- THE LEVIATHAN -

It was that time, again.

Time for another creation--he had no doubt his Lord would be here soon to collect Baokrish. And preparations had to be made for the next up on his list.

Truth be told, he'd spared it little thought: the Forge had been quite busy, as late. Perhaps too busy. He pushed that thought away: it was difficult to keep track, but it was... manageable, for now. It had been a flood of activity: the Deathmatch, the recruiting and the preparation of lessons for the rest, the cooperation with Farina, the building and training that his spawn were doing. Yes-... it was on the cusp of just too much; if the nest and the Forge continued to improve, Vargas might have to take action to slow their progress enough to keep it under his control.

So he hadn't much planned this next creature. He'd had no word back of his first, sent out into the wide worlds: had it died? Succumbed to its prey, or to the environment? He had no idea what had happened, which was troubling; it left him little room to adapt mistakes, to improve on his errors. He had to guess, for now.

A serpent, he'd thought idly--and not a bootleg beast like Chaos-One, no. A real serpent: a constrictor, long and made of scale-clad muscle. In fact, some carapace might do, he thought. And quills. Extra eyes, of course, were a given. His concept was based around the void-fire that Chaos was capable of: an immense serpent (a preferred shape) that could coil around a victim and ignite it in black fire. To that end, he'd give it an armored belly slicked in Oil.

And there was another topic, too, that he had to now address: his promising young scout, the Carmeltazite replacement of the owl that Valkhand Aethril had slain, had abruptly dropped into a chrysalis. He'd kept watch on it but for now he had to assume that it would not awaken; there was no good reason it should have entered hibernation, and it was wise to create a replacement, just in case. He thought he'd work with the same design, but with a good, strong Oilstone; perhaps it was the gem itself that had failed Cheshire-? It didn't matter: the silent wings and mixture of perfect hunter-of-the-air and hunter-of-the-ground would still serve him well. It was a good design; there was little he'd need to change. He'd decided to give this one a venomous tail spike, and an extra set of limbs: otherwise, it would be much the same.

Master Vargas took a place before the Womb, rocking back onto his haunches and studying the available shards of Oilstone, pondering which to work with.

Cain liked to watch things. It kept tabs near and far on every single one of the Chaos Forge, whether stalking them through the blood of dead cave rats or keeping an idle ear swiveled toward the construction of new buildings. Of course, the furry beast could not be everywhere at once, and was far from infallible, and to be true: it slept quite a bit, despite how busy it prided itself on being.

But when something interesting was happening, Cain often caught wind. Master Vargas was working on something by the Womb, and judging from the way he seemed to be searching through the shards of oil stone, Cain suspected the leviathan was working on one of his many projects. It was enough to make the Overseer curious, and as it had no fear of its Master, it had no qualms sticking its nose into his business.

A spread of leathery wings and a quick hop and swoop, and the feline creature landed softly beside Master Vargas, long ears twisting with curiosity as it peered at the pieces of stone he was sorting through.

"Another masterpiece for the Hand?" Cain chirped with polite interest. "What will you be making this time, Master Vargas?" Its tail twitched, and curled neatly along its flank as it took a seat.

The Baokrish had not been one that the Overseer had much of a hand in training-- more suited to wet, which Cain was decidedly not. And the Cheshire, well, it hadn't been long for this world, apparently. There were some Forge members that Cain still trained and oversaw, but it was keen for new blood. Maybe it was being a bit too obvious, but it figured its Master would approve.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas glanced sidelong at Cain, as it arrived. He waited for it to speak, as its haunches settled on stone--he held a genuine respect for the little creature that didn't extend to very many others. It had his full attention as it spoke, and-

"Ha!" he barked. "Flattery, as I have said, will get you everywhere; I would hardly call it a masterpiece. But I do have something in mind, yes. And," he added, glancing at one of the Oilstone shards he planned to use, "I'll be replacing the Carmeltazite as well. It's gone into hibernation and I have no time to waste in waiting for it," he explained.

Vargas cast a glance to the stones, then to Cain, and then the stones again. Why not detail the process? It may find this useful, he decided; no reason not to include his favorite cat-beast in his work. The Leviathan shuffled a bit aside, so as to make the stones more visible--mere shards, really--and spoke with an idle gesture of one six-clawed hand.

"This one will be Lord Dhracia's. I am intending something serpentine: something capable of constriction, with small limbs for gripping. I will give it slicks of Oil that seep between hardened scales along its belly, flat scales--and the magic to ignite that Oil. Then, you see," he went on, and now he too rocked back on his haunches, lifting his hands to try and somehow demonstrate with little twists of his fingers what he meant. "-Like this--it will be able to grip a victim, coil around it, and ignite it--burn it completely to ash without much trouble, I think. It'll be burned a little, of course, but nothing it won't get used to," he went on. "And I try to always design in auxiliary eyes, in case the first are damaged; and I think I'll give this one some venom, too," he decided. Or try to, at least. "...Maybe a pincer at the tail, so it can grip with that, as well." A split tail, instead of a pointless single shape: yes, that was a good idea.

"As for the other one, the messenger replacement--you'll be in charge of that one, to some extent. Moving unseen, and all that. I will be giving it extra legs, a catlike tail, venom also," because venom was good; and he briefly reflected that he hadn't planned extra eyes for this one but oh well. He could always give it more later if it lost them. "Darker colors, too. The last one was too bright," he remarked. "And Chaos magic. We'll see how a stealthy creature does with that, instead of Light."

He then fell silent--intent on his work, but also curious as to what Cain might say, or even suggest to him. Or, of course, perhaps the Overseer would only absorb what he was saying, attentive as always, and learn a thing or two from it.

In any case, there was no point in dawdling; Vargas set a hand down on the larger of the two shards, briefly focusing, pressing his Master's magic into it. Be fierce, and cunning, and predatory, he urged the stone, all his eyes narrowing in concentration.

@Cain

He hadn't been far off, and the mention of serpentine--the word barely a low murmur at this distance, but Nidhogg still heard it--drew him.

He scampered over, a slithering dart across the rocks until he hung over the edge of a boulder, peering down at the Leviathan and his companion. Nidhogg was back in Draco: and hopefully, nobody'd really notice that he had (at some point) wandered off. "Sssserpent?" he asked, deliberately hissing out that 's,' as if to further emphasize the whole "snake-like" thing. Eyes narrowed as he regarded Vargas, sparing Cain a brief glance. "A... replacement?" He hung over the edge of the rock, staring at the Master, as if he could read Vargas's thoughts through his purple skin alone.

Strange, that Nidhogg would seem to care; he'd never liked being stuck in Draco, amongst the Forge, anyway.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas glanced up, staring, for a beat. "...No, Chaos-One. Not that you have achieved all that much; if you do not want to be replaced, you should start trying!" He stared harder, watching as Nidhogg coiled back, hissing a little.

Then he looked back to his work, and focused on the second stone--placed a ways away, in case it hatched when he was not present. The last thing he wanted was the serpent-beast swallowing his new scout whole before he could intervene-! This 'womb' he carefully attended, cleaning bits out (bones and chips of stone) and setting the little oilstone higher up.

A moment's focus, imagery held in his mind of violet-barred black wings and the same cheshire grin he'd given the first iteration, and he had granted this stone new life.

"-There," he declared, and drew away. He waited to see if the others had more to say; but otherwise, he would soon require rest. Not sleep--but a quiet day of eating, drinking, and thinking, instead of (for once) action.

exit Vargas
(editing this into an exit so i can post the nursery/adoption form!! sorry for the rush)

Flattery. Was that what it was, that rolled off of the cat-hybrid's tongue, as it stared up at its Master with keen hunger?

It wondered.

A replacement for the Carmeltazite made sense. Cain acknowledged this with a flick of an ear and a slow nod, turning its gaze toward the next as the Master's talons-- each long enough to lop off the Overseer's head with just as casual a motion-- moved on to the next stone.

V-Chaos-One slithered closer, hissing with a tone that could only be presumed as jealousy. Cain gave a slow blink to the fellow Forge member who barely gave it a passing glance, and considered idly how easy it would be to hold the scambering, disrespectful worm by his blood while Master Vargas made himself a pair of boots with its flesh.

... Not that it would happen. Cain simply had a vivid imagination. The only remark that betrayed its thoughts came quietly from between clicking teeth, "Perhaps this one will have manners." Though, if Lord Dhracia's monsters needed manners remained to be seen, really. The goal always seemed more like disasterous world-ending embodiments of chaos. Manners, even to superiors, seemed on the low end of priorities. It couldn't hurt, though.

Cain sniffed as Master Vargas went back to the first one. A messenger replacement. One for the Overseer to train and prepare for the future. The thought made the skin between its toes itch, and it flexed its claws as it rose to its feet.

"I look forward to seeing what it can do," Cain pondered. "I'm sure it'll be hatching before we know it. I'll be ready when it is."

Master Vargas turned away with a final word, and the Overseer saw no reason to keep its Master. Instead, Cain hopped up on to the now life-rich stone of the soon-to-be messenger, and placed a paw gently on the surface.

I'm tired of disappointments, Cain thought to the stone, though it knew the life held within was too fresh to even have a mind to grasp at. If you could at least try to be different, I'd appreciate that.

@Vargas for visiblity ; cain exit!