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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 20:37:55 GMT -6
With one more crisis solved, Fiera closed the lid of her mine cart, ensuring that the pocket pet would be safe from further advances from Algol. "That was VERY naughty." She scolded again, but the sarane hatchling didn't seem to care all that much, quickly looking around for something else to do. Fiera decided to do the same, finally taking in her surroundings. She was in a wide room, about twenty feet in diameter, with the entrance she had made about three feet up from the ground. The rest of the cave was a yawning structure, with tiny peeks to surrounding, naturally formed tunnels. Long stalactites hung from the ceiling, and the ground was covered in loose stones and rubble, partially cemented together by the drips from the ceiling. Everything had a vaguely opalescent sheen to it, but whether it was from the calcium coating or from gems being hidden in the rocks, she couldn't say.
Fiera 12 Algol 14.2/14.2 [Post 52]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 20:40:48 GMT -6
Those other areas would certainly have to be investigated, Fiera thought, but she didn't quite have access to them now. Nor did she want to break them open just yet- who knew what this room would hold with just a little investigation! The floor was covered with a wide variety of rocks, not all the same color. There could be something of value mixed in there. The walls had that shimmering look to them that mineral heavy areas had. There were also few boulders along the wall, rough shapes that had been concreted to the surrounding area by water deposits. They looked like they could be cracked open with a little effort, and who knew what lay within. Fiera knew she had a lot of options here- but which one to take? She glanced at Algol and gestured around the room, as if asking him to pick. The sarane hatchling looked around...
Fiera 13 Algol 14.3/14.3 [Post 53]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 20:43:25 GMT -6
And laid next to a boulder. "Well, I suppose that decides it!" Fiera said with amusement. She tossed Algol his favorite rock for chewing on and gave him some praise, and then crossed to a boulder on the other side of the room. She didn't need to disturb him after all- if he was sitting nicely and calmly, she'd leave him to it. The young drake looked so comfy over there, after all. Instead, she looked through her tools... and selected the mallet. The pickaxe was great of course, but it was more useful for chipping things off of walls. The mallet however? Perfect for breaking bigger rocks into tinier pieces. She spun it around once in her hand, trying to look cool, and dropped it instead. She huffed and picked it back up. "Fine then, guess I'll do things the plain way, then." She said to no one in particular.
Fiera 14 Algol 14.4/14.4 [Post 54]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 20:49:19 GMT -6
She raised the mallet and got to work, bringing it down heavily on the boulder. It didn't crack except for a few chips flying off of it, and Fiera's shoulder ached with the effort. Guess she wasn't quite that strong yet. She'd just have to work her way up to it. She kept trying however, beating away at the same boulder. Algol looked up at her lazily- she supposed she must look like a fool to him. Just beating away at and wasting effort on the same rock, over and over. She knew they weren't too different though- she had seen him trying to eat a bug on the other side of a window once, after all. He never did eat that fly. Unlike him, she knew that her reward would be far greater than some gross food, too. After all, it was treasure that she was hunting for, not insects.
Fiera 15 Algol 15.0/15.0 [Post 55]
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Post by Renathan on Aug 6, 2019 21:21:54 GMT -6
Two beautiful stones could be found nearby; an amber filled with bits and bobs, and a pretty pearlescent stone. [46-55]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 6:26:16 GMT -6
Man, this rock didn't really want to crack, huh? Fiera backed away for a moment, wiping her brow. The large stone was now riddled with hairline fractures and was missing several chunks, but it was still whole, no matter how much she kicked it. These blows with the mallet were definitely damaging it, but not cracking it. She needed to try a different method. Fiera walked back to her back from where she threw it next to the crystal torch and dug through it. Her smaller tools were going to be useless, but perhaps her pick axe could do something. She took it out and examined it in the light. Perfect. She adjusted it in her grip and strode back to the boulder. She spun it around a couple times- this time successfully- raised it up, and swung. Sure enough, a whole third of the boulder cleaved right off, clattering to the ground.
Fiera 16 Algol 15.1/15.1 [Post 56]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 6:56:16 GMT -6
She examined the carnage... and sure enough, there was something embedded in the piece she cleaved off! She tapped her pick axe a few more times, separating the glittering shard into its own chunk. From there, it was just a matter of cleaning off the rest. Fiera scuttled back over to her bag again, much to Algol's amusement, and dug through it a bit longer, taking out the chisel and tweezers. The little dragon-like creature she had grabbed earlier hissed at her again, but she hushed it with one finger and closed the bag again. She scampered back to the rock chunk, tools in hand, and began to work. The chisel made short work of the larger clumps, and the tweezers helped her remove the rest. It was, thankfully, a lot easier to get out than those last two gems she had to dig out of a hunk of stone.
Fiera 17 Algol 15.2/15.2 [Post 57]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 7:08:14 GMT -6
A final polishing with the brush, and soon the gem was revealed. It was opalescent, but with a tinge of blue, softly reradiating the light that went through it, casting a blueish hue onto her fingers. It was round, but lopsided in a charming way, giving it interesting angles to examine it from. Fiera thought it looked a little familiar, though... She stood up, brushed off her pants, and walked over to her mine cart, turning the new gem over in her hand. She opened it and the dragon creature inside scuttled away from her, hissing. In the mean time however, it looked like it had arranged Fiera's stones into color order, making it surprisingly easy to find the gems she was looking for. Sure enough, once she compared the new gem with the old, it turned out she had one of these already, having found it early into her journey.
Fiera 18 Algol 15.3/15.3 [Post 58]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 7:16:46 GMT -6
Still, the more the merrier! Just because she had found one already didn't mean successive ones weren't valuable. If anything, they were more valuable- one could make even bigger and more intricate pieces of jewelry from them, or something like that. Either way, it meant more of a windfall for Fiera. She was happy to have it, and she slotted the new gem in next to its original twin sibling. The little dragon creature she found immediately perked up and scampered over, adjusting it and made sure it fit just so. Fiera chuckled with amusement (even though Algol couldn't help but hiss every time the creature showed up), and closed the cart again. She started walking back over to the boulder, intending on finishing it off, when she noticed something else at her feet. She bent down to pick it up, watching as the light glinted off of it differently.
Fiera 19 Algol 15.4/15.4 [Post 59]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 7:21:30 GMT -6
Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was a deep yellow color, but... sort of dirty? Fiera ran her thumb over the crystal, attempting to rub some of the dirt off, only to realize it was embedded in the gem itself. Her mind clocked for a minute, gears turning, and then it finally clicked. Oh, this was no gem at all! This was a piece of amber! She was a lot more excited about her finding, all of a sudden, and held it up to her eye. She couldn't see anything specific, like an insect or anything, but she was still thrilled at the pieces inside. Who knew how old this was, what those pieces were originally from, and from how long ago? It wasn't a gem at all, but hardened tree sap acting as a snapshot to an earlier time. The part of Fiera that loved science was positively thrilled.
Fiera 20 (Level up!) Algol 16.0/16.0 [Post 60]
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Post by Jack on Aug 7, 2019 7:24:51 GMT -6
A pretty pale pink snow gleamed in the darkness.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 18:41:53 GMT -6
Fiera continued smashing away at the boulder, sweat rolling down her. Finally, she managed to find one more crystal in that boulder- a pretty piece of rose quartz, about the length of a finger. Quite valuable, but the work was starting to take its toll. It was much harder work than she thought- she could see why doing this sort of thing constantly ended up destroying some people. She only did this for a couple days a month, and even then she ached for a week afterward. She couldn't imagine doing it for a living. Even now her back hurt, her arms were yelling at her, and her knees were about ready to revolt. Honestly, Fiera wasn't sure if she could keep it up for much longer. She stopped for a second to wipe her brow, sitting down on one of the larger chunks of rock. Her sarane hatchling then lifted his head, concerned.
Fiera 1 Algol 16.1/16.1 [Post 61]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 18:46:15 GMT -6
Algol immediately trotted over, sniffing at her to see what was wrong. "Oh no buddy, I'm fine." She laughed, reached out, and gave him a scritch under his chin. He leaned into the touch, and she felt vibrations come from somewhere in his throat. He was being so good through the whole mining trip, even though they had been here a couple hours already. He hadn't acted up once, or even begged for food, despite being a quickly growing young sarane. She really did have to give him a good treat after this, or at least take him out for a proper play session. As of right now, he just seemed content to sit with her, getting pets on the head and between his wings. She wondered, distantly, if sarane got growing pains and this was helping him out with that. She hadn't heard of many other sarane being this affectionate, after all.
Fiera 2 Algol 16.2/16.2 [Post 62]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 19:50:15 GMT -6
While Algol was cute now however, she knew he wouldn't stay that way, as he was already growing rapidly. According to her research, Sarane got progressively more huge and aggressive as they got older, and at some point she'd have to 'break' him. The process sounded cruel, but it was the only way to keep him under control so he wouldn't hurt anyone in the future... something that Fiera didn't want to see happen. So she'd have to break him at some point. She also heard that while an unbroken drake was a menace, the breaking process was... also dangerous. Apparently it was similar to a rodeo, except much more lethal due to the large number of sharp things on a drake's body. If you could stay on them long enough however, they'd calm down (or just collapse from exhaustion), and you'd have earned their 'respect', and they'd start listening to you again.
Fiera 3 Algol 16.3/16.3 [Post 63]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2019 20:05:02 GMT -6
She could hardly imagine having to do that to her baby, as he was currently curled up in her lap and fast asleep. Well, looks like she wouldn't be doing any mining now. Still... she knew the change would come someday, and she'd have to break him, for his own safety if anything else. She doubted The Labs would let a large, violent, flesh eating creature run rampant for long. Still, he was cute and gentle now, and here she was keeping him cooped up in a mine! Though... it wasn't that cruel, he did seem to be having fun. If his current behavior was any indication however, it was clear he was starting to get tired. She could see why- this new place was a lot of excitement for a baby his age. There were so many new sights and smells, she wouldn't be surprised if they were overwhelming.
Fiera 4 Algol 16.4/16.4 [Post 64]
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