originallutece | (no subject)

You're a scientist who disapproves of acronyms? Shameful.

Hardly. I have too many of those in my life; I don't want more.

JSYK, they aren't all bad IMO. No need for a HDU, lol.

I'm going to stop talking to you if you don't knock that off. You'll die in a cloud of Axe bodyspray and gangling teenage limbs and I shan't mourn you.

Please don't remind me about the clouds of Axe. I'm trying to ignore it and learning the hard way that it cannot be ignored.

Your poor sense of smell. I wouldn't be surprised if it was still stunned tomorrow.

Which, actually, might end up being a boon once we reach the arcade.

I see you've been doing your research on the typical staples of arcade environments.

And the ambient stench therein.

You're not leaving me alone tomorrow.

When have I ever abandoned you?

Simply because you never have before doesn't mean you might not. This is the first time we've socialized outside of the classroom.

...Is it really?

Of course. I hardly count fundraisers and the like; those are university related.

[And honestly, she probably oughtn't be doing this. It's not strictly against the rules, but she can't imagine any of her superiors would be particularly pleased to hear she's been socializing with her assistant.

But nor is she supposed to be on social media with him, so a trip to the arcade will hardly hurt.]

...Of course.

[There's a few beats of hesitation, then.]

You could always write an article on it. Behavioral contingencies in video games — how electronic media subconsciously trains its users. Surely there'd be at least a few journals that would pick up a work of that nature.

I'd have to go quite a few times to get a sizable sample. And as I refuse to go alone . . . are you quite certain you want to sign away your Saturdays like that?

If it would

[...What does he want to say to finish that, though? Make things academic? Allow this to be just like all the other idle (whipped, Yata had insisted) errands that get done outside of the classroom? Alleviate whatever concern he senses in the direction of her conversation, even if he can't quite put it into words on his own?]

help keep you out of the lab more often. :)

Is that why you're doing it?

[She's still hesitating, but that certainly helps things. It's still not strictly professional, but it's hardly a torrid thing. She's likely being paranoid.]

All right. Though tomorrow will simply be about teaching me how to play. We can start on planning our experiment then.

That IS how we originally got onto the subject, I believe. You needing a break from the lab, and wanting a game you could master in five days.

The science can follow naturally from there.

Do you imagine yourself as the subject or a co-experimenter?

Co-experimenter slash control group. You would be better suited as the subject, I believe.

Oh.

[Oh, that's . . . oh, yes, that's a far better idea, isn't it? It's just that she never imagines herself as anything but the scientist.]

You'll have to observe me closely. We can only do this once.

Naturally. You can count on me to take meticulous notes.

I've no doubt on your enthusiasm, nor your capability. But we'll have to go over what precisely you need to look for and make note of.

. . . you can still back out of this. I realize it's a bit of work.

I don't mind. It'll be something different and interesting to think about alongside my dissertation.

Though I do hope I'll earn a name credit when you publish the article.

Naturally. You'll be a co-author. Which will look rather good on your resume, given how many papers I've published.

A co-author? Really?