switching up posting order a bit so it makes some sense--aquarian before imp instead of vice versa; also godemoting imp a tad

"SO MANY QUESTIONS!" Aquarian shrieked, his voice so loud that it rippled the water and bent the grass. The aggravation, the gradual leak of patience running out, was audible in every word.

To Imp, he snarled: "I CAN EAT YOU, AND SPIT OUT YOUR STONE AND PERHAPS IT WILL GROW WITH EYES!" He glared, and when Imp shrank back (perhaps uncertain or taken aback) Aquarian threw back his head and roared. "YOU WANTED A SOLUTION; THAT IS A SOLUTION, UNLESS YOU ARE A COWARD!"

He snapped his head to Dragon, then, and screeched. "I DO NOT KNOW?! I AM NOT THEIR OBSERVER, THEIR WATCHER AND JUDGE!" He sounded indignant, as if asking anything outside the specific confines of his job description was borderline illegal. But he hesitated, then; Astraea had come to fight the influence of Order, at least. "PERHAPS!" he conceded, but that was all he could, or would, offer.

His scaled coils were already sliding back into the water; apparently their alotted time was up, the food pile only paying for a certain amount of the massive Master's indulgence. Before he departed, however, he turned to Fahl, staring down with keenly bright eyes. "OUR WORK... ALL OF OUR WORK. CREATION, DESTRUCTION OF THE WEAK." There was a pause, as if he mourned his lost tasks. For a moment, it seemed he might offer something insightful, or perhaps shockingly personal or even at the very least a little useful, and then Aquarian--sliding back into the Heart--cried, "BUT SHE WAS A BETRAAAAYER!"

There was a little "plop" as his head submerged again, which might have been comical if an observer didn't also notice the horrific stillness with which the serpent was capable of vanishing into the black water. He left a few ripples behind, but little more, until he breached some ways out--and with a crash of waves and spray, he vanished into the depths.

Aquarian's initial "offer" had Imp shrinking back, but it wasn't out of fear--no; his feelings were hurt. This was his Granddad, after all; he hadn't ever spoken to Aquarian much, actually, but he'd never been yelled at by him either, and he felt a little crushed.

When the serpent vanished, Imp waited a good long while--listening with both big bat ears--until he was sure the serpent was totally gone. And then he muttered a quiet, "Asshole," in a sulky fashion.

Still, Fahl's other suggestion left him staring (blindly) at the iguana ('s general direction) thoughtfully. He didn't interrupt, yet--he was sure there'd be more the lizard would want to say; but he wondered how viable it would be.

If Nemean had ripped 'em out, and Aquarian himself had just fucking threatened to eat him, how likely was it that this new other Master would be any better..?

But Dragon was right; Imp was hard to get down, and with a mental shrug the feathered hybrid thought to himself, eh, fuck it, why not try?

@Fahl

Near silence had taken over the swamp. Aquarian was gone from the view of those above water, along with his dramatic screeches, and all that filled the void left by his absence were Fahl's words. Those yet unanswered, the iguana side-shuffled through the muck, seeking to be better aligned with Imp's line of sight. Though the rotten carcass pile was gone, the disappeared serpent having swallowed it, revolting vestiges of its stench lingered; as he spoke, they wormed down his throat and nostrils, another obstacle for him besides a stone-embedded tongue to push syllables past.

"Yeah, she could probably do something," he said. "But I don't think she'd do it for nothing. And I don't know if she'd take any special requests on what to... well, alter." Knowing what little he did about her, Imp might end up with a couple of fins on his ass for good measure. Or crab claws, as a special touch of hers. "Maybe if you... if we... did a big favor for her, especially involving Nemean, she might be inclined to."

As if to assuage a prickle of doubt, a glance was cast to the water, dark and still like the great Aquarian had never been there.

A bit risky trying to curry favor with a Master, considering what their temperaments were, but what else could he offer? Farina wanted loyalists, and he wanted a certain sprite to bleed for her actions. Nothing he'd heard here indicated he should be more bothered by her than Nemean. So far their sides seemed to match, regardless of concern. Therefore, if this alliance helped his teacher regain sight, it was one he'd willingly maintain.

"Shit, maybe she'd give you Nemean's eyes. Anything that ugly part of you though?" Fahl gagged, not just for a joke but also due to the stinking rot getting to him. "Not the best idea."

@Dragon

Dragon jerked, a bit--a flinch as the serpent breached a final time and disappeared.

"THANK YOU," he bellowed after him, faint amusement in his tone--irony, perhaps. Then he looked to his two sort-of-travelling companions. "That is his way," was all he said, by way of dry explanation.

"I would be wary of trusting any of these Masters," he told them both, thoughtfully, though he was fairly certain both of them had enough experience not to. "But if you wish to speak to Farina over this, I will go with you. I will offer my services, as well, if it helps your case," he told Imp, with a glance. It still pissed him off that Nemean had harmed his child so, though he was rather proud that Imp had had the guts to actually try and eat her.

Faint realization struck, though, and he eyed the two over a second time. "But! You have just come here--all the way here, a long way? Yes? You can rest first, if you like. We have a place, Fahl," he offered, "relatively safe. I will hunt for all three of us, if you want to sleep; and then, Imp--and Fahl, if you wish?--can see Farina, if we can find her. Is she still under the water in her... her room?" he asked, for lack of a better word.

Imp laughed, good-naturedly, at Fahl's warning of "what to alter." "If I can see again, I don't care," he began, and 'looked' to his companion. "I didn't look like this, when I got, like--hatched, y'know? I was, uhh--scaly!" he explained. "And my tail was like Dad's! Now it has a stingy bit. And I have feathers. That's all from those shitty Trials in Hydra. I won!" he crowed (he hadn't, but he'd survived, and that was something). "And when you win they knock you out and you wake up from your rock again awhile later, like, changed. I dunno how they figured this shit was a reward," he went on, and then shrugged. The white spots, too, on his underarms were 'new' but he wasn't really aware of those. "If I could see I'd hardly fuckin' recognize myself anyway so I don't mind."

It was his spirit that mattered--right?

In regards to Nemean's eyes being ugly, Imp broke into laughter. "Hell no. Ugly and way too small, too," he went on, and then his eye-sockets narrowed with vicious realization. "The ugly bastard who pulled 'em out, though-? Or that asshole who betrayed me? Yeah. -Yeah, I'd take their eyes," and his tone was savage.

A split-second later he was joyful again. "Rest-? Sure, I mean--if you want, Fahl? What do you wanna do? It's up to you," he added. And then, with enthusiasm--"You mean the den, Dad? -There's a glowing map on the wall, there! It's cool."

@Fahl

Were Fahl not concentrated on slowing his churning stomach, he might have bantered more about the lacking quality of Nemean's eyes: how they'd be better suited as fish food and, even then, that feeding aquatic Lessers such garbage would be tantamount to poisoning them. In a more serious vein, he might've even dared to ask more about the monster that'd blinded his teacher or this other traitor that wasn't Nemean, the latter someone he'd certainly never heard of before. Choking back twinges of illness, though, prevented him from voicing more than an agreeable rumble of noise at the vengeful sentiments expressed.

While not much could be said, the hue-changing tapestry known as his body revealed plenty to those savvy enough to interpret its patterns. Thick stripes of sunset orange burned into the underside of his chin and streaked down his throat. They shifted soon after to scarlet, standing out as a series of fresh vertical gouges upon a background of dark scales.

Blowing air harshly through his nostrils in a desperate attempt to ward off persistent stench of the long-dead and devoured, he nodded and swallowed—once, twice, thrice—before hazarding speech without significant worry of something worse than words spilling from his mouth.

"I—well, sir, it's been some time since I've gone anywhere near Fornax. Much less down there. But if she's on the move, surely someone would've noticed." Tense with uncertainty, Fahl felt his throat temporarily close off, blocked off by his tongue pressing firm against the roof of his mouth. Eyes flickered back and forth between Dragon and Imp as he considered the suggestion offered to him.

"Yeah," he exhaled. "Rest sounds... fine."

So long as he could distance himself from the worst of this damp swamp air. Travel took its toll on him like it did anyone else, but that was the bigger concern. Even his vivid imagination had been unable to conceive just how badly a whole collection of rotten things could smell.

"A glowing map? How's that work?" Unmentioned was how oblivious he was to the very concept of a map. Normally, he'd be more inclined to be open about his cluelessness around Imp, but with another set of eyes watching? Not a chance. "Did one of you draw it?"

@Dragon

Dragon's son--being blind--would say nothing of the splashes of colors weaving their way across Fahl's pebbly hide. Dragon himself observed, his dark gaze tracking (with quizzical amusement) the bright streaks and patches that appeared, seemed to ripple away, and vanished. The alligator didn't know what they meant; his own came and went mostly as he saw fit, and even so, his patterns might have been entirely different. He had to guess: Excited? Unsettled? Disappointed, perhaps; or afraid, his gaze drifting to the black Heart where Aquarian now had vanished. Certainly he might have been upset, many cycles past, to get so vague an answer. But Aquarian, he knew, had given them enough: as close an assurance as they could get that Farina could be trusted.

It would have to do. And Fahl's lights-? Dragon was too polite, really--too dignified--to comment.

He turned, thick tail dragging in the muck, and started the slogging journey to the nearest cave wall. "Well, if she isn't, I'm sure that we can find her. Come, I will show you where we can rest. As for planning: can we all breathe water, now-?" he asked, casting a glance back at Imp. He didn't think the child could; but... "I have a metal thing--one of the things we enchanted for our descent. I can breathe down there without it, now; you could use it if you cannot!" Theoretically, Dragon could likely dive down to pester Aquarian in the deeps, but so far he hadn't cared to. It was a risk, that the serpent wouldn't irritably decide to eat him, and for what purpose? Well, if it ever came up, if they ever needed him in an emergency, perhaps...

It became clearer, as he led the way, that Dragon bore old injuries--not just the scars that lined his back and head, but his right hind leg was twisted and somewhat thinner than the left. His movement was three plodding steps and then one lurching, weakened one. It was why he preferred to travel by flight: but with one blind and one finned companion, that would be pointless now. It didn't matter, really--he was slowed by it, but used to such travel.

"As for the map--ahh, it is oudated now--old!" the old alligator laughed. "We made it long before much of the rest of the caves had been found by others. Hydra is not on it, and neither are any of the cold--or hot!--places past Polaris." That entire quadrant--Draco, Cepheus, Leo and the like--hadn't existed, yet, to the knowledge of he Children, way back when. "But it was carved into the rock, so that we could teach our children what is where, and how to get there. And our crow--Eve!--she made the lines and patterns glow. She sleeps somewhere, now, I think," he added; it was a shame how many of them lapsed so often into slumber.

But at least she was yet (he hoped!) alive.

A few moments further passed, and Dragon paused to rest: but his dark eyes caught the distant glimmer of said map off ahead. "Over there, where there is light. There is a dry patch--soft pine needles, dirt--beside the tree. You can rest there; I can hunt for food while you sleep."

And then? Well; if they were up for it, then adventure.

Imp felt more alive than he had in a long, long time.

After so long blind--bitter and angry--he'd found a friend in Fahl, and a real one too. Not one of those traitor fucks! And Fahl was here, meeting his family and offering to help left and right. Sure, a lot of it was duty--to get rid of a traitor Master and all that--but Fahl really was helping out, too. Maybe Imp could get eyes again-! Hope and gratitude roiled around in him.

...I should probably, uh, say something, he thought to himself. Dragon was on the move, now, and Imp waddled along--feathers soaked in mud--and tried to think of what to say. That feeling of gratitude was uncomfortable, almost, like a hot knot in his throat that refused to go down. Like stuck food. What could he say..?

"Hey, Fahl?" he tried, at last, his quieter voice unlike his normal flippant loudness. And before he could lose the moment, he blurted--"-Thanks for all this shit." It was a little gruff, a little rushed, but... heartfelt, for once.

Then he hurried on, tripping over the mud and his own winged limbs in a rush not to dwell on all of that mushy stuff.

@Fahl

So his shot in the dark had not been a complete miss: maps were indeed drawings, at least according to the description of the lines and such that composed this particular one. A relieved sigh could have left him in response to the elder Gembound's clarification of what awaited them at the new destination. Instead huffs of exertion overrode it as Fahl yanked himself free from a rather stubborn section of mud that somewhat hindered his following Dragon. Preoccupied with struggling against the usual issues inherent to traversing swampland, mainly ground slippery and sinking at every step, speech was monosyllabic at best despite the few questions he had.

"Eve," Fahl muttered. A nice name—of course any name he could state in as few breaths as possible qualified as a likeable one. If he were to ever meet her, perhaps asking about how exactly she accomplished this so-called glowing effect would be on the agenda. Although it seemed almost heretical to even entertain the thought, he'd like to learn how to do so himself if possible. His main focus was discovering new methods of magical offense and utility, but imagine how much this could elevate art beyond marking out various locations.

Was this done by magic? Dragon had only said that she'd made the map glow but not through what means. If it was, though, what element had she drawn from? Not fire, no; surely that would've left scorch marks. But something similar might've worked. Light?

That'd be fortunate if so. The similarity to his native element might allow him to learn it easier.

But what if there was no magic involved? Maybe there was a special pigment he'd never heard of before that possessed this unique characteristic. How could he recognize where to obtain it from? Reason said it would have to be from something that glows, similar to how you needed to get ahold of something red in order to draw in red. Was he aware of anything like that?

Busy running through a list of every plant and mineral he'd encountered in his lifespan, Fahl nearly didn't catch Imp's quick expression of gratitude. But once the words sank in, his mind stuttered to a halt.

"Tha—?"

If not for a quick recovery, the student would've tripped over his own legs and fallen face-first into the muck. Silver crackled over his hide for an instant like lightning. Mouth agape, unformed words hissed from the back of his throat.

Many a time Imp had offered him enthusiastic praise, encouragement. This tone, though, he was not acquainted with. Hearing it made his head feel lightweight and caused his chin to lift ceilingward. Gold washed over his chest and underbelly. He sucked in a mighty lungful of air as if to drink in deeply this sensation which swelled his heart to point of bursting out of the ribcage.

"Fuuuck, Imp," he said at last, head lowering to allow breath to whoosh out in a long sigh. "It's the least I can do."

His teacher had already scrambled a fair length in front while he'd grappled for an appropriate reaction. Nevertheless, it couldn't have gone unspoken.

When they eventually paused a ways off from the map's location, Fahl squinted through the fog. True to Dragon's word, a hint of light could be noticed in the distance. A polite nod accompanied a thankful murmur to the alligator. Then, striding forwards past him, he shook mud off the bottom of his feet and turned to Imp.

"Well." An exaggerated yawn pried his jaws wide open. Almost eager to obey his mental command, heat sprang up around him. "I think I can take it from here. We good to go?"

@Dragon

He heard the thanks and the stumbled response behind him, but he said nothing. It wasn't his place to. But it was good, really, to know that there was something in his wayward son bar foul-mouthed mockery and practical jokes. So Dragon tucked that knowledge away--a little bit of pride, a little bit of hope for Imp's future--and he led the way onward.

Imp probably wasn't reflective enough to realize it, but his time blind had changed him, and not for the worse. Yes, he'd been upset at first, bitter and distrustful after his friend's betrayal. But he'd learned to rely on others instead of seeing them as potential victims of his games, and he'd come to understand what loyalty meant through that betrayal. At least, that's how Dragon saw it.

Maybe Imp wasn't quite so emotional as that.

He came to the raised area of ground, the map crudely carved into the damp rock that arched up and overhead--where floor met wall, and wall promised to grow into ceiling overhead. It had been baubled, line by line, so that a clean, golden-white glow ignited the poorly-drawn imitations of Cetus, of Polaris and Orion, of Pisces and Canis and Monoceros, and of all the places in between. Cepheus it had no sign of, nor Pegasus and what lay beyond--even Hydra was missing from its crooked landscape. It was as Dragon had said: the Gembounds hadn't known about those places, then. Even so it was barely a passable map, drawn by the estimation of the early explorers who'd awoken in the caves, not creatures with measuring tapes and compasses.

"Good to go-?" Dragon echoed, at Fahl's question. He wasn't sure if that one had been directed at him or at Imp, but after a moment's hesitation he shrugged it off:

"I will come back in a few hours' time. Hopefully, with food."

Having rested his few moments, the alligator turned, and began to haul himself back the way they'd come. His magic didn't want to come, though he tried to call it; he'd be limping and swimming off to the hunt, the old fashioned way.

exit Dragon