Come now, Come now

At his friends inquiries, a small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, a mischievous glint in his eye. He didn’t intend to answer any of the questions being directed at him, and he expected David knew as much. It never suited him to lay out all of his cards on the table. Keeping the majority of it to himself provided an element of mystery that he quite enjoyed watching people attempt to figure out. He told his friend more than most, but it was certainly more fun to keep a few things secret for a bit longer. “Well, you’ll just have to trust me and my methods,” he told him with a note of amusement in his voice, avoiding having to actually answer any questions. “Your only job,” he continued, lowering his voice as they walked up to the edge of the lake. “Is to be you, doctor Dawson.” With a wink, he turned away and scanned the water, immediately spotting what he was searching for. Mermaids, splashing about like the dull and self obsessed creatures they were.

Of course. Of course Basil had decided to be mysterious rather than explain his plans. Basil's love of the dramatic was only matched by his devotion to whatever case or experiment he was working on - something that made him brilliant and completely impossible to work with. Did he just..."Did you just say Doctor Dawson? I'm hardly a qualified medical practitioner and my work at the health clinic doesn't mean I can work do any serious work, you can't possibly be thinking..." There was no point in finishing this argument. It was clear the other boy wasn't listening as he scanned the mermaids that could be seen, possibly picking up his targets and identifying what he needed in order to use his 'methods.' Sure enough, with a few words he had two of them swimming over to him and falling under his spell. 

Basil was already piecing together various attempts at gaining various creatures consent when he heard his friends familiar footsteps behind him once more. “Now,” he began without looking at him, his attention focused on their surroundings. “The lake happens to be rather close, so we’ll track down a few subjects in that general area,” he explained, making his way down one of the forest trails in the direction of the lake. Gaining permission to run tests on certain subjects always proved to be a tedious task, but for Dawson’s sake, he would do it. Basil rarely gave a thought to nuances that normal people bothered themselves with, but his friend seemed to be the only person that made him consider otherwise. It was a bit odd, not to mention slightly off putting, but he had more or less learned to accept it by now. “I do suppose I should explain the parameters for this experiment,” he mused with a slight frown, before glancing over at his friend. “You are not to mention the purpose of this to any of the subjects— i’ll be the one to discuss that. In addition, refrain from stopping me when I begin patronizing them. I have good reason for doing so this time around, I assure you.”

As Basil began to talk, David fell into step with his long stride and listened attentively. It was only years of practice that allowed him to keep up in the slightest but he hardly noticed now. Nodding once, he immediately started to evaluate what he was being told - and most likely what he wasn't. Of course Basil would speak to the subjects; he would spend the entire time correcting David if David tried to do otherwise. It would save them both time if David pretended to agree now. At the patronizing comment he had to say something. "Is this really necessary? You tend to get rather...brusque with people even when you don't intend to be rude and patronizing, the fact that you're even bothering to warn me at the moment means that this could be reaching nearly unprecedented levels. How are you planning to get the other creatures to agree to...whatever this procedure is if you insult them from the start? I thought you said this had to do with a creature's ability to heal."

That’s Thomas’ problem.

Yes it would seem so. They've become rather close haven't they? 

"No worries. I can handle myself. What’s his name?"

"I'm sure you can, but I still like to control the damage where I can. His name is Basil Baker."

Carlotta let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “It looks like you and I have the same gift. That’s kind of what I like best about it. If danger is anywhere near we get act as a temporary guardian angel or something!” She looked down a little in embarrassment, “but maybe that’s just me.”

David's lips quirked up slightly. "I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a guardian angel, but I will admit that it comes in handy in a fight. Not that we're invincible, but it does give us a certain advantage." One that he had taken advantage of on many occasions when he needed to and was bound to help him in the future. 

Carlotta dropped the bow and put her hands to her mouth before running over to him. “I know I know I didn’t mean to! I’m so so so so sorry! Are you alright?” She asked him with a worried expression. 

"Of course I'm fine. The arrow missed me as you well know. Even if it had hit me, as long as it missed anything vital I would be healed in a few minutes, so it was safer for me than anyone else that might have been walking past."

"Heads up!"

David jerked backwards with well trained reflexes as the arrow flies past his head. "What the-madam! I suggest you try to be more careful. If that had hit someone else you could seriously injure them!"

At David’s synopsis, he pursed his lips and shook his head. “No no— not animals,” he corrects with a flourish of his hand, turning to look at his friend. “Though I don’t prefer to factor something as petty as morals into my work, you seem to believe that they’re rather important,” he gave a small sigh at that, wondering why most people deemed that sort of thing important, and making a mental note to look further into it. “So, I suppose I can work with subjects that have the ability to give some form of consent, for your sake. There are plenty of odd creatures in this forest capable of speaking, so we’ll seek them out. Now, lets not waste another moment, Dawson,” with a grin, he turned on his heel and exited the cabin, his coat billowing behind him. 

"I know you don't consider it, that's why I remind you. One of us has to be aware of it." He'd never exactly understood how Basil could ignore the issue so completely, but trying to get an explanation out of the other man was close to impossible on this sort of subject. At least he could keep an eye on the bigger transgressions to try and keep Basil out of trouble. David supposed that he should be grateful Basil had capitulated so easily on this issue, although it was starting to raise his suspicious for what exactly this experiment would entail. Still, before he could respond, David was staring at the back of the familiar coat and the quickly closing door. Rolling his eyes and suppressing a grin, he rushed to catch up before he lost sight of Basil completely. 

"Brown haired… Insulting people? Oh no, I would remember that."

"Hm, all right. Thank you for your assistance. If you do see him, send him on to the student health center. Oh, and I apologize preemptively for anything he says."

Oh I’m sure someone else would be harder to look after. Peter for one, but no Herc isn’t very hard to clean up after.

I haven't met Herc, but I think most people would compare favorably to Peter. He tends to be...spirited and not too concerned about cleanliness.

That’s odd, freezer burn? I hope it’s nothing serious.

Most of the time they aren't, although some of them would be problematic if they weren't able to get to us so bad. If you hear anything about this, you should be careful. 

I suppose it is. I find myself confused by a lot of things too, but myself is one of them and not everyone can say that, from my understanding. Oh, yes. And people who are perfect are dreadfully boring anyway. Not to mention they’re often stuck up, and no one likes a priss.

Often people who seem perfect initially aren't really, so sometimes it is far more interesting to see what they are like when they stop being so guarded. But not everyone has the patience to work through so many layers, and sometimes it would be much more convenient if they were honest from the start. 

  That would be really helpful, thank you. Just let me grab my running gear. 

I'll meet you here in a few minutes then, all right?

Hm? Oh, I forget that I have to explain myself to people. How tedious. But for you, I suppose i’ll manage. [stops in front of their cabin, pulling out his key and unlocking the door before stepping inside and gesturing for David to follow] The healing process is a most peculiar thing, wouldn’t you say? [moves over to rummage through a drawer while he talks] There are so many species in this forest that heal in drastically different ways than humans do. Then again, some humans heal differently as well…[glances over at him for a moment before returning to the drawer] Therefore all that remains— oh where is it? Ah! There you are! [pulls out a small black pouch and straightens up] Now, I do believe its time to locate a few subjects.

I don't know how you forget that you need to explain yourself, I ask you to do it every time. [watches in amused confusion as Basil rummages through his drawers, trying to process the rambling explanation] So, to confirm, you want to gather a bunch of animals together to test the different ways that they heal? That seems rather rough on the animals, it's not like they are able to consent to this experiment.