Muscles remembered the happy burn and sting of digging, and the memory that came along with the renewed soreness was all the more pleasant to recall. As worried as he'd been for Gaucho, deprived of his senses as he'd been, Cera would still take pleasure in aiding his Sultan regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Though he needed to dig nearly as deep as the pair had for the oil Gaucho had needed, and he was alone in his efforts for that moment, Cera had no reservations regarding the project. The heavy sweat that turned him into a dark caramel rather than his shining gold was all the more reasoning behind his efforts, and the parch that affected his throat was the nail in the coffin that cemented his desire behind the large, personal project.

A form sailed past him on midnight wings, and Cera paused his efforts to glance up at the similarly sweat-drenched mare that alighted at his side. A welcoming grin brought itself across his features, eyes warm like spring grass and uncut emeralds. "Ampere," he greeted, the natural warmth of his soul bleeding out into every crevice and syllable of her name. Friend, it declared in the cadence of her title. Over her shoulder he caught sight of a familiar antlered form, interrupting the answer forming on his tongue. He called out in wordless greeting, a nicker of encouragement and kinship. His two blessed, loved ones, gathered round him. The job could never turn him off, not now.

"Hello, Gaucho," he reiterated for the stallion as the Prince's own name fell from gruff lips. The tension between the two was palpable, and Cera was careful to navigate it properly. Step one? Distraction. He kicked another spurt of sound out from the modest hole he'd already created and grinned cheekily at the pair. Ilaria, meanwhile, was absorbed with Gaucho's new flighted babe. It panged Cera's heart to see the phoenix, so familiar in its light and love of his own companion. "Fina," Ilaria mourned softly. Cera merely gave a quiet sigh and pushed away the thought. Ilaria rose up on her hind paws, happily chirping and gurgling at the beautiful bird, fearless in her friendliness. Cera smiled briefly at them, but kept his questions to himself out of respect to Ampere, whom garnered a flick of his eyes and an apologetic look. Cera had managed to keep Ilaria out of the equation for a while, out of his respect for the blue, but the red panda was a stubborn sort who would not be chained to Cera's family for long. The least he could do to make up for her having to witness the trio of companions was to honor her by not questioning Gaucho about the new creature.

"I'm making a well. The Oasis is our only source of water, and that's dangerous. We need water in multiple locations for countless reasons, especially with drought weather like this." Cera gestured vaguely, sure that the pair would understand when they were all soaked with sweat as it was. Cera was even slimmer than he usually was, and it did not escape his notice that Gaucho, too, had lost considerable mass. At least he didn't look like a stick, as the Prince did. Frail and breakable. But he smiled nonetheless and glanced at the two around him. "It's going to take a lot of effort on my part, since it goes beneath the ground. I hoped digging would take some of the effort away, but..." the Prince helplessly shrugged, a light smile on his face. "I need to construct the well while the metal is still beneath the sand. While I do so, can you continue to dig?" He glanced between them, and Cera already knew the answer would likely be an affirmative. So he shut his eyes, focusing deep down into the bedrock, to the water he could sense in an odd sort of half-awareness with his magic. Gritting his teeth against the difficulty, Cera began pulling and shifting the lumps of metal, shaping them individually into smooth curved pieces, placing them upon and beside one another. It was slow going, magic was a beautiful thing but even it could not make shoving and shaping metal deposits through hard earth easy.

Sweat collected in thick blankets on him in strain, knees locking stubbornly together. There was a full cylinder finally created, but the earth was still in the way. "Stand back," he grunted softly, too focused for pleasantries. He grabbed onto a slab of metal, a circular piece small enough to go through the tube he'd essentially created, and pulled with all his might and magic. It surged up slowly, pushing the sand out of the tube, and the earth began to spill out over the crest Cera had created just beneath the earth to allow Ampere and Gaucho room to work without hitting newly made walls. It popped loudly, the earth moved free in large mounds around the circumference of the tube. Cera crumpled, the metal he'd been using dropping half-formed just over the lip of the newly made well. Panting, he sagged against the protruding lip of the cylinder, gazing down into the abyss he'd essentially created. Cera briefly held his breath, and smiled to hear the distant gurgle of water filling the basin he'd crafted.

"I can't do any more," he said faintly, not even bothering to stand. "Digging could only do so much, and moving the sand...it was too much. Bucephalus will have to make a larger walled lip, a bucket, a chain, something to sling the chain over..." the paint mumbled, more to himself than anything. Turning, a grin was given, tired but sincere. "Thank you for getting some of that sand out of the way, it was less for me to move."

@[Gaucho] && @[Bucephalus]

Only Buce really has to post again, but Ampere and Gaucho can if you want! I just wrote that they went to help him dig, and then moved back when he realized it was useless.

I just had him essentially drag all the sand up with a circular shape just small enough to go through the 'tube' he'd created in the earth, because there's no way horses could dig deep enough to make an artesian well XD but because of that, Bucephalus will have to do the rest!