I've come back from the grave to write some HM-MFoMT porn.

Look, this is just gonna be super self indulgent with probably no plot and might not even be that good, but that's ok. This is all in good fun and I'll add chapters of the different fantasies I have of this concept if I have the time. Hope any of you at least get a little fun or a laugh out of my degeneracy.

This chapter's slow though, more set up. I'm gonna try to make as interesting as possible explaining the mechanics.

AN/

———

Discovery

You never know what you might find in the mines, Claire's come to realise. Those wonderous caves that seem to never deplete of precious resources must actually be rather ancient in her own theory, as the things she's found are not even whispered about by the villagers in legend. Claire treats those caves like a thrilling party bag of mystery goods everytime she goes in; will she come out with something new and good like that teleport stone she now wears under her shirt, or cursed and horrible like that cursed jet black axe she found at the Winter mine?

She has these thoughts and hopes everytime she dives into the darkness for black grass, like she is right now. She has teleported to the Winter mine and is digging around, as well as mining gems on the side. Claire prefers the Winter mine over the Spring one. It goes down deeper, is much more profitable, and she believes it has far more secrets that she's just itching to discover.

Well, today's her lucky day.

Every time she goes down, it always feels like each level is different from last time. The tenth level she visited yesterday is completely different from the tenth level the day before. It's like the cave is shifting, morphing, never staying the same. Claire wonders if she's ever truly visited a floor aside fron level 1 twice.

Today was a little different. Claire descends with her trusty tools and half-full basket of gems to another level that she's lost count of and lifting her lantern, she thinks she can see a cavern opening at the bottom end of the floor. That's new. None of the floors ever opened up to another chamber before. Lugging her basket, she enters the opening to a round smooth room that looks man made. There are no rocks and the ground looks oddly flattened out, as opposed to the bumps and small mounds outside for her to dig up treasure.

Not to say there isn't treasure here. In fact, a literal treasure chest sits at the very back of the room against the wall, about half her size.

Claire eyes it with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. Aside from the cursed tools (that she's still looking for), the mines have never posed a danger before in regards to traps. Claire wields her hammer and, from a safe distance, taps the lid as gently as she can. The chest does nothing but make a noise. She looks around the chest as best she can with her lantern for mechanisms. There are none.

Well, if there is a trap, it's got to be inside the chest, and the SMART move would probably be to leave it. But Goddess be damned, Claire was not going to do that. This was something NEW and Claire didn't know if she's ever find this chamber again.

Claire switches to her sickle and tries to slip the thin blade under the lid, she was still opening this thing from a distance. She fiddles for a while before giving up. The gap is too small. She considered breaking open the chest with her hammer or axe but decides against it in the event of wrecking whatever it was inside.

Well, I guess I have to open it... manually.

Claire at least moves the basket between her and the chest. SOME cover was better than none. She grips thr lid and, with a deep breath to steel herself, flings the lid up and ducks behind her basket. The lid smacks almost deafeningly loud against the wall behind and, for as fast as Claire ducked, she felt an odd muggy and warm gust of air hit her face from within the chest.

No traps went off. Now Claire feels just a bit stupid.

Within the chest was no gold or jewels. Well, there was ONE jewel; a tarnished gold oval locket with a deep red diamond cut gem inlaid on the front. It lay on top of an old looking pile of bound pages, which lay on top of a strange life sized faceless doll curled up at the bottom of the chest.

Claire put the locket around her neck, the chain long enough to slip over her head and did a quick skim through the pages. She couldn't read any of it, written in some language she couldn't decipher. But she could see pictures if the doll and the locket, so she could deduce this was the 'manual' for whatever this was.

Not quite the treasure Claire was expecting but it was... something? Her interest is piqued at least. As the doll is her size, not even her expanded backpack could fit it. She already was lugging a basket around so she'll have to pop the doll inside, which left no room left for further mining. Claire was a little disappointed, she was used to mining to at least evening.

Well, maybe it's not so bad. If I run, I can visit the library and see if I can translate this manual.

Plans made, she pops the doll into her basket and makes for the stairs.

———

Claire wanted to inspect the doll further but she was losing daylight and Mary's very punctual with her closing times. She dumped her basket in her house without a second look and booked it for the other side of Mineral Town, manual safe in her backpack and out of sight. Mary happily welcomed her and didn't bat an eye as Claire went upstairs to the non-fiction section. Claire visited that area alot in her early days of her new farmer life. She liked it up there; not many people went up there so she was mostly alone, even the new regular Gray who stuck to the fiction level downstairs and chatted quietly to the librarian, and Claire liked learning.

Claire pulled out the manual and began browsing for any information about dolls, ancient civilisations or whatever language the thing was written in. That section was rather small, Mineral Town didn't really have use for such knowledge and therefore didn't expand it all that much. Claire was not all that surprised when she didn't find any definitive information to identify the doll she found. She even moved to the jewellery section to maybe find information on the locket hidden under her shirt.

Nothing.

Claire sat back in a chair with a sigh and pulled the locket out to inspect it further, running her thumb over the clean surface, tarnished as it was. She tried to pop it open, hoping for maybe a picture or the sort. Oddly, when she did, what fell out was a fine grey dust. With a surprised cough, she emptied the little chamber of the dust and found a shallow engraving inside. It looked alot like a crest of an eight-pointed star infront of a spiked moon. There was no picture.

Claire sighed again and considered the non-fiction section a bust. She stuffs the manual back in her back and trudges downstairs. Mary looks up, noting the expression on Claire's face.

"Hello again Claire. You came down sooner than I expected. Couldn't find what you were looking for? That's a first." Claire gave a slight smile back with a one-shouldered shrug.

"I was more up there for pleasure reading. But nothing caught my interest. Having combed through nearly all the books for three years does that." Mary giggles, her dainty small shoulders bouncing.

"Silly, who reads non-fiction to relax? Well, if up there didn't work, why don't you give the fiction section a try? You've never spent much time down here." Claire gives a noncommittal hum but strolls past her to scan the shelves anyway.

The fictional section had less shelves lining the back wall, but were taller in size with more compartments in which a ladder was required. Mary had clearly arranged for what she deemed more popular picks at the mid and bottom levels, whereas obscure or overly long options were settled at the top. As Claire scanned for something that would snag her interest, her eyes happen to flick up and catch on a book that stood out to her.

Though the word 'book' might not be completely accurate; it was more like a manuscript. It was a bunch of parchment-looking gatherings bound together with no spine covering and a cover and back that looked like simple dark brown thick leather. Curiosity piqued, she pulled the ladder over and climbed up to slide it out of its place. It clearly hasn't been touched for a long while, a layer of dust settled on the top.

Claire climbs down before flipping through the surprisingly thick pages. It's in English with no discernible able and in a cursive that is definitely hand written. She absently flicks through the pages without reading before stopping at an illustrated page with a start.

Inked in the very centre, surrounded by descriptions, was the insignia that was inside the locket.

"Found a good book?" Claire's head snapped up as Mary's voice piped up, her soft dark gaze smiling at her from her post.

"Sort of." Claire replied, closing the book and holding it up for her to see. "I was just wondering what this old thing was. It looks different to the other books."

"Ah, yes." Mary inspected the book from her post. "I remember getting that a few towns back, though I don't remember how. I had a quick flick through it myself. Whoever wrote it made it out like it's an investigation journal." She lets out a soft laugh. "But none of it seemed real at all. I had to put it in the fictional section. I think it's maybe someone's extensive notes for their own novel or something."

If only you knew. Claire laughed flippantly to mask the alarm bells ringing in her head. She found her book. "Well, I think I'll give it a try. Can I borrow it?"

"Sure, I'm always happy when an unpopular book gets lent out." Mary wipes off the dust with an apologetic smile and stamps the book out. Claire leaves feeling accomplished and with anticipation. She no longer has any other plans for the night. She's going to find out what her new mystery doll was.

——

AN/

This chapter is more set up than porn, I'm sorry. I wanted to establish a few points.

Claire's a bit of a workaholic, or work oriented, and therefore doesn't have many friends. And she enjoys a good mystery

Claire is (or at least I try to make her be) a planner, trying to think ahead before acting.

Whatever she found belongs to something so out there that the villagers believe it to be fictional. She's not going to be suspected of anything all.