Paved Roads Quest Catch-all! | OTA

[dripdrive]

Who: Emporio, You and maybe even some asshole ostrich (Anasui)
What: Paved Roads quest
When: Throughout May
Where: The city streets further towards the forest.
Warnings: Anasui being Anasui.

For a while, Heliolisk has been in charge of expanding the city streets further towards the forest, making transport of goods and services easier and overall expanding Bottlecap Bay. The project had been slow going but progressing well until about two months ago, when Heliolisk noticed that some of the streets have somehow diminished in length. The reason why remains unknown. Perhaps it was a quirk of the forest that the guilds didn't understand - 'Maybe the forest doesn't want to be expanded into?' - but that didn't explain why some of the roads closer to town were also disassembled, making patches in the road. Many other Pokemon also pointed out there are a number of cobblestone towers alongside the path wherever these patches are, obviously sourced from the road itself!

The mystery of why the roads are shortening is largely left to speculation in favour of actually solving the problem. Hence why the quest has appeared on the quest board again, this time from Polteageist: they need reliable Pokemon to help clear the roads of debris, flatten the dirt where it needs to be flattened and place the cobblestone back.

There are many roads to be fixed and you'll likely find Pokemon already there, regardless if you're doing a patch job or going all the way to the forest's edge to re-expand the paths. One of those Pokemon is a large Espathra, who only casts a half-glance at you before going back to what he was doing. He seems to be placing cobblestone in a very particular way...

...and according to the Cubone rounding up as many as possible for the job, that's entirely typical. He can't be sure if it's something he specifically did in their own world, mind you, but he's pretty sure he would have if possible. Emporio notably seems more concerned with just gathering stones to be available for Anasui to place. Perhaps it's a strength thing. Perhaps not? He's absolutely doing his part, but occasionally he'll watch someone else putting their stones down and then glance in Anasui's direction before wincing. As if he knows something.

And maybe he does, because after a good bit of work with their own team, Emporio will jump.

"...Anasui's gone!"

...It's probably fine, right? Best to just focus on your own work.

Although... if you are placing cobblestone down, you may notice Anasui behind you, pulling up the stones you JUST placed and swapping their places. What is up with that???

[[OOC - To account for how many are involved in Anasui and Emporio's team for Paved Roads, and the fact that the Mods saw fit to refer to him in the quest response over all, this is a thread-jack friendly open log! Specify if you want Anasui or Emporio most of all, but otherwise, there's no holds barred here. That said, if you do not want threadjacks, please note this in your tag in. That way it doesn't get too unwieldy for you.]]

Comments

[seacub]

"If he's their problem, it's going to become our problem I'm pretty sure though... ...he's probably undoing all their work as we speak..."

He is correct, oh well.

Emporio groans, but understandably, there's not a whole lot they can do right now. "...I'm a little leery of trying to place any stones myself until he's back too, for the same reason..."

There's just something disheartening about that...

[telewarped]

Right; they're all technically a team, even if Anasui decided to go off on his own. Ugh.

"Well, what do you wanna do about it? Put a leash on the guy?"

[seacub]

"No...that probably won't work..."

The cubone sighs. "I think we should probably at least figure out where he went I guess..? Maybe we can convince him back by telling him the ground is ready for stones here..."

[telewarped]

With a roll of her eyes, Shoka grumbles, "Fine."

She's probably been Wood Hammer-ing for too long, anyway; the recoil aches, making the edges of her shadowy form subtly jitter as she returns her tail-stick to its usual position.

"What's his deal anyway? You two knew each other before all this, right?"

Has he done anything like this before? is the unsaid.

[seacub]

A quiet 'thank you' goes without saying- and anyway Shoka might actually be interested in the tea here. "Well...it's hard to say about the roads, because he didn't really have that chance? I mean...how often does anyone see cobblestone, right?"

And also you know, prison, but.

"...But he compulsively dismantles things. Like my piano, once. Weather stared at him until he put it back together so that we could get some sleep."

[telewarped]

"... Huh."

A whole piano? Emporio had one of those? Who's Weather?

"And whose bright idea was it to invite the compulsive dismantler on this quest?"

[seacub]

"His."

Fair, that.

"He said something about knowing the best way to put it together... ...and I mean, he's not wrong..?"

He knows Shoka. He knows.

[telewarped]

"Ugh." Of course it was. "Well, if that's the case, then all we've gotta do is tell everyone to hold off on actually placing their stones until everything else is done, right? Then we can let the guy loose to have his fun. Easy enough."

Even if it is a little out of their way... and also a little too late for some of the other teams.

"That, or I guess we could get him something else to take apart instead. Keep him occupied." Sometimes a grown-ass ex-convict can also be literally an iPad baby. "... Not that I've got anything like that on me."

[dripdrive]

"Less fun, more doing the job properly. The engineers started well enough on the road and I'm ensuring they stick to the plan." Oh shit, guess who decided to show up. Anasui reaches over Emporio and sifts through the pile of stones carefully.

"Maybe if you can convince the Grumpigs to let me take apart one of their pearls. They nagged at me for an hour when I tried before."

[seacub]

oh god speak of the devil-

"...You're still trying to take apart the pearl..?"

This is what he's working with Shoka. This is what he's working with.

The pearl is truly the iPad of the pokemon world.

But Anasui does bring a good point, at least in regard to Emporio's conscience. So- "...Well...what kind of thing would you have fun taking apart, you think? It doesn't seem like there's a lot of complicated machinery here, and I remember you mentioning you took apart someone's Porsche once."

So like, they have very few options, which is just a tragedy.

[telewarped]

"Geez—!" How did a bird that big manage to sneak up on her like that?! Less fun, more doing the job properly, he says. Shoka scoffs. "Rest assured, this is basically the complete opposite of fun for me."

She was perfectly happy Wood Hammering away at obstacles and waiting for the recoil damage to take her out, honestly!

In any case, she lets Emporio do his questioning (while inwardly wondering to herself how their bizarro group got their hands on a helicopter, a piano, and a Porsche) before tacking one of her own on at the end:

"What fun would taking a Grumpearl apart be anyway? It only has one part, right?"

It's... a pearl. Isn't it?

[dripdrive]

Anasui is incredibly quiet. He's used to blending in the background, despite his bright appearance.

"There's not a lot here to disassemble. I suppose the archives could be interesting enough, I can reorganise it as I read through everything," Anasui says simply. "But asides from that, the Grumpig pearls are the only things I haven't tried to disassemble yet. They're... Interesting enough. I can't tell if they're true pearls but if they are then it could be argonite allowing for psychic channeling. Otherwise, it has to be the conchiolin. I could figure it out if I could get my... claws on vinegar. And another pearl, of course."

He's been busy these last two months! He's disassembled stalls, the bridge in the Canopy, the paved roads they see here... Got to find something new!

[seacub]

This is how it goes, Shoka. He just appears, despite being stupid big compared to them all. Emporio tilts his head though, as he listens about the pearls. This is definitely something Anasui has thought about.

Probably, it's a good thing he didn't offer up his pearl for dissection.

(Please don't reorganize the archives.)

"Vinegar can be made by fermenting most things, can't it?"

(He will encourage the pearl over the archives.)

[telewarped]

"Oh, so you wanna take apart a Grumpearl but you're not willing to sacrifice your own? Do you even really want it that bad?"

Either way, she has no idea what conchiolin is and also doesn't know how to make vinegar... so she just shrugs.

[dripdrive]

Fermenting his own vinegar... Sounds tedious but it's not like he has anything better to do...

"I am serious. But when I started doing it, I was stopped." Anasui shoots a meaningful glance at Emporio before he turns back at Shoka. "I'm going to try again once I have my claws on materials."

Speaking of materials, he picks out a stone that he likes and takes it away. And just like that. In and out.

[seacub]

"It's your only method of communicating long distance here!! What if something happened and you didn't have a pearl!"

He was justified! He was justified!!

...And ahhhh there he goes... "Really it's for everyone's benefit if he uses a spare..."

[telewarped]

Shoka glances between Anasui and Emporio, then snorts.

"You do you, I guess. If you come after my Grumpearl though, I reserve the right to roast you over a spit."

So he better find a spare!

"Anyways, Sui... We were just looking for you to let you know that the ground's ready for stones back thataway." She points back the way she and Emporio came with her thumb. "So go do your thing, or whatever."

[dripdrive]

"Then I'll have to deal with it myself." Obviously, Emporio. But the kid does have a point, hence why Anasui needs a second pearl.

... Sui?

"I'll find a spare, one way or another." Anasui shrugs as best as he can with his wings. But he's confident he won't need more than one, despite everyone else's assumptions. He's good at what he does.

He pauses though and looks at Shoka with a frown. Sui?

...

Whatever. He'll pick up his choice stones and wander off.

[telewarped]

"... What?"

Shoka looks back at Anasui blankly (as she always does). Really, he should be grateful that she didn't call him by the full nickname she has for him in her head: Suisui.

As he wanders off, she trails after him, apparently intent on observing—though not before glancing back at Emporio as if to say, Mission accomplished: bird wrangled. Satisfied?

[seacub]

Emporio...watches that exchange with no small amount of bemusement. Blinking slowly as the espartha moves to wander away- fortunately within his line of sight, bird wrangled indeed, he looks back to Shoka.

"....I think that's the first time someone's given him a nickname."

He pauses, and thinks about it. "Er...well. Probably the first anyone's used his last name for it at least. But either way."

Ah, there's a sound hidden in there. A muffled, vibrating sound.

Emporio has been trying not to laugh since the espartha took his rocks to leave.