Chapter Text
January 4th
Today is the first day of my PhD at Noldorian Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). I will be joining the Fingolfin Lab to work on project ‘Rochallor’. For the next three years I will conduct studies on equine stem cells in the hope of finding clinical applications. Besides my supervisor, Fingolfin, there are three other team members, Turgon, Aredhel and Argon. They look like fun so I hope we can become friends.
My first day is over, it was quite busy… There was an overwhelming amount of information that I need to remember if I am to survive during these three years. And my reading list is huge! I feel like I will spend most of my first week sitting at my desk reading... I can’t wait to get on the bench and start my experiments…
Anyway, in the evening we went to have some beers at Hithlum, a bar near the lab. My team came up with a nickname for me, from now on they will call me Findekáno. Apparently, having your team call you by a nickname is the trendy thing at NIST. So from now on I have to call my supervisor Nolofinwe; Turgon, Turukano; Aredhel, Irisse and Argon, Arakano. As if it wasn’t confusing enough to remember everyone’s names…
January 22nd
My third week is finally over, I kind of remember where the different facilities are located and started meeting people from other labs. On our floor there are three teams, Irime’s, Finarfin’s, and ours. On the top floor there are two, Feanor’s and Findis’. I haven’t been to that floor yet but that’s where the culture room is so I know I will be spending a lot of time there.
These past weeks I spent all of my days reading, well... I can’t really say all my day...
To be honest I have been having some fun too… There is actually an Among Us tournament at NIST and they play daily games… It’s super intense because of how competitive people are and there is a rumor that everyone plays, even the institute’s director Finwe… As I am quite new to this game, I have to practice a lot… So, I am ashamed to say that I have spent an abnormal amount of hours practicing with my team… I mean I have to keep up so it’s totally necessary!
Arakano is the best of our team but I suspect that is because he is glued to the game 24/7… Today I went to the toilet and he was using the urinal while playing... When he manages to do his work is a mystery...
Otherwise, it has become our tradition to go to Hithlum for drinks every wednesday. Happy hour starts at 4pm so we leave the lab at 3:30pm. It seems like drawing your sorrows in beer is a very important part of a PhD. Almost all of the PhD students of NIST can be found there. I’ve grown quite fond of the Oumpf beer, it has a dwarf with a red hat on the label and I can’t stop at just one pint... or two… or a pitcher...
January 26th
Today was the worst day ever! I was making my way to the culture room where Turukano was waiting for me but I took the wrong staircase and ended up in Fëanor’s lab. As I was trying to find my way I walked into someone and ELBERETH… He was the most handsome man I had ever seen! His face was framed by long strands of coppery hair and his eyes… His eyes were grey like a cloudy sky… I couldn’t help but stare into those silver orbs…
I am sure I must have spaced out because he suddenly grabbed me by the arm and asked if I was okay. And then what happens?!?! Oh Elbereth... just thinking about it makes me want to die of shame… Instead of acting like a normal person and excusing myself I just continued staring into his eyes… I couldn’t think about anything else but the feeling of his hand on my arm… His grip strong, yet gentle... The feeling of his warm skin through my clothes… Those eyes...
Okay I spaced out again… Where was I?...
Ah yes! Thankfully Turukano came out into the corridor at that moment and I just ran towards him without saying anything to the redhead.
Oh Elbereth... Why?!
Why did I have to make such an ass of myself?! Why couldn’t I just talk to him like a normal person and say “Sorry”. It’s just one word, it shouldn’t be that hard!! Maybe now he thinks I am a psychopath…
After that things got even worse…
In the culture room I couldn’t concentrate, I kept thinking about the guy so I made so many stupid mistakes. Turukano was so angry with me… hopefully I didn’t ruin any of his experiments but he told me he wouldn’t help me anymore and left me to clean up the mess. The only good thing was that by the time I came back to my desk, only Irisse was left, so I asked her to tell me everything about the hot redhead.
His name is Maedhros... Maedhros... Mae… I love the sound of that name!
She also told me that he is a last year PhD student in Feanor’s Lab. He is doing research as part of the ‘Silmaril’ project and is working on identifying the molecules that generate light in the silima cells.
Oh Elbereth, what am I going to do when I see him again? I hope I will have a chance to show him that I am a perfectly functioning human being!!