Michael
*What a drag today was. It was dreary and overcast. Mellow grey clouds hung in the sky, and a chilly breeze gently shook the grass of the outdoor campus of Newton's Cradle. It was spring time, or at least it should be. It was a time for rain and warmer weather. Not this cold and gloomy mess. At least that's what M thought. They had just gotten here and had already become bored of walking around looking for new things to interest them. So why not just relax in the outdoors? Might be nice, even if it was cold.*

*They wandered around the cobblestone paths in search of a place to sit. Their head panned back and forth as they looked. Benches were a bad idea, too open. Maybe a tree would do? But they didn't want to sit on the grass either. Maybe they could climb a tree and rest in there. Yeah, that sounded pretty nice. Now they just had to find a good tree.*

*M continued to slowly meander around the outdoor space until they found a suitable tree. They placed their hand on it for a moment. Looked for a place that they could sit. Once that optimal spot was found, M began their climb up into the tree. Hands reached up and grabbed at the limbs of the sturdy thing, M pulling themselves up bit by bit.*

*Soon enough, they were in the tree with their back placed against the trunk. They took a moment to survey the land. This was nothing like Oregon. M sighed and then began to pull things out of their jean pockets; a pair of earbuds; their phone; a, thick, circular metal object the size of a quarter, it looked like a magnet of some kind; and a vial filled with two liquids.*

*M plugged their earbuds into their phone and put them in their ears as well. M opened their phone and tapped on it to get their playlist. They felt like listening to... Something chill like Lofi. Yeah, that sounded nice. They hit play on the playlist and stuck their phone back in their pocket, M's attention shifting to the vial.*

*It was a rather small vial. One that you would get like from a beach giftshop that would contain shells or sand. It had a little cork top. But that wasn't what was interesting about it. It contained a clear liquid, most likely water, and a dark black liquid. The black liquid was separated from the water and was settled at the bottom as a big glob.*

*M looked at it for a few moments before they brought the magnet close to the vial. Almost immediately, the black glob moved to towards the magnet and made this little spiky structure. Almost like it was a little hedgehog in the vial.*
Charles
◇ Not even here could Silas escape the sopping wet mess that was British springtime.

□ Or, sure, it could be argued that Britain as a whole was always slicked in mother nature's sweat, a damp gloomy wasteland of air raid cuisine and knife fights on every corner next to the working girls, but spring was generally especially bad. Rainstorms out of the blue, wicked winds that carried winter's lingering chill... The like. So, why the hell was Sweden reminding him of everything he hated about the climate back home? Wet, cold, muddy ground, overcast.

▪︎ Matter of factly speaking, Silas *Hated* This time of year.

□ Then, his train of thought was broken by a sight. Sitting in a tree with a lit cigarette twixt his cracked lips, he thought he'd have been safe from outside intervention or the noses of rats up in his arboreal perch, but just as he'd grown comfortable an unfamiliar rumble shook the tree upon which his back lay. Looking down he saw someone else climbing up, and not wanting to be busted he immediately jammed the cherry against the bark beneath his leg and dropped the whole thing, hoping the dry cold and wet ground would be enough to extinguish any remaining embers.

▪︎ A stupid idea, but he'd just got his hands on this fake; he did *Not* Want to lose it so soon.

◆ "Ferrofluid, huh?" He called from higher up after a few moments of observation of the vial in the girl's hands. "Cool shit. Tried to make it myself when I was in year 9, but the bloody stuff wouldn't mix properly and so it was always a sorry coal goop."
Michael
*M was absorbed in their activity to notice the other person immediately. It's only when Silas extinguished the cigarette and dropped it to the ground did M take notice. They just saw the smashed remains drop out of their peripheral vision and they turned to take a look at what had fallen down.*

*M stared for a few moments. Cigarettes meant people. So they followed the trajectory of the fallen object back to where Silas was perched. M blinked a few times at the other person in the tree. Then, slowly, M removed their earbuds and paused their music. It would be hard to focus on both music and another person at the same time. Too much to try and evaluate.*

*Upon the mention of their Ferrofluid, M looked down at the liquid and shook it around. The little porcupine blob of liquid jiggled in response, but maintained its shape.*

*After they took one last glace at the ferrofluid, M turned to Silas with a deadpan expression. Dark brown eyes glaring at the man in the tree. M wanted to know more about this guy before they started having any sort of conversation.*

"Yeah. Made it a few weeks ago. But it took a shit ton of time. Well, a lot by my standards. But I'm surprised you know what this is. Are you some kind of chemist as well?"
Charles
◆ "Sounds about right." He spoke, unmoving. "When I tried to do it in my home lab back in Manchester it just took so goddamn long, and I couldn't even get everything I needed at that point, so... Fuck. It was a mess. Needless to say I didn't win any awards at the science fair. To answer your question, though... Yeah. Mad chemist, at that; interested in the dangerous side of things rather than the safe, or as safe as chem gets."

□ A meeting of the minds, it surely was. Looking down at the newcomer and her vial of ferrofluid, the chemist in his brain began to urge him to slink down the tree, roam back to the lab, get to work on some proper ferrofluid, but at the same time it'd be somewhat rude to just leave right after the ice had been broken. So, instead of scurrying down he kept himself in his little nook, legs bent in odd angles to keep him firmly rooted, half and half hair freshly touched up and falling down in light tufts of blond-brown goodness.

▪︎ He cleared his throat after a moment.

◆ "Personally, I've been working on rocket fuels recently. Been trying to create a scale model of the Ariane 5 with little success since aluminum perchlorate is extremely touchy to work with and HTPB is straight up impossible for me to make in the prison lab or buy, to say nothing of the other stages' oxidizer-fuel combos. So, I've just been... Fucking around with other liquid and solid fuel-oxidizer combos." A moment passed. "It's dangerous work, but what's life without a little danger, huh"