Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 9:00:18 GMT -6
The lid of the mining cart shut with a soft click, as the simple lock secure it (As to better ensure nothing gets thrown out, should the cart be upturned by anything). As the mammalian was dusting her hands from the dirt, something shot through the emotional lines and caused her to grow dead still. It was confusing at first, an unfamiliar kind of sensation in large part because it was no her own. The mind was quick to race to some far-flung assumption that something must have happened back at the kennel, and any number of those closest bonded could be in some form of trouble (or fear of trouble, which was largely the same).
It didn't occur to her that the source of the trouble could be much, much closer, until perhaps it was too late. The gargoyle had stopped digging, frozen in his place and with his head raised in sudden and undivided attention.
Danger.
(176) Darky: 176 Ras Dashen: 112 (1/5) / 112 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 9:13:13 GMT -6
The sphinx wheeled around, staring at him "What do you mean? Where?" which ended up her second mistake (The first being assuming the threat had been much further flung). It caused a loss of some seconds, would become preciously few in short order.
Around, the gargoyle responded, although it did little to help her. Unfortunately, she simply didn't have the same type of senses as him, could feel the shift of the earth, the building of pressure, and the oncoming rattling and snapping of finer crystals within the walls that encased them. Ras didn't 'understand' the world of the underground in quite the same context as the organics. He knew things about it, but by and large what measure of understanding was had came through feeling it, rather than any form of study.
And it was rather hard to put feeling into words, although in hindsight, "Danger" was both the simplest and most accurate way to go about it, for it was around that time when the ceiling cracked.
(177) Darky: 177 Ras Dashen: 112 (2/5) / 112 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 10:50:44 GMT -6
It came with no warning, just a sudden fissure breaking open just above them. No rumble, no sound to precede it, nothing to suggestion anything was wrong, except everything that the gargoyle was perceiving. In truth, between her reason and his senses, the crack itself would have been as close to warning as it got.
The gargoyle moved quickly, rushing from the hole and running towards her, as the mammalian stared up with a momentary confusion only just about to turn to realization (and fear not soon after that). The process was interrupted by the gargoyle barreling into her, shoulder-first as Ras insistently began to push her backwards. Danger! Danger! Run! Run!
The fissure in the ceiling received a twin, a clear-cut line appearing within a blink of an eye, as some fine shards began to fall. The sphinx turned around, trying to line up with the direction the gargoyle was pushing her in, when a third line cracked into being, then a fourth.. And then came the rumble.
(178) Darky: 178 Ras Dashen: 112 (3/5) / 112 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 11:06:21 GMT -6
The whole of the cavern began to shake as the fissures spiderwebbed their way across the ceiling, loosening pieces and large chunks of crystal and underlying rock alike. Both mammalian and gargoyle ran towards the cart, and while the gargoyle continued past it, the sphinx stopped to grab the lines and began to pull it along behind her, as debris, dust and rocks began to fall in behind her. The direction they came from was still largely marred in mist, but the force of the air swooshing past them disturbed and dispersed it partly.
Even the dragon ontop of its hoard seemed to awaken and quickly scamper off, attaching itself on the first thing it found, before clambering into the cart itself. With quite a few souls in there now, Ras' insistence to hurry and leave it was swiftly pushed aside - She can't just leave the other familiars there to be crushed by the cave-in. They were now her responsibility as much as Ras was, whether he liked it (or them) or not.
(179) Darky: 179 Ras Dashen: 112 (4/5) / 112 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 11:11:13 GMT -6
Even so, the cart made for slower moving and time and time again the gargoyle had to turn around and urge her on, having gone too far ahead. The cave-in continued behind them, turning from rocks to whole parts of the ceiling, as whatever geological forces held it up had decided to completely and utterly give in. As each chunk hit the floor, it cracked the crystal there, spreading the spiderwebs further beneath and to the side of them as well. When the larger chunks began to fall, their weight enough to shake the very footing of the floor, causing both mammalian and familiar to feel as though it's tossing them into the air.
One such last jolt caused the sphinx to slip as she pulled the cart along at the same time, and the next one prevented her from getting up. The rumbling had become a deafening roar, all-encompassing as the fragile nature of the crystal cavern showed its true dangers.
(180) Darky: 180 - (added) Ras Dashen: 113 (0/5) / 113 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 11:16:43 GMT -6
Ras turned around to run to her, beak latching to the jacket to pull her along, but even he wasn't able to outrun the spidering cracks that spread around and past them. Up ahead, the fissures found a fault and the ceiling rumbled ever as loudly as it did behind them, shards suddenly loosening and tumbling into the open tunnel. Rocks soon followed, and the gargoyle's pulling instead began a push, as the cave-in seemed to intensify ahead of them.
The sphinx clutched the cart and managed to steady herself into sitting up, even as the jolts through the earth below them, continued to cause an imbalance. Looking ahead was resumed ruin, looking behind was dust and a clattering of stones. They were trapped between the two, and the ceiling above them seemed to threaten every bit as much as to their side. A familiar panic flared deeper within, forcing that flight or flight to take over. Darky scooped up Ras, pulled him close to her next to the cart, and curled up against it as deep as she could, while her hands wove through the air in last ditch effort.
(181) Darky: 181 Ras Dashen: 113 (1/5) / 113 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 11:41:55 GMT -6
The ceiling above and around them cracked in a final ditch effort of its own to remain intact, before swaths of it finally came crashing down like a tidal wave of earth. The remains of the tunnel were quickly flooded with dust and rocks, casting the whole of the area in complete and utter darkness.
Rumbles continued for some time, with boulders settling, while other rocks continue falling, sending aftershock after aftershock, and causing the tunnels beyond and behind to reverberate for yards to come. But even so, a silence descended on the darkness eventually.. Only broken by small pieces of pebbles and minor stones rolling or settling in the heaps made up of the larger stones. The once beautiful crystal tunnel now laying in shattered remains, shards of the purple-blue material mostly under dust and pebbles.
A stillness follows, with nothing moving, within or beyond this new make-shift cavern, closed off from the rest of the world. And nothing but rocks and debris visible.
(182) Darky: 182 Ras Dashen: 113 (2/5) / 113 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 11:46:26 GMT -6
It's in that stillness when something does finally move. Within the middle of the cavern, a pile of rocks begin to shift and push upwards, floating of their own accord, as heavier pieces are pushed off and to the side. A golden-brown hand follows, outstretched and fingers apart, as it forces the arcane to push aside the rocks further, until they clatter off them and down the sides of the heaps they're surrounded by.
There's a heavy silence after, quickly broken by cough and shuffling, before light once more returned to the cavern from the small hollow in the middle, and the sphinx rises to her feet, brandishing the crystal torch. She glances around, at the rocks around them, at the boulder that nearly missed them by inches, and finally within the hollow itself. The gargoyle is huddled there, looking back and slowly uncoiling himself, reorienting from the forceful shove he had taken, while cart is stuck beneath a pile of debris, but otherwise seems intact.
(183) Darky: 183 Ras Dashen: 113 (3/5) / 113 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 11:51:06 GMT -6
It's difficult to see little else around them, as the dust and mist still clings to the air in equal measure, and the sphinx has to pull up her bandanna to cover the mouth and nose, or risk swallowing whole swaths of finely ground rock. She raises the torch to one direction, and sees it blocked. Another, to the opposite side.. Same thing. The sides are no better, even in places where the crystal wall was still largely intact, it remained a wall, impassable and solid.
A familiar fear tickles the base of her neck, but she shakes it off, focusing entirely on the gargoyle instead, "Are you alright, Ras?" because the less she thinks about it, the less it's going to impair her.
The gargoyle climbs from the hollow, and his head swivels around, taking measure. Done, he says, though by means to indicate the cave-in seemed to have stopped. Fine, is added slightly after, in answer to her actual question.
(184) Darky: 184 Ras Dashen: 113 (4/5) / 113 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 23, 2021 11:56:11 GMT -6
"Good.." the sphinx breathed out heavily, leaning on the side of the hollow to gather herself. (Just don't think about it. Don't think about the walls. You're fine, he's fine, they're all fine). Even so, she could lie to herself as much as she liked, the gargoyle wasn't so easily fooled and could pick up the line of tension along the empathic line. That faint sense of panic and fear, that prompted him to reflexively assume a protective stance. Not safe. Need leave, he clacked the beak, more at her state than in terms of any environment.
"Couldn't agree more," Darky replied wearily, looking down at the hollow that saved them. Well.. not technically the hollow itself. It had been the stone shield that saved them, something the sphinx had never anticipated would need to be used in a mining capacity, but it blocked most of the stones from outright burying them, allowing them to survive the cave-in to begin with.
Although, now, it seemed the bigger issue at hand was how they would survive being trapped in the cavern itself.
(185) Darky: 185 Ras Dashen: 114 (0/5) / 114 (0/5)
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Post by Nadia on Nov 23, 2021 16:06:23 GMT -6
How are you supposed to mine with all of these rocks in the way?
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 15, 2022 6:52:48 GMT -6
Tension still danced beneath the surface of her calm demeanor, in large part because a significant portion of her focus was being directed to keeping it there. Whether Ras felt it or not wasn't nearly as important as whether she would let it surface or not. Being reduced to a trembling mess wasn't going to help them get out, least of all Ras, so if anything she needed to clutch onto that composure with all ten claws for as long as she could.
Unfortunately it also left less focus over for the rest of the issue on hand. "Alright.." the sphinx rubbed her face, bandana and all, "Alright.. We need to.. We need.." Where to even begin.. Getting out of the hole was instinct, but going forward needed a lot more technical acuity than she had on hand at the moment. "We should.."
..Dig? the gargoyle's head slowly tilted, the thought offered up with a degree of uncertainty.
(186) Darky: 186 Ras Dashen: 114 (1/5) / 114 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 15, 2022 6:56:59 GMT -6
"Dig.." the sphinx repeated distantly, but the mind was quick to latch onto the lifeline. "Yes.. Yes, dig. We need to dig an opening. A way out." She stood up a little straighter, ignoring the subtle tremble running through the arms. The flashlight cast a beam across what remained of the cavern around them, sparkling back from shattered purple crystal and dark black stone alike. There was no opening to find because everything was covered in the very same rubble. Even the cart was still lodged under some of it, though getting it out was the easiest of their current list of issues.
"Somewhere.." Darky finished off the thought, that uncertainty surfacing again. First order of business was, in truth, breathing, which was difficult to do with the dust and rubble around them, but even sealed off the cavern still had enough to go by for a time (Particularly seeing as the gargoyle wasn't partaking in that). "We need to.. dig. Somewhere.."
(187) Darky: 187 Ras Dashen: 114 (2/5) / 114 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 15, 2022 7:00:35 GMT -6
On some level she knew there wasn't too much reason to assume it hopeless, since doubtless the trio back home were already sensing something to be off. Given enough time a rescue party can arrive to help them out, though it did little to settle that urge and need to get out rightnowthisinstantnow that was lurking beneath the surface. The gargoyle suddenly found himself in a position he wasn't very familiar with.. Out of the two of them, he was having the position of authority by virtue of simply still having a functioning mind. And he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that..
But he was sure of something, and that he needed to help. He didn't know how to make the mammalian stop feeling what she was feeling, but he understood her train of through well enough, and it just so happened it was something he was exceptionally good at - they needed to dig and by the powers, he would dig like hell.
(188) Darky: 188 Ras Dashen: 114 (3/5) / 114 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Feb 15, 2022 7:04:20 GMT -6
As the mammalian focused her attention to finding any tools still intact to dig with, the gargoyle circles the tight space of the caved in cavern like a bloodhound, head lower to the ground and walls, alert to any sign or hint of something only a gargoyle would understand. Back in the time of darkness, before he first saw the artificial light of any organic, the instinct would have been clear - find the weakest point in the wall and push on through until you're free.
In this case, the wall had A LOT of weakest points, but all of them were threatening to continue the cave-in where it had left off. Not something that would have been concerning to a gargoyle, who could easily squeeze past a hole and escape before it could properly start, but he wasn't alone anymore.. Whatever solution he ends up finding would have to ensure the organic would be able to escape as well, and that was a mite bit harder.
(189) Darky: 189 Ras Dashen: 114 (4/5) / 114 (4/5)
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