Cooking Fossils (Helle/Dorian)

Another day, another hour of testing. Each part of her body, subjected to numerous simulations to test the amount of stress it could handle. Helle is appreciative of the machinations of the Vandenreich that has returned her ability to function, but she has grown annoyed of the need for these checkups. Since her body now contains experimental technology, it is only standard that nothing befalls her from any of it. However, she has yet to suffer anything worrisome besides muscle strain and mental stress. Honestly, she doesn't need any of this.

Though, since she is here, it is only par the course that she checks up on other, more important, things. She carried herself to a certain area that is doing research on something special for her. With the loss of her spear and the influence of the elder, she has grown somewhat insistent on discovering the antiques of the Quincy race. Maybe she harbors guilt for her personal faults, but she found it only fair to relinquish other ghosts that may remain of their duty. Much of the old ways have been lost, and as one of the remaining pieces of it, she found it her new duty to bring back even a crumb of what was. Any discovery only benefits the Vandenreich, in her mind.

Dorian was not, generally speaking, much of a researcher or an intellectual. But he was a man who learned remarkably quickly, and who was fiercely dedicated to the work that he took on. When it came to this particular matter, the research on the lost Quincy traditions and cultures, it was an entirely new world to him. The combined stress of such an undertaking when laid atop his usual work would likely have been more than most men were able to bear for any long span of time.

But Dorian was someone who had already given years of his life to absolute perfection. Endless days of work with little time for rest were par for the course to him, and he greeted the Sternritter Director with a professional air as she arrived, cigarette in his mouth as the only indication that he even felt much in the way of stress or exhaustion.

"Good afternoon, Director. I'd been hoping to see you."

It wasn't as if this affair was particularly involved, after all. The reality was that he and Sophie were, generally speaking, the two perhaps most involved in this work. The Vandenreich hardly had the resources for much more than volunteers when it came to something like this.

Of course, they lacked recourses to hunt down remnants of the past that barely anyone but her cared about. Dorian's and Sophie's assistance is appreciated, but they too fail to comprehend the depth of Helle's addiction to the past. Even with her body designed by the future of Quincy technology, she will never allow where they came from to become nothing more but memory, not after everything its given and sacrificed for her.

"You are worn, Coordinator," Helle immediately snapped upon seeing the man smoking. She can recognize a tired soldier, for she has been him many times. There are habits one adopts when they've pushed their body past its natural limits. Either way, she will not haggard him long for his enthusiasm.

"Relate your findings."

Let them get down to business. She is prepared to hear anything noteworthy about their research. She has placed a large amount of trust into their efforts. It is for the old man after all.

Dorian had to assume that Director Armstrong had misspoken his rank simply out of her own busy schedule, on top of the obvious matter that the two of them worked in entirely different divisions and had no particular interaction prior to this project. He took in in stride, hardly one to be caught up on titles, and spoke efficiently and professionally.

"No more than typical, Director. Much of our research is still cursory at best, but there is word on at least a few archaeological sites which will serve as a decent starting point. Germany, Iran, and one far to the south in Australia."

He handed her a packet of their findings, which were still fairly straightforward and lacking in greater detail due to their lack of any ability to send teams out for further reconnaissance. Still, Dorian was confident that she had the authority to have a bit more done on this matter.

Obsession: that's one way for her to describe the sudden pressure in her chest. Her brain became focused on reading the papers handed to her, much like some sort of drug had gotten into her system. Finally, progress has been made. It is little, miniscule honestly, but it's similar to what she discovered as a child. Why were their secrets lost the way they were? Was it the work of Shinigami in the attempt to eradicate their existence? It would only stand logic that books and records would be destroyed to fully keep any Quincy from rising up again. Obviously, it failed, but the very idea that learning their history is proving so difficult...

Though, she shouldn't call her desires anything helpful for her fellow Quincy. She is simply a greedy woman missing something she once had. A lot has slipped from her fingers, and the idea of being but a shadow of herself is an idea better left discarded through any means necessary. Her eyes could only look at Dorian with a somewhat appreciative glow, but it's rather clear that she wants more. She's always wanting more these days.

"Good work. Continue filling me in with any findings."