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Post by Noa on Mar 7, 2020 9:54:40 GMT -6
Aster took the stone from the gargoyle and began to inspect it, but in the light all he could make out was that it might be green underneath all that... rock color. It looked more or less just like a regular piece of grey rock with maybe some lichen growing on it. But over the years, he had come to trust the judgement of the creatures that knew this place, or at least knew the stone here. They had a better sense of what was valuable than he was, based on some sense other than sight.
Or maybe they just knew exactly what to look for. As someone who worked with gemstones, Aster felt that he ought to be a little more savvy in that regard by now, but unfortunately, he wasn't. So it was just as well that he did have someone--- in this case, the gargoyle--- to rely upon.
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Post by Noa on Mar 7, 2020 9:58:01 GMT -6
"It really doesn't look like much right now... Well, maybe it does to you, huh? But for us, there's a big difference between what it looks like before and after you polish it," Aster said. "They have these big wheels where you grind rocks..." Just as he said this, Aster had another thought. The gargoyles were obviously a bit different, but the gem dragons and the like were made of rocks themselves. Going to a place like that, maybe it was more horrifying than enlightening for them.
But what were the gargoyles made of anyway? It didn't look like stone. It might have been metal or it might have been flesh. "It's not open right now, but I can show you some old stuff I've done there, as soon as we get home," Aster said. It may be just as well that they couldn't go, if it did turn out to be ghastly for the gargoyle.
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Post by Noa on Mar 7, 2020 10:00:55 GMT -6
The gargoyle inclined its head at him. Aster didn't know whether to interpret that one as 'very well' or 'what are you talking about?' The gargoyle was usually pretty clear about his cues, but both of those were subtle enough that he couldn't say for sure either way. But regardless, he could see there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm there, so it was probably not as good or as fun an idea as he had initially thought. Good to know.
"Well, thanks for this," Aster said, and tucked the gem away into a small pouch for safekeeping. It wasn't the Prismatic Crystal that the gargoyle was looking for, but the guy who cut those things for socketing was part of the workshop anyway. And the gargoyle did seem to understand that this sort of thing took time, as the crystals were pretty rare. Aster couldn't remember if he'd ever even found one himself.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 7, 2020 20:39:58 GMT -6
Looks like you and your gargoyle managed to find some nice things!
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Post by Noa on Mar 20, 2020 14:15:13 GMT -6
The gargoyle didn't seem to be reacting to anything else, so Aster figured it was time to move on. The convenient thing about having the gargoyle around was that he didn't have to get his tools out for every little thing. Sometimes when there was a lot to move, or a stone was buried deep under the surface, the gargoyle would solicit him for help or point him in the right direction, but if it was just a stone wedged in a crevice or near the surface of the rock face that it was sitting in, then the gargoyle was content to set its own claws to the work and extract the stone by itself. That saved him a lot of time in getting tools out and putting them away, so the sessions they spent here felt more productive.
Aster started walking again, and the gargoyle fell into step beside him.
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Post by Noa on Mar 20, 2020 14:18:02 GMT -6
The tunnel they were in was pretty wide to start, and relatively level, but that didn't mean much regarding what it would be like later on. A lot of them looked innocuous enough to start, possibly because they'd been hewn by human hands at that point, and a human operation would have wanted their paths and such to be walkable, easily traversible by buggies, whatever method of transport they were using for whatever they wanted to get in or out of there--- people, stones, all that jazz. But once they hit a natural cave system that they decided they wanted to take advantage of, all bets were off. Or sometimes they'd find a vertical mineshaft, where the operation had had the tools and the desire to get at something deep in the earth... and Aster and his gargoyle companion were just the two of them, with only so much at their disposal.
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Post by Noa on Mar 20, 2020 14:20:57 GMT -6
Granted, Aster had a good deal more at his disposal than he'd had before. He had magic now, which he'd had the opportunity to use on their last expedition--- or was it the one before? Regardless, the gargoyle had been around to see it. Aster thought the gargoyle had also looked a little jealous about it, which made sense considering its goal in apparently finding a prismatic crystal to socket into itself. He'd looked into it a little, and that particular combination could impart magical powers on the successful gargoyle that managed it, so that must have been its goal.
Humans had it easier, Aster thought. Elemental crystals of whatever kind were much easier to find than a prismatic crystal specifically. And while his own magic was restricted by whatever element he happened to have a node for, he had a lot more of it now than the gargoyle ever would.
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Post by Noa on Mar 20, 2020 14:25:22 GMT -6
Even when he'd only had the two nodes, that was true, and he'd recently come into a third. It wasn't an element he had really expected to work with--- he and water didn't really mix much, or mix well, he'd thought. But there were spells specifically to counteract getting wet, which had been fun to play around with; and while he'd never considered ice his element either, he'd picked up a spell that used it to slow enemies down. That should prove useful if he ever needed to hinder an enemy.
... Of course, he could do something similar with wind, but he was a lot more familiar with wind magic, and found it responded better to him. If he could use his water magic for restraints and hold onto his wind magic for other things, that was good too. And if not, he could always draw on that node to power his Hollow spells.
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Post by Noa on Mar 20, 2020 14:28:07 GMT -6
So, even if it wasn't the blessing he'd been hoping for, exactly, he wasn't going to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. It had its uses, and he knew he was lucky to be able to get his hands on another one, even if he'd had to pay through the nose for it, buying it from a... short, plain-looking young man who apparently needed the money pretty badly.
Well, he had genuinely looked as though he needed the money. Not really the sort that Aster would have expected to get their hands on enough materials to make a node of that caliber, but stranger things had happened in the city. And disinclined to keep it too, which meant that either he really needed the money and needed it fast; didn't realize the value of the node; or had already become an elemental and couldn't use nodes at all anymore.
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Post by Renathan on Mar 20, 2020 14:45:54 GMT -6
What a strange pair of gems? Or is it truly a pair? What even is multigems?
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Post by Noa on Mar 21, 2020 22:16:25 GMT -6
Or maybe he didn't dabble in magic, though he'd seemed to know enough about nodes that Aster somehow doubted that was the case. Either way though, it wasn't any of his business--- not even to talk the guy out of it. A nicer person, who had better social graces, might have done that much, but Aster's first priority in most social interactions was to get to the end of it as quickly as he could. Hell, normally he would have sent Rabbit in his stead, but in this specific case, he felt that it was better to go himself. A node was too valuable and risky a thing to leave in the hands of someone who had no experience with them or with magic at all, and as good as Rabbit was at following instructions, she did have a tendency to get talked into things.
"Say," Aster said to the gargoyle. "What kind of magic are you hoping to do anyway?"
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Post by Noa on Mar 21, 2020 22:19:16 GMT -6
What he had really wanted to ask was whether the gargoyle even had anything in mind for if or when it got its wish, but that felt a little cruel, so he opted for this question instead. Of course, it was entirely possible that the gargoyle had no specific plans at all, and just wanted magic for the sake of magic. He didn't know nearly enough about gargoyle culture to hazard a guess at that one.
The gargoyle seemed pensive, but that didn't necessarily confirm Aster's suspicions. Communication had been a spotty thing between the two of them all along, after all. Maybe it was just trying to figure out how to say what it had in mind, in a manner of speaking.
Aster didn't press it for an answer. He was just making... well, he supposed this really was small talk, wasn't it? Even though he usually said he hated it so much.
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Post by Noa on Mar 21, 2020 22:21:54 GMT -6
But that was small talk with people, and that was... different. People had all these expectations, and he hardly knew most of them, and the idea of having to talk to someone he didn't know wasn't high on his list of enjoyable activities. There was no getting to know someone without talking to them sooner or later, but Aster wasn't exactly looking to expand his social circle either, so that suited him fine. He had enough companions on the estate that it never felt particularly lonely, and even back when he hadn't, Summer had always been there.
This was just something to fill up the time. Sure, it was something he was genuinely curious about, and he did kind of want to see what answer the gargoyle would give, but it wasn't an interrogation or anything like that. If the gargoyle didn't have an answer, then that was that, and they'd move on to something else.
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Post by Noa on Mar 25, 2020 16:38:01 GMT -6
The gargoyle seemed to come up with an answer, in that it began to motion enthusiastically, but Aster soon found that he could make neither head nor tails of whatever it was the gargoyle was trying to convey. There was a great deal of sweeping arm movements, so he hazarded a guess. "You want to fly?" he said.
The gargoyle looked at him for a moment, then slowly motioned to its own wings. Aster blinked. "Oh, right. Yeah, that's my bad, I guess you can already do that."
For a moment, he thought of his own wings, the ones that he'd--- but no, no, he wasn't going to think about that. Not while he was down here, with the gargoyle in tow. Actually, maybe not ever. Those kinds of thoughts weren't worth dwelling on, since he found that they never led anywhere good when he let himself think them, even when he was alone.
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Post by Noa on Mar 25, 2020 16:41:32 GMT -6
Or maybe especially when he was alone, if Summer's scoldings were anything to go by. Fortunately, despite the fact that he rarely left his property to socialize with anyone, he wasn't exactly lacking for company these days. Between Rabbit and Summer and Avander and the Hara, and everyone and everything else living on the estate these days, it was actually harder to find time alone now.
The gargoyle tried again, but... and maybe this was just because Aster wasn't paying proper attention, but the gestures seemed different than the ones he was doing before. A lot of wiggling of fingers, which could mean just about anything. "You... want to make it rain?" he said.
The gargoyle stared at him again, then seemed to hang its head in defeat. Aster laughed, a little awkwardly. "Sorry. I guess it's a little too complicated for me." There had to be a better way for them to talk to each other than this.
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