Nidhogg bristled, almost comically so. The quills along his body stood stiffly on end, and he jerked further upright. "YES I HAVE," was his instant retort, and he puffed and arched his neck up with a liar's pride. "TWICE!" He then deflated just a little, and hesitated. "...Today." So, yeah, it was basically his first time.

But anyway!

He jerked around to stare at the chrysalis again, then--attention always wandering--back to Relic. "Wait, which war?!" he demanded. Nidhogg wasn't sure which fights had been battles, and which ones wars. He knew some had gone well. Some had gone poorly. He remembered now that Relic had been there for at least one of the former. But the other stuff-?

"I DIDN'T SCREW ANYTHING UP!" Emphasis on the "I;" even if the rest of the Forge had lost a war somewhere, Nidhogg wasn't taking any blame.

@Relic

Nidhogg's immediate, defensive hostility made Relic snort - whether her amusement antagonised him further wasn't something she was concerned with. Bigger fish to fry.

"Whichever one that happened in Canis, and ended with it covered in that... Fungus. I don't know what it is exactly, but it smelled like something died, and then something that grew from the corpse, then died again." She flicked an ear, looking towards Draco's exit [or the dimly lit tunnel she assumed led there]. "Lots of bugs. Big ones - bone white 'n ugly."

Her attention returned. "I'm sure you didn't. I mean, uh-" Was Vargas out of earshot? "The higher-ups." She gave him a conspiratorial squint, a reassurance that she and him were on the same team here; The lower class to the Forge's bourgeoisie. "I heard they lost three caves to the Hive. Three! And I've seen you all fight - most of you. Your management needs to get with the times, I say."

And, considering the circumstances of the rest of Nidhogg's brood, they were attempting to. Too little too late in her humble opinion.

@Nidhogg

Oh.

Nidhogg could've shown some modicum of cunning, here: leaned into Relic's offer, and snickered about how stupid those higher-ups indeed were.

Instead, his mind flashed back. So, okay, he didn't really know about the whole 'fungus' thing. To say he'd pay attention during literally any briefing would be a lie. He knew there'd been a battle, though. They'd won that cave, he'd been there, the Drones had been fought and the word 'fungus' did kind of ring a little bell. Vaguely. Sort of.

But his memories of that day consisted of rushing straight into a trap, falling into a pit, gaining a horrible wound from shoulder to hind leg (one that had left a jagged scar beneath his oily coating), and then missing several attacks in a row. Admittedly he'd survived, which was better than one could say for some: but almost at once, his memory of "war," "battle" and "fungus" had him bristling defensively again. "I fought in the big cave with all the ocean! We won!" he declared, and his skittering-forward and indignant pride was a full-on attempt to hide his embarrassment at having fucked up so badly. "We fought all the big white assholes. The drones. And we killed them or chased them away. Wait--did we LOSE somewhere?!" he demanded, that pride now pricked.

If they had--if nobody had TOLD him about it (they had. he hadn't listened.) he'd be SO PISSED. In fact, he might have to go deal with it himsWAIT A MINUTE.

A long squint. A stare.

"Is that the white shit all over Canis?"

@Relic

She blinked, surprised that her subtle [and VERY charismatic] shift of the blame hadn't done anything to drop his guard. If Relic were a more compassionate animal she would've offered a gentle pat on the back and a 'I'm sure you did great sweetie,' but she held her tongue and saved her strength. She would already be a mother to one; Babying two gembound at once was well out of both her ability and interest.

She was careful in her wording, or tried to be. "The Forge lost in 3 'somewheres', actually. Canis, Eridanus, Gemini - all smothered in mushrooms and crawling with brain-washed lessers." It made travel harder than it had been before, though it'd never been easy. She weighed briefly in her mind which'd been worse - the hostile vacuum of Tunnel K, or the foul smelling sick of Canis when it fell? Maybe she had decided on an answer in the past. Whatever it had been, it was worth reevaluating.

The pause and the stare made her a little nervous. What cogs were turning in his brain right now? She couldn't tell for the life of her. "Yeah?" She responded, hesitant.

@Nidhogg

Whatever gears turned Nidhogg's tiny brain, his exceptionally long pause might have been accompanied by a single-note, blank tune.

He was thinking, at least. He was pissed, and belatedly registering the blame on the Masters and agreeing with it, but in a different way than Relic had likely intended. "I'm gonna FUCK CANIS UP!" he hissed and spat, catlike--and it was with sudden, genuine fury. He'd never really cared about anything before, but this-? These caves were Forge territory, and--"VARGAS IS SUCH A SHIT! He didn't tell me about this!"

It should be noted here that the Leviathan had, in fact, mentioned it profusely. He had even tried to enlist, and order, and cajole, and entice through rewards, others of the Forge for cleansing these caves. Nidhogg just... hadn't been there. Or hadn't heard. Or had ignored it all, or hadn't actually noted a single word that had been bellowed close beside him and had, in fact, even snapped an alert "YES, I UNDERSTAND" automatically when roused from a mild daydream by Vargas demanding to know if Nidhogg had understood the detailed situation report.

Anyway.

He turned as if to immediately depart for Canis, then turned, blinking too many eyes at Relic. "Oh. Uh. Do you wanna raise the baby together?" he asked, as if it were an afterthought. In fairness, it was probably a good thing to clarify before he just... left, like that. "I dunno if it'll be Forge or what. Vargas didn't say. But we got two already so-..." A shrug of oiled black shoulders indicated that Nidhogg didn't have a clue.

@Relic

“Yeah” was enough to trigger the missile launch. The flurry of expletives was startling, but Relic only managed a blink in reaction. It was safe to say her brain was distracted today, and by many, many thoughts. Too many, one might say. As Nidhogg’s fury [briefly] dimmed, they rose to the surface again, a roaring current, the sheer momentum and amount of different feelings crashing together into complete meaninglessness, into a single, horrifying, static.

So when Nidhogg turned, having something that he had apparently forgotten to address - she leaped at the opportunity to prolong the interaction. Just a little longer. Just a little less thinking. No matter that the question was difficult and challenging, and maybe even stoked that forest fire.

”Uh.” She tensed. ”I dunno - sorry.” More quiet. Bad. ”I’ll visit, I guess. But I don’t want to stick around too long in Draco - or in the Forge. It’s not my style.

“If you need help, I can offer it.” She selfishly, silently hoped the valkhound’s pride would keep him from asking.

@Nidhogg

Wish: granted, if only in a questionable abandoning of his own duty, as Nidhogg took an almost absent glance at the chrysalis before agreeing "Yeah, okay." He shook himself thoroughly, quills clattering, and a glowing tongue dipped out to lash his snout. "I need to go find out if I can go to Canis. Fuck that white shit," he muttered, back to filthy-mouthed swearing.

At least he was being coherent, rather than just hissing, for once.

Chartreuse eyes shot back to Relic, then, as he had a Thought. "-Did you want anything else?" He was finding, unusually, that he didn't mind her company; but he had stuff to kill. Maybe if she had more questions, or wanted to hang out--cool.

If not, he was gonna get permission to go to war, but like, alone. Probably.

@Relic