For Science

SAMUEL After their pleasant flight, the awkwardness of the biting at the Labyrinth seemed unimportant now to Sam in regards to his relationship with Remi. He was really beginning to feel like things could work out between them, differently from last time too: Here the building blocks of their foundations were more that of connection and friendship, of required communication. His hopefulness followed him to Remi's shop, where he fiddled with the cube in his pocket for just a moment before entering; he knew his new voice would likely draw a reaction (or at least, he hoped Remi would notice) and he wasn't sure if it would be a positive one. Remi before had been supportive if cautious of his decision to ask The Voice for help. Remi now...would he think Sam had been faking it before? There was only one way to find out. He opened the door to Remi's alchemy store and taking the cube out, spoke out into the space. "Remi! It's me, Samuel. I came to test out the item we found, like we said...?" I'm starting to heal and find some faith I'm starting to feel what's out of place Don't need you to save me, I can't wait To fall, to fail and start again

remi The higher I climb the farther I fall when I do "Just a minute!" Remi called from somewhere in the back of the crowded shop. As he always seemed to, he appeared in a mostly stained shirt (though this time it was indeed in inks, a rather peculiar pale lilac/indigo colour, to match the eyes of a young woman he'd recently met) with paint drying on it. Cleaning his hands on a rag, he smiled as he saw Sam standing in his doorway. Indeed Remi noticed the difference in Sam's speech immediately. You could sneak up on the alchemist with relative ease and he'd be none the wiser. Change your hair or walk differently and Remi would notice right away. His mind worked differently, that way. Still, with an amused smirk, he tilted his head and gave the ascended a skeptical look. "Something is different about you..." He said playfully, raising a brow as he closed one eye as if in deep concentration. "Ah! I know what it is!" Remi announced with a confident grin. "That is a new shirt, yes?"

SAMUEL "Alright!" Sam replied, placing the cube down on the counter and taking off his jacket, laying it over a chair. The cube seemed a great mystery and he suspected that it would take a while to solve it, and that even once they had there would be further testing to do. There was of course a part of him that hoped it would take a long time so he could be here with Remi longer, though it seemed easier now to come over casually and not need an excuse. Remi's eternal messiness was charming, as well as his easy humour and joke. Sam laughed and looked down at the shirt, for a moment wondering if he was serious then rolling his eyes fondly. "The Voice and I had a deal. You were with me, actually. When I made it. I did something for her, and she helped me to speak smoothly." He motioned to his throat as if there would be some kind of physical change; there was not. Every time he spoke he still seemed a little slow, unsure: getting used to a new voice was a challenge, especially one that sounded so much more confident than Sam had ever imagined himself being. "I have looked at the cube since the night we found it, but..." He made a face and looked down at the still item on the counter. "I am beginning to fear it...may just be a paperweight." I'm starting to heal and find some faith I'm starting to feel what's out of place Don't need you to save me, I can't wait To fall, to fail and start again

remi The higher I climb the farther I fall when I do For just a moment it looked as though Sam had actually believed that he'd overlooked the change in his voice, but his quick eyeroll indicated that the alchemist had been caught. With a boyish grin that spoke of mischief, Remi winked in his direction. Quickly though the smile faded away as Sam mentioned that Remi had actually been around for the beginning of this 'cure'. "Oh." He said, his smile souring slightly before he caught himself and offered the bookmaker a sweet smile of apology. "And what is it you did? Nothing too off-putting I put." Though the change was perhaps surprising for Sam, for Remi who had now heard the man stutter just as much as speak boldly (as when they were birds), he actually found the change quite easy to adjust to. In a way perhaps that would be a disappointment to Sam: this version of Remi wouldn't fully appreciate the difference in Sam. After all, this Remi only knew the Sam who had been emboldened by his relationship with the alchemist over the proceeding few weeks, and who had spoken to him as a bird for hours without so much as a hiccup. Glancing down at the cub, Remi twitched his lips thoughtfully. Lowering his stare so that it was equal to the cube and perhaps looking every bit the mad scientist he had once been, Remi chewed his lower lip for a moment before glancing up at Sam. "And...sorry for asking, if you ... ahh, perhaps told me this already, but are you quite sure that it does do something? I know you felt...compelled to find it, but why think that it is anything more than a paperweight?" Knowing little about the ascendeds as a race, Remi knew even less about the technology that they possessed and that they were often want to find.

SAMUEL While Remi's reaction was lukewarm, Sam was mostly just glad it wasn't negative. Besides, he wasn't sure if he wanted to make a big announcement of his voice yet anyway, while he was still growing used to it himself. "No, nothing too bad. She wanted me to bring someone to her to ascend...and I was visited by a man who wanted to." It seemed like it had been almost destined; Sam didn't want to question it too much. He gently pushed at the cube (as if it would do anything) and sighed, shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not...sure. But I know there is technology out there for us to find. I don't..think I could have been drawn to it if it were not special, right? I suppose if we cannot find the purpose today I could go ask The Voice. But I would like to attempt it myself." Sam remembered how Remi had been unable to even pick up the cube and put a hand to his chin as he considered, wondered if he had to activate it with something Ascended-related. "Can you still not pick it up? That's a place we could start." I'm starting to heal and find some faith I'm starting to feel what's out of place Don't need you to save me, I can't wait To fall, to fail and start again

remi The higher I climb the farther I fall when I do "To ascend? Ah...well, that is lucky I suppose?" Remembering nothing of the time Sam asked if Remi himself would ascend, he pondered it now. And, like before, decided that making one race-altering decision as a teenager to become a shapechanger was enough for him. As Sam nudged the cube, Remi's eyes tracked it immediately, turning from pale green to a predatory gold as he inspected it with a different set of eyes. But the surface looked the same even with much keener vision, and none of his other animalistic senses revealed anything about it. It smelled like metal, did not give off any sort of field (magnetic or otherwise) that he could tell. "Oh, so this is ... common, then? There is this sort of thing just out there?" He asked, glancing up towards Sam before turning his attention back to the cube. If Sam though this was going to be an afternoon of flirtation, he shouldn't have brought the scientist a problem to puzzle over, as it became quite clear where Remi's focus was. Lifting just a finger, he tried to push the cube. Absolutely nothing happened. He pushed hard enough for his finger to turn white, and then tried to use his fingers to move it. Again, it was impossibly immovable. "How much does it weigh, when you lift it?"

SAMUEL Sam noticed the shift in Remi's eyes and stared for just a second, wondering why he was doing that; when he worked it out he smiled at how clever it was. The partial shifts were almost more impressive than the full ones, the way Remi could use just the advantageous parts of his animal forms but remain human. He wanted to use this to get closer to Remi but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in the cube itself either; he had felt a great impulse to find it and have it and now that he did, he wanted to know why. When Remi failed to lift it he picked it up and considered, tilting his hand this way and that. "No more or less than you would expect a metal cube like this to, I don't think." He replied with a shrug. The weight of it had seemed so natural he had not considered it. "I was thinking...because I can lift it and you can't. Do you think perhaps it activates with something else related to Ascension? Like...blood? Or fluid?" I'm starting to heal and find some faith I'm starting to feel what's out of place Don't need you to save me, I can't wait To fall, to fail and start again

remi The higher I climb the farther I fall when I do For a moment the alchemist just silently puzzled. Arms against the counter and eyes level with the cube, he let thoughts race and dance behind his eyes. Was the shape important? Cubes were not an efficient or obviously natural shape, so surely it had been constructed in this way for a reason. Assuming that it had an intelligent creator and was not simply a failed experiment or some such that would defy obvious reason and rationality. Did the material matter? Metal? The size? Watching as Sam lifted it, Remi stood and nodded. "Yes, I certainly think it has something to do with you as an ascended, especially given that you could not move it as a hawk and I could not move it with magic. It is something about your body itself, your fluid being as good a guess as any." Biting his lip thoughtfully, he glanced towards Sam. "Can I try something?" Remi asked, almost shyly.

SAMUEL Sam turned the cube about in two hands as Remi spoke, nodding. Since he had not been able to move it as a hawk, apparently even Ascendeds masquerading as other races were forbidden from moving the item. The Voice had always been disdainful of the other people around them so he was not hugely surprised that she may have created something which excluded those not yet 'gifted'. ...That was, if The Voice had made it. Sam had assumed he had, but as he stared down at it he supposed that was not a guarantee. He looked up at Remi's shy question and nodded, holding the cube out towards him. "Do you need me to do anything?" The other man seemed more confident in matters of machinery so Sam wasn't sure what it was that could make him anxious; unless he was about to suggested they kiss over the cube (which would be most bizarre, but he wouldn't necessarily turn the offer down). I'm starting to heal and find some faith I'm starting to feel what's out of place Don't need you to save me, I can't wait To fall, to fail and start again

remi The higher I climb the farther I fall when I do "If you could just..ah, hold it like so—" Remi said, his fingers raising and then pausing. Glancing awkwardly up at Sam, the alchemist laughed suddenly looking flustered as his hands reached out to demonstrate how he wanted Sam to hold the cube: palm up, arm extended. "Do not...not try to do anything. Alright?" He said, before giving himself a very obvious mental check that said stop being so stupid, as he took a breath. Reaching his fingers out, they pushed against Sam's hand. It was nothing really, not an intimate touch by any means. But much in the way Sam had remembered their second kiss, Remi was very aware of the fact that this was the second time he'd willingly touched the man. Pushing against his freckled skin, Remi found Sam's arm absolutely immovable. "Amazing." He whispered to himself, glancing up at Sam with a small and intrigued sort of smile, before his eyes moved back to the cube.

SAMUEL Sam obediently held his hands as Remi instructed, though frowned at the warning to not try anything. What did that mean? Did it mean not moving his hands or not...jumping across the table to ravage Remi? He would have hoped the other man had thought enough of him to know he wouldn't do that. But one thing become clear: Remi could not move the cube. Even in his hands, it was immobile. "...Perhaps that is it's entire use. To be a thing only the Ascended could move. You could hold back doors or items from anyone else." It was one possibility, if a boring one. With that conclusion laid out, he wanted to move onto further tests. "Do you have a knife? Something sharp?" He laid down the cube again and looked at his hand. "I will...try to drip some fluid on it. See if anything happens." Physical pain was something he both looked forward to and dreaded, and the mix of excitement and fear showed on his face. I'm starting to heal and find some faith I'm starting to feel what's out of place Don't need you to save me, I can't wait To fall, to fail and start again

remi The higher I climb the farther I fall when I do The alchemist was clearly much more impressed with the object than Sam seemed to be. For as the ascended laid out the potential uses of the cube in a voice that sounded only marginally interested, Remi's eyes had already gone wide with a humble sort of fascination. "Yes. Any ascended who had it would be quite immovable ... though I wonder if other ascendeds would be able to move it just as easily as you can?" Remi's mouth fell open slightly as Sam asked for something sharp, and then looked at his hand. Blinking, he nodded slowly, understand what it was the bookmaker wanted to try and also understanding why. Even for scientific purposes, the alchemist was hesitant to allow Sam to hurt himself. "Of course." He said, holding out an empty hand that was soon holding a small knife. "It is quite sharp. You will not need much pressure." He warned gently.

SAMUEL "I would assume so. I didn't do anything to bond it to me..." If Sam knew The Voice, he knew she didn't like to give him any kind of advantage over his 'brothers' and 'sisters'. He severely doubted he would have been given an ability over competent Ascendeds like Wessex. Remi handed him a knife carved from thin air which he took and after a moment of hesitation pushed in the pad of his thumb fingertip, holding it above the cube. After a moment a swelling of fluid appeared as he cringed at the sensation of pain, which he was still getting used to in many ways. He had not known how different it could feel time to time, from aches to shooting pains to stabs. The fluid took longer to fall than blood, but eventually it dropped onto the cube and Sam took his hand away, leaning forward to see if anything would happen. "If this is it, I wouldn't like to have to do this every time I wanted to use it." I'm starting to heal and find some faith I'm starting to feel what's out of place Don't need you to save me, I can't wait To fall, to fail and start again

remi The higher I climb the farther I fall when I do The lion in him eagerly moved forward as the blade cut through Sam's skin. Scenting the air as subtly as he could force himself to do, the lion scowled and dropped back into his subconcsious. The scent of the ascended's fluid was an entirely uninteresting thing from a predatory stand point apparently, and the lion wanted nothing to do with it. Glancing down, the alchemist waited, nibbling the inside of his lip, waiting to call on whatever magic might be required should something go wrong. But it didn't, because absolutely nothing at all happened. Inching a finger forward, he prodded the cube. It was as immovable as ever. Glancing up toward Sam, Remi raised a brow. "Does anything seem different? The weight?"