ORIGIN - Need a Soldier?

Hm.

Twisted, young and bored, stared up at a series of strange carvings along the tunnel wall. The siamese always knew they existed-- she lived here, after all-- but not much thought was ever put into what they meant. A story? A warning? Plain graffiti from some boisterous gembound? It had always been background noise to her. Fights were more entertaining, but following the recent lull following the new cave's appearances, she found herself seeking more minute hobbies.

A slender black paw touched it-- Twisted was no longer a chubby kit, now tall and angular with her age. Red still stained her claws from a recent hunt. A halfhearted spark of magic reached out as she tried to will mushrooms to sprout over the carvings. She disliked using her magic (especially this spell, after it ripped her paw open) but maybe it'd work better if she used it on a different surface. Not like she could claw stone to pass the time, anyways.

Well, it worked. Slender, stumpy white mushrooms grew out of the cracks and over a small portion of the mural. They were sickly and would probably fall off given a few days, but it was still surprising the spell even worked at all. 'Color me impressed,' the feline thought, before turning away with a huff and heading back to her lonely stone nest. Might as well head back to sleep.

@Tahi-shei

Tahi-shei had been passing through to Eridanus when, at the edges of his now-extended vision, a small web of whitecaps sprang up. From nothingness to adulthood in mere moments, and wasn't that intriguing? He turned his head, sensing that magic might have been at work, and drew closer only to find... Twisted. No longer tiny and round, but unmistakeable in markings and stone. A distaste rose up in him at the sight of her, but in the same breath... well, he was recruiting for an army, wasn't he? And a practitioner of Fungal magic... hm.

Tahi-shei looked down his nose and cleared his throat to announce his presence. "Hello, Twisted. How would you feel about taking part in a war?" She seemed to like fighting. Maybe this would pique her interest -- especially since he was a friend of Madhukar's, going to her for aid.

@twisted

Twisted didn't react immediately when she heard hoofbeats. Plenty of gembounds passed through the tunnels and nine times out of ten they didn't bother her. Or notice her, for that matter. She was just another animal.

But when the presence stopped just before her, and cleared their throat to get her attention, she realized this wasn't just a passing encounter. The siamese, back facing the carvings, turned her head and saw... a deer. Huh? Brown fur, large antlers, crown made of fungi, and looking expectedly at her. Who was this guy again? And why was he talking about a war? War was only a vague concept in her brain, a word she knew but never experienced. It's when a lot of people beat each other up, right?

"Look, I like the offer but I don't..." Twisted's voice trailed off. Wait, she had seen this deer before. Back when the both of them were small. He was one of Madhukar's ('Fucking insufferable--') friends, wasn't he? She remembered sitting hunched behind a boulder, listening to them worry all over Madhukar before they went off to have some fun. She remembered being jealous.

"Wait. You're one of Maddy's friends, huh?" Her pawsteps ceased. "I remember you." Usually this would be the part where her voice took on some hostility, maybe slip her claws out a little... but all her words conveyed was tiredness. "Funny that you're not going to her for help."

Her crooked tail swept as she turned to face Tahi-Shei. She liked fighting. And so far nothing in it suggested a trap, even if it was odd he was talking to her in the first place. "Well, whatever reason why, I'm intrigued. Sounds fun. A good distraction." Already she had a bit more pep in her words. Nothing better than bloodshed to wake someone up. "But why, exactly, are you fighting? It better be against someone annoying. And there better-not be Mad there."

She lifted a black paw and licked it, waiting.

@Tahi-Shei

"Madhukar," he corrected, eyes cold. "Mau-dew-khar." He offered Twisted a forced smile. "I do plan on tracking her down. Her magic is indispensable. But I am seeking Gembound with a diverse skillset, and you also have skill with fungal magic."

He eyed Twisted cooly. "There is a fungal infestation in these caves. Magic, like ours, but weaponized for a cruel purpose. It steals away your mind. Master Vargas has tasked me with amassing an army. I plan to gather as many as I can and teach those willing to learn. Then I will take them to the Master, and we will very likely be sorted into teams to form an assault on the Mother fungus. Master Vargas will educate us further, of course, but fungal magic is indispensable. The infection can be removed with this spell," he said, stamping his foot and spawning whitecaps. "And it can be sensed with another."

He looked the cat over. "Furthermore, you are small and maneuverable -- in tight spaces, your skill might become useful."

@twisted

gasp i return from the dead

Twisted rolled her eyes a little as Tahi-Shei spoke. "Yeah, yeah, I knew that."

Once the siamese had determined her paw was clean enough, she sat down and cooly tried to listen to the deer's words. The part about Madhukar soured her mood, but it was brought back up by the small compliment of her abilities. Frankly, she believed the opposite (her magic was insufferable) but still, it was nice to hear. Fungus was mentioned-- her emerald eyes drifted to her cluster of enokis, and then to the deer's skeletal crown. Damn, that thing was unnerving. Especially while he was talking about a fungal invasion.

But she was getting off topic. Back to his words. It was magical (cool), stole your mind (alright), Tahi was tasked to destroy it by... "Master Vargas"? Who the hell was that? Twisted was inclined to butt in and ask, but managed to keep her maw shut until the end of the monologue. This "Master" would organize them to fight (wait, this mushroom dude was called Mother? That's hilarious!) and they'll beat it out with the same exact spell she just practiced earlier. Wait, it can do that?

Maybe her magic was good for once.

Well, she was hooked. Twisted stood back up again, stretched a leg and addressed the Fungal Prince: "Losing my mind sure would be... annoying, I guess. I'm in." the siamese eyed him cooly. "One last question, if I can. Who's 'Master Vargas'? Certainly ain't my master." she grumbled that last part under her breath-- "And why are they the one organizing this whole battle?"

@Tahi-Shei

"'Master' is an honorific," he explained, tracking her movement with his eyes. "They're supremely powerful. There's, ah... a few of them -- Master Astraea, Master Nemean, Master Tenzin, and then the One Who Eats. He wasn't specific about that one," Tahi-shei mused. "Anyway, Master Vargas is a huge purple and green thing. He's got spikes and quills and eyes like you've never seen, and is about thirteen feet tall hunched over. His claws are massive, and strong enough to-- to break through armor." He wavered, scowling at the ground. He hadn't confirmed that one, but he was pretty sure. He cleared his throat.

"Not to be confused with Overseer Alpha, though. Overseers are below Masters, and Alpha serves Master Vargas. Overseer Alpha is a sexapede, and about eight feet all, while Master Vargas is a biped. They're both long, strong, and spiky. In short, don't mess with them, because they will mess with you." He cleared his throat. "Any Master is a force to be reckoned with, though. Master Astraea is a stag, like myself, though a bit larger. He has fungal growths all over his body. Masters... are cruel," he sighed, "or at least, I've been told such. I've only had good experiences with Master Astraea, although Master Vargas did pretend he was going to kill me to prove a point. They seem to be unpopular in these Caves, but I don't really care what Master Vargas has done -- I want to get Mother out of these caves, no matter what it takes." And wasn't that a dangerous statement coming out of Tahi-shei's mouth?

He cleared his throat. "Is that all?"

@twisted

strong language

but, like, only a little bit

Man, Tahi-Shei just kept on talking. Twisted stood still this time, no longer fidgeting like she was earlier, simply trying to comprehend everything the deer was saying. Masters. Powerful. Astraea. Nemean. Tenzin. The One Who Eats. Hold up, so those were the animals that supposedly ran everything? She didn't even know any of those names! ... Okay, maybe she knew Nemean. That little feline.... flying.... thing.... that orchestrated the Tunnel of Nightmares. Wait a second, she was a Master?!

Okay, this was getting a bit confusing. Twisted was just a cat. She hunted, she slept, she groomed her fur and ranted to herself about how annoying everyone else was. She didn't realize this place had fucking power rankings. Still, she listened. Here came a description of Vargas himself, and she internally visioned him as some sort of massive purple porcupine. Ha, ha. Then there was Overseer Alpha. 'Alpha... like "prime"? "first"?' Six legs, very tall, possibly also a porcupine. Good information to know.

And then Astraea. Her muzzle scowled a bit at the name. It sounded pretentious. She couldn't put her paw onto exactly why. More pretentious than "Alpha" is, anyway. A stag like Tahi, covered in fungal growth-- that phrase made her emerald eyes drift up to his crown. Did he get that by being an associate of Astraea? He certainly described him positively, even if he did admit most of the Masters were "cruel" and "unpopular". And finally, the deer didn't care much about what the Masters have done, just that he can drive Mother out at any cost.

Whoo. Monologue done.

Those were a lot of words to digest and just a little time to do so. The siamese figured she had the basic jist of it: Masters strong. Masters mean. Masters no like Mother. Tahi-Shei no like Mother. Tahi work with Masters. That was it, right? "Really went home with the descriptions, huh?" Twisted mused. "And yeah, that's all." With a sweep of her curled tail, she began padding back to her den. Where she was intending to go in the first place. And, of course, paused. "Scratch that. Not all. So when and where will we be taken to Vargas for our... teaching? Important info, y'know."

@Tahi-Shei

With most Gembound, he might have given a sheepish smile and apologized. He knew that he talked too much. However, Tahi-shei did not like Twisted, and he had very little respect for her time, so he just replied with a prim, "It is best to be thorough." He cleared his throat.

"I will teach you in Orion, in a few weeks's time. Once I have prepared all of you as best I can prepare you, I will bring you to Draco to meet with Master Vargas and his own army. From there, he will be the one to whom we all answer to, at least until this has come to an end." He flicked an ear. "You are at an advantage -- you already have skill with fungal magic. That is more than many of them will have."

He glanced down at Twisted, and then gestured that he was going to leave. Unless she had more questions, he supposed.

@twisted
/exit tahi-shei unless stopped(?)

Twisted simply grunted at Tahi-Shei's words. There was a clear disparity in how the two viewed each other, even if she didn't notice it. He disliked her. She was simply impressed that the conversation hadn't turned into a brawl yet. That was a compliment for the feline.

Ah, so he'd be teaching them? That was a little surprising, but nothing to shout about. When the sika was done she nodded in understanding, flicking her ear a little at the sorta-compliment. Go to Orion, great. The tunnel lead right up to there, and while she never stayed long the star-speckled cave was familiar. She could make it no-problem.

"Sounds good." Her voice was calm, a bit less rough compared to when the conversation started. "I'll see you there." Twisted dipped her head as the deer left, taking the opportunity herself to pad back down the tunnel, clamber up the rock wall and curl up in her little nook. God, she needed sleep right now.

Little mushrooms waved in the breeze.

Exit Twisted.
@Tahi-Shei for visibility