revivalproject | March Catch-All

Entry tags:

March Catch-All | Network/Action

WHO: Dustin, Barrys, various people
WHERE: Network, Sh'Ka, Temba, all over the place
WHAT: Dustin discovers some stuff and complains about it. Also, he's building things again.
WHEN: Through the first half of March
WARNINGS: Dustin. Will add as needed.

1. Network | Video/Text | OTA

[It's nearly impossible for Dustin to think of a situation where broadcasting his location, live, over an Agrii-monitored network, could possibly be a good idea. Nearly impossible. But this planet is always full of surprises.]

[This is one of them. The camera cuts on to show Sh'Ka's iconic palace - or where it should be, based on the unusually large patch of short grass growing here amidst the massive trees. What remains instead is a giant pile of rubble. The camera pans around it for about thirty seconds, in complete silence, to show the scale of the destruction before shutting off.]

[Captioning it, in Dustin's characteristic pithiness: ]

What the fuck happened here?

2. Sh'Ka | Closed for Barrys

The Palace had been an incidental observation on his way to a greater project - something that Dustin has had in the works since last fall, actually, and was forced to put on hold when the winter's snows kept him isolated to Temba. Barry intel.

The 'hive' of Barrys he's been focusing on seems to be an especially active one that lives in the walls of Sh'Ka's Agriculture Building, and Dustin is pleased to note that the colony's drones are still alive and stomping around after Agra-10's deep freeze. His offerings today are perhaps lackluster compared to the ones he's left in the past, but unfortunately he has to make due with the small winter and early spring berries he's scavenged on the way here, with a handful of dried summer fruits to supplement. The small pile is left next to a trail Dustin has observed the workers frequently using.

Then there's nothing else to do but sit back several feet away, crouched in the shade of a young fruit tree, and wait.

3a. Workshopping | Closed to Donatello

The lack of snow and warming temperatures mean that Dustin isn't nearly so restricted in where he goes and what he gets done, but that hardly means he's avoiding his typical haunts. If anything, his workshop requires special attention right now; his telescope motor needs to be finished and installed when the nights are still cool and clear, while still avoiding patches of ice or snowmelt mud that could hinder its transport. That window is rapidly approaching and won't stay open for long.

It's one of those days of harried work, when he's spent hours fiddling with the code on his tablet, napped, snacked, then coded a bit more, losing track of what time of day it is save the little streaks of daylight streaming in through the boarded-up windows of his shop, when Dustin gets a single knock on his door. He straightens abruptly from his shrimp-like hunch over his communicator and waits.

Three seconds later, there are two more knocks.

Ah. Dustin hops out of the chair behind his workbench - what used to be a checkout counter - and strides to the door. "I hear you," he announces, loud enough to carry through the thick masonry walls. "Gimmie a sec to unlock the door."

A few extra manual locks have been added since midwinter. There's a series of at least five clicks, scrapes, and pops, then the door cracks open and Dustin peeks around to make sure it's Donatello on the other side.

3b. Demolition | Closed to Link

Finally, finally, the motor is complete. That just leaves the part Dustin had been dreading the most: Getting this fucking massive thing installed back in the stadium light he took it from. Getting it out and into his shop last year had been a production in itself, which is a lot of the reason why he'd been anxious about repeating the process in reverse. At least then he didn't have to worry about breaking it in transport last time - the thing already didn't work. But now it's got all kinds of delicate bits on it for precision lens movement and rotation, and Dustin's spent a lot of time on the initial calibrations while pairing it to the tracking program he wrote on his tablet.

He could have moved it again on his own, yes. Though the more he thinks about that process now, the more he's thankful for Link's offer to help instead.

Link will get that call in the early morning, about an hour before dawn, in the form of a picture of Temba's map sent to his personal inbox. The intersection between buildings Orange 8 and 9 has been circled in bright red. This, rather than his workshop proper, is where Dustin waits for Link to meet him, leaned against the rubble of Orange 8's walls and shivering against the lingering evening chill.

3c. Construction | Amphitheater | OTA

Once he and Link have extricated the motor from his workshop, rolled it to the Amphitheater, and reset it in the modified spotlight housing he left behind last fall, that just leaves getting the newly-minted telescope working again. Dustin spends the next week more or less living here to get this done. A decent chunk of that time is spent just cleaning up the old observation room he stayed in last year, and scrubbing the rust and debris off of the spotlight after three months of neglect.

Then, testing. Hours upon hours of testing. Some of this Dustin can do during the day, where he calibrates the motor and lenses by sighting in distant objects at the edges of Temba, but a lot of it has to wait for nightfall. Then he can start combining his mental star maps with his makeshift tracking software to have the telescope follow stars across the sky. This is a more passive process, where he sits back, takes measurements of the telescope's current position, checks the sighting scope and compares it to the observation piece, sometimes makes adjustments to one or both, then breaks to scarf down some dried Baconroom and wait for another thirty minutes in silence. It might seem like tedious work, but the entire time Dustin is practically vibrating with excitement, even if someone unexpected shows up in his workspace. Eight Agra-10 months of planning and naked-eye observation are finally paying off.

5. Spores | Various Locations | OTA

Dustin's final task for spring is one that happens between all the rest, generally when he's going from one location to another. The shortest path is always the preferred one, of course, but this month he's been going out of his way to take odd routes, circling areas that people don't frequent often, where he spots new plant growth starting to sprout with the warming temperatures. And where he goes, Dustin carries a jar with a sieved lid, filled with a powdery, partially aerosolized red substance. He pauses periodically to tap the jar over these islands of greenery, makes sure that a fine mist coats wherever he stops, and then, apparently satisfied with his work, continues on his way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Perhaps he was too forward? Dustin resists the temptation to pull his hand back; if their more aggressive reaction had been towards sudden movements, then retreating is just going to make them warier. Those little thorns probably won't kill him, but being pincushioned by them is also a deeply undesirable outcome.

Thankfully, the answer he gets is workable. Dustin lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

[Ancient history,] his fingers tap back. The Barry language is much easier to formulate than the Funfrond one, which is a pleasant change of pace, but it requires some careful spacing and percussiveness of stomps that demands a lot of brainpower to moderate, at least until his muscle memory kicks in. His words are, therefore, a bit slow and halting at first while he gets the hang of things. [I have many questions about it. Was sent by the...mushroom hive? Translation debatable.]

Again there is quiet and some consideration before the Barry raps back an answer.

[Frond-brothers. Send you for history. We keep better history. Tell history instead of draw. What history do you want?]

At least they know what he's talking about. Dustin nods, even though he's not sure the Barrys will recognize the gesture.

[Frond-brothers, understood.] He ponders for a moment, mouth twisting into a small frown. Where to even begin? Probably with the most pressing issue, then work from there. [The storms. Frond-brothers call them 'Wrong Storms?' Do you have knowledge of how they started?]

The Barry looks at Dustin and then turns its back to tap a quick conversation to other warrior Barrys. While it is followable (and clearly a debate as to how to address this question), it was often polite to not pay attention when one is turned away. At last the one speaking turns back.

[You must see Queen. Need special offering.]

Dustin's eyebrows arc - manners are very far down his priority list, so he tries to drink in as much of that diverted conversation as possible just out of habit - then arc even higher once he gets an actual answer. The Queen, already? Must be important.

There's barely any hesitation. [What kind of special offering is the Queen expecting?]

The Barrys already seem to have an answer for this already, and the warrior that had become speaker gestures for the human to follow. At a reasonable distance of course. It's current direction is clear: into the greenhouse.

Dustin hesitates, but only for a moment. He's headed into the Barrys' territory now. It feels different than when he went looking for the Funfrond's colony in Temba; he knew there were many of them, obviously, but they had seemed so much less...structured. Official. Part of him feels like he's being lead off to be sentenced for a crime, escorted by armed officers, and thus instigated that same part of him starts to tumble into more drastic paranoid delusions. Could this be a trap? Is he at all prepared for this possibility? Even if it isn't, will the Queen expect him to have the correct offering prepared? He did bring a few extra dried fruits as potential bribes, but nothing too outlandish...

Stop it. Dustin gives a single shake of his head to dislodge the errant thoughts from his brain. This isn't realistic or productive. If shit goes south, you can outrun these things, your legs are dozens of times longer than theirs are. Keep it together.

With his mind made up, Dustin stands to follow the warrior. He's suddenly very cautious about his footfalls - not only because he doesn't want to accidentally crush one of the hive buzzing around underfoot, but also because he's now tuned to the Barrys' language, making him keenly aware that every comparatively massive footstep could be interpreted as aggression or alarm. It would be wise to tread carefully, both figuratively and literally.

The little creatures, given sufficient cause for quick motion, can cover quite a bit of ground in so very little time. The Barry rushes off, perhaps trying to respect that greater stride of the giant following them. When it reaches the greenhouse it disappears under some bushes near the entrance, and truly sharp ears might hear the soft groan of metal. Perhaps they had installed a door?

Once inside it comes out from under more greenery and waits for Dustin, before continuing to guide him, right over to a staircase. The Barry seems unbothered by this as well, once more going to the edge and soon sinking its thorn into the space at the bottom of the metal base for the handrail. This it manages to pull open, revealing that a little door had been crafted, and inside of the metal runner there's another set of stairs, Barry sized.

[Go up to first landing. Will meet you]

At this point Dustin can't be surprised by the presence of advanced architecture in these tiny fruit-people's tunnels; after discovering the level of technology utilized by the Funfronds, and getting confirmation from their elders that the Barrys have been around for just as long as they have, he honestly would have been more surprised if they hadn't been in a similar state. It will be interesting to see how the two species have diverged in their development, though, based on their unique needs and cultures.

These are more idle ponderings, of course. Dustin lets his eyes wander at the sides of the stairwell to check for more signs of Barry influence, though he still diligently but cautiously following his escort's instructions. It's not a far walk for him, but it must be...what, three? Four flights of stairs comparatively for the Barry? He's expecting to have to wait for it once he makes it to the landing.

There isn't a lot of sign of Barry influence on the stairwell as he walks it of course. There would be little to no need for the little creatures to come out on stair treads. But he'll arrive early enough on the landing that he might with enough focus pick out the faint lines that look like scratches and soon open up to reveal the door the Barry Warrior steps from. From there it marches quickly toward the access to this level, slipping through what proves to be another door in the wood framing it.

Maybe the Barrys didn't build these structures, but they sure adapted them to their needs.

[Come Come,] the Barry says, quickly leading Dustin on the paths amid the trees of this level. Finally it came to a stop before a very tall tree with a trunk that was a lot smoother than those nearby. High in the branches it already bore what looked like very ripe and beautiful fruits shaped like small tear drops and colored like honey. The lower fruits had a pale golden color, and the higher up in the branches the fruit were, the deeper and richer their color, running the whole gamut of colors Earth honey could take. The Barry pointed up toward them.

[Hardest tree to harvest. Very smooth, hard bark makes spike-climbing difficult for Workers. Spend many days and nights making rigs to assist, not ready yet. Must be woven new from vines every year. Best to bring down three fruit. This is a sufficient gift.]

And, perhaps, not so hard of one for Dustin as it would be for the Barrys to achieve. After all, the thing's trunk was actually rather slender, enough that even Dustin might be able to get his arms around the whole thing near the base. The lowest branches were just a little out of reach though. Clearly this would take some problem solving.

[The higher fruits are darker, sweeter, better. Better answers for better fruit.]

Edited 2023-03-22 15:12 (UTC)

Dustin hurries along. At this point part of his attention goes towards inspecting the local flora; he's only passively investigated the different levels of the greenhouses in both cities, but has left more dedicated documentation of the assorted plants to people with the Agriculture expertise. This tree that they eventually stop at, however, is something entirely new.

Golden fruits...kind of look like pears? Dustin's eyes flicker for a moment, sifting through his memories of the network's 'Dictionary,' but he comes up blank. How long has this been here? Obviously long enough if the Barrys are familiar with it. He makes a circle around the trunk, looking it over from all angles, while at the same time keeping an ear out for the Barry warrior's tapping so he can listen to its request.

It's simple enough. Dustin pauses to ponder his options. He's hardly an outdoorsman, so has never personally had to puzzle how to pick ripe fruits from a tall tree before, but he's read about techniques to do this and none of them require an especially over-engineered response. The tree doesn't look thin or supple enough for him to shake from the base, nor is it large enough for him to feel comfortable trying to shimmy his way up the branches. Instead, he takes a minute - tapping with his foot a request to the Barry to wait for him - to search for a decently-sized stick shed from any of the many surrounding fruit trees in Sh'Ka's Agriculture center, then brings it back and uses it to bat around the thinner branches higher in the tree. Hopefully the fruits there are ripe enough that they'll fall off on their own with sufficient prodding.

The Barry, who had been about to leave Dustin to his task, expecting the Gifter to figure it out and then bring the offering to the usual place, was definitely given pause by the request to stay. So it sat itself down, thorn-sword at its side, as it waited and watched.

Unfortunately for Dustin, his attempt seemed fruitless. The prodding and batting wasn't causing any of the fruit to fall.

Well, damn - looks like he'll have to engineer an answer to this after all. Dustin scowls briefly at the stick in his hand before shoving it into the edge of his satchel, then he crouches down to the patient Barry nearby. He could tap a response with his feet again, but he doesn't trust his ability to communicate finer points with his toes over his fingers.

[Will return. Have a better solution.]

[I should wait?]

Because maybe it should, but really, does it have to? There are other things they should be doing.

Dustin is bad enough at reading social cues when it comes to humanoids; trying to discern the Barry's impatience is, therefore, totally out of the question. Thankfully for the little soldier, he's also very preoccupied with his task and doesn't actually care if someone is around to supervise his progress.

[You don't have to,] he taps with an impulsive shrug of his shoulders (and also his fingers, somehow). [Won't take long. Before sunset, at the latest.]

Well that made more sense. Taking a while would be reasonable. It took them days.

[Bring to place gifts have been given. Will have watchers waiting for you.]

Dustin taps a curt acknowledgement of these instructions, but doesn't waste any more time on pleasantries or other such unnecessary drivel; he promptly stands, verifies that nothing has fallen out of his satchel or pockets while poking around the trees, and then walks quickly away from the Agriculture center.

The idea Dustin has for a more appropriate tool isn't complicate enough to warrant returning to his shop in Temba, thankfully, so there's no need to catch the train or flag down Echo for a shuttle. He already has plenty of basic tools packed in his bag, he knows where the best locations for scrap are in Sh'Ka, and an image in his head for what pieces he needs from them. The longest part of the whole process, then, is just travel and construction, taking the better part of a couple hours and interrupted by a snack and nap break between them.

Dustin arrives back in the Agriculture center right as the sky is starting to redden at sunset, as promised, except now the stick used as a bludgeoning instrument earlier has been modified with various bits of rope, levers, and salvaged metal clamps in order to act as a makeshift fruit picker - or rather, the stick is now bracing two pieces of metal pipe drilled into it, since his spot welder is a little too big to move cities with him, but the concept still works well enough. The contraption easily adds another four feet to his extended arm and has a decent grip to it. Hopefully this is enough to pluck one of those ripe, golden fruits off of the higher branches of this tree.

Indeed, his contraption would be well suited to collecting the higher fruits. The first he would try to grab would sadly rupture, bursting into golden goo. But repeated attempts would lead to the proper delicate touch to collect a number of the riper golden fruits.

So the first attempt ends in disaster and some of the fruit goop clinging to his shoulders and hair (which he anticipates will be an absolute bastard to wash out later), but Dustin's abilities are at least good for helping him quickly learn from his mistakes. Soon enough he's collected his bounty: Three ripe, golden fruits for an offering, an additional one intentionally burst into a glass flask and stoppered for later analysis, and a less-ripe fruit tucked into his satchel to see how it behaves off of the tree. The makeshift fruit picker is threaded through the loops of the bag's strap for easy transport, then Dustin collects his haul and makes his way back to the predetermined Barry meeting location, a little stickier than desired, but triumphant.

Most of the Barrys were gone by then, Dustin's offering gathered and taken away. Only a few warriors remain, talking with quick stamps of feet and taps of thorns as they wait. The one who had set Dustin to the task turns to the Gifter as he approaches.

[Did you manage?]

Dustin pauses to gently tap out his answer with the tip of his shoe. [See for yourself.]

Then he kneels down, one-by-one picking up a golden fruit from the sling created from his outer sweater layer and depositing it on the ground. He tries to wipe his hands off on his jacket before trying to communicate again, but that only makes them tackier, so he gives up and just accepts that he'll have dirt stuck to his fingertips until he can shower in the shuttle later this evening.

[Can get more,] Dustin elaborates. [Have a tool now, not difficult. Might be able to make something similar that your people can use, too.]

Indeed he had managed, and for a while there was a looking around amid the warriors. It was not normally their task to carry things back to the colony, and this was a silent power struggle. At last a small collection of them gathered the fruit and started off, leaving behind the one that had been speaking to Dustin and the smallest of the Warriors.

[Come now to speak to the Queen,] stomped the one that had been dealing with the Gifter until now.

[If you can make a tool for us, the Queen will like that more,] the smaller said with quick steps before starting forward with the first speaker. Clearly Dustin was getting an honor guard now.

[Adding it to my list,] Dustin taps, before using his talking hand to push himself back off the ground so he can follow. This is, from his perspective, hardly a priority - the fruits appear to be some kind of luxury good rather than a necessity, and he's got plenty of other, more critical projects to work on instead - but it's not an idle promise either. Plans for a sort of lift-and-pulley contraption that can be remotely operated without marring the tree itself are already churning through his head, keeping his attention split as he carefully trails after the two Barrys.

What list that was they didn't know, and they really didn't care. Instead they focused on their walk, which led them and Dustin to an area between the greenhouse and the distant estate. In time the Barrys came to a stop by one of the buildings and most of them disappeared through a hole in the wall.

[We made walls secure against many things. We will bring Queen to you. Wait.]

Dustin makes a mental note of their location before he settles into a kneel on the ground, with the apparent intent of waiting for the Queen to come to him. It might save some time to come here directly when he next needs to speak with them - and he's sure he will - but he can't be certain that the Queen actually lives in the walls of this specific building, or if it's just a protected corridor to somewhere even more secure. The chances of him figuring that out without provoking suspicion, retaliation, or both are slim.

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