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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 16:11:02 GMT -6
The inside was glittering under even the relatively poor light of the torch. The crystals inside were a clear color, not like any of the geodes that Aster had found before. Even so, the fact that it was geode was unmistakable. It was just a matter of identifying what kind of geode it was.
But that was a task for when he had gotten horne, and could pore over his books in earnest. At the moment, it was enough to know that it had value. In fact, he was glad that the gargoyle had cracked it open. An unopened geode was a fairly unimpressive thing, even as a display item, much less as a thing to be used for trading. Maybe that collection fellow in the city would take it, being an eccentric type, and probably being able to identify even a closed geode on sight. If it were anyone else though...
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 16:13:03 GMT -6
It would have been a real hard sell to have to make to anyone else, Aster imagined.
"Huh," Aster said. "Clear gems, is it? I've never seen one like that before." The gargoyle handed it over, looking... pleased, maybe? It was hard to say, since the expression was fairly subtle, but Aster thought it seemed to be pleased by this outcome. Aster didn't bother hiding his interest, and was turning the geode this way and that under the torch. Up close, it was brighter, and the light threw the inside of the geode into a very appealing bouquet of glitters.
Maybe this would make up for his underwhelming reaction in regards to the spine fossil. But then, that one hadn't been very impressive to look at. It was only if you knew the significance of it that it seemed interesting at all. Well, maybe Aster had a bit of a magpie streak to him.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 16:15:00 GMT -6
Eventually, however, as nice as it was to look at, Aster had to put the geode away. He tucked it into the gem pouch with the rest, then turned to the gargoyle. "What do you say? Which way do we go?" For their elimination of the rock wall had revealed another branch to the tunnel, while the tunnel they had originally been following still continued further into the darkness.
The gargoyle didn't hesitate the way It had done at the last fork though. It chose the newly opened tunnel pretty much immediately. Aster laughed a little, seeing its quick decision making. "This way, huh? You must be sensing something down here if you're that sure about it." But that had to be a good thing, since what the gargoyle could sense were gemstones. Well, for that matter, if Aster sensed anything, that would have been even better, since that would have meant that a crystal was afoot.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 16:18:44 GMT -6
But Aster wouldn't turn up his nose at the prospect of gems either, especially when the gargoyle was so magnanimous, relatively speaking, with regards to handing them over to him. Even if the gem workshop was closed, they were still good for selling for a bit of cash if they needed some in a pinch, so you could never have too many.
And it seemed like his own luck was turning around, as far as tunnels went. This one could accommodate him much more comfortably than the last one had done, being both tall enough and wide enough for him to pass. In fact, it was large enough for several people to walk shoulder to shoulder, and the difference, when they had just emerged from a tunnel barely wide enough to admit one of him, and which often necessitated that he proceed hunched over just to get through, felt a bit like whiplash.
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Post by Renathan on Dec 6, 2019 16:42:06 GMT -6
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:15:19 GMT -6
But even if it was rather abrupt, it was a change that he was glad for, in the end. There was no sense in walking hunched over and uncomfortable if there was no need to, and being able to walk comfortably was always to be preferred. Though it did make him wonder whether the gargoyle found being out of the caverns disconcerting. Il it had been born here, and if this was its natural environment, then maybe being out under the open skies was much more uncomfortable for the gargoyle in a way that Aster couldn't imagine.
Aster, after all, was a creature of the open air, who preferred to be able to see the sky at all times. Fortunately, he wasn't claustrophobic, or at least he wasn't any longer, though it used to make him much more uncomfortable to be down here among the oppressive rock and dirt of the mountains.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:15:43 GMT -6
When he had first come here, his thoughts had all been of being trapped and suffocated, or maybe being bound. Thoughts that he had to force himself out of to proceed. But eventually he had begun to see it as a challenge to overcome, and with that mindset, he had slowly managed to train himself out of what had probably been a natural aversion, which had then been reinforced through some experiences that he would much rather not repeat again.
And besides all that, the call of riches to be had in these mines was too much incentive for someone like him. Especially in the beginning, money had been tight, and this was one of the means to make some that didn't require a goad deal of fine skill or initial investment, though of course it did get easier once you had the right tools and knew what you were doing.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:16:29 GMT -6
But even a fool could find a mining familiar of some sort down here, and even a fool with a mining familiar would happen upon some precious stones after a while, since at least the familiars knew what they were about.
"Say," said Aster, his mind returning to his thoughts from that time. "Do you ever feel, I don't know, uncomfortable when you're out there? Is it weird not having something over your head for you?"
The gargoyle didn't answer him, but it did turn back slightly, to show that It was paying attention to what Aster was saying, he supposed. That was nice of it to do, considering it wasn't the kind of courtesy you had to show someone. And even though it didn't give an answer, Aster found himself continuing on in this fashion, his words meandering out of him as though they had a will of their own.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:17:03 GMT -6
"I never feel quite right when l'm underground," he said, which he supposed was still the truth, even after all this time. It wasn't the same as feeling panic spiking up hat and terrible in his throat, or a pervasive feeling of dread like he used to feel sometimes, but the words not quite right summed it up pretty well. It was more like a nagging at the back of his mind than anything else these days. "I do alright when I'm in a building, since the point is you can get out of it, you know? The door is right there."
He looked up as he spoke, though not at anything in particular, and his gaze fell upon the ceiling of the tunnel that they were traveling in. Now that he wasn't looking at the gargoyle, he didn't know if it was paying attention, but he trusted that it was.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:17:58 GMT -6
Even if it wasn't, it was just the two of them down here, as far as he could tell. It was kind of hard to avoid hearing what he was saying, which might mean that he had a captive audience in the poor gargoyle, if it really didn't rare to hear this stuff.
"And in a house," he went on, "most of the rooms are big and tall enough that I don't feel them pressing down on me, the walls and all." His own home was built to very airy proportions, though it hadn't started out that way. After extensive renovations though, Aster had made it his own, and that had been one of the things he had changed about it.
"But down here, it's different. If the rocks fall in on you, that's it for you... Or at least it is for me. And sometimes you find places where you can't even stand up straight."
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:18:45 GMT -6
He jerked his head in the direction of the tunnel where they had just come from. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you. l just prefer to be able to straighten myself out when I can. My spine feels better that way, you know?" Speaking of spines. They had just found a piece of one earlier, and now he was out here talking about his own. A slightly wry smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.
"I guess this is just a real long winded way of me asking if you feel like that too," Aster said at last. "It really doesn't make you feel strange, being out there?" He was reiterating the question he had asked, which the gargoyle hadn't answered. "I get the heebie jeebies since I was raised topside, you know, out in the air. Hells, I didn't even have a roof over my head for most of my childhood."
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:22:12 GMT -6
It probably didn't get a lot more open air than sleeping on the streets as an urchin like he had when he was younger. At the time, it had been hard, but thinking back on it, there had been good times too. And even back then, he had enjoyed it sometimes when the weather was nice, and he could see the stars.
Going back to the gargoyle though, he said, "But you grew up here, so you've always had... all this." He motioned around him to the rock that was pressing down all around them, even if this tunnel was relatively roomy for its type.
A moment passed like that, with neither of them saying anything. Well, to be fair, the gargoyle couldn't have said anything even if it wanted to, Aster supposed. He didn't even know if it was capable of making noise, outside of percussive ones created by its own motions.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:23:05 GMT -6
He had certainly never heard this one vocalize, though to be fair, it was the only one of its kind in his acquaintance. He had never encountered any of its fellows, or even the less intelligent gargoyles, down here in the mines himself.
But then, he had been trying to leave the mining creatures down here alone when he made his forays in recent years. If he thought he heard something coming, he just went the other way as best he could. It didn't always work, but he had been seeing fewer and fewer, and he preferred to think that it was his own choices that had led to this point, rather than anything else. If it was anything else, then that would imply some pretty uncomfortable things that he preferred not to think about if he could avoid it. Not if he didn't want to go looking for trouble for himself.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:23:43 GMT -6
At any rate, his gaze wandered down to the gargoyle, on the off chance it might try to nod or shake its head or pantomime some sort of more elaborate response. The gargoyle didn't do so right away, but instead seemed as though it were thinking again. Aster supposed that was fair. Maybe the gargoyle had an answer, and it was just a difficult one to explain. If you had to pantomime everything, then explanations were going to get a lot harder to execute. Just look at how it had gone when Aster had asked about the spinal bone fossil.
Then again, maybe the gargoyle hadn't thought about these things before. After all, though he was sure the shopkeeper of Zoological Imports treated the creatures well while they were there, he also doubted the guy sat around and badgered them with random questions the way he was doing now with this gargoyle.
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Post by Noa on Dec 6, 2019 19:24:42 GMT -6
But you had to do something to pass the time down here, between causing rock falls and digging for valuables. Sometimes there was Just a lot of walking here and there looking for stuff, and that could get pretty boring pretty quickly.
At length, the gargoyle moved, and Aster waited to see what its verdict would be, only to see the gargoyle give him what he could only have called a shrug. It was actually a remarkable facsimile of a human one, except the proportions were a bit odd, seeing as the gargoyle's arms were a lot longer than what they would have been on a human of comparable size. That, and the gargoyle let its wrists and hands hang loose, rather than holding them palm up as a humanoid might have. That part did make the whole of it look pretty odd, but considering the fact that it must have learned all this by observation, it was close enough.
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