2017-10-15: Gears & Golems
- Log: Gears & Golems
- Cast: Dean Stark, Shalune Amira, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Wayside Village
- Date: October 15th 2017
- Summary: Shalune lends her expertise with fixing one of the Gears the trio found. Golems and their nature are discussed. Avril almost remembers something important.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Okay! Here it is, Lunie!" Dean says with good cheer, flapping away the massive canvas covering something parked up against the mountain wall. From a distance, it just looks like a mountain of sand, the canvas being the same color, but once you get closer you realize, that's no sand dune... That's--wait, what is that, anyway? You need to actually remove the canvas cover to realize that it's a pair of Gears--Gear-sized Gears--hunkered down as low as possible so the canvas can cover them all without too much problem, with a human-sized Golem resting in the cover they provide.
Little Twister being a... less than reputable place, it's necessary to keep these things out here in the desert where no one goes to make sure no one runs off with them while they're still waiting on repairs. Avril's is a lot further along than Dean's; Rebecca had pointed out that focusing on fixing one at a time means they'll have to wait less time to get them up and running, and Dean had been more than happy to defer to Avril. Thus, while there's also a panoply of parts, tools, oil, and so on, there's only enough to fix one Gear up right now.
And a Golem. Because you know Dean.
"So, I know it's not the greatest conditions, and I'm sorry about that, but how much d'you think you can do?" Dean asks, stepping to one side so Shalune can get a better look. "That one's Avril's, by the way!" he adds, pointing, and also nodding to Avril to prompt her to add... whatever she wants, really.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Oooh," chimes Shalune; she's come buzzing out on the Little Dipper, of course, which appears to have now been fully upgraded for desert life. The twin pads on the bottom, apparently the source of the odd scooter's propulsion, have been fully shielded from sand and wear, and now thrum with a constant white glow, the light strengthening whenever Shalune guns the vehicle forwards. She's also learnt about reinforcing the front; a windshield of clear material doubles as a sand-shield, while the base on which she stands now has slight walls of the same white metal for stability's sake, turning it into something of a well.
She's got her enormous pack on her back, apparently unburdened by its weight or at least easily able to shoulder it; she leans over the handlebars as she skids to a halt, not throwing up sand - she's three feet off the ground, after all - but at least sliding to one side a little before she can probably power the Little Dipper down to whatever counts as a standstill. Apparently, the shifting of sand has at least created the illusion of inertia.
"Hmm... I mean, they look in mostly okay condition, I guess - they're not missing any parts or anything that I can see, they're kinda just--" she pauses, and thinks back to where they're likely to have come from, and the other Gears she's seen recently, and then she's suddenly jogging forwards, grounding her pack before swinging up to a series of handholes on the Gear's side for maintenance access.
"I mean, most of the ones I've seen recently just needed a good bit of standard cleanin' and maintenance. Not exactly fancy work, you just gotta know how to do it," she calls down as she clambers higher, apparently without much of a care. "I mean, covering it was a good first step, y'know? One person stuck theirs under a buncha ivy and sand. It looked real bad by the time I got to it," she natters amicably all the way.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
There's no mistaking this, this was an Aveh Gear. Even the work that's been done on it -- just this and that, evening out dents, replacing a few of the simpler parts and wiring -- doesn't really distinguish from the fact that it was an Aveh Gear. Which could get a little bit awkward if someone in the military notices it, but...
...Such considerations, with the possibility that the fate of Filgaia rests uneasily in their hands, fall by the wayside, as it were. They need what they can get, in order to scour the land for the statues... and fight back against an enemy that, Avril knows, possesses great power.
"I have done some repairs already myself," Avril explains, gesturing towards the Gear that's currently underway. "However, I am limited by what I have available..." Her blue eyes skim off to one side. "...My memories included. I only recall some of what is necessary. It appears that these Gears may have been under repair even before they ended up in our possession," she explains to Shalune.
that's just a nice way of saying you stole them from a battlefield, avril
"Any advice or expertise," she adds, glancing between Shalune and Dean, "Would be most appreciated. Perhaps I might even recall something from watching you. ...It appears that I once was familiar with Gears..."
Which is a nice way of saying, she has already mastered the basics of operation. ...And knew how to hotwire a not-very-functional Gear.
......And indentify some of what was broken.
.........And replace the few busted bits she identified.
"Sand and ivy... those would introduce the elements too close to the electrical systems, would it not," Avril comments, a hand lifted to her lips, almost as if slightly aghast to hear it.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Yeah, and if it turns out there *is* stuff that needs replacing under all the armor, we've got all the extra parts we need to replace anything that's old or rusty," Dean says, gesturing down towards the materials below. Technically they have weapons and armor, but that's a little further back against the wall; once the Gears themselves have been cleaned up and maintained and are able to function smoothly--they only barely made it out of the warzone a couple months back, after all--they should be able to equip those on their own. At least, that's what Rebecca's research has told them, so they just need to grease the wheels.
"But yeah, we'll leave it to you, Lunie!" Dean continues. He beams at her praise about the covering being a good first step. "Yeah! That was my idea--well, Rebecca's the one who said we oughtta use something that blends in with the background so people can't find it, but I was the one who said we oughtta cover 'em up!" After all, it would be sad and lonely if they just had sand blown in their faces all day and had to shiver all night in the desert.
Avril pipes in that she's done some repairs already. Dean nods to her. He'd been pretty impressed that she *could* do repairs; he's got some familiarity with Golems, but honestly none at all with Gears. Dean's help has mostly been towards earning money to buy what they need to get the Gears fixed up. He also hasn't really given much thought to the fact that the Aveh military might take exception to finding Aveh gears out in the desert... Either way, he smiles wide as Avril explains matters to Shalune. "Yeah! I'll cheer you two on from here!" While the two of them do repairs and maintenance and such together, one supposes. "And there's the Golem down here too, but--we can wait our turn!" Barely. Barely. Dean might've had an argument with Rebecca about it.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune continues to sort of clamber over both Gears, having hooked her arm around one of the rungs to fish a tiny notebook out of one pocket; she has a tiny little stub of a pencil tied to it with some string, making scattered notes here and there on what she finds before a slightly heartwrenching moment as she lunges from one Gear to another, easily catching herself on the next set of rungs.
Shalune, maybe there's a limit to how much you should Prince of Persia around...
"These repairs already look really good... I mean, you did everything you could, by the look of it, given you didn't really have the tools. I can probably fix everything up, make sure everything's connected - maybe you've got a short or something, or the power source isn't going at 100. Startup's the hardest part, y'know, so if you've got any power problems, that's kinda when they show up."
Abruptly, she lets herself shimmy down the rungs, taking the last ten or so in a single hop to the ground - before lifting up to beam from under her bobble hat and pink hair. "But, yeah, overall, amazing job! Ehehe, I wouldn't have thought you'd be the sort, y'know?" she comments, because in the end Avril is very much Shalune's image of a Polite Society Lady rather than someone who'd run around with a spanner in their hands. "Anyway, everything looks mostly good - so long as I can figure out where you're losing power, auto-repair should prob'ly do the rest of the work. That's the dirty secret to fixing Gears, y'know?"
Shalune visibly wavers towards the Golem when Dean mentions it, her face suddenly falling away to a deeply curious light - but she shakes it away, literally, and lightly slaps her cheeks to knock herself out of it. There are bigger jobs to be done first, Shalune!!
"Okay! Um-- lemme just get this, and this--" she starts to chant as she leans down to open her pack, slipping a hefty bag of what looks like scrap metal into one pocket of her large coat, then a roll of tools into another, and a-- thermos flask?-- into another...
... perhaps this is why she always wears that thing.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The equipment issue is at least the easier problem to resolve. Though it's a little funny, in retrospect -- it's been easier to buy equipment for a Gear than the specific parts... though that may just be because the specific parts they've needed have been Aveh military hardware-grade. And of particular makes.
Especially since -- sense of this aside -- Avril's been flying blind during this whole repair process. Something isn't working, but she's not sure where or how.
"A short... yes, I think so as well," Avril explains, gesturing vaguely with her hands as she watches Shalune climb across the Gears. "I did have to, ah... reroute a path or two in order to allow us to escape the battlefield. I had thought that at first perhaps this had damaged the Gear and rendered it inoperable, but even after I replaced that section I was unable to initiate any aspect of the startup system."
...She's an amnesiac, right?
"I was able to recall a few things, it seems. I wonder what sort of woman I was..." Avril muses as Shalune completes her descent.
"The issue must be elsewhere in the the system but I have not been able to identify its location."
Her gaze tilts over towards Dean. For a moment, a smile plays on her lips. "Yes. It was a good idea from the both of you. We were able to protect the Gears until someone was able to inspect them further. ...And the Golem, too, as well."
Softly, she giggles, perhaps witnessing the way that its gravity almost makes Shalune want to orbit it. "It's alright. I think the Gear will not take long to remedy. And then... let us inspect the Golem."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean, who is more than a little reckless and prone to jumping and sliding and doing stunts, isn't bothered by Shalune doing the same thing; for one, she has Little Dipper to catch her if she falls, and for another, it just doesn't occur to him that she might be doing anything all *that* dangerous. The sand is loose and soft... at least around *this* part of the desert, anyway.
He grins at Shalune's commentary and compliment, even though it wasn't directed at him. "Yeah, Avril's really amazing, huh?" he says, genuinely proud of his friend. He also totally understands when she wobbles towards the human-sized Golem--he himself walks over to hunker down next to it--but there is indeed a job to do first. He listens to Shalune and Avril talk shop intermittently; it's admittedly hard for him to concentrate when he has his FUTURE GOLEM BUDDY sitting next to him. In point of fact, when Avril smiles over at him, Dean is busy looking at it with rapturous, shiny eyes. His attention snaps back to her when she says the G-word. "Oh! Yeah, definitely! It'll be so *awesome* once we get this Golem back on its feet, right, Lunie?!" Pause. Avril's compliment sinks in belatedly. "Oh yeah!" He grins and rubs a finger under his nose. "Hehe, thanks, Avril!"
...He's such a nerd.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune is only low-key aware of Avril's amnesia, and probably isn't paying attention enough to actually connect the dots as far as any possibilities around her identity are concerned - especially not when Avril explains the way in which she managed to hotwire the Gears to get them going. "Ooh," she mumbles thoughtfully when she straightens up, positively weighed down by the collection of things now in her jacket pockets.
"That would probably do it. I mean, chances are kinda good that you burnt a component or two out along the way - probably it only really started to show when you tried to start it up again," she clarifies, but breaks into a beaming smile. "Aw, well, look at it this way - if you weren't that sorta person, you'd probably have been in a whole lot more trouble, y'know?" she adds, completely unconcerned about what it might mean - after all, she's spent most of her time recently clambering over Gears, and totally looks none the worse for wear.
"Mm... but I think it was best to hide them away. There's a lot of people with Gears recently," she muses, her face falling slightly as she bites at her lip. "I mean, I get why you guys need them, just-- be careful, yeah? The last thing we need is for the desert to have fifteen different groups of people fightin' across it all the time."
Word of caution over, Shalune brightens instantly, perking up. "Anyway, so, I've got some funky tools that can kinda diagnose the whole startup process - sorta - it's mostly just checking what bits of the Gear have got power an' which don't. At least you don't have a bunch of plants cloggin' up all the connectors. You know ivy gets real sticky and gummy when it's hot? It was really awful," she says with feeling, looking solemnly between the pair.
She claps her hands, though, and hops up onto the Little Dipper. "An' after that, well, I've got a buncha ideas for what might be up with the Golem." Some of them might even be rooted in reality!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
And as for Avril, well... she's hung around Dean and Rebecca for months and months. One of them is impulsive and a little reckless at times, and the other knows how to do stunt shooting and practices it regularly. You sort of get a little bit... innured to such things after a while.
Avril would be honestly surprised to learn that MOST people do not.
Burned out a component, huh...
Avril's brow creases.
"Hmm. I believe you may be right," Avril comments at length. "Regretfully, we were ah... in haste at the time. An expeditious escape was required. I only did what I was able." Still, she glances over at Dean and smiles, a little more warmly. "...Thank you, Dean. I am glad I was able to assist."
Otherwise, they would have had to have fled on foot... which may have proven tricky, considering.
Things had worked out well, though.
Perhaps almost fortuitously well.
"We also, well... we had a difficult landing," she adds, clasping her hands before herself. As in, it was damn near a crashlanding as the jury-rigging she'd attempted had finally given way. "So it's understandable that there were larger damages than there might have otherwise been. Please let me know once you've identified the short, Shalune. We have some replacements, and I have attained a familiarity with this Gear."
As if she's gotten to know it well for a very very long time, somehow.
Which is soon joined by widened eyes from Avril and a hand raised to her lips, as if she were shocked to even hear this tale. "Sticky and... that must have been difficult," she finally states. Or understates, as it were.
After which the conversation gently drifts towards the matter of the Golem.
"I wonder how it might work. Most Golems I have seen have been quite large." Which includes at this point: Big Shal, the little Golem Dean's earned ownership of, and... Sado.
"Perhaps many types of Golems were once in operation," she speculates after a moment or two of thought. "It would make sense. They would be able to specialize them for various tasks." Transit, excavations...
...Battle...
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean's smile, borne from Shalune and Avril talking shop, fades into something more serious when Shalune segues into her warning. "Yeah, I get what you mean," he says, nodding. "I'd rather not get into more fights than I have to. Hopefully we won't have to use them as anything more than big transporters." Like what Ida does, as far as he knows. His gaze goes distant as he thinks on his friend; how's she doing now, he wonders? She seemed okay when he saw her off at November City, but it's already been a couple of weeks, and he doesn't have any illusions that whatever was wrong in the first place is magically fine now... He ought to look in on her when he gets the chance, make sure she's still hanging in there.
For right now, though, there's nothing he can do about it, so he focuses back on the present moment. He smiles back at Avril, friendly and fond. "You're welcome, Avril! But really, I should be thanking *you*. We wouldn't have gotten out of there if it hadn't been for you!" He pauses, a thoughtful look stealing over his face, and then grins again and adds, "Then again, that's what friends are for, right? We always help each other!" Granted that Dean would help total strangers, but friends are special. For Avril, he'd do anything.
"Huh! You've got a lot of cool stuff, Shalune," he comments on what she says about her start-up gadgetry. He makes a face about the plants. "Wow, really? I didn't know that. That must've been terrible to get out."
He brightens at the returned talk of Golems. "Yeah! I can't wait!" Well, he *can* wait, but not very patiently. To Avril, he nods. "Yeah, I think so too," he says. "There's Golems buried all over the world, and they come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes! It'd only make sense that there were a lot of them in use and they were doing all sorts of different things." His eyes sparkle as he imagines an era where Golems walk around freely and commonly. "Man, I wish I could've been alive back then...!"
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune has already set off back towards the parked Gears, starting to hop several runs up the side of one of them; her pot dangles at her belt, innocently shining with a quiet sort of light, and however improbably the Little Dipper starts to follow her up into the air, hovering protectively just below her in case she slips. "Aww, it's all okay. I mean, I understand - it's not like I'm gonna judge you for how you drive, y'know, even if there wasn't an attack goin' on at the time. There's a reason I don't get in a Gear, an' why I'm happy to stick with Big Shal, and it's not just solidarity. Honestly, I'm pretty terrible when it comes to actually pilotin'."
She pauses, and scratches at her pink hair or a moment, grinning sheepishly. "I guess I kinda leave that part up to Big Shal, or Lunie when I'm hanging around the Rephy. Besides, better safe than sorry. I mean, sure, I love machines, but a Gear's still just a collection of parts. A buncha servos are a lot easier to put back together than a leg or two." Practical to a fault, but that just seems to be how she is; either way, she's tugged out a little handheld box with a few different multicoloured wires coming off of it, attaching it to an intake port as she hooks an arm around the nearest rung to hold herself in place.
"Aw, this isn't anything special - I just came up with this after the whole thing with the ivy gear, since it got real hard to tell what was actually happenin' and whether I got it all out. It wasn't-- hard, or bad, just-- ick," she adds descriptively, grinning faintly as she makes another brief snatch of scribbled notes, then swings around to the next port.
"Well-- I mean, Big Shal's nothin' like Sado or Diablo, y'know? Big Shal I can understand - she's all metal, and I built her, and I could probably build her again outside of the central core. Whether I'd have the metal to do so's kind of a tricker question, but I could still do it, especially with everythin' I know now. But Diablo and the bigger Golems? They're kind of-- um--..."
She flounders for a moment, not sure how to describe it beyond: "... weird," she mumbles, some of her enthusiasm bled away. "It's still metal in there, but it's really weird and kinda muscly in places and other bits of it straight up don't make sense. I mean, it makes you kinda worry, y'know? If I'm fixing something I wanna know how it works, so I'm sure I fixed it properly."
She trails off - then shakes it away, and rather forcibly grabs at a topic change. "Oh, oh, so hey, what are you guys doin' next? You're still looking out for Johnny Appleseed, right? You reckon they're over this side of the continent, or something?"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril's gaze tracks after Shalune as she dashes about, the young woman herself having remained more or less rooted to the spot where she stands. And she blinks. "How I drive...?" Avril echoes, her expression no less than surprised. Then, as if somewhat abashed -- and realizing what the pink-haired girl means -- she lifts her hands to her lips and averts her gaze. "...Oh. Yes, I suppose that was somewhat reckless, wasn't it... We're fortunate that the Gears did not suffer heavy damage."
Or themselves, for that matter. As Shalune points out, machine parts are easier to replace than flesh and sinew. "..." Her gaze slides briefly Dean's way then averts.
"Yes, I agree. However, we should be prepared, in the event we must use them. Some practice with the controls may be wise, Dean, once it's repaired. I feel as if I should, as well." She understands the basics well enough, but putting concepts into practice, now that is the real test.
Hmm... has she heard that before somewhere?
Consider them two of a kind -- as Dean's thought's turn to Ida, so do Avril's. How has Ida been doing? She had seemed decidedly unwell. A ghost of a frown crosses her expression, her gaze thrown briefly hooded. Something's wrong.
"It was together," Avril agrees, a slight smile on her lips. "We were able to escape because we were all working as one, towards a singular goal. So thank you too, Dean."
The conversation tilts slightly towards Golems proper. Avril giggles, as Dean wishes the impossible wish. "Hee hee. I suppose it is too bad, isn't it?"
But perhaps not just people are flesh and blood, as Shalune details.
Though she stares when the younger girl says that, Avril's expression gains a peculiar quality, almost as if someone has just trod across her grave. Something--?
Though she chases after it, as if it were a fleeing butterfly, it's lost again. "..." She shakes her head, as if to rouse herself from mere reverie. "...I see..."
Are they still looking for Johnny Appleseed?
"Yes," is Avril's answer. "However, we have not found any other clues. I had thought that perhaps the name had been meant to lead me to 'Lolithia' and the Golem that bears that name, but it appears that the Metal Demons have her in their possession." She pauses, frowning slightly. "...And I also feel that this is not the correct answer. There is a person with that name, but I do not know where I should look. Perhaps one of the ruins, out here may have a clue..."
Or maybe not.
"There are also the statues to consider." She glances down at her hands, as if guiltily, and entwines her gloved fingers with one another. "...And Dean and Rebecca also have things they wished to pursue. Perhaps, right now... since we do not know where to look..." She glances up.
"Perhaps that's what we ought to do. You both have done so much on my behalf. The least I can offer is to help you two as well. And you, Shalune. If there's anything that I can do..."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Huh, really?" Dean says of Shalune when she admits to being a terrible pilot. "But you're such a good engineer! I guess we've all got our strengths and weaknesses..." Something for him to chew on, which he does for a moment, particularly after Shalune makes her point about machines vs. human bodies. Graphic, but she makes her point well, even if Dean doesn't notice the look Avril slides his way. He nods slowly. "Yeah, that's true." Gears can be fixed. Healing magic only takes you so far, though! It really is a good thing they all managed to leave that desert unharmed. He nods to Avril when she suggests he--both of them, really--practice with the controls. "Yeah, good idea. Now that we're talking about it, I just realized I don't really know how to pilot a Gear, either." Oops...?
At least he remains of good cheer, grinning back when she thanks him. He nods and rubs a finger under his nose. "No problem!" After all, there's nothing they can't do when they work together! Then the conversation turns to Golems, and he laughs when Avril does. "Yeah, it really is!" But Shalune remarks on the bigger Golems, and... "Weird?" Dean echoes, staring at Shalune in a lack of comprehension. He thinks he gets it when she continues, though. "Oh! Yeah, I get what you're saying. Yeah, you always wanna do the best job you can do, and the more you know what you're doing, the better the job you can do!" He sure would love to get look at Sado or Diablo sometime, though. They're so big and shiny and amazing...! (It's quite possible that Dean has completely misunderstood Shalune's point.)
"Yeah, we still are!" he says, of Johnny Appleseed. He nods to Avril when she speaks, then adds, "We couldn't find any real clues about him back east, and I dunno if he's here in the west, but I'm sure we'll find something if we just keep looking!" He pauses at Avril, then gives her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it, Avril! We're all friends, and we're all here to help each other! Besides, you've got to have it the roughest!" What with the amnesia and all. "If I ever need help, though, I'll definitely let you know!" Avril makes an offer to Shalune, and he nods. "Same goes to you, Shalune! Er, if you need help, that is."
For now, though, probably the best any of them can offer one another is to get these repairs done. The Golem will be straightforward to repair, too--there's some rusty bits inside that need cleaning and oiling, but the rust outside Dean's cleaned up nicely, and the insides seem to be in good condition besides that rust. It just needs a power source. Maybe they'll have to take it to Big Shal after all...
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Ehehe. I tried, but I never really got the hang of it, y'know? I mean, I can look at a Gear and tell you how it controls, sure, but actually tryin' it-- well, I nearly put a hole in the Yggdrasil just gettin' a little loader Gear out of its bay, y'know?" explains Shalune, even if she's a bit light on details such as what exactly 'the Yggdrasil' is. "Those things are built pretty blocky-- but I kept overcompensating on the arms and swinging 'em too far. It was some kinda wacky dance," she adds, almost comically serious for a moment as she says it.
Shalune takes another moment to haul herself up a few more rungs - and that lets her realize that the pair below have kind of gone silent after her brief mention of what Diablo's insides look like. Immediately, she falls back to her sheepish habits, rubbing at her hair. "N-no, um-- don't worry about it. It's just old technology I haven't figured out yet, y'know? Enough experiments and I'll get there for sure!" she adds in an attempt to cheer herself up and break the quiet, pumping a fist even if it offsets her balance and sends her scrabbling for purchase for a moment.
The mechanic dangles for a moment, then the Little Dipper nudges up to give her a foothold as she hops down onto it, pulling out the pot and hunkering down as she fishes through pockets. "Aww-- I don't really need anything, I guess? I'm happy just rolling around with the CaraKin, so throwing me some business is pretty much all I need. But you guys should stop by and get some lunch from Lunie, sometime! She's feelin' a bit homesick, so some chat to take her mind off things would prob'ly help, y'know? We'll let you know if there's a dig that seems cool, too. Now that we're rolling again we're gonna look into that."
She's been stuffing things into her pot the whole time - bits of old scrap metal, a curved spring, a rounded plate almost the width of the pot - and the receptacle suddenly flashes with white, before Shalune extracts a rather complex-looking joint she's apparently made out of the blue.
... it would be more impressive if she didn't immediately huck that into a pocket, as well. Practical to a fault... "Oookay, I think I got it! Time to get to work proper," she adds brightly.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Dean admits that he doesn't know how to pilot one, really. "Oh." Avril appears to have just realized the full depth -- or lack thereof -- of his experience. "Then, shall we practice together? The desert is large enough that it should be possible to do so without being seen..."
And she needs to get a full sense of the balance involved with the Gear she's decided to name 'Skadi', besides. Even if using it sort of feels putting on a broken-in shoe, of a sort.
Avril's silence regarding the guts of the Golems maintains for a moment or two. Though her gaze turns questioning, and though there's the sense that she really would normally be following this up with a pursuing question of some sort -- the intent seems to string her figure for a moment -- she relents, settling back.
Sometimes, even a bluntly-spoken maiden can show some tact.
That, and despite the nagging sense that she knows something about this, she's... not sure what she should be asking.
She's grateful, even in spite of her words, shown in the relief that slowly spreads across her features. "Of course. I really do appreciate it, but please, if there is anything you are seeking to do, Dean... You or Rebecca. I understand that many people travel to both November City and Bledavik. Perhaps if we pursue any of our goals, at either of those places..."
The conversation, perhaps luckily for Shalune at least, drifts on. "Is she..." Avril murmurs, at word that Lunata is feeling homesick. She glances towards -- and likely shares a look with -- Dean, then nods. "Then, we should pay her a visit. I can only imagine what that must be like for her..."
In a few ways, having severe amnesia is a blessing.
Of a sort.
An interested gaze tracks the object Shalune appears to create -- nearly out of thin air -- and the maiden in green tracks a few steps forward, as if to inspect it more closely--
Until it's pocketed at least.
"Ah, is that it? Please let me know if you will require an additional hand..."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean doesn't know what the Yggdrasil is either, but it's a cool name so he accepts it at face value with a couple of nods. He grins at the end of Shalune's description. "Wow, that sounds like it might've been fun, actually!" Wacky dances are *intrinsically* fun. Everyone knows this. She also reassures him of learning new tech, and this too Dean takes at face value with an, "Oh, okay! Yeah, I'm sure you'll get it sooner or later, Shalune!"
Avril suggests they practice together. Dean brightens, not as bright as he would if she suggested they practice together with Golems, but still pretty bright. "Yeah, that sounds good! It'll be easy if we're doing it together!" And, as she says, the desert is plenty big. They don't need to worry about being discreet. He turns thoughtful. "Hmmm... We've been to November City a bunch, but we haven't been to Bledavik yet, have we? Maybe we can swing by and see if anyone knows anything about Johnny Appleseed there!"
Lunata's feeling homesick? Dean's expression turns sympathetic. "We'll definitely pay her a visit sometime soon," he promises Shalune. "Tell her we said hi in the meantime! And yeah, if you need to go dungeon-exploring, let us know and we'll come help if we can!"
For now, though, he steps back to admire Shalune's handiwork and let her and Avril get down to business. And, just as it always does, time goes on...