Bone flexed her wings. They'd been summoned, as she'd known they would be: encouraged to move to Eridanus for a time, to spread the Hive's influence even further. But she was lax; there was something she hadn't done.

Now was the time.

She closed her eyes, and felt the passage of the Hive's power through her. A ripple, a strangely Ordered sensation as her very being was taken stock of in absolute full. There was warmth in that. Reassurance.

If she fell in Eridanus... she would return.

"There," she said aloud, and turned to the creature at her side. The one she'd be escorting--no, carrying. "And you?"

Any Hive are free to use this thread as a free place to cast Iteration before the current quest, Regrowth!

Ananke sat back, washing her whiskers with her paws as she concentrated. (There had been a single, stray snowflake lodged between them.)

The magic flowed through her, as well, and she felt the glut of knowledge pass through the Hive's links to Mother. The white rabbit allowed herself a moment of gratitude before climbing into Bone's waiting claws.

"I am ready," she informed the dragon, settling in and trying not to fear. The flight would be swift, high; everything a tiny prey animal could not control. But she trusted her family.

It was Eridanus that would be a real threat.

exit both

The idea of "falling" was a strange, foreign thing to the young Herse, who saw this new venture as something exciting and fun, and not for the threat that seemed to loom over them. Yes, there was the trepidation across the connection between it and the rest of the Hivemind, but lack of experience was stronger than any feeling or careful thought offered between its fellows, Mother, and it.

Observing iteration. A back-up. Save the here and now, and I can return? I can always return? This... This is our magic. The magic of Order. Can I? May I? Its thoughts hummed, circling around the idea.

Herse reached into that connection, and began to explain in agonizing detail: I am Herse, of Order, brood of Juggernaut and Drone above all other things. I have been alive for one day. It seemed appropriate for it to now begin remembering and recalling every inch that had gotten it this far.

Recalling: First memories. Darkness. Eternity. Thoughts come slowly, painstakingly, and the Herse claws, scratches, BLEEDS against the stone walls of its cage. Panic and fear, the worst agony anything could ever imagine. It stretches beyond me. How long. How long. An eternity. Do you know when it will end? It will never end. Why does it have to be so painful? Are you remembering this? The pain? The suffering? I beg for answers, beg to know why, why, why.

... Someone was going to have to interrupt this poor scallop and get it on the right path, or it was going to be here for another hour.

The summons by Mother become something Siren can use to prove herself once again. At least if they lose again, Siren can say she won't get caught off guard this time. The sight of one of the young ones catches her off guard, but it is just doing its duty, so Siren will not push it away from this potential battle.

Siren does not say anything to the dragon or the rabbit. She doesn't speak to her family too much, even if she does love them.

Siren can feel her magic wash over her properly, it's time to get work done.

The duties of a soldier were as follows: to stand guard, fight, and potentially perish according to the orders of their commander. When Mother called for her regiment to move, those words demanded immediate obedience; Ace, ever the faithful son, would fly at once to fulfill them. Sure, this operation was more lackluster compared to the grandeur of full-fledged combat—babysitting, literally, when taking into account he would be playing eye in the sky for not just those too little to defend themselves against oil-leaking giants, but also his own sibling's freshly emerged offspring. Nevertheless it offered the chance to flex feathered wings and precisely execute a spit in Chaos' ugly face. What sort of Drone would he be to not rejoice at the exciting prospect?

Much as anticipation surged through muscles, egging him onward to Eridanus and the glorious mission waiting there, it'd be foolishness to not take certain preparations. Victory, after all, lay in the strategy planned as well as its execution. Others clearly had concluded the same, offering their experiences up to the Hive's infinite web. He made to follow suit, sinking mental claws into his consciousness, when an irritating background noise distracted him from the task. Each attempt at grasping memories was interrupted by a blurting of raw emotion and imagery shown in painstaking detail. Had he possessed more than a cupful of empathy, it might've occurred to him that this was what he often subjected his fellow Hive members to during more enthusiastic recollections of his escapades.

"Hey, kid," Ace advised through gritted fangs. "Much as the backstory's riveting and all, mind speeding it up? I want to get to Eridanus before the halfwit Hounds remember to burn away the rest of it. You've just got to channel the idea of yourself out, no monologue required."

With a haughty roll of his shoulders, spearing appendages swaying alongside the motion, he demonstrated for the child. The entirety of his existence thus far he gathered up in a decisive scoop and lobbed toward the visualized center of Order's hivemind. A perfect pitch. Easy as cruising along the breeze.

@Herse

Drones left as if distance could save them from the monologue of excruciating detail, but for one: Ace. -- ? An interruption to the stream of thoughts, Ace's voice sharp and stinging. There was a resistance to using its own voice to answer. "What is... Channeling?" It spoke slowly, as its thoughts boiled with frustration. Noisy vibrations that shutter through flesh and sinew. The fluttering of feathers, mandibles grinding. Monologue? Why is he so silent? Where is the thoughts, the connection, the intricate web? How do you share without sharing?

Ace was, in some ways, sharing. A demonstration. Herse's thoughts stilled for a moment, down to a hushed, reverent whisper. Sensation and feeling... The breeze, rustling through... Could it? Would it? It tried again to give itself up to the Hive.

The Drone unfurled, a hundred crimson eyes watching Ace with trepidation as its shell shattered into a thousand pieces, spreading out into a crude mimicry of wings. Its flesh pulsated, crab claws digging into the earth as it propped itself up and...

It wasn't perfectly silent. It came with a rushing sensation, a dozen little thoughts: herse - the self - the individual - to the hive - channeling - copy - copy - copy - know me and be known-- but the magic sparked, and the Herse felt a soothing relief. That was what it was. It had... Succeeded.

Urging: it thought, and spoke, "Urging:" a request or a demand or both, impossible to unravel which one. "How to get to Eridanus?" I am ready.

@Ace , exit with Ace if chill? enjoy your new annoying sibling :)

Orthus responded to the summons by Mother. He was a drone, and to avoid filling his purpose was blasphemy. That was not to say Orthus was particularly happy, though. Orthus was a mess of nerves. He was...hesitant to enter battle again. The pain, the sensation of a spine giving out, of half of his body going limp, played again and again. in his mind as he thought of fulfilling one of Mothers orders again. He flexed his claws, unconsciously reassuring himself that they still worked.

Things had been quiet, but their resurgence of action would draw attention again. It was foolish for a drone of Mother's to fear. It was shameful. Flawed. They had the assurance of iteration. Their forms would be remade. Their memories restored. There was no true death for a member of the Hive. There would be no true death for Orthus.

;exit

Sister had been sat in some unseen chamber of the Hive, dissecting what remained of one of Mother's ghostbirds after it'd passed from starvation. Her chamber was dark and quiet. Silent, save the occasional crackle of her sonar. Her worktable, a makeshift slab of ice, was flawless in its design, smooth, without a speck of blood on its surface.

She had been seperating the muscles into mentally organized groups, taking special note of the wing group, when she felt the order. They were to visit Eridanus. Reclaim that which others had tried to steal. Sister abandonded her project for later, retracting her tentacles. This was good news. It was another outing. A chance to meet her siblings, learn more about them than that she had seen from Juggernaut and Mother's thoughts. She needed to prepare. The magic was unfamiliar. She hoped that it would take.

It was frail, but she felt her memories upload, short as they were. Sister raised herself off the ground, latching onto the tunnel walls. She'd indeed improved with her movement, as Mother had both expected and assured. It mostly came naturally to her now, yet she still struggled with those finer turns, and any feats of acrobatics would take longer still to master. She was good enough for her current purpose, though, which was swinging herself to the main tunnel of the Hive, resting on the ceiling of the entrance. 'I am ready,' she thought. 'May someone carry me to the tunnel outside of Ursa? I need assistance.'

Its upload to the network was less fluid, a million thoughts broadcast in an audible stream of static compared to the swift and silent packet delivery Ace had sent. However, this was an improvement, and a clenched jaw eased as smugness leeched into the flyer's bones. He'd solved a minor headache and, in the process, shown the rest of the Hive just how helpful he could be when not busting open skulls or pelting his enemies with a verbal assault. Truly Mother had thought of everything while conceiving his design—a fighter as well as a master of group cohesion. She'd be proud of how he'd guided the younger Drone into operating in a more efficient manner.

He crouched, readying himself for the launch that would return him to the familiar embrace of the air. Meanwhile a sneer etched itself into the harsh contours of his face upon witnessing shell segments shift about and form a pale imitation of wings. Passable but doubtlessly weak tools compared to those he sported. To be expected coming from Juggernaut's line. A veritable bastion of defense couldn't produce soaring combatants, only slightly more agile tanks.

Then he chuckled too at another thought. Verbose mentally, but short of words physically. Maybe not a perfect replica of his sibling's mindset, but that definitely proved its heritage. A chip off the old blunt-edged Clearstone, one could say. Quite an entertaining observation to make.

"Well, there's the quick way or the careful way. I know which one I'm taking. The question is whether you can keep up with me." Ace grinned down at Herse, amused condescension and challenge flashing on those pearly fangs. "There's a tunnel to Polaris. Cut through there to reach our destination."

Gargantuan as he was, subtlety wasn't his strong suit. Better to blast through the heart of the caves and into the action faster than waste it parading his presence through a more circuitous route. His piece said and a few reference images sent across his link of the sights and sounds that might be encountered along the way, finally the time for flight had arrived. Wings outstretched simultaneously as legs sprang off the snow-covered ground. A picture of elegance and speed, he twisted in mid-air and zoomed away from the mountainside.

@Herse (for visibility)
-Exit Ace

He followed alongside everyone else, though he knew that he was going to do what needed to be done. It didn't matter what rickety adventures laid ahead, he would come out ahead. Hell, he didn't even need to do this, he was confident that nothing bad would happen to him. The only reason he did it was because everyone else was doing it. It made them feel better, so he figured he would do it too. He hoped it would make Mother happy.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling his connection to the Hive move through his body, letting out a sigh of relief for a moment. He enjoyed the feeling of being connected to Mother, to the Hive in general, and he was determined to never leave Mother's side. She needed him after all.

Once the connection was passed, he would simply nod his head and turn to leave, content and ready for whatever lay ahead.

-exit-