audio

[fieldtrip]

We're supposed to be here because we committed a crime, but we're also supposed to attend a fancy party?

No thanks. I've had enough of those to last my whole lifetime.

By the way, I'm the one who made the cage that captured the big rotting ocean monster. You're welcome.

Comments

[drugsnotclubs]

[Oh, hey, it's magic-rock-jumpscare-girl. ]

Yeah, but what'd it take you to make it, like ten seconds?

Maybe you can hide in the caves again to avoid the party.

[fieldtrip]

[ She appreciates the audio and the faith in her abilities. ]

It took a little longer than that. But you're right, next time somebody should give me a challenge.

[ It's a big structure and a new substance and they had to transport all the materials miles away to the seashore, so that part took time. But the actual construction probably had taken place in just a few minutes. ]

Ugh, I'll go. I don't mind all the free food and dancing and everything. But I'm not dressing up.

[drugsnotclubs]

What would be a challenge? [It's an earnest ask! Because that is just magic to him so how is making a crystal a little disc and making a rock shaped like a cage different. He has no idea.]

You don't mind dancing, but the dressing up's a dealbreaker?

[girl you cannot even see yourself?? But ok he can understand the comfort aspect.]

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph really likes that question. Pushing her limits is her favorite activity, and she actively thinks about where she can go next. ]

Materials that aren't fully earth or rock can be pretty challenging, like metal and sand. There's still a lot I need to figure out about using them.

Yeahhh, well, my parents used to make me dress up all the time, [ she explains in a darker tone, only being this forthcoming because she's already assessed that Shinji is Cool. ] Not that I really dance, either. But nobody thinks you need to be wearing shoes to dance.

[ Shoes are her mortal enemy. ]

audio;

[izanagis]

I wasn't in a state to say it at the time, but thank you for that. It really made a difference.

[Who would have thought it'd turn out to be a tiny moe cephalopod...]

It's an interesting form of penance, if they're related. The party, I mean.

[fieldtrip]

[ She wasn't actually fishing for sincere thanks. That just makes her awkward, so Toph brushes it off. ]

Don't mention it. Were you there fighting? I couldn't keep track of everyone in all the chaos.

If it's supposed to make me feel bad for scamming people, it's really not going to work.

[ Toph is definitely not keeping her crime a secret. She's proud of it, if anything. ]

[izanagis]

I was. I can't blame you for that, though -- it was a lot.

[He certainly didn't help anything, though.]

Scamming? Is that what you were charged with?

[fieldtrip]

Normally I'm better at tracking everything. Think next time we can get a nice land-based fight?

[ The battle taking place mostly on water did not do her any favors. That made it very difficult for her to track anything, and she'd had to rely on others to spot for her quite a bit. ]

Yeah, and I totally did. They deserved it. [ Toph doesn't sound defensive; she sounds bored and unimpressed. ]

voice

[heartofsalvation]

You have my thanks for your assistance. Had the rock cage been unsuccessful, the backup plan would have fallen to myself and a friend, but admittedly, our method would not have had the same cleansing effect.

I do find the party setup odd, however. They say it's tradition, but it feels strangely... lavish for a group of supposed criminals.

[fieldtrip]

No big deal. I'm actually pretty surprised it worked. I was just gonna try to take it down, but everybody else wanted to do the but what if he's a friend routine. Turns out they were right.

[ Being friends with Aang has her pretty well primed for that argument, and she has no problem changing her approach when someone she likes asks her to. ]

Yeah, why do they want a bunch of tourist criminals attending their big diplomatic shindig, anyway? I know one of us supposedly did it, but doesn't that mean we want that guy to attend and make an embarrassing public apology?

[heartofsalvation]

I am glad keeping it alive was worth the trouble. In hindsight, perhaps it doesn't much matter if it was but another creature of the depths that was inadvertently infected. But perhaps in the future, we'll be the better off for it; we did get some valuable insight into the rot from the battle and its defeat, after all.

I do wonder about that. It could be that they fear us... or want to manipulate us by appealing to our better natures, I suppose. Perhaps both. I cannot help but find it a little suspect.

[fieldtrip]

It doesn't matter to me that much, [ Toph says, just to be clear she is TOUGH and doesn't care about killing things, ] but if we don't have to kill it to defeat it that's probably better. Plus, now if something else turns up, we know this works.

Do we know whose fault it was? Maybe they want to use the party to get us all in one place and figure that out.

[ Toph isn't paranoid, but she has a very healthy sense of suspicion as a baseline. ]

Audio

[beshackled]

I must give you my thanks as well. 'Twould have taken a vast amount of aether to cast the Internment spell, and the cage allowed me to observe the creature as I had hoped to.

[fieldtrip]

Don't worry about it. Why were you so interested in observing it? Did we learn anything?

You know, apart from the fact that it used to be a cute little ocean guy.

[beshackled]

Though the effect of growth and the reversal of said effect dependent on the presence of the affliction is in itself very interesting, whereas we observed a rebuffing of the affliction's influence and very presence by the stones, there was also an active pushing of the contamination into the environment by the creature while it was affected.

Of particular note, one the octopede was purged of the contamination, the contamination in the surrounding area began to recede on its own, regardless of the presence or proximity of the stones...

Furthermore, although... notably unnerved by my following it to the water's edge, even though free from the cage, the creature did not begin regenerating the substance as a defense mechanism, which leads me to the hypothesis that the contamination it spread was not a part of its natural physiology...

Which leads me to the question, how did it come to become a vector for the contamination in the first place? Given the creature's natural habitat, our answer may lay somewhere in the waters surrounding these isles.

2/2

[beshackled]

[And if that long rambling scientific analysis is not enough, Erichthonios belatedly remembers she asked not one, but two questions... the first of which he had yet to answer.]

A-ah. And the reason I was interested in observing it is because I had been studying the contamination since we were made aware of its manifestation in Rumpitur.

I had been studying the stones concurrently as well... thus the fortunate discovery of their ability to not only ward off the infection, but to drive it into retreat.

[The stones had reacted to him when he had picked them up in December... so naturally he tested them against every living thing he could keep still enough.

An easy task for someone specializing in binding magicks.]

audio

[strength_of_will]

I really appreciate your help with the cage, Toph.

Are you sure you don't want to go to the party though? There'll be free food.

[ Well, he assumes it'll be free food. ]

[fieldtrip]

Hey, it was your idea. Turns out it was a good one.

[ She's not so full of herself she can't admit when she was wrong about something. Also, this whole scenario just proves why she listens when other people think they should do something else. She doesn't always agree, but she'd really have rocks for brains if she couldn't at least consider it. ]

I guess. The food is tempting. But they want everyone to get dressed up, right?

[strength_of_will]

Yes, it seems so. Don't like wearing fancy clothes?

[ He's teasing a little. William has been to his fair share of formal occasions so he's grown used to wearing formal clothes. ]

[feintofhart]

I have a feeling that they don't want us to think all that hard about it.

[ Hi, Toph! Long time no see! ]

C'mon, it's a party! Don't tell me you don't like dancing. I'm sure we could show those guys a move or two.

[fieldtrip]

Where've you been?

[ She'd been actively looking out for the people she likes during all the chaos, and hadn't run across Claude. ]

Yeahhh... I don't really dance. Pass on that one. It's not like I mind parties, but I'm not dressing up.

[feintofhart]

Not a dancer, huh? Too bad. I bet you've got moves.

Besides, what've you got against dressing up?

voice;

[entreats]

The party is part of the punishment.

[ .. just said with zero hesitation. Ange sounds serious about it too, or maybe that's just the usual lack of any real emotion in her tone.. ]

Trust me. Nothing here is meant to be fun. Either it's just annoying the way most fancy parties are, or they somehow manages to build in an even more annoying element to it that we won't find out about until later.

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph snorts. ] Now that I'd believe.

[ finally someone with some sense ]

I was thinking that maybe they're trying to get us all in one place so they can figure out who was responsible. Somebody said they heard whoever it is is already being "punished appropriately," but who knows what that means. Or if it's true.

[entreats]

.. already?

[ Now that makes the redhead actually sound a little bit more interested. It's not a huge change in her voice, but somewhere between how emotionless it is by default making the slight emotion stand out more and Toph maybe being able to hear it a little better than most, it might be obvious. ]

I hadn't heard about that. Were they talking about Jinx? She's stuck being unable to leave town, though I don't think that's exactly a huge punishment when we're all stuck within the boundaries of this world anyway.