Day eight. The eighth day, the big 2^4. Number of protons in an Oxygen nucleus. How many legs does a spider have? Eightamundo. Quite possibly one of the last, if not the last days I'd have to spend wasting away at my desk, inventing work for myself to fabricate some legitimacy and fill the time. I was expecting them to call a meeting just before lunch, then we'd all get to hear the good news.
And that they did. I was so excited that I couldn't bring myself to do any work, so I spent the morning proofreading my reports. When they called the meeting I felt like a kid back in middle school, and this was like the assembly before summer vacation. You know, the one where they'd do the talent show or some other kind of special event? I never forgot those, mostly because they were so spectacularly awful. They were school talent shows, after all, so they couldn't reject any applicants. All the (relatively) good stuff was put at the end, so people wouldn't skip out early and miss the excitement of a pair of kids balancing a stick upright~! Damn those were terrible, I don't think I ever managed to make it to the end of one.
My train of thought derailed just as the last of the scientists filed into the meeting room. While the dull roar of conversation subsided, the head supervisor- My Boss- Dr. Ter Borcht stood and straightened her glasses before reading from a clipboard.
"As you're all surely aware, our financiers aren't very happy with the project's progress… I understand it's through no fault of our own, but regardless, that is the situation."
She paused for effect, mostly met with quiet chuckling and expectant eyes filled with hope.
"The project is being significantly downsized as a result, to about half its current size-"
Without waiting for her to finish, the room broke into applause, cheers, and a couple overly-elaborate secret handshakes. It was a good minute or two before everyone settled down.
The Dr. cleared her throat before adding meekly, "... They've also hired a new specialist GM, who will be here by tomorrow to begin personally evaluating and directing our 'research' here"
That bit of news got a far more lukewarm response. She went over a couple of other minor announcements, but no one really paid much attention. Everyone was eagerly waiting for news on which half they were in… Or maybe the Applied Sciences division just had their work in the kiln and didn't want to let it go too long, I really didn't know.
When we were let out, I went right back to my desk. I couldn't help but spend a few moments in a hopeful haze, but then I remembered I still had to get some work done. Nearly half the work day had already been wasted, so I'd have to pick an easy one. I checked my list… And it seemed like there were some misconceptions about Dust. Couldn't get much simpler than that, I could just check online like these fanfiction writers seemed incapable of doing, although I already knew a fair bit myself.
Dust comes in four Primary types: Red, Cyan, Yellow, and Green; AKA Fire, Ice, Electricity, and Wind/Air. These are the only types that occur naturally. Every other Dust type is made by mixing and refining other Dust types in combination.- And just to preempt any stupid ideas people may get, it's not the sort of thing that can be done in the field. It takes some major industrial equipment to combine Dust types, it's not like you can just throw red and blue into a bowl, stir them around and get purple. I can't quite say what the process is for combining Dust, the Dust companies guard that particular facet of their operation very closely, they don't want any more competitors, or civilians figuring out ways of making their own at home.
This means there are between a dozen, and an infinite number of Dust types depending on how exactly combinations work. If red and blue make purple, and red and yellow make orange... Will combining purple and orange make an entirely new type, or will it be the same as combining red, blue, and yellow all in one from the get-go? I can't say. Does quantity or proportion matter? Will a mix of three-parts red and one-part blue make a different shade of purple with new properties? Not a clue. Does it even work like normal mixing colours? Will red and blue actually give you purple, or will it give you chartreuse? I mean, I know there's both white and black Dust. Theoretically only one of those should be possible if it works like any kind of typical colour mixing. I don't know any of it, but I think it's fair to give the benefit of a doubt and say that there are an infinite number of Dust Types.
But no matter what kind it is, all Dust is an energy propellant. By a pretty literal definition in fact, it propels specific types of energy, and in specific ways depending on the type. It means that Dust can theoretically do a lot… But nothing to do with biology, emotions, minds, souls, etc. I mean come on, think. If Dust could do that kind of stuff, that would be the norm, not fire, ice, and electricity. When I was twelve and my dog fell sick, we would have popped over to the store and got some Dust to heal him right away. My mother wouldn't have needed to go to the ICU last year when that car hit her. They both would have survived, and with the help of nothing more than some powder. It's certainly a nice idea, but thought number one should have told you why it was bullshit. We'd have have genetically engineered super monsters. We'd be using Life Dust to resurrect Remnant's greatest warriors from all of time, or spray Death Dust like pesticide and eradicate the Grimm. Do you think there might be a reason that we don't do any of that…?
I think I saw a few people who realized this problem and tried to address it by making what he called an "AU" fanfiction. One trip to Urbandictionary later, I can say I applaud the effort, but the execution is still awful. Sure, you could just set things in a world where this kind of stuff exists, you can do this with anything. "In this AU, Avian Faunus with birds on their wings work", then you don't have to worry about making sense, those issues will be replaced by how lazy and uncreative that is. However you still need to account for these things in the story. I saw tons of stories with the most incredible, impossible Dust types and devices, and a Mary Sue teenager is the only one who bothers to use it. That's just disgustingly lazy worldbuilding. If you want to make an AU with this stuff, make it with that stuff, not just the one character.
I filed my report… Everything but the bits of fanfiction commentary, anyway. I was just finishing up when I noticed an email notification, presumably having been there for quite a while, awaiting my attention. Of course, they'd contact everyone privately about if they were staying or not. I'd been so distracted that I hardly put a thought into the news. I clicked… "We value your contribution to this project", Yada yada… "Sorry to say that we're downsizing", etc….
"...But rest assured, Dr. Batchelder, that you've been selected to stay. As the only supervisor to remain, you will be taking over the role of head supervisor."