Private Strange Garden-Bedfellows

[Madrona A’Mia]

"Got a report of a student down, secondary greenhouse. You got it Madrona?"

The transmission came in over her closed circuit Kor'ethyr commlink and A'Mia stilled amidst her task of harvesting nysillin flower stamen. Her head cocked to one side and the Neti registered a faint sense of annoyance that one of her colleagues was passing off the work to her. She presumed it was because many of the other healers and helping staff within the institution considered the greenhouses her territory and didn't want to overstep.

The call to duty soon found her gliding toward the location of the supposed incident which is when she happened upon a visitor. After a cursory introduction and gathering that Darth Callidus was in some way interested in being involved with Kor'ethyr Academy, A'Mia extended an invitation.

"I must respond to reports of a student down but you're welcome to watch me work and ask questions about the school as we go. Consider this your first tour perhaps?"

The woman had a cheerful bearing to her and she was polite enough, but the warmth or brightness of her tone never seemed to reach her eyes. She guided her new companion toward their destination.

Meanwhile…

​

The greenhouses of Kor'ethyr were lush and strange. A'Mia had leveraged her status as both acolyte of Darth Caedes and Lord Seer of Korriban in order to obtain a great many rare and strange species of plants. Students were expected to comport themselves with a sense of academic professionalism when working with the oftentimes dangerous botanicals residing on campus.

But accidents happen, and sometimes student rivalry or competition can be made to look like an accident. As was the case with one such poor soul, an apparent first year student per their robes. They were somewhere between the ages of late adolescence and very early adulthood, lying unresponsive on the greenhouse floor with a pool of blood forming around them. Whoever had been with them at the time of their likely demise had since fled- or perhaps sought help? It was hard to know.

Tag: Adean Castor

​

 

[Darth Callidus]

Location: Korriban | Kor’ethyr
Tags: Madrona A’Mia Adean Castor

Callidus had made the journey to Korriban on a whim. Most of her time of late had been spent on Denab, overseeing matters of minor importance yet demanding of her attention. Dreary work, and frustrating to say the least. Her escape had been impromptu, but the destination had been on her mind for some time. Freed from the shackles of her own Master, Callidus knew the time was approaching for her to select a student of her own. Passing on her knowledge, and finding an individual to share in her ambitions would do much to ease the strain on her mind.

She had gained access to the Academy easy enough. Few dared to challenge a Sith, though there was enough pushback that Callidus had taken to wandering the halls of the Kor’ethyr alone. It was an impressive place, and the Dark Side energy, so recently returning to the world, flowed through her as she opened herself to the Force.

When she was approached by Madrona, Callidus stopped to greet her. The offer of an official tour, and the chance to see how they handled their students was something Callidus was intrigued by.

She nodded her head. “Very well, lead on.”

When they entered the greenhouse, Callidus took in the sight of the vast array of planet life, her mind working to sort and catalog everything she saw. It was an impressive collection of plants. Most Sith Callidus knew did not consider plant life to be worthy of their attention. Starships, mechanical horrors and other creations of war tended to take priority. Things that could give them direct and immediate result. The finer subtleties of plants were lost on most. It was a good sign that the Academy here might offer the type of education that would make a student appealing to Callidus.

Otherwise, perhaps they might find use as a new fertilizer.

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Madrona A’Mia | Darth Callidus

It had been an accident, first and foremost. Self defense, if one had to call it anything else. Adean hadn't meant to get cornered by one of the other academy's acolytes, just as she hadn't intended offense when she'd brushed passed them earlier that day. Chit, she wasn't even convinced she had been the one to do so in the first place, that she hadn't been mistaken for someone else, the other acolyte too stubborn to correct their mistake.

She most certainly hadn't intended on killing anyone.

But that, it seemed, hadn't been up to her. A mix of adrenaline, panic, and...something outside of her control had called her hand. A wave of the force had flung the other acolyte across the room. The sickening crack when their head met the corner of a planter was deafening in Adean's ears.

She should've just ran then. She should've either sought a faculty member or merely continued on with her day as a visitor from Jutrand. Her feet did not agree with such sentiment, however. Despite her better thinking, Adean found herself approaching the now still, scarily still, form of her would-be bully, the color draining from her face as she got close enough to see the pool of blood forming around the acolyte's head.

No, this wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. It had to be a daydream, or maybe a hallucination caused by spores in whatever these plants made up the greenhouse. Just as the tendrils of a plant slowly reaching towards the other acolyte's crumpled form surely weren't real. But the tendrils, real or imagined, didn't stop until they wrapped themself around the acolyte's leg, until they started to drag.

Adean wasn't quite sure what possessed her to put her hand on the acolyte's shoulder. Perhaps it was the building dread that someone could enter the greenhouse at any moment, or the strange feeling that any moment someone would. Perhaps that feeling was what compelled her to pull the acolyte's outer robe off their shoulders, to muster what shaky strength she had to push the crumpled form in the direction the tendrils continued to pull. Out of sight, among plants that would make the acolyte their meal.

And perhaps that feeling was the same force that pushed Adean to grab gardening sheers and plunge them in her leg. She couldn't help crying out in pain then, as much as she tried to keep the noise to the minimum. But she wasn't done there. Spurred on by adrenaline and panic, she rushed toward the remaining pool of blood, intentionally ignoring any urge to mind her footing, not trying to catch herself when she did indeed trip in the blood. All the better to disguise the trail left when the plant dragged the fallen acolyte to their end.

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

Having taken stock of Darth Callidus , A'Mia's strange eyes perceiving the woman's ambition- making note that like many Sith, it appeared she might pursue her goals no matter the cost. The neti reserved any judgement about what little information she might have gleaned in favor of first putting time into conversation so as to size the woman up. A'Mia was just preparing to ask a question as they entered the greenhouse, but was forestalled by the sharp biting smell of blood.

The neti froze halfway through the door, having opened it for her new guest. She extended her senses outward to seek disturbance or changes to this environment she knew so well. Then her tall frame was suddenly animated by intense movement, her many limbed form becoming altogether other and nothing even remotely bipedal. This allowed her to clamber spider-like across the various garden beds without need for use of the pathways, which in turn left them clear for her companion to follow with haste.

"What have we here?” A'Mia asked cheerfully, her otherwise beautiful face at odds with the spindly creature that came upon Adean Castor .

​

 

[Darth Callidus]

Tags: Madrona A’Mia Adean Castor

Callidus raised a single eyebrow as the thing that had brought her this far suddenly changed its form. It became far more like a creature and scuttled its way into the room, quickly ascending to the ceiling and approaching a figure further in the room. Callidus followed behind, making her way through the plants in the room without haste.

She sensed the lingering taste of darkness in the room, but it was hard to discern what was fresh and what was caused by the simple presence of an Academy full of Sith. She took another step, and her doubts were washed away as the sticky, tangent feel and smell of blood followed her. She glanced down, looking at the puddle, but shrugged her shoulders. She continued walking towards the other two beings in the room, each step leaving a blood soaked imprint in the floor of the room.

"A student looking to commit some extracurricular studying, perhaps," Callidus said, her voice warm and comforting as she looked the other person up and down, yellow eyes sparkling with enjoyment. "If that is the case, I applaud you. To find one so young committed to her studies..." Callidus extended her hand out to the side, and some of the blood pooling on the floor rose up, forming a small, spinning sphere above a single outstretched finger.

"This is curious though."

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Madrona A’Mia | Darth Callidus

Adean's eyes widened with horror as the creature of branch-like spindles skipped over the pathways of garden beds. From her position on the ground, covered in blood both hers and someone else's, the sight would've been the product of nightmares in any other setting (at least one separated from the Sith). Instead, it was Adean who was faced with nightmare fuel, both in situation and the entity she was met with.

The cheerful voice was a jarring juxtaposition, fitting more the creature's face than the body. The confusion spurred on by her question was further propagated by the addition of a second voice, the other more obviously humanoid individual joined them. While Adean had been stunned to silence, her mind now raced for something to say as the sphere of blood rose from the ground. "I was getting ready to take some cuttings and one of the more sentient plants startled me," she started, gesturing both to the sheers and some leaves that looked ready to be pruned. She made a point to gesture in the opposite direction of where the other acolyte was being stowed, doing her best not to gawk at the sight of a plant all but slurping a limb into its being, fortunately (hopefully) to be seen only from her vantage point.

"I meant to find a first aid kit and then one thing lead to another and, well, I slipped." And hopefully, the slip would make her blood and the other acolyte's mix well enough to pass as just one humanoid for the time. Enough time to slip away and never visit this academy again, hopefully. "Apologies, I'll get this cleaned up."

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

"A student looking to commit some extracurricular studying, perhaps,"

"If that is the case, I applaud you. To find one so young committed to her studies..." Callidus extended her hand out to the side, and some of the blood pooling on the floor rose up, forming a small, spinning sphere above a single outstretched finger.

A'Mia's face tilted strangely to the side, registering the use of sanguimancy by Darth Callidus with keen interest. She silently approved of the display of power, and also made some mental notes about the woman's tone- her use of disarming reassurance. The strange neti catalogued that information for a later date, storing it away in the vast mental database she'd gradually collected about social cues and interactions. It occured to her too, that the expiditious form she'd used to reach the student might be considered unsettling.

The Sith Shadow altered her form slowly as she listened to the nervous student, becoming humanoid and bipedal once more. Those strange green-blue eyes seemed to look through Adean Castor or into her as if looking at how her soul worked. There was a pregnant pause as the neti straightened up and considered her net words.

"You appear to be a first year, yes? And can you explain which cuttings starled you so badly that you've gored yourself like this? We will certainly not be wasting your blood, child. Rest assured."

​

 

[Darth Callidus]

Location: Korriban | Korriban Academy
Tags: Madrona A’Mia Adean Castor

Callidus tilted her head to the side slightly, eyes looking the acolyte over once more. She noted the injury in her leg, making a tisking noise as she harnessed the Force to increase the temperature of the blood orb, the sphere evaporating as Callidus took a step towards the young woman. “There is no need for you to stand there injured,” Callidus said, a warm and caring smile on her face.

With a flick of her wrist, Sith Lightning began to dance between her fingers, cascading and arcing from one long, manicured nail to the next as she extended a single finger towards the wound. Callidus looked a Madrona, a single eyebrow raised. “If you would, allow me to fix this, no need to let it keep leaking everywhere. You blood will be useful, but no need to waste too much.”

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Madrona A’Mia | Darth Callidus

Force of will was Adean's only ally when it came to not buckling under scrutiny. As the figure of branches formed a more humanoid shape, Adean's emerald gaze met the mix of blue and green head-on. She kept her mind blank, pushing any unhelpfully panicked thoughts away lest the teal concoction were to probe. It was a skill she hadn't meant to cultivate but nevertheless was useful in managing her tendencies for anxiety, even more so when she was decidedly not who she was claiming to be.

"The cuttings themselves weren't the issue, it was one of the more, uh, vines-on plants. Like that," she gestured toward a creeping tendril still interested in the blood that decorated the greenhouse floor. "I should've sensed it, I know, I was just caught up in my studies."

The other Sith was notably just as puzzling as the Neti. While her voice and smile suggested someone to take comfort in, the very nature of their setting suggested she should do anything but. The orb of blood evaporating into the air did little to ease her nerves. "What do you mean by my blood being useful?" Had the evaporation been a ruse for transporting it elsewhere? Perhaps for some sort of ritual? Was that something they did here?

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

A'Mia merely nodded to Darth Callidus in agreement, one snaking vine of her braid-like hair reaching out to grasp the handle of the still imbedded sheers. The neti healer recognized a teaching moment for this clumsy student and opportunity to perhaps form a stronger connection with a would be teacher.

"Yes, I would very much like to see your healing style - consider this an impromptu interview of sorts if you continue to be interested in shaping young minds at Kor'ethyr."

She then turned her fell gaze back upon the girl, silently turning over and sorting through what she'd already seen. Her mind was not open for glimpses inside, like blast doors sealed tightly shut, and she saw turmoil within her too but the girl's guarded nature did not allow A'Mia to glimpse clues as to what divided her so.

"Hold still, this is likely to hurt."

A'Mia said cheerfully before pulling out the sheers in one smooth tug, moving aside enough to let the other woman work but circling a bit so she stood nearly shoulder to shoulder with Adean Castor as she explained then inquired.

"Sith Alchemy, Sorcery, and even some biotech are just a few examples of how we can avoid the waste of blood already spilled. Tell me girl, what is your name and which House within Kor'ethyr do you aspire to?"

​

 

[Darth Callidus]

Location: Korriban | Sith Academy
Tags: Madrona A’Mia Adean Castor

Callidus waited for just a moment, watching as the creature withdrew the shears from the Sith student and letting the pain and hurt from the action settle over their mind. Pain was a valuable lesson for the Sith, and Callidus was a firm believer in learning from ones mistakes. After a few moments to let the pain begin to settle, Callidus moved forward with the next bit of pain.

The Sith Lightning arcing around her fingers, she traced a single, manicured fingernail along the edges of the cut the tool had made. Skin would begin to sear, the edges darkening and cauterizing any potential infection as Callidus used a small bit of Force energy to pull the edges together, finally searing them closed.

She had allowed small bursts of lightning to escape from her exacting control, dancing up an down the students leg around the injury so as to keep the learning constant.

Nodding at her work, Callidus stepped back, and with a snap of her fingers, the lighting faded. "See? That wasn't so bad was it?"

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Madrona A’Mia | Darth Callidus

Oh great. She was to be the test subject for a practical evaluation. Her favorite. Adean wasn't in a place to argue. Insisting she was fine may only draw more scrutiny. Adean grit her teeth as metal left flesh, doing her best to stifle crying out at the feeling. The cheerfulness in the Neti's voice just as she wrenched the sheets out of her leg was another note of interest. Did all of the faculty/faculty hopefuls here use such a chipper tone? Another layer of mind games, meant to lure acolytes into a false sense of security? She certainly hasn't exaggerated when she said it would likely hurt.

A new sort of pain ran through Adean's leg, sending spasms up the limb. She couldn't help the yelp that escaped her clenched teeth. She has a sneaking suspicion that the sheer level of lightning was unnecessary, pain seemed to be a running motif between both academies. Even with the searing sensation pervading the majority of her senses, she could feel the strange pulling sensation of her skin rejoining. Had she a stronger stomach (or perhaps if it wasn't her own leg being tender to), she might've watched with fascination. As is, her eyes (and nose) were scrunched tightly closed both in reaction to the pain and in a desperate bid to keep her complexion from starting to match the green of her eyes and hair. The last thing she needed was to get sick in the presence of two faculty.

A part of Adean wanted to speak out of turn once the Neti spoke once more. 'Yes, yes, I already know what the possibilities are, I need to know the specifics of this instance. Should I be running or resign to my fate right now?' The words remained solidly in the back of her skull, though, favoring self preservation over tipping her hand that she wasn't a complete idiot.

The fallen acolyte's name came to her perhaps too easily, a fact Adean would have to unpack later. She'd been fortunate to catch it, hearing them speak with their cohorts earlier. The confidence she had when providing it (and other names in similar circumstances) was a nagging concern. "Tavis Ordel, ma'am..?" She wasn't exactly certain on the correct honorifics. "House Derriphan has been the most appealing, at least. Clearly I still have a ways to go, though."

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

Blue-green unblinking orbs bore down on Adean Castor during the display of healing and as the neti listened to the girl explain, her expression still politely serene. A'Mia would have used a very different approach in putting the wound back together, though one that some would find arguably even less comfortable than lightning cauterization. Still, it was always nice to see other people work and the glimpse gave her an even better understanding who this Darth Callidus was.

"You may call me A'Mia, I am Sith Shadow and cultivator of these greenhouses. Here, can you stand and bear weight Tavis?"

The neti offered a hand, knowing that many found her other limbs more unsettling. Since she didn't want an irregular heartbeat interfering with the once over she was going to give the girl. The epicanthix could feel how deceivingly strong the tall slender woman was when she was hoisted to her feet. A'Mia took a step back from her when the girl took to her own feet and scanned her with those strange eyes.

"Well then, the choice is yours. Do we go back to the medical bay and file a formal incident report, notifying your parents or sponsor or whomever…" the woman leaned a bit toward the girl to read her face as she completed the thought.

"Alternatively, we can give you a practical test befitting an up and coming Derriphan student. One that would wipe away this entire little mishap so that it stays between the three of us. What say you?"

Her eyes gleamed and for the first time she blinked, glancing sidelong at Darth Callidus with a knowing look. The woman felt a faint nudge at her mind where A'Mia offered a telepathic message provided she was open to receiving it.

"Feel free to add anything relevant, but I intend to see if the girl can think on her feet quite so quickly when actual skills need to be tested."

​

 

[Darth Callidus]

Location: Korriban | Sith Academy
Tags: Adean Castor Madrona A’Mia

​

Callidus took a step away from Adean after she was done with her work, her head tilted to the side as she inspected her work. Not the best, but it would do. Her battlefield healing system was not pretty but had done Callidus well enough in the past. This healing might leave a mark, or the student could go and find a way to get the wound treated. Whichever it ended up being, Callidus did not care.

As the creature, or rather Sith Shadow Callidus corrected began to give the student her options, Callidus folded her hands behind her back. The Academy system was curious to Callidus. Survival of the fittest had been the common factor among the various Sith Orders and States across the years. To find a place where failure was not a death sentence, but simply a way to learn and grow was odd, but perhaps a useful trait.

Training a strong generation of Sith would help the Order bring a final end to the war with the rest of the galaxy. If the sponsored students were especially loyal to their sponsors...

Callidus kept the smile on her face as she nodded to Madrona, intent to watch the lesson at hand.

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Madrona A’Mia | Darth Callidus

A tight-lipped smile pulled at Adean's cheeks with the introduction. "I should be able to." She still ended up using the offered arm for support, all the better to avoid tipping her hand at being less injured than the scene suggested. She cast a glance at her...healer, no doubt greatful of the assistance but uncertain if this was the setting to express as such. "I'm sorry, I don't believe I've met you, either."

"A practical test sounds lovely, sure," the words left Adean's - no, Tavis' - mouth too quickly for her tastes. She took a step back as the Neti leaned in, leg wanting to buckle as she shifted weight though she kept upright with grit teeth.

"What did you have in mind?" She did her best to pivot the nerves in her voice to eagerness, hoping she didn't sound as desperate as she felt. There was no telling how the faculty would react to discovering the Tavis Ordel on file did not match the one in front of them.

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

"Good!"

Her voice rang with bright eagerness that didn't reach her eyes. The woman whirled suddenly to usher them deeper into the greenhouse. She gestured to one particular raised garden bed wherein a grouping of strange succulents grew in neat rows and a tidy workstation beside it. Each row appeared to contain a slightly different variant.

"My idea is this: Tavis, you are to craft a poultice for your wound. You may ask us each one pertinent question to aid you in the test and you may ask for one boon so that you can complete your task. If we do not know the answer to your question then you are permitted to ask another, and your boon must be a specific application of our power or knowledge. Darth Callidus if you are willing to co instruct, will you tell this student briefly about yourself so she might ask a prudent question and boon of you?"

The woman indicated the workstation and garden bed once more to clarify the task to Adean Castor .

"You are to choose plants only from this section and you may also use any tool on the work station, as well as any power inherent to you through the Force."

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Madrona A’Mia

Adean's brow furrowed in concentration and she considered the task at hand. A poultice for her wound...one question each...one boon...it should be simple enough. If she had any experiences with such things. But the stipulations never said she couldn't do further research. Or leave the greenhouse. So she wasn't completely left hanging.

She inspected the workstation further, her pulse quickening when she caught sight of what looked to be booklets, likely instructional pamphlets or at the very least an introduction as to which plant was which. Perhaps this wouldn't be so difficult after all. Her lightened spirits sank when she actually opened the booklet. It had text, certainly, the script being what she could recognize as ancient Sith. Recognizing it was about the extent of her current linguistic talents, with the exception of picking out a few select words. 'Sith' for example, she was pretty solid on as were 'Force' and 'hate. All words that came up pretty often in the classes of her true academy. All words that would likely not be of assistance in this particular circumstance.

She spent a good minute studying the booklet regardless of her proficiency in the language or lack thereof, taking note of visual aids.

Adean paused in the midst of her studying, another idea coming to her. The workbench was big enough to host multiple students at once and with that, multiple booklets. She pulled the other booklets out of their neat cubby, a spark of hope hitting her as a loose sheet of paper came out with them. Someone had been taking notes.

Each booklet had their own scribbles and notations in the margins but one in particular was especially marked up. It must've belonged to someone else who wasn't a practiced speaker of the language, their small handwriting defining at least a couple terms on each page along with a few equations. One page in particular was labeled as 'healing' and 'make extras later'.

"I believe I'm ready to ask a question," she said slowly, still considering the exact wording. "How accurate are this student's notations?"

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

Something else pressing seemed to call Darth Callidus away as the student they'd found began to think on the challenge set before her. A'Mia bade her farewell and turned back to the matter at hand, Adean Castor would be permitted to to ask the two questions and two specific boons of the neti alone instead. The Sith Shadow watched with interest as the girl got to work, studying her almost as much as the girl studied the materials before her.

"I believe I'm ready to ask a question," she said slowly, still considering the exact wording. "How accurate are this student's notations?"

The woman leaned over to examine the indicated notations. She took her time reviewing it and at the very least appeared to have every intention of answering the teen's question as accurately as possible. With the woman so near, Adean might notice the unusual fact that A'Mia did not breath like most other humanoid- if she respirated at all for that matter. She also seemed to be able to hold very still when she was not ambulating, almost like a living statue. Finally the woman straightened up quite suddenly and answered.

"That student's notations are roughly 87% accurate, my margin for error on that is .02% in either direction."

A'Mia tilted her head to observe how that information was received and watched for what the girl would do next.

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Madrona A’Mia

Adean stepped away as the Neti approached, not wanting to interrupt and also, more importantly, not wanting to get too close for fear the instructor would start to question if the outer robe was actually hers. The robe was baggy on her, though not by much. She wasn't certain how much tailoring went into uniforms here. The utter stillness demonstrated by the other as she read over the page was unsettling. A less observant individual might not even realize she was sentient at all until she moved once more.

87%. Not bad, if Adean had found the right page (assuming what was asked of her was even in this book). She flipped the remaining booklets to that same page to cross-reference their notes. There was at least one equation the table didn't seem to agree on, the messy handwriting of some suggesting it was one of the latter steps and they had been rushing to finish. Adean could almost imagine the scene as her fingers ran over each booklet in turn. It had likely been late enough in the lab that they had mostly finished the experiment itself and had turned to silence as they finished up the busywork of completing the page itself. Some were more attentive than others, one was trying to speed through it all. As such, there hadn't been the compulsion to check each other's work as there had been at the start of the class.

There was one booklet with notably fewer marks when it came to that specific equation, only the starting point and their answer written on the page, no smudge marks of erasure. Adean could practically see them looking at the equation, standing to stretch their limbs, and catching a glance at a booklet on the table next to them. They'd trusted the answer they had seen - Adean wasn't quite sure how she knew that - and had written it down without another thought. Looking at the well-marked booklet, the answers were indeed different.

Flipping to the start of that particular lab, a course of action now on her mind, Adean scrutinized the pictures now, pulling plants that she believed matched the pictures. Even if this book wasn't actually built for the task at hand, the fact that what they had been working on was healing-based gave her a starting point. Assuming she got the plants right. There was one or two she was solid on, another couple she was caught between, and another she notably did not see on the visual list but pulled anyway. A control to check for deception.

"Alright, as my boon, I would appreciate it if you would check and correct these plants for the purpose of making a poultice." Even if it didn't match the plants indicated in this lab exercise, the booklets would give her the equations and steps to potentially go off of.

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

That unblinking gaze moved from the face of Adean Castor to the booklet proffered. It seemed the botanical was considering if the boon was within reason, or perhaps she was merely studying it before acting. Regardless the neti soon nodded and worked quickly. Her penmanship was slender and spidering, her marks precise. She paused halfway through, appearing to double check her work, then continued to scan the rest of the document. Once absolutely satisfied with her work she handed it back. The woman subtly shifted her form so she grew a bit taller, more able to look over the student's shoulder without crowding her overmuch.

In the notations that were added, corrected or clarified to make them 100% accurate, there was a clear connection being drawn between two specific plants. One of which needed to be crushed for its properties to be most effective, the other which required a powdering process in order to avoid side effects of third degree burns. Both of which appeared medicinal when prepared correctly. The workbench itself had a number of tools- ranging on a spectrum from tried and true "old faithful" equipment such as a mortar and pestle, all the way to an insta-dehydrator and exceedingly expensive looking laser scalpels.

​