Józef glanced towards the spectacle, having heard the glass shatter. Rosalind had jumped up from her chair, her lap soaked in water. For a moment, he thought she had knocked the glass off the table. However, there wasn't remnant of the glass on the floor. Shards were scattered across the table instead, and he immediately know what had happened.
"What did you do?" Exclaimed Rosalind as she backed away from Klaus "How did you do that?"
Józef couldn't help but feel amused by it all. Seeing anything bad at all happen to an SS officer was welcomed by him, even if it was as minor as being drenched with water. If he had felt there was an immediate problem, his reaction would most certainly not have been that of turning away and smirking. Of course, he didn't think there was any problem. Rosalind clearly hadn't immediately jumped to "mystical force" as a conclusion, and she was an SS officer. If she hadn't been able to figure it out, nobody else in the restaurant would.
"I can't- I don't-"
Karl was sputtering, unable to come up with any way out of the situation. Observing it all, Józef immediately started thinking of excuses in his head. His favorite quickly became pretending that the glass had been hit with a sniper bullet. Rosalind would think that someone was after her, and Karl would be free to say it was because of his research if he saw fit. A properly set up attack would have involved the use of a silenced sniper rifle using subsonic ammunition. Such a shot would only be about as loud as a particularly noisy conversation, and in the middle of Berlin, nobody would hear it.
Józef neglected to realize that Klaus was absolutely clueless about such things. He wasn't one to underestimate anyone, but he more than capable of overestimating them. Even so, he still recognized that Klaus was in no situation to come up with an excuse. He'd never seemed good at socializing in general, something Józef had noted long ago. Luckily for him, his inference that Klaus was bad under pressure held true. Knowing how someone reacted under pressure was one of the best ways to learn how to exploit them, and this new fact about Klaus wasn't something Józef would be forgetting anytime soon.
By the time he had finished contemplating the situation as if it was his own problem, Józef found that Rosalind had left. Klaus didn't follow, probably a good choice. Trying to smooth things over with Rosalind right after what had happened was a terrible idea. From Józef's experience, the longer it had been since and incident, the easier it was to make amends (barring grudges, of course). It seemed like Klaus was well aware of this, which made little sense considering how hard it seemed to be for him to grasp the nuances of relationships. The thought crossed Józef's mind that Klaus still just had no idea how to react, and that he still didn't have any idea of what to say to Rosalind.
That's something I've never forgotten. Thought Józef Very rarely are there pure weaknesses.
You have to be sticking me into a bottle.
Just as he was about to get started on cleaning the lab's microscope (a piece of equipment that had seen far more use than anybody on the project had initially expected), he felt something poking his left hand. He was well aware of what had happened, but he still looked down to confirm what he already knew. In his hand lay a single red rose, its thorns sticking into his rubber glove. He sighed, placing the solitary flower off to the side while he began to wipe the eyepiece.
A manual lay on the desk behind him, filled with little notes left by quite literally everyone else who had ever performed maintenance on the microscope. It had been somewhat amusing to read through the section on disassembly, which had taken Józef's mind off of the arduous process many a time. Everybody had different opinions on how to perform the process perfectly, and it wasn't uncommon for people to point out mistakes in former notes. These criticisms of former notes were often met with other notes debunking their claims, and stating that the former process was the best one. It was an argument that had unfolded over many generations of lab assistants at the university, and the statements within were always good for some laughs.
“Not good, then?” Said Mat in the background, bringing Józef's attention away from the task at hand. “Worse than usual?”
“I don’t know what he wants,” He heard Klaus snap. “The hurensohn just comes into my office- moves all my things around, mind you- and just says vague things, makes vague threats, then leaves. Research directives, that I can work with, but this man doesn’t know anything about physics. Son of bitch needs to stay out of my way and let me do my work.”
Józef paused his work entirely to listen closer. There wasn't any need to disguise his eavesdropping if everyone already expected him to be listening anyways.
"What did he say?" Asked Mat, a question that made Józef immensely happy. He hadn't exactly been in the loop, having been focused on cleaning up the lab since he got back. It was good to know that what had happened wasn't a foregone conclusion.
“He wants results. Things the military can use,” Said Klaus. “They think our research is too exploratory. What does that mean? What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”
Gówno. Thought Józef At least I was prepared for sabotage when I came here.
"Sounds to me like they want weapons." Commented Mat. Józef was still mildly amused by the apparent irony of one of the smartest men on the project being oblivious to the implications of so many expressions.
"Weapons? We don’t even know what the black hole is. How on earth-" Gasped Klaus, being cut short by Mat.
"I’m just saying, I think that’s why he’s upset.” Cut in Mat “Calm down, Foerster. We know you’re doing good work. I’m sure Genzken’s just feeling pressure from the higher ups- they are fighting a war, they need all the help they can get.”
“I am not in the business of designing weapons,” Klaus said stiffly. “I am a physicist, and I will do my job properly, or not at all."
Józef was pleasantly surprised at the statement. He had always thought of Klaus as dedicated to whatever work he was assigned, and he had definitely never thought that he would refuse to build weapons. While there was still no trusting a German, it was good to know that Klaus didn't intend to immediately go and build magical death rays or something.
"Józef," Continued Klaus, prompting Józef to turn around. "Can you lend me a hand? I’m going to take another crack at Adelheid."
"Yes, Sir" Said Józef in his manufactured monotone, before Aaron began his little outburst.
“He wants to begin human trials,” Stated Aaron. “I uh, I think he wants us to artificially implant the same abilities we’re experiencing into his soldiers. Says it’s ‘invaluable’. Arschloch... The saukerl wants to test this thing on human beings! I don’t even know what it can do! You barely know what it can do! And he has the gall to threaten me! To demand results! We can’t even begin to control our own damn selves and he thinks he can use it as a weapon?!"
“Hey, why don’t we all just forget about it for the day?” Said Mat, grinning. "He’ll still be full of hot air and khaki when we get back from, say, a couple drinks and a well-deserved night off, won't he?”
YES.
"The things I would do for a drink." Said Józef, his voice absolutely ablaze with emotion compared to his normal seemingly apathetic tone. He quickly switched back as he continued, however. "If Klaus can put off the work for a bit, I'd join in."
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