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Camellia Remnants     If it weren't for the heroic actions of Regulus (repeatedly insisting on checking out the passages with the great big skull icon and the words 'DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT' Anh had drawn on the visitor map until she explained it so many times it started making her panic) you would all have to hoof it fifteen minutes up a mountain, figure out your way past the no-external-access doors, climb around heaps of barely halfway-disassembled barricades, interpret a map more annotated than a sandbox collectathon game, wiggle around defunct elevators, ventilation shafts, and scary dead ends, and finally notify Anh that it's forty-five minutes past when you all agreed and freak her out.

    Now you only have to do the first part!

    The warpgate drops you off in the riotous noise of the jungle. The daylight slivers that make it through the canopy are halfway blinding, almost stabbing your eyes at first exposure. The white noise of millions of insects, the background melody of singing and screeching birds, and the staccato screaming of wild beasts, is so loud that you have to raise your voice more than usual to be heard. The air is noticeably thinner, so you have to breathe the terrible humidity deep.

    It is no longer February. It's hot as all fuck outside.

    Once you've followed the trail that begins near the peak and ends a little closer to it, relatively cleared of brush, marked by reflective yellow tape and wooden crossbeam steps in its more noxious places, you have the exclusive opportunity to question whether increased socialization has encouraged Anh to remember she invited you, or whether being without her 'roommate' for eight months has made her lonely and weird and frankly a little desperate for company. Either one is an adequate explanation for her actually being ready on time, waiting outside in the abominable heat.

    "Oh-- Hi! Welcome back! I'm so sorry for last time; I promise it's way less annoying to get around now!" she says, waving you down from her position outside the concrete face of the bunker built into the natural rock, blocking you from reading a logo too badly weather-stripped to make sense of anyways. "Since there's no cleaning or anything, I kinda wanted to talk about the Watchtower idea, but, like, you came all this way already, so we can do whatever you want first. Have you eaten?"

    The fact that she had to lave the doors open behind her means that nobody else is on the other end. The control panel with the shitty speaker hasn't been repaired at all. The security camera looks like it was hastily scrubbed clean yesterday. "Oh no wait come inside first! It's sooo hot out!" she says, fully two minutes after she probably should have. You can actually feel the pressure differential between both sides of the door from the difference in temperature.
Ember Ember has never been here before, but he at least asked ahead about the time of year it would be there and, of course, has come dressed appropriately.  He's wearing tan leather, cured with special crystals to help regulate body temperature down to something survivable.  It's still a rough trip, especially dealing with thinner air and hiking a trail.  

"So what kind of person is Ahn?" he asks anyone on the trip itself.  He wonders how much she likes company, because she lives so far away from anything approaching society.  Perhaps she is some hermit who lives on a mountain like in the stories he's read.  Perhaps... a wise woman of sorts?  

When he gets to the top, he isn't expecting to find a young, if not socially awkward, woman.  He listens to her flail about, having his expectations dashed a little.  She COULD still be a wise woman of the mountain, he supposes!  

"I actually don't have much experience in establishing Watchtowers myself, but I do know about establishing secret bases.  Comes with the territory," he states with a shrug.  Ember was still new to the organization.  "Oh, I have not eaten, actually.  The climb was certainly exerting."

When she waves them inside, he stares at the more futuristic door.  Perhaps half expecting to eat him more than just open up... but it IS cooler inside, so he shrugs and accepts Ahn's hospitality.  
Rita Ma      Rita startles a little to see her host through the trees, and perks up from her cheerily meditative backpacking (she never seems to sweat) (wait, backpack? what for?) to wave.

     "Oh!! Ms. Anh! You came out!" she says, almost gushily enthusiastic. Of the house, Rita means. Clearly.

     "Have you eaten?"
     Rita looks at the remaining spongy-crunchy core of the weird alien 'fruit' she was gnawing on and tosses it aside. "Um, no," she says while slipping under Ahn's arm (with a careful, not-getting-juice-on-you side-hug first!). That's a snack, not really 'eating'. "But that's alright, really!"

     'Is Lotus awake?' is the obvious question to be asking, but Rita knows how Anh sort of circles around embarrassing topics to work up her bravery, so instead (after catlike licking a little juice off her fingers) she slides into:

     "You mean, making your bunker a Watchtower? It'd be a good one, but... this place means a lot to you, doesn't it? Bad things sometimes happen to Watchtowers if they get found out. Are you sure?"
Regulus Look it's been like a day since Regulus learned that Lilian killed someone she sort of kind of meant to kill and that it was self defense, she assumes, and she's really bummed about it and all she could do about it was give her some salmon. And so she feels kind of shitty even before she showed up today. It doesn't feel RIGHT that Lilian was pushed to the point in a fight where she killed someone, especially someone she didn't want to kill in the first place, and you can't return someone to life after they've been killed unless you're a chicken hut lady like Trudy and that's probably not a great idea if they're invincible BEFORE being some sort of undead warrior.

So the normally peppy Regulus is honestly downcast, having brought sunscreen along which she'll share with anyone who asks and mosquito repellant for anyone who wants that. It's only a fifteen minute climb but, man, it's still rough.

It feels like it's been forever since she's seen Rita and the last thing she wants to do is dump her problems on Ahn or Rita, but she's being uncharacteristically quiet. And she is even less uncharacteristically wearing a pretty simple outfit, wearing a light blue tanktop and shorts with an APPLe on the former crossing his arms in a way that sort of resemble a skull and crossbones. Along with her usual backpack, she has brought along her old collection of cleaning supplies and APPLe is bringing along his own set along with him with his stick figure arms grabbing tight.

Man, like, the last time she talked to Rita was before the Chicago storm. It's a little dizzyhing to think about.

''So what kind of person is Ahn?''

"Anh is a sweetheart, one of my first watch friends, so you better be nice! She can grow vegetables and stuff. Don't talk bad about her turnips." That last one feels weirdly specific but Regulus doesn't explain. "She's got a roommate named Lotus who I don't know too well but she isn't a flower."

But she is pretty excited that Anh is working to set up her place as a Watchtower since Regulus doesn't know it's dangerous to be a Watchtower. It's just Anh sort of seems a little like the other Watchfolk who are a little shy but, like, not really as extremely so as a lot of them and it's nice that it feels like the resolution of the aforementioned Turnip War and the subsequent cleaning maybe encouraged her a little? She can't be so sure about it and it'd be weird to ask but feeling less useless is nice even if this is way less serious than killing some guy in a fight.

She manages to stomach the walk up the mountain without complaining even once about the heat though that might be because her head is just really not into it and nobody else is complaining about the heat so she'd feel like a heel being the first one. She is real glad she didn't bring her jacket with her.

''I kinda wanted to talk about the Watchtower Idea''

"Hey Anh." Regulus smiles, genuinely but a little tired. "I ate earlier but hey, I can eat again." Regulus promises. "Good to see you. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to do a little extra work while I was here, so I brought the stuff, but I can do that later." Please, please tell her to clean something she needs to do something with her hands that has a measurable impact on the world around her. "It actually feels like a lot of people are considering Watchtowers lately. Shira too, actually." Well she already has one apparently but that doesn't mean it's a FAB Watchtower if Shira is still running around in the woods all the time.

''Oh no wait come inside first!''

"Happy to!" Regulus says, which is the closest she comes to bitching about the humidity and heat. She hurries a little quickly to get in. "Huh? Watchtowers are dangerous?"
Team Timekeeper     To some degree, yes, Team Timekeeper is a part of the Watch. But also, to Vertin's perspective, the Watch is part of Team Timekeeper, and many of them just don't know it yet. Ahn being lonely is a reason in of itself for Vertin to swing by Camelia and pay her a visit, and the potential reemergence of the still-unknown Lotus another, but she *also* needs to drag Ahn further into the social fold so that she can take care of her like a nervous sheep.

    Poltergeist has been here before, and so comes here again! The same is true of Regulus. Both are kind of in bummer moods (the former perpetually, the latter circumstantially), so they need a trip out into the sun to interact with people. Regulus is thanked, and patted on the head, for the bug spray, but somehow the fully wrist-to-ankle-clothed Vertin seems unbothered by the jungle sun and humidity. She isn't, but she seems it.

"So what kind of person is Ahn?"

    "She's very...."

    From beneath her totally obscuring sheet, which is dripping damp with what could be any mixture of seawater, ectoplasmic sweat, or jungle humidity, Poltergeist attempts to come up with adjectives. Oh god. So many of them are bad!!! Why can she only think of the bad ones! She doesn't even mean them in a *mean* way, so why can she only think of 'messy' or 'nervous' or whatever!!!

    Oh god. Oh fuck. She already started the sentence. It'd be so horrible if she started talking badly about Ahn behind her back! And if she hesitates too long then it sounds like she's doing that but just being kinda sorta fake polite about it!!! Fuck!!! She likes Ahn! What's wrong with her! Ahn's weird and awkward too but that's like a good thing when it comes to Poltergeist because Polly can't help being weird and awkward but Ahn waved it off mostly! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    "--Forgiving!" Poltegeist eventually blurts out, a full thirty seconds late, sounding like she's just clawed her way out of drowning a moment before it'd be too late. She pants like she's just ran a marathon, when nothing at all has happened. "Oh, she's got really-- really cool fashion! It's like-- y'-y'know, punk... punk fashion, k-kinda."

    Vertin, blissfully at peace with all of this, adds unhurriedly, "She's remarkably resourceful and clever. She has an incredible knack for figuring out anything she puts her mind to, whether it was the Psychogate incident in the Motherlobe or a piece of technology."

"Have you eaten?"

    Vertin, who hasn't eaten, says, "I'd love to talk about establishing a Watchtower here. Yes, let's sit inside-- the heat's killing me." She's got like three layers on!!!!!

    "Hi, Miss Ahn. Good to, er, see you again." Ha! How often does Poltergeist get to say *that*! Now she's on top of the world!

"Watchtowers are dangerous?"

    "Rather, I'm sure what Rita is referring to is that the Watch has enemies, and making a location a Watchtower implicates it in that conflict. Say a political assassination is carried out, and the assassin flees to a Watch hideout. The pursuing police may damage to destroy the building itself in their attempt to arrest them."
Father Berislav      On the way up, Berislav makes introductions to the people he hasn't met in person.

     What kind of person is Ahn? "We haven't spoken or worked together as much as I'd like. Today will be a good opportunity to change that, I think."

     At the end of the mountain path, tiring though it might be, he's no emotionally worse for wear. "Hello, Ahn," says Berislav. It is easy to forget, for a litany of reasons--because he doesn't mention it often at all, because he's a terrorist, because he's comfortable operating in space, because the *era* of his world comes up so much more often, because he's got a giant fucking robot--that he's from Ohio. He's sweating buckets in the jungle, and the fact that he's wearing his cassock isn't making it any better. Despite that, his disposition is as warm and cheery as ever.

     Has he eaten? "I haven't!" he shakes his head. Invited inside two minutes later, "I'd be delighted to, thank you."

I actually don't have much experience in establishing Watchtowers myself, but I do know about establishing secret bases.

     Berislav smiles. "The gulf between the two idea isn't large. After all, secret bases are only a secret to most, not to everyone."
Camellia Remnants     'Oh!! Ms. Anh! You came out!'

    "Yeah! Thanks to you!" Anh mirrors Rita's enthusiasm right back, though she's the 'side to side' type more than 'suddenly forward' or 'up and down'. "I mean it's all because of your patience and support y'know."

    It's true. Look at her. She isn't even wearing dogass army fatigues that she grabbed out of a locker after the last, identical set fell to pieces because there are like a hundred and fifty more where that came from. She's investing in fancy technology now! Like athletic innerwear and vented pants! It's like she'd prefer to sweat less and not have random brush wear all her clothes down! There are even colours.

    'Hello, Ahn'

    "Oh wow it's been forever! How are you doing?!" If Anh is saying 'forever', it's been two weeks or two years. "Oh you came at the perfect time and everything then!"

    'Hey Anh.'

    "Regulus! I got--" Anh pauses. Spotty conversational skills she may have, but she's far from oblivious to people's moods; especially someone who wears them on their sleeve like Regulus. "Um. Are you sure? I can think of something if you want, but I don't want you to think you can only come here if you do chores."

    'I'd love to talk about establishing a Watchtower here. Yes, let's sit inside-- the heat's killing me.'

    "Right! Wouldn't it be a huge help if you could just come right through the gate already inside? I know the normal one isn't far--" Merely twenty minutes of brisk walk uphill under tropical mountain conditions. "But what if there's an emergency, right?"

    Hi, Miss Ahn. Good to, er, see you again.'

    "Good to see you Polly!" Now Anh is popping off too! She remembers Vertin saying her name after she had a mental breakdown and started apologizing for the Vietnam War! "Welcome back!"

    . . . . . . . .

    It seems that 'way less annoying', as she put it, only goes as far as someone with ample motivation, one pair of hands, one week of forewarning and the executive function two use two days of it could achieve.

    The 'lobby' still has dirt caked onto the floor, but that's probably just inevitable if you're going in and out during any season it rains here. The gritty stuff was swept at least. The dusty old empty security office was totally irrelevant, so she ostensibly focused on finally throwing out the bollards and tape that were just heaped in the corner for years, and moved those great big orange plastic crates ssssssomewhere. Probably still not opened, but at least the space is useable now.

    She clearly started deeper in and just worked her way up, because it looks like she got tired in the middle of relocating sandbags that have probably been here since before you were born and only ended up clearing one and a half of the staircases. The way Anh beelines for the one she finished after is like she she seriously thinks you won't notice if she goes fast enough. Even if that were possible, she ruined it by going for the coat rack bar riveted into the inside wall by the door out of habit, realizing she hasn't actually taken anything off it to go outside (and thus there is nothing to hang back up), and turning back around to improvise a bow and a "Welcome in!" like she meant to do that.

    Jesus Christ. Did she really just throw a tarp up over the map so you can't see how bad it is? Most of you already know!
Camellia Remnants     'I actually don't have much experience in establishing Watchtowers myself, but I do know about establishing secret bases. Comes with the territory'

    "Oh no problem! That's still super helpful!" Anh says, remembering to take the steps one at a time by the first landing and slowing up for people who don't habitually scramble around these routes like a parkour habitrail. "I mean a Watchtower is a kind of secret base anyways. It would come with . . ." Suddenly sensing something, she squints upwards at Ember. "Being a Watchman?"

    'You mean, making your bunker a Watchtower?'

    "Well, even if I'm the only one here, it's not really my bunker anyways, y'know?" Anh says, once she arrives at the great big four-way intersection on the main floor below. To her credit, the floors are mopped, the indoor inset lights are actually running, she finally fixed the maintenance hatch, replaced the broken ladder down, and she even turned off the scary red emergency illumination in the engineering crawlspaces. She just didn't get to the spray paint reminder markings, so you can unfortunately still read 'NO', 'NUH UH', 'ONLY IN WINTER', and 'DUMMY HOLE' at various turns and crossings.

    "I know it doesn't matter that it's a government building considering the government doesn't exist, but it's not like I ever pounded a big sign into the lawn that says 'Anh's bunker! Tresspassers will be shot!' right? If someone else found their way up here like I did, I'd let them stay!" Following mostly the same route as before, the most notable part is that you don't have to make any detours that aren't caused by the doors that've been welded shut. The sandbags down here are gone. The barbed wire too! Of course, all the little restrooms and supply closets and inexplicably tiny 'lounges' are the same as before, but those aren't important.

    "Actually, when I got here, I thought I'd have to sneak in. I followed the emergency broadcast way back in the day, but it was obviously already sealed up. Nobody outside, no helicopters, nothing." Come to think of it, she must have switched off the speaker system, too. The absence of the tattered radio warning on faded loop is strangely . . . kind of unnerving? It's so quiet now. Was leaving that on her idea of white noise? "I think I laughed until I cried when I figured it all out."

    'Bad things sometimes happen to Watchtowers if they get found out. Are you sure?'
    'the Watch has enemies, and making a location a Watchtower implicates it in that conflict.'

    She stops in front of the familiar staircase around the eastern side; the gentle incline and slow curve with broad steps that lets you see the geodaisic glass dome slightly before you get up them. The mystery of the orange crates is solved; she used the space where the dismantled barricade parts were unceremoniously tossed before. The torch-severed doors are just propped against the wall now. It looks very neat.

    "The fact it only helped me in the end doesn't make it mine. They built it to help everyone. Sure it means a lot to me; it's been my home for so long I must've fixed everything here a hundred times; but it's got so much more help in it than I'll ever need. I think it's just kind of evil to cling to it all by myself." The final intersection is beyond help. Her best effort is a series of hospital screens wheeled out from downstairs to at least block the horrible view. "I don't think the people who made it would have wanted that. Even if it's not the same thing, if I use it to help people in the Multiverse, that's kind of like making their hopes come true, isn't it?"
Ember On the way up...

Most people seem to agree that Ahn is a sweet person and that she should be treated with respect and kindness.  This isn't hard for Ember, of course; he only dislikes a few people (Sarracenia, Meresankh, and Petra).  He is also warned about talking badly about her turnips.  He's not sure what that is about, so he just leaves it alone.  

Ember also stares at Poltergeist for some time as she attempts to describe Ahn.  He isn't sure if she's just very thoughtful, or... horribly socially inept.  Though his stare breaks off as he nods to Vertin.  "Well, that is something I am not very good at."

Here, now...

Ember understands the concern from Rita, now that Berislav has explained just what a Watchtower is, and to Ember it's an important distinction.  You can't be willing to put something like this in a place that you want to hold... bases like these should be ready and willing to be abandoned should they be discovered.  "Well, it's good to know that I'm not too ignorant then."

This one doesn't feel like it should be.  

'Being a Watchman?'

"I am a member of the Watch.  I am just new.  The name is Ember, by the way.  Nice to meet you, Ahn." Ember says between sections of the building itself.  Something about this place screams... ancient.  He's not sure what exactly, but it's like going into ruins in his world, which has him on edge just a bit.

Even if Ahn's cleaned it out, there is always something that someone could have missed that could cause a trap to go off and do something horrible.  

When it comes to making this place a Watchtower or not, and Ahn's dedication to it, Ember's glance turns back to her.  "That's a good way of thinking to have.  Though I do understand Rita's hesitation.  If this place is a home to you, then it's important to you in some way.  Such places can be devastating to lose."

"I'd ask you if you have any places to fall back on should the worst come to pass?  Obviously there are other Watchtowers, but it's also nice to have someplace local."
Regulus ''Rather, I'm sure what Rita is referring to''

Regulus is made to feel helpful by Vertin, a little bit! This has a measurable impact on her mood but her fretting about Lilian's isn't going to be dettered that easily. Honestly, she'd ask Vertin for advice but since she isn't in trouble and didn't do anything wrong she'd feel a little weird about doing that, especially since she's not sure there's anything to be done and passing that on to Vertin--she's not ready to do that yet! "Never knew the bobbies to chase after anyone more than fifteen minutes away, but if they go after Anh I'll make sure they'll regret it, they've only begun to fear and hunt the great Regulus." Her heart isn't entirely into it but she goes through the motions anyway.

''The heat's killing me''

"You know, maybe we could find weather appropriate clothing for your sense of style?" Regulus asks, though she's not entirely sure it exists offhand.

''Berislav!''

"Oh!" Regulus is surprised upon hearing him speak. "You're Pops Berislav! Hey." She recognized the voice at least but she kind of stalls out on adding anytthing else, sheepishly moving along a little.

''I can think of something if you want.''

"Oh yeah I'm sure." Regulus promises. "I said I would, didn't I? Besides, it helps me think as I tune out the world and enter the chores dimension of my inner soul. I've got stuff on my mind. I'm looking forward to it."

After she cools down and the business at hand is handled anyway. Regulus enjoys chores but does not enjoy chores while recovering from a fifteen minute hike in the jungle during what feels like a heatwave.

Regulus takes a look around to examine how much of their prior work actually lingered. It does seem like an improvement! "Oh hey there's a coat rack, if you want to cool off a bit quicker, Vertin, you could probably hang yours off there."

rShe looks toward the tarp covered map. Anh is a creature of habit, huh, Regulus assumes.

"It looks like you did a lot of work yourself." Regulus says, even if there's clearly still issues. "Even if it was meant for everyone, it doesn't seem like anybody's expecting much from it, so--it's still pretty kind of you to offer it. But I think it's a good idea, you'll have more company and it'll be easier to look after the place anyway. I've been thinking a lot about Watchtowers since meeting Shira so."

But she pumps up her fist triumphantly. "That's right! You're making dreams come true!"
Father Berislav Oh you came at the perfect time and everything then!

    "I'm very pleased to hear it," Berislav beams. "I was worried that with the timing of a service this morning I'd be cutting things close, but I knew I'd have to make time for today even if it meant showing up like this," he says, gesturing to his cassock. In contrast to her strategy of extremely disposable dogass army fatigues, he has a slew of nice, normal clothes and one long-suffering cassock that he refuses to let die. Standing this close to him, she can see rough needlework all over it, from bullet holes to slash marks to a litany of other punctures.

You're Pops Berislav! Hey.

    Berislav scoffs lightly, shaking his head, the corners of his mouth pulled down in amusement. "I suppose it's better than 'Daddy Ber.' Hello, Regulus. It's nice to finally meet you in person."

Welcome in!

    "Thank you," he smiles, with a gentle inclination of his head towards her. Berislav hasn't been here before to know exactly what's been moved, what's stayed where for years, and what's freshly swept. "I think it'll make an excellent Watchtower. It's quite a good location and very defensible compared to the average."

    He follows her through, sparing a giggle for 'dummy hole,' hands folded patiently before him as he matches her pace. Berislav takes in the details as he goes, all with the same politely interested smile, as if this were a tour.

The fact it only helped me in the end doesn't make it mine. They built it to help everyone.

    "That's a beautiful sentiment, Ahn. I'm very happy to pitch in so that it *can* help more people. This is, of course, my first visit here--is there anything that you haven't been able to get running, or even that you haven't been able to get around to yet? I'm very impressed with the state of what you've been able to do."
Team Timekeeper     Vertin and Berislav haven't actually met in person before! They've spoken over the radio a little bit, though. She adjusts her silly little tophat and offers out her hand, which is slick with ectoplasmic goo from reassuringly holding Polly's shoulder. She wipes it off on her pants, and then very seriously holds it out again.

    "Hello, Father. A pleasure to meet you in person finally."

"Wouldn't it be a huge help if you could just come right through the gate already inside?"

    "Absolutely."

    Vertin's actually in a pretty good mood! The walk up the mountain was, while still dependent on her cane for long periods of travel, more invigorating than depressing, so she's downright chatty as Ahn leads the way through the facility. "There's risks involved, of course, with making a direct transit connection to your hideaway, but the benefits far outweigh it."

    "Before I had mine in the Suitcase, it was a lot of trouble doing anything with the Watch, or anything much at all. The number of times I enlisted people to help me carry furniture down the staircase from the Suitcase makes me shudder to remember. If not for Regulus, it'd hardly function at all."

"You know, maybe we could find weather appropriate clothing for your sense of style?"

    "It's really quite alright." Vertin does have a pretty wide array of fashion interests! Her best clothing for hot weather is actually some of her favorite clothing, that being her collection of elaborate gothic dresses, which would be ruined on contact with one single plant or speck of mud!

    She'll absolutely shuck off her long jacket when Regulus points her towards the coatrack, just leaving on the white ruffled button-up beneath it. "Oh, yes, thank you."

"Welcome in!"

    "It's really quite a lot better! You've worked hard." Polly, creeping in behind Vertin, takes a biiiig breath (or sounds like it, given her status as dead) of the air conditioned air, and puffs out in such profound relief from the temperature that her sheet sheet flutters. Feet!!! There's feet under there! "Woah! Now it really is like a secret base! Er-- I mean, it was before, but it was sorta-- I mean, like you were living here, but now it's like a base! R-right?"

"If someone else found their way up here like I did, I'd let them stay!"

    "You've offered similar to the people of the village down near the base, haven't you?" Faint approval and acknowledgement is positive reinforcement! Vertin definitely approves of the sentiment, by her tone and by the fact that she's done the same with her Suitcase. "That was your story for our presence too, if I recall; that we'd climbed the mountain and studied with you."

    "If it isn't too distressing, I'd really like to hear the full course of events that led to the state of this world at some point. I've pieced some together from your comments, but there's no point making assumptions about events you experienced yourself."
Team Timekeeper "Sure it means a lot to me; it's been my home for so long I must've fixed everything here a hundred times; but it's got so much more help in it than I'll ever need."

    Vertin makes a small smile, just out of view. "I think I like that phrase a lot. The multiverse provides us opportunities to all band together and distribute the help we have to the people who need it most at any given time. If we all work together, then the worst can always be behind us."

"I said I would, didn't I?"

    "I-- I can help too!" That's not why Poltergeist came here! It wasn't even on her mind until Regulus suggested doing chores. But, like, it worked once, and it would be so so so awkward just sitting around while someone worked like she was taking advantage of them?? And frankly she can use all the help she can get in earning a positive reputation.

    "I don't have anything on my mind, though. Er-- I have a normal amount of things on my mind. Like, Hilda was telling me about this story where the hero in it gets a special title because he killed a vampire, and I was like, wow, that's so cool, but *I'm* undead and like-- no, that's so long, sorry. Oh, but I'd actually be super happy to help clean up here if it gets this place to be a sort of, um, nice safe place like the manor?"

    Vertin's not gonna do chores unless she's forced, though. She already looks kind of pale, now that she's cooling down. "Regulus, do you think we could make it a long-term project for you to construct another warpgate in here? I know it's a lot to ask, but it may even be easier than the first time, now that you'd have official access to Laplace's resources."
Regulus ''Daddy Ber''

"Gotta change it up, variety is the spice of life." Regulus assures Berislav. "Yeah I guess this is the first time." She's not sure what elser to say for am oment until she sees the state of his cossack. "Man, how many wars have you been in? The needlework's terrible. Maybe my sewing kit's still in my bag and I can do it up ''proper'' later."

''It was a lot of trouble doing anything with the Watch''

"Blimey it was a hassle." Regulus concurs. "Up and down, took a tumble once even, and then there was having to sneak over to Laplace all the time to say nothing about how terrible the rebellion would've been if we had to be standing watch for months, we would've been resorting to eating grass! I'd be all too happy to skip the hike, besides."

She contents herself with Vertin at least removing her coat now that she's indoors. She was starting to worry she might get heatstroke even if it was impossible to tell she was bothered at all. She'll master that pokerface one day.

APPLe floats around Berislav for a moment, appraisingly before floating back to hang by Polly.

''I-- I can help too!''

Poltergeist didn't bring clinging supplies! But Regulus isn't going to discourage her, "You sure? Maybe between us three," Including APPLe. "We could take some shifts, to get some rest between zones."

''Regulus, do you think we could make it a long-term project for you to construct another warpgate in here?''

"Oh sure! If Anh doesn't know how, I can show her all my old notes and we can make something happen." Regulus says, brightening as she's being given more work to do which may be a bit paradoxical for the pirate but keeping busy is exactly what she wants right now even if it comes to bite her in the ass later. "I'm curious about what kind of style Anh would like anyway. Maybe Lotus might have some ideas too." Though helping set up Watchtowers might be one of Regulus's favored activities picked up from going multiversal. A Suitcase for everyone! ... Sort of.
Rita Ma      "I mean it's all because of your patience and support y'know..."

     "Well, I don't want to take credit... I knew you'd do it sooner or later, when you had people worth coming out for," Rita says, with a shy-happy little wiggle in the doorway.

     "I really like your outfit! That's one of the ones we-- um, helped you with last time, right?" For the sake of Anh's dignity in front of the newcomers, she doesn't want to say 'unpacked'. Or 'excavated'.

     "Yes, let's sit inside-- the heat's killing me."
     That admission seems to softly-startle Rita, glancing back over her shoulder. Then she startles again, seeming to realize afresh that Vertin is still wearing that coat.

     "Oh, you know..." Rita starts to say, and then decides to stop there. Vertin's fashion is her own business. Also, she's wearing a long-sleeved jacket herself and doesn't feel like getting glass-housed.

     Graceful swerve. "... you know, Vertin is exactly right. Watchtowers are safe places, but they're... meant to be at least a little disposable. Part of 'safety' is being willing to leave everything behind, if you need to."

     "... tune out the world and enter the chores dimension"
     Rita nods emphatically at Regulus with a little 'mhmm' as if she'd said something completely comprehensible. She's already casually scooting aside inconveniently-placed sandbags as the group passes them.

     Anh's explanation about her wishes for the bunker percolates through Rita's mind for a few long moments as she follows. Her little fancy-leather backpack jingles when she fidgets with the strap with her thumb...

     "... You really are too nice, Ms. Anh. I think it'd be too hard for me to be selfless with anywhere I've called home, like that. Maybe when I'm your age I'll be that brave," she says. Aren't they only a few years apart??

     'It was meant to be for everyone'... Ms. Lotus was kind of 'born' here, though. Wasn't she? How does she feel about sharing it?" Work your way around to the topic of Lotus, like you're slooowly approaching a skittish animal.
Camellia Remnants     'It's really quite a lot better! You've worked hard.'

    Anh works out her 'huhu' energy with a completely unnecessary jump up the last several steps. "And I'm not done yet!"

    'Woah! Now it really is like a secret base! Er-- I mean, it was before, but it was sorta-- I mean, like you were living here, but now it's like a base! R-right?'

    "Heck yeah! It's the dream that treeforts are built out of!" It's laudibly unclear whether Anh is humouring Polly or actually thinks living inside a secret base is lowkey really really cool.

    'I really like your outfit! That's one of the ones we-- um, helped you with last time, right?'

    "All of the pieces definitely are!" Anh giggles.

    'I am a member of the Watch. I am just new. The name is Ember, by the way. Nice to meet you, Ahn.'

    Anh sighs 'subtly', conscience cleared of the fact that Ember hadn't introduced himself and she couldn't remember if that was because she'd already met him before and should already know his name "I figured you were, but nice to meet you!" she says.

    'Before I had mine in the Suitcase, it was a lot of trouble doing anything with the Watch, or anything much at all. The number of times I enlisted people to help me carry furniture down the staircase from the Suitcase makes me shudder to remember.'
'Up and down, took a tumble once even, and then there was having to sneak over to Laplace all the time to say nothing about how terrible the rebellion would've been'

    For some incomprehensible reason, that makes her sigh, stare longingly at one of the directional signs on the walls, and say "You're actually so cool. Everyone likes you a ton."

    'Oh, but I'd actually be super happy to help clean up here if it gets this place to be a sort of, um, nice safe place like the manor?"'

    "Manor . . ." Yeah it's getting less unclear by the second why that makes her weird.

    'You've offered similar to the people of the village down near the base, haven't you?'

    Anh smiles for lack of knowing what other expression to make. "Yeah. But they had really good reasons for turning it down when it was just a few of them, and now that it's a lot, there's not really anything I can offer. Or, well, there is, but nothing that justifies moving up here instead of making a trip. Pretty soon there's gonna be too many people anyways."

    'That was your story for our presence too, if I recall; that we'd climbed the mountain and studied with you.'

    "Hah . . . Sorry for not explaining that sooner. Is it weird that I kind of wish someone would?"

    'Maybe when I'm your age I'll be that brave'

    Perfect timing, perfect parry, perfect kill. Anh fights for her life against the spit she'd just swallowed before coughing. She has to lean on the railing for a minute, and then holds up her hand in 'no no I'm fine, don't help me' position for another one. By the time she recovers, the topic is already shifted to:

    'If this place is a home to you, then it's important to you in some way. Such places can be devastating to lose.'

    "I guess I just won't lose it then." Anh says. She shrugs, puts her arms behind her back, and resumes walking. "I don't really know what you want me to say. Anyone can lose their any home. It can be for any reason at any time. There's nothing in the world we can be sure we'll keep until tomorrow, never mind forever. If the shelter never even serves its purpose, does it matter how long it's around?" She can't help but laugh at her own seriousness.
Camellia Remnants     'It's quite a good location and very defensible compared to the average.'

    "Okay but for real though! It's a military bunker on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere; everything's all concrete and bulkheads and all of the quarantine stuff still works. Is your house that sturdy? Plus, one wing is already big enough to be a Watchtower on its own. I'm not talking about a whole command center! I don't want strangers walking in and out of my room!"

    'But I think it's a good idea, you'll have more company and it'll be easier to look after the place anyway.'

    "Thanks Regulus." Anh nods, then laughs nervously. "Um. Not too much company though. I hope? And hopefully only people who can listen to what I tell them and not 'just check out' the village without the stuff." Any further elucidation is cut off with--

    'I was worried that with the timing of a service this morning I'd be cutting things close, but'

    "Oh god is it Sunday?!"

    'I think I like that phrase a lot. '

    Anh looks mildly shocked, as if she'd accidentally answered a very complicated math question because she misunderstood what she was being asked. Then she clears her throat and speeds up. "Right! Yeah you get it! I knew you would"

    . . . . . . . .

    The floors are clean. The lights are new. Two doors in a row have working keypad security. Behind them, brightly coloured lines stencilled onto white walls guide the eye around the branching paths between interlinked facilities.

    A communal shower had its plumbing spliced into a hydroponics chamber instead. A cleared-out server room lends its copious power sockets to dozens of chargers for batteries and power tools, and its sliding tracks to worktables and binders of schematics. A scraped-up corner office serves as designated storage for emergency gear. A code-locked armory now stores a partially assembled ATV and fuel for more than just it. A laundry room sized for eight machines removed six of them to house acid sinks, soldering gear, and a tiny centrifuge. A meeting room is coverd in DVDs, board games, tabletop RPGs; the projector and sound system are playing rainy weather ambiance.

    A staircase upwards leads to a satellite monitoring station, which is where all of the radio gear is, near the window that can see the green river. A staircase down was labelled 'HELIPAD', and now says 'YARD' after a close encounter with fresh paint. The infirmary has been moved into a pair of former bedrooms, so that the 'clean room' could service a lab instead. The wide-open space at the terminus was likely once the common area for a dozen senior officers, likely in charge of whatever operation went on here.

    The coffee bar has been refilled for the first time in decades. The vending machines are really just there for looks now. The wine rack behind the breakfast stations looks as randomly dotted as ever, but the silver basins and heat lamps are finally being used; for soil experiments? Or something? Some of the plants in all those vases and hanging pots have been changed out, but you'd be hard pressed to name which ones and with what, considering the number. Same couch, same desk, same endtable, same TV, same laundry. Did she keep her promise after last time?
Camellia Remnants     More than you'd think! Maybe a little less than you'd hope. Everything you put back in a proper place last time is more or less accounted for; either in that place or in a roughly interchangeable one. The simple mantra of 'put it back down before doing something else' has kept books, magazines, clothes, electronics, mugs, dishes, and tools off surfaces they aren't meant for. After the embarrassing pile of impulse purchases from different modern worlds (many not even fully unboxed) had given you so much grief before, Anh has made sure to . . . finish unboxing it properly and sort the stuff she's never going to use into a place that looks like it's supposed to be there. The horrid empty MRE pallets are gone! The discs are inside the correct cases! She even took the tags off all those new shoes and umbrellas!

    Perhaps the paper cups and candy wrappers just can't be helped. If it comes in a disposable container, 'I'll throw it out in a second' still wins. Dishwashing seems to be happening 'when the sink fills up' and not before, enabled by a vast overabundance of plates and glasses for one person. Why in god's name hasn't she thrown out that printer? Why did she buy a printer?

    Oh but the loft. That stupid, beautiful, janky little loft, bolted into the wall to make a raised corner away from the giant sloped-ceiling inset lamps (which briefly trick casual observation into thinking there are windows here) and host small-scale versions of every necessity for those days where you don't want to go out, but there's no 'out' to go to, so you make a tiny house inside your house to stay in while you stay in; oh it's perfect. It truly is just spotless. Even the rice cooker.

    'It was meant to be for everyone'... Ms. Lotus was kind of 'born' here, though. Wasn't she? How does she feel about sharing it?'

    "That's such a complicated question with such a really simple and stupid answer." Anh says, in the midst of taking off her shoes and putting them on the silly little rack. "I'll ask her, if she ever--" She tilts back her head and yells at the second floor stairs leading to the indoor balcony, "SHOWS UP!"

    The Spirit Halloween police tape is still there. The number of fake warning signs has increased actually. The chores whiteboard is now host to a lengthy poem in progress about seasonal flowers, written in dry erase marker and exuding the strange sense it's being workshopped to make someone mad.

    'Oh sure! If Anh doesn't know how, I can show her all my old notes and we can make something happen.'

    "You can?! Oh wow that makes everything so much simpler actually! That was the part I was kinda scared of!" Anh laughs. "The nuclear reactor here works fine, so you don't need to worry about power or anything! I should show you around after!"

    'If it isn't too distressing, I'd really like to hear the full course of events that led to the state of this world at some point.'

    "Pfff . . . I can't really make it not-distressing to listen to." says Anh. She figures it out while staring at the half-finished grand strategy game still on the coffee table. "Oh, for me? No, it's fine I guess. You probably figured it out in the Motherlobe anyways." Of course she didn't. Who would? That's insane. You're insane Anh.
Camellia Remnants     'This is, of course, my first visit here--is there anything that you haven't been able to get running, or even that you haven't been able to get around to yet?'

    She laughs, a little sarcastically. "I think the list is shorter if I do it the opposite way around, Mister Berislav. The south wing is practically a residential shopping mall you can't go inside. The north wing is all military stuff I couldn't think of a use for even if I could go there. The west wing used to be a whole virology lab and now I'm pretty sure it's a portal to Narnia."

    Gesturing you into the bizarre two-point-five-plus-two storey art deco nightmare apartment (featured on home and garden television 'bunker flippers'), Anh points quickly in a series of directions for everyone. "The real shower is over there, the side that goes to the laundry stuff is on that wall and not the hallway facing one, the third fridge has all the soda and ice, ice cream is in the second one, he walk-in freezer is pretty much full, the thermostat is-- don't touch it actually. Put your shoes and stuff here please! If the TV wants you to put in a code just hit 11111. I never figured out how to get rid of that."
Father Berislav Hello, Father. A pleasure to meet you in person finally.

    "And the same to you, Vertin!" Berislav beams, taking her hand in both of his for the handshake. He then asides, rocking lightly on his heels, "I *love* your little hat. It suits you."

Man, how many wars have you been in?

    "Just the one, but it's very persistent." He smiles. "I'd be happy for your help, Regulus. This old thing is very important to me for more than just my vows."

Oh god is it Sunday?!

    Berislav laughs. "No," he says, shaking his head lifting a hand to wave a palm assuagingly. "It's Monday--Sundays I reserve for my work in the City, but I do still hold services throughout the week elsewhere on occasion. It's fulfilling work, it's a lovely social outlet and it's useful for making contact with other Watch cells."

    ...

    As a guest in someone else's space, Berislav takes cues from his host, removing his shoes and placing them on the rack. His socks are normal. His shoes, too. It's really just the cassock that's beat to hell and back.

    He then listens, hand on his chin, nodding thoughtfully along with her explanation on things still needing to be done. "Alright," he says. "Having an actionable list will certainly help. So, let me ask you about the two wings you're not able to access. Is that because the space is taken up, or because they're behind broken doors, or... for some other reason?" If she hasn't been able to access them, there's no telling how much space is currently taken up. Which does beg the question--

    "You wouldn't happen to have a floor plan I could reference, would you? And would you know how much vertical clearance there is?"
Ember 'I figured you were, but nice to meet you!'

"Likewise," Ember says to Ahn.  The more people talk about her, the more he actually wonders.  He was expecting an elderly human, but he got a young woman.  However, the clues he's been picking up on seem to indicate that she /is/ older than she appears.  Ember guesses that's not important and would be embarrassing to bring up...

He also gives Poltergeist a look.  The conversation over the radio had settled on her for a moment, but she looks very harmless and like she'd explode if he looked at her funny.  Is he just not used to the undead being... normal?  

Ember shifts back towards Ahn when the mention of a village comes up.  "There is a nearby village?" he asks, though the conversation is about them approaching her, rather than living with her... it really is the 'wise woman on the mountain' idea, isn't it?  "Matoya..." he says to himself.  At least that is what was in the old book he read.  Though she was in a cave, IN a mountain.

'If the shelter never even serves its purpose, does it matter how long it's around?'

Ember isn't sure what to say to that at first.  He tenses up, though, remembering losing his own home and, of course, what he has built since then.  "Well... you seem very set on doing something with this place other than it being a home," he eventually says with a shrug.  "It's very good of you to do this, I feel.  So thank you for that."

'And hopefully only people who can listen to what I tell them and not 'just check out' the village without the stuff.'

"'Without the stuff'?  Is there something that we need to visit the village first?" Ember is unaware of this world and its interesting inhabitants.  

'The nuclear reactor here works fine, so you don't need to worry about power or anything!'

"Wait, I think I heard of that in the other worlds... that's the radiation rock that turns water into steam and goes through a turbine... pretty much like every form of power ever, right?" Ember has been getting exposure from the greater Multiverse now, but he's still not clear on all the details.  It takes a lot of willpower for him not to split off from the group to look at something mundane to others.

Ember listens to Ahn explain where things are... he has a desire to check out the showers because he's never seen a shower system up close.  To him, a dip in the nearest lake or river is good enough.  He holds his curiosity at bay to deposit his boots on the shoe rack.  

"Wait, walk-in freezer?  Why would you need a 'walk-in' freezer?"
Camellia Remnants     'Having an actionable list will certainly help.'

    Anh turns her head to pantomime a 'bleck!' expression aimed elsewhere. "I've got lists." she says, cryptic and dour.

    'Is that because the space is taken up, or because they're behind broken doors, or... for some other reason?'

    "Plants got 'em." The speed at which she slides by him as she says it lends the nonsensical answer a clipped doppler effect.

    'You wouldn't happen to have a floor plan I could reference, would you? And would you know how much vertical clearance there is?'

    Anh looks back, blinks, puts her finger to her mouth like she's going to shush him but makes an 'oh!' with her lips instead, and then says "There's definitely one on the mainframe computer. I can probably go get it once winter comes around again."

    'There is a nearby village?'

    "Yeah! Down the mountain!" Anh cheerily jerks her thumb in a direction that she probably has memorized but you certainly don't. "They're super nice! Oh but you really have to tell me before you go there, okay? You can't just walk in 'as is'. You'll cause a misunderstanding."

    ''Without the stuff'? Is there something that we need to visit the village first?'

    "Yeah! Exactly! You got it!" Anh says, happily.

    'Well... you seem very set on doing something with this place other than it being a home'

    She usually does a better job of hiding those complicated little defense-smiles. "I tried a lot of other things, but none of them worked."

    'Wait, I think I heard of that in the other worlds... that's the radiation rock that turns water into steam and goes through a turbine... pretty much like every form of power ever, right?'
    'Wait, walk-in freezer? Why would you need a 'walk-in' freezer?'

    Anh stares, then tries to communicate something by layering one hand over the other and pointing in opposite directions, then blinks, then opens her mouth, then finally just says ". . . To keep things cold?"
Regulus ''You're actually so cool.''

"Huh?" Regulus looks towards the sign. "Um, thanks, but pretty sure everybody loves you too. You're one of the first friends I made out here." In some ways Anh is still totally incomprehensible to her, like, in the sense of what her deal is but Regulus figures she'll figure out her deal eventually and in the meantime she's honestly just happy they've made ammends. Regulus has noticed she seems to be in a bit of a pattern of getting someone pissed at her and then her doing whatever she could to make things right, and then things seem to go well after. It's a little mystifying since she's used to being chased around but if she keeps getting surprised by it she might end up real embarrassed.

''A little disposable.''

Regulus face gets a little pale at that. No the Suitcase has to be around for a long time!

''I think it'd be too hard for me to be selfless with anywhere I've called home.''

"Yeah it wasn't easy for me, all the new people coming by, I had to work on my mindset for a minute there." Regulus admits.

''Lotus was kind of 'born' here, though.''

What. Like an Awakened?

''I'd be happy for your help, Regulus.''

"Leave it to me." Regulus is worried that thing is gonna fall apart right off of Daddy Ber's body and then the nickname won't be nearly as funny now will it?!

''I guess I just won't lose it then''

"Also you can always get a new home. I like the idea, Anh, it'll be nice to come by more often too." She considers the idea of there still being some limit to the numbers. "Well at least if they go through the Warpgate, you'd have the chance to tell them." Regulus adds, worrying now if people just sort of go through the Warpgate on their own and stumble upon the village. But that's pretty unlikely, isn't it? Even in a multiverse she imagines most people just sort of stick around one place most of the time.

She takes a look at the clean floors and the lights and sort of spins around to get a new feel for the place. Frankly, the changes almost make it look like an entirely new location. Once again she wonders what exactly has been pushing Anh this much lately, but she can easily just assume that Vertin has this affect on people even people who don't live in a Suitcase.

Weirdly, her gaze settles last on the prineter and lingers for a moment.

''You can?!''

"Oh yeah it was too complicated for me to work out in my head so I had to jot stuff down. APPLe helped of course."

APPLe does a little dip of his body, as if he was bowing. "It isn't too bad and I have some spare materials so it oughta be faster the second time around even if I'm busier." This might be optimistic. Vertin is probably aware by now that whenever Regulus figures out how something works, she says it's 'not too tough', and completely forgets the blood, sweat, and tears that revealed themselves through the process. "Considering what I remember of the Psychogate incident, you'll have it handled in no time."

''You probably figured it out in the Motherlobe anyway.''

"I didn't." Regulus chirps helpfully(?).

''Narnia''

"Oh I know that reference!" Regulus smiles, her mind successfully pulled away from doom and gloom for the time being.
Camellia Remnants     'Um, thanks, but pretty sure everybody loves you too. You're one of the first friends I made out here.'

    Anh reflexively puts her hand over her heart. "O-oh. Oh gosh. Regulus. But, you-- You've made lots of friends since then, right?"

    'Well at least if they go through the Warpgate, you'd have the chance to tell them.'

    "True!" Fist-into-palm goes 'pap'. "I could put up a sign!"

    'It isn't too bad and I have some spare materials so it oughta be faster the second time around even if I'm busier.'

    "If it's okay, I want to see them too!" Anh says. "I'm actually really really good at memorizing stuff like that! And it's, like, really likely that kinda thing is going to come in handy eventually. It probably would have been back in the Motherlobe, actually."

    'I didn't.'

    Anh figets with her hair, then the black-green flower on it, then says "Oh."
Rita Ma      "All of the pieces definitely are!"
     Rita shuts her eyes in serene approval. Every Girl must have her own Style, she thinks, and Anh still contains some fraction of 'girl' mixed in with Gal and Woman.

     Her fingers contemplatively touch the shoelace-thin ribbon tie that keeps her hair back. Sometimes it's red; sometimes green or yellow or blue in that preppy spring-y color palette she keeps; but it's nearly always there.

     "... When I was little, Dad gave me one of those ties with the two balls on it," she says, with a small bobble-y gesture. "I needed it because, I guess I always wanted long hair, but I kept picking at it when it got in my face. And the little balls were red, and they looked pretty if you held them up to the sun."

     "I don't use the same kind anymore, mostly, but... I still think about that when I put this on, every so often. So..." Winding down, just a little shyly: "... if there are outfits you can have that remind you of us, that makes me really happy, Ms. Anh."

     A soft little 'oh...!' of awe comes out of her when she's shown into the proper apartment area, and then she looks not-quite-sharply at Ember: "Walk-in freezers are really really important, you know. For keeping big stuff in. Or lots of little stuff. Everyone should have one."

     "This is amazing, though. You really just needed that small push to get started, and then you can go forever, I guess!" She almost forgot to ask, while turning to slip off her shoes: "... 'Real' shower? Um, is there a fake shower, Ms. Anh?"

     She sits down on the first sittable surface that she can, slips off her backpack, and rummages a little bit in its contents like she's double-checking that she packed everything that she meant to. The first thing she pulls out is... a Rubik's Cube? Huh. But the square sides are patterned by funny textures, instead of colors.

     Maybe it's meant for doing by touch; she fidgets without looking at it, though she's no good at it.

     "I can try to bring in one or two things to put in the big freezer for if I ever have to stay here, Ms. Ahn. I know there's some, um... I have a little trouble with the local food, if I remember right," she says thoughtfully. Click-clack, goes the cube. "Did you think you'd put an artificial Warpgate in here, or just keep it to the natural one outside?"

     Looking down at her backpack thoughtfully, she scrumples her lips. "If Ms. Lotus is really sleeping in, I might have to leave some of this with you."
Father Berislav I've got lists.

    Berislav gracefully doesn't comment.

    The plants got them. He assumes plants in the mundane sense, because he has no reason not to. "I don't believe I have any herbicide," he says, tapping his index to his chin. And then, "I don't think I even have a *contact* for herbicide," he admits with a thoughtful frown. "Or the faintest idea of where to look short of a..." He chuckles. "Tractor supply store or something."

     Clearing his throat, "Do you have an idea of what the extent is? I may still have a way to deal with them safely, come winter."
Team Timekeeper "It's the dream that treeforts are built out of!"

    "Yeah!!" Wow, does it look *so* silly when Poltergeist waves her arms excitedly from underneath that sheet. If anyone told her that it's actually *more* embarrassing to be hiding under the sheet all the time than it would be to be visible, she'd probably start scuttling around inside a cardboard box or something, like a snail.

"Maybe my sewing kit's still in my bag and I can do it up ''proper'' later."

    Idly, Vertin chatters aside to Regulus, "I've considered taking up sewing as a hobby properly when I have the time. I've had to tailor my own clothes on occasion, and there's articles I'd like that you simply can't buy."

"We could take some shifts, to get some rest between zones."

    "Oh... yyeahhh...!" Poltergeist really did not think about what she was getting into! Her enthusiasm wavers, but she'd look like a fucking idiot if she backed out now, so.

"You're actually so cool. Everyone likes you a ton."

    Vertin does in fact know why Ahn is like this! It's their job to fix it! The comparisons between the bunker and the Suitcase are inevitable, so Vertin has to make sure they're seen as companions rather than social competitors, by subsuming Ahn into her flock and making her equally as comfortable at the manor.

    "You're quite cool as well, you know. I could never manage nearly as well on my own as you have out here."

"If the shelter never even serves its purpose, does it matter how long it's around?"

    "The Suitcase is a Watchtower too, you know." Vertin feels like she has to support Ahn's argument here a little bit, since she did talk about the topic in the first place.

    "It's not an inevitability that the Watch is transient, even though it's to our benefit often. Camelia isn't fragile, nor is it exposed as a high risk location. Having centralizing places to retreat to and build up over time like these two Watchtowers is an overall improvement to the function of the organization."

"And hopefully only people who can listen to what I tell them and not 'just check out' the village without the stuff."

    "Right. We can come up with a range of internal security measures if you'd like, or arrange entry codes from the room the warpgate ends up in so that only approved members can get through on their own."
Team Timekeeper "You probably figured it out in the Motherlobe anyways."

    Ohhhh look at her!!!! Look at how much better it all is! Vertin's *so* proud but she can't praise Ahn out of nowhere or it'll be a little too embarrassing for her! She doesn't even like coffee but she'll take a little paper cup of it just to demonstrate her *vast* approval for Ahn's improved circumstances, leaning her cane up against the counter to walk around on her own as long as they stay in this room.

    "Still, it'd make me feel better to hear it from your mouth." Partly because it feels a little sketchy trying to explain Ahn's circumstances to anyone else when her own understanding is secondhand!

"Put your shoes and stuff here please!"

    This is where the cane goes! As well as her shoes. She's wearing vivid dark blue socks, which don't match perfectly with her pants but that feels purposeful, for whatever reason.

    "It's a beautiful home, genuinely." ... Well, hopefully that doesn't sound backhanded coming from manor-girl.

    "Actually, because of the official establishment of Team Timekeeper, I've had to reel back on the overt Watch actions taking place in the Suitcase. Camelia, on the other hand, is perfectly positioned to be a supply storage area and distribution hub. Getting the stocks of survival supply that were here, and whatever else we can gather, out to those in need is an incredibly useful role, and practically what this bunker was designed for."

    Poltergeist is not wearing shoes. And yet, she feels like if she doesn't leave anything at the shoe-rack, then she's *either* coming across as extremely rude for ignoring Ahn's instructions, *or* she's telling everyone that she's walking through the mud *barefoot* and then right into Ahn's home! The fact that she's a ghost doesn't even matter! What can she do here?! She stares, helplessly, distraught.
Regulus ''But, you-- You've made lots of friends since then, right?''

Regulus almost instinctively denies it but she thinks, wow, actually she has hasn't she? She blinks a few times like someone's inside her head doing some rewiring. "Well, yeah, but... you helped me be a better friend to begin with? Because you were so fab I wanted to be yours?"

''I could put up a sign!''

Regulus thinks of the ten thousand signs she's already seen. Be supportive, Regulus. "Yeah, especially if you're worried about people showing up while you're gone--have you considered getting one of those... chalkboards?"

''I'm actually really really good at memorizing stuff like that!''

"Then you'll have no problem!" Probably. "I'll bring over my stuff in a few days."

''Oh.''

Regulus feels like she made a mistake! Her cheeks pinken a little from embarrassment. "Er, sorry, I just--my mind was totally elsewhere during that whole thing."

Regulus takes a long look at Rita for a moment. She seems to know Anh really well. Her own mind just totally scrolled past 'fake shower'.

''I've had to tailor my own clothes on occasion''

"Yeah, me too, not always easy to nick clothes--" Regulus pauses. "Er, well it's nice to know we've got something in common, though some of your outfits might be beyond me, maybe we can help our skills improve."

''I could never manage nearly as well on my own as you have out here.''

"That is ''very'' true." Regulus is a little curious how Vertin survived before Sonetto. "Though she does have Lotus."

Er, does she?

''Camelia isn't fragile.''

Regulus, similarly, needs to support Vertin even. "Yeah it's not exactly easy to go up a mountain and then be up for storming a base either." Regulus agrees. "Even if it's not too far from the Warpgate."

''Poltergeist is not wearing shoes.''

Regulus tries to help by sneaking Poltergeist her own boots so she can put them there. We can pretend they are ghost boots, her expression says as she dips her sunglasses low and winks at Polly.
Camellia Remnants     'I don't believe I have any herbicide'

    "Oh I've still got tons. If you need to take some that's totally fine." Anh says, point flying overhead, high speed low drag.

    'Do you have an idea of what the extent is?'

    "Bad."
    'I may still have a way to deal with them safely, come winter.'

    "Nope."

    '... 'Real' shower? Um, is there a fake shower, Ms. Anh?'

    Anh opens her mouth, then distressingly changes her answer before continuing. "Well obviously the showers in the hydroponics lab don't work anymore."

    'I can try to bring in one or two things to put in the big freezer for if I ever have to stay here, Ms. Ahn.'

    "Oh! Don't worry! That's why I pointed it out! I remember!" Anh winks, unsubtly. "After last time."

    'You're quite cool as well, you know. I could never manage nearly as well on my own as you have out here.'

    Anh sighs. "Well yeah. You're so pretty." she says, wilty, as if this encapsulates a sort of ur-concept that should be getting psychically beamed into Vertin's head right now.

    'Camelia isn't fragile, nor is it exposed as a high risk location. Having centralizing places to retreat to and build up over time like these two Watchtowers is an overall improvement to the function of the organization.'

    "Yeah . . . That was kinda what I was thinking, but I didn't want to say too much and get, like, a whole 'nerve center' set up in here by accident. I kinda hope I never see that one recruiter guy again. He's weird." Thankfully, Vertin putting forward suggestions for productive measures to take towards a shared project is quickly putting her back in the zone. "My idea was using the south wing, since it was already set up for residential living. Even if a lot of it has to be used for equipment and storage, that's still a place where like a hundred people can stay a few days if they need to. The supplies will run out eventually, but they're no good gathering dust where they are, and it's kind of important that there's special storage for everything here."

    'Still, it'd make me feel better to hear it from your mouth.'

    Anh opens her mouth to answer.

    At last. The perfect moment has come. There are many people here. They're discussing something serious. Something that affects the future. They're comfortable. Returning, some of them. They're making themselves at home. They're even glazing Anh. It's the perfect storm for what happens next.

    Anh knows full fucking well it is, which is why she invited everyone here in the first place.

    Beyond the realm of Spirit Halloween, past the mannequin traffic controller that serves as its loneliness-induced pass-agg gatekeeper, up the winding thirty-eight steps, atop the indoor overlook a half-step higher than the loft, something terrible stirs. Something that the convenient angle of 'being on the ground floor' hides behind the generic chest-high safety rail and its vinyl marble facade.
Camellia Remnants     But not fully, no. The gross little carbon stain from the mysterious ooze of yestervisit is still there. On the outer edge, where it would take a ladder to clean it up, and Anh didn't want to. That sooty grey mascara track on the architecture is the vanguard of the glistening black puddle that overflows the ledge, clinging to the overhang as geometric raindrops. Quiet gurling turns to sloshing wet foley of tearing membranes and snapping fibres brought to mind. Darkness crawls up the back wall and to the ceiling corner, then shivers with a polar-magnetic wave of pyramidal distortions. Creeping tendrils wind their way up over the balcony as churning ooze pours down the top step and slowly advances to the next.

    Anh folds her arms and silently rolls her eyes.

    The purest essence of amateurish fondness for sci-fi horror films shapes the amorphous mass of ominous goo concealing most (but not all) of the shape of a pale white gripful hand wetly snatching the rail. The horrible roiling sounds of violent uprooting and digestive churning resonate with an increasingly vocal-sounding tone, first like an undervolted radio, then as if the radio were haunted into doing a passable impression of Anh herself, sustaining the same exertional 'ghhhhhhhhhaaaa . . . !' for half an entire minute; plenty of time for the looming dark humanoid shape to step, step, step, and loom near the top of the stairs like a shadow produced by fevered sleep paralysis. Freed incrementally by each snap of mucosal thread and cellulose sinew, the stark white of bone bubbles up from the depths of the horrible shade and--

    "Ughhhhh. You're all so noisy. Didn't I tell you to keep it down last time?"
    "Lotus what the fuck!"

    --sloughs off entirely in a noxious mass that makes a very unpleasant, anticlimatic 'sploosh'. A woman an inch taller than Anh with tangled dark green hair leans over the balcony rail; slick with movie FX slime, pale as a newborn moth, blinking groggily into the indoors light, and tits out on the safety ledge. Because she knew Anh would know, and was one step ahead of her.

    "Nhuh. Stop yelling. I'm up."
    "Why?!"
    "What do you mean 'why'? You've been mewling like a sad little lonely kitten all year."
    "Put on some--!! Take a--! This was your big plan?!"
    "I don't know what you're talking about."
    "Pleaaaaaase you have no idea how embarrassed I am for you right nowww!"
    "No, I have an idea~"

    Anh vaults over her own sarcastic prop barricade setup and starts sprinting up the stairs. Lotus(?) has just enough time to wiggle her slimy-drippy fingers at Rita with a strangely recognizable eye-narrowing smirk just before Anh tackles her onto the floor.
Rita Ma      "...!"

     "Oh!! It's Ms. Lotus!" Rita responds to the gruesome squelching, ripping, growling cascade with undiluted bouncy joy, scampering over to stand near the foot of the stairs.

     "Vertin, Polly, Regulus, you're going to get to meet Lotus! Now, she's probably really sleepy, so be a little quiet-" hypocritically, just now remembering to quiet down herself- but..."

     A few moments later she freezes halfway through rummaging through the backpack at her feet when colors shift at the upper edge of her peripheral vision.

Her eyes track up, and up, and--
tits out
Well actually not quite far up enough.

     "Um. Ms. Lotus. That's really. Um. Hi," says Rita, clumsily remembering to make that finger-waggling gesture back about three seconds too late to be convincing.

     The words that burble out of her jammed-up brain a moment later are, "We were just talking about clothes."

     Maybe it's a mercy that Anh breaks the logjam by sprinting up the stairs to tackle Lotus. Rita just remembers to snatch up her backpack before lunging to try to arrest Anh via wrist-grab; fails; and then clumsily scuttles up the stairs after her to try to grab Anh's ankle and disentangle them that way.

     "Ahn, wait, no! Don't be mean to her!!" Rita fumbles out while ankletugging fretfully-gently. "She woke up just for us and she's being really nice, and-- you'll get her all over your new clothes, and-- and she wanted to look more like you and isn't that really sweet!"
Team Timekeeper > Regulus tries to help by sneaking Poltergeist her own boots so she can put them there.

    Polly looks mournfully at the boots. Her little sheet-hole cutouts make it look like she's about to cry, somehow. How has Regulus intuited her entire toes situation just from her silently standing and staring??? Is she that obvious? Does everyone already know? Is she incapable of hiding *anything*?!

    Bravely, she brings herself to take advantage of the offer. The boots are subsumed under her sheet, vanishing for several seconds, and then emerge, completely soaking wet. She squats down, sheet piling around her on the floor, and then levitates the shoes into the closet with lumpy little motions of her arms. Has this made anything better? Are Regulus's shoes now intolerably seawater-damp because Poltergeist thought she had to put them on to complete the ruse? Should she kill herself immediately to resolve this situation? Perhaps.

"Well yeah. You're so pretty."

    Does Vertin understand whatever Anh's trying to say? The compliment just seems to wash over her serenely, like an impeccably composed statue facing the breeze. She adjusts the fit of her hat around her head.

"The supplies will run out eventually, but they're no good gathering dust where they are, and it's kind of important that there's special storage for everything here."

    They do get pretty excited when talking shop about the potential Watchtower, sitting against an arm of a couch to chatter lightly about the details. "Right. We're not under any obligation here to extend our offers to the organization beyond what we individually are comfortable with providing, so it'd be best to work on a draft of your eventual vision for the Watchtower in terms of population, storage, function, communally available square footage, before even putting the proposal in for the rest of the organization to act on. I'd be happy to help with networking and getting the word out, so you don't have to speak with that other recruiter again. I've gotten quite a lot of practice in--"

    Oh, there's Lotus, presumably, with her whole entire areolae out on display between the dripping trails of slime. Vertin casually brings the coffee cup up to her mouth, sipping extremely slowly with an unreadable expression, while Poltergeist hears the horrible meaty popping noises and squeals at the top of her lungs.

    "Aaaaaahhhh--!!!!!! AhhhH! Miss Anh! Vertin! Hhhhhh Regulus Rita heyyyyyyyyY! what the fuck is--?! Hey isn't this all some apocalypse shit where everyone got turned into zombies hey it's *moving* I don't wanna be turned into a zombie-- What *is* that-?!"

"Now, she's probably really sleepy, so be a little quiet-"

    Polly immediately cuts off to make a horribly pained gurgling noise, sinking to her knees and clutching her head with her sheeted hands. "Noooooo... I'm so rude..! Ah, shhhh-- i'm soo ruuude..... I didn't realize." Thankfully this means that she is crumpled with her face in her hands while Lotus boobs out on the balcony.

"Didn't I tell you to keep it down last time?"

    "Hello, Lotus. Sorry for the disturbance." Vertin's probably the least funny person here for her reaction! "I'm Vertin, the Timekeeper of the St. Pavlov Association, I've heard a lot about you, though few specifics. Is this a new look for you, then?"
Regulus ''you're going to get to meet Lotus!''

"We kind of met her the last time." Regulus says but quiets down anyway because Rita saved her from drowning once. To be fair, she was drowning because she thought Rita was drowning and wanted to try and save her but that doesn't really count it out.

Regulus looks up.

''She wanted to look more like you''

"And an inch taller. Sorry for waking up you from your beauty sleep, love." Regulus wishes she could say she experienced stuff like this during the free love movement and she's trying real hard to think of something but, no, this didn't happen really. "Remember me? I'm Regulus." Regulus says, wondering if the supplies she brought works on goop.

"Is that a new form of yours? Looking good, bound to turn plenty of heads!" Wait wasn't she supposed to be a little mean to Lotus last time and she kind of didn't manage it, should she be mean now to make up for it? ... She doesn't think she can be mean to someone naked except for goo layers though. She'd feel even meaner than if she was mean to a flower.

APPLe, of course, is a gentleman and averts his eyes. "Ah, we best be mindful of the ladies." He asides to Berislav.

Regulus looks to Vertin. "Say, Vertin, you don't think I'm, like, prudish do you?" She's run into so manyp eople who just run around basically naked at this point that she's starting to worry that maybe she's coming across as like a de-aged granny or something.

''I don't wanna be turned into a zombie--''

"Oh it's just Lotus." Regulus asides to Poltergeist though she's not sure Lotus can't do zombie things actually so maybe she shouldn't reassure Polly too much. She wiggles her tose.
Father Berislav Oh I've still got tons. If you need to take some that's totally fine.

    "You do?" His brow lifts in pleased surprise. "Great! Then it should just be a matter of fabricating a serviceable delivery mechanism, fitting that to Isaiah, and, well, going to work--"

Nope.

    "Ah, that bad..." He frowns thoughtfully, then shrugs. "Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk. In that case, I'd be happy to take an inventory of the 'military stuff' you mentioned, see what's salvageable, and get it organized. The 'mall' area--should it be walled off to keep anyone from wandering in? Oh! And, do the ventillation systems need any work to keep the issue from getting any worse?"

ghhhhhhhhhaaaa . . . !

    Berislav looks to Anh for guidance on how to proceed, here--not overtly, but there is a flick of his silver eyes towards her. He glances over just in time to see her roll of the eyes, and this is guidance enough.

You're all so noisy.

    "Good morning!" beams Berislav, and then--

Put on some--!! Take a--! This was your big plan?!

    "Oh, dear." Berislav looks away, once he realizes. That doesn't mean that his little exclamation is without amusement, or that the man himself is at all scandalized. "You're Lotus, aren't you? I don't believe we've met. I'm Father Waters Berislav. I'm terribly sorry about the noise--it wasn't my intention to wake you." Despite Anh tackling her to the ground, he still makes conversation, looking politely away. "I hope you slept well, at least!"
Camellia Remnants     Despite the amount of good, what's going on up there is actually a cartoon dust cloud!

    "Hahaha--! Hey-- Anh?!"
    "You're putting it on!"
    "Putting--? You sweat in that!"
    "Whose idea was it to get up-- To this!"
    "Ow! Stop! This skin is really sensitive right-- I'm serious!"
    "You--! Shoulda put something over it then!"
    "Like what-- Ow!"
    "Get your hand off--! I'll bite those next time!"
    "That so? Well--"
    "Well-- Nope! Well what?"
    "Wait wait I can't actually-- My biomass is--"
    "--Thought so!"
    "Why are you so catty about it?! You're the one who-- Oww! Dared me to take until April!"
    "It's September!"
    "Oh wow I really did turn into you--"
    "I've been doing things! Why do you-- Aufh! Fff- No you don't! Why do you think I have people over?!"
    "Ack! Seriously! I can't-- That's not fair! You do martial arts! Wait for--"
    "Silence white woman!"
    "Excuse me?! We talked about this!"
    "We-- Bwah! Ow! Get-- Got! We talked about it three years ago as a hypothetical!"
    "Well now it's--!"
    "Now you get to deal with the consequences!"
    "Oh you bitch! Haha-- haow?! Just you wait until--!"
    "Pants!"
    "Stop!"
    "Pants!"
    "You're being hysterical!"
    "Should have been born as a fig tree then!"
    "Hahaha could you imagine having a fig growing off your head instea-- Oww!"

    'Ahn, wait, no! Don't be mean to her!! She woke up just for us and she's being really nice, and-- you'll get her all over your new clothes, and--'

    Rita arrives at the point Anh has successfully forced her roommate into wearing the top she was at the door. Her athletic innerwear was coincidentally well planned. The top is now extremely wet. Lotus looks like an angrily bathed cat about it. If she looks around carefully, Rita can see what amounts to an entire second bedroom fussily arranged around the sticky remains of what might have been a . . . pod? All now thoroughly stained with its remnants. The extension cable to bring that minifridge up here must have been so annoying to run, too. "She's being cringe Rita! She was planning this all along!" "I was only planning it a little! It was really tough work in there! You've never had to--" "You made Polly scared!" "Who?!?!"
Camellia Remnants     'Hello, Lotus. Sorry for the disturbance.'

    The second woman claws her way up to the railing with Anh's shirt stuck to her everywhere. Her skin genuinely looks almost translucent, like it still has to dry out; her nails even more so, like flower petals or butterfly wings. Her groggy-annoyed stare is really dark red if you look. Unlike Anh's single tastefully placed ornament, her hair looks like she fell asleep in a flowerbed.

    "Hi. She made up half of it because she's jealous. Yes. She should be thanking me." When her eyes finally track over to Polly, she rudely spittakes and nearly falls over the railing laughing.

    "That's Polly?! Who dresses as a ghost then gets scared of turning into a zombie?!"
    "She's dead you insensitive dick!"
    "Huh?! Then how am I going to infect her with anything?!" This earns Lotus a second grappling maneuver.

    'And an inch taller.'

    "I was always an inch taller!" Lotus yells, before something happens that involves her being unable to talk shortly before Anh coincidentally yelps as if bitten.

    'Looking good, bound to turn plenty of heads!'

    "Thank you!"
    "Everyone can tell you just copied me and made my boobs bigger!"
    "Be flattered then! What's your problem?!"

    'Ah, we best be mindful of the ladies.'

    "Oh who's that?"
    "PANTS!"

    'Say, Vertin, you don't think I'm, like, prudish do you'

    "You're normal! She did this to embarrass me!"
    "She wasn't asking you!"
    "She didn't ask you to flash her either!"

    'You're Lotus, aren't you? I don't believe we've met.'

    This time, Lotus barrels rolls sideways towards the stairs and wriggles down over the top step. She doesn't even get to her feet before slipping in her haste to get away from Anh, and rolling the entire rest of the way down.

    "Oh oh my god Lotus are you okay?"
    "Ff-fffiiine."
    "Oh I'm so-- You really can't use--?"
    "Ssaid finee."
    "Look up. No you have to stop curling up into a ball."
    "I gan't get a goncussion."
    "Ohhh . . . You're so fragile right now. Let's go out into the yard."
    "Gueh."

    Lotus throws up a hand to bid Berislav to wait while she fends off Anh's worried fussing from her forward fetal position curl on the floor, forehead to faux-hardwood. "Slept bad. Earth kept yelling real loud." is the best she can manage while sounding remotely composed. Cracking up into a nasal groan, she follows with "Oh god I'm so dumb."
Rita Ma "She's being cringe Rita!"
"Ms. Anh, what does 'cringe' mea--"
"It was really tough work in there! You've never had to--"
"It is really tough work Ms. Ahn."
"Everyone can tell you just copied me and made my boobs bigger!"
"Not that much bigger..."

     Rita only looks away from the kerfluffle when she realizes Lotus isn't wearing pants- apparently that's a bridge too far- and hastily slides down the steps to rummage through clean clothes and try to pass up a selection of three or four options. "Um, here, Ms. Lotus! You're white now, so maybe try fall or summer colors...?"

     Thunk, thunk, thunk. Oh no.

     Rita's quick to dutifully scamper over to Lotus's side, lay a hand gently on the back of her head, and suffuse it in a soft-white glow. Pumping in a bit of loose life-energy can fix up whatever Lotus has for a nose and brain, right? Right.

     "It'll be okay, sorry. It's kind of hard moving like that, right...?" Rita says, sympathetically. She looks up, still a little dazed but less red-cheeked: "Oh, ah, is this your first time meeting Lotus too, Berislav? She's usually monster-ier, but... can you please run get her, um..."

     Rita leans down to try to get a peek between Lotus's face and the floor. What is Lotus's issue? Smashed nose? "Some tissues or gauze? And maybe water?" Probably not an aspirin. Rita tenderly pets Lotus's hair. "Poor Lotus. You've got to be gentle with her, Ms. Anh..."
Father Berislav Slept bad. Earth kept yelling real loud.

    Earth kept yelling? Could she mean... "Ah, plate tectonics? The original overnight construction crew? My condolences."

Some tissues or gauze? And maybe water?

    "Of course, Rita." Given the handsign from Lotus, he does actually go run and get her some, despite the fact that he could have done it standing right where he was. He takes his liberties with the time, to allow her to compose herself, and returns with the requested provisions in hand.

     A little plastic carrying case holds some gauze (along with various other medical supplies not strictly relevant to the task at hand), a sky-blue marble-print box of tissues rests atop it. One hand holds the case, the other has a bottle of water.
Camellia Remnants     'Ms. Anh, what does 'cringe' mea--'

    "Being embarrassing to make other people embarrassed!"

    'It is really tough work Ms. Ahn.'

    "It is! You just grew that way!"

    'Not that much bigger...'

    "That kinda pisses me off more!"

    'Um, here, Ms. Lotus! You're white now, so maybe try fall or summer colors...?'

    "You're white!"

    One ungentle roll down the staircase later . . .

    'It'll be okay, sorry. It's kind of hard moving like that, right...?'

    Lotus waves vertically at Rita with her other arm still around her middle. At least Anhs' shirt is reasonably long when untucked from pants. "Bones--" she says, cutting off with a miserable little moan. "--How?"

    'She's usually monster-ier, but... can you please run get her, um...'

    "Oh . . . Oh no you didn't make something that could break did you?" Anh fusses at Lotus. When she grabs her arm to feel it, the actual difference in their build is more visible; Lotus is actually a little skinnier. "Oh you really differentiated so many tissues this time. What were you thinking? If you were working this hard to make it a surprise when why'd you go and do that . . ."

    'Some tissues or gauze? And maybe water?'

    Lotus twists her grip to grab Anh's arm, which is subsequently allowed. Yanking herself up to her knees and throwing back her hair, she makes a noise as if she's just come up from being underwater. Her nose is bleeding, but the red substance is clearly not quite opaque enough, and smells more sugary than metallic to Rita. "Water." she says, pantomimimg grabbing something at Rita. "Lotus you have so much water. I brought you all that water upstairs." "Turned it all into goo." "I know but I brought you a whole new cooler before going outside." "Ough. Fugck."

    'Poor Lotus. You've got to be gentle with her, Ms. Anh...'

    Anh jolts, suddenly put on the spot. "I didn't do anythng!" she whines, plaintive and ineffectual. Lotus starts laughing in the back of her throat, which despite its syrupy tone, actually helps differentiate it a little more from a radio recording of Anh. "You're being . . . such a little simp . . . it's kind of awesome."

    'Ah, plate tectonics? The original overnight construction crew? My condolences.'

    Lotus shakes her head, then has to free up a hand to push her sticky mane of wet green hair out of her face. "No no. Earth." "Was she mad again?" "Dunno. Sick of her right now."
Camellia Remnants     Kerfuffle settled, she has the good grace to look thankful when she takes the water, then try not to cough too much when she pounds it back way too fast, leaving Anh to pat her on the back. With Anh performing probing first-assessment on how much of a nosebleed the nosebleed is with an oddly cavalier attitude about the whole concept, Lotus eventually finishes the bottle. Matched to, but lagging behind her process in doing so, her hair and nails slowly 'firm up', and her skin starts losing translucency.

    "Oh good. No sneeze reflex."
    "How stupid would I have to be with so much pollen around?"
    "I really thought you were done with the last change you know. I remember when you were--"
    "Truce!"

    Anh lowers her arm a little further so Lotus can pull herself up. Empty bottle in hand, Lotus drags Anh along with her like a teddy bear towards the kitchen, where she throws the bottle in a trash can and says "Just in case you forgot." soggy-snide. Anh blows a rapsberry, waves back to the rest of you, and says "Make yourselves at home! I'm going to take her out to the yard to get some sun!"