Owner	Pose
Brainiac 5	Brainy, who has been gone for... ooooh, it seems like two years at this point, doing things, has apparently come back -- and he's got an experiment going. It's some sort liquid being slowly mixed with some sort of solid slowly disintegrating into a liquid, and occasionally it bubbles. *blorp* Brainy, it needs be noted, is not in the lab.
Invisible Kid	Lyle, it should be noted, does not *appear* to be in the lab, but that may not mean much.  Hard to say.  He's been on a mission of his own for quite some time.  Not that he bothered telling anyone.     Damn spies.     Nothing at all checks on the occasionally bubbling experiment.  Doesn't touch.  Does snicker, *very* quietly.
Mon-El	Lar comes looking for Brainy in the lab on the cruiser today. He'd heard the Coluan was supposed to have returned from some other business across the galaxy.     "Hey Brainy. Brai--" Then he spots that strange thing inside of what looks like some high-tech version of an old fashioned distiller. "Huh." After watching the thing bubble and froth a bit, he picks up the device and starts peering at the bottom of it. Just because. There -must- be something interesting at the bottom of the container.
Brainiac 5	"What -- NO--" *BOOM* There's a blast of purple smoke. FOOMF. Brainy comes running in, and puts his hands in his hair, pulling it. "...Well," He says, "I guess I'm going to have to start that over." Then he casually, calmly turns up the ventilation system and goes about cleaning things up. "Hello, Lar."
Invisible Kid	Nothing at all in the corner coughs, and flicks back into visibility.  "Nitrogen triiodide.  Can't miss that aroma, and the purple smoke is definitive," Lyle says with something approaching a connoisseur's air.  "Well, at least it wasn't dioxygen difluoride.  This time."  Explanation for his absence?  No, of course not.
Kinsey MacKenna	Kinsey is the latecomer. She's only chanced upon Mon-El, who'd invited her as something of an afterthought. This entire meeting was something of a new thing for her - what superheroes did out in the real world, so to speak. Or, how to be a Lantern 101. Something like. Regardless, she shows up, dressed in her Lantern getup. Clearly a Blue if the colour coding is anything to go by. For a moment she's regards the scenario quietly before stepping forward and offering a greeting, "I'm sorry if I'm late. Wrong turn at Albequerque." They probably wouldn't get it.
Mon-El	When the purple stuff bursts out of the container and flies everywhere, Lar drops it, startled. But then he chuckles as Brainiac comes in and starts cleaning it up. "I knew that would work. So what's it for?" he asks casually.     Then Lyle appears out of nowhere. Typical, right? "Um, were you -spying- on us?" he jabs playfully at his teammate. "Anyway, I invited this Blue Lantern friend of mine to visit the cruiser with me, hope you don't mind. As a matter of fact--"     Speak of the devil. Kinsey shows up as if on cue. "Oh, there you are. Kinsey, this is Brainiac and Invisible Kid." he says by way of introduction, motioning toward each of his friends.
Brainiac 5	Brainy sighs. "An experiment doesn't have to be about anything except furthering the frontiers of science. I was running an experiment to see if it could be stabalized so that its... explosive reactions could be minimized except in the introduction of a catalyst. Just to see if I could. But in this case, that experiment seems to have been a failure. If someone *else* had tampered with the experiment," He gives Lyle a shady look, "They would've been badly injured." He looks over his shoulder at Kinsey, and says, "...Please. Call me Querl. Welcome to our home."
Invisible Kid	Lyle looks completely innocent.  Well, okay, he didn't touch Brainy's experiment, so it's not his fault.  "Hey, it looked kind of kaboomey to me, I wawn't going to touch it."     He bows slightly to Kinsey.  "Nice to meet you," he says pleasantly, although he seems to be more studying her than simply looking at her.
Kinsey MacKenna	There's a soft chuckle from Kinsey, who was, first and foremost a scientist. "I see. So are we blowing things up and spreading purple goop for a particular reason, or are we just being festive today?" Goop was too a technical term!! She nods to those in the room she's not met before. "Sister Kinsey of the Blue Lantern Corps. Pleased to meet you."]
Brainiac 5	Brainy lets out a sigh. "Legionnaires have a long history of tampering with my experiments, but it's *usually* Invisible Kid. Who has a philosophy that what's his is his, and what's mine is... also his." He pinches the bridge of his nose and then gestures, one hand splayed outward. "As I said, it's fine, nobody was hurt and nothing was really damaged." "Contrary to popular opinion, I DO understand lab safety protocols..."
Invisible Kid	"So do I.  That's why I didn't touch it," Lyle says.  "And I don't tamper.  I make improvements," he adds with a slap-me-hard smirk.
Mon-El	Lar rolls his eyes at Brainy a bit. "Well it's a good thing it was me then." he remarks in response to the comment indirectly pointed at Lyle.     A brow is arched at Kinsey's question. "Didn't you hear him? He said it was 'for science'." he says with a smirk.     And then the comment about lab safety protocols earns a slight scoff. "Oh, I doubt anyone thinks you don't understand them. I mean you're Brainiac. Following them, though? You're always too smart for the rules."
Brainiac 5	"We really need to talk about that sometime, Lyle." Brainy says, "I care about you -- a great deal. I even enjoy working with you in the lab. However, much as you need your own projects for your own peace of mind, *I need mine*. But we can have that discussion later."     "Has Lar showed you around the cruiser yet?" He asks, turning away, abruptly. "I apologize, those of us who've found each other have been abroad on various important tasks. I've been in the Shi'ar Empire for quite some time, advising the Majestrix."
Kinsey MacKenna	Kinsey just laughsa t Lar. "I know what he said. But a large part of science is repeating the same experiment over and over to make certain the results you get remain the same." She winks at the man. "Though I really am curious what sort of science we're doing that involves purple explosions." A look to Brainiac as it seems to be his party in this respect. "My chemistry days are long past. I remember those reactions where you created snakes of foam that crawled out of the beakers and spread ewverywhere they could until the reaction depleted."
Mon-El	"Oh yeah? Is that where you've been?" Lar asks when Brainiac mentions the Shi'ar. "How'd that go?"     "By the way, I kind of volunteered you to help this speedster kid named Impulse with his broken AI. He said he's from the same time period, so I figured if anyone could help it'd be you."
Brainiac 5	Brainy says, "The Shi'ar are at the apex of the Neramanian dynasty, so their civilization is both stable and exceptionally advanced." Brainy says, "Though I found the Imperial Guard absolutely *loathsome*, a more obnoxious bunch you couldn't find anywhere, in any era."     He pauses, taken aback for a moment. "...I-- yes, of course I'll help Bart." He doesn't even seem mad about having volunteered. ...Bart?
Kinsey MacKenna	Kinsey arches a brow, "Shi'ar? I take it they're not looking to come calling anytime soon." To be honest she wasn't sure why Lar had invited her, but she had to admit it was entertaining so far. That, and her job right now was to learn all the things she could. Every bit of interstellar lore she could pick up would only help her in her future endeavours.
Invisible Kid	Dipomatically, Lyle says nothing when the subject of Brainy and AIs come up.  The track record there is... complicated.  Instead, he grins at Kinsey.  "I remember that reaction.  I made mine sit up and hiss before the sucrose ran out."     And then he blinks at Brainy in mild surprise, at his phlegmatic reaction to being volunteered for something.  Of course, he says nothing... but traditionally, being volunteered for something was a good way to set off an old-fashioned Brainy Bomb.  Huh.
Mon-El	Lar also appears surprised at Brainiac's actually pretty pleasant response to having been volunteered for something without giving permission. A brow arches slightly at him, and he glances at Lyle too, noting a similar reaction. After a moment of pause...     "Well, uh--glad you'd be happy to do it." he says finally.
Brainiac 5	"Oh, there's always debate about annexing the Sol system in this era, but some alliances between the House Neramani and certain powerful metabeings on Earth always stay their hand. The Skrull and Kree empires, on the other hand--" Brainy pauses, and then says, "...Nevermind." Then he says, "...Of course." "Why wouldn't I be?"
Kinsey MacKenna	"And what would you know about the Skrull and Kree Empires," Kinsey asks casually. She nods with a grin about the other experiment. "I'm fairly certain we used food colouring. Googly eyes. I can't say I was always the serious one." The rest she merely observes. Clearly there are things she's not privy to. However, she can still be as surprised as the others over the pleasant response to being voluntold to help out.
Invisible Kid	"Well, between the Skrull and the Kree and the Shi'ar and all the other galactic powers, they can always be played off against each other to keep them off Earth's back," Lyle says almost indifferently.  "I once... um, I don't think I can talk about that."  He shrugs.  "You know."
Mon-El	"Oh, I dunno, you're usually grumpier about other people volunteering you for things without asking you about it beforehand, to put it lightly." Lar replies to Querl's question, shrugging. "You owe Bart a favor or something?"     A questioning glance is directed at Lyle at that, but he doesn't press the matter. "Well, I'll take that to mean Earth shouldn't have to worry about a Kree or Skrull invasion any time soon?"
Kinsey MacKenna	"It's all between friends," Kinsey says reasonably to Kid. "But I understand. We all have things in our pasts we might not be entirely proud of." Rather more seriously, "War does seem to be universal, doesn't it. I wonder if any of them even remember what it is they are fighting for or if it's all just rhetoric at this point."
Brainiac 5	"Yes," Brainy says, his voice dry as a Brut, "It's classified even a thousand years before it happens." "No... no, it's nothing." Brainy says, waving a hand. "I'm just happy to help him, that's all." "Politics are not my specialty. Science is." Brainy says. "Now that said, I need to restart this experiment, so why don't all of you go to the comissary and get some coffee, and then take our visitor on a tour of the cruiser?"
Invisible Kid	"Or at least an invasion can be headed off with the, uh, 'right' information landing in the 'right' hands.  Or the wrong information into the wrong hands.  Or any other permutation of right and wrong, and information and hands."  Lyle shrugs.     And then he gives Brainy a sidelong look.  "What *is* the current status of the coffee maker?  Still homicidal?"
Kinsey MacKenna	"Well, if that isn't a polite brushoff and trying to get us out of your lab, I'm personally just as happy here as in front of a coffee maker." kinsey gives a light laugh and a shrug. "In my other life I play a scientist. Rather boring little sort to be honest. Though not nearly as exciting as blowing things up." She nods towards Brainiac's apperatii. "Rather more dangerous to do this where I work. My speciality is actually genetic engineering. Quite a lot less earth shattering Kaboom." However, she's not adverse to a good cup of coffee.
Mon-El	"Welp, there it is." Lar chuckles when Brainy suggests they go take Kinsey on a tour. "The 'now get out of my lab' part. I mean, we all knew it was coming."     Then Kinsey suggests science is boring. "Uhhh....yep! Okay, we're going now. Coffee time." he starts ushering (pushing) the Blue lantern out of the lab toward the rec area. "Then I'll show you around, okay?"
Brainiac 5	"It's all talk." Brainy says, resignedly. "It's never killed anyone, and I like to let my coffee cool before I drink it, anyway." He gives a helpless shrug. "We had a very narrow budget for luxuries, and they practically gave it away. I didn't find out why until I turned it on." He gives Lyle a glance. "You. Stay. Five minutes." He points at the ground in front of him. "Then go play with the others."
Kinsey MacKenna	Alas, no science for the science geek. Coffee it is. "So, this coffee machine, we aren't about to get into a back alley bar brawl in order to enjoy our brew, are we? I was hoping for a much quieter evening than that."
Invisible Kid	Lyle hadn't really looked like he was tagging along with Lar and Kinsey.  "I'll catch up with you in a bit -- if you glare hard enough at the coffee machine, it'll pony up a cup without attitude."     He does actually go to the spot indicated by Brainy.  And just looks up with a little half-smile.
Brainiac 5	Brainy quietly finishes cleaning up the remains of the explosion, and then he turns back to Lyle. He casually moves in close, and reaches down to take Lyle's hand. He studies his fingers, before he threads his own through them, and then moves to reach up with his other hand to touch a strand of Lyle's hair back. "Lyle." he says, one blond eyebrow going up. "You have a need for privacy... work you prefer to conduct all on your own. Something that's yours, and no one else's. ...I respect that. I do. And I also understand that you like working with me in the lab. I appreciate your help... most of the time." Then he leans in, really close. "But-- there are times when I want to do *my* own work. Work that's mine... and nobody else's. It relaxes me. It lets me *think*... lets me meditate." "...Can you let me have that? ...Please?"
Kinsey MacKenna	There's a full on smug laugh from Kinsey, "Oh, I can glare with the best of them. You don't get far in the Projects if you look like a pushover." Which she wasn't, even if she was constitutionally incapable of throwing a punch. Lar gets an incline of head, "Shall we? I'm curious about this machine."
Invisible Kid	"I, uh, mess with your stuff a *lot* less than you think," Lyle says.  "I tease about it a lot, but I really don't unless there's an emergency."  He looks down at his shoes, and then slowly back up again.  "I *will* tease about it less, that'll make it feel more like I'm keeping my sneaky little fingers off...."     And there's that patented Norg smartaleck grin.  "I reserve the right to analyze any aromas that make it over into my lab space, of course."
Brainiac 5	Brainy leans in, slowly. "...Good." He says.     A minute or so later, the door to the lab opens, and Brainy uses his force-field to gently shoo Lyle out. "Go get some coffee with the others. And bring me back a cup when you're done, please." The door hisses shut.