For a moment she watched Vargas slouch back onto the rock. She slowly stretched herself out again. He seemed pacified with her explanation, at least. She didn't feel like potentially becoming an after-meal snack for him.

She yawned, thinking, then sat up and continued. "After that, I met two other gembound," she said. "A stag, her name was Calliope, but I never saw her again after that. She was small and brown and skinny, but she could make mushrooms like me."

"And there was Alan," she continued, with the faintest of grimaces. "He could make lights-- blue lights. He was a bird, something that looked a little bit like a goose, but he was blue and shiny, and a little bit smaller. He was... nice, but I didn't trust him at the time. Not after what happened with Aka."

There was a longer pause. Kera didn't want to get upset in front of a stranger, especially one she was working with, now. She flicked her ears back and forth for a moment. "I think he was Blackberry's first kill. She left his body near my den for me to find."

I should have been nicer to him, she thought, but she pushed the ache away.

"After I met them, that's when I turned the lights on. Winter, the legless lizard was there, and a wolf. A dog-- whatever the difference is. He calls himself just, the Black Dog, but he's also very nice. He gave me the name Lightbringer after the box was fixed, and he tells really cryptid but interesting stories. He uses light, and dark sort of magics."

"The last time I saw him was some cycles ago, but he's a lot older than me, I think. If he survived that long, he's probably still out there, somewhere." She'd half-suspect to find him, one day, staring listlessly at a cave wall.

.. it just seemed like something he'd do.

@Vargas

"...Stags also appear to be common," Vargas observed, aloud, past his ponderings. This was the--third? Fourth?--that he'd heard of, now.

Kera's story about Alan gave him pause. Vargas was most certainly not a sentimental sort; not in the slightest. One couldn't be, watching so many die--hell, sending them to their deaths--and watching allies torn apart before one another, or brothers unable to save one another from death. He was distanced from the test subjects, at the very least, and the deepest emotions he ever felt for them were vague pity, or distant pleasure that one had shown spirit, and survived. Then there were the Masters. To put it simply, they didn't elicit emotion at all. They were every bit as cold and hard as he was, and they were the reason he was so.

Kera, however, was not a test subject; had she shown more emotion, Vargas would not have known at all how to respond. Disgust, perhaps, or confusion; disdain? But she pushed past it without showing much. The flick of her ears, and the brief silence, did not go unnoticed, and he wondered if he ought to say something. If she was his servant, after all-... But she'd moved on, and he turned his mind to the rest of her information.

Black Dog--no name; and ancient. Old stories, and magic like his, like hers, and Hers. An old number, then, perhaps-? But... a dog; that he wasn't sure of. There had been creatures like Kera, once upon a time-... Long-snouted, slender-legged, with paws and blunted claws, with rounded large ears. But they'd all been purple, spiked, with acidic green, all like him. Kera was-... missing some of those parts. If she didn't mention them on this Dog, then he likely didn't have them, either. Though perhaps reborn, somehow, as Master Astraea was-?

"This is all very useful," Vargas said at last, mulling over what she'd told him so far. He had two leads to follow up on, and he intended to find out more about these "olympics"-... Speaking of which! "A question, now: do you remember who did win each of the competitions?" She'd said she'd nearly won two, which only solidified his confidence that she was a good choice of servant, but who had won? It would be good to know, so that he could keep an eye out for future test subjects, for those to, perhaps, "breed" on, as well.

@Kera

Kera considered this for a moment, though she didn't think much of it. How many creatures could there be in the caves, anyway? Even other wolves were different in small ways anyway-- in personality, and pelt patterns, and stones and their locations.

She licked her muzzle, thoughtfully. "I don't think it's random," she said. "The-- spawning, I mean. It doesn't seem random, if there's so many of one species."

Shifting on the spot absent-mindedly, Kera considered this new question. He meant the olympic competitions, probably. She didn't know who won the first competition she'd attended, but she knew who won the last time she went.

"There are three winners, sort of, for each contest," she said. "First, second, and third. I don't know why. In the Magicka contest first place went to a Bonebound hybrid who I don't know the name of. He had a lot of different magic-- mostly things that made him go faster, I think." She couldn't remember. She wasn't watching. "In second was a tiny black cat, maybe a child, called Wilder. Her magic is pink, and I think she does fire, and lifts things without looking at them. In third was one of Rift's friends, who makes fire."

"In the obstacle course-- two small cats, like Wilder, got in first and second. The first was a little kitten called Jay, and a spotted one called Calypso. I think they're both loners, and I haven't seen either of them since. In third was...." she trailed off, thinking, furrowing her brow a little. "... like, a worm? It's name was Squick, I remember seeing it around with Wilder. But I don't know where any of them are, now. It made one of the judges really sick in the Magicka contest, though."

"And then, in wrestling, in first place was another Bonebound hybrid-- a different one. I don't know him too well, but his name was Eythan. I don't think he does magic, but he's this big sort of cat-shaped thing with wings. He swears a lot," she added as an afterthought, as if Kera was innocent of this trait herself. "Then in second place was me, and in third place was a pale dragon called Asimona. She does-- cold stuff. She makes things cold. I know her a little bit, but not a whole lot. I met her a long time ago, once."

@Vargas

At the description of Asimona, Vargas at last showed recognition. "Ahhh, the cold-dragon! Yes, she was one of the survivors of our most recent trial. She aided a good number of the others, I think; they showed teamwork." Teamwork was, in Hydra, a risky proposition. It either paid off very well, or it caused a number of cascading deaths as teammates dragged one another to their demise.

Up until that point, he'd been studiously listening--and thinking to himself that cats seemed... extremely common, indeed. Small ones, winning a trial of obstacles, over larger creatures? They must be very fast, he reasoned, and agile. Come to think of it, hadn't he run into one of them? The little black one?

"There are many cats, then," he observed aloud, and then--"Can you get me one?" He peered at Kera, not at all qualifying this question.

"And you are right, it cannot be random. Perhaps it was, and a cat and a wolf were among your first survivors, and you are all descendants of them. If they are so successful, it would make sense that so many of the subsequent generations would be them."

It... sort of made sense, anyway. But how many generations back would this have been? He had no idea how long the caves had been active, nor how long he'd been asleep. He wasn't sure the Masters knew, either.

For the first time, a trickle of doubt struck him-... Had Nemean and Astraea been entirely truthful? What if they had changed the Spire, somehow, themselves? Rebelled, recreated Astraea, and created a new cave of their own? Vargas paused, at this thought, troubled. It couldn't be. ...Could it?

Could that be why they attended the trial..? To ensure I wasn't going to be a problem? Is that why they lingered close? And what would I do, if that was it? -No... No. Even if I doubted them... Hag'treho would not have joined in. Or perhaps--could he not know? That, at least, seemed-... improbable. Hag'treho seemed to know everything.

Vargas turned his attention back to Kera, hoping that his wandering thoughts had not been too obvious on his face. (Given the fact that his face was essentially the texture of a glowing bathmat with teeth, they had not.)

@Kera

Kera's head tilted upwards briefly, in surprise. She couldn't imagine Asimona in a place like Hydra-- not from what she had heard about the place. It was desolate, and hot and dangerous. Hell, the whole caves had heated up just from the place being opened again.

The scars lining the wolf's muzzle crinkled as her nose wrinkled for a moment, mulling this over. Maybe the fact Asimona was a cold-dragon would keep her cooler, for longer? She didn't know, and this didn't seem likely.

Teamwork was good, at least. "Well you don't want them murdering each other," she said, unaware of the fact that Vargas would probably find everyone killing each other in the trials absolutely hilarious. In Kera's mind, however, this would probably run the trial completely useless.

For a moment she watched Vargas, waiting for him to elaborate on what he meant by get me a cat. He did not, in fact, elaborate. Kera did the liberty of filling in the blanks himself-- assuming, instead, that he wanted to meet a cat.

"What kind?" She asked. "There's little ones like the ones that won the contest, and there are big ones like Rift, who are stronger and... bigger." She didn't know where to find them, but she could take a look around and spend a few hours shouting for cats later. "And where do you want me to take them?"

Assuming the cats wanted to meet whatever Vargas was.

Kera considered this, though she was soon shaking her head. "No, I don't think so. Wouldn't we all look the same if we came from just a few survivors?" Granted, they mostly did-- but surely they'd all be the same colour, or have the same gemstones, even? She considered, watching Vargas.

"How are we made, if not from someone giving life to a stone?" She asked. "Even if we're random, something must be causing it, right?"

@Vargas

Vargas first addressed the idea that all "wolves" should look alike, based on one ancestor. "That depends on what it gave its essence into," Vargas pointed out. "Possibly it created an entire generation from some gemstones, then created more from their stones." Dead, or creating life with its own offspring? The concept didn't seem to bother Vargas any--either of them. "If that is not how you were created, then I do not know. There is not much more that would explain the sheer number of similar creatures among you."

"Murdering one another during a trial has its benefits," Vargas then went on to point out. "But teamwork, too, is often underrated. They become quite caught up in winning, or killing those who might kill them, and kill those who might have aided their survival. Part of what marks a good survivor," he explained, "is finding a good decision-maker. A judge of situation, of character. Knowing what to do is useless, if they do not know when to do it." Betrayal, then, apparently had its place--but only at an intelligent time. Or, at least, that might have been what he meant.

As for cats--"Bring me a small one," he decided, after a moment. It was the small ones who had been said to perform well, both in magic and in--'obstacles'--so he wanted to try one out. "I imagine it might make a decent scout. I wonder if I could get one with wings..." Vargas thought about this, for a moment, appearing lost in it. Could he borrow a bat, perhaps? Get a bat-cat of his own? "Just bring it here, I suppose. I will check back occasionally." Whether "occasionally" meant daily or monthly, he didn't clarify. "I want to examine them, for now, so more is better--but if you find a loyal one, willing to serve, that's all the more useful. Speaking of which!" he added, in a loud and cheerful tone. "You have been very helpful thus far. Your loyalty is expected--but you must also always show respect to the Masters, and enough to other Overseers that you do not get yourself killed. You represent me to them, should you introduce yourself as my servant, and I will not have them insulted in my name." To do so would be... dangerous, at best. Fatal, at worse. No-... painfully fatal, at worse.

Particularly with Nemean.

@Kera

Incidentally, creating offspring with your own kids, dead or alive, didn't really seem to affect Kera either. If she were to think about the latter for a while, she might find something a little bit fucked up about it, but reviving your dead child through their stone seemed like a reasonable thing one might do.

Who would want their kid to just stay dead forever? Kera licked her muzzle thoughtfully.

"Then it must have been recent, if we were descended from someone," she said. "Or, for some reason, cats and wolves and deer and stuff have just refused to give life to each other for a while, for some reason."

Some of the hybrids she'd seen already had been horrific-looking creatures. Some looked fine, some absolutely did not. Huckleberry would have been an example of a hybrid that disturbed her (though it was unclear to her if this was through personality or appearance), or the likes of Kielo, who had been born blind.

The wolf hummed quietly, more to herself. "Why?" She asked, slowly. "It's a trial? A test. I know you're testing to see who's good at survival and who isn't, but what is it for? What are we meant to be surviving?"

She made a mental note to go find a cat-- maybe Wilder --and turned her head to briefly itch behind her ear again. Doing anything other than sitting and doing nothing helped her think, at least.

"You could get it to make a kid with a bird," she suggested absently. That cat-bird might have things to say if it was being raised by Vargas, however, and trying to bring a life about to use it for... whatever Vargas wanted it for, seemed wrong to her. She didn't think Vargas would have objections to it, however.

She paused when the Overseer mentioned the Masters, however. She didn't know too much about them-- or who they even were --but she knew, from Dragon, mostly, that they were potentially very, very dangerous. Tenzin seemed nice, at least, but Astraea was... a little strange, she had to admit.

Kera ruffled her fur. "I don't really tend to go about disrespecting people," she said. "But I'll try to leave a good impression, if it helps." Kera wasn't really sure what it would help with, but it seemed like there were restrictions she was unaware of.

... it didn't look like Vargas himself had any, in fact, but you never know.

@Vargas

Vargas considered the fact that the cats and wolves and stags--none of them seemed to have interbred. He thought about this, for a long moment.

"Perhaps they were in different caves, blocked off, and they've only recently become unblocked-?" He really didn't know if that were the case. Actually, perhaps one of the Masters (or more than one?) had simply decided that they liked these designs..? He couldn't be certain. "It is all guesses; I have been asleep for far too long," he admitted with a grumble. "That is why I need ears and eyes."

At her reassurance that she'd behave herself, so to speak, he gave a stern bob of his head. "Yes, good," he answered--and it was. It was a good, solid answer: she was generally respectful, then, and would be doubly so to the masters. Excellent.

"What were the trials for-? To weed out the weak creations. To uncover which designs performed well; which would serve us best. If you are asking what they were used for; for whatever they were needed for. Working? Fighting, often. Scouting. Mostly fighting," Vargas added, thinking. He shrugged, a little; war had been the rule, it seemed, rather than the exception.

@Kera

Kera considered this-- but this only led to further questions, that were only vaguely related. She didn't doubt that more parts of the cave could be sectioned off-- she knew Fornax had only recently been revealed, some cycles before she was born. And Hydra and the tunnel leading down to it, too.

Was there more? "How many rooms are there?" She asked. "And why were some blocked off, like Hydra?" She was aware that Vargas might not actually know, but he seemed a little more knowledgable than most, who were clawing at the scraps of what might be a clue as to where the fuck they were living.

Maybe the Masters had blocked Hydra off, but why? The trials seemed important, at least to Vargas. Which, incidentally, he hadn't exactly given her a satisfying answer, but she decided not to press it further.

What they were working for, or scouting to find, or fighting, was beyond her. The only things she'd seen worth killing were the -berries, and they were one of them. One of the greaters, that had to run through trials and do work for the masters and the like.

Kera chuffed vaguely. And then, she remembered. "Do you know Senka and Vahi? Are they masters?" Where this memory had come from was beyond her-- a mostly-forgotten memory lost in the high of bringing lights back to the caves, but whatever the fuck those two were, were beyond her.

Vargas might know, at least, or have an explanation.

@Vargas

Vargas listened to the names, then dragged them through the tangled net of his long memory. But he found nothing; they weren't names that he remembered.

"I don't know the names," he answered bluntly. One massive forearm twisted, reaching to scratch a spot on his flank absently. The huge scythe-like blades jutting out cut through the air even with those tiny movements.

"As for caves-... mm." He thought about this, for a long moment, tallying them in his mind. He hoped she didn't ask the names, because damned if he ever bothered to remember those. "I stayed mostly in Hydra, Canis--around there. I remember..." Some more mental tallying--"Thirteen? Fourteen?" He thought about this some more; he was pretty sure it'd been fourteen, maybe a little more. He couldn't really remember. There were many places that had never been open to him, really; different caves held different purposes, different Overseers.

Cetus, for example, had never really required him. Not with Aquarian there. And Monoceros-... Ha.

"Do you have other questions?" he asked, mostly indifferently; he didn't care what Kera wanted to know. There was no reason to hide the number of caves (if he'd even gotten that right), but if she overstepped, he would of course tell her as much. He didn't think she would, though; she had a caution to her, a wariness about her words.

He appreciated that.

@Kera