seeing the forest for the trees

“God, you are so right.” Brianna laughed, shaking her head, “I can always think of about a million things I’d rather do than get ahead on work when I’m caught up. Watching paint dry is definitely in my top five.” She was still laughing as she watching him move toward the printer to retrieve the article he had been after, reading carefully for whatever it was that he was so earnestly interested in. “Oh that’d definitely why there was no leniency. “ Bri laughed again, leaning back in her chair. “Well, I’m sure the urgency will become more apparent to the masses once your brilliant research has been published.”

For Theodore, being right was more of a default state, really, but he appreciated anyone else noticing it. “I wish I could say I wasn’t the same way but--well, you see how I am when I get even a whiff of inspiration for my dissertation, and while I wouldn’t say I’m behind on it, I’m not...not behind either.” There wasn’t really a timeline, and his advisor seemed to lack any real drive for him to finish quickly, which Theodore hoped was a sign that he wanted the best possible paper. “It’s that, or to teach me a lesson, right?” He cracked a smile. The guards were hardly punitive--in his experience--but he wouldn’t exactly put it passed some of them either. “I’m not sure if it’s better to write a work that’s world-altering, or just quietly helpful to the people who need to read it the most, but I’m not sure I want the fame...” he admitted, a tad shy.

“We had a Boxer growing up named Roxy, real dumb dog. Probably the dumbest dog I’ve ever met.” Peter nodded, chuckling to himself. “We had a six foot wooden fence, she’d clear it. Put in an electric fence, she’d charge right through it even after we cranked it up. Just to say hi to somebody walking by.” A shadow of a smile crossed Peter’s face as he recalled the dopey dog with fondness. “I don’t have one here. I should get one though.” He leaned back against the bench, drumming his fingers on his knees as he thought about it more. A dog would do him some good. Running partner, companion, convenient excuse. Can’t stay to chat, gotta get home to let the dog out. “That’s a fair point, Doc. Presentation is everything though, I mean, dead mouse versus little kibble bits. It’s a no-brainer.” He figured Theodore knew more about just how the bits of meat became those dry pieces of kibble, he just wasn’t sure he wanted to know how. “I’ll forgive the Angels thing since you guessed Phillies right.” Peter feigned disgust, leaning away from Theodore, “I’ll allow it if you grew up there.”

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Theodore chuckled. “Sounds like her real flaw was friendliness more than anything else.” She sounded like a nice dog. He had family and friends growing up who fondly described their dogs as dumb. “Do you miss her? You could get one to replace her. Or a smarter dog, if you’d prefer? I know some people like poodles for that reason.” He shrugged. To him, he suspected it would be the same as most people--he eats meat, after all, but feeding a snake a reheated mouse might turn his stomach too. He’d never had a lizard before. “Oh, thanks for your forgiveness. And I’ll forgive the Phillies, since you grew up there. Though it doesn’t sound like we should watch games together.”

Alexa’s eyes widened at the man’s words. “What did you do to loose your internet privileges?” She asked curiously. Having a guard as a mom meant that she rarely got in trouble. “Oh yeah of course. I still have a bit of time left,” she said with a smile on her lips. “Can you seat down and look at my screen or is that also a no-no?” 

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Theodore shrugged. “Fell asleep in my office, which meant I missed curfew. Nothing exciting, sorry.” He waved away her concerns and took a seat next to her. “I assume it’s fine. I’m forbidden from using the internet, but not from seeing it, right?” He glanced to the girl. Alexa was...interesting. He’d never known someone since the day they were born before. “Were you going to use those last few minutes?” he asked, realizing belatedly that making demands was probably rude.

“Today was a hardly working day. Mostly.” Brianna laughed, shaking her head, “Slow days let me catch up from the busy days and once I am caught up, well, is it bad of me to say I don’t really want to get ahead at that point?” Normally she would - if she were still a field agent, that is. She maneuvered her mouse to where he indicated, clicking the link with a flourish and quickly selecting the print pdf option on the page. “I guess that’s only fair. Makes it easier to commiserate with any of your subjects. The woes of internet control and all that. Still, I’d expect you to get a hall pass at least sometimes.” She shrugged, doubting such a thing existed. The rules were strict rules, after all. “And just what is this urgent study for, exactly?”

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Theodore cracked a smile. He’d always been an exceptional student, yes, but that didn’t mean he was immune to procrastinating a little. “No one likes getting ahead on work. I mean, we all like the idea of it, but the reality is that you never want to when the opportunity presents itself.” He turned to the printer the moment it started, grabbing his document hot off the presses and beginning to skim it, looking for the particular passage he wanted. “My PhD, not technically science department stuff. Personal stuff, which is probably why they offered me no leniency.” He tended to shy away from discussing specifics of his own research, since revealing too much to your subjects can skew the research. Brianna wasn’t technically his subject, but close enough. “It’s only urgent because I was on a roll and I needed it to continue. I guess in reality it is probably less important to most people.” But not to him, and was he not allowed to be just a little selfish?

“I mean that you can use it on my account.” Flynn said and then shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t going to argue or anything. “Just let me know where you want me to go and what you want me to click on.” Flynn said, waiting patiently for Theodore to tell him what to do next. “Ah…” Flynn quickly minimized what he was doing. “Just a letter to a family member.” 

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Now, that was an interesting prospect. Theodore had no idea if the rule was that he was forbidden from using the internet, or if his account was forbidden. “A strange loophole,” he agreed, eyes narrowing. “It’s a paper by Anscomb. If you search G. E. M. Anscomb, you’ll find her. I’m not sure which one I want, specifically, but when I see the title, I’ll know it.” Belatedly, Theodore acknowledged Flynn’s answer too. “Ah. Was it urgent? I suppose I can wait a few minutes.” It had never taken him more than a couple minutes to write a letter home. Five minutes, if he was writing to his grandparents, but only because they preferred handwritten cards.

Peter exaggerated a shrug. They were all rodents to him, just some that were fuzzier and - to be fair - a little cuter than others. But he knew the good doctor would argue otherwise and, for once, Peter wasn’t looking for a fight. “No, you nailed it on dog.” Peter replied, shoulders shaking with a laugh. “My brother had a snake when we were growing up. Hated that thing. He just had to have it but I ended up having to take care of it because he couldn’t stomach giving it the rats.” He feigned a shudder, recalling how he’d have to buy the mice and feed them to the animal since his brother couldn’t do any part of it. “I do like baseball, never got much into soccer,” Peter wrinkled his nose and shook his head, “Who’s your favorite baseball team?”

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Theodore smiled. He liked guessing right, though to be fair, he also liked being right. It was a natural state for him. “That was an easy one. Most people like dogs. They’re generally popular animals. Did you have one? Or--I guess I should ask if you do have one?” Some people had pets, after all. “Hmm, I guess that probably happens, with the whole dead food part. Then again, dog food is made of dead meat; it’s just in a different form.” Theodore cut himself off there, lest he gross Peter out further. “The Angels,” he answered instead. “I grew up not far from Anaheim and people generally like the closest team. Are you a Phillies fan?”

Alexa had been at the internet cafe just web browsing, she usually spent her day just looking up places that she wanted to visit. She was lost in pictures of Santorini, Greece when she heard someone. The young girl looked up from her screen to find one of the guys from the lab standing behind her. “And why don’t you use the internet?” She asked curiously. “There’s a computer right there.” Alexa said pointing at the computer next to her. 

Theodore looked at the proffered computer, its seat open and perfectly usable, and sighed. It was like seeing an item you need in a shop that’s locked behind a plexiglass and having to wait for an employee to open it for you. “I can’t,” he explained. “I’ve lost my internet privileges, but I would still like to get this artcile, if you don’t mind helping me.”

Flynn paused, mid-type, as he heard someone speak up behind him. He looked over his shoulder at the male and nodded. “Oh, sure.” He then quickly minimized what he was doing and opened up a new internet browser. “What would you like me to look up for you?” He asked Theodore. “Or… I mean you could just look it up yourself and I could wait till you’re done?”

Theodore shook his head, instantly clear on the fact that Flynn has misunderstood him. “No, I can’t. I’ve lost my privileges.” He wasn’t ashamed of that fact--just inconvenienced. “But I want to re-read this paper for my work so a printout will have to do.” He paused, glancing at the text Flynn had left open. “What’re you writing?” he asked, forcing himself not to read it without permission by looking away from the screen entirely.

Brianna exaggerated an impressed downward turn to her lips and nodded her head in approval. Most people she encountered were somewhat sheepish if they happened to lose their privileges, but not the good doctor. “Shall I search ‘Gary Alan Fine and some co-authors’ exactly?” She joked, laughing as she fired up google on her computer. Brianna glanced up at him from over her computer, slowly shaking her head, “Nah, it’s almost the end of the day anyway. One of those working hard or hardly working things.” She leaned back in her chair, rolling it away slightly from her computer, “I’ve got the search pulled up but you’ll have to find the right one here. And out of curiosity, how’d you lose your internet in the first place? I figured you’d be above that one with your job and all.”

There was, perhaps, a reason Theodore went to Brianna first. She was funny. He chuckled at her little joke, leaning over to scan the screen as she pulled up actual search results. “And today was a ‘hardly working’ day, I take it?” he asked with a smile. “Sorry things are so slow. Or...I guess maybe it’s a good thing when your work load is light, huh?” Either way, he was grateful that she was able to help him. “It’s the third one down,” he told her, pointing at the link he wanted. “Oh, I fell asleep in the office, which meant that I missed curfew. I would have also thought I’d be immune from those rules but apparently not.” He shrugged. It didn’t bother him. The only problem with loss of internet privileges is that it interrupted his work flow. An inconvenience, yes, but not a catastrophe.

“They’re all rodents to me.” Peter shook his head, screwing his face up in mock disgust. “I’m not a rodent person. Or cat person. Not too fond of reptiles either.” He shuddered slightly, thinking back to a snake his younger brother had just had to have as a kid, and how it was Peter who ended up having to help him take care of it. Peter considered the question about his dad for a pause, bouncing his head from one side to the other and rolling his palms together. “He’s both moderation and extremes. He’s not quiet about his opinions either way.” He chuckled to himself, thinking how it was one of the many things he’d inherited from his father. “Sports talk is great small talk. You got a favorite team, Doc?”

“They are all rodents. Well, not rabbits, but guinea pigs and rats.” Theodore chuckled. “Is there an animal family you do like? Let’s see.” He stared at Peter, eyes narrowing as he tried to guess what sort of animal someone like Peter might like. “Dogs seem like the easy answer, don’t they? You live an active lifestyle. Then again, fish and amphibians are easier to care for. Hmm...” He trailed off, uncertain of the answer. Peter’s dad being both moderation and extremes seemed paradoxical, but Theodore understood. Parents could, at time, seem like contradictions to their children. He was sure if he became a parent, it would be the same story. “I don’t watch football much,” Theodore admitted with a shrug. “So I’m not sure I have a favorite football team. But I like baseball and soccer. How about you?” He could absolutely and easily imagine Peter playing on a football team, though probably not at the college or pro level, due to his size.

Miles head cocked to the side when he saw that Theo hadn’t even flinched and instead had just put his hand up only not defensively but more like to catch it as if Miles was playing catch with him. The plan had never been to hit him with the ball, but rather to scare him which didn’t seem to have worked. “That wasn’t the plan.” Miles admitted unamused by the situation. “It’s an object made out of energy so while it appears as it doesn’t weight much, it weights as much as the real item… want to see if it hurts if I hit you with it?” He asked.

“It’s made out of energy, but it weighs as much as the real thing?” Theodore repeated, very gently brushing his fingertips against it. The feeling of it was hard to describe, though the first word that came to mind was “hot”--as though the excess energy were radiating from it as heat energy. That would make some sense. “Fascinating.” Theodore was not in the least bit bothered by Miles’s admission that he was going to peg him. After all, a baseball in the face wasn’t ideal, but there were certainly worse things Miles could do, and if he’d wanted to, he would have done them by now. “Well, I’d rather not get hit, if that’s an option. But if you can’t think of another way to show me--or you don’t have the control of your power to use another way--I guess there’s not much I can do about that.”

Miles’ smirk turned more sinister as he heard Theo talk. Honestly, who in the right mind would trust Miles? But the guy had said he wanted to study Miles’ power so why wouldn’t he want to see it used on him? “You don’t have to possess a power, all you need to do is…” his words trailed off as he made a baseball out of energy hurtle towards Theo only to stop right before it hit him. “…Not move.”

Theodore cocked his head, curious as to what Miles might ask him to do, though the careening baseball did distract from that somewhat. His hands went up on reflex, though the ball stopped short of finding his palm. “If I’d moved, would you have hit me?” he asked. And then, immediately after, “Can I touch it? Is it--does it have weight? Or is it more of a visual illusion rather than a physical object?” The fact that Miles could have made something more dangerous didn’t bother him. If Miles had wanted to hurt him, he would have, but he didn’t, so that meant something, didn’t it?

Peter snapped his fingers, tilting his head, and raising one eyebrow at Theodore,·“Sounds like a research topic for you, Doc.” He teased, knowing Theodore was probably busy and Peter himself could very easily look up the question himself.·“A compromise would make sense. They have to study on something but it’s just…why guinea pigs as the hill they’re willing to die on.” He chuckled, looking straight ahead.·“A little bit of both, depending on the day,” Peter replied, chuckling,·“I’m from the Philadelphia area. If it’s rained too much lately, he’ll comment on that. If it hasn’t rained in a couple of weeks, he’ll comment on that. He’s very prideful of his lawn, you see.” Peter rolled his hands together as he talked about his dad,·“He’ll either start talking about his lawn or ask somebody how they think the Birds are going to do that season.” He paused, chuckling to himself,·“The Philadelphia Eagles, that is.”

Theodore couldn’t help but smile a little. Peter clearly understood him, if he was suggesting another research topic to add to the pile. Theodore was someone who liked having a project or twelve. “Well, guinea pigs are cute. People think rats are creepy. So no one feels bad about doing research on them. That’s my guess anyway.” He shrugged. Peter’s and his relationship wasn’t the sort where they talked about each other’s families all the time or anything, so Theodore took in the new information with some curiosity. “I see. So he’s a man who likes moderation?” Theodore’s lip cocked up at one side. “Sports talk is also small talk. I think I knew that, too.”

Brianna was crouched beside her desk, digging in the bottom drawer of her file cabinet when she’d heard someone come through her almost always open door. She had just been about to call out a greeting when she heard a voice beat her to it, declaring a need for the internet. Brianna knew the good doctor, vaguely. Or rather, she’d seen him on a few occasions that they happened to be in the same meetings.

“Sure,” she replied, standing slowly and offering a slow smile as she sat back at her desk, “What am I looking up for you? And is there something wrong with yours?” Though she’d offered to search, Brianna settled her hands on her shoulders and rested her chin on her forearms as she awaited his reply.

Theodore shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong with it, I’m just not allowed to use it,” he admitted, without even the faintest hint of shame. It did not occur to him that he should be embarrassed for missing curfew as a government employee. Sure, it was perhaps foolish of him to have made such a mistake, but it was a minor one, in the grand scheme of things. “I need a paper. It’s by--uh, Fine. Gary Alan Fine and some co-authors.” He paused, as if belatedly remembering that Brianna was not, in fact, his personal internet proxy. “Sorry, I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

All of which was to say, Theodore felt entirely justified when he approached and asked--or, rather, announced. “Excuse me, I need you to use the internet for me. It’s for important reasons.”

Peter shook his head as Theodore rattled off the different animals and their various testing uses, almost in disbelief.·“So the animal rights activists went for guinea pigs but said monkeys, rabbits, mice, and rats are all good?” It was so nonsensical to him that he chuckled lightly to himself. He pondered the question of small talk topics and shrugged when he couldn’t come up with a good answer,·“I guess because it’s easy? Anybody can talk about the weather. Everybody knows what the weather is like because they’re in it.” Peter could do nothing but shrug again, this time exaggerated,·“I know my dad loves to talk about how much rain we’ve gotten or how much we need rain whenever he needs an opener.”

“I...don’t know.” It was one of the few sentences that could bring hesitation into Theodore’s voice. As a general rule, he knew something about most things. He wouldn’t go so far as to say he knew everything--he patently did not, and thank god for that--but the question went beyond the scope of his knowledge on the history of animal testing. He’d have to do some reading. “Maybe it was a compromise with medical scientists? That would be my guess.” He listened to Peter’s explanation, mentally filing the information away. People like to talk about the weather because it’s easy. Peter’s dad likes to talk about rain. Not that Theodore would have much cause to talk to Peter’s dad, as far as he was aware. “That’s true, I guess. It’s hard not to notice it. Does your dad live in a very dry or very wet place?” 

“Oh, fascinating,” Michael replied, after listening and nodding. “What will your findings be used for?” He asked, genuinely intrigued. He was not the kind of person to assume people had the wrong intentions. He thought it might be useful for scientists to understand powers more. That’s why they were here, in Greensville, after all, some part of the reason, at least. “Would you like me to use my power? Or now that I have become aware of you it would alter your findings?”

Originally posted by yourneighborhoodmess

“Ideally, I’d like to publish a book,” Theodore answered immediately. Most everything Theodore said was immediate. He didn’t really require time to think. It happened instantaneously. “Not, like, a popular science book. Like an academic book. An ethnography. Something that might add to the scholarly knowledge of others. But if I can’t actually write a book, then I’d at least like to write my dissertation on it.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t really make a difference, since I can’t avoid you knowing, but you don’t need to use it. I was watching to see if you would on your own, and it’s clear that you did not. That doesn’t mean seeing it wouldn’t be informative in other ways, though. I guess I’m neutral on the issue.”