Tale as Old As Last Wednesday II [Maid IC]

[Benson]

Merri looked at her hands and then at the piles of rocks of all sizes, the biggest ones making her wary.

"Errr....sure.." She wrinkled her nose and made her way down to join Ante in heave ho-ing rocks. After doing some stretches as it is always good to do some stretches before lifting, she started to pick up rocks, tossing them over, lifting with her knees.

Athletics (1d6x2)[4]

[Deme]

Yuki would find that...She couldn't exactly tell if there were any problems with the mechanisms, but there didn't seem to be any tears.

Rocks go flying about the room under Ante's efforts, all landing in a neat pile behind her. Leon takes a step back, openly stunned, before going over to try and help Merry, who was struggling.
"Ah, that's a bit much for you by yourself. Please, allow me."
He hunched over to get his hands under the rock, reaching and finding hers accidentally -- they felt very much like the legs of a bird, warm but slightly hardened, smooth rows of small layers of scales and near-scales.

[Benson]

Yuki would find that...She couldn't exactly tell if there were any problems with the mechanisms, but there didn't seem to be any tears.

Rocks go flying about the room under Ante's efforts, all landing in a neat pile behind her. Leon takes a step back, openly stunned, before going over to try and help Merry, who was struggling.
"Ah, that's a bit much for you by yourself. Please, allow me."
He hunched over to get his hands under the rock, reaching and finding hers accidentally -- they felt very much like the legs of a bird, warm but slightly hardened, smooth rows of small layers of scales and near-scales.

Merri flinched when hands were touched, his closeness causing her to hold her breath, cheeks flushing a bit. "Wah wah...it-it's okay young master..." She nibbled on the inside of her cheek, slightly puckering her lips. "Err I uh mean...thank you but you need not worry..I mean.." She didn't know what she was saying, words were just coming out of her like word vomit.

[Trobby]

Which is exactly what the hard-working Ante felt she could do. Just looking at them like that, when she was doing all the hard work and should be...

...Should be focusing on her hard work and not getting insanely jealous of them is what she should be doing.

With the rocks moved aside, she approaches Yuki, trying to avoid the cherry blossom-backed scene.

"Do you think it could be repaired?" Ante asks the assassin.

[Deme]

At her flinch, Leon himself recoiled. He hadn't meant to bother her -- or even touch her, and he knew (perhaps, even if no one else did) that the sudden feeling of scales touching you would have to be unnerving.
His wings curled close to his body and his tail curled around one leg protectively. The feeling of his hands beneath the rock retreated so quickly as if they'd scrambled away -- the rock shifted with the adjustment in where it was being held, but didn't threaten to fall at least.

"Ah, my apologies. I'm sorry I..." don't say disturbed, or disgusted. Pretend like nothing happened, he thought. "Startled you."
Leon looked away, trying to keep his face neutral. He did not find a way to meet her eyes. He tried to smile as he always did.
"...If you don't mind, though, I'd rather like to lend some assistance, rather than sitting there like a lump."

[Benson]

Merri hesitated, her tongue fumbling over her words that were swallowed back down, choking their way down. It tasted pretty gross. She didn't his body language, she being too derp right now being in such close vicinity to the boy whose closeness made her easily blush.

She nodded her head, her lips now taut, and was able to get some words to actually leave her mouth intact.

"That would be..I mean..thanks..uhm...maybe you could just also start lifting up rocks hfkg.." Oop, nevermind the words started to swallow back down.

[Lycan 01]

Yuki narrows her eye at the mechanisms, a faint frown tugging at the corners of her lips. "I do not see any immediate issues. One of us would need to do some partial disassembling to be sure, but that poses the possibility of breaking things while trying to determine if things are broken. Alternatively, we can simply turn it on and hope it works just fine, and that we aren't all killed in a gruesome steam explosion," she states with factual aloofness, despite the grave nature of her remark. "Thoughts?" Curious head tilt.

[Deme]

Merri hesitated, her tongue fumbling over her words that were swallowed back down, choking their way down. It tasted pretty gross. She didn't his body language, she being too derp right now being in such close vicinity to the boy whose closeness made her easily blush.

She nodded her head, her lips now taut, and was able to get some words to actually leave her mouth intact.

"That would be..I mean..thanks..uhm...maybe you could just also start lifting up rocks hfkg.." Oop, nevermind the words started to swallow back down.

"Oh, you'd...rather be left to manage by yourself?"

Leon asked, to make up the difference in understanding, as the last fragment of sentence was lost. His expression was muted, the smile on his lips a pale shadow on his face. The rock jostled while Leon judged whether or not he could move his hands from under it entirely without it being too much for her.

[Trobby]

Ante pondered this for a moment. It was a very difficult choice to make...if only...

Then she noticed Leon and Merri, having an awkward moment together, and a thought crossed her mind.

Leon needed a distraction.

"Master Leon!" She calls out, getting to her feet. "Please come here and help us ascertain whether this old jalopy can still float. Twenty-three Skidoo, sir!"

Oh dear...she'd been doing so well and then she slipped into her old time slang.

[Deme]

Leon's head jerked up, and he looked over at Ante. With a single eyebrow raised, he was the very image of incredulity, and he let loose a single gust of air with his smile, that sort of proto-laugh that's only a strong breath.

"Miss Ante, those cannot even be real words."

That did not sound nearly as disapproving as the diction would imply. He looked back at Merry, his eyebrows remaining cocked but growing uneasy.

"Would you rather manage on your own? Do you have it?"

[Trobby]

Ante realized her slip of the tongue, and had the good sense to be slightly embarrassed by her slip into 'demonic dialect'. She shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly.

"Aw applesauce, my gums got all balled up." She mutters to herself, trying to bite back the period-inappropriate slang.

[Lycan 01]

Yuki turns and gives Ante a dubious look, tilting her head slightly. "...are you having a stroke?"

[Benson]

Merri felt awkward but found herself nodding. "Y-yes...I can manage....thank you though for your uhm, care and concern, but, I just don't want you to worry about me, sir."

[Trobby]

"No no...just an anachronism." Ante quips. "Ah, but enough with the hemming and hawing, Master Leon, do you think you can help us determine if this machine can still operate?"

[Deme]

"Ah, well, let me see."

He nodded to Merry and let go of the rock, leaving her to struggle with it. He went over to where they were looking at the pump and leaned over it, poking and prodding here and there. After a few minutes of analyzing, he spoke,

"Well, it looks like when there's water flowing from the spring or the drainage above, it'll turn these wheels, which turn these gears, which makes the bellows-y bits go up and down, which pulls the water up into the pipework... Why don't we try turning the wheels ourselves and see what happens? Then we'll know if all the moving bits work, and all we'll need to test from there is if it's water-tight still."

[Trobby]

Ante considers the proposal, and nods. She grips onto the wheel, looking towards Yuki.

"We have a better chance doing this together Yuki. Get a tight hold and turn as hard as you can."

[Lycan 01]

Yuki nods, grabs the wheel, and gives it a firm twist.

Spoiler

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Athletics: (1d6x2)[10]

[Trobby]

Ante likewise puts all her elbow grease into turning the wheel as hard as she can.

Spoiler

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Athletics: (1d6x3)[6]

[Deme]

Leon stepped back so he could watch all the machinery turn and make sure it was all working. The wheel turned when they pulled, which in turn pulled the gears. The gears operated the bellows.

This all made a horrible screeching noise that filled the room, like nails on a chalkboard. Leon winced and tried to shield himself with his wings, reflexively.

"It-SEEMS-TO-BE-WORKING!"

He shouted over the sound.
...
Of course, it worked so well that it sucked up Merry, bum first, into the biggest pipe, right near the rocky area. Her booty is clogging the pipes.

[Benson]

"Waaaaah aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Poor Merri was just so caught off in surprise as she found herself getting sucked up into the biggest pipe only to find herself stuck. She jerked to and fro trying to unstuck herself but to no immediately avail.

"Waaagh...someone...someone get me out of here p-please...its chaffing." She yelled out for her help as she flailed her arms.

[Lycan 01]

"..."

Yuki quickly turns the wheel back in the opposite direction, in hopes that it will reverse the suction.

Spoiler

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Cunning: (1d6x3)[9]

[Trobby]

"Oh! Merri! Now you've really gone and fallen off the trolley." The anacrhonistic demon says, grasping the devil maid's hands tightly.

"Do try and show a bit of gumption and tug yourself out of this pickle with me girl." She says, tugging hard at the fast-stuck woman.

Spoiler

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Athletics: (1d6x3)[15]

[Deme]

Ante tugged as hard as she could as the wheels and gears began to turn backwards, releasing the suction from the pipes and, in fact, reversing it. This caused Merry to be spat out with more force than perhaps intended, pushed with more momentum into Ante... Who, herself, off-balance from pulling, went flying from the impact, colliding into Hani, carting little rocks... Who posed no obstacle to the rhythm of the occasion which, with a puff of feathers and the scent of sulfur, collided into Leon, who fell to the bottom of the stack, landing in a rough, tangled pile on the cavern floor.

Leon, seeing this assemblage of ladies piled on top of him, simply lay back and folded his arms behind his head.

[Lycan 01]

Yuki casually walks over, and leans slightly to look down at Leon beneath the pile of women, hands neatly folded behind her back. "Are you harmed, sir?" she asks in her usual aloof manner.

[Trobby]

Hani's tiny tiger head popped out from underneath the other two maids, as she scooted away like a dart, then shook herself off in a quick shimmey, before standing back up as a full maid.

"Oh, Hani, Leon, Merri, are you all okay?"

"Oh, just fine just...a little tangled up is all." Ante reassures them, even as she fails to disentangle herself from the human dog pile atop Leon to no avail, since Merri is currently on top of her and wedged into her...

Ante stopped struggling, and froze in realization at the compromising position of the three of them, both maids atop their master, and Merri's face against Ante's...blouse.

[Benson]

Merri had let out another yell as she flew into Ante who flew into Hani and Leon. It all just happened so quickly, everything a blur. All she knew is that a moment later her face was pressed against something soft and squishy.

A confused hand went up to the touch the softness.

Squish squish squeeze. Wait what??! Within the same few seconds, Merri opened her eyes as realization and reality hit, just like a pair of soft boobs to the face.


"Waaaaagh!" Despite her yelling, her body was frozen in place, her hand too. ()

[Deme]

Leon looked up at Yuki from his position at the bottom of the heap without moving anything but his head and eyes, a wide, slow grin on his face.

"Oh, I'm fine. Juuust fine. Don't worry for me... Take your time..."

Of course, he had to admit, there were better ways to end up in a pile. Fewer rocks, and so on.

[Lycan 01]

Yuki gives a resolute nod, before turning and walking away from the awkward tangle of individuals, and heading back over to the wheel. She gives it a few turns, trying to move it back into the proper position so that the machinery is operating properly, while trying to carefully keep it from turning too far and sucking somebody else into the mechanisms.

Spoiler

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Cunning: (1d6x3)[9]

[Trobby]

If Ante were in the proper position (And if it weren't completely improper) she'd have slapped Leon for that remark in an instant. As it stood, it at least brought her back to reality.

"Begging your pardon, Merri, but it would perhaps be prudent for you to remove your face...and your hand...from their current location, if we wish to keep this relationship professional in nature."

[Atreli]

Lune was using looked like a glowing, floating sea urchin as a means to light her way in the dark corridors as she followed the string.

Surely, she should've met someone by now.

Right?

Oh well, best to keep going at this point. She knew for certain no one was at the house so her best guess was that they were down here.

Somewhere.

Her fingers tightened on the rope as her mind flashed a scene of her, chibi style lost comedically down here forever.

No. This is no time to think that way, besides if worse came to worse she could always head back.

No worries.