Reunion of Researchers
Mary: Ohmigosh, it's been FOREVER! I did a double-take when I saw you, Sinoa!
Mary: How have you been? You're staying at that castle these days, right? Oh! How go your experiments?!
Summer Sinoa: S-slow down, Mary! One question at a time, please!
Mary: Oops. Sorry! I'm just so excited to see you!
Mary: Okay, deep breaths, Mary. So, what brings you here? I hear you're living in that castle in the Mistholt?
Summer Sinoa: Y-yes, you heard right. I'm here on vacation with the others from the castle.
Mary: Same as me, then! I'm here on break, too.
Mary: The Institute sent me as a reward for my latest round of experiments going so well.
Mary: Nothing beats turning off your brain and kicking back for a while.
Mary: My next project is even more complex than the last, but I'm feeling ready for anything!
Summer Sinoa: Oh. That's...nice.
Summer Sinoa: (She just breezes through everything I struggle with, in the lab or on the beach.)
Mary: Sinoa? Is everything okay?
Summer Sinoa: I'm just reminded of how amazing you are, Mary.
Summer Sinoa: I got your letter. You made senior advisor. Congratulations.
Summer Sinoa: Now, I should really be going.
Mary: What?! Sinoa, wait up!
Summer Sinoa: No, I don't believe I will! I have nothing more to say, so—
Mary: Maybe YOU don't, but I do!
Summer Sinoa: *huff* *gasp* Can't...go another...step...
Mary: Please, Sinoa, stop! You look exhausted. Let's get you into the shade to rest.
Summer Sinoa: Th-thanks...
Summer Sinoa: *sigh* I'm such a mess.
Mary: What? Why do you say that?
Summer Sinoa: You've run circles around me— both in work and in play.
Summer Sinoa: Now you're even taking care of me. The role reversal really is complete.
Mary: Sinoa! You need to stop this self-defeating line of thought right now!
Mary: I could NEVER have gotten to where I am today without your mentoring.
Mary: I'm really, really grateful to you. Didn't you see the last page of the paper I published?
Summer Sinoa: The special thanks section, you mean? Yes. You included my name.
Summer Sinoa: It couldn't have been easy convincing them to let you list an expelled researcher.
Summer Sinoa: You must have had to call in a lot of favors. To the Institute, I am anathema.
Mary: Maybe so, but I'd do it again ten times over! That paper wasn't complete without the name of the scholar I most admire!
Summer Sinoa: Surely you can't mean me!
Mary: Who else, Sinoa? I was always too shy to say as much when we were working together at the Institute, but it's true.
Mary: You are the consummate scientist. My admiration for you runs deep.
Summer Sinoa: What?! But all my experiments end in failure—often explosively so!
Summer Sinoa: Even now, I'm a disgrace. For all my effort, I still haven't made one measly little wormhole!
Mary: But that hasn't stopped you from continuing the work.
Summer Sinoa: Because a true scientist never relents.
Mary: Heh... That's what I'm talking about. That's what's so impressive about you.
Summer Sinoa: What is?
Mary: Opening a man-made rift in space-time is the holy grail of the field you're working in, as well as its most intractable challenge.
Mary: A handful of scholars have offered armchair theories, but most dismiss it as an outright fantasy.
Summer Sinoa: ......
Mary: But not you, Sinoa.
Mary: You combined brilliant theoretical practice with a stunning imagination and let every failure fuel your next attempt.
Mary: To this day, I've never seen anything as radiant as the glimmer in your eyes when you'd say, "This time, for sure!"
Mary: Your drive taught me a profound lesson— that a scientist's greatest asset is the tenacity to never give up!
Mary: I don't know if I'll ever be able to fully express how grateful I am for that.
Mary: The days I spent with you in the lab are what anchor me in my work today. They form the very core of my being!
Summer Sinoa: Mary...
Mary: I went through failure after failure before finally making my breakthrough, too.
Mary: But every time, I'd think of you, pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back to it. Because I knew you would never give up!
Summer Sinoa: Wha—Mary? Where are you going?
Mary: Heh, sorry. Hearing myself say all this aloud, I'm starting to feel super self- conscious, so I'm going to take off!
Mary: But the takeaway is this: I'm always in your corner, Sinoa.
Mary: And I know you're absolutely, positively going to succeed in realms that lesser researchers can only dream of!
Summer Sinoa: Mary... I had no idea she felt that way.
Summer Sinoa: Hold on to my tenacity, she says...
Summer Sinoa: You bet your beaker I will. That's all I ever needed to do. My resolve is once again firm— I WILL create a wormhole!
Summer Sinoa: Thank you for helping me find my way again, Mary.
Summer Sinoa: I'd started to lose sight of myself. But never again!
Summer Sinoa: I am Sinoa, and science is embedded in the core of my being—my very DNA!
|