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Post by Noa on Mar 12, 2021 22:23:47 GMT -6
It was the same pattern that Aster had followed, more or less, with all of his mining companions too, but the benefit of working with such an intelligent partner was that it didn't take as long for them to get there. When Aster had been working with Cinna... Well, it was more just him trying to follow Cinna's lead, because he hadn't really taken the time to train Cinna to do specific things, and Cinna was also not really the type to take directions from the likes of Aster. For such a common creature, it sure thought the world of itself... Or maybe it was just that Cinna had a deep disdain for Aster.
But the gargoyle had understood more or less what Aster's abilities and limitations were, as well as his priorities, after just the first trip. In fact, it had taken the time to acquaint itself with all his mining tools.
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Post by Noa on Mar 12, 2021 22:26:11 GMT -6
Aster hadn't anticipated that at all, though in retrospect it made sense, considering the gargoyle didn't seem very familiar with humans in general. Apparently it had come out in search of them in hopes of their assisting it with inserting a prismatic crystal into itself, which... conferred them some sort of benefit that he didn't really understand.
Where it had heard that humans could help with this, Aster could only guess. But they hadn't found a prismatic crystal yet, and the only shop that could cut it down to the right shape was also out of commission, so... Whatever the fruits of their labor, Aster imagined it would be a while before the gargoyle's dream was realized.
They were just walking along, the way that they always did at the beginning of a trip, so Aster was caught quite off guard when the gargoyle suddenly froze, and nearly ran into it.
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Post by Noa on Mar 12, 2021 22:28:24 GMT -6
"Why? What is it?" Aster said. The gargoyle didn't understand Common, but it did seem to have picked up on tone, at least, so sometimes Aster could convey what he meant through that. Not that it could give him a proper verbal answer, but there were other ways it could explain things, if it felt that there was sufficient necessity for it.
On this occasion, the gargoyle responded by grasping the hem of Aster's shirt, and jumping up and down. Evidently it was excited about something, and Aster could only think of one thing under these circumstances that would excite the gargoyle to this extent.
"A crystal? Is that it?" Aster said. The gargoyle didn't know these words, so it merely confirmed that it had gotten Aster's attention, then went haring off into the dark, leaving Aster to follow in his wake or get left behind with no idea where to go.
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Post by Noa on Mar 12, 2021 22:30:45 GMT -6
Given that these were his choices, the choice Aster made was obvious, even if he wished the gargoyle would slow down just a little.
He really did need to work on teaching it some words in Common, probably.
Fortunately, the tunnel here wasn't terribly exciting, so Aster didn't have to worry about steep uphills or downhills, or falling into a pit. Even so, he proceeded with some degree of caution. If you did fall into a pit here because you lost your footing or didn't see it in time, there was no telling how far you would fall. Maybe you would meet your death here. They'd found bones down here before, though never human remains... But Aster could all too easily believe that they existed, just waiting to be chanced upon by some other luckless sap.
Or maybe it was just that people tended to die in places you couldn't get out from again.
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Post by Noa on Mar 12, 2021 22:33:00 GMT -6
Boy, that was a cheering thought. Aster grimaced, and tried not to think about it any further. He had to focus so he didn't become one of those luckless corpses, and he also had to focus so he didn't lose track of the gargoyle. It sure would have been a fiasco if he somehow lost his partner here, even if they weren't deep enough into the cavern yet to make genuinely getting lost as much of a concern.
Fortunately for him, the gargoyle seemed to have picked up on the fact that Aster wasn't right behind it, and did slow down a little after all, for his benefit. It wasn't very much, but it was better than nothing, and so long as it stayed within range of the beam of his flashlight, then everything was alright. There was a bit of daylight to see by near the entrance, but it got dimmer the deeper they went.
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Post by Jack on Mar 12, 2021 22:39:01 GMT -6
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Post by Noa on Mar 13, 2021 23:16:22 GMT -6
The transition actually happened pretty quickly too, such that Aster pretty much had to rely on his flashlight by the time they found anything of interest most of the time. But then, it was the mines, he supposed. Daylight wasn't really the thing here, was it? And if there ever was anything valuable near the surface, he was sure it had been picked clean by explorers who had been here before he was. The mines were pretty well known, and well traversed too, by people looking for their own magic crystals or just trying to make their fortune in a general sense.
Now that the gargoyle had slowed down, Aster managed to catch up to it after a while. He was still trying to pay attention to where he was placing his feet. It must have been nice not to have to worry about that, which the gargoyle clearly didn't.
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Post by Noa on Mar 13, 2021 23:16:33 GMT -6
Aster could see why that was the case too, since the gargoyle could fly if it was in a pinch... Though, come to think of it, he had never actually seen the gargoyle demonstrate that ability. Was flying something the gargoyle actually knew how to do? Aster knew that his Sarane had to generally be taught, since they were raised by people, but as for this gargoyle... That was pretty hard to say, wasn't it? Aster certainly hadn't had any hand in the raising of the gargoyle, but maybe it hadn't learned from... whatever environment it had grown up in.
Thinking of wings... brought up some more unpleasant thoughts. At one point Aster had had wings of his own, though he clearly no longer did; and as for whether they had been capable of flight, well... He had flown with them the once, and then never again after that point.
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Post by Noa on Mar 13, 2021 23:16:44 GMT -6
If they had been hale and healthy, maybe he really could have flown through the sky with the same ease as some of his creatures. Had the royal family flown? He found that he could no longer remember, and attempting to invited more grief than he felt it was worth. He chased the thoughts from his mind just as the gargoyle gave him a look of concern; in the meantime he had stopped walking altogether, and that had brought the gargoyle up short too, to make sure that he was okay.
It was sort of a nice gesture, especially considering it didn't have to check in with him the way that it was doing right now. Cinna certainly wouldn't have; by the time Cinna noticed that Aster wasn't with him, he would have doubled back only to give Aster a scolding for wasting time and not keeping up with him.
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Post by Noa on Mar 13, 2021 23:16:59 GMT -6
It was nice, even if the change was proving to be somewhat strange to adjust to. It wasn't that Aster was a sucker for punishment, or even that he thought he deserved to be treated like that - at least, not anymore, anyway. And he certainly didn't have to take it from a gem drake, even though he did for so long. It was more just that he had fallen into the habit of it, and once he had, it was difficult to readjust to something else, he supposed.
"I'm fine," he said to the gargoyle. He didn't know if it would read anything from his tone, but he had resumed walking again in the meantime, which was the real issue at hand. The gargoyle gave him a look that Aster thought might have been doubtful, but it didn't have the means to interrogate him, even if it wasn't convinced by his words.
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Post by Noa on Mar 13, 2021 23:17:15 GMT -6
The gargoyle's excitement had worn off a bit with this interruption, but as Aster resumed walking alongside it, its mood seemed to pick up again. "Guess this really must be a crystal, if you're this worked up about it," Aster said. The gargoyle didn't look at him this time, however, having homed in on its target once more.
Fortunately, they didn't have much longer left to go. A short while later, the gargoyle stopped at a nondescript part of the cavern wall, and regarded it with an appraising eye. Aster stood back to watch; he didn't think the gargoyle was going to call on him to help it dig up what it had found this time. After all, something as valuable as a crystal had to be excavated with care, and he imagined the gargoyle would want to do it personally, rather than leaving it in the hands of a human.
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Post by Jack on Mar 14, 2021 8:59:08 GMT -6
Ooh, another fossil you've found?
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Post by Noa on Mar 18, 2021 20:43:46 GMT -6
Even the other familiars, who were of a lesser intelligence than the gargoyle, usually used Aster more for heavy duty tasks. Now that he was working with a runic gargoyle, Aster felt like his main functionality was in the transport of goods, rather than anything else. But hey, it meant he didn't have to work as hard to earn what he did earn, and while Aster wasn't someone who liked to be lazy or to avoid work by nature, he wasn't about to say no to this particular job getting easier. Mining could be tough, backbreaking work, and Aster wasn't exactly looking to accelerate the rate at which he earned new aches and pains in his body.
And sure enough, the gargoyle didn't bother making any gestures to Aster, instead busying itself with inspecting the rock wall, likely searching for the best approach to getting the crystal out of its rocky prison.
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Post by Noa on Mar 18, 2021 21:25:03 GMT -6
There was quite a bit of waiting, but Aster was in no rush, and anyway there was no point in rushing a master of their craft anyway. But once the gargoyle was done with its preparations, it began all at once, digging into the rock with a great deal of enthusiasm. The speed at which its claws managed to get through what seemed to Aster at least to be pure rock never failed to surprise Aster. He had seen it a few times by now, but somehow he managed to forget just how fast it was every time. He never thought of the gargoyles as formidable creatures, especially when compared to the monsters that he often worked with in the daily scope of his own trade as a creature trainer, but against a soft human like himself, he was sure that those claws would be able to make short work of their flesh.
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Post by Noa on Mar 18, 2021 21:27:55 GMT -6
Fortunately for him, the gargoyle didn't at all seem to be of a vicious disposition, primarily concerning itself with the discovery of gems, much like its brethren that Aster had encountered in the mines. In fact, if Aster had to say, he would have said that the gargoyle had a downright pleasant personality. It was neither lazy enough to be bad at its job, nor ill tempered enough to make it a difficult partner to work with. And it had put a great deal of effort into trying to communicate with Aster in the beginning, which slowly seemed to be paying off.
Sometimes it felt a little too good to be true, even, but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?
The gargoyle was only digging for a minute, maybe even less. The crystal wasn't embedded so deep into the rock that it had to burrow extensively to get at it.
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