a preview of my fic for @vwczine:
“So, aliens! It’s the only explanation, right? I mean, look at that, that’s definitely a circuit board.” Phichit grinned at Yuuri as he took Viktor’s spot across from him, sitting on top of his legs so he could have the best leverage to look at what Yuuri was working on excavating. He overdramatically threw a hand over his forehead, as though he was going to faint. “Aliens, on our dig! How am I supposed to explain myself? I’ll never be a respected archaeologist again! Well, you see, we were digging at the site, but then… there was technology that could only be explained by aliens.”
“Phichit,” Yuuri laughed, tearing his eyes away from Viktor playing with Makkachin and looking back at his friend. “You’re absolutely right, it’s aliens! It’s the only explanation! The skill, the mastery, no ancient civilization could have possibly had this sort of advanced work!”
“I knew it!” Phichit responded, looking at the artifact that they’d set aside for the moment. “I knew we’d be the ones to prove them right, Yuuri. All of those conspiracy theorists, waiting for their chance to have their day. Well, here we are! Giving the conspiracy theorists something to talk about! Betraying the whole field of archaeology. This is why we went into the profession.”
“Of course,” Yuuri laughed. “We definitely didn’t go into archaeology to study the ingenuity and depth of humanity’s knowledge. It was definitely for the aliens.” He shook his head as he started to brush at the dirt again, carefully so he wouldn’t dislodge or break anything that might be hidden. “Seriously, though, Phichit, I think we’ve found something big here. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s just… weird. Some of this stuff is a lot different than the rest. Like… we’ve got all the artifacts we thought we were going to find, and then there’s stuff like that.” Yuuri gestured at the circuit board again.
“You’re right,” Phichit mused, leaning forward to help Yuuri with the work. “Have you found other pieces like it?”
“Not much. It’s a completely different style than everything else here. I was trying to talk to Viktor about it, but he got all weird when he saw it, and was no help.” Yuuri looked down at it again, turning it over to see if there was something he was missing. Most of the artifacts looked older than this, too. This one just needed to be cleaned, and then it would be fit for a museum. A little muddy, but not corroded or anything like so much of the other metal at their site.
“Is Viktor ever much help in identification? He’s great to have here, but sometimes I wonder how he got his spot. Let me see it more closely,” Phichit said. Yuuri handed over the artifact.
curious on what they’ve found? check out the zine (which is gold and au themed) @vwczine <3 it’s full of absolutely amazing writers and artists, and the proceeds will go to an amazing cause!