ORIGIN

Garnet-Delta had the privilege of waiting for Overseer Orthoclase-Alpha and Master Vargas to return from their outing. Apparently, some sort of event was happening with all of the "Gembound" in the caves, something about contests of strengths... Yeah, it sounded real fun.

It didn't know why this was more important than the mission Master Vargas had, but it wasn't its place to ask questions. It had a task, and that was... Guarding a locked up tunnel. Probably the easiest job it ever had, and for that reason, it knew that it could go horribly wrong in a split second.

The cat-hybrid laid by the entrance of the tunnel, eyeing the carvings in the wall nearby with mild curiosity. There were some scribbled doodles made in chalk, but all of it seemed fairly nonsensical.

It had meant to keep up a magical outlook while it was distracted by the scribbling on the wall, but it was painfully hard not to lose concentration while guarding a completely stationary, fixed point with absolutely nothing going on. The likelihood of anyone even coming to the door was slim to none.

Honestly, it just needed to be awake when Vargas and Alpha returned. If it looked like it was slacking, then its assassination training would be put off again. With a huff, the feline stretched out a leg and started grooming itself.

What... Was that?

Garnet-Delta's grooming stopped, leg raised high in the air and its head still tucked low, tiny pink tongue sticking out just past its teeth.

It stared crimson daggers at Catafay, hackles slowly lowering as it realized that this was some... Infant coming barreling toward it, spewing all sorts of nonsense.

Maybe a good potential experiment for the Doctor; shame he was busy these days taking care of several new prisoners. Twitching its whiskers, it raised its head and snorted softly.

"My designation is Garnet-Delta, of the Sentinel of the Sands," it correctly flatly, tail swishing behind it. "Mister-Sir Wabblesmack, do you have any friends?"

Because it was always important to know exactly what Delta was dealing with before... well. Dealing with it. If this baby belonged to the Bonebound, or somehow the Dragons in Monoceros, then it would need to proceed with some caution.

Garnet-Delta was kind of a fool for thinking it would get any serious answer out of the bright-orange tipped baby, though.

As much as Garnet-Delta wanted to listen to this lovely story, its eyes glazed over pretty damn quickly. It was... Just... Completely lost. What was it even going on about? Were there even three-hundred-million creatures in the caves? Or was it just friends with a bunch of tiny ants? There were probably that many ants in the--

No, this was absolutely idiotic. Absolutely not. Garnet-Delta was not falling for this distraction. Its eyes shot to the door, then back to the puffin.

Alright, Mister-Sir Wabblesmack. If that even was his real name. Garnet-Delta's claws unsheathed, fur bristling, as the gemstone embedded in its throat gave off a dull red glow. Magic swelling in its chest, it pushed its mind into the puffins.

'No more lies,' Garnet-Delta hissed directly into the puffin's mind, thoughts deep and booming in an attempt to scare the young gembound. 'I could skin you alive, little bird, and eat all of your bones. Tell me who you really are,' it demanded, rising to its feet and spreading its wings.

It had opened the floodgates, thinking itself powerful enough to withstand the manic creature in front of it. It had no clue what it was in for.

Garnet-Delta's claws dug deep into the dirt could do nothing to grip the puffin's mind, even as it spat threats at the child, it only found... Betrayal, and misery, as though somehow Garnet-Delta was stabbing the infant in the back.

It... What. It had never met this thing-- surely he knew that. Surely this was a ruse; but deep in the mind of the puffin, it found only the imaginary world that Mister-Sit Wabblesmack had created.

What did he ever do to her, anyways? What did that even begin to mean? He was harassing it, and making up lies! It had all the right in the world to be furious. 'I'm not a her,' "Liza" insisted into the child's mind, fur prickling.

"Stop crying," Garnet-Delta hissed, rising to its full height and spreading its wings to make it look even bigger, as though it could scare the inane puffin away.

'I am Garnet-Delta, and if you knew what I was guarding, you wouldn't be playing these games with me--'

As it tried to keep up the link enough (which was hard, being overwhelmed by Mister-Sir's obnoxious mental state) it drug up the scariest vision of Master Vargas it could; but that was when the connection faded out, leaving the winged, web-footed cat-thing standing with its back to the door, looking like something had stepped on its tail.

"Just go away! You don't know what you're messing with. I could kill you--" But for all its posturing, it sure wasn't making any attempts to hurt the child. Maybe it understood, at least deep down, that this was just a newly hatched gembound goofing around like kids are supposed to do.

But damn if it wasn't going to admit that in the slightest.

Garnet-Delta's pelt prickled as the puffin screeched and spat venom in its face. He bawled, as though he could garner any sympathy from it; the only sympathy it had was that this was an oblivious, clueless child that had not yet grown to understand what danger was.

Changed. The feline's eye twitched. It really did not like how this Sir-Mister pretended to know it at all.

But it was equally baffled as it was annoyed, especially as Sir Mister Wabblesmack went on about 'roles' and 'performance'. Clearly it didn't want to play games, and it absolutely--

Abruptly, the puffin's posturing changed, and he snorted with a chuckle, peering at Garnet-Delta in a way that made it feel like he was skinning it to see the bones underneath. It had nothing to fear from the kid, but it was so disarmed by the determined nonsense that he kept spewing.

The final question dug deep, and left Garnet-Delta with more questions. Its fur flattened, as it realized that the puffin had no idea what it was, who it was, or why it was the way it was. Of course he didn't. He was just a clueless little kid. What was that like?

"No," Garnet-Delta replied, tone flat as its wings tucked in and its ears laid back. It raised its chin with pride, puffing up its chest, but there was no emotion behind its words. "I'm a weapon." Garnet-Delta sank its claws into the earth, and the dust and sand surrounding it suddenly became giant shards of glass that rose between it and the puffin. The puffin and the door. "There isn't anything more to me. There doesn't need to be. It's efficient."

The glass shards grew taller than the puffin, jutting out at sharp, violent angles toward the bird, but not quite reaching him. Just enough to make it clear that its threats were sincere. A literal wall of glass that kept him back. One last sentence, omitted and left only to its own thoughts, You wouldn't understand. And that was probably for the best.