((Melissa Li continued from Q&A))
Melissa tapped her pencil against her notebook in boredom, watching as Mr. Shikata talked about the latest experiment that they would be doing in class. The last topic they had covered were simple acid and base reactions and acids in general, so it came as no surprise to find out that today, they would be working with the great and wonderful world of proton donating and proton accepting. To be fair, it DID sound like a fun lab. It was a basic and a cut-and-dry follow the directions lab and it involved acid and using that acid on things (that weren't people). She briefly wondered why she couldn't get herself to feel interested in it though.
The whole day had been one big blaaaaah to her, even more than usual. Last night she had collapsed in bed at midnight after finishing her studies and woke up at seven o'clock in the morning. She had a terse conversation with her father over a breakfast sandwich and bid both her parents farewell as she went to the bus stop. She had gotten to school on time and on her first step inside the building, that's when it happened. 'Why am I still doing this?'
That single thought had haunted her through the whole day, her fake smile plastered to her lips as she continued to take notes about subjects she no longer cared about. She had skipped lunch again, having spent time in a secluded area of the library where she could get a little peace and quiet. Even her beloved music couldn't get her out of the spiraling depression she was beginning to find herself in.
An irritated shaking of papers broke out of her moping and she looked up to see the student in front of her shaking a sheaf of papers in front of her face impatiently. With an embarrassed blush and quick "Sorry", she took one of the sheets and handed the rest to the person behind her. 'Oh, the instructions sheet.'
"Anyway, split into groups and go to your lab stations!" Mr. Shikata said with a clap of his hands. "I'll be right here if you have any questions."
Melissa got up from her seat and walked to the nearest counter where all the equipment had been prepared. Placing her things on the matte-black surface, she sighed a little and looked outside the window. She wondered who'd be joining her today for this lovely run of chemical mystery. Hopefully someone who knew what he or she was doing. 'Remember Melissa...keep doing your best and things will get better...that's how it has always been. The greatest honor is to do one's duty to her parents.'
Viva La Chemistry!
Aren't acid burns fun?
Viva La Chemistry!
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(Madeleine Smith continued from Singalong)
I hate this part of the class.
While Madeleine enjoyed studying chemistry and she got good grades in class, there was one portion that she had trouble with: finding a partner for the labs. Not so much that the people in class were rude, but that she had trouble asking people to partner up. Most of the time, thanks to the class being even, she would wait until everyone but one had been partnered up, and then slowly walk over to that last unfortunate person and work in semi-silence. Did it make that person uncomfortable? It most certainly did. But it was better than trying to talk with somebody.
In this occasion, however, one of the students had given Madeleine an opening by sitting down without getting a partner. She didn't know the name of this student, something starting with M, but figured that she didn't look the sort to care about who worked with her. Weaving her way through a group of students sorting themselves out, she set her stuff down beside the stool and determinedly tried not to make eye contact. She didn't know how to make conversation too well, and knew with a good amount of certainty that trying to do so would end up like what happened in the drama room a short while ago.
The first thing Madeleine did when she set her stuff down was read the instructions. Whatever they were doing today, it was called a Titration, and it involved using an acid to turn a base pink, mixed with some chemical with a ridiculously long name, and something called a capillary, which Madeleine always thought was a blood vessel, with the eventual goal to use this experimental data to determine the pH of the base. "Riveting," she mumbled under her breath, measuring out the amount of the unknown base needed for this experiment and placing it into a flask. She figured that if she got this done quickly, she could avoid getting caught in a conversation.
I hate this part of the class.
While Madeleine enjoyed studying chemistry and she got good grades in class, there was one portion that she had trouble with: finding a partner for the labs. Not so much that the people in class were rude, but that she had trouble asking people to partner up. Most of the time, thanks to the class being even, she would wait until everyone but one had been partnered up, and then slowly walk over to that last unfortunate person and work in semi-silence. Did it make that person uncomfortable? It most certainly did. But it was better than trying to talk with somebody.
In this occasion, however, one of the students had given Madeleine an opening by sitting down without getting a partner. She didn't know the name of this student, something starting with M, but figured that she didn't look the sort to care about who worked with her. Weaving her way through a group of students sorting themselves out, she set her stuff down beside the stool and determinedly tried not to make eye contact. She didn't know how to make conversation too well, and knew with a good amount of certainty that trying to do so would end up like what happened in the drama room a short while ago.
The first thing Madeleine did when she set her stuff down was read the instructions. Whatever they were doing today, it was called a Titration, and it involved using an acid to turn a base pink, mixed with some chemical with a ridiculously long name, and something called a capillary, which Madeleine always thought was a blood vessel, with the eventual goal to use this experimental data to determine the pH of the base. "Riveting," she mumbled under her breath, measuring out the amount of the unknown base needed for this experiment and placing it into a flask. She figured that if she got this done quickly, she could avoid getting caught in a conversation.
Melissa was busy doodling in her notebook as she waited for someone to come to her table, having already drawn some weird monster thing that looked like a horrific combination of triangles and circles. She looked up when she heard someone walking closer, expecting one of the people in the class who didn't exactly know what he/she was doing and thus would dump all the work on her. She knew it was pessimistic and quite unfair to everyone in the class to think that, but unfortunately that's usually what happened. To her surprise, though, it was Madeleine Smith that stepped up to the table.
The artist was a good student and her grade reflected it, putting her in the upper tier of the class. During experiments, however, Madeleine was the one who waited until all the set groups had finished and then just tagged along with whoever needed another person. She looked quite uneasy and examined her directions, opening her mouth once to say "Riveting" before starting with the experiment.
A little surprised by her speed, Melissa quickly started cleaning the buret that would be used in the titration portion of the experiment. As she washed the delicate instrument, she wondered if she should attempt conversation. It might put the other girl at ease, but that probably wouldn't happen. Remembering that time in the library where she utterly failed at trying to talk to the girl (just thinking about the whole incident left a bad taste in her mouth), she decided that it probably would be best if they worked in silence.
"Can you fill this with the acid while I set up the pH meter?" She asked, handing the buret to Madeleine. 'I hope that asking for things doesn't freak her out or else this is going to be a strange lab...'
The artist was a good student and her grade reflected it, putting her in the upper tier of the class. During experiments, however, Madeleine was the one who waited until all the set groups had finished and then just tagged along with whoever needed another person. She looked quite uneasy and examined her directions, opening her mouth once to say "Riveting" before starting with the experiment.
A little surprised by her speed, Melissa quickly started cleaning the buret that would be used in the titration portion of the experiment. As she washed the delicate instrument, she wondered if she should attempt conversation. It might put the other girl at ease, but that probably wouldn't happen. Remembering that time in the library where she utterly failed at trying to talk to the girl (just thinking about the whole incident left a bad taste in her mouth), she decided that it probably would be best if they worked in silence.
"Can you fill this with the acid while I set up the pH meter?" She asked, handing the buret to Madeleine. 'I hope that asking for things doesn't freak her out or else this is going to be a strange lab...'
This is an archival account used by staff to port posts belonging to the handler Tythanin. While this handler hasn't been around in quite a while, should they return and wish to take custody of this account and/or its posts, they are welcome to do so by contacting staff.
"Huh? Oh..." Carefully grabbing the buret while attempting to avoid eye contact, Madeleine filled up a graduated cylinder with the acid they'd be using today, and then poured it into the buret. While it was possible to just go directly from the container to the buret, the pouring hole in the delicate instrument was considerably smaller than the container's one, and the container was full of acid to boot, making it quite heavy. As Madeleine was struggling to hold it steady when pouring it into the cylinder, she had no doubt that it'd be much harder to try to pour it into the buret, and chances were high that spilling would occur. Needless to say, with acids, that was a VERY bad thing.
Slowly does it. Just like in the safety video at the start of class. Slow and steady keeps you out of the emergency shower. I've had enough embarrassment today.
Though having a hard time referencing the instructions through slightly foggy lab goggles, she could tell that they were doing this experiment the right way. According to the instructions, the base would need to have an indicator in it for the color change to happen. "Hey, uh...." Pointing at the phenolphthalein indicator situated by the clamping stand that they'd be using to hold the buret steady, Madeleine said, "T-t-that goes in the....the base solution. Could....could you put it in?"
Smooth. What do you do for an encore?
((Madeleine Smith continued in An after school meeting))
Slowly does it. Just like in the safety video at the start of class. Slow and steady keeps you out of the emergency shower. I've had enough embarrassment today.
Though having a hard time referencing the instructions through slightly foggy lab goggles, she could tell that they were doing this experiment the right way. According to the instructions, the base would need to have an indicator in it for the color change to happen. "Hey, uh...." Pointing at the phenolphthalein indicator situated by the clamping stand that they'd be using to hold the buret steady, Madeleine said, "T-t-that goes in the....the base solution. Could....could you put it in?"
Smooth. What do you do for an encore?
((Madeleine Smith continued in An after school meeting))
"Sure." Melissa said with a small smile, taking the phenolphthalein indicator. After a couple of drops inside the base, the colorless liquid turned a beautiful light red. Titrations were pretty boring for chemistry, but at least you got to see colors change while you were doing it. It was better than nothing, she supposed. Placing the flask in the center of the table, she looked over the lab instructions to see if there were any other things they needed to do before beginning the titration process.
'Base, check. Indicator, check. Acid, check. Buret, check. All done, then.'
She flipped her notebook to a fresh page and neatly labeled the volume of base added and added a column for amount of acid that would be added. She looked up to see that Madeleine had finished setting up the buret and she nodded to herself, placing her pencil down. "So, shall we begin? We can alternate trials, I guess...I'll do the first one, you do the second, and I'll do the third. And then we should be done. Sound good to you, Madeleine?"
'Base, check. Indicator, check. Acid, check. Buret, check. All done, then.'
She flipped her notebook to a fresh page and neatly labeled the volume of base added and added a column for amount of acid that would be added. She looked up to see that Madeleine had finished setting up the buret and she nodded to herself, placing her pencil down. "So, shall we begin? We can alternate trials, I guess...I'll do the first one, you do the second, and I'll do the third. And then we should be done. Sound good to you, Madeleine?"
This is an archival account used by staff to port posts belonging to the handler Tythanin. While this handler hasn't been around in quite a while, should they return and wish to take custody of this account and/or its posts, they are welcome to do so by contacting staff.
(OOC: So yeah I'm closing this cause Melissa needs to be somewhere else or something.)
The rest of the experiment went pretty much as planned with a minimum of conversation between the two partners. The silence was nice compared to the rest of the class, half-filled with jokesters and people who just didn't know when to shut up. And Madeleine was a pleasant person to work with and did everything quickly and efficiently. Melissa really wanted to talk to the other girl, perhaps lighten her up a bit, but there never seemed to be a real opening for it. In the end, she just remained silent and jotted down the figures she needed before helping the other girl clean up.
The bell rang several minutes later and she left the classroom, thinking about what she should do next. Her parents had told her that they would be out for the rest of the day so she was free to do whatever she wanted. 'Well...I guess I'll just find out as it comes.'
With a soft sigh, she headed off towards her next class.
(Melissa Li continued in Ice Cream, Kit Kats, and Whales.)
The rest of the experiment went pretty much as planned with a minimum of conversation between the two partners. The silence was nice compared to the rest of the class, half-filled with jokesters and people who just didn't know when to shut up. And Madeleine was a pleasant person to work with and did everything quickly and efficiently. Melissa really wanted to talk to the other girl, perhaps lighten her up a bit, but there never seemed to be a real opening for it. In the end, she just remained silent and jotted down the figures she needed before helping the other girl clean up.
The bell rang several minutes later and she left the classroom, thinking about what she should do next. Her parents had told her that they would be out for the rest of the day so she was free to do whatever she wanted. 'Well...I guess I'll just find out as it comes.'
With a soft sigh, she headed off towards her next class.
(Melissa Li continued in Ice Cream, Kit Kats, and Whales.)
This is an archival account used by staff to port posts belonging to the handler Tythanin. While this handler hasn't been around in quite a while, should they return and wish to take custody of this account and/or its posts, they are welcome to do so by contacting staff.