It had been many, many, many cycles since Zoisite had traveled so far. This was where they had had their first kill, beheading a lesser rat squealing in terror under Orthoclase-Alpha's claws. They walked carefully through the dusty cavern, making sure to pick up their feet and place them down gently, so as to not disturb any of the bones that lived here.

This was the home of the Bonebound; once allies who they hadn't heard from in forever since the move to Draco. It was also the home of something else now-- of Order. The Chaos Forge had been too far to intervene fully, and Order had sunk its claws deep into the bone white marrow of the cavern. That made traveling to the place Zoisite had been born, and Hydra beyond, a slightly dangerous task.

The stink of Draco and Chaos, hopefully, did not cling too strongly to them. They didn't want to draw attention, only pass through, and they kept a wide berth of any fungus, white-spored or otherwise, just to be safe. They kept their head down, and skittered carefully and quickly through the cavern. With each breath, they channeled more magic out to their outer shell, creating an invisible barrier to shield them from any surprises. Maybe it was just paranoia...

All that said, they were thankful: they had a mission (an excuse) to go to back to the place they had been born, and with any luck, they would succeed at helping in whatever task the Masked Merchant required. Master Vargas would be proud when they returned, and that would make everything worth it.

[ open to anyone to say hi to zoey on her way through, even Ordered characters! ]

A cold breeze rattled through Canis, reminding Juggernaut of home. Though, he supposed, Canis was its extension now. Crimson eyes caught on the marks of vandals. He kept score of the black of burns, the scores of stone where the fungus had been ripped bare. His home away from home had already been desecrated - he would seek a collection of the debt accrued.

Something skittered in the shadows. He caught pin-pricks of sickly yellow light, swaying the movement of a long, armoured body. Distant, now. There was a tug at his idle mind, a tension in his muscle. His wiring flickered with the feeling: Something was about to happen. And then it did!

"YOU."

This was an agent of Chaos, and he had caught her red-handed. He remembered how those mandibles had cleaved through his leg with horrid force, how the wound had slowed his movement to a crawl. Dragging himself through the sand. He hadn't been quick enough - Oh Mother, he hadn't been quick enough. Mother. Mother please Mother please Mother PLEASE Mother please Motherplease MOTHER

"YOU".

He knew he would be noticed. He did not care. He charged with his four, fully functional limbs - he would show the Zoisite his true power, not the shivering larvae he'd been reduced to on that beach. He would teach this insect well. He approached from the front, his previous course unaltered, as if this retribution had been destined to be. Tendrils reached to pin the valkhound down first. Soon, he'd drag her to him. Vengeance would come in a million grinding teeth.

OOC: i lvoe you zoey and inm SORRY. also cant find the spar box code ]: this doesnt have to be an official spar btw since. id imagine itll stop fairly quickly. this is a just in case situation also its a handy reference

@V-Zoisite-One

ROUND 1/?

100%

ATTEMPT: Pull Zoey to it via stingers before she can scramble away
DEFENSE: rage and fury and like 50 wings
INJURIES: emotional damage

All at once, Zoisite was pulled from their thoughts by the screech of a voice they did not recognize. They froze, head swinging back so that their golden eyes could sweep over the landscape. The earth under foot quaked, bones rattling, as a massive, winged thing of many eyes came barrelling at them.

They remembered Juggernaut. In an instant they were flung back in time, to Leo, to the beach, to their friends and family torn asunder by a terrible assault. The Chaos had won that battle, but it had only been because everyone had been there. Right now? The Zoisite was alone, and even if they could strike down the Juggernaut, it would mean bringing the wrath of all of Order upon them.

More importantly, however, Zoisite did not want to hurt the Juggernaut, not in that moment, not then. There was a time and a place for war and battle and a necessity to it-- none of that was here. None of that was now.

The monster of Order was simply protecting its home. Zoisite understood this. It was the first thought that leaped to its mind, even as panic surged through its body and it jerked away, scrambling over bones with a horrible sound of snapping and crashing. A particularly old skull shattered underneath Zoisite's weight, and engulfed its talons, sending it toppling over itself. Body writhing, its carapaced back flipped, exposing and underbelly of sharp quills and thick, rough spines... but an equally vulnerable body.

"I'm not here for a fight!" Zoisite cried, as its magic burst violently to repel back the Juggernaut's first strike-- but there were more coming for it. "I'm passing through," it insisted, "to Hydra, I'm leaving, don't do this."

If Juggernaut caught the recognition in the Zoisite's eyes, he did not appear to notice. He'd make her remember. He'd make her remember like he did, and she would never forget again. This was not the time nor place for war, but he would haul it here with him.

Unaware of the spell cast previously, his tendrils flew away inches from the creature's carapace, saving her from his furious grasp and venom. But she had fallen now - tripped over the bones of the dead. Fitting. How many beneath them had been siblings, the ones he did not have the privilege of remembering?

The beast pleaded as it writhed. It was coming back to him - such a familiar tone. Forgive me. He would not be able to feel the pain and panic that followed this time. That was alien to it, to watch this from a safe distance. Emotionally, that is - or maybe,

It was a familiar tone.

"Your kind. You." He spat in a venom like the one the Zoisite had avoided. "Did not spare-" her "Us."

It moved forward still, over the writhing gembound, pillar limbs skewering the ground underneath. Or the flesh, if she was unlucky enough. It would loom over her, a vision of Mother's might, wings flared and tentacles lashing. "Will I do the same?"

OOC: hes trying to say "do you think im gonna spare you even when you butchered my family you little oil-freak" but hes bad at words . self reflection foreshadowing but just not right now

@V-Zoisite-One

ROUND 2/?

100%

ATTEMPT: maybe possibly step on her a little bit. mostly just trying to stop her from moving again
DEFENSE: rage and fury and like 50 wings
INJURIES: emotional damage

The enemy's words were deafening, hissing and spitting at them that reminded them all at once of their sibling. Of Khavur, crashing down on them, demanding they be better by spilling their blood.

Zoey had forgiven her; she had only been trying to better her family. Pushing them to be stronger. So they could fight and defend themselves. So that this would not happen. So that she would not die, miles from home, with no one to save them.

V-Zoisite-One had a response for Juggernaut. You brought war to us. You attacked US! But the words did not come surging from their throat, held back by terror and a desperation to understand and-- and bring peace to a situation that simply could not allow for peace.

There was not time for a reply as a massive lance of a limb came crashing down into their exposed underbelly. There was an attempt to defend, curling up into a ball, tail pincers clacking against open air. The blow struck true, not striking anything vital but making a deep gash. Florescent yellow ichor splattered on the white carapace and the worm's own spines, bright and glowing neon lights of lifeblood.

Agony washed over her. "I'm sorry," came the whimper of a response, "My family was in danger," she pleaded for understanding, to a creature that she did not know could even understand, "I was protecting them." Limbs twitched and jerked, maw opening and closing as she tried, desperately, to get more words out. But her breath sputtered.

This was easy, sickeningly so. A leg stabbed downward, almost incidental in its placement, and through - her exoskeleton crunched as it gave way, and through the layers of armour Juggernaut felt blood catch and cling to his feathers. The same colour as her eyes, the ones that darted to and fro in her animal panic. He could not feel the pain this time. Just the squelch of soft tissue around his jagged leg.

She babbled something about family. It knew it was a trick, a desperate attempt to find any sympathy it did might have. These vermin knew nothing of family. They didn't halt their assault when its siblings cried for mercy. The Zoisite's blood was yellow, but it might as well have been acid green.

He wrenched the limb back, knowing the serrated edges would carve their way through the valkhound a dozen times over. Perhaps she would try to stop him. He lowered himself, tendrils hovering over her in an obvious threat. The mouth above her roared, voice crackling with weight. "SHE BEGGED FOR FORGIVENESS." He still struggled with the words. He splintered at the consonants and his vowels dragged against the Zoisite's guilt. "SHE COULD NOT SPEAK!"

@V-Zoisite-One

ROUND 3/?

100%

ATTEMPT: extract limb but in a really mean way
DEFENSE: rage and fury and like 50 wings
INJURIES: emotional damage

Zoey's body shuttered with agony as the Order drone tore his limb. It must have been at an angle, the way it scraped and tore flesh anew with the motion, widening the hole it had left on first puncture. She gasped for breath, head spinning as she struggled to escape the fight with words and reason rather than further bloodshed.

Thinking was not easy. Adrenaline rushed through her, instincts flaring to snap and bite and claw and rend, but she clamped down on her own jaws, refusing. Refusing, because in that moment, the strange being of wings and eyes and sharp edges reminded her so painfully of her own siblings.

One question swam around her vision, and maybe she was starting to dissociate from the pain. There was a layer of separation from the pain as she clung to the crackling words that roared through her carapace. She...? A sister. Zoey did not know who she was, and that was more maddening than the pain. Was it someone she had killed, severed head from torso like a rat, in the heat of battle? Why couldn't she remember?

"Who?" Came the weak word, hissed through tears. "I don't-- I don't..."

One limb curled inward, talons feeling at the hot, sticky gash where she had been impaled. Apply pressure. Desperately, Zoey tried to mend the wound with magic, imagining golden flowers growing from the wound instead of the violent spray of neon blood. The ichor began to clot, forming a scab over the injury. Though the pain did not truly fade, it shifted into a jittery sort of sensation that made her shiver. Six golden eyes stared up helplessly into the maw of hundreds of teeth, and she found herself wondering dully if Mother's drones were raised to believe they too were monsters, when they loved just as same as any else.

The offending limb settled on the ground beside the valkhound, dripping with ichor - maybe he shifted his weight too quickly. He felt himself wobble - an impossibility. The muscles in his limbs strained, and merely carrying himself aloft seemed like an incredible effort. Something was leaving him.

His throat felt hoarse. Hollow.

It would show nothing of this transition. It was not for them to know. It watched stiffly as the worm tended to themselves in the few moments they had, before whatever was to follow. It'd planned something of a agonising end originally, but it wasn't- it couldn't think-

Alcina had been like a flower plucked. In her last moments, the dignity of symmetry was stolen from her. Ripped from her flesh by the creature Vargas.

Juggernaut stared blankly at the wound left, ragged but no longer weeping. Located on the midsection, the underbelly, and just a foot or two off-centre.

He needed more time, and so he bought it. A single tendril sought a gap in the zoisite's carapace to inject it with its toxin, certainly not sedating it, but perhaps limiting its movement further. He paid little attention to the movement, instead desperately seeking Mother's quieting hum. What have I done? What - what do I do next?

@V-Zoisite-One

ROUND 4/?

100%

ATTEMPT: sting Zoey with a tentacle
DEFENSE: rage and fury and like 50 wings
INJURIES: emotional damage

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

graphic descriptions of pain and disassociation

Silence, for a moment. Bare for only Zoey's ragged breath through clenched jaws. Maybe he would answer, maybe he would spare her...

A sharp jab into her exposed underbelly, sudden like a knife through butter. Her nerves caught fire as venom poured through, molten lava entering her bloodstream. All the air left her chest in a scream, but even that was not as loud as the sharp feeling that spread from head to tail. Her vision went red, then white, then black, and she blinked against it, swallowing and swallowing until she felt she could not swallow anymore.

She needed to be anywhere else. She tried, desperately, reaching for the only escape that she knew: let her feel whatever anger or pride or fear that the Drone torturing her felt. She wasn't afraid of what she might find, she was afraid that if she stayed present in her own body for even a second longer she would break.

Her magic found the Juggernaut, and it dug in deep, pulling herself away from her flesh body to the safety of any emotion but that of a worm that thought it was dying.

MOTHER

Deus Ex Machina, But Your Gods Walk Among You

Much of the Hive had undoubtedly been holding its breath during this confrontation. The mind's eyes of a dozen Greaters and hundreds of Lessers swung to fix sharply on this, a fact that would not be lost on Juggernaut.

All eyes were on him.

There was a sensation that rippled through the Hivemind then, as though Mother had shifted closer somehow--an impossibility, given her distance, and yet suddenly it felt as though the warm comfort of her presence was close by him. As though she were standing at his side, peering at the being of Chaos beneath him.

There were Praetors angling toward the fight... such as it was. But for now they remained out of sight, and in fact had some ways to travel yet. Another had reached them first: here to deliver Mother's message to them both. Her favored mouthpiece, kept on standby, so well able to imitate and mimic emotion it did not truly feel. (How ironic, that.)

"This one... is innocent, I think. A victim, not a monster." The little rat, half-starved and glazed-eyed, crawled up through a white-webbed cluster of bones. "Hold, a moment, my child." It bore the nature of a request, yet the command behind it was gently firm. Of course, he had asked what he should do. But whilst she answered, she held him back, too--like a hand upon a shoulder--and whispered things through the hive.

Those were things the Zoisite would not hear. "There may be opportunity here. A mind within their foul nest, turned to a better cause. This one--among them all--may be the best prospect for such a thing. Imagine what we might learn from it..?"

Aloud, however--through the voice of a sickened rat, rife with falsified gentleness and wonder, pausing to gasp sharp breaths--she said other things. Things no less true. But things intended for Zoisite's ears, as well.

"Their magic is not corrupted. They may not even know what it is that this Nest is for. The crimes Chaos has committed-..." The rat drew close and paused, white beady eyes studying Zoisite closely. "They carry Light... with them, and speak of family. Perhaps... they even understand love. Show mercy, my child..." (the rat glanced here to Juggernaut) "Imagine being held captive... by the cruelties of Chaos, yet... understanding family?"

And now--as she released her hold, freeing Juggernaut to act--her (its) voice was soft with sympathy. Or was that pity? Would it matter to Zoisite? The gasping rat looked again to Juggernaut. "I charge you now... with the most... difficult of tasks. It is not my wish... for you to kill this one. Rather... I would have you... speak to them. Spare them... if you can. If you choose to kill them... then know their name. And know why... they fight. I know you are angry... at the harm caused to our family. But I think... so are they."

With this the rat bowed out, granting the appearance of a gentle retreat, of giving Juggernaut full freedom to do as he pleased. But of course, the Hive was with him; and the strings of each of the Hive's puppets were stuck fast to Mother's spined limbs.

She was watching closely, giving every illusion--to Zoisite and Juggernaut both--of benevolence. Behind it, the ice of her calculating mind was clear as the stone at the Hive's heart.

Ahh, but that did not matter. What mattered now was the dance that would follow. With luck... introductions, explanations, perhaps even apologies. A last whisper, then, before she pulled her influence more fully from this scene: "Let us see if you can create an ally from an enemy. This one does seem more reasonable than the rest. But it will be no easy task. Befriend it, Juggernaut... if you can."

@Juggernaut