Scene #9801: The Analytical Engine

Owner	Pose
Team Timekeeper	"Hey, Vertin, let me know when people are getting here!" "Alright. They should be arriving sometime this afternoon." "Not good enough! The mechanical sciences require precision, down to the hour and minute!" "Okay. ... How about a quarter after five." "That'll do!" It's not a secret that X, the scientist from Laplace, is aligned with Team Timekeeper, and that the laboratory in the Wilderness is for him. What is a secret, even somewhat unclear to Vertin herself, is what he means to get out of that alliance. The basic nature of it, as a union between two secretive troublemakers, makes sense on its face, but knowing X there should be another dozen things going on behind the scenes. Even without X's interest, there's enough going on to justify another meeting with the Watch in the Suitcase. The laboratory built for X and Regulus is complete, as well as the building for Radio APPLe that's attached to it. Building the radio tower and recording booth should be a piece of cake for the combined efforts of Anh, Regulus, and X, and the new facilities are meant for Watch usage regardless. Vertin's waiting in the lawn outside of the sunroom in the Suitcase, reading a book while La Source plays with bugs in her pond. She glances at her watch as people arrive, then takes her time slotting her bookmark in and putting the book down. "Hello, everyone. Thanks for coming. It's been a while since we've touched base about the status of the Suitcase, and now that Regulus's radio station is nearly up and running, I thought it might be time." "With Lilian and the Foundation's oversight, utilizing the manor for Watch activities has become somewhat difficult, but X has expressed interest in making ties with the organization directly. The laboratory, with him and Regulus working in it, might prove to be a valuable facility." Only now does she start getting up from her chair. It's a few minutes before five, so her movements aren't hurried at all. "It's just a few minutes' walk away."
Regulus	Regulus is so ready for the return of Radio APPLe. The Radio in Radio Pirate is something that has really been missing in her life. So has the Pirate in Radio Pirate but rebelling against the Foundation took a lot out of her as evidenced by her latest great rebellion beginning and ending with a chair being pushed over. But honestly she's also glad that X (and Regulus's) lab is built for another reason which is that X finally has his place in the Suitcase. Regulus has a broadly positive opinion of X. Sure, the guy is secretive and annoying sometimes, but well--she can trust him to be X, and she feels his heart is more or less in the right place--at least with regards to the Storm--and frankly the rebellion might have puttered out without him. Can she be sure of that? Not really. So many things went into the success of that whole affair--but he certainly smoothed the passage forward. Had it not been for him, it's entirely plausible that it would've taken Regulus ages more to get the word out or possibly failed to entirely and without the growing support for the rebellion that pressure for the vote might have taken months more or not happened at all. So he's earned the right to being a bit goofy. Isn't that what Regulus wanted for herself? So it goes. Regulus's mood has also improved on La Source. La Source sweep. She waves a hand to her as she arrives, but endeavours to not interrupt her. "Whatcha reading there, Vertin?" Regulus asks. "Man, it feels like it wasn't that long ago when we first started dragging in concrete." In truth, she hadn't thought too much about Lilian's presence and the Foundation oversight might make things more difficult for the Watch, mostly because she's been so busy acclimating to her new life, but that doesn't mean she hadn't thought about it at all. Vertin herself brought up a few times that they had to be a little more careful. Every victory has its price, she supposes. But she certainly hadn't thought about what workarounds Vertin had schemed up. "Ohho--you've been thinking ahead, love, haven't you? A true navigator you are, always keeping your eyes on the next horizon." APPLe is soaking in an evening bath right now, so it's just Regulus. Floyd is staring at APPLe and meowing at him. But that means they're both a little too busy to get involved here.
Shira	Shira has never met X before, but if Regulus likes him then she wants to see for herself. She still moves a bit like a skittish animal though, peeking out of the sunroom cautiously before hauling herself out with one clawed hand on the doorframe. Maybe she's making sure Lilian isn't around, the two of them didn't seem to get along too well last time. Once she spots Vertin, the lizardgirl squares up a bit and ventures out. As with last time there's no cloth on her, but the bands of black covered in metallic scales could pass for something armored and skintight. On approach, Shira lifts both hands and wiggles her fingers, "Hello again, Vertin." She only sightly slows down while using both hands to just-- pick up Regulus under the arms and twirl a bit before setting her back down, "Regulus! APPLe! Hi!" When she stops its still several seconds of Tail moving to catch up with the rest of Behind Her. > "With Lilian and the Foundation's oversight..." Shira pauses, "Ah-- sorry." She seriouses up a bit as evidenced by a slight straightening of her posture, a stiffening of her tail. This is business and Watch-related to boot and she needs to take it seriously, "Are... X and this lab something to keep on the downlow outside the Watch?"
Camellia Remnants	Anh has not, really, ever, kinda, touched base? About the Suitcase? She was there at the Ainsworth office and a couple of very small things besides that, and had plenty of time to talk to Vertin at the Motherlobe (after being introduced to it by Regulus acting sussy at Moses' place), but otherwise, she is a strange wild animal being introduced to even stranger surroundings, come snuffling from the downstairs Warpgate wearing exactly enough gear to understand what she assumed by 'Wilderness'. She says "Oh." at some point after seeing the garden outside the sun room, and tries to slink off in embarrassment. 'It's just a few minutes' walk away.' Unsuccessful, Anh tries to sound like she meant to find that particular stretch of garden wall to lean on instead. "Wait, so, um, your boss is watching the big . . ." She sighs, saying "mansion . . ." in a small voice. "--So you're just-- We're just gonna move to a lab that's a few minutes away? I mean, I'm fine with a lab!" No sooner has she said it does she wince in-stride, dinged enough enough damage to flinch but not stun her from thinking about Vertin having a lab too. "But are they really not goig to come and look?" While Anh waves to Regulus, a second nefarious beast comes snooping around the garden, arriving a minute or two after Anh, such that she can casually miss all the important context and try to creep up on her while she's busy; something instantly averted by everyone just being right outside the house, in a tame garden, which hase Lotus also say "Oh." then fold her arms and scoff. Flushed out to her finalized colours, she finally has clothes that fit her, instead of Anh's surplus, which means that she really thought she was going to get away with going sleeveless in skinny jeans through thorny thickets of wild wilderness. Frankly, her hair is more of a wilderness than the garden is. It's still weirdly messy, on top of being dark green and full of randomly assorted flower chains. "Hi~" La Source is her next choice of fixation. She leans forward, putting one hand on her knee to stabilize her staring at the bugs as well. "Are those yours? They're pretty!" she says, about the . . . bugs.
Team Timekeeper	"Whatcha reading there, Vertin?" "Something I picked up to fill gaps in my knowledge of sociology." Looking at the spine of the book as she leaves it on the table, it's Stone Butch Blues. "Maybe I'll tell you about it later, if it wouldn't bore you." "Ohho--you've been thinking ahead, love, haven't you?" "Yes, I have. I can't seem to stop myself." Vertin smiles a bit, reaching out to use Regulus's hand as support to stand. She's not stuck using the cane anymore, but she's certanly not recovered fully to her physical peak, which wasn't all that impressive to begin with. "There's quite a lot to do still, but I'm proud of what we've managed so far." "Are those yours? They're pretty!" Looking closer at the bugs, Lotus can tell that they're definitely weird magic little guys, rather than everyday insects. Beetles with gold-flecked shells, tiny winged fairy-like things, and dragonflies made of glass, lazily swarm together around La Source's flower-topped mud huts. She doesn't look up from her very serious work of wetly plapping the mud with her hands to shape it smoother, but seems pleased at the attention. "No, they're just visitors. They come from deeper into the woods, but since my water lilies are so sweet today, they came to visit. So I'm being hospital." Vertin chimes in without changing her tone at all for talking to the eight year old fae. "The word for being welcoming is 'hospitable'. A 'hospital' is a place you go when you're sick." There's one flattened road going around the outskirts of the island that a small car could drive on, but for now, the woods themselves remain relatively untouched. To get to the laboratory, Vertin leads the others along a simple dirt path straight into the forest, with the plants having been coaxed by Druvis into small parted mounds on either side. "Are... X and this lab something to keep on the downlow outside the Watch?" "X's affiliation with Team Timekeeper is officially established now," She explains to Shira and Anh. "And the laboratory's on the budget, as are its above-board expenses for Regulus and X's work." "Think of it more like money laundering." Somehow, Vertin manages to sound helpful and responsibile while saying a sentence like that. "The Watch's activity will be kept to things that are either benign and unobjectionable, or concealed by the legitimacy of its other operations. It's well-known that I'm part of the Watch as well; only hide what needs to be hidden." "--So you're just-- We're just gonna move to a lab that's a few minutes away?" Vertin can't read Anh's mind, so she just accepts that Anh dressed like this without question. Heading into the 'Wilderness', the edge of it looked very tame from the manor's yard, but it's absolutely bloated with old growth. There's other biomes here that might require preparation, but... you're not going to them today! And Anh probably can't tell that they exist, without a hill to climb up on. "It's a reasonable question. In the end, though Team Timekeeper is mine, not the Foundation's. I don't feel the need to obscure that the Watch is working in the Suitcase at all, only keep the specifics from being surveilled." Even just passing through from the warpgate to the sunroom, they couldn't miss the domestic activity inside the manor. Whether it was Bette rooting around for something in the cellar, or Bunny Bunny in the kitchen, or La Source out in the yard, it definitely is a 'home'. "Even without oversight, I'd want to move the Watch away from the manor. Safety aside, there's no guarantee of privacy."
Team Timekeeper	The laboratory itself is a single-story building with few subdivisons inside, mostly notable for the reinforced concrete construction and the numerous exhaust vents. Off to its side, attached like a garage, is the studio for Radio APPLe, with ladders and metal materials still laying about it. The door is metal, like those in Laplace, and Vertin pushes it open without knocking. The handle on the other side is tied to a thin fishing wire, which yanks a spring-loaded match across a striker. It lights a fuse, which rapidly trails from the ceiling down a shelf and around a tall wooden cabinet. Along its path, several secondary firestarters ignite and then alchemically burn away in a second, releasing a series of marbles that roll across the floor in front of Vertin's feet. They strike a wheeled stool, which bumps a cart, which triggers a catapult, launching a bouncy ball across the room. Meanwhile, the fuse reaches its destination and lights a burner on the countertop, setting a solution in a beaker to boil and spew out purple steam. The ball riccochets off the wall, precisely striking a blackboard and then a lever on the ground that releases a switch on a fan, causing it to blow, and slowly push a cart across the room to knock the lid off another beaker, which releases smoke that combines with the steam to crystallize on a wire that swings down, slicing through a string holding a guitar up to the ceiling that subsequently drops down into Regulus's hands, then continues on to bump a closet door open. Inside it is X, extremely proud of himself, who spins around on his stool to face the group. He has a plastic container on his lap, upon which he drums an extremely poor replica of the beginning part of the Hawaii Five-O theme. "Heya! Good timing!" Throughout all of this, Vertin has remained perfectly still and expressionless. "Hello, X. I've brought guests."
Regulus	''The Rube Guitarberg machine'' As X's convoluted contraption does its thing, Regulus looks towards the others, "Oh you two haven't met him, right, X is really keen on these timed contraptions and physics expressions. They're pretty neat!" Since X is now mentally labeled as a friend which means Regulus's opinion on this nonsense is firmly something she can be fired up about. Also, she's worried if she steps out of place a bowling ball will land on her head or something so best to try not to outsmart the process. "Oh wow...!" Regulus says as the guitar drops right in her hands. "How long did this take you to set up, X?" And then, entirely predictable in X's models, she just plays a G chord right then and there. "You sure you're not getting into percussion?" "X's my coworker at Laplace too and has been helping in showing me the ropes."
Shira	The arrival of Anh and Lotus, two people she hasn't met in person, elicits a wave from Shira as well. Just a polite wiggling of clawed fingers. She's not quite sure what the apparent disappointment is about, much less that it's because this garden isn't deadly enough. > "It's well-known that I'm part of the Watch as well; only hide what needs to be hidden." "Mm," Shira makes an understanding noise, keeping pace and staying bipedal the whole time even. Her arms do tuck in though rather than hang naturally, hands near her breastbone with her fingers curled inward to not-quite form fists. "I get it. Being overly cagey would just be a waste." It isn't until the building is in sight that 'laboratory' actually sinks in enough for her to realize what the word actually means. Her arms drop to her sides, fingers still curled up, as she looks up the front wall. The sound of the door opening drags her back, but then-- > A painstakingly planned rube goldberg setup delivers a guitar to Regulus and reveals a strange guy. Shira, who had tensed up unconsciously, lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Right. This is a Regulus-friend. Don't be weird. > "Hello, X. I've brought guests." > "Oh you two haven't met him, right!" "H-hello. I'm, um... Shira." Nailed it.
Camellia Remnants	'No, they're just visitors. They come from deeper into the woods, but since my water lilies are so sweet today, they came to visit. So I'm being hospital.' Lotus is not particularly a child-minder, so she laughs. But she is also a big of a weird critter enthusiast, so she crouches down to stare. "But the lilies are yours." she says, naruhodo-tone. Despite not having a single maternal instinct in her entire body, she has seen a trillion situations in media where adults talk to children, and she's always wanted to try this. "Well they're doing just fine, huh? No wonder they like them." But Anh is also a botaonical scientist, so. "I've never seen any of those bugs before, but I bet some of them are pollinating the water lilies." 'The word for being welcoming is 'hospitable'. A 'hospital' is a place you go when you're sick.' Lotus suddenly tilts her head up to stare at Vertin in greedy fascination. You can do that? You can tell the kid they're wrong? What happens? What happens when you do that? 'Maybe I'll tell you about it later, if it wouldn't bore you.' "Sure?" says Anh, who was half-paying attention and didn't notice who was being spoken to. She looks around as if for help, just the next second, because she has no idea what she's signed up for and might just end up sounding like an idiot while Vertin explains something very complicated she read in a book. "You already brought all these people together and you're still trying to learn more? You're crazy." Anh laughs, nervous-fond. "Do you never think 'that's probably enough'? I don't think I've ever even seen you doing something that wasn't 'for later'." . . . . . . . . 'Think of it more like money laundering.' "Oh okay." Anh says, at once immediately comprehending and not really grasping anything of the gravity. Money laundernig is something she knows the literal definition of and has no real cultural osmosis of whatsoever. If it's for the Watch, then it's crime for the good guys, right? That's basically the same as always. "So, he's totally on board with everything? Like he's gonna use his budget to do Watch stuff just because he wants to?" Anh thinks for a second, deciding she was probably clear enough despite her imprecise phrasing. "That's pretty convenient actually. I guess the only risky thing is making sure everyone can shut up about it. But then your being in the Watch just means everyone's going be watching you instead." She gets progressively more easygoing as the greenery finally encroaches onto the path; and when Vertin says she asked a good question! "Well, I guess the lab is a pretty good cover if it's all paid for and documented and everything, and a house kinda isn't. So good job!" she says, then hastily changes to "I get it, I mean!"
Camellia Remnants	Lotus is temporarily content simply to follow and watch the mounts of vegetation by the side of the road. A short while in, she tries stuffing her hands in her pockets, then after a while later, she tries putting her hands behind her head instead; which she drops immediately and makes a face about, then tries crossing, uncrossing, and finally letting her arms drop again. "Do you seriously garden all of this? All the plants are so weirdly happy." she says, out of nowhere. "Seriously. Even with the path." she says, scuffing it with her foot on purpose. . . . . . . . . "Get down!!" Hersnh's reaction to a fishing wire tied to the inside of a door setting of a Mechanism is to hurl herself prone before seeing what it does. Lotus looks extremely tense about it, but just kind of freezes in place and cluelessly looks inside. Which is the less embarrassing outcome, when the Rub Goldberg Bullshit Contraption just goes on and on and on and Anh goes from shielding her head to looking up to waiting for it to finish to wondering if she should get up to cringing at how long it's taking and how she's just face down in the dirt while a pinball is slapping a fan that's pushing a cart that's-- 'Heya! Good timing!' "Why." Anh says, soggily. Lotus bends down to pick her up at the waist, putting her back up on her feet and dusting her off like she's relocating a domestic cat.
Team Timekeeper	"I've never seen any of those bugs before, but I bet some of them are pollinating the water lilies." "Oh, yes, that's right." La Source is clearly much more confident on the comparatively complex topic of pollination than she is about her word choice. Vertin has enough sway with her that when she repeats herself to Lotus, it's using the proper vocabulary. "That's why I'm hospitable. And then they'll lay eggs in the mud." "You're a flower too, lady. Do you need the bugs to pollinate too? You're allowed, since you've been nice and haven't left a coin." "Do you never think 'that's probably enough'? I don't think I've ever even seen you doing something that wasn't 'for later'." During the walk through the forest, Vertin laughs slightly, a little self-conscious. "No, I don't. Thankfully, Regulus and Sonetto make sure I don't forget to eat for too long." Vertin goes quiet for a minute, chewing on the thought. It registers in her mind as just too-much of a loaded fixation of Anh's to brush off so simply, so she returns to the topic without warning once she feels like she's come up with a better response. "I'm not sure if I'll ever get to a point where I feel like I've done enough. It's not out of the question, but I'm not considering it for now. If I had the knowledge and resources I do now, there's many people I could have saved that I failed to. I don't want to think back on this time in the future the same way." "Like he's gonna use his budget to do Watch stuff just because he wants to?" "So he says. Whatever his personal goals are, I'm hopeful that they align with mine and ours." "How long did this take you to set up, X?" "Just a simple matter of mechanical engineering and ordered chaos, my friend! I left most of the work up to physics." X places his makeshift drum aside, and, without getting up from his stool, wheels himself out into the open. Scooting inch by inch with his feet pulling him across the ground, he slowly rotates with inertia once losing the stabilizing anchor of the shelves and countertops. "Oh, believe me, I'm no musician. Can't carry a tune to save my life, ha~ But since I know you, I'll know just who to call if I need a rocking musical performance!" "H-hello. I'm, um... Shira." "So you're Shira! I've heard a bit about you!" He's still not standing up. There's a five second gap of silence from him besides the squeaking of his chair's wheels as he navigates over to one of the cluttered countertops. "But where are my manners! X, Department Head of Laplace's Mechanical Engineering team, enchanter, and inventor~" He finally reaches his destination, only to pop up onto his feet without issue. He grabs a sheet of ripply silk-like fabric off of the table, unevenly shaped like scrap, holds it up towards the group, then pulls on either end as hard as he can. It stretches, but doesn't rip. "Aha! My new invention, Stretchy Laume-Cloth!" Pleased with himself, he keeps yanking on the fabric while talking, like an accordion. "A piece of cake, really, once I kept in mind the limitations. Not too strong, or else it'll be impossible to work with, but adaptable to any size! Here!"
Team Timekeeper	He tosses it at Regulus, where it lands on her face. "Regulus mentioned something about your problems to me, Shira. Make a glove out of that or something, call it Mark 1!" He's also carefully avoiding actually looking at Shira. "Why." "Apologies." Vertin sighs softly. "I should've warned you." "So, X, you had something you wanted to say, didn't you? I'm grateful for your work on Shira's behalf, but it seemed like there was something else." "Ah, yes there was! Thank you for jogging my memory, Vertin~" X gets back into his chair, propping his ankle up on his knee, arms held wide to indicate the laboratory. "So, Watch-buddies! I wanna get my organization in cooperation with yours! Not the LSCC, no no, but the ~Institutum Lorentz~." For any details on that, it'll be up to Regulus to explain, because X is already moving on. "We of the Institutum have a big grander concerns than legislation, you see. We're seeking the great casual truth of the world, the breath of the great primum movens that spun through the primordial soup to assemble life from nothing, the flap of the first butterfly's wings-- or, to put it another way, the cause of the Storm." He plants his cheek onto his fist, smirking. "Along the way, well, let's say sometimes the Watch might be our only friend."
Regulus	''~Institutum Lorentz~'' "Ah! We're just bringing it out?? Well I've already started using RPM." Regulus slides the sunglasses that have been down onto her face, entirely for the vibe of the introduction despite her being Regulus and already being observed with cloth thrown onto her face and many other embarrassing positions that were in the past so she's not thinking about them right now. "Well it's as he says, loves. We're tragic rogue scientists working through the cracks of the system to push forward scientific and arcane progress..." She says it so dramatically! "But yeah the Storm. I'm still learning the ropes but Lorentz will work around all that bureaucratic red tape that keeps stalling progress." She has a bit too much respect for the LSCC to utter ''prevents' at least. "And well, this lab's a perfect place to do some extra off the books experiments."
Camellia Remnants	'That's why I'm hospitable. And then they'll lay eggs in the mud.' 'You're a flower too, lady. Do you need the bugs to pollinate too?' Lotus nods, satisfied. "Nope; I'm the kind of flower that eats bugs, and your bugs are so nice I don't want to. Thanks though~ You're so generous." She glances up at Anh, seeking answers about the coin thing, who only shakes her head back. 'No, I don't. Thankfully, Regulus and Sonetto make sure I don't forget to eat for too long.' "Haha, yeah . . . But you can probably just have meals brought right to you, can't you? Like you don't have to clean up or anything." Anh sighs. Her hyperfixations always stack up piles of empty noodle cups. 'I'm not sure if I'll ever get to a point where I feel like I've done enough.' Hearing those words subtly sobers her mood again. Oddly enough, however, it seems to be an improvement. "Yeah. Okay. I get that completely." she says, staring at Vertin's hat as a point of arbitrary focus while she thinks; at the bow specifically. "I guess it's just, the urgency. There's still so many people to help." 'So he says. Whatever his personal goals are, I'm hopeful that they align with mine and ours.' "And if they don't . . ." "Lotus." "Heh heheh." "Come on." . . . . . . . . 'So you're Shira! I've heard a bit about you!' 'Aha! My new invention, Stretchy Laume-Cloth!' Anh kind of wishes she was still on the floor. Past a point, everyone would probably just ignore her and she wouldn't be obviously lost about what any of this conversation is about, nor visibly kind of upset about it. She looks down, considering just diving prone again to get out of here, and decides against doing so on a concrete floor. 'Apologies.' "It's been a shotgun four times." Lotus says, partly in Anh's defense, partly as if it's just funny trivia. Like bugs. "A grenade twice. An IED . . . Anh?" "Twenty-one." "Ahahaha! Holy-- Really?!" 'So, Watch-buddies!' "Hi buddy~" Lotus drawls, greasonously, wiggling her fingers with equal bonelessness. She introduces herself to X's lab the very same moment, and immediately goes poking at the most interesting thing she can find on a countertop. "Gotcha, gotcha~ So you're a huge nerd--" "Lotus!" "--and you're just kinda into all of the sciences so you can act like this, right? That's cool~ That's fine. I like primordial soup! Life from nothing is totally my style. But--" "Hi my name is Anh; is that sometimes something we're going have to worry about? Is the Storm the main thing you're interested or is it just a side-subject?" "Booo."
Shira	> "So you're Shira! I've heard a bit about you!" She cringes a bit, unsure what that could possibly mean, though follows X as he chair-scoots across the room. It is every office dweller's right, after all, to scoot across the floor in their rolling chairs, and she isn't about to interrupt such an important ritual. Her head cocks to one side when X presents cloth, stretches it; she follows it when he throws it at Regulus, murmuring, "Any size?" So many people are interested in solving the problem of dressing her up. It's something she can be thankful for... but it's also a little embarrassing. She crouches down, resting her hands on her knees and getting a closer look at X's wonderous Laume-Cloth. > "Or, to put it another way, the cause of the Storm." "I won't-- take charity," Shira states once, nodding sharply. Her eyes shift before her face does to focus on X, "I'll pay it back. Whatever you need someone like me for, I'll help out wherever I can." She probably won't be too helpful in the actual theory of the Storm, but if a big dumb lizard can be useful, that's what she's here for.
Regulus	''Anh looking visibly kind of upset about it.'' "Oh uh, I asked X for some help in preparing clothes for Shira. Shira can get hella big so." And apparently SOMEONE forgot about that detail while creating her! But that's okay, Institutum Lorentz will pick up the slack! Is what Regulus tells herself. Regulus has kind of been wiggling around with the cloth that it's getting to be a bit of a handful to hold onto without collapsing under it. She tries to squish it back into a smaller shape but her hands are getting tangled. She'll figure it out. "Nothing wrong with accepting charity, Shira, but if you wanna lend a hand, I'm sure we can figure something out." Regulus is not a fan of the 'I won't take charity' cliche as someone who, no doubt, almost certainly had to rely on it before. Both the literal and metaphorical kind. "Besides you gotta understand--" Regulus wrestles with the cloth. "--problem solving is kind of fun?" ''Is the Storm the main thing'' "It's the main thing." Regulus says. "Lots of stuff branches off of that though. Looking for that causal origin point."