2024-05-02: Sidera Lodoicea
- Log: Sidera Lodoicea
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Dean Stark, Seraph Boudicca, Kaguya, Rebecca Streisand, Venetia Vuong, Shige Kiwako, Hannah Curie, Gwen Whitlock, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: Slayheim Saltlands
- Date: May 02, 2024
- Summary: The Vanguard has found, in the saltlands of Slayheim, what appears to be a Golem. Unfortunately, digging the Golem free on their own proves to be a daunting, time-consuming task. Fortunately, they have friends and allies.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The sun beats down against the seemingly-endless plains of the Slayheim saltlands. Many years ago, a prairie stood here, but no longer. After the day the Angel Halo was utilized, the whole of Slayheim's lands were transformed to a liveless waste of salt. Even in the expanse of the Great Aveh Desert and even in the Gunsmoke, there is life. But nothing lives here. No reedy bush extends its branches to the heavens, no lizard or even solitary fly interrupt the silence of the saltlands.
Here there is nothing--
Well, except for the stretch of tents and awnings and temporary structures sent up over there, their brilliant colors stark against the white of the salt desert. That's definitely something. Equally something is the still-shallow (relatively speaking) pit dug into the salt.
Getting supplies out here was difficult. Getting people out here, equally so. But the Vanguard has one thing they've gathered over the years, and that's connections large and small--
Well, connections and some Veruni technology, a small favor thanks to the Moderates (and Kaguya's ingenuity).
The Vanguard had found a Golem out here quite by chance, and if they could excavate it and get it functioning again, well, so much the better. There is something sad about being left in the dark, Avril had decided.
But speaking of 'dark'...
She had also been sure to insist to everyone as they came on-site (after a long, lengthy recruitment over Memory Cube and other means) that they take and use goggles or sunglasses or other eye protection.
After all, salt blindness is a thing.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
There is no life in the Slayheim salt wastes, but that's okay. Dean brings plenty of life for everyone. Literally the only reason he hasn't dug up the Golem here already is because Kaguya and Avril managed to convince him that the experience would be even better if they brought along a bunch of friends to help out, and big-hearted Dean couldn't have agreed more. He's found Golem pieces before, and he's been gifted a Golem before, and he's met several Golems before, but he's never excavated an entire Golem before. This is an incredible event that everybody he knows should get a chance to take part in!
Which doesn't mean he hasn't been impatient. Dean's been vibrating and is *still* vibrating out here in the flats about it, even after the hard word of bringing in supplies and setting up camp. He's the first to the dig site itself, a shovel in one hand with several more to spare in case anyone needs one, his long red scarf around his neck and face to protect him from the sun and wind, and goggles to protect his eyes--because, naturally, salt blindness is a thing. Even with that scarf up, though, his broad grin is apparent.
"I can't wait to meet them!! This is gonna be so awesome! I wonder what they're like? You think I should've brought a present? Oh man!! I'm so excited!!!! C'mon, everybody, let's dig!"
...and so Dean has been gushing on and on, nonstop. The second someone joins him, that shovel blade is going straight into the salt.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
The Seraph Boudicca has made a single addition to her full plate armour and horned helm...
... of a pair of extremely cool aviator sunglasses.
"I am so excited for you," she says, to Dean, as, indeed, she grasps a shovel of her own. She will join Dean on his need to dig; you see? She is a Digger! "This is a very large moment, is it not?"
Thankfully, having a wind elemental on hand means that Boudicca can blow the salt debris out of the hole so that they can dig effectively. She can even blow it away from the Diggers, so they don't get sharp bits of salt to the face.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"I think the present is mostly that we're digging it up," Kaguya points out. "I'd accept that as a pretty good present."
Pause. "...But I did bring some spare batteries..."
There are the structurs they brought, and they are right, though Kaguya is wearing goggles. It was hard to set it up, but it's going to be worth it, Kaguya's sure of that.
Kaguya will not be the first to start digging, though. "So," she says, "We decided against heavy equipment because it might damage what we're excavating," Kaguya explains, and looks over Boudicca for a moment with a distant nod. She remembers when they talked at Gagazet, all of a sudden.
"...Anyway," Kaguya says, "That means we dig with shovels and by hand for the last bits. We've got magical help, but it's still going to be rough. Easier with lots of people though, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca Streisand is of course here already on site, emerging from one of the tents that are setup. She didn't bring her Gear because out here in Slayheim, that's one giant blinking beacon that something is up, and the last thing she needs is someone like the Veruni seeing one bright blinking sign that there's something of note out here.
Plus having to clean salt out of it would in fact, be murder.
Having learned her lesson from last time, she's in a pair of modified coveralls, made of thick material, and some scarfs made into a head covering that swaths at least her head and part of her face.
She pinned up her hair for this, better that than washing all the salt out of her hair again, ick.
There's also thick gloves and of course... the goggles.
(Because Salt Blindness is a thing.)
What Rebecca doesn't have is... a shovel, because while she's not shy about hard work, she refuses to utilize a shovel. That's Dean's thing and she refuses to get swept up in shovel related hijinks. Refuses! REFUSES!!!
(She probably will anyway, Dean is a master of undermining expectations of what one is capable of with a shovel.)
Instead she's picking up two wide boards and dragging them along with her, as if she has a plan, over to Avril, where she promptly asks. "You're enjoying this just as much as Dean is, aren't you?" She says with a flash of a smile and a hand on her hip, and there's an affectionate smile.
Rather than answer to Dean's enthusiasm, she moves over behind him, and tosses a board down beside him. "Leave that where it is." And then just as casually drags that other board far, far away. Until she senses...
"Right here." She notes, dumping the other board down, then suddenly out of her bag she quick draws one portal gun and fires even from this distance at the board by Dean. Then another - right where she is on the other board, as two portals form.
It's then that she shouts, "Okay! Fling everything you're digging up through the portal Dean!" Last thing they need is the wind shifting and whatever pile they're making of it shifting back in the hole, but this keeps that pile separate.
"Boudicca, you can help keep the winds favorable, right?"
As Rebecca casually moves back, she notes to Kaguya, "No shovel for me - would prefer to preserve my sanity here. I'll make do with magic myself."
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
SO YOU WANT TO DIG A HOLE
There are experts out there for that. And one of them is Venetia Vuong, who is among the greatest in a number of fields. Summoned forth through Memory Cube consultation, she has brought a handful of experts with her.
("Unpack! Faster!" shouts Jimmy Chan, recent BACHELORATE, who is perpetuating the cycle of student labor.)
Venetia herself has been wearing more or less her ordinary clothing - which is rather rugged, even if the robe of a sorceress (despite the workaday clothing underneath it) is a little out of place on the salt wastes. She has a two-part mask on her face as she strides out of camp towards Dean. As she does, she reaches up to mess with the leather snout-and-air-filter part of the mask, which flips outwards. The goggle parts stay on as she calls out, "Sounds like you've got digging fever, Mr. Stark! I'm glad to see it!"
As Venetia completes her sojourn, she tells him: "Remember you have to keep in mind your shoring. When in doubt, doubt. It's better to over-shore than under-shore, unless you're the sort of Gella-pinching foreman who I have had the mispleasure of running into, usually while cleaning up their mess, at least eight times - and I know, Mr. Stark, that you aren't that sort of a person!"
Venetia puts her hands on her hips with pride. "Of course," she adds, "I have Crests for that, but as much as I like to boast, I'm not a scalable solution! Even so, for the preliminary striking of the -" She stamps the ground, "My, this is mostly playa bed, isn't it? I'd be concerned about alkaline damage to the Golem, long-term. Even so, they have a way of surviving that kind of thing."
"And I have to thank you," Venetia addresses Boudicca, "because I have been noticing a distinct lack of being *struck in the face* with withering gales, and I hardly got any additional salt in my canned lunch." She concludes this by giving Boudicca a big thumbs-up.
<Pose Tracker> Shige Kiwako has posed.
Shige's.. all for the excavation. It's a piece of history and might reveal things to eventually help others. Or at least that's what she tells herself. It's a curiosity thing. Incidentally, she's covered up as much as she can and is wearing a broad hat as well as goggles. Salt in your hair's bad enough and all.
Shige's talking to herself again. Or the light's making it hard to see who she sees, increased manifestation ability or not.
He wanted to help, if others could hear. Might be an engineer-y sort.
The fact that it's probably just shovels though, does get a worried look from the arctic cat. She might have to deal with the salt problem after all rather than enjoying the sights. At least she's willing to get her hands dirty. And she has experience digging. Just.. usually for opposite purposes.
She does raise a wrapped and gloved hand up in greeting though and calls out from behind a light cloth mask, "Hey."
Adding in a slight after thought, "Could.. try to get some extra help. Might be easier to just shovel though."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah's never been out this way before--at least, not in person. She had a pseudo-experience with a moment of the area's past, some time back, viewed through the lens of a memory taken right before the Halo's activation. But to be here, in person, to see the aftermath...
It is humbling. So much land devastated, and nary a bush, lizard, or insect left to bring a spark of life back to the region.
But there may be life of a different sort, if they can excavate the golem that's been discovered. Golems are particularly on Hannah's mind, too, after her recent run-in with Asgard. And besides, Dean's enthusiasm is infectious! And she hasn't managed to catch up with him in a while, so it'll be nice to see him again. Kaguya, too.
She's swapped out her normal black robe for a white one to try and keep off extra heat, but still has a short green dress and boots on. She's got a pair of leather and metal goggles on to protect her eyes, with some symbology lined around the edges of the lenses to keep them clear.
"Howdy, y'all!" she calls cheerfully as she arrives. Zephyr is a bit less enthused--there's nothing around here to hunt, even though Hannah's assured him she's brought plenty of vittles for the both of them to share.
Zephyr is wearing a miniature pair of the goggles Hannah is, though.
She sets her stuff down in one of the tents and heads out to the dig site. "Can't buy'em a present if you don't even know what they like, Dean," she says, but it's a cheerful tone as she picks up one of the spare shovels. "I'm sure they'll be appreciative of makin' a new friend anyhow."
She nods to Kaguya as she explains the reasoning against heavy machinery. "Makes sense to me. More'n eager to get in some good ol' manual labor." Hannah is short, but she's a bit more scrappy than most people might suspect right off.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. I got this stuff Nede in my bag--sunscreen, if anyone wants to use some. Helps with keepin' the heat of the sun off your skin. I got extra for... anyone that might apply to."
No accounting for all the various physiologies present, of course.
"How y'all been? Been a mite since I've seen some of you last. Name's Hannah Curie, for those I ain't made your acquaintance yet. An' this 'ere is Zephyr!" The red-tailed hawk on her shoulder gives a chirp in greeting.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen, of course, is here. The area between the Halcyone's legs has become a tented area for people to cool off in and recover, while the cockpit and storage space accompanying it are there for supplies, sunblock (some extra strength from Energy Nede, even), and, only in emergencies, a place that has A/C.
The high strength sunblock is plastered on her cheeks, the white of it offsetting the sunglasses (also an Energy Nede import). "Hehe, I'm all ready, Dean!"
Dean's enthusiasm is contagious, as always, as is Rebecca's intuitive approach to keep this from turning into a slog fest. Gwen appreciates a good shovel as much as the next Drifter, but the reflective glare off the salt flats is going to make her burn through her fancy sunblock in no time. Gwen's outfit consists of a repaired blouse that has seen better days, and had likely been well-kept until its owner (Gwen) marched into battle and got blown up by something or another. Same for the pants. The hat is wide-brim, helping protect the top of her head,
"I brought canteens, some sodas, uh, some stuff I didn't use up in November City, basically!" Meaning she dig into some of those 'care' packages she had prepared for that Solaris onslaught. Overpreparation for the win! "They're in the Halcyone! Uh--" She unwraps a piece of paper from her pocket. "The supplier has nicely requested me for everyone to stop by Big Joe's Canteenerio, November City branch, for all the best goods and snacks all you.... muchachos... could ever want." She trails off, clearing her throat as she stuffs the paper back in her pocket. "... So yeah. That's the deal. Digging now!"
She does take time to wave to Hannah, Shige, and any other comers. "Great! More supplies n' more hands are always welcomed~"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
There was once life in this place. Now, there's only salt. Dean's eternal optimism makes this place seem a bit less like the God-forsaken wasteland it is, and Ida is grateful for it.
The naturalist stands about two meters from the edge of the pit--a safe distance, more or less, but close enough to let her peer inside. She's wearing Thames worker fashion--steel-toed boots, work gloves, a monogrammed grey coverall with yellow and orange visibility stripes--and Nedian safety gear. Her face is wholly hidden behind goggles and the heavy-duty Symbologically-enchanted scarves worn by Boneyard excavators. She is thus a little muffled when she turns to Kaguya, nods, and says, "Good call."
Ida then flashes Dean a thumbs-up, and pulls a shovel free. "I brought an assistant," she says. She reaches a hand into a container on her toolbelt, presses something...
And in a flash of red light, a smallish Eevee appears, wearing a rugged red bandana and goggles. "She just learned how to dig," Ida explains. "I'll keep an eye on her, of course."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril, too, has pinned up her hair, braiding and binding it up under a scarf and hat to keep it out of the sun and wind and salt. Rebecca isn't the only one who dreads washing out all the salt (or dealing with damaged locks), after all.
She still can't help but giggle lightly at Dean's enthusiasm. It's almost infectious, isn't it? ...Even if it seems as if he might be about to vibrate right out of his skin.
"Hmm, I wonder. I suppose that we shall see," she remarks to her friend. "...It's strange. I have no reason to think otherwise, but I cannot help but feel that we shall succeed in this."
Like Rebecca, she had opted not to bring her Gear, and for the same reason: the Gears of some of the assistance they'd asked to help might fly more under the radar of the Veruni, but by now she feels it's likely that they know her Skadi on sight.
"Is it not said, 'many hands make light work'?" Avril remarks to Shige, approaching the woman from behind. "Besides which... transporting such heavy machinery here would not be easy, even if we should be able to request it. It would draw too much undue attention, besides. It is better to work slowly but steadily."
And it might damage the Golem, which would probably make Dean cry.
Besides, which, it's not as if some of their specialists don't have their own ways of making this go a little more swiftly than it might otherwise. Which is to say--
"Thank you for coming. We are in your debt," she says to Venetia. "We will be counting on your expertise." She has some vague understanding of excavation through the jumble of what she does remember of her former life, but even the omnidisciplinary Ice Queen had her limits. Kaguya understands it better, perhaps, but isn't an except, while Dean--
Well, no one can gainsay Dean's passion for digging things up, that's for certain.
And Rebecca's talents simply lie elsewhere (they're in project management, frankly, given the rest of the Vanguard).
"Sunscreen?" she says, tilting her head slightly as Hannah speaks of the stuff. "I believe I recall encounting some of that... It is protection from the sun's rays, is it not?" It's best to cover up anyway, given the winds in the Saltlands -- which Boudicca is diligently reducing on-site if not negating -- but the heat can make that its own problem. Some additional protection is warranted.
"Gwen!" She waves, politely regal, at their old friend. "It has been some time. I see that you have brought additional supplies?" They're from--
Slowly, Avril blinks. "What is a... muchacho?"
Some things still elude her understanding even now.
"Ida, it is good to see you again, as well," she says, but their old friend hasn't come alone. She's brought aid-- "Oh! She's very cute," Avril says, dropping into a crouch to look at Ida's Eevee and her digging equipment more closely. "I did not know they made such small goggles..."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Yeah! It sure is!" Dean enthuses at Boudicca as she joins him in shoveling through the salt like the pal she is. "I'm excited for you too! You've never dug up a Golem before, right? It'll be like the BIGGEST statue you've ever seen, but even cooler!!"
Gwen expresses her own readiness, and Dean beams at her, full force. Snacks and drinks are good, but they'll come later. His beaming travels over to Avril as she giggles. Fortunately, his hair is short, so he doesn't need to pin it back like Avril or Rebecca. "We'll definitely succeed!" he tells the both of them. "There's no way we couldn't with everyone here, and even if it's hard, anything is possible if you don't give up!"
Rebecca throws down a board then. It bonks him on the head because he was too focused on shoveling. "Ow!! Rebecca, what was that for?" he whines--but then he sees her taking the other plant to another hole. "Oh! Right!" The portals open up, and he sets the board to clear through them. Between that and Boudicca's wind, they'll be getting rid of all this salt in no time.
"I sure do!" he tells Venetia cheerfully as Kaguya explains the basic parameters of tonight's dig. "C'mon! Grab a shovel and join us!" But Venetia has some advice to dispense first as an experienced digger. "I'm sure not!" he reassures her of Gella-pinching foremen. It's good advice, the shoring. And she knows so much about the salt! So smart!
"Hey there!" he calls to Shige and Hannah as they approach, grinning their way too. Hannah and Kaguya both make good points about presents. "But it's nice to greet someone with a present! But you're both right, we should make friends and get to know them first!"
He won't stop to apply sunscreen. He may regret that later. (He won't regret that later.)
Ida brings out an Eevee--one who knows how to Dig. Dean GASPS, eyes sparkling. "She's so cute!! I'm sure she'll be a great help!" he tells Ida. "C'mon, little gal! Let's dig!"
Dean himself, of course, continues to do exactly that.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"Naturally!" Boudicca assures Rebecca, when she asks for favourable winds. And, indeed, as Venetia notes, no one is getting salt blasted into their face today. "You are very welcome," she smiles, to her esteemed academic colleague.
And just as Rebecca asked, it will be quite easy to fling the salt into her portal. Favourable winds...!
"I am so pleased to see you all so prepared," she smiles, to Hannah and Gwen. "I will muchacho to this Big Joe as soon as I am able." That's not how that word works, but she's doing her best.
"And I am excited to see this biggest Golem I have ever seen!" She adds, cheerfully, to Dean. His enthusiasm is infectious.
Boudicca does take a moment between hefting her shovel, though, to crouch down (quite a ways; she's six feet tall, even before adding in her heels and her horns) and pet Marigold. "You are a very good Digger," she praises her.
And then... back to digging!!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
And what's wrong with neon blinking lights, REBECCA?
No, it's fine, Kaguya has some technology but nothing on scale of a Gear here. Mostly things she could use to repair the Golem, because it will assuredly need it. In the meantime she has most of a containment suit to keep the salt out. And she's listtening to Venetia's...Venetia-ing.
"Yeah, I'm pretty concerned about damage or at the very least discoloration," Kaguya admits, of the Golem, "But these things are pretty sturdy; if it survived the Angel Halo at all, it probably survived the salt." So they're in agreement there.
She waves to Hannah, though it's one of those cool small waves, not a big enthusiastic one. "Oh, sunscreen. That's pretty smart. You guys should use that."
A beat, "OK to see you, Hannah."
Kaguya regards Ida and her Pokemon. Hmmm.
"..That's..."
She turns away, stoically. She is not going to call it 'cute'.
Insted, she looks at Shige. "We probbly have enough; I don't want to attract unfriendly dead in all this." But she's not big on ghosts in the first place.
"Muchacho is a way of saying 'eat'," Kaguya says, "With an emphasis on chewing. You know. Muchacho, muchacho," she says.
"But, here goes! Good luck guys." Kaguya breaks ground!!!
"...OK, so having Boudicca around is pretty handy," she admits. "Man, I was never this good at Wind..."
"...it is probably a really big Golem," she allows too.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
"Of course! Forgive me, in advance," Venetia addresses, "if I ever shout or jump in. I want to assure all of you that if I do so, it will be due to something awful about to happen. Safety comes first, for the Golem will wait an extra ten minutes."
She grins in Dean's direction, perhaps aware that he might disagree. Then she is offered the privilege of SHOVEL DUTY. "Well, why not," she says, picking it up. Venetia puts her back into it, although after a few shovelfulls to show willing, she strikes it down and seems content to supervise Dean. At least for the surface work.
Venetia gazes at the Eevee with the Eevles.
She half-affixes the lower part of her mask again. "You really do love the little sprout, don't you?" Venetia observes to Ida. "I'm uncertain how well she'll throw in, but I have underestimated these creatures before."
IN CAMP, IN VENETIA'S BAG:
Two Pokeballs sit, threateningly.
HERE AND NOW THOUGH
"Do you know much about the Golem that's entombed here?" Venetia asks -- everybody, perhaps, but in large part Kaguya, probably. Kaguya, despite the curse of shortness, likely knows many facts about the site. Venetia also looks towards Avril afterwards. As she does this, she gets her Crest pouch ready, perhaps intending to do something dramatic, or just to have 'Ancient Pillar' on hand in case of abrupt cave-ins.
<Pose Tracker> Shige Kiwako has posed.
Shige happily returns the wave to Gwen! Her shadows do too. That's certainly fine though around the cat. Usually. She looks over her shoulder and waves a hand, "Not quite.." She chews her lip, trying to think on it. Though she is considering how much she wants to remove the stuff she's wrapping herself up in.
She's not nervous so much as- she pauses. She's been around most of these people enough they know her brand of weirdness and she just facepalms. Then makes a frustrated cat noise as she bangs the goggles against her eyes. Not a normal thing! "I was going to see if I could drag some otherworldly help, but uh. This place-" she hooks a thumb, "Maybe keep them on look out."
That she can get help in digging should probably be worrying if she thought about it. That's.. creepy actually.
She doesn't think about it. Blissfully unaware!
She does agree with trying to avoid damaging things though.
Either way, she twists and leans forward to get a better look at the golem. Taking a moment to just enjoy the age of it.
She's not so sure on the present thing. "Sleeping for a while right? Maybe.. breakfast?" Breakfast in bed's nice right?
Joking aside she does pat her hip where a bag rests, "Could celebrate with uh-" She glances into the bag. Hesitating. Then holds up one, "Whiskey." She had others in there. Something suggests she might have picked her least favorite of the three if they're going to break it. She'd.. prefer sharing of course.
Her eyes do wander a bit from there. Hesitating as she spots more familiar faces. Waving to them as she goes. Not that she's super recognizable, she thinks. You know. Covered up. And still carrying a creepy lantern and all.
Kaguya's comment gets a slight frown, "Only one of them's unfriendly and she's more or less on a leash because she doesn't play well with others." She sounds almost offended. Most of her friends are nice! And dead. Long dead.
Speaking of which, she leans back, ear flicking briefly. Then she snorts. "Maybe not that nice." It's a joke though. And she swats at well, nothing.
Still, she does call out to Dean, "If you're the one excavating, I want to talk to you uh. Sometime by the way. I like taking notes!" and maybe she can find people from the right time period to fill gaps in or.. (Well maybe not. But she can dream.)
Also she's totally snuck her camera out and is trying to get some pictures.
And she glances to Venetia at the question. That's a good question as a whole actually..
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
MANY THINGS KAGUYA! INCLUDING RANDOM ENCOUNTERS WITH KARTIKEYA!!!
"Hm." Rebecca examines Avril closely for a moment, before nodding. She is after all used to things not being quite as expected, especially if Avril is perhaps remembering something, or getting her strange sense of things.
She decides not to press, not around others right now. "Well, I get the feeling you're right. Sure would be nice to have a win under our belts."
Rebecca then looks at Dean and squints behind her goggles, "Just I'm not sure this is the kind of win I'd prefer. - I wasn't TRYING to hit you Dean! When you're shoveling you're just in your own world!"
"Excellent. Gives us way fewer worries about worksite accidents." She tells Boudicca, appreciatively.
Reaching up, it's like she tips her top head scarf towards Hannah, "Appreciate it, but should be fine I think, I'm pretty well covered." Whereas as Gwen notes what she did for the trip, Rebecca smiles, "Hey, thanks Gwen, great effort! You're a real team player here."
But Avril asks what Muchacho is and Rebecca blinks at Kaguya's explanation- before pointing towards Dean, "Just getting ahead of it. Dean - it doesn't mean Much Nacho. Okay? There are no Nachos! No Nachos!" Casually Rebecca heads towards the hole, looking at Ida's Eevee, and putting a hand on her hip, "She is absurdly cute..." She mutters, as she pulls out a Stone Medium.
"Dean! Supercharging you!"
In that moment lightning strikes Dean! Dramatically! But it does no harm, instead it seems to electrify his form, filling him with vigor and speed in a display of Noua Shax's shamanistic power.
Avril's right, she does prefer that kind of project management position.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Marigold's bushy tail swishes back and forth as she soaks up the praise. "Evoi," she says, as she nuzzles back against Boudicca's hand. Venetia's skepticism seems warranted, judging by size alone. Marigold is roughly the size of a small dog, and the Golem is very, very large. But with another "Evoi!" of gusto, she sets to work right beside Dean--
Until Ida whistles the command to 'stop', and Marigold does so. Ida kneels beside her for a few minutes, and when she rises again...
Marigold now has matching Eevee booties! Salt crystals can get sharp, after all.
"I know," Ida says to Avril, and while her face is hidden, there's a smile in her voice. "Isn't she? At the very least, she's extremely good for morale."
With a vulpine leap, Marigold dives into the salt and starts to dig. Ida takes up a position beside her, near Dean, and begins to shovel. Marigold seems to see this as friendly competition. It isn't long before she's got an actual tunnel going.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Waaay too long. I was gettin' ready the second I got the message, hehe." Gwen beams at Avril. "I figured even if it's all a bust we all can just crack open some sodas n' watch the sunset. They gotta be as pretty as the ones you see in the Badlands."
At least Gwen, with her short locks, is able to tuck almost all of it under her hat. "Hey, any courier worth their salt, uh, no pun intended, would naturally be able to pull off somethin' like this!" She thumbs up at Rebecca. "Besides, I wanna see the golem too, even *before* Dean got me hyped up."
Nodding at Avril's comment to Shige, Gwen adds, "If the Halcyone needs t'be lowered t'shrink its profile, lemme know. I figured it shouldn't be too much of a problem as it ain't that tall." Unfortunately, it won't be much help in digging, unless shooting shovels would somehow help.
As far as the Mysterious Word is concerned, Gwen considers, as she starts digging. "I think it's a branding deal." She shrugs, looking at Kaguya. "Maybeeee-eeeeeee--" The courier's attention is drawn to Ida's eevee. "Such a good digger~ ehehehe..."
Oh right. Digging! Gwen's definitely no slouch, though she's favoring her right ARM. She'll definitely need to take breaks, though-- not only due to her skin, but to make sure there's no salt buildup on her ARM through the fabric.
..... Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Voltie stands vigilant in the cockpit window, skittering about to stare down at any unique sign of movement.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
"Big Joe's Canteenerio, huh? Might haveta give that a look next time I'm headin' that way." She smiles to Gwen, returning the wave. "Happy to provide, then!"
Hannah smiles as she sees Marigold called out. "Well ain't that somethin'. Oughta thought of that, honestly. Ain't sure any of mine're suited to it though. Howdy, Ida. And howdy, Marigold!"
She nods to Avril. "That'd be the one. UV protection n' all of that." Hannah is covered up, the hood of her cloak pulled up with a white cloth mask--it looks like part of the hood, maybe--pulled up. Leggings and gloves cover the rest of her. Zephyr just has to make do, though, but... he seems to weather most things fine. (So does Hannah, for that matter.)
Hannah grins to Dean next, glad his enthusiasm wasn't dampened by her comment, which seems to have been taken in exactly the spirit it was intended. "'Sides, givin' the gift of friendship ain't so bed a deal neither, right?"
She definitely gave Kaguya a big, enthusiastic wave, though. But is perfectly happy to accept a small, cool one in return. "Already did up myself when I put my stuff down in the tent." She pauses a moment. "Say, Kaguya. You been keepin' tabs on your sister at all? I ran into her a bit ago, an it's got me puzzled."
Hannah nods to Rebecca with a friendly smile. "Sure thing. It'll keep, so if anybody's got a change of mind. Seems like Miss Whitlock's brought a bunch too, so I suppose we're all fairly set there anyhow."
She whistles at Rebecca's display of Shamanistic magic though. She always appreciates seeing new things.
But Hannah needs to weigh in on something now: "No, no, a muchacho is like-- like an amigo, or a compadre, or an hombre. You know, that kinda thing."
That said, she starts pitching in with her shovel. She's got endurance to burn, and once she gets going she seems like she can go forever--or at least a really long time. Must've been all that running back and forth she did as a solo Drifter.
Zephyr, meanwhile, takes up a perch elsewhere. Probably nestled on the Halcyon somewhere in a shaded spot.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It feels familiar, somehow--
But the problem is as always, a lot of things feel familiar to Avril. Which is also... something that Rebecca might have noticed over the years.
"Otherworldly help? By which, do you mean the Guardians?" She has twigged to the fact that Shige is a shaman, after all, and-- that's the logical thing to think, isn't it?
Avril has not had overly much truck with the undead.
"It might be all right as it is," she says to Gwen. "They are not searching for you, I believe. Yet, it should not hurt to disguise it all the same," she reflects. "It might help keep away the heat and the salt."
Which are equal threats as Veruni drones.
"I see! Then, that should be quite helpful. I imagine we cannot stay completely covered forever." It's blazing hot during the day... and of course freezing at night. Not that they'd want to be out and about at night anyway, what with the undead problem.
That isn't what she'd meant, Avril can't help but thinking, glancing over at Dean as if startled in but that one moment. But then it occurs to her that he wouldn't have realized what she'd meant -- that it hadn't even occured to him in the first place that there's no promising (whatever Kaguya's readings had suggested) that this Golem would even be able to be reactivated... let alone friendly.
Yet, doesn't his sentiment continue to apply, even so? If it no longer can be reactivated, then they can find a way, or find some other means to ensure what they found is useful. If it isn't friendly, then perhaps they can find some means by which they might approach it. There's no reason for them to give up immediately.
"I as well," Avril chimes in with Kaguya towards Venetia, glancing askance at Dean and the others. "Still, I suppose we will not know until we've excavated it. It must have rested here for some time..." She shakes her head at Venetia's question. "I do not. Or, perhaps, I should say that I do not think that I do. We had only a passing glance at what we had exposed before. Still, it appears that it may be Veruni." And if it's been down here like this, it's certainly not recent.
And if it's not recent, it's over five thousand years old.
She doesn't admire Marigold overly long but stands after a moment, stepping side to permit Marigold to get to work without too much hinderance.
Muchacho. "So it means 'to eat'?" Avril remarks, tilting her head as Kaguya 'explains' the origin of the word. Her gaze turns Boudicca's way. "...and it is possible to eat one's way to..." She makes an expression as if she were attempting very difficult mental math.
It definitely doesn't mean 'much nachos'.
Hannah, though, says that it means 'amigo'. Or 'compadre'. "Com... padre," Avril hazards, trying out the pronunciation. "Compadre. I have heard that before. Along with the word, 'amigo'. It means..."
There is a long pause.
"...What does it mean?"
...She might have traveled around much of the Ignas continent but that doesn't mean she had picked up on certain things...
"Do you think I should take up a shovel, too?" she asides to Rebecca, stepping on over after she's supercharged Dean. "I wonder if ice magic might help or hinder. Perhaps we ought to defer to Venetia and her assistants," she muses, thinking out loud.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Does muchacho really mean to eat with a lot of chewing? Then what exactly is Boudicca muchaching?? If Dean weren't so focused on shoveling, he would be very confused right now.
As it stands, he double-takes at Rebecca when she explains that muchachos have nothing to do with nachos. "Huh? What? It isn't time for snacks yet, Rebecca! Stop being weird!" he chides her. But then she POWERS HIM UP with a hit of magic, and he beams. The board incident? Already forgotten. "Oh yeah, this'll be great!! Thanks, Rebecca! Full steam ahead!!"
And so he DOUBLE TIMES on the shoveling! Shige calls out to him, and he calls back, "We're all excavating here!" (Dean has a very broad definition of excavating, apparently.) "But sure!!"
Boudicca, Venetia, Ida and Marigold all take up position with Dean to continue to dig. Sure, Venetia might opt to go back to supervising shortly thereafter, but Dean enjoys her company all the same. Gwen too, especially since she says Dean got her hyped up to see the Golem! It's always nice when someone shares your passion. Hopefully the salt won't get into her ARM arm.
"She's really good at that!" he comments to Ida of Marigold and her adorable brown pawsies. (Ruby might get jealous...) When Hannah joins in a moment later with her own shovel, he says, "Yeah!! Friendship's the best present of all!"
Case in point: taking advantage of Boudicca's favorable winds to make sure the salt gets out of the way and through the portal faster, giving Dean more time to focus on shoveling. Marigold will find him stiff competition after that power-up, though he would've been even without it. He's having a great time right now. He'll even have a great time if he collapses from hea exhaustion later, which is good for him. Maybe ice magic would be good for helping everyone beat the heat.
When Avril wonders if she should take up the shovel, even if she might be talking to Rebecca, Dean shouts her way, "You should!! C'mon, Avril! It's not the same if you don't!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"If you would like to practice, please come and see me!" Boudicca offers a sidequest to Kaguya, despite Moor Gault grumbling in the back of her mind. But tragically, most of her time is now occupied...
Trying to puzzle out a muchacho. "Some people would say nucha as mucha, you know, when they addressed the spine thus," she says, thoughtfully. "Or it could refer to a chauncel, you know, a place of human worship... the centre of a place of human worship..?"
Luckily, she keeps directing the winds, even as she gets lost in her linguistic rabbit hole.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya considers Boudicca's offer. "All my magic's tied up in the Zeikfried," she hedges, "But on the other hand, it can fire Wind bullets... so I might get something out of that after all."
Kaguya shrugs to Shige. "That's cool," she says, "But the zombies out there aren't very friendly."
Random encouners with Kartikeya... bad. One point for Rebecca.
Kaguya has some pokeballs, too, but she isn't using them right now. Her Grass-types would hate it here. She doesn't love it here. Venetia's question though... Kaguya nods to Avril. "Right. It's very old, it's very big, and it's Veruni. tht's about all I got so far. From the inlays, it looks like it's designed to channel magic through the limbs, but I don't know how true that is anymore."
Kaguya pauses Hannah. She looks dubious. "Human language is weird," she complains. "I want 'much nachos' more than I want an amigo..." She hmmms at Boudicca. "I think I've been to enough sites of human worship."
A look to Hannah again, and she shakes her head. "My intel in Veruni territory is pretty dry these days. What happened?"
But Avril... hmmm.
"I think," Kaguya says to Avril, "That you might feel good getting a sweat on trying to contribute to this. Probably not ideal for ice magic, but even if you only help a little, it'll make you part of the effort. That's why I'm doing it."
Also, she's absurdly strong. There is that. "But Dean's got the right idea!"
"But sure, lt's let the doc," Venetia, "Tell us the best way. When we get enough of it out to get to the machinery, I can take over."
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Lightning strikes Dean! Out of a clear dusty sky!
That's fine, thinks Venetia. As Marigold gets to work, she cranes her head to observe what is going on -- oh, booties. Venetia's facial expression is hidden by her protective mask.
The question of a muchacho vs. a compadre floats around. "I'd heard someone refer to an ancient mythical Guardian named Chochacho," Venetia says, "but I believe it was a joke. If you do ever find a Guardian of Hanging Around With Your Friends, though... well, sometimes lies come true."
Venetia's minions appear. They appear to be - well - miners; because that is basically what they are. They pitch in at the rock face, when necessary, and smooth out the tailings so things don't get unwieldy, but generally speaking, this is a facilitative role. Jimmy is still in his scholarly suit, and appears to have acquired some kind of loud wooden cracker balls on a stick, which he periodically clacks menacingly at people.
"If you clack at me, I will shoot you in the knee," Venetia tells Jimmy.
"You know, that's originally my gun," Jimmy answers. Whines, really.
"I know! Poetry!"
This seems friendly.
"So as far as my guidance," Venetia states, "it would be that -- this is a salt flat; which suggests that not so terribly long ago, or off and on throughout the aeons of Filgaia's history, it was also a shallow sea. Look around here and consider the prospect of a Golem or a similar machine - if it landed, and it's not emerged, it probably fell on its side. There may also be an impact crater. So, consider what you're digging out, and look for places where the stone seems different on one side of the gradient versus the other - OR for a thin layer that seems vitrified."
A moment later, Venetia clarifies, "As in, glassy, like glazed pottery or, well, glass. Anyway, if we find impacta remains or the sedimentary divide, that's going to be when we dig out the heavy machinery -- at that point we'd just be digging out an access point."
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"I know that Dean! Obviously it's not! I just know how your mind works when anything implies food!" Rebecca calls out, exasperated, but still offers a salute when it comes to powering him up, looking at Venetia, and winking.
Indeed Rebecca would have thought that one would have been worth more than one point, but it's fine. It's fine.
'Compadre. I have heard that before.'
'What does it mean?'
Rebecca actually smiles behind her scarf, trying to smother a giggle.
"Nah I don't think there's any need for-" But Dean asks a question and- Rebecca puts a hand to her hip, "Don't pressure her! We all know every time a shovel's in your hands you break the laws of physics!" Rebecca doesn't even know which laws of physics Dean breaks, she just knows that Dean does it.
Often repeatedly.
Still, she knows where this leads and that it's a losing, uphill battle, because in the end Avril...
Rebecca sighs and then- "I guess it can't be helped." Rebecca fishes out something from a bag, and- "Time for my contingency plan..." Is that a Pokeball?
"Dean Junior!"
Wait what?
A flash of light, and right beside Dean...
A small, cylindrical mouthless being pops out of the sand, regarding him and then Boudicca with a rounded pink nose and two shiny blackened eyes.
"Dig-lett?"
It sounds, as if waiting for instructions.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"I dunno, Avril, some ice might hit th'spot when the temperature shoots up," Gwen points out. "We're all havin' to keep covered from the salt, but that'll count against us with the heat." Still, she seems to agree with the rest. "Yeah, try yer hand at it, Avril. It's a good upper body workout."
Pause. "... Oh wait, there's zombies out here too? I forgot 'bout that part. Not sure even Dean could bridge that communication divide." It's not meant as a slight-- it's an admirable trait in Gwen's eyes.
It's also a concept that is... horrific, in a way. Being doomed to wander a landscape merely due to the 'sin' of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. A death without knowing you've died. And your friends--
"..... Oh, I forgot the 'amigo' part too. Amigos are.... friends, right? Maybe muchachos means friend too. But Boudi's is good too!" And so is that precious, precious wind.
Kaguya's idea of magic inlays seems to spark a memory in the courier. "Oh, I read a story like that! With a mad, really smart doctor who created a person from, uh, other parts, and then he used lightning magic to reanimate the body! The made human was really intelligent, but was kinda scary." Gwen recounts this as she shovels. "Between all of us, I bet we can figure out somethin'. N' then, Dean can use his magic personality to ease over any of the morning grumpiness."
At least Avril isn't the only one to have considered that being a possibility. However, it's Gwen, so the consideration is made with little in the way of a plan besides 'befriend Golem'.
Nodding as Venetia speaks, Gwen's eyes widen. "Whoah, yeah, that makes a lotta sense! Even if the top layer's affected by the..... uh... you know what, the deeper we go, the further back in time we'd be goi--" She cuts off with a cough as Rebecca calls out for 'Dean Junior'. "--WHOAH, what did I..... oh. Oh! Awwwww." Gwen pauses momentairely to dote on the Diglett. "Hey there little guy!"
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Avril asks for more clarification, and Hannah pauses in her struggling. "I-- Well I heard my sister say it a fair bit." (That's Susanna Tanner, for those playing along at home.) "It's jus' like... You know... 'That hombre over there ain't up to no good' or... 'My amigo, how long's it been?' or... 'Those muchachos better watch out 'fore they get themselves in hot water.'"
She never really got a dictionary definition, she just knows a lot of it from context.
Hannah is fully on board Project Golem Friendship with Dean and is humming a little to herself as she resumes digging. "So, y'all know anythin' yet 'bout this golem?" She looks up for a moment. "Beyond it possibly bein' Verunit?" Kaguya provides some more info on that, though, and she nods along. "Channelin' magic through the limbs... can think of a whole host of reasons you might set that up."
She puzzles at Boudicca though. "Sites of human worship..." Now she's racking her own memory trying to figure that one out, too.
She nods to Kaguya. "Weren't in Verunit territory. It--" She takes a deep breath. "I found intel on a Kislev supply depot but it was located in Aveh territory but when we got there it was abandoned but then your sister ambushed us an' we had to fight 'er off." A beat. "Also she kept insistin' we were tresspassin', and when some Kislevi soldiers came t' chase us off they ignored her for... whatever reason."
"Seemed like she was spoilin' to fight some Aveh soldiers, though? Frankly there's a lot in that scenario that ain't makin' much sense to me. Was hopin' you might be able to shed some light on things."
She looks to Venetia, as she explains about this possibly being a former ocean. "Well, sure, iff'n this formed naturally. But ain't this all 'cause of the Angel Halo?" She looks to Ida. "We saw that, right? In the Memory Maze?" There was a fair bit going on that day, it's good to double check your memory. "So iff'n this all ain't natural, then you'd have to consider the geology from before it all turned to salt."
She smiles as Dean Junior is produced. "Awww, cute. Shoulda thought about befriendin' a Diglett myself. You sure the salt ain't gonna be too harmful to 'im?"
She nods as Gwen identifies 'amigo' as 'friend.' "Yeah! I'm thinkin' you got it!"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Marigold is getting into the zone--perhaps even the Dean Zone. Her little Eevee-sized tunnel keeps getting deeper and deeper. Ida stops shoveling and peers inside. She sees only the faint outline of a pile of displaced salt.
"Hmm. It must be buried deeper, then," Ida says. "Marigold, could you come back and help with this pile?" She gestures to the salt she's displaced in her own digging--she lobbed some of it into Rebecca's portal, but not all. Marigold clambers up out of her burrow, shakes salt out of her fur, and lets out an 'Evoi!' of encouragement to Dean.
"Is there enough moisture in the air to make ice?" Ida wonders, as Avril brings up a good point. "If you can cool the local air, I wouldn't say no."
Ida turns and nods to Hannah. "Yes. This is not a natural geological formation. It was produced by the activation of a superweapon. The unquiet dead are the only things that can exist out h--awwwww!"
Ida's train of thought derails noisily at the sight of another Cute Creature. "Evoi!" Marigold cries. She looks at the Diglett, then at Rebecca, then taps a bootied paw to her goggles.
"...Oh, that's right. Dean's son needs proper protective equipment, doesn't he...?"
<Pose Tracker> Shige Kiwako has posed.
Shige just mutters, "I could make them be polite." Muttermutter. She's not actually sure about that, but then again she'd probably just put them down and-
She'd try at least.
Shige herself has A pokeball. Just the one. She's not sure if the froslass would actually appreciate the.. everything out here though. Seeing everyone showing them off she does tap at the ball, lifting the arm it rests under to ask, "You want to come out?" Not fully sure if the ghost can hear her or not even. Pokemon are weird to her. Her ghostly friends agree even! Perfectly normal to consult them. She does think they're cute though.
Avril's question is met with a confused stare, "Ge Ramtos does-" she pauses. Catching herself quickly. "Uh-" That's a much better answer!
She twists and holds her hands up, gesturing to thin air. She waves her hands around a bit and mutters, 'Smart ass something or other' or something along those lines until the laughing faded shade of a figure appears wearing old armor appears and waves for a brief second. It's bright out here, manifesting enough to be that visible actually did look a bit draining for her if her tails and ears drooping didn't suggest it.
Still, Shige does start to strip the heavier parts of her gear off. Down to a tank-top and shorts even. And she looks miserable already, idly scratching at a fuzzy arm. She stops before actually whining though.
There is something of a laugh at the suggestion of lowering the temperature. "I have an ice ghost from off world, but I wouldn't do that to her-" there's an added, "They do say haunted places get really cold though" said in a matter that suggests she's willing to try that. Totally fine. Don't worry about it.
She does hang her gear up though and starts looking for a shovel.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
ISomehow, Avril does not think that her Pokemon -- one of them a Grass type! -- would like it very much out here, either.
"Oh, I see. Ge Ramtos... was that not the Guardian with whom Lunata was affiliated?" She purses her lips, as if something were troubling her but not so much that she felt it worth speaking of.
"Yes," Avril answers simply, glancing between Venetia and Kaguya. "I had that feeling, too, somehow. It felt 'magical'. I wonder what sort of magic it was able to use? Would it have been Veruni magic? Or, would they have made use of Crest Caps? Perhaps it could have even used Symbology after a fashion," she muses, glancing upwards at the sky as she thinks out loud. "Were you able to tell by looking, Kaguya?"
Venetia gives her own advice on what she can tell about the geology of the location. "So it was a salt flat... even before Slayheim's fall..." Avril muses, crinkling her brow. "I see. Perhaps that might explain why it is here, at that -- I know that there was fighting between my own people and Lord Blazer. If it were struck down or damaged, and landed... ah, but we must confirm that first. We shall keep an eye out for such things, Venetia."
Hannah does her best to define these strange terms to Avril, upon whom colloquialisms slide off like water on a duck. She's as bad as Seraphim, a lot of the time. "...Hm..." Avril says, clearly trying to follow what Hannah is trying to put down. But it's Gwen who cuts through the noise.
Amigos are... precious friends. And 'muchacho' is an 'amigo'.
"I see..."
Avril, deadly serious, declares here to everyone, "Then... I consider you all my dear muchachos."
But more to the point, Hannah has some rather grim news out of the Kislev territory. Kaguya's sister had been there? She glances over at Kaguya silently, as if asking her to fill in the gaps here, though one thing is clear.
"...That suggests that the Veruni have connections with Kislev in some way. It is a good thing we are heading east." Best to face the problem head on, since it will find its way to them however they go, it seems.
Ice magic might help... in the long run of things, others opine. They might help people cool down, but even if she uses it to try to blast salt out of the way might do more harm than good. She's practiced of course to hone her precision and aim, but the fact remains that her talents lie more in the arena of combat than utility. Which, says quite a few things about the person she used to be! "Yes, perhaps so," she reflects, thinking the matter over as Gwen chimes in. "In that case, please let me know if you become overheated. It may be best to wait," she remarks as Ida chips in, "in the event we use up what already exists too early."
She might feel good getting a sweat on contributing. And Dean agrees in his own fashion.
Rebecca, meanwhile, throws up her hands and gives in to the inevitable.
"It is not the same if I don't," Avril echoes, frowning as if in thought. "...Very well, then I accept!" Striding over, she claims a shovel from the heap, brandishing the rusted tool overhead as if it were an artifact of eld. "This should suffice. It has already seen countless victories against what lies buried, has it not?"
It glints in the sunlight. Dully.
"--Oh!"
Avril pauses in the moment of her own dramatics, noticing the arrival of Dean Junior. "How cute! It looks just like him!"
...Does it? Does it really, Avril?
But she cannot be delayed overly long. Soon enough, she takes to digging herself.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"I don't think about food *all* the time!" Dean protests. This is probably undercut when he then admits, "But now that you say it, I really want much nachos too. We'll have them later!"
He grins broadly at Kaguya when she seconds his encouragement. "Yeah! Exactly!" Gwen has a good idea about the ice magic helping to cool them down--he's having a good time, but it *is* really hot out here. Avril will have to save that for later, when it gets *really* bad.
Venetia gives more advice and knowledge about salt flats. Dean tries to listen as he digs. Fortunately, digging does not require a lot of brainpower; unfortunately, he has no idea what vitrified means and is not sure about gradients either. "Okay!" he says nonetheless, because 'rocks seem different' is straightforward enough. There's lots of people here; someone will know the rest of what she means!
He frowns, though, when Rebecca accuses him of breaking the laws of physics. "I'm not breaking any laws! We don't even need a permit, nobody owns this land!" His eyes light up when Rebecca fields the Diglett, Dean Junior. "I have a another son!" he gasps in delight. Wait, ANOTHER son? For the first time, he pauses in shoveling to reach under his jacket to reveal a full set of miniaturized Pokeballs on his belt. "Okay! In that case, let's let all your siblings join in, too!"
He hurls all the Pokeballs out, and all of them crack open with bursts of brilliant white light to reveal--
Six Geodudes.
Why does he have six of the same Pokemon? He'd actually caught far more, though he released the others when he realized his mistake. What mistake was that? Well... He heard they eventually turn into Golems.
That's not even a bit. It's just a fact.
"Dude!" "Dude!" "Dude!" "Geo!" "Dude!" "Dude!"
"All right, boys! Go put on some goggles! Salt blindness is a thing, you know! Then you three get that side, and you three get that side!" Dean calls, pointing on either end of the hole. He grins at Marigold and pumps a fist. "C'mon! Let's show 'em how it's done!"
Once Dean Junior has goggles too, that is. But that much, Dean will wait for. As Ida says: he needs proper gear!
Avril, too, takes shovel in hand, and he extends his own hand to her. "It sure has! That one's actually pretty old and I wasn't sure if I should bring it, but--all shovels deserve a chance to dig up something as amazing as a Golem! Bring it on, Avril!!"
Once they're all geared up, the addition of so many more ground-type Pokemon means that excavation will go that much faster. They'll reach that (non-Pokemon) Golem in no time at this rate!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya is mysteriously quiet on the talk of Guardians except to say, "Yeah, that's Lunie's Guardian." Instead, she considers Venetia's advice. "Yeah," she says, "I'm hoping we can actually get this done today. Bringing out bigger machinery would be a pain in the ass."
Kaguya stares for a moment at Dean Junior. She stares a moment longer. "..."
She's not calling him cute.
Instead she considers Hannah. "Well," Kaguya says of the Golem, "It's old." Pause. "Old as balls."
"Not sure what kind of magic, admittedly; Doc here could probably tell. I assumed it was Veruni magic, but hard to say."
Her... dear muchachos... Kaguya looks studiously away, and if she's a little red the mask should conceal that.
"...Doesn't surprise me," Kaguya says to Hannah then, glancing to Avril with a nod and then back to Hannah. "So, I got captured by the Kislev military once. Then they let me out after a little 'talk' about how I should keep the connnection quiet. The Veruni are absolutely involved in Kislev's military." Pause. "In case you don't remember I'm like, super wanted by the Radicals by now probably. So that's something."
Avril digs! That's nice. It's... kind of adorable. "...if the Golem's damaged," Kaguya says, "It depends on how badly it's damaged. If it can be fixed at all, I can fix it."
Kaguya glances Shige. "Yeah, it'd be rude to bring thee ice ghost here. You sure you're OK out here?"
Then there are. Six geodudes. Kaguya says, "...Man. That's uh."
"That's really useful, actually. Weird."
Pause. ".....OK, so, don't ask why I have them," Kaguya says, "But I do have some goggles in a Diglett's size..." She pulls them out of her bag, and approaches to give Dean Junior the safety equipment.
<Pose Tracker> Shige Kiwako has posed.
Shige actually looks surprised, "Is she doing alright? I haven't seen her since I went and uh, had a conversation about-" she trails off. "I hope she's doing well." responding to Avri. Then she lets her mind catch up, "Yeah. Uh. Death incidentally. So if there's zombies point them out. I need to put them in time out." She actually doesn't sound too put out by the idea. Though she does idly scratch her arm again.
She scoops up a shovel. "I can join in for now unless you uh, need me to do perimeter though." Looks like she's ready to hop into the pit though.
"Nachos here? It'd be all salty.. " She doesn't like it! She's completely out of her element! "Fish though.."
She has no idea why armed bowling balls show up though. There's a look of abject confusion on the feline's face. "I.. what?"
She turns her head to Kaguya and says, "I'm fine. Fine fine. Just hot and itchy." And she's going to work if she has to. Whether she does the physical labor part, or just does patrols to keep everyone safe. She wants to be more involved.
As for Kaguya's sister, she does perk an ear, curious. "Salvaged a ship recently. Could see if any of them picked up any rumors." She doesn't specify. She thinks it's obvious.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca looks at Kaguya, alarmed as she mentions 'Old as balls' even turning red a little, but fortunately her scarf hides it.
"Would have thought you had more than that! After the Golems you dug up on Lunar!"
"Just the majority of the time!" Rebecca answers Dean, before he notes he's not breaking any laws, "Dean they're universal laws! Kaguya - explain physics to him!"
Avril gives in, and Rebecca believes she has lost her to the shovel shenanigans that surround Dean - as if he had a shovel bending aura. Rebecca puts a hand to her head and sighs, "You're even talking like he does about shovels now Avril. 'Cept you know... more elegantly."
Dean Junior appears and Rebecca's rather proud of this one, she kept it hidden that she had a Pokemon at all. In the end she doesn't REALLY intend to use them in a fight, but it's pragmatic to keep some around for a few different tasks right? But as Gwen and Ida remark on him, she answers.
"Heh. The little guy's digging prowess just reminded me of Dean, that's all."
"Wait what do you mean another son- Oh no." Rebecca really didn't think this through, but she did forget. The squad appears, "Dean - I still can't believe your entire team is Geodudes." Actually she can believe it once she heard that they evolve into being Golems eventually.
Of course.
Dean Junior bobs up to them, shifting it's little tunnel in the sand, and sounds out happily, "Diglett."
Eventually Rebecca just gives in to the madness, losing 3 SAN temporarily.
"Dean Junior - Use Sand Attack, and keep using it."
"Dig-lett!" The little Diglett positions itself by the board, and repeatedly starts shoving sand into the portal hole by pulling it up from the ground itself. "Dig-lett! Dig-lett! Dig-lett!"
Even Rebecca can't help but smile at that one.
"It is a cute gathering, I guess."
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Dean seems keen, thinks Venetia, who may mistake Dean's general eagerness for context-specific curiosity. She takes a deep breath through the filter.
"That's a fair point," Venetia answers Hannah. "However, it sounds as if we have some evidence that it was a salt-flat prior -- while I suppose it would be rude to say it's fortunate, this area was at least somewhat studied, as most places on Filgaia were."
"I still hope they find the island where humans evolved, someday," Venetia says, with a wistful tone.
After this, people deploy Pokemon. ("Uh... hey," says one of the College of Mineralogy people, waving to the strange living walk. Don't feel bad for her! She is getting course credit -- FOR FREE!)
"So you have six of the same ones?" Venetia asks Dean, after some consideration time. "I didn't know you could do that. Other than Xiumei's mania for the fuzzy ones, of course. But that seemed different, somehow."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Marigold is a little Dean-like in her doughty optimism, as well as her newfound power of digging. She's really come out of her shell, Ida thinks, as she watches the Eevee show Dean Jr. the tunnel she was just digging. A Diglett could definitely keep digging it, even if it's getting a little too deep for an Eevee. Once Dean Jr. is done with the salt removal, of course!
Ida smiles beneath her mask. She's still a in the middle of a hellish salt tableau, but as with Dean, hearing that from Avril... "It's an honor, Avril," Ida says. "Come on--"
Wait. Siblings? Ida stares, for a moment, at Dean's team. She should have been expecting that. But... undeniably effective. As the Geodudes get to work, so too do Ida and Marigold--with Ida scooping up shovelfuls of salt, and Marigold following Dean Jr.'s lead--throwing salt into the portal.
What looked like a rag-tag assemblage has actually turned into a formidable excavation crew. But what will they find, Ida wonders.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah nods to Ida as she confirms her recollection. "Thought so. Was a bit ago, an' I ain't really had much time to dig into all the details 'bout this place."
She glances over as Shige argues with--something--but Hannah recognizes that sort of thing ('No, Zephyr, just 'cause I think he's cute don't mean you gotta get jealous.') so she doesn't think too much of it. But she does have a friendly wave for the spirit that manifests. "Howdy."
She nods to Avril's difficulty, looking at least a little embarassed. "Sorry, got it all second-hand myself." Then Gwen does cut through the noise, and Avril declares...
Hannah frowns a little in thought at that. Then she shrugs and decides to roll with it. "Mighty appreciate you sayin' so!"
Do the Veruni have a connection with Kislev? Hannah doesn't know, but she nods to Avril's hypothesis. "That's what I was hopin' you all could tell me. I know you're trackin' them a lot closer'n I am."
Dean summons more of Dean Junior's siblings. "Well now. This is a proper shindig, now ain't it?"
But they don't know what kind of magic. Hannah nods to that. "Fair 'nough. I'd be willin' to lend an opinion, too, when we get that far. An' I'll volunteer assistance with any repairs or restoration, of course."
She looks to Kaguya as she explains. "... Well now, ain't that a fine predicament. Jus' how many factions are interferin' with the Kislev and Aveh conflict anyhow? I'm countin' Solaris, Kislev, we got a rogue robot roamin' around we ain't exactly sure who it works for..." She nods to Kaguya as she mentions being wanted. "Right, makes sense."
Hannah nods to Venetia. "Fair enough. Suppose that super weapon wouldn't've penetrated too far down in any case--at some point we'd get the original geology again."
The island where humans evolved. "... That's an interestin' prospect, actually. We know they got humans on other stars, now... You suppose they all arose all independent-like, like there's somethin' 'bout the form that's a convergence point, or do you think there was some kinda predecessor movin' from one world to another? Like a panspermia scenario?"
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen looks up as Avril makes her grand announcement, and she beams brightly. "You're my dear muchacho too, Avril!"
Somewhere, Auntie Frea looks up, realizing her 'niece' has said something that, in context, would be nonsensical. _You do not call the Veruni Queen your dear muchacho_.
However, they're all doing the impossible around here, from Kaguya fighting to keep from admitting her affection for cute things, Hannah revealing her knowledge of The Important Word(s), Venetia being Venetia, Rebecca trying to keep it together, Boudi fighting the good fight against salt, and Dean....
Dean has six Geodudes. And he knows how to manage them.
"This is amazing!" Gwen exclaims. "You got your own diggin' team there, Dean!"
"Welp, that just means I gotta keep up, then." Gwen makes a half motion of rolling her sleeves up, then remembers-- right, salt. Don't do that.
Unfortunately, whether Dean has embraced his hunger or not, Gwen is already there. "Some nachos *would* hit the spot 'bout now..." She considers, flipping a shovel full of salty dirt over her shoulder. "But Shige has a point. Nachos'd be waaay too salty for here. You'd want somethin' sweet t'pair with the salty." Another shovelful. "Like some chocolate-covered pretzels, or..." Shovelful. "Some chocolates with some salt crystals on top..." Shovelful. "Though if we're talkin' loaded nachoes? Whole different ballgame." Shovelful. "Some cheese, meat, jalapenos, black beans, salsa, sour cream..."
Shovelful.
Stomach growl. "Damn it, I'm hungry now."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Aww. She has so many dear muchachos who have come here to help.
"So you have that sort of power," Avril muses at Shige. "Then, this is a good place for you to be. There are undead that roam the wastes by night," she explains, it being another reason to wrap up their work at nightfall and not try to dig at night. ...As if the bitter cold weren't enough of a reason, anyway.
Avril has known -- and indeed, seen! -- Dean's Pokemon before, but that doesn't stop her from looking delighted as he sends the lot of them out. "Oh! They should be a great help," she remarks. Unfortunately, her own are a little bit... ill-suited for this sort of business (well, Lavoisier might be alright, but there might be something strange about sending a 'golem' to dig up a Golem), but Chloe should be handy once the heat becomes too much and they have to retreat for a time to the tents.
Being an ice-aspected Vulpix has its advantages.
"Is that not known?" she remarks to Venetia, because, no, she doesn't know whether or not anyone knows that either.
Kaguya shares with her a story though about a time when she was captured by the Kislevi military, to which Avril muses, "...I see..."
Perhaps it's a good thing that their travels in the past never really took them up near Kislev or its borders often.
"It seems that is certainly the case," she answers Hannah in the end.
"Am I?" Avril wonders at Rebecca, when she says she's talking just like Dean. "Well, I suppose that is not so strange. We have been traveling together for a long time now." Certainly long enough for some of their mannerisms to rub off on one another -- but wait, why isn't she acting more like Rebecca?!
Maybe they ought to find a circus and test that one out.
"We have much to do before noon, I should think. Let us carry onwards," Avril declares, sinking her shovel into the salt and moving it aside and thus joining the assembly here to slowly excavate that long-buried Golem.
Later, there will be lunch. And snacks.
But probably no nachos.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Just call them cute, Kaguya! It's not healthy to hold yourself back! (At least she very conveniently has goggles for a Diglett.)
Dean grins at Gwen, who marvels at his digging team. "Yeah!! They might not be the kind of Golems I thought at first, but they'll be a big help!"
"Geo," protests the one Alolan Geodude, who is *not* a ground-type.
"You can do it, buddy! I believe in you!"
"Geo..."
"Oh, yeah, you can just keep catching the same kinda Pokemon over and over," Dean asides to Venetia matter-of-fact. His smile turns sheepish as he rubs the back of his head. "It turns out you don't need a ton of the same Pokemon to evolve them... I heard about these Pokemon candies, and I figured, the more, the better? But I had it all wrong. Anyway, I ended up letting a lot of 'em go free, but these guys are all real tough, so I decided to keep 'em around until they find something else they wanna do!"
He leans in to get a closer look at Marigold's tunnel. It's some very fine digging work. He gives her an enthusiastic thumbs up and looks over at Ida. "She's doing great!" he enthuses. And Dean Jr.'s being a big help too! He grins at Hannah. This is the *best* shindig. Dean hefts his shovel anew and gets right back into it. "All right! We can't fall behind, either!"
Especially not when Gwen is talking about all the stuff she'd pile onto a plate of loaded nachos... So delicious......
"You're making *me* hungry too," Dean complains to Gwen. "But we can't stop now! Just a little further!" He shares a smile at Avril--Rebecca's implication that talking like him is a bad thing notwithstanding--and together, they'll make that much more progress towards freeing the Golem below from their salty tomb.
Later will be lunch and a VERY well-earned water break. But for now, they've got to do their hardest. There *are* zombies in the area, and as has been stated, Dean's charms are sadly ineffective on them.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya will not, Dean. However, of the Geodudes she says, "I like the one with the funny eyebrows..."
"Nachos are supposed to be at least a little salty," Kaguya points out. "...Perimeter might be a good idea, though." She hasn't seen Lunata in a while either, so she doesn't hae an answer. Instead, there's the matter ofa salvaged ship, and, "That is so creepy. And useful!"
"Well," Kaguya says, "I mostly made those. So I can't be sure if the technology I read about is the same technology they were actually using five thousand years ago--and the magic boosters we used were designed for Lunarian magic."
Then--physics. "Oh no," Kaguya says. "I'm not going there. Unless..." She considers. "Could I design an entire curriculum based on Golems...?"
It's a thought.
Then she looks back to Venetia. "That'd be fascinating," she admits of human evolution. But she does glance at the College person--and decides not to interfere.
One day she might want grad students, too.
As for human arrivals to Filgaia, Kaguya doesn't bring up the things she knows about that--it might just be junk data for the subject at hand. But she thinks about it.
Instead, she opines, "Dean just rubs off on people. It happens."
But there is a lot to do, and Kaguya aims to do it!
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah returns Dean's grin. She's... honestly not that hard to get excited about these kinds of things. She eagerly dives back into shoveling, though...
"C'mon, y'all. Stop makin' me think about food, 'cause if you makin' me think about food then--" She cuts herself off, as if hearing something, and then sighs.
"No, Zephyr. It ain't time for lunch yet."
Zephyr is... aaaaaaaaaall the way over there perched on the Halcyon. There's... no way either of them could hear each other... right?
Hannah doesn't take the time to explain.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
It is a universal law that Dean Stark rubs off on people.
That too is physics.
There is a sigh, but a smile as Avril says that, and she puts a hand on her hip, consigned to this fate. "Yeah, suppose it ain't." It makes sense, she's the responsible buzzkill.
While Dean Stark walks the path that ROCKS (No really he has a lot of Geodudes)
Kaguya of course refuses her, unless - "That..." Pause. "... Would probably work? Kinda messed up but - it would."
Eventually Rebecca consigns herself to, "Dean Junior... Sand Attack."
Dean Junior promptly happily responds with "Dig-lett." And - kicks up sand in Kaguya's face, covering her goggles. Because Rebecca had been talking to her at the time.
Rebecca immediately sweats, as that was not intended backing up towards a crate of supplies, "Soooo I think we should chalk that up as a worksite accident and - take five? Dean Junior - return." And return he does as she points her portal gun in the distance and fires it, "So how about Much Nachos?"
Rebecca promptly points the portal gun at the crate, and fires it - diving right in, probably starting a fade to black chase sequence.
<Pose Tracker> Shige Kiwako has posed.
Hesitating at the edge of the pit, "I'll.. do perimeter then, but I want someone to get me if they need help digging. I've gotten good at that." Which isn't a horribly grim thing to admit to right after saying she's working for death. Nope.
She does dust herself off and gratefully returns to get her stuff. Still idly scratching and looking annoyed. Reminds her of being out on the ocean again, but that's different somehow.
She keeps the shovel. It's good for whacking things.
She does admit as an aside, "If we are here late night, I can.. stay awake though." She looks back to Avril, adding, "How close to done is this? It's old so rushing's not ideal and... I think I can help." Especially with some camo netting. She has a good reason to be out here. She can even prove her status as a ghoul wrangler! (She probably shouldn't show that particular proof off.)