This thread takes place before this thread --> Does Amazon Do Pickups?

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Vedette wasn't allowed to leave. Wasn't allowed to climb the walls. Wasn't allowed to do anything! How was she supposed to become an assassin, a fearsome Chaos Beast if she was cooped up here doing nothing all fucking day?

She'd ended up just banging her head against the wall just to have something to do. Maybe she'd build up enough callous that Vargas's abuse wouldn't hit so hard. Maybe she'd make her skull so thick that she'd become impervious to his distaste of her. Because it hurt. Her creator hated her guts, hated what he'd made, and she hated that he had the ability to create anything and had used it and still hated her.

Why not just make her bigger, better, less of a disgrace? Vedette didn't know, and she tried not to care, but it was hard, because she did care, deep down.

She was going crazy in here, with the voices in her head whispering, tormenting her. Telling her to kill him, hurt him, TO MAKE HIM PAY.

But she couldn't. She was stuck.

Vedette lifted her head and sat facing the wall, sitting with her tail flat behind her, hunched over and as pathetic as one could get. She hated it here. Hated Vargas, hated Twobutt, hated everything.

She wanted a hug. She wanted a friend.

She wanted a name.

"Asshole," she sniffled, remembering every single smack he'd given her for talking back, for swearing, for calling him a grape.

Maybe if he fucking let her out, she wouldn't be such a prick. If he let her have a name, she'd respect him a touch more. But no. She wasn't one of his amazing Valkhounds. She was pathetic. A waste of space. Potential trapped in a useless little body, left to rot. Alone.

ALL ALONE.

@Sharp

It was inevitable Sharp would come here.

She lived right next door, you know. Pegasus. The cave of wildflowers and pine trees and birdsong. Paradise on Earth (or cave?) for many gembounds. The lizard was aware of the unnerving tunnel out, and the brutish monsters that'd occasionally leap out of it to wreak havoc, but never dared enter herself. She had enough to worry about without entering the big-bad kaiju lair, thank you very much.

But Sharp never listened to common sense for long, did she?

A scamper through the tunnel, a sprint through a twisted, almost breathing atrium, and the sungazer emerged into a landscape alien and frightening. The rock of the cave was an eyestraining purple. Bones and cracked gemstones littered the ground-- not like Canis with it's ancient graveyard, but like a massive, demented slaughterhouse. Each breath was warm and wet, but with no water in sight. But worst of all was the constant groaning, the unrepenting pounding that emanated from the center of the room and swarmed at her ears.

This was not a place of honor.

At first, she was in some state of paralysis. A brown stick cowering among the boulders and framed by the entryway. This was not what she was expecting. A firey hellhole? Sure. But this cavern didn't even have plants! There was no wind, just a heavy, stagnant air! Were there even bugs? She looked around the surrounding boulders, but couldn't find anything. It was just dark. And dead. And miserable.

No wonder they always came to Pegasus.

She heard something. A curse. Simultaneously a whisper and deafening in the strange atmosphere. Sharp perked up on a ribcage (bleck) and strained out to see a squirrely form facing the wall. Was she the one who spoke? They seemed upset, that was for sure, and she had the acumen and experience to realize she was just a small, upset child. Much like Aerie. Much like Huma.

"Hey," the lizard overcame her existential fear to pad towards Vedette, looking up at her with motherly eyes. A far cry from her usual persona as a hollering buisnesswoman. "Are you okay? Why are you alone..." Her electric gaze panned around the cave, ""...alone here?"

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@Vedette FINALLY AA

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Vedette's ear flicked back at the sound of a voice, and she turned, slowly, carefully. Familiar red eyes met Sharp's own, eyes that had burned with determination in their previous owner's head. They were full of hatred, now. A deep, bubbling kind of hate that stemmed from the emotion being constant.

"... What's your name?", she'd asked suddenly, the two of them standing in Orion trying to procure rods for the Three Kings, "I'm Scout."

"My name is Sharp! Sharp-and-Spiky!", Sharp had chirped in reply.

Vedette wouldn't remember it, but Sharp would. Her predecessor had been the lizard's friend, the two having spent time mostly talking and Scout swearing about whatever trivial thing had annoyed her that day. But seeing her stone placed on Vedette's back, exactly as Scout's had been, told of her doom.

"I'm not alone," she spat, "Twobutt is listening. Probably off to snitch to Vargas that you're here. Which is weird, because no one willingly comes to this fucking hellhole."

Vedette's head looked exactly as Scout's had. A slender face with red eyes and black horns, with a small, dainty muzzle. Though her mouth hid bisecting lower jaws instead of flat, herbivorous teeth.

"Who the fuck are you, huh?", she growled, "You another babysitter?"

@Sharp

The spiny gemling turned slowly towards her voice, and Sharp leaned forward in return. A plumed mane, long horns and--

Oh.

She knew those eyes.

Red, gentle eyes. Or they were gentle, but now they seethed with nothing but hatred.

It was a long time back, back when Sharp was comparable to a pebble. She was on a quest for... the "Three Kings," was it? Yes, the Three Kings. A tan creature balancing on slender legs came to help, and she introduced herself as Scout.

Scout...

They became friends that day, you know? A dumb lizard and a pottymouthed springbok, what a pair. She ranted on about whatever pissed her off and Sharp listened. Their interactions were nice, and mundane, and nothing too dramatic in a cave best summed up as drama.

But then Scout disappeared. The lizard didn't worry too much about it. After all, they lived in different caves. Maybe she just moved to a new one. Maybe she just found a new friend. But now Sharp was here, and she looked up with stunned yellow eyes at that same sloped head, those same ruby eyes, that same stone, and she felt...

She didn't know what she felt.

Sharp was a lizard of few emotions. Pure elation and paralyzing fear, mainly, plus the rare moment of tenderness when she cared for her children. But melancholy for someone she barely interacted with past her second cycle was something new. It scratched at her throat, and at her eyes, and at her heart...

Back to the present. Back to the present. Right now there was a sad, miserable, sorta-Scout-but-not-really in front of her, and she could always process what happened some other time.

"Twobutt?" her raspy voice whispered. A funny name, but right now she wasn't in the mood for giggling. Her spiny head swept around for a moment, before returning to the valkhound. "Don't worry, I won't make a ruckus."

Wait-- Vargas? She recognized that name, even if only faintly. He was the great violet monster that walked with her during Lorekeeper's story, and later spoke at a large ancient rotunda. He always struck her as some strange, wandering beast, not someone who would have dominion here. It was a small cave after all, huh?

The lizard padded to the side to face them head-on. "I'm, uh-- no!" Man, even the swearing was familiar. "I was j-just curious of this place. 'Came from the prairie cave nearby, y'know? You r-reminded me of someone I knew."

Sharp swallowed. This conversation felt weird. "Right, introductions. I'm Sharp. Sharp and Spiky. What's your name? Any why does... Var-gas--" she stretched the name on, as if it was unfamiliar-- "--Not want me here?"

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@Vedette

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"Yeah," she said, "My keeper. Y'know, crippled, useless. Won't let me outside and won't let me do anything. And Vargas!! Stupid purple asshole won't even let me swear! I called him a grape, you know, I always call him a grape and it's the least offensive thing I've fucking said to him, and he hit me! Two seconds out of the chrysalis and he tried to tear my wings off!"

Vedette growled and paced, agitated, the bags under her eyes heavy. She couldn't sleep with the whispers in her ears and the voices in her head. They plagued her and there was little to quiet them. And yet she wasn't crazy, it was chaos magic.

"What's a prairie?", she asked suddenly, eyes narrowing, "I was born here and I haven't left, I haven't seen the caves."

A fierce growl left her lips and she pawed at the ground, pent up and angry at everything. Her claws scraped against the rock and she was tempted to attack this intruder, if only to get out some of her insatiable blood lust.

But then Sharp spoke her name.

"Sharp and Spiky?", she said, head raising, "... Well, you are, so uh, makes sense, I guess."

It was cute. The perfect name for a small lizard.

"I'm Vedette," they said, sniffing, "And that's my name, not whatever fucking shitty dicky bullshit designation Vargas gave me. Agate-One or whatever."

But she shrugged at Sharp's question and huffed, "He's a stuck up old bag. This is the 'nest', you see, where he makes his wretched monsters and Valkhounds to do his bidding. I'm one of them, Lord Dickhead tore apart my stone's previous owner and Vargas made me from the stone that remained. Dunno why. For fucking fun, I guess."

Vedette's tail swished angrily and she dragged her claws against the ground, stretching and scoring the stone, leaving white marks across it. Her ears pinned and she ached to dig them into something living.

@Sharp

Man, this one was a fast talker. She barely finished a sentence and the gembound was already swearing. Still, Sharp let her speak. Stood by patiently, everything but her constantly fidgeting tail in quiet attention. They talked about twobutt, and Vargas, and the "nest", and slowly a picture formed in her head that she didn't quite like.

From the top. This little rascal was named Scout Vedette. Er, kinda. Vargas named her Agate-one. A very weird naming scheme, though the lizard swore she heard something like that before. What was it, Desert flower.... four? Whatever, it wasn't relevant.

Vedette lived here, apparently. And this creepy cavern was the nest, where Vargas made... monsters?! This little child didn't look like a monster! Sure, her claws were quite sharp, and the way her jaw split into many toothy parts was a little unnerving, but caves, they were just a child! The fact they were penned up here by this "Twobutt" guy and the fact they didn't know what a prairie was when it was right next door did not make things better.

And Scout... oh.

Sharp wasn't sure who this "Lord *bleep*head" character was, but once she did they'll have a lot of explaining to do.

Hey, at least Vedette liked her name.

She didn't know how to react to all this. It was... a lot, to say the least. Especially coming from a stranger she just met moments before. But she had to do something. Sharp couldn't just leave them here, sad and angry in a sad and angry cave!

"Well--" she winced at the sound of claws scraping. Took a deep breath. "thank you for the in.. information. You seem kinda upset! And it's for a pretty good reason, but if Sharp knows anything, Sharp knows its best to be... not-upset! I can help you with that!"

Okay, doing good. Hopefully her parenting skills work.

"Wait here a moment..." the Sungazer scurried off to find a good pebble in this satanic pit. She came back a second later, toting a purplish stone and dropping it before the valkhound. "Tada! How about, instead of clawing stuff, we throw this shiny between ourselves and talk!"

She went first, pushing the pellet forward with her snout, regardless of if Vedette reciprocated. "A prairie's like... this biiig field of grass. Oh-- grass is this green thing, and it's long and thin, like your fur! It grows everywhere and reaches waaay over your head, and it's filled with bugs! Bugs are tasty," -- she licked her lips at that comment, and wondered vaguely if Scout ate bugs -- "some of the grass-bugs have pretty colors, too. And when the wind blows through the prairie, it makes this beautiful sound. Like a good screech, but even better. You have to hear it one day."

The lizard's eyes lit up. "Hey! I can take you to see the prairie one day! Maybe if I talk to Vargas, I can convince him to let you visit! You can walk through the grass and claw all the dirt you want and do whatever! I have two children back there, too! And I bet they'd be very glad to meet you! How does that sound?"

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@Vedette

Vedette stared at Sharp, listening to her speak, not saying a work. She slowly sat down, shoulders hunched, red eyes staring at the lizard. She didn't hear screaming in her ears anymore.

"... Okay," she rasped, eyes watering, "I'd like that. A lot."

She rubbed her eyes and shuffled forward a bit, picking up the stone. She held it in her hands for a moment before weakly tossing it forward, ears pinning when it just... fell on the ground. She huffed and pouted, tail flicking along the ground in agitation.

"Twobutt says there's flowers," she said, "They say they're colorful, all the colors you can even imagine."

Vedette wanted to see them. She wanted to see them and eat bugs and hunt prey and fly around and roll in the grass and destroy things... she hoped Sharp got the okay. Or that Vargas took her out or something. Wouldn't that be great...

She cocked her head at Sharp and wished she could snuggle up to her. Twobutt's cuddles were nice and she often found herself purring even when she didn't want to, but that was also because they had fur to protect them. She wished she wasn't venomous.

@Sharp

Okay, Vedette seemed to take to the game well. That's good, right? Better than ranting and dragging her claws, at least? Her yellow eyes followed the valkhound, breathing an internal sigh of relief as she slowly sat down and picked up the stone.

"Good!" she said. Sharp followed as the springbok picked up the stone and dropped it, seemingly upset at its mediocre landing. But that was fine, Sharp believed. Shinies didn't have to twinkle or skip every time you threw them. They were pretty in just being shinies.

"The flowers are pretty." She pulled the pebble to her with a claw. Vedette didn't seem to be a big talker, but at least that gave her more time to speak. "So, good! I can talk to Vargas someday and he'll let you go!" she didn't know how truthful that statement was, but she wanted to stay optimistic.

The lizard took another breath. "Is there anything you do for fun here? Games? I-its important to have fun, y'know. Fun's cool! And if not... we can figure out something together! Sharp-and-spiky loves to help people have fun!"

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@Vedette

Vedette blinked and looked a bit uncomfortable. She just didn't understand. Why was Sharp being so... nice? What did Vedette do to deserve this?

"Fun? No. Training," she said, "Twobutt has me spar with them and chase creatures they caught or had people catch. Then they let them go and run around and it's up to me to catch them again, and they're my dinner. If I don't catch them then I get scraps from breakfast."

Which was often fruit and she hated fruit despite being able to eat it.

"When I was smaller they'd bring me toys," she mumbled, "Sticks with grass strands, bones from the bigger guys' kills that barely fit in my mouth while I chewed out my baby teeth. Can't hurt a bone."

She was itching to move again, but it wasn't the hissing in the back of her mind that made her want to lash out because of it. It itched in a specific direction, but she didn't know which one.

"What do uh... you do for fun?", she asked lamely, not used to talking, and especially not about herself.

@Sharp