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Post by Kadin on Feb 11, 2021 12:31:42 GMT -6
Kadin watching in anticipation as the familiar seemed to consider what to do next. It inspected his gems, his cart, the other familiars, and everything else. Then, it seemed to finally come to a decision. Kadin smiled as it touched his forehead, waiting until it had pulled away before nodding back to it. The pact sealed, Kadin got up from his seated position and stretched as best he could with a houluh still held in his arms. This was starting to be a very productive trip, all things considered. Even if they weren't finding a lot in the way of gems and crystals, he was making a lot of, um. Friends, for the most part. Wary captives, too, but who was keeping track of that? Kadin walked over to gather up his equipment and nodded next at Kunzite, indicating that the familiar should probably go back to leading their way through the tunnels. They had more ground to cover and, surely, they'd find some more gems at some point, which would make the familiar happy, at least.
Kunzite swirled around a bit and seemed to size the human up before finally deciding that it would head further into the mines after all.
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Post by Kadin on Feb 11, 2021 12:35:15 GMT -6
It still wasn't too happy about everything that had happened so far, especially all of the familiars that Kadin seemed to INSIST on gathering, but at least the human seemed to share its sentiments when it came to moving on further into the darkness. It chose a tunnel seemingly at random, but which made perfect sense to it and it alone. They continued down through the tunnels at its digression, looking here and there for gems and anything else shiny it might want to bring back. It was more experienced here than those OTHER familiars, surely.
Kadin, for his part, followed behind without much complaint. He trusted Kunzite to know what it was doing and he had to trust the other familiars to follow along or, in some cases, stay in the damned cart. He was starting to get a bit concerned for the houluh he was holding, however, considering that it... still somehow slept through all of those encounters. If it wasn't for its steady breathing and thumping of its heart, he might have to cut this visit short for a trip to a vet. But the pup made some small whimpering sounds and cuddled closer to him, so he figured it was fine for now. Might even wake up soon.
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Post by Jack on Feb 11, 2021 12:37:17 GMT -6
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Post by Kadin on Feb 11, 2021 13:31:34 GMT -6
They hadn't gone far before Kadin noticed that something was probably wrong. It was quite in the caves. Other than his group making its way down the dark tunnels, the area seemed to be holding its breath, almost as if something was watching them. He thought he was being paranoid, all things considered, until out of the darkness came yet another gargoyle, clacking angrily at him with a stone in each hand. Kadin stopped short and held out one hand in what was hopefully an appeasing gesture, his other hand busy still wrapped around a slowly waking houluh.
"Hey there, calm down." He tried, hoping that this gargoyle was as reasonable as the last one had been. "What's the matter?" He looked at the things the gargoyle was holding, frowning slightly. "Are you missing gems and stuff? Do you want to see our's?"
Utterly done with all that was happening, Kunzite made itself scarce once yet ANOTHER familiar showed up. It didn't like the LAST gargoyle and this one had MUCH worse manners than that one had! It slunk back into the shadows, staring at the human and the gargoyle, annoyed at everything that was happening. It didn't want to be involved in any of this.
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Post by Jack on Feb 11, 2021 13:50:21 GMT -6
Rumbling from its throat, the gargoyle's hollow eyes narrowed a little as the man talked, hand out toward it. This was unacceptable, is this where they all were? Clacking its beak, it threw its hands up into the air and rumbled again before flicking its wings for a moment. Hmm, this was interesting though, so many had decided to follow the man... was there something special about him?
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Post by Kadin on Feb 11, 2021 18:31:21 GMT -6
Ok, so this gargoyle seemed pretty damn frustrated. Kadin didn't want to risk offending it or anything, but at the same time he didn't want to put himself in a vulnerable position in front of a creature who could potentially, you know. Hurt him or his houluh. After mulling it over for a bit and noting that the gargoyle didn't seem like it was going to charge in for an attack just now, Kadin slowly lowered himself to the ground like he did last time. He settled the drozy houluh puppy in his lap, ignoring it for now as it whined at him, and focused his attention on the gargoyle instead.
"I don't know what you want here, buddy." Kadin said with a shrug, holding his hands up to exaggerate his confusion at whatever the heck the gargoyle was so worked up about. He shifted and grabbed the gems out of his pockets like he did earlier, laying them out in front of himself for the gargoyle to pick through. "Listen, this is all we're here for. We're just looking for gems. I guess your friends wanted to help out with that, if you know any of those other familiars. Maybe you could help us out, too?" He nudged some of the gems closer to the gargoyle like he'd seen the other gargoyle do. Maybe it was an offer of friendship for their kind or something? Regardless, it was worth a shot.
Kunzite twitched, trying to resist the urge to come in and sweep all the gems away from this... this interloper!
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Post by Jack on Feb 11, 2021 18:41:24 GMT -6
Hmph, it wasn't all that impressed. Everyone had gems down here. Narrowing its eyes, the gargoyle chuffed a little and folded its arms over its chest, fluttering its wings for a moment before nodding. It was frustrated, and then it stalked over to the cart and sniffed at it. Hmm, they were there, the ones it had sent. Eyeing the man, it reached out for the door...
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Post by Kadin on Feb 11, 2021 18:50:45 GMT -6
Kadin watched as the gargoyle made its annoyance clear. He frowned slightly, not sure what the heck he'd done to piss it off so much, but quickly scrambled to his feet when he saw where it was heading, trusting Kunzite to gather up the gems he'd left on the cave flood. The houluh pup he left near the gems, too, ignoring it's soft whines of protest as it started to wake up more and more. What a lazy puppy!
"Hold on there." He cautioned, reaching out a hand to grab the door to the cart before the gargoyle could try and open it. "I've got a worm tied up in there and, you know. It's a worm. Let me, just in case it's escaped." He carefully opened the door himself and peeked inside before nodding and opening it wider so that the gargoyle could make whatever inspection it wanted to make. Inside was the tied up worm, still wiggling now and then and looking around with its many, many accusing eyes. In the back of the cart, as far away from the worm as it could get, was the gem dragon, who looked up looking all sleeply as the door opened, wondering what had interrupted its well deserved nap after escaping from said giant worm.
"There." Kadin said with a shrug, looking at the gargoyle as if he were waiting for something. "Everything up to your standards?"
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Post by Jack on Feb 11, 2021 19:45:17 GMT -6
The gargoyle sniffed a little and eyed the worm, pathetic. The dragon it hadn't expected much out of, but where was the other gargoyle? Snorting, it climbed into the cart and looked around, picking up bits and pieces and eyeing the man from time to time before it finally settled down and folded its clawed hands in its lap. There, it would wait here for the other one, and maybe they could find out what was going on together. This man intrigued it after all.
[Congratulations, you've tamed the gargoyle!]
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Post by Kadin on Feb 12, 2021 16:58:28 GMT -6
Part of Kadin was worried that the gargoyle would actually take offense to something. What? He had no god damn idea. But there were plenty of things it could probably take offense to if it decided to. Luckily, it didn't seem that was going to be the case. Instead, the gargoyle simply climbed up into the cart and... uh. Made itself at home. Kadin tried not to stare too much at this turn of events. Sure, he hadn't been expecting anything in particular, but the gargoyle just sort of. Making itself at home in his cart as if it were a cat who'd found a house it decided to make its own despite the house already having some owners that it wasn't super fond of was sort of, uh. Funny.
Kadin did not laugh at the gargoyle, but it was a close call.
Kunzite, on the other hand, seemed relief that all of this was more or less over with. It was very done with all of these familiars turning up on ITS turf. Yes, this was not actually where it lived. No, that did not actually matter. It was in this part of the mines and therefore this was its turf.
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Post by Kadin on Feb 12, 2021 17:01:59 GMT -6
Hopefully now that the latest addition to their growing band of misfits seemed to have settled itself it, they could finally move on and actually make some progress with getting god damn gems! That was literally all that it cared about. It wanted to find more gems. The constant stops to pick up passengers was seriously making that difficult! Kunzite huffed and swirled and danced at Kadin's freaking face for a while before it finally seemed like it had the human's attention. Attention all on it now? Good. It needed to lead him to a new part of the caves, stat.
Kadin looked away from the cart, pointedly NOT laughing at the gargoyle, only to see Kunzite trying to get his attention. "Alright, alright, I get it." He tried to soothe the familiar, but the both of them knew that it wouldn't calm down until Kadin, the houluh, and everything else was following it deeper into the mines. "We're coming."
Kadin picked up the (now awake, but still groggy) puppy, gathered up the supplies, and went to follow Kunzite further into the mines. Surely there was no way they'd run into MORE familiars on this one trip. Four was already sort of over kill, right?
190 *level up
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Post by Jack on Feb 12, 2021 20:08:36 GMT -6
Well this was interesting. At least that might be what the man might think as the massive worm popped its head out of the wall of the mines and dropped the ruby dragon unceremoniously at his feet. The dragon scrambled off by the cart and rumbled deep within its throat, eyes narrowed a little, as the huge worm attempted to come through the hole it had dug into the side of the mines.
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Post by Kadin on Feb 12, 2021 22:23:39 GMT -6
Kadin could not believe his god damn eyes. One minute they were walking down the tunnels. Everything was normal. Kunzite was looking for some ore. The next moment? There was a HUGE worm, bigger than even the one he'd run into last time, BURSTING its way out of the tunnel walls, a gem dragon in its mouth. Kadin couldn't help it. He put the houluh behind himself and grabbed a shovel, holding it in both hands as if it were a lifeline. The gem dragon ran behind him. That was fine. He stepped in front of it so that he was between all the other creatures and the REALLY, REALLY BIG WORM in front of him. This was fine! He grabbed some treats and threw them at the worm, hoping for the best. Maybe this one would be more friendly than the last! Maybe he wouldn't have to resort to drastic measures! But the shovel was still firmly in his grasp. If that worm made a move? He was going to fucking hit it right on its eyes.
Kunzite? Well. You can imagine how happy Kunzite was about all of this. It just. You know. Moved back into the shadows. Done with all of this nonsense.
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Post by Jack on Feb 12, 2021 22:34:49 GMT -6
The dragon smirked a little behind the man and his cart, wiggling its tail behind him in a mocking manner. There, this is what it got for chasing the dragon off! The worm, however, was having none of it, and finally pulled itself out of the wall and in front of the man, towering over him. It didn't pay any attention to the treats, they were too small anyway, and lunged toward the man, hissing and spitting, its strange teeth aimed straight for his head.
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Post by Kadin on Feb 12, 2021 23:59:12 GMT -6
Ok, so this worm was not, in any way, friendly. And it was not the same size as the last one at ALL. In fact? It was HUGE compared to the last one. Absolutely monstrous. Kadin was not going to become fucking worm food today. Why hadn't he brought a sword? He hadn't thought he'd need a fucking sword in the mines, of all fucking places. So instead, he tightened his grip on the shovel and took a swing, aiming to nail the giant fucking worm right on the head as it came lunging towards him to try and attack. And that was his plan, basically. He was going to keep hitting this giant worm until it either settled down or ran off, he really didn't even care! He just didn't want to be eaten!
You'd think that, of all times, Kunzite might take an interest in the proceedings of this interaction this time. You would be wrong. If anything, Kunzite was even more annoyed with Kadin, of all people, for these circumstances entirely out of his control. It was sulking in the shadows, not wanting anything to do with this. The houluh, on the other hand, was (very intelligently) hiding under the cart.
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