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Tweak says, "It's always better the 2nd day"

molly suresh can beat anyone at hide-and-seek (humanmapquest) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2012-11-01 13:42:00

Entry tags:

elijah mikaelson, molly suresh

When Molly had said she was going to be doing school work while watching Emma so Damon and Caroline could go out, she hadn't been kidding. She had showed up with her school books in hand, and the last few pages of her thesis rattling around in her head. Of course, getting any work done before Damon and Caroline actually left had been all but impossible. For some strange reason, her friends seemed to be under the impression that, when she came over, she was actually supposed to visit with them. And so she had, for nearly two hours. Then they'd left and Molly had spent another hour hanging out with Emma, who had finally managed to fall asleep on a pile of pillows on the floor while watching cartoons.

Not wanting to risk waking the baby by moving her to her room, Molly had left her there to sleep and had immediately gotten to work. One hour and twenty-five minutes later and she sat back with a soft sigh, scrubbing a hand down her face as relief all but overwhelmed her. It was finished. Finally, finally it was finished. Nearly two months of research, countless discussions with Charles, and who knew how many sleepless nights working on rough draft after rough draft, and it was done. Smiling to herself, Molly picked up the paper and stared at it as though it contained all of life's answers. "And that," she announced softly to the sleeping infant on the floor, "is how you write a Master's Thesis in Genetics."

A knock at the front door pulled her attention away from her paper and Molly glanced at the clock on the mantel. It was too late for trick-or-treaters so she figured it must be Elijah. Making her way to the door, she peered out through the peephole, realized she was right, and opened it with a smile. "You have perfect timing," she greeted the vampire as she stepped aside to let him into the house. "Ten minutes sooner and you would have been stuck watching me finish working on what Caroline calls the most boring paper in the history of ever." A pause and Molly asked lightly as she shut the door behind him, "No trouble on the way over, I hope?"

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amanofhisword
2012-11-02 08:50 am UTC (link)

Elijah was genuinely looking forward to spending time with Molly, and not simply as a means of avoiding being publicly embarrassed by Alexia. He had found her company to be quite enjoyable during the time when they had not remembered the city, and he saw no reason why that should change now. Still, he had waited a bit before actually heading over to the Salvatore residence, wanting to give her some time to herself without him intruding. Though she seemed to appreciate his offer of help, he hardly wanted her to feel as though he was forcing his company on her. She was a very well-mannered young woman, and he got the sense she would not object even if she wanted to.

He was further delayed on his way to the house by one of the vampires claiming to be Dracula. He'd known Abraham back when he'd written the novel, and he was still of the opinion that, while he appreciated its merit as a literary work, the man could have done a better job of portraying vampires in a fictional capacity. Still, he supposed the misconceptions the novel bred had proven useful over the centuries. That did not, however, mean that he was particularly inclined to deal with the titular character in person. On any other night he would have simply ripped the so-called vampire's heart out, but he imagined that showing up to see Molly with blood on his hands would be considered crass. Instead, he neatly decapitated him and managed to avoid any blood.

Reaching the Salvatore house a short time later, he knocked on the door and smiled when Molly opened it, finding himself amused at the assertion that he was exactly on time since he considered himself late. "Then I will not apologise for being waylaid," he told her. "As to your paper, I have no doubt it's fascinating. What was the subject?" His smile turned amused as she asked if he'd met any trouble on the way. "No more than I could manage. But we can talk about that later. I truly am interested in your paper. What is it you're studying here. I must admit, I know very little about you. I wish to remedy that, if at all possible."

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humanmapquest
2012-11-02 04:00 pm UTC (link)

Molly laughed lightly. "I'm not certain how fascinating most others would find the subject of genetics, but I certainly do," she responded with a smile. Tucking some hair behind her ear as she followed after him to the living room, she added, "My thesis is titled A Theoretical Exploration of Human Triploidy, Diploid/Triploid Mixoploidy, and the Effects of Rapid Cellular Regeneration. It's a bit of a mouthful, but unfortunately colorful titles really don't make for the best scores."

Sitting back down on the couch, she picked the paper up and held it up for him to see. "Several months worth of work, all coming down to twenty-three pages. I think I might be in some small form of shock," she half-joked. "And please, sit." Molly stopped speaking then as Emma made a soft grunting sound while turning onto her side. Fortunately, she stayed asleep and, after a moment, Molly looked back to Elijah.

"I'm going for my Doctorate in Genetics," she said simply. "This paper is one of the final steps to my achieving that goal." She wasn't sure what else to really say at that point, besides going into detail about her paper's subject matter, and she wasn't going to do that unless he really showed an active interest in it as well. By her experience, most people didn't like sitting around, talking about science just because. That was what made people like Charles and Hank, and Molly herself, so different, as they very much did.

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amanofhisword
2012-11-03 04:23 am UTC (link)

Though some people would have become bored simply by the title of the thesis but, while his passion had always been history and the arts, Elijah had always possessed a certain appreciation for science. There had been a time when it was not dissimilar from magic, works of unexplainable wonder that changed the very fabric of the world in astonishing ways. Sometimes, he still felt that way. So, Elijah found himself intrigued as Molly talked about her thesis. He was especially fascinated by the fact that she was working toward a doctorate at such a young age. Clearly she was even more intelligent than he had realised. In spite of himself, he was impressed by Molly.

Elijah sat down when Molly directed him to, giving her a small smile. "Please," he said, "tell me more about your paper. It sounds quite interesting. I would simply ask to read it, but I think I would much rather hear about it from you. Not that I doubt the quality of your paper, but I would hardly be sociable if I simply sat here reading and ignored you." He glanced over at Emma, making sure to keep his tone quiet as he spoke so as not to wake the infant. She really was a sweet child and he felt a momentary pang that he would never experience that particular facet of life. But he had Abby, and he would be lying if he said he didn't count her as a daughter.

"A doctorate?" he asked, after a moment. "That is...quite impressive, particularly at your age. I have...a few. I've become bored many times over the centuries. I tend to focus on history or literature. I published quite a few papers back in the day, under various names. I even wrote a few books. I was never quite so young as you though." Then again, universities hadn't existed until quite some time after his youth. He smiled. "What caused you to choose genetics, if you don't mind my asking? It's not the typical choice one makes, even if one's interest does lie in the sciences."

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humanmapquest
2012-11-08 09:23 pm UTC (link)

"I've always had an interest in the subject," Molly responded with an understanding smile. He was right. Most people didn't choose genetics. It was a much smaller field than most other areas of science. "I'll be honest, though," she added as she set her paper down and moved about a bit to get comfortable, "it wasn't my first choice. I actually intended to go into public relations, until one of my professors and I had a falling out." Which was a nice way of saying she called him several carefully worded nicknames and he refused to let her return to the class. She didn't really want to get into that, though. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.

So she continued along smoothly with, "So Charles Xavier suggested I change my major to genetics and I agreed, considering my interest and involvement with his work already, as his teaching assistant." Tucking a few errant strands of flyaway hair behind her ear, Molly glanced briefly over at Emma then back to Elijah. "As for my paper, it essentially covers the phenomena known commonly as Downs Syndrome, and whether or not a substance that heals on a cellular level would assist in reversing it. Obviously it's nothing more than speculation, but it's an idea that I think is fairly fascinating to consider."

Another pause, and she couldn't resist asking, "What sort of books did you write?" Because if there was one thing Aziraphale had instilled in her at a very young age, it was a love of reading. Her topics of interest were far and varied. "Oh!" she exclaimed as something suddenly occurred to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't think to ask. Would you like something to drink?"

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amanofhisword
2012-11-10 04:58 am UTC (link)

"It's good to have something about which you can be passionate," Elijah said, smiling as he listened to her speak. It was obvious just listening to her how much she enjoyed it. He tilted his head slightly as she explained that her first interest had been public relations, and he could see how that would suit someone like Molly, who seemed like an engaging and intelligent young woman with a keen understanding of other people. Though he did not know her well yet, he had spent centuries learning what made people tick, and he was sure that his good opinion of her was not a mistake. After all, his view of people was rarely wrong, save for with the members of his family.

"It is a shame that you had to give up your true passion," he said softly, "but it's good that you were able to find another subject you love...and even more impressive that you're so far along when you were previously studying another subject. You can't be much older than eighteen." He listened intently as she discussed the topic of her paper, nodding at the appropriate moments. Though the sciences were not his forte, he understood the subject manner and found it rather intriguing. "That is rather brilliant, I must say. And so much of genetics is theoretical, so the fact that it is speculation is to be expected."

When the topic turned to his own work, Elijah was quiet for a moment. He was always reluctant to speak of his own accomplishments, but Molly had asked, and part of him did want her to think well of him. "Some history books," he said, "focusing on the Norman conquest and that general period. I also did some literary criticisms. It certainly helped to know the men in question, even if I was often writing well after their time. I got some enjoyment in dissecting Stoker's work." He frowned. "I was actually waylaid by his creation," he admitted. "He, like the novel, was rather disappointing."

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