Cheshire blew a raspberry and nodded in understanding, sticking both wings out to either side and shouting, ”WING!!”

As Vargas continued to point and name, they copied. Some words were harder than others, requiring extra time to repeat (often mumbled under their breath between moments when Vargas wasn't talking) in order to get it right. But they were certainly determined, often touching where Vargas did.

They raised their wings over their eyes when he pointed, squawking in alarm when it of course when dark. They snatched their wings away and blinked at everything, staring down at their feathers before raising them up again. Dark - they lowered them - light! They raised them up again - dark - they lowered them - light! Amazing!

”Spirrrre,” they trilled, standing as tall as they could to see the massive structure, ”Touch... don' touch.”

Cheshire gently shook their head and mumbled to themselves, covering their eyes, ”Don't touch!”

Whatever childish logic was going on in their head didn't last long, and they quickly lowered their wings to peer at Vargas, craning their neck to point at him.

”Muuaah- Master Varrgas,” they said to him, and then waved a wing at themselves, "Who? Mess? Messy?" Words were hard.

He'd said something to them about their name, but they'd been otherwise occupied by the giant kaiju looming over them, being the first living thing they'd ever seen.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas glanced to the Cheshire owl, utterly puzzled by its question, for a moment. Mess? he thought, six eyes darting over its feathers. It thinks that it's a mess? He hesitated, trying to formulate an answer for this, before it clicked. Those eyes widened.

"Ahh! Messenger!" he exclaimed, his realization perhaps a bit too loud. "Yes. It is a word--and a title. It means that you will be trained as a Messenger! To carry messages, to travel through the caves. I will teach you to stay hidden and quiet, and to observe unseen, and to find anyone that I need you too. Do you understand any of that?" he added, amused.

It was young, but smart; he was sure it'd pick it up quickly enough. He'd share in teaching it the basics--Overseer Cain, though, would have the bulk of the work to do.

@Cheshire

Vargas' booming voice grated harshly on sensitive owl ears, making them flinch and screech lowly in protest. They shook their head out and looked up at him, waiting until he was finished to speak.

”Ow,” they said, holding their wings up to where the pain had been, but mulled over his last words, considering them.

After a moment they nodded slowly. ”Mess-eh-ger,” they said, the word much harder to pronounce than the simple two-syllable 'Vargas'.

But they understood... mostly. They were going to be trained (whatever that was) by Vargas to do... things for him! They were absolutely on board with this and couldn't wait for training to begin.

Now if only their wings could grow faster and start working...

”What... ih... is... is Master?”, they said, sounding out each word carefully before looking up at Vargas, wondering what he did and what he was. He was certainly strange looking. And big.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas came to a halt nearer the Black Spire. "The Masters," he replied, still easygoing in his tone, "are the leaders of these caves. We hold great power, and we enforce the will of our Creator." Admiring gaze settled on the shifting Oilstone above and before them.

"The Creator is our ultimate master, in turn. There is stagnant Order in the universe; there is Chaos, that drives change! He is the Chaos that ensures that things always shift, adapt, and learn; that things change and do not freeze into meaningless ice." Advanced concepts, perhaps, for a two-minute-old child but Vargas was rather lost in his admiring, upward-directed speech.

He looked to Cheshire, then. "For now, we will find you food, and a place to rest, yes? And begin your training when you are ready."

@Cheshire

Cheshire gave Vargas a rather clueless look, their head tilted to one side. He'd lost them at around 'ultimate master', the first word having been unfortunately out of their current stretch of understanding and causing them to falter. They saw his admiration, though, and looked to the Black Spire, wondering what was so great about this particularly strange looking rock.

”Food!”, they squawked, latching onto the word and its concept as their stomach rumbled, agreeing.

They fluffed up their feathers in excitement and bobbed their head up and down, staring at Vargas with their large green eyes expectantly. After a moment their mouth opened wide and they squawked loudly, expecting food to appear and be dropped directly into their mouth. They were still an owlette after all.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

As if it would be so easy. Vargas laughed, shortly, but it was genuine amusement nonetheless. "Oh, no, none of that. Come; we'll call this your first, short lesson." Undoubtedly his words were still too complex but he spoke them anyway, making back for the wall that framed the Aperture. A few long strides and they were there, where he knew there'd at least be a handful of rats beneath the rocks. "Do you hear anything-?" he asked, and peered to it--cupped a clawed hand alongside his own head, to demonstrate, falling silent.

Their scratching and scurrying might be audible to a particularly keen ear, in the quiet--and Cheshire's ear should be as keen as the best of them.

He wondered--if they heard the sounds, what would they then do? Wait for instruction? Allow instinct to take over? Remain youthfully oblivious? It would be interesting to see.

@Cheshire

Cheshire stared at Vargas, mouth slowly closing as he directed them to some rocks instead. They fluffed up their feathers and tilted their head, the sound reaching their sensitive ears easily. Yes they could hear the rats, but what were they supposed to do about it?

When a head popped into view they stilled, staring at the small critter attentively. They slowly spread their wings and leapt off of their perch like a normal owl would, though they'd seemed to have forgotten one very important fact.

They couldn't fly.

A squawk left their mouth as they dropped like a stone, screeching like a demon until they smacked upon the floor and lay there, stunned. The rats had disappeared into their burrows and they were left to try and pick themselves up, bruised and confused.

Cheshire was silent for a few seconds, the calm before the storm before they started to screech louder than before, upset and hurt and most importantly, hungry. They looked up at Vargas with their mouth open again and flapped their wings, hoping to get his attention.

”Food!”, they insisted, stumbling as they hopped forward towards his arm, hoping to climb back up to where it was safe on his shoulder. Instinct told them that the ground was not a good place to remain.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas watched the owl chick plummet, and stared for a moment at where it had fallen. It didn't seem all that perturbed, though; merely insistent that it was hungry, quickly forgetting its head-first crash into the rock.

He grunted. "Watch closely," he suggested. The rats were more than likely well-hidden, but Vargas had very long arms, which he now used (after striding to the dark crags of rock) to thrust into the darkness, snatching wildly for a rat. Clawed thumbs searched for a relatively small one; fingers bounced off warm bodies struggling to get away, and he wondered if they'd bite him.

It felt as though a few tried; something sharp scraped his limb, in any case, teeth or claws he didn't know. But after a moment he grabbed, and jerked at a tiny limb in turn; he swept it out from beneath the rock, gave it a light hit to be sure it wouldn't scamper off, and dropped it before Cheshire.

"There," he told the owlette, lifting his limb to eye the little scratches before dismissing them as superficial. "Kill that, and there's your food, hm?"

@Cheshire

Cheshire fluttered their wings as Vargas walked towards the rats, hopping and squawking excitedly. They watched Vargas as he shoved his arm beneath the rocks (privately they wondered how they'd mimic such a thing with no arms at all), excitement reaching its peak as he drew a rat from beneath.

Drool left its mouth as it waited for the Leviathan to drop it, attention laser focused on the thing. When it did, slapping against the rock, they shot forward and grabbed it in its jaws, its squeaks ringing out as it threw it against the rock brutally, repeatedly bashing the poor rat until it was barely recognizable.

Cheshire wasted no time in devouring it, gobbling it down whole and peering about on the ground in case they'd missed anything before scooping up a chunk of brain they'd missed.

”Good?”, they said, looking up at Vargas, waiting for his approval of their kill.

They walked towards him again, wanting to perch back on his arm where it was safe. Not that Draco wasn't safe but at this point in time if the rats really wanted to, they could probably mob them and win. They were better off high up and being right next to those protective, vicious jaws certainly didn't hurt. If they were allowed they'd begin to start climbing back up, trying their very best to keep their talons to themselves.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas watched with his own sharp focus, ready to take in the way Cheshire moved and acted--but it was so quick that he hardly had time. The magenta hybrid shot forward and that was it: snagged in jagged teeth, the rat was quickly killed. A small one, a suitable meal, and Vargas pointed this out: "Good!" (and his tone was full of praise); "Now, you have your meal! Eat," he encouraged, offering the arm back out.

So far, so good; this one showed promise, and strong hints that it would successfully fulfill (or even exceed, if he were lucky) the purpose for which it had been formed.

Now, to find Desert Rose Thirty-Five; and hand over Cheshire for its training.

@Cheshire