A/N: Day two! I actually wrote this one right off the bat, 'cause I got an idea for it pretty quick. This might be my favorite so far.
Thank you to Teresa Shade, The-Allenfangirl, and Lena-luvs-cats for reviewing!
Title: Conundrum
Author: liketolaugh
Rating: T
Pairings: None
Genre: Friendship/Angst
Warnings: None
Summary: For the 220th night countdown run by lenaleelee17 on Tumblr. Day 1: Favorite Character.
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man.
Day 2: Science Division
Every exorcist has a file.
The Science Department was still flailing to work out what let someone synchronize, so every exorcist had a thick file devoted just to them. It contains everything there is to know about them, from their height and weight to their eating habits to their personalities and interpersonal abilities, and beyond.
Over time, this file grew to have many purposes. Notes for uniforms or training regimens were kept there. Memos between scientists concerning the exorcist, maybe gift ideas for an upcoming birthday (also noted) or a warning not to talk about something around them, were added into the file, as were notes of any potentially avoidable brushes with death.
After the exorcists' death, the file was kept for research purposes, but it also served as a memorial. The impersonal picture it started with was swapped for a lifelike one, and a back page was added for any memories or messages anyone wanted to share.
And the scientists, they hated the exorcist files. Hated them.
They were geniuses, masters of their field, all of them. They were used to things making sense, to being able to create order out of chaos and magic out of science. But no matter what they tried, what they thought of, what they checked - they couldn't figure out what made an accommodator.
They checked physical attributes. Religious beliefs. Personal habits, intelligence levels, genetic markers. For God's sake, they checked to see whether they all ate a certain kind of food or liked a specific type of music.
The ones who came the closest were the psychological analysts, but even they couldn't contribute anything helpful, just a few notes here and there about traits that all exorcists seemed to share.
Reever sighed, pushed the file away, and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.
Yes, he hated the exorcist files. With a sort of intense fire normally associated with Hell. (Passion, one of the few consistencies they'd found. Subject of passion, irregular. Degree, unreliable. Not a guaranteeing factor.)
"Have we checked interpersonal skills yet?" Johnny asked hopefully, taking off his glasses to rub at one eye.
"We don't need to," Reever replied dully. "Both Kanda and Allen are exorcists. There's no connection." (Maintenance of emotional distance, found in both, disproven by General Tiedoll.)
Johnny lapsed into disappointment and went back to rifling through Allen Walker's file.
Out of all of the files, Allen's had the least information without being redacted. He'd been surprisingly resistant to divulging any of his personal history, so that entire section of his file was very nearly empty. Everything from before he was ten was a blank slate, except for a note of him working as a clown and another of being abandoned by his parents at a young age, as well as suspicions of early abuse. (They'd checked that, too. Family history. General Tiedoll and Noise Marie had both grown up with good parents, so that was out.)
Reever looked back down to the stack of files and put Noise Marie's away to pick up Miranda Lotto's. (Depressive tendencies, also checked. Refuted by Timothy Hearst and General Yeegar. Desire to help, contradicted in Suman Dark and Winters Zokalo.)
Still. Even with how much of a pain it was, how tedious and how futile, Reever would take days, weeks, months of doing this before resorting to the alternative.
Reever was never going to be one of the Order scientists who succumbed to desperation and resorted to human experimentation. He wasn't going to try to make an accommodator, to force that connection. (Morality, checked, discounted by General Zokalo.)
So until they found out what to look for, they'd make sturdier uniforms and better golems and training equipment and anything else they could possibly think of to keep their friends safe.
Because whatever it took to become an accommodator, they didn't have it, but they did have their intelligence, and they would damn well use it.
(Determination. Always present. Not a guaranteeing factor.)
Science Department! I always forget how fun they are. And how hard they try. Well, thanks for reading, and please review!