12:23 <Quaker> Badawi texts Bob a few days after the thing with the weather satellite. 12:25 <Quaker> AB: <Hi are you available to meet me at thje Hattersley communit center today…I need some help with a project if you feel like helping…its for a good cause…> 12:27 <tom> Shit, two ellipses? This must be serious. <say no more. AP or incendiary?> 12:27 <Quaker> AB: <Do you have a toolbox…bring that> 12:27 <tom> <oh> 12:27 <tom> <yeah ok i had the wrong idea> 12:28 <Quaker> AB: <its okay> 12:29 <Quaker> AB: <there might be kids coming in and out though so no swearing or inappropriate language please> 12:29 <Quaker> AB: <thank you> 12:29 <tom> Bob's never been to the ad-hoc community center. Hell, he was busy getting disappeared by Suzie Cute- Councilor Cutsworth, during that whole thing with the teens in the graveyard. What's it look like, as he pulls up in his truck, clean-shaven and sans visor. 12:29 <tom> He feels old. 12:31 <Quaker> It’s not very impressive. Run-down, in fact. Much like the rest of Hattersley Estate. It’s got the kind of anonymous, mass-produced look of postwar construction, but the care and detail that makes old Soviet apartment buildings look pretty nice now is missing. 12:33 <tom> Hm. Bob paces the exterior to give the building a once-over before grabbing the rusty metal toolbox from the bed of his truck and heading in to meet Agostina. 12:34 <tom> He takes off his wet jacket and bundles it under his free arm. 12:45 <Quaker> The interior is equally neglected, and what’s been kept serviceable is operating at a bare minimum of upkeep. A spacious but gently mildewing parlor/sitting room/reception funnels down into a central hallway, and Bob can see rooms as he passes by: some small offices stuffed with rusting metal desks and filing cabinets and bookshelves pushed rudely back to make way for stacks of paper; a room with children-sized furniture, arts paraphernalia and 12:45 <Quaker> Bible-themed posters and books, some unrenovated but functioning kitchen spaces and group dining rooms; an empty swimming pool with an angled glass wall letting the light in; and finally a large basketball court which has had all its scoreboards and nets removed. 12:46 <Quaker> The last is cavernous and chilly despite the building’s heating being turned on, and all the portable stands have been pushed into a rough, semi-circular makeshift ampitheater. Badawi is sitting on the first row of one of the stands, writing in a notebook. 12:49 <tom> Bob's footsteps echo across the gym's dusty floor. "Wow," he says finally. "I'm amazed these kids don't all have black mold poisoning." 12:50 <tom> He sets the toolbox and jacket down on the stands and tests the scaffolding before taking a seat himself. "If these haven't been looked at we should probably get new ones before a kid gets pulped by a collapse." 12:51 <Quaker> Badawi looks up. “Thank you for coming! Maybe we should check for asbestos at some point. And yeah, these have got to go. I don’t think anybody’s done any inspections on them since they got put in.” 12:52 <Quaker> “You haven’t been here before?” 12:54 <tom> "Nah," he leans forward on the bleachers and pops his neck. "I don't usually hang out with teenagers." 12:54 <tom> "This is where we put the kids from the cemetary, yeah? It's indoors at least..." 12:55 <Quaker> “Aren’t you living with one?” She’s teasing. 12:56 <Quaker> “Yeah, the Nightingales. That’s the name of their club. Mostly kids from the estate, though I get the sense that a few come from a bit further out just to sing and be with friends.” 13:00 <tom> "N-no-" he realizes she's fucking with him, but turns a bit red anyway. He looks away: "It looks like a ghost lives here. Do you want me to sweep the place with etherics just to be sure?" 13:02 <Quaker> “No, there’s at least one ghost around. I think he’s bound to one of the kids, though. I guess it’s safe for now. I’ll eventually ask the mages if there are any bad spirits hanging around. I was thinking more mundane work. Renovations. Have you ever worked construction?” 13:02 <tom> His eyes pop out a bit: "There's a kid tied to a ghost and that's... gooood?" 13:03 <Quaker> “She seems fine with it.” 13:03 <tom> "Oh... okay, then." 13:04 <Quaker> “I don’t know a lot about it. Willie could see it, not me. We’ll learn more about her situation in the future, I’m sure.” 13:04 <tom> Bob shrugs. "I was doing some work on the farmhouse before the fight. Can you believe I was almost done?" 13:04 <tom> "Fuckers." 13:04 <tom> "Oh, sorry." 13:04 <Quaker> “Did you ever thank Egret? At least it’s not smashed flat.” 13:05 <tom> He looks around for kids. It's just them in the quiet auditorium. 13:05 <tom> "Nah, I was too busy getting gassed." 13:06 <tom> "Turns out a decade of smoking is a comorbidity with chlorine gas attacks." 13:07 <tom> "I don't think I thanked you for getting the nerd club out to Tintwistle to pull the gas outta our lungs." 13:07 <tom> "So... uh, thanks." 13:08 <Quaker> “I suppose I’m responsible for that. I shot out the cockpit. Sorry.” She tosses a discarded hunk of tile across the length of the court, where it clatters against the far wall. The sound echoes back and forth. 13:10 <tom> "...This place looks awful. What were they doing with this place before you guys... bought it? Is that the deal here? You own this place now?" 13:12 <tom> "We'll need to get rid of the bleachers, basically tear off all the drywall to check for mold and water damage... test the tap water for lead... re-do the electric..." 13:12 <Quaker> “I think Wilie is the name on the lease for now. Or maybe one of the kids. I’m not sure, actually, she took care of the paperwork for them. I think it was just kind of being ignored.” 13:12 <tom> "She's pretty good at that stuff." 13:12 <Quaker> “Yeah. I had a lot of ideas for renovations, but I wanted to ask you about the basic health and safety steps.” 13:13 <Quaker> “She is. Very detail-oriented.” 13:13 <Quaker> “Oh, do you know how to sew?” 13:16 <tom> Bob takes up the toolbox in his hands and pops the lid, rummaging around its contents. "Nah. Mari does, but she's really busy with her- you know, whattaya call it, where the student follows the doctor around in the hospital- I dunno." 13:17 <tom> His face goes blank for a second; he looks uneasy. "Why? Are you going to make me do arts and crafts?" 13:17 <Quaker> “Hm. How would we make identical patches, if I drew a design?” 13:18 <Quaker> “Why? I thought you liked making things.” 13:18 <tom> He shrugs. "Etsy? There's a ton of unemployed art kids trying to make a buck." 13:19 <tom> "Honestly I bet a lotta the kids here are headed that way." 13:19 <tom> Ugh, shut up. That's depressing, man. "Sorry." 13:20 <Quaker> “What if Mari showed you how to do it? Could you make the patches? I mean, I actually have to draw the thing.” 13:20 <Quaker> “It would mean more if one of us made them.” 13:21 <tom> He takes out a plastic water sampling kit in its transparent plastic baggie and sets it down on the bleachers. "Yeah, I could do it." 13:21 <Quaker> “Great!” 13:22 <tom> "...What're the patches for?" He asks after a quiet moment. 13:24 <Quaker> “For the kids. The Nightingale Club. For the members of the club.” 13:27 <tom> Bob rubs his jaw. "That's nice. That's really nice..." 13:27 <tom> "...What's your angle, here? This have something to do with Tacocat and the nerd club?" 13:29 <Quaker> “What do you mean?” 13:31 <tom> Bob looks uncertain. "I thought you hated this country. Why're you... doing this?" 13:34 <tom> "...Is that stuff about the books true? You really write children's books... it's not just a cover thing?" 13:35 <Quaker> She laughs. “What do you mean, ‘a cover thing?’” 13:35 <Quaker> “You mean, do I actually make them?” 13:37 <tom> "...Yeah, like, if you wrote a best-selling kids' book... what the hell are you doing here? Why would you do any of this?" 13:38 <tom> He's selling her short here; Anna Banana is a series. A goddamn staple, if the obsessed freaks on the chans have anything to say about it. 13:39 <tom> He relaxes visibly at her laughter. 13:40 <Quaker> “Why does the nightingale sing?” 13:40 <tom> "Oh c'mon.." now he laughs. "You know I never read a damn thing in my life. It's unfair." 13:41 <Quaker> “God made it so. Why do Hunters hunt?” 13:41 <tom> "I guess I thought it was the right thing to do. Now I dunno." 13:41 <tom> "I just dunno." 13:42 <tom> "Uuugh sorry," Breathe in, breathe out. "Not tryin' to be like that." 13:42 <tom> "It's been fuckin' hard these last coupl'a weeks." 13:43 <tom> "We don't gotta talk about it. I've got some water samples to take anyway." 13:45 <Quaker> “It’s okay. I’m here to listen if you ever need to say something.” She goes back to drawing in her notebook. 13:45 <tom> "Can I see the patch design?" 13:45 <Quaker> “Do you want to take a look around, see the place, meet me back here in half an hour? I should be done by then.” 13:45 <Quaker> “I’m almost finished.” 13:46 <Quaker> She has her fine pencils and paints out beside her. 13:47 <tom> He nods. "Yeah, should be a quick job. Just need to fill a sample cup from each of the taps, you know, label which is which, see if we get any lead or organics in the mix after a lab analysis- I bet I can get Aster to help with it." 13:47 <tom> "We'll need to test for black mold but that's later. I'm seeing some water damage on the roof-" He points up at the grey splotches on the ceiling tiles. 13:49 <Quaker> She points to the corridor. “I think there’s a supply closet, second door on the left in there. It should have ladders if you need to get a sample from the ceiling.” 13:54 <tom> "Right." Bob grabs a ladder and almost fucking dies trying to retrieve a sample from that splotch on the ceiling. 13:54 <tom> He doesn't cry out as the ladder wobbles, and just prays that Badawi didn't notice his frantic scrambling as the thing tottered under him. 13:54 <Quaker> “God…” He hears her rip a page out and crumple it onto the ground. 13:56 <tom> Furious, Bob pockets the little plastic bottle of black something clipped from the fiber ceiling panels and shakily makes his way back down the ladder, whereupon he folds the thing up under one arm and tosses it into a dumpster out back. He texts Badawi as he goes to the kitchen to sample the water: <ladders are old too> 13:59 <Quaker> She adds it to the list of things to buy. 14:05 <Quaker> Hopefully he doesn’t die fixing the place up. 14:06 <tom> Bob saunters around the decrepit building with a notepad, noting the obvious- a room with a broken light switch, a bathroom with clear water damage from drainage issues, the broken window on the second-story corner room, and all manner of various dangerously brittle rusted-through edges. The stairs are starting to sag in the southwest stairwell, and of course, the water from all the taps is 14:06 <tom> clouded as it goes into the sample bottles, which he helpfully labels with a sharpie. 14:07 <tom> "This place might actually be worse for them than being outdoors at the cemetary in winter," is what Agostina gets from Bob as he heads back to the bleachers with a full baggie of sampling beakers. 14:09 <tom> "If they just come here to sing we should probably block off the whole second floor- but they'll probably just break in to make out and we'll find a pair of skeletons wedged in a vent years later-" Bob laughs, shakes his head. 14:09 <Quaker> “Well…add safety railing for the pool, new appliances in the kitchen, a stage, new wallpaper and paint everywhere, knocking down the office walls to turn it back into a library, new carpet, new furniture…that’s what, at least a few hundred thousand pounds?” She’s put her pencils and paint away. 14:09 <tom> Kids sure love dying. 14:10 <tom> "Oh yeah, do you- do you actually wanna bring the pool back to functional? Because kids are definitely going to die in that unless we hire a lifeguard." 14:11 <Quaker> “No, no…I was thinking about turning it into some kind of tiered lounge for them. Maybe a pergola covering the deep end.” 14:12 <tom> Bob reaches up instinctively to tap his visor, which isn't there. "The hell's a pergola?" 14:13 <Quaker> “It’s a raised, horizontal wooden lattice. You know when they grow grapes and it looks like a ceiling instead of just on rows of vines?” 14:14 <tom> Bob: "Oh, wow, yeah, so like... kinda an indoor sunken theater kinda deal?" 14:14 <tom> "You've thought about this." 14:15 <Quaker> “We can run vines and flowering plants and lights through the top, and turn the pool stairs into regular stairs.” 14:15 <Quaker> “It will be expensive. But I had an idea about that.” 14:17 <tom> "Yeah. I mean, I can chip in, some, but I wanna save for retirement, you know-" 14:18 <Quaker> “You know how Reveille has really been putting us through it?” 14:18 <Quaker> “Supposedly she’s about to strike it rich.” 14:21 <tom> Bob: "Yeah? I haven't really talked to her about it. Mostly I'm just bodyguarding outside her door tryin' not to look I need my mom to pick me up from school." 14:22 <tom> "How've you guys been getting along?" 14:22 <Quaker> “She’s grating. We should bully her into putting a percentage or two of her album royalties into a trust for Hattersley Estate.” 14:26 <tom> He shrugs. "It's bad practice to renegotiate a contract halfway through. Maybe we can get her to throw some money in outta gratitude after we wrap this one up." 14:27 <Quaker> “Gratitude can mix with fear. Want to see the patch?” 14:27 <tom> "You know I do." 14:32 <tom> Bob sits down on the bleacher and pulls his jacket back on, one arm after the other. 14:35 <Quaker> It’s rectangular on the sides and bottom, with the top curving into an arch. The borders are embellished with an alternating white and gold geometric pattern, and inside is a background of deep navy blue, though she’s shaded some azure and even indigo into places, while stars of white and turquoise gleam across the space. Three stylized nightingales, colored buff, are lighting on a golden tree, whose branches curl up into the sky and bloom wit 14:35 <Quaker> pink flowers. Each nightingale is crowned with a corona of thin rays, and above everything sit a sun and moon in each upper corner, smiling down with victorian-esque faces. 14:38 <tom> Bob: "Holy shit. That's so cool." 14:38 <tom> Well I guess that settles the pressing question the internet freaks had about who does the cover art on the books! 14:38 <tom> "Oh god, it's going to be such a pain in the ass to make a hundred of these by hand, haha." 14:38 <tom> "I'm in. I could use a challenge." 14:39 <Quaker> Each corner of the illustration has a new and delightful little detail. It’s really a fine piece of work. 14:40 <Quaker> “Start with twenty, if you can. I don’t think there are that many kids in their club.” 14:40 <Quaker> “Oh, how’s life been without the internet visor? I forgot to ask.” 14:43 <tom> "Absolutely terrible," he grins. "So, you know, the same." 14:43 <tom> "I don't think the problem is the glasses." 14:43 <Quaker> “Ah.” 14:44 <Quaker> She spreads her arms out to indicate the dismal space all around them. “Maybe something like this can be just as much of a constructive distraction.” 14:45 <Quaker> “Do you think Rolf would like to throw in some free labor?” 14:45 <tom> "Absolutely not," Bob chuckles. 14:46 <tom> "Maybe we could get him to do it if he thought it'd make 'woke boffins' mad." 14:47 <Quaker> “Do you think he’d take pay in parmos?”