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Flamel Parsons     There's no such thing as WcDonalds in 1912. The chain of restaurants will not be opened until 1940 in the 'California' area of the United States, a region which is at this very moment undergoing way too much tumult to be able to plausibly host the seed of the restaurant. As such, the only plausible substitute was chosen, a small restaurant whose name translates in a culturally-ambiguous sense to Donald's Diner, which was warpgate-adjacent to the Foundation HQ's nearest warpgate.

    It sits at the corner of a town square in a place that won't too badly define the Foundation's geographical region of space. The recent mass publication of Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle' has people rather wary of the quality and safety of ground beef, meaning this particular establishment is working hard to advertise their 'clean and rapid(tm)' ground beef 'slide-ables', said to be 'freer of pathogen and freer of filth than all competitors, by respected examinors'. So, that's a great mood-setter. The concept of a 'fast food' restaurant won't really come into its own for another thirty years, so these 'hamburger-steak sandwiches' will be a bit too well-made, their accompanying 'French-Fried potato chips' a bit richly thick and crunchy.

    Still. Good celebration material.
Flamel Parsons     Flamel's entry is a happy, confident stride.

    This time, he is not horribly drained, looking at the displays and signs around the restaurant interior, rather than any staring contest with plastic Bonald WcDonald standees.

    He is just fine, smiling as he looks over the menu, and this time he is actively responding at a good pace.

    Without any struggles, he is examining a 'french fried potato chip', closely and fondly appreciating each grain of salt on its surface, for a very normal amount of time.



    Eventually he looks up from his meal and says, "Hey," His smile is wide. "*That* one was *definitely* a 'homophobia'. Right? Back there? I'm finally starting to get the hang of this."
Lilian Rook     Frankly, Lilian thinks this is absurd. Flamel's cheery 'let's go to WcDonalds!' is clearly copy from when she did it, which was to drag a couple of confused teenagers away from the blisteringly uncomfortable situation of a space skeleton overlord coming out to her wife while everyone was in the room. Back then, Schneider had been with them all. Lilian had basically sat in, threatened everyone to put their phones away, slammed back drinks, and got weird about how unpleasant the whole situation was while Flamel asked about 'ho-mo-phobia'.

    Today is no such day! It is a good day! Vertin recently woke from a coma! Even if it sucked and was miserable and Lilian has newfound uncomfortable sympathy for Mesmer fucking Junior, it's a huge relief that the Foundation could be (just barely) relied upon to do the right thing! And the Rebellion is over, even!

    And yet she showed up. Precisely because it is that kind of good day, actually. And she doesn't really want to be in Laplace. The most notable way she'd changed her dress from her Foundation duties was . . . replacing her evilly implicative klein blue ribbon for a white and grey checkered one. Finally.

    '*That* one was *definitely* a 'homophobia'. Right?'

    Lilian sighs and rolls her eyes. "No. It was weirder." Under the circumstances, she's happy enough to be free of the empty place where Schneider should be for now, but that doesn't stop her from a mild shudder remembering all that time with Mesmer over two months. "God it was so weird. That place raises the most repressed and mentally fucked up weirdos."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons snaps his fingers. "Dang it. I'm gonna figure it out one day." He must continue studying the arts of homophobia to be able to get this right. "Am I closer, at least?"
Team Timekeeper     What a baby! Vertin is right back asleep! You'd think she would've gotten enough of that by now!

    Naturally, the until-recently-comatose Timekeeper is not up for wandering out into the world in her hospital gown and still-sort-of-amnesiac mindstate, but her assistant is, and her assistant must fetch her a burgered patty for her health. Along for the ride to the cafe is Sonetto, who surely must feel some amount of the celebratory spirit, but she's still in her Foundation uniform, so she's not 'letting loose' or anything.

    Sonetto has received two burgers, and her first action when sitting at the table is to very thoroughly wrap up the one she isn't eating and then place it into an insulated lunchbox, keeping it warm while hers gets cooler.

"*That* one was *definitely* a 'homophobia'."

    "What?"

    The only person who can be more alien than Flamel about this, Sonetto widens her eyes in pure confusion. "Where would you have seen that? Discrimination based on protected characteristics is highly frowned upon within the Foundation and Laplace."
Holly Asturias     The last time Holly went to a small diner...
    Or a diner at all...

    Was with Schneider.

    That might make it poetic, or just sad, that celebrating the Timekeeper's freedom, autonomy and no-longer-trapped-by-Mesmer status mirrors it.

    It's novel regardless. For someone from the year 2176, post-apocalypse on top, getting to see authentic 1912, eat authentic 1912, and just bask in 1912 atmosphere, it's something you can't do anymore.

    The signs and the advertisement of cleaner and better bounce off her like Lilian's remarks on her bloodline-correct attitude.

    "This is very different from the one in Chicago," Holly still notes, through the door - her dress is missing its skirt, leaving her in the much more shapely pants she wears underneath and make it much more obvious how much legs she's got. It's a mood thing, and it brings attention away from her right arm being less animated than the other.

"God it was so weird. That place raises the most repressed and mentally fucked up weirdos."

    "Does it? Vertin and Sonetto seem quite perfectly stable to me. A bit of trauma aside, but who doesn't have some of that nowadays?"

    She glances down at her own plate; it's a nice burger, and nice fries. She's got no complaints, besides that the soda seems a bit... richer?

    It was like that in Chicago too, though.

"Discrimination based on protected characteristics is highly frowned upon within the Foundation and Laplace."

    "Is arcanist a protected characteristic?"
Lilian Rook     'Am I closer, at least?'

    "Oh, Mesmer Junior is definitely homophobic." Lilian says. "That just wasn't the crux of it this time."

    'Where would you have seen that? Discrimination based on protected characteristics is highly frowned upon within the Foundation and Laplace.'

    "So I've heard." Lilian says, at once dry-British-facetious and deeply fond of Sonetto. "Something you'll learn about that eventually, though, is that a great many people are smart enough not to wear it on their sleeve when they know that. They'll step right up the line, even put a toe across it, make it clear that they don't tolerate you, but never quite cross it brazenly enough for people to find it worth the time to punish them." She stares with mild fascination at the way Sonetto saves a burger. "Isn't that going to be a bit heavy for her stomach?" she presumes.

    "Well, regardless, some people also believe they aren't prejudiced, but in reality they've absorbed enough of the attitude to unconsciously behave in biased ways." Lilian pauses. "Well, 'unconscious' is too much credit. Perhaps 'without examination'." She airily waves her hand. "Well, whatever. That wasn't it today. It was almost sort of the opposite."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons points a french-fried chip at Sonetto, like a teacher gesturing with chalk. "See, that's a common misconception. 'Homophobia' can also be robots fighting other robots, or giant robots fighting other giant robots, or a princess who says something weird about a marriage. I think it's more of an art than a science." He eats his chip, like a teacher eating their own chalk. "Does the SPDM handle the Humanities duties for the Foundation?"
Lilian Rook     'See, that's a common misconception. 'Homophobia' can also be robots fighting other robots, or giant robots fighting other giant robots, or a princess who says something weird about a marriage.'

    Lilian groans. "That's so shallow." Beat. "Except for Sundew I suppose. But she's also a repressed creep. So."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons says, "Well, I'll figure it out eventually. It's so complicated, that's all."
Holly Asturias "Oh, Mesmer Junior is definitely homophobic."

    "But I thought..."
    Holly looks at Lilian, puzzled.
    But they were flirting, right...?

"'Homophobia' can also be robots fighting other robots,"

    "You've lost me at the robots part though."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons gets back to Holly. "Yeah, frankly it's rarer for Elites to have a total absence of trauma now." He nods, taking a quick bite of the burger. "In the literal, mph, literal sense it's just damage. Have you ever heard the wisdom, goes like... A competitor is scarier if they've won 97% of their matches than 100%? Because that means they've been competing with peers, and for a long time."
Lilian Rook     "I suppose it is." Lilian sighs. "I'd encourage you not to, actually, but I suppose it'll eventually be relevant in that summer camp of yours." If it hasn't secretly been already.

    "Come to think of it, I imagine it can't be that much different than how peopl treat psychics where you're from." She's still haunted by the ghost of 'psi for psi' relationships.

    'But I thought...'

    "Doctor Asturias. A pleasure." Lilian says when noticed. Then she frowns. "I know what you're thinking. Unfortunately, it's an annoyingly common combination. Besides . . ." Hmmm. "No, never mind. I'm getting a burger. A big one. With bacon. I can afford it."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons shakes his head a bit at Holly too. "The robots bit was complicated, don't worry about that. 'I'm normal now,' I think they like to say."
Regulus Regulus is in a pretty good mood and is more interested in burgers than the game of homophobia or nothomophobia. She has collected a truly severe stack of burgers like she hasn't eaten burgers in a million years. There's fries too, you bet! And even some Dr. Pepper, which did exist in 1912, but didn't have national distribution yet so she must've fenagled it somehow on the way. Or she has a secret stash. It's unclear. "I thought robots fighting other robots was homoeroticism." Regulus says, shoving no less than seven fries in her mouth
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons back to Lilian, "Oh, it's been plenty relevant. Our, mph," He's got another bite of burger. "Our boss right now, Zanotto, he had this whole thing with his dad, really complicated, took a whole Psychonaut team to defuse. I'll tell you about it sometime."
Team Timekeeper "Vertin and Sonetto seem quite perfectly stable to me."

    Sonetto, who is here, does not really note the pointed exclusion of Matilda in Holly's statement. Rather than letting this comment pass without acknowledging it, like a normal person would, she absently says, "Thank you," about it.

"Is arcanist a protected characteristic?"

    "Hm? Of course. The Foundation exists to moderate the social treatment and hierarchal advantaged and disadvantaged differences between humans and arcanists."

"Oh, Mesmer Junior is definitely homophobic."

    Mystified, a little upset at Mesmer but mostly feeling weirdly guilty and melancholy, "Why?"

"Isn't that going to be a bit heavy for her stomach?"

    "Yes, I believe so." This doesn't stop her from neatly zipping up the cooler and stowing it beside her seat. "But if it is only possible for Timekeeper to eat small slices without becoming ill, it would still be worth the attempt. They have only had intravenous nutrition for a long time now, and must be missing salty and oily treats like this."

"'Homophobia' can also be robots fighting other robots, or giant robots fighting other giant robots, or a princess who says something weird about a marriage."

    "I do not think it can. Er, besides that last one, given appropriate context." She blinks, then asides, "But Dame Rook would know best."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons nods wisely to Regulus. "I don't know about that." He says, smile wide. "That's scary."
Lilian Rook     'I thought robots fighting other robots was homoeroticism.'

    "Regulus." Lilian says, a little cooler, though she can't really be disappointed in Regulus after all her help. Frankly a tremendous amount of help. She still grimaces at her atrocious table manners, though. "God you're being so cringe. None of you know the first thing about eroticism. Homo or otherwise." she sighs.

    "Come on. This was about something important. As out-of-line as Mesmer was being, she actually had, for once, good intentions. It's not her fault she was lied to." Just everything else.
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons rotates a sentence in his mind. "'Homo or otherwise.'" He says. "Moment, need to put together a mental defense, I can't safely handle integrating that to my lexicon." He slips into the Parsons Institute for a minute to develop fields and beams and suchlike to avoid saying that phrase in the future.
Holly Asturias "A competitor is scarier if they've won 97% of their matches than 1000 0"

    "Oh, of course. Fear the warrior who has won and been defeated both, for they've found ways to improve. Or something like that? Well, still... I could hardly think of those two are anything but examples of stability and pursuit of goals." Comparing Vertin and Sonetto, (even Matilda,) to Mesmer just makes Mesmer out to be the exception really.

"Doctor Asturias. A pleasure."

    "If you say so! As the married woman at the table you are the de-facto expert on romantic matters."

"The robots bit was complicated, don't worry about that. 'I'm normal now,' I think they like to say."
"I thought robots fighting other robots was homoeroticism."

    "Well now I just have even more questions."

"The Foundation exists to moderate the social treatment and hierarchal advantaged and disadvantaged differences between humans and arcanists."

    "Oh, I see. Good! I hope that becomes all the more evident going forward."

"But if it is only possible for Timekeeper to eat small slices without becoming ill,"

    "Oh, do let me know if poor Vertin's stomach acts up. I'll be happy to treat it, and prescribe sometimes besides. She's been under for a long time, so it might be quite difficult at first."

"God you're being so cringe. None of you know the first thing about eroticism."

    "I take some offense to that," Holly smiles, in just the right way for her fanged teeth to show. "I know at least one thing, yes?"
Team Timekeeper "As out-of-line as Mesmer was being, she actually had, for once, good intentions."

    This sends Sonetto into a bit more of a downwards mood, using a cloth napkin to pick up one fry at a time silently for a minute. Eventually, she says, "... I do not know. I know she did have good intentions, and she was following orders. But...."

    Intensified, rather than relieved, by Vertin waking up, "I cannot help but be a little upset."

    She chews another fried chip slowly, thinking about her outburst at the trial, and having no knowledge at all of the Artificial Somnambulism battle. "I should try to be less upset."
Regulus It has been a few moments. Regulue has shoved another shovel full of fries into her mouth.

"Hey hey hey. I know about it! It's when a cute girl reaches out to you and is like 'do you want to do something crazy?' and you are like hellyeah I wanna do something crazy, lets hit the town and ruckus the hell outta it. And then it turns out that you both have bikes so you race each other, loser buys drinks." She gestures with her french fry. "Then you decide best two out of three when she beats you by an inch but the second time something unexpected hits your path so you crash and now the fuzz is after you so you get on the other girl's bikes and you lead the cops down on a merry chase and you lose them by doing a sudden turn into a wrong way road, narrowly avoid hitting another vehicle and laughing at the end of it all you kiss and then she invites you tk hang out with her 1-3 other partners and they're like 'it'll be fun' so you try some new stuff out."
Lilian Rook     'Does it? Vertin and Sonetto seem quite perfectly stable to me.'

    Lilian stares at Holly for a while, thinks hard, and then decides against something, shaking her head. "That's the Timekeeper and the top graduate you're speaking of. Exceptions challenge the rule."

    'Is arcanist a protected characteristic?'

    "No."

    'Hm? Of course.'

    Lilian frowns.

    'Why?'

    "What a baffling question." she says, then huffs. "I suppose because of the Mesmer Group. I've gathered the impression they're obsessed with their 'good breeding' and all. She's hardly been subtle that she experiences social pressure to find a husband and produce an heir once the Storm is over. If you want me to be psychoanalytical, I'd imagine it's to project her resentment elsewhere."

    'But if it is only possible for Timekeeper to eat small slices without becoming ill, it would still be worth the attempt.'

    Slices of . . . burger? "Well, I suppose I know what you mean." Lilian says, a little odd in tone. "Not that I've ever experienced a protracted stay in a hospital. As part of my Elite career, at least."

    'But Dame Rook would know best.'
    'If you say so! As the married woman at the table you are the de-facto expert on romantic matters.'

    "I would." Lilian grimaces. Honestly it's sort of reassuring to be accepted as the expert in the crowd. It means the others are normal.

    'Yeah, frankly it's rarer for Elites to have a total absence of trauma now.'

    Blessed Flamel. Not being a freak about weird sexual tension. "I suppose that's because they're not gleefully enthusiastic killing machines anymore." she says. "As much." is a hasty correction. "I suppose the Paladins, and even the Watch, have been good for selecting against them."

    'In the literal, mph, literal sense it's just damage. Have you ever heard the wisdom, goes like... A competitor is scarier if they've won 97% of their matches than 1007 0 Because that means they've been competing with peers, and for a long time.'

    "I have, actually." Lilian blinks, ostensibly in surprise, that Flamel has. "I think you may be giving the average Elite far too much credit, though. Ninety seven? Really?"

    'I know at least one thing, yes?'

    "In the sense that a fish knows how to swim." Bitch.
Regulus Regulus adds, after, "And I'm not mad at Mesmer, mostly just kind of sad." She looks to Sonetto, tossing the fry into her mouth. "I mean, you should feel how you feel, it's good to keep an open heart though."
Holly Asturias "and she was following orders."

    "Didn't she say she wasn't, at the very end? That the decision to... excise, was her own? Not that it changes the discussion on her intentions, but she did have a say and act on it."
Holly Asturias "and you are like hellyeah I wanna do something crazy, lets hit the town and ruckus the hell outta it."

    "Oh, but when I grasp your throat gently and talk about your arteries, suddenly you try to foist me off on poor Odette? Mm, mm, I see how it is."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons puts his burger down for a moment, smiling good-naturedly at Sonetto. "You've reached the stage of psychic business that always gets complicated. How *mad* should you be at someone who did something in a bad moment? Psychohazard, cognitohazard, just a bad mood -- where do you mark the anger proportionally?" He nods wisely, surely full of wisdom on the topic.
Lilian Rook     '... I do not know. I know she did have good intentions, and she was following orders. But....'

    Lilian isn't oblivious to Sonetto's mood, but she's determined not to let it affect hers as of the moment. Taking a brief pause to retrieve a carnivorous burger object and sit back down,

    'I cannot help but be a little upset,'

    "It's alright sweetie. You're in good company here." God is she ever. Lilian tries to smile a little about it. It comes out wry and troubled. "With any luck, we'll finally see her change as a person afterwards." Lilian hesitates due to the hearing the absurdity of her own words. And yet, she does actually believe them. "And then perhaps hell with freeze over."

    'Didn't she say she wasn't, at the very end?'

    And yet, she still mutters "Nuremberg Junior." under her breath.

    'so you get on the other girl's bikes and you lead the cops down on a merry chase and you lose them by doing a sudden turn into a wrong way road, narrowly avoid hitting another vehicle and laughing at the end of it all you kiss and then she invites you tk hang out with her 1-3 other partners and they're like 'it'll be fun' so you try some new stuff out.'

    "I feel like that's a date I specifically conjured up to describe your life before." Lilian says. It almost is actually. "Outside the last part. I take you for more of a sopping romantic."
Lilian Rook     'How *mad* should you be at someone who did something in a bad moment? Psychohazard, cognitohazard, just a bad mood -- where do you mark the anger proportionally?'

    "I try not to be." Lilian says, grimacing. "God knows I've been a catastrophe at my breaking point before."

    Therein lies the seed of sympathy. When she was convinced she was about to be abandoned forever and unceremoniously replaced, she tried to kill people about it.
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons rambles about the romanticism and free-love approach. "I think you can be both, honestly. The Psychic Seven were pretty notorious about their free-love psi-for-psi," *Stop* saying that. "Stuff they were all into before the formation of the Psychonauts as a government body, but they also still had a lot of *really* intense romanticness."
Holly Asturias "In the sense that a fish knows how to swim."

    "Did you know some fish can't swim properly? I read this wonderful article about the batfish once, which uses its fins to sort of, crawl on the ocean floor." She likes her encyclopedias. She's missing the point entirely, too.
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons winds up smiling a lot at Lilian's last words. "And I had a pretty bad moment or two myself! It's all about putting in proportionally more good work alongside the rarest flare-up. Reliability." He bobs the hamburger up and down at her before taking another bite. "Remember what I said? Ninety seven is better than a hundred?" He swallows after some chewing, and the smile he gives is startlingly soft. "Works for mental health too."
Lilian Rook     Flamel Parsons winds up smiling a lot at Lilian's last words. "And I had a pretty bad moment or two myself! It's all about putting in proportionally more good work alongside the rarest flare-up. Reliability.'

    "Vertin once said to me that whatever you've done last is only cumulative with every other thing you've done, not redefining of you as a person because it was the most recent thing." Vertin said that at the Walden. Lilian's mood and energy both fall just from remembering it. She takes time to chew a big couple of bites of burgermeal while she thinks on how she feels about it when extracted from its original context, where it'd clearly just been trying to soothe her.

    "I suppose I have to agree with her on principle. I don't really believe that the things that people do mean anything individually. People sometimes just do things. The long-term pattern of their behaviour is what you should judge character by, and its recent delta for their condition." 'But still' is voiced silently. "It just feels hard to believe when you're the one at fault."
Regulus Regulus says, "You and Odette should be a couple. She needs someone to take charge and you need someone who is flustered and obvious."

She looks to Lilian. "Huh? I don't know." Is she a sopping romantic? "I guess I 'd prefer a real connection but everyone who approaches me usually wants to keep it pretty casual?" She sets down her fry, suddenly uncertain. "I don't know, that's what romance feels like to me. An exhilirating rush of enjoying the things you both enjoy, the world's just sort of in sync with you or it feels like it, anyway, and when it's over you're exhausted..." She frowns. "I don't know. There's a lot of people I love so so much. Dylan said she was into me, kind of. Like she said something that made a lot of sense at the time but I can't recall it super accurately, but like. Maybe the words aren't super important so much as the expetiences and what they mean to you?"
Team Timekeeper "I'll be happy to treat it, and prescribe sometimes besides."

    "Oh! Yes, please. If you do so, please be sure to document which medicines or arcane techniques you utilize so that the doctors can avoid any complicated interactions."

"It's when a cute girl reaches out to you and is like . . ."

    Sonetto does not have the faintest clue what Regulus is trying to say, especially not through a mouthful of fries. In fact, due to that, she really does not want to look or listen at all. But she seems to only just now be processing some particular fact about Regulus, which makes her become distant for the multiple minutes of the story's retelling, until she eventually says, "Is that something that happened to you?"

"If you want me to be psychoanalytical, I'd imagine it's to project her resentment elsewhere."

    "Oh." Sonetto has to process an assumption that Lilian has implicitly made here too, which takes her a second, but manages to penetrate correctly. "I understand that."

"Well, I suppose I know what you mean."

    Unasked, Sonetto continues on, a little fondly distracted, "Currently, Timekeeper is in the most nutritionally complete condition I have ever seen them. I would like to use this state of health as an opportunity to encourage them to eat more healthily and regularly, and I do not want to wait until after their digestive recovery to begin making the attempt."

"I mean, you should feel how you feel, it's good to keep an open heart though."

    Sonetto frowns a little. "I have kept an open heart."

"Didn't she say she wasn't, at the very end? That the decision to... excise, was her own?"

    "The decision to...? What?"

"You're in good company here."

    "That's right." Either missing the point of the saying, or committing to it wholeheartedly, Sonetto nods conclusively. "It would not have been possible without your help. I... will ruminate less on what has happened, because there is so much to do in the future."
Ein Druvis and Sotheby have been around in the background for a while! Initially, Druvis had to look at the menu, and for a while come to terms with what she wanted and also what she would eat. This whole arrangement was almost familiar to her, and like a caricature of her world plus a little bit, uncannily anachronistic to her context.

"We should sit outside." She sighs, having ordered nothing.

"Go up and order something!" Sotheby encourages, wearing her favorite outfit of enormous hats and long gloves.

So, Druvis does. Eventually, she comes back, and Sotheby smiles before the smile fails and flutters. "Didn't you want something?"

"I lack the proper currency. And neither of us have arcane stocks." Druvis answers, just a faint bit glum.

"Why, nonsense! I'll buy!" Sotheby claims, and then...

ONE MONTAGE ABOUT FINDING THE EXCHANGE RATE FOR GOLD AND THEN HAGGLING THE PRICE OF TWO SMALL FAST FOOD MEALS AND CHANGE...

Sotheby arrives with a tray featuring the too-rich fries and one feast-like Double Cheeseburger (clean!:tm:) and several tied-together stacks of bills on her tray, while Druvis arrives behind with a tray featuring a single cheeseburger, a golden oval of hashed brown, an apple, and a tall black coffee in a cup with a fanciful W on the Styrofoam.

"Perhaps it's unfortunate timing for me to join on this topic, then," Druvis sighs into the conversation, not unhappy yet observant to the tone, while Sotheby is blissfully unawares as she hops up into a seat. "What a marvelous kitchen! The bubbling of their oils is so richly aromatic."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons is nodding so pleasantly along with Lilian. "Exactly! The external perspective is vividly, mercifully objective. But the internal introspection is so ruthlessly, scathingly critical. Right? We actually know that guy. We call him Judge, I can introduce you to him sometime. He can really beat the shit out of you with a hammer if you're not careful." Ahh-- then something yanks his attention in.
Regulus "Yeah I know, you always do." Regulus says. "What I'm saying is, it's still okay to be unhappy and upset. You don't gotta be immediately forgiving. Just so long as you're willing to later. I didn't want you to just... forgive cause it was easier you know?"
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons turns to Sonetto much more urgently. "Oh, oh! Crap, you and the non-Regulus parts of Team Timekeeper never got briefed, right! Uhhh..." He racks his brain visibly, brushing his hair back and adjusting his sunglasses. "Alright, so, when we went in, the procedure that Mesmer was doing on Vertin was an excision of... a traumatic memory from her past. Specifically, removing the part of her memories where she and the other children went out in the Storm." That was public enough knowledge that he feels comfortable explaining. But he's still settling on whether to explain more in-depth...
Lilian Rook     'You and Odette should be a couple.'

    Lilian nearly chokes on a mouthful of food. She has to thump her chest and everything. The breathy wheeze at the end makes her opinion obvious. "Oh my god. Why? Those two?" she says. "Just because they're both Elites? That's the worst idea possible. Every single one of us should be dating someone normal. You people need grounding in the real world, not combat allies with benefits." Lilian goes for her next bite, then pauses. "And before you say anything, Tamamo followed me into the Paladins; we didn't meet in active duty."

    'I guess I 'd prefer a real connection but everyone who approaches me usually wants to keep it pretty casual?'

    "Perhaps they did in the sixties." Lilian says. "Nowadays they sit down like it's a business meeting and sort of go through all the formalities before getting to 'how many children do you want'." she grimaces faintly. "After 1999, I mean. I don't know how they do it in 1912. Arranged marriages or something, most likely."

    'Dylan said she was into me, kind of.'

    "Cruise is a sweetheart." Who keeps wanting to arm wrestle her.

    'Is that something that happened to you?'

    Lilian begins cackling, and doesn't stop for a while.

    'I understand that.'

    She double blinks. "You do?"

    'Currently, Timekeeper is in the most nutritionally complete condition I have ever seen them.'

    "God that's bleak." Lilian laughs under her breath. "Godspeed, Sonetto. She's the head of Team Timekeeper now. We can't have her fanting from anemia on the job."

    'The decision to...? What?'

    Sadly, this is a grenade she probably has to jump on before someone else fucks it up. "Remove Vertin's memories of 'the incident'." she says. "I'm afrad she was left with very unclear instructions."

    'That's right. It would not have been possible without your help.'

    "It wouldn't have been possible without yours either." Lilian says, glowing enough from the praise that she doesn't really care if Sonetto missed the point. "And goodness is there ever. Is it strange that I'm looking forward to it? Anything has to be better than scraping by on the margins or being sidelined for months."
Holly Asturias "It just feels hard to believe when you're the one at fault."

    "The patient you fail to save weighs a hundred times heavier than the hundred you saved beforehand." Of course it's a struggle the Revenant is familiar with, even if she'd never had words for it before.

"Oh! Yes, please."

    "Of course. I'd like to familiarize Laplace with the Formae I use, so I'll be happy to provide that much." It's not 'arcanum' in the proper sense but it's adjacent.

"The decision to...? What?"

    "Oh!" Holly smiles. "I must have misspoken? Don't worry about it. It's quite handled, and I'm sure Mesmer learned her lesson." Big whoops. And then Flamel explains. Ah well!

"You and Odette should be a couple. She needs someone to take charge and you need someone who is flustered and obvious."

    "If flustered if the quality I'm looking for, you fit the bill quite well~. My you were positively flushed in the moment. Don't worry, I'm used to it, and gentle besides." She's normal.

"Perhaps it's unfortunate timing for me to join on this topic, then,"

    "Oh nonsense. How are you feeling? As victory feasts go we could be doing so much worse. It's nice to finally feel like we're making progress, isn't it? Measurable, whatever comes after."
Holly Asturias "Every single one of us should be dating someone normal."

    "Is your wife not one of the least normal, most exceptional people one could meet? Or are you the normal one in the relationship, then?"
Lilian Rook     "You're welcome to join on any topic you please, then. Miss Weyerhauser." Lilian says. "Or is it just Druvis for now?"

    'What a marvelous kitchen! The bubbling of their oils is so richly aromatic.'

    Hmm. Lilian supposes it's unlikely Sotheby would have been fed a lot of deep fried anything in that mansion. She wasn't herself, after all. "You're making me nostalgic for the first time I saw a fast food restaurant." she says, smiling slightly.

    'We call him Judge, I can introduce you to him sometime. He can really beat the shit out of you with a hammer if you're not careful.'

    "What? Wouldn't everyone have their own Judge?" Lilian says, doing her best to presume Flamel means a psychohazard. "I could take him."

    'Don't worry, I'm used to it, and gentle besides.'

    Lilian turns to the audience and gestures vaguely at Holly. See???

    'Is your wife not one of the least normal, most exceptional people one could meet? Or are you the normal one in the relationship, then?'

    "I'm the evil freak." Lilian states, authoritatively bland, and chomps her burg.
Regulus "Huh?" Regulus asks Holly. "Was I?" She frowns. "I thought I told you that I wasn't into biting because biting hurts. You aren't the first biter, you know, it wasn't actually hot I was like 'ow fuck!' It really soured me on biting."

She shoves burger into mouth. "Maybe evil means something different because you keep doing things I think are as good?"
Holly Asturias "It really soured me on biting."

    "Well, it's a matter of *technique*. You can't simply just chomp! It has to be clean, controlled, *intentful*. The correct Formae can even make the experience quite pleasurable, or so I'm told. Personally I use Formae that both lessen the pain, make infection all but impossible, and control needless bleeding after the fact. My, I'm sorry, it sounds like your first partner didn't know what they were doing?"

    She is clearly speaking in jest.
    Well, mostly in jest.

"Maybe evil means something different because you keep doing things I think are as good?"

    "Or it's measured against a different scale? Just like 'normal'. It has to be comparative to mean anything, doesn't it?"
Lilian Rook     'Maybe evil means something different because you keep doing things I think are as good?'

    "Evil people can do good things ninety-nine percent of the time and still be evil." Lilian says. "It could all be a facade. Part of their dastardly plan. You don't know that. Or perhaps they're so evil one percent of the time it totally eclipses all the good. If someone shot your family to death and then went on to rescue a hundred people from burning buildings would you say they're a good person?"
Regulus Regulus looks to Lilian. "Huh? Isn't Odette normal? " She then thinks it over a bit. "Well, I don't think it's gonna happen amyway."

She frowns at the grim future of romance. "I think maybe they are a little precious about it. You gotta at least try it out. Most people don't get Tamamo on the first attempt." She pauses as she realizes shr doesn't actually know how many relationships Lilian had before Tamamo. "I don't think I could do all that formality stuff. You can't even be sure of what's right until you try a few times or until you get lucky."

She bobs her head excitedly. "Yeah! And eye opening! It's nice to know that they've kind of shaken off a lot of labels I still struggle with."

"I mean they weren't trying to eat me or whatever." Regulus tells Holly, nonplussed. Then she gives a bewildered look back at Lilian.

"Huh. I never thought about it like that." ashe thinks it over. "But I like you. Does that make me evil too or like a patay?"
Ein 'Oh nonsense. How are you feeling?'

"Tired, more than anything else. At the end," Druvis slouches into an elbow while bringing up a spoon to press breaks into the hash brown on her plate. "the Foundation had been fighting a good night's rest for a while, and so I was becoming as familiar to Sotheby's energy potion as I was to the taste of ashes." She waxes, momentarily mesmerized by the escaping oily-hot waftings of the fried potato in cross-eyed emerald.

"Perhaps something richer is due." She agrees obliquely.

'You're welcome to join on any topic you please, then.'

"Thank you," Druvis returns, a moment away from lifting to bite her wrapped burger with inspecting apprehension.

'Or is it just Druvis for now?'

A knot comes off her brow. "... Just Druvis, for now." Weyerhaeuser had been erased from all meaning by the Storm, as had America.

But not an American Hamburger.

'You're making me nostalgic for the first time I saw a fast food restaurant.'

Sotheby, with bouncing feet in her booth seat, two-hands her double cheese and takes a Big Girl Bite:tm:, chipmunking cheeks as she chewed incredibly rich food. The oils alone, the flat top grilled flavors, even the seasonings. Salt! Pepper! Gooey cheese! Two patties! This was... This was--!!

The most chemically enhanced food Sotheby had ever eaten, the science of 'actually using an appropriate amount of salt and fat and processed cheese' to Americanize her flavor colonies and deliver burger chemicals to her Chicago receptors for the first time.

Staring into the middle distance, Sotheby chews slowly.

Intermittently, she makes a pleased 'mmmhmhmm' but she's processing a new universe of foodflavor. Now, you have inflicted a childhood affinity for WcDonalds on this child from 1929. It's your fault.
Lilian Rook     'Huh? Isn't Odette normal?'

    Lilian snort-laughs. "God no."

    'Most people don't get Tamamo on the first attempt.'

    "I didn't get Tamamo on my first attempt." Lilian says, mildly incredulous. "When Tamamo came along, all I could think is 'Here it is. Your last chance. There's no way you'll ever get it this good again. You cannot fuck this up. Do whatever it takes.' I'm surprised I made it through without having a heart attack, frankly." she says. "It was the sort of pressure I needed to get my shit together at any rate." Girl you were like 21. Anyone can figure that out. "None of my attempts before that were exactly stellar." Also, like, extremely problematic; and not even usually on her part.

    'Yeah! And eye opening! It's nice to know that they've kind of shaken off a lot of labels I still struggle with.'

    "Like what?" She sounds genuinely curious.

    'But I like you. Does that make me evil too or like a patay?'

    "It just makes me so insidiously seductive and manipulative that nobody stands a chance." Lilian says, blandly. "It's not your fault."

    'the Foundation had been fighting a good night's rest for a while, and so I was becoming as familiar to Sotheby's energy potion as I was to the taste of ashes.'

    "Christ. I know how that is. I only had to do it for a week though." Lilian still shudders to remember the One Week War; both for its brutality and the delirious sense of perverse enrichment that'd crepy on her during it. "A week of hardly any sleep, even less food, constant surprise attack, and bloody room-by-room combat is enough for me, though. I can't imagine two months." Oh god. She knows nothing about the Suitcase Rebellion, does she?

    '... Just Druvis, for now.'

    "Noted." Chomp. Chew. Swallow. "I don't mind just Lilian either."
Lilian Rook     'Well, it's a matter of *technique*.'

    "You're right, but you shouldn't say it. It's inappropriate."
Team Timekeeper "Specifically, removing the part of her memories where she and the other children went out in the Storm."
"Remove Vertin's memories of 'the incident'."

    "Oh." Sonetto goes silent for another stretch of time, squeezing her fists under the table with an unreadable expression. Blandly understated, "That makes me a little upset."

    "Even if it is a medically relevant trauma... I do not think Timekeeper would want to forget. I was not involved, but... I would not like to forget either."

"Godspeed, Sonetto. She's the head of Team Timekeeper now."

    Sonetto nods. Then, thinking of something related, she turns to Druvis urgently. "Miss Druvis, if Timekeeper requests that you grow a Picrasma tree in the Wilderness, you must refuse. Her Picrasmine intake is already far too high."

"I must have misspoken? Don't worry about it."

    "Huh?" Sonetto tilts her head at Holly, not stupid enough to not get the transparent lie. That makes her a bit unhappy, but it's a difficult topic to approach, so.... "Do you think so? 'Learned her lesson'? ... I will talk to her when both our emotions have settled."

"And goodness is there ever. Is it strange that I'm looking forward to it?"

    "... I am." Sonetto murmurs, with much more sincerity than the statement necessarily warrants. "As challenging as these past months have been, I can now see how the future will improve. It is gratifying to..."

    Sonetto holds her hand up, palm splayed against something invisible. "Be compelled to push, and feel something move. I'm glad Timekeeper has returned to us."}

"I'm the evil freak."

    "Hm? You and Mrs. Tamamo are both kind, beautiful, and intelligent people. I do not see why either of you would be evil." She says it a little bit like 'lesbian relationships don't need to have a man in them'.
Lilian Rook     'Even if it is a medically relevant trauma... I do not think Timekeeper would want to forget.'

    "I know." Lilian says, quietly. "We put in a lot of effort to stop her." She looks to Flamel, as if to say 'some more than others'.

    'Miss Druvis, if Timekeeper requests that you grow a Picrasma tree in the Wilderness, you must refuse. Her Picrasmine intake is already far too high.'

    "Oh my god." Lilian's eyes go wide, burger still in hand. "I completely forgot. I never did put in that candy order. TTT said she was going to find me a discount."

    'Do you think so? 'Learned her lesson'?'

    "It's not that simple." she says, uneasily. "We learn lessons when we're children. As adults, we can only change." Lilian looks down at the remaining third of her burger. "You may as well speak to her, though. She may not look it, but she adores you."

    'It is gratifying to... Be compelled to push, and feel something move.'

    Lilian laughs, softly, all the way up to her eyes. "The Foundation is a heavy stone to move." she says. "It must feel like a momentous occasion." Taking a deep breath, she says "Me too." and doesn't specify what.

    'Hm? You and Mrs. Tamamo are both kind, beautiful, and intelligent people. I do not see why either of you would be evil.'

    This time, Lilian doesn't choke on her meaty burg. It's a near thing, but she manages to polish it off and clean her fingers off with disinfecting wipes from her bag. "Well, I'm not so committed to the bit that I'd keep arguing. Do with the information as you will. Just don't say I didn't warn you." she says. "But she is the normal one. Tamamo keeps me settled in reality, not the other way around."
Regulus "That's what I said." Regulus grumbles on Vertin not wanting to forget.She then looks to Lilian, "I'm not saying you did but you know what I mean. You're not gonna find a Tamamo if you're too scared to try. That's why."

She leans back in her chair. She is a little bothered by how the Mesmer talk is going but that's why she wanted to talk to Sonetto in private about it.

"Well," Regulus says. "Well, it's a little embarassing but like, what a date even is, the word 'date', what it normally means. It doesn't have to be that for you or whomever. Just like romance can be different things. You don't gotta include the parts you don't personally like, it's not betraying the movement or anything. I can get into more specifics like in private sometime."
Holly Asturias "I mean they weren't trying to eat me or whatever."

    "An involuntary bite...? Mm, if you'd ever like to try a *voluntary* one, I'm sure I can make the experience a bit more memorable for you. No pressure of course, but I distinctly remember you saying if I was ever starved and in a corner, you would arrange something."

"Perhaps something richer is due."

    "After a diet of what sounds like alchemical energy drinks, I can imagine so! Handy as they are for an all-nighter or three, even a Revenant should steer clear of daily use. Unless the little miss' are without the health risks?" Sotheby does seem a genius and might have worked out the kinks, in which case Holly might well want a supply of her own.

    "Still, it's nice to see you, specifically, able to relax for now. You did hop from one war into the next, riding on the back of loss and grief." You could call it that. "Perhaps you'll enjoy putting your skills to use to save and protect rather than harm."

"You're right, but you shouldn't say it."

    "No? Well, you are the expert..."

"Do you think so? 'Learned her lesson'?"
"As adults, we can only change."

    "My do I hope so. It was actually quite touching to see her back down when Vertin woke up. Quite unlike her."

"Tamamo keeps me settled in reality, not the other way around."

    "And what do you suppose you'd be like, ungrounded from reality? Can you even imagine it, or is that too alien by now?"
Ein 'I only had to do it for a week though.'

"There were some small mitigating factors." Druvis rationalizes, finding her burger and hashed browns pleasant. "And I could draw strength from the land, and listen to it speaking clearly again, which was restoring in a different sort." She continues to admit, though the unstated piece is just how vividly necessary Sotheby's chemical stimulants were for the people guarding the building. Druvis, having been 'outside' the entire time to maintain the plant-based defenses, simply had it particularly bad.

"It is over." She speaks between herself and Lilian, a statement for both of them, here in this place of faintly fried 'progress' and fast food. "We are beyond it."

'I can't imagine two months.'

"The least pleasant part was the phantoms left by that Investigator, Matilda. There would be less damage and sudden growth if our fears were not repeatedly attacked. But, I cannot blame 'her'. I simply blame the Foundation again."

Her emerald eyes drift to Sonetto. "The result that we fought for has come about, so. . . I am glad Vertin-" Not 'The Timekeeper', but Vertin. "-has returned to us, as well."

'Miss Druvis, if Timekeeper requests that you grow a Picrasma tree in the Wilderness, you must refuse. Her Picrasmine intake is already far too high.'

"Alri-"
"--Oh!!" Sotheby cuts in."-after working with Miss Mesmer, I've found a particular restorative for the damage caused by stimulants - it came to me in a vision! Plus, if we had a Picarasma tree, we could start to refine all sorts of enhancements for Arcanists! Oh, we had a grove of them on the grounds, it'd be marvelous to have some again. My early batch nutritionals had picarasma pulp in them, before I learned the side effects on humans, but really, it's--"

"--I'll consider it, Sonetto." Druvis cuts back in, having entertained Turbo Sotheby for long enough.

'Unless the little miss' are without the health risks?'

"There's never been any recorded side effects of use, but," Sotheby points with a fry before snapping it crunchy in her teeth and then clapping cheeks in 'wow!' mouthjoy. After a bit of chewing, she resumes, as a proper lady never talks with her mouth full! "Actively chemically balancing anyone's health extracts a toll on their totality, a strain upon their *selves*. There's not an unlimited well to pull from, chemically or otherwise!" Sotheby animatedly explains.
Lilian Rook     'You're not gonna find a Tamamo if you're too scared to try. That's why.'

    "Well that's certainly true." Lilian says. "Even if the epidemic of joyless breeding is bad enough, the people who quietly give up before they really try are even worse."

    'It doesn't have to be that for you or whomever. Just like romance can be different things. You don't gotta include the parts you don't personally like, it's not betraying the movement or anything.'

    "I didn't know Sonetto was so committed to free love." Lilian says, facetiously. "I suppose you're not wrong, though. There are good and bad dates, but there isn't such thing as a correct and incorrect one." She pauses. "I don't condone breaking the law though. I disavow. I disavow."

    'And I could draw strength from the land, and listen to it speaking clearly again, which was restoring in a different sort.'

    "I think I can imagine. Imprecisely, mind you. The worst part of that week may have been being stuck indoors. Nothing but flourescent lighting and the smell of bleach and blood." No, the worst part was killing her friends repeatedly.

    'The least pleasant part was the phantoms left by that Investigator, Matilda.'

    "Oh!" Lilian snaps her fingers. "That was what it was! She told me she received a letter regarding her application as Investigator! I suppose that was her first mission?" She sounds so proud of Matilda! Good job Matilda! "I'm glad she had the spine to see it through, if nothing else." You did say you were beyond it, Druvis.

    'Plus, if we had a Picarasma tree, we could start to refine all sorts of enhancements for Arcanists!'

    Lilian side-eyes her interest. "Enhancements?" The thought of a grove does sound pretty nice, though. "Honestly. The Wilderness is so massive that I might wind up being so daring as to ask for a space of my own." she says. "It's abysmally difficult to find adequate training facilities where I can actually cut loose. It's difficult to practice any more than the fundamentals without space."

    'Mm, if you'd ever like to try a *voluntary* one, I'm sure I can make the experience a bit more memorable for you.'

    Lilian pantomimes spraying Holly with a bottle, making a 'Psst psst!' sound with her mouth.

    'Perhaps you'll enjoy putting your skills to use to save and protect rather than harm.'

    Lilian winces. "Couldn't you have chosen a kinder way to phrase that?"

    'No? Well, you are the expert...'

    "Hey! Hey." Lilian points at Holly. "You're the expert on this! You're literally a vampire! You do more biting in a week than I do in a year!" That's bullshit. That's total bullshit. It's definitely the literal opposite way around.

    'And what do you suppose you'd be like, ungrounded from reality?'

    "It'd be the end of the world."

    With an inexplicably dark expression, Lilian gets up, says "I'm still hungry." and returns to the counter.
Holly Asturias "I'm glad she had the spine to see it through, if nothing else."

    "Oh those things were positively *awful*. She's terrifying and cruel, when she wants to be."

"Couldn't you have chosen a kinder way to phrase that?"

    "Oh! I'm sorry." To Druvis, specifically. "Thoughtless wording on my part. I suppose I word it that way because I'd rather be treating patients than fighting, whenever I can be, but what you had to do is... very different. I apologize."

"You're the expert on this! You're literally a vampire!"

    "But I don't bite that often, truth told?"
    Hm. Maybe once a week? That's about right. She likes to stretch feeding apart as much as it's possible, to the point it's unreasonable and unsafe. She usually has to be told or reminded.

"It'd be the end of the world."

    "Oh."

    With the sudden getting up, she can notice she asked the wrong question. She won't press it.

"a Picrasma tree"

    "What's Picrasma?" Topic change!

"Actively chemically balancing anyone's health extracts a toll on their totality, a strain upon their *selves*."

    "So alchemically speaking, you'd say that people become less of themselves the longer they have to rely on external help to stay balanced? Or only under certain circumstances, like with your tinctures? Would Vertin be less of themselves, having spent two months hooked up to IV drips?"
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons winds up tilting his head at Druvis. "Your fears... was she using psychic warfare techniques? Phantoms that attack fears? I didn't know she had the skills to pull off a False Prophet attack, that's pretty impressive."
Lilian Rook     'Oh those things were positively *awful*. She's terrifying and cruel, when she wants to be.'

    Lilian rolls her eyes. "Oh my god, it's Matilda Bouanich. You're all such babies." Says the woman who didn't have to deal with it.

    'But I don't bite that often, truth told?'

    "You know what? I know what you're going to turn this line of conversation into an innuendo for. I know what you are and I see your game. I'm not going to enable it." Lilian huffs.

    . . . . . . . .

    After a few minutes, Lilian returns with a slightly overlarge portion of fries, and a much smaller, perhaps even modest, second burger.
Regulus ''I'm glad she had the spine to see it through, if nothing else.''

"Mrrgrrrr.." Regulus manages, as she is not beyond it. "Well, at least it's over now. I'll get over it eventually."

She looks to Lilian, briefly confused because she was talking about Dylan. She barely resists the urge to quip that Sonetto friendzoned her in front of the entire Foundation comittee. "Sonetto's the best, but yeah you get me--no incorrect or correct one."

''You're literally a vampire!''

"You know I was wondering why she said you were the expert. How does she even now about your level of chompiness?"

''Oh my god, it's Matilda Bouanich.''

"It turns out I'm scared of some pretty scare things." Regulus tries to assure Lilian.
Lilian Rook     'Well, at least it's over now. I'll get over it eventually.'

    "I'm certain she feels terrible about it." Lilian says, unconvincingly.

    'You know I was wondering why she said you were the expert. How does she even now about your level of chompiness?'

    "She doesn't." Lilian grumbles. "She's being a pervert."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons is finishing off his first burger at the moment. "Oh, multiple entendres! I bet the double meaning is trust. Pre-humanoid high-social psychology has exposing the neck for biteability as a gesture of trust and bonding, you know."
Holly Asturias "Pre-humanoid high-social psychology has exposing the neck for biteability as a gesture of trust and bonding, you know."

    "Nicole does it to me all the time. I'd forget to feed, if she didn't."

"Oh my god, it's Matilda Bouanich. You're all such babies."

    "Ahah, well, perhaps that's what makes it scarier. Such a gentle soul with such mortifying little weapons."

"I know what you are and I see your game."

    "Luxuria~" Holly confirms.
Team Timekeeper "We learn lessons when we're children. As adults, we can only change."

    "Is that so..." Sonetto murmurs to herself, observing her greasy burger like it might reveal something in its contrast with her hand. "I wonder where the dividing line can be found."

"She may not look it, but she adores you."

    Sonetto, surprisingly, takes no note of the use of the word 'adores'. What she mentions instead, tangentially related, is, "I visited the ward on occasion. Mesmer Jr. appeared to be... relaxed, or self-assured, to be only tasked with the one responsibility. Or perhaps I misread her." After a moment, she adds, like it means something uniquely important, "We ate lunch together."

"You don't gotta include the parts you don't personally like, it's not betraying the movement or anything."

    "Is the movement of free love so politically rigorous?"

"And I could draw strength from the land, and listen to it speaking clearly again, which was restoring in a different sort."

    Sonetto never went into the rebellion encampment either, and only ever saw Druvis's growth consuming it through the projected displays and from word of mouth. Speaking to her directly, she finds it entrancing somehow, like a laminate sculpture of gnosis, contemplated in gallery.

    "The landscape of the Foundation... is it healthier than Chicago's? Or was it only what you had brought yourself, that spoke to you?"

"The least pleasant part was the phantoms left by that Investigator, Matilda."

    "Investigator Matilda... I should congratulate her. She appears to have applied herself well in the field."

"--I'll consider it, Sonetto."

    "Ah, thank you." She dips her head to Druvis. But, if her abstinence efforts fail, she may need to rely on Sotheby to reduce the damaged accumulated from Picrasma consumption....

"There's never been any recorded side effects of use, but,"

    "Ah... should we schedule a health check-up for the members of the rebellion?"

"What's Picrasma?"

    "Picrasma is a deciduous medicinal tree whose roots and fruits contain a fat-soluable pharmacological compound known as Picrasmine that is processed into various consumable applications," Sonetto explains the moment she's prompted, like a fucking Pokedex. "It is an arcane stimulant for arcanists, and toxic to humans."

"Would Vertin be less of themselves, having spent two months hooked up to IV drips?"

    "Is that something to worry about...? I asked Mesmer during her stay about the contents of the nutritional solution used to keep Timekeeper healthy. She appeared quite confident in it."
Ein 'I'm glad she had the spine to see it through, if nothing else.'

Druvis makes a face, but nods. "I found her in the forest, slipping away. I encountered her - and her crystals."

'You're all such babies.'

"She is extremely capable with her arcanum, and the effect wasn't something conjured from herself. No, they were prism-traps. They reflected the self."

A beat. "And so I saw Forget Me Not, and my heart was seized by the fear that she - or I - was about to explode. As a ruse, it was effective. But it was an axe I turned upon myself."

"It was something the forest reminded me was not real." She adds, exhaling. She had no special hate for Matilda at all, but it was a bitter reminder. Thankfully she had fried potato and black coffee to go with her burger.

'Honestly. The Wilderness is so massive that I might wind up being so daring as to ask for a space of my own.'

"There is space enough." Druvis agrees, nodding between bites. "It would be a shame for you to carve into the forests, but there are some timbermountain caves along the interior hills that would be pleasant, near the bend of a river..."

'Enhancements?'

"Picarasama would let me enhance arcane traits! Alchemy is the motion of traits through objects and the mixing of forces, so with enough I'd be able to start testing the reach and limits of it as a reagent. I know it restores mental energy, but there must be other effects! And nutritionally, maybe a complete supplement involves a certain portion picarasma to activate those parts of the body?" Sotheby posits, conducting with fry.

'Would Vertin be less of themselves, having spent two months hooked up to IV drips?'

"Taking in nutrients and resources is natural. Some creatures need to consume a certain amount of something specific and external to them to live and that's exotic, but if you think about it, salt is one of the most consistent living tissue requirements that's entirely external to the self! It's also why balancing one's diet with a fish meal once a week is important for health, to take in the proper elements of the world!" Specifically, iodine. "And the full intake of those essences isn't usually accomplished through alchemical substitution. The body is a reaction, a result of forces! And so, I think, one flaw in my hopes of a miracle cure is that no one is physically prepared to live entirely upon my potion? It feeds most of you, restores every essence I can think of, but there are those that can't be substituted, some things that any liquid couldn't replace. Rest, I think, is also a part of that reaction, and so to receive complete sustenance and energy but no rest still puts a strain. A price is paid, Doctor."

"Nothing is ever free." Sotheby invokes, like an oath or a core secret.
Lilian Rook     'Oh, multiple entendres! I bet the double meaning is trust.'

    "You're really funny. You know that Parsons?"

    'Nicole does it to me all the time. I'd forget to feed, if she didn't.'

    "Poor Milly . . ."

    'Luxuria~'

    "Your greed sickens me." Lilian says, with the obvious tone of a reference.

    'I wonder where the dividing line can be found.'

    "After you stop thinking you know everything about the world, realize you know nothing, and then go back to thinking you know everything about the world again."

    'Mesmer Jr. appeared to be... relaxed, or self-assured, to be only tasked with the one responsibility.'

    Lilian will have deeply uncomfortable dreams about that ward for a while, most likely. It occupies too much mental real estate. "I don't doubt it. The amount of food and hydration I was foisting off on her must have been the most she'd ever had. Only dealing with Vertin's dreams instead of a score of psychos a day must have been relaxing by comparison. I only wish she'd have slept more." Lilian says, declining to mention the truth. "Admittedly, I had a vested interest in encouraging her to chill out. I suppose you all know why, now."

    The lunch thing visibly surprises her. She's still got a french fry in her fingers. "Really? In the ward?"

    'Investigator Matilda... I should congratulate her.'

    "You should! I'm certain she'll appreciate it! Especially coming from you, Miss Foundation's Finest!"

    'Ah... should we schedule a health check-up for the members of the rebellion?'

    "Now that I think of it, that'd just make sense, wouldn't it? Honestly, you're fortunate that none of those Elites going back and forth brought in a flu. A disease in that encampment would have been disastrous." Lilian says. "Honestly. The irresponsibility."

    'Is that something to worry about...?'

    "I wouldn't."
Regulus ''She doesn't. She's being a pervert.''

"Do you think vampires do fang jokes like they're dick jokes? Is that the whole thing?"

rRegulus frowns at the idea that Matilda is scarier because she's Matilda. "I guess unexpected... But I mean, I don't know about scarier." She frowns. "I don't want to be scared of Matilda. I think that'd be kind of embarrassing, 'cause she's not like ...she wouldn't ''actually'' hurt me."

She trails off uneasily, but for entirely different reasons. She looks over to Sonetto and adds, "Oh yeah, the free love movement was HUGE in my time. And I guess now in some places it sort of ... fizzled out? But in other places it feels like it's gone farther than I could imagine. And I guess, like, in some ways it was just bringing the old back to the present day, but it was also tied up with anti-Vietnam, anti-war, anti-imperialism. It wasn't just about freedom of love and expression. Really, I'm probably understating it, Sonetto!" She smiles bigly, always happy to talk about this.

She looks to Druvis. "So what are you gonna do now?" She asks. "Vertin asked for your help and you helped her. I was hoping you'd stick around but..."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons flashes that perpetual winning smile at Lilian. "I *am* funny sometimes! They tried to design me with the highest-class, most-cutting-edge sense of humor that they could." He finishes his burger off, and after chewing, says, "And I think they did well with what they had the budget for instead!"
Lilian Rook     'She is extremely capable with her arcanum, and the effect wasn't something conjured from herself. No, they were prism-traps. They reflected the self.'

    Lilian stares at Druvis. The ten year Manus Vindictae member. The woman who had wallowed in her pain for so long she'd advanced beyond numbness and entered a state of smouldering post-combustion amongst the ashes.

    "I'm sorry about that man." she says. "I doubt we'll ever see him again, at least."

    'It would be a shame for you to carve into the forests,'

    "Oh I'd hate to cut anything down." says Lilian. "I grew up in the forest, remember?" When was that? The Walden? Surely not. It'd be atrocious to display a bond like that in public. "A river would be useful. I trained with my Master by the sea."

    'Alchemy is the motion of traits through objects and the mixing of forces, so with enough I'd be able to start testing the reach and limits of it as a reagent.'

    "Oh, I'm familiar, actually." Lilian says, with a hint of pleasant surprise. "Much of my research has to do with how the body absorbs and directs the arcane through its channels of biological esoteric geometry. Alchemy, being a magical science, interacts with the bodies of Enlightened far more effectively than ordinary people, so it isn't so rare that people in demanding professions turn to it as a means of fortifying themselves against the hazards of their work. I've been mixing and trying out my own since I was roughly your age, actually." Don't ask why.

    'Rest, I think, is also a part of that reaction, and so to receive complete sustenance and energy but no rest still puts a strain.'

    "That's sensible. Even if your body is recharged, your mind hasn't had any time to decompress, shut down, and sort through all its memories." Lilian says, without mentioning REM sleep. "You can speed up that process tremendously with the right technique," she unknowingly fibs, "But if you skip it completely, your head will get clogged up eventually."
Lilian Rook     'Do you think vampires do fang jokes like they're dick jokes?'

    "She does." Lilian grouses. "She wants my dick so bad it makes her look wise."

    'I think that'd be kind of embarrassing, 'cause she's not like ...she wouldn't ''actually'' hurt me.'

    "It'd be a little bit embarrassing." It'd be completely humiliating.

    'And I think they did well with what they had the budget for instead!'

    Lilian starts laughing so hard it abruptly turns into a coughing, chest-thumping "Fuck."
Holly Asturias "A price is paid, Doctor."

    "Aren't I ever familiar with that," Holly says, paying her right arm a glance and then Lilian one too. Though Lilian had very well insisted it wasn't a price at all, that it was something much more cruel.

    "But I follow! It's so fascinating to hear it put as 'elements' and 'forces'. Alchemy is the ancestor of medicine, but in your world, it was never supplanted, was it? So the truths it's achieved make me so curious! We could talk 'macros' and 'metabolic functions' and you'd be able to follow along perfectly. And how old are you, again?"

    Holly likes Sotheby, who's an infinitely more joyful version of her younger self, plunging into books about nature and medicine instead of dealing with grief and loss healthily.

"It is an arcane stimulant for arcanists,"

    "I know the Foundation's anti-arcanum weapons affected my Ichor, so I wonder if that would affect it as well... a stimulant, but not a nutritional replacement... if it could stave off a Revenant's hunger, even for just a day, that would be massive."

"Is that something to worry about...?
"I wouldn't."

    "I'm sure it's fine."

"Do you think vampires do fang jokes like they're dick jokes?"
"She does."

    "Well, my Formae are *like* protection..."
    You have your answer.

"Your greed sickens me."

    "If I weren't at least a little bit, would I be alive at all? There are things I want in life, and they won't come to me on their own."

"A disease in that encampment would have been disastrous."

    "Oh, not to worry! I would have been on top of it."

"I doubt we'll ever see him again, at least."

    Holly's face crumbles into a frown. "I'm afraid I'll likely have to. I've had to hear his horrible little voice, just a while ago. I might have a choice to make, if that continues. It was ever too much to hope he'd bled out from the shots." Absolutely no blunting that, even though she should in front of Druvis.
Lilian Rook     Alchemy is the ancestor of medicine, but in your world, it was never supplanted, was it?'

    "No, but everyone seems to think it was." Lilian says, unhappily.

    'I know the Foundation's anti-arcanum weapons affected my Ichor, so I wonder if that would affect it as well...'

    Lilian shrugs. Slowly picking through her fries, she continues with an uneasy tone. "I'd think you're an arcanist by any standard. It's not as if there's a strict taxonomical definition; APPLe is one."

    'Well, my Formae are *like* protection...'

    "Oh come on!"

    'If I weren't at least a little bit, would I be alive at all? There are things I want in life, and they won't come to me on their own.'

    "Your greed impresses me."

    'I'm afraid I'll likely have to. I've had to hear his horrible little voice, just a while ago.'

    Lilian's head snaps up to eye level from her fries. "What? Seriously? You two still talk?" she says, understandably insistent, and incomprehensibly something else. "I suppose it was never likely he'd quit, but . . ." Lilian's lips wibble down. "I don't know. "It just feels like he should stay back in 1929."
Ein 'The landscape of the Foundation... is it healthier than Chicago's? Or was it only what you had brought yourself, that spoke to you?'

Sonetto is 'of Vertin', and so there is a kind of attendance to red-haired woman's words that seems automatic from the druid. Red-orange bangs hanging down about emerald eyes, Druvis takes a bite of burger and considers. "It is healthier than I allowed my land to be in Chicago. This place has an austerity to its voices, what I understand to be the European accent of woods. American forests were wilder, richer, deeper, but cultivated and used to human travel in a different way."

"To it, though, I added. . ." Druvis smiles, eyes closed as she lifts black coffee to sip. "Life of my own. Seeds, a personal touch. Ivies are so jealous, and oak so bold, and among them even the bright lights and loud noises were as distractions from a place I could shape. It is a shame the Foundation wishes it returned. It would be better to stand as it is, though repaired. I can smooth any imperfections, but there is more of it that is better for the shaping." She insists, before drifting back to her food with her eyes. "The plants here are odd-voiced, besides, but I was used to listening deeply into intermittently-broken silence, so it was much to become used to."

'Ah... should we schedule a health check-up for the members of the rebellion?'
'Now that I think of it, that'd just make sense, wouldn't it?'

Druvis makes a face. "I'm... fine." She says, unconvincing sotto voice.

'So what are you gonna do now? Vertin asked for your help and you helped her. I was hoping you'd stick around but..'

"If I wished to leave, I could have done so. Exile felt unsuiting. So I fought for a place. Now I have one," Her eyes narrow, distancing from Regulus as something occurs to her to question at all - did she? no, certainly, she did - "So I intend to slide into the Wilderness for a time and rest in the way of my choosing."

'I'm sorry about that man.'

Druvis takes in a breath, slowly rolling it into a sigh, touching her cheek with a drag of fingers where Lilian knew she had been struck - shot by Schneider - and then Forget Me Not had offered her cloth. There's no mark there, cured of the human blemish by his arcanum science, and closes her eyes as she remembers.

"So am I."

'I doubt we'll ever see him again, at least.'

Druvis isn't so sure.

'I grew up in the forest, remember?'

They had both disappeared during their Wilderness time before. "Some people wish to try their blades. There is a lake, as well - and more besides."

'That's sensible.'

Beaming with praise as people of her clade and topic weigh in on her contributions without going 'huh? weirdo? speak english!' at her, Sotheby experiences peer-enrichment. "Every short-cut has a balance that isn't maintained. Some balances don't *need* to be maintained but then you pay other prices. It's always this-for-that, every time. But you can make better trades with the proper tools and techniques!" She agrees happily and wholeheartedly.

'And how old are you, again?'

"I imagine I'll be fourteen before... too long? I've lost count of the days without my calendars and such from my old room, but usually Mr. Karson tells me! And then we have a big party, it's won-derful!"

'No, but everyone seems to think it was.'

"It wasn't with me!" Sotheby claims happily.
Regulus ''She wants my dick so bad it makes her look wise.''
''Well, my Formae are *like* protection...''

Regulus pats Holly on the arm gently, sympathetic. "Good luck, Holl." She says. "But maybe tone it down a few inches." She raises her hand up a bit, then brings it down. A notch. A notch worth several inches, in fact.

''If I wished to leave, I could have done so.''

"Oh I know." Regulus says. "I mean, I know Vertin asked you to stick around to help her out, but I'm glad you're sticking around now. I didn't want to take it for granted, but I'm glad you're here, love, and you got your Wilderness. Once my time clears up--I was thinking of getting into gardening."

She does not mention what exactly she wishes to garden. "Woah, fourteen huh?" Regulus looks over to Sotheby. "We'll have to get you a calender."
Holly Asturias "I'd think you're an arcanist by any standard."

    "I'm flattered. I think?"

"It just feels like he should stay back in 1929."

    "Six feet under, preferably. But not directly, to answer your question. The Manus maintains its ties to the Concord despite what they did. I don't have a say in the matter, and my hands are tied on what I can do, but if there's any limb I can safely remove from him without retribution, rest assured I won't hesitate." Even with retribution. She's been thinking about it a bit too much, and it isn't healthy.

    The problem is that she needs the Concord's funds and backing more than she needs to tear Forget Me Not apart, at the moment.

"I imagine I'll be fourteen before... too long?"

    "Is that so? I'll be sure to get you something nice. Maybe exotic ingredients from my world for you to experiment with? We've some unique plants and... creatures... ever since the golden light engulfed the world, I can imagine any alchemist gleeful at the prospect. But that's work, isn't it? Maybe something more like a toy...?"

    Sotheby seems the type to hold alchemy as a passion, not just a job, so getting her fancy reagents might be fine!

"But maybe tone it down a few inches."

    "Well, look who's doing it now?" Holly giggles.
Tamamo     And so it came to pass that Tamamo, also known as Mizukume Rook, arrived late. She had the directions from Flamel memorized even as other matters kept her busy, and she arrives in Donald's Diner at a power walk, going right up to Lilian and kissing her on the cheek. "My apologies, dear."

    This act could be an aggression against the world of 1912, or of 1929, but her intentions are pure, even if there's no way to prove that.

    Taking a seat, and not going up to the counter first, she sets her purse to the side and asks, as is the most important matter on her mind since Vertin woke, "Has Ms. Sonetto been told of those events she barely missed?" If she had been listening to the whole conversation, she'd have said 'Sonetto and Druvis,' but then, if she'd listened to all of it, she wouldn't have needed to ask.

    She did catch Holly mentioning the Manus, but that was from before she'd quite entered the room. Big ears, and all.
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons waves to Tamamo. "Hey, glad you could stop by! I tried to brief her." He says, brightly, nibbling on one of his fried potato chips. "Lots to run down, but I think I hit the important part."
Regulus ''Well, look who's doing it now?''

"Doing what? You're hella tall." Regulus says with the straightest face she can muster which isn't all that straight, actually, as she cracks up like three seconds after staring Holly down.

Regulus's opinions about Forget Me Not is that she should never forget that he turned kids into bombs. But she doesn't seem capable of wishing someone to just drop dead in any serious way.

Is she surprised he's still Concord? ... She has no idea how the Concord works but she doubts she's getting any more intel out of the Concord about Manus's movements or anything, not that it amounted to much in the end. ... Or maybe it did, but it still didn't go down how she wanted.

''Has Ms. Sonetto been told of these events she barely missed?''

"She got the basics. I said I'd fill her in and I will." Regulus insists. "But we were actually talking about how most people don't even get a Tamamo in their lives and even more don't even try. And fang sizes, I guess."

Shetakes a bite of like half her burger. Yeah it's probably Regulus's diet more than her lifestyle that gets her in trouble. Or maybe she just needs to pig out due to the sheer relief that everything turned out okay in the end and she won't be thrown out into the Storm and also her friends are her friends and maybe she can manage a few days without feeling intensely guilty about something.

"I've been taking notes about the Adventures of Typhon series lore," Regulus continues, almost like a nonsequitor. "Sotheby filled me in some in prison but I feel like I've only scratched the surface."
Lilian Rook     'This place has an austerity to its voices, what I understand to be the European accent of woods. American forests were wilder, richer, deeper, but cultivated and used to human travel in a different way.'

    "That's . . ." Lilian pauses. "Fascinating. You're likely already aware, but the forests of North America were already tended and cultivated for hundreds, if not thousands of years by its native people. When European immigrants arrived, they assumed it was just 'the natural bounty of the land', but that knowledge had been passed down for generations and practiced at such scale for so long that it altered the entire continent."

    'It is a shame the Foundation wishes it returned.'

    "I hope you can transplant them at least. If they demand that it all be cut down and burned then I'll be very cross." Lilian grumbles.

    'I'm... fine.'

    "I'm certain Tamamo wouldn't mind helping out a bit." Lilian says. Testing. Concerned. Strangely understanding. Projecting a dislike and a preference on Druvis that is her own, but not uniquely. Gingerly shielding a particular thread between them that need not be stated. She can't do anything to cure the mood turning grim. Forget-Me-Not is hardly an old friend to her, but still something far more complicated than an old, short-lived nemesis.

    'Some people wish to try their blades.'

    "I'm not much for axes." Lilian says. "And swords aren't really built for cutting trees. They're iconically unique, as a blade meant to cut nothing but humans." Lilian flinches. "People. Bad guys. You know what I mean."

    'It's always this-for-that, every time. But you can make better trades with the proper tools and techniques!'

    Lilian can't help but smile. Vertin might, at seeing arcanist-to-arcanist communication having its positive effect on her yet again, but truth be told, Lilian just really likes Sotheby also. "You're already so much more knowledgeable than most people, in certain ways. I gravely dislike when people think they're owed something for nothing. Many things are wrong with the world, but not offering up everything we want freely isn't one of them."

    'I imagine I'll be fourteen before... too long?'

    "My, I suppose I was a year older than you." Lilian says, drifting off into fry munching for a while, before, "Ah, don't experiment on yourself when you turn fourteen. I disavow."

    'It wasn't with me!'

    "Hold your head high, Little Miss Sotheby. There's little worthy of more respect than keeping the old knowledge alive, in the face of human arrogance." She feels that way about a lot of things.
Lilian Rook     'Good luck, Holl.'

    "Hey." Lilian narrows her eyes. "I'm married. Being out doesn't mean I'm available to every attractive lesbian out there." she says. God only knows what the Multiverse would be like if she wasn't.

    'I'm flattered. I think?'

    "Why?" Lilian says. The question is strangely neutral. Her stare is honest. "Is that something to be flattered by? Even if my preference is something of an open secret, being an arcanist isn't an achievement or an honour, is it? A privilege in some ways, certainly, and perhaps you might be commended for enduring the associated trials with grace, but . . ." No. She's going to start questioning-- "I still don't think I understand. What does 'pure' blood mean to them?"

    'Six feet under, preferably.'

    Lilian shifts her weight uncomfortably. "Well, the people who created him are all dead, so . . ." The implication is 'may as well get around to him too', but she still can't bring herself to wish that on him, despite everything. "I wasn't surprised that the Manus chose to kill a traitor." she says, dully. "And I wouldn't, if I were you. Even if the Concord let you get away with it, that sort of man would never forget it. You'd be watching your back for the rest of his life; and I only say that because you'll age less. It just isn't worth it, no matter how angry you are."

    'We've some unique plants and...'

    "The fruit was surprisingly nice." Lilian says, about the cardiac pomegranate.

    'Well, look who's doing it now?'

    "She means set your sights on someone smaller." Lilian subvocalizes a laugh.

    'My apologies, dear.'

    "Tamamo!"

    Lilian starts to leap out of her seat in excitement, realizes how silly that is, and settles for a seated hug around the waist instead.

    'Has Ms. Sonetto been told of those events she barely missed?'

    "Only just now." she says. "We didn't go into too much detail."
Lilian Rook     'I've been taking notes about the Adventures of Typhon series lore,'

    "I wonder what it's like to watch television." Lilian says, as a baffling, Sonetto-esque non-sequitur, while she offers Tamamo her remaining fries.
Tamamo     "The important part... that would be Mesmer Junior allowing her fear of loss to result in attempting to shackle the Timekeeper through an excision of her motivating nightmare, yes?" Having already done her call-out in front of half a dozen other people of lesser connection to Vertin, Tamamo's not refraining from saying it again, here, apart from keeping her voice down.

    She's turned to give Regulus a look that might show suspicion of her ability to tell the complete story, but is distracted by the words that come immediately after. "Pardon? 'A Tamamo'?" She tries, and fails, to mentally fit 'fang sizes' into the same verbal topic.

    She might still be thinking about it, but not occupying her thoughts fully, as she slides an arm around to join Lilian's half-hug, and picks up fries one at a time to slowly eat. It may not be a complete meal, but potatoes are, at least, famously filling, so it's a good-enough leftover.
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons leans in. "In her era, I think cartoons are mostly in theaters or rare home projections, aren't they?" He thinks for a minute. "Oh, and if you want to know, you could try out a 'coco melon', or one of our temporary whole-brain removals at the Motherlobe. I'm given to understand they're basically equivalent."
Holly Asturias "Is that something to be flattered by?"

    "I think so. It's a bit like saying 'you're one of us'. 'We're in the same boat'. Though, perhaps you meant it more as a biological observation? Then, I don't imagine that's true. And if you meant it philosophically..."

"What does 'pure' blood mean to them?"

    "Then I think... Schneider was more an arcanist than I could ever be. And look what little that availed her, when it mattered."

    Hm. Maybe that's not a good conversation hole to descend into, now.

    "So yes, I'm flattered. To 'belong'. To be 'alike'. And to be part of Team Timekeeper, besides it all."

"Even if the Concord let you get away with it, that sort of man would never forget it."

    "What a fitting name he chose for himself, then."
    Or so she presumes.
    She remembers Schneider uttering his other one.
Lilian Rook     'The important part... that would be Mesmer Junior allowing her fear of loss to result in attempting to shackle the Timekeeper through an excision of her motivating nightmare, yes?'

    Lilian frowns. "Yes. That part." she says. "Sonetto is far from happy."

    'Pardon? 'A Tamamo'?'

    "A partner compatible enough for a successful, happy, fulfilling relationship." Lilian says, informatively. "The fang thing was unrelated."

    'Oh, and if you want to know, you could try out a 'coco melon', or one of our temporary whole-brain removals at the Motherlobe.'

    "I think removing my brain would have disastrous consequences for literally everyone?" she says, worried. "Don't tell me they actually do that. That's so gross. Think of the slime and germs."
Tamamo     'Oh, and if you want to know, you could try out a 'coco melon', or one of our temporary whole-brain removals at the Motherlobe.'

    "What sort of fruit is that?" She's currently making judgments about the effects of cartoons on children, but that won't be relevant for a while.

    'A partner compatible enough for a successful, happy, fulfilling relationship.'

    "Oh--oh! I see. My, how flattering to serve as an example." She's now forgiven Regulus for not giving Sonetto the full Mesmer story, a thing Regulus hasn't even done yet. "It should be surprising that not many attempt to acquire fulfilling relationships, no?" 'Should be'?

    'The fang thing was unrelated.'

    Between fries, Tamamo glances at Holly. "Ah, yes."
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons says, "Honestly, I have no idea. Just heard around the 'Lobe that it's sort of like having your brain removed."
Ein 'I was thinking of getting into gardening.'

"You should." Druvis languidly suggests to Regulus, leaned over her tray perched and plucking at her meal.

'We'll have to get you a calender.'

"Wahoo!" Sotheby cheers, happy to receive things.

'Six feet under, preferably.'

Druvis makes a face, but says nothing.

'But that's work, isn't it?'

"Potionmaking? Why, I'd say it's like your gold blood - as simple as breathing or turning my arm, but... outside!" Sotheby proudly answers.

'I've been taking notes about the Adventures of Typhon series lore,'

"An arch-ivist!" Sotheby proudly praises, reaching over to pat Regulus on the arm. "You'll become conversant soon in all the lore!"
Lilian Rook     'Honestly, I have no idea. Just heard around the 'Lobe that it's sort of like having your brain removed.'

    "Oh." Lilian blinks.

    'What sort of fruit is that?'

    "I think it's a variety of excruciatingly mindless television."

    'Oh--oh! I see. My, how flattering to serve as an example.'

    Lilian smiles like a particularly smug cat. "It's only natural, though, so it can't be helped." She nods, wifeishly. "Right?! Do they just think it's not that big a deal or something?! Are they just so content with living so mediocrely?! Have a little faith damnit!"

    'Ah, yes.'

    "Her greed sickens and impresses me." Lilian says.
Flamel Parsons Flamel Parsons taps the side of his head. "It's actually pretty straightforward to remove the brain harmlessly. A lot of us come to work without our bodies when we're sick or things like that, it's just polite. You just have to do it right."
Regulus Regulus says, "I will!" insistently. "I just need to be very full of burgers first."

Regulus's opinion on Tamamo might be higher than Tamamo's opinion of Regulus but that's probably something Tamamo is used to anyway. "But yeah, what Lilian said. I basically have to use you two as examples because you're the only married couple in the multiverse." She says it like as a joke but then she frowns because she literally can't think of any other exmaples.

She looks to Sotheby, "Hell yeah!" Because being interested in your friends' passions is a key(?) component of the free love movement(?). Well Regulus is excited to have friends again, for sure, even if most of them can fit in a single suitcase.

But she does nod along to the idea of it being important to not give up on love, almost absently. She looks at her burger, then over to Druvis like she's conducting a little arcane ritual somehow with it.

"I was thinking about how I used to try more things and I haven't been able to try much of anything lately. Once probation's over I'm getting back at it."