fandomhigh | Applied Science, 12/14, Period 1

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applied science

Applied Science, 12/14, Period 1

There was a platter of Christmas cookies with coffee, hot chocolate, and milk on the side on a table at the back of the lab. The lab tables were covered with less savory supplies.

"Welcome to your final," Tyler said. "I am sure those of you who have taken a class with me before will be astounded to hear that our last lab is making soap. Technically" -- he grinned -- "we are creating the alkali salt of a fatty acid." He went through a thumbnail lecture on the science of that. "If you've done it before, try to do it better, or add scents or herbs this time."

"Before you start on the soap process, please write 150 words or so on what you learned from this class. Thanks. You guys were a good group."

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"Chive soap? Chive soup?" Dinah grinned up at him and leaned over to sniff his concoction. "You're just too used to the cooking thing. Although I guess science is way similar." She tilted her head and asked, "Did you oversleep? You're all undone."

"This is totally exactly like cooking. Right down to the lard." Priestly shrugged, resisting the urge to run a gloved hand over his hair. "I just didn't feel like doing it all up, today."

Dinah frowned, a little surprised and unsettled, checking on Priestly out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah? You're feeling okay? Not getting sick or randomly crazy?" Hey, it was a valid concern!

Continuing to very quietly freak out about last weekend, now that people weren't, like, professing their undying love for each other, totally wasn't random.

"Yeah. I'm fine. No gremlins, potions, or islandy meanness, as far as I know."

Reassured, Dinah said, "Okay, as long as you're you. I have to check." She sniffed her soap, and then dropped the lavender oil in. "How was your weekend? Did you get a chance to relax much?"

"Yeah, it was quiet ~~since my mun was running around like a madwoman~~. I noticed you and Jak disappeared. Things all good on that front?"

"We went bungee-jumping!" That was a big yes. "Once I explained about all the different kinds of crazy here, and he got over being weirded out about it, we were good. It really has been a quiet semester, hasn't it? Aside from last weekend, I mean. And the vegetable attack."

"Dinah!" Priestly hissed. "You're just asking for an attack of evil Santas or something!"

Dinah's eyes got wide, and she bit her lip, looking woeful. "I didn't mean it!" she hissed to the Island at large. "Really! It's been crazy enough especially since you made up for it last week! You're plenty crazy!" She waited hopefully, then checked with Priestly. "Think it's good now?"

"As good as it could be?" He shrugged. "Hey, do your sisters have to go crime fighting on Christmas Eve, or do the bad guys usually take the night off?" Slightly random, yes, but he'd been thinking about it.

Mostly about Helena in her lovely tight black clothing and a Santa hat leaping from building to building. Priestly's imagination could be a slightly terrifying place.

"Well, there was one year there was a ring of Santa-burglars robbing stores, and that went up to Christmas Eve," Dinah said thoughtfully, stirring her goop. "Helena ended up catching up to them and hanging them from fire escapes. Ho ho ho." She grinned. "So yeah, sometimes. If it snows though, forget it. Minus twenty windchill in Gotham, and the crooks stay indoors." She gave him a curious look, knowing his take on Helena a little too well. "Whyyyy?"

Priestly shuddered a little at the "minus twenty windchill" and wondered for the billionth time why someone would want to live somewhere where such a thing might be a regular occurrence. He shrugged. "I dunno, just, you know, wondering. It can't be very Christmas-cheery if you're chasing down bad guys."

Oo, maybe in reindeer antlers. That'd be cute.

"Uh-hunh." Not totally buying it, she said, "Alfred usually makes really good cocoa and dim sum for afterward, if there's a case over the holidays. And there's a New Year's ball for the police that we went to last year, that was fun. Uncle Jim got another award." Said with total pride. "One year there was a breakout at Arkham, but I think that was after Christmas itself. And not hard to track down, when someone was encasing all the ice rinks in glaciers." The Penguin was so weird.

Priestly blinked at that. The only Christmas excitement they got in Santa Cruz was the year one of the art students decided to do sand paintings on the beach with food coloring. "Your world is kind of weird."

Priestly's mental!Helena was now on skis.

"Well, yeah," Dinah admitted. "At least New Gotham. The rest of the country is-- mostly normal?" Okay, exaggeration. "Metropolis and Star City and a few others have their own weird sometimes too, but Gotham has a rep for the crazy super people." She spread her arms in pride. "Go hometown, woooooo."

"I guess without crazy super villains, you wouldn't need any crazy super heroes. And then how would you and your sisters get your adrenalin fixes?"

"More BASE jumping? Car racing?... nahhh, cliches." Dinah grinned wickedly. "We'd have to invent something even more crazy to make up for it." She might be working for the day ther was no crime in New Gotham, but wow, would she be bored if it ever happened. "How about you? Heading home to the land of no-snow and no-crazy?"

"That's the plan. Mom even admitted that I probably wouldn't come to horrible harm if I helped out Trucker at the sub shop while I was home." Man, his life sounded so dull in comparison. "So, uh. Are the super powers, like, required for fighting evil where you're from? I mean, if the bad guys can set up glaciers, you've gotta have a little mojo yourself, right?"

Dinah tilted her head. "Not really. I mean, there's some who don't have them, and just design weapons or do really good martial arts to make up for no superpowers. Barbara never had any, while she was on the streets. Just awesome fighting skills and a utility belt and body armor. She can still beat me at eskrima from her chair. It's so annoying." And awesome. "Another guy did the freezing thing a few years back with some kind of ray gun that blew out the city grid. A lot of the bad guys are just really smart, too, no powers. Like Scarecrow. Yeeeeee."

Priestly had the mental image of a cheerful, country-crafty, straw-stuffed scarecrow. He was pretty sure that wasn't right. ". . . What's eskrima?"

"Filipino fighting sticks. I think I showed you once, the long ones? Barbara always carries a couple in her wheelchair, in case someone tries to mug someone else on the street. They never expect the handicapped chick sneak up and kneecap them." She grinned. "She's a really good shot, too, but less chance of permanent damage with the sticks. She does all the tech stuff so Helena can find things and people easily, but she's still no slouch in the fighting department."

"Dude. That's . . . totally hardcore." And non-lethal, which Priestly definitely approved of. "So are the gimmicks required? The whole 'scarecrow' or 'huntress' deal with the spooky names and stuff?"

Dinah couldn't help giggling. "You know, I think it just got started as a way to hold off the police? And scare people? And now, at least in New Gotham, it's like this whole... culture. If you're not with organized crime, and you want to intimidate people, you get this secret identity. And if you're not a cop and you want to fight scary bad guys, you get one too." She made a face. "At least once you're not the junior-sidekick type."

"You don't have a super-secret gimmick, yet? Can I help you make one?"

"Nope, not yet. And sure!" Dinah brightened, then looked thoughtful. "I don't want to be Tweety forever, sheesh."

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