Crescent Moon

It Started With Pet Names

Gladion was sitting in front of the lab computer, working on figures for his upcoming presentation at student seminar. The immunofluorescence images he has weren't the best, but they certainly showed what he wanted to prove. It was just a matter of making his presentation in a manner that proved his overall hypothesis.

As he stared at the computer screen, he heard a knock at the door. He looked up to see a dark haired girl with grey eyes leaning against the door, smiling.

"Can I help you?" Gladion asked, clearly annoyed by the interruption.

"You're Gladion, right?" The girl asked, looking amused.

"Yes?" Gladion's eyes suggested she quickly get to the point of the visit.

The girl's eyes wandered to the cell phone on the desk next the computer Gladion was working on. "Is this your phone?"

Gladion nodded. "Why-" Before he could even get his question out, the girl grabbed his phone and started typing in. "What are you-"

The girl smiled, and continued to type on his phone. After putting the cell phone back down, she smiled. "Now you have my number. So if we have a get together, I'll let you know." She gave him a knowing glance before leaving.

Gladion stood up and looked out the door to see he walking down the hall. Frowning, he want back inside to look at his cell phone. He saw the girl sent a text to presumably her number. A few seconds later, another message popped up. It was nice to meet you. Gladion glanced at the name linked to the number. Moon. He rolled his eyes, and put his cell phone on the side before sitting down in front of his computer again to work on his presentation.

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Gladion adjusted his dress shirt as he stood in front of the lecture hall. He had his presentation up on the computer, and quickly scrolled through it to make sure there were no formatting problems. He watched as the students filtered in. Of course, he recognized the students from his own year, but he didn't pay attention to the first year students. It didn't help that his PI had no room to have any first year students rotate, so he had no idea about any of the first year students.

Well, not all of them. He knew one, his sister, Lillie. She decided to enter the same grad program that Gladion did, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to pursue a PhD or MS. They moved into a two bedroom apartment, since it was cheaper than having two single bedroom apartments. He spotted her long blonde hair as she walked down the stairs. He watched her laugh, as she turned to say something to someone behind her. As she turned to enter a row of desks, he saw a medium skinned guy with hair in a high ponytail laughing as he followed her into the row. Gladion felt his eye twitch, as he saw the guy put a hand on Lillie's shoulder as they picked their seats. Gladion didn't have a brother-sister complex, but he was very protective of his sister. And he would need to better evaluate this ponytailed-guy before he was going to get anywhere close to his sister.

The students settled, and the professor made a nod to Gladion to begin. Gladion went through his presentation. He stumbled a bit on one slide, but overall he though it went smoothly. He ended, and it was now time for questions from his committee members and the other students.

Dr. Kukui spoke up. "So the evidence you presented supported your hypothesis. But can you elaborate more on the overall picture of why you are interested in the mechanism?" Dr. Kukui was young, but brilliant. He had a very successful lab, despite it starting only 6 years ago.

Gladion nodded. "That is a great question, and yes, I may have not emphasized it enough in my presentation." Gladion went on to explain his reasoning for his interest in the signaling mechanism and its far reaching implication. Dr. Kukui seemed satisfied with his answer.