Chapter Text
Dims lights overhead hesitantly treaded the line between flickering on and off, dousing Rodger's vision in a disorienting, dappled effect. There was a nervous, high-strung humming of machinery in the air as he stepped through the hall, head held low as he squinted his eye. His body was always slightly shifted forward, tensed and coiled for whenever he would have to run. From behind some boxes stacked into a haphazard pile, a flash of yellow and green and purple shot out, the contrast between him and his environment challenging that of a beacon of light flashed into the sky. Looey shot past him, giving him a friendly smile. Rodger stepped back and drew his hands to his chest, giving Looey a disconcerted furrow of his eyebrow.
"Shouldn't you conserve your stamina, Looey? It'd be bad for you to get injured when we've found no healing, and Pebbles has distracting covered."
"I think better on my feet! Habit I learned from the circus. I've got it all under control, don't worry!"
"...If you're sure. Just stay careful."
As Rodger watched him near the corner, though, Looey hesitated, checked the path ahead of him, and shifted into a walk. Rodger turned back to continue on his own path, walking into a sideroom, the bright red glint of a machine lighting the room with a faint glow. In the darkened corner of the room, something shone dimly, a red outline in a shape familiar to him. Approaching the shelf it sat next to, he crouched down and picked up the research capsule. He tended to fixate on details that had no obvious pertinence; but, then again, that was a crucial trait for uncovering vital clues that would have otherwise been discarded.
Dark ichor swirled around inside, and the glass burned a crimson red underneath streaks of dim white highlights. The metal enclosing each end gently gradiated in color, each face of its surface carving out its distinct shape. Rodger turned it over in his hand, taking care to not crinkle the tapes wrapped loosely around the middle. At the top, radiating outwards from the edge of where the glass met metal, was a small crack, one main vein that split off into innumerable branches and connections.
The glass, fractured in this way, created a dazzling effect in the dim lighting of the room. Each intricate detail and crevice was illuminated against the midnight ichor, stars that shone warmly in a multitude of colors, some breaks in the glass nestled with each other, others reaching out from the origin point. The creaks and sighs of the building around him, combined with the stagnant, dark warmth of the room around him only lulled him further into his observation.
"Rodger?"
Rodger's body jerked involuntarily, the sensation of his heart leaping into his chest knocking all air out his lungs. He whipped around, instintively clutching the research capsule in the crook of his arm, vision shamefully darting to the silhouette in the hallway like a child caught stealing. The shadowy figure, outlined against the stronger outside light, stepped towards him.
"Rodger, I thought you were on the last machine. Looey said that's where they'd seen you last." Tisha's gaze flickered from Rodger, standing unoccupied in the corner of the room, to the machine a stride away from him, completely without any progress. Rodger didn't know whether to be relieved or frightened at her presence. He adjusted his jabot, trying to distract himself from the prickling heat in his chest, unaccustomed to being caught off guard.
"I was searching for research, around this place." Rodger tightened his fingers grasp around his jabot, hating the hesitance that shook his voice. He figured he could reason it away with the possibility of Twisteds lurking around every corner setting him on edge. "I just returned to this room."
Tisha stared at him for a moment longer, confusion still clouding her face. She paused for a moment before speaking again.
"Well, just let us know ahead of time if you're doing that." Her usual tired smile tugged at her face. "Sticking to a routine is important; you can't get anything done being disorganized! Get that done, then meet with us at the elevator."
He nodded, and Tisha headed back out towards the hall.
In the doorway, she stalled for a moment, hand resting on the doorframe as she squinted back at him with an expression of hesitant confusion.
"Didn't you say you had already gotten all the research you needed on Poppy and Shrimpo? Why did you go through all the effort of collecting them this time?"
Rodger was glad his expression was masked by their distance and his position in the darker part of the room. He faltered for a moment.
"I have a new lead that required a touch-up on Poppy's history, and I figured since it was available, I'd take it."
Tisha lingered for a moment longer, then slipped away.
Rodger sighed in relief. Deep in his muscles was a continuous, insuppressable shaking. He usually kept his calm far better than this. As he completed the last machine, he gently set the research capsule he had found down on the floor next to him.