It seemed like the people that Jean had found himself were friendly than he expected and were engaging in social introductions. That was a start, he supposed. At least they didn’t seem to be hostile. The professor nodded and kept a mental note of each person as they introduced themselves, making sure to keep their names in mind. After introducing himself, his attention shifted to the two girls on his right, recognizing one of them as being from Teann Ch’I, and also the one that first introduced herself. She had a very peculiar cylindrical device that was popular in that country, but Jean had little experience with the device or even her country’s style of alchemy. His gaze fell down to the hand of the other girl, who seemed to hail from an upper-class or noble origin, judging by her demeanor and style of clothing. 

Her hand was clearly cut and bleeding. Jean deduced it was not life-threatening, but could turn into an infection if left untreated, so he decided to offer his help regardless.

“…Perhaps I can assist with that injury?”

With swift fierceness, his offer was declined. The warrior-looking bloke named Alexei’s comment wasn’t reassuring to the professor, who surmised he likely didn’t care too much for proper healthcare. Jean made a brief comment and an exchange with Arryn and Alexei before giving up his case and returning to his initial point of concern: Where was the rest of his own party? He’d spent the better half of a year putting the best team together for this research mission, and to have it go missing at the most important moment was more than inconvenient.

“…Have any of you seen an alchemist in a white coat or a silver-haired summoner?” Jean asked his question in vain. He realized it was unlikely that anybody in this group had seen them, since they appeared to be quite disoriented and confused themselves. 

The Teann Ch’I alchemist named Luthica spoke up, pointing out his question was too general. Indeed, there were lots of white-coated alchemists. How silly of him, it seemed he wasn’t fully awake yet. Jean opened his mouth to retort, but quickly closed it as the other alchemist raised her cylindrical device and fired it off away from the party. He could guess what she had just done and what she did to accomplish it, and also her reason for firing it, but he nonetheless got the impression that his Teann Ch’i counterpart was rather reckless. The device was interesting enough that he would have to ask her more about it at a more prudent. In any case, her actions didn’t affect anybody and it was none of his concern, so he continued to clarify his question. 

Unfortunately, the answer was no, and he felt his heart drop a little. Professor Jacobs had all the catalysts and equipment…

---

Soon enough, Jean’s attention turned to the large black gem that he had first noticed upon waking up. It was not the emerald glow of the gem that caught his eye, but the eclipse of the light by another figure. The noble looking girl with the injury was drawing close to the mysterious stone, hand outstretched almost as if to touch it. 

Were they all this dim? Or was this group just special? Jean momentarily doubted himself as he wondered if Lulia was sheltered amongst a world of dimwits. Touching objects with unusual properties or with obviously magical origins was something even a peasant knew not to do. While the gem did indeed intrigue him, there was an elaborate set of protocols and methods to observe and test such items, and with good cause, for Jean knew full well that anything was game inside the Labyrinth. 

He quickly stepped forward. “I wouldn’t touch that without thorough investigation,” recommended Jean, breaking away from his previous conversation. 

The brown haired girl snatched her hand away just before touching the glowing object, appearing to pout. 

The professor chuckled. He supposed she was alright, only a little misguided. Shrugging, Jean puts his thoughts aloud, if only to make sure nobody else made the same mistake again.

“Sorry, force of habit. In the field of alchemy you don’t want to be touching random things without knowing what they are. I suppose this applies even more so now that we’re in the Labyrinth. Don’t want to be turned into a golden scepter the first day, after all.”