Aetius flew into Pisces as she called out the name of the creature she was seeking. "Nemean, come out! Nemean please! I need to speak with you it's very important! Please come out!" Aetius had questions to ask Nemean, and was praying that she would be honest to her. Astraea told her that secrets must be kept, but after what she has seen, she didn't believe that any more. No, these secrets were meant to be uncovered. Not for evil, but for the good of the caves. Gembounds deserved to know of their home. "Nemean, I promise you I mean well! I have to speak with you!" She would recognize the voice of Nemean, after all, she heard what she sounded like in her vision.

@Game Master CJ

What, what, what!!! Nemean tossed and turned away from the noise echoing through her mind before she finally threw her eyes open and swatted at the air. "Go away, Tenzin!" she howled, clenching her fist and sitting up in her tiny lair. She felt the presence in her mind ease away but still, she couldn't ignore why it had been there: someone was in Pisces looking for her, and the goody two-shoes phoenix of course would let her know. In the most annoying way. It was like something was screaming inside of her mind! Ugh! What a pest he was!

She huffed and prepped herself to leave, traveling through the air vents before they dropped her out into Pisces. Nemean wasn't a follower, she wouldn't just answer any old summons; but at the same time, she lived for the attention and would gladly be someone's focus if that was what they wished of her!

Spotting the snowy owl gliding below her, she fluttered down in a marvelous show of glitter, confetti, and dazzling spotlights. "Yess, yess, it is I, NEMEAN!" she announced herself loudly, puffing her cheeks with her tiny paws as she descended in a slow spiral. "Now what in His vast cave did you need to speak to me about? Hmm?" To tell her she was beautiful? The best? The only one?

Nemean sparkled and stared cutely at the owl. Oh yes. Nemean was very important. Please talk to Nemean about Nemean.

@Aetius

As Aetius called out to Nemean, just as she was about to give up, the white owl finally got a reply. Her eyes widened in confusion, wondering why she would mistake her for Tenzin. She then shrugged it off. She knew it was Nemean, for Aetius recognized the voice. The small cat like creature flew down in a grand entrance and pretty lights. Overall, Nemean seemed very cute. But being amazed at Nemean's appearance was not why she came here. The owl came here for answers, and hoped Nemean would be very honest with her. She took a deep breath before speaking. "Nemean, my name is Aetius. Please listen to me because I have questions, so I will explain everything at once, and Nemean, please be honest."

With that she began, hoping Nemean would be honest and truthful.

"I am a researcher who studies the caves history and secrets. I flew to Orion and decided to use hindsight on The Throne." So far so good. "I had a vision of a two legged creature with long flowing hair. It had weird, smooth skin and perfect complexion that was so pure and white, it looked as if it might be carved from alabaster; or perhaps it was lacking in color at all. The faint lights of Orion glittered on its pale skin. Its eyes were closed and it looked as if it were deep in thought. In the middle of its forehead was a gleaming, round ruby. It's eyes were the color of pale blue. Its body was slender, and it had pale colorless skin and silvery white hair draped from its head, almost as long as its body."

Now that the description was out of the way, her tone got more serious, but still held great respect for Nemean.

"In my last vision, the creature was talking to someone else. You. I heard its voice and I have reason to believe that was Astraea's previous form. You said to him, 'I'm telling you, they're a bunch of liars we should eat them'. Then Astraea asked you what Totum and Enki thought of it. You said someone killed Totum, then the vision stopped there.

Now for the important questions.

"Nemean, what was that conversation about? And who is Enki? Lastly, the creature I described, was that Astraea? I already know who Totum is." Aetius gave Nemean a pleading look. "Please be honest Nemean. Please"

Nemean was not expecting the amount of words that crashed out of the owl's mouth, but she shifted into a comfortable position with her cheek resting on her palm; she was hovering, listening, waiting for the conversation to reveal its true nature... its true subject...

Yeah yeah, blah blah blah, she nodded here and there to confirm she was listening but why did this creature care about any of that? It had happened thousands of years ago! Ugh. Her eyes rolled open when Aetius mentioned that she suggested they eat someone. A split, toothy grin cracked her face. "Hah, yeah, we should have ate them," she agreed.

But Aetius didn't want to know anything about Nemean! She huffed a sigh of disappointment and flicked her hand out as it she were swatting a fly.

"UGH, why do you want to know about any of that, it's lame," she grumbled, rolling onto her back in her floating position and kicking one of her legs over the other, bouncing it as she spoke. "Blah blah blah, the rebellion, blah blah, Jupiter and Tamulus were lame—uh, they're still lame—and Jupiter killed half of Totum, it was really dramatic, oh!" Nemean rolled onto her side and snapped her fingers. "But you guys found her and put her back together, good for you." She rolled her eyes again.

"Ugh, and who is Enki!?" she groaned, and blew a raspberry. "Pbbft, Enki died. Another of Jupiter's victims, weak." She gave a big thumbs down.

As for Astraea, she refused to answer; in fact, she had been so distracted by the other names that she totally didn't even hear the last questions, just, please please please!

She held out her hand palm-up. "So what do I get for this, huh?" Surely this owl didn't expect all of this information for free.

@Aetius

Aetius listened as Nemean gave a useless amount of information. Apparently NEmean wasn not interested in giving her any information. What she was interested in though, was what Aetius had to offer her in return for the withheld information. So Aetius spoke thoughtfully, even though she was not sure what it was that Nemean wanted. "Nemean, I promise you if you give me this information and answer my questions, I will give you anything you want." The owl thought quickly before speaking. "If you do this, then I could find you some life filled stones. Or perhaps, something else more valuable, anything, you have my word." Then Aetius drooped her wings sadly, giving Nemean the reason she wanted to know of all this. "I want to know of things Nemean, because gembounds hatch and live fulfilling lives, but they live knowing nothing of their history, of their roots, what came before them. Gembounds deserve to know of their history, and I want to help with that. Please, Nemean." Aetius didn't expect Nemean to understand, as she was a master of the cave, like Astraea. But she hoped she would find it in her heart to agree with why she wanted this information.

@Game Master CJ

Nemean's eyes narrowed more and more as the owl spoke, and when it was done pleading, Nemean brought her hand up to her face as if to inspect something. She dramatized it, looking under her hand, flipping it over, even looking on the ground as if something might have dropped...

"Uh, I don't work for "please"," she said flatly, drawing her eyes back up to Aetius. "But you want to know your roots? That one's easy! You don't have any!" She slapped a tiny hand on her knee and laughed in an annoying, shrill tone. "Aaahhahah! Ah... ahah.. sorry, okay. But I'm not going to talk about Astraea, that guy is lame, probably the most lame, Fates! Have you seen him! He's hilariously ugly!" Another bout of laughter spit from her lips until she silenced herself on the spot, peering around Pisces. Her glare settled on the lagoon. "Don't you tattle on me!" she hollered toward the waterfall.

She sighed, reeling herself in, and shook her head. "Answer your questions? Everyone you're asking about doesn't even deserve your interest." Nemean stuck out her bottom lip and several holographic hands popped up around her, all pointing to her with gusto.

With a dramatic roll onto her back, she floated in the air, bobbing like a dead fish in the water; she had an arm across her chest and the other laying limp below her. "Oh, but 'please' doesn't fulfill me. I'm dying. I'm going to shrivel up and wither away, oh no," she whined dramatically.

@Aetius

Aetius thought for a moment, about to run out of ideas. Then something popped into her head. Nemean did make a grand entrance when she appeared. Why not get her something to marvel her beauty in? "Oh! What about a flat piece of Diamond shard? You could admire yourself using that, and it would be something lovely to keep." Aetius hoped that would be enough for Nemean to give her the information she needed. If that wouldn't work for Nemean, Aetius needed to figure out what would.

@Game Master CJ

She waited for the praise, the unconditional confession of love, oh, how cute was Nemean, oh, how perfect was Nemean...

But there was none of that. She drew in a long, long breath, loudly, and exhaled it as a small yelling sound. "AAAAAaaaaaahhhhh," a breath, "aaAAAAaaahhh." She perished. Her tiny body floated gently to the ground as lightly as a piece of paper might, swaying back and forth until she landed gently in a bed of flowers, glittering with the light of her magic. Her body shed its color so that she appeared de-saturated.

A tiny, ethereal shape rose from her body. It was an exact replica of herself except it was a translucent, shimmering silver and held a single flower to its chest. "Aah, I guess a piece of diamond would do," it said to Aetius, throwing the back of its hand onto its forehead, dramatically wailing."Oooh! But if you also wanted to offer yourself as a slav— ah, esteemed servant, that would also do." The ghost did one spin, its hand unfurling so that both of them could reach out to Aetius, offering the flower. It looked up to her with a sheepish grin.

Aetius thought about Nemean's offer for a moment, then nodded in approval. "Deal. You give me information and answer my questions, I will find you a piece of diamond, and become your esteemed servant. I promise." The snowy owl took the flower gently with her talons as a sign of their agreement. Nemean was quite the dramatic one, but nonetheless, Aetius liked her anyway. Getting information like this from one of the masters was worth the deal she was making. After all, information like this did not come cheap.

@Game Master CJ

When Aetius took the flower there was a burst of flame—not real flame, just more of Nemean's illusions—and her body popped back into the air, her arms extended upward and her legs straight out. "I'M REVIVED," she exclaimed loudly, pointing her finger at the owl and conjuring a lightning bolt to spark between them. It wasn't real lightning, Aetius wouldn't feel it, but Nemean made a show of it anyway. "Bzzt, bash, zoop!" She clapped her hands excitedly after her totally real binding magic. "Now you can't break that promise, you can never speak ill of me, or that spell will tell me!!" It wasn't a real spell. "Okay!" She was totally bluffing.

"Ahem, okay," she breathed another dramatic sigh. "So what is it you wanted to ask of your master?" Eheheh. She rubbed her tiny paws together. Puuurrfect.

@Aetius