The air in the lab hung thick, a miasma of chemical fumes and the low hum of machinery. I adjusted the goggles perched on my nose, the lenses reflecting the flickering light of the arcane lamps. A small, almost imperceptible smile played on my lips. My latest acquisition was… promising.

I had watched them for weeks, carefully observing their habits, their movements. They were a creature of routine, predictable, almost boring, yet there was an undeniable pull. Perhaps it was the quiet intensity they possessed when they were focused on their work, or maybe it was the flicker of rebellion I'd caught in their gaze when they thought no one was watching. Whatever it was, I needed to study them, to understand the source of this… fascination.

The capture had been effortless. A simple application of a potent soporific, and they had drifted into my arms as easily as a feather falling to the ground. Now, they lay on the examination table, breathing shallowly. Their chest rose and fell with a rhythm that, admittedly, was rather… calming. It was an anomaly, something that didn't belong amongst the frantic calculations and volatile concoctions of my laboratory, and that made it all the more compelling.

“You’re awake,” I said, my voice a low, gravelly rasp that echoed in the silent lab. It had been a while since I had spoken aloud to another living being.