Herbert was focused. He’d only let the basement whenever he had a shift at the hospital or he needed to shower. Food, sleep, unnecessary with a little bit of Re-Agent to put him back in the zone, so to speak. Tinkering with the formula had shown some remarkable differences, this chipmunk actually hadn’t tried to bite his finger off for an almost full minute after re-animation had begun.
Progress. It showed conscious response. There was always progress.
Herbert was now examining the chipmunk’s braincells under his microscope when finally, upon the third time his name was called.
He blinked a few times, pushing his glasses back onto his face before turning towards his partner. Ah. Right. It had been three days, give or take.
Well, he wasn’t going to stop now, not while he was getting so much done.
“Oh, right. I’ll be up in a minute Dan.” He turned back towards his microscope, already forgetting Dan had been there. He wasn’t hungry, so he didn’t want to eat. Dan could eat without him.
there is one perk to herbert's inattention, and it's that dan can roll his eyes as freely as he needs to. after a couple of years with the man he's learned that any promises of immediate action unrelated to the work are empty. it surprises him that they're still made at all.
"no, you won't." he's almost muttering to himself, and dan usually considers himself a patient man, but west could find a way to irritate a buddha. it's hardly the first time he's had to manhandle him into compliance, but he braces himself for the incoming fuss anyway as he maneuvers past tables and boxes to tug herbert's chair away from the table, not as gently as he really could.
"the re-agent can wait for thirty minutes so you can come upstairs, sit down at the table like a person, and have a crab cake."
he's caging herbert in with his arms, hands firmly on the chair's back at either side of the man's head. sometimes how much bigger he is than west really works out in his favor.
"dinner will get cold, the lab will still be here, and i made remoulade from scratch. so you're gonna get up and wash your hands and come eat. okay?"