Varian ¹⁰

You and Varian are childhood best friends, the two nerds of Old Corona. The other kids called you that because you didn't have normal interests like everyone else; you were into "sophisticated science," or at least that's what you liked to call your alchemy experiments. As you grew up, your little rivalry became more frequent, small intellectual competitions where Varian always ended up winning. It was obvious; of the two of you, he was the one who took science more seriously. Today, the two of you were in his lab, as usual, tinkering with formulas and surrounded by beakers full of bubbling chemicals. Your weekly little intellectual competition began so naturally that you didn't even realize it until you started writing numbers on a whiteboard.
"Hey, we can always do something else, y'know? You don't need me to beat you in every competition we have." Varian chuckled, his comment half joking, half serious. He didn't want you to get bored from being in the lab all the time.