ORIGIN

Vargas heard his name called, and the voice was unfamiliar to him. No-... it was familiar, but in that distant, tickles-the-subconscious sort of way that was too obscured by time to truly be recalled into memory. His curiosity was piqued. For the briefest instant as he strode into view, his brain misplaced Tectus's shape as Vakornol: but no, their similarities were surface-level. Both were nine feet or so at the shoulder and vibrant purple, with glowing eyes and massive jaws. That was where it ended. Where Vakornol was leggy and light, all jagged horns and an easy grin threaded through with glowing veins, this one bore a heavy, rugged look to it that took it from "doglike" to "badger made of rock." He puzzled over it for a moment as he approached, and then that old memory slid tentatively into place. "Tectus?" he hazarded, and then blinked and corrected himself as memory asserted itself further. "Overseer Tectus. My apologies. That was your name?" he asked, unsure, half-squinting.

He came to a halt before her, pondering. He couldn't be certain: their spheres had not quite overlapped, and while the caves had never been so large that one might encounter a total stranger of an Overseer, nor had he done much socializing. Vargas had been one to throw himself into his 'work,' unless hauled off for a brief, forced break by Nemean.

Either way, he had not seen her since the Awakening, but nor was she new. "Have you just awoken?" he asked, looking her over. I hope she has come to join the Forge; caves know we could use some competence. Some of the competence of the old days, not the flailing struggle he was trying to recreate, nor the madness of Draconua.

Vargas grunted, nodding his agreement on those circumstances. He wasn't sure which she meant: the loss of several other Masters; the plunging of the cave into rebellion; the subsequent many thousands years of hibernation... but they were all circumstances to be mourned by any loyal Valkhound of the nest.

When she had finished, he laughed shortly. "Thank you. And it is a shame; I had hoped you had come to join us! I would have had use for another actually useful denizen of the old era," he added, half an old man's grumble. There was the faintest annoyance or bitterness in it, clearly directed not at Overseer Tectus herself, but whatever his current crop of servants must be. Or some of them, at least.

"As for Eridanus. I had already been asked to lend my aid by others planning to do just that. The Forge stands ready, though I'd suggest coordinating with those others, too. Find... Pride," he decided, "in Orion, if you wish them to join in." Pride, because he couldn't for the life of him remember the name of the other one that Pride had given him. "They were gathering a large number of allies to do so, dragons and the like--big, firebreathing, flying lizards," he added, waving one hand vaguely, "but if you tell them Master Astraea has put you in charge, they will likely accept this. Though I warn you they were already dead set against fire. I do not think it a grand idea myself. You're more likely to destroy the vegetation entirely," he added, "and at that point, Master Artio is likely to arrive and kill you." That was her cave; he doubted very much that she would accept its burning. "...I would recommend speaking with her first."

A distant thought, then--a memory--prompted him to make a mental note to see if he could find Titanite in there, and warn it out. He hadn't revived that damn stone just for it to burn away later on, and the thing was half-tree as it was. "However you wish to tackle it, come to me when you are ready and several of the Chaos Forge will join you. We have several that can burn the fungus away locally, others that can regrow foliage, and plenty who can simply tear it all up. Perhaps I will join," he added, pondering. "-Has Master Astraea told you what the Forge is?"

It had occurred to him that otherwise, Tectus might think he was half speaking nonsense.

There wasn't much that would shock Vargas, but that--Tectus's news about the Throne being melted--made his jaw sag just a little. Not drop... not exactly. But his teeth glinted as he half-gaped at her. "Melted? Does Master Astraea know, yet?" he asked.

It was half horror, half hilarity. He had to admit, even to himself, that it was pretty fucking funny that the stag master's ancient seat of power had been decimated. Vargas respected Astraea. Even feared him, still. But to say he liked him, after what he'd done to Nemean... that would have been a stretch. Smashing something linked to his old vanity almost prompted a laugh that Vargas stifled; one he'd keep to himself. Flaunting authority like that, though? Pride had been a moron more than once, for all his apparent claim to some vast intellect. And this was clearly over the line. What the hell had Tectus done to prompt that-? Even Vargas hadn't managed to piss the deer off that badly, and that had been with direct threats. Did he value those bones so greatly?

Vargas turned his mind back to the conversation, nodding once. "Speaking to her would be wise. Whatever she decides we can abide by, then." If she was fine with a giant forest fire, that was her decision. Vargas had no idea if she had safeguards for such a thing, or what they might be.

Or why she'd tolerated Order in her cave for as long as she had. Distracted by Cetus and Farina, no doubt, he thought, but it was a tentative guess at best. The pair had always been... unusual.

He pondered what to do, but after a moment's indecision, he set that on the backburner. Maybe Astraea had already, or would, deal with it.

In the lapse of conversation, he noted something his senses had picked up but that he hadn't quite registered: a bloodstone somewhere on or around Tectus. He craned his head, peering, puzzled. A lesser? -A parasite? he wondered, but it felt a tad stronger. "Do you have-..." He paused, confused by this. "Fleasnake?" he half-asked, half-suggested. A familiar? he wondered.

His face twisted as much toward a grin as he could manage. For a moment, rather than a severe and stern Master or a lurking, predatory Overseer, Vargas was just an old monster again. A short, hearty bark of a laugh escaped him. "I will not say anything. I watched him melt Master Nemean not too long ago. I would rather, if you do not mind, stay in his good graces myself." There was amusement, though, even in this--and Vargas added, with a deliberately careless wave of one forelimb and before Tectus would need to ask, "She's recovered."

He couldn't even remember why Astraea had melted Nemean. He wasn't sure he'd gotten the whole story. Something about simply revealing his old form, hadn't it been-?

In any case, Vargas soon had his thoughts pulled back to certain rebellious Gembounds. He chose to speak bluntly. "My opinion of Pride is that his magic is powerful--I wouldn't underestimate it--but he is far more stupid than he likes to pretend to be. Not in a... He is not... unintellectual. But he isn't very good at maneuvering, manipulation, and I think he resorts to blunt force." He wasn't speaking from a point of no experience: he was remembering, quite distinctly (and among other things), the stag's attempt to manipulate him by having a Lesser deer (one not dissimilar to himself) chained as a bribe and a meal for Vargas at the start of some negotiation or other. Vargas had let the thing go. A threat, he thought; he'd made a threat, something about preferring to hunt his own food. "He is not as good a predictor of others as he'd like and for a creature with zero actual authority he seems insistent on pretending he has some control over his own fate. He does not," Vargas added, thinking back to Astraea's warnings in the Forum. "Whatever you choose to do, you may tell him you speak with the authority of multiple Masters and if he is problematic--come to any of us." Astraea might back down and throw a tantrum but Vargas was more likely to...

To what?

Well, to come up with something better than a tantrum, at least.

Anyway, this topic was uninteresting. Tectus likely didn't understand the new balances of authority and relationships in the caves, which made her hesitant to act--at least, this was his guess. If only because it was how he'd been upon awakening.

"Most of them hold these illusions. That they are free and have rights and all of that. We are... compromising to some extent, I suppose. I awoke to find that the old order was gone and there were entire societies, little battles, alliances... almost no Masters awake. It will take some getting used to and we are walking the line between prompting a rebellion and being entirely ignored." This blunt honesty was followed up by utter brutality: "It isn't that we could not kill them all; it's that, I think, we'd rather not." It wouldn't be fair, in some sense. It wasn't the world they'd grown in. "And they are useful, sometimes. See if you can make use of them for this--that's my advice." He paused. "And if Astraea has already given similar, or--something contradictory, feel free to disregard it," he added, wryly.

The Leviathan then offered a stern nod in the vague direction of the tiny bloodstone. "Well. If you can hear me: it is good to... somewhat meet you, Bloodstone T-One. An interesting designation... we've all had to create new ones," he added, this last directed back to Tectus with some amusement. "Let me know if I can be of any help with your recruit's training. Things are not what they used to be, and not yet where they should be--and will be--but I still have some specialists I have gathered. Scouts, assassins, fighters, and the like." The implication being that he, and probably the Forge, could cooperate in getting whatever Tectus might get up to up and running again, too.