fandomhigh | An Excuse for Field Trips, Wednesday, 4th Period

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An Excuse for Field Trips, Wednesday, 4th Period

Once again, Hannibal and Jonothon had their class meeting on the Causeway. This week they'd been told to dress for warmer weather, and to bring good hiking shoes, if they had them.

"Welcome back," Hannibal greeted them. "We can get to our trips again now that the island seems to have given up on...whatever that was last week."

He opened the large pack he had with him and passed out large bottles of water to everyone. "You will want to drink as much as you can. We will be visiting a high-altitude site, and this will help you adjust. Don't overexert yourself, and let us know if you're experiencing any ill effects."

//And you'll want to wear sunscreen,// Jono added, opening his own... rather less large pack. He hadn't been put on water bottle duty, it was fine. He handed out the little travel-sized bottles of sunscreen for the class to take. //Gets sunny up there.// A pause. //This week, we're going to Peru. Into the Andes. There are the ruins of an old citadel up there that a few of you from Earth might have heard of, and we're going to be doing a bit of exploring, there.//

"Machu Picchu," Hannibal said. "It has been designated a world heritage site for its extraordinary architecture and historical value. We'll be able to walk through the ruins, which have been partially reconstructed over the years, and there will be guides if you have questions. The local language is Spanish, but most will speak at least some English. If you need more, please ask." Because he spoke Spanish, too. Of course.

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"Eeeeeeee..."

Don't mind Vette. Ruins were kind of her favorite terrain.

And regular, non-creepy ruins were even better.

Hannibal chuckled. "Is it fair to say you're enjoying this week?"

"It would be," Vette said primly, not quite able to bite back a smile, "a pretty safe assumption."

She wanted to run up and down those stairs a billion times and then to explore where that water was running to, that seemed interesting, and maybe there were secret chambers somewhere around here, and...

"What is it you enjoy about it?" Hannibal asked. "The historic nature, or the structures themselves?"

"Both," Vette admitted, though she was trying to keep casual about it, chomping that excitement back hard. "The history here is something totally new, you know? But one history can always be applied to other ones for context." A beat. "Or whatever."

Best to not sound too thoughtful, don't judge her.

"... And I can't help but wonder if the buildings have traps."

Pirate.

Hannibal was amused. "The Inca aren't known for having left traps. In any event, this was an estate, not a tomb. I imagine it would be quite inconvenient having to disarm every door in your home before walking through."

Amusing, possibly, but inconvenient.

"The history of this culture we unfortunately mostly know through their conquerors. That is one reason places like this are so important."

Vette looked faintly intrigued - it was about as much interest as she cared to show, though she would definitely be looking into this place more later.

"Okay, no traps. And this place gets enough tourists, I bet all the fun treasure's already been cleared out, too."

What a sham.

"Anything perceived to be of value is currently in museums," Hannibal agreed. "Would a museum visit be of interest? We haven't been to one yet this semester."

Vette considered that offer carefully for a moment.

"It would end badly for the museum," she cautioned.

Because, really, that just sounded like a challenge.

Hannibal pondered that.

"To do anything to hurt them while we've invited you as a guest would be quite rude," he said. "However, I can hardly prevent you from doing whatever you like at a future date."

Would that be acceptable?

"Hmmm," Vette mused, and then shrugged. "I guess that depends on if going back is worth my time."

"If not, then it shouldn't be worth your time on the initial visit, either," Hannibal pointed out.

"Yeah," Vette sighed, "except for the challenge. What's even the point if there's no challenge?"

"And the challenge is greater on the initial visit?" Hannibal asked.

"Sure," Vette replied easily. "Going in blind and with an audience? That's way easier than sneaking in after hours with an idea of the layout already."

Hannibal nodded. "So is it more about the skill involved, or the possible gains?"

"Little from Column Aurek, little from Column Besh," Vette rattled off easily. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all about material gains, but what's the point if I can't challenge myself to get them? Boring."

Hannibal smiled. "I know someone who used to break into the homes of rich people to steal inconsequentials. Forks and such. It was more about the symbolism and accomplishment than the value. I think you would like him ~~even if they'll never meet because ahahaha~~."

He smirked. "There is, however, more than one museum with artifacts that the cultures they come from have contested their ownership of. If they shouldn't have them in the first place, there would be no harm in removing them, would there?"

It certainly wouldn't be rude.

Vette's eyes went a little bit wider.

"It's like you've been reading my diary," she accused.

Hannibal chuckled. "One of those museums kept many things from this site for years."

It wasn't a huge leap from there; individuals might steal items for their monetary value; museums had a history of taking them from their native cultures.

"I'll see what museums we might be able to find."

"Yesssss," Vette replied, grinning faintly. "And... could you let me know in advance which we're going to? I'll need time to ... you know. Figure out the most straightforward way to see everything in the museum, of course."

Yes. That. And not to research everything they had and figure out what was and wasn't stolen. Not at all.

Hannibal gave her a little bow. "I will see what I can do."

Vette! VetteVetteVette!!

Prompto was really going to regret all the expenditure of energy by the end of class...by halfway through class, really...but he apparently had an even worse grasp on pacing himself as a puppy than he usually did. Come on, though. He hadn't seen her since before the Puppening, and while Yang was seriously the best thing since chocobos, he could definitely use a little bestie time, too.

So, incoming pupper! Trying his very best to manage the terrain his very smoll size, barking out a greeting and wagging his tail.

His tail, Vette. He had a tail.

It was the best dumb stupid thing ever.

A tail! And it was attached to a puppy! A puppy with the most ridiculous hairs on his little puppy head!

Excuse Vette, Prompto. She needed to make a sound audible only to-- well-- to dogs, and then reach down and scoop you up.

"Gunshow? Gunshow is that you? Look at you! Why did you get the great animal transformation and I got the stupid angry round bird? Aaaah I need to squash your face!"

Oh, man, it was a good thing Prompto couldn't actually speak right now, because he might have been tempted to say something about that stupid angry round bird that would definitely lead to him being one dead dog. He was too busy wincing a little more than he'd have ever thought at that sound she made just then, and then he was being scooped up. He squirmed a little, because Vette. Vette. You were, like, so warm, Vette, and it was so hot out and he had so much fur right now...

...but he settled well enough. There were worse things in the world than being mildly snuggled by one of your best friends. And he was very proud of himself for not giving into the compulsion to just lick her face right now, because that would be supes awkward.

He was totally going to thwap you with his tail, though. Thwap, thwap! Mwa ha ha! Take that!

...okay, so he couldn't actually help the tail thwapping? But he was totally going to pretend like he could.

Thwap!

Vette giggled and just kind of hugged him close for a moment, because aaah, happy tail! Look at that happy tail go!

"Who is the most precious puppy with the biggest, strongest puppy-guns that ever there was? Is iiiiiit... Prompto? I bet it's Prompto!"

This was absurd. Vette, you were absurd.

Awww, Vette! Stoppp. You were going to make him puppy-blush.

And it was absurd, but, also, probably truuueee, so Prompto let out a happily agreeing bark.

He'd flex those pup-guns, too, if he had even the slightest inclination of exactly how he'd pull that off.

That was fine, Vette would totally gush all over the puppy whether there were flexy guns or not.

"Your ears are so floppy," she informed him. "So floppy! Dogs back home don't have ears like that, they're almost lekku. You're like the Twi'lek of puppies! Aren't you? You are!"

She could feel absolutely no regret for any of this cooing later, either.

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An Excuse for Field Trips, Wednesday, 4th Period

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