Aran had been exploring a lot lately, despite being so young his legs were able to bring him a long way. He was glad he was able to travel so much though! It was exciting and he really wanted to see as much as he could! Of course most of what he did right now was slipslop wandering, which didn't bring him much, but some of the interactions he had with others were fun! Maybe he could find some friends if he explored!

So, when he came upon a beautiful area, with many plants all over, he couldn't help but go inside.

The first thing he noticed was the smell. It was such a nice scent, though overpowering to anything else that could be there. It wasn't like Aran used his sense of smell much, anyway. The Barasingha's dark eyes gazed around the area.

@Vargas

Vargas was not far off. He was, though not easy to miss, also not particularly hard; the light was grey with autumn, and his towering figure could, for a shorter Gembound, at first be mistaken for lanky tree limbs. Of course, had said Gembound looked up, they'd have seen the acid glow and quivering quills above.

The fawn approaching hadn't gone unnoticed, but for a moment, Vargas simply thought that it was another of the Lessers of the caves. The way it moved, though--alone, and not in a herd, first off--but hesitant, as if with wonder at this new place, made him doubt himself.

Vargas turned, abruptly, his hulking silhouette brushing the foliage aside with quiet cracks, and paced toward Aran.

"You;" he called down to him, in a voice that brooked no argument, "Are you sapient? -Aware? Can you understand me?"

His voice was naturally gruff, but he was curious; the cave's life, these days, was wholly unfamiliar to him and he was learning new things every hour, it seemed. This creature--what was it? Could it think, and speak, or was it merely mindless? Was it lunch?

@Aran

Aran hadn't noticed Vargas when he was looking around the area. Though the young deer finally got the confidence to move more through the area. The colors, the smell, all of the plants inside of it. Everything was so nice about this area of the caverns. Though, a sound caught his small ears, and then a voice came after it.

The Barasingha turned around quickly to see a large, brooding creature looking like none he'd seen before. The colors and everything about him was... so strange. Aran had only seen somewhat normal looking animals thus far... It was startling to see someone so different.

"Hello? What does that word mean? Sapient?" He asked the purple creature, his small tail flicking behind him a moment.

@Vargas

"Hrmph. That's a 'yes,'" Vargas grunted. Lunch, it seemed, would have to wait.

"Sapient! It means--capable of thought, hm? Able to speak. So yes, you are sapient. What is your designation-... Your... number, or... name," the Overseer half-demanded, a little irritable. None of the Gembound had numbers--he knew this one wouldn't, knew it as surely as he'd known it about the last three or four--but he couldn't help but hope.

"How old are you; were you created here? Or did you come here--and why?"

Ahh--perhaps the creature wasn't aware of his authority, though. "I am Overseer Vargas. I am in authority," he explained, with a grumble.

Long gone were the days when this went without saying.

@Aran

Aran blinked at the explanation the other creature gave. Capable of thought? He could think! He was thinking about how crazy this situation was right now! Name? Aran had a name! "Aran! Is my name!" He replied to the creature. "Your name?" He asked.

Aran didn't know how to answer all of the questions that were shot at his little child brain, but he would try his best! "I came here not long ago... Ah. I like exploring!"

Authority? What did that word mean? "What does Authority mean?" He asked. How was he supposed to know what it was if he didn't know the word!

@Vargas

"Ahhh... you are young," Vargas surmised. He pondered this, looking the little creature over. What would it be like, once it was fully grown? And what would it be good for? It certainly reminded him of the cave deer, which to his knowledge were good for little more than hunting down and eating. They could run relatively swiftly, and he'd even had a few escape him in the past, but what good was that for what they required?

"Vargas is my name, itself. Overseer is my title," he explained, lowering himself to his haunches with a patience that might not have been expected for a creature with his appearance. "Authority is-... There are creatures who run this caves. The owners of it, the masters of it, the rulers, yes? You understand these words-?" Hopefully the little deer caught on to at least one of them; Vargas wasn't sure how to explain things without using other words. "I oversee the caves on their behalf. If I tell someone to do something, then they must do it; that is authority. And if they do not, I have the power to punish them."

He paused, eyeing Aran for a moment, and pushed aside a particular fern that was scratching against his spined leg. "Do you know of the Masters, at all?" he asked. "And where did you come from--if not from here?"

@Aran

Aran eyed at the large creature with his dark eyes. What even was this creature? Aran certainly had seen creatures with wings, creatures with sharp teeth, but this one was an entirely new thing that he couldn't figure out. Vargas... was his name. It wasn't a strange name, if anything, it was more normal than some things he would come to see as he aged. Overseer... Ruler... Owner? He understood some of those things, and it was obvious Vargas was very important from those words.

"You have power." Aran said. That much was obvious to him now. What kind of creature that looked like that didn't have power? It was a strange thing.

"I've only met you..." He replied to the question of Aran knowing or not knowing about the masters. "I don't come from this room... but another. Orion..? Was the name I think?" The Barasingha replied.

@Vargas

Orion? Vargas pondered this, leaning a little closer to squint at the Barasingha. Astraea's, then? It certainly bore similarities, though he wasn't very good, yet, at picking out the details between this creatures.

Vargas sat back upright.

"Not far, then. And your magic? Do you know what form yours takes?" he went on, matter-of-factly.

For a moment, he again studied Aran. The green made him think of plants, or perhaps fungus or prokaryotic magic, but often the appearance of a creature had little to no bearing on what sort of magic it bore. Curiosity rippled through him, but he didn't speak further as yet--perhaps the little creature, young as it was, didn't even know what it could do.

@Aran

Aran would have recoiled when Vargas moved slightly closer to get a better look at him, but he was just so curious of the other. What kind of power did they have? Was it like the winged creature named Hecate from before? Aran wondered how many different creatures Vargas saw in his time in the caverns. Aran wanted to meet many different creatures too! Maybe he could ask Vargas about them when they were done talking about this! He tilted his head at the notion of magic.

"Magic? I don't know." He replied.

The Barasingha eyed at the other creature when he looked at Aran. Vargas was so strange. It was interesting.

@Vargas

"Ha! Of course you don't. You creatures spawn of your own accord and wander, blind, without purpose!" Vargas scoffed. He leaned out, one spindly arm aiming a single little finger-flick onto Aran's gemstone where it branched into what would someday be impressive antlers. "Here; this, your stone. Emerald, I think? Or--no, titanite?" He peered closely for a moment, and then--seemingly satisfied that he'd identified it correctly--he rocked back again on his haunches. "You focus on this, as what you are--you draw magic like a parasite! Ha. Use it," he half-suggested, half-commanded.

As he spoke, he seemed to shimmer--and then to fade; instead of Vargas there were trees and leaves, though his outline was still visible. Had one not known he was there, they may never have noticed him--at least, not by sight; but to Aran, the faint glow of his quills and eyes and the slightly slipshod shadows here and there would likely give him away.

"This is magic," the Overseer declared, his voice rumbling forth from that seemingly-empty space. "But there are many things that it can do."

@Aran