For someone with wings, and named after the sky to boot, Sky sure spent a lot of his time underground, he mused grumpily. What with the new volcanic tark'ee discovered underground - and being hostile - the need for iron and other ores had skyrocketed. So here he was, staring at the entrance to the mine, waiting for the others to show up.

At least it was well-lit, he supposed, and sighed.

Garnet showed up next, wings folded tightly as xe carried xir mining gear along.

"Looking forwards to wedging ourselves in cracks again?" xe asked, amused, picking up on Sky's disgruntled pose.

"Oh, so excited," Sky sighed and rolled their eyes. "I'm jumping for joy."

Garnet snickered - not cruelly - and turned as Ambergris and Depths approached, gear carried and worn.

Depths nodded at the both of them, then motioned towards the yawning mouth of the tunnel. "Sooner we get this done, sooner we get to go take a nap," he offered.

"I'll drink to that," Ambergris grumbled, shaking out aer fur before smoothing it back.

The four of them turned to regard the yawning mouth of the tunnel. Despite the clear markings and bright lighting, it still managed to look menacing; a mouth to the bowels of the earth. Beyond it, lights illuminated the branching tunnels as they followed veins of ore, with equipment laying dormant and waiting. Occasionally, glowing bones shot through the otherwise grey granite, providing additional illumination other than the bright glow of the fluorescent lights.

Depths was the first through, Ambergris following, then Garnet and Sky ducking through after, wings folded tightly so as to not smack the walls.

"Iron, right?" Garnet called from the back, and up ahead, Depths nodded.

"Yeah. Luckily they found a new vein down here. We'll have to shore it up a little bit, though, before we start."

"Delightful," Sky muttered under his breath, but otherwise didn't comment.

"We should install a cart," grumbled Ambergris after a few minutes of walking.

"Lazybones," Garnet teased, and yelped as Ambergris flipped ae tail at xem disgruntledly.

"Maybe when the tunnels get longer," Depths intervened before the two could start to go at it. "For now… look, we're here, and here's the beams."

They set down their equipment to begin to set the beams into place. The tunnel had been excavated remotely to find the vein, then the shoring up left to them to do. Garnet and Sky hoisted one of the beams into place, while Depths began to tighten the bolts that would keep it steady against the tunnel ceiling.

Ambergris assisted where needed, nudging it this way or that, or acting as another pair of hands. Soon, the work was done to make this stretch of tunnel safe while they excavated the vein, and they sat down for a quick break.

Depths pulled out a flask and started sipping it, while Ambergris had apparently brought along a whole meal to much on, and Sky and Garnet looked on in mild envy. What was electrolyte water compared to that?

Ambergris caught their glances and grinned. "Make your own, next time."

Sky muttered something incoherent about smug tark'ee, but soon the break was over and it was time to start excavating the ore.