His new apprentice is learning quickly. She is fascinated by everything she sees, staring wide-eyed into sparkling beakers regardless of whether she thinks he's looking or not. More than once he's caught her in the act, but he is more amused than anything else.
He remembers how she feels. Quite vividly, in fact. He remembers the fascination and the delight with which he originally took to science, the eagerness and the joy that filled him as he did his first experiment and found his first results. Of course, that experiment had ended with a minor explosion that left him covered in black soot, but he had been thrilled nonetheless.
There's something in her eyes as he catches her this time, he thinks. He knows the look of someone fascinated with science, having grown up seeing it in his reflection every day, but the look on her face isn't exactly the same. It's… different. Stranger.
The look with which Yellow Caballero looks at the beaker is nothing short of strange. She almost doesn't look human when she does it. The look she gives the beaker isn't hungry, or even curious. The look she gives it is almost…. fond.
He asks her about it one day. She gives him a confused look before tilting her head in thought, almost like a puppy that is bemused by something its owner has done. Her features scrunch up, and she ponders the question. She is silent awhile, but finally, she speaks.
The words are hesitant and uncertain, almost as if she doesn't believe them herself.
"When I was little," she says, twisting her hands together absently, "my uncle would read me stories about magic and fairies. I always loved hearing them, and I liked to imagine that they were real." She pauses, watching his expression to see if it changes. He forces himself to keep his face empty of any emotion, so as to allow her to to continue without the influence of any bias she may misinterpret him as possessing.
When she sees that he expresses neither condemnation or approval of her reasoning, she continues, taking a deep breath before she speaks. "I-i guess that that love of magic still exists within me somewhere." She smiles faintly.
He doesn't believe her for a second, but he says nothing. Instead, he smiles and picks up a beaker before answering, "I understand that love for things like that." Her shoulders visibly relax, and he realizes that she had been holding her breath. Why, he isn't sure. "When I was a kid, I used to love all those stories about astronauts and outer space. I wanted to go there and be a hero, save the day from aliens."
She laughs quietly, and he is glad that the ice feels broken between them. He has discovered that he works better with people when they aren't stiff as a board around him, something that he is surprised to associate with Yellow, considering that they fought as a team on Cerise. Even still, he understands, and he knows that being an assistant to a scientist is very different than being paired up with them by magical spoons.
She speaks again, and it surprises him since she had been so quiet since his last words. "Maybe you still will some day." Then she turns back to the lab report she has been working on and falls silent.
He stares at her for a moment before nodding. Then he too turns back to his work. Unbeknownst to him, she smiles.