[ PROJECT: OBJECT MENTALITY ]

• CHAPTER 4 •

[ This room felt weird, very, very weird. It was sort of long yet spread out, so everyone could move freely. Even then, it felt a bit crowded. Suitcase was weirded out by this, but she did not have much to really say. As she let herself just observe, there were a lot more things to suddenly look at. Maybe touch? To get a feel of?
There were two, small yet long tables that stretched across the walls, with individual potions separately arranged on all of them quite neatly. Test Tube must have put a lot of effort into the presentation, huh.

"So uh, do we drink these or something? Is that it?" Nickel asked, looking around. "Not sure." Was all Fan could reply with. Suitcase stuck by herself in the near back of the group, mumbling a bit to herself. It felt.. weird here. She had a horrid feeling that something would go terribly wrong, but she was unsure of what could happen specifically.
Suitcase watched everyone, except for Knife and Mic it seemed, scatter around the room to get a taste of the odd drinks. "Tch, bunch'o bozos." Suitcase heard Knife mutter to himself, turning to the door that they entered from, while Mic cleared her throat. "So uh, have you had a nice morning so far?" Mic asked politely, fidgeting with her hands a bit. Suitcase hummed, and replied with "I guess. It's been pretty eventful already for me though, if you couldn't tell." While they both chuckled a bit.
"How about you?" Suitcase turned to Microphone now. "Oh! It's been.. quiet. Up until now." She gave a vague response, but that felt expected, at least from Suitcase's perspective.

Suddenly, everyone stopped, as a slight ringing noise was heard from the ceiling. They all looked up, to see a small intercom in the corner. "Ah, I see you all have already begun taking a sip at the beverages I have set up for you all! There aren't enough for everyone it seems." The voice said. This was clearly Test Tube.
Fan, who was in the corner downing a pink potion, coughed a bit. "This is tangy.." he grumbled, placing a now-empty beaker back right where it was on the table.
"This is more of a small test of this intercom, but I simply ask for you to finish these concoctions I've set, then we can head to the next part of the experiment." Test Tube's voice spoke, before the ringing noise stopped and it was silent again for a second or two.

As everyone either waited around or finished the rest of the potions, they all began silently stood in different places of the room, waiting for something to happen. It was quite awkward like this, with nobody talking or even moving. "..." Suitcase looked at Microphone, who shrugged back at her, unsure of what else to do as well.
"..So er, did we all enjoy the drinks?" Cheesy sheepishly smiled as he tried to stir up a conversation. "Drinks? I doubt you could even call them a drink, disgusting." Yang rolled his eyes, while Fan did a fake cough, as it grew silent again, for a few moments.

The door to the entrance of the laboratory opened, so everybody turned around, and there stood Test Tube, with her iconic lab coat and a pair of round glasses. "Well, that luckily did not take too long now, did it?" She chuckled, placing her hands into the pockets of her coat. "So uh, what now." Paintbrush asked, looking off to the side.
"Ah, here, is the enticing part." Test Tube had a cheerful look on her face, and she made it clear she was hiding something behind her back.
Before she could explain what she was going to do, there was an audible yawn from one of the corners of the room. Test Tube seemed confused for a split moment, and turned around (still hiding what she was holding), to see Knife eyeing the door. "I'm tired of this." He announced. Test Tube had a glimpse of agitation on her face. "Can I call it quits?" He asked, though it did not seem like he would give Test Tube a choice anyway.
"My apologies.. are you asking to leave?" Test Tube tried to confirm what she assumed was happening. "What does it look like? I don't wanna be here." He answered, crossing his arms. "Hah, Knife. We'be only just begun this test." Test Tube giggled. "Couldn't care less." Knife argued. Test Tube's smile quivered, and she did a small frown as Knife walked to the door. He tried to open it himself, to no avail. "Knife.. come on! It won't hurt to stay a little longer.." Lightbulb gleefully offered, but was interrupted.