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Post by Noa on May 10, 2021 19:03:46 GMT -6
It must be some novelty, thought Noa, for whom the appeal had worn off pretty quickly in comparison, relative to when he had started coming down here. The caverns were sunless and dark, and often at least sort of damp, if not filled a few inches with water. Sometimes there were fungi, and sometimes there were things that crawled. Noa didn't remember having seen one himself, but apparently there were rock-eating worms that dwelt here.
Of course, he was just as sure that Rhys would have liked to meet one if he had known they existed. Not that Noa could make that happen any more than he could make a prismatic crystal appear before them, but he would still rather not have Rhys seeking out that kind of encounter. The worms were not particularly useful relative to any other mining companion, and they had little enough to recommend them otherwise.
"Rocks, probably," Noa said, reaching a hand into his pocket to quell the chirping of the little feathered creature. It had gotten more insistent since they entered the tunnel, probably because it was suddenly a lot darker out. Noa had his flashlight on, so they had light enough to see by, but it was probably a shock to the little feathered creature. It seemed young, or at least very small - Noa had no idea how big they were supposed to be when grown. It also didn't seem to be keenly intelligent, though fortunately it also didn't seem to be too stupid either.
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Post by Noa on May 10, 2021 19:06:01 GMT -6
Noa wasn't sure he would have kept the thing if it had turned out very stupid, just because it was hard to get much use out of a creature who was too dim for proper training.
The hand seemed to comfort it, or at least give it something else to focus on for a moment. Noa felt something brush up against his hand, and the chirping quieted. If the creature was seeking comfort there, that was fine; and if it wasn't, that was fine too. So long as it wasn't trying to attack him, Noa didn't care. Did it think of him as some sort of parental figure? That would be a little unfortunate, since being a caretaker really wasn't in Noa's nature. But, well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it, he supposed. In the raising of creatures, there was a certain level of playing things by ear that was always involved, and by this point Noa was pretty used to that.
{Yes, but what kind of rocks?} said Rhys, whose enthusiasm couldn't be dampened by Noa's lack of it. But then, it was probably just as well, since otherwise Rhys wouldn't have any of it left by now either, and then there would just be... two of Noa, which while efficient, wouldn't have been as easy to be around. Even Noa wasn't obtuse enough to think that he would get along with someone who was exactly like himself; in fact it was more likely to be the opposite.
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Post by Noa on May 10, 2021 19:10:42 GMT -6
If he met someone who was too much like himself in temperament, they probably wouldn't bother with each other... Or if they were forced by the circumstances to deal extensively with one another, he would probably have found them insufferable.
"Valuable ones, hopefully," Noa said, pitching his voice a little louder so that the gargoyle would hear it. "Or better yet, magical ones if we're lucky. I suspect it'll just be the normal type though."
{Oooh, do you think we'll find anything with pretty colors? I think we found some really shiny ones last time, though you wouldn't let me see it much before you stuffed it away.} There was a bit of reproach in the Faeron's tone.
Noa made a face. "If you really want to look at them that badly, I can show you the rock we picked up earlier." He reached for it, bringing it out, and even made a little show of shining the flashlight on it.
Rhys let out a sharp huff of air. {That's just a piece of rubble! Who wants to look at that? You can stop making fun of me, you know. Just let me have a look next time we find something good!}
The rock seemed to have caught the attention of the little feathered creature though. Its head had popped out of the pocket again, and now, with the flashlight shining on the rock, the creature's shining eyes had fixed onto said rock as if drawn to it like a magnet.
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Post by Nadia on May 11, 2021 2:39:20 GMT -6
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 16:18:11 GMT -6
It wasn't until the creature made an ill fated attempt to actually try to snatch it, however, that Noa noticed where its attention had gone. "Ah ah," he said, moving the rock out of reach. "That's not for you." It was a good thing that the creature didn't actually manage to make contact with it, for that matter; rocks were not soft things, and he didn't know whether it would have chipped its beak or something on it.
... It was a beak, right? To be honest, Noa wasn't altogether clear on the taxonomy of these things. They were some sort of ancient species, long extinct, brought back to life through science... or maybe a mix of science and magic. He wasn't sure what went on in the labs either, and only paid enough attention to get his hands on creatures that might be useful to his endeavors.
It looked like a bird, sort of. It had feathers along its head and forelimbs, and it carried those forelimbs like the wings of a bird, more or less. The rest of it was covered in scales, not unlike the Wiurn, but it acted a little like a bird too. And it was true that some birds hatched without much in the way of feathering, like the Izers.
For the moment, Noa had decided to just treat the feathered creature like a strange baby Izer. If he needed to reassess this decision at some future point, well, he'd deal with it when it came up.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 16:23:11 GMT -6
This was part of that whole playing by ear strategy. Besides which, these creatures were relatively new occurrences as far as he could tell, so there probably wasn't even that much information about them yet. There was no point in going on a wild goose chase for something that didn't exist, especially when time wasn't something you had in abundance to begin with.
At any rate though, trying to eat a rock wasn't generally a healthy endeavor for most creatures. Noa put the rock away again in the place where it had been resting before, and turned his attention to the gargoyle once more. He wasn't doing much more than following in the gargoyle's wake for the moment, but even that did require some level of attention, especially when you were in a darkened cavern like this. He had the flashlight, but it wasn't the same as good bright lighting, or being under the full sun or anything like that. And Noa, with his woefully inadequate human vision, couldn't see in the dark very well.
Fortunately for him, Rhys gave off a little faint light of his own, and the gargoyle was patient when it came to playing its role as a guide. While Noa had been sorting out that business with the little feathered creature, the gargoyle had noticed his distracted state and opted to wait for him to finish. Once the gargoyle saw that everything had been settled, he began moving forward again, with a glance behind to make sure Noa was following.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 16:27:38 GMT -6
Once the gargoyle was sure that Noa wasn't about to trip over himself or lose his way, however, the gargoyle resumed making a fairly good pace through the tunnel. Thus far it had been pretty much a straight shot into the mountain, and after the initial widening of it, the tunnel didn't get any more wide than that. Its width wasn't so constant as to be uniform, but it was pretty clear that it had been dug by someone, likely in search of mineral riches in the mountains, the same way that they were right now.
The fact that it had been dug by someone made Noa even more dubious about the prospect of finding anything here. Would there even be anything to find if someone else had already come here and picked out what they could? Maybe they had had a less talented familiar than the gargoyle - and the gargoyle was pretty good, Noa thought, though he heard tell of some with particularly lucky companions - but even then, all the obvious stuff was sure to be gone. And past that, what could possibly be waiting for them, really?
But just as Noa was thinking that, a sound alerted all four of them to the presence of something else in the cavern: a tiny little hiss, like the kind made by one of those pocketpet things that Noa occasionally saw down in these tunnels.
Rhys was the first to zero in on where the sound had been coming from in the tunnel.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 16:31:37 GMT -6
Noa didn't know exactly how the Faeron figured out the direction, whether it was a matter of actual hearing - as his senses were pretty sharp, and he even had modified ears to help him with this - or if it was due to his telepathy, or even some third thing that hadn't occurred to Noa. Somehow he doubted it was the telepathy, since pocketpets were so small and dim that he doubted they had much of a psychic signature to even be picked up on... But they were still alive, so it was probably still possible. At any rate though, it was Rhys who picked it up first, and pointed it out to Noa, and presumably also to the gargoyle.
{Look! It's one of those... little... What are they called again?} Rhys might have been quick on the draw, but that still didn't mean he knew what the pocketpets were, beyond the fact that it was in fact a pocketpet.
But it didn't matter, really. Noa himself had no interest in collecting these things, except in their capacity to serve as trade fodder. There was a shop in town that bought these things for resale to other collectors, so he didn't pass up the chance to collect them if he found one, but aside from capturing them in good condition, he didn't need to know anything else about them. "I see it," Noa said, following the line of Rhys's foreleg where he had used it to point out the pocketpet he had spotted.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 16:35:33 GMT -6
It was a little further ahead in the tunnel than they were, but surprisingly not by much. They were pretty close to it. Probably it had been hoping for them to pass it by, but when it became apparent that they were drawing in close, it must have lost its nerve and let out a little hiss of threat after all. For all the good that it would do, considering how much bigger they all were than it, with the possible exception of the feathered creature riding in Noa's pocket. If anything, the fact that it had made a noise had simply sealed its fate. Now it was doomed to be caught and eventually pawned off in the city.
Now it was just a matter of actually catching it. Now, this part could be a little tricky; pocketpets had the one advantage of being small and fast, even if they weren't particularly bright. And Noa wasn't very athletic, nor were his reflexes better than about average at best, so catching something small that didn't want to be caught wasn't necessarily his forte. Slowly, he advanced on it, and the gargoyle, sensing his intent, backed away to give him more room. {If I miss,} he said telepathically to Rhys, {you try and catch it too. Don't let it get away.}
Rhys gave a wordless affirmation, and Noa turned his attention back to the pocketpet. Just a little closer now... A little more... And then he went for it, reaching out quickly with both hands.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 17:00:51 GMT -6
Luck or something like it, was on his side on this particular occasion. He managed to nab the thing, despite its best attempts to flee for its life, having realized at long last - too late, of course - that it was grievously overmatched. Intelligence really was not the purview of these creatures in any sense of the word; although in a certain manner of thinking, one could admire their bravado in thinking it was possible to intimidate creatures of Noa's size to begin with.
Whatever the pocketpet's thoughts, or lack thereof, the deed was done. It was caught, and now it could do no more than writhe helplessly in Noa's hands. "Open up one of the compartments," he said to Rhys, in a decidedly impatient tone. He didn't want to be holding onto this thing for a moment longer than he had to. Holding onto a squirming pocketpet wasn't his idea of a good time.
It wasn't Rhys who complied, but the gargoyle, who had already inched toward the buggy while he had been making room for Noa. Now he opened one of the smaller compartments, and got out of the way again as Noa stuffed his prize into the space, before closing it once more, effectively trapping the creature there.
"Well," Noa said. "That's that done with." And now that the pocketpet had been removed, the gargoyle went back to the spot that it had been occupying a moment ago. There was nothing there at first glance, at least to Noa's eyes.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 17:04:20 GMT -6
Even as he turned his flashlight on it, he couldn't see any telltale glimmering or anything like that. But the gargoyle knew better, and with a little light scratching, he managed to unearth what wasn't readily apparent to the naked eye: a small cache of gemstones, including one of those long pre-cut ones that they'd been finding here with steadily more regularity all the time.
"I wonder where these are coming from," Noa said, picking up that stone and inspecting it in the light. This time he made sure to keep it well out of reach of the little feathered creature, whose attention had locked on again to the shiny thing Noa was holding - and with more intensity this time, since this one was actually shiny, and not merely dazzling because it happened to have the beam of the flashlight shining on it in a dark place.
{Oh, oh, I want to see! Can I take it?} Rhys said. Noa had finished his inspection already, so with a slight shrug, he handed it over. Rhys picked it up out of his grip, and brought it closer to himself, where he could inspect it from various angles and admire the way that the light refracted through it. Noa decided to humor him, and directed the beam of the flashlight into the gem again, so that it would look more flashy and appealing as Rhys inspected it.
It was just a stone. Valuable, yes, but it wasn't as if it did anything special.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 17:08:24 GMT -6
To Noa, it held no more appeal than a certain sum of credits, and it did him no more good than that either. But novelty was novelty, and Rhys always did have a sort of 'stop and smell the flowers' attitude.
Meanwhile, the gargoyle was counting up all the other finds in the little cache. To be honest, there wasn't much to speak of, just two more stones in the lot. One of them was a peridot, which Noa was a little glad to see; they weren't the most valuable stones, but he had a particular fondness for them. The other... was something dull and reddish, which would likely polish up to a nice shine, but in the meantime it was no sweat off his back if he had to trade it away. And considering how things were going in the Underground these days, he had more of a need for gems to trade than he ever had before.
Any find was a good find in that respect, he supposed, except for rubble rocks and pocketpets. A shame, then, that a pocketpet was one of their finds, even if it had led them to some others.
"Is there anything else?" he asked the gargoyle, though he had a feeling he knew what the answer was going to be. After all, the gargoyle hadn't brought anything else out, and it had been a few minutes since he had turned up with the rest of their little plunder from the pocketpet's hidden stash.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 17:16:01 GMT -6
With an almost apologetic air, the gargoyle shook his head. Noa sighed. "I didn't think so. But was this really what you wanted to come in here for? It isn't a big find." The gargoyle was the one who had insisted on this small and inconvenient tunnel, and thus far they really didn't have a whole lot to show for their troubles.
The gargoyle gave him a shrug, and Noa began to wonder if the gargoyle really knew as much about what he was doing as Noa was giving him credit for. But he supposed even he himself couldn't be spot on every time in his area of expertise, and maybe the gargoyle had simply been curious about what was in here, rather than sensing any significant riches to be had. Without a proper way of communicating, there was no way to convey that level of nuance in their interactions, Noa supposed.
Oh well. What was done was done. "If there isn't anything else in here, we should probably head back for the day," Noa said. It wasn't a very fruitful mining trip, but they had been out here for a while already, and he was pretty sure the little feathered creature was going to need to be fed soon. It did eat at fairly short, demanding intervals, which was very much like a young bird. Most of the task of feeding fell to Rabbit, but obviously she couldn't feed what she couldn't access because it was out on a trip with Noa.
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Post by Noa on May 11, 2021 17:20:18 GMT -6
He would do it himself, for the sake of promoting some bonding with the creature if nothing else, but Noa was simply too often occupied by other tasks, and unlike Rabbit, he did have to sleep. On the other hand, a robot who didn't need to be powered down for extended periods of time, and who had their own internal clock to help with tracking this sort of thing, was the ideal candidate to foster one of these little things that needed the constant feedings.
Maybe when it was a little older, and could stand a little more time between meals, Noa would be able to take it out for longer trips.
The gargoyle seemed disappointed, but he didn't try to contest Noa's suggestion. "Next time," Noa said, though their next trip was just as likely to be just Rhys and himself.
Noa and the gargoyle turned around, and began to make their way back where they had come. "We're going," said Noa to Rhys, who was still staring at the green gem. At Noa's voice, Rhys put the gem back away in the buggy, and fluttered up to perch on Noa's shoulder again. "Did you get your fill of shiny rocks?" Noa asked.
{Well, that one was very pretty,} Rhys said, {but there are lots more types than that, aren't there? I'd like to see them all at some point.}
That was a lofty goal if Noa had ever heard one... But they were going to be spending a lot more time down here, so who knew?
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Post by Nadia on May 12, 2021 4:16:12 GMT -6
Oop, pick this up on your way out!
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