A MEETING OF MINDS~ [COMPLETED]

[selfreplication]

Characters: William Birkin, Luis Sera
Content: Two paranoid scientists meet up to chat about - what else? - science.
Location: Around 57th and Park Ave.
Time of day: Early afternoon.
Warnings: None.

Comments

[notlewis]

At least the bruise on his face finally looked better. It was the small comforts that were keeping Luis going at the moment. As isolated as he could so easily become in a lab all alone, he missed the nightlife of his previous location. He missed the bar and the ladies and, though he tended to keep to himself anyway, it was at least nice to have other human voices around. Coherent human voices that didn't grunt or mutter under their breaths at him.

He arrived to meet Birkin somewhat out of nowhere, having taken the long way (as always). "Afternoon, Mr. Birkin," he said as pleasantly as a man who was not carrying a gun and slinking around in backalleys.

[selfreplication]

Birkin startled slightly as he caught sight of the other man, who had appeared rather suddenly in front of him. He shook his head slightly; he wouldn't say it was difficult to take him by surprise - he did have a tendency to get lost inside his own head, he knew - but someone appearing almost right in front of him, seemingly from nowhere ... he probably should've noticed.

"Mr. Sera," he responded, pulling his hand out from the pocket of his lab coat and proffering it to the other man. "Glad to meet you." He hadn't forgotten all the niceties of everyday life, even if sometimes it seemed as if he had. Introductions before business, don't jump too quickly to discussion...

[notlewis]

"I haven't been getting out as much as I probably should lately, what with all the giant man-eating crabs and hideous crimes against nature going on," Luis said off-handedly. "We should probably head inside. No point in getting all business out in the middle of the street, sí?"

That way he'd have forewarning if anyone was coming to get him. Of course that would also trap him inside if anyone came to get him, but there was really no safety to be found when your name was Luis Sera.

[selfreplication]

"Good idea," Birkin agreed, following the other man's lead and heading into the nearest building. It wasn't a bad idea; sitting around in the street was practically asking for trouble, and if it came down to any sort of physical altercation, he knew he was finished. He'd never bothered to prepare himself physically, not even the least bit; Umbrella had always taken care of that aspect of things, whether through assassins or bodyguards. He followed Sera inside, coughing as he inhaled a little recently-unsettled dust.

[notlewis]

Boy it was a sad state of affairs when Luis was the one in charge of "security." This building had previously been an office and there was a nice little lobby with some sofas in it. Good enough. He closed and locked the door behind them, then sauntered casually over and had a sea ton one of the sofas.

"So, what can I do for you, boss?" he asked with a shrug. "What is it you want to know?"

[selfreplication]

Birkin followed the other man's lead and sat on one of the sofas opposite him, leaning back into the plush backing and crossing his legs at the ankles, trying to look as casual as possible. What did he want to know? Everything, but he could hardly use that as his answer.

He shrugged slightly. "Well, first of all, what are the aims of your investigation? I don't think I've seen all of your reports, but I have seen most of them, and the depth of analysis into each one is pretty extensive. More extensive than just a mere scientific curiosity, that is."

[notlewis]

Here was the kind of guy that could understand Luis. A nervous man.

"It's a pretty simple aim," Luis explained, "I want to find a vaccine or some kind of medication to treat the crab infection. I'm not too much of a chemist, but I've worked in pharmacology before and any kind of treatment for the virus will be an improvement at this point."

He leaned back in his sofa and crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides that, I'm a scientist. Investigation is what I do."

[selfreplication]

"A rather altruistic goal," Birkin commented, tapping his fingers on the arm of the couch. A vaccine? This could be intriguing, one way or another. "Have you had much progress?"

[notlewis]

"Gracias," Luis said, waving off the altruistic comment.

"As for progress... with the vaccine, not much. I've only just recently isolated the pathogen that causes the infection." He frowned at that, it was still upsetting to him to have made so little progress after all this time. "I'm a little rusty with my microbiology, it seems. But this isn't exactly a normal infection, either."

[selfreplication]

Birkin smirked; he hadn't meant his comment to be complimentary, but it was certainly better if Sera took it as such. Better he think that Birkin was a fellow do-gooder, looking out for the well-being of the denizens of the city; he certainly might be willing to share more, if that was the case.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

[notlewis]

Luis chuckled at that, shrugging his shoulders again. "Well... you did hear that it turns people into giant monsters in stage five, right?"

"But more than that," he elaborated. "It was very hard to get this thing by itself. It has a very low chance of survival outside of whatever it's infecting. It only lasts for a few hours once the crab it's in dies, or once it's removed in the blood of a person. Getting it out of the crab and onto a microscope slide was work in itself."

[selfreplication]

Birkin wondered what Sera would say if he told him that no, infections that turned people into monsters weren't really all that unusual for him, that he was actually quite familiar with both the concept and the execution of such notions, although none of his experiments had reached quite this level.

He figured Sera would probably be appalled; he had curiosity, definitely, but it seemed to be tightly reined in, restricted, not least of all by his obligation to help others. His loss, Birkin figured, and decided to simply keep with his original plan of playing things close to the vest.

"And once you removed it from the crab? What did you manage to find?" Just keep him talking, Birkin thought, sooner or later he'll give you something to work with.

[notlewis]

Of course, Luis wasn't entirely unfamiliar with infections that turned people into monsters himself. He had previously not been quite as reined in as Birkin perhaps assumed him to be, either. He was completely loathe to admit it and would certainly not be bringing it up unasked, though

[selfreplication]

Birkin raised his eyebrows in disbelief. Magic? Out-of-control viruses, giant monsters hellbent on dealing damage and destruction - these things he could deal with, these things he could understand, to an extent. After all, they were just variants of what he'd seen in his own world, only on a grander scale. But magic? He shared Sera's attitude, skeptical and a bit derisive. Magic was something best left to storybooks and video games.

"Sounds hard to believe," he said, looking at the other man conspiratorially. And indeed, it was - not just the concept itself, but that one would try to present that concept as a realistic possibility. He began to wonder if Sera knew more than he was letting on, knew he was affiliated with Wesker, was trying to throw him off on purpose. True, most would be able to come up with a better lie than 'magic,' but still ...

"I can appreciate your reliance on science, though, I'm sure magic can be a fairly tricky thing," he continued, trying to keep the derision out of his voice. "Did you find

[notlewis]

"Not really," Luis said with a half-hearted shrug. "Just some antibodies I assume were attempting to deal with the virus. But like I said before, it looks like a losing battle for the body no matter what. The virus moves far too quickly to be fought back. By the time the antibodies are created, it's too far along to be stopped."

He crossed one leg over the other. "Lately I've been trying to use the antibodies themselves to see what happens, but no progress there either."

[selfreplication]

"Hmm," Birkin said contemplatively, tapping his fingers on the arm of the couch. He needed access to files, samples, everything he could get his hands on; he needed to act a little more philanthropic. "Listen," he said, leaning forward, "it may amount to nothing, but I'd really like to, uh, try to help in any way I can. The ... magicians, or whatever, can't be everywhere at once, and the more people on the case, the better for the others here, right?" He rested his elbows at his knees, speaking rapidly. "Anything you wanna send my way, anything you'd like a second opinion on ... feel free to do so. I have a lot of spare time." He looked at Sera expectantly.