Jake looked over towards Miki, before pressing the button.

"In ya go, then." he said.

Ash just sighed, and walked through the door, greeting Miki as he did so.

"Yo." he said quietly.

"All right, let's go." he said.

"I have no friggin' idea where I'm going." he then added.

"Hey, I can be fast." Ash responded.

"Anyway, I assume that's the statue?" he asked, gesturing to the statue in question.

"It is." Illias replied.

"All right, let's do thi-" Ash started to say, before he paused suddenly.

"....what is it?" Illias asked.

"Ahhh hell." Ash growled, thumping his ear with his palm.

"That buzzing noise is returning, louder than before."

Ash was silent, and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah." he said.

"Here." he told her, handing her the gauntlet.

"Damn it, it's fun to activate that thing." he then mumbled, before wincing noticeably.

"...not fun when THAT flares up." he added, thumping his ear again.

"It makes you lose your hearing?" Illias asked.

"The sensory loss is different from person to person." Gregory replied. "But it will generally rob you of your most precious sense." he added.

"Ohhhhhh no." Ash replied.

"No, no, no, no." he said.

"The first hit of that is the big one. Each subsequent use is minor in comparison." he told Casey. "...for the most part..." he mumbled.

"Listen, we can take it more than you can. Not to downplay your skills or anything." he then said.

"But you can't just decide that you're going to temporarily cripple yourself, just to prevent us from getting that LIIIITLE bit MORE temporarily crippled." he continued.

He then paused for a moment, and sighing heavily.

"Buuuuuuuut this is something you're going to be stubborn on, I'm guessing, so for the sake of not drawing this out any longer than it needs to be... just... fine, do it." he grumbled.

"But do NOT blame ME when you suddenly find yourself unable to do commissions for clients."

"YOU don't have to live with her." Ash replied.

"She seems to know what this will do to her, and if I stand in the way, I'll suffer the consequences in so many little ways that it'll be miserable for me." he lamented.

"This way it'll just be my brother pissed off at me, and even while deaf, I can take him on." he said flippantly.

"So... you know what, let's let the kitty see the power of the gauntlet." he went on, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Just remember what they say about cats and curiosity, Casey." he then warned Casey.

"Yup." Ash confirmed.

"I can stay." Gregory said.

"Regardless, get the one that's staring at it to stop staring at it, so they can leave and Casey can do the deed." Ash told everyone.

"And Casey, as usual, make sure you're staring at it until the cracks start to form." he then told Casey.

"Once that happens, it's immobile... for the most part. It can still move, just REALLY sluggishly."

Ash was silent for a moment, raising an eyebrow.

"....hm." he mumbled.

"What is it?" Illias asked him.

"Oh, nothing." Ash replied.

"Just... I've been alive for a bit, and I've seen a LOT in this world." he then said. "But you're something new to me." he told Gemini.

"I've never seen one like yourself before."

"........" Ash was silent as he heard that.

"Ah..." he stammered.

"That... explained everything, yet nothing at the same time." he said.

"But... I've learned not to dig where I may not be welcome to." he went on with a sigh.

"By the way, if it feels like we're in the middle of an earthquake, we're not." he then told the group. "It's just a small ripple effect from the Seismic Gauntlet." he assured them further.

"Oh!" Ash exclaimed.

"I see." he said.

"Well... I mean... swings and roundabouts, I suppose." he then said further with a shrug.

"You seem... oddly calm about that." Illias commented, to which Ash said nothing. Didn't even seem to acknowledge that a question was asked.

"Um..." Illias muttered, before Ash looked at him.

"Sorry, did you ask something?" he asked.

"I just said... that you seemed oddly calm about learning what Gemini is." Illias commented.

"Oh!" Ash said. "Sorry, buzzing kicked up again." he apologized.

"And I know a LOT of weird people in this world. Something like this barely registers as 'weird'." he chuckled.

"Ah-yup." Ash responded.

"There's a reason that thing is kept under lock and key." he told Miki.

"It has the potential power to decimate entire continents, if the wielder is reckless enough, determined enough, and is willing to undergo immense sensory deprivation." he said.

"If I recall correctly, people speculate that it was made to do terraforming." he continued.

"Like flatten land and such for agriculture?" Illias asked.

"Pretty much." Ash replied.

"But... well... like all things made for peaceful purposes, a way to weaponize it was found." he went on. "...though, admittedly, that's not hard to do with a VERY portable earthquake machine." he then mumbled.

"So a goo part of the fault goes to the ones that designed it, I would think."