Potential Manslaughter Charges [Tomino]

Celerous waited patiently for the door to open. Which… well, he'd been waiting for a little bit longer than he'd expect to. Was nobody home? Was he even in the right place? The longer he waited, the more that he looked around. The more that he looked around, the more he realized that this was far more akin to a home than a laboratory. Shoot, he probably was at the wrong place, wasn't he?

Just as he turned to leave, the door opened. He was greeted by a rather cold looking woman. Professional. Clinical. Detached. She was older than he was, probably in her late twenties or early thirties. Celerous thought that she might have looked attractive, had she bothered to smile. He kept that to himself, though. He was here to get shot, not killed. There was a distinct difference between those two things, at least, for him. He supposed the average Earthling would see them as being the same.

"Well I uh-" Celerous looked down at his flannel and jeans, "...pardon me. This was a last minute decision. I reckon I might've dressed better, had I planned for this ahead of time."

Suddenly he felt very foolish and out of place. Here he was, some country bumpkin in his worn work clothes, trying to mingle with the city folk. This Doctor was put together much nicer than he was, even with her dour expression.

"Recent law? Oh, right. The Accords," what a stupid thing for him to forget, "well, I don't mind a bit of a commute. And it doesn't matter to me where we do the paperwork."

Wait, he felt like he was forgetting something important. Something like- Right. Introducing himself. Ma would be ashamed of his manners.

"Celerous Fark," he held out his hand, "a pleasure to meet you ma'am."

Right. They'd be going farther North, which would naturally be much colder than Central City. Celerous understood the need for colder clothes, but honestly, he wasn't entirely sure that he needed them. Flying through the air, at high altitudes, was cold too. Freezing in some spots. He'd been chilly before, but had never had to worry about frostbite or hypothermia. It was probably arrogant to think so, but Cel though he'd be fine without warm winter wear. As long as he kept his power level raised, at least.

"I appreciate the offer, but I don't think it'll be necessary. I... don't really get cold all that often."

Alright, perhaps he had jumped the gun. Professor Nahn may not have been the most cheerful or joyous person, but she was more considerate than he'd initially assumed. He had to stop prejudging people like that. He'd written off Ruby as a delinquent, Dion as a timid man, and Jackie as odd before he'd ever actually gotten to meet them. And he'd been, mostly, wrong about them.

The Professor took his hand, and he gave hers a firm but gentle shake. She seemed to eye him, which he found odd, but brushed it off. Maybe the Northern folk didn't shake hands as often as they did in the East. Must have been a culture thing or something. Had he just made a social faux pas? If so, Professor Nahn didn't mention it.

She mentioned food and drink, or rather, offered it. It was a nice offer, one he might have taken her up on usually. But he'd already visted a diner not even an hour ago.

"I'm alright, Professor," Celerous shook his head, "I ate before coming here."

He was curious how much paperwork the professor had for him. She had described it as a "pile," and that made him wonder just how much was involved with this whole thing. There was probably a lot of signatures needed for the sake of liability and what not, but just how many? Was this even legal? Probably not, since they had to go farther North to do the actual testing.

Oh well, too late for second thoughts. But maybe not too late for some exposition...

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is this weapon you're testing?"

Celerous supposed he couldn't blame Professor Nahn for not wanting to disclose the specifics of her invention. Plus, she was right, the technical details would have gone right over his head. he was, at his core, a farmer. He knew a thing or two about testing the pH levels of soil, and he was pretty handy with a wrench when it came to fixing the tractor or Ma's old pick-up truck. But full on mechanical engineering? Electrical engineering? He may as well have been a neophyte to the subject. Was, for the most part.

So while he really wanted to know what kind of weapon was about to be tested on his sorry hide, he chose not to voice his objections about the professor's desire to withhold information. She wouldn't kill him. Probably.

"Well I can't blame you for keep your cards close to your chest," Celerous shrugged, "I reckon I wouldn't be too keen to share that kind of information either. And you're not wrong: I most certainly wouldn't understand the technical details. I ain't exactly college educated."

Professor Nahn returned with the papers in hand, and ran him through them, explaining what each one was. Celerous tried to pay attention to her explanation, and tried not to pay attention to how close she was to him. Which wasn't even that close. Dumb male brain. Celerous wasn't sure whether his Earthling genes were to blame, or his Saiyan ones. Or the fact that he was a twenty year old young man.

Dear lord, why did women make him so anxious sometimes? What was he, a monk? It was something to ponder later.

Once Professor Nahn had finished explaining the papers to him, he accepted the pen she'd offered and began to sign them. Most of them seemed standard faire, as far as he could tell from her explanation. He was curious what the background check would pull up on him. He'd basically spent his whole life on the farm, raised there, schooled there, and it was the only work experience he had. Other than his weekly shopping trip to East City, and his visit here to Central today, he wasn't sure he'd done enough to have a background.

He'd have to wait and see.

With a click of the pen, and no objections, Celerous handed the papers and the writing utensil back to the professor. Technically his existance had been a grey area in legality until today, so really, he didn't have any room to talk when it came to shady business.

"So this lab of yours, or testing site, or what have you... where exactly is it?"

Well at least the professor was willing to tell him where they were going. Celerous had been half worried that she was going to blindfold him, and drive off with him somewhere in the vague direction of North. Well, not really. The professor had been straight with him so far, so there really wasn't a need to worry about that kind of thing. Even if there had been, Cel thought that he could probably get himself out of a tough situation. Probably.

Professor Nahn asked him a few questions, things about him, personally. Yet she asked it in a sort of... detached way. Celerous wasn't quite sure how to describe it. It was almost like she wanted to know about him, without actually knowing him. Or maybe he was looking to deeply into things. For all he knew, this could have just been a part of that whole "doctor patient confidentiality" thing. She was technically a doctor, right? Just not a medical one. And he was potentially a patient, considering she was about to test a weapon on him.

"I'm a farmer by trade," Celerous spoke easily, "grew up on the farm, homeschooled. It's the only job I've ever worked. As for hobbies... well, Ma is a martial artist, and I guess I picked a little of that up from her. I don't usually have a whole lot of free time, farming isn't just an eight hour shift you can clock out of and go home, so honestly I don't have many hobbies outside of that. Unless you count replacing the carburetor in the tractor for the umpteenth time."

He paused for a moment, to draw in a breath.

"As for why I'm interested in helping..." Celerous trailed off for a moment, thinking of Kamae and his stupid life stealing tree, "well, I met someone who showed me just how behind Earthlings are. Whole universe is full of warriors that the average person can't possibly compare to. Makes us the underdogs. I guess... I guess I just want to see people safe. And I reckon this weapon of yours just might be the security blanket that the Earth needs."

But there was one more thing. One last detail that Celerous hadn't shared with anyone, save for Dion. Something that, much like with Professor Nahn and the specifics of her invention, was a card that he kept close to his chest. He looked down at the ground for a moment, not meek, but in contemplation.

"You should probably know... I'm not entirely human. In fact, I'm half Saiyan," frowning, Celerous looked back at the good doctor, "if nothing else, I'd prefer if that particular detail stayed between us. It ain't something I'm keen on sharing with others."

Shame.

Celerous wasn't sure if he would call it that. It was just... Saiyans had a bit of a bad reputation around the galaxy, and his family wanted to live a quiet and simple life. Harboring aliens, and a half-alien, was counterproductive to that goal. But "shame?" It was hard for him to really come to a conclusion on that. Because, really, Celerous didn't feel like a Saiyan. He felt like an Earthling, had been raised as an Earthling, on Earth. He didn't even have a tail. His only connection to that part of himself was through Gramps, and Gramps didn't do a whole lot of talking. Not about the Saiyans, at least.

But... his idea of Saiyans in particular was a conflicted mess. Maybe he was ashamed after all.

At least the professor didn't mind. In fact, she didn't even seem to really care. Wasn't what she was asking, though Celerous himself considered that to be something about his background. Regardless, he felt relieved. The last thing he wanted was someone looking at him different just because his father had been an alien. Professor Nahn just seemed to look at him like a test subject, and since that was technically exactly what he was, he was just fine with that.

"Not building weapons of mass destruction is definitely... definitely appreciated," Celerous blinked, almost surprised by the smirk the good professor gave him, "those tend to eradicate entire populations. And destroy good farmland. I'm generally opposed to both of those things."

The professor might have been operating in a sort of grey area, but at the very least, she didn't seem to be the nefarious type. Not like Kamae and his dumb tree. Whatever she was trying to manufacture was something that would benefit Earthlings as a whole, not just her own aspirations. Or, at least, Celerous hoped it would. He wasn't interested in boosting the professor's career. He was interested in helping Earth get on the level of the other civilizations out there.

"If you don't mind my asking, why are you in this type of business? Why try and invent this... whatever this weapon of yours is?"

Well, at least the professor was being straight up with him. She had her own vested interests in seeing this thing succeed. Celerous supposed it didn't matter: so long as this weapon of hers was used for the better good, and it achieved good, then maybe her intentions didn't have to be altruistic. So long as they weren't malicious, wasn't that enough? Most people were motivated by personal gain. Even he was, in his own way. If the Earth was safe, then he could resume his quiet life on the farm.

"I reckon that's as a good a reason as anyone can have."

Though, judging by the way she mentioned having her own ideals, Celerous supposed that he'd only gotten a half truth so far. But a half truth was better than a lie, and perhaps, if he could prove that he was trustworthy, he'd get to hear the full explanation. Considering that Professor Nahn was funding this thing herself, she had to be after more than just money. There was a reason, a real purpose, behind developing his thing. Or, maybe it was arrogant of him to think he could assume someone else's motivations. In the end, what did it really matter?

"Strong fighters on Earth are scarce, I imagine. Finding ones you can trust? That's needle in the haystack stuff, right there."

Celerous was pretty sure he was more powerful than ninety-nine percent of the planet's population, and he didn't hold a candle to some of the other beings out there. Dion was stronger than he was, Ruby was thrice as strong as he was, and Jackie... she could literally speak into people's minds. He didn't know how powerful she was, but he had to imagine she was leagues beyond what he was capable of. Cel certainly couldn't communicate telepathically. 

"The more you talk about this thing, the more interested I am. You certainly have a lot of faith in it."

He really wanted to see this thing now.