hadriel_logs | And in retrospect I'll say we've done no wrong

Entry tags:

And in retrospect I'll say we've done no wrong

Who: Alphys and Marian.
What: Two twitchy science-y nerds meet.
Where: Newt and Hermann's old lab.
When: Now.
Warnings: Nawwww.

Marian doesn't go out at night on principle. Even now that the snow is gone, there's nothing good about the darkness, and flickering shadows send her into a panic. But exploration and scavenging during the day is fine, the diffuse light of Hadriel keeping the shadows (and fear) at bay.

She's been finding odds and ends in her scavenging over the last few weeks, but keeping them in her apartment for now. A couple people had mentioned a lab around the city somewhere, but she hadn't found it... until today. Peering in the window, there's a blackboard, computer, microscope, and old-style fridge, largely things a decode or two old by Marian's standards, but at least a good starting point and something to build on.

She doesn't knock -- she didn't see anyone, at least not from a quick glance -- but does call out as she opens the door, just in case.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

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Alphys had only been to the lab once before Newt and Hermann disappeared- she had wandered in and Newt had given her the tour. Once she figured out they had left, and Sans mentioned someone should probably look after the place, she had decided to give it a once-over... and admittedly, it ended up becoming mostly a depositing place for her junk.

Strewn about in little piles around the lab's main entryway are bits of scrap metal, plastics, and cardboard that wasn't wet, along with an assortment of figurines and food wrappers strewn around the table. Alphys herself, at the moment, was under the desk, messing with some of the wiring on the computer, and--

Well, basically, the first impression Marian is going to get is a small squeak of surprise and then a large thunk as the computer jumps a bit from Alphys slamming her head into it.

She appears moments later, head poking over the counter, glasses still slightly askew as she adjusts them. "Uhm, uh, h-hello! I didn't expect anyone else to go by. Uhm, not that you're n-not allowed to be here, or anything, this place isn't even mine really, uh... hi."

Who... and what... is this exactly?

Marian hasn't really been adjusting well to a lot of things, and the weirder inhabitants of the city are definitely part of the problem.

On the other hand, it's just... a lizard. A large, yellow, talking lizard. With glasses. Alphys doesn't exactly look threatening, and to be fair, none of the inhabitants here, no matter how terrifying looking, had actually done anything horrible yet.

So Marian looks surprised, and a little unsure as she replies, "Oh. Er... whose... place is it then? I had heard something about a lab, and I thought this looked promising..."

"O-Oh, no I mean--! This is, uh, the lab. I'm just not the person who, uh, made it a lab." She skitters out from behind the counter, and her full form becomes visible. She... well, she sure is a 4 and a half foot tall yellow lizard wearing a labcoat. There's really just no way to get around that. Her tail hits the ground as she walks, and drags a bit when she slouches. Alphys smiles, though it's lopsided and obviously pretty nervous. She's not good at meeting new people.

"I uh, I mean, I knew the guys who did, but they left, so uh, I sort of... s-started using it. Since they, uh, didn't leave it to anybody or uhm, anything l-like that."

That is... definitely a lizard. In a lab coat.

Well, it's not the worst or weirdest thing she's seen here so far. Still, this is a little mutually awkward. Is she from a whole world of lizard people? What sort of science do these lizard people have? Mysteries abound, and that's really only the top of the iceberg.

"Oh... I see. Are you a... researcher of some type as well, where you're from?" In a moment of, well, definite uncertainty but also sudden sheer gumption, Marian decides to risk sticking out her hand for a handshake. How bad could it be? "I'm Marian Tenebris. Dr. Marian Tenebris."

She sure is.

"Oh, uhm, it's n-nice to meet you." She sticks out her hand to shake as well. It's smooth and decidedly scaley... though Alphys' palms are also noticeably sweaty. She's trying. She's trying so much. "I'm, uh, I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm primarily an engineer but, uhm, my specialty is in robotics. I used to be the R-Royal Scientist for uh, the King back home, so I've done a lot of uh, other stuff, too."

Well, that's one way to explain the, ah, amalgamation of things she's studied. "Sorry it's, uhm, kind of messy in here. There's not much material to work with so, uh, I've been taking stuff apart and trying to k-keep whatever I can find."

Marian brightens perceptibly at the word 'engineer', despite sweaty scaly palms -- maybe not exactly happy about life, but pleasantly surprised. Even if she's a lizard, between that and the robotics, this makes Alphys probably the most technologically inclined person she's met so far in the entire time Marian's been here. And engineering expertise is exactly what she could use some help with. Even if it comes from the Kingdom of the Lizards.

"Physicist. I've been collecting what I've found over the last couple months as well. It's difficult to make much progress without a proper facility, and most of the city and the people brought here don't seem particularly advanced. Perhaps we could share supplies and space here? It's not exactly ideal..." she looks across the lab and, well, it really isn't impressive, and the garbage has got to go. "...but it's better than nothing. What do you think?"

Of course there's no guarantees at this point, and she's only just met Alphys, but it's not exactly like she's spoiled for choice.

Oh! Another science type. Well, that makes sense, she figures. This place wasn't necessarily her lab anyway, so she doesn't have a right to take the whole thing for herself. "Uh, y-yeah, that's fine! I mean, uhm, I didn't make it or anything, so, it should be free for p-people to use."

Alphys is interested about what kind of things she's been collecting, though. "We can uh, p-pool our materials and everything, and... yeah! As long as you don't mind uh, sharing and everything..." It's been a long time since she's worked collaboratively with anyone, but having someone-- anyone-- in the lab with her stops a lot of her fear on working on anything again. Even if it is a human. Or probably a human. Human-shaped.

"I don't mind. Really, I think it might be a matter of necessity given how little there is to work with. The entities that call themselves 'gods' here really don't seem fond of technology," Marian says, picking her way through the piles of junk accumulated so far. "I've always found it's a good thing to have a good collaborator or two to help out with the details of implementation. I used to work with....... well, I guess you wouldn't know of her, would you....."

Marian couldn't help sighing, glancing down sideways at the floor. She'd made some mistakes and said some things... if Ella was still alive,.. but the past is the past, and what's already been said is one thing that can't be changed.

Not wanting to go down that train of thought, she immediately jumps back to matters at hand, scanning over the computer and wire-y bits that Alphys appeared to be messing with when she'd arrived. "Do you have any projects you're working on right now? Although it's quite early, I might have a suggestion or two."

Alphys gently taps her claws together as Marian talks, thankful that when she seems to get melancholy she doesn't have to maintain eye contact. It seems like every science type she's ever met here have done some things they regret- it should make it easier on her, but instead she's just as nervous. You never know what kind of baggage someone is carrying in that situation... or what she could do to accidentally set it off.

Thankfully, Marian changes the conversation, and Alphys sputters out a response. "Well, uhm, not really anything in p-particular, uh. I was doing some tests on the equipment here to m-make sure none of the parts needed to be replaced, and uh, you k-know, figuring out what of this stuff could be salvaged." She had a couple of ideas to go forward with, but without knowing how much material she had, planning anything else was nearly useless. "Just, uhm, making sure nothing was damaged in between when uh, the o-old owners used it and when I got here."

Hey, if there's anything Marian's good at besides her research, it's plowing ahead through adversity (usually by putting problems aside and doing her best to ignore them.) Talking about something productive instead, that's far better than actually addressing complicated personal problems.

She nods at Alphys' explanation. Maintenance is important, after all, and with the wild changes that seem to happen around here, not a bad idea at all. As absurd as it feels talking to a giant yellow lizard, maybe, just maybe, this could be okay.

"Good idea. We'll have to clean up some of the trash they left behind, too," she adds, gingerly picking up one of the discarded food wrappers and dropping it in a cardboard box that is now officially the garbage. "I'll bring over what I've collected so far, and some notes for, uh, something I've been thinking about. The theory is sound, I think, but I wouldn't mind input on the implementation... of, ah, a device to locate the Door."

She's a bit uncertain about floating the idea past someone else she's barely met, but secrecy gains her nothing here. As far as she's concerned, it's a good idea, one that might even benefit people if they could ever figure out what to do once they found the Door.

And just like that, she's got a... lab partner? Assistant? Maybe she's the assistant. Frankly, the idea of anyone else sharing a scientific space is pretty foreign to her in the first place. Most of her experience in science has been solo... or at least most of her recent stuff that still exists in recorded history, and even that's a little fuzzy. Gotta love it!

She nods a bit through Marian's ideas about cleaning, and then stops when she brings up the obvious interesting component- probably why she sought out the lab in the first place. "A... d-device to find the Door?" That's... well, theoretically, it could be tracked if it left some sort of magical signature. "What would you, uhm, a-aim to do if you found it?"

"We don't even know if it's accessible yet. Or what it is. But I think... eventually... most people want to go home, don't they?" Marian looks a little unsure. She's not sure she has much to go back to, and it sounds like she's not entirely alone in that too, from who she's spoken with, but still... "If nothing else, we should be able to learn a little more about how exactly we were brought here..."

Right. Most people do want to go home. Alphys honestly hadn't given it much thought, considering, well... she doesn't have much to go back to. Not being alive and all. But even knowing where it is might help stop the Gods from dragging anyone else here, or even stopping the monsters that flew through with the new arrivals every month.

"Well, uhm, y-yeah. Maybe we could even help the Gods figure out what's, uhm, wrong with it, so they can stop, uh, dragging in things to eat us every month. And uh, new p-people, and everything."

"Exactly." This sounds like Alphys is on board with the idea. Doesn't it? There's a blackboard and chalk at least, so Marian goes over and starts putting down formulae and diagrams. "For example, if we assume the number of possible universes is approaching infinity here, the difficulty of detecting a synchronous decoherence event across all possible superpositions may as well be impossible, but we don't have to detect these effects directly, only the fluctuations of waveform collapse in our current spatiotemporal waveform here when the Door 'opens', which I can only assume means..."

This goes on for a bit, honestly, before she even glances back, hoping Alphys is still with her. "Of course it's all theoretical at this stage. We've never had... uh, much... well, as concrete evidence supporting the multiple worlds interpretation being correct where... I'm from, but I think the basic concept is sound. What do you think?"

Honestly, giving her something to concentrate on is a good move, and Alphys studies the equations and thinks about Marian's implications. By the time she glances back, Alphys looks like she's pondering it hard, one arm on her chin and the other on her elbow.

"Well, uhm, I never d-did much study in it, but I can say my world does seem to have a history of uhm, multiple c-concurrent timelines with differing outcomes, so I feel the theory could be, uhm, transferred to this problem. There's also a possibility that, uh, we could track the Door's surges by it's magical output, d-depending on if it changes month to month or if it could be studied at all." Magical surges were always the easiest way to track the output of any technology back in the Underground, but it seems like not many other worlds had such a finessed understanding or study of magic at all. "I don't know, uh, how much m-magic your world has or if you're experienced in, uhm, anything like that."

By this point Marian's heard so many people talk about magic. So many. But after a number of arguments, there's a certain point where you just have to give up and roll your eyes. Or, in this case, have her enthusiasm visibly flag, giving Alphys an odd look.

"'Magical' output. What exactly does that... you know what, I'll let you take the lead on that one." Under other circumstances, and maybe once she's more familiar with her, she'd toss the chalk to Alphys for her own perspective. But this time, she uncertainly half holds it out, not sure if there's even anything to explain. Who knows, with lizards.

She gently knots her hands together, claws scraping ever so slightly at Marian's immediate dismissal. Alphys has to remind herself that humans don't have magic-- or well, not the understanding of magic that monsters have-- and all of this likely sounds very foreign to her. Alphys is no teacher, but... this is her degree, or at least part of it. She's sure she can give a viable explanation. So she takes the chalk and tries not to be nervous as she speaks.

"So, uhm... most of the world can be explained by, uh, physics and science, but, at least the way I've studied it, there's also a m-magical segment of most worlds. It sort of exists like... in between everything else? It's malleable, and can manifest itself in conjunction with t-tons of different stuff. It would be like, uhm, if physics is the universe's body, magic is it's soul." More or less a defined concept, but not so tangible. At least, not for monsters. Humans might see it differently.

"Monsters, uhm, as a s-species, are made of magic and therefore have the ability to create, uh, magical things? Like bullet patterns, a-and infusing their own magic in other things. So because magic is malleable, you can use it to fill in almost anything, as long as y-you're trained in that thing. So in place of using something the material might not e-exist, uhm, for, magic will bridge that gap. Like, uhm, the creation of new things like the Gods do, or, p-possibly the door. If the Door uses magic to do it's work, it'll have a distinct, uhm, magical signature, and if we could track that, we could figure out it's p-power output, and when it's most in use. Plus, if each bridge to different worlds had a distinct magical signature... maybe we c-could figure out, then, where it's pulling from."

She looks anxiously back towards Marian, her smile lopsided. "Does that, uhm... m-make sense?"

Marian continues to look faintly unimpressed, but at least she's been kicking around here long enough to have given up on immediate and utter disdain. People here probably would have called... whatever the entities that came to her world were... and whatever they did, 'magic', just because it wasn't a currently explicable phenomenon.

At least, on the couple occasions she's bothered to hassle anyone about the details so far it's been systematic. In a way. There's still the distinct feeling that so-called 'magic' means dealing with something everyone involved doesn't understand fully. A 'hack' solution to problems, that might lead to unintended consequences. But she can't deny the interesting idea of a signature of some kind that might be detectable.

"It might be too late for anyone already here, but if there was some kind of distinct signature associated with each 'world', it might be possible to use that to send people back home, once it's time for that step. I'll have to think about it some more from my perspective, but it's a good idea. But I think I'll leave the.. ah... magic... to you."

Marian looks around at what little there is in the lab and sighs. "I get the feeling actually implementing any of these ideas is going to take a long time, though."

She relaxes just a bit as Marian doesn't outright shove her ideas down, but Alphys does nod at her second statement. "This sort of thing would need, uhm, s-specialized meters and trackers I don't know if I can recreate down here by myself. Or, even if I can, it's, g-going to take a long time. I think for, uh, anything we're working on." There's a bunch ahead, but having a plan and giving her something to do is better than sitting around feeling like garbage all the time.

"But there's, uhm... something to look forward to, right? At least it's... a-an idea."

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And in retrospect I'll say we've done no wrong

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