ORIGIN - the Hand that feeds

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Tectus was, if anything, an obedient Overseer. Independent, especially right now, but obedient and steadfast. She was...jobless, at the moment, with the fire in Eridanus about wrapped up and little else to currently do in the caves, but it did not take away from the fact that she was an Overseer without a consistent Master to turn to. Master Vargas already had his share of Overseers at this time and Master Astraea was...scarce. The other Masters? They didn't really seem to care. At least, she hadn't really run into most of them yet. So having no actual boss was a little bit of like being left to swim in the ocean with no life-raft nearby. She could survive a while, but it was nerve-wracking. Eventually she'd have to improvise.

But then the summons had come - the valkhand wanted to see her. To be honest, she didn't even KNOW there was a valkhand in the caves right now. And having been summoned by one freaked her the fuck out. Were they going to complain about how long it was taking to completely cleanse Eridanus? Ask her why she was incompetent and had done almost nothing of note since awakening almost a year before? So many things could go wrong. Very few things could go right. She might as well have been walking to her death.

Still, she was, if anything, obedient. So to Cepheus she went. Into the palace. Through the entryway and into the foyer where she sat herself down and awaited the Hand.

@Aethril

Somewhere in the depths of the palace, behind the barrier that stopped most from perusing further inside, Aethril was drying herself off. If she wasn't lounging here or there, blowing off steam or hanging around Eggbert, she was probably bathing. Just because she was confined to a stinky Nest on even stinkier Let did not mean she herself had to stink, of course.

Bathing gave her time to think, after all, in a place where she knew she wouldn't be disturbed. She had to think about how to keep the Nest going, because it was too much on Vargas's shoulders to handle alone and most of his Overseers kept up and vanishing, and the other Masters were... absent-minded, at times.

Or, you know. Not around. Nemean was boiling at the bottom of a pit somewhere, Jupiter, Raheerah and Dawa were dead. Enki and Tamulus were... well, she had no idea, where they were or if they were even alive, but they sure as hell weren't here and working.

If they didn't get their act together soon, Aethril worried what might become of them. Rrevalk's recreation of her had rendered her ageless, but certainly not immortal. Certainly not immune to dying painful, slow ends.

It didn't matter if there were another twelve masters regularly creating and testing, anyway, for as long as Dontacael's hive kept lingering and infecting rooms. Thanks for making everyone's job harder, asshole, real cool of you-- it's not like we had enough to worry about even before everything went to shit.

The Valkhand dried herself off and pulled on a dress. She had heard, vaguely, of an Overseer that had awoken-- an old one --in the last year or so. Aethril took some time to consider her options closley, and though she barely knew the name, she had her summoned to the palace. She didn't quite expect to find Tectus lingering in the foyer, however.

Aethril, as per usual, was heard before she was seen. Click-click-click came the heels out of one of the palace's forbidden wings and into the main hall. When she caught sight of the Valkhound, she paused and tilted her head like a lion deep in the grasslands staring down a gazelle.

Broad shoulders. Thick forelegs, scaled back. Powerful jaws. Nice, she thought. Though she was hardly a fan of the neon magentas and purples that some creations were made from-- too obvious and gaudy for her liking. She liked the dark and countershaded, things that blended all too easily into the shadows and lunged without a sound. Still... nice.
A scrape of her heel and she moved to the Overseer, the scent of soap still strong on her skin. "Tectus, I assume?" She asked in a tone just too sickly-sweet-- upper-management-talking-to-someone-below-them voice --offering a smile that did not reach her eyes. "Who did you serve under, before you went into hibernation?"

@Tectus

Indeed, Tectus heard the sound of heels upon marble, but it was not a familiar sound. She had not been one afforded the luxuries of the Palace in the old days, and she had not once had any confrontations with Valkhands before (thank the Creator for that). It reminded her, though, of Astraea's hooves, the taps of hard keratin against the stone floor. It was still strange to think of him having hooves.

She rose to her feet as Aethril appeared. Deceptively small, comparatively, but Tectus was no fool. She could feel the heat of Chaos radiating from the woman as she put on a smile that made her skin crawl beneath the scales. But she was professional enough and let none of the faint discomfort show, her own mask of professionalism taking the place. Still, she couldn't help the flare of her nostrils as the scent of soap touched her senses. She had never smelled soap before, oddly enough. What use did valkhounds have for soap?

Perhaps she could ask for some herself from someone else at the palace. It was nice.

Anyways.

She nodded, and then gave a small, respectful bow. "Miss Aethril. Overseer Tectus, at your command." Keeping it professional, keeping it easy. She wanted to gauge the hand's demeanor before speaking too much. "I served Master Astraea. I still do, but he has been...here and there." She stopped herself there, not daring to become to critical of her own master. She liked him well enough, but ever since reawakening...ah, well, if she had been turned into a deer, she would probably be quite different too.

@Aethril

"Astraea," Aethril's smile turned genuine for a beat. Not because the name brought back happy memories, or even that she was particularly fond of him, but-- "He's a deer now. Did you know?"

Oh, yes. That development had been particularly funny to Aethril. In another life she might have had more sympathy for him. They were from different worlds, but once upon a time they'd looked just about the same, enough that Aethril knew if she had lost her body, she'd be quite upset about it, too. However,, to her knowledge, Astraea was at least born with a body he liked. If Aethril turned into a deer, it would be taking away a gift she'd recieved from Dhracia and the Creator.

"It doesn't surprise me that he's left you wrung out to dry regardless," she said. "He's largely concerned himself with the Natural Order spawn, from what I've heard." He was difficult to find, too. Umbriel rarely spoke of him at all, though in the Valkhound's defense, Aethril never told her to keep an eye on the Masters.

Maybe she should.

Another scrape of a heel. "Come," she said as she started pacing through the pale halls. "It's impolite to linger in the foyer." Her tone was more matter-of-fact than anything else; a genuine departure of information in case Tectus did not know. She paced to the palace's courtyard gardens and hovered on the path.

She licked her teeth. "What have you been doing without Astraea giving you orders?"

@Tectus

At Aethril's genuine smile, Tectus herself could not help but allow the very edges of her mouth to quirk up just a bit. She already seemed to have a bit of a smile on her face, but it was a little more obvious for a moment. "Yes. I did notice that." It had been a shock to her at first, and something of a tragedy and sympathy, but overtime, the notion had become more ridiculous. Astraea, proud as he was, beautiful as he had once been, was now a deer. Not a special deer, not a particularly large one, but just. A deer. It was a little bit funny. But for Tectus, it was mostly just a fact. A fact she would never dare to bring up to his face.

As for her comments about him, she found herself shrugging. "I do not believe him to be so wrong in that. These gembound have proved surprisingly useful to me." But she did not bring it up any further, in case Aethril strongly disagreed - already she could sense that she did, but it felt right to comment otherwise. Her small but loyal following were mostly made up of these Natural Order spawn. And she felt something like protective of them.

A nod and the Overseer was following. "Of course," was her way of apologizing for her rudeness. She did not, in fact know, the proper etiquette for being summoned to the palace or guest etiquette when it came to being in a place of high society, so she noted that down. She would have to find a different place to linger, then, if she were summoned again. She paced herself just behind Aethril, the clack of her own claws against the marble floor echoing the clack of the Valkhand's heels, but slightly less pleasant a tone. She was not made to walk through marble halls.

She could not help but glance in appreciation at the palace gardens. Ah, they spared no expense for the living quarters of their highest masters. She had expected no less, but it was still a surprising delight to be allowed in this space, even for a short time. But then, she had to ask the question Tectus was dreading - a report of her business in the time since she had awoken.

She was silent for a moment and then began. "He gave me an order when I first awakened to oversee the removal of the fungus from Eridanus. It is still a work-in-progress, but we have made good headway. I made a brief deal with Master Artio over burning the forest and regrowing it. She was...prickly about it, but I think we managed in the confines we were given. In the meantime, I have been making use of the gembound - some of them have been instrumental in the destruction of the fungus. Some of them have taken to following me." She let out a huff that could be attributed to a short chuckle. "I appreciate their loyalty."

@Aethril

"Is that so?" Aethril asked. It was almost rhetorical-- she didn't see much use in them. Most of them had been hideous little amalgamations that shouldn't be; some of them were even rude. Aethril liked a very scarce few, and none of those she could recite the names of. Even the cats she'd met had been horrendous little creatures: cats were much better when they could not speak at all, she thought.

But her mind cast vaguely back to Canis. There had been a handful of earthspawn Gembound there-- ahh, what were they called? Wolf, or dog, perhaps... a cheetah... a fox, though it had been mutated and twisted by Chaos. They had been very eager to clear out the Hive's influence from the room of bones, but did they even know why they were doing so?

Unreliable. Unpredictable, she thought-- but was that not in itself a kind of beauty? Would He approve of that, of what had become of His Nest?

What about Dhracia--?

She didn't really want to be thinking about Lord Dhracia right now, but she couldn't help but think about what she'd said to her the last time she'd deigned to visit: she expected the Nest to return to its former glory, to stop squandering resources. Guilt sat in her belly. Aethril had been too afraid to do much of anything. She hid away from Order and Rebels and hoped everyone else would do something about it.

The Valkhand's nostrils flared as she looked over Tectus. Here was someone who was doing something about it. Astraea's absence was concerning to her: yes, he told her to clear out the Hive's influence from Eridanus, but that's all he had done. He hadn't supported her. She was looking for her own resources and numbers, speaking to Masters on her own. It was a great deal to do alone.

And Aethril would know.

"How many are following you?" She asked, eyes flitting this way and that. Spines. Scars. Claws. She was still subconsciously studying the Overseer's physical attributes as she spoke. "Which kinds, do you know?"

She licked her teeth, thinking. "Have you met the newest Master, Vargas? His orders are for creating, but his hands are very full as he sends things all over the Nest for more than just trial and training. You can imagine he is very tired." She did not mean to put him on blast or make him appear as something he was not. Even if Aethril thought he was soft, most did not have that impression of him. But hell, she pitied Vargas, sometimes. "I think it is about time someone takes some of the weight off his shoulders, don't you think?"

@Tectus

She could feel the valkhand's gaze raking over her figure. She felt mildly self-conscious as she did, hoping that she approved of her design. It was not something she was particularly proud of, other Valkhounds had been created with much more ferocious, intimidating, and/or visually pleasing designs, but she did not hate her own skin. It was what she had been given and Tectus had always done what she could with what she had. It had served her well over the millennia - hopefully Aethril would see that through the numerous scars.

As for who was following her, Tectus could not help but let out the smallest of sighs. With what she had gauged from Aethril's opinion of gembound, she most certainly wouldn't approve of those that the Overseer had roped into her service. But Tectus found that she was valuing things different in this day and age - where there was a much wider variety of usefulness and achievement, it became increasingly more and more important to Tectus for them to be loyal. If they were loyal then she could find use for them. If they were not, then they weren't trustworthy - the gembound were too used to their freewill and she had failed her attempts to reign it in.

"Only three for now, but there are another three on the way," she answered, firm. "A valkhound of fire, a deer, funnily enough, and a moth." There was the slightest hesitation at the end - a moth's uses would seem nonexistent, but Tectus had taken what she had been given. And it had turned into an asset, in the end. The Bloodstone was unmatched in stealth and reconnaissance. "We are attempting to find others - the cleansing of Canis and the fire in Eridanus have given us some good starting points."

She paused, and then continued. "I created my own three, to assist with this fight against Order and rebuilding of these caves. I hope I was not stepping out of line here, but I will ensure they are raised to be assets to our cause." If Aethril deemed punishment was necessary for this, then she would receive it without complaint. It was a violation of rules from an age before, but so few of those rules held any importance anymore.

Onto Master Vargas, however, and here she nodded, firm. "I've spoken to him. He does a lot, for this nest. I agree - I have been doing what I could to assist him with Eridanus, but if there is more that could be done, I will do it."

@Aethril

It was an unusual sort of gesture to come from the Valkhand, albeit a tiny one: the faintest little flicker of her ear that made the gemstones decorating it click melodically. She didn't judge Tectus for her followers-- she assumed that even a moth would be useful as a spy or messenger. She was quiet, however, only speaking when the Overseer brought up punishment.

"Out of line? No. Had Astraea forbidden you from breeding?" Not that it mattered, of course. Astraea was practically a different person now, and though the Master had been brutal pre-rebellion, she highly doubted that he was like to punish someone for reproducing out of turn now. "No, you are working with what you can. It is admirable, Overseer."

More than admirable, but we'll forgo the inappropriate monologue fluttering through Aethril's brain for now.

A heel scraped along the marble before Aethril was moving leisurely around the gardens. "What else do you think could be done?" She asked, glancing back at Tectus. "If you had whichever resources you needed, of course."

@Tectus

The valkhound shrugged. "He has not forbidden it, but neither has permission been granted. I - yes, I decided it would be best to do so regardless of permissions given. I do what I can." Good that she wasn't angry, good that Aethril saw things the same way she did - she was resource deprived and doing what she could with what she had. "Thank you," she added, with a relief and pride that her actions were admirable in the eyes of the Hand. Good to know that her attempts to work since awakening weren't for nothing.

But her work was the past and present - she did not think that Aethril had merely summoned her to talk about what had happened, but what would, and it was a significant thing that Tectus thought about. She could continue to "get by" with what she had, do what work could be done, but in the grand scheme of things, would that do anything but pass time? No, she was not content to sit around and do things task by task. There needed to be a long-term plan in mind. Something she was working towards, instead of just flitting here and there.

"Many things," she started with a low chuckle before slowly stepping alongside the Hand. "Reconstruction, for one. Orion and Cassiopeia both are in a sorry state. I could work to restore those caves, but it would be a great undertaking. I would need a lot of bodies. I have been attempting to catalogue gembound as best as I could but...ah, there are so many. It may be an impossible task, but it would be worthwhile to know at least some of the creatures are running around these caves. And, of course, this infestation of Order cannot remain. It is annoying tenacious." She went quiet for a second, thinking if there was anything else in particular that might be good to mention. "Ah, and I suppose, returning some sort of enforcement. Gembound wander freely without any idea of the place they live in. It might be worthwhile to enforce some basic education. But I don't know how effective that will prove to be." Probably little to none, if some of her past experiences with gembound proved anything. But it could be worth trying.

@Aethril

"You're amibitous," Aethril said distantly. Too ambitous, she thought-- what if she keeps getting distracted with the need to do more? The Valkhand's eyes glazed over the Overseer for a beat, blinking slowly. It was entirely possible she was only this way because Astraea had failed to given her any sense of direction or order: she must have been flying by the seat of her proverbial pants trying to figure out how best to do her duties in an environment that had changed completely in the last five thousand years.

She sucked in air through her teeth, emitting a long, faint tut. She wondered: there are so little Masters in the Nest now, would Tectus be a good fit to replace some of them? How would Astraea feel about seeing his Overseer ascend to the same rank as him? Probably the same Nemean felt seeing hers do so, a thought told her.

Tectus would have to prove herself first, before Aethril could consider that one more.

"I want you to skip Astraea and report directly to me from now on," she said. "If Astraea has any problems with it--" (and she highly doubted that he would) "--then tell him to take it up with me, personally. You are my Overseer now, as far as anyone should be concerned."

She stopped her pacing and turned to face Tectus directly, folding her hands behind her back. "I don't take you as an idiot, Tectus," her nostrils flared. "You know that things are bad. Lord Dhracia is visiting frequently but the Nest had lain on the edge of disrepair for a long time, now. I've waited for the others to pick up slack. They will not. I intend to do everything I can to fix it and get everything back in order for the Creator."

Did she know how close the Nest seemed to be to being destroyed? She must have some awareness, surely. A little muscle in Aethril's cheek twitched as she thought. Either way, restoring rooms, enforcing some manner of heirarchy, cataloguing gembound-- all this could wait when they had a much bigger problem on their hands. "We have to start with clearing any sign of infestation," she said. "You need not say much to the gembound. Just tell them the truth: the Hive is dangerous and will take away any free will that they have. Most of them will see that reason enough to help you."

"Dontacael's Hive is what we have to focus on for now. I will speak to Vargas about creating hounds to help you deal with the infestations. I want you to gather your people, train them, and find out where, exactly, Order is. I assume it is in more rooms than just Eridanus."

A beat. "I know that there is a Clearstone Spire somewhere in Ursa. Stay out of there for now," she added. She did not need anyone risking their lives needlessly. "Just tell me what you need for now and I will try to provide it."

@Tectus

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