Scene #9752: Rescorla-Wagner (Re)Model

Owner	Pose
Foundation Scions	The office-residence building 'Rescorla-Wagner' is, roughly, exactly as it was left following the final efforts of the Foundation to drive out the rebel encampment. Bits of rubble, remnants of skirmish after skirmish, the traces of having been lived-in; mostly, an utterly awe-striking presence of roots, trees, and foliage. The main difference, this time, on this partly-cloudy afternoon, is that everyone gathered is looking at it from the outside, from a taped-off cleanup-site roughly following the shape and circumference of the informally established no-man's land, and that the other gathered Foundation staff present aren't here to oppose the once-rebels, they're here to also assist in clean-up. Pursuant to the Storm Reformation bill, 72 hours of community service in benefit of the St. Pavlov Foundation was levied out as reprimand to the rebels (and mostly as a compromise to win over voting members upset by their actions,) after which, and after the relocation of the new-growth forest within the encampment building to somewhere less disruptive, 'good standing' will be returned to those involved with the holdout. While the community service is indeed beholden to properly-approvable pursuits, and subject to Foundation oversight on hours, the content of it is open-ended, as there is never any lack of things needing to be done. One such opportunity, heavily-encouraged, is the direct clean-up of Rescorla-Wagner, where other workers, other volunteers, tools, and various overseers will be readily present to sign off on hours. Most dreadfully, the overseer on-assignment today, for the rebels to check with, and get sorted on their work is none other than- "Ah-hem. Junior Investigator Matilda Bouanich, will be monitoring your clean up work, and monitoring quite closely! She has quite the eye for detail!" Matilda, hands on her hips, is who people have been directed to check in with! Yippee! She isn't some faceless staffer! Uh-oh, she seems overly proud! And, what's more, rather than her Monitor Assistant's uniform, she seems to be trying something new- an oversized blazer, with white-and-grey checkerpattern on the inside of the lapel, overtop a blouse, and a high-waisted grey skirt. The blazer is quite, quite oversized. "With, all of the ruckus now done-with..." A little sigh, and a hand-wave, roughly over to a pile of shovels, pickaxes, and wheelbarrows, "The most pressing need, right now, is the clearing-away of rubble itself, in order for architectural responses to be taken! I intend to be very exact with the hours-spent, so, please, do not try and trick me, and please do try and work very hard! As I do, frequently!" A bit leakily, to the crowd, "Is it not a very happy day that everything can, now, be behind us?"
Riku Asakura	Riku is, of course, here to put in his time for the community service. He isn't against reversing the damage he helped cause in the Rebellion, of course, especially now that they're healing the wounds caused and trying to mend bridges and all that. So he is, of course, here in the group to listen to whoever was sent to monitor them during this mandatory time working for the Foundation. Of course, when it's Matilda, Riku has to hide a small wince when she announces herself. The memory of their argument and, of course, the dreaded FEAR ROCKS are still in his recent memory. They sucked, they took forever to clean up, and they're STILL not sure if they got them all! It also showed him the worst visions of his father. So you know, that was fun. Despite it probably not being her direct fault, he now has a mental association between Matilda and his evil space satan father, so... yippee? "It's a little unfair to assume we'd try and trick you," he objects to the idea that they'd try and trick her. His expression becomes a light frown when the 'can we just put it behind us' comes out, but he doesn't object per se. "So where are we taking the rubble to anyway? I don't see a dumpster." He asks, on his way to grab a wheelbarrow to place it near a site of rubble so they can at least start the process.
Regulus	It's community service time! And honestly, Regulus is even a little eager to wipe the slate clean, so to speak. The sooner she gets this done, the sooner she can focus on what she actually wants to do. Seventy Two Hours might as well be Seventy Two Years but she can't really wiggle out of this. She can already imagine the Lilian Rook in her head scowling at her complaining about her complaining about the reprecussions of her moral stands and such. She can envision it so clearly that it might as well have already happened. Well, she's not going to fall for it and do what everybody expects, which is to bitch and moan the whole way through. No, today Regulus is rebelling not against the Foundation but against EXPECTATIONS. She's already determined to be the best community service worker in the whole Foundation no matter which poor sap they've put in charge of being their chaperone. And in return, good standing?! Regulus is kind of wondering what that might feel like! Of course, APPLe weas also part of the hold out crew which means he also has to do seventy two hours of community service himself and he has come along with Regulus on this 'adventure' to do just that, following after Regulus with a big of cleaning supplies hanging off of his arm. Regulus is wearing her cleaning outfit, a white durag across her head, a pair of headphones hanging around her neck so she can work, a sleeveless striped button down shirt, and light blue jeans. She has her own bag of cleaning supplies hanging off of her arm and a broom in hand--she'd already been doing so much cleaning they had all the supplies they might need--though naturally the mess in the Media Center is a bit more than Regulus could manage on her own. That's right, she could handle whomever the Foundation threw at her. ''Ah-hem. Junior Investigator Matilda Bouanich'' Exxxcept maybe that one. Regulus thinks Matilda is great. But Regulus is, you know, a little sore about having her greatest fears shoved in her face on and off for like a month. She is visibly startled, since she isn't wearing her sunglasses, as her big bright eyes widen upon seeing her. Quick, Regulus, you have to get in a dig on Matilda NOW before you let residual soreness you have at being hit with fear rocks repeatedly overtake your common sense and your dream of being the best community service worker in the history of the Foundation! Something small and not that big of a deal! Defuse your own tension! "Oh hey Matilda." Regulus says. "Did the Foundation not have a jacket in your size?" Perfect job once again, Regulus. She looks over to the wheelbarrows and then sighs and tosses most of her cleaning supplies down to the ground. It looks like she's just gonna have to do a totally different kind of work than what she prepared for! "Well not to worry, Matilda! I'm happy to let bygones be bygones. And I've gotten QUITE good at cleaning over the past couple months. And uh. It'd be kind of embarrassing if I didn't do a good job here since I'd definitely be made fun of. So! You're gonna get 110 percent of Regulus Grade Effort!" "We'll do our best, Matilda. Congratulations on your promotion." APPLe says. "We'll be counting on your guidance." "Yes! A happy day. So uh." Riku asks the most pertinent question as she grabs a pickaxe and shovel and piles it into a wheelbarrow as she brings it back. "You uh. Deactivated any remaining of your ... rocks right? Just making sure! Everything is just dandy!"
Odette Raskins	Although Odette's feelings on the Foundation are still a mixed bag, she can't dispute the fact that whatever could have happened if things went badly would probably be a lot worse than three days of community service. She still has Lilian's words in mind for the next time she ever expects to pull something like joining a rebellion, but for now? It's time to get things cleaned up. She's dressed for sweat-inducing work, too, clad in a old white t-shirt, similarly old working slacks with deep pockets and rough patches sewn onto the knees, and a brown work apron that's looks older than she is. It's a stark difference from Matilda's outfit, certainly, although it does make the EMT wonder just how old that blazer is if it's that big. "Your parents must be huge..." She wonders aloud, already getting an outsized mental image of how tall and wide Matilda's parents must be for the blazer to fit on Matilda herself like that. Once she realizes she's been staring up at Matilda for a second too long, she quickly clears her throat, then nudges her glasses back up into place before following that handwave over to the tools. "Right, Matilda. We'll get on that, and then..." She pauses briefly, wrinkling her nose a little at Matilda's request to not trick her and nodding along with Riku. "Hey, Riku. Y-yeah, all that's behind us now. Besides, if we wanted to trick you, we wouldn't say we'd be tricking you. Um. We'd just do it, you know?" With pickaxe in hand, Odette's ready to start breaking down the bigger chunks of rubble into more manageable chunks! Hearing Regulus' question about the rocks, however, does get her to slow down a bit to make sure she hears Matilda's answer. "Hey, Regulus! Hi, Mister APPLe. I-I'm sure it's all taken care of already. I mean, we'd feel it if they were still on, right? And making us think about airlocks and family stuff..." She's also slowing down a bit to be extra attentive to anything that so much as makes her think about an airlock, or a corpse.
Holly Asturias	Community service was a good excuse to socialize. It was a good excuse to get to see the Foundation, and Laplace, from the inside. It was, eventually, even going to be a good opportunity to talk with and observe some of the most brilliant minds there - why, yes, even Mesmer. But for now, it's mostly the former. "Junior Investigator Matilda Bouanich," "Oh my! Could it be you were promoted, following your most excellently-handled deployment of those terrifying pebbles?" Why Holly sounds jolly about it, despite the fact she never wants to hold one of those ever again. Or be near one, for that matter. "Though I must say those were unusually cruel. I hardly thought you the type! Such a cheery front, but truly a soldier underneath. The SPDM training isn't to be underestimated~" "Is it not a very happy day that everything can, now, be behind us?" "Why it is! Though... I suppose my arm still hurts, but that will go away in time." It's quite easy to notice her right arm is a lot more idle than the other, animated as Holly usually is. Why she didn't even go for a hug at all, this time! "It's a little unfair to assume we'd try and trick you," "Ah, but Riku is quite right too. We've no need for trickery; we've obtained Vertin's wellbeing, and there's not even a scrap of anything left to fight about." ... well... "Unless... you don't happen to know if the SPDM, or the Foundation, still locks children in cells with flesh-eating worms, do you?" It's something that's lingered, and wasn't directly addressed by Team Timekeeper coming into being. "The most pressing need, right now, is the clearing-away of rubble itself," "With formalities out of the way, have you any preference as to what we do with the rubble and debris? I'm sure the Foundation is well-versed in recycling and reuse, considering limited resources, so it might appreciate if we're orderly about it."
Team Timekeeper	This is not an Elite-only punishment! In fact, it applies to all the wrongdoers expressing the inalienable right to protest, and that includes Bellwhistle and the rest of the Ainsworth office, from Evie to Ruth. Now that they've taken the chance to sleep in the Suitcase properly the last couple days, with it having been returned to Vertin and officially established as 'home', it's with a little chagrin that they return to the partially-wrecked site of the rebellion. There's a range of responses among the girls to being assigned community service. Ruth is a bit embarrassed-frustrated at punishment being applied at all, Margaret is scornfully flippant. Bellwhistle still considers the whole venture a massive success, and Doris and Evie seem to feel like this is just another Tuesday's grocery run, because once Matilda meets them in the building, they're much more interested in her than in picking up rocks. "Hello, dear! Of course, of course we'll work hard, don't you worry." "But 'eye for detail'... tsk, is this really the clothing they give you? This doesn't flatter you at all-- here, here, let me." Matilda is immediately set upon by two older women fussing over the fit of her jacket, pinching at the excess length and babbling to each other over her head about how they'd adjust it to accentuate her adorable round face better. Meanwhile, Bellwhistle is tucking her switchboard up under her arm so she can roll out a wheelbarrow and get to work, and Margaret recklessly bounces a pickaxe in her hand while eyeing Matilda just-short of threateningly. "Isn't this all kind of baloney? They literally admitted we were right. Why are we getting punished for doing what's right? And you're younger than me," says a girl definitely multiple years younger than Matilda, "So why are you telling us what to do? What, they want to work us for free, but can't even be assed to send any real employees to be our warden?" Margaret lowers her voice a bit to side-speak to Ruth, but not nearly quiet enough to not be heard. "Doesn't that remind you kind of how Mr. Piggs never wanted to stick around the office? She's like a baby Mr. Piggs. Miss Piglet." "Is it not a very happy day that everything can, now, be behind us?" Bellwhistle's quiet humming comes through her switchboard rather than her mouth, cheerily off-tune while she loads up rocks fromt he entrance. "Yep, it's been real nice. Miss Vertin's awake, no one's fighting no one anymore, and we can all just settle down for the first time in ages. Is it a weight off you too, that it's done with?"
Ein	Ms. Moissan was, of course, excused from this community service as she was never required to be there. Mr. Karson, whom you might imagine would be excused from this whole event is here actually, since the switchboard rebels are too, and is assisting Sotheby. Sotheby, for her part, is in a pair of overalls and a large ribbonbow about her collar such that her rather reasonably-brimmed hat is couched in a bow that wings out past her shoulders. She picks up pieces of rock with work gloves, shifting them to Mr. Karson's grip for piling. Baby is doing hard labor! She seems to be counting this as exercise time, though, so it's fine. "Miss Matilda," Sotheby begins, with the faint post big-for-her rock shifting, "Wouldn't you rather I just... make something? Wouldn't everyone rather?" She asks, curiously, not entirely clear on why she started moving rocks around but having been unclear on the premise the entire time. Why was she in trouble? Was this... Jupiter's doing? But Matilda's big coat wasn't really a sign of absolute evil. Was the coat controlling her? Sotheby gasps. "The cloth demon of Ganymede... Hang in there, miss Matilda!" She encourages quietly, doing a bob-and-bounce with clenched fist insistence. Meanwhile, Druvis III is doing a different sort of labor, dressed down to tunic dress and hoverhanding wand like a sharp dog at heel just under her palm. Pulling, gripping, bending and working, she motions with other arm in the air as if to conduct and the forest before the responds, slowly migrating like the walk of green clouds chased with brown separating from their interwovenness with the brutalist marble chessboard of the Foundation. She does not work exceptionally fast, but she is also not wrought full of picarasma and passion for this undoing. She had, frankly, come to like the woven space. There was enough green under her power to fill the no-man's land with a fantastic moat of rich woods and hedges, but was that asked for? Perhaps not yet. "It would be best... if there were none of those left," Druvis asides, about the fear crystals. "We spoke about why." She reminds Matilda, but does not bear any particular lingering resentment towards the now big-coated junior investigator.
Veronica	As one of the literally biggest hands in the rebellion, Veronica knows it'd be unwise to shirk her 'sentence'. Especially if she wants to keep helping Vertin where she can, which is indeed her intention. Once 'on the clock' she busies herself with collecting the available material and supplies for repairs to the building and carrying them to where they need to go. Buckets of paint, tubs of plaster, all that sort of thing are hauled telekinetically across the work site to and fro. She doesn't want to manifest her EGO unless really called on to do so. Although she's not chatty or chipper at first, once she's settled in to her tasks she perks up a little. It's not too different from chores at the Faded Print, in her mind. As long as she does her best to forget she's working for cops... although, she'd be surprised if the Foundation stormtroopers were the sort of people who got assigned to this work too. Anywhere there's anybody who thinks they're important, there's somebody who's not being paid enough but still has to clean up after the 'big-shots'. Do it for the service personnel, Veronica! She ends up near Regulus at some point, pushing a wheelbarrow by hand to give her mental 'muscles' a rest. "So, how's Vertin holding up? Heard some of you lot went into her brain?"
Foundation Scions	'Oh my! Could it be you were promoted,' 'Congratulations on your promotion.' "Yes, and thank-you, respectively!" She puts her head back, and stands a bit prouder, showing off the new, bad, uniform. Junior Investigator Matilda Bouanich. What an unimpressive title. 'It's a little unfair to assume we'd try and trick you,' "Hmph! I said no such thing. An Investigator of the St. Pavlov Foundation simply covers all necessary topics!" She's really trying to rub her promotion in! She got the job, after all, and it's, totally, definitely, all she ever wanted, to stay overseeing people who don't like being overseen, at home, at the Foundation, thanklessly. Sigh. Do your best, Matilda. 'The cloth demon of Ganymede...' 'Your parents must be huge...' "Hein? Pardonnez-moi?" 'We'd just do it, you know?' "You most certainly would not! Get away with it, at least!" Matilda taps the side of her head, closing her eyes for a moment, "I am not so easily fooled, whether, or not, you say outright your plans. Hah..." She sighs, pleased with herself. 'Wouldn't you rather I just... make something? Wouldn't everyone rather?' "Eh? Make something of, what sort? I, er, am here to approve, primarily, clean-up volunteering, but..." She's a bit excited at that notion? 'Tsk, is this really the clothing they give you?' Matilda is rendered a bit stunned, like a dog at a party, to be fussed over. She's supposed to be the one fussing, here, and at work, rather than at people! "Hein? No, I spent my own money on these, they were not given-" Still, she obediently raises up her arms to make the task of adjusting it on her easier, on instinct, with slight wide-eyed disorientation. She's winning? She's probably winning? But that's kind of embarrassing! 'So why are you telling us what to do?' "Because that is my job, as a very-real Investigator of the Foundation." She's pouting! She's pouting, and you're laughing! She's going to pout herself to dust and particles! 'She's like a baby Mr. Piggs. Miss Piglet.' Matilda pouts, scowls, and picks up a clip-board, to pointedly write, and murmur out, "The volunteer group exhibited exceptionally poor attitude." 'I don't see a dumpster.' "Perhaps... try looking, that way?" Matilda points, standing up-right off of a little tool-crate she'd been leaning on, over towards another busy part of the cleanup-site. Wheelbarrow tracks are worn into the grass and dirt, and grass and dirt is being moved-away from paved paths underneath it, but periodically, at various nucleation points, dumpsters, tool-piles, water stations, all cluster.
Foundation Scions	Occasionally, rather than with tools, distant workers rely on arcane skills, to blow away dust and dirt and levitate rubble-rocks, or collect up discarded trash. Laplace-designed contraptions, including mechanical lifting crane-arms, have been hauled in and assembled for some of the larger moving. The site is quite an active one! 'Deactivated any remaining of your ... rocks right?' "Pssh, it should be long-since past the terminus time of the enchantments I imbued into them!" Matilda considers this for a moment more, and adds, quieter, "Très probablement..." Surely, it's fine! It's fine. 'It would be best... if there were none of those left,' Matilda nods, to this. "I may be very-much a prodigy, but, er- the arcanum was not meant to be permanent! That would be extremely difficult! I could have, obviously!" A little exhale, "But, I had to make so many... hah. Regardless! I could make them very-obvious, and glow very-bright! Just to be sure, which, of course, I already am sure!"
Regulus	''Your parents must be huge...'' "C'mon Odette, Matilda's got cash to spare, no way that's a hand-me-down." Regulus chastizes Odette gently before adding, "A-and I just don't want to get spooked by any we might've missed! I'm just being thorough!" She kind of envies how effortless Holly manages to be jolly about everything, at least right now. If she could just slough everything off she'd be so much happier. She leans over to Stoheby and asides to her, "Love your bow, and your overalls are super cute, and may I just say your hats never disappoint." ''Isn't this all kind of baloney?'' "It's a little bit baloney," Regulus assures Margaret with the Wisdom Of A Repeat Offender, lowering her voice also not quite enough. "But think about it this way, we scarf down some baloney now and let them convince themselves we learned our lessons, everything will be much easier on Vertin." She pauses. "They're totally looking right now for any reason to discredit us I'm sure. So we gotta lay low and be gracious in victory. Besides--we don't wanna throw out all of Sonetto's hard work and trust right?" And then, more directly. "Matilda works hard though. I've seen her at work myself." She's willing to give Matilda SOME shit but insulting Matilda's work ethic feels a bridge too far. That feels ''unfair''. ''Heard some of you lot went into her brain?'' "Oggh..." Regulus says. "Never do Psychonaut work if you can help it, Veronica, trust me." It may have been a happy ending but it was one last gut punch for the road. She just hopes that through it all that more good came out of it than Vertin waking up which is plenty good, of course, but... She's still worried about Mesmer even if it's eclipsed by her relief that Vertin is awake once more and properly recovering. ''The volunteer group exhibited exceptionally poor attitude.'' "What!! No we didn't! We didn't!! Our work ethic is AWESOME just a little rough to start, that's all. Just you wait and see!" Regulus's dream of being the SUPER COMMUNITY SERVICE worker of Vertin's dreams is poofing into smoke as we speak! She starts busting up rubble into smaller more manageable rocks with her pickaxe to fight back against the tide! "Yeah making them very shiny would be nice, you know--if we finish our community service and one slipped through the cracks and was still active somehow, then Foundation officers would get spooked!" She pauses for a moment, realizing that X and Bond have both managed to slip away from this work by not officially being part of the rebellion. Those clever bastards, Regulus thinks, whom I owe a heck of a lot. "It seems we aren't the only ones assisting in this cleanup." APPLe says approvingly.
Riku Asakura	'The SPDM training isn't to be underestimated~' "I mean, they did use a radiological weapon on us..." Riku mutters to Holly, still pretty upset about /that/ too. He's overall not VERY happy about the Foundation's actions and behaviors at all. Especially because of the... 'Unless... you don't happen to know if the SPDM, or the Foundation, still locks children in cells with flesh-eating worms, do you?' Riku shudders at that. The worms were disgusting, and the entire thing was awful to experience and learn about. He also does notice that it's not addressed either. So... yeah. 'Miss Vertin's awake, no one's fighting no one anymore, and we can all just settle down for the first time in ages.' "Yeah, it's great Vertin's awake and the fighting has stopped at least," Riku suddenly not unhappy that someone else mentioned the fighting was over, probably a touch hypocritically. Riku also decides to stand a little farther from Matilda when Sotheby mentions making something. Heaven knows it's going to be some matter of explosives or acid to get rid of debris that will be uh... potentially bad for those involved, like that guard in the quest for water. 'I said no such thing.' "You definitely implied it," Riku shoots back, but is already putting debris into a wheelbarrow to start carting it. Now that he knows where the dumpster is, after Matilda pointed it out. Well, at least there was one, instead of some insane device that... who knows, turns it into suffering orphans or something? 'The volunteer group exhibited exceptionally poor attitude.' "Now you're blaming all of us for the words of one person? Come on now..." 'Just to be sure, which, of course, I already am sure!' Riku gives Matilda a flat look. "I'd appreciate the 'making them obviously bright' because I don't want to run into one again. We spent a while cleaning them up after that stunt."
Foundation Scions	'Unless... you don't happen to know if the SPDM, or the Foundation, still locks children in cells with flesh-eating worms, do you?' Belated, and with a finger-beckon to drag Holly closer to talk quieter and more privately, not audience by the whole of the group, "Er, Dr. Asturias? You bring up a very difficult topic! I would appreciate if, various, more-progressive sentiments on the subject do not go loudly-said, here, but... as to the shamirs, please do not worry! I chase them out of the guardhouse myself, quite handily!"
Odette Raskins	"Such a cheery front, but truly a soldier underneath." Snickering lightly into her arm, Odette shakes her head despite Holly's cheer being visibly contagious. "It's almost creepy if you put it that way, Doctor." She says with a laugh, although the comment about the worms does tamp that down considerably. It's enough to even have Odette outright stopping to listen to Matilda's answer. "Wouldn't you rather I just... make something?" There's a lot of answers Odette's going to be stopping and listening for, actually, as she nods quickly at Sotheby before remembering that she probably(?) doesn't have eyes on the back of her head. "That'd be a lot better, I bet. I'm all for it." "The cloth demon of Ganymede..." "Hein? Pardonnez-moi?" "Yes! Exactly! I think. Wait..." Odette pauses, looking from Sotheby to Matilda, back to Sotheby with a slowly understanding look in her eye, and then right back to Matilda with another curious gleam. "... Are you parents demons? Or demon-hunters? Is that where this outfit is from?" "No, I spent my own money on these, they were not given-" "Ohhh." Odette sounds a little disappointed hearing that. "She's like a baby Mr. Piggs. Miss Piglet." Margaret's chiding of Matilda, meanwhile, has the EMT almost feeling kind of bad for her, although she doesn't have anything to say in Matilda's defense. Her points don't strike Odette as wrong, after all, and she still has the worms to think about. "... Oh! Speaking of." Instead of bringing up Mr. Piggs reminding her about food, Odette scurries back to her duffel bag. "I brought some snacks! Ah, the green ones don't need to be heated." She calls out, unzipping the bag quickly and unearthing a few cardboard boxes of prepackaged food that sort of resemble Hot Pockets, but don't even pretend to show anything resembling natural ingredients. Teriyaki flavor! Clown flavor! Stocks flavor? And some kind of lizard flavor. There's no expiration date on any of the boxes, and the boxes' sides are dedicated entirely to a massive list of ingredients. The lizard ones don't need to be heated for some reason. "I could make them very-obvious, and glow very-bright!" "That'd help a lot, actually! If we don't see a glow, then there's nothing to worry about. And if there is, then you'd be able to pick them out without feeling it, right?" "C'mon Odette, Matilda's got cash to spare, no way that's a hand-me-down." "That's true... B-but hand-me-downs have value cash can't buy, too! Like.. You know. Emotional value. And powers, sometimes." Odette replies to Regulus with a self-conscious pout in her hand-me-down work apron.
Veronica	"Never do Psychonaut work if you can help it, Veronica, trust me." "Why's that? What happened? I mean, I've done Psychonaut work with Flamel before, his Storm Syndrome experiment and all, and it was... well, it was a fright, but I think it was worth doing. Something go wrong in there? Vertin's seemed pretty alright..." Veronica's suddenly worried that somebody, whether Mesmer or Flamel, was Up To Something in Vertin's mind.
Odette Raskins	""Never do Psychonaut work if you can help it, Veronica, trust me." "Why's that? What happened?" "We saw some... Er. There was some stuff." Odette starts to explain to Veronica, realizes how vague and unhelpful that sounds, then sighs a moment later. "Rough stuff. D-definitely not the sort of thing I'd want to do again, after seeing it once."
Holly Asturias	"Er, Dr. Asturias?" "Is that so?" Holly smiles, and the dangling little chains on her headdress almost seem a bit more cheerful in their chiming and jingling and hanging as she moves her head. "Then I was worried for naught. The great Matilda Bouanich is truly incapable of letting others down, mm?" It's approval, of course. The Revenant could not be happier to hear that that tortuous little scene isn't replaying itself over and over in there, and that someone did something - even if that something is manual labor, and not eliminating the root of the problem. "I mean, they did use a radiological weapon on us..." "Ahah, right!" Holly shuffles away from the private talk with Matilda, cheerful and reinvigorated. "I remember. They used some manner of anti-arcanum weapon on me, and it turns out Ichor drains the same! I wonder if they realized how dangerous that is to use on me, at the time. At least it pleases me to know they're ready for the Manus." "Just to be sure, which, of course, I already am sure!" "And we're so very thankful for your hard work. We'll have to make sure you can be as thankful for ours, yes?" ... with only one arm and a half, she might be less help than the others, but she'll certainly do her share of lifting - and she's very happy to be a field medic as well. Injuries do tend to happen in these places, so not a bruise or a scrape will escape untreated. That's community service, too! "Wouldn't you rather I just... make something? Wouldn't everyone rather?" "Oh I would love to see that!" Observing Sotheby at work was never a bad thing. Such a young prodigy! And with so much energy to boot. "It's almost creepy if you put it that way, Doctor." "Is it?" Holly tilts her head, to the tune of the dangling chains around it. "I thought it more like a compliment? To be a soldier to the core, and yet cheery and approachable nonetheless, what a feat. Battle burns personality as well as it burns skin, and I rather like seeing people who haven't let it." "So, how's Vertin holding up? Heard some of you lot went into her brain?" "Oh yes! It was... quite the unexpected detour that day. But one that ended well, even for the one at fault. What a rare outcome."
Regulus	Regulus's little grudge against Matilda's fear rocks is fading as she starts hearing the others give her the third degree over how the SPDM is run. Maybe Lilian was right, Regulus thinks, and she just likes being contradictory? Ugh. But it does kind of bug her!! r"Um," Regulus tells Veronica. "You're kind of asking me to say what we saw in someone's head here." Regulus feels awkward getting into this at all but she feels she owes Veronica SOME amount of explanation. "But we basically saw the Breakaway Incident when Vertin tried to escape ages ago. So it wasn't fun." Come to think of it, Matilda helped Vertin without even expecting or wanting to leave with her. While that probably saved Matilda's life, it's also kind of ... sweet, isn't it? Matilda's the sort of person who would help someone else escape a world she wished to stay in. They were all good kids. ''B-but hand-me-downs have value cash can't buy, too!'' Regulus is a little worried that Odette is stammering about a discussion topic that seems pretty mild, but maybe it's hard to think of that jacket in a medical way. She can see that. "Well that's true..." Regulus admits, glancing back to the oversized jacket. It doesn't exactly seem like it has POWERS. Or hand-me-down value. And didn't Matilda say she bought it? "I mean um. I'm sure it can be tailored too. Hell I could do it."
Ein	Druvis with voice a strained sort of 'ah, so that's how it is'-expressive, lets her eyes gutter into the middle distance, away from Matilda's answer. Surely, but, also, be careful. As good as no guarantee, yet the need to forge forward anyway. Make do. Druvis exhales. "Do as you will. If they are now inert seeds, I will not learn again today what I fear most." She speaks it like some spiritual journey, and for her it was, a shocking infliction of the dagger of memory to her gut. As it carved there, sawing at her notions, the ache it left in radiata only reminded her of him. Even as poorly socialized as Duvis was, she knew about the force of visions and understood the source was not the stone but from within. So she hoped that she wouldn't confront her fears today. If it was in fact Forget Me Not, she would know she was still not over him. If it wasn't Forget Me Not but instead some other specter, then, . . . It wouldn't be Forget Me Not. Bitter, she hoped her greatest fear remained him and not some specter of the Foundation. It would be so foul to be afraid of this almost-American state. MEANWHLE... Sotheby is engaged in her schemes and Big Ribbon Sotheby snaps into frame post-hop like a particularly sprightly goat or eager rabbit having erased the distance between herself and Matilda with potentially-alarming alacrity (child zoomed, bounced). "Well, any sort? Sure I can move rocks around but after a while I could have had plenty of things on burners and spun about - it seems a little like spilling genius talent on the ground because you didn't like my draught, Miss Matilda!" Sotheby spins up to, hands clasped together in a 'please, Investigator Matilda!' pleading pose. Baby understands punitive actions... "I'm sure I could do something just as good as that old stone building in a few afternoons, and seventy two hours is nothing once I get going--" She proudly exclaims, causing a coughing fit over by Mr. Karson in protest. "For example, gold, a marvelous transmutation of oysterless black pearls, tinctures and potions... I could help re-build a lab space! Oh, or may-be, I could create a marvelous sudsy cleaning mist that whisks away the dirt right off the stone?" Her promises grow and grow until she's glowingly proud of her last and boldest idea. Vertin gave her the Misty Bubble Ball in their first meeting as a gift and after breaking one down and learning how they worked and what they were roughly made out of, immediately iterated on the design and added 'smoke foam' to their list of deployable vectors.
Odette Raskins	"I'm sure it can be tailored too. Hell I could do it." "I think Drois and Evie are already on that, but they might appreciate the help! Also, I didn't know you tailored stuff." Odette answers Regulus with a few surprised blinks. "That must make decorating for concerts way easier, huh...?"
Foundation Scions	'What!! No we didn't! We didn't!! Our work ethic is AWESOME just a little rough to start, that's all. Just you wait and see!' With, probably, an intentionally overdramatic eye-roll shoulder-sigh, "Fine. I suppose I shall wait, and, I shall see." 'I mean, they did use a radiological weapon on us...' "Excusez-moi? They most certainly did not! The St. Pavlov Foundation Guidelines to Ethical and Effective Riot Suppression contain no-such 'radiological' devices! That would be considered extremely dangerous, unethical, and, surely, a permanent environmental crisis!" Matilda looks around the location that they're presently in, a little worried, but the worry vanishes when she sees nobody utilizing anti-radiation equipment at all. "Yes! You're certainly wrong." 'Though I must say those were unusually cruel.' Matilda sighs, at the continuous-topic, "Please understand that my actions were approvable and humane, and taken not-at-all as a first resort! And please remember that Foundation employees have come to physical injury from the encampment's actions! Which, fair punishment is being administered, here, by me!" 'You definitely implied it,' "I did not," Matilda fires back, while assuming the invincible, unbeatable crossed-arms 'Hmph!' pouting-stance. She's about a moment away from up and sticking her tongue out. '...And the fighting has stopped at least,' 'We spent a while cleaning them up after that stunt.' Still a bit cross, Matilda can't help but add, "The fighting could have been finished much earlier, you know! And, if you are so worried as to the remaining-presence of those crystals... perhaps you should have cleaned up better, already?" Sighing, and shaking her head, to dislodge the cross-ness, "Non, Mathilde, tu as dit il faudrait oublier cette affaire." "Yes! This is a time for honest work, instead! So!" Well, isn't for her. She's just here to watch, clipboard in hand. "And, remember, hydration and proper resting and lifting-form are very necessary! Please avoid lifting heavy rubble with straight legs! You will get hurt!" With a bit of breathing room, Matilda does work a little arcane skill; the rocks, wherever they are, deeper into the building's grounds, ought to all be aglow now, and the residual arcanum beginning to wear itself out even further, should there even be any. 'Oh, or may-be, I could create a marvelous sudsy cleaning mist that whisks away the dirt right off the stone?' A little bit nervous-laugh-y, Matilda looks around, "Well, er, that does sound very useful for the clean-up, especially if it compares favorably to the scrubbing agents to be used already... I imagine I could sign off on that sort of assistance, yes!" She, kind of, really wants to see Sotheby in action! 'But we basically saw the Breakaway Incident when Vertin tried to escape ages ago.' Quiet, "Hein? You saw..." Matilda, immediately, looks quite unhappy. "Why would you go looking to see that, of, all the things you could, Regulus?" 'To be a soldier to the core, and yet cheery and approachable nonetheless, what a feat.' This, also, is met with a complicated expression, and only soft words, "I am an 'Investigator', not a 'soldier', Dr. Asturias; and if you need an additional term, 'Diviner' and 'Monitor Assistant' work well-enough!"
Regulus	''I think Doris and Evie are already on that'' "And steal the fun from their hands? Nah." Regulus asides to Odette. "But yeah, I can't afford to buy every outfit I wear so APPLe and I have to do some work sometimes. We also had more time to develop hobbies, I guess. I was on the run, sure, but I didn't have real responsibilities. Not like now. And I guess I need to work out more, I mean my lifestyle is pretty active and this isn't exactly easy labor, but it might be the meaning between life and death which is a much bigger deal than life and a few days in the clink." She smashes some more rocks, loading them up on the cart. "...Not to complain about getting what I wanted or anything, but it's still a little scary--the idea that I'm gonna be facing more Storms in the future. I just hope ... I just hope it goes better." ''I suppose I shall wait, and, I shall see.'' "Thank you, oh magnam--" Regulus hesitates as she isn't sure she's saying it right. "--aminous one...? Did I say that right?" ''Yes! You're certainly wrong.'' "I feel pretty healthy for someone irradiated." Regulus admits. "I didn't get a good look at it so I don't know how it actually worked though so who knows. Maybe it's safe radiology." ''Perhaps you should have cleaned up better, already?'' "Man you have no idea how many days we spent on it. They're super tiny. We brought in tools and everything. You should be proud for how thoroughly you messed with us." She sounds weirdly sincere about it. "Especially since we're not holding any hard feelings and we're moving into a bigger brighter future. Yeah?" ''Why would you go looking to see that, of, all the things you could, Regulus?'' But she still snaps a little, "I didn't!" She then blinks and then exhales out a sigh. "Sorry. I didn't. We didn't. Seriously. We went in because otherwise Vertin wasn't gonna wake up. And that's what happened to be the dream we ended up in." She dumps another rock in her wheelbarrow and then looks to Matilda and adds, "It kind of pisses me off that you think I'd go looking for it."
Riku Asakura	'The St. Pavlov Foundation Guidelines to Ethical and Effective Riot Suppression contain no-such 'radiological' devices!' Riku gives Matilda another blank look, because when it comes to 'ethical' and 'Foundation', he wasn't sure such a guideline existed. You know, because of the worms. "Well, you'd be calling Odette a liar then, and it sort of seemed like one to me during that entire 'thing' that happened at the end of the Rebellion," Riku says. "It certainly wasn't 'ethical'." 'And please remember that Foundation employees have come to physical injury from the encampment's actions!' "The difference is that we roughed them up a little; at worst, they were unconscious for a while. The fear rocks were psychological weapons used against us in an attempt to stop a protest against the actions and behaviors done by the Foundation. If you can't see the difference, then I have no idea what to tell you." 'I did not,' Riku really doesn't have the patience for this right now. He especially doesn't when she does the pouting stance. He just sighs and lets it go, because this is just going to devolve into immature actions at this point. 'The fighting could have been finished much earlier, you know!' "No, it really could not have been. If we folded or gave up earlier, then the bill would not have passed. The rights of people would have been squashed, and the Foundation wouldn't have gotten better. Do you even understand why we were protesting? I feel you just think we were a huge inconvenience, instead of actually fighting for your rights as much as we were anyone else's." Riku is becoming a bit more miffed at Matilda for what he sees as flippant behavior. It's like the entire exercise was lost on her, or that she didn't even pay attention to the trial or anything. Or that the Foundation could do no wrong, when in fact it has acted horribly unethically. Riku doesn't go into the details of their trip into Vertin's mind, letting Regulus handle that because it was more personal for her. Though he does share something with her. Being kind of pissed off at Matilda.
Regulus	"I get that you all think of me as a joke," Regulus says. "And sure, fair enough, I like to be a bit silly. But this joke still has feelings and figures she's proved her loyalty to Vertin enough by now that she wouldn't be seen as a snoop eagerly digging up gossip in her mind. That she's risked her life enough for the Foundation that she wasn't rebelling for fun, that I didn't have good reason."
Odette Raskins	"We also had more time to develop hobbies, I guess." "It's a real useful skill, for sure. There were a few people back home that did that for everyone in the colony so that we could save some money for other supplies, too." Odette repleis with a sympathetic nod, briefly looking guilty as she realizes that this work is, indirectly, taking away from time she could be using to make money. She's back to her normal look a moment later, though, or even a little better as she cracks a broken chunk of wall into pieces with another heavy swing of a pickaxe. "This is the type of stuffa everyone else back home used to do, so it's not... Like. Super unfamiliar? But I'm still more used to handling epople than rocks." She continues with a giggle, then purses her lips lightly at Regulus' concerns over future Storms and her physical state. "You know..." "If you're worried about getting better at hauling people around, I might be able to help with that. EMTs have to be ready to carry folks for a while if there's someone hurt where a stretcher won't fit, or if we've got to shove three or four of them into a locker just to get them out of somewhere in time. Maybe I could get you started on that kind of training after we're done with this? Then that's one less thing to worry about, and it'd be a big help for.. Everyone?" "The St. Pavlov Foundation Guidelines to Ethical and Effective Riot Suppression contain no-such 'radiological' devices!" "Uh... Matilda? Are those guidelines up to date? Since those effects from the thing were..." She pipes in, actually sounding kind of awkward as she realizes she's speaking up when it would have been so much easier to leave it to Riku's more impassioned state. If she had kept quiet, she probably could've gotten away with slacking on the work, too. Darn it. "... I've definitely felt that at work before. It's not that I don't believe you! Um. Personally, I mean. It's just that I don't really believe the..." She trails off to glance around at their surroundings instead of finishing that sentence.
Foundation Scions	'But I'm still more used to handling people than rocks.' "I would expect rocks are much simpler!" 'I feel pretty healthy for someone irradiated.' "Surely, that is because you are not, in fact, irradiated! Exactly as I've said! Why is this so-much something held in contention? Would you not have had a boxed cloud radiometer, or some such device, as an assessment system?" 'Uh... Matilda? Are those guidelines up to date?' "Er, yes? Of course they are! I've studied-such recently, as Investigators must! They are updated periodically! I've, of course, kept roughly up-to-date, continuously, since first applying for this position! That proved useful for training-assessment purposes!" She's trying a lot to swing it back to a less frustrating topic, namely, her promotion! 'The difference is that we roughed them up a little; at worst, they were unconscious for a while.' Backing down from argument, but staring at Riku like she's misunderstood the sort of person he is, Matilda's response to that is a quieter, "Forced unconsciousness from physical trauma can result in permanent disability, as well as secondary injuries, and, behavior relating to that is, in fact, why you are here today. Un-remorsefulness is ground for voiding hours. If the only difference, to you, is that it is worse to make you feel uncomfortable, than anything you did, or could have done," Matilda huffs, and just, stops talking to Riku. Whether or not he'll get to even have these hours count is left as an unknown. 'They're super tiny. We brought in tools and everything. You should be proud for how thoroughly you messed with us.' "I, of course, am quite familiar? I made them! It was no small expenditure of faceted quartz, for that matter!" With a little sigh, "I am not very pleased, at much of anything to do with it, however!" 'Especially since we're not holding any hard feelings and we're moving into a bigger brighter future. Yeah?' "Oui, oui." She sighs, and shakes her head again. 'I didn't!' 'Sorry. I didn't. We didn't.' Uncomfortable, Matilda furrows her brows, pouts, and tries to look between Regulus and the others. This is news to her, and it's upsetting news! "Est-ce que tout le monde a vu ça? I, would hope you would treat it with more tact!" She wants to put her hands on her hips and chastise, or, be apologized to, or just maybe leave? Murmured, "Gossiping is not counted for time doing community service work." 'It kind of pisses me off that you think I'd go looking for it.' Matilda holds the hour-signoff clipboard to her chest at that, though, and she holds it tight. She looks like she might just about cry, face scrunching up a bit. "Hein? Why, would you say that? Why are you talking this way, about that awful accident? I don't want you to..." She trails off. Looking around, looking more upset, and mostly, just looking really sad, Matilda bravely declares, (with a trembly voice) "I, I- will continue to monitor your community service-work, from, much further over there! So! So." Quickly, she turns her back, and trudges off.
Regulus	''Why is this so-much something held in contention?'' "Um mostly because Odette said it was radiation and I trust her--I mean technically when I use my arcane skill to concentrate beams of light, it's radiation so--" Regulus babbles. "And uh. Sure. IF you're not pleased, you're not pleased. I don't know." Regulus is feeling her attempts to appease and make peace with the Matilda in the wild is going extraordinarily poorly which is only adding to her frustrations. ''She might just about cry'' Regulus immediately feels like crystal's stabbing her head and guilt immediately softens the look in her eyes. "I mean... I don't... I didn't want to talk about it." Regulus stumbles over her words. "I didn't want to talk about it in the first place." She shoots Veronica a bit of a nasty look for bringing it up in the first place. Her silence after isn't really helping matters. "Look, Matilda--you don't--you don't gotta, I'm--I'll go over there. It's fine. I'm sorry." And then she ends up dragging her wheelbarrow off to the whole other way, despite the fact this probably isn't convincing Matilda to come back but she isn't too happy with her co-conspirators right now either. She wanted to keep things positive today and, hooray, she fucked it all up again. Only seventy more hours to go. Christ.