Time is a river [Mingle]

[spaghettimonster]

Date: mid-July - early-August (assuming nothing goes wrong)
Characters: OPEN

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Beginning in mid-July, the riverside archaeology dig opens to the public. The Mossgate community is invited to come by and join the dig, taking on little plots to excavate - with instruction and supervision by those more experienced.

School groups and family days encourage children to come join in and learn something of history, maybe chancing to dig up old coins or stray bits of pottery. People attending university nearby might recognize Jane Astbury, head of the university and member of the archaeology department, but she doesn't stay to talk.

But most people are talking enough to make up for it. It's an exciting, slightly peculiar find. Stone age hillforts aren't unusual, but this one seems so close to the river that some of the ruins are likely in the river. A few theories go around - maybe the river was smaller back then, maybe the fort was designed in such a way to divert the river's flow, maybe the river once flowed in a different location altogether.

They don't have answers yet, but with your help they might unearth the truth here.

Comments

Russell - OTA

[spaghettimonster]

Russell, for his part, pours his free time into the dig during these weeks.

Archaeology isn't one of his usual major interests, but he has other reasons to be invested. It's an excuse not to go snoop on Mr. Evil's nautical doom fort, for one. It's a strange construction along the river, when the river mouth seems to hold the source of the echo radius...

"Who knows what history lies beneath the bedrock, swallowed by time and sediment..."

And it's a chance to monologue to a new crowd, for the fun of it.

Re: Russell - OTA

[iamnotgod]

That Russell's not coming along to investigate Mr. Evil's fort is noted - and respected, at that.

Still, some matters just more inherently merit teasing.

"Fossilized excrement?"

Balancing 'looking like he's been working' and 'taking a reasonable amount of breaks' has been the biggest challenge at this dig so far, given how his Echoes have improved his constitution, but letting dirt get smeared on him has helped make up the difference.

It's not actually shit, but hopefully the look on his face gets the sentiment across.

[spaghettimonster]

Respect is more than Russell can ask, because it's more than he can necessarily give himself. Evil might just be imitating Saturday morning cartoons, building a fortress with alarming decor, but... the first time he met the man (alien?), it was right by a bomb. Who knows if Evil's succeeded in stealing a few explosives since then? Russell's not sure that his lich-like changes will make him immortal, and he's in no hurry to test it.

"As if anyone would recognize it, after all this time."

A blatantly false statement - loads of people would, especially those more invested in excavation and analysis. But Russell won't, and if it's fossilized it's hardly gross anymore.

He glances sidelong at Walter, freshly takes in the whole ambiance of dirt smears, and has to joke back.

"I don't suppose you've been rolling in some?"

[channingchanningchanning]

You know what kneeling in a ditch destines you for? Having small white dogs jump on your back to find a non-muddy resting spot. This place is a bit gross, really.

So the back of this person here should be a good momentary resting point to survey the area and decide if he wants to stick around at all.

He hasn't even noticed that it's Russell yet.

[spaghettimonster]

One of the things about kneeling in a ditch, slowly and methodically digging to reveal the things within the soil without damaging them... is you get really focused on what you're doing. The world shrinks in to the scraping, checking for new textures, and occasionally pausing to swat at a persistent insect.

You definitely stop expecting anything to jump on top of you.

Oh, there's small children in the area, and sometimes they wander away from their groups. But the ones running around jumping on people come with warning labels - in the form of shrieking.

So when somebody jumps up on him, Russell startles out of surprise - then stiffens his back, keeping himself from sitting up too quickly. He glances for signs of someone coming in search of their runaway pet, then raises his voice a bit.

"Oy, has someone lost a, uh... A dog, I think?"

[warped_replica]

The second day that Benjiro knows Russell will be at the dig over lunch, he shows up midday with a bag from a local restaurant with a meal he knows his cousin is fond of and a drink for himself. Wandering the periphery briefly after parking his motorcycle, he spots Russell and makes his way around the border to the closest point to where his cousin is at work and heads inward to him.

"Hey Russell. Ready to break for lunch?" he asks as he holds up the bag with the drinks in his other hand.

[spaghettimonster]

Russell looks up at the sound of his name, blinking a few times with the mild disorientation of someone who's been at a task a little too long. It takes him a few seconds to notice Benjiro approaching, another to notice the food in hand, and he smiles.

"Oh, now that's thoughtful," he says cheerfully, and starts collecting his tools so they're not a tripping hazard. "What brought this on, is it a special occasion?"

various NPCs, please specify in your subject line whom you want - OTA

[saveournpcs]

Among the people helping with the excavation are some familiar faces.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Helpful is there a fair amount, doing his best to help but needing a lot of guidance because he doesn't actually seem to understand the point of the activity. Just please keep him from digging mindlessly.

Mr Neutral aka a person with a scent familiar to Sam and Chad from the chicken-rabbit-swap can be found a few times as well, helping with the excavation but mostly keeping to himself. He's only there when Mr Helpful isn't.

And Mr Evil makes an appearance or two as well. But unlike the others he doesn't help with the excavation at all. He simply stalks around the area, observes others briefly, and then leaves.

A familiar but much less questionable face is Jane Astbury. She drops by to be present for the start of the community part of the dig, and then once at the end of the month to ask a few randomly selected hobby archaeologists what their experience has been so far. Show some interest, gather some impressions. So people may find themselves approached and asked: "Is this the first time you're participating in a community dig?"

Mr Evil

[dragoonrouge]

The moment Sadie spots the unfortunately familiar view of Mr Evil she swiftly makes her was over to him.

"Excuse me! Please may I speak to you a moment." She waves at him, making it very obvious that it is Mr Evil she wants to talk to.

[saveournpcs]

He stops, and considers her for a long moment, raising one eyebrow slightly. "Yes?"

Mr Neutral!

[iamnotgod]

Walter recognizes the man by sight, not scent - that said, he tries to be discreet.

"Good morning," he greets, then affects a look of puzzlement.

"Thought I'd sent you a call, a while back. Asking if you wanted to meet up for a chat. It wasn't a wrong number, was it?"

That it was quite potentially a pun had been noticed, considered, and subsequently shelved in his mind.

Hard.

[saveournpcs]

"...A call?" He looks rather puzzled at that, he even features marred by surprise. "How did you call me?"

Mr Helpful

[vernal_miss]

While visiting the site with her family, Nel stops digging when she spots a familiar face among the people present. Pointing him out to her mother, she takes her borrowed tools and walks over to stand by where he is working and offer a warm smile.

“Hallo again. Do you remember me?” she asks. She had been present that day the Numbered met him, but she had been quiet to listen.

[saveournpcs]

He puts aside his tool, looks up, and smiles. "I do, I do. Have you come to participate in this community effort as well?"

Jimmy - OTA

[lovedramamoron]

Jimmy had been to his fair share of museums before, but he'd never seen a real archaeology dig for himself before. Not to mention any distraction was a welcome distraction these days.

All things considered, he was more than happy to spend a few days digging out his assigned plot and wandering around the site. Even if it gave him more questions than answers.

"So what is an hillfort?"

[spaghettimonster]

Russell's taking a walking break from digging when Jimmy asks, and he grins the mischievous bright smile of someone bound and determined to be unhelpful.

"Oh, you know. Your classic fort on a hill. The name almost says it all!"

It's an oversimplification for the sake of being funny, but he glances toward the nearby river - the river too near for this to really be called a hill - and shrugs an apology.

"They're from... prehistory, and up into the Middle Ages. They're the early castles, with walls on the tops of slopes, and ditches and moats below. Walls thick enough for ramparts - to stand on, and shoot from if they needed."

Russell knows a good rampart. They're excellent places for ominous conversations in stories. Whether it's for people to survey the land as they talk, for one to stand high while another beseeches entry, or for someone to suddenly betray with a push off the wall... He's built a fair few stage prop recreations in his time.

[catted]

Mary Ann is here with at least one of her kids, so it's a mix of digging and supervising for her. But right now she's taking a break to not wreck her back through too much bad posture. "The kind of castles that they had before they had castles. ...So I guess it's the predecessor of the ruins that are up on the Greens.

Built in a time when access to the river was more important than being able to survey the sea, I guess."

[dragoonrouge]

The hillfort presents an interesting opportunity for Sadie. Firstly, it was a fun opportunity to learn some archaeological techniques and secondly it was a chance to learn about some of the older town history which considering what they now knew about a prior earthquake event. The hillfort could turn up some answers, especially if it was made around the time of that first strange earthquake.

The heatwave is in full force and Sadie's glad for the excuse for her wide-brimmed sunhat as she works with the small trowel and brush given to her by the archaeology department when the familiar thudding disorientation of an Echo hits her.

Lake Silertear. The Crystal Tower. NOAH. Labirynth. Nero. Scylla. Amon. Xande. The empty dead Void. The Cloud. G'raha Tia

After what seems like an age but is barely a handful of seconds Sadie is slammed back into her body just as she watches those great doors close and she wobbles on her feet, the shade of emotions not her own sending tears down her cheeks as she waves off some concerned bystanders, "I-I think it might be the heat, I'll just go and sit down."

[iamnotgod]

Walter is quick to notice, and discreetly makes his own way over once she's in the shade.

Offering a steadying hand, concern plain on his face, he asks, "Another case of deja vu? I know it is the season for the heat, but..."

He shakes his head a little: There's another option we know to consider.

[catted]

"In that case, you should also drink something." Mary Ann grabs a bottle of water, half because she is serious about that and half for cover, and comes over to Sadie to put an arm around her. "Let's take you into some shade, okay?" And to a place with less people so they can talk, is implied. In case it was not actually the sun but something else.

[warped_replica]

Later, around lunch time, Sadie might hear the familiar sound of an engine that belongs to a homemade motorcycle. Benjiro parks a short distance from the site, and gathers the cooler and water to carry as he walks across the distance and along the perimeter of where the volunteers are at work digging.

Wearing his facemask, he visually scans for her hat and familiar figure, and stops as soon as he spots her.

[warped_replica]

Had the site been opened earlier in the summer, Benjiro would have been a constant presence assisting with the excavation. As it stands, he barely comes by the dig. For the first time in a while, Benjiro is not limited by availability of free time to devote. He had resigned from his job at the warehouse a week prior when his unnatural growth spurt started to spread rumors and even a direct verbal confrontation. Between the increasing attention his stature is starting to draw and his new difficulty maintaining appropriate neuromuscular activation for delicate tasks draining his confidence, being in a crowd out in the open is the last thing he wants.

Nevertheless, he is not entirely absent. Knowing his friends and other Numbered are working at the site, he occasionally comes by to deliver lunches, water, and snacks.

Maybe he can be coaxed into staying a little while.

[iamnotgod]

Walter would be one of those doing the coaxing, as well as keeping him up to date on the archaeological site's progress when they met up elsewhere to work on certain other projects.

Not wanting to make Ben the center of attention either (as that would go against the teen's wishes), whenever Walter invited Ben to tag along he'd stick to less-crowded areas, or just areas closer to shelter.

Eventually, though, Walter comes up with a question:

"... Should we try digging in the river?"

There were several reasons not to, of course - the possibility of triggering yet another Echo, most prominently - but if they found something worth unearthing that was related to the Numbers, was it worth risking letting someone else find it and confiscate it, like whatever had been found on the Greens?

Group Dig Thread

[warped_replica]

After discussing a plan at length with Walter, the two friends set to work digging away from the main site at the edge of the river. The work begins at a safe distance to gradually shift the earth forward and upwards as a barrier as they slowly encroach closer to the water and spread out and down towards potential remains. Even hampered by the need to appear normal, the two make enough progress to confirm that part of the fort is present there. In keeping with appearances, they inform the archeological overseers, but a network message is sent out by Walter to other Numbered to request help in further uncovering this particular section of the fort.

With permission from those in charge of the dig, Benjiro rigs up some wooden struts to assist in keeping the shifted dirt up high towards the river as they dig deeper downwards in search of some form of a flooring. As he has done previously, Benjiro brings food along with him for those willing to assist by the river. After a lunch, he steps back down into the space and walks over to check the struts and the dirt, feeling by touch for any leak of water that might be coming through.

"...seems to be holding okay. Still dry."

Re: Group Dig Thread

[iamnotgod]

Walter, for his part, is busy digging.

"It should be, with how tightly we've packed the dirt there. Getting some extra now if we need it."

There was no flooring yet, but it couldn't be much further down.