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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 13, 2022 13:17:15 GMT
"If I didn't think you were crazy before I certainly think you're crazy now." Procopius said as the pair stomped through the shifting desert sands of the Ancient Ruins. Every cracked shard of wall and half buried pillar making Ollie drop whatever he was doing and take it in from every possible angle, like he was trying to make a three dimensional scan in his mind of every object that they came across. He couldn't look at a single dropped stone without brushing it off and trying to figure out if it was some lost scrap of pottery or a sharp of some ancient gem.
"How can you not be enraptured with this place? This might be the very root of Digimon civilization! Or at the very least the root of civilization on this continent. If we can track the fall or decline of this civilization outward we might be able to trace the roots of every population on the continent from Terminus to Rosewood." Ollie said as he stepped down to scoop up some other little shard of something or nothing at all. Brushing it off on his shirt and turning it over in his hands just to make SURE it wasn't the archaeological find of the century. It wasn't. It was just another rock blown smooth by the scraping bands of sand kicked up by every light breeze in every direction.
"Yes, as you have explained to me ten thousand times. And for the ten thousandth time, Ollie I will explain myself. It's HOT, it's WINDY, I keep thinking that something is gonna fall over and crush you when you keep poking it and I'm just so far past done with the bullshi-AHHH!" Procopius yelped as his heavy plastic feet tripped on something and he toppled face first into a raised dune of sand, cursing and flailing all the while. But as he picked up his foot something beneath the sand shifted and a heavy CLUNK sounded. It seems he had tripped over some kind of lever bolted into the ground, seemingly undiscovered for however long these ruins had been here because what happened next would drop even the cynical Procopius' jaw
A massive crag or gorge opened in the middle of the central plaza of the ruins, massive stone blocks unfolding and dumping sand into the darkness, revealing a huge central staircase to the back of the straight line canyon created...and a single line, about a foot wide done in sparkling gold leading from the top of the steps down into the dusty darkness. Procopius could SEE the way that Ollie's eyes sparkled upon this new discovery and didn't even try to stop him from sprinting to the top of the stairs and looking down.
"This golden line it...well I don't know where it could lead! Down into a royal tomb! Into an ancient library! Some kind of religious or ritual temple space!" He said, looking over and Procopius who nodded along and was already resigned to going down there. Wherever "there" was.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 13, 2022 19:10:36 GMT
The curious tamer and digimon with him weren't the only ones in the desert near the Ancient Ruins as it appeared a vintage convertabile was making its way along the sands. Inside the car was a Wizardmon with sapphire blue eyes at the steering wheel, in the passenger's seat a Leomon with brown eyes, and in one of the back seats was a rookie level digimon that was very human like in appearance but she was indeed a spider digimon only her spider legs were small and hidden from view beneath her cape. This was Mandrake and Lothar's youngest child Circe and she was known to be timid due to trauma caused by her mother. Yes Lothar was only an adoptive parent and she was just getting more comfortable with Mandrake's fiancé.
"Dad it's hot. I'm glad we aren't walking." Circe softly whimpered as she was not known to be a loud child.
"I agree with that. Lothar getting this car before you were born was definitely a blessing as it has allowed this family to travel further before needing to rest." Mandrake said as he remained focused on the road before he continued "So do you need anything, Circe? If so we can stop for food and water."
N-No. I'm okay." Circe said. The occasional stutter had been common from her though so Mandrake and Lothar didn't think to much about it.
Then Lothar's ears twitched as he picked up a loud clunk coming from the ruins and said "Mandrake I hear something ahead coming from the ruins. Perhaps we should check it out."
"Hold on everyone." Mandrake said as he began driving in the direction Lothar started to indicate. Soon the family came upon an opening in the ruins but that was not the most curious thing the three of them saw. Near the ruins was a small human. Possibly a teenager but with his size it was hard to tell for certain. With him was a ShadowToyAgumon. So this young man was a tamer it seemed.
Bringing the car to a stop near the ruins Mandrake looked over at the pair and said "Hello over there. What brings you two out to these ruins?"
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 14, 2022 12:50:18 GMT
Ollie, even wearing a backpack that was equivalent in size to the rest of his body jumped when he heard the voice behind him. He somehow had been too focused on his discovery to hear the car pulling up on the sand behind them and was now sheepishly turning to look at the trio with a blush and a wave.
"Us? Oh I tripped over a lever buried in the sand for god knows how long and discovered this big canyon down into the dusty depths of wherever the hell. My tamer was just about the drag me down there by the ear so we can discover whatever weird mummy happens to be waiting down there for idiots to activate his curse, wanna come?" Procopius said. He was allowed to be terse when describing Ollie's ideas because he knew there was nothing he could say or do that would change Ollie's response to a new discovery no matter how much common sense Procopius tried to attach to his warnings.
"I haven't seen too many cars in the Digital World." Ollie said walking up to the front of the car and observing it like he was waiting for its eyes to open and for it to grow horns and teeth. Not an entirely unfounded kind of curiosity in the digital world.
"Say hello, Ollie." Procopius said as his partner somehow saw and was fascinated by the car without actually taking too much notice of the people inside.
Ollie's hand shot up and he gave a little wave to the people behind the windshield as he opened up his digital journal and sketched the front of their car without taking his eyes off the hood, stepping back and beginning to take a wide berth around to capture the details.
"You'll have to forgive him, this is just how he gets most of the time. When there's a discovery to be made. Can't help it I guess when you goal is to write down as much of the digital world as you can find combined with not being that much of a people person." Procopius said as he walked up to the trio as they actually stepped out of the car. Procopius was apologizing for his partner but still couldn't wipe the smile off of his face.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 14, 2022 19:41:09 GMT
The family watched as the smaller than average teen jumped in reaction to Mandrake's gentle voice and the sudden movement startled Circe who had in one swift motion unbuckled her seatbelt and ducked down out of sight with a yelp. Mandrake and Lothar knew they would have some damage control to do but at least there was nothing life-threatening to worry about for the moment. In the meantime the young human had waved so Mandrake and Lothar politely waved back.
Then when Procopius mentioned he had uncovered the ruins by tripping while following his tamer around and asked if Mandrake and his family wanted to come along. Mandrake being the inquisitive digimon he was by nature of him being the educated type climbed out of the car while Lothar did the same and Mandrake said "Sounds like an interesting prospect to me. My name is Mandrake and the Leomon with me is my fiancé Lothar and our daughter Circe."
Speaking of Circe the little spiderling had not poked her head up again and Lothar went to the back where the little one always sat when they traveled and held out his hand before he gently said "It's okay, Circe. I don't think the young man meant to startle you." Circe slowly poked her head up looking cautiously around before slowly reaching out taking Lothar's hand. This was a first for her as though she seemed to like Lothar she used to only want to hold Mandrake's hand. Soon Lothar and Circe made their way to Mandrake and Circe released Lothar's hand and snagged ahold of Mandrake's free hand his other holding his staff.
When Ollie mentioned not seeing to many cars in the Digital World and Mandrake said "Yes not every digimon owns a car but I assure you, aside from some fancy features, it is just a car."
Mandrake looked over at Procopius and with a chuckle said "Don't worry. Ollie not being a people person doesn't bother me. Not everyone is after all. Circe isn't overly fond of being around a ton of people either which is a shame seeing as Lothar and I have three other children that are extroverted like myself. Lothar here is not really a people person either."
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 15, 2022 12:36:21 GMT
Ollie finally looked up when everyone had stepped out of the car and gathered on the sand to the top of the staircase that lead down into whatever discovery had been waiting there untouched for a few digital millenia. He saw three digimon that he had never seen before and his eyes widened with an enthusiastic sparkle that almost made him rush right up to them and start babbling questions, even taking the first step in their direction until he saw and overheard about Circe's shyness and distrust of people.
"It's alright, honest. Neither of us would ever want to do anything to hurt somebody. Plus, I'm pretty sure your fathers would mop the desert with us if we tried." Ollie said, rolling his shoulders out of his backpack and letting it drop to the desert floor behind him before standing up again, showing Circe just how much of his size and mass were contained within that pack and just how soft and miniscule he looked without it pulled over his shoulders even when he stood up straighter than normal
"Oh yea, I can smell the aura coming off these two. I may have played at being a tough guy in my last laugh but sometimes the best way to do that is to realize when a potential mark would just turn you into grease paint on a wall." Procopius said in his charmingly gruff manner of speaking which played even more strangely at the fact of his waddling, blocky body that wasn't exactly inspiring fear and dread of a creature that didn't have any visible elbows, knees, claws or teeth.
"I'm writing a book, see?" Ollie said to circe, flicking open the top flap of his backpack and pulling out a heavy leather bound book with "Digital World Encyclopedia" impressed by hand onto the cover's surface and pasted with golden leaf lettering. "I want to see the whole digital world, to write down every fact, every story, everything that I can find." He said, holding the book against his check and casually flipping through it, hoping that his honest of purpose would inspire a little bit more safety in Circe. He'd felt unsafe plenty of times in his life and it's not a feeling he'd have wished on his worst enemy.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 15, 2022 21:19:14 GMT
Circe didn't seem to know what to do about Ollie's excited babbling as the young spiderling dove behind Mandrake's back with one sapphire blue eye poking out as if keeping an eye on the young human. Mandrake didn't seem to bat an eye as he was used to Circe doing this as it seemed to make her feel safe. If only the rookie digimon was somewhat more independent but Arukenimon had traumatized this poor child so much that it still would take time for Circe to find confidence in herself.
Mandrake chuckled at the observations of both Ollie and Procopius before he said "I am flattered that you're partner can sense how powerful Lothar and I are, Ollie, but I assure you unless provoked both Lothar and I tend to be harmless. We try to avoid hurting others." Then after a bit it dawned on Mandrake that Ollie had never introduced his partner and said "Ollie it seems you have not introduced your partner. Does he just not go by a name?"
Then Ollie brought out a book he had mentioned he was working on showing it in Circe's direction. Mandrake and Lothar weren't the only ones that were curious of Ollie's desire to document everything in the Digital World he could. Then Mandrake glanced back at Circe whose single eye was gazing at the book with notable curiosity. She was definitely Mandrake's daughter in that department. "Since you seem to be documenting the Digital World maybe you might find Circe interesting. See she is a new species of digimon called Araneaemon. Every now and then a different circumstances can bring forth a new species of digimon. I've heard sometimes new species are born in the Human World but that might be rumor."
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 16, 2022 12:52:33 GMT
"I'm Procopius" The black Toy Agumon said, waving his little brick hand as best he could at the assembled group and smiling as he spoke the words. He really did like his name, having something fancy and classical that he could call his own when he had spent the entirety of his first like as a trouble making roughneck. "Evidently it's one of my partner's favorite historical figures, some bigshot Roman historian" Procopius said, with a tone of voice that showed he would have been crossing his arms about it if he had any elbows to cross his arms with. Or any joints in his shoulders of that matter.
"That's!...very interesting, Circe." Ollie said, almost visibly swallowing his normal bright eyed excitement so as not to rush Circe or overwhelm her with his enthusiasm. "I'd love to get the chance to sketch you, when you're ready." Ollie said with a smile as he showed off a few more pages of the book. He had to wipe a little bit of blown sand out of the pages before he finally closed it which Procopius knew was an important gesture of him. He never would have OPENED his precious book in this environment if making Circe feel at ease wasn't important to him. Important enough that spending an hour or two later in the night brushing the sand out of the pages with a tiny brush was worth it.
"What do you say folks, wanna help us get cursed by some kind of mummy?" Procopius said, still keeping on eye on the yawning hole in the middle of the main through way of the ruins. It had been buried directly beneath the feet of the inhabitants, that either meant it was openly important or just hiding in plain sight. Hiding WHAT would be the mystery.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 16, 2022 20:08:59 GMT
"Ah I see. A fascinating name you have indeed Procopius. Seems like the sort of name an educated young man like Ollie would suggest for his digimon partner. You seem to be proud of having such a name as well." Mandrake said with a smile though half his face was hidden from view the sparkle in his eyes was clue enough of the existence of said smile.
As for Circe, as if figuring out that little Ollie was no threat to her, slowly began to peak out from behind Mandrake. Then little by little the young one came slowly out of hiding but didn't release Mandrake's hand before she shyly said "I....I'm ready." Mandrake and Lothar smiled seeing that Circe came out of her shell if only a tiny bit. She was still looking at Ollie's book in curiosity. As for the sand getting in the pages Circe looked as if she was focusing on the pages as she began to telepathically move the sand off the pages. She was the first telepath among the Mandrake and Lothar's children.
"Curse? M-Mummy?" Circe whimpered shyly while shaking. This did not sound like a fun aspect to the little one.
"Don't worry, Circe. Such magic, while not unheard of, is rare and if made by a digimon doesn't always last when a digimon dies." Lothar said speaking around Ollie and Procopius for the first time. Lothar was far from shy but he was a lot like his father in the sense of being a mon of few words at times.
"As long as we're careful everything should be just fine." Mandrake said in a calming tone which caused Circe to stop shaking but look cautiously at the yawning hole.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 17, 2022 12:47:57 GMT
"Don't worry, Circe. It won't be that dangerous. More like, thrilling, like a Scooby Doo episode's level of spooky." Ollie said, standing up and tucking his book away, smiling at the little act of kindness coming from the spider's use of her telekinesis to clear out the pages of his book. "Like a rollercoaster or halloween. Scary, but in a fun way." He said, stepping up to the hole and looking down into the dark. It was impossible to tell how far down it went when the darkness simply made the steps vanish after a certain point.
"Anybody got a light? Because the alternative is keeping our hand on the wall and watching your step." Procopius said as Ollie produced his digivice. He, in his curious ways, had been very open about fiddling with it and figuring out what it could do so when he had found the flashlight setting on it, like the flashlight on a mobile phone, he remembered how to flick it on and send a wide fan of light down the hole.
"Hmm, still can't see the bottom from up here. Interesting. Well, we're not getting any closer to the end by standing around here talking about it." Ollie said, marching down the steps without waiting to make sure that anybody else was walking behind him. Procopius only shot a single look at the trio and produced the best shrug that his plastic body was capable of before waddling down behind his partner following that thick golden line that traced down the middle of the staircase
"Come on, treasure hunters, we won't get our names in the museum by standing around!" Procopius said, actually checking that the family of three was behind them as they went.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 17, 2022 20:48:43 GMT
Ollie's mention of the character of Scooby Doo and his television show seemed to visibly confuse the family of three judging by Mandrake, Lothar, and Circe's faces as they took this information in. This was obviously a human thing the family was not aware of. Oh well that was something to look into another day. Good thing Ollie also mentioned roller costers since that was something the family was aware of at the very least.
Ollie approached the hole and seemed to be fiddling with his digivice activating what resembled a mobile phone's flashlight setting. It would only be able to light so much and Procopius asked if anyone had a light and Mandrake handed Lothar his staff and, with Circe still holding his hand, approached the hole raising his hand and said "I can light the way much better than a digivice. Observe." With that Mandrake's free hand sparked as his Thunder Ball caused his hand to glow brightly. Surely this would do the trick. Taking the lead Mandrake and Circe began entering while Lothar planned to follow right behind the rest of the group to keep an eye on them.
OOC:
Mandrake lights the way with his Thunder Ball.
Thunder Ball: Creates an explosive ball of thunder.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 18, 2022 12:49:33 GMT
"So long as it doesn't like, blow up if it touches something. I'd much rather not be buried underground like this." Procopius said as the Thunder Ball lit up the inside of the stairwell like it was the middle of the day and the noontime sun was shining right down on them.
Ollie didn't seem to notice Procopius' comments, or much of anything that his companions were doing or saying. With such a powerful light being beamed down onto the entire staircase he was almost pressing his face up against every wall, trying to interrogate it for its secrets. Running his fingers along every sandy break in the walls, every damaged brick and mouse hole.
It was only with the light shining that they were able to get a firm picture of the staircase's raw scale. Reaching the midway point they were able to barely make out the bottom from the shadows.
"This staircase must be..." Ollie looked up behind them then down in front of them, picking up a pebble and tossing it in a high arc to get some kind of scale. "Three or four stories tall. It's an industrial sized underground area made with pre industrial tools and techniques!"
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 18, 2022 21:13:30 GMT
Mandrake glanced briefly back at Procopius and said "As long as no one causes me to suddenly drop this magical lightning than it shouldn't cause any explosions so everyone should be fine."
Lothar was keeping an eye on the group taking notice that Ollie seemingly wasn't paying attention to everyone else. Then Lothar piped up seemingly with a gentle but firm paternal tone he had gotten practice with his and Mandrake's three older children as he said "Ollie, please pay more attention to your surroundings. This place could be very dangerous." Mandrake chuckled lightly as he and Lothar had gotten good with that tone since becoming parents.
Soon the bottom of the shadows was now visible to them. "Then while investigating this area we should be careful around the tools that are likely to be down there as it is unlikely that all are in good condition. Some that are in terrible shape might be able to cause nasty injuries if we brush against them wrong." Mandrake said as he continued down with Circe carefully.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 19, 2022 13:10:46 GMT
Lothar's "parent voice" did not have the seemingly intended effect on Ollie that it was meant to. Oh he certainly perked up and stopped paying attention but he also blanched, the blood running away from his face like he was getting drained by a vampire. He almost instantly deflated, clasping his book closed to his chest, pulling his shoulders in and hanging his head he started to rush down to the staircase as if trying to physically separate himself from the group.
"Ollie hasn't had...doesn't have a very good history with figures of authority. His first instinct on something like that is to shrink down to protect himself." Procopius said. He wasn't blaming Lothar for not knowing and acting like a father, that behavior was expected. What Lothar could not have known or predicted was that Ollie's social isolation was a protective trauma response he had gained from a whole life of being forgotten underfoot save to be subverted by the people in his life meant to look after him. It was the tragedy of his eagerness in the digital world, even this dangerous part of it was the only safe outlet the boy had.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 19, 2022 20:11:59 GMT
Lothar got a reaction he was definitely not expecting as Ollie seemed to freak out and moved to separate himself from the group. Then when Procopius explained that Ollie had bad experiences with authority figures Lothar deflated noticeably before he said "I didn't mean to frighten him. I was just worried about him possibly getting hurt."
"Ollie isn't the only one here that suffers from trauma related to authority figures. In Circe's case it is trauma mostly regarding her abusive mother who abandoned her to die when it was clear that she was inherently as gentle as myself and no desire for things like conquest. Even when hunting Circe won't harm other sentient beings like digimon and humans." Mandrake said as Circe then did something that surprised both Mandrake and Lothar.
The young spiderling slowly released Mandrake's hand and cautiously made her way to Ollie before gently grabbing the teen's arm before gently tugging on it to get his attention. Then the timid young spider digimon said "Lothar is a kind digimon and d-didn't mean to scare you. He is a good father who adopted me as his own even though I am not technically one of his children like my older siblings. Dad picked a good digimon to potentially marry one day."
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Dec 20, 2022 13:07:13 GMT
"It's alright. Really. There's honestly a whole lot that needs to be unpacked about that kid and his reactions to things." Procopius said more quietly to Lothar as Circe ran on ahead to talk to Ollie. "My short term goal is to get him OUT of that orphanage by any means necessary even if I have to do it with a baseball bat. I'm just looking for a way to do it that DOESN'T end with us on the run from the law for the rest of our lives." Procopius said. He wasn't a genius by his own or anybody else's measurement but he was able to counter that with a patient, streetwise mind.
Ollie smiled down at Circe and some of the stricken look that had taken him over faded and softened across his features. He exhaled and nodded down at the helpful spider digimon and managed to find at least some pep to put back in his step. He summoned the social courage to look back at Lothar and give a weak but genuine smile before turning back to face front.
He almost stumbled when he was looking ahead instead of down in front of him and reached the bottom of the staircase, yelping when he tried to take the next step in line and there was no next step, only a trio of long corridors stretching out into the dark, though the golden line only traced down the yawning opening in the center.
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