enodia_ic | A Tour at Enodia Station

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A Tour at Enodia Station

Tour Time!

Enodia Station

Today is the day! While not everyone at Enodia Station is thrilled by the prospect, Ernestine Waters has been allowed to come out for a limited tour (which will be lead by Isaiah St. Germaine, Enoch Waldringer, and Crysta Waldinger) and an interview (which will be conducted by Raine Riley and Hypatia Stone).

Early on Monday morning, an IRIS transport vehicle arrives at the front gate with Ernestine inside. The girl is wearing a long-sleeved button up shirt and slacks despite the summer heat and has her hair tied back in a very professional braid. She's also accompanied by her meek mother Lily Waters, who is here to sign permission forms for her minor daughter. The pair is checked in by Zira Bailey, who has been assigned to the front gate and who hands them a pair of temporary visitor badges, which makes the teenage Ernestine squeal in delight...and then try to downplay it. She's very mature, actually!! After being checked in, they're taken to the Research Building to meet up with Isaiah, Enoch, and Crysta, who begin the tour! This includes a guide of general lab facilities, a discussion of typical protocols, and an overview of research that isn't restricted or classified. Throughout, the girl can't help asking endless questions. But at least they're insightful? Her mother, however, is very quiet.

After the tour, the group goes to the first floor break room where a small shindig has been arranged! There's a large banner with: WELCOME ERNESTINE! written on it in glittery letters, a variety of flavorful and colorful homemade pop tarts, and other snacks. Somehow, Evan Finch's lunch also ends up being put out and is quickly devoured. Not cool, guys. During this time, Ernestine meets other members of the Research Division (it's clear she's trying not to gush) and repeatedly expresses her gratitude for the opportunity. You're all just...so cool!

Once the gathering winds down, Ernestine heads off with Raine and Hypatia for her interview! As with the tour, Ernestine proves to be endlessly curious and surprisingly bright, leaving an overall quite positive impression! During this time, Ernestine's mother is escorted to the Research Building lobby to wait and ends up sitting with Jack Jung and making awkward small talk. They do, however, get a tip from the lifelong Colchester local, who tells them about an absolute hidden gem of a dim sum restaurant. Don't go telling everyone, now! She suggests that the owner might be a Liminal with flavor-manipulating powers because of how amazing and inexplicable the food is, but this is a joke. ...Right?

Once the interview is completed, Ernestine and her mother are introduced very briefly to Director Magdy (which was requested and arranged by his assistant Analeigh) before being escorted back to the security gate. There ends up being a long delay before the IRIS transport vehicle returns, giving other residents a chance to notice and potentially approach the group gathered there. Parson Starling ends up going over to say hello and arranging a casual game of hacky sack to kill the time. Enoch, why are you rolling your eyes? They're helping! Eventually, though, the vehicle returns, the visitors are checked out, and the tour is over. What a day!

Ernestine Waters is a teenage local and an aspiring scientist keen on earning an internship position at Enodia Station! She first reached out to the Research Division via personalized letters.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is your character helping to prepare for today? Are they feeling some kind of way about it, good or bad? Put any reactions or scenes here!

Hypatia is SO EXCITED that Ernestine is coming to visit today! Honestly, she reminds her a bit of herself at that age, except with a much stronger backbone. She did a little bit of prep work for the interview she'll be conducting with Raine, and she brought the homemade poptarts! There are strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, cinnamon brown sugar, berry, and s'mores flavors, and all of them are decorated cutely with a thin layer of icing and sprinkles shaped like beakers with colors that match the fillings.

Raine has been Analeigh's primary point of contact on scheduling and stuff for this visit, and even though he's been pretty nonchalant about it up until now he does get a little stressed out in the lead-up to the actual tour/interview day. He spends Sunday bothering everyone to make sure they've properly prepared themselves to play their roles on Monday, revising his own list of interview questions, and even helping Crysta decorate the break room if she needs extra hands.

On Monday he's a little more relaxed about things and is pleased that the interview ultimately goes well, although he does spend the time that Enoch/Isaiah/Crysta are playing tour guide just dissociating in the break room.

He also bought Analeigh a bottle of wine (or an equivalent gift if she doesn't drink) as a thank-you present for doing the majority of the logistical legwork, which he dropped off at her desk unceremoniously at the end of the day.

Evan is...uh, very protective of her area of the research department. She's emphatically and "enthusiastically" encouraged any tour participants to keep the teen away from the mole. She doesn't want her upset and with the number of exclamation points Ernestine appears to use, her squealing about how cute the mole is would only upset her.

Beyond that: Evan does not seem excited that they decided to let this kid tour Enodia. She's very distrustful about where she got all the information about them. Like, no one thinks that's creepy? Someone? Anyone? Bueller?

When she realizes that her lunch has been put out...she will range through various emotions including: 'Where did my lunch go, it was just here?' 'Why is my lunch put out for everyone to eat?' 'I can't believe this is happening.' 'That bread was expensive!' 'Why is everyone obsessed with this child?' 'What if I just take someone else's lunch?--No, that's so mean!' and eventually she will probably have a small cry about it (lack of sleep, nerves, stress!) before finding a vending machine.

Enoch took great pains to look immaculate before coming into work (and is not above using illusions if he notices a wrinkle in his shirt or a single hair out of place). For the most part, he seems cheerful and at ease, because his ego has been horribly inflated by ranking as Ernestine's #1 favourite researcher.

He leaves the welcome committee details to Crysta and the boring tour details to Isaiah, and instead focuses on just being as charming and attentive as possible to Ernestine and her mother. Your mileage may vary there because a charming Enoch is still one who is bluntly opinionated and loves to needle his coworkers. ("Isaiah, we don't need to stop here. No one wants to see Cairo Montana's grass experiments.") Still, he's pleased to help answer questions, and differently from his initial attitude when Ernestine first contacted them, seems to take the girl quite seriously as a budding scientist.

Crysta was up early decorating! There's a very good homemade banner that says WELCOME ERNESTINE (used full name in the end) but Enoch got in her head about it and at like 3am she scrapped the glitter one and threw away all her glitter entirely lest Ernestine or someone else actually look down on her for its future use. SO it's a slightly drabber result but lots of origami flowers stapled to the edges for decoration instead. Her part of the tour is mostly the non-sciencey things, and she's personable and easy as ever, giving out tiny little snippets of office gossip (17 year old appropriate of course) and "lab secrets" (like...where best to catch a nap or eat lunch and which is the best equipment) to make her feel at home. She left the science to mostly smarter people, but if Ernestine asked her anything specifically involving anyone's newest or current project, Crysta was able to give her a highly detailed and accurate synopsis, light on the science vernacular, heavy on "like...", but still. Inevitably she asked to do a quick lil tiktok.

Edited (i forgot a Getting Smart drop) 2023-07-04 13:38 (UTC)

Each player may have one character approach Ernestine or her mother if they choose! Feel free to ask a question or prompt some other kind of interaction. To do this, comment here!

Lou kind of feels like this visit is none of his business, but he does offer to get Ernestine and her mom some refreshments, and runs back to his apartment to get Ernestine a little potted haworthia to take as a gift. Because he's still a professor at heart, he asks her about her future college plans.

INTERACTIONS: Lou

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 06:02 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Lou

loudon - 2023-07-04 13:27 (UTC) - Expand

During the long wait for the transport vehicle to pick them up and while Ernestine is distracted by the hacky sack game, Raine takes the opportunity to chat with Lily. He’s very complimentary of Ernestine’s intellect and ambition, and eventually transitions the conversation towards asking what Lily does for a living… and then inquiring after Ernestine’s father. He does try to act like he doesn’t know anything about the man’s mysterious disappearance, but he’s willing to push his luck a little with pressing Lily for additional details at the risk of being rude if it seems like he can get anything out of her.

Edited (sorry... sorry... sorry) 2023-07-03 21:47 (UTC)

INTERACTIONS: Raine & Lily

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 06:21 (UTC) - Expand

Most Toms are working in the lab today as usual, but she decided one of her echoes could come over and meet this intrepid young woman -- especially after her name wound up on a list of Ernestine's favorites. She asks, not unkindly but also not terribly welcomingly, why Ernestine is so interested in Enodia.

INTERACTIONS: Friendly Tom

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 06:42 (UTC) - Expand

When Jack encounters Lily, he really only has about an hour before he has to head to work—he seems a little fidgety, which maybe contributes to the awkwardness of their conversation. He has an insulated lunch box on him, which maybe is why they get onto the topic of food and restaurant recommendations?

Jack has to mentally sew his mouth shut to stop himself from asking Lily if she has any thoughts or recollections on what it was like when Burlington fell. Food is a safer topic, as is the topic of what people do around here for fun during the summer. Know of any nice, local getaway spots, Lily?

INTERACTIONS: Jack

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 07:18 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Jack

nolitangere - 2023-07-04 07:27 (UTC) - Expand

Evan is the opposite of Friendly Tom and manages to mangle her expression in an attempt to fake a smile. It comes out very unfriendly toward a passing Ernestine. If confronted (by anyone, tbh), she will squeak out a: "Is she supposed to be in here right now? I'm really busy, okay?" before stomping off.

INTERACTIONS: Evan Finch

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 14:29 (UTC) - Expand

Purported lover of gossip Parson Starling has admittedly not been on his A game where tittle-tattle is concerned, so he's not really sure what the hubbub is all about.

Nevertheless, he can't resist a crowd. Once he realizes Enodia's visitors are stuck waiting for the ole return caravan at the end of their day, he attempts to provide a distraction to pass the time. Because of course Parson just happens to have a crocheted hackey sack ball on him -- it's old, slightly under-filled, sort of permanently grungy-looking, and softened from use.

Once or twice, his powers get a little sassy and render the ball inert for a few seconds, freezing it in the air or causing it to stick to the ground. While they kick it around, he makes small talk, asking Ernestine what her favorite part of the station was, if it was what she'd hoped, and whether she's considered an IRIS study abroad program.

Edited (he's useless 😌) 2023-07-04 04:28 (UTC)

INTERACTIONS: Parson

imaginist - 2023-07-04 05:41 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Parson

nolitangere - 2023-07-04 17:00 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Parson

emulsify - 2023-07-04 17:56 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Parson

beautyfull - 2023-07-04 18:47 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Parson

imaginist - 2023-07-04 23:02 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Parson

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 14:48 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Parson

emulsify - 2023-07-04 17:55 (UTC) - Expand

Enoch knows from their letter exchanges that Ernestine wants to study atmospheric physics in relation to the rifts, so he shows her the video he took of the rift storm that descended on Enodia on June 15. He tells that the rift meteorologists he consulted have never seen a storm like this before, and none of the other recorded Riftlands-related weather events have had an effect on Liminal abilities like this.

He asks Ernestine if she witnessed anything from Colchester around this time—or other strange rift-related weather events, for that matter. Enoch says he's concerned that rift storms like this could be extremely dangerous to Liminals, especially if they're caught outside alone with no one to help them to safety. (This is not very subtle bait, but Enoch is otherwise pretending he knows nothing about Ernestine's family situation.)

INTERACTIONS: Enoch & Ernestine

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 15:55 (UTC) - Expand

INTERACTIONS: Enoch & Ernestine

imaginist - 2023-07-05 00:34 (UTC) - Expand

Crysta makes sure that amid the chaos of the day, she brings Ernestine a pop-tart and maybe let her just talk about how's she's feeling, like, with all this if she wants. It's a pretty big and intimidating day and Crysta wants to like, make sure that she is feeling ok and that her teenhood is being respected as much as her science future. So she's interested in things like what it's like growing up close to a rift? What's school life like? Tell her about her friends and stuff. Let's talk about how cool it is that she's doing online activism already. She won't take too much of Ernestine's time, she's obvi doing impressive future stuff, but she WILL talk about how to grow her brand online.

INTERACTIONS: Crysta n Ernestine

enodiamod - 2023-07-04 17:06 (UTC) - Expand

Zee is noticeably tired since she is pulling double to cover for some dude (Farhad?) but she tries to muster up some kind of enthusiasm for the visitors (13) but gate duty is boring and there is only so much coffee can do.

She stares cooly (but no unkindly) at Ernestine after her little squeal and smirks, trying to to appear judgey and actually pulls it off (20)??? Please enjoy your stay here, kiddo.

INTERACTIONS: Zee

enodiamod - 2023-07-07 00:00 (UTC) - Expand

While Ernestine is busy touring the facility, Annie makes the not entirely conscious nor subconscious decision to check-in on Lily. Boy oh boy, there's just something about mother's that she can't resist. Ostensibly, she's here to reassure Lily that Enodia is a safe and welcoming environment for Ernestine, but it's possible she's actually seeking her own reassurances.

"Enodia has a really strong sense of community." Annie palavers for some time about all of the clubs and activities that Enodia has to offer. "I think it's so important for Liminals to have a place where they feel like they belong." As she speaks, she mindlessly spins her engagement ring around her finger.

"Do you have any Liminals in your family?"