ORIGIN - working late

There was something very strange happening in the caves, Linea had realised. Many of the younger gembound looked like Lessers, and many more didn't have numbers-- merely, names. They hadn't been granted them. Most made them up (I suppose all names are 'made up'...) or named themselves after things.

Like many things, this information was filed away for Overseer Ogvraz. She was, perhaps, proud of the report she was preparing so far-- if that was what this emotion was, barely bubbling --but some part of her knew that, perhaps, Ogvraz wouldn't be very happy about what was going on.

Linea had heard how they spoke. Ogvraz would eat them.

Or set them on fire.

Or crush them.

Or all three.

It didn't matter much to her-- and this lack of empathy wasn't a matter of cruelty. It was matter-of-fact, an absolute, a truth she had accepted some six thousand years ago. As long as Linea spoke when spoken to, did her job, and respected the Overseers and Masters, she would survive.

And survive she did. Talons clicked near-silently on the cave floor as Linea crept her way into Pisces; the roar of the waterfall hitting her ears. The lights were dimming, likely soon to go out, but much of that didn't matter to her anyway. By the entrance to Pisces, her ears twisted one way and then the other.

A mouse skittering across the ground. Water lapping against rock. The sigh of a half-lesser somewhere distant, perhaps falling asleep.

Linea was still, and then she was loping across the cave with a melodic click, click, click to where the water met the shore, bending her head. The Valkhound's lower jaw split to scoop water into her maw, drinking quickly.

And then she fell still again, settling carefully down by the edge of the deep lagoon. Do your job, Linea encouraged herself quietly, ears twitching back and forth as she continued to listen to the surrounding cave, waiting.

A rat grinding its teeth. The zzzip of a bird preening its feathers. The roar of the waterfall.

@Amber

A faint clattering would have announced Amber's presence long before her actual hovel was revealed. She hadn't moved, much, in those cycles that she'd been awake- if she had chrysalized in this cave, then damn it, she'd stay in this cave. Maybe somebody was looking for her.

Maybe they hadn't forgotten about her.

Her eyes shut briefly and tightly as she lifted her head, inhaling deeply. Waiting was hard, even after all this time. Temptation dangled just in front of her, in the tunnels she stood in front of every few days, in the creatures passing to and from their destinations, to her hesitation in interaction. They were Lessers. Brown Lessers, all too small or simple to be sentient. Right?

And so Amber sat, her paws cradling rocks and pebbles as she moved them from place to place. There was a nice bit of limestone she'd acquired today- she'd place it by the diorite, then. That would work. Letting out a huff of satisfaction, Amber turned in her expanded cavern and pushed towards the entrance.

Debris had been piled up to block incoming traffic long ago. It took effort to push it aside, but it kept the false Lessers from coming in meddling like they had before. Or, it might have just been a normal lesser. She didn't know and she didn't care too much on the semantics- it was her holdout, and she would keep it in top condition until she was found.

Her broad head pushed out from the cave. Her rock-doorway fell away slowly, and she had to drag herself out through a loudly developing exit. What now? More waiting, she figured, same as yesterday and same as tomorrow. Her back legs were pulled from her home with a sigh. Another day of nothing. Even laborers needed their tasks to keep them busy, and Amber had been idle for too long.

Her ears flicked at the sound of clicking, though. Not rocks, not debris falling- no, that was a creature. An animal. Blinking hard (and hoping for someone), Amber pushed herself forward, her mind already racing to figure out what was the source. Did any of the false Lessers sound like that? The deer like ones, perhaps- those with hooves. But these were precise hits. Hesitantly, she kept within view of her hovel as she called out, "Hello?"

If it was just another non-sentient, well, she'd just go back to organizing, again and again and again.

@Linea

Something burrowing underneath her feet, scraping dirt from stone. A fish breaching the surface. Clattering. A voice--

Linea turned her head, ears high. Her initial, instinctive thought was Ogvraz-- but no. It was much too quiet, much too... polite. The valkhound began to push herself back up, head lifting.

She could sense them, barely. A strong but steady heartbeat thumping away and, when Linea began edging closer towards the source with a sense of mild caution, she could see them.

Amber would have been about double Linea's height-- she could see thick front paws for digging, thick shoulders. A beast of burden, or something similar, perhaps, but they looked distinctly... not new. Old. Like her.

The clicking returned as Linea crept forward, soon coming to a stop a little distance from Amber-- because you could never be too sure --and called out. "Who are you?"

A pause. "I am Titanite One-Five-Two," she went on, her voice melodic but her tone oddly robotic; matter-of-fact, automatic, reciting the numbers engraved into her memory. "I was granted the name Linea."

Another pause. Linea leant forward a little; catching sight of the hovel nearby. Did-- what were they doing in a hole? "Are-- you digging...?" She asked quietly, with some sense of-- she supposed --curiosity.

@Amber

Amber froze when she laid eyes on Linea. She was- right. The purple and green, the build. It was an immediate sense of comfort. She couldn't look away, and her eyes roamed over Linea as she stared.

But they were talking. Briefly, Amber was taken aback, stepping to the side as her head raised. Dust drifted from her shoulders as she stared in disbelief. She barely listen to what Linea had said, instead blurting out, "You're- normal." Her throat locked up as she hesitantly approached. Though, seeing Linea keep her distance (Linea! With a designation!), she only took small steps, stopping partially between them with her eyes wide.

She straightened at the next question. "Digging? Uh- Y- Uh. Yes! Yeah. Mostly. Um. I was waiting for a Hand, or someone, you know." She ended it with a nervous laugh, half-turning to the pile with a worry. "Should I not have? I'm just-" She stopped again. Wait- she hadn't even told Linea who she was.

She brought her head back up, watching Linea. "I'm Amber-Eight. Just a laborer." A nervous swallow later and her claws came together, forcing her broad shoulders forward more as she sunk into herself. Hesitantly, she shut her eyes tight and sighed before staring back to Linea. "Do you know what's going on? Where is everybody?"

Everybody normal was the implication. Not the odd Lessers, no, those like Amber. Like Linea.

@Linea

Linea's ears twitched, briefly angling behind her to listen to another fish breach water, and then swivelled around back to Amber.

An Amber. That made sense. She watched the Amber start taking small steps forward and Linea hobbled forward to meet her at a more friendly distance, sitting back onto her haunches and craning her head up to look at Amber.

She wasn't sure how to respond to her first statement, though. "You're normal," was what she went with, her tone laced with... humour? Albeit, the kind of distant, absently friendly humour you'd offer a co-worker. "It is good to see you."

And it was. Genuinely. Linea had only heard of one Overseer and she was hesitant to go to him; content to keep doing her work for Ogvraz and wait for things to turn normal again once he returned. She hasn't seen anyone like her, like Amber, since she re-awoke.

Linea's head turned to the hovel. "I don't know," she said. She wasn't a Hand or an Overseer or anything, and she supposed the tunnels were already dug out. "And-- no, I don't know what's going on, either."

Comforting, that must have been.

"I can't find my Overseer," she said. "Or his Hands. I can't find-- anyone. There are no other Titanites and you're the only Amber I've found. I've heard Overseer Vargas is awake and around, but..."

Her jaws tightened. The name Vargas should have been enough to know why she wasn't intentionally looking for him. Although it wasn't uncommon for the Overseers to be violent and unpredictable, something about Vargas in particular made Linea's gut turn.

She tried not to show it. "I have been continuing to monitor them," the creature went on-- melodic, automatic, polite --them being the Lessers, and the weather. "What have you been doing?"

@Amber

The amber's ears flicked in humor at the reaction, grinning wide for a brief moment. If they were co-workers, then Amber was certainly a bit too friendly here. Still, she sat when Linea did, like some awkward, oversized horse.

Her head dipped as her counterpart continued on. If she didn't know what was going on, who did? How long would it be before they found someone who did? A soft rumble sounded from her throat as her claws scraped on the ground, nails clicking in thought. She took a deep breath. Linea's mention of Vargas struck a chord in her mind, but she couldn't place a finger on it- she wasn't familiar of most beings outside of those she'd seen in her day to day life. Vargas wouldn't've been one of them. Hell, she rarely saw any of her own Overseer, only given orders through Hands or other processes.

Anyways. On to professionalism, and Amber tossed her head to stare at her hovel in thought. She hesitated before giving an answer- what else could she say? She had done nothing. There no orders, so what else should she have done? With another shuffle, she turned back to Linea, dipping her head a little bit more. "Waiting," she simply responded, her voice quiet. "I don't have anything else to do."

What a poor excuse for a laborer. She should have been working, not just collecting rocks and stones for no reason. She needed a reason. She needed those orders. Her eyes shut as her ears dipped, her nostrils flaring as she let out a loud breath.

"Could we- do you know who might have answers? Where we can go? I- I have nothing, here, but I have nothing anywhere else, I-" She rambled on before catching herself, choking up her throat as she watched Linea with wide eyes. No. Don't load this onto a stranger. With a trembling breath, she forced herself to sit up straighter, somehow looking so small despite her size. "We could find someone." There. That sounded better. "Someone to report to. Overseer Vargas would be a start- he has to have people under him, people we can ask. People who- report to him, and others."

Problem one, they'd need to find where the Overseer would even be. Problem two? Don't get eaten along the way. "He monitored uh- others, for something, right? I don't recall much. Or uh, anything, anymore." And there went her head again, going back down as she glanced away. She knew it could have been a mistake to forget. She didn't usually forget. "All I know is to not... Talk to him. Or Overseers. But we might have to."

Oh, how her gut turned at even thinking of that. Her eyes shut again as she grimaced lightly, shoulders hunching up. She was happy just moments before, but this talk- all of this, was just uncomfortable.

@Linea

Linea's head twisted briefly upwards, and then dipped back down into a nod-- of which was more directed to herself than it was to Amber. Her jaw split and then unsplit, grinding together for a moment as she thought to herself.

Of course, she had no idea Vargas wasn't even an overseer anymore. "I do not know his exact location," she went on, as even-toned as she could be, for someone very unsure. She fought against herself in her own head-- the desire to keep working versus the feeling of dread that came from the idea of talking to Vargas.

"I do not know what he was... overseeing either, no," she went on. Her eyes darted to Amber, half-blindly trying to get a better look at her. She could tell, at least, that she seemed to share some of the discomfort she was feeling.

Now, socialization wasn't exactly a point Linea had made in the past-- truthfully, the only person she had spoken to properly was Ogvraz, and even that was quite a generous statement. Talking to Ogvraz was more a game of Don't Get Eaten.

Which was a game Linea was very good at, considering she was still alive.

Still. She shook her head a little to get herself back on track. Her inital thought was to give some kind of comfort to this Amber-- but what comfort she could give to a total stranger was beyond her. Instead--

"No," she said, as gently as one could manage. "I don't have anything else to do either." Being able to relate was a comfort, at least, right?

Her head turned and her ears swivelled. Splashing. Rats. Something-- something knocking over in the hovel that Amber had emerged from. Linea half-pushed up, her nose working, staring off behind Amber before she looked back to the valkhound.

There was a long pause. "Your... den," she murmured. "What do you have in there?"

@Amber