A Little Red Realignment (TF2)

- One Man, One Woman -

- "Today... we will be gods" -

Warm light entered the room through the curtain gap, showering his body in a pool of light. Instinctively he grasped for the blankets, pulling them higher against his chest. As a shiver ran up his clothed body, it occurred to him that the wool blanket was uncomfortably folded beneath him rather than curled around him. He opened his eyes, wincing away from and shielding them from the intruding light. He sat up, shrugging his wrinkled jacket off, and rubbed the sleep tiredly from his eyes.

He was no longer within the confines of his lab. He was alone, besides from the familiar dust coated trinkets, in a room almost entirely foreign to him. He wondered to himself if he had really hung his clothes in that order, and it that shelf had always been there. Johann hadn't slept here for weeks. In fact, he had hardly bothered unpacking in there; not when there was an exceptional laboratory with his name on it. Though the other's referred to it as an infirmary - how foolish of them, he thought - since the Quick-Fix it had been home to far more research than medicine. It had always been that way, but they didn't need to know that.

He changed for the morning and didn't bother freshening up in the bathroom. He gently opened the door.

There were voices in the kitchen but paid them no mind, heading back to the confines of his lab. The clock above the door read one hour until noon. Among other things, he was beyond embarrassed. "Archimedes, you must be so hungry, I'm sorry mein Stern," he greeted the bird at the door sweetly, rushing first over to his unattended work from the previous night. Mind elsewhere, he bumped into something - or rather, somebody.

He apologized swiftly and looked down, scowl dawned, ready to objurgate the resident Scout. However, his words died with a strangled gasp and he staggered backward, away from the small form of Miss Pauling that met him. "Oh, Medic, good to see you! That's quite alright."

He glanced from her to his work; how foolish, how could he forget! He had no excuse for his untidiness this time around. By now his previous night's work would be null; it had sat too long unattended to be of any use. He'd have to redo it today, albeit with more ease this time around. Returning eventually to the present, he remembered the problem at hand. He had been working real hard on something the administrator wouldn't care much for, yet. So much for that. "Ah, Miss Pauling, I can explain." She raised an eyebrow, scratching words into her clipboard. Looking up from the board she took a seat at his desk, the one he'd been sure he slept on the night previous. Now, however, it was no longer littered with work; she must have taken it upon herself to tidy it. How embarrassing.

"The administrator wont like this."

"Was? Ah, no, she wont." He swallowed hard as she nodded absently.

"..." She tsk-d to herself for a moment admiring his work from afar with a wicked fascination, "I heard something from Scout-"

"Miss Pauling, I can explain-"

She hushed him, "Medic, before you incriminate yourself, let me finish. I heard from Scout that you've been working on something again. Is this it?" She stared at the work in front of them. Johann let out a sigh of relieve; Miss Pauling was still a foreign force to him as she was to them all, but she was not a threat as far as he could tell. She went about her duties diligently and had little time for things that did not concern her and he respected that.

"Yes."

"Tell me about it. Please?" Her eyes widened in curiosity. Even Pauling couldn't mind her indulgences.

Reluctantly at first, he dove into a detailed explanation of his work and his findings. By the time his presentation had ended, Miss Pauling had looked fairly impressed, he thought - though he often mixed up that expression with that of disappointment. "Why did you do it...? She'll reprimand you for this, Medic. You know better."