ORIGIN

Another trip to the boneroom always did Reseda some good. She was still an alien to Orion, still a fish out of water. It was as comforting as comfort could be to a lizard without emotion, being in the room of bones. It was as normal as normal could be, munching on the bones she collected.

But this was just another trip to get some more bones. It was a labored trip, the wound on her stomach from her fight with Blueberry not fully healed yet, but it was necessary. She was out of bones again.

As she collected and gathered some good pieces in her mouth, she caught the sound of an achingly familiar voice. A voice she hadn't heard for many cycles and it took her a moment to believe that it was really him.

The deep one, as she had called him, although she had given up her foolish, silly name game long ago. Astaroth is what he called himself. Her master, for a time, the one that had set her on this path. Her tongue flickered with interest and she began to lumber her way to where the voice was coming from.

She approached from behind, seeing the dark pelt of the wolf among the littered bones. She remembered the last time they had met - he had frozen her with magic. Although she didn't know that same spell, she thought that she could replicate it, for irony's sake.

She focused on the wolf and willed her magic to lock him in place. Stop him from moving. Hold him down, at least for a moment. She took another step forward so that she was in view if he would only turn around...or if she would let him turn around. She remembered the same words he had used on her before and repeated them, in the same tone and voice he had used many cycles ago. "Well well well, what have we here?"

She released the magic as Astaroth began to speak and stared at him with her cold, uncaring eyes, no mask covering her features, no cover up to show a better creature. Young child? A strange title to give her, considering that she was neither. Perhaps young to him, but definitely not a child. Perhaps all the time along was scrambling his brains as it seemed to do to many.

There was no movement in her features to acknowledge any of what Astaroth was saying. She didn't care for his absence, she had been fine on her own. In fact, she was sure that she had done more in her time then he had done in his. She was almost there, almost at the top, where she had always wanted to be. "I am Reseda," she confirmed, coolly, "But many call me Greed now. You can call me either, it matters little to me."

She thought back to the last time they had spoke and counted the cycles. It had been a while hadn't it? "It has been 7 cycles, if I am correct. You have been sleeping a long time."

Reseda had forgotten how much of a talker Astaroth was. Did she talk like that back in the day? Had he rubbed off on her at all? She knew that she certainly didn't talk that much now, but perhaps back then had been a different story.

She wasn't sure why he laughed at the name of Demon. Her title of Greed, of course, was not something he probably knew about. She was simply one of the Seven and she needed the proper title to go along with her position as greed. And his degradation of her, of refusing to call her by her proper names and instead calling her simply "child" told her that he was proud and arrogant. And an idiot.

"As I said," she repeated in the same cool tone, "it matters little to me. Call me the title that suits you." She paused for a moment, thinking about what she would tell Astaroth. Her tongue flickered a little bit and she settled on something that she knew would, perhaps, make him angry.

"What have I done these cycles..." she whispered, as if thinking. She began to slowly crawl down the pile of bones she was perched upon to pace around the gray wolf. Carefully, she let lose a thin trail of magic to connect their minds. She wanted to know his reaction to what she was to say but was careful to keep her presence hidden. If it was successful, he wouldn't even know she was there and she would be able to hear what he was thinking. It was her turn to do some talking. "I have practiced my magic, I have met many creatures, I have seen the many caves. I got into fights, some I lost some I won. I have listened to talk and did some talking myself. And..." She stopped and stared directly into the wolf's face. "I have done what you could not. By my own workings I have created a kingdom from the shadows. I have put a weak-minded fool on the top, a fool that will be replaced when the time is right. There are many strong creatures in this kingdom. We have allies. We have enemies. And I was the one who created it. While you were here, failing your magic and sleeping for cycles, I was working hard. And soon...soon my work will pay off."

Reseda was mildly disappointed that she had not managed to make Astaroth mad. He was actually impressed with her. It was a bit of a surprise and Reseda found no more use, then, in listening to his thoughts. She cut the magic off. She happened to notice Astaroth's paw moving towards her foot and with a flick of her tongue she could sense the magic. She didn't know what spell it was but she wasn't going to have him casting anything on her. Just in time she moved her foot away and smoothly began pacing again.

"The "King" of this kingdom calls it the Sinful Seven. I searched the cave for those that would make good sins and found most of them. It's a fitting name for us."