Aries stood at the edge of the grove, watching. He saw that Opal had finally woken up. This was good. At least something had work out despite the mess. He started his way down. Aure and the Bone Reader were already there, questioning him. It would have been a lie to say that Aries didn't have questions of his own. What they found in Opal, this went beyond the Bonebound.

Rezik's arrival, the troubling news from Serek; call it a hunch, but something terrible was brewing in the caves. It threatened them all. It had reminded Aries of the vow he made so long ago, and how far he strayed.

Aries approach from behind Aure, and looked at the disheveled gembound. His golden eyes burned with a mix of pity and scrutiny. Opal looked like he was about to throw up his guts any second, but he seemed to be cooperating to the best of his abilities so far. Still, Aries wasn't sure if he could trust him just yet. This gembound, a champion of Hydra, was an unknown element as far as he was concerned. He may have been full of fungus, but whose to say where his true loyalties lied?

Uncharacteristically, Aries said nothing. He just watched as Giggle and Aure pushed for answers.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: // OOC:

"A few days," the young King tried in return. He hadn't kept too close an eye on the cycle of dimming and brightening lights.

Opal would cooperate (much to Aure's silent relief) and provide what he could. Whether or not it was out of a sense of being indebted to the Bonebound, the wyvern wasn't sure. It didn't matter in the long run, because here was someone - perhaps many - that they could help. Aure shook his head slightly at the rat he'd offered, "eat some of that whenever you can, at least. And - and drink from the pond when you can. It's safe water."

Giggle could provide solidarity to the jumbled thoughts and memories of the eel-creature, and Aure could at least try to contribute. "All you have to do is talk," he tried with a glance to his mother. The wyvern settled down onto his stomach, at calm ease, eager to help - "and we'll listen and try to put things together, okay? Take your time. We're listening."

@Opal Three-Seven-Six

The Opal forced himself to bite into the rat. With a quick snap of his jaws, he swallowed it whole. It sat heavy in crop, like a stone. He would save it for later when he was sure he wouldn't just throw it back up.

"That blue creature was Reji." He said. "She was from my cycle- the old cycles- before..." He trailed off. He didn't know exactly what happened before, or even how and why. He wasn't even sure how much he should share, for Reji's sake. Astraea had a grip on the Bonebound, but atleast they weren't too pleased about it. "-before the Masters lost control of the caves." That much was apparent. He looked to Giggle. "She's just as much as slave to Mother as I was, they all are." The fact that he had been freed gave him hope, that maybe, the rest of hive could be too.

The eel took a deep breath. "She- it.. gets into your head, makes you feel things. I was under the impression that it was different from the Masters I knew, that serving it was somehow better." The affection she showed him, real or imagined, was unlike anything he had ever known. The world he grew up in was not a kind one. Love was rare. Never had he realized how starved of it he was until he met "her". Maybe that was why he never resisited. It took advantage of that. He thought "she" cared. He thought "she" valued him. He thought he was "beloved". "She was.. like a mother to me.." The mother he had never known, but always longed for. "She made me think that, so she could use me like pawn." Was that all he could ever be in this life; just a pawn for the bigger powers at play? Opal didn't know which one was worse, to be ruled with fear, or betrayed by love.

His heart felt empty and cold.

Mothers, Masters, it did not matter. Both sought domniation. Mother was no better than the Masters, and the Masters were no better than Mother.

He closed his eyes, sifting through his jumbled memories. It was like someone had gone an cut holes through out it. Maybe it was Mother's attempt to cut him off and destroy his brain. "We built a lot of hives in.. argh, what's that place called?" He tapped his claws. "Cyrus? Caucus? That didn't feel right. "It's really of swampy and wet, I think. Kai-ces?"

@Auré @Giggle

Giggle listened, brow furrowed.

She'd heard fungus, before. It had guided her. She could spread it across the dead, and feed it, and in return it fed the memories of the flesh directly into her mind.

This... this sounded... different.

"Just by being near it? You said it gets into your head--is that just from coming too close?"

As for the cave... Giggle hadn't ever been to Cetus. Most of her life had been spent here in Canis, with occasional short trips to Orion, Pisces, and so forth. "Pisces?" she offered, questioningly. "Or Cetus? I haven't ever been there, but my son lives there. He said it is swamp," and again she glanced to Aure.

Her gaze swept back as she became aware of Aries, and she watched him for a moment, then offered a brief nod--businesslike, though not unfriendly--before turning her gaze back to Opal.

So this blue creature and he are both ancient, Lorekeeper's age, at least. An idea struck her. "I hate to bother her, but I can go ask Lorekeeper if she knows anything about this."

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Aure

They had a name for the fox-creature, at least.

Aure figured, though, that the eel wasn't cooperating with the Bonebound on the basis of having no way of escape - thinking that just talking would be better than whatever torture they could try to inflict on him (The bones know he's suffered enough.) No, no... Opal wanted the rest of them freed from Mother's control - they being the other Gembound in the fungus's grip. The wyvern'd said this to Desert, but he knew: no one should have to ask permission to live.

Living in blissful ignorance was no better than knowing the teeth at your heels.

The young King's eyes drifted over to his own mother's, expression the textbook face of sadness for another. To be so desperate for connection - he offered immediately, "you can have a place with us, Opal. We - we're a family and look out for one another. No manipulation, no lies, no possession. Just living."

Kai-ces sounded similar enough to Pisces, but Giggle'd already offered up her own ideas for what the eel was trying to get at. Aure nodded, ears flickering forwards again, "Cetus is nothing but swamp." He looked to his mother again, humming in thought, "go and ask her, if you'd like? I'll keep listening." Regardless of if she loped off or not, his beak clicked and he pressed, "do you remember making any - hives in other caves? Pisces? I - I remember finding the same sort of fungus there, cycles ago."

@Opal Three-Seven-Six

"We made new members eat it," Opal confessed, which didn't make any sense. He never ate it. "But, I think it has to touch you." That would explain the strange sensations after he picked up those fuzzy, white pebbles. It must have been spores.

"It must be Cetus then." How could he forget the name of a cave? His frills drooped. Wherein Cetus? He racked his mind but could only recall scattered pieces of memories: Reji, in her den, glimmer of light on Lamia's tail, plodding through muck, coughing up foul air, Aquarian, vultures picking at the flesh of a muddy corpse. A pile of bodies. Wait, was he thinking of Hydra?

"You can have a place with us, Opal."

The Bone King's offer caught him off guard. He blinked at him, surprised and at a loss for words. To join them, as family, and just live? I would love too. Was what he wanted to say, but the eel held back. It sounded too good to be true. He studied the wyvern for a moment, leery yellow eyes searching; wanting desperately to believe this."You would have me in your clan, even after all that I've done?" He leaned away from Aure, confused. "But, I put your family in danger." He couldn't understand why he wanted him to stick around. Opal pinned his frills, gaze still searching."This is very kind of you, but why?"

Mother had been kind too.

He turned away, Aure's offer still weighing on his mind. "I think most of them are in Cetus, but know I of one in Fornax" He admitted. Opal planted it himself after Astraea rooted them out the first time. If only he had followed his head, and not his heart, and obeyed Astraea, then, none of them would be in this mess the first place.

@Auré @Giggle

Giggle eyed Aure, and then Opal.

The eel-creature was strong: physically powerful. Large. Leaving him alone with her son didn't seem... wise.

"Once we're done here," she agreed shortly. "Until then, how do you want to handle this?"

She shook herself, reaching for Opal's mind, but rather than checking on his thoughts--his motives--she instead idly broadcasted her own without realizing it.

He looks strong. I think he's telling the truth, but if he isn't? Regardless, we have to do something about all of this...

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Opal Three-Seven-Six

All it took was touch - ?

Aure's face fell just a little more at this. If they were going to deal with this again, then they'd have to rely purely on magic or simple hope. At least the problem was localized to Cetus; bight eyes narrowed just slightly, brows creasing with worry, regardless, "is all of it - covered in the fungus? Or, is it just a single nest? implied his tone. There was the matter of Fornax, too... "but the one in Cetus is the main one?"

Opal didn't seem to believe in his offer, and the young King wouldn't force it on the eel (after all, he'd just escaped from a family he was unwittingly inducted into.) Gently, he chirped, "it wasn't you that did that - that much we know. But, I won't push it. You can stay here as long as you want, and leave whenever you want." Aure's gaze flickered to his mother, as if asking for permission he distantly knew he'd get.

She remained by his side, and that was fair enough - "I'll just ask you to stay a while longer - to heal and..." the young King looked a little guilty to admit this, "Astraea's put us in charge of defending Rezik, and I'm - not sure how he'll react to his being in a chrysalis. I promise that we'll have him understand that it wasn't you and - perhaps he knows more about this fungus."

It was a massive favor to ask: hey, can you hang around with us even though you're injured and at risk of being sent to Hydra or worse like the rest of us?

@Opal Three-Seven-Six

You don't know that. Mother never forced him to attack Rezik; he did not know if she even played a part. In the Hive, they were one; he had access to everyone's thoughts and memories, and they to his. It was true, they were being invasively manipulated, but their minds were still their own. He saw- no, felt- the innocence of gembounds, the pain and suffering Rezik caused, the need to take action in the only way he knew how. He felt Reji's anger, he feared for, not just the Hive, but for others. He wanted to be free; he wanted them to be free; he wanted to preserve all that they had.

It was this that Mother took advantage of, not his body.

It was me. Opal decided. Mother or no Mother, he wanted to kill Rezik. The snitch represented the old regime trying to wriggle it's way back in. He had always harbored a deep seated hatred for his superiors; but it was the Hive that finally brought it to the surface.

The eel looked at Aure for a very long time. There was a hint of sadness in his yellow eyes. He did not deserve such kindness, not from the Bonebound.

"Astraea's put us in charge of defending Rezik, and I'm - not sure how he'll react to him being in a chrysalis."

Aaand there it was. All that sweet talk was just to get him to stick around for Astraea. He tried to mitigate by claiming he'd vouch for his innocence, (which was non-existent). Opal gave a defeated sigh. All of this for him. The Bone King needn't have bothered. "Sure, why not. It's not like I can get very far anyway" He motioned to his slit achilles.

Opal was resigned to his fate. "There is a good chance he would still kill me, though. " He added, half-heartedly. "Rezik was his favorite pet."

A foreign thought rasped in his head.

He looks strong. I think he's telling the truth, but if he isn't? Regardless, we have to do something about all of this...

His eyes flicked to the hyena. She could read minds? Opal tempered his thoughts, if her spell had gone awry, he did not want to alert her. However, having another voice in his head made him feel queasy...

Suddenly, Opal felt bile rise in his throat.

"speak"

@Auré @Giggle

Giggle eyed Opal, her gaze both critical and curious. She'd been half-about to leave, to go find Lorekeeper, but her subconscious ticked at her.

Something is missing, she thought--and it wasn't anything supernatural; it was common sense. Ah.

"Do you know why this mother would want Rezik dead? Or how she knew where he was?"

That last question rang little alarm bells in her mind. What if a spy had been watching Bonebound-?

But the rest, too, was important. Astraea had told them about Rezik's relation to the fungus, but why kill him now? Revenge? Insurance?

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Aure @Aries