Your Tax Dollars At Work

[plate_builder]

WHO: Reeve Tuesti, Open
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Road Work
WHEN: All of April
WARNINGS: N/A

For those who hate the noise of roadwork, well, they will have Reeve's pity and apology later. For now there is work to be done. And the form of that work involves a very large machine that makes a bit too much noise and hot scents. There is nothing to be done for that part.

Though anyone who wants to complain can probably talk to the man and cat standing beside it, wearing hard hats (where did Reeve get one in Mini's size), discussing plans and a map.

Or perhaps one might find them when the machine is still and quieter, where Reeve stands securely on the edge of one of the holes in the road, lowering a rope into it at a slow pace. Clearly he's intent on the work, playing out the line with a constant level of caution.

And then there's the end of the day, as the sun is growing low, and Reeve is shutting down the machine while going about and checking material levels in it. Behind it a new stretch of road cures. Every now and then Reeve looks over toward it with clear pride. Another sign of Temba being restored to something like order. It's what he's here for.

Comments

[plate_builder]

Maybe he was. To Reeve the man looked a bit like it, not like a doctor.

"I'm just really happy that we can do this for a change."

[crystalmaster]

"Me too," Radley says. "Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help, like clearing junk out of the way so the road can be put down."

[plate_builder]

Oh Radley, did you just volunteer? Reeve's smiling.

"Oh, I have a few things that I could ask for."

[crystalmaster]

Radley is eager to push this project forward!

"Sure, like what?"

[plate_builder]

"Well, there is helping us move the chunks of the road out of the way that have come up. And helping me make sure there isn't other rubble blocking it."

And he'd like to make sure that the machine doesn't get broken quickly.

[crystalmaster]

"I'll do whatever I can," Radley says. "Maybe that guy Knuckles could help too. He seems to be pretty strong."

[plate_builder]

"It's entirely possible," Reeve says with a smile. "I'll offer him peanut butter flavored coffee."

Sounds fair, right? Bribes?

[crystalmaster]

Radley raises an eyebrow in amusement. "He likes that?"

[plate_builder]

"I don't know if he likes it so much as he might be amused by a previous joke we shared."

And that's always something useful, isn't it?

[crystalmaster]

Radley is further amused by this. "He seems too serious to joke. I guess that's good he's not." Kalin back home certainly didn't seem capable of joking.

[plate_builder]

"He seems quiet and withdrawn. That does not mean he does not joke. I haven't tested that yet."

But it really wasn't Reeve's place to, he assumed.

[crystalmaster]

"Usually when I've seen him, he seems like he wants to punch out boulders," Radley muses. "But I haven't seen a lot of him. He does keep to himself a lot ... like someone I knew back home."

[plate_builder]

Yes, that makes sense. Especially since...

"His friend is gone, is he not?"

That has to be hard on the guy.

[crystalmaster]

Radley sighs. "Yeah." He misses Sonic too. "Sonic's probably happier going home, though...."

[plate_builder]

"I expect most of us would."

Reeve... doesn't know. It's more complicated for him.

[crystalmaster]

"Most?" Radley muses. "... I did talk to somebody who felt it was better here. They ... didn't end up well off back home." He frowns.

[plate_builder]

"Yes, I've heard similar stories."

Richie... Reeve shakes his head.

"Some people have no other choice."

[crystalmaster]

"I hope anyone in that situation can just stay here," Radley says.

[plate_builder]

Reeve doubts all of them would want to. But what else can they do.

"I want them to have the best place to live if they can."

[crystalmaster]

It would be better than being dead, surely, or whatever other terrible situation might await them at home.

"And these new roads will definitely help," Radley smiles, wanting to bring the conversation back to a happier subject.

[plate_builder]

"They will," Reeve says with a smile. "And there won't be pits to fall down."

[crystalmaster]

"That's always a plus," Radley says. "Way too many people ... and robots ... fell down those things."

[plate_builder]

Indeed. And Reeve doesn't want it happening again.

"Someone could die in one of those."

[crystalmaster]

"That was definitely something I was afraid of," Radley says. "Have you been able to fill all of those in yet?" He would imagine not, since there seems to be so many.

[plate_builder]

"I've been working on them as well. I got another machine just for that task."

And that's something that was high priority. But he'd address those when he found them, one bit at a time.