[ MINGLE ] MINING EXPEDITION

[nonstopnarcissist]

WHO: Tony Stark & Co.
WHERE: North West Mountain Range
WHEN: November 5th - 8th
OPEN TO: Open to all
WARNINGS: Language, canon typical violence

---

The Hike Up/Down

After sending a message out the day before to meet him in the fountain park at dawn (daylight is important) Tony packs up. Supplies secured and a path found mostly by working himself up (not that difficult) and following the blue path only he can see (still weird) Tony guides his modest expedition up a winding way over rivers and to a promising stony outcropping at the base of the mountains before needing a moment to 're-calibrate'. AkA get stressed out as to where to head next for optimal ore extraction. It takes a minute but- again, he's got a lot of anxieties to kick into gear and it should be easy enough to nudge their rag tag little group further up until they find the right spot. Making an easy walk down- well. That's also a trick. Finding a quick path back to the village before they lose the light- marking the way they've come so they can find it the next day? Kind of important.


Digging a Hole

Breaking ground is a matter of staring, trying to think back to what little he knows of geology (not fucking much), and waiting for the anxiety to get to the point where it'll hand him something specific. They need ore, they need a good starting location, and once they manage to pinpoint it? Pickaxes are handed out, a nearby cave explored, and Tony strips down to get to work. Crack stone, haul it out, rinse, repeat. Anything usable gets put in sacks made from stolen sheets to be hauled down- not the best system he's got but they're just getting started. Regular breaks are A thing, canteens of water passed around- he's pretty sure there's a stream somewhere that should help with the 'not dying of thirst' issue in the future.


Encounters With Natives

Somewhere on the hike up, during the dig, or taking a rest on one of the craggy boulders surrounding the cave where they're chipping away at stone, signs of native fauna linger. There's a patchy nest looking thing where one can hear the mewling of peakittens, blue eyed, tiny, and abandoned by the looks of it. Loping about the slopes a few curious mountain elk that bound in at the sign of food, keeping a cautious distance but wandering close should anyone appear friendly. Near the woods, though, just as they wind their way up- or make their way back down at the end of the day? Dust Moths have taken to the air, shimmering wings leaving powder in the air.


Environmental Effects

During the hike up in the predawn there's lying mist clinging to the sides of the mountain in thin curls, swirling in the air as they hike through it. Careful not to inhale too deeply, otherwise you might find yourself a little more honest than you'd like for most of the morning, and that could make the rest of the hike pretty damn awkward. In the caves proper there's stone and ore enough- and a dark, black powder that tastes of licorice and ash. Shadow dust. Maybe the next few swings don't do as much damage- or do any at all. Maybe they picking up stone becomes impossible till you're in the light.


In Too Deep

On the second, maybe the third day all their activity and digging catches some aggressive attention. A pickaxe sunk too deep, cracking through a cave wall and finding a den of snarling, hungry cave wolves that spill through the hole all snapping teeth and snarling claws, bursting out of the tunnels to scatter whoever's dared to come close to their home. A tree felled to mark their path startles a giant boar into charging, bellowing in the night, turning tusk and muscle to clear it's own way through their weary line.

Comments

7 || OTA

[to_defend]

Hiking

Sleep is still something she's not crazy about, and she's still fighting the urge. She hasn't gotten more than a couple hours a night since she arrived, preferring to be up and aware of what's going on. So it is she's at the fountain park before dawn has even broken. It's a sight to see - there'd been days and nights in her world, muted behind the heavy, oppressive cloud cover, and getting a chance to see the brilliance of a healthy sunrise was enough to make her forget the pull of sleep deprivation.

It'd get better as she went on, right?

She's got her spear now, the tip provided by Tony, the rest from found items, and has a bola secured to her belt. She walks with a little more purpose with these two additions.

Digging A Hole

7's not just here for a walk and a fight; she's determined to pull her weight in this community, now that she's settling in to some of the weirdness.

She sets aside her spear, takes up a pickaxe, and wails away at the rocks. Brute strength had been more 8's thing, but she's up to the task and each swing is calculated to use her agility to its benefit, using the axe's weight to follow through with each strike.

Sweat, she finds, is a really weird thing, and she doesn't like the way her hair is getting in her face and sticking to her forehead. After a while, she takes a break to rip off a strip from an errant sheet and use it to tie her hair back and out of her face. Still sweaty and sticky, but at least now she could see.

Environmental Effects

What does one do when they're doing serious hiking for the first time in their human body? They breathe - deeply - to continue. The cool, brisk air is refreshing, and 7 hasn't been too worried about any possible consequences. The Machines aren't here, the war isn't here, the gas isn't here ...

What she isn't aware of is the amount of lying mist she's been inadvertently ingesting. If you're curious about her, now is the time to get your questions in.

In Too Deep

It doesn't happen in her vicinity, but she hears the sounds further down and acts immediately; dropping her pickaxe, grabbing her spear, she's vaulting over people in order to get right in the middle of the action. The space may be a little tight for her liking, but she's pulling out her bola, swinging it around with a whine, and launching it at the nearest cave wolf.

Are you there to help her? Scrambling out of her way? Or somehow inadvertently caught int he middle?

Hiking

[alittlelonger]

Rinoa knows that technically she's not the best person suited for this. She's walking with people who are clearly warriors, but then she reminds herself she's fought a lot of monsters and survived as much as her friends. She's trying to bolster up her confidence, but she is determined to be in on these community events if she can be. And since she doesn't want to simply glue herself to Squall's side, she purposely hikes up toward a stranger.

She's in all blue as usual, not her own clothing but what she scrounged up, and it's such a simple thing to give her comfort but it works. She's full of energy and excitement, some anxiety too, for the unknown, but she's not going to sit behind at home and wait. Being a teenager used to fighting a lot, she's in great physical stamina form at least, so she's having no trouble with the hike. She looks around and takes in the surroundings eagerly, glancing over at 7.

"Hi, I'm Rinoa!" She smiles. "This is exciting, isn't it?"

Hiking

[to_defend]

7, a warrior type from a different kind of world, is dealing with a little fog of sleep deprivation and attempts to suppress a yawn when Rinoa makes her way to her side. She struggles a little, caught in mid-yawn, and tries to play it off and answer the girl.

"Hi, I'm 7. Yes, it is very exciting. Have you been on many hikes before?"

[alittlelonger]

Rinoa doesn't mind the yawn or the attempt to suppress it either. It's early, although she's been up for a time, thrilled about the journey they were going on. It probably isn't a big deal to others, but she's choosing to embrace the enthusiasm. She'll be enthusiastic enough for everyone if she needs to be.

"Hi 7. Do you spell that like only the number, or with s-e-v-e-n?" It must seem like a random question, but it's good to know how to spell names in case they message each other in other ways. She wants to get it right. The least someone can do is get the name right! "Oh yes, many. At one point we hiked so long I was pretty sure I might be stuck as a nomad permanently." Not the best option. "How about you?"

[to_defend]

That is entirely too much enthusiasm for 7 to process right now, but she tries smiling regardless.

"7 - just the number. I haven't been on a hike quite like this, with so many people. I did get around on my own, though. It's nice out here."

Nice, because everything is alive here. It's a lot nicer than the 'hikes' she took in her own world, tracking the Beast among the rubble and debris.

[alittlelonger]

"I was always with a group. There's a lot of monsters where I'm from out in the open, so going alone isn't the safest option." It isn't that it stopped her, but Rinoa's not the strongest fighter of her group by a lot. Even Selphie is excellently trained in comparison, which you wouldn't know to look at her, all tiny and bubbly. And if she could go alone, she probably wouldn't. Rinoa is the first to admit she's a little needy and prefers being around people.

"I can't wait to see what Mr. Stark makes from all of this. Apparently he's a genius inventor."

[to_defend]

"Yeah, he's pretty good." She gives her spear a swing and then brings the tip down for Rinoa to see. "He made this speartip for me."

It reminds her of 2, workshop scattered with supplies, eager to work on the net project, she smiles with a little bit of fondness. "Are you hoping to have him make something for you?"

[alittlelonger]

Rinoa admires it openly. "That's so great. I don't know what we'd do if someone around here didn't have those skills. The weapons are pretty dismal, even if there don't seem to be as many monsters roaming around." She hasn't come across a single monster so far! Animals, yes, but no aggressive monsters.

"Yes, I used to have wrist mounted ranged weapons? Projectiles. I'm not sure he'll be able to do precisely the same with our level of tech here, but I'm not that choosy if it's anywhere near what I'm used to." Rinoa's not as picky about weapons, mostly because she's not at heart a warrior.

[to_defend]

7 was created to defend; the fight is her very being. But the weapons she crafted from the broken world around her had been simpler than some others. She used them to great effect, though.

"I have a feeling he'll be able to come up with something useful." She's not going to make any claim to know Rinoa's world in comparison to Tony's, but seeing what was in his workshop she's confident he's the kind of person to be able to figure something out.

[alittlelonger]

"He seems determined. It's nice. I'm kind of hoping we won't have to do a lot of fighting though." Rinoa is able to fight, she's willing to fight, so she's not afraid. But she wouldn't mind an option where she doesn't have to. Maybe she's merely worn out from so many months of constant danger.

She smiles wanly. "We just went through a lot of fighting, before we got here, and it was a very brief amount of peace that I was looking forward to." Rinoa knows it wouldn't have lasted. SeeD still had to work and the world still moved on the way it was, but they had a party and there was dancing. It felt like they could have a little time to not worry about breathing another day.

[to_defend]

"So far, it hasn't been anywhere near what I dealt with before." Dodging war, being hunted, maybe not a fight every single day but things were always tense; something was always out there that was primed and ready to take you out.

She doesn't want to talk about the final moment she remembers before showing up in the fountain.

"I think it has the potential to be a bit more peaceful here."

[alittlelonger]

"I'm crossing my fingers." Rinoa smiles and does exactly that, showing them to 7 with a wink. "I mean, honestly we might have our hands full just keeping everyone fed and alive for however long we'll be here." She's never been in a survival situation like this before. Fighting for her life, definitely, but they always had tech and places to live and the day to day things were taken care of. She knows they were privileged in that way.

"The book in the inn said that some people have been here for years. And that they all thought they were in a computer simulation or something before?" That sounds far fetched to Rinoa, but so was all of this. And she'd been through enough strange things to just brush a theory off.

[to_defend]

7' life was a survival situation, but a unique one that didn't involve a dependancy on food or protection from the elements. Mostly, it was the things lurking in the rubble that she always had to be on the guard for.

And while yes, some of the animals here could be aggressive, you could also avoid them if needed; they weren't specifically hunting you down as their singular purpose.

"Years? Who? Are they still here?"

In Too Deep

[succored]

Ty had been trained with knives and guns back home, a pickaxe outside of his wheelhouse but he was nothing if not crafty. At the first sound of wolves, he was following after an already nimble and fierce looking woman, who was using some sort of weapon that looked like it would incapacitate or leave good bruises or broken bones if one was hit with it.

"You take the left, I take the right." He called out, not an order so much as a suggestion so they didn't get in each other's way and to take out the wolves as efficiently as possible. Hopefully a bit from them wouldn't make one hallucinate or whatever else this place might have cooked up.

cw: creature death/slight gore

[to_defend]

On her next step, 7 tips her footing just enough to twist her trajectory to the right in silent acknowledgement. The launched bola catches one of the wolves in the jaw and it shrieks, shaking its head. That one's on the left and she leaves it for Ty, instead focusing a swipe of her spear at one of the others. It dodges back and snarls, ropes of saliva hanging off of its jaws.

It lunges at her and she drops her knees and leans back, letting it sail over her, and then thrusts her spear up and through its belly into its chest cavity. There's a strangled, gurgling yelp before it seizes up, 7 straining to tip it to the side as it falls so it doesn't land on her. She glances over at Ty as she yanks her spear back out, hesitating a moment to see if he'd need help taking the other one out.

Behind her, more snarls and scrabbling of nails hail the continuation of the onslaught

[succored]

In a fight, communication was important, but action was even better. Out of his periphery, he saw her take down the ones on the right, and grinning slightly, he turned his attention to the cave wolf in front of him. A pick axe wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. It meant he had to get close the wolf, who had quicker reflexes than him. It took herding it into a corner to dispatch of it, but it had taken a lot more work than he cared to admit to.

"Don't suppose you have another one of those?" Ty asked, a bit breathlessly as he headed back towards her, gripping the pickaxe tightly.

[to_defend]

"The spear? Or the bola?" She sets the spear against the wall and moves to unwind the bola from the downed wolf's mouth. "Tony made the spearhead, I made the rest ... for both. I can make you a bola, if you want."

She affixes the bola back to her belt, then looks down at the carcasses. "We should probably get these out of the way."

[succored]

"The bola." Ty said, nodding to it, impressed. "If it's not too difficult, I'll take you up on that offer. Or I can do some labor in exchange." He wasn't looking to have a reputation as someone who just took things. Besides, the weapon was fairly interesting, and it would be a lot handier than a pick axe in a fight.

At her suggestion, he nodded, picking the wolf up by the hind legs to drag it out of the way.

"You think these are edible?" Waste not, want not after all.

[to_defend]

She grabs the front legs to help heft it out. "It won't be a too much trouble. Bring me linen for the rope and, I don't know, what kind of labor were you thinking?"

She wasn't planning on asking for anything in return, but it might not be a bad idea to take him up on the offer.

"Shouldn't take me longer than an afternoon to do, though." She tosses the carcass and she stands there looking at it for a moment, then squats down and starts looking at the head.

She stands and joins him to go get the others.

[succored]

"Most people have been fixing up houses to stay in. I can help with that, if you're not staying at the Inn." Ty said, grunting a little as he helped toss the carcass out of the way, heading back to grab another. "But planting, fishing, chopping firewood- anything really. And if you don't have anything right away, it's not like the repayment offer is going to expire."

He crinkled his nose slightly to pick one of the other wolves, heading back to toss it back with the other one.

[to_defend]

"I do have a house, and haven't done much fixing on it." She wasn't sure needed fixing; she felt she had everything in order that she needed (although she was grossly underestimating what a human could comfortably live with).

She helps him move all of the carcasses, then looks over them and seems to make a decision, swinging her spear around in order to bring it down on the neck of one and separate its head from the rest of the body.

She grabs it by the ear and shakes off some of the gore, then turns and starts to head back inside. "I'll let you know."

[succored]

"Then we have a deal." Ty said with a grin, and once all the wolves had been corralled in one place, he wiped his face off with the collar of his shirt. When he heard the quick sound of his teammate's spear slicing through bone, Ty started slightly, hands already gripping the pick axe again.

When it was apparent that they weren't under attack again, and she hadn't disregarded his idle comment before, Ty's brows raised slightly.

"What are you thinking? Making a stew?" A bit bold, really. He wouldn't have gone for the head first, at any rate, but he was curious.

[to_defend]

7 looks at the head she's carrying. "Oh .. I could? I just wanted the skull."

You know, for fashion purposes. But his current brings up some good questions.

"Can you eat it?"

[succored]

"Really?" Ty wasn't sure if there was a polite way to ask what for, so he didn't, not sure if he was going to like the answer.

"And there's only one way to find out. I'm game if you are." Ty offered up, though his cooking skills were rudimentary at best.

[to_defend]

Even if he never asks, he's bound to see it in action eventually. Getting the skin and gore off is going to be a challenge for her, though, and making a stew would be a good excuse to get some help indirectly.

“Yeah, once we get back and settled I'll let you know!”