Town Hall, Friday

[weirderthanthou]

"Well, that's the last of what we have about the weather machine."

Jesse stared at the stack of papers in front of her, the handbook perched on top.

"Topside, anyway," she commented idly.

Nina-the-assistant tilted her head. "Hm?"

"There are archives in the basement, too," she said. She looked thoughtful. "Maybe..."

"It's the basement."

"I know."

[[ open ]]

Comments

Arrive/Mingle

[weirderthanthou]

You know you want to.

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina was coat-less when she made it to Town Hall. She also looked rather disheveled and wild.

"Today."

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[firstofitskind]

And she had a text from a very concerned Dad who was feeling pretty damn guilty about arranging for her to get an inflatable reindeer right about now.

You okay, kiddo?

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina was pointedly ignoring the way her clothing had picked up a whole array of rips and tears. Her boots had fared a lot better. Huzzah for winter wear!

She missed winter wear.

Nina eyed the text from her dad since, like, she was pretty sure he hadn't seen the livestream (which was good) but...

I'm fine!!!!!!!!!! He was getting a selfie with her doing the V-sign.

Physically, she was! It wasn't a lie! It was also a completely useless answer!

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[firstofitskind]

The nice thing about text as a communication medium is it allowed one to put some thought into a reply. Which is why Liam didn’t immediately respond back with a ‘You don’t look fine’

I’m bringing you lunch. Was all he said instead, hooray for convenient excuses to come over and check on her.

And no, he didn’t need to ask where she’d be. Clearly, she’d be in the place full of paperwork that needed snooping through, same as she’d been the previous two days.

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[stykera]

Stark had not been eaten by the reindeer that had come to life in the hallway outside his apartment. Yet. There was still a chance, of course, that the reindeer might be lying in wait for him later. Or something else might be waiting.

He had run all the way here and was, somewhat miraculously, still all in one piece. Still looking rather worse for wear, but wasn't everyone right now?

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[firstofitskind]

If he'd known you'd be here, Stark, Liam would've absolutely brought you lunch too. Sorry!

At least he didn't have to worry about the reindeer lying in wait for him when he arrived back at the apartment?

"New rule," Liam said in lieu of greeting. "No inflatable animals in the hallway." Did he have the authority to make such a rule? Well, maybe, as he was what passed for law enforcement around here. But it was probably technically within the purview of whoever managed the building.

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[stykera]

"It tried to eat me," Stark said after staring at Liam for a long moment. "No more inflatable animals ever. Hallway or no." If it had been in the apartment it might have succeeded in eating him, Liam!

Re: Arrive/Mingle

[firstofitskind]

"Well, this particular reindeer won't be a problem anymore," Liam said darkly. "So you needn't worry about being eaten."

Pick Through Stuff/Research

[weirderthanthou]

That stack just keeps getting bigger.

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[stykera]

Stark had chosen another pile at random today because that honestly seemed like the best way to go about it. He was looking through the papers, wondering if anything useful was going to turn up, and then, somehow, it did.

Why was the handbook for the Fandom weather machine at the bottom of a stack of papers containing no other handbooks and nothing else to do with weather? Who knew.

"This might be something," he said out loud to nobody in particular, opening up the handbook. "Looks like something." It was definitely something.

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[weirderthanthou]

"Is that the handbook?" Jesse called. "I never got the chance to go through that."

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[stykera]

Stark nodded and held it up briefly. "It is!"

He resumed paging through it then, wondering if he ought to be reading the entire thing or handing it over to someone else who had a better understanding of weather machines. Or...

"Someone made notes. In the handbook." He could focus on those for now.

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[weirderthanthou]

Jesse wasn't sure there was anyone here who counted as 'having a better understanding of weather machines'.

"Anything useful?" she asked, walking towards him.

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[bookbeltof_love]

"We found a receipt!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina announced, once the trip to the basement had been completed. "Some fool bought a weather correcting device!!!!!!!!!!!"

And if she was going to memorize where the device had come from well, like, that was her business.

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[weirderthanthou]

"Probably the school board, since we found that in the basement," Jesse said, rubbing her forehead. Now that she finally had a moment to think. "Probably."

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[bookbeltof_love]

"And it doesn't even work," Nina said, laying the receipt flat. "Totally defective!!!!!!!!!!"

Re: Pick Through Stuff/Research

[crimson_sister]

Lucille leaned closer to have a look.

"The serial code should give us more information," she said, walking over to a pile of books she had been skimming through earlier. She flipped through the pages.

"What was the number again?"

"Oh, here it is. Pictures of a large, round object, its altitude and orbit. That should be worth to have a closer look at."

... The Basement

[weirderthanthou]

"Okay," Jesse said, pushing through a door into a clearly-neglected section of the building. "So we have more paperwork down here, but I have to warn you. It's... kind of rough down there. So let's go down there but, like, stick to near the hatch? You don't want to wander off."

She pulled open the hatch, and reached inside to pull on a cord-- and the lights went on.

It was... very yellow down there. Sweet-smelling pollen - not that kind - drifted peacefully along on an inexplicable wind.

"Here we go again," Jesse sighed, and headed down the ladder.

[[ expecting one, but if you want to fight some homicidal flowers, feel free to tag in ]]

Re: ... The Basement

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina was, like, all for getting to go where most people didn't so this?

This was great fun. Especially once she'd had a bit to put herself together better, have a cup of hot chocolate, and do some review of her own notes.

"I nearly died to a murderous bouncy castle today," Nina said, even as she peered down around Jesse's head. "I got this!!!!!!!!!"

The real trick would be keeping her out of here afterwards.

Re: ... The Basement

[weirderthanthou]

"I'm going to keep my gun on me just in case, if you don't mind," Jesse said, stepping away from the ladder.

She motioned for Nina to come down.

Re: ... The Basement

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina ignored the ladder and just flung herself down, landing lightly at the bottom.

"I didn't say I wouldn't be armed," she said, bookbelt at the ready as she looked around with avid interest.

Re: ... The Basement

[weirderthanthou]

"Good," Jesse said, "because--"

She barely moved away in time. The head of the angry giant sunflower shot just past her, hissed, and retreated. "...It's a minefield down here."

She gestured quickly at a pile of papers, about a hundred feet away.

There were flowers on the way there.

Talk to Jesse

[weirderthanthou]

Her hair is full of pollen again, and it looks inexplicably perfect after that basement trip.

Because the basement.

OOC

[weirderthanthou]

So yes, the front area of the basement - Jesse won't let anyone venture any further - is full of stacks of papers, giant yellow flowers with teeth, and aggressive fruit trees that like to throw apples. Venture down there at your own risk.