[ MINGLE ] MINING EXPEDITION

[nonstopnarcissist]

WHO: Tony Stark & Co.
WHERE: North West Mountain Range
WHEN: November 5th - 8th
OPEN TO: Open to all
WARNINGS: Language, canon typical violence

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The Hike Up/Down

After sending a message out the day before to meet him in the fountain park at dawn (daylight is important) Tony packs up. Supplies secured and a path found mostly by working himself up (not that difficult) and following the blue path only he can see (still weird) Tony guides his modest expedition up a winding way over rivers and to a promising stony outcropping at the base of the mountains before needing a moment to 're-calibrate'. AkA get stressed out as to where to head next for optimal ore extraction. It takes a minute but- again, he's got a lot of anxieties to kick into gear and it should be easy enough to nudge their rag tag little group further up until they find the right spot. Making an easy walk down- well. That's also a trick. Finding a quick path back to the village before they lose the light- marking the way they've come so they can find it the next day? Kind of important.


Digging a Hole

Breaking ground is a matter of staring, trying to think back to what little he knows of geology (not fucking much), and waiting for the anxiety to get to the point where it'll hand him something specific. They need ore, they need a good starting location, and once they manage to pinpoint it? Pickaxes are handed out, a nearby cave explored, and Tony strips down to get to work. Crack stone, haul it out, rinse, repeat. Anything usable gets put in sacks made from stolen sheets to be hauled down- not the best system he's got but they're just getting started. Regular breaks are A thing, canteens of water passed around- he's pretty sure there's a stream somewhere that should help with the 'not dying of thirst' issue in the future.


Encounters With Natives

Somewhere on the hike up, during the dig, or taking a rest on one of the craggy boulders surrounding the cave where they're chipping away at stone, signs of native fauna linger. There's a patchy nest looking thing where one can hear the mewling of peakittens, blue eyed, tiny, and abandoned by the looks of it. Loping about the slopes a few curious mountain elk that bound in at the sign of food, keeping a cautious distance but wandering close should anyone appear friendly. Near the woods, though, just as they wind their way up- or make their way back down at the end of the day? Dust Moths have taken to the air, shimmering wings leaving powder in the air.


Environmental Effects

During the hike up in the predawn there's lying mist clinging to the sides of the mountain in thin curls, swirling in the air as they hike through it. Careful not to inhale too deeply, otherwise you might find yourself a little more honest than you'd like for most of the morning, and that could make the rest of the hike pretty damn awkward. In the caves proper there's stone and ore enough- and a dark, black powder that tastes of licorice and ash. Shadow dust. Maybe the next few swings don't do as much damage- or do any at all. Maybe they picking up stone becomes impossible till you're in the light.


In Too Deep

On the second, maybe the third day all their activity and digging catches some aggressive attention. A pickaxe sunk too deep, cracking through a cave wall and finding a den of snarling, hungry cave wolves that spill through the hole all snapping teeth and snarling claws, bursting out of the tunnels to scatter whoever's dared to come close to their home. A tree felled to mark their path startles a giant boar into charging, bellowing in the night, turning tusk and muscle to clear it's own way through their weary line.

Comments

[alittlelonger]

"I'm not afraid of that at all. I'll make sure we both have gloves to wear." It doesn't take much approval from someone for Rinoa to light up, and she looks at the kitten to try and make sure she knows its markings. She'll keep a hand on it going back, just in case, but she wants to make sure she remembers this one. They've already chosen each other, apparently!

"It's very interesting, isn't it? I read there's moths that can make you forget things, and frogs that paralyze you on contact." Rinoa is the type to do the smart thing and read through everything at the inn in her first few days. She doesn't remember everything in it, but she's at a disadvantage already, knowing very little about how to survive on her own. "I know there are others. I wonder if they're native only to this island or if they're from another place too, as stuck as we are."

[succored]

"Really?" Ty wasn't sure if there was a polite way to ask what for, so he didn't, not sure if he was going to like the answer.

"And there's only one way to find out. I'm game if you are." Ty offered up, though his cooking skills were rudimentary at best.

[eaglesonofnone]

Altaïr nodded. "Books, yes," he agreed, "but if they have been already written, they cannot be written on again."

But then...

Then he considered. How were these books made? He had seen some copied where signatures at the end were empty, where some pages were blank. Would it be horrid to go and find these blank pages and use them?

"But there is a possibility. I'll have to go and look at this library. See what I can find."

[eaglesonofnone]

And that sounded... familiar.

"It reminds me of my arrival," he managed, slowly climbing to his feet. He did feel oddly whole while he should have felt battered, bruised - if not with cracked ribs or worse from that fall. It wouldn't have been the first time. Likely wouldn't be the last. "I arrived in the fountain, as most do, but I cannot swim. I was about to drown before I reached the surface. Then, suddenly, I could breathe water."

[eaglesonofnone]

He had no compunctions against answering that. "If the Roman calendar echoes the Christian calendar, I do. It was my ninety-second year: the year 1257. We emptied Masyaf in the face of the Mongol invasion. I sent my son away."

[eaglesonofnone]

The shimmering, the fact that she was-- disappearing...

It gripped his heart and he tried, again, to touch her. To grip her shoulder, both shoulders, something, and here, it seemed there was more resistance. She was more there, and that gave a bit of relief - somehow. Except how could this be prevented? How could this be helped?

"You are more tangible here than you were inside the cave," he murmured, anxiety roughening his voice. "Which means it is either-- No, it cannot be distance, as you said whatever this was, you took it in." So what else changed? He had to think, had to deduce. And the main change he thought of was, "Light. Could it be the light changing this now?"

[to_defend]

Even if he never asks, he's bound to see it in action eventually. Getting the skin and gore off is going to be a challenge for her, though, and making a stew would be a good excuse to get some help indirectly.

“Yeah, once we get back and settled I'll let you know!”

[cryptoherpetology]

Alex makes no attempt to hide his shock and amazement- since he can't. "That's- wow, that's long, long before my time," he says, stumbling over his words a bit. "It was 2015 where they took me from. Or when.

And then he starts matching up what he knows of the history of his world- more specifically, the cryptid part of it. He thinks back to the Covenant purges he knows about around the time of the Crusades- which, honestly, it's hard to tell because they overlapped a lot in those days.

"Unless you had a bit of a chimera overpopulation that was summarily wiped out by fanatics within a decade or two of your last memory of home, I doubt I'm from your world's future."

[to_defend]

"We used to write on them. There were blank pages sometimes, or large spaces in between chapters and the like."

Helps that the open spaces were bigger when the page is as tall as you are.

"Granted we didn't write much, but 6 made good use of them for his drawings."

[nonstopnarcissist]

"BULL!" Best close range fighter he could think of that had an actual weapon on hand- the only one he could really call for as he stumbles against a wall-

Only to phase through it. Something in all the dust that got kicked up throughout the day, something's covered him from head to toe and gotten in his lungs- the pickaxe dropped from his fingers awhile ago, leaving him drifting in solid fucking stone.

Which is.

Terrifying.

[nonstopnarcissist]

That's a semi-familiar look. One Tony knows well enough not to draw attention to- shared wine and woes aside, they're hardly close enough to start discussing vulnerable moments with each other. So he focuses instead on the kitten, the thrumming contentment soaking into his skin, banishing anxiety and frustration and guilt from his former profession all in one adorable purr. "Play the narrative. Being the smartest man in the room helps with that."

For him or, well. For Dorian and Bull. They seem more than savvy enough to pull that particular gambit if pressed.

"Mm? I designed weapons. A little more advanced than the axe I made Bull things like guns- do you have guns? Um. Cannons. Do you have gunpowder? Explosives, drones, mortars, missiles. Long range munitions, smart weapons that wouldn't require soldiers to stand in the line of fire when they were used, shit like that. Kind of the family business. Stark weapons were the best, the most reliable, the most lethal, and the most reasonably priced. So." Merchant of Death.

[eaglesonofnone]

"So I have seen. I've spoken with Tony who claimed it as 2018 and I first grew hopeful, but I've since seen that what I was shown did not match with what he told me." But after he said it, his brows drew down. What he was shown. He should have thought before phrasing it that way. He shouldn't have said that at all, though he supposed it was safe enough with this man being from a different reality.

Still, he didn't like what this meant. How was it the words had slipped past before he could think?

[eaglesonofnone]

"I had just considered that some books do have blank pages. If that holds true, perhaps I would have my source of paper, though I am loathe to deface a book. Where I am from, though I wrote often and much, the books to write in were expensive. They were my one luxury." The Brotherhood had insisted on giving him fine robes, and he'd been grateful for their warmth, but the only thing he had asked for, for himself, was access to blank books. And that, besides his family, was what he missed.

[to_defend]

"There were more than we were ever going to able to read. 3 and 4 were the only ones that took any interest in them as they were."

Sounded like books - and paper - were really important in his world. She'd have to take a look through the library here, see if she could find anything to help.

[eaglesonofnone]

"Knowledge..." How to say it. He exhaled before beginning to string together words in a way that he was content with. "There is a verse from the Christian religion. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.. I have found it to be true, and yet, inevitable. Knowledge is the one thing that can grant someone versatility. You must know the world to react to it. And yet, the more you learn, the more you see what things are wrong, what things must be fixed, what things people will resist when you push their change.

"And yet, it must be done, if the world is to be made better."

[to_defend]

She thinks on for several long moments as they continue the trek. She'd already seen the truth of it, an already broken world revealed to have been undone by the people themselves.

"I guess I can see the sense in that. I've already seen evidence of it. But do you think one person can male a difference like that?"

[eaglesonofnone]

That got a bit of a smile as he looked over. "One person is a beginning. A pebble that starts a rockslide. We lead by example. If we show kindness, we show others it can be given. If we prove an open mind, others will see that opinions can be changed. To simply say it does nothing. To act it, to prove it: that will begin the change."

[to_defend]

She smiles. She likes these ideas, she's already been living some of them; action over inaction, and the idea of showing kindess and curiosity, that was the kind of world she wanted.

And didn't 2 and 5 eventually find their way out of 1's grasp, whether just by her, or by following 9, they'd come out? Just as she'd hoped, if even just for a little bit? Further evidence that what Altaïr is stalking about isn't just placating words.

"Does it ever go wrong? Do people ... watch and mimic the wrong things?"

[eaglesonofnone]

"It can." Which was not as much of an admission as some might have thought. There was nothing to gain by hiding the truth. "They see kindness and think it to be weakness. They see generosity and think they only stand to gain. Some see us lead and think we hold power - but we must show them, carefully, that what we do is give others the power to choose for themselves. We cannot guide their choices. We can only provide them the best information we can to make those choices on their own."

[to_defend]

"I think I see it a lot more here than where I came from. The hu- the others, they were at war; with each other, and then with the Machines they build to fight other people. I didn't expect people to be so nice but here, I see it."

She liked her little group of dolls, very nearly all of them, but the humans she'd seen - what little she knew of them before they all died out - hadn't exactly been a glowing endorsement.

[eaglesonofnone]

And he nodded his approval at her conclusion, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder - yes, she understood. "Unfortunately," he said, "many people seek power for the sake of having it. They want to rule over others, convinced that their way is the only way. They believe themselves stronger, smarter, better - more suited to tell others what to do. And while people do often need leadership, they should never become mindless, following another's rules without a thought of their own."

[to_defend]

That little touch of confirmation - it's the kind of small motion that she'd get at home, from 5, or 2, and it's encouraging. She smiles, she nods acknowledgement, and reaches up to grip his arm in return. "I knew someone like that."

But now he's got her thinking about her the situation here, and so far she hadn't really met anyone that was necessarily 'in charge'.

"Is there a leader here?"

[eaglesonofnone]

"Not that I have seen. Some suggest Tony. Others suggest someone named Mark. That I've been recommended two tells me that neither is 'in charge' as anyone might count. I have been, in the past, a leader of a village. I am afraid I am asserting myself where I am not welcome - but I remain unsure." He was beginning to think that the village might need a leader in truth. Someone to guide, but not to order. And he knew how to fill that need.

[to_defend]

"I know Tony, he seems nice. I couldn't say about Mark." She tilts her head at Altaïr. "I wouldn't mind having you as a leader. You've got some very good ideas." It's no small gesture when 7 trusts someone, especially in a place like this.

[eaglesonofnone]

A soft chuckle and he answered with, "Thank you. I have had a very long time to think about it all." Longer than it looked, he knew.