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Post by Lethalia on May 12, 2021 15:10:32 GMT -6
Her heart might as well have rattled loose to bang on the inside of her ribcage, pounding so hard she could feel the pulse in her hands and rushing in her ears. Steadying her hands enough to wrest the torch free, the relief to have found it safely in her bag after all was short lived. Flicking the switch didn't bring about so much as a lame flicker from the torch. Juniper squeaked again at her hooves, sounding a little different than she had before. Even with her attitude, she was still little! Her calls for mother were getting a little more desperate, almost broken sounding. "S'okay, June-bug," Lethalia ground out, a little preoccupied slapping flashlight against her palm with a solid thunk. It might've been a little bit of time since it had last been used. How many years since she'd last been in the mines? Everything was fine. May|16
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Post by Lethalia on May 12, 2021 15:10:48 GMT -6
Lethalia did the best she could to quiet her shaking hands and quell the need to throw the fucking light against the ground, for the little one's sake. It was a close thing - the flashlight sure felt like it would've been more helpful in hundreds of peices. "Gimme a sec, Juni, the woman bid, trying to calmly exhale through her words. It would have been much easier to stop the flourishing of panic in her chest if the door immediately behind them hadn't turned into smooth, featureless stone. She tried feeling against it without moving her hooves or unseating the hatchling smushed against her, but they might as well have gone mining for all it seemed they'd been dropped into the middle of a cave. Gods damn it. A sudden thought broke through and Lethalia jumped back at digging back into the bag, nudging aside a few things by feel as she continued her search. May|17
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Post by Lethalia on May 12, 2021 15:13:02 GMT -6
"Hah!" Unseen in the darkness, Lethalia pulled a metal lighter from a deep pocket of her backpack and triumphantly brandished it over her head. "W'got it, June-bug!" she informed the whelp, flicking the top open and skimming the striker to life on her pants in one motion. A tiny flame sputtered into existence, setting aglow the worried blue-eyed face still bug-eyed with concern. "See? There we'go," Leth chimed as she reached down to pet Juniper's head. As if the light made her recall she didn't like this lady after all, Juni side-stepped the hand and slunk off to the side as if she hadn't literally just been wedged up against her owner. With so little light, she was rather inspired to be a little more tolerant. "Watch ou' or I'll turn tha'lights off again," Lethalia teased her, the corners of her lips turning in the barest frown as she looked at the white hen more closely. May|18
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Post by Lethalia on May 12, 2021 15:13:13 GMT -6
Lethalia was pretty sure she could keep track of creatures and how big they were - there was no way Juni had been this big before they stepped inside. While she might've been able to pick the white up if she'd been desperate, now Juni'd taken a turn for the bulking that hens did, beginning to surpass hip-height and gaining in mass. Nothing short of a miracle would pick this hen up. While furrowing her brow, Leth made the hen pause long enough to loosen the muzzle several notches to ensure it wasn't digging into scale, not to any thankfulness from Juniper. There was absolutely no way she could have slipped and put something on her creatures that tight, was there? Out of paranoia, she wrestled the hen into letting her loosen it one more notch to make up for Juni's hurried growth lest she decided more was in order. May|19
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Post by Lethalia on May 12, 2021 15:13:30 GMT -6
Well - the tiniest boon was that Juni didn't seem intent on leaving the limited circle of light the fire cast around them. Lethalia could make out the reflection of her lighter shimmering in faintly rippling water, perhaps the facet of a large crystal or two, but the lick of flame was incapable of illuminating much more. Behind them was solid rock, and the satyr placed her palm on it to follow. It didn't feel great, leaving the area where the front door had been previously, but no reason to remain once it'd turned itself to solid stone. The more she played into the mansion's whims, the less it seemed intent upon disrupting her adventures. Being led by the nose by a building, great... Juniper followed closely behind with a concerned furrow to her brow; the satyr wasn't her first choice to hang out with, but leaving the light she brandished was entirely out of the question. Juniper lv|4 ly|4 May|20
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Post by Nadia on May 13, 2021 3:11:01 GMT -6
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:16:33 GMT -6
Carrying onward she kept a keen eye on the ground in front of them so that the water couldn't decide to just appear out of nowhere. Well, it still could, but she'd like to hope a keen eye could beat out magic. Nevermind the bare eye would always lose that battle. Funny enough, with such a quiet 'cave' and no more immediate danger than pools of water, her heart didn't stutter and her instincts remained calm. Apparently it didn't mind when nothing was pursuing her. Lethalia's hand skimming the wall bumped into a protrusion, responding to it with an odd triumphant crow as she reached up for the torch hanging off the wall. "See Juni - s'all good!" she chirped, holding both torch and lighter out at arm's length to ignite the former. It crackled and spat sparks, loops of smoke rising and smelling as though the fuel upon it was quite old. May|21
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:16:46 GMT -6
As the fire crawled to life on the torch's end, the intricate filigree cage around it came to life against the dancing flame behind it. Two dragons, facing away from one another, framed the torch end. Their tails both curved the same way around the fire's base, wingtips touching on either side to form a cage around the void between their backs. A large gemstone in each one's open mouth, a window somewhere within the metal allowed the gems to glow with the fire, appearing they too were breathing flame. "Got it, Juni! Better, baby girl?" she prompted, twisting to find the blue eyes behind her. Juniper merely looked back up at her owner, mystified by the big hot light, but Leth frowned at the hen. "Juni, quit'ya growin!" she admonished lightly, checking the fit on Juni's muzzle again. It fit nicely now, leaving the woman to wonder if she really had loosened it or just thought about doing it. She did, right? May|22
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:17:06 GMT -6
Despite her wanting to mess with the muzzle's fit more, Juniper was having none of it, flashing her (much less baby) teeth at the satyr and whipping her head away from searching hands. She was done being touched, especially if she was wearing a cage around her face! The woman who put it there ought to stop messing with it. Lethalia dismissed the temperamental hen with a vague wave; the struggle would only get worse the more she was pushed. Best stay on Juniper's good side, especially early on. Leth had found hens capable of carrying grudges for miles longer than drakes could; maybe it was something in the males' coding that made them forget all transgressions after breaking. Thank someone she wouldn't have to break Juni, even if she might have the attitude of a more dominant-lined hen would have, she didn't have the wings of one. May|23
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:17:26 GMT -6
Even if the 'dragon' she'd brought with her was something of a problem, surely it was something of a good luck charm if this holiday was dragon themed. Having never seen the mansion during this month meant she was going it quite blind, aside from knowing it was just the Day of Dreaming and someone who saw it fit to extend over the entire month. Somehow dark caverns and near-fantastical reptiles didn't lend her an entire idea about the holiday, but more poking around should hopefully reveal more. Learning from the mansion's identity of the month was one of the more fun ways to discover these strange holidays she'd never known about. In hopes of finding more hints, Lethalia lifted the torch to illuminate the cavern before them instead of just their little section of wall. Juni had made it apparent she was done being the entertainment for the time being. May|24
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:17:38 GMT -6
A mere torch couldn't illuminate the entire cavern, a void dark beyond what the fire could cast into reality. Beyond the cracking flame Lethalia could hear the rushing emtiness of the cavern ahead. She felt a rush in her chest which was battled down best she could. What, exactly, had the mansion fabricated for them? It'd never kept her in it's belly out of spite before, but this felt.. desolate. Shimmering in the torchlight, black water rippled further back than the light cast. "'Movin' water somewhere," she commented to Juniper, unable to leave the quiet undistrubed. Sure enough as the echo of her voice faded, babbling water came back to her ears over the deafening yawn of the cavern. It was as though they were deep in the mines, the depth pressing in on her ears. Juniper tried squeaking at her, but the sound was beginning to break, coming out as more of a croak. Juniper lv|5 ly|5 May|25
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:17:51 GMT -6
"Y'are gettin' too ol' t'call for mamma," Lethalia marveled, disoriented by it all. It all came together to make her question reality enough - the cavern couldn't have possibly been in the mansion, she'd come in here with a hatchling, all these mysteries cast in darkness so that she couldn't think on them more deeply. Squinting at Juniper in the firelight, the hen looked the same as she ever did in the semi-dark, sticking close to her owner with those worried blue eyes. A cave-black, she was not. One thing at a time - and she wasn't going to figure out Juni's growth spurt. If she was, it wouldn't be happening in the dark. Leth turned back to the cavern, hazel eyes flickering to the crystalline outcrops scattered all over. Each rough grown crystal outcrop was huge, some easily taller than herself, studding the edges of the lake periodically and jutting out of the water everywhere. May|26
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:18:01 GMT -6
Nearest to them the crystals captured the torchlight, glinting with a rainbow aura that shifted and shimmered as they walked towards them. Keeping her mind on moving forward rather than the liminal space the oddities occupied, Lethalia cast the torch ahead and followed the narrowing path alongside the water. It lapped the edges of it's glimmering shore as if to be soothing in wake of the alien terrain, but it was still a terrible inky blackness to her right as they walked along. Shuddering, Lethalia looked over her shoulder to find Juni more interested in the water than looking ahead. The hen's white muzzle skimmed the water's suface, breathing tiny ripples into it. Lethalia only got to think on it for a moment - Juni's really interested in the water- before the hen's head dove cleanly underwater, the rest of her following smoothly after and pulling at the long leash still attached. May|27
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:23:07 GMT -6
"Juni!" Lethalia crowed, dropping to her knees in horror. Hooves didn't lend well to swimming, but she'd do it if she had to take a dip in a dark lake to rescue one of her stupid hatchlings. As her hand submerged in the cold dark after Juniper, a curious head popped back out of the water right next to her. "You bitch!" the satyr snapped at that completely unphazed face. Unlike her other sarane Juniper had recieved an injection quite early in life, though Leth had a harder time imagining what water might do in the same way it'd been hard to guess what things like wind or light would provide. Swimming. Duh. Juni had plunked right into the water like a complete natural, even lacking that showy fin tail. If that was all it did, then that was.. a slight oversight of the credits poured into the injection. Hopefully there was more unseen than the capability to make her owner panic in a split second. May|28
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Post by Lethalia on May 16, 2021 17:23:24 GMT -6
Easy as she got into the water and floated there looking up at her owner like a blue-eyed crocodile, Juniper likely tolerated the bitter cold water thanks to her sire. Knowing her desert-dwelling, warmth-seeking dam and sire with an aversion to water for his fluffy tail, Juni made quite the sight floating in the water as if it were nothing. There went the hope of getting her flushed out easily; Lethalia definitely couldn't haul the hen out with her bare hands. Between the water and constant fidgeting - or had Juniper grown too big? - the strap on the muzzle finally gave up the fight and slid lamely off of the hen's face and into the depths below. Well, at least the leash held up - Juniper twitched, suddenly aware of the tether tugging at her, turned to the side and dispatched it with a tidy snap and sploosh of water. Crap. May|29
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