Victor Maxwell's Story

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One of the interns, a strikingly white haired woman, listened intently, yet the way her eyelids dropped told that she was tired. The effects of missing a good night's sleep. The night before, this woman, one Katia Fuuma, was busy transcribing notes for another recent experiment and preparing for this certain experiment. Hours had whittled away as her pencil scratched through several pages. Apparently, the lead for the next experiment was a Doctor Victor Maxwell, and from what she had gathered from some of the other doctors and interns he was a bit... Off-kilter. She would clearly see for herself today.

Kat was gathered among a number of other interns of all shapes and sizes just... Watching the man eat. Well, it seemed that her earlier hypothesis of the man was proven. As he chewed, Kat tilted her head in curiosity as she waited patiently. She wondered how the man would act when he had an audience for his eating. She also wondered what were the chances of her getting in on that food, as her stomach complained loudly. A couple of the interns chuckled at her, which of course caused the pale woman to take on a red flush to her cheeks. It was nearly a blessing when the Doctor finally spoke up. He spouted the day's goals, the instructions, the what their objective was. Magically inducing the l'Cie effect in animals. Also something about making them talk. Neat.

He then said something about danger, which caused a hitch to fly into her throat. Danger? What kind of animals were the working with if there was an element of danger? That was the reason she came to Hope's Reach instead of staying New Bodham, it was so she could help without being in danger. She sighed though, perhaps it was necessary. She'd do it, but she didn't like the idea that an element of danger hung around them. Though what is science without a bit of risk? Boring? Useless? Besides, she was trained, NORA made sure of that. Surely there was no danger she couldn't overcome. Besides, there was a contingent of PSICOM soldiers if everything went south. If she'd just remember her training, and listen to the Doctor, everything would end up just peachy. After she was finished comforting herself through various reasoning she obediently waited for the instructions to begin.

With none forthcoming and her colleagues likewise tongue bound, it was her own that found the first words.

"So when do we start?"

---

Sarot Ari Markas

Markas rests back in a weathered booth seat, that wouldn't look too out of place in a 50's diner, with its blue leathery upholstery. The bag of dead Jackwings lies under a spotless white table, thankfully sealed shut to prevent any odours escaping. He watches the tourists and merchants boarding the ferry for its first run of the day - an elderly couple in walking gear, a young family, a female NORA soldier. He notices something strange about her, as though he had seen her somewhere before - a dream half forgotten... and only a fraction clear.

Rather quickly, he finds himself drifting back to days of old, trying to find anything in his memory to help him recall her - nothing... He shrugs it off as being a coincidence and looks past her towards the distant island of Odyssia; despite the mystery surrounding it, it afforded him shelter, and the promise of a decent pay for his services, and even a hearty meal to top it off, which would do him good. Life as a stalker by profession can be uncertain at best; failure to track your prey can lead to some very long nights in the cold, and from Markas' own experience, any night out in the wild could be your last.

The boat is almost full now, bustling with tourists and folks hoping to catch a few bargains. Every table is occupied, except his own: a man in a hood with a dubious looking bag apparently carried prejudice... A horn is sounded, as a warning that the boat is going to depart, then only a minute later, it pulls away from the docks. Markas closes his eyes, and drifts away into a light snooze, living in the past with shadows of friends.

---

Carrus Research Facility, Hope's Reach

Numerous men in white protective suits enter the room, wheeling in cages each containing a wild animal - panthereons, gremlins, flans and more... Without uttering a word through their darkened visors, they push the twelve cages into the testing chamber for Maxwell's experimentation, before sealing the chamber and leaving the room.

An intern shudders and mutters to himself: "This is just, cruel..."
His friend nudges him: "Better here than in the hands of NORA... at least here they get fed, right?"
The first intern returns a blank look, and waits for Maxwell.

---

The Seiren Market, Odyssia

Eona's shock comes from the sight of numerous stalls knocked over by what would appear to have been gale force winds... however, the fact that only a handful of nearly a hundred stalls in the market have been affected, would suggest some kind of supernatural force. She can't help but wonder whether a l'Cie is behind this. There are two PSICOM soldiers here, enquiring with the stall owners to find out what happened, though from this distance, it is hard to make out what is being said.

The market itself is a normally a very busy place in the mornings, a fine labyrinth of stalls, cannily trying to trap tourists in a web of cheap wares and attractive bargains, however, this incident has drawn a crowd around the area, so things seem slow in the rest of the market.

As the PSICOM soldiers leave the shopkeepers to mend their stalls, one can be heard saying to the other, "Do we need to report this? Can we be sure there's a l'Cie behind this?"
His partner doesn't even pause to look at him. "Yes. There's a l'Cie here. We need to request back up - if there's a l'Cie here, it can't mean anything good for us. The question is, what were they looking for here, and why?"

"So when do we start?" asked a white-haired female intern.

Victor smiled. He loved it when people were enthusiastic about learning. He himself was. It one of the few things he was truly excited to do. Victor looked to the testing chamber, then went to a desk and began writing on several pieces of paper. The writing was similar to coding a computer. which is what effectively was what was needed. Except this was not in binary. Every command he wrote would cause a different action the terminal would cause in the chamber. All of the actions were energy based, to see how this particular combination of wave-lengths, directions, and overall vectors of effect would affect the animals. Magic was being used too, from l'Cie attached to mind-control harnesses. They seemed too comfortable, as the machines effectively hijacked their brains for a temporary time and allowed their magic to be put to use in more advanced, scientific ways. Using it, Victor could so things science could only theorize about. He could use magic as the solution to theoretical problems. The applications were not necessarily reality-bending, but they was sufficient to cook a pie in mid-air. Luckily the l'Cie were located in hidden rooms, and were usually safe. Victor would not use the l'Cie if he did not believe he had to, but he would rather keep his imperfect magical technology under wraps for now. Now, time to turn the animals into magical "objects" too.

His hands were skilled in writing, and typing, and other tasks requiring skill. The task of writing these complex machine tasks and configurations was lengthy, but Victor cut the time short to about 15 minutes. He then handed each student a paper with their instructions on it, and which terminal to go to. When he approached the white-haired female intern, he smiled a little wider. She actually seemed like she wanted to learn. At least, Victor hoped so. "I'm giving you the instructions to end the experiment when you believe that it has gone on for enough. The test will go on until you push the stop button," Victor said to her. He placed her in higher esteem than the other interns for showing enthusiasm at the beginning. It was refreshing when compared to the dull, unresponsive eyes of interns and students. Even those in his own classes when he went to school. Victor turned to the testing chamber as he spoke to everyone again.

"This test is a preliminary test. I doubt that anything bad will happen. Remember though, as versatile as these testing tools are, they are not necessarily going to be the right ones. But they could be the right ones because they are versatile enough. Now then," Victor spoke as the creatures were brought in. The cages were removed from the chamber, and the animals minded their own business, moving around the chamber as Victor continued. "We shall commence the test. Everyone, get ready."

Oh. Victor looked closely and saw a Flan in the testing chamber. He wondered what it would say, if it could speak. It was adorable, in it's way, and it would pain Victor to see it in sorry shape. With that, Victor began the experiment with the push of a holographic button. A dull blue light filled the room in geometric patterns that spread everywhere in the room, so as to be orderly. As another intern pressed key on the holographic keyboard soon after, yellow geometric light-beams interlaced with the blue ones as more and more, of different colours came into play. The animals likely could not see the lines. Eventually, the final part of the experiment was needed. Victor had given the notes to the final procedure to the white-haired intern. this was crucial. Her part would cause the magic energy, or mana, to be used in the experiment, from the l'Cie, to the animals, in conjunction with the lines of more conventional energy. Victor looked to the testing chamber, watching as the animals seemed to sense something being new in their environment, but without knowing what, they simply seemed more alert than before. Victor crossed his fingers behind his back, and watched the animals.