The Opal forced himself to bite into the rat. With a quick snap of his jaws, he swallowed it whole. It sat heavy in crop, like a stone. He would save it for later when he was sure he wouldn't just throw it back up.
"That blue creature was Reji." He said. "She was from my cycle- the old cycles- before..." He trailed off. He didn't know exactly what happened before, or even how and why. He wasn't even sure how much he should share, for Reji's sake. Astraea had a grip on the Bonebound, but atleast they weren't too pleased about it. "-before the Masters lost control of the caves." That much was apparent. He looked to Giggle. "She's just as much as slave to Mother as I was, they all are." The fact that he had been freed gave him hope, that maybe, the rest of hive could be too.
The eel took a deep breath. "She- it.. gets into your head, makes you feel things. I was under the impression that it was different from the Masters I knew, that serving it was somehow better." The affection she showed him, real or imagined, was unlike anything he had ever known. The world he grew up in was not a kind one. Love was rare. Never had he realized how starved of it he was until he met "her". Maybe that was why he never resisited. It took advantage of that. He thought "she" cared. He thought "she" valued him. He thought he was "beloved". "She was.. like a mother to me.." The mother he had never known, but always longed for. "She made me think that, so she could use me like pawn." Was that all he could ever be in this life; just a pawn for the bigger powers at play? Opal didn't know which one was worse, to be ruled with fear, or betrayed by love.
His heart felt empty and cold.
Mothers, Masters, it did not matter. Both sought domniation. Mother was no better than the Masters, and the Masters were no better than Mother.
He closed his eyes, sifting through his jumbled memories. It was like someone had gone an cut holes through out it. Maybe it was Mother's attempt to cut him off and destroy his brain. "We built a lot of hives in.. argh, what's that place called?" He tapped his claws. "Cyrus? Caucus? That didn't feel right. "It's really of swampy and wet, I think. Kai-ces?"
@Auré @Giggle
"We made new members eat it," Opal confessed, which didn't make any sense. He never ate it. "But, I think it has to touch you." That would explain the strange sensations after he picked up those fuzzy, white pebbles. It must have been spores.
"It must be Cetus then." How could he forget the name of a cave? His frills drooped. Wherein Cetus? He racked his mind but could only recall scattered pieces of memories: Reji, in her den, glimmer of light on Lamia's tail, plodding through muck, coughing up foul air, Aquarian, vultures picking at the flesh of a muddy corpse. A pile of bodies. Wait, was he thinking of Hydra?
"You can have a place with us, Opal."
The Bone King's offer caught him off guard. He blinked at him, surprised and at a loss for words. To join them, as family, and just live? I would love too. Was what he wanted to say, but the eel held back. It sounded too good to be true. He studied the wyvern for a moment, leery yellow eyes searching; wanting desperately to believe this."You would have me in your clan, even after all that I've done?" He leaned away from Aure, confused. "But, I put your family in danger." He couldn't understand why he wanted him to stick around. Opal pinned his frills, gaze still searching."This is very kind of you, but why?"
Mother had been kind too.
He turned away, Aure's offer still weighing on his mind. "I think most of them are in Cetus, but know I of one in Fornax" He admitted. Opal planted it himself after Astraea rooted them out the first time. If only he had followed his head, and not his heart, and obeyed Astraea, then, none of them would be in this mess the first place.
@Auré @Giggle
You don't know that. Mother never forced him to attack Rezik; he did not know if she even played a part. In the Hive, they were one; he had access to everyone's thoughts and memories, and they to his. It was true, they were being invasively manipulated, but their minds were still their own. He saw- no, felt- the innocence of gembounds, the pain and suffering Rezik caused, the need to take action in the only way he knew how. He felt Reji's anger, he feared for, not just the Hive, but for others. He wanted to be free; he wanted them to be free; he wanted to preserve all that they had.
It was this that Mother took advantage of, not his body.
It was me. Opal decided. Mother or no Mother, he wanted to kill Rezik. The snitch represented the old regime trying to wriggle it's way back in. He had always harbored a deep seated hatred for his superiors; but it was the Hive that finally brought it to the surface.
The eel looked at Aure for a very long time. There was a hint of sadness in his yellow eyes. He did not deserve such kindness, not from the Bonebound.
"Astraea's put us in charge of defending Rezik, and I'm - not sure how he'll react to him being in a chrysalis."
Aaand there it was. All that sweet talk was just to get him to stick around for Astraea. He tried to mitigate by claiming he'd vouch for his innocence, (which was non-existent). Opal gave a defeated sigh. All of this for him. The Bone King needn't have bothered. "Sure, why not. It's not like I can get very far anyway" He motioned to his slit achilles.
Opal was resigned to his fate. "There is a good chance he would still kill me, though. " He added, half-heartedly. "Rezik was his favorite pet."
A foreign thought rasped in his head.
He looks strong. I think he's telling the truth, but if he isn't? Regardless, we have to do something about all of this...
His eyes flicked to the hyena. She could read minds? Opal tempered his thoughts, if her spell had gone awry, he did not want to alert her. However, having another voice in his head made him feel queasy...
Suddenly, Opal felt bile rise in his throat.
"speak"
@Auré @Giggle