ORIGIN - Stop, drop. And drag me into place. And lock the fire escapes.

[Backdated to when the festival was still taking place]

Aran found himself moving away from the fall festival, away from all of the chatter and the fun. Aran himself wasn't really having much fun in it, except for maybe minuscule conversations he held in the place that could be held anywhere else in the caves. He wasn't one for festivities like that, and it was pretty obvious by how quickly he got out of there. Or maybe it was because of fear of a damn child. He didn't know why he reacted like that, at being told Pegasus had an alligator tail.... Well. No that was a lie, he did know why.

It just didn't make sense.

He shouldn't fear something that had nothing to do with his blindness. That kid had nothing to do with it, and yet.... the mention of an Alligator made the fear receptors in his brain go off and made him want to avoid it. he doubted a kid could even hurt him, at least one that was as new as that one. Breathing out an angry sigh, which was projected at himself and not anyone else, Aran lifted his head.

"You wanted to talk."

@James

James approached from behind, wings held close to his sides, ears perked forward, "I did. I... I wish you wouldn't think of my child like... that. I have... a suspicion, that you were the friend Tahi avenged. You know what happened with Elias, don't you?"

He quickly moved forward and held Aran's shoulders with his wings, keeping him from running, "I-I know about it, yes, a-and... I went to the Collector."

He looked ashamed as he uncovered the sling he'd received, a well-made item made from what looked to be a reptile. Specifically... alligator. When he'd left the cave with it, he'd had a vision.

"I've refused to think about what this is made of, b-but he cursed this," James said, shuddering, "A-and I saw a glimpse of Elias' memories, of what happened. And... I don't blame you. It was the biggest misunderstanding, okay? Elias said things and sounded like he was going to do it again, a-and I understand! Okay? A-and I'm sorry that the Collector's tried to ruin the lot of us. Tahi, Ari, you, me, and even my child, Comet."

He threw the sling back and clenched his eyes shut, "... He can't get away with this. No longer! I-I ask you to help me, Aran. If you want, and if you can. I want you to help me either turn his name into a bad omen so that no one goes to him again, o-or if it comes to it..."

He didn't want to say it.

"We might have to kill him," he breathed out.

@Aran

James seemed to catch on about how Aran felt of Pegasus, even if no words were shared about it. He'd tried to be as polite as possible, really. The kid didn't harm him in any way, and the kid likely wouldn't. Not with James as his parent. Still, though, Aran couldn't control the feelings he got about certain things. He could have tried harder to not seem bothered by it. James spoke, and Aran's ears went down.

"Tahi didn't avenge anything." Aran replied to that. "I was the one that offered to kill the alligator for him." He added after a short pause.

Aran never told Tahi to finish the job. Still, after his visit with the collector it seemed the other deer would have done it either way, if Aran had gotten hurt or not. It made sense. Was understandable, even. He didn't ask how James found out, Tahi must have said something, or the Collector since the other went for something too. Either way it didn't matter much. Aran got into that situation himself.

"The collector didn't have anything to do with my blindness. I brought that on myself, the collector didn't wrong me." he replied to that. It was true, wasn't it? The collector didn't tell Aran to do what he did. He offered to do it himself.

"I tried to bring the alligator back, you know. I was going to ask one of the groups to take it. It didn't work, though. Which is too bad." Tahi said the gator deserved to have a try at a new life, and Aran didn't agree at first but it made some sense.

James talking about committing murder was surprising though. He didn't take the winged-horse to do something like that.... but with what the Collector showed him. Well... he could see it coming.

"I don't doubt the Collector is stronger than all of us. I'm not going to die trying to take down a gembound that could easily kill everyone with his knowledge." A pause. "But if you wanted me to help, I suppose I couldn't say no." He ended the statement, still not making any eye contact. Was he guilty? Is that what this was?

@James

James frowned, "But it happened. That's what happened."

He sighed and looked down, ears pinning, "The Collector is a manipulator, Aran. He... he promised not to give me an enchanted item, and he lied. He's a liar and a cheat and he wants only misfortune upon these caves! I fear if he isn't stopped, then there will be greater and greater consequences for the next Gembounds who bargain with him."

He wouldn't commit murder. He couldn't. It wasn't in his nature to do such a thing, even for his loved ones. He'd hurt, yes, but he couldn't kill.

"He manipulated you and Tahi into killing Elias. And then he dragged me into it, not to mention what he did to Ari, making him watch as he killed those stones," he growled, and then shook his head, "But... That may be a discussion to have with some of the Masters, too."

He sighed, wilting like a flower, exhausted and tired.

"... Anyway," he mumbled, "I'm sorry we couldn't talk earlier. But- excuse my curiosity- how did you lose your vision?"

@Aran

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

Suicidal thoughts

Thoughts of death

"I didn't die, James. I'm standing right here in front of you." But you could have. And that thought was shoved so far back into his head and he didn't want to come back to it. He'd been thinking about that a lot, lately. Though it was more he should have willingly let himself die, rather than someone doing it for him. Which, truly was a stupid idea but it was always there.

Aran figured the Collector was something like James described, however the danger of it was lost on him. What about sharing information with other gembound was dangerous? Sure, the things gembound got for the trades could be dangerous, but with a guy like the Collector that seemed extremely obvious. A gembound doesn't just wrap themselves up in secrecy without having something to hide, and he thought at least James would have understood that.

"You can't expect someone to be like that and not have something to hide." He brought up. "Someone with as much power and information as him would be obvious as someone like that, almost like what the blacksmith before described." Honestly it seemed stupid of gembound to even get manipulated by someone so obviously dangerous. Aran knew what he was getting into when he took his deal, but from what was being told to him, he got the good end of the stick.

"The Collector had nothing to do with why I accepted to travel with Tahi. He only asked me to help him if something came up, not the collector. If you want to blame someone, blame the deer for saying yes to my offer, and then blame the collector for giving the offer in the first place." It didn't sound like James understood what he was trying to say, but Aran's voice remained even. "I didn't take a deal with Tahi when he went to the collector."

"I'm not defending the Collector, since he was obviously dangerous despite his faux niceness, but you do have to think about more than him just being dangerous in the first place."

The conversation seemed to quickly switch to something else, and Aran wondered if it was because James was too tired to try to drill things into his head. Really, he wouldn't be surprised.

"My chrysalis did it. I could see when I went in and couldn't when I got out." It was the only answer to that question he could give.

@James

"You sound like you are," James said, ears pinning, "The things the Collector gives can be made. I have an ability now, it's called Enchanting. I imbue spells into items to, for example, make them light up, allow you to read minds, things like that. I don't have need of the Collector, and because such an ability can be learned by others, he's not needed. He's making Gembound kill each other for nothing!"

The Collector wasn't a murderer himself, no. But he sure was the influence behind many of them.

"You don't get what I'm saying," James sighed, "My point is that he's caused too many of my loved ones to be hurt or almost hurt. Tahi's crown is covering his eyes, you know. Soon he'll be blind too. He caused the death of Ari and gave my child a necklace that can cause hurricanes, not only endangering her but everyone else in the cave!"

The Collector was a bad person.

@Aran

Aran knew he sounded like he was defending the Collector. Which, he kind of was if someone read into the lines. Aran wasn't a good person, he would feel like a hypocrite if he went against what the collector did. Aran murdered, tried to, anyway. He could manipulate people if he felt like it, he hurt people's family. The only thing he was missing was the dangerous enchantments.

"I can Enchant too, you know. I was there when the Blacksmith showed everyone what to do." Which, truly was his only response to that.

He did get James' point, he was telling the deer that a lot of gembound had been hurt by the collector. Which, sure, he could see that. Aran could have saw it coming. That didn't mean he was going to stop his deal with the collector, though. You don't just stop bargains when you make them, that's how you got yourself killed.

"I already said I would help you." He voiced. "We don't have to keep talking about this." He paused.

"I'm sorry he hurt your family, but us standing here isn't going to do anything about it. Just... Give me time."

@James

James just nodded and looked away, frowning. He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his wings before turning back to the festival.

"I need to go back," he said, "I can't leave Pegasus on his own, and I don't think Comet wants to be stuck with babysitting anyway."

He didn't meet Aran's eyes, too lost in thought, his mouth down-turned. He made his way back towards his booth, leaving Aran to do what he wanted.

@Aran
exit unless stopped

He could hear the stress coming from the horse, and Aran wondered if it was because of his horrible answers. Was he going to lose his friend over this? It felt like it. James was emotional, Aran wasn't. Somehow he wondered if he was turning into the kind of gembound that wouldn't even keep his friends alive. Would he turn against them all?

"If you want to do this, I will help you." He replied. "I just need time." Came his words when James said he was leaving.

Though he offered nothing else as the horse trotted off. The deer turned around, ears down, in the opposite direction.

@James for visibility Exit