[quote=@MsChimeric]
“You seem to have a sweet for every occasion. I’m quite impressed.” Kat remarked dryly to the girl. 

“And I like the way you think, too. That’s the way a mechanic’s supposed to see things; if there’s a problem, then there’s no point getting worried about it. You’ve just got to figure out if you can fix it with what you’ve got to hand.” 

The bashful look returned to Kat’s face. [i]I hope that didn’t sound as stupid to them as it did to me. I was never any good at sounding smart.[/i][/quote]

Maria smiled. "More like every situation can be improved with sweets. Like just now; you and Moth were sad earlier, and then I gave you something nice to eat and something nice to hear, and now you're not sad! In fact, I bet that if I could get a Grit to hold still long enough, I could give it a sweet and it would calm down some! Or just be too focused on chewing the sweet to chase after us, but either one works!"

[quote=@MsChimeric]“Sorry for being moody before. The people I was waiting for whilst up on the wall… I’m pretty worried about what happened to them. But Moth here has a point- we need to focus on getting out of here first. What’s your name? I’m Kat.”[/quote]

Maria's face fell slightly. "Yeah, I have people I'm worried about too. I'm sure they're all safe, though; why would the Grit kill stone statues?" She cocked her head to the side slightly. "Though I guess they could have been missed by the lightning, or whatever it was... Well, either way, we probably should get going. Can't keep everyone waiting, after all!" She started walking towards the door, but turned around before she went for than a few steps. "Oh, and I'm Maria. My parents run a candy shop by the Seventh River, which is why I have so much with me! My mom used to say that that's also why I'm so sweet, but I prefer to think that it's because I was raised on a steady diet of hopes and dreams!" Now that the shock had almost completely worn off, Maria was gradually coming back into her usual personality - a tiny, crinkly chatterbox.

[quote=@Mokley]
"CANDY IS A LEADING CAUSE OF TOOTH DECAY AND HIGH BLOOD SUGAR."[/quote]

Maria stuck her tongue out at the robot. "Oh, hush! You're just jealous you can't eat any candy!" She blew a raspberry at it.

[quote=@Mokley]
[b]"WAAAHH!"[/b] A high-pitched screech of terror echoed all the way up the stairwell; even those standing in the infirmary could clearly tell something had happened.

A skinny, bare-shouldered little boy had been eating a sandwich near the spot where Flor made his harsh landing. The child jumped and scrambled and in a panic covered himself with the sheet he'd been sitting on, flinging bits of bread and cheese and tomato.

With the sheet still draped over him, he skittered backward and started chucking food at Flor: an apple, a water bottle, a package of deli meat.

[b]"GO AWAY!"[/b] He peeked over the edge of the sheet for a moment. The kid had a messy mop of yellow hair, bright green eyes, and the long drooping ears of a jackrabbit. He shoved his head under the sheet again and launched a ketchup packet at Flor.
[/quote]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di8-LKwCdBA]Maria gasped.[/url] "Someone's in trouble! C'mon guys, we need to help them!" And with that, Maria was off, out the door and down the stairs. Idly, she started reciting a little nursery rhyme as she went. [i]Out the door and down the stairs, to find the one screaming we go~[/i] She couldn't quite think of a second verse, and she had arrived at the bottom of the stairs by then anyway. "Hi guys! I heard someone screaming from all the way upstairs. What's going on?" She seemed almost entirely unfazed by the child's rabbit ears, or if she was, she didn't show it.