Chaos-Two very nearly growled at Vargas, like it normally would at a sibling who dared moved while they used them as a pillow, but snapped their jaws shut instead and held back the urge to grumble. They pushed themselves to stand and shook themselves out, quills standing before they looked at Esther, trotting over.

"I hope you're useful," they mumbled, "It'd be nice to have someone here who uses their brains more than their claws. Aside from Vargas, Doctor, Kethri, and Khavur, that is. And Selenite I suppose- and Doctor's weird and Kethri's just a bi-"

They stopped themselves and pursed their lips. They sighed and offered a lopsided smile, "Sorry. I suppose I meant someone more um... normal? Not really normal, but... whatever. Just don't let Vargas get to you, he's just..."

A jock with the emotional capability of a rock with a frowning face painted on it?

"Stressed," they said, and rubbed their face, "Um... We could train together though, if you want. We'd be on a more even playing field, seeing as we're both small- well I won't be, but at least you won't be trying to fight Vargas."

At least Chaos-Two was going to train with Doctor before any of that came to fruition.

"Have fun," they finally said, and trotted off towards the exit of Draco, mumbling to themselves as they went.

@Esther
Exit Chaos-Two unless stopped.
ooc: characters most likely couldn't hear, but for ooc comedic value, they said, "might as well start hugging trees to get my daily dosage of emotional support"

The Overseer had been meandering in rather errant circles around Draco, sniffing here and there; bristling at this or that. It thought, maybe, that it may get better used to the... strangeness of this cave by exploring it. Humorously enough, the only thing it'd really found out for itself was that the optimal place to rest was as far away from the Black Spire as possible. Turn right at the door, and you've landed yourself in the spot. Alpha'd been tucked up against the wall as it dozed when its Master came calling.

With a heaving sigh and toothy yawn, the kaiju shoved to its feet. Steadying out from a few shambling steps, it crossed towards Vargas with an instinctive, "yes, sir?"

After the fact, its eyes—and head—drifted down to peer at the stretched-looking beast standing nearby. Some sort of canine, but with wings and hooked claws... and familiar. It hadn't seen that pup since it was barely over a cycle old itself. Alpha couldn't have remembered their name if it tried, much less identified them with so much (and kind of little) changed about their features.

hey guys nice Lot Of Posts you've got here...
@Esther

Esther followed the big one when told, of course. It wasn't their goal to get immidiately eaten just after being welcomed into something they found oh so interesting. Even if their story had been.... Not as good as it should be, Esther was no idiot. A lot of the information that had been prompted at them they didn't quite understand, but it did align with things they'd run into in the past. That really was all that mattered. If the Master didn't want more of the story, then they wouldn't give it.

The one with horns talked after that, speaking on how it hoped Esther was normal. Well... Besides the daunting whispers that told them to hurt things, they were normal enough? Maybe? Esther couldn't guarentee no claws, though. Sometimes gembounds needed to give in to those urges. Maybe not on ones they shouldn't however, Esther thought as they cursed the whispers in their head that told them to catch that one wolf on fire.

A new one arrived, green. Esther knew this one. They'd met before, when both of them were young, at least Esther remembered it that way. It didn't seem like Oro remembered them, though, or they were doing a good job at pretending to not know the maned wolf.

"It's you." Esther decided to say, simple, but showed that Esther knew who this was. For the most part anyway.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas gave a curt nod to Orthoclase-Alpha--all business. "This one is new and wants to join us. Find out what it can do, test it, and arrange its training."

He then looked to Esther. "This is your new Overseer. Its authority is absolute. Do what it says and you will be rewarded, in time." There was nothing else to say, really, and so he waited for acknowledgment from the pair.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

"It's you."

Alpha glanced at them out the corner of its eyes. Given the number of enemies it'd made and the notoriety it'd accrued, it wasn't out of the ordinary for it to get recognized. But, with a statement like that? It huffed in response. The Leviathan had its attention first and foremost.

Listening rewarded it with a generic set of objectives: "Find out what it can do, test it, and arrange its training." The orthoclase huffed in acknowledgement ("Yes, sir.") and tipped its head to stare at Esther.

Once it'd seemed that Vargas was giving it the go-ahead, it grunted, "what magic do you have?" Since all of the physical abilities were right there in this strange, twiglike body, it seemed more efficient to just skip asking about what teeth and claws were for.

@Esther

There wasn't much for the gembound to think about after all of that talking. Just that whatever magic they had was dangerous (Esther knew this already) and that where they were was dangerous (which.... it seemed sort of obvious) and that the goal of these guys was dangerous (which was easy enough to understand). Most of the information they were told was stored in files in their head to be thought about later - if they had more questions they could think about it more later and ask if they had the chance. Vargas seemed open to most questions, even if it made Esther seem stupid (which they were not).

"Okay." Esther replied to the mention that the green one was their new Overseer. That was easy enough to understand, too, and Esther had met this one before. A long time ago it felt like.

Oro didn't seem to want to have a conversation - was it because of the bigger one? Either way they could ask later - if Esther even got the chance. It didn't seem like they would, unless somehow they brought it up after Vargas left. If he was going to leave, anyway.

"Uh... Master Vargas called it 'His magic'? I don't really know what that means." They replied.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas listened half-indifferently, half with interest. He had things to do but also, this was a matter of the Forge and their work and therefore it had his attention, if not his emotion.

"It means," he offered, in interjection, "the power of our Creator. That is chaos, swept into a condensed form and granted existence in your body--in our bodies," he added, pointing briefly at the stone that perched oil-stained at the center of Esther's forehead.

Then he stepped back, waiting briefly to see if either of them held further questions, or remarks.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

His magic.

Alpha sniffed. Vague. Unhelpful.

It shifted its weight to either foot, quills clacking vaguely. When Vargas spoke, it was clearly directed at the lanky beast, but the Overseer listened nonetheless. Nothing it didn't already... really know, as far as Chaos went; and no more comprehension.

When the Leviathan finished, Alpha tried something else: a clipped-sounding "what do you do with it? Fire? Lightning?"

@Esther

Vargas explained again what the magic they used was. It was... still somewhat confusing, but Esther kind of understood. Did it just make them stronger? Harder to contain? The arsonist in them jumped for joy with that thought. How dangerous could their fires get? The question that the green one asked was easy to answer, easier than the others they had been asked before (though it was the same question as the one just before this one, only worded different).

"Right now... Fire and pressure changes? I don't know how to explain that one."

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

It occurred to Vargas, as he listened, that they had no magic experts. They would need one--someone to train others in the way of magic, the Creator's in particular.

He could find one, or... Six eyes narrowed slightly, looking Esther over. Maybe we can make one.
"Get good enough with it," he grunted, "and we might use you to train others in His power. But to do that you'd need to learn from as many magic users as you can. Become an expert. I leave that to you, and to your Overseer, to decide."

Vargas gave them both a brief nod. "Find me if you need me." He turned to stride off, then, lanky movements taking him swiftly away--and back to his work.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

exit Vargas