Popular Science | Thursday, 3rd period

[what_the_shock]

“So today's Dia de Muertos," Miguel greeted them with. "Not the same as Halloween, but they kind of get smushed together in the US. In my time, the whole thing's one big riot of costumes and stuff in Mexico City, kind of like Mardi Gras here. So anyway, we're going with the whole costume...monster...thing theme of the week." He waved vaguely.

"Remember I said one of the first sensible rules of science was not to test things on yourself?” He hoped you did. That one was important. “Yeah, well, a lot of fictional scientists seem to forget that. And then think that things like ‘separating good and evil in one person’ are a good idea. We’re going to do self-experimentation this time, but go with a less extreme version of that, in a song. He played it for them.

“So, chemistry again - try to come up with something that makes you suave, confident, and able to deal with people.”

He paused.

“And you can’t just cheat and load it up with alcohol, either!”

He brought up a chemistry lab. “There are poison detectors on either end. Please run whatever you come up with through them first? Anyone that ends up in the clinic or dead, fails.”

Comments

Class Activity!

[what_the_shock]

Make your potions!

Re: Class Activity!

[always_someone]

Norman considered all of the options available to him.

And then just shrugged and looked around to see if he could emulate a Red Bull or something.

Re: Class Activity!

[white_oleander]

Well, a bottle of red hair dye hadn't been the magic potion to help do any of those things for Astrid, and she was pretty sure there wasn't anything available that could reorder the incorrect way her DNA had been arranged to make her not the near-clone of her mother that Ingrid had been hoping for, so she wound up just idly seeing what mixed together to make the best colors instead.

Re: Class Activity!

[what_the_shock]

"Not feeling it this week?" Miguel asked.

Re: Class Activity!

[white_oleander]

Astrid shrugged a shoulder. "I think," she said, "I can suspend my disbelief enough for shrink rays and matter transports. Time travel I know first hand. But I'm pretty certain there's nothing under science that could ever make me suave, confident, and especially not about to deal with...people."

Pretty colors, though, that she could do.

Re: Class Activity!

[what_the_shock]

"Seriously?" Miguel blinked at her, then clearly took that as a challenge.

"What if it gave you superpowers?"

Re: Class Activity!

[white_oleander]

And what an absolute waste of superpowers that would be.

Astrid's brow furrowed. "This is starting to sound like the beginning of one of your cheesy movie clips."

Re: Class Activity!

[what_the_shock]

Miguel shrugged. "There's a reason we're using them. But you'd be surprised what a bit of invulnerability will do."

Re: Class Activity!

[white_oleander]

Astrid did think about it a little, trying to imagine just what a bit of invulnerability would do for her. In a way, she already had that, thanks to thousands of miles, twenty six years, concrete walls and iron bars, and what did she do with it? Drink a little at some parties, die her hair red, give herself (well, not just herself, with a little flickering glance toward Norman before tucking her hair behind her eyes) a tattoo.

And even then, with the crux of her vulnerability removed entirely from her life, she still desperately checked the mail every single day.

So she was still going to look pretty skeptical. "Like what?"

Re: Class Activity!

[what_the_shock]

Miguel shrugged. "Strength. Flying. I don't know, what's something you've always wanted?"

Re: Class Activity!

[white_oleander]

A mother's unconditional love?

Astrid smiled a little wryly, maybe with a touch of bitterness. "I'm pretty sure," she said, "there's no superpower for that, trust me."

Re: Class Activity!

[what_the_shock]

Telepathy or empathy, if you were good enough and your morals were bad enough.

Miguel shrugged, curious but not going to ask. "There's got to be something that'd help. You do art, right? What about the superpower to always put down on paper exactly what you want?"

Re: Class Activity!

[white_oleander]

That at least managed to turn Astrid's grin a little more genuine, with a soft breath that might have been a laugh. "Well, I've pretty much already got that," she said, the one concession to any sort of confidence she might possess.

Re: Class Activity!

[what_the_shock]

"Huh. Never known an artist to think that before." Miguel thought about it. "Okay, how about...actually, I'm blanking. People think 'knowing the future' or 'telepathy', but I bet those both suck. Super strength isn't bad, though."