ORIGIN - Message in a Bottlefalo

Captain had arrived.

It had taken him a good while; Eridanus was in the South-East, and Draco was the farthest North-East of any of the rooms. There was also the fact that he had never traveled this far before, and getting lost trying to find the next tunnel entrance had delayed him significantly. Nevertheless, the buffalo had tried his very best, pushing his body to its limits, alternating between running for as long as he could and walking to catch his breath, but never stopping even to graze.

Astraea was his heartiest of hearties, after all. And any good pirate would be sure to have his matey's back in hard times.

"AHOY!" Captain bellowed hoarsely, rushing through the final stretch of Tunnel G. "YARRRR, LEMME IN HERE, MATEYS! I GOT A MESSAGE FROM ASTRAEA FOR VARGAS! ANYONE SEEN THE PURPLE GUY AROUND?!" (While word of mouth had been enough for Captain to know of Vargas as big, and purple, he... really hadn't paid attention to any other defining characteristics. But that was okay, because these guys had to know him by name--right?)

@The Sentinel if he's there at the door? or, like, anyone else

Despite the lack of present members, Opal wasn't left lonely - in fact, it was having a great time, because this time the one forge member left wasn't allowed to let her out of its sight. That way it couldn't leave, no matter what she got up to, no matter how little interest it had - it was a rare and exciting opportunity. He could tell it all the thoughts he had and show it all the coolest things, and it wouldn't bugger off into a different cave!

But speaking of - her many thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hooves on Draco's damp floor. Could it be that goat one it saw charging out with Vargas? Had the rest come back? No, that couldn't be the case - it could only hear one set of limbs. Still, definitely worth investigating.

She hugged the walls as the hoofbeats didn't slow - she didn't want to be trampled by whatever was rushing down the corridor - before calling out. "Vargas is away biting things - important things! But I'm a purple guy too!"

@Captain

"WHAT?!" Captain cried, in obvious distress. "But THIS is important too! Really important! Me matey Astraea needs him!" He looked around wildly, as if expecting Vargas to just pop out around some corner, but he obviously didn't. "YARRRR, matey, can y'do me a favor and tell me where he been off biting things at?! I need to find him! It's really important!"

He considered the fact that this... two-faced... being was also purple. Did that mean something, in the hierarchy of whatever these Masters had going on? "Well, you arrr purple, so maybe you'll know what do do wit' this message! Listen, matey, Astraea told me to warn you that Order is on the march! That means a fight is comin', right? And I think Astraea's probably needin' some help! So I hafta find this Vargas guy! The fate of the caves rests on it!" Captain didn't know what that entailed, exactly, but his heartiest of hearties had said it VERY URGENTLY, so it had to be really important!

@V-Opal-One

"He said he's going to War." Doubly unhelpful of him, since he hadn't given it (even though Leo was explicitly mentioned, not that the Opal had payed much attention) the name of a place, and also because it didn't really know what war meant. "I do not know what that means." she clarified.

She puffed up at the Captain's assumption, that purple indicated some level of importance or responsibility. Yes, he was worthy of this intel. Maybe he could help Labradorite, eat whatever it was away fighting - metaphorically of course. But, one small issue: It did not understand a word of what he told her.

"Uhmmm. Ok!" He nodded, doing his best to seem like he been able to successfully interpret whatever information he had just recieved. If Captain did not pick up on the farce, he would now - "Who's Astraea? What's Order?"

@Captain

Captain's faith in this purple guy, and its ability to help him warn Vargas and get help for Astraea, was rapidly falling. "YARRR, war against WHICH SCURVY DOGS?" he demanded hopelessly, trying to extract some more information from it. If it was indeed war against Order, then Vargas must have beat him to it. If it wasn't... then Captain would not yet have finished sailing.

Oh, great heavens. This useless creature didn't know ANYTHING, did it? If the scallywag had been part of CAPTAIN'S crew, he would have made them walk the plank already. "Astraea is ME HEARTIEST OF HEARTIES," the buffalo snarled, "and he's VERY IMPORTANT. And NEEDS HELP. ORDER is the ENEMY, and we must GIVE NO QUARTER! CLEAVE THEM TO THE BRISKET! TURN THEM INTO SHARK BAIT!"

He paused for a moment, breathing heavily after all that bellowing. "I'm going to ask you ONE MORE TIME, YE SCALLYWAG. WHERE IS VARGAS and IS HE CURRENTLY FIGHTING ORDER, OR SOME OTHER SCURVY DOGS?!"

@V-Opal-One

The Opal was only mildly aware of Captain's exasperation - it didn't give it much thought, as that she was used to worsening people's mood just by existing in the general area. "YARRR! You talk funny." Said with a smile, but the smugness of its expression was hard to gauge. He shrugged with backwards shoulders. "He didn't say."

His expression lit up with recognition just a moment later. "Wait - is that The Hive? Everyone was all like - The Hive is here! I'm gonna burn it to the ground! I'm gonna eat it!" (That last comment was from the Opal itself, actually). "What's brisket? Can you eat it?" It sounded edible at the very least.

"I am NOT a scallywag. I am VEE oh...OPAL ONE!" It also did not know what a scallywag was - she decided to take offense anyways. "And I dunno the caves. They keep me in Draco most of the time, and take me to Pegasus if I'm good or hungry. It's both at the same time a lot. I've heard there's a BIG cave called Cepheus though, with a big palace and big food and a lot of important people that I am not allowed to bother. As if I would do that!" He exclaimed, without a shred of irony.

@Captain

Very charitably, Captain decided to ignore the "you talk funny" comment in favor of more important things. "Did he mention the word ORDER with the Hive anywhere?" he demanded. "Did he say anything about Eridanus? What about white fungus? White webs all over? Or fungus growing in rats?" That was what he'd seen in Eridanus with Astraea, anyway. "And did he mention a deer anywhere?"

If he had, then somehow Vargas must have already found out. If not... then either there were more enemies in these caves than he'd thought, or whatever "hive" this creature was talking about was a mere distraction. Either way, it wouldn't be good. "A brisket," he said impatiently, concern for his heartiest of hearties and the urge to rush back and (violently) help him bringing a snarl into his voice, "Is a piece of flesh on your CHEST. When you CLEAVE AN ENEMY to the brisket he DIES."

He shook his head impatiently at Vee-Opal-One's rambling. None of it was important! He didn't care! He cared about where VARGAS was and whether Astraea would be getting help! "So answer the question! So I can go CLEAVE THOSE ENEMIES with Vargas, or find him and bring him to Astraea to CLEAVE OUR ENEMIES TOGETHER."

@V-Opal-One

"Well..." She lifted a hand to the appropriate chin."He didn't say a lot, but there was a bird that yelled at everyone, like 'HIVE! ORDER! BAD!' And then something about cans?" It was starting to feel Captain's frustration, which frustrated it too - it wasn't its fault that no one had really told it anything. Just to sit and stay.

"No! He was there and then he was gone! I told you all he said - I think." The brisket explanation was met with little, except the widening of eyes and "He dies..." echoed quietly. Concerning!

"I don't know because everyone is DUMB! and ANNOYING! He huffed, before a new light entered his expression and he raised his arm to his temple. "Wait, I think - Did he? He said something about water and Leo to Lab. Is that where they're cleaving briskets?"

@Captain