Buock, City of Alchemy, 1917 Crecian Calender
"Jekyll, you should sleep now."
Like a letter through the post-flap, an old man with golden spectacles slipped silently through the gap in the door.
Though his presence seemed almost ghost-like, his figure in the door frame demanded a certain heaviness and weight.
The old man's marbled white hair hung frizzly down his star-studded emerald gowns, brushing lightly over a pair of pointed shoes. His beard swept down his collar like the tail of a fawn, an impressive feat for a man ages past the norm of balding.
Tucked underneath his arm was a single night-light, bringing a new swathe of colour to the dark workshop.
"I'm almost finished, I think the composition of the Euclid coordinates and Base-One geometry was slightly skewed in my last attempt."
Like the crisp flow of a river, a youthful voice responded.
Amongst all the oil paintings, bookshelves and cluttered parchments, a figure sat in the shadows.
He was enveloped on all sides by various distilleries and Bunsen burners, teetering on the edge of the sandalwood tabletop.
A thick pair of safety goggles clung to his face.
"Even though it'll be hard, I'm already two years in. After I get through this slight roadblock I'll be able to compose an alkahest."
As if to prove his point, Jekyll gestured vaguely in the direction of one of the numerous charts, graphs and calculations.
Nicholas raised an eyebrow.
"Ahem."
Realizing his mistake, Jekyll shuffled around the clusters of paper to pick out the referenced material.
As he turned, the soft glow of the near-dead oil lantern shone dimly from its pedestal, contouring the edges of the young man's frame.
His skin was like crystal dust, white yet not translucent â a healthy, opaque shade.
Cursing Nicholas' adamant insistence that the electrical lights the house had recently been outfitted negatively affected quality of sleep, he delved deep into the mottled dusk of the bench.
"Snookie, move."
He found what he was looking for after a while underneath the lazily sleeping belly of an albino snake.
The snake lifted its eyelids with irate derision, but nonetheless slithered slightly to the left.
Jekyll hoisted the paper up.
"See?"
Holding up the piece of paper with his leather-gloved hand, it was a series of small and ornate handwriting and finely illustrated diagrams.
To the untrained eye, the alchemic report was close to a foreign language.
Jekyll waved it around, before pinning it to the closest empty space on the corkboard. Rubbing his eyes, he turned back to the boiling containers on the apparatus.
"Jekyll." The old man enunciated firmly. "Enough is enough. Pack up."
Jekyll's mouth twitched sullenly, but he eventually slumped in defeat, nodding.
Stretching out a hand, he stopped the Bunsen burner's boiling, and began to shelve away the books and chemicals which were strewn around this room.
Other than his latest expeditions, Jekyll was quite a neat freak, so he didn't find organizing the workshop a particularly nasty chore.
While he was packing up, he addressed the old man:
"Nicholas, I really am almost done. If I can work around the problem with the Armani theorem, I'll be able to figure out the chemical formula for the alkahest."
After switching on the air cleansers and turning on the ventilators, he hung his long-sleeved gloves up on two hooks.
Jekyll had a tall and handsome disposition that attracted many an eye. If not for his oblivious to any romantic or sexual affairs, he could quite easily find himself with a damsel on one arm.
He had broad shoulders and long limbs, with a comparatively slim waist that was cinched by a smock.
Jekyll undid the drawstring of his apron, and it promptly joined the gloves on the hooks.
He pulled his goggles onto his forehead.
His eyes were a silvery grey, like an eagle's, analytical and collected.
Flopping over his finely sculpted features was twisted locks of steel-grey hair, which ate the shadows of the room and trapped them in its embrace.
In fact, Jekyll himself was not a very brightly coloured person.
In the Buock Alchemic Academy, his peers, though not to this face, would often remark at how Jekyll's daily commute to the campus must certainly involve a trip through the chimney.
"I believe you, and I'm sure you'll be ready by the next Buock Fair."
His wrinkled face broke into a comforting smile, and he reached out to ruffle Jekyll's hair.
Even though his tone was steady, in his heart Nicholas was proud. He himself had never come close to discovering the alkahest, the universal solvent, and he was a Fifth Circle Alchemist of the highest rank.
The alkahest was a rarely researched pathway, with mere abstract concepts to support a flimsy theory of its existence.
For Jekyll, who had only recently been deemed First Circle, credit was due where credit was due.
"If I can solve one of the Alchemic Anomalies and display it at the fair, I can get representative status and be able to access the Royal Library. I can't wait until achieving the Fifth Circle."
Even though his grey eyes never brightened, a small smile hung on his lips as if the very thought of it gave him great pleasure.
Nicholas shook his head at Jekyll.
"I worry for you sometimes, Jekyll. Most youths your age would be out happily enjoying the spring-time of life."
Nicholas thought of his wife Perenelle, and her own apprentice. They seemed to be facing polar issues. Nicholas wanted nothing more than for Jekyll to experience the many flavors of youth, while Perenelle was going wrinkled from stress trying to keep Hyde from blowing up half of Buock.
Jekyll snorted, and quickly rebutted.
"I am happily enjoying my youth."
Nicholas sighed, but chose not to comment.
There was a reason that Jekyll was regarded as one of the future pillars of alchemy, and it had everything to do with his sheer passion and willpower as much as it did his prodigious intellect.
Most alchemists would never come close to solving an Alchemic Anomaly, and yet for Jekyll, it only served as a means to an end â to enter the Royal Library.
For some, they'd need a great motivation and driving force to acheive what Jekyll had.
For Jekyll, his curiosity and intense desire to learn was more than enough motivation.
"There's a reason why they restrict access until the Fifth Circle. Only myself and fifteen other alchemists have the right to enter. You've only mastered the Law of Water. Most of the library's content won't even be usable."
For alchemists, knowledge was never something to be hoarded, but that didn't mean it was widely published either.
Stealing credit and misconduct of actions were problems in any field; even the academic field of alchemy.
Actually, representative of high combat power, alchemists were even more likely to face lethal repercussions.
For that reason, alchemists tended to restrict certain subjects and materials until the person in question could prove themselves worthy of it.
Buock boasted both the largest population of alchemists in the kingdom, and consequentially the most bountiful gathering of alchemic knowledge and wisdom.
For Royal Alchemists like Nicholas, it was where they would call home.
For apprentices like Jekyll, it represented everything they were working towards, as well as their purpose in life.
"Actually, why don't you ask Hyde to help you? That kid's mastered the Law of Fire, and I know Perenelle's been doing increased research into the Armani Theorum as of late."
Nicholas hummed, only to see Jekyll's face contort in an wretched expression that was applause worthy considering his handsome features.
If Nicholas remembered correctly, the two were quite close as kids, although that may have been a misconception arising due to Hyde's unfortunate habit of dragging Jekyll down the streets of Buock at the speed of light.
He had bittersweet memories of the old toymaker Herschley knocking on his door in the early hours of the morning with the intention of fleecing the two kids and mounting them on his front porch.
Nicholas couldn't say he blamed him either, considering the flame-junkie Hyde had set fire to half the toy stock.
Only when they had reached adolescence had the two drifted apart, and neither Nicholas nor his wife Perenelle knew the reason â and it wasn't for lack of asking.
"I can do it alone."
Jekyll had a resolute voice, not even slightly considering Nicholas' suggestion.
Thinking of the blonde jackass whose only academic pursuit seemed to be in the analysis of adult magazines, Jekyll decided he could do without.
If Hyde spent half as much time studying as he did flirting, he might really ascend to the heavens.
In fact, aside from the latest group project that had coincidentally seen his childhood trio of Jekyll, Hyde and Blaine distastefully forced back in close proximity, he would rather leave Hyde as nothing more than a figment of his memory.
"Jekyll, alchemists aren't lone wolves. Even my research into Chrysopoeia was done with the aid of three other alchemists."
Nicholas gave a gentle nudge in the direction of reconciliation.
"That isn't the problem. The problem is Hyde."
Jekyll's face only screwed up more as if he were forced to relive a series of traumatic pasts.
Thinking of how Hyde had paraded him through the streets of Buock like a ragdoll, offending ever living entity capable of even a shred of anger, he felt a deep regret.
To say he held enmity against Hyde would be wrong, but neither did he fantasize of associated with him.
He was also slightly bitter at the fact that Hyde had much the same achievements as him in alchemy, despite only seeming to gallivant his briefs between every brothel and ball dance in the kingdom.
The only thing Hyde had more of than alchemic merits was STD's.
"Why? Weren't you close as kids?"
"Close as two kids can be after being forced to ingest alchemist Kingston's hyper hair growth solution."
Even now, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
"Okay, I'll drop it, but you should seriously consider it. Even if you don't agree with someone as a person, science doesn't have emotions nor memories."
Jekyll paused, and even though he had a complicated look, he eventually nodded.
"I'll ask him about it tomorrow. We're working together on the group paper for the Four Laws and their proper use in alchemical processes. C'mon Snookie, we're going to bed."
Nicholas nodded, gratified.
He picked up the albino python and wore him like a scarf around his neck, before stalking into his bedroom.
Under his breath, he murmured:
"Just asking Hyde for help doesn't mean I'm friends with him anyways."