Oh, this dragon was much stupider than it thought --- she was deluded by the idea of freedom and rebelling against the Masters and Overseers, and everything they had established. Garnet Five-Seven-Nine, unfazed by the vast size difference between itself and this fool, sneered, "you're an idiot. Sniveling like you're going to be able to go scots free with those words. Did you not see what the Merchant did with a wave of his finger? Did you not see the Overseer behind us in the Trials --- he consumes those who are weak and left behind and believe that they have any choice."

Crimson eyes narrowed, as it padded away a few paces, still trying out its wings. "Our lives don't matter. We're meant to perform in the Trials and be tested, and then we'll be able to serve a greater purpose if the Masters allow it. Life is war, and you're an idiot if you think otherwise." The champion's ears pinned back, tail lashing and unnoticed fan spreading out.

It glanced over to the canine, nodding only briefly, "at least you have half the brain to keep your rebellion to yourself and be smart about it. I'll have no part in that." Unlike these fools, Garnet Five-Seven-Nine wouldn't be caught dead with such treacherous thoughts. It had survived many trials to get to this point --- as its memories gradually filtered in, it remembered being torn apart more than once, lost to scorpions and spiders, carried high into the sky by vultures --- and it grimaced. The champion side-eyed the dog in warning, "the caves won't need to be 'warned.' They already know of the Trials."

This was said with quite a bit of certainty.

Visibly bristling with anger at this dumbassery, the champion looked over at Imp. "We're Champions of Hydra. We've run through many Trials before and survived. And---" it paused briefly, considering, "I don't know what era we're in, or how many cycles it's been since my last Trial, but I'd assume it's been a long time." It eyed the younger Gembound around it, with a slight bit of curiosity now. They were... different, least to say, in a way it couldn't quite put a finger on.

They were new, and so, so young if they were thinking this way so confidently.

The Overseers will snuff that out, Garnet Five-Seven-Nine thought rather bitterly.

Asimona curled her lip snaking her head down to face the little hybrid. She hated it - it spoke like that, it dared to mock her when it was the one that had pushed everyone behind. That it had risked everyone's survival to push itself forward. Selfish, deluded, and a fool. "Whatever. If you're satisfied being their little toy, then good for you. I, however, am not willing to give up freedom. Not for me. Not for my children or my friends. I'd rather die free then live as a slave like you and I'd die fighting to keep the caves from becoming whatever shit world you came from that made you so bitter and useless."

She snarled quietly before moving her gaze away, raking the ones that were here. Perhaps Agate and Ru had left already. "There won't be another trial. Not for me, anyway. If they ask me to, I'll refuse and I'll fight if they try and force me in. I agree," she added to the alligator creature, ignoring his previous insult, but internally growing more heated that nobody here could understand what she was saying. "Nemean needs to die. She can't be allowed to roam free anymore. She'll keep killing more and more of us for her own amusement. Who is your father?"

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Styx @Opal Three-Seven-Six @Imp @Garnet Five-Seven-Nine
notes:

Imp continued to scratch behind his ear as the other spoke, claws pulling idly through his fur-tufts. When Asimona addressed him, he was busy sniffing the foot after scratching himself--and he quickly jerked back, blinking at her, his perpetual grin splitting as he spoke.

"Dragon!" he replied cheerfully. Everything was so great today! He was alive! Awake! He'd seen Nemean! He had a new tail! Happily, he continued. "He lives in Cetus and Aquarian's my granddad but I don't talk to him much, 'cause he's in the water and I like to fly and do ART."

He paused, thinking, and added--"I did art of Nemean on the walls! I drew her with a bunch of boy-parts. LOTS of them," he confided, grin seeming to grow ever-wider. "And it glows." Oh, but he was clearly quite proud of his own, personal little rebellion.

@Garnet Five-Seven-Nine

The dog flicked his gaze to the Black Opal, twitching his ears. "Yes, free. We are no longer trapped in the Cave, able to wander as we wish." Had they never been free?

His attention went to Imp, and he tilted his head, "Nemean? What has she done?" If she was a threat, he would need to work to remove her from the caves before she could harm anyone else. He braced his paws, and shook himself.

He looked at the Garnet, furrowing his brows--"I am not the oldest Gembound, but I would never consider myself terribly young. Never have I seen a Trial, or anything more than a small fight. What are you talking about?" and then, it said that the caves knew of the Trials. "No, they do not. Until the day that you hatched I was unaware of the 'Trial', and I have never heard of it spoken in the Caves. Hydra itself was only revealed very recently; I am not certain how long you were asleep, but it must have been a very long time." He sneezed dismissively.

@Asimona @Opal Three-Seven-Six @Imp @Garnet Five-Seven-Nine

BLACK OPAL
honestly i thought that i would be dead by now

"Uh, err.." The Opal shied away from Imp, not knowing how to respond to the hybrid's incessant questions or encroaching personality. "Much older than you, I suspect." Mercifully, the Garnet answered the rest of his questions quite well. The Opal nodded along. "Yes, what they said. Champions of Hydra, hardened survivalist we are." He gave Imp a firm nod.

The Black Opal stood up and stretched, flexing his fins. Lights rippled down his sides. Whatever the reason for the next Trial's delay, he was glad to have a moment to breathe and get to know his opponents better. However, what they were saying sounded like the ramblings of mad-creatures. Asimona was boldly talking about treachery to the Overseers and Masters, killing Nemean and Imp talked about living in Cetus, of all places. The Opal had taken a liking to the white dragon early on but now, with a mouth like that, she had become a terrible liability. He'd witnessed what such talk did to others, none good. Yet, as an eel in the desert, the simple idea of freedom was compelling, even if it was dangerously forbidden. Perhaps, that's what made it so compelling in the first place.

And now Imp was talking about it too. Great. Oh Creator, what did I hatch into? In the middle of a rebellion, that's what. The Opal glanced worriedly at the others around him. I can't be seen around these kooks! The Overseers will have my gem! He wanted to flee.

However, there was one thing Imp said that shocked him. He just had to know. "Wait, wait, wait.. you tried to eat Master Nemean.. and lived?!" He stared in amazement at the gator-bat. He was also a little bit horrified. Either Master Nemean had lost her edge, or Imp was much more powerful (or lucky) that he was letting on. Honestly, both sounded plausible to the Black Opal, given that he survived Hydra and lived in Cetus, of all places.

@Imp @Styx @Asimona @Garnet Five-Seven-Nine

Asimona tapped her claw thoughtfully. Why nobody else was seeing things the way she did - that they couldn't simply lay down and accept these Masters and Overseers trying to enslave the caves again - was beyond her, but she wasn't going to argue further. Her heart ached as she looked over the remaining gemstones and wondered...wondered if Ru would ever hatch again. But what if her friend shared the same sentiment as the Garnet? As the Opal? All the old champions thought the same, it seemed. She wasn't going to let herself hold back because of it.

Her tail waved softly behind her, the scorpion tail curled up safely. "Then I'll go to Cetus. And tell Dragon about what happened here. Nemean is cruel," she continued, turning to Styx. "She toys with our lives and takes them for her pleasure. She torments and pushes us around just for some small amusements. She's a danger to all of us." She growled in her chest, a twist of pain as she remembered that horrible sight - blades raining from the dark ceiling, the screech of a terrified horse, and the horrible crunching noise and then silence as its silhouette was split and then dropped.

She chuckled a little bit, childishly amused at Imp's apparent artwork. "I'd like to see that, someday. And I hope Nemean sees it too. Where in Cetus can I find Dragon? Or...would you lead me there? I'd like to talk to him."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Styx @Opal Three-Seven-Six @Imp @Garnet Five-Seven-Nine
notes:

"YEAH, she flies real fast," Imp responded, going from enthusiastic to mournful in half a second.

"She's a betrayer 'cause--yeah!" he said to Asimona, eyes widening. "You know her? She tries to get everyone killed and turns 'em into trees and shit." Again, absently, hind leg lifted to scratch--doglike--at his neck-ruff. And again Imp sniffed his toe-claws afterward, oblivious to how gross this might seem.

"Yeah you can come with me, I'll bring you to Dad but you gotta let me tell him. Then I'll bring you to him!" This first was said intensely, possessively; Imp was determined to report to Dragon himself, to prove, for once, that he'd done something worthwhile--and to maybe get some kind of reward in the process. He wasn't sure what kind, but... hey.

"Come on," he added, and turned to bound, hop and fly his way to Cetus. He would, at least, wait for those who needed waiting for.

exit Imp
@Garnet Five-Seven-Nine @Styx

Idiots, idiots, idiots --- the whole lot! Garnet Five-Seven-Nine bristled, quills clicking noisily against one another and hooked beak grinding sharply. Wings flaring out in a fairly bird-like fashion, the Champion scowled. Ask--- the trials were not an offer, not a request. One was brought out of stasis and shoved off to Hydra to pursue whatever the Overseers and Masters wished, and you hoped to ascend the ranks, to prove one worthy and a success in the tests.

Wasn't that the point of them? To succeed? To evade natural selection?

The Champion shook itself, hissing and spitting, and turned tail. No, let these fools die for their treachery like all the rest. It would wait dutifully for the Overseer that must be on their way. Crimson eyes glimmering in the half-light, it sloppily ascended a spire of stone, clinging to the rock and keeping idle watch.

Seething, of course, all the while.

;exit Garnet Five-Seven-Nine
@Styx