, Tony is fine. I don't care about that part of academia."

[sciclone]

"Good," Cosima said easily. "Ten months here have wrecked my ability to use titles."

She glanced to the specimen she'd been working with. "Hey, total subject change, but did you get to talk to Jessica about her whole jail project?"

[imafuturist]

"Yep. Finishing up a few prototypes for the power source." Overachiever.

[sciclone]

"Oh, cool," Cosima said. "See, I'm trying to figure out how to get the inhibitor to work on non-human DNA. I think I have it but I need to do a couple bench tests before I'd trust it with actual people."

[imafuturist]

Tony tilted his head, looking over at what she had out to work on. "Considering what is out there, we may need to add in protocols for any species without what we'd consider DNA."

On a completely unrelated side note. Avoid the Negative Zone.

"But for now there should be enough safety protocols pre-human trials with JARVIS keeping an eye on things."

[sciclone]

"I hadn't even thought about species without any DNA," Cosima groaned. "What do they have instead? And is it at least something I can look at under a microscope?"

[imafuturist]

"That's, unfortunately, where magic comes in. I don't like it either." Seriously. It was terrible.

[sciclone]

"Of course there has to be magic," Cosima sighed. "So unfair."

[imafuturist]

"At least it's not power cosmic." Which was about as annoying. "Hey, it'll be a learning experience in working around stupid obstacles."

[sciclone]

"Power cosmic?" Cosima repeated. (Not that she was sure she wanted to know; it sounded like a headache.) "And you're right. If we can make this work, we'll be able to science the shit out of anything."

[imafuturist]

Tony held up a hand for a high-five at that. "We got this."

[sciclone]

Cosima couldn't leave Tony hanging. She high-fived him back.

"Abso-fricking-utely."

[imafuturist]

And that's why Tony hired her.

He nodded and shuffled back to pour himself coffee so he could function again. "Let me or JARVIS know if you need any materials we don't have in the shop. And if you do something that breaks the laws physics, try not to cackle. It's a sign of supervillainy."

[goforthe_optics]

Tali came through the door, somehow managing to look distinctly dubious just through the way she had her head tilted to one side.

"You know, generally when someone asks for blood to play with, it sounds a little bit like it could be cause for concern, right?"

At least she sounded like she was teasing. The hesitance was real, but look, blame all those sketchy ExoGeni and Cerberus experiments.

[sciclone]

"Believe me, I know," Cosima returned, smiling gently. "But I figured asking you guys would freak out fewer people than if I ran into town screaming 'I need blood.' That's gonna scare people even in a place like this."

[goforthe_optics]

Tali couldn't help laughing at that. "It'd be honest, at least, if not effective. And around here things like using it for a sacrifice really are a concern. Can I ask what you need it for?"

[sciclone]

"Sacrifices," Cosima said, because she couldn't let the joke die quite yet. "Kidding! No, it's -- you saw Jessica's email about a power dampener for the jail, right? She got the prototype to work on humans, and I think I isolated the mechanism so it'd work on not-humans too. But I need to do some quick tests to make sure. Blood'll work and is a lot less morally icky than just testing on a whole person."

[goforthe_optics]

Wow, science with moral considerations! Tali almost didn't know what to do with that any more.

"That makes sense," she agreed. "I could help you with that. Getting the sample might be a little bit tricky, but if we can make it work . . ."

[sciclone]

Cosima tilted her head to the side. "Well," she said thoughtfully. "Hmm. What do you do at home if a doctor needs a sample? Or maybe I could work with spit, if that's easier."

[goforthe_optics]

"You know how medical procedures usually take place in sterile environments?" Tali asked. "It's the same principle, just . . . a lot more extreme. I'd need a clean room, basically, somewhere that can minimize the risk of contaminants."

She shrugged apologetically. "Which is probably a lot of trouble for a blood sample, I know. Saliva, that I should be able to do with less hassle."

[sciclone]

"Good call. I don't think this place is exactly clean room-ready," Cosima acknowledged ruefully. She passed a corked test tube into Tali's three-fingered hand with a flourish. "Spit in here, m'dear, and I'll do the wacky science."

[goforthe_optics]

Tali turned away for a few seconds, because science or not, watching people spit was probably not high on anyone's list of things they wanted to see.

"By our standards, hardly anywhere ever is," she said wryly, handing the test tube back over. "It's not that we think you're all full of germs, but, well."

[sciclone]

Cosim was grateful for the saliva discretion, though some part of her did want to know how Tali spit through a mask.

"No, we are all full of germs," she said wryly. "I have some weird health stuff where I'm supposed to be careful, so I get it."

[goforthe_optics]

Shh, I had a brain shortout the straw was undignified and mildly embarrassing.

"I guess it's a little bit silly to think a biologist would get offended about the existence of germs," Tali conceded. "But a lot of people tend to take their immune systems for granted."

[sciclone]

"I know," Cosima said, eyes wide behind her glasses. "Like when they don't wash their hands after they go to the bathroom. It's like, do you want typhoid to come back?"