Zoey returned to her garden, knowing that she might be gone for an entire cycle. The plants here needed tending, though... Mostly, they needed watering. If she was lucky, it might rain while she was patrolling in Canis, but... It wasn't something she wanted to bet on.

She had a solution. Labradorite was going to be coming with her on her patrol to Canis, which was her original "plan A", but... Plan B would do nicely as well. But first, she needed materials. She wandered the forests of Pegasus, collecting suitable sticks that would be sturdy enough for her needs, and long reeds from the nearby river. Since she had an image in her mind, it was easy enough to decide on what materials she would need, and what would be suitable.

While at the riverbed collecting reeds (slicing through them with her mandibles made quick work of the job), she also studied the shoreline, and managed to find several small chunks of stone that had washed up. They were slightly smoothed by the water, but she found a few that were a nice triangular shape, and small enough for the precision she needed.

Gathering them all was another matter. She set the reeds aside, putting the stones she liked in a little pile, and returned to the garden to fetch one of the hallowed out melons she had preserved with her magic. She had to hold it very carefully in her tail pincer both to the river, and once full of materials, back to the farm.

It took a few hours, but she had everything she needed. Now came the trickier part, given her lack of thumbs.

The Zoisite laid down with their pile of sticks, reeds and stones, resting in a half-lounging, half sitting pose on their elbows. They had one advantage: their upside-down head made the position natural to look at their front talons as they painstakingly grasped at individual reeds and began to tie sticks together into a thick bundle.

The main torso needed to be sturdy, since this creation would need to not only walk on its own, but carry things. It took several attempts to get the body shape right, and the legs... Came together well enough. She made the legs shorter and stockier than the body, and gave it long, hulking arms... It would walk hunched, using one arm to support the weight of its body and its load, while the other arm held its payload.

The trickiest part was the hands. Delicate fingers of smaller twigs, ending with those triangular stones for claws. The three fingers looked functional enough when all was said and done, but the thumb that the Zoisite needed was trickier to get right. They ended up putting a thumb on both sides of the hand, just to get the reed-tie to hold.

Ironically, maybe subconsciously intentional, the golem was beginning to look like a stick-version of Vargas in miniature.

They tested each joint for flexibility, uncertain if it would hold... Hopefully the magic would make it more stable that their craftsmanship.

They took a break for now, grabbing a snack of several berries from the nearby bush. The small, blue-purple fruits were sour, not quite ripe yet, but once they had ripened, the local bird population would probably decimate the bush before any Forge members got to them.

It was a light snack, but a quick zip of sugar. Hopefully that would be enough. It was time to make the magic part happen.

Purpose, Zoey thought softly. Meaning.

"I need you to take care of the farm while I am gone, V-Golem-One," the Zoisite spoke softly, willing the magic to spill forth. The magic came forward with a surge, tail snapping at the air, and a horrible dread fell over the Zoisite.

Nothing happened. Was something wrong? A sense of panic clawed at them. What if this was a temporary sentience? Was she dooming this little fragment of herself to-- to be a slave to the whims of the Forge? What would happen if she was late coming back, and the magic sizzled out? Maybe it wasn't a life, not truly, but if the living plants and little insects were life living on instinct, who was she to say this wasn't--

A shutter ran through it.

The farm needed this.

The Forge Needed the Farm. It was going to be gone, and its absence could mean dire consequences. There was new life coming to the Forge soon. Food was necessary. The sacrifice of one piece of itself was necessary.

To live was to die and to kill and destroy. These plants were already dead, cut free of their roots, the scent of their sap the last screams they would make. The Zoisite would bring them back to life, fleetingly, and if it died again, it could be remade.

They were all just mechanical meat.

It would have to be enough.

The magic burst from the V-Zoisite-One as though the hesitation had simply been a dam, and now that dam was broken. The golem shuttered to life and jerked around, stone-claws scrapping at the earth.

It felt nothing as it looked upon its creation.

There was one more thing it needed to do.

It twisted, turning into the shape of an oroborus. Forcing its tail pincer to part as wide as it could, its front mandibles slipped between that deadly spot to pinch at the stone laid at the throat of its false head.

With some effort, a small fragment of sickly green-yellow zoisite was extracted from the tail. It turned back around to the golem, raising a talon limb to grasp the tool roughly.

It shoved its mandibles into the things chest, and implanted the piece of stone into its chest.

Now it would survive a cycle. It would work a cycle. It would be enough.

The worm looked upon its creation.

"Your designation is V-Golem-One," it said flatly. "You will follow the instructions of the Chaos Forge and Master Vargas."

"Your first task is: Fetch water from the river with this," it continued, pushing one of the smaller, hollowed out melons toward the animated bundle of sticks. "Water the soil inside this barrier. It must be damp, but not soaked. If it rains, do not do not water until the lights go out and back on again."

It did not enjoy giving these commands. It felt like a task ill-suited to it. To demand something from another, rather than acting of its own accord. But it needed to be done.

It watched to make certain the creation could handle the task it was given. V-Golem-One was able to hold the container, and began to trudge its way down to the river.

V-Zoisite-One followed.