2020-03-20 - When It Rains

It's a somber day in Branch & Bole, with both Ignacio and Finch absent, the former due to an unfortunate attempt to dance with a bus, and the later due to the former. With a little help from Alexander's mind Art, August was able to stick around longer than he could expected. Long enough to get the most important information: Ignacio was going to live. ('Be okay' was another matter, of course.) The second most important information (wtf happened) seemed to boil down to 'typical Gray Harbor bad luck', which August was willing to accept. No doubt Ruiz would have people combing the accident scene soon enough.

So August has dragged himself to work, because as much as he appreciates Alexander's help, he can't expect all the mind Artists to constantly dial him back, not any more than people can expect to be healed. The busy work will help him focus. Mostly.

So here he is, double-checking lily order statuses, going over allotment requests, and so on. Thoma is less her cheerful, busybody self, more focused on customers and work as well. Jen and Cy are out on appointments, since for once the sky isn't spitting.

And thus, they don't think about this thing that is so obvious by a pointed lack of Ully and Ignacio's usual banter.

By this time, Isabella has grown familiar with the names of those who work at Branch & Bole. An increasingly friendly face, the archaeologist arrives with her satchel, still dressed warmly, but not so bundled up as she has been over the winter. The scent of growing plants tickles her nose, and she can't help but smile at the return of some green and color in the city - Winter had lasted for way too long.

"Hey, Thoma, is he in?" she asks, and when she directs her to where the boss is, she nods her thanks, flashes her an encouraging smile, before wandering over to where her Combat Botanist and fellow field researcher is presently stationed. A hand reaches out, to knock on the nearest wooden paneling to pull him out of what he's presently focusing.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" Concern colors her expressive features. "Alexander told me about Ignacio, I'm sorry, August. I'm sure he'll be alright, by all accounting, he's made of some tough stuff."

August is standing at a display earmarked for the incoming lilies (bulbs are already out, but some people prefer live, pre-potted, especially for Easter), his tablet out. A large neon sign in Thoma's stylish handwriting declares NOT SAFE FOR CATS!!!

He glances up from the order display, sighs on a sad, meager smile when he sees Isabella. "Hey," he says, voice rough. He looks exhausted, but showered and changed; a dark gray, waffle-knit Henley, a dark purple, UW hoodie, jeans, and his heavy hiking boots. "Thanks. Yeah, he's...he's pretty good at surviving crazy shit." He clears his throat. "Sounds like he'll make it, so." He runs a hand over his face, nods at the office and closes up his tablet. "Let's go in there, yeah? Got tea and coffee, if you need it." God knows he does.

"Sure." A hand reaches out to give August's shoulder a tight squeeze. Isabella's concern remains visible on her face. "I know how it is." There's a glance at the crowded table. "Some people process in different ways, when I'm going through something especially difficult, I almost need to work. Alexander hates it, but it's how I am."

She follows the man into the office, shutting the door securely behind him. "How do you take your tea?" She is clearly offering to make it for him, moving towards where the accoutrements are to be able to fix him and herself a cuppa. "And what else would you want to talk about today?"

August's smile grows a little more sincere at the gesture; he reaches out and grasps Isabella's arm, briefly, in return. He coughs a laugh at the bit about her method driving Alexander crazy. "Same for me. Working's easier than not. Keeping busy." He gathers up his tablet as they go, nods at Thoma that they'll be in the office.

He doesn't complain about Isabella getting the tea, has a seat at his desk and sets the tablet aside. "Ah, right. So, the soup. Not sure if you've ever had a chance to look at any of it, but...it was interesting." He pulls out a field journal and flips it open to pages of notes. "It really didn't want to cooperate. I've looked at all kinds of stuff using shaping, but nothing like this. It was really," he makes a face, "obstinate."

"I looked through Yule's findings," Isabella confirms. "Before we embarked on the nullification experiment. He's had better luck, I think, but not much. Pulling these things apart has been difficult, and it honestly makes me wonder who FCN has been hiring in order to come up with these objects." She waits until the water is in proper steeping temperature, before she pours it out in two mugs, and deposits a tea bag each within. She takes hers with a spritz of lemon, and fixes August's up how he likes it.

She returns to his vicinity when that is finished, handing him the mug and easing into a chair next to him. "What did you figure about the soup? Does it confirm Yule's hypothesis? That it takes a certain combination of aspects to embed a single skill into an object that reflects the intent of said skill?"

August accepts the tea with a murmur of thanks. Did he specify no particular preparation because his mind is in one hundred places and he's sleep deprived and so not paying attention, or because he likes it plain? Probably both. (It's both.) He knows better than to dive right in for a sip, and instead savors the steam for a second, then sets it aside.

"Hiring, or," he makes a face, "leveraging." He arches an eyebrow to see if she follows, though doesn't wait for confirmation. He turns his notes towards her. "So, it's definitely got a bit of shaping and," he taps a temple, "the mind Art in there. The first makes sense--that's how you heal, and it heals--but the second has me wondering. I think it does confirm Yule's hypothesis, but beyond that." He pauses to try and put his thoughts in order, licks his lips. "So, the reflecting angle. The item has to be appropriate to the effect. But what if the effect has to entirely mimic the item?" He gestures at his notes. "The soup is meant to make people feel better. Not just heal them, but improve their state of mind. That's as much part of its intent as anything else. So, even though you might not care about doing that, what if you have to put it in, in order for it to work?" He pauses there, then adds, "I mean, we know state of mind improves healing, that's clinically proven. But it's not needed for the shaping to work. It might be, though, for this to."

Leveraging.

Isabella makes a face. "Maybe that's why they're always on the lookout for special individuals," she says, leaning forward so she could take a gander on August's meticulous notes, something faintly approving with what she sees within. "Not just subjects for study, but recruitment also. We really need to figure out how we could get more information about that company." She resettles against her seat, cradling her tea mug. "After all, the more you're willing to work for them, the less likely you are to talk about what goes on here with our gifts especially if they seem to be involved in preventing the world from discovering what happens here. The Veil protects itself."

She listens to the rest in contemplative silence. "That would mean testing it," she says at last. "It's the only way we'll know for sure. Grab a packet of ordinary Lipton's soup and see if we can use the mind and healing talents to recreate the effect. I also wondered whether the skill level also ought to be commensurate with the effect we're trying to achieve - healing significant injuries requires a powerful healer." A significant look at him. "But it might require a reader who is just as strong as you, at least, for the effects to truly adhere. Might need to recruit one just in case, if we decide to go ahead with it. Minerva or Alexander, maybe?"

August makes a low sound, scratches at his beard. "I'd wondered about that--them always looking for us. Recruitment, for work? As lab rats?" He pauses, wincing as a thought occurs to him. "Or maybe doing this...uses up the Art, in some way. You're putting it into something, storing it. That might not be the same as just using it. If that's the case, they'd need a continuous supply of Artists." Another grim possibility. "Certainly doing this kind of thing has to attract Them. Does FCN have a way to mitigate that?"

He grunts in agreement. "They sure don't seem to operate in the Real. I can only assume they've got a facility, like the Asylum maybe, on the Other Side. Would explain why we can't find anything."

An experimental sip of his tea, followed by a proper drink. "Testing, definitely. I didn't sense anything of the moving Art, but," he gives her a wry look, "I'm not that strong in it. So one of you probably should have a go instead of me." He considers his notes a little longer. "There was also a sort of...frisson of electricity? when I was toying with it. Might have just been the mind Art, but..." He doesn't sound convinced of that. A nod about what sort of reading Artist they'll need. "Aidan could as well, or--" He stops short. He'd been about to suggest Ignacio. He looks aside. "Well. Maybe not until he's doing better."

"Being in league with Them in some way would do plenty of mitigating, I gather," Isabella remarks, her tone both dry and grave. "We know next to nothing about the people behind the curtain, so it wouldn't surprise me at all."

She finally takes a quiet sip of her mug. "And if it's built in any way like the Asylum, it might also move in certain ways, as we found out just a few days ago, making it doubly difficult to locate unless we set another appointment. Still, we're making some progress here with our experiments, I don't think we'd have to resort to that just yet." She glances down at her mug. "Not that things in the Veil don't get complicated as it is even without that."

There's a hint of a resigned look from her end. "I don't use much, I can assume the risk," she offers. "And I'm already part of the endeavor, anyway. I've only got one packet left, so if you've got the one you were working on handy, I can take a look - determine if there's any of the moving talent in it. I can confirm that much at the very least, these days I largely only use my abilities for analysis if needed. But yeah, we'll arrange for another experiment soon once I take a look and once you recruit a reader that matches or surpasses your power levels."

"Exactly," August says of FCN being in league with Them, all dry cynicism. Some of it fades as he thinks that over. "But then, why make soup that heals? Just to see if it would work? We know They don't like healing, so..." He gestures with his mug. "Unless it was just a testing process, seems counter-intuitive to Their usual behavior."

He sighs, leans back in his chair. "Yeah, I was wondering if it maybe didn't move around too. But unlike the Asylum, where you've got patients being released, confused and wandering, this is just people you employed, presumably. As a result if they sign their memories away in an NDA, well," he shrugs. "Not nearly as much emotion tied up in remembering. It was 'just a job'."

He surveys her a second, nods. "Yeah, got some of it left." He turns in his chair to pick up his workbag and fish around in it. Oh yes, he brought it with him. No way he's leaving this in his cabin to have anything happen to it totally on accident. He continues, "And Itzhak still has his. I imagine Ruiz does too." He hesitates, glances up to give her a brief look of apology. "If, ah, you're comfortable talking to him about that." Or, you know, anything. At all. He offers over a ziplock bag, in which is the pouch, carefully folded over and held shut with a paperclip.

"The soup may have either been an apology gift or a way to ensure that the most promising subjects don't die before all of their secrets are mined," Isabella drawls, her own cynicism showing through - she still holds a grudge from the last summer, not at all okay with being an unwitting guinea pig for experiments at the other side. "We not only survived one of the experiments, but managed to glean some meaning from what it all meant. "I'm not about to confer any altruistic motives on their end without greater evidence to the contrary."

She nods, too, at the comparison with an NDA, but otherwise doesn't comment upon it - no use speculating, until they find out more.

A hand reaches up to retrieve the packet handed to her, scrutinizing it carefully before placing it within one of the inner pockets of her satchel. "I have to talk to Javier anyway, we haven't spoken since I returned, and I trust there's enough to discuss other than an interesting experiment." Her expression gentles. "I'm not angry with him, August - thanks to Easton, I knew he wasn't himself. I can't blame him for anything he did while he wasn't in full control...we should have known he'd be vulnerable the moment we found out that he touched Doctor Wagner's mind."

"Apology?" August looks and sounds skeptical. "Keeping us alive, as a 'resource', that I can buy." He gets a distant expression. "I wonder, though, if that's all this is. That we're their beta testers."

He relaxes a fraction, nodding at her reassurance she doesn't blame Ruiz. "Okay. I mean--look. No one could blame you, if you did. And yeah, we probably should have. And it'll help, that you're not angry with him. Just..." He glances down into his tea. "Don't be too surprised if it takes him a while to stop blaming himself." A glance up at her, then back into his drink. "We thinking of going to that hospital, or checking out the place Alexander was taken first?"

"I know. I know nobody can blame me, but..." Isabella scrubs her face with one hand. "I don't think there's any sense dwelling on the fact when you know that a mind is being played with. Human relationships are messy enough without assigning the blame of a particularly bad infraction to where it ought to be." She sighs. "Might be my own experience with Alexander over Valentine's Day coloring the idea, but it'll be okay, August. I promise."

His remark and the downcast look towards his tea, brings a smile to her lips. She nudges her shoulder against his in a comradely fashion. "I know the people I choose to be friends with," she teases him, and by the look she gives the Combat Botanist, she knows that he would be feeling the same had he been in Javier's shoes. "I know. I won't be surprised, I promise. I know it can't be easy for him." Considering this isn't the first time he's threatened her in a fit of anger, much less under the influence. "I think the old hospital has a more direct connection - there's no guarantee the location Alexander found would take us to the same place, so I say reach out and touch as direct a source as we can. What do you think?"

August studies Isabella a spell, eventually nods. "Yeah," he murmurs. "Just, sometimes, the reactions aren't about what you know. Sure, we know Wagner did that to him. But some people will have trouble not seeing the guy who attacked them." Is he thinking of Bennie? Yeah, a little. "That said. I'm glad to hear it."

he thinks over the question of hospital versus where Alexander was drawn. "Yeah. Also, we know that other spot's a trap." He lifts a shoulder in a helpless remark of 'what can you do'. "And not necessarily one that's been disarmed. The hospital, though--that might yield something. Of course," he makes a face, "he has to know we're going there. He hasn't been trying to hide who he is. Sooner or later we were going to find this out. So the hospital's probably a trap too. At the very least, we should bring gas masks, to deal with the flowers."

"I know." She's thinking of Bennie, too - but even that case had been different, and the paramedic has good reasons to feel that way. Not just because of the fact that it was someone she trusted, but also because she knows that while there was a hint of influence, said influence simply enhanced what was already there - the anger, the temper. Easton wasn't being manipulated by the circumstances like Alexander had been, nor was he being possessed or altered like Javier. Some part of him was still in control - a fact demonstrated by a few of them who have managed to keep it despite the rage.

"With Spring being how it is, chances are more of the plants will thrive even without the help," Isabella replies after a thoughtful pause. "So yes. Probably, it is." She pauses, pursing her lips. "....he's only one man, though. Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way. Even he can't be in two places at once."

Her green-and-gold eyes lift to meet August's. "I hate to say it because I don't believe in a fair fight, my response against a threat is always with overwhelming force, but if we know two locations, why don't we split the group up and hit both spots at the same time? He can only directly menace one group, so...maybe both are traps but chances are, if he is keeping tabs on us and he can't resist interacting..."

August arches an eyebrow, skeptical. "Pretty sure splitting the group is always a bad idea." he points at her with his mug. "I've seen enough horror movies to know that. Anyways, we don't even know the place Alexander was kept will be helpful in regards to stopping him. Just that it's a spot he had set aside for...something. Better to do one at a time. He's got no more reason to think we'll be at one than another. And," he sighs, "much as I hate to say it, we don't know that he's working alone. Didn't he say something about still having someone, something like that? But even if he hadn't."

He drums his fingers on his desk, shakes his head. "last thing I'd want is to find out the hard way he has, you know...a protege, or assistant, or co-author. Don't think hitting both at the same time with only half of us at each is a good idea. The group he doesn't attack aren't guaranteed to find anything useful." He holds up a hand. "I'll go along with whatever everyone else prefers, but, that sounds like a recipe for getting sucker-punched."

Didn't he say something about still having someone?

Isabella's fingers close tightly over her borrowed mug, the reminder of her missing twin's possible connection to the man drawing more of that white noise into her skull. Her jaw tightens at the hinges, but as always when it comes to that particularly nasty wound, she is reluctant to say those thoughts out loud. Alexander had twigged into her concerns about it, because of course he would - he was frighteningly perceptive, and more than passingly aware of the worst case scenarios of every situation.

"I think in the end it'll be up to you and Alexander," she remarks. "At this point, the two of you know more about him than any of us do. Either way, the hospital is a new lead - I'm with Alexander about pursuing it." Her virid stare rests on her friend and fellow field researcher for a moment, before she reaches out to clap his shoulder gently with a hand again. "Anyway, I'll keep you posted, if Alexander doesn't. You sure there's anything else you don't need, before I head out?"

August watches that reaction, though is he's aware of the significance, there's no sign. No sign he's trying to hide what he thinks, either; certainly if nothing else, Isabella would be upset that her twin had been seeing this guy, and that she'd been kept in the dark. August would be out there trying to kill him right now if it was his sisters; he won't blame her for being hurt at any insinuations of Wagner's behavior back then.

"Agreed," he says, setting his workbag back down. "We'll want to confirm it's the one I saw. Though, since I assume he showed me that on purpose, all the more reason to go prepared." He stills, sighs. "Not sure what we can do about him being as powerful as he is with the mind Art. I know a lot of us are resilient to it, but..." But if Ruiz's plight told them anything, it was that it might not matter how resilient they were.

"I think I'm good, thanks. I'll let you know once I hear more about how...he's doing." He blinks as he thinks of something. "I'm going to have a look at those graft scabs we pulled off the trees, then we're burning the hell out them. I'll let you know when we do the bonfire."