((Collab post between Letter Bee and FalloutJack.)) [b][I]Mikhail Chekhov[/i][/b] [i]Ouch.[/i] It was only Mikhail's respect for libraries that prevented him from screaming obsceneties at Philip when he departed. Nevertheless, denied help and having only made things unpleasant, he left as well, either for his remaining classes or if school was over, for home. [@Conscripts] [hr] [b][i]LATER...[/i][/b] It was Friday now, and Mikhail was 'enjoying' his free period by stalking the hallways, lost in dark thoughts and trying to radiate a demeanor of intimidation that would keep people away from him. And by that, he hoped that his perpetual scowl would act as a barrier keeping away busybodies and interlopers. But alas, it seemed that not all would get the memo - Some people are just that blindly optimistic to the point of denseness. Well, if by blind, you mean 'He never saw him coming', then yes. Hakuro had been along and completely failed a spot check, as it were. The lad in the hat and coat was fiddling about with his phone and walking in a direction he'd more-or-less memorized, turned a corner, and ran smack dab into Mikhail. Hakuro tripped, fell over into the hall in Mikhail's midst, landed on his ass, [i]but then[/i] managed to catch his phone, which had flown free from his hands just a second ago. [color=green]"Okay... Not my best save, but I'll take it."[/color] Yeah... Mikhail, you've seen this guy around. It's the hat guy from P.E.! Mikhail was the first to get up, shouting at the 'Hat guy from P.E', [b]"You're lucky that profanity and violence are looked down on in this school, or I'd be making your [i]face[/i] weird, you cosplaying freak!"[/b] He purses his lips, [b]"First I get denied help and pushed back to square one, and now I have to deal with weirdos worse than I am who live happy-go-lucky lives like a ball of sunshine - I'm sick of it!"[/b] [i][color=green]Cosplaying? Cosplaying?![/color][/i] Now, Hakuro may've recognized the guy from the gym, but he didn't have nearly as much animosity towards him, if any at all. However, when Mikhail spoke to him the way that he did...he was up on his feet in an instant. [color=green]"Hey, I'm [i]original[/i] character, alright? I don't dress this way out of fandom."[/color] He said this, straightening out said coat and putting his phone away, and then followed up with a look of confusion. [color=green]"Now uhh...what the hell are you talking about?"[/color] Language! Mikhail could not help but chuckle at Hakuro claiming he was an 'original character', prompting him to dial the hostility forward in order to compensate. [b]"Well, my dear weirdo, if you want to know, you make me sick, being happy and peppy and optimistic and just blindly assuming others would be happy just because you joke and clown around."[/b] Okay, that was hostile, but not exactly an escalation. Hakuro must have made a better impression on his subconcious than he thought. Mikhail then decided to give a further explanation, [b]"And as for getting denied help, well, let's just say I had an... Argument with several people in the library a few days ago. Not that you can help with that matter unless you're a genius at Chemistry, which you're not as I'd have seen you in Chem class earlier on."[/b] [color=green]"Making alot of assumptions there, doncha' think? I mean, just because I'm in a good mood [i]now[/i] doesn't mean I'm always Mr. Sunshine."[/color] Or Mr. Blue Sky, or Mr. Sparkles... Take your pick. [color=green]"Mind you, it looks like you could [i]use[/i] a picker-upper, and less people walking into you. I'm sorry about that. Let me make it up to you?"[/color] Hakuro had made his own bad assumption earlier. He assumed there wouldn't be anybody in his way as he headed off to the cafeteria, and he was wrong. But hey, no sense not having company there. Mikhail blinks and says, [b]"All right, I want Ice Cream. Let's see if there's any cookies-and-cream in the cafeteria."[/b] And with that, he then added, [b]"Oh, and you're paying if the Cafeteria issues extra fees for ice cream!"[/b] Well, [i]that[/i] was easy. What is it they say about this? The best way to a person's heart is through the stomach? Might've been a beast. Best not to mention that, then, just in case. But yeah, this miserable guy needed a moment, and it seemed like that moment would be served by ice cream. So, Hakuro shrugged and said [color=green]"Okay, follow me."[/color], heading for the cafeteria. He knew for a fact that they [i]would[/i] charge him for the ice cream, because he'd had other deserts and it resulted in the same thing. So! Coming to the cafeteria, Hakuro wasted no time in asking one of the ladies on staff there about cookies-and-cream ice cream. No brainer. That was a popular flavor. They always had it. He then asked for some pie-of-the-day and was given a choice of apple or rhubarb. Here, the young man did what he often did in these circumstances, just pulled out a coin and flipped it to decide. [color=green]"Tails. One rhubarb pie, please."[/color] Mikhail was handed his ice cream as Hakuro paid without even worry. Then, he accepted this pie that looked like it was packed with...something pinkish-purple. Rhubarb is an acquired taste. The Hatto-san wasn't even sure he'd acquire it now, as he took a seat. [color=green]"So...what're the pressing need for a genius all about?"[/color] Mikhail said, [b]"You know of the Chekhov Incident, right? Vasily Chekhov, defector from Russia, getting poisoned and dying from it."[/b] He then hands Hakuro several newspaper cuttings, this time from [i]The Guardian[/i], detailing the incident. [b]"Basically, Vasily is my father, I'm the crying and sullen kid on the pictures, and people just refused to help me do some chemistry work to help me break down the chemical code for the poison so that I can make an antidote for it."[/b] Mikhail felt bad for fudging the truth about that last part in order to hide the fact that he wanted to poison his father's killer himself should he find him. But only towards Hakuro and perhaps Merja - Everyone else can f**k themselves. That cut to a rather serious topic in a hurry. Hakuro felt he'd [i]heard[/i] the name somewhere, but needed to whip out his phone to get a bit of background on who Mikhail was talking about. Of course, no sooner had he done that than te boy showed just how on top of the subject he was. He had clippings of the subject in question. Hakuro looked them over as the boy went on about wanting to engineer an antidote to the poison. [color=green][i]'...he is survived by his son, Mikhail Chekov.'[/i][/color] For a moment, the Hatto-san didn't taste the tartness of the rhubarb pie. He'd seen some lives harshly-affected by everything from circumstance to outright deliberate attack. It's the price of wanting to see the world and know the people in it: You get more than you bargained for. The picture, the report, the attitude - it made Hakuro think... [color=green][i]He's drowning...[/i][/color] He shut his eyes for a second, shutting that thought away. It wasn't wrong to think that, because Mikhail must've been in a bad way, losing his father like that, but at the same time...it wasn't the [i]right[/i] thought, either. He then gave it a little more thought. [color=green]"Mikhail, you don't think someone's gonna poison you [i]too[/i], do you?"[/color] It didn't seem likely, but what Hakuro wondered was if the boy was concerned that his [i]own[/i] life was in danger, as well. Mikhail laughs. [b]"Doubt it, they underestimate me. No, I just want to protect future defectors from Russia."[/b] That last part was a lie. And Hakuro really didn't know enough about defections from Russia to really know otherwise on the matter. Even if he never came in contact with another person in the same situation as his father, it made sense that Mikhail would want the cure to this poison, just to say that he did something about the whole ordeal. People need all kinds of closure. That said...the anger and the attitude... [color=green]"And the other people... They didn't want to help you, presumably, because that meant working [i]with[/i] the poison, in the first place?"[/color] The chemistry lab on-campus would - no doubt - have volitile chemicals for the various classroom assignments, and so on, but that was all in due-course towards the cause of science and education. This was 'I want to work with this concoction that was used to kill someone'. It was a bit different in motivation. Mikhail tilted his head slightly to the left, and said, [b]"You're smarter than you look, and that's part of it. The others just didn't believe me except Merja, and she regards herself as unable to help. Well, that and they regard me as a jerk who spouts out 'manipulative' nonsense. Hypocrites with no purpose in life, all of them. Especially Philip from St. Paul's,that asshole."[/b] It was clear that Mikhail was genuinely bitter about that ordeal. Hakuro gave him a flat look as he got back into his remaining pie and went [color=green]"Calm down. You got free ice cream out of it."[/color] before thinking this over. Now, he [i]could[/i] be trying to create an antidote to this one poison that was used on his father, or...he could be after the poison itself. Yeah, Hakuro was plenty smart, enough so to see that a wounded heart might turn to bloody vengeance, if given the chance. It sounded so crazy, thinking he was talking to a guy that looking for revenge, but he was pissed off [i]and he was carrying around news clippings[/i], for god's sake! [i][color=green]Can't just ask him about it. He'll either deny it, or worse...confirm it. Either way. bad news, there.[/color][/i] Suddenly, Hakuro was glad he wasn't a genius. Or rather, not one in chemistry. Jury's still out if he was a brilliant mastermind in [i]other[/i] ways. [color=green]"In any case, it probably sounded weird to them because they haven't been where you've been or felt what you've felt. You can't expect miracles when out of people you've barely met, and it's not gonna do any good to shout at people."[/color] Mikhail leaned in closer, suspecting that Hakuro knew more than he let on. [b]"Then who can give me the miracle I need? There is no God or Gods, or a Buddha. So I have to extract help from other people by any means possible."[/b] Extract? Did he hear that right? Hakuro paused, staring at him for a second. How did this guy talk to people [i]before[/i] his tragedy? Was he getting a bad translation because a Russian-born youth was talking to a boy from Okinawa, neither of them using their first language? [color=green]"I [i]mean[/i], you have to get to know people before you ask them to work on something like that. A friend'll loan you a little money faster than some guy on the street, if you know what I mean."[/color] Mikhail nods. [b]"Well, I don't know how to make friends now. I used to have some but I left my old school because I was afraid of hurting them after my father died."[/b] [color=green]"Well, you should ease up, for starters. I don't really know anyone from Chemistry, but this isn't a thing you just ask people. If they feel a little weirded out later, tell 'em you just can't stop thinking about what happened and it's made it hard to cope. You don't seem like a manipulator to me. You just want one thing, very badly."[/color] He finished his pie, then looked over at Mikhail, extending a hand. [color=green]"Hakuro Kuroda, though some people call me the Hatto-san."[/color] A smile - A genuine one - from the sixteen-year old as he shakes Hakuro's hand, [b]"Nice to meet you, then, 'Hatto-san'. I hope associating with me won't get you tarred by others."[/b] [color=green]"No worries there, I assure you."[/color] The Russian kid didn't even know he had a [i]following[/i]. And besides that... [color=green][i]I'm gonna make sure you don't go doing what I THINK you're gonna do with that concoct...oh man, I forgot to get a drink. I NEED MILK!![/i][/color] They don't charge extra for [i]that[/i], at least.