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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 16:18:05 GMT -6
At that point the pick was the most efficient choice, but every decision promised some amount of grief. Mining was, unfortunately for Noa, generally hard work.
But if the rock wasn’t deeply buried, and no one had dug it out already, it probably also wasn’t very valuable. Noa sighed just to think of it, but well… Every stone counted, in the grand scheme of trying to buy a hoard of magic crystals.
Instead of the pick, he took out the hammer and chisel. It felt as if he used these two the most when it came to digging things out on his own. Of course, he vastly preferred to leave the work to his mining companion when he could. And on the whole, they also seemed to prefer this arrangement, since they were able to sense exactly where the stone was, and some of them didn’t think he took enough care with the stones when he dug them out himself. But the problem with this was that Rhys was the one serving as his mining companion right now, and Rhys’s claws were not designed to shear through rock the way a gem drake or gargoyle’s were.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 16:18:16 GMT -6
That was the one inconvenience about this arrangement. Still, it was interesting, so Noa intended to keep it up a little longer if he could.
The little feathered creature popped its head out of Noa’s pocket the minute he had stopped, and was looking over the tools with a keen and interested eye. It hadn’t done anything yet, so Noa saw no immediate reason to stop it, though he did keep a careful eye on what it was doing in case it caused any trouble. Baby creatures, he found, had no sense on the whole, and were inclined to get into anything they could without thought for whether they ought to. It was the complete and utter lack of life experience, he was sure, but it sure didn’t make them any easier, or any more pleasant, to have to care for.
Noa lifted the hammer and chisel, and under Rhys’s instructions, set it to a particular spot and began to dig. It was unpleasant work, but at least he didn’t have to use very much force. There was some aspect of it that was interesting, varying the angle and the force he used to maximize the efficiency of his strikes.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:33:41 GMT -6
Efficiency was always something that interested Noa, though that interest had been born out of a need rather than developing naturally in his nature. If you didn’t have a lot of time left to yourself, well, it was crucial that you figure out how to get things done as quickly as you could, wasn’t it?
Truth be told though… The esThat was the one inconvenience about this arrangement. Still, it was interesting, so Noa intended to keep it up a little longer if he could.
The little feathered creature popped its head out of Noa’s pocket the minute he had stopped, and was looking over the tools with a keen and interested eye. It hadn’t done anything yet, so Noa saw no immediate reason to stop it, though he did keep a careful eye on what it was doing in case it caused any trouble. Baby creatures, he found, had no sense on the whole, and were inclined to get into anything they could without thought for whether they ought to. It was the complete and utter lack of life experience, he was sure, but it sure didn’t make them any easier, or any more pleasant, to have to care for.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:34:02 GMT -6
Noa lifted the hammer and chisel, and under Rhys’s instructions, set it to a particular spot and began to dig. It was unpleasant work, but at least he didn’t have to use very much force. There was some aspect of it that was interesting, varying the angle and the force he used to maximize the efficiency of his strikes.
timates he had based on his own tests pointed to roughly five years as his deadline, and even then it might not happen immediately, all at once. The number of experimental treatments he had been through complicated things somewhat, and he had a less certain estimate of how much time remained to him than many of the older generations of his family. But five years was, in a certain sense, a long time. When his symptoms weren’t actively bothering him, it was sometimes hard to feel that sense of urgency.
But in the mornings, right before Rhys had had a chance to administer some of his stopgap healing magic… Then Noa could really feel it, that sense that he was dying. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, the sense and the knowledge that your own body was falling apart.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:34:15 GMT -6
He was held together by that healing magic, but even then it was a temporary measure, and had to be reapplied at regular intervals.
And it didn’t slow the overall progress of the decline. All it did was allow him to work through it, so that his days, at least, might not be spent on a bed bemoaning his fate, but might be turned to more useful endeavors to try and rid himself of it someday.
A chip here, a strike there, and slowly he worked his way through the stone. It wasn’t very loud, but as soon as the first chip of stone flew a little too close to its perch, the little feathered creature ducked back down into the pocket where it had been hiding out. Noa glanced down at it, pensive for a moment. Perhaps he could do something with that… But no, he had to focus on getting this stone out first, for now. Rhys would nudge the chisel a little this way or a little that way, to show Noa exactly where the stone was and where not to strike. Eventually he managed to free it from the surrounding rock, and he had a look at it to see what exactly it was.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:34:31 GMT -6
It didn’t look like much. A lot of uncut stones didn’t. It would polish up under the labors of some willing craftsman, but the workshop had been closed for some time now. And it wasn’t really an endeavor Noa had the time to pursue anyway. So long as the merchants he dealt with recognized its value without it being polished, he was content to leave it as it was.
“Anything else in this area?” Noa asked. Rhys paused for a moment, whiskers waving once again as he took in his surroundings in an attempt to answer Noa’s question. At length, the Faeron returned with a negative. The closest thing he sensed was deeper in, again. It had just been this single stone that they had found, that was all.
“Hmm… Let’s take a break for a bit,” Noa suggested. “You can scout ahead if you want, although… No, on second thought, you should stay for this too.”
{Why don’t I like the sound of this?} Rhys said, but he stayed, just as Noa had requested. Not that he could really have left if Noa wanted him to stay, but it was good that he agreed, at least.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:35:00 GMT -6
Noa disliked having to coerce anyone to do anything, since it took so much more effort. There were other issues too, but this was the most pertinent one, at least for him.
Noa scooped the little feathered creature out from the pocket that it had been hiding in. It cheeped a protest or two, but after it had gotten settled in its new position on Noa’s hands, it calmed down considerably. Noa looked at it, considering, before setting it on the ground. It peered around at its surroundings for a moment before hopping off.
“Rhys,” Noa said. “I want you to throw a rock at it, but slowly - slow enough that an impact wouldn’t do any real damage. You know, if you hit.”
{Ah, there it is,} Rhys replied, {that was why you wanted me to stay.} The Faeron breathed a little sigh. {Alright. Here goes.} One of the smallest stone chips from Noa’s attempts to dig out the gem from earlier rose into the air. The little feathered creature did nothing more than watch with mild interest - as it might well be excused for, considering rocks didn’t usually float. But then the rock began to move towards it.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:35:16 GMT -6
Rather than trying to get away from it, however, the little feathered creature approached it to get a closer look, and did absolutely nothing when the tiny rock chip was tapped to its beak. “Hmm,” Noa said. “Maybe a little faster than that.”
{Are you sure?} Rhys said.
“Well, if it doesn’t perceive this as a threat, then it isn’t going to dodge, is it? Though I have to commend you for finding the smallest possible projectile. I think even if I threw this for real, it wouldn’t do more than sting, unless I struck an eye or something.” He did want the little creature trained, and not maimed, but a little temporary unpleasantness wasn’t unpalatable to Noa. Sometimes you needed a slightly unpleasant touch, at least at first, to produce the reaction you want, even if negative reinforcement didn’t really work long term as an exclusive motivator.
Having received this instruction, Rhys sighed again, but drew back the rock chip to throw a little faster, just as Noa had asked. This time, the little creature was more alarmed, and ducked out of the way.
“Ah, that’s it. That’s what I was looking for,” Noa said, pleased.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:35:31 GMT -6
He fed the little creature a tidbit as its reward. “See, you can do it. Now, let’s have this again.”
Rhys had the rock chip come back the other way, and again, the little creature squawked and ducked out of the way. Noa fed it again, to reward it for its efforts. The creature seemed mostly confused at this point, not really understanding what was happening, but food was good. That much was apparent from the way it carried on eating, even though it seemed a little more vigilant now for errant flying rocks threatening its way of life.
Under Rhys’s telekinetic direction, more rock chips found their way flying toward the little feathered creature. It was still one at a time, of course, since the creature was just starting to learn this, but the projectiles got faster as the creature caught onto what was happening. When it was dodging consistently, Noa had Rhys increase the speed, until it was about the pace that a thrown rock would have been anyway.
The creature picked up the idea pretty quickly too. And why wouldn’t you, when the natural reaction to having a rock thrown at you was to avoid it to begin with?
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:35:48 GMT -6
The fact that it got some food as a reward for doing so was just icing on the cake, wasn’t it?
Noa wanted to try bigger rocks, but considering it was just training, he supposed it was best to keep to projectiles that wouldn’t do lasting harm if they struck. After all, there was still the possibility for things to go awry. But considering the little creature was effectively dodging the chips of stone, it was maybe time to move on to the next step.
Noa turned off his flashlight.
{Whoa! Hey, I can’t see in the dark either, you know!} Rhys complained. He knew more or less what Noa had intended, having been through some similar training himself, but in attempting to obscure the little creature’s vision, he had obscured Rhys’s too.
“Try and sense for him using your telepathy if you have to,” Noa said. “Though I think if you tried, you could probably start to make things out. Nightshade managed it.”
{I should probably have seen this coming,} Rhys lamented.
“Think of it as a part of your training,” Noa countered. “You were pretty gung ho about it when you were doing it to enter that tournament before, remember?”
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:36:10 GMT -6
There had been a period where Rhys had wanted to learn how to fight. Noa hadn’t really been for it, thinking that Rhys was better off leaving the fighting to creatures who were better suited for it, but he couldn’t dissuade Rhys, and eventually he had decided that maybe it would be good for the Faeron to get some hands on combat experience after all. The tournament hadn’t gone well, mostly owing to Rhys’s lack of experience - not to mention killing intent - but Rhys had come out of it having developed some skills.
{I guess you’re right,} Rhys said. Noa had half expected him to argue, but in the face of this point, Rhys gave in surprisingly easily. {Okay! I won’t use my telepathy at all! Here goes!}
He threw a rock, but it went wide. Noa couldn’t see very well in the dark either, but he followed its trajectory through a mix of sight and sound, then turned to look at Rhys.
{... Okay, I’ll use my telepathy a little bit,} the Faeron amended. He picked up another rock and threw it, and even though this one didn’t land home either, it came a lot closer than the last one.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:36:28 GMT -6
Close enough, in fact, that the little feathered creature let out a squawk of alarm once again.
Now that the creature understood that there was some danger present, it was also more alert, and paying more attention. That was good. Sight wasn’t the only sense that it had available to it, after all. And as far as Noa was concerned, a part of this avoidance training was learning to let your other senses compensate for if the one you relied on most was rendered out of commission.
So Noa had Rhys tossing stones at the creature from different directions for a while. Rhys didn’t dare throw with too much force, partly because he didn’t necessarily have a clear idea of where he was throwing, and partly because the little creature was also handicapped in its ability to dodge. If he by some chance managed to throw particularly well, and the creature was dodging particularly badly, there was a real chance that he could strike true. If that were the case, then Rhys didn’t want to throw hard enough to actually be able to injure the little creature.
This went on for the span of some minutes before Noa finally called it to an end.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:37:02 GMT -6
“That’s a good first session, I think,” he said, more or less satisfied with what they had accomplished. “We do still need to mine. Where did you say that rock was, that you sensed?”
Rhys, coming out of straining to see in the dark, was momentarily dazzled by the light. But the flashlight wasn’t excruciatingly bright or anything, so he recovered after a moment. {That way,} he said, pointing with his tail. Noa scooped up the little creature, then headed off in the direction that Rhys had indicated.
The rest of their mining trip went on in such a fashion: Noa would mine for a bit, then turn off the flashlight, and have Rhys and the little feathered creature facing off again in the rock-throwing setup. It took some effort on both their parts to play this game, so Noa kept the sessions short, alternating with frequent breaks. By the time Noa had had enough of digging through rocks and opted for the three of them to head home, they had made some progress. The little creature was dodging better, and Rhys reported that he could sort of make out when the creature was moving around, which was something, at least.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:37:22 GMT -6
Evidently this would take more work, but Noa had plenty of excuse to come down to the mines already. And it wasn’t that much more of a hassle to take the little feathered creature with him when he went, especially considering he had been doing this on and off for a while now anyway. But now whenever they came down, Noa made sure that they got in sessions of practice for the creature’s dodging. Sometimes the light would be left on, but for the most part they operated in the dark.
The creature’s dodging improved faster than Rhys’s aim, especially when the latter stopped trying to use his telepathy to help him sense where his target was. Seeing that this was the case, Noa himself joined in with the rock tossing. Like Rhys, he made sure to select the very smallest chips of rock he could find, and he wasn’t throwing very hard either. Noa also had the handicap of only being able to throw from one direction, rather than from multiple different angles of attack. Still, having one more thing to keep track of did make it harder for the little feathered creature to dodge.
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Post by Noa on May 27, 2021 17:37:36 GMT -6
Over dozens of sessions over several days, however, both improved - eventually to the point where they could do this without the light on and have it barely make a difference. It seemed that, in addition to learning how to sense incoming strikes and dodging them in general, the little creature was also getting a sense for seeing in the dark. It now ran around with reckless abandon even without the flashlight on… Which would have been concerning, but it did seem to get into less trouble than it would have if it couldn’t see at all.
Noa hadn’t exactly been planning on this, but it wasn’t unwelcome either. And since they were all traipsing around in the dark of the caverns, it also wasn’t necessarily surprising that the little feathered creature had developed the same skill.
At this point, all of Noa’s objectives had been met, so he was content with the outcome. Rhys was just as glad to be off the hook too, since the method of training this time had been a little stressful for him.
“Oh, come off it,” Noa said. “It wouldn’t have been so bad even if you had actually hit it.”
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