He had followed Bacchus from Orion, carefully monitering the direction he had been wandering. It was from quite a distance away - an hour, perhaps, trailing behind, so there was no chance he would detect his stalker. It wasn't that Anubis was curious about Bacchus himself, but of the wish he had granted. The sudden change in his demeanor and obsession was...strange. And things he did not know he found himself curiously trailing.

He followed to the edge of the prison, where he waited before the shadowy depths. It would not be smart to venture into those utterly dark depths when he could not see and had no knowledge of his quarry's sight. So he waited, patiently, almost statue-like in his place. With a tinge of loneliness, without an Aati to keep him company. Yet still, he watched, until the golden pelt came stepping out from the dark.

When he made to rub against Anubis, he seemed to lean back, almost vaguely disgusted at the proximity, but tentatively allowed it, still quickly shaking off his pelt once the leopard had retreated. Cycles upon cycles alone, he realized, make make one averse to such contact, but if he wanted to play and dance around with this leopard, there would be need to keep him happy.

"Bacchus," he greeted. "What did you find? A garden?" He frowned. How would that fulfill the wish he had set? Perhaps there was more to it then a simple garden. But...Bacchus seemed pleased. That, at least, gave him some relief.

He sniffed and raised his muzzle slightly up. "Children? Yes, I created one for a similar experiment. It was...educational, yet they are hard to hold onto. You will have to be careful. They can be...exhausting. And incredibly disruptive." He held no ill-will for Fiver, of course, he had been useful to his obsessive research, but the amount of attention he had to divert to keep him complacent and nearby had taken much away from his studies. It was not an experience he particularly wished to repeat.

But...the prisons before them, a maze within a maze, Bacchus said?

He stepped around the leopard, peering into the dark. "And this place you have found...what is it? It smells of death." Indeed, the stale, dank air held wisps of ancient decay, not unfamiliar to one who spent his time watching the cycle of life and death tumble and turn before his eyes. Without really waiting for an answer, he stepped past the leopard, as if drawn within the dark.

Anubis listened to Bacchus's plans as he led the way back into the prison, his mind cut in two places. One part, listening, interested enough in what the leopard was saying, other half fascinated in the prison complex. As he stepped, magic reached out to touch the history of the stone where he walked, whispers for what bloody, tormented history's echoes were trapped within these walls.

He looked back at Bacchus and found he could see nothing but a silhouette against the dim lighting outside. That was fine, Anubis was not afraid of the dark. He had spent many cycles trapped deep in Canis, starving, dark, alone. He had died there, and come back. He would not do the same here.

"You have thought about this a lot." A cold, emotionless observation. No judgement, but a spark of dark interest. "I would like to observe this, if you would allow me. I am fascinated to know...how life will be stunted, grown in the dark. How their eyes develop when they can see so little. Will they cower or fight? Try to run, or be complacent? Will they turn to violence against one another, or against you? Or will they believe what honeyed words you offer?"

He turned back to look at the prison again. "Yes. I like it. I would like to pick apart its very walls."

At first, Anubis stopped because he was genuinely surprised by Bacchus's offer. His stone...and life? And then he was rendered shock-still by the images passing through him, the screams pressing into his ears, echoes of a time when this prison was alive with death and pain. He came out of the vision the same as he had before, but with more insight, more interest. He had figured this place, with its stagnant air and gloomy halls, was once a place of torment and misery.

That did not deter him one bit.

He turned back, small fungal shelves beginning to roll up the sides of the wall, casting both of them in dim, green, bioluminescent light. He stared at Bacchus, eyes flashing in the dark.

"I am offering a partnership. You carry out your...experiment. I observe in my way, contribute as needed. What knowledge I glean will be shared - knowledge of life, of death, and of this very prison whose foul heart I will tear open." His eyes widened a fraction. "I have already Seen - those imprisoned here screamed for their lives. They bled and died. For what purpose, I do not yet know. I will share this with you, when I do."

He stopped for a moment, a beat of silence falling between them. "And you will give me my space, to research, and access to observe your...children. And, perhaps, a sample from your garden, here and there, for my own testing. I am most interested in what you have discovered. I will...give you life or stone or both, if you need. But I will not raise them - that will be your responsibility." He blinked. "I think this seems a fair partnership."

Anubis nodded, the deal struck, the partnership made. To darker depths they would travel together, at last a true research partner after so many cycles studying alone. Although he would have to find a suitable place to set up his own space - he still worked best when it was one on one between researcher and subject.

"Without substrate to feed, they will die quickly," was his only further response. He watched, for a moment, with wide, gleaming eyes as Bacchus turned to leave. For a moment, he itched to reach out and brush against the retreating leopard's tail, to implant a different kind of spore to travel up and into the brain, to ensure that this partnership would be fruitful...but ah, there was no need to waste his magic. Unless Bacchus exhibited any concerning behaviors, this was a favorable deal as it was. He would keep an eye, however.

He turned himself around in the opposite direction and stalked further into the darkness, quickly swallowed by the depths.

*exit