"COLLECTOOOOOOOR!!!"

The yowl came from a growing boy, one who yearned for time, attention, and some kind of gauze for a deeper wound.

"COLLECTOR!"

He'd heard the name in passing. Lugging himself around and trying to do better without putting any real effort into it was getting tiring. He needed something more. He'd heard the name from his searching.

"I'M ALRIK AND I WANNA TALK TO YOU!"

The bones strewn about the surroundings had no impact on Alrik. He didn't understand them. He didn't need to; they posed no threat to him. They weren't bats, or storms, or fear itself. And hopefully, after this meeting, none of the aforementioned things would plague his thoughts or threaten the edges of his senses for much longer.

His tail lashing impatiently, asynchronously, to the beat of his own willful drum. He was waiting.

Another one..? Well, then.

The Collector wasn't one to pass up an opportunity, even one so irritatingly yowling. He could ignore the grating over thin nerves in exchange for opportunity.

Click, click, went the hooves; and he stepped out dramatically--cloak flourish and all--from behind a pile of nearby bones. "Mmmyes, my little feline friend? I am the Collector; and who might you be?" His voice was crooning, smooth, and held a purr to it; he seemed content to meet Alrik, lashing tail aside.

@Alrik

The Collector did appear, with a sweetness to directly contradict Aleph's acerbic tone. By the way, it was Aleph now. "I'm Aleph now. Call me that." Aleph spoke with complete surety, because they knew they wanted this. Needed this. Needed the Collector to pay attention and give Aleph exactly what they asked for.

"Heard you could help folks get what they want. I want to be impossible to beat! If I get taken on by one creature or... or a thousand! I want to be able to take it all!"

The pallas' cat looked up that the Collector, and studied what they saw. The Collector had to be able to get Aleph what they wanted. Otherwise... otherwise Aleph didn't really know what to do.

They didn't really want to think about it.

The Collector... considered.

"Hmm. Welll... and it's a pleasure to meet you, Aleph. What you ask is impossible. Or nearly so. That is to say--such power doesn't exist without drawbacks."

The Collector took a seat, one hoof briefly visible--cloven, black--as he crossed one leg, sitting neatly-perched on the pile of bones.

"Now, let me see... I take it you're a fighter, then? A combatant, a warrior, fighting with strength and brawn? Or do you favor magic... Aleph?" he asked--but he already seemed to be ticking possibilities off in his mind, crimson pinprick eyes fixed on the cat from beneath his hood.

@Alrik

Aleph's eyes narrowed with more displeasure than suspicion as the Collector proceeded to tell Aleph that their request was... impossible. Or that, at least, it came with drawbacks. The nature of "drawbacks" wasn't really quite refined down to specifics, so Aleph, always consumed in part by "symbiotic" hubris, figured that whatever these drawbacks were, they could probably handle them! Especially if they were unbeatable, for heck's sake!

The Collector seemed to be thinking. Aleph let the thinking commence, without really participating much themself, and without really knowing what the Collector could possibly be thinking of. What more thinking could either of these two possibly have to do? Why not become unbeatable when there were so many reasons why Aleph should? Why consider the pros and cons of a choice when the pros not just outweighed the cons, but entirely invalidated them?!

Clearly, Aleph was not an expert thinker.

"I wanna fight," Aleph said. Magic, the pallas' cat was aware they possessed, but they hadn't really seen it show up in the way they'd imagined. At least, not from their own self. They didn't really want to be like Shane Go or any other magic users they'd seen. "I got magic but I wanna be a strong warrior." 'A king,' Aleph thought.

Now what would be done with this information? Aleph couldn't possibly predict.

"Oh, I'm certain you're already a strong warrior," the Collector half-pouted, half-purred. "But, of course, there's no reason not to take every advantage..."

"Now, let me think. I do believe I have a few options that you could choose from..? Of course, each comes with its own cost."

Clawed hands extended outward, palms upward, as if to offer options not actually there. "There is a powerful relic that will improve the damage that you deal to others--at a cost; any clumsiness on your part will be... harmful. This is something that they call, the Brute's Boast."

"There is a talisman, too, that can bring you great luck in your time of need, but it will be destroyed once used, and... carrying it around is... less lucky. They call this, Last Stand."

"I know of a ring, too: the Cord of Bloodied Sinew. It empowers warriors immensely, but if you are forced to resort to... ahh, other means... it will not like that."

"Lastly, I do know of an object that is said to always return its wielder to their chrysalis, to prevent their deaths, no matter how badly they are about to be harmed; but that has drawbacks, too. What they are, well-I'm afraid I just don't know."

Hands withdraw. Claws tapped against sleeves. "...So tell me, Aleph; which of these strike your interest?

@Alrik

Aleph puffed out their floofy chest and beamed at the compliment observation. They liked this Collector, who seemed to have a good eye for true talent and talented truth. Yes! Aleph was great, that was well understood (thank goodness) but yes! What was one more advantage to the list? Wel... honestly, it wasn't about being better than Aleph already was. It was about being the best. What they needed to be if they wanted to prove themself to themself everyone. Aleph had faced their own disadvantages. Weaknesses.

Perhaps one of these options was the cure.

Hearing these options was titillating in such a bizarre way Aleph had never felt before. If I were to relate the feeling to a monster of modern day, I might say it's like going shopping for one thing and finding many, many permutations of that thing. So. Many. OPTIONS!

Aleph immediately waded the waters, parsed between definite want and not want in their mind.

First of all, they weren't sure how much damage they wanted to do to anything. Endurance was a very, very powerful thing. If ever a stormy sky crossed Aleph's path, they knew their body wouldn't care if they could just blow it away. Right? It would be much easier to avoid a storm than to fight it. Maybe. But no, the best option, the easiest option, was simply to have the confidence to know that Aleph could take it. If something, anything (nothing in particular playing in their mind right now, definitely not a specific time and scene blasting on loop like some kind of horrendous ear worm) were to, say, surround them completely (again, not trying to be specific here), Aleph wanted to be able to take every hit.

And live.

They didn't want to d-- to stop-- to... oh, you know; they didn't even want to be faced with that. If that word could disappear from their vocabulary entirely, it would be a welcome thing. Aleph wanted something for the long term. Invulnerability forever. A one-use shield was hardly a shield at all, more likely just a utilitarian miracle.

The third option was vague, and the fourth followed suit. Aleph appraised the two, weighed them against each other. To be empowered and nothing less than empowered... or to return to the chrysalis no matter the danger. Aleph wasn't a coward, but they did prefer a more defensive style. Again, endurance was the key. To take and to take and to take without keeling over, so that they could run into and run into and run into and never fear.

What good was impenetrability if it didn't allow for life or movement?

"The third option. The, uh, Cord. What do you mean by empowered? In what way?" A younger Aleph probably would've just gone for it. Heck, an older one might've as well. But this Aleph had come almost fresh off of staring... batd things in the face. They wanted specificity.

"Oh, it isn't as powerful as some of the other items, but it certainly has its uses. It will stop, perhaps, the worst stumbles into death. The terrible missteps that would drive one's own fate to the ground. But as I say, it works only for a warrior: for the coward, or the magician, it lashes back." A pause, a tap of claws, and then: "Does it still interest you... Aleph?"

@Alrik

It wasn't as powerful as, perhaps, that Brute's Boast one. But "powerful" was a pretty loose word to be honest. What made someone powerful was far more about the someone than anything else, wasn't it? Aleph was certain of their own power, certain it existed. Perhaps they could make up for whatever this item lacked. The idea of stopping the worst stumbles into death...

There was a scene playing in Aleph's mind. It wouldn't stop. It wouldn't STOP.

...was all too enticing. To have a cover for any mistakes, that would inspire so much more confidence in Aleph's body. Yes. That was invulnerability, wasn't it?

And it punished the cowards. Yes. That it did.

How much of this choice was truly Aleph wanting honest good for themself, they may never know. All they knew for now was that it could stop what had happened from ever, ever happening again...

And it could make them pay the price for allowing it in the first place.

"Yeah. It does."

The creature, who had introduced itself as first Alrik and then Aleph, made up its mind and the Collector swept into a low bow. "Very well. Then I have a task for you, to prove your worth for such an object of power," he went on.

"You must find a large, strong, and kind Gembound, and befriend them. Then you must explain to them that a terrible dragon stole your treasure: a golden collar; and that it took this to its den. In Monoceros, yes? The dry, hot cave back through Orion. And convince them to help you get it back." That damn thing didn't even fit Dread; and what a waste that had been. But some good might come of it yet. "You cannot mention me, no matter what--and I will know if you do. Return to me when you are done and I will grant you the Cord of Bloodied Sinew."

A scroll, then, was whipped out of his robe, unfurled with a flourish, and presented to Aleph; there was an empty space at its bottom, ripe for a paw's print. "If you agree, just sign here. That means--put your paw on it," he added, with a wink.

@Alrik