Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
Lab work wasn't something that Rui envisioned herself doing often in her field of research. After all, most spiritual phenomena were localized to specific locations and couldn't be moved to a lab, so she'd likely be doing most of her research in the field. Yet she found herself in Maple Lab, changing into protective garments and tying her hair up into a bun. She wasn't exactly preparing for research, though. Instead, she'd decided to offer to help the lab by cleaning some of the beakers. It wasn't an ideal task, but she figured it would be a good start if she wanted to truly break into the research field.
... And, okay, maybe she wanted a bit of extra pocket change for the road ahead.
Someone else was in the lab when she entered: an older man focused on a bubbling solution. "You're late," he said without looking up.
"I was told to come at 9," Rui said.
"And it's 9:01 now," the man said. "Shouldn't have spent so much time dilly-dallying."
Rui took a steady breath through her nose. She had the feeling this man was going to be difficult either way, so it was best to try to placate him. "My apologies, sir."
"You can apologize by getting to work." He gestured to some dirty beakers on a table to his right.
"Yes, sir." She took long strides across the room and moved the beakers, one at a time, to the sink. She picked one up and began to clean it with the provided detergent and a brush.
You picked just the right detergent that wouldn't mix negatively with any of the chemical residue in the beakers! The grumpy man doesn't say anything, but he does make a "hrm" noise that doesn't sound disapproving, so it's safe to say you're doing well so far? There's still a lot of beakers left, though!
So far, so good, Rui thought as she finished cleaning the first beaker. The grumpy man's "Hrm" didn't sound like a complaint, at least, so Rui set the beaker aside to dry and grabbed the next one. She chanced a glance behind her as she began to rinse it. Part of her wanted to ask the man just what he was researching, but he didn't really seem like the type for idle chit-chat. So instead, she turned back to her scrubbing. Surely, if there had been anything abnormal in this beakers, he would have given her some kind of warning, right?
This was... surprisingly boring. She hadn't expected this job to be exciting or anything, but she had expected... something beyond this. Some conversation with a lab tech, maybe, or even something similar to those horror stories she'd heard about weird rashes from chemical spills—not that she actually wanted that to happen, of course, even if it would make for an interesting story later.
The scientist grumbled as he examined a sample he'd removed from a Bunsen burner. "Do you need some help?" Rui found herself asking out of either practiced politeness or a desire to break the awkward silence.
"No, no," the scientist said. "Just make sure the pipettes are clean."
"Yes, sir." Rui set the clean beaker aside and took one of the pipettes. This one would be a bit trickier, but as long as she was careful with the detergent and used a narrow brush, she would be fine.
Another successful cleaning, another non-disapproving hum from the Grumpy Professor. (Actually, Rui wasn't sure if he was a professor or not.) A few hours passed in much the same way; at one point, Rui swore she felt the scientist watching her, just waiting for her to make a mistake. The thought of being watched while trying to focus on this made her feel a bit self-conscious, but she forced herself to concentrate on her work while keeping her posture as steady and confident as she could. She would not be intimidated by beaker cleaning, thank you very much.
A few lab techs trickled in and out throughout the morning, but they never stayed long enough to chat, clearly eager to finish their business and get away from the sour scientist (she finally picked up his name, Dr. Murphy, thanks to them) as fast as possible. Rui couldn't blame them.
Around noon, Dr. Murphy suddenly spoke up: "Well, you managed to get through them without breaking anything. That's more than most cleaners manage."
"Thank you, sir," Rui said quietly in the pause he offered. It was probably the closest thing to a compliment she was going to get out him.
"Finish up this batch, and you're done for the day. I'm going to lunch. Make sure you get your pay out front."
"Yes, sir." A relieved smile graced her features. She could still feel his eyes on him as he put up his equipment, but she kept up diligently with the last of her work, leaving him no room to complain. With one final "hrm," he left, leaving Rui alone in the lab.
She sighed and allowed her shoulders to slump now that he was finally gone before continuing with the last of her work. Once the now-clean beakers had been set aside, the cleaning supplies had been stowed away, and her safety equipment had been returned, she made her way to the front desk to get her pay. All in all, that hadn't been too bad. Dr. Murphy wasn't exactly the best person to work with, but the job itself had been easy enough, and she could probably put this on her résumé if she ever wanted to work at a laboratory. Maybe it'd be worth doing again if she needed some extra cash.
... Just, you know, maybe with a different scientist.
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