What he was playing at was murder. In a moment, between suddenly quickened heartbeats, Tahi-shei was pinned firmly to the ground. Ametrine beat in a terrified flutter in his chest, and he wondered distantly how Vargas would do it. Would he tear out Tahi-shei's stone? Would he just crush the chrysalis? Or were his powers as a Master great enough that he could just blot him out of existence with a snap?

But he was given a chance for last words, in that moment where he believed he would die, and so he whispered, "Monster." The Leviathan likely already knew it -- Tahi-shei didn't dream that he was saying anything revolutionary or unusual, nothing he hadn't heard before. But still, he felt as though it needed to be said.

And then the Leviathan was gone.

A cold chill ran through him, confused and upset. His mind caught up to him as Vargas started to speak -- it had been a trap, yes. But also a demonstration. And Vargas, well, he was a murderer. Tahi-shei took three steps back, magic flaring out on instinct and coming up ragged but functional as black frills sprang up. This was not a creature he wanted to trifle with, he realized cooly -- telling him that in the old days, Gembound were engineered for war. The weak were culled and the strong survived. It started to fit together -- Isra calling him and those like him food. The bones and hidey-holes. Stones strewn across the floor. A massacre.

He stared blankly as Vargas laid out plainly that Tahi-shei -- and those like him, James and Madhukar and Comet and Peggy, Aran and everyone else that he knew -- was an accident. No fated purpose, no divine creator, no universal motivation. Still, he reasoned, it could not have been a coincidence that he was so similar to Astraea.

He had spoken of rebels and rebellions -- Tahi-shei was clever enough to know that such things were impossible, at least for him, at least with who he was staring at. Still, he repeated himself, once Vargas was done -- "Who are the other Masters and Overseers?" He swallowed hard, still thinking. Mind still racing. "I know of you, and of Master Astraea, and now of a Master called Nemean. I know your Overseer, and I know that Astraea does not have one, but I assume there are more. I wish to know who I am trying to avoid... 'pissing off.'"


@vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Monster, and that deserved a response, and it got one: a ghost of a grin, a nod of acknowledgment as the Master spoke. And when they had both finished speaking, he stretched and spoke. "We were made as monsters, yes; for what else is a soldier but a monster-? We do not unleash prey upon our enemies," he pointed out, reasonably enough, he thought. "As for the other masters," and roving eyes took in the black sprouted fungus--a reflex, or a deliberate action? Vargas didn't know, but it was useful to be aware of nonetheless.

The back of his mind wondered of Mother, but he felt nothing of that foul touch.

"Most of their names would mean nothing to you, and enough of them have altered form since I have slept that I do not know if I can describe them to you, either. Nemean was my Master: she is small, and pink and golden, and I would not trifle with her, were I you. Others are dead. Our Lord has slain them for their failures and perhaps they will return, or perhaps not." Amusement lurked there. Worry. All of it a strange little knot. They had failed--ha!--but would his fate be the same? And why had they failed--was it for the same reasons that he might fail, in the end?

"Others we will soon be retrieving. The master Farina has been missing," he told Tahi-shei bluntly. Astraea had spoken of retrieving her, but where she was he could not say. The Master had not told him that. "And Master Totum dwells here, working at the Creator's Spire. You will see them, if you linger," and that sounded indifferent--neither threat nor promise. "Avoid the swamps, and you will not have to meet the Master that Eats," Vargas added, with dour amusement. Aquarian had often fulfilled the same purpose as he did, with Nemean, albeit on a much, much larger scale.

He went over the rest in his mind. Sad, was it not-? Dawa dead. Raheerah taken. Jupiter slain. Tamulus obliterated. And where were the others-?

"As I said, the others are dead, or slumbering." Mental shrug. "If someone calls themselves a Master and you are unsure, challenge them. Then you will find out." Vargas grinned. "Tell me, little one: who would you choose to serve?"

A question for a question: a question for many questions. That seemed more than fair.

@Tahi-shei

Tahi-shei considered that. The normal rules of morality and justice, they did not apply in a war. He was smart enough to understand that. So, monsters they would be -- and monsters were what Master Vargas would create, and forge the Gembound of this time into. He considered that at length -- the juxtaposition between peace and war. What was it they were fighting?

But alas, he was getting names, and that was nearly gold to him. Nemean. Farina. Vargas. Totum. The One who Eats. Astraea, too. And then he noticed a discrepancy -- "Your Master?" he asked suddenly, looking at Vargas with wide eyes. "You weren't always a Master?" Then, he was immediately distracted by Vargas's question.

He had a hair-trigger response ready, and after a beat of hesitation instead decided to consider his options. Nemean -- tricky, apparently. Not someone even Vargas would trifle with. Vargas -- hit his underlings and threatened curious children, but... was saving them, assuming he wasn't lying. Eater -- well, he didn't know anything about that one, but it would probably eat him. Nothing about Farina, either. Totum -- worked with Vargas, though he supposed technically all of them did.

Then -- "Astraea." He cleared his throat. "I bear the Fungal element, which I presume means that I would serve under him even if I didn't have a choice. But I would still choose him anyway. He is kind, I think -- he was kind to me." He gave Vargas a look as if to imply you are not kind. "And he saved all of those Gembound from the-- from Mother, even if he did not save me -- he saved several who I care deeply for. He offered to let me practice magic on him, even, though I would rather practice on Lessers than a person." In short, Astraea was nice, and had in a matter of moments had managed to top the list of Tahi-shei's father figures.

"Speaking of. The Mother infection. It is reminiscent of my magic. My capabilities. Except, on a larger scale." He raised his chin. "Who cast this magic? Who created it?"


@vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

"I was an Overseer!" came his response, but before he could explain Tahi-shei was launching into more explanation and questions, the threads of conversation grown a little tangled. Vargas was growing impatient, the deer not quite so entertaining as it had been before but with its words it struck him that it could be of use.

Ahh-... and it said it would serve Astraea. That wasn't what Vargas had meant but his question, in fairness to the beast, had been open-ended--and he laughed, loud and outright sinister. Serve Astraea, by choice-! Memories flashed through the ex-Overseer's mind, none of them pleasant. The sneer on Astraea's face when creatures fell and died--his amusement at their deaths. Bodies bubbling and popping as he melted them beneath his magic merely for insulting his vanity. Ahh, Astraea was a fickle thing, fae and foul, but his power could not be denied and thus Vargas made no comment whatsoever, lest he be the other Master's next target. Astraea was cunning, too: the bare minimum to save the hive, the responsibility laid squarely on Vargas' shoulders for both past failure and future success (and a blink of gratitude flicked through him for Lord Dhracia, for commanding and savage as she was, she had been fair, she had seen through it, Vargas thought).

"The Hive is the creation of Order. Order is stagnation. Order is nothing; where chaos is advancement and progress Order is failure. Cold! Crystalline! It is to be stuck in a stone, forever. If Chaos is freedom, Order is imprisonment. His name is Dontacael," said with disgust, "and the fungus is his infection in this nest." Vargas spat down to one side. "You might be of use to me. How powerful is your magic?" Vargas demanded, eyeing him up and down.

If Tahi-shei had been useful enough for Astraea to trust in, perhaps Vargas could make further use of him yet.

@Tahi-shei

He tucked that information away for his next question, and watched Vargas grow a bit more animated as he spoke about the Hive. Tahi-shei shuddered at the implications -- becoming a mindless drone, like the insects Madhukar adored. Fitting into a neat, orderly spot and being part of the whole rather than your own individual -- it made him feel nauseous, as the infection had. Magic was inherently chaotic (even if his was more orderly). The idea of someone poisoning Fungal magic for their own purposes -- it made him angry, and he scowled at the ground as he stewed in it.

At the question, he inclined his head slightly and considered how to answer. "Powerful," he began, "at least for standard Gembound. Certainly I could not compare to a Master, but Master Astraea has complimented my ability in the past." Though, he supposed Vargas dealt in specifics more than vague subtleties. "What Astraea did, purging people of the infection? I have the same capability. I can also... track people, and places. Keep tabs on them, and see what they see, albeit through the senses of a fungus. They are limited, but they are useful. This crown, while troublesome and unpleasant, does allow me to see all fungus within a room -- spores and mycelium included -- without expending magic. If I was taught what the Mother fungus looked like, I could sense it as soon as a carrier entered the room." He dipped his head slightly, but kept going. "I can also defend myself -- as seen with the frills. They decompose upon contact into a thick, sticky substance. It tastes awful and sticks to everything, but it's stopped large predators from breaking me in the past." Specifically, a piebald alligator. "I can also do what Mother did, in regards to the persuasion of emotions. I can make someone agreeable to me in an almost identical way, for as long as I can maintain the connection."

He cleared his throat. "In theory, I can also cause someone to experience vivid hallucinations, and directly harm them through fungus, and prevent the body of a Greater from decomposing for a short time. But I have never done these things, only heard about them." He smiled. "As for non-fungal abilities, I also have a bit of proficiency in Electricity magic, and I can cause someone harm or interrupt a spell that is being cast."

Finally, info-dump completed, he cleared his throat and asked his next question -- "How did you become a Master?"

@vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

"Through good performance," Vargas answered bluntly--almost dismissively. His mind was elsewhere and he immediately followed up with his demands.

"If Astraea found you useful then so will I. I will be sending teams into Ursa to locate and destroy the fungus. Consider yourself conscripted," he added; "find or train others that will be useful to me and return here. I will be training my own hunters. You will use your magic and they will use their bodies; you will find the Hive wherever it is and they will root it out." It was not a request: it was a command.

A pause, a quick calculation.

"You have one cycle."

@Tahi-shei

Good performance.

A chance to destroy Mother.

A chance to learn more.

Tahi-shei's eyes sparkled as he looked to Vargas. He would have lied to him or refused him if he hadn't been expecting this -- this Dontacael had poisoned his magic, using it for nefarious means, and bullying those weaker than him. Even Giggle had been fearful of it. He thought for a beat about his friends -- James could remove it. Madhukar probably could, too, though through more violent means, and was a skilled fighter in her own right (assuming she'd be willing to fight in the first place). Getting the pair to work together... was a different task. The Voidcrawlers would certainly help if this was the antithesis of their beloved Chaos, and they might even turn to violence if it meant helping. Aran might help, and potentially Giggle. Pride, maybe? It wouldn't hurt to ask. His mind swirled for a moment with possibilities and battle plans, and finally, with a grin, he looked to Vargas.

"Yes, sir."

Vargas was very nearly giving him an army -- at the very least, putting some degree of their trust into his hands. It wasn't a request, but Tahi-shei wouldn't have dreamed of shirking the duty. The opportunity to be rid of this infection was a great one, and now, he was thinking. Thinking about power, and responsibility, and knowledge.

Thinking, in some part of himself, about good performance.

He cleared his throat. "Are there any weaknesses of the Hive that I should know about?"

@vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas considered briefly. "They are chained to order. Above all else they must order disorder, so things 'out of place' drive them mad. They are stronger in numbers, weaker when separated. Past that--I don't know much. Astraea may know more but it was not something I encountered often. Orthoclase-Alpha has fought them before, if you can find it. There were others there who might know more, as well." A shrug.

That was all he knew. So long as Tahi-shei did what he was asked, Vargas didn't care how he got the information.

@Tahi-shei

Tahi-shei nodded. "I have some people in mind." Disorder drew him to Madhukar, out of place to the Voidcrawlers. Besides that, he had another excuse to talk to the Overseer, and that was always something he looked forward to. He gave another brief bow to Vargas, and glanced back towards the exit to Draco -- "I do not think I have any more questions for you right now, Master Vargas. But I do have work to do, so if you do not mind, I'd like to be on my way." He wanted to get started as soon as possible, so as to eliminate the potential for mistakes. Good performance.

He needed to excel. He needed to make his mark, to impress Astraea, to impress Vargas because who knew what would happen to him if he didn't. Needed to destroy Mother and its corruption of his magic. Needed... to win.

But he did not move -- he was waiting for the Leviathan to dismiss him.


@vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

'I have some people in mind.'

"Good!" Vargas boomed, and then, as an afterthought: "If there are any perfectly suited to this task, and they refuse to aid, come to me. If I deem them useful enough I will ensure that they help us. This Hive must not be allowed to spread," he added, tone serious.

Tahi-shei then said that he had work to do, and Vargas gave a very loud, but not bad-natured "Yes, you do!" and waved him on his way. "One cycle, and I will see what we can both accomplish in that time." Some part of him hesitated, briefly: was there some farewell he should give this thing? 'Dismissed' didn't quite work; it was somewhat outside the Forge, cooperating willingly rather than through prior hierarchy. And while Vargas could claim rank, he hadn't had to really enforce it and he appreciated that, at least. But a friendly goodbye was not his style: far too casual.

He realized, after this beat, that he was thinking perhaps a little too hard on it. "Good luck," he settled on, and turned to pace away.

Not that luck mattered. It was the effort and planning that one put forth. Would Tahi-shei display the will and cunning on both fronts-? Vargas would have to wait and see.

exit Vargas
@Tahi-shei