Author's notes: As a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, I am forced to attend Chemical Seminar (basically, people from other colleges come in and talk about their research) for four semesters and no credit. Most of the lectures are far above my head. (And all the other undergrad's heads, too.) Anyway, this is just a chance to poke fun at the class. And I am making no money off this fic, nor do I own Slayers. Don't bother suing unless you want one of my organic chemistry books. (And trust me, you don't. The one I would give you can't explain anything worth beans. But I digress.)
Rated G though there is one gloomy and slightly annoyed chimera. No profanity or perversion, I don't like them.
"I don't want to go listen to some weirdo talk about something over my head!" Gourry complained to Lina.
"None of us want to go," Lina replied.
But they had no choice, as attendance was mandatory.
When they got there, Amelia and Zelgadis sat in the middle. Xellos sat up front in hopes he could annoy the speaker. Lina, Gourry, and Filia all sat in the back row. Lina and Gourry each brought a stash of food with them, and Filia brought tea. Sylphiel decided to come to the lecture so that she could make sure her friends were doing well. While she enjoyed cooking school, she missed some aspects of the regular college. Besides, she was so good at cooking that her work wasn't that difficult. It was also enjoyable, as she was learning lots of new recipes and techniques. She figured she could cook her friends a meal after the lecture. Sylphiel sat with Zelgadis and Amelia, as she felt like she would get more out of the lecture sitting near them.
Dr. Rezo began the lecture by introducing the speaker. This week, Eris would be talking. She was going to discuss the importance of maintaining chemical balances while growing chimeras.
Eris talked on and on for about fifty minutes. She covered a wide variety of topics, including the importance of the pH of the growing solution to the temperature. She also talked about how much light should be given to the chimera and what nutrients it should be given. She also mentioned that it was possible, but very difficult, to make chimeras in an instant. She even noted that Dr. Rezo was the one person that had actually succeeded in doing so. She looked directly at Zelgadis when she said this.
While Eris droned on, Xellos made a wide variety of faces at Eris, until Dr. Rezo gave him a "look." Xellos figured it wouldn't be a good idea to test Dr. Rezo's wrath, at least not when it came to Eris. He knew Dr. Rezo had to be pretty powerful if he could sense those faces. Amelia and Zelgadis tried to pay attention, although Amelia thought that making chimeras was unjust. They were hoping Eris would say something about curing chimeras, but that didn't happen. From the back row, Lina and Gourry ate. Filia drank her tea. Lina and Gourry started to write notes back and forth. Filia plotted ways to annoy Xellos.
When it was time for questions, Zelgadis immediately asked about curing chimeraness. But that was not part of Eris's research, so she could not answer the question. This annoyed Zelgadis so much that he began a Rah Tilt. Amelia stopped him, though, knowing that it wouldn't hurt Eris and that he would get in big trouble.
"I can't help it! I feel like everyone out there is out to annoy me about my condition!" Zelgadis shouted.
"Oh, come on Zelgadis-san. Lots of people like you how you are. You shouldn't be so glum about it. It isn't good for you to be so hard on yourself," Amelia replied.
The lecture was ended and everyone left. Xellos wandered off to do whatever it was he did in his spare time. Everyone else went back to the apartment where Sylphiel lived. She cooked them a nice dinner. For once, Lina and Gourry showed manners while eating. They also did not expect Sylphiel to keep their plates full. They figured that they could get more food later.
At first, Sylphiel wanted to talk about the lecture. However, Zelgadis was so sore about the whole thing that the topic was quickly dropped. She didn't want her apartment destroyed.
The group left Sylphiel's apartment after some cleaning up had been done. Filia went back to her room to make some new tea blends. Lina and Gourry went to check out a new restaurant that supposedly had the world's longest buffet. Xellos was still no where to be found, and no one was interested in finding him. It was then that Zelgadis confided in Amelia that he believed that Rezo was still out to get him.
Amelia could only nod. She knew that nothing she could say would comfort the gloomy chimera.