Chapter Text
Soushirou hummed softly as she searched the dig site. Today was another day closer to going home to Megaopolis!~ But it also meant another day under the sun trying to uncover the Secrets of this ancient ruin… win win in her mind. Popping into the Food Service tent for a morning cup of tea and... According to the Chalk board, breakfast burritos.
Stepping inside she was met with the sight of Dave at the Coffee table. A rather flirtatious man who often struggled with personal boundaries when full awake... Half awake zombie though...?~
“I've got the East side today, right?” she asked her coworker idly. Noting the other looked rather exhausted… Probably had a full night of tagging artifacts. He was a bit too overzealous when uncovering pottery shards and always forgets he has to tag each one before attempting to reassemble the ancient Vases…
He nodded some, filling a cup with Coffee and enough sugar to give a Diabetic a heart attack, “Gods above, how are you always so perky in the mornings?”
“I get an early nights rest and focus on walls instead of floors?” Soushirou offered with a little shrug, “and avoid broken pottery~”
“Shut up… You and I both know they can be surprisingly informative when reassembled,” he groaned bitterly, waving off her teasing.
“Maybe you should take it easy today? You’ve probably met your Quota already,” Soushirou gently pressed, offering him one of the breakfast burritos from the food table.
He ripped off the Foil and dug in voraciously, growling a bit when Soushirou tried to move his coffee out of range of the food flying all about.
With a sigh, Soushirou left the tent to eat in peace.
Stepping into the ancient crypt, Soushirou got a few lights to set up. Softly offering to her recorder, “Entry to tomb number 2281, day 188, This tomb is just like the others uncovered. It appears this Necropolis stretches farther than previous estimates placed. Like other sites, the entry hall is lined with Alcoves filled with urns.
I will be leaving checking the urns to the Appropriate department for later…
Preliminary examination leads me to believe these crypts were designed to be easily accessed and walked through. The archway into here was rounded at the top, while the stone slab covering it appears to come from a different material from that which was used to construct these Crypts.”
She sighed as she put the Recorder away for now. This entire expedition felt unusual honestly…
The records show this was likely where the Pilgrims met the Lady Bone Demon, but thus far they haven’t found any villages where her vessels could have been obtained… all they have found are these crypts throughout the entire valley… The Foreman is hoping they will find the village in the middle of the valley… but wants the walls of the valley examined first to pull one of his beloved “work outside in” tactics…
If anything the presence of so many crypts felt… Suspicious…
Tang would probably spout off some nonsense about it being the necropolis of a Necromancer or something if he had joined the expedition…
Gods he was always so cheerful and offering up the wildest theories!
It was a bit infuriating how often his wild theories were correct…
Signing softly she went deeper into the Crypt.
The usual long hallway lined with Alcoves… Support arches every so often…
Those creepy reliefs exactly 105 centimeters apart along the tops of the walls…
But…
Then she came to an open room…
With three more hallways in each direction…
Pulling out her recorder she started again, “Unlike the other tombs, this one does not end in a dead end… there appears to be a larger network here… I have come to a medium sized room, dome in shape. Looking up the ceiling appears to have been used to gauge the heavens using precisely placed holes. These holes now appear to be covered up from the rockslide 20 years ago…
Along the walls between each Hallway appear to be paintings of some sort, though lights have yet to be set up for proper documentation. The flooring seems to be a Mosaic depicting some sort of Heavenly being, though weathering has made it difficult to recognize. Do Note that the presence of a heavenly being on the floor is peculiar as it is a Theological Contradiction. Please follow up with the Celestial committee for further details.”
Checking with a Compass she added, "Each Painting on the walls appears to correlate to a cardinal direction. Please let the records show this is a deviation from the other tombs where the hallways were in a perfect cardinal direction."
Kneeling down she checked for any trigger mechanisms for traps. Gently feeling the floor for loose tiles or trip wires…
Eventually coming to a loose tile in the middle of the room, yet… it didn’t press down…
With a chisel she gently pried open the secret compartment.
Within was a pile of bones…
“In an attempt to find a trap I seem to have found a skeleton and its former effects. Hold on while I assess how complete it is,” she spoke to the recorder. Listing off each bone she found of the seemingly human skeleton… then… “It seems I have found the Skeleton of a Celestial being. Note the lack of the lowest ribs, fused outermost toe bones, and the interior of the Spinal bones having the Blue Material commonly found in Celestial bones. I would guess if any of these bones were broken open we would find more… Underneath is a pile of garments fit for a feminine physique, including the standard Cloud Woven Scarf many Celestial beings are seen with.” she offered to the recorder as she gently wrapped each bone in the bubble wrap she had brough down and packed them into her Tote box. Using a roll of Paper to carefully lay out the clothes and fold them securely.
A sharp hiss of pain as the sharp edge of the index finger had cut her hand. Quick to sterilize the wound and wrap it in bandages before going back to packing up the bones.
“Please note, the Distal Phalanges left Index finger had cut my hand. Disregard the blood stain on the bone when cleaning and assessing,” she sounded just a bit peeved as she spoke into the Recorder. Glad nobody but herself listens to these recordings.
Soon the whole skeleton was packed up and she checked the room for any more loose tiles. Finding three more compartments each with its own set of bones… But… these three were not Human or Celestial in origin…
“A Baboon Yaoguai… A Gibbon Yaogoai… and a Macaque Yaogoai… I do not know the purpose of these bones… It seems Ceremonial in nature as there was a fifth compartment empty of any bones…” she sighed into the recorder after packing up the other three sets of remains. Making sure to mark the Bubble wrap of each with a number so she knew what compartment they had come from.
Getting back to camp with her new acquisitions, Soushirou hummed softly to herself… A new song from that Odyssey play~ The Vengeance Saga was an absolute hit~
And the whole camp was buried under snow… again…
“Heavens…” she grumbled as she stopped the cart just at the edge of the snow, “don’t tell me Dave flirted with a Yuki Onna again…” checking to make sure the spikes on her boots were all still sharp enough to handle the chaos. Grabbing the first box and slowly making her way through camp.
Many people grumbled about Dave and his taste in exotic women…
Yup, another Dave Flirting incident…
Ah well…
At least it wasn’t another River or Lake Dragon…
The flood last month was such a pain to salvage their camp from...
Stepping into the cataloguing tent, she spotted a few Human and Reptilian coworkers huddled around the portable heater to warm up their hands. The fluffy or furry Yaogoai merely rolling their eyes or snorting at the ones warming up.
“Soooo… Dave?” Soushi asked of a Bear Guai she often coalbed with during the more extreme weather.
“Dave,” he huffed, rolling his eyes, “Found a She Beast at the edge of the Valley… Cursed our expedition with Bad Luck n some other nonsense… Somethin bout this place bein cursed?”
Soushi giggled, “another cursed burial site? What… fourth time this year?”
“Fifth, there was a Toad when ya were at the Conference,” he offered with amusement clear in his voice.
“Oh yeah… didn’t the organic staff get sick for a solid month after that incident?” Soushi asked, tilting her head as she set down her box of bones at her work station, “oh, I need some extra hands. Found something unique,” she motioned for the bear to follow.
“Unique like that time Grace discovered a new species of Mosquito… or like your alien biology?” the bear huffed as he followed.
“Okay first up, you have all been debunked MULTIPLE times, I’m just a fucked up human,” she huffed, “Not a Yaogoai, just a human with some weird genetics. I maaay have Qi but we don't know yet. S too s'pensive to get tested n I dont have any outward signs! Second, Grace’s new Mosquito was declared a danger to Humanity and Yaogoai alike. They were razing the forest for MONTHS to try to get rid of all of them! I doubt I could EVER top that level of fucked up.”
The bear had to push aside a snowman someone set up in the middle of the Driving path they had for the camp, “Oh that Cursed tomb ya found what… two years ago?”
“Year and a half," She corrected without a beat, "I thought we promised never to mention the Tera Cotta Men again?”
Soushirou whined, “How was I supposed to know reading the writing on the wall would wake up that army?”
“By reading it in yer head first,” the bear pointed out.
“But then my Voice Recordings would be tarnished with second time reading!” Soushi whined dramatically, a hand to her forehead and all.
“You and your voice recordings,” the bear huffed, rolling his eyes again.
“You and your good memory~” teased Soushirou, “Amnesia has its pros and cons~ And a strong con is Unreliable Memory and the struggle to form new memories~”
The bear huffed, finally getting to Soushi’s vehicle, “Just the three boxes?”
“They're filled with a lot,” offered Soushirou as she picked up one of the boxes, “found them in that new opening down on the west side. I think well need to organize a team to investigate it.”
The bear perked up instantly, eager for a proper discovery~ The last few weeks had been rather dull as all the crypts so far were mostly empty. Picking up the other two boxes easily… And just to be cheeky he stole Soushi’s box and tossed her onto his shoulder, “One way express~”
“NO! NOOOO!” cried out Soushi, wiggling and squirming in his hold, “LET ME DOOOOWN! DOWN I SAY!”
“Fragile humies need to be cared for~ Especially ones that don’t know their limits~” he purred cheekily.
“Is this revenge for the Apple incident? I swear it wasn’t me!” Soushi cried out desperately.
He huffed, not believing that for a moment~ “C’mon~ We both know I’m better at walkin' through Snow~” trudging through the ever rising snow.
Going limp, Soushirou sighed, “I’m not that weak…”
“Yer a human. Can't handle the cold, cant handle the heat… Cant even swim for long or carry much,” pointed out the bear, words he's said so so many times… “I know yer weird but yer still human.”
Soushi sighed… it always came to that… Her humanity being a major problem on these digs… Especially all the injuries… Traps in a tomb? She immediately gets shoved out so the big strong Yaogoai can take care of it instead… some of her coworkers even worried when she wasn’t on a dig after the stabbing incident last year…
“Are you gonna finally stay in Town this time?” he asked, not looking to his captive human… His meaning more than clear though…
“I… Don’t know…” Soushirou sighed. She hated being so… Useless… “The new exhibit will take a while… Ill figure things out… Just…”
“Stop askin?” he guessed.
“Please…” she pleaded.
Heres a lovely Cover for the fic :3
Art by Chompers on Discord