Part 66: Part Sixty-Six: Part-Time Help

Part Sixty-Six: Part-Time Help


Thanks for the setup, Xu.


Today's agenda has us returning to Shumi village.


Last time we were here, the Shumis decided to buckle down and get that statue of Laguna built. Artisan over here ain't feelin' it, though.


Sculptor's hard at work, and there's Attendant, off to the side gathering material or whatever.


Apparently things aren't going as well as they might like.


Like Artisan, Attendant isn't too big on the whole deal.


Let's let the Elder know.

Elder: From the look on your face, they must not be working seriously.


Shit, sure. Might as well.


He doesn't have much more to say if you talk to him again, so let's go visit the Moomba.



This causes the little dude to tear off towards the workshop.


And there is he, hassling Attendant while Selphie just ignores all that shit behind her.



At this point, the Moomba kind of moves around and does some gestures.


Shumis are much better at divining the Moombas' desires than humans.



Basically, we're only seeing one side of this conversation.




Attendant: ...Ok...fine. Attendant will work.

The interpretive dance eventually gets through to him. Neat.


Then the Moomba does one more move before fucking off. See ya later, dude.


Attendant's not got anything new to say.


And Sculptor says this, which makes me think his line flag is screwed up or something. The last time we were here, Selphie had an out-of-place line mentioning "Matron" before we saw the orphanage flashback. Maybe this place didn't get as much QA as it should have.


Specialist, as usual, has a bit of commentary. I hope they get that statue stuff worked out.


Elder is happy to hear the good news.

: Maybe it's none of my business, but what's the point of forcing him to do something against his will?

It's a little unusual, but Squall decides to speak up here.


Despite being kind of a bumbling goof, Laguna really charms the hell out of people.

Elder: There is a reason why my attendant refused to work on the statue initially.
: ......?
Elder: My attendant strongly wishes to leave here and fight alongside Master Laguna. Not to spend time building a statue. Therefore, my attendant does not want to become an Elder. One cannot fight or leave the village once one becomes an Elder.


He's got the wit to come up with "you become either something or something else." Sagacious.

Elder: ...I believe my attendant will become an Elder someday.

I guess the statue job is just a learning experience, then.




: Is there any way to prevent the evolution?
Elder: It is not the Shumi way to abuse our knowledge and pursue personal ambitions. All of us have accepted our destinies.

I'm no theologian, but this seems like it resembles a religious belief.





Now, back to business. This is what Sculptor jumped the gun on earlier.

Elder: I would love to see my attendant go and pursue personal dreams. I once had dreams, too. But as an Elder, my responsibilities always come first.

That's the Elder's last piece of wisdom for us. Now we have to go back to the workshop.


Again, they need another hand around the place. Let's get Irvine in here.


I'm glad that's workin' out for ya.


Attendant wants us to recruit Artisan to work on this thing, but as you may recall:


Artisan's gotta wash his hair.


The next step is, of course, to talk to the Elder. Dude knows what's up.

So, at this point, we have to help Artisan get his head in the game. But, what can we do?

Well, let's start by remembering this:


Artisan said this last time we came around the place, referring to the Grease Monkey out in FH.


So, let's pay him a visit. When you get there, the Moomba jumps off the table to greet you.


This confuses Squall, and causes him to believe it's alive.

Grease Monkey: No way, Jose. You guys went to Shumi Village, huh? Did you meet the guy who made that Moomba doll?

The Grease Monkey can tell if you've been to Shumi Village just from how you smell. It doesn't come across in images, but that place fuckin' reeks. Also, "no way, Jose" strikes me as a weird expression in this world.


This is actually how he can tell we were there, natch.


Why does this have its own text box?

Grease Monkey: High tech, ain't it? I'm a pretty good craftsman, myself, but that thing's way out of my league.


I have control back, probably because you can trigger that scene any time after visiting Shumi Village, but I didn't have a reason to come here until now.


"He said he had to wash his hair, but I think Shumis are bald."

Grease Monkey: What's up?


Oh, thanks dude. I have some people to kill, so if you could just slide on over there and, yeah, thanks.

Grease Monkey: Let's see... Oh yeah! Why don't you take that Moomba with ya?


Grease Mo.

Grease Monkey: This baby'll solve your problem, guaranteed.

I mean, as long as your problem is "not enough dolls."


For sure, man. For sure.


Let's talk to the Elder before we actually do anything. He's a bad sculptor, that's important.



At Artisan's place, the Moomba runs over to greet him.


"Also, is it a real Moomba?"



I guess that's how having a doll will solve our problems, if you were wondering.


We could have just given you a ride, dude. We have, like, a whole building. There's space.


On another note, how many people do you think fall down when the Garden starts moving?



We don't get to hear the whole message, because Squall decides he has other shit to do.




We can get some excerpts, though.


Anyway.


Outside, we find an old friend.

: What are you doing here?

There's the ol' Leonhart charm.



: So why are you here?

Also, how did you get here?

Master Fisherman: I'm an honorary Shumi. Didn't I tell ya before?
: ......?



Master Fisherman: Got tired of the ocean, so I decided to come out to the pond.
: ...Can't stay away from fishing, huh?
Master Fisherman: Guess not. It's in my blood.

Well, it's important to have hobbies.



Squall got distracted and totally forgot about the statue until just now.


At just that moment, Artisan comes out.



Artisan: Nobody has attempted this before, but Artisan has decided to become a human.

That seems bad, dude.

Artisan: He invited me to come to FH. Artisan is going to go.


Master Fisherman is a cool old dude.

: Good luck.
Artisan: Thank you.


And so, Artisan heads off towards the workshop.



And Master Fisherman heads off towards the entrance.


The Elder is very impressed by Squall's use of persuasion.

Elder: I was going to offer Artisan this to help us. I guess I don't need it anymore. Please take it.


This teaches a GF the ST-Defx4 ability, which lets you put four spells on your status defence. Only two GFs learn it naturally, and it can be handy in spots. No idea what Artisan was gonna do with this thing, though.


Read: come back after some events.


Ain't that the truth.


Before we leave, let's head over to the workshop and check in with the team.


It's going well.



Good luck, guys.


I've been pulling off the Ultima draw point every time I came through Shumi Village, and Squall has quite a stock built up right now. I've junctioned them to his Elemental Defence, I believe - Ultima blocks 1% of everything for each spell, so Squall's pretty solid against elements right now.


Before we move on with the story, there's a little stop in Balamb to be made.

This Guy: It's been crazy lately. First, we see the Garden flying by, and next thing you know, the Galbadians are taking over our town. What's next? Sorceresses, monsters, natural disasters? Geez!


I'm not your boss.





Oh.





Over here, the old man's havin' a bad time.



This is kind of a bummer.



Reminder: Esthar, the place the sorceress used to rule, has disappeared.


This is one of the actual reasons I came here.





The Queen of Cards can mess with rules in places. I believe she always adds rules in a fixed order, starting with Open.


So I finally got around to putting that back in place.



Then I came over here and shook this guy down for his off-brand MegaMaid card.


Over on the docks is some fuckin' guy talking about fish.

Some Fuckin' Guy Talking About Fish: Actually, I'm a chef, but I seem to have run out of ideas.


As soon as he says he's a chef, the part spreads out because this is an important cutscene.

Some Fuckin' Guy Talking About Fish: I've been wracking my brain over how I should prepare them.

Dude, just...don't make the poisonous fish. Don't cook it.

Some Fuckin' Guy Talking About Fish: Are you from around here? What kind of dishes do you like?


Selphie, I don't...don't make a cake out of poisonous fish, dude.

: Lots and lots of fruit on top, covered with fluffy cream, and it looks oh so yummy...


She's just excited about the idea of dessert.



Selphie, you can just go to a bakery and buy a cake, you don't need to hit up chefs on docks.


Well, I'm glad we got that all sorted out.



But in the end, the chef decides to make a cake with the poison fish.


Also, if we check out the draw point...


We can find some Gil. Some G-Soldier dropped this back during the occupation of Balamb. Nice!


This guy is also hanging out.

: You're here again?
Garden Student: I got nowhere to go. I went back the other day and the Garden was gone. I guess that's what I get for ditching too many times, eh...? Oh well...

Yeah, dude, you cut class enough that we decided to move the whole building out of spite.


While we're in town, I brought Zell to see his mother.


He doesn't have much to say.

Ma Dincht: Balamb is back to normal, and so is everyone else. ...But, I guess you can't come home yet, can you, Zell...?

He doesn't actually say anything, but Ma Dincht is as supportive as ever.


Before we leave Balamb, we can see this useless-ass child laying around the Dinchts' living room.



Who put this in the game?


That's all the side stuff done for now, so our next stop is this old stone building on the Centra continent. We were actually here before but couldn't go in because Squall thought it seemed familiar.


And now we can't go in because Squall is too busy thinking about huge things!


Now, if I rotate the camera just right, you can just barely see a bit of Squall's huge thing on the screen there.


So, let's get in the Garden and take a look.


That's right! For whatever reason, Seifer decided to drive G-Garden down here and, uh, look at the ocean. They're facing away from Edea's house. Sure.

Next time: uh, I guess we'll go back to...oh, let's say Timber.