Vargas pulled away and the wyvern stayed in place; not because he was ordered to, but because he was still fiddling about with magicka as the immense Overseer was contemplating something. As Aure drew himself to his feet, wings tensed and prepared to flee, he realized that he did, in fact, have mind-reading capabilities --- and what better time to use them then now?

A splitting headache rang across his vision near-immediately, a roar of static rising in his conscious as he suddenly (and unwittingly) began to broadcast it towards Vargas: shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT---! Why did I do that, why does it hurt so bad, I need to make it look like I'm fine and not suffering from my mistakes. I should ask him about other Overseers, maybe and--- how many are there in Canis? Among other things.

Aure stiffened, putting on too-perfect posture to compensate for the migraine digging at his eye sockets and threatening to wrench his eyes out with spoon-like claws (if he didn't do it first, with how much they hurt.) Clearing his throat, he casually indicated, "at least ten that I know of. I've seen more but I don't... know them. And... yeah. I was born here and I decided to stay here."

@Vargas

Vargas let out a sharp snort--not mockery, but rather a loud exhale of surprise--as Aure's mind abruptly opened to him. Now this is new, he thought, irritably. He'd thought this one to be one of Astraea's.

A brief test told him that this wasn't his magic, not some hitherto-unknown branch of his own abilities. Instead, the hybrid must have been panicking, accidentally using his own magic to talk. He shook himself, the little quills along his back and chest rattling, his eyes blinking away the maddening thoughts. "What mistakes? What suffering? What did you do?" he demanded rather blankly--not with the tone of one who really cared, but rather, baffled by the river of thoughts. "Stop THINKING," he added. Maybe it was stupid; maybe it didn't know, couldn't control, its own magic. "You have magic of your mind and you are opening yours to me. I don't want it." He didn't need to hear Aure's thoughts; the idea that someone would lie to an Overseer at all had not yet occurred to him.

For a moment, Vargas thought this over. So the Spire has been taken over by another, and they're spawned, what... randomly? They do not know who the Overseers are. Perhaps we're awakening a year or two after these began? Or have they been living here for however many cycles, and I am the only one? --Does Astraea know? Does Nemean?

Vargas took a deep breath, focusing, shifting his gaze back to the little hybrid with the headache. "So you came to be, in this cave. There are others who live here, you have never heard of an Overseer. I take it you do not know the purpose of this cave?" His tone held deep, half-amused query. Vargas had never thought that he'd live to see the day where the cave's inhabitants chose, of their own free will, to dwell in Canis. If all the caves were open to them, why did they not dwell around the throne, or the jungle, the pools there? Though... if it was as this one said, there were hundreds of them throughout the caves.

The idea that the caves were full of blind (metaphorically speaking), ignorant (literally), weak (possibly) fools who knew nothing of their purpose or the Overseers left him shocked.

Why did they not tell me..? he wondered, for a beat--but perhaps the answer was obvious. His task was, most likely, the same as it had ever been--and these changes made no difference.

@Aure

Ah, shit--- he'd broadcasted all of the last minute or so of his thoughts to Vargas, hadn't he? That was quite the opposite effect he had intended, and the migraine grew yet stronger. If he got out of this alive, Aure supposed he'd have to just take a nap for a thousand years and pretend that none of his senses existed. But, the monstrosity seemed to just shake itself and demand that he just stop thinking. Caves, if only. Life would be a lot easier if he were a simple Lesser rat, scurrying about and eating its own feces to get all of the nutrients out of it, somehow.

For good measure, Aure pricked himself in the leg with a blunt claw, forcibly cutting off all flow of magic --- even if he really wanted to vibrate all of this slime off of himself. He felt disgusting. "Sorry," he chirped, not really caring to explain himself because Vargas had already moved on. Thank goodness.

"Well, I... uh... my mother gave my stone life, but my stone used to belong to another bird like me. Just no ears," the wyvern tacked on, hesitating slightly. He didn't really come to be like a lot of other Gembound seemed to. That whole thing was awkward, and he had no reason to believe that Vargas would care. He was more preoccupied with Aure's status of willfully living in a pit of bones. "No, but... I know, at least, that something terrible happened here--" he thought of the Lorekeeper's story his mother had passed on to him, "and that there were... Gembound... being hunted..." Aure trailed off, things beginning to click, and looked up at the kaiju with a slight bit of dawning horror, "were they the... the unworthy?" Ears pinning back.

Vargas could be one of the Loud Ones in that story, but Aure would rather die than outright make that sort of accusation against this thing and die a horrible slow death at the hands of acidic green he began to vaguely recognize from a bout of marrowsight.

@Vargas

Vargas tilted his head a little at the last thought that struck him, a sort of melancholy, wry "Caves, if only." He gave a brief snort (of amusement, this time) and settled down, a little, now that the hybrid seemed unlikely to flee. Then, he listened--and for a moment he almost appeared to be only a statue of a horrific monster.

Ahh... so it did know some of the cave's purpose. They're making one another..? Half of him was taken aback: in some sense it was an affront. Yet... it could be interesting, couldn't it--seeing what came up? They'd had long enough to create. Perhaps the Masters were allowing this to happen simply because some more fascinating beasts came about this way. They'd had their time with one method... why not test another?

But letting the creations run wild? Vargas looked over Aure, studying him carefully.

"Yes. They were the unworthy," he responded, matter-of-factly. "In the beginning, many were made, but not all were strong. And the weak were useless for our purposes. The unworthy were destroyed--but sometimes, they hid," he went on, turning to nod toward the bones littering the ground. "I believe they thought this was the last place we would look for them; it became a hunting ground, as well as a grave." The big creature had no emotion in his voice, no tone. "Of those tested, some were wretched things! They did not make it. Others were strong. They fought, and they survived," and now his tone did hold something. It could've been admiration, maybe, or pride.

"But to find you living here," Vargas continued, his heavy head swinging down to stare at Aure. "To find that you creatures have CHOSEN to live here. How can you flourish among the bones of the failed dead..?"

Do they not scream? Does your magic not find their lives of terror, of pain? How can you bear it? he thought, but did not say. He was baffled by it all. These Gembound were lesser than he, yes; but why did they choose this life..?

Everything was still exceptionally confusing to him; it was beginning to piece itself into a sort of sense, a new normal baseline, a new world. But the destruction of his old still baffled him. He could grasp that the weak made their home here, perhaps--even the strong?--and even that they lived freely now, their very lives their test. But where did that leave him..? What was he to Oversee? What of the tests, the regimented lives, the cullings?

What even was his purpose, then, anymore?

@Aure

Bright eyes widened with growing horror as Vargas simply stood in place, speaking so casually about genocide. As if being marked unworthy weren't enough, Gembound were hunted down, because they couldn't just--- exist somewhere out of the jurisdiction of the Overseers, because they were a waste of space. The idea of a Gembound being made was a sticking point, even as the monster moved on to a somewhat prideful tone about those that were (he assumed) marked worthy. "Made?" Aure parroted, brows furrowing, "like--- how I was? Or--- created as experiments by someone?"

Astraea's words seemed just that much more harrowing now that there was even more of a basis to go off of, huh?

There was also the matter of Vargas talking like he was above Aure, but he willfully didn't address that at the moment. In the spirit of not pestering with a thousand more questions --- no matter how much he wanted to voice them right then and there --- his gaze simply trailed to the bones around him. "It's home," he chirped softly, tracing the shape of a femur beneath him with an idle claw, "and I don't think they should be alone in death, without a gemstone or magic or flesh and blood to move and speak with. They speak, sometimes --- I think --- and we listen to them."

The wyvern lifted a wing, rubbing at his stone, though he didn't elaborate on the bound-to-our-bones belief as he would've liked to. A shot of magicka came from the contact, but nothing more.

@Vargas

There was a quiet creak as one massive forearm raised, the six clawed fingers tilting palms-up to gesture upward in a vague motion. "Made," he confirmed. "I do not know how you were made. Master Astraea hasn't been clear on that... but it isn't the same way as we were, no." As he eyed the small hybrid, a realization hit Vargas. These weren't those who had been created into a system. They were outside it; beyond it; they were almost entirely their own ecosystem, now, perhaps even their own culture. The brief mental, philosophical wrangle of "do we have the right--" emerged, a bubble breaking on the surface of his thoughts, and he quickly pushed it aside for another time. What to do with them all wasn't clear, though Astraea hadn't set to wiping them all out, yet, at least. That was my job. Astraea might not stoop so low--but it's Nemean's job, too. But he seems to be testing them. Perhaps they're just allowed to sprawl out, now, and live where they want between testing. Probably difficult to control, if they're just popping up all over.

Still... Aure's other words gave him pause. Vargas pushed up, and backed off a bit, giving Aure more space. He no longer looked like he might lurch forward and eat him; hell, Aure could probably kick off and fly away before he could snag him, now. Though that might be a bridge unwisely burnt.

"Tell me more of how you all live," Vargas said abruptly, with the tone of someone who had come to a decision. It didn't sound like a determined decision, either, but almost a reluctant one; he'd realized, now, that he had to learn about this new world before he passed judgement on it--or decided his own actions.

@Aure

Made, as Astraea had mentioned --- likely purged as he had mentioned. Made and deemed unworthy. The prospect of it didn't--- it just didn't make sense. Aure verged into philosophical thinking, pondering why the Masters (he assumed they were the ones doing the creating) would spend their time creating imperfect beings, when they could make everything worthy and remove the need for so much bloodshed. If something worked, why not repeat it over and over again? His brows furrowed. Of course, there was the question of "we?" wasn't there...

Vargas backed off a bit, as if this conversation was simply companionable and not unearthing everything either of them knew. The monstrosity fell silent for a moment, then burst with an abrupt demand: "tell me more of how you all live."

Aure furrowed his brows further, then averted his gaze. Where to begin? A fairly long pause ensued, and he took a deep breath and began: "we just... live, I guess. Hunt when we need, feed where we need--- some of us stay alone and others band together in groups for a common goal: to learn, to protect, to listen." The Children of Rot, the two Kingdoms, the Bonebound. "There's conflict at times--- such as the Bloodberries rising and killing without need or purpose, invading Eridanus with the intent to slaughter. They fell quickly and are now either gone or in hiding."

Bright eyes glanced back up at acidic green ones, ears perking up slightly, almost proudly, "but, we live peacefully, with one another. Forging bonds and protecting one another from whatever the Caves hold for us."

@Vargas

Vargas listened--and the more he did, the more unsettled he became. Aure's words weren't ones that should have been coming from subjects of the Masters. They were coming from simple creatures that had sprung into being, totally separate of their work, and thought themselves free.

He was immediately, deeply conflicted, though not in any sort of moral sense. Perhaps that would come with time, but for now he had no idea if these creatures were under his jurisdiction, so to speak. Or rather--they were, but what should he do about that..? He voiced his thoughts aloud, rumbling a growl first.

"Were this my era you would all be routed out and killed for hiding here. You would be herded and tested and used." He stared at Aure for a moment, hard, all six eyes unblinking. "But it seems as though things have changed."

With another huff he turned, glancing around. "And I still have not eaten. So you--Aure?--your cooperation is..." Vargas' great head swung back toward Aure, and he exhaled sharply in thought. "...Noted. Go with your life intact before I change my mind," he added, and there was a bitter weariness to his tone. "Unless you had something else to say."

@Aure

Vargas seemed to contemplate Aure's words, but the only indicator of it, really, was a low grumbling growl. It seemed like a thinking sound, anyways --- the monster was otherwise pretty much not emotive, except for the slight squint and widen of way too many eyes (and the wyvern was still trying to figure out which set to make contact with.)

He stopped making eye contact as the Overseer as soon as he started staring a little more harshly, noting that the times had changed and that he wasn't going to proceed with his hunting duties (Aure hoped, anyways.) Preemptively loosening his wings to take off, Aure took the hint with a simple nod and turn. A lone question niggled at the back of his mind, still, and before he could stop himself--- "what do you mean when you say 'we?' That---" Fumbling over the awkward wording, he cleared his throat, "that we --- as in the Gembound of today --- weren't made like you were? Are the Gembound of the past different from us, or?"

And, in exchange for the question, some quick --- hopefully helpful --- advice for the new age of Gembound willingly living in Canis: "there's a set of boulders near here that has some Lesser carcasses around it as bait. The rats that come to them are pretty big, good for food." Aure tilted his head in the direction of the boulders, toward the northern edge of Canis.

@Vargas

Vargas gestured vaguely.

"As I've explained! We were made. I have never heard of 'Gembound' before. We were created for a purpose, hounds for the hunt, soldiers for battle. Tested! Culled! Proved, and strengthened! You-..." He swivelled, eyeing Aure over.

With, still, far too many eyes.

"You, I do not know, yet. I know nothing of your--of the current age. I have slept too long. And rats," he added, tensing his muscles for a leap, "are too small."

He turned and sprang, not at Aure--though the hybrid could be forgiven for expecting such--but for the fortress rooftops opposite, vanishing with a clatter of bones into the dark.

exit Vargas
@Aure