"You make sure," Phlegethon warbled, head lowering much like a bird's would, "I will not stop if you don't and it tries to eat me." It was self-defense --- completely justified.

The monstrosity recoiled, itself, as Nox hissed. Much like a snake fight preparing to happen, its neck coiled back and it pushed itself up a little higher on its fins. "You will burn," it grumbled rather boldly. "The black is only so deep. It perches on the water like the long-legged bugs, dancing but never sinking." As long as it swam deep enough, no fire could touch Phlegethon. "Do not make me."

Carefully, though, the monstrosity closed its mouth and wound its neck back up. "What is family?"
@Nox

Nox considered this, parting her jaws for a moment so that her vision scanned Phlegethon- or what she could see of him. The scrutiny lasted a long moment, before she finally bowed her head in acknowledgement. If the long-limbed one attacked Phlegethon, then she would understand. "But if it doessss not. Then you will leave it alone," she rumbled, although it was uncertain if she meant it as a question or a command.

"You would need to be above the marsh to ssssssset it aflame," Nox pointed out. "To reach ssafety, you would need to go through it. The ssslime burns too fassssst, too violent... Trussssst me. I have burned many timesssss. I hope you do not ssssssuffer the ssssame pain." It was a warning, as much as it was advice. She had burned, indeed; but she would always return. Like the lights, and the lesser Gembounds that walked the caves, and the ancients that came long before, she would return. She was too old to let herself be put down so easily, especially not by her own child, who may well end up killing himself out of sheer stupidity. "...And you would burn all the food, too."

Phlegethon asked a question then that she was unprepared for. The draconian creature rumbled quietly to herself as she thought up a suitable answer, goosebumps rippling over slime with its chromatic sheen.

"Family issss... another that you can go to. It issss good."


"speech."

@Phlegethon

Really, Phlegethon had no reason to obey this larger creature other than on the basis that she was, indeed, larger than it. As much as it wanted to say no, the monstrosity merely grumbled, "I will leave it alone." Unfortunately, none of that mother-child instinct had been instilled in it. Fundamental respect would have to be established out of the fear of being eaten. That was already checked off on the list, so it'd begrudgingly listen.

"I do not need to be above," it pointed out, "I have burned beneath the waters, before." It really hadn't, but it was time for a pissing contest, apparently. Phlegethon totally knew more than this Gembound that had walked for far longer than it had. "The food would be dead and much easier to catch," it added, head moving side to side. The monstrosity didn't mean to be so arrogant, but it came off as such. It was frustrated by yet another obstacle in its mission to eat its kin; the very same one that had been present at its hatching, in fact. What was it supposed to do, now, that its goals had been obstructed rather permanently? There was no doubt that something that could fly, walk, and swim would catch it once word went on the wind that Phlegethon had eaten its siblings.

"Is family one? Or many?" It asked carefully, red eye glistening in the mists of Cetus.
@Nox

Nox rumbled quietly, accepting this with a bow of her head. "Thank you," she gurgled, seemingly pleased. She'd have to tell the long-legged child. All would be okay. She would have liked them to meet, and watch get along with one another. She wondered with a ripple of texture what had happened to the smallest of her spawn.

At the young one's claim, Nox eyed it doubtfully. She burbled with certainty "Then it issss not fire. Fire will not mix with the marsh water." Nox had never seen fire that burned underwater, but the concept was enough to terrify her, her skin shifting with slick sounds, dripping goop onto the earth. "No," she rumbled again, troubled by this one's eagerness to burn. "It would be nothing more than ash, no longer worth eating."

She shifted again as he asked once again about family, and thought deeply into the meaning of the word. Nox had never had a family, herself; not until now. So it was, really, a concept still alien to her. "It can be one or many," she answered, after a long pause.

"speech."

@Phlegethon

Phlegethon did not want to listen to its mother. Distantly, it contemplated how hungry it was. It ate yesterday, but wasn't sure if it had today. Munch time, maybe? The creature didn't trust Nox as far as it could throw her, though, and did not particularly seem in the business to lie in the marsh and wait for her to set it on fire. Too much vulnerability where it was known.

"Fire devours the air and the black. It births warmth and light and smoke," the monstrosity delivered rather cryptically. It was… oddly fitting, considering the origins of the slimy trio. Of course, the meaning of it was lost. "There is black in the water, but not deep enough." A rumbling sound came from its stomach, barely discernible from that of its "voice." "And if they run to the earth? They will only suffocate." The grasses and trees of Cetus ended somewhere, didn't it? Phlegethon did not leave Cetus, but it knew there were other caves. Where else could the others emerge from?

And family was many. "We are many."
@Nox

Nox gave a nod, her skin prickled into little points that made her discomfort plain to see. She did not like this discussion of fire, and she didn't like just how eager her child seemed to use it. "It doessss," she agreed. "And the marsh water kills it."

She huffed, a sound of confusion, as Phlegethon spoke of the marsh not being deep enough. Perhaps she was simply thick-headed, but her understanding of conversational skills was limited; and she didn't understand what he meant to imply by that. "Yesss. Light the marsh, and there will be no food left for you," she gurgled pointedly.

At that, she bowed her head in agreement. Indeed, family was many.

"speech."

Phlegethon grew wary at the prickling sensation that crept up and down the larger creature's body. It was not good at reading body language cues, but even it knew that that was likely not a positive response. Its skin crawled, tail halfway submerged in the swamp. Perhaps it should drop the threats of fire. "The food will not burn all the way. Fire is not insatiable if it cannot grow," the monstrosity concluded, pointedly electing to end with a firm statement. At some point, fire would die out, like anything in these Caves did. It was a matter of how soon it would be smothered.

Family was many. "Hunger and the small one are family? I do not like them." Oh, welcome back angsty Phlegethon. Nobody missed it. Its swan neck retreated into its body, the monstrosity looking less like Nessie and more like a less toothy mosasaurus. "I will ignore them if they do not attack me." They just ate as much as it and would spawn only struggles for food... as if there wasn't more than enough food in Cetus for all of them. Good think it hadn't discovered Aquarian yet.
@Nox

Nox seemed uncertain of how to take that closing statement, so she only acknowledged it with a low and gurgling snort. The idea of family was continued, however. She let out a low sigh. Trying to protect her small, and fragmented family was proving to be more of a chore than she anticipated. Who knew that children required work? Certainly Phlegethon, at least, was far more forward than she was. Nox hadn't asked these sorts of questions in many cycles, not since her distant youth.

"That's all I assssk," she rumbled, with a dip of her head. Perhaps in time, Phlegethon would learn that having more slimy denizens living in the swamp was a rare thing indeed. It hadn't yearned for the presence of others like it as she had for so many cycles.

"speech."

@Phlegethon

Who knew it would be so difficult to have family and a mother? It already had a strong dislike for the obstacles the concepts put forth. Ugh, morals. As much as Phlegethon liked talking and chatting up the local Greaters, it didn't have a whole lot of fun with the idea of not eating something it assumed was not Greater --- simply because it did not talk. There was no way Hunger could be a talking gembound. It would have spoken by now if it was.

Well, it was worth asking. Phlegethon's head swung to and fro, then lowered its voice into a conspiratorial murmur: "does Hunger speak?" Not that it trusted any statement the draconic beast put forth. The creature was larger, and thus older, but she was putting barriers around it. Besides, Phlegethon hadn't seen the long-limbed monstrosity since their collective hatching. Nox couldn't have either, right?
@Nox

The great draconian rumbled curiously as Phlegethon lowered its voice and spoke, questioningly, thoughtfully- as though it was afraid something out there in the vast marsh might hear it. She considered, remembering, sifting through the memories she had of her child. She knew, easily, that it had indeed spoken, but she was unaware that it had been simply parroting the sounds she made.

"Yesssss,"she gurgled. "It hassssss sssspoken to me. It underssstands." Either way, it had still spoken, and it had seemed to understand her offer to protect it. It had followed after she had offered it food, wriggling along in her wake. "It'sssss my child. I promisssed I would protect it." And she intended to keep her word.

"Speech."

@Phlegethon