[center] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/b3177ff8-8dc3-44e2-83cb-2aac34225744.png[/img] [h1]Akir Bondar, Barbara Smoak[/h1] [hr] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC-AjyW89Mo&list=OLAK5uy_mdTT3cTAQ0_l7sx6trKFblVH3BanaBv-8&index=9[/youtube] [/center] [h2]Burberry - College of Gyfted Studies[/h2] [b]Collab with [@Herald][/b] [b]Mentions:[/b] [@Herald] Leon "Leo" MacAoidh. [b]Interactions:[/b] [@flux]Akir Bondar, [@Herald]Barbara Smoak Akir slumped on the bench against the building, eyes straining in the natural light. Her lab’s were always well lit, but to have the sun beaming down onto her was a different beast, a welcome one. She just sat and simply was for the moment, enjoying the fresh air flooding her lungs even though a full carton of cigarettes weighed her lab coat pocket down. Not far off the path was a patch of grass. Real grass. She thought of just laying down and sprawling over it but thought best not to push her body’s reaction to being outside that much just yet. It was a hell of a change of pace. It’d only been a day and morale had skyrocketed. Her patients being able to even just wander out with her for a moment was a boon to their health, and her staff being able to just go out for a walk at a moment's notice was huge for their productivity. Combined with the fact that for the first time since she, her team and patients had even begun to dabble in Gyfted medicine, that a cure was not only possible but potentially on the not too distant horizon, they all felt genuine, inspiring hope. She let her head fall back as two of her youngest patients hunted bugs in the grass, a small smile began to break across her mouth, a cautious luxury in the face of the road about to be journeyed. Drug candidate samples had been readied, safety as rigorously prepared as they could allow before stepping into the unknown. It wouldn’t be until they stepped over into the inky black of uncertainty that they would know how to proceed further though. Her smile dropped, her eyes back on the children. Everything was ready. No more preparations to hide behind. All that was left was to hope it would be enough should the worst come to pass. Another woman approached, one Akir recognised as official to the campus and to Leon. She sat upright in some effort to appear more professional but even still offered an almost lazy wave to her, smiling returning as she did. Barbara Smoak did her best to give the children a wide berth of space, not wishing to interrupt their game. She couldn’t quite smile at them however, children were somewhat of a mystery to her and one that she knew had no clear answer. They were nonsensical anomalies. Required for the continuation of humankind, yet frustratingly defiant of all expectations. It mattered very little in the end. She wasn’t here for the children. “Doctor Bondar,” Barbara began, “Barbara Smoak, Captain MacAoidh’s liaison for the campus. It’s a pleasure to formally meet you, ma’am. I didn’t want to bother you while you are… on break, but the Captain was very insistent that I provide you with anything you require while you are here on the campus.” She withdrew a small data tablet from her coat, handing it out to Akir. “My transcripts, credentials, even my last GPA relating to biology and gyfted studies. Though all of that is fairly useless in my opinion so I’ll point out that I was the one who helped design the patient’s quarters,” Barbara said, shifting a bit uncomfortably as she seemingly waited for Akir to assess her worth to the project. Akir offered a polite nod, quickly flicking through all the information Barbara provided as she spoke. “You’re fine, half break half work so you're hardly interrupting.” All the credentials looked good, she didn’t feel the need to check thoroughly though. “You put the beds and containment rooms together in record time. That tells me you know what you’re doing and you give a sh- you're motivated to do it, that’s better than any credentials in my books.” She looked up from the tablet, eye’s trying to measure the woman. “My only question would be your motivation.” “‘One misstep and they'll tear you apart, forgetting all the good you've done’,” Barbara muttered, quoting something she had heard once, “my motivations are quite simple you’ll find. The Gyft exists, seemingly only here. I want to know why. I want to know how. Maybe along the way we can find something that could save humanity from the many crises we hold at bay each and every day. Or maybe it’ll doom us all. Either way, we gain nothing from misunderstanding such a powerful force as the Gyft.” Akir’s eyes dropped back to the data tablet, scanning for any answer to her own question, mumbling non-intentionally. “I’ve got no doubt you have good intentions, but even those can lead down the road to hell with the wrong methods.” She quickly brought her eyes back to Barbara. “Sorry. Didn’t mean that to sound stand offish. A lot on my mind at the moment now we’re about to begin the first trial. Pleasure to meet. Based on the work I’ve already seen, I'm very much looking forward to working with you.” She offered a handshake and for Barbara to sit with her. “I’ve only got one rule, the patients come first. We agree on that, we’re golden.” “Of course… from what I understand some of your patients could be just as much a victim of their own gyfts. Your research is among the only possibilities they have been given for even a semblance of safety,” Barbara said with a nod. “On that note… Captain MacAoidh has also sent me a secure report containing a few more tidbits he has learned about gyft-related individuals in the city. I don’t know if it will provide any assistance at this point, but if he’s right, he might have the first step in figuring out where the gyft comes from. The email is on the final page of the document.” Akir nodded. “Might provide some guidance for the trial today. Once we’re done we’d happily help the Captain further research the origin of the Gyft if he’d have us. I’ll have a quick look if you don’t mind.” Skimming through her brow furrowed. Even if the cure was an overwhelming success, Nyla and Sugarcrush potentially threatened any meaningful long term result. She let out a depth breath. “That’s… grim.” She slouched with arms on her knees. “Might be related to our current research. We were provided samples by a benefactor, stuff from deep underground that looked like water but on tests it clearly wasn’t. I don’t know if this is the same stuff as that, but when the waters were introduced to rats, they’d emit the same energies Gyfted individuals would. They didn’t develop Gyfts, but it was analogous enough to provide a baseline in developing our drug candidate that ceased those Gyft emissions from the rats.” She let the silence sit for the moment. With this information maybe it’d be best to wait and test Nyla and Sugarcrush samples to confirm they were indeed on the right track. Maybe it’d tilt them over the edge to confirm the safety of the drug. No. It would still come to the same conclusion, the same question to be answered now. Is the candidate safe for human use. She let her gaze fall over the two children again. “As soon as we shared the news with everyone in our care, Scotty, that one. He volunteered immediately. The other, Michael, marched right up behind him. We tried asking for more elderly patients to step forward but they were the only ones. She continued “In all honesty, in terms of the trial, we couldn’t have asked for more. Both children male, both are nearly the same age, biologically you could believe they were brothers if you didn’t know better and the only variation is that of their Gyfts. Michael is something of a magnet, dangerous but not lethal, while Scotty bursts into flames up to thousands of degrees. So we might even find insight into the second and third trial, effectiveness and dosage efficiency, respectively.” Taking pause, Akir picked up again. “And that leads us to where we are today. We’ve done everything we can to ensure their health and that nothing should interact unexpectedly, but it’s still the beginning of human trials. The first, the worst. Safety and lethality.” Barbara eyed the children with a new sense of interest. For Scotty, a cure may be his only chance of a life outside of an oven unless he could somehow control the gyft. Even then what use would he be for society using such a dangerous gyft? Garbage incineration? Powering a reactor? Tasks fit for a prisoner, someone who had committed crimes against their fellow, but not the fate of a child. “I’m beginning to understand your motivation I think,” Barbara said, taking the plunge and sitting down near the doctor to watch the children, “still, there are other possibilities. People attend college here for all kinds of reasons. Some to master their gyfts, others to understand them. Still others have gyfts that are so minor they would hardly notice if it ceased working… have you considered advertising for volunteers to test a… suppressant? Captain MacAoidh would approve compensating these persons if it meant we might be able to safely test things on a smaller scale.” “Even if these tests were failures… better the failures be on consenting adults than what your enemies would spin as impressionable children,” Barbara said off handedly. Akir’s head turned quickly. “Suppressant?” She lowered her voice some. “I heard rumours something of the sort had been developed but I didn’t think-. Yes, of course. We’ll let our patients know straight away. Do you know its mechanism? How it works? If not we can test them prior to assess their safety but it’d make their lives and mine that much easier.” She was still coming to grips with the level of generosity the good Captain was bestowing upon her. It seemed his kindness knew no boundaries, or that there would be a price heavier than her soul to repay by the end of this. She felt a shiver and suppressed the thought. Everything so far suggested this was all in good faith. No reason to start doubting Leon now. She cleared her throat. “As for the trial subjects, believe me, we’ve tried. We have to be open about the fact we do not understand the Gyft’s true nature. As far as we know, we might be about to find out that it’s linked to our continued existence and this drug might sever that immediately and entirely regardless of the dosage.” She raised an open hand. “In all honesty that would be ludicrous, from a scientific and rational perspective, but the Gyft is anything but rational.” She sighed. “So, I don’t think we’d be finding anyone else willing. Not for a long time at least. We’ve done everything we can. The rooms are prepped for every scenario we can imagine. Even then these two were the only ones that came forward.” Akir’s eyes dropped. “When we told Scotty how it could go wrong, he didn’t even hesitate, just said ‘Then I won’t hurt anyone anymore’. We’ve made sure he’s doing this because he wants to get rid of his Gyft, not for it to… go wrong, but, yeah.” She picked up after a pause. “Thankfully Michael’s response was more along the lines of wanting to help everyone. He’s a good egg. They both are.” Akir blinked a couple times. “I don’t care what people think of me. I care about giving those people inside their lives back. These two want that more than anyone else, and we’re going to do everything we can to get them there.” Barbara hesitated a bit, clearly unsure if disclosing that there were types of suppressants existing in the city, and the Captain had even gotten his hands on a few of the more extreme types. “There are suppressants out there, but the Captain doesn’t hold any direct examples. Yet. He did have me work on breaking down and attempting to replicate some kind of neural overload device that targets gyft users… some kind of Gyft EMP near as I could tell. I’ll have the schematic I developed forwarded to your lab. It’s far too complex for me to attempt replicating the device itself with what I have available now, but I’m hopeful I can come up with something similar. It is incredibly effective and nonlethal, at least for those who don’t rely on their gyft to live.” “One way or another we will get this figured out. Pending no catastrophe’s in the city, the Captain’s estimate is to have your project fully funded and staffed within a week or two. He may even approach some of the more… truly lawful members of Nocturnia PD or the populace about the investments,” Barbara said a bit off handedly, “I suspect he still intends to weaponize it if possible, but from what I’ve seen of your notes and equations, I don’t think it will be very practical. For better or worse, your cure is one that people will have to choose… or have it chosen for them by governing officials.” Akir squinted her eyes for a moment, looking just past Barbara. “Neural overload device.” She looked at Barbara again. “Like, a really big taser?” Her eyes shot away again. “I’ll look over it but we might… avoid using that on people in our care.” She settled back into the chair. “But yeah, we’ll get there. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I have no issue with him looking to boost funding through others. Hell, I encourage it. The man has done more than enough already for us.” She let out a breath. “As much as I wouldn’t like to see my work weaponised, if it helps the captain, we’ll see what we can do. Maybe a variant that weakens the Gyft momentarily, working like a venom maybe.” She closed her eyes at the thought. Now wasn’t the time. Opening them again Akir’s eyes seemed softer, fingers digging for a cigarette. “I guess that's a compromise. I get to make a cure, he gets to put down the bad side of Nocturnia by force.” Fingers flicked at a lighter. “Honestly that’s still the best it was probably ever going to be. Say how long have you known the Cap-.” The door nearby swung open. One of the nurses, Matt, addressed Barbara first. “Oh hello. Akir didn’t mention we had guests. Terrible host isn’t she?” Akir’s hand darted to scrunch the cigarette carton but stopped short of crushing the contents, thinking the cigarettes within were more valuable than the disciplinary action or satisfaction of turning them into ammo. Matt stated his purpose for interrupting. “We’re ready. Scotty and Michael ready to come in?” Akir nodded. Matt collected the children, asking a question as he passed Akir and Barbara. “You two sure you still want to do this?” Michael responded with an enthusiastic nod, Scotty asked a question of his own. “Do you think it’ll work and the Gyft will go away?” Matt placed a hand on his shoulder. “I sure hope so buddy. I’ll be with you the whole time so we’ll find out together.” His smile passed over to Michael. “Marcy will be in your room for you Mikey, and Akir will be watching both of you from somewhere else so the test works. Sound good?” The children nodded and the door closed. Akir began taking heavy drags on the freshly lit cigarette, partially to get back to her station, otherwise to steady her nerves. She spoke while tapping the ash off the cigarette. “It’s time. Did you want to witness this so you can give Leon a first hand report or are you happy to accept what we send you?” Barbara let out a small chuckle, “this is your show, Doctor Bondar. I’m here to provide a hand or advice when asked or if I think you’re about to make a mistake. Other than that, my orders are to stay out of your way. To put it another way, yes, I’ll observe, but only if it doesn’t compromise the testing procedure. I have a great deal of experience with biochemistry, in particular working with gyfted individuals, so if things start going bad I can definitely be of use.” “That being said, I prefer preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. If your trauma team can use another hand, I’ll observe with them and stay out of the way,” Barbara offered. Akir finished her cigarette with a smile. “Glad to hear it. It’s been awhile since I’ve had an advisor and the role would certainly be appreciated.” She huffed a laugh. “Even if it’s just someone to bounce my rambling off, you honestly have no idea how much it helps to have someone who isn’t afraid to tell me I’m an idiot.” She put the cigarette out. “If you’re keen to get your hands on the tools you’ll be one of us before you know it. Today we’ll just be watching through cameras and advising so my Gyft doesn’t interfere.” Akir stood. “Other than that, welcome to the team.” She turned to offer her hand to help Barbara up. “Ready to make history?” [center] [hr][h2][b][code]Gyft Cure Progress: 3%[/code][/b][/h2] [/center]