Chemistry 101

Lana went sit next to Jaq, and made sure to take off her helmet before beginning her meal.
"Well, of course I want to help! Theo is easily the coolest person in this place, he doesn't deserve to be so sad!" She nodded eagerly. "So Val is helping us? that's so nice, she's got the true alchemist spirit of trying and fixing all things!" She looked over to where Val was getting her food, she was really liking her new classmate so far!
"So do you have like a plan or something? You know master the best."

Val eyes caught sight of Lana as she took off her helmet, noticing her very interesting features. She carefully slid her heavily filled plate onto the table and sat in the seat across from Jaq. Two great minds, both high ranking alchemists, are right across the table, having lunch with her. “This group feels like a history in the making!”

“If only the scientific method was a good strategy for solving this type of Chemistry.” Val took a bite of her food, savoring every chew.
“Jaq, I think you should be team leader! Don't you think?” she took a sip of the red juice punch, “Or maybe we could even try rotating the role of team leader. Each of us come up with a different plan of strategy, perhaps. That sounds like fun idea!" Relax Val, calm down. She gently wiped her lips against her napkin.

"So... what are your thoughts, Jaq?”

Jaq gave Val an odd look. "Chemistry? Hmm...isn't that another term for love?"

Jaq had never thought of this before. Maybe Theo simply didn't feel loved by anyone. Jaq, of course, loved her Master, but not in a deep familial type of love. Theo hadn' seen his real family in years, and their relationship was strained.

Of course, there was nothing Jaq could do, or even attempt to do, to get in the way of his personal family matters.

"Maybe...my idea could go last?" Jaq suggested. "I like the taking turns idea. Maybe Lana should go first? or Val? Something new and fresh would help out, more than me who knows him best, if you get what I'm saying."

Lana munched silently as she listened to them, and almost choked when she thought of having to play leader for a turn.
"And uhhh do we really need to have a leader? Can't we just all work on the solution proposals together at the same time? I mean, team work can also be useful like that!" Lana looked at her plate a bit before continuing, hoping she wasn't upsetting them. "We could brainstorm together for example, and maybe with all our points of view we would get to more interesting ideas!"

She nodded in agreement, "it would be much better to try putting our heads together first! Brainstorming is the first step after all~” Val mixed up a small portion of her food with her fork ‘‘well, to start off with my points of view, things that make me happy would be…” she laid back in her seat, ‘‘making people look more snazzy, hanging out with friends, my pet dog, books on science and--’ Val stopped herself and immediately took a bite, “c-comfort food...!”

“But that’s just my perspective and,” she gulped, “there’s a key difference between them. Food or books can make a person happy for a day, but happiness that comes from family, friends, or even pets, can make a person happy for a long time--and possibly for life!"

She sighed, "but remembering what you told me, Jaq, family would be too hard to attempt.”

Val twirled the ice cubes in her drink using her straw. ‘‘It seems to me that he, master, needs something more substantial and can make him happy for a long time. So what could that next best thing be… and how can we implement that?”

"Well, my brother always said that people have to choose to be happy. But we can help by fixing small things, to many give them a better outlook on their situation. He doesn't take care of himself. Maybe...somehow...we could convince him to start taking better care of himself??"

But what would make him want to present himself nicely--

"Aha!!" Jaq snapped her fingers. "Why don't we get somebody to date him?!"

Lana nodded. Jaq's brother was a really wise person for all she knew so far.
"Dating? that could work! I mean, as long as it's healthy enough like to help him become a better person rather than becoming dependent or something. Who do you think would be fit for it?" she looked at Jaq. If there was someone who actually knew what she was doing when it came to ship science that was her. "Because yeah, you're right" she said as she looked back at Val. "Whenever I get him chocolate or porn mags he's well, interested for a moment. But it's obviously not something that's doing much help."
Only now did she realize how glad she was that more capable people were actually working on making Theo happy. It was sad for her too after all, seeing him so depressed every day in the lab. She took another bite of her food and stared at Jaq waiting for her suggestions.

Val’s entire face lit up with excitement. “That’s a marvelous idea, darling!! A good date can definitely work wonders!” She almost wanted to question Lana about the ‘chocolate and porn mags’ but Val was definitely not one to judge that sort of thing.
“Mmm first things first! Before dating comes preparation. If we helped him look more snazzy then that might help boost his confidence and he'd become more approachable. I work at a salon you know, we could try a thing or two. Nothing drastic though, I promise.”


She quickly guzzled down her juice, “Any other thoughts?”

Jaw frowned. "Well...there's the problem of actually getting him the date. He's been hopelessly single for close to forever, and I don't think it will get any better."

"Maybe you know somebody from your salon, Val? I don't know much about them myself, but from what Len says hairstylists know all the gossip from their customers..."

Lana pouted a bit as she emptied her juice glass, processing the girls words.
"Hummmm I think Val's make over idea should be carried on whether we get a date for him or not. It's probably still gonna make him feel better! and for getting the date... well, yeah the salon is the best option so far. Jaq doesn't your brother have any customers that could be a good match for Theo? or um... I could ask Cirane and her friends...?"

Val tilted her head, "really? That bad, huh? With a brilliant mind like that I'm a little shocked no one has approached him yet."

She clapped her hands together. "Well that's gonna change, and as for finding someone worthy enough for the master--that just might be a bit more difficult. I suppose we should scope the area for a good candidate. But if either of you know someone who is willing to participate in a blind date then I guess maybe we should start off with them instead."

Val's eyes sparkled. "As for the makeover itself, I have everything we need. I'll make him look and feel so much better!"

Jaq frowned. "Well i don't really know anyone...but Len for sure would probably know. I can ask him to set us up with someone...and he's been talking about getting Theo a date for ages anyway."

Jaq took another bite of food. "As far as getting Theo to actually sit in a salon chair or even shower, that's probably the trickiest part. And...yeah unfortunately nobody really is interested in dating a guy who can't go five minutes without talking about the theory of relativity and how different atoms produce different outcomes. I find it cool but I seriously doubt any regular woman would wanna see his sketchbook full of death devices."

Lana rested her head on her hands while frowning and closing her eyes. "It's so sad the ladies and maledies usually can't see the obvious attractive us alchemists have with our science talk. Or sketchbooks." She took her clean napkin and started drawing some circle on it.
"So do you guys think we should go meet and talk with Len first? maybe he can help us convince Theo to go to the salon too!" she narrowed her eyes a bit. "I uh... I hope he doesn't think we will be asking too much from him. Will he charge us for the help, Jaq?"

Val nodded at Lana’s highly accurate statement. She appreciated finally being a part of a group that all shared the same enthusiasm. It only made her more interested and she looked forward to listening to their thoughts and ideas. “Couldn’t agree more, Lettuce.” Val started laughing, “I’d even say science talk is definitely a form of sexy talk. Right?”

She calmed down enough to take a sip of juice without giggling. “I’m also eager to meet your brother, Jaq. I hope he can persuade Theo. The salon is a nice place and I know for a fact there’s lots of attractive-looking single women just lining up.” Val gave them a the ‘okay’ sign. “You can leave that part to me.”

Jaq beamed. "Of course! He usually comes by with his cart of various things to sell...I think he's coming today. He knows a lot of merchants through his trade. See, he's the head of the royal tailors guild...he doesn't do much of the sewing himself, so he has a lot of time on his hands."



Theo wandered out of his office after he had significantly gotten progress on Xun's weapon. It was around lunch time, so he decided to head there.
Usually he would take the food out and bring it back to his office, or sit at the same table as Roku and Ilmari, but he saw his three students sitting together.
Theo never really could get it into his head how old he was getting. To him, he was still a kid in some areas, or the thought of age really never occurred to him. He loved to be friendly to everybody, but finding the motivation to do it was a difficult task.
Theo sat down next to Jaq, interrupting the girl's conversation.
"So, what's up girls?"

"Royal tailor with free time huh... I really want to talk to him about a little idea I had for an outfit for my bo- my. My friend."
Lana grinned very widely as Theo took seat. "We were talking about how hot science is, obviously." she sparkled and hid the circle she'd drawn on her napkin with her hands. There was really nothing wrong with a little disaccharides transmutation, was there? but it kinda fell enough in the organic alchemy area like to worry her teacher and she didn't want that.
"And also about how we wanted to go see Len later, you should come with us master! who knows what kind of magic materials he's brought this time!"