(no subject)

[crosslaced]

Who: Laurent, Gladio, Shion, Dogmeat, Damen
What: Helping Nuidan’s deity out with herding animals.
When: 14-21 Sept
Where: Nuidan C4
Warnings: tag as needed.

[Search results HERE. Since it’s quite a big group, this will mostly be something like a mingle log where everyone toplevels and tags around as desired!

“Quadrupedal, herbivorous, and scaly, aptonoths resemble dinosaurs in appearance more than they do so in their generally placid nature. They are far more akin to cows in temperament, even if their skin is a good deal more leathery. Even the broad spikes at the ends of their tail or the heavy horns atop their heads aren't terribly dangerous unless the entire herd feels threatened. In general, aptonoths are easily tamed. As pack animals, they prefer to stick together in herds.”]

Comments

PLANNING / DISCUSSION

[crosslaced]

[Perhaps our only five-member, murdergame-trial-style mess. What are we doing about them dinos?]

[piercetheheart]

[Gladio is honestly just glad these things are domestic enough to be okay with their presence. If they were as wild as what he's used to then they'd have been charged already.

The biggest concern is the fence, though.]

Okay someone needs to do a lap of the fence, the full perimeter and figure out how many of the bigger support posts we need since we're going to have to probably head back to Enso to cut down appropriately sized trees for that part.

And in the meantime we need to keep the herd contained... Which hopefully our furry friends can handle, yeah? [Leo looks happy enough to be getting scritches but this is one tired kitty. He's much more used to short bursts of activity.]

[savedbyasong]

I can check the fence. [A lap, counting. That's a task he can manage. Chopping down trees and dragging them over here is going to be more difficult but Shion is determined to help.

So is Cobweb even if he is getting tired too. Shion scratches his chin and looks over at the dinosaur-esque herd.]

[dedamastai]

Laurent or I can probably help contain the dinosaurs. [Thanks, Chuck Tingle, for teaching this fake Greek man what a dinosaur is.] The horses do better with direction.

[For context: Laurent is the better rider, as in "can jump from one horse to another while avoiding a spear," but Damen is better at potentially fighting things while on a horse, as in "can grab a spear that's flying through the air and throw it back where it came from." Nevermind that those two things happened at basically the same time.]

[piercetheheart]

Shion... you go ahead and take Cobweb, do that lap. Be careful.

[Who decided he was in charge? Who knows? Until someone says otherwise he'd going to delegate tasks.]

Laurent, one of the horses, the pup and this lazy jerk [Another ruffle of Leo's fur] can stay here and keep an eye on them. Don't need to keep them in a tight formation or anything the herd will move together mostly. Just gotta make sure they don't wander off too far.

Damen while Shion's counting we can head back to the workshop and load up as much wood and lashing as we can to haul back here for a start.

Sound like a plan guys?

[dedamastai]

[No, that's fair. Damen respects people who know that sometimes you just have to take charge and boss people around.]

Sounds like a plan to me.

[crosslaced]

[Laurent is on his horse, gazing out over the herd. He’s a compulsive charge-taker, but star’s been making bad life choices there’s no reason to protest a decent plan, at least they’ve got a plan at all. ]

Workable.

[He’s going to put the animals through herding drills right now probably. The rest will just have to suffer later.]

[savedbyasong]

Of course. [That Shion can take a be careful from Gladio as it is meant- an order, kindly given from a mentor rather than an insult- a reminder that he is the weakest link in this group says a lot about Gladio. Shion gives him a small grin and sets off, Cobweb at his side.]

FIXING FENCES

[crosslaced]

[dedamastai]

[Damen's not . . . useful for much, honestly. He's too gay bisexual to function, 70% of the time, but he's here and he absolutely can do a task if you explain how it's done!!! So presumably someone explained how to fix a fence to him - well. No. Realistically, he's carrying whatever heavy objects necessary for fence fixing and here to help you hold things in place while someone else uses tools because just. Don't. Don't give Damen a hammer. He's absolutely not an axe user. Please don't make him try and reclass, he's a cavalier and he should probably stay that way.

This Fire Emblem joke got away from me. THE POINT HERE IS THAT DAMEN TRIES HIS BEST AND THAT'S ALL THAT CAN BE ASKED OF HIM.]

[piercetheheart]

[It's okay, Damen. Gladio has plans that don't involve hammers or nails. Mostly because they don't have processed boards to work with. Nails are much less reliable when there's a whole sapling to put up. Instead he has a rather significant pile of vines and plant fiber lashing he's made over the months so that they can tie branches and small trees down to the base poles.

Eventually they should have something like this.]

Damen... you think we can get a load or two of wood from the workshop out here with the horses?

[dedamastai]

If you distract Laurent for long enough that he doesn't notice I'm doing it.

[Damen is of the opinion that the horse can hold him, so it can pull the same-ish amount of freight. Laurent is of the (correct) opinion that Chuck and Maribelle are riding horses and not draft horses and proooooobably shouldn't be dragging heavy loads.]

Or I could just take more trips with only Chuck, since he can't object to that.

[There's a weird, fine line the both of them walk in terms of . . . personal autonomy? The end result is that Laurent rarely objects to anything Damen chooses to do with his property. He'll disapprove, but Damen can live with that. Laurent's always disappointed in something Damen's doing, on some level.]

[piercetheheart]

Between the two of us, Chuck, and the wheelbarrow I think we can make decent time.

[Let Laurent keep his horse, which will give him a better viewpoint for looking after things here, anyway. ]

Might actually have you do the hauling back and forth while I tear down trees on the main island for awhile.

[Luckily ripping saplings out of the ground is not nearly as difficult as busting out temple pillars which is a thing he's known to do with a disturbing amount of ease. Who needs a behemoth when you have Gladio?]

[dedamastai]

I'm okay with that. Do you just want me to pile it thereabouts [He points to the area near the fence breakage.] or do you have some sort of specific system in mind?

[Damen's overseen construction enough that he knows there's a flow to it, but not the particulars of hows and whys things go in certain places. It's an individual thing, in his experience, but he figures it's probably a good thing to check before he starts doing things wrong and they have to spend even more time correcting the mistakes.]

[piercetheheart]

That's as good a starting place as any. We'll want to make piles down the line but it's hard to say exactly how much we're going to need where.

[He pushes a hand into his hair, starts shoving it all up into a bun instead of the usual half tie and as he does he's looking around the area.]

Gotta figure out where we wanna put the gate, too. Far as I know there's nothing really left indicating where that might've been.

[dedamastai]

I don't know that there was one. If we assume this island is the work of Harv, then it might have made more sense to just make the bottom space of the fence slightly taller, with enough space to to duck under, rather than construct a fence they could escape from.

[The idea of fences to herd animals is actually a little novel to him in the first place, but he doesn't see why you'd build a gate if you don't necessarily need one. In Akielos, they mostly let animals run free with the knowledge that they know who takes care of them and they'll come back home.]

[piercetheheart]

Yeah that's fair. Harv might not have needed it but if we need to separate off an animal or three, breeding pair or something for us to take back to the isles, one gets sick, whatever... We should have a way to get it out.

[He's not sure how animal husbandry really goes. It's outside his area of expertise but he has enough basic knowledge and common sense to know how to get them situated at least. ]

[dedamastai]

I suppose that makes sense. In that case, I think we can just put it wherever you think it should go. I'm not sure Harv would care much.

[Harv strikes him as very . . . focused. As long as the tasks get done, Damen is fairly certain it doesn't matter how they get so.]

[piercetheheart]

[Focused is an understatement. Harv that dog's got so many things on his mind it's a miracle he can keep track of what has or hasn't been done.]

Well then... I guess w should just put it on the side facing out towards the mana pool and call it good.

[Right? That... sounds reasonable, doesn't it?]

[dedamastai]

[Damen just kind of nods. Gladio's the one who does build-y stuff so he's the expert here because Damen's useless ass can't even fix a broken axle so like. He has no strong opinions here.]

Sounds good. That makes it easier to take anything to and from.

[piercetheheart]

Exactly.

[Gladio is far from an expert when it comes to this sort of thing but Damen agreeing with him at least makes this seem like his logic is sound.]

[savedbyasong]

[Shion is trying his best. He's really not sure what he is doing though. He has branches and vines and he knows he's meant to be tying them together to make a fence.

He knows the theory, he's been an diligent student of Gladio. But no amount of teaching is going to make Shion a natural when it comes to practical things and so for now he is knelt trying to tie sticks together and wishing he had eight more hands.

Except not. He's seen people with extra arms, it's not something he would wish on anyone. Not even himself.]

HERDING ANIMALS

[crosslaced]

[thegoodestboy]

[It's ya boy, Dogmeat, sitting outside of what's left of the fence and watching the aptonoths pass by with perked ears. Their size and scaliness remind him of unpleasant creatures back home, but they seem more like brahmin in behavior. Surely they could provide useful services or resources to the humans here? Why aren't they contained or cared for?]

[A younger one sits out far on the edge of the group, easily in a position to be left behind or picked off by predators. It sparks a deep seated anxiety in Dogmeat, and has him padding out towards the creature on an angle, hoping to spook it back towards its mother. He has limited success in that it does move, but not in the way he intended. Dogmeat picks up his pace and adjusts his angle accordingly. Soon, he's doing a complicated little dance of trying to cut it off before it gets too much farther out, until eventually it makes a soft distressed noise and starts heading towards what he assumes is its mother.]

[But herding is difficult without direction. Has this act inspired anyone to take the reigns and point him at the herd proper...?]

[crosslaced]

[Someone whistles sharply nearby, to get Dogmeat’s attention. It’s the blonde human, with the horses. He’s on one right now, gesturing just enough to catch Dogmeat’s eye- look, learn- before his horse moves forward.

They’re certainly much more experienced in animal-herding. Laurent keeps the baby at a much faster trot towards the herd, and when it starts to wander his horse moves to cut it off. But there’s another problem- one of the adults finally decides they don’t like the look of that thing chasing their young, and starts charging them.

SO, YIKES. Laurent pulls back sharply, retreating a distance while the adult stands its ground and grunts threateningly. But at least the young’s back in the herd. So there’s herding 101 for you.]

[thegoodestboy]

[At the whistle, Dogmeat is up and attentive, ready to fight. But the human doing the whistling is 1) on a creature he has never in his life seen and 2) not in combat. Yet, anyway.]

[Oh, okay. This is how you're supposed to handle this situation. He can manage that! He keeps pace with the horse, long and confident strides across the plains until he's practically galloping himself. This is kind of fun! Until the adult charges them, and he drops into an aggressive stance and bares his teeth. He can tell this won't be a pretty fight, but he'll take on anything that threatens his companions without hesitation.]

[Luckily, the aptonoth doesn't seem to want to deal with the strange furry creature growling at it any more than Dogmeat wants to tangle with something so large and scaly, so they both back down after a moment of posturing. Good enough.]

[crosslaced]

Whoa, whoa!

[DON’T FIGHT THAT. Laurent dismounts and jogs over to the dog, bending to Dogmeat’s eyelevel to check if he’s okay.]

How are you doing?

[He’s glad that the dog seems to be unhurt. That was very unexpected- and foolhardy- though it raises the question of whether the good boy has some kind of ace in the hole, to think taking on a dinosaur a good idea. Dogmeat allowing, he’ll try giving the canine’s head an encouraging rub.]

Pick your fights, fearless. Do you want to try rounding them up once?

[savedbyasong]

[Oh... Shion knows very little about herding but he does know about animals and so he is hoping that the rest will figure it out, he sees Dogmeat and jogs over, it seems he needs a bit of direction.]

Can you talk? [Just... checking. Talking animals are less strange then they maybe should be and the last dog Shion met on the islands talked, well the last two but Harv was a god and didn't count.]

[thegoodestboy]

[Dogmeat's ears perk up at Shion's approach. Oh good, someone who might need following or who could give him commands. That would make this process easier for sure!]

[The word "talk" is one he recognizes: He barks to prove it, sitting down in the grass, looking all proud of himself. He's so good at "speak", you don't even know. He's a very talkative dog. But if Shion was looking for actual, understandable words he will be sorely disappointed.]

[This is just a regular old dog. A smart one, with a lot of personality, but a normal one.]

[savedbyasong]

[Alright so not an actual talking dog. But a very adorable dog nonetheless. Shion petted his head, scratching his ears.]

Alright, I don't know too much about herding. But he figures they need to keep them together, stop any strays and help them all go in the same direction.]

If we keep behind them we can make sure no one gets left behind. [He jogs over to the back of the herd, gesturing for Dogmeat to follow.]