Closed [Coalinga Mines] From the Rough

[Dust]

Summer 75, 513 AV near midday The Coalinga mines had advertised an open house day, with free tours of the mines and the chance for people to find their own gems. In Dust's opinion, she spent plenty of time underground at the Sanctuary, and didn't need to see the deep, dark tunnels which undoubtedly comprised said mines... but finding gems sounded like fun, at least to try once. So when she realized that day was today, of course she made her way out to the mine location. The raven Kelvic arrived dressed in her usual trousers and an overlarge shirt, with a worn-looking hat as shield from the late-summer sun. There were quite a number of people in line or already at work, from Akalak to human, adults to children; they were arrayed along long wooden troughs with boxes in their hands. Many of them chattered with one another as they worked, or played, providing a generally pleasant background hubbub. As Dust eyed the setup, she picked out likely places she would want to look in. ...where 'likely' had exactly nothing to do with potential gem yield, because she didn't have the first idea how to tell. When Dust got up to the entrance tables, the harried-looking attendant greeted her with courtesy long since become formula, offering her a box of her own. It proved to be more of a wooden frame with a cloth bottom, and not a box at all. Dust peered through the loose-woven fabric, then acceded to the Akalak's ushering her on to the troughs and the actual search for pretty rocks. fee-2gm entry fee per Magpie

[Rinya]

Day 75, Season Summer, 513 AV

When Dust had invited Rinya to join her at the mines of all places, she had a very hard time saying no. To Rinya, Dust was one of the few people she felt a natural ease with despite how little time they got to spend together. Her life as of late was filled with quite a bit of work, and what little time she did have free Rinya found herself spending most of it with the only other person she was comfortable with in her life. She couldn’t help think though that going to the mines might actually require her to go inside, and small dark places were very hard for Rinya to handle. She was bird, which required lots of physical space.

But Dust had insisted that they wouldn’t be going into the mines, just mining for the gems. And as much as Rinya hated to admit it, she thought it would be a very good idea to try out something other than hunting and fishing and of course—work. But just to settle her nerves a little, Rinya decided to drag her bondmate along with her. If anyone could keep her calm… should they end up underground… it would be Jorin. He of course never seemed to mind a new place to explore, not to mention he knew Dust as well. She swore those two could get along with anyone.

Releasing Jorin’s hand—which she was happily getting used to holding—Rinya handed the attendant the Mizas required to join in on the fun, she kept her keen sight on the lookout for Dust. She wasn’t sure if Dust had invited anyone else, but the Kelvic was easy enough to spot. And she was right, it only took her a chime before she took notice of Dust at the troughs. Throwing a grin over her shoulder at Jorin, Rinya made her way over to her and nudged her shoulder with Dust’s lightly.

”Hello stranger.” Rinya greeted warmly, twirling the not so much box and fabric lightly between her fingers.

Ledger-2 gm

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Summer, Day 75, 513 AV

Jorin had been in a rut ever since his book of poems had been all but destroyed. He hadn't cracked the spine of the book since that day at Sanctuary - it had been too painful, too many memories. He didn't want to see what had been lost, for fear it was everything. And he didn't know if he could stand it if it was everything.

But since then, things had been looking up. Recent events had conspired to cheer him up, and when Rinya suggested they go panning for gems, he simply thought, why not? It certainly wouldn't have been something Jorin would have done on his own; while it sounded like fun, it also sounded like a social activity, and Jorin wasn't someone who liked to do social activities alone.

He grinned at the sight of Rinya next to him. He could sense contentment and happiness. Good. She needed more of that, Jorin thought. And if he could give it to her, so much the better. As they approached, Rinya released his hand and took one of the panning boxes. it was really just a frame with a cloth bottom. Jorin understood the principle well enough, but he didn't know enough geology to even know it if he'd found anything.

"Quite a crowd we've got, eh?" Jorin quipped to the attendant, who just gave him a harried looked before accepting his two miza and handing Jorin his own panning box. Jorin just shrugged. The poor man looked overworked. Nonetheless, having gotten what he needed, he looked and saw Rinya as she threw a brilliant grin - gods how her smiles lit up her face! - over her shoulder and bounded off to see Dust.

Jorin could see Dust's light blonde hair in the distance, and following that arrived in time to hear Rinya say "Hello stranger."

Jorin grinned and added his own two copper.

"Well, hello Dust! I haven't seen you in a while. At least it seems you know Rinya better than you know me." He grinned good-naturedly.

"Hope everything's going well?" Jorin asked. "I don't suppose you've made any poems since the last time we've met," he added, with a twinkle in his eye.

Coalinga Mines Fee :

-2 GM deducted from Ledger.

[Dust]

oocNote that the site doesn't send out emails for post edits (at least so far as I know) even on subscribed threads... so when updating a placeholder, PMs are good! In the wooden troughs lay water and sand, the former really quite murky -- the kind of water that might hide things with lots of teeth, if this were an actual river -- and the latter... well, difficult to discern details of, what with the cloudy water over it. It was more gravel than sand, and since that's what they were here for, Dust reached in for a handful and plopped it into her cloth-bottomed box. Someone squeezed in at her side, jostling the raven Kelvic, and Dust peered over with curiosity which quickly turned to cheer. "Hello!" she exclaimed, with a glance including Jorin in the greeting as he came up beside Rinya. "You came! I wasn't sure you would," she added, recalling Rinya's initial reluctance for all things mines. A reluctance Dust had understood entirely, for all that she'd insisted Rinya come anyway. She might have impulsively hugged the other Kelvic -- seemed about to, even -- except for at the last moment remembering the frame she held. She wasn't quite sure what to make of Jorin's initial remark -- they were both friends, whatever did he mean -- but that bafflement was quickly supplanted in his next comments. "Oh! Well... not that I really remember now. I'm still working on the writing part," Dust admitted, with good cheer and no apparent self-consciousness about it. "Have you?" Another panner jostled Dusts' far elbow; she glanced towards them, then dropped her attention to the frame in her hands. The rocks inside it were mostly blue-gray and mud-brown, the same shades as the cliffs in which Riverfall was built. Surely those weren't gemstones. She added a couple more handfuls, on the theory that more was good, and shook the frame to spread them out. "So... it should be easy to find gemstones, right? They're all colorful, like the rocks in that park."

[Rinya]

Day 75, Season Summer, 513 AV

OOCI didn't even notice that, noted for future reference ^.^

Rinya hummed slightly. ”Well, it seemed like a good idea to get out of the city. I haven’t had much time on my hands lately. The Warren is getting ready to move a lot of the food out for the new harvest. Plus I figure this would be the last place I’d run into my Warren partner. He’s rather insistent on making me his Nakivak. Well... I could technically be one anyways.” Rinya muttered the last part with a little distain. Ever since Rhys had met Jorin, he had been more persistent than ever. She wondered if it was just male ego infecting Rhys' head. Rinya looked at Jorin as he asked Dust about poetry.

”I’ll leave the art to you two… I think we all know I’m not exactly great at words.” Rinya smirked slightly. Glancing down at the water, she cocked her head to the side slightly. She was used to water that was clear, and full of fish. But then looking for gems in clear water would have been far too easy. Reaching into the water herself, she pulled a handful out of the water, examining it for a moment before dropping into her own box. ”You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a gemstone that wasn’t in jewelry already.”

Watching some of the others around them shift their boxes from side to side, Rinya shook hers a few times before adding another handful of gravel. Shifting her fingers through it once or twice, Rinya glanced at Jorin for a moment before looking back at Dust. ”Have you been just as busy Dust?” Dropping her box slightly into the water, Rinya watched the water rise up through bottom. Giving the box a vigorous shake, Rinya pulled it back out of the water. The gravel didn’t really look any different to her, nothing colorful in particular standing out. Running her fingers through the grit again, Rinya bit her bottom lip. ”So colorful rock huh? I don’t think I’m having much luck.” Rinya smirked slightly before shifting the rocks around several more times.

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Summer, Day 75, 513 AV

Jorin shrugged when Dust turned his question back on himself. "Well, I tried to anyway," he replied with a good-natured smile. "I'm not really sure the results are what I would term art though."

Jorin shrugged as he picked up a big handful of rather unimpressive gravel and dropped it into his box. He really had no clue what he was looking for, Jorin was no geologist, but he figured anything particularly shiny would be a good start. Nothing really stood out, it was mostly grays and slate-blues.

Jorin couldn't help a twinge of annoyance when Rinya mentioned Rhys insisting on her becoming his Nakivak. Not that he really had any particular claim on Rinya at this juncture, but it just didn't sit right with him. It was her choice, or should be anyway, who she wanted to be with. With a sigh, Jorin shook the frame of his box again, hoping to see the twinkle of something interesting. All he saw were more gray rocks.

"Working on writing, huh?" he asked, trying to get the subject off of Nakivaks. Jorin really didn't want to talk about that. "Sounds like fun! How's that coming along?"

As Rinya made a few comments about gemstones in general, and queried about Dust's day, Jorin stuck his hand into his box and shuffled among the gravel and small rocks in there, searching for hidden treasures. No such luck. But he figured, gemstones had a low probability of appearing to begin with. And while the chances of finding one increase with the length of time they spend panning through random worthless rocks, so too did the chances for everyone else. Which meant the individual chance for himself remained depressingly low.

Jorin shrugged as he looked over at Rinya. She seemed calmer now, less agitated then at first when she'd suggested this trip. He was glad she was having a good time, and decided that this trip was more for catching up with friends than it was about finding a valuable gem. As he looked back down, he thought he'd caught sight of something shiny. With a gasp he reached in... and pulled out a rock that had been smoothed by water and gave off a dull sheen, but was otherwise unremarkable.

With a disappointed groan, he dropped it back into the water and gave the two women a sheepish grin. "False alarm," he explained, as he continued to pan.

[Dust]

"Neither have I!" Dust remarked, as Rinya mentioned never having encountered gemstones in their raw states. As she swirled the water around in her box, a glint of color attracted her attention, and she reached in to pluck out a yellowish-red pebble, rough-edged and pitted, with a few thin white bands running through it. It didn't glitter or sparkle, but it was a distinctly different hue than the standard Riverfall rock. "Do you think this is one?" she asked of both her companions, holding it up for them to inspect. In the meantime, while they studied her stone, she shook more gravel out and pondered the rest of their remarks. Had she been busy? "I guess. Just doing usual things. Helping Chalce with the birds, and reading a little, and doing sling stuff with Van, and flying around the river. It doesn't feel too busy -- it's all fun!" As for the writing... Dust huffed an exaggerated sigh. "It's slooow," she replied, drawing the word out to underscore her point. "It's not hard, though -- just really kinda boring. And my letters are ugly. I usually wind up just reading stories instead." Because stories were way more fun than repetitive tasks, any day. "Oh, hey! I think that was green!" And scavenger hunts, even of little inedible and generally useless (but pretty) rocks, more fun than chores of any sort. The pebble she scooped out was indeed green, if pale and wan in color, resembling nothing so much as grainy wax in its texture.

[Shijara]

Rinya

The Good Stuff :

Experience:

Skill	XP
Socialization	+ 1
Geology	+ 2

Lore:
Gravel, Gravel, Rock: Looking for Gemstones
Trying New Things
Dust: A Natural Ease

Loot
Only the -2gm Coalinga Mining fee. You guys are on the ball, already having it taken from your ledger. Good job.

Notes
This thread was only a few posts long, but Rinya's personality radiated throughout! From her dialogue to the narrative, I feel like I learned a lot about this character, even with the short amount of time I was given. It was a joy to read.

Jorin

The Good Stuff :

Experience:

Skill	XP
Socialization	+ 1
Geology	+ 2

Lore:
Gravel, Gravel, Rock: Looking for Gemstones
False Alarms: Don't Be Fooled
Classic Misdirection: Changing the Topic

Loot
Just the entrance fee of -2gm. Looks taken care of, though!

Notes
It was really sweet to read the subtle details about Jorin's jealousy and how Rinya's smile lights up her face. Their relationship is very adorable. Too bad the thread got cut short. I wanted to see what happened.

Dust

The Good Stuff :

Experience

Skill	XP
Socialization	+ 1
Geology	+ 2

Lore
Gravel, Gravel, Rock: Looking For Gemstones
Sifting Through Water & Rocks
Rinya: Getting Offers From Rhys

Loot:
You've already deducted the -2gm from your ledger.

Notes:
Okay, just for the sake of my own curiosity, let me know if she found anything. You can't just leave me on a cliff hanger like that! xD Great thread!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Keep writing!