ORIGIN - that defies the heat of the desert

It herded it's two spawn towards Draco. Two. Not three. It dwelled on that more than it should. What could've been. The failure- not of the chrysalis to hatch but whatever Labradorite did to prevent it from doing so. It had no idea how Vargas would react. It had told him it revived three stones, and yet it would show up with only two.

It mentally steeled itself- to explain, or be punished.

It would keep the Jasper and the Opal practically glued to it's side, steering them back on course whenever they threatened to wander off. It did not say much, to them. Maybe a soft warning of "Stay close." as thet strayed off. But the rest of it's words it saved for Vargas.

Just past The Aperture it paused, six eyes glancing into the dimly voidlit room. It would signal for it's spawn to "Sit. Wait." before taking in a breath.

"Master Vargas?" It called, searching for the foreboding, looming shape of the Master. "I am here to present my Spawn to you."

@Vargas @V-Jasper @V-Opal-One

Backdated to take place shortly after Labradorite's spawn hatched.

Jasper followed, two heads staring at the larger, one-headed version of themself, trying to mimic how it moved. This involved a fair bit of stumbling and tripping over their own feet, inputs being confused between the two heads. By the time they reached Draco where the earth was smoothed stone, they at least had a steady rhythm, tromping along in the Labradorite's footsteps.

Both of them became quickly distracted as soon as Labradorite stopped, peering around at the voidlight with strange curiosity. Draco pulsed with a strange light, between the Apeture's breathing and the distant pulsing of the Black Spire, the shadows shifted along the stone.

Their paws batted at the shifting shadows under foot, making quiet chirping noises between the two heads. As they played, becoming intent in the way the darkness moved and deepened, they found themselves able to shift the shadows with more than just their body. The darkness, vague and shapeless, crept up around them, and with a giggle they flopped on to their side and clawed at the dark cloud they had manifested around themself.

It was, at the very least, hopefully cute enough to make up for the fact they weren't sitting calm and patiently for some unknown being to answer the Labradorite.

Opal watched Jasper stagger and stumble trying to meet their life-giver's pace, laughed at their expense, and tripped clumsily as they did. While its locomotive issues weren't quite as complex as having twin minds occupy the same body, she still inherited the issue most centaurs did - having to balance the weight of multiple chests on one side. This was made worse by the fact that he possessed one extra than was normal, even for centaurs.

The band-aid solution was to find support where she could, offered conveniently in the form of two slimy flippers held just within his reach. It held the Labradorite's "hand", its response to this contact going unnoticed as the three travelled deeper within the cave. It was slippery, and as she tightened her grip to accomodate - not tight enough to be painful or damaging, but enough to cause mild discomfort.

At its command, the Opal sat, wide-eyed and waiting. Maybe, if he had been comfortable enough to, he would have joined the Jaspers in their play, beckoning shadows to them and watching them dance with their will. But the ground beneathed them pulsed with distracting and hungry life. If it had been born here, maybe it could've welcomed Draco as its second womb -

But sitting here, waiting for something it could not percieve, the cave felt more like a stomach.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

He answered the call at a swift but unhurried pace, lanky limbs carrying him toward the Aperture. Ahh--there: Labradorite and its new spawn. He sped up, a little, heading to Labradorite but with his eyes already searching the young hatches.

Light, he noticed--both of them. Labradorite's magic, then, and other stones. It wasn't a bad choice, as far as element went--though perhaps Vargas was a little biased. He looked over the Jasper with a glance: black (good) and vibrantly magenta glowing (bad, but its magic could hide that--and it already seemed to have an inkling of how). Two-headed--always a bonus, that. A spare head was a good thing to have. And it looked like it would reach some size. Assassin, he deemed, tentatively, as a role that it might fit. Then--the other, and this one took him aback, a little. It looked... misshapen. A failure, he marked this one, though in an absent sort of way. It could always be tested for its abilities, or even remade, but the twisted torso was questionable at best, and it didn't look like it'd ever have the size or strength for real combat. That said, he was open to being proven wrong. Perhaps the double head and reaching hands could help protect its back--though what role it might come to serve, he could not yet say.

These two glances took only a couple of seconds, and his expression did not change: instead his stare cut back to Labradorite, and he offered a curt nod. "V-Labradorite-One," he rumbled, his first greeting. "Can they introduce themselves, yet-? What can you tell me of them?"

He did not mention a missing third--either he did not know of it, or did not particularly care.

@V-Labradorite-One

It was very aware of Opal's hand on it's fin, but it only made an attempt to remove it's grip after it had called for Vargas. As small as it was, the opal needed to look independent. Using The Labradorite for balance would make for a bad impression. It only wanted the best for it's ~~children~~ spawn.

Vargas came striding out of the bright-darkness of Draco, with all the Authority and Power a Master ought to wield. It locked it's jaw, struggling to keep it's expression neutral. Times like this made it wish for the chitin of it's kin. Vargas's gaze skimmed over it's two spawn and then swiftly back to The Labradorite. It would return it's curt nod.

"I already told them their designations. They should be able to introduce themselves." It would gently nudge each spawn with it's feet, prompting them. "Tell him your Designations. What you are called." After it's spawn introduced themselves- or not- it would go on to tell him about them. Or at least, what it figured he wanted to hear.

"The opal was from a deathmatch contestant. One that Baokrish killed. I was given the stone when he.. left." It explained, eyes on said spawn it was talking about. "It has chitin to protect itself, and arms to use weapons or tools- like The Sentinel or V-Selenite-one." It paused to take a breath. It did not speak all that often. "It's shape is unusual, but so is m- V-Zoisite-One's. It will adapt. I believe it has promise as a fighter, or a builder."

"The jasper I found within bones at the bottom of a riverbed. It.. sparked with magic. The skeleton had been a two-headed beast, like Khavur. And I assumed it had been aquatic, like myself, because of where I had found it. I figured it had promise." Confidence wavered. Really, both of these ~~children~~ spawn had been shots in the dark. All THREE had, except the third had never fired at all. "It's two heads do not seem aware of eachother- they 'argued' when they first hatched. If it can.. cooperate with itself, and hide it's glow, it could be an assassin. Like I was planned to be, before Farina's... gifts."

It looked at Vargas's face for the first time during the whole discussion. Hoping for.. approval? Pride? Even just accepts. As long as it wasn't negative. As long as it hadn't failed.

"They just hatched, so i do not know what.. interests them, yet."

@V-Jasper

From their place tumbling about on the floor, one by two the heads individually noticed the great, looming shadow that was Master Vargas. They hadn't known what to expect, but the towering beast of sharp angles and spines was enough to draw attention.

He did not address them-- which seemed a touch unfair-- instead speaking directly to Labradorite. After a nudging from the bigger, one-headed version of Jasper, the young one twisted back on to their feet. One head shrunk back, staring up wide-eyed.

"V-Jasper-Two," declared the other head, craning their neck to get a better look at Master Vargas.

"But--" protested the other head, "S'be V'asper-One..."

"You're One, so I'm Two," they were almost pragmatic in the way the decided this, purple eyes burning behind the warm glow. Their gaze flickered from Master Vargas to V-Labradorite-One, their long tail dragging across the ground in a low, uncertain swishing motion. Two expected to be told "no", much in the way that they had already been blocked from prodding at One.

... "Okay," One accepted, as though their opinion was the only one that mattered, and they reached out from their scrunched position to nuzzle their nose against Two's cheek.

Two raised their head higher, their chest puffing out. The words that V-Labradorite used to explain the potential it saw in them mostly went over their young, developing minds, but the hint of uncertainty they sensed from their large caregiver made their skin itch.

@V-Opal-One

A shape materialised from the dark - purple and glowing green, the Opal's new boogeyman made to order. Its first instinct was to shrink back, stay still and silent like a baby under a mobile. The Labradorite's anxiety was contagious, but not for long - She was not naturally a nervous creature after all.

The looming thing addressed its life-giver, voice a rumble of thunder. Conversation ensued, a torrent of words and explanations. It didn't matter, because she didn't understand a word of it. But finally, she was addressed, recognised, not just stared at like a bug pinned to a display. He had left his seat, trotting up towards the stranger. His pace became a run, then a gallop - attempting to twist around his limbs, Vargas' form made nothing but its own personal playground.

"Opal!" It squealed, before its brows furrowed and its pace slowed. Full name, right? "Veee... Opal.. ONE!" It had struggled, but stuck the landing in the end - good enough in its (many) eyes.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas indulged Opal-One--so long as it did not touch him, it could run about. It gave him a better look at its movement, in any case--and children, he'd learned, were full of unconstrained energy. (A lesson hard-learned.) Labradorite's initial explanations struck him as a pleading--he assumed that it, too, knew this one was a failure and was trying to scramble for excuses. As it continued to explain the Jasper, he became less certain of this assumption--but it did not matter.

Truly, for all the support he offered his spawn, they always seemed terribly afraid of failing. Better than the alternative, I suppose. And I may well be misinterpeting, he allowed. It might just be rattling it off, fact and purpose, calm.

His gaze switched between each of the two--no, three? children as they spoke. His first response was a stern nod, and a "Well done." Encouragement was always given to obedience and good performance, even something so simple as giving a name. He studied the Jasper for a moment. "You are two beings, in one-? Hm." Interesting. More often, the heads were controlled by a single being, but this wasn't the first he'd seen like this. Khavur was an odd case, and the Bloodstone had been three in one. (He wondered where that one had gone; its design had been intriguing.) "V-Jasper-One and V-Jasper-Two, then," he agreed in that same rumble--and then, with an amused glance to Labradorite, "Three in two. It seems you've overachieved."

On to further business, then.

"Do not worry to much about their purposes just yet. Remember, my own first spawn were... we'll call it, unplanned," he added, with a meaningful stare at Labradorite and self-deprecating humor in the words. He was very much referring to the catastrophes that had been V-Chaos-Two's initial double-pelvis and poor Khavur's cherry-flavored "venom" and failed camouflage. But comparing the children to catastrophes would have been quite rude--and he didn't immediately mean that they were failures. Only that Labradorite needn't worry so much of them being not quite so custom-made. "It is why we train them in everything. We will see what they are good at," he added, and then--with a glance over them--"and what they enjoy." He meant well, even if--once again--he were speaking over the spawn to their parent, instead.

He did, however, address them again. "You are part of the Chaos Forge, now, you three! Listen to V-Labradorite-One, train diligently, and you will find your place among us. We serve the nest, and in so doing, we make sure all the wretched rabble of this cave stays alive and breathing. Labradorite--let me know if you'd like me to teach them to fight, in time. Teach them first to hunt so they can keep themselves alive. And take them to Cain for basic lessons on stealth." He considered. "Find out if V-Zoisite-One wishes to impart any knowledge of building, or farming. But that may take place over the next few cycles, of course. Come to me with any problems," he added. "Did they just hatch-? If so, perhaps a meal and a rest in Pegasus might be in order," he suggested.

He then stepped back; it would be up to them to follow orders, now.

@V-Labradorite-One
exit due to inactivity