V-Zoisite-One tried to keep track of the others, but it was a lot harder now that they... "lived"... in Draco. It was dark, the air was moist and slick, and Zoisite had been trying to adjust to walking with their head held level now that they were getting heavy enough that it put a kink in their neck to always be craning head back.

A faint ball of light danced through the air beside them, like a beacon that gave away their position fairly well. They didn't like accidentally being bumped into, so their violet-crimson hide was illuminated by the flickering light as they wandered Draco.

They paused, glancing up once more, and saw the distant pinprick of lime-green among the pitch black shadows of the walls. Lowering their head, they ambled at a slow, hulking trot toward their not-quite sibling.

"... Nidhogg?" Zoisite's low, grinding voice rumbled, sending the ball of light sweeping forward toward him. Once the ball swept past the long, spiky bite-puppy and cast shadows back to Zoisite, they stopped and tilted their head up once more. "Hi."

Actually, of all the siblings to run into, well... They should have probably brought a snack for him. Unfortunately, Zoisite hadn't thought that far ahead. Maybe he'd be in a... not so bitey mood, for once.

@Nidhogg

When the soft light went gently bobbing past, the serpentine creation lunged for it with open jaws--biting the first thing that caught his attention, as he was so wont to.

Jaws closed over it and for an instant the orb glowed bright through his jaw and throat, before he spat it back out, jerking back and coughing in confusion.

What did light taste like? Nidhogg didn't really have the verbal aptitude to explain, or at least the urge to do so. He looked to Zoisite. This one made him a little wary; its soft grub-like body had once been something to ignore, Nidhogg's primitive mind classing it as "harmless," or something to try and nip at when he could, though he'd often missed or failed entirely. Now it was hardening--plates, shells, all bristles and hard points and things that'd hurt his mouth. He coiled back, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I'm NIDHOGG," he said, and then realized that--yes, Zoisite had called him that. "Not Chaos-One," he muttered anyway, sullenly. He was curling and walking over his own body, serpentine and sulky.

A snap at the light--halfhearted and too far away, now--was followed by a hiss at Zoisite. "What do you want?" he demanded.

@V-Zoisite-One

Zoisite caught a glance of Nidhogg's face illuminated from the inside, just a split second before he spat it out. It was strange, and funny, his skull pitch black while golden light tried to pierce through his lips and the rest of his skin. The blood-stained bug-kaiju eased down to the floor, bristled fur scratching at the stone underneath like a brush.

For once, Nidhogg might have actually been in a talking mood? Golden eyes blinked at Nidhogg, tail-pincers clacking quietly behind them in thought.

"Saying hi," they answered, "checking on you." They didn't quite know the words to explain the empathy or concerns they had, at least, not readily at hand. Even if they did, they didn't want to anger their clutchmate either. Better to leave it simple.

"What does Nidhogg mean?" Did names have to have meaning? Probably not. But he must have gotten the name from somewhere, somehow. Maybe it was just a sound he liked; but what they were really trying to ask was what it meant to Nidhogg.

Zoisite, themself, were not quite brave enough to consider a name. Not for more than a split second. Mary had been so pretty, though. And Nidhogg...? Nidhogg just fit him, they thought.

@Nidhogg

Checking on me? Nidhogg knew nothing of empathy or concern, and so his brain quickly substituted, checking up on me, mistranslating something that required no translation. His jaw gaped in an immediate hiss, squinting against the light, hostile.

Hostile to V-Zoisite-One, who was a) there and b) breathing and c) how dare it??? and hostile against the light, hostile against the sound of bristles against the rock, all of which grated along its thin-sheathed nerves. "NIDHOGG IS MY NAME," it practically screeched, tensing, defensiveness raising every quill along its back. Agency, that was what this generation of Vargas' children fought for; freedom and independence. When they fought at all. When they imagined that they had to. Nidhogg was a stubborn, independent thing and had become fiercely possessive over something as simple as a name.

Hostility flared up further--defensive again, because he wanted nothing near him and suspicious, because why would the grub-turned-shell-thing want to say 'hi,' what did it expect in return-? Impulsively violent as ever, the half-grown serpent reached for whatever magic might respond.

He felt it--it flared out, reaching, feeling, but nothing... happened. He hissed again, frustrated now at that, too; "Why HI?" he demanded, eyes narrowing, skittering back even further. "Why say HI?!"

Because honestly, again, how dare it.

@V-Zoisite-One

Zoisite's head tilted nearly ninety degrees to one side, now watching Nidhogg sideways like an owl. They knew Nidhogg's name was Nidhogg, and they knew it upset him that Master Vargas denied him that. But they didn't know how to put to words the feeling that overcame them when they tried to deal with that disparity in their mind. They had yet to learn how to cope with the unfairness that surrounded their existences, much less voice their own opinions.

The insectoid took a step back, then two, as Nidhogg bristled and hissed, screeching. "Don't yell," they urged quietly, "Vargas might hear." They didn't mind the screaming and spitting; it was all that Nidhogg had ever been, after all. Still, they worried that Master Vargas or one of the other adults would come stomping over. Mostly, the older ones left them be to their own devices, but Nidhogg seemed to get told off more than the rest.

Laying their own quills flat, they tried to tackle the questions demanded. "Because..." They tried, grasping for words. "No one talks to you." Was that it? Okay, they needed to put it in words. Their concern, their wanting to know... They wanted to do what they could for their clutchmates, and checking in on them was important. Maybe if they showed what they meant, asked questions, showed interest...? Did that make any sense?

How did one learn how to show empathy when empathy wasn't given to them in the first place? The Zoisite tried, mandibles clacking with each word, eyes wide, beacons of light in the darkness that watched. "You didn't like Old Home," they said, "is it better here?"

@Nidhogg ; zoisite is trying. it isn't going well.

'Don't yell. Vargas might hear.'

Nidhogg turned, lip curling, facing the vague direction he'd last known Vargas to be in.

Deep breath-

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A long pause, a wait. A self-satisfied flick of its tail. Truth be told, Vargas probably couldn't be bothered with such minor idiocies as "screeching serpent-child," but to Nidhogg it was the most gratifying of little rebellions. He was chaos! He was unstoppable-

His head snapped back to Zoisite, abruptly registering everything else that it had said.

"Why talk? FIGHTING is better. TALKING is stupid," he said, but even as he spoke he was scurrying up one of the nearby ledges, and hanging from it to stare at Zoisite upside-down. Was it to speak with it on even, upside-down footing? Was it a mockery of the other's upside-down head? Most likely, Nidhogg had just felt, at that moment, like being upside-down and held too much pent-up energy not to act (as usual, really) on every little impulse. "Talking isn't worth words." Surprisingly poignant, perhaps, from the little one: no one had ever had anything worthwhile to say to it, before, but at least it was indulging the Zoisite, for now. Still, after a mention of 'fighting,' its eyes were darting over the half-grown grub's form as if considering a first attack.

"Old hot. Dry. BRIGHT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH." The scream this time was shrill, a pissed-off hateful little roar, a kaiju's intense sound of disapproval: apparently, Nidhogg had detested the confines of Tunnel P. It raced upside-down along its little ledge, pausing again in the black not-light.

It tried to consider Zoisite's question--it really did, if only briefly. But the question of which was better just sort of misfired its little brain. They both were not where it wanted to be. "Want FREE!" it hissed, a hateful sound yet again, directed at Zoisite as if this were somehow it's semi-sibling's fault.

@V-Zoisite-One

Oh no. Nidhogg screeched, and Zoisite fell completely still.

No big parent-type came rushing over to punt it into the cave wall. Maybe it was okay? They didn't dare look. Instead, they remained frozen in place as Nidhogg rounded on them.

Fighting. Playing was one thing, but Zoisite didn't like the notion of fighting, of hurting killing others. It made their fur prickle and their quills clatter, and they found it harder and harder to look at Nidhogg as it scrambled up the wall.

Reluctantly, Zoisite lowered to the ground and pushed, rolling on to their back so they could actually see Nidhogg without straining their neck. Their mandibles clacked shut, giving up momentarily on the notion of discussion. If talking was stupid, then, fine. They didn't have to talk.

... But Nidhogg went on to complain and then screech about everything it hated about the old tunnel. Hot, dry, bright-- what's wrong with bright? Ahh, but Zoisite had always liked a warm glow, and Nidhogg clung to the shadows.

In the end, it declared that it 'wanted free'. Wanted to be free.

Zoisite's glowing eyes blinked slowly, one by one. "Free," they repeated, clicking their jaws around the word. Freedom. Nidhogg, from day one, had been dragged kicking, screaming, biting to places it didn't want to be.

"Sorry," its sibling responded, the misplaced blame weighing heavy on them. They didn't know how to solve this problem, and even if they did, Nidhogg wanted independence, not help... right?

@Nidhogg

Nidhogg stared at the upside-down grub.

Nidhogg looked out toward the Black Spire, where no Master was stomping over toward them.

Nidhogg looked, very intently, at the Aperture's exit.

Nidhogg then realized, in an abrupt flash of inspiration, that nobody was keeping it here. Not physically. There were threats, but he absolutely didn't care, and suddenly freedom was calling. The 'sorry' registered, and he looked back at Zoisite: manic with exhilarated realization, with the rush of adrenaline washing through him as he made his snap decision. "BYE," he told it, and bolted for the exit.

For Pegasus.

For freedom.

Upside-down.

@V-Zoisite-One

...exit? unless stopped??? idk man i didn't plan any of this little guy wants *out*

Silence. Zoisite grappled with what else to say; how else to reach their sibling. The black-gooey, green eyed beast was looking back and forth now, anywhere but at-- oh, he was looking at them again. Pincers parted, words only barely starting to form in their thoughts.

"BYE."

Oh no. They thought, oh NO! Bye? bye? "Nidhogg," the name was snapped from the Zoisite's jaws, too little too late. Stop! Their gem pulsed with magic, fizzled, nothing. Wide, sun-bright eyes all in a pretty little row watched with abject despair as Nidhogg scrambled toward the exit.

They couldn't let Nidhogg leave-- or they couldn't let their family know Nidhogg was leaving. Either way, they felt torn in two, head turning one way, tail snapping another. Twisting and turning, they hauled itself on to their feet. Talons scratched at the stone as they turned one way, then another, bright golden gaze looking around for anyone else.

... Nidhogg was gone.

Would he come back?

What if he got hurt?

They shuffled their way toward the exit after Nidhogg, but they couldn't look up at the ceiling to follow them, not while also walking. It would be impossible to tail him, but... They hurried for the tunnel, anyway.

@Nidhogg for visiblity! we'll call that an exit... uwu at least they did not murder each other.......