The Zoisite's magic would catch the moment before Mother arrived to comfort the drone. The buzzing fear, the echoes of its fury drifting further, the nausea taking its place. It felt the attention of the hive, stabbing at the few places it couldn't see. Here it stood under the spotlight, a picture perfect image of guilt.

And then! A shift in the air as the wires parted, disentangling from his mind to reveal the truth, a vision, a reality. A chorus bloomed from within him, an angelic choir - Mother! Mother! She had found him, as she always did. Wings curled around the vessel as she approached, a protective and attentive gesture both.

Her voice was mighty, even when filtered through such a tiny curiosity. But still, it recoiled at the label of innocent. How could any of them be? This one had cleaved through his leg like butter. This one had almost torn his brother in two. But the feeling was flushed away, whether by his own attachment or Mother's influence. She knew what was best, right? For all of them. His body stiffened with compliance.

Mother was much smarter than him. He would've never thought to turn this valkhound against the enemy. He never even thought an infiltrator possible, with his sibling's pale coats and glittering clearstone. This gembound could bring them great fortune - his vengeance was petty in comparison. And yet it lingered in the background. The Zoisite was not forgiven, not yet. But they would be spared.

But mercy was the easier part of the task. Even through her warmth did Juggernaut's stomach drop: Talk to them? He could barely talk to regular gembound, it was so much more easier to languish in the network. His vocal organs, whatever they were, were already strained from before. This... This would be frustrating. But he'd try for Mother. He would not fail. He was going to make a FRIEND.

A friend from an enemy combatant, an accomplice of chaos, and a poor civilian he had just stabbed repeatedly and painfully in the underside.

His mind flashed to Siren's "operation". He had screwed up worse before.

"Hello?" A low rumble. "Are you... Listening? We must speak."

OOC: do not know where zoey is at rn so im keeping it vague . juggernaut does not know either and is a little concerned

@V-Zoisite-One

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

graphic descriptions of pain and disassociation

Terror and anger took root in Zoey's focus for but a moment, before the nerve-wracking spotlight fell upon the two enemies. It was the feeling of one's mother staring down on them; and the desperate want to do right by her. The comfort of her presence, drawing so close that unbidden tears swelled at her unfocused eyes. They spilled and stained her carapace.

Clinging so tightly to Juggernaut's emotional framework to escape her own pain, she did not notice the rat that had appeared, speaking soft and sweet words of mercy and sympathy. She heard the words, only processing them as much as she could through the second removed layer of her enemy's mental state. Only snippets pulled her back to the pain of her own body: Light.... family, love. Chaos, family, kill, kill, fight... It all blurred together, the soft, sweet words of Mother rasped through a small rat.

... harm caused to our family...

Nausea washed through Juggernaut, and equally through Zoey as an echo. A frustrated, desperate determination, and a focus turned back on to the worm who had stopped functioning as a sentient thing and instead only as a panting, convulsing insect.

Louder words forced Zoisite to attention, a split mind that recoiled at the sharp, hot, burning that rushed over their body in waves. Speak. Speak. Speak. It took several moments for the Zoisite to respond, jaw struggling to part. Every move was as though through tar.

"... yes," croaked the creature weakly, struggling to differentiate between the swell of two different emotional states and a world of blinding pain.

The valkhound answered, but it was not a convincing one. The Juggernaut moved sideways, taking care to not punch another hole in their carapace. He could see them better now. He did not know how he felt about that. Her body held so many familiarities. Nausea overtook him again.

Friends. Friends. She was nothing but an ally in this moment. He had to keep that in his mind before - well, before he could screw up again.

Maybe he could help. His unoccupied side stretched out a tendril, skewering a clump of fungus [Mother's love!] with its end. He delicately extracted it from his rooting place, and deposited the separated colony near the Zoisite's head [it was a brief struggle to figure out which end this was. Perhaps this was a part of why Mother was so eager to take this creature in?] The saccharine scent of it wafted from where it sat now, an offering.

"She can help with... The pain. If you let her." It braced itself for a stern refusal - it was quite the leap into the unknown for anyone unfamiliar with her kindness. But if the answer was yes, it would ease the coming conversation certainly. "If you are willing."

"I am Juggernaut, Zero Zero Six." He had some practice with introductions this time, at the very least.
"You?"

@V-Zoisite-One

Something had changed, Zoisite acknowledged belatedly, feeling particular beside themself. The drone plucked a white flower and offered it to them. No-- fungus. The Hive's fungus.

The mind strained against the overwhelming sensations that flooded them. It was a peace offering, and one that would mean they would not be able to go home. "I'm sorry," they winced, "I-- I can't." Not willingly. If the Hive forced them, if they had no choice, then it would be blameless. But to accept would be to be a traitor to everything they had ever known.

They stared at the fungi, and tried desperately to make a good show of faith. The fungi began to pulse with a white light, gentle and soft. Whether or not it would be understood, they had no idea. The seed of hope had been planted, and that was all they could do.

Blessedly, an easier question came after that, and Zoisite breathed deep, sides heaving as they struggled to roll off of their back. They managed to inch on to their side, but even if they could move they did not dare get to their feet. Their golden eyes peered up from the underside of their head, not leaving Juggernaut's haunting, angelic shape.

"My designation is.... V-Zoisite-One..." They declared in slow, stiff words, words that they had pantomimed since they were only a grub. A question pounded in the back of their mind, a desperate need to know who 'she' was, who they had hurt. Who they had killed.

Its red eyes blinked with a dulled sort of pity. It wondered what its life would be like, trapped as they had been. Loveless and lonely, despite being surrounded with bodies that stunk of oil. Though it supposed its attachment to its previous existence could be honourable, in its tragic and twisted way. It could not imagine the pain he had inflicted. More nausea.

The offering began to glow with a spell, the heart of the growth pulsing with soft light. Maybe outshining the light was a little vain, but he did so as his wings were shadowed by glittering copies. Peace on [Moon Let].

He lowered himself to a 'sitting' position, wings drifting quietly. Yellow ichor still dripped from his edges - something else to ignore. To bleed was such a strange thing - he wondered if it would stain.

"Vee... Zoi - site, One." It struggled with the courtesy. Was that... Given? Mine was. I kept it." The name was such a curious reflection. Odd symmetry.

@V-Zoisite-One

Before them, Juggernaut-006 began to shimmer with a glow of their own. It was soft, and gentle, and seemed like maybe-- maybe the gamble had worked. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving them terribly, terrible exhausted. He lowered himself before them, and they tried to mirror him.

As easy as breathing, their magic came spilling forth, white wings in symmetrical rows rolled down their length, glistening in the same way that Juggernaut's own did.

I think... I think it's safe, the Zoisite thought to themself, coaxing a bravery that they did not feel forth from their quivering heart. Either the pain was fading, or they were getting used to it. Neither seemed good, in the moment, because it meant that more pain could be inflicted on them again. A shiver.

Zoey swallowed, blinking away the sting of tears that had blurred her vision. She craned her head to get another good look at Juggernaut, who she was now realizing she remembered not covered in white plumage. She could see hints of the carapace underneath, but her eyes drifted to meet his, rather than stare.

"... designation... It is what we are given, when we are born in the Forge," she explained softly, "It is given... V, after Master Vargas, my grandfather..." Where she would normally flinch at calling Vargas by his relationship, she did not now. It seemed so insignificant to the... overwhelming, everything, else. "Zoisite, after my stone... And One, because I am the first Zoisite of the Forge." And the only, because she had not earned the right for a child, and she... Well.

"... we earn our names, if we want them. Mine would be Zoey," she spoke softly, "because it sounds... pretty... But it is still... From my designation."

In a moment, the Zoisite was its mirror. Approval left him in a purr, forgetting that the valkhound would not hear it in the moment. Yes, this one. This one was family already. Something buzzed underneath the thought, unresolved. Six yellow eyes fixed on his wings. Did they want to rip them off? Steal his light?

Was it physically possible for Juggernaut to throw up?

She continued, and the pity grew. Named after a monster, a rock and a number. He, at least, was named with a purpose in mind. ”Strange. We choose ours, not earn.” Such a basic right revoked until approval. ”Mother allows.”

Remembering its limitations, it rumbled its appreciation aloud this time. ”So is mine. Happy,” words ”Accident?” So similar. So similar.

@V-Zoisite-One

Of course it was strange to outsiders; and Zoey had always thought it a bit sad, that her siblings had to earn a right that felt like they already deserved. When it came to herself, however, it felt like a thing she had taken before she had earned. That was where some shame brewed, though... It was hard to feel shame, when Vargas had asked her what name she would pick for herself, and his eyes had seemed to shine with approval when she had told him.

"Master Vargas," Zoey spoke softly, "has a difficult job. He has to make sure that we are cared for, and he also has to motivate us. He gives us many things we can earn, not because he does not want us to have them... but because he wants us to want to be better." It was perhaps a kinder understanding of the Master than most would have had. Perhaps it was colored by the gentle way he spoke to her, the ease at which he listened to her.

It should not have been so easy for someone to talk while swimming through waves of blazing hot pain, but how many times had Zoey been pushed to breaking, and then forced herself to swallow it so she could speak to her family? She had done it again, and again, and it was frankly a bit daunting that she could managed this.

Maybe manage was a strong word. Her jaws clenched as she curled in on herself, another blaze of sharpness rolling through her.

She shivered, again. A distraction, from the pain. Could she ask him for that? After he had offered her a way out, and she had refused? She had to try. "... I'm sorry," she begged, "will you... will you tell me who she is? The one I hurt?" And she hoped, so dearly, that the sister (if that was what she was) lived. "... Tell me," she urged, so afraid of the truth, "tell me of the good things. Please."

The drone had never heard Vargas talked as a patriarch before - it'd slipped his mind that the beast could be anything other than the merciless weapon of war he'd encountered that day. It made his wings bristle, but as much as he wanted to he would not interject. This was valuable insight, Mother would say.

But he would not leave this perspective unchallenged. "A Diffi - cult job. Does not, Should not, Deny you... A name." But it was more than that. It was a denial of identity, until it had proven its identity was useful to the Forge; Or until the Forge had molded it to their tastes. "Love, constant. Warm. Works better than neglect."

Never mind that those trapped in Mother's embrace never had a chance to diverge willingly. Useless identities did not exist in the Hive, and that was not at all a result of her love. But the drone fancied its family different, permanently unable to connect the dots.

The worm shuddered, still suffering. Was this the venom, or the wound? It sighed. If they had not have refused the fungus, everything this process would required would be easy. Especially if he were to talk about Alcina. Much easier to show and to feel than to speak. "She is sister Alcina. She lives. Her stone left her... weakened, but not disfig-ured." Not like Siren had been. "She is... Beau-ti-ful. Mother's flower. Vargas could not... steal that, from her. Not For-ever." Without Mother, communicating the true amount of love he felt was impossible. What was this connection, but an extension of Her?

He tried again. "Are you... Sure? About - your decision." It nudged the clump with a tendril. "Could always return, into your stone. After."

@V-Zoisite-One

To a great degree, Zoey agreed with the argument. That names should not be denied. But it wasn't as though they couldn't have a name, simply that it wouldn't be used until it was earned. She had snuck by so many cycles with the word Zoey floating around in her mind. She had even spoken it to her Master, and he had agreed it would be hers one day.

There was a great relief to hear about Alcina. The name filled her mind with a beautiful image, and the word flower from Juggernaut's maw made her breath catch. It was enough to want to weep, and had she the strength, she might have.

"I'm glad," Zoey rasped, "I'm glad she lives, and that she is loved."

She meant it, too. The war was inevitable. That did not remove the humanity of either side. Her thoughts drifted, quiet and distraught, until the Drone prodded the glowing spores with yet another offer.

Return to her stone?

"I... I'm sorry, I can't."

A heaviness stretched over her, and the zoisite-- the mindless stone-- took hold of her, beginning to crawl over her carapace, enveloping her.