Gilda had foregone her uniform in favor of two thick long sleeve shirts, a windbreaker, and some proper thick jeans.  Her dainty shoes were replaced by boots and she'd nicked a hardhat from her sister's costumes.  Above all else, it made her feel quite rugged, it also made her look a bit silly but she was beyond registering such things.  She'd also taken her sister's camera though that was done with permission.  Messing with Hilda's camera was a good way to get into a fight.  But here she was, looking up at the building with determined disdain.  It was a mess.  She took a picture and then started walking.  Every ten or so yards, she took another picture, took ten paces back, took a picture, and did it again before moving forward and on.  After she'd done one side, she moved on, not deviating her pattern even if all the camera was showing was in tact wall.  It had to be perfect and that meant she had to be meticulous. 

Along the path she would make comments to herself, usually after the third picture and occasionally, when a picture looked especially brutal or dangerous, she'd pull out her war book and make a note of what picture number it was.  Somebody had to be responsible and if the teacher's wouldn't share their safety records, she'd make her own.  Of course,that didn't mean she would actually go in the ruined building.  That would be incredibly dangerous, also she would need a video camera to document it which she didn't have the money for or the memory on the camera for.  Later she'd have to stop by the AV club and either join them or become an honorary member to access their equipment. 

She stopped again after seeing some very nice glasswork that was now ruined, though not entirely destroyed.  Gilda pulled out her notebook and made another note of the picture.  'ksrsthrhcs ndb md f slg nrlrv rlmlg.' she added next to the number.  Gilda looked back up at the stained glass and shook her head sadly.  It was all such a waste, and it stood as a stark reminder as to how far the school had fallen.

"Such a shame, isn't it?" The voice came from behind and belonged to the Canadian Etoile. Newly elected Etoile, at that. Coyote had her arms folded across her chest and a friendly grin on her face. In spite of the state of the old building, she was in good spirits. After all, the memory of the event that had caused it, had long passed. And in spite of recent events, Coyote was rather confident in it's reconstruction. Soon, the old school would be back to it's former glory. Maybe even with a few improvements, too!

Although Spica and Miator were rival schools, Coyote had never felt all that strongly about it. Especially when she could count a couple of the older school's students as her friend. Not to mention the fact that her Etoile partner (and girlfriend) had an older sister who had attended. Well, there just was little reason to follow some of her classmates in the rivalry. Some of then just got so caught up in it, it was a little ridiculous.

She had arrived at the ruins, looking to do a little poking around. She had already taken a little tour of the catacombs, but she wanted a better look at the ruins. She may not have been much of an architect, but Coyote was thinking that if she could take a look around and find a few things that could be preserved, it might just go a little ways to smooth over some of those relations.

"It would be nice to get this cleaned up, but I hear it's going to take a lot of time." she said. She stretched her arms out, looking over the rubble and debris.

The sudden and unexpected voice made Gilda jump, she spun around quickly, all composure lost. She tried to push the panic back down but it just started flooding back when she realized an Etoile was talking to her. "Oh, I'm sorry, I mean, I didn't mean. I wasn't..." She glanced around and then focused at the ground. Gilda took a deep breath and steadied her nerves.

"Apologies, Miss Foster." she said and gave a little bow. "I was not expecting anyone to show up here and you startled me." She took a moment to look over the older girl. She seemed friendly enough which made sense. The Etoiles were basically like a popularity contest though a popularity contest that gave two girls enormous power, and one was always so subservient according to all the journals she'd found records of. That meant one girl had supreme power and she was standing right in front of her.

"A long time, yes. Hopefully not as long as the forest." Gilda said. "This place is dangerous, somebody is going to get hurt or even killed if it's not dealt with." She pulled out her notebook and flipped to a new page. "My name is Gilda Hohenzollern, I'm a first year. I am glad to meet you." Gilda smiled at the older girl, smiling was always safe to do.

Smiling was something that always came easy to the Canadian. So, returning the gesture took no effort on her part. Although, the reaction could certainly be described as cute, she had not intended to startle the first year. Perhaps she should have been a little more careful about that. But, whatever the case, she gave a bow in return.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Hohenzollern." she said. While this would normally be the time when she introduced herself, it seemed that it was unnecessary. She was Etoile now...and that meant that a lot of people already knew her by name. That was going to take some getting used to. "And no need to apologize. I did kind of sneak up on you."

She chuckled a little, before looking back over the crumbling ruins. Gilda was correct, the place was dangerous. Curiosity was getting the better of her, however. She did want to know what the girl was up to. A quick glance to Gilda took in the details. Thick clothes, hardhat, a camera and a notebook. Not too big of a challenge to see that she was surveying the damage. The bigger question was why?

The Le Rim president was an eccentric one, but she didn't think Shun Sando would put the girl up to this. And come to think of it, Coyote was pretty sure she wasn't on the Le Rim Student Council to begin with. Although, she couldn't say for certain.

"Very true." she nodded in her agreement, "So, you're looking to get an idea about the extent of the damage?"

Well the Etoile was very friendly, certainly she seemed at ease. Gilda brushed a bit of hair out of her eyes. "It's not a problem, I was becoming too focused on my work anyway." She turned back to the building and frowned. "Something like that. The outer damages at least. You'd have to be an idiot to want to actually go inside that death trap. I've heard that some girls do which is just mind boggling. It's certainly going to hasten tragedy."

Gilda turned back to the Etoile. "I just want to see the extent of damage to my school. With this building and the burned down forest, it's not really positive. Especially since nothing is being done about either of them. We're lucky Le Rim hasn't been hit by anything or else the whole hill might just collapse into anarchic chaos. Or just a dump." Gilda sighed and shook her head. "All anyone wants to do is talk about it or use it as ammo for personal grudges and here I am just talking about it again."

Gilda turned her attention back to the building. "What are you doing here? If you don't mind me asking." She looked at the ground to check her bearings, took a picture and then started her pattern again while she spoke. "I didn't expect to see the head of Spica here. Aren't you all about the forest?"

As pragmatic as she might sound, there was a hint of idealism to what Gilda had to say. She would have to keep some of her own excursions within the ruins to herself, however. No need to bring up some of her own rash decision making. Although she did find it a bit amusing in hindsight. And she certainly couldn't argue with how either of the tragedies were being used. The fact that her own school was in the middle of it, didn't make things any easier.

Which could make things pretty awkward. She looked back at Gilda with a friendly grin, "Oh, I don't mind!" she said, "But, if you're looking for the head of Spica, you'd need to talk to Miss Donomoto, our esteemed President. I'm just your friendly neighborhood Etoile.

"Heh, anyways...I want to see the forest get patched up as much as the next gal. But, you're right. We can't leave Miator in a state like this. It's the oldest school on campus and no matter what it takes, we need this place rebuilt."

Coyote looked around at their damaged surroundings. It did seem like a daunting task, even without the infighting. And there was still so much work to do.

"Guess I'm just taking another look, for myself." she gave slight shrug of her shoulders, "I mean, I've seen it before. Tried to help the best I could when the earthquake hit. Maybe there's a few things I can find around here that can be salvaged. I figure if I chip in, even in a small way, we can move just a little bit further ahead and put some of the nonsense behind us."

Gilda shrugged. "You are the head whether you realize it or not. Presidents are not so highly contested as Etoile, and they are decided on by the members of the school separately. You are an Etoile, and the upperclassman one at that. The majority of this school united behind you to put you where you are. The presidents are small, like towns in a kingdom. You are like," she waved her hand trying to will the word from the air, "the bürgermeister of the country."

Gilda sighed and stilled herself. She felt that she was getting too worked up in front of the other girl. "Each school can boast their own as support but if each school locks in to itself. Astrea will fall apart. It's too much to expect for students to care about other school presidents, but you they care about. Etoile seems like it should be unifying. But it's not, no offense. The presidents are so self absorbed and you're just from one school. Your partner is just from one school, at best, the Etoiles can only represent two thirds of the hill. There's no unity. So the council fights and bickers and allows petty grudges to get in the way of a forest that should have been well on the way to recovery after one year. They leave a dangerous ruin up for who knows how long."

Gilda's face was starting to turn red and her grip on the camera was tightening. "If Miator and Spica won't do anything about it, than it falls to Le rim to save us all from destruction."

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Coyote conceded, "But, the position is really supposed to represent all schools. At least, that's how I've come to understand it. So, I try to think with the least amount of bias that I can."

And again, this First Year made some very good points. And she was quite passionate about them, too. Not that Coyote could really blame her. From all that she had heard, the newly elected Student Council Presidents seemed to be sparking up the old rivalry in a very big way. Coyote couldn't remember the last time things got this heated. Even when Akemi Araceli was Etoile, things hadn't looked this intense.

"You might be right with that." Coyote said, "But, I'm hoping I can turn this around. Get some things done, you know! So maybe we can work together on that! What do you say?"

Coyote grinned and reached a hand out, offering it along with her support in the younger girl's endeavors. After all, restoring Astraea Hill seemed like such a noble aspiration.

Gilda finally caught what she was saying and cut herself off. Her face, already red with passion suddenly went redder out of embarrassment She bit her lip and looked away. "Well that's what I think anyway." She focused on the building and pretended to take more pictures while she calmed herself and tried to get a hold on her emotions. And outburst like that was just trouble waiting to happen.

At least that's what she thought, Coyote didn't seem bothered by it, or to take it in any kind of negative way. In fact it was the exact opposite reaction she'd expected. The Etoile was asking for help. This could be the turning point, and aide to the Etoile would look fantastic as reference for any further things she attempted in the hill, though it wouldn't count for much outside. Still, it was a stepping stone.

Gilda took the Etoile's hand and smiled. "I'd love to work with you but I don't know what I can help you with.Did you already have plans to bypass the presidents because I doubt you can get them to work together. It's all personal attacks and grudges from what the records say."

The girl's face seemed heat up with embarrassment rather quickly. It was kind of cute. The Canadian Etoile had not been phased by the little tirade. She had heard quite a few rants in her time on the Hill. The last Etoile, alone, was known for making some rather...eccentric statements in a very enthusiastic voice. But, there was something about how this girl spoke that reminded Coyote of someone else, whom she knew very well and learned quite a bit from.

Making the effort to reach out and approach Gilda for help seemed like the right thing to do. The First Year wanted to help the whole campus and Coyote found that reason enough to encourage her. And she was supposed to be a leader, after all. Not just of St. Spica, but of all three schools. She was glad when the younger student accepted her handshake and the offer and beamed a bright smile way, as they shook on it.

"Well, that does seem like the tricky part." she said, "I still have to give them the chance to put their grudges behind them. That's not to say I'm going to sit around and wait for them to work things out. I'm going to need to get Miator and Spica to realize that we can get more done working together than against each other. As for what you can do. I'm not sure, just yet. But, you've got a lot of initiative. Coming here on your own, to evaluate the situation. It's a good way to lay the ground work. I'll keep in touch with you. There's a lot we'll need to do and we'll need help from everyone we can."

Gilda nodded as Coyote spoke. "Sitting around and waiting is the worst, you've got to at least be preparing. If you wait too long you'll get things like the lung disease forest. Trouble is, work gets noticed and you've sometimes gotta wait. I hate that part." She shook her head slowly. "The sooner winter gets here the better."

Gilda smiled again. "Thank you for the compliments. I hope it's apparent how much I can help the schools. I look forward to hearing from you. Did you want my email? That's the best way to reach me." She reached into her bag and pulled out a small plastic sandwich baggy with a small stack of maybe fifteen business cards. She popped it open and handed one to Coyote. "That's my general email. If you send it there I'll reply by the end of the day. If you really need me, umm," she grabbed the card back suddenly and pulled out her pen. "it's germankitten at the same domain." She said as she wrote it down. "I check that...between classes." She said with almost no pause between what she was going to say and what she said.

The card itself was cheap, printed on blank notecard stock that had been cut to the right size. Other than the obvious homemade physical aspect of the card, it was rather sparse and professional with her name, dorm, school, and email. She'd scrawled the second email on the back of the card. "I guess you could send it to the school's email for me but I just have it forwarded to the one on the card."

"No problem." she replied, a smile on her face. Coyote found herself a little more hopeful about the outcome of the schools' rebuilding efforts. Things had been rather stagnant, as Gilda had described, but it seemed like things could turn around if they could find enough like minded people. Soon, maybe they would have things back to normal!

She accepted the business card and looked it over. It was obviously homemade, but that didn't mean there was no work put into the production. This girl was very serious. She looked over both email addresses, the second being a rather adorable one, and slipped the card into her pocket.

"Thank you. I'll be in touch with you." she said, "As much a pain as waiting around can be, it's something we'll have to do. At least until we can get enough people on the same page. It was nice to meet you, Gilda!"

She stuck her hand out, offering it to the younger student in a friendly shake.

Gilda smiled and shook the Etoile's hand. "Well keep an eye out. You'll be seeing me everywhere soon. I've got a million ideas and plans so I can do things that don't involve waiting." She grinned. "And it was a pleasure meeting you. I look forward to your email." She turned back to the ruined building of Miator and checked the camera.

The etoile was not like she had expected, she had certainly made a few hasty assumptions about the character of Foster though mostly it was because the presidents were already bad. Still, it seemed like the position of Etoile, while still the second choice after president, didn't come with as much power as Gilda had thought it would. Of course maybe it did, the year was still early, people were still figuring out their place. Maybe with some luck, Miss Foster would be able to limit some of the damage the presidents would do in the meantime. Gilda took another picture of the building. She'd have to wait and see. Annoying.