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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 8:23:41 GMT -6
He flopped down on the ground and watched Fiera as she got to work. She hefted the pickaxe over her head and swung it down, hoping it would cut easier than last time. It clanged loudly, but a decently sized chunk of rock did indeed fall. She sighed with relief- it wasn’t that stupid impenetrable rock from earlier. Sure, it was no sandstone (which would fall apart and drop everything it held as soon as you so much as looked at it), but it was soft enough that she could mine it without exhausting herself in five minutes. “Okay, I can do this.” She said, mostly for her own benefit and partially out of spite for the other miner that left her in this state. Victor sent a few vibes of encouragement over the ribbon of telepathy but otherwise kept to himself. Awfully nice of him, if she was being honest.
Fiera 16 Victor 67.1/69.1 71
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 8:24:19 GMT -6
She thought a bit more about the ribbon of telepathy as she got to work, hacking more chunks out of the surrounding stone. She was expecting Victor to flood her mind with random thoughts as soon as he got it, testing out the capability of his new magic communication device, but to her surprise he had been quite polite with it so far. He really only sent her any impulses or images if she sent them to him first. In fact, she wouldn’t even think that he knew he COULD do it were it not for the fact that he had communicated to her on his own during their training session before this. He was just… quiet. A rather “look before you leap” type of rakai sarane, who kept to himself. Logic minded. He made a good counterpart to Fiera, who was all about asserting herself and charging in unheeded.
Fiera 17 Victor 67.2/69.2 72
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 8:24:47 GMT -6
That wasn’t to say that she didn’t think about things before she did them, just that she was prepared to face the consequences if things didn’t turn out as well as possible. Maybe that could get her in trouble but, well… it HAD had severe consequences in the past, hadn’t it. In fact, Fiera’s attitude was one of the main things that had gotten her exiled from her home. Funny that she still thought about it like that, really. Her “home”. The labs were nice. She had a lovely apartment and a decent income and a near army of weird creatures that obeyed her every word… or at least, as many words as she had bothered to teach them. She was working on it. So why didn’t she feel comfortable here yet? What was it that made her still want to go back to that awful place with those awful people?
Fiera 18 Victor 67.3/69.3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 8:25:14 GMT -6
Was it Morgan? Fiera snorted and let out a barking laugh at that. Yeah, no. Fuck that guy. It was more… the little things. The way people smiled at her when they won a battle. The way the air smelled in the spring (and the way it made Morgan sneeze relentlessly, always a bonus). The way she knew every brook and stream in those woods intimately. The pleasant memory of her childhood home burning down. Little nice things like that. It wasn’t that The Labs City didn’t have those little things, but they were different. Not the same. She could build new memories, but could never get the old ones back. Wasn’t that just the way it goes? Speaking of, she should probably get back to the current set of memories she was working on here, as dirty and unpleasant as they were. The humanish stopped for a moment.
Fiera 19 Victor 67.4/69.5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 8:25:50 GMT -6
Gauging her progress, Fiera scanned how far in she had gotten with this tunnel widening project. It was… well, not too bad. She had gotten a couple feet in while lost in her reverie, but she hadn’t reached that patch of hollow flooring she had found earlier. The sticky residue that the tunnel worm left behind was still here as well, clinging to her feet with every step. Victor had attempted to follow Fiera in as she dug, but when he realized his feet were sticking to the ground slightly with every step, he decided to chill out next to the mine cart instead. “Pansy…” Fiera chided under her breath, wishing that she didn’t have to get sticky. Still, her arms were pretty wobbly and weak as of now, so she decided to take just a little bit of a break until they were rested. In the meantime, she decided to sort through the rubble she had dropped on the ground.
Fiera 20 Victor 68.0/70.0
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Post by Nadia on May 21, 2021 11:53:28 GMT -6
Iron ore can be a bit tricky to spot, but make sure you pick it up!
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:44:28 GMT -6
Who knew, maybe there would be a familiar glint amongst it. Something bright and shiny that she could take home with her. As she shuffled through it though, she didn’t see much. Instead, there were just a few discolored rocks that she was pretty sure were iron ore. Because of its brownish color, iron ore was always difficult to sort out. Still, she decided that she could figured it out later and tossed it in her mine cart anyway. A quick swig of water later, and she was ready to go again. “Watch the cart, Victor.” She said rhetorically, knowing full well that Victor would not be budging from that cart. In fact, she was pretty sure she couldn’t get him to move if she tried, as comfy as he was. She glanced over the wheeled device. Sure enough, the rakai sarane was fast asleep somehow, despite how loud Fiera’s mining had been.
Fiera 1 Victor 68.1/70.1 76
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:44:51 GMT -6
Turns out you really could get used to anything with enough time. His ears and feet twitched slightly as he slept, no doubt dreaming about chasing something. A lightbulb switched on in Fiera’s head. Quietly, she tried “tuning in” to the ribbon of telepathy to see if she could see what was on his mind, get a little peek at his dreams. When she tried however, all she got was darkness and silence. She huffed quietly. Too good to be true, apparently. Still, at least that meant she’d have zero distractions when she continued mining. With that in mind, she turned back to the tunnel and started hammering away again, sending a shower of rocks to the ground. She was sure that she was over halfway done by now, and that only gave her even more encouragement to get it done. She zoned out again, truly getting into the groove of it.
Fiera 2 Victor 68.2/70.2 77
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:45:12 GMT -6
She wasn’t sure how long she had been working for by the time she noticed it, but after several minutes she noticed that hollow sound under her feet again. She backed up slightly until the regular taps of her feet came back, not wanting to break through on accident. A few taps with her foot revealed that she had managed to extend the standing room of this tunnel about three feet over the hollow area- just enough for Fiera to be able to get her mine cart through if this hollow space turned out to be worth investigating. “Sweet.” She muttered under her breath, wiping the sweat off of her brow with one sleeve. A job well done, eh? With the tunnel widening project done however, now all she had to do was open up a big enough hole into that hollow space. Shouldn’t be too hard, she thought to herself.
Fiera 3 Victor 68.3/70.3 78
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:45:32 GMT -6
Fiera raised the pick axe over her head and brought it crashing down right at the floor. Turns out the layer of stone was a lot thinner and flimsier than she was expecting. One strike caused a hole of about a foot wide to collapse in on itself. She cringed at the sight of it- how had she not fallen through it before this? Out of sheer luck, no doubt. Still, she got to work widening it. It was dark enough that she could tell it went somewhere instead of being a “puddle” beneath the floor, so it was worth trying to get into. Just then however, a rustling noise sounded from behind her. Fiera wheeled around, pick axe raised defensively in case it was a wild animal… only to find Victor staring at her from further back. He took a step back and sent her some reassuring vibes through their telepathic connection.
Fiera 4 Victor 68.4/70.4 79
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:45:52 GMT -6
He had just woken up and wanted to see what Fiera was up to, that was all. He sniffed loudly as he took a couple more steps closer, trying to identify the scents coming from the hole. “What, you want to take a look?” Fiera said, stepping off to the side so he could step up. The arcane rakai sarane stepped over before sticking his head in the hole. Fiera tried “reading” what smells he was getting from it, but couldn’t identify any herself. He pulled his head back and looked back into the gloom contemplatively… before sneezing once and walking away. Nothing he could identify, apparently. That made sense though- he hadn’t spent a ton of time down here before, why would he know what all the smells were? Fiera would just have to figure out what was down there the old fashioned way; with some mining tools and a whole lot of elbow grease.
Fiera 5 Victor 69.0/71.0 80
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:46:11 GMT -6
Or just a little elbow grease, as it turned out. The floor of this worm tunnel was a lot flimsier than it had first seemed, and Fiera was able to easily punch through it with her hand if she wanted to. She continued to use her pick axe for safety’s sake, but it was refreshing to be able to cut out massive chunks with a single blow, considering how difficult to cut through some parts of the tunnel further back were. Within just a couple minutes- a big change from the time needed to mine out this standing space to start with- Fiera had a hole easily big enough to fit her and the mine cart in, with Victor taking up the rear. As far as she could tell, it was a decently sized tunnel too. It sloped gently away from where she had just cut out the entrance and led into the dark, tall enough for Fiera to walk through if she hunched over and stepped carefully.
Fiera 6 Victor 69.1/71.1 81
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:46:32 GMT -6
Victor might scrape his horns here and there, but overall it wasn’t too bad. It also smelled… damper? Firea guessed that it went much further down than this part of the cave had. After all, this place was pretty much bone dry. It had signs that water had once flowed through here, based on the stalactites and the wear patterns of the rock, but any liquid that had once sat here had long since dried up. Maybe this lower tunnel was where it had all gone, draining lower and lower as the rock dissolved before it? “Well, only one way to find out.” Fiera said to herself, before dropping her backpack again. She slipped the pick axe in there again with the other tools and zipped it back up again, ready to head into the unknown once more. She clicked her tongue at Victor again, encouraging him to shake off those last vestiges of sleep.
Fiera 7 Victor 69.2/71.2 82
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:46:49 GMT -6
He followed after her happily- wherever she went, he was willing to at least check out too. Following her anywhere wasn’t his shtick, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. “Alright, let’s get this going.” Fiera said, cracking her knuckles before picking up the lead for the mine cart and walking forward. As expected, the slope was gentle and it was easy to manipulate the cart to get it down there. The crystal torch that was tied to the front of it lit up the way easily, and Fiera could tell that once it got well under the tunnel, it leveled out again. Good- standing around hunched over like this was uncomfortable enough. She didn’t want to be trying to not snap an ankle while balancing herself the whole time too. With the rate she was walking, it didn’t take long for her to get to that leveled out area.
Fiera 8 Victor 69.3/71.3 83
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:47:08 GMT -6
It was smooth sailing from there, though Fiera wasn’t sure how long this tunnel would last. Usually it either narrowed to an impassable dead end, or opened out into a room. This tunnel didn’t seem to be doing either though. There had to be SOME sort of end though, because Fiera could still smell water. The ground was wet yet though- it was barely even damp- which meant that the source of the smell had to be further up. That was how things usually worked, right? Fiera didn’t lose hope, then. Perhaps there would be more to discover yet. Sure enough, after she and Victor had been walking for a few minutes, her ears started picking up the distinct sound of rushing water up ahead. Granted, it was hard to tell just how MUCH ahead considering how sound tended to echo off the walls underground, and this was hardly a muffled tunnel.
Fiera 9 Victor 69.4/71.4 84
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