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Post by Emery on Aug 14, 2023 20:51:50 GMT -6
It was a bit larger than the cherry quartz, but not a particularly attractive shape, being lumpy and off balance. It would likely have to be chipped down to size to make it work as a fitting in anything- a real shame, given the size of it. Emery supposed it couldn't be helped though, and considering she wasn't a jewelry maker, it wasn't really any of her business anyway. She put it away as well. After that was a rock she found particularly entertaining- a lava stone. Despite their humble appearance, Emery had always kept a few of these as a girl. She was fascinated by them- how airy and lightweight they were despite looking otherwise exactly like a regular stone. She would set them in the sink and watch them float around, barely even getting wet, or tossing them up in the air and marveling at how easy it was.
Emery 8 Argos 12.3/12.3 28
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Post by Emery on Aug 14, 2023 20:54:40 GMT -6
Emery smiled in spite of herself and pocketed it. Not a bad find- but there were others to look over. Then, she had two agates. They were almost identical to each other in shape and size, but not in color. One was a rich yellow color, and another a near turquoise blue. Emery was surprised to see them- normally different colors meant different chemical compositions, which meant that these gems must have been formed quite far apart in order to be made up of different materials. And yet here they were, sitting closely together in sedimentary stone. It must have been quite a journey for them to end up in the same place... but Emery wasn't nearly poetic enough to come up with such a thing. Instead, she simply made a note that the river that formed this stone must have flowed through a very diverse number of areas a long time ago.
Emery 9 Argos 12.4/12.4 29
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Post by Emery on Aug 14, 2023 21:01:01 GMT -6
And then, a tiger's eye and a chrysocola. Emery held up the tiger's eye to her flashlight, watching as the colors danced across its surface. It was a fascinating piece, and Emery wondered how the chemical and physical structure must fit together to create the shimmering effect. Despite it being a somewhat plain color, it was probably Emery's second favorite find so far after the lava rock for that reason... or maybe third, if you were counting the beetle grub snoozing away in her pocket. It was an irrelevant list anyway though- these gems were all likely going to be sold for profit, so there was no use getting attached to any of them. Well, except for the beetle grub, which she was going to keep in a terrarium. She allowed herself to get a little attached to that one. It was a fine list so far. "What do you think, Argos? Should we keep going?"
Emery 10 Argos 13.0/13.0 30
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Post by Jack on Aug 15, 2023 18:04:26 GMT -6
Eww, there’s fungus growing down here!
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 9:53:38 GMT -6
Emery was probably going to regret this, but she didn't feel she had many other options. She had returned to the mines for only her second ever mining trip, and this time Argos was nowhere to be found. She would have much preferred to have her mining assistant with her today. He was a mining familiar, the highest and most complex clade of gargoyle, perfect for this purpose... but she had other things to do, unfortunately. Argos's comforting presence had to be left at home, as she figured he wouldn't get along well with her current beast of focus, Moxie. Moxie was a highly exciteable kito who loved putting anything in his mouth, including anything that moved that was smaller than him. Which would probably mean Argos. Granted, the gargoyle was made of stone and thus pretty indestructible, but that wouldn't stop Moxie from trying and causing a whole mess in the process. Emery 11 Moxie 34.1/34.1 1
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 10:04:11 GMT -6
Rather than try and wrestle one very hard and sharp and one very large and strong creatures off of one another, Emery brought only Moxie instead. She didn't feel too confident about it, but at least he was well trained enough by now to not be a complete nuisance. He was even doing a good job of dragging along her tiny mine cart. He wasn't trained to haul loads, but it was so small and light that he barely noticed it tied to his tail. As long as he didn't whip his tail around too much, it would stay upright- and even then, it had a latchable lid on the top, so he wasn't liable to spill the contents. Still, he wasn't going to be much help actually MINING like Argos was, so she was going to have to find a spot with small, easily accessible crystals. More easily said than done.
Emery 12 Moxie 34.2/34.2 2
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 10:32:18 GMT -6
Moxie on the other hand felt like he was being very helpful. He loved doing New Things with his favorite person, and this was very much a new thing for him. It wasn't quite as fancy as the last time they did a new thing though. Back then they went to a big building with a lot of tasty food in it with some very fast birds that went fast, so fast! He wasn't able to catch the birds, but he did do a lot of fire that burned through enough of the flat tree stuff that he was able to keep chasing the birds. Emery got to chase too! She wasn't very good at it though, she wasn't very fast, and that made him sad. She just sort of toddled along, like a baby kito. Like a tasty thing. But she wasn't tasty, which was the saddest thing of all.
Emery 13 Moxie 34.3/34.3 3
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 10:58:15 GMT -6
Instead, she was made of weird gross tough stuff, like bones but bendier and gross and bitter. And the shiny rocks. Lots of the shiny rock on her. And the hard water, but not the cold kind. Really, his best friend was made up of a LOT of weird things. That was why he liked her though! He had the coolest friend around. No other kito had such a cool friend, and if they tried, he would bite them. And eat them. He was so cool. That was why he had such a cool friend! While he thought this though, he failed to notice Emery, who was yanking on his lead and practically begging him to keep walking. Then, he finally blinked for the first time in about five minutes and looked at his friend. Oh, she was making the 'keep moving' noises. Neat! She must be taking him to somewhere equally cool.
Emery 14 Moxie 34.4/34.4 4
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 11:00:24 GMT -6
Once Moxie was finished zoning out, she was finally able to lead him towards one of the tunnels leading down into the depths. It was a little concerning that he was still so easily distracted, but at least there wasn't much down here for him to try and eat or chase around. Heck, there wasn't much ROOM for him to chase anything around, and with the tunnels so confined and solid it was difficult for a creature his size to get lost. To hurt himself, maybe that was possible, but Emery was pretty sure it would be easy to find an enormous occasus kito again, even if he ran off. If just by following the distressed cries of other miners as he stomped right on all their things. In the meantime though, they'd be able to spend a bit more time together, getting him used to new sights and smells before the tournament started.
Emery 15 Moxie 35.0/35.0 5
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 11:21:31 GMT -6
It wasn't necessarily training per se, but it WAS important. The more time they spent together, the more they could read each other's body language, the better they'd be able to communicate in a fight. And Emery... didn't really have a lot of body language to start with, given how stiff she was. Moxie was getting easier to read with every day, but that was probably just because of how comfortable he was with her now. She could tell what he was thinking at a glance, though it wasn't exactly difficult- there wasn't a lot rattling around in his head to start with. In addition, the more time he spent in strange scenarios or potentially dangerous environments, the better Moxie would be able to classify and deal with threats. This was a vital skill in a fight, and Emery was sure her opponents would have all sorts of crafty tricks to stop him.
Emery 16 Moxie 35.1/35.1 6
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 11:36:05 GMT -6
And if that sort of awareness started with him jumping at every rock that crumbled off of the ceiling, then, well... so be it. To be fair though, at least he was jumping TO the rocks because he thought they were a small animal he could snack on, rather than away. She gave his lead another sharp tug, urging him off of the pebbles he was currently tasting to see if they were food. "No, Moxie." She said, scolding him a bit. Licking rocks was normally acceptable as most of what you found on the surface was harmless granite or some concrete conglomerate. Some of the things that could be found down in the mines however could be outright poisonous, and Emery wasn't fantastic at telling what was what. That meant that she had to put a blanket ban on Moxie eating rocks- though admittedly he shouldn't really be doing that anyway.
Emery 17 Moxie 35.2/35.2 7
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 14:17:14 GMT -6
Moxie sighed deeply at being pulled away but obeyed, trundling downhill as Emery moved towards who knew where. All she really knew was that she needed to go down. Down was where the poorly explored parts of the mines were, and down was where the mines were warmest as well. Where there was warmth there was crystal clusters, as the longer it took for lava to cool, the bigger the crystals would grow. She didn't really have the strength or energy to just start mining holes in the wall, so she had to look for things that were more obvious but hopefully not all claimed by somebody else yet. The further down she went, the more likely she was to find a place that was as of yet untouched. That was how it was supposed to go, at least- she hadn't been down in the mines enough to find out yet.
Emery 18 Moxie 35.3/35.3 8
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 14:19:24 GMT -6
Still, at least the going wasn't too difficult so far. Emery gripped her flashlight a bit more tightly. They had run out of pre-strung lamps a few tunnels prior, meaning that they were now entering relatively untouched areas, places where people had been only sparingly. For all she knew, maybe not more than once. If she could find a place that broke into a natural cave, then they'd be in business. A hand carved tunnel meant that chances are whoever made it hadn't missed any gems they dug up, but someone exploring a natural chaotic cavern could easily miss a side tunnel or cluster of gemstones. Which meant that Emery could swoop in behind them and grab whatever they missed. Still, she probably had a long ways to go- the mines had been up and running for years. Emery was quite a bit of a late comer to the whole affair.
Emery 19 Moxie 35.4/35.4 9
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 14:22:25 GMT -6
At least Moxie didn't seem too upset by all of this. The tunnel was a bit cramped but it didn't seem to bother him- he just kept looking around and examining everything with his characteristic curiosity like he usually did. Even if they did find a place that was hot and humid, as an occasus kito he would be well-adapted to dealing with it. Perhaps even better than Emery. The cart bumped and bounced over the ground. It was no longer carved as smoothly and evenly as the tunnels above, and the various rocks left behind were rough on the wheels. It didn't show any sign of breaking or getting stuck yet though, so the pair was safe to continue on their trek below. Emery's footsteps echoed on the path below her. She could be the last person on earth right now, and she would never know from the caves around her.
Emery 20 Moxie 36.0/36.0 10
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Post by Emery on Mar 14, 2024 14:45:41 GMT -6
Not that the idea bothered her necessarily- she had plenty of creatures to make up the gap. One of them was snuffling into the back of her neck at this moment, trying to find where she was hiding the treats this time. She gently pushed Moxie's head away as the tunnel started opening up before them. Sure enough, it led into a much larger cave. She was expecting it to be small and cramped like most underground spaces were but no, she and Moxie had a healthy amount of room in here. She swept her flashlight around- tall stalactites and stalagmites flowed from top to bottom and back again, merging somewhere around the middle and leaving deep pools of water on the ground. Emery made a mental note to keep an eye on those- it wouldn't go well for her if she fell in. She was a good swimmer once upon a time, but well... not so much anymore.
Emery 1 Moxie 36.1/36.1 11
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