Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Has no problem cursing: Logan, Justice, Pablo, Venti, Catori (when son is not around), Grace

Occasionally curses, but chooses not to/has now sworn it off: Owen, Miguel, Heidi

Could curse if they wanted to (why would you think otherwise??): Pen, Arvio, Elsie, Haru

Has not cursed before and refuses to: Amirah, Qi, and Ernest

“Sugar honey iced tea!”: Nia, Mi-An

”Bless your heart”: Jane

Legally cannot curse: Unsuur, Burgess

… : Fang

What do the characters have to say for themselves?

Logan: (looks you dead in the eyes) Fuck.

Haru: (sees Logan YOLO’ing the plan again) SIGH

Justice: (Calm, cool, collected. A model citizen. Sees Logan riding off) Son of a BEEP.

Pablo: Darling, to be blunt, you look like shit.

Catori: (drops a relic) Oh, shhhi-oooot.

Venti: (seeing Fei and Peck slacking) You bunch of lazy assholes!

Owen: Well, I had a wild time in my heyday, but you know I haven’t really-(Grace sets something on fire) fuck.

Grace: (sets something on fire) oh SHIT

Miguel: While I may have been irresponsible in my youth, after I joined the Church, I saw fit to mend my ways. (Logan does anything.) This, this, this Light-damned scoundrel.

Heidi: Well, I did get a lil wild in my Uni days. (Shrugs)

Pen: Of course, I the great Pen could swear if I so choose. Do not insinuate that I am too cowardly to swear.

Arvio: I could curse, but what if Amirah heard me??

Amirah: I would never be so crass.

Elsie: Of course I can swear. I’m an adult!! (Looks around nervously) goshdarnit

Qi: (pushes up glasses) There already isn’t enough time in the day. Why would I waste it on excess verbiage?

Ernest: (scandalized gasp)

Jane: (smiles and adjusts glasses) Of course not, honey.

Nia: Sugar honey iced tea!!

Mi-an: Oh you, you, you big meanie!

Burgess: Oh, I could never. That would be bad.

Unsuur: What did you ask? Sorry, I was busy counting the sand, but I lost track at 1,647.

Fang: … X: (opens beak and screams) FUCK

Chapter Text

Unable to stop thinking about what Logan said about hidden water, Mi-an convinces the Builder to help her do some under the table investigations. The two do some digging around in the Commission Guilds records and find an old commission for water pumps that was eventually abandoned. The two puzzle over where they could have possibly been trying to pump water from. 

For a while now, Mi-an had been suspicious of the gated off Ruin underneath the Church by the cemetery. The two Builders break into it and find an underground reservoir of water. A pump system had already been installed a while ago (Multiplayer era), but was not operational. Mi-an speculates that the water in the reservoir feeds into Martle’s oasis. With the pump non-functional, water is only trickling into the oasis naturally which is why the water level in the oasis is dropping. 

They don’t understand why the pumps were abandoned. Rather than confronting Matilda (as the commission for pumps had been one from the Church), the Builders decide to seek out Logan since he was the one who had put them on the path to hidden water. Remembering Owen’s weird reaction to the “spy” hunt, the Builder corners him and makes him spill about Logan. Turns out Owen had been helping Logang as he too had his suspicions about what happened to Howlett. (He is the richest man in Sandrock and the one most able to supply them after all.)

Owen gets the two Builders into contact with Logan. Naturally, Logan is wary and decides to test the Builder with a fight. Regardless of winning or losing, Logan joins with the Builder. (+20 friendship points for winning or +5 for losing.) The plan is that Buildteam (Mi-an and Builder) and Logang will work together to build the pump. After it is fixed and water returns to Sandrock, Logan will show up to prove that he was right all along that something suspicious was going on with the Church.

In true MTa style, nothing goes as smoothly as hoped. After doing some calculations, the Buildteam realizes that draining the reservoir without any support left behind will cause it to cave in, taking Sandrock with it. This is why the previous Builders (MP) weren’t able to finish the pump system and it was eventually abandoned. Now the Buildteam has to solve the problem and keep Logang in check before Logan gets impatient. (The likely rope Qi in at this point to figure out the logistics.)

As luck would have it, the Rogue Knight blows into town looking for some Old World tech that could redeem him for his losses in Portia. He causes all sorts of problems for the Buildteam as they try to solve the water crisis and keep the town in the dark about it. After some narrow escapes from the Rogue Knight, Buildteam finally stumbles on a solution for their problem. (Probably some kind of Old World tech.)

As they fix the pump, Rogue Knight attacks Sandrock to steal the technology that the Buildteam had found. He has gathered some allies (Duvos soldiers or Geeglers) to aid him. The non-combatant townsfolk take shelter in the Church while the combat-able citizens fight off the invaders. Logang pulls up at that moment and Logan is like “this town ain’t big enough for the both of us” to the Rogue Knight. He begins to fight the Rogue Knight pretty evenly. 

Down below, the Buildteam finally gets the pump up and running. They make their way out of the Ruins as quickly as possible and end up in the midst of the invasion. Above in the Church, water suddenly rushes out to the fountain that has always been in the Church. Seeing that, the townsfolk rally and rush out with whatever weapons they could get their hands on to overwhelm the invaders. Together with Logang, they manage to capture the Rogue Knight. 

Buildteam makes it up to the Church in time to find everyone confronting Matilda. She admits that she knew about the water and the dangers of draining it. Rather than letting the MP Builders solve the issue, she had hoped that the townsfolk would rally together and build a stronger community as they faced the hardship of the water decline together. She decided to close off the Ruins and hide the water. The MP Builders were sworn to silence and made to leave Sandrock. 

The Builder points out that she should have believed in the town rather than creating an artificial situation to build community. While her intentions weren’t evil, the townsfolk decide that Matilda should step down as minister. There is a vote between Burgess and Miguel for minister and whoever the Builder picks actually becomes the new MInister. 

The truth about Logan’s father is also revealed. Howlett had found the water reservoir while clearing some monsters from the closed off Riun. Matilda had him incarcerated after he confronted her under the guise of him having been exposed to an illness in the Ruins. Matilda attempted to convince him to keep in secret for the good of the town, but he would not. Unfortunately, it was Logan who killed his father. 

Now that he has been vindicated for his suspicions about his father’s quarantine and proven that his father wasn’t some reckless monster hunter. Logan turns himself in. Haru and Logan are sentenced to community service with the Civil Corp to pay for their crimes and repair the damage they’ve done to the town. 

The Rogue Knight is turned over to the Flying Pigs and peace returns to the town. 

Thus begins Arc two of MTaS. The story continues on as they race to fight against the encroaching desert.