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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 16, 2021 15:56:35 GMT -6
The mines were frightfully busy today- perhaps because it was warmer down here than aboveground, everyone decided that mining was what they wanted to do today. Donner moaned nervously through his muzzle, and Fiera couldn't help but agree. The echoey nature of the caverns made every single sound three times louder than it should be, reverberating off of the walls and absurd number of times before disappearing. Combined with the cramped quarters making everyone shove in close next to each other, Fiera found the fur on her tail prickling up as well. Thankfully, she had no designs to stay up in these busy parts. Instead, she was heading toward a spot she had identified before. A huge pile of rubble leading down into a pit that she had... an intimate amount of experience with, based on her last mining trip with Misery, her void salaves. It hadn't gone entirely well.
Fiera 2 Donner 41.2/20.7 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 7:41:46 GMT -6
They had managed to find a few neat gemstones, but that trip mostly ended in Fiera and Misery falling down a hole and Fiera shattering her humerus. Which wasn't nearly as funny as it sounded. Misery had managed to get out unscathed, but Fiera had been avoiding the mines for a couple of months now while she healed up. Still, she was sure she could handle that pile of rubble in a safer fashion now that it wasn't MOVING anymore, and there was surely some interesting pieces still left in it. Such an unstable looking area, she had the feeling that few other people would have touched it by now, leaving it nice and open for her and Donner to come and swoop in to lay claim to its prizes. As she approached the tunnel that she knew it was in however, she noticed something and paused for a moment.
Fiera 3 Donner 41.3/20.8 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 7:46:07 GMT -6
"Warning! Tunnel instability ahead. Reinforcements in progress- enter at your own risk!" Said a sign strung over the mouth of the tunnel with some tunneling rope. It was bright yellow with hand painted letters, clearly the efforts of a good samaritan as opposed to any official labs organization. Fiera clucked her tongue, knowing exactly what it was referring to. She rubbed a spot on her arm, where it had broken before. "Would have been nice to know THAT sooner..." She grumbled to herself, furrowing her eyebrows at it. She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Still, not going to stop me now! I've got better things to do! Come along, Donner!" She said, snapping her fingers at her pet. Donner huffed, stepping under the rope at the same moment that Fiera stepped over. This tunnel absolutely WAS unstable, but Fiera knew exactly what parts she had to worry about by this point.
Fiera 4 Donner 41.4/20.9 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 7:49:27 GMT -6
Besides, she wasn't going to be staying down here for long. She retraced her steps through the winding tunnel, carefully tugging her mine cart over the ripples in the bath behind her. She kept one hand along the wall for stability. Donner sniffed loudly, taking in the scent of freshly cut stone. She noted idly that his fur seemed to be settling down some along his body. That made sense- they were well out of the cacophany of the main hall by this point. It was nice and quiet now, with the only sounds around being from people and objects that were present and accounted for. He no longer had anything else to worry about. That was fine by her- the less she had to worry about a skittish pet down here, the better. Finally, they rounded a corner and Fiera knew exactly what she'd see on the other side of it.
Fiera 5 Donner 42.0/21.0 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 10:56:58 GMT -6
Sure enough, there it was- the hole. A deep pit in the ground, cordoned off with flimsy neon tape tied to balsa wood and little orange flags hanging from the wall. "Really now?" She snarked at one. "There's a giant pit here? I never would have noticed." She chuckled, before stepping over one. Donner sniffed at one briefly before following her. She stood at the lip of the pit. It collapsed forward and down, like the bottom half of this tunnel wall had just collapsed in on itself... which it had. She could still see the rim of the hole she was digging through the wall when it had collapsed, chasing after some elemental crystals she had felt thrumming in the wall. She didn't feel anything now, but their vibrations weren't always consistent- they almost appeared randomly, sometimes. She didn't really know enough about magic to understand them any further than that.
Fiera 6 Donner 42.1/21.1 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 11:00:23 GMT -6
She didn't necessarily need to though. All she had to do to USE it so far was focus on a node, hum really loud or something, wave your arm around while thinking about what needs to happen, and it would... happen, usually. She was sure there were more COMPLEX ways of doing it, but none that she had found yet. She had met a few people that were very into magic, mind you- that Noa fellow she did a houluh breeding with once sprang to mind- but she wasn't one of them. It was all made up nonsense to her, personally. Now wasn't the time to keep thinking of that though- she had some rubble searching to do. She took another half step forward- preparing to slide down the heap safely this time, when something to her right caught her eye. Little posts of metal, nailed into the ground and off the edge of the pit.
Fiera 7 Donner 42.2/21.2 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 15:46:59 GMT -6
She peered over the edge- ah! Someone had hammered in a ladder! It was a simple rope ladder with wooden footholds, the ropes connected to the metal posts on top. But it made things FAR easier for her than trying to scramble down the rubble of a landslide. Granted, Donner would still have to do that, but he was far nimbler on his feet than she was. She let his leash unspool to its maximum length, so she could tug him down after her once she reached the bottom. He would probably stay at the very top until she made him come down, after all. With that out of the way, she tested one of the footholds on the ladder. It FELT sturdy enough. It was brand new after all. She made her way down the ladder with little trouble, hopping off a rung from the bottom of it and examining her environment.
Fiera 8 Donner 42.3/21.3 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 15:49:12 GMT -6
There were little flags placed on the surrounding walls now. Perhaps noting other weak points in the stone? She couldn't really say, and didn't really care. There was even more plastic tape wrapped around posts surrounding the rubble pile too- another weak attempt at keeping her out. She stretched her fingers. "Please. That's not going to work in the slightest." She supposed she should show more gratitude for someone who was clearly just trying to keep her safe, but really, she didn't care all that much. She wasn't dumb, she knew better than to let a big pile of rocks fall over on her. And if they were interested in the potential valuables that were IN the pile of rocks and were using its potential unsafe nature as a disguise for their true intentions... then they should have gotten in there and looted it before Fiera did. She was technically here first, after all.
Fiera 9 Donner 42.4/21.4 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 15:52:21 GMT -6
First things first though, she had to get Donner down. "Donner! Come here, bud!" She said, tugging on the lead. He just stood there resolutely, glaring at her. "Come on, don't be... hm." It suddenly occurred to her- she had focused a lot on getting him not to bite her while she was teaching him basic obedience tricks... but she hadn't taught him a lot of leash manners stuff. Not how to come, not how to follow... he was a bit undertrained in that regard. As a result, no matter how hard she tugged, he refused to move from the top of the cliff. "Oh come on, it's- it's perfectly safe!" She lied, but he wasn't having it. Instead the seeker sat down and then laid down right where he was, never taking his eyes off the humanish for a moment. She scoffed. "Fine! Be that way then. I can do this on my own." She insisted.
Fiera 10 Donner 43.0/21.5 10
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 19:00:41 GMT -6
She looked down again and tugged on the edges of her work gloves, getting ready to start. They were sturdy enough to keep her hands safe from this rubble, but they wouldn't help if her grip slipped and she sent a large piece of stone slamming down onto her fingers. Then she squatted a bit, scanning the pile for any sign of potential valuables. There wasn't too much visible to the naked eye, but perhaps whoever else had been coming down here and cordoning this area off had already pilfered some for themself. The jerk. Well, she would just have to be sure to pilfer the rest of it! She stood back, gripping one of the chunks of stone. Then she took a deep breath- and yanked on it. It popped out of the pile with surprisingly little resistance, and Fiera immediately shuffled backwards so her toes wouldn't have to deal with the cascade of consequences.
Fiera 11 Donner 43.1/21.6 11
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 21:43:26 GMT -6
Sure enough, a hail of stones clattered down the uneven slope, some of them flying past Fiera and spinning to a stop against the far wall. Donner lifted his head up to watch, twitching his claws anxiously. It was within his nature to chase things that ran- even if they weren't made of meat and would break his teeth if he bit one. Darn things. Still, Fiera now had a nice, fresh, overturned layer of stone to check out, and the slop was a little less steep now as well. She could work with that. "Alright, let's see what we have." She said, poring over the new objects. A couple of glimmering stones stood out to her immediately. She shuffled around the pile to get to them before reaching out a curious hand- only to snatch it right back, forgetting herself. "Let's not cause another avalance THAT fast, eh?" She murmured to herself.
Fiera 12 Donner 43.2/21.7 12
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 22:00:40 GMT -6
Instead, she opted to look a little closer at the rocks, trying to identify their glints for any sign of ACTUAL value before she risked burying them again... and herself, while she was at it. Sure enough, the stones, upon closer inspection, just appeared to be pieces of particularly sparkly granite. Nothing worth celebrating. She could easily find something else in here. Such as... ah, now what was that? A flash of blue caught her eye- very very dark blue, but still blue. That could be something valuable, especially once she cut it free and let it shine properly. It was right at the bottom of the pile too, likely shaken loose the last time she disturbed it. It took very little effort for her to just... pick it up off the ground, without anything else moving. She turned it over in her hand. Sure enough, it was some sort of at least semi-precious stone.
Fiera 13 Donner 43.3/21.8 13
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 22:02:48 GMT -6
It was still half-embedded in rock, but she couldn't say she actually minded that. She could work on prising it out properly once she ahd elft the mines and had a better workshop with which to clean it up... by which she meant her apartment. Her neighbors didn't like her very much, what with all the noise she made. The humanish shoved the stone in the backpack and kept working, sniffing her way through the piles for any sign of more shinies. She did find a couple of rocks worth writing home about, and soon her backpack went from light and relatively empty to... well, feeling like she had stuffed it full of rocks. Donner watched all of this with only vague interest from his perch at the top of the cliff. Fiera suspected the reason he stuck around at all (other than being tied to her) was out of a sense of superiority.
Fiera 14 Donner 43.4/21.9 14
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 17, 2021 22:14:49 GMT -6
Soon however, she had found all she could possibly find down here. For now at least- her backpack probably couldn't take much more of this. So she stopped, and swung it onto her back. Donner watched from the top of the ladder as she climbed, as if waiting impatiently for her. She supposed he was- this wasn't exactly the most exciting trip to the mines. For once though, Fiera couldn't say she actually minded. Not every trip had to be a federal fucking issue, and she was happy to not lose her pet, or fall down a hole, or break her arm for ONCE, even if it wasn't very exciting for Donner. The trek back up to the mouth of the mines was a similarly uneventful trip, and Fiera was grateful. She went down into the hole, found a few trinkets, and got back out. For once, exactly what she was trying to do.
Fiera 15 Donner 44.0/22.0 15
(Fiera takes Donner and leaves the mines.)
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Post by Nadia on Dec 19, 2021 7:08:33 GMT -6
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