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Post by Noa on May 28, 2019 15:10:53 GMT -6
There were tunnels in which it might be large enough for Aster to walk or crawl through, but wouldn't have admitted a grown Sarane, even one accustomed to living underground. Arguably there were very few tunnels indeed that Avander could have been convinced to enter, but then, Avander wasn't used to such conditions, and thought himself a creature of the open air. Still, just because they were cave crawlers didn't mean that the black breed could contort their own mass indefinitely. If the tunnel had proved too small after all, Aster would have abandoned it for the more obvious path they were on before.
Now, however, he suspected this might in fact be the right place. The situation of the entrance, being such as it was, could really have been the intentional work of an ingenious Sarane trying to conceal their den. They weren't remarkably clever creatures, but even dogs and foxes knew to do that much.
(14)
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Post by Noa on May 28, 2019 15:14:24 GMT -6
And the smell hadn't abated. There was that too. It was as good a sign as any, but Aster really wished it had disappeared after all. All he could do was continue with his shirt pulled over his face, which helped, but didn't help enough.
It was pretty miserable going, even if he could stand. The stench was one thing, and the uneven footing was another; it might not have bothered a creature with four legs, or no legs at all, but Aster was bipedal, and humanoids were made rather... long. Constantly having to watch where he put his feet in the dark was an exhausting process, and unfortunately for him, this tunnel was steeper than the one he had previously been walking. Which wasn't to say that it was all downhill, but it went upwards sometimes, only to incline downwards again.
If he didn't know better, he might have thought it was meant to be a deterrent.
(15)
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Post by Noa on May 29, 2019 20:25:16 GMT -6
Aster was just about to start thinking this tunnel was more trouble than it was worth when it finally widened and leveled out. He had come this far, but sunk cost fallacy be damned, if it went on in the same manner for very much longer, he really was going to cut his losses and turn back. But the tunnel did behave itself at last, and Aster stopped there to catch his breath a bit. He hadn't been going particularly quickly, but it had still been a bit of a workout, clambering up and down through the rock and dirt like that.
He leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths. Nevermind the stench, which hadn't abated so much as Aster had simply grown used to it, the claustrophobic press of the walls around him were already enough to make it hard to breathe. The air down in the tunnels was almost always stagnant and stale.
(16)
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Post by Noa on May 29, 2019 20:26:35 GMT -6
Aster didn't know about the actual difference in oxygen content, but the knowledge that he was sometimes miles underground had a certain unpleasant psychological effect.
What a good thing, then, that speed wasn't necessarily the driving factor behind this particular request.
He felt Summer's concern like a warm presence at the edge of his mind, but she could do nothing for him but to wait patiently for his recovery. Having it there was still better than nothing, a reminder that he wasn't alone in the dark. A few years ago he might not have been able to come down so far at all; even now, the oppressive atmosphere threatened to invoke something else if he wasn't vigilant against his own thoughts.
After a long moment, however, he did finally recover enough to give Summer's head a pet, before pushing off the wall to continue onward to whatever awaited them after the tunnel opened up.
(17)
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Post by Noa on May 29, 2019 20:27:50 GMT -6
And continue he must now, as he felt that the sudden change in the tunnel structure must be an indication that they were coming to, if not the end, then at least an area of use or significance.
A den, say. A Sarane nesting den, if he could be so lucky.
He had been preparing himself for the eventuality, and he had known that if he was going to succeed, he would have to happen upon it sooner or later. That still didn't quite prepare him for the shock of actually coming upon it. The tunnel opened into a chamber, and the chamber was no taller than it had to be to accommodate a fully grown Sarane, but it was quite wide and spacious; and in the center of that room was a dark muddle, low and wide. It was more or less the shape you would have expected for a nest.
(18) <Count to here>
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Post by Renathan on May 30, 2019 2:21:54 GMT -6
You have succeeded! Congratulations, your prizes will be messaged to you shortly for you to make your selections, and your QP has been added to the bank.
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Post by Renathan on Jun 1, 2019 0:23:16 GMT -6
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