[RQ] deja vu

// there's shadows on the walls //

Yes, they did just come from The Climb to come all the way back here.

Yes, Danta is a little fed up of being on skyships.

But you know what? This is why they're doing the quest and making the portal to begin with, okay?

And so, armed with tools, satchels and a few sturdy sacks to gather materials from their favourite place in the world, they arrive.

"At least there's a lot of volcanic rock around to collect," Danta reasons with a tilt of his head, shifting the pickaxe on his shoulder as if he's ever done a day's hard labour with it in his life. (He has not).

"You reckon if we find a few other Ancient statues we can just bring those as well?" Like macabre decor in the Hollowed Grounds, right?

---

This is an RQ thread to fulfil the following requirement!

A thread of at least 3 Grounders gathering materials from the The Climb (stone, earth, etc.)

Dantalion

// of moments far too troubling to recall //

// standing, stomping in the damage and the ruins of a slip of tongue //

He will never tire of the warmth of the Climb or the ability to get there via sky ship, even if Danta is exhausted about it. Dressed down to soak up the heat, a nice silk shirt rolled up to his elbows and a good set of pants, Asta has traded his cane for a shovel, held low at his side as they wander and he chuckles at the Maverick. “You have too soft of hands to use the pickaxe that well, darling. I’ll help, though, don’t worry.” Grin turning into a smirk, Asta reaches up to pat the blonde on the shoulder.

As for the statues, he scans and doesn’t come up with much despite the rock and some bits and pieces of metal likely hiding beneath from people back in the day wishing to be heroes.

“The Dusklight could do with more gargoyles.” He muses thoughtfully, planting the shovel down on a particular mound he thinks might be rewarding, ignoring the fact he tried to add to the stone interior design with the stupid ice mages.

Astaroth

// with tragic consequences, i think that we've all made our gravest mistakes //

when I walk in a room, I can still make the whole place shimmer

Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?

With eyes as wide as saucers, Charlie had pointed out each and every possible landmark on their flight over, asking constant questions to anyone within her orbit (and for those who tried to escape it, they'd find her gravity was far stronger than you'd expect from someone her size).

"What, like frozen ancients?!" The blonde wondered, pausing in her efforts with her palms raised and fire blooming out of them. Glancing from Asta to Danta and back again, Charlie's gaze ultimately landed on the man she found to be more reasonable. "But...you wouldn't help them? What if they were like me?" She asked Asta.

Sadly, like a dog's wilting tail, the fire died in Charlie's palms before she looked fretfully over her shoulder as if expecting to see a number of statues reaching out for her to save them.

.

// there's shadows on the walls //

Raising his eyebrows at Asta's comment and sidling up next to him to start pickaxeing about, as the Maverick swings the tool over his shoulder, maybe it clonks against the taller man. Maybe. Who can be sure, really?

"Charlie, nobody is like you," Danta tells her warmly, the pickaxe meeting the crumbly volcanic rock and splintering it into easy-to-transport chunks. "But of course we'd help them - as long as it wasn't anyone who wasn't worth saving." Namely, people from the past who would do more harm than good if they were brought back from statue-land.

Dropping the axe so he might start stacking the stone up and into the sacks they've brought, he raises his eyebrows up at her. "Besides, who's to say someone else won't come and let them out in future?"

Dantalion

// of moments far too troubling to recall //

// standing, stomping in the damage and the ruins of a slip of tongue //

Oh it does hit, clacking against his horns with a sound that reverberates in his brain with a grimace replacing the grin and a sharp glare sent his way. He wants to say ’you know I’m right’ but the fact he doesn’t comment is winning enough for him. At least until he starts shoveling, and if some of the volcanic dirt finds its way into a pile to blot out the rock Danta picks at, well…

Meeting Charlie’s gaze, Asta’s smile returns. “There are some from our time we would gladly leave as a statue.” He informs her, but the sentiment is the same as Danta’s. Inspect first, wake after. It was easier that way.

Shoveling a bit more and coming across a belt piece of a broken sword, Asta reaches to collect it. “It seems not many know how to wake us. But I have informed those that have asked.” He shrugs a shoulder casually.

Astaroth

// with tragic consequences, i think that we've all made our gravest mistakes //

charlie

"Awww!" It could just as easily have been an insult, but choosing to interpret it as a compliment, the blonde daintily raised one shoulder and tucked her chin against it, crinkling her nose appreciatively in the Maverick's direction.

Considering their arguments as if the men were two halves of the same coin, Charlie twitched her lips back and forth as her eyes slid back and forth. "....okay." She decided; for as much as she did genuinely want the best for the ancients as a whole, there were bad apples in every bunch and Charlie, for one, wasn't a fan of putting anything she wasn't sure would bring her pleasure, into her mouth.

"I'm going to shift. I think I can be more help that way." The blonde declares, and though as a fyrhund she's every bit as predatory and deadly as the rest of them, gods but there's still something distinctly Charlie about her just the same. With her tongue lolling from the side of her mouth, the canine barks enthusiastically before tilting her head. Where Danta and Asta might have thought she meant to simply dig, instead she grew still, listening. Barking loudly once again, Charlie darted off in the direction of a very low and ominous rumbling.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// there's shadows on the walls //

Luckily for their resident fiery ball of sunshine, Danta did mean it as a compliment, and it's one that only feels more deserved as she takes their pickiness in stride. Not everyone could be a popular priestess and arrange blood orgies and hunts, after all. And he's sure she probably knew a few dickheads back in her time, too.

Anyway.

Joke's on you, Astaroth, because dirt and rock are all needed for this little event, and so the Maverick happily scoops up all the debris into his sack and hoists it onto his shoulder - again, perhaps maybe almost possibly smacking the other man with it as he goes. It's at that point that their pint-sized life coach becomes a frolicking fyrhund, and Danta watches her dart off for a few seconds before shrugging to Asta and promptly following after her.

Dantalion

// of moments far too troubling to recall //

// standing, stomping in the damage and the ruins of a slip of tongue //

“We do always check, though.” He says, despite the conversation shifting and Astaroth focusing on ruining the hard work Danta does. And jokes on you, Dantalion, because it’s pretty hard to pick up dirt when you’re using a pickaxe, isn’t it? Either way, the two silently fight one another like an old married couple, with the butcher giving pause to flash a grin of approval to Charlie’s fyrhund shift, managing to stand up straight when Danta’s pickaxe is hoisted.

“Looking goo-- Excuse me?!” he’s cut off by the bonk of the edge of the pickaxe against his head, growling a little snarl toward the Maverick for the trouble as he steps away right on time for the blonde to shrug at him and start to follow, hoisting his own shovel on his shoulder and the bag he’s brought with secured in the other. And while they follow her toward the distant rumbling, Astaroth clears his throat and glances over toward Dantalion. “Do you know what she heard?”

Astaroth

// with tragic consequences, i think that we've all made our gravest mistakes //

charlie

What she heard dear boys, was the very-low sound of rocks shifting as the echoes of her bark reached them. With her tail frantically waggling, the canine darted across the rocky mantel where a spill of long-hardened crust had just been waiting for someone to come and give it a reason to collapse.

Barking hard and loud enough that her whole body seemed to jump each time she opened her jaws, Charlie would bark, pause and cock her head, then adjust her position and bark some more. It took only a few moments, likely just long enough for Danta and Asta to get in a few more rounds of silent bickering before the rumble would become audible to their ears as well as hers.

Starting first with a few small rocks falling, the larger slabs and stones beneath came next, tumbling and falling with magnificent force only to smash open when they finally hit the ground. Shard of black and red obsidian sparkled from within some of the shattered rock, as well as flecks of topaz and peridot.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// there's shadows on the walls //

"I dunno, fyrhund stuff?" Danta hazards a guess regarding what Charlie might have heard. If anyone had any idea he'd assume it would be Astaroth, honestly, given that he also has a lava puppy shift.

Still feeling rather smug as he adjusts the sack and the pickaxe on his shoulder, by the time they catch up with their fellow Ancient, she has been hard at work indeed. With widening eyes, Danta watches the rockslide collapse against the craggy ground, revealing dazzling gemstones within.

"Alright, well that beats what we were doing by a country mile," Danta mutters, shaking his head but not seeming at all put out by it. "Good job, Charlie!" he calls, stepping forward to start collecting up chunks of obsidian and peridot.

Dantalion

// of moments far too troubling to recall //

// standing, stomping in the damage and the ruins of a slip of tongue //

“Mm, not sure about that.” Astaroth murmurs, given that he isn’t in his fyrhund shift, he’d have zero idea if it was strictly a hound dog vibe or if it were just the superior hearing. He contemplates shifting too, but doesn’t want to leave the items for Danta to carry, so they wander and bicker as per usual.

At least until they reach the excited fyrhund, Astaroth’s grin brimming in delight to see the jewels and the rockslide. Already stepping toward it while the Maverick praises her, Astaroth works to shovel the gemstones and rock into the bag he’s brought. “Aren't these superb?” He hums, reaching out to collect a shard of ruby that matches Charlie’s horns perfectly, flashing a knowing wink to the fyrhund as he pockets that particular piece.

Astaroth

// with tragic consequences, i think that we've all made our gravest mistakes //

charlie

The effect of their combined praise on the fyrhund is obvious; her tail raises, her eyes seem to brighten, and harmful (to anyone who wasn't an ancient) rivers of lava begin to ooze out of the cracks in the mantel of her body.  It was no surprise to anyone by now that Charlie loved to be helpful, all the more so when the task had to do with their goddess.

However...

Wagging her tail so hard her entire body began to lean back and forth, the fyrhund nosed a piece of black stone towards Asta before shuffling back a few paces with her shoulders lowered. Her blue eyes glittered as they lowered to the chunk of stone, raising up, up, up to the ancient's face, before plummeting back down.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// there's shadows on the walls //

More than happy to let Charlie do Charlie stuff, Danta focuses on picking out the best pieces of rock and gemstone he can find, stuffing them into the sack until it's full enough to heft around without being impossible. And since their rockslide-starter has moved on from abject delight to actively trying to rope Asta into a game of fetch, the Maverick grabs her sack too and begins filling it up.

"I think she wants you to throw it," he tells the butcher, in case he isn't familiar with this particular canine pastime. (Which, he doesn't know, maybe Asta is a killjoy as a fyrhund and doesn't possess those particular instincts).

Dantalion

// of moments far too troubling to recall //

// standing, stomping in the damage and the ruins of a slip of tongue //

They work diligently to fill up their bags, and with it the sudden dark rock nudged toward his boot. Dark eyes focus on Charlie, already knowing what it is she seeks (because admittedly, same, but the mental image of Danta clocking him with a piece of volcanic rock makes him a killjoy. Unless maybe he promises not to in the future…) but for Charlie, the butcher plants the shovel and chuckles, reaching over to grab the rock.

Deciding which direction to launch the rock in, Asta picks one somewhat over her shoulder, figuring that might be the most fun for her as he utters a “do not get any ideas,” to the Maverick as he throws the rock, watching it sail in the air behind Charlie.

Astaroth

// with tragic consequences, i think that we've all made our gravest mistakes //