- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas was winding his way toward Polaris, back from a visit to Orion. A return to Draco was his end goal, but he wasn't in much hurry to get there. A simple patrol to check on the goings-on of Orion, and the state of Order in the Ordered caves, had been his priority; he was seething to find those white threads still dangling throughout the caves. He admonished himself mentally, but his train of thought--planning, concerns, worries about the repercussions--faded abruptly when he spotted a streak of something fresh and wet across the ground. Blood? He paced quickly over, and--Ugh. No. He recoiled.

He knew that stench, that rank odor, though it took his mind a moment to place it. Effluvium. The meat-beast he'd smashed back into its chrysalis, after it had so badly mauled his Sentinel. He only knew its name because of its Deathmatch introduction. -What had Nemean called it? 'The Overkill?' Hmm. He'd attempted to reshape it to some extent as it reformed in its chrysalis: to grant it a somewhat sharper mind. He'd missed its emergence, but now he wondered if he'd been successful.

Vargas hesitated briefly. Do I have the time for this? No warlord wanted to be away from home for all that long; he felt the need to be overseering (ha, wasn't that ironic) his Forge at all times, just in case. But... no, he had no immediate obligations. He could spare an hour or two to investigate this.

The Leviathan set off, following the thin trail of mucus and the stench, where it faded here and there, of rotting meat.

@Effluvium

Effluvium's slime trail would lead a rather blunt path through the tunnel, as if some slime blight had bulldozed through, ripping apart the unfortunate mosses that had grown in its path. And, well one had. Vargas did not have to travel far down the tunnel to find the culprit. Effluvium sat in the middle of the tunnel, as pustulent, pulsating, and pleasing on the eyes as ever. The ground around it was soaked in a misshappen circle, as if it had turned around in place before settling down like a dog.

Effluvium was gracelessly chewing on something at its feet, jaws snapping out of sync. It snorfed wetly, a sound reminiscent of several pugs wheezing. It stopped chewing. Effluvium looked up, the mashed leg of some crab-like critter falling from its mouth. It was silent for few long seconds as Effluvium made eyecontact with Vargas. Its two neurons--it had become smarter, after all--almost audibly snapping and buzzing as they fired. A single eye sprouted in the midst of the quiet.

It gurgled. A low, threatening rumble that set its loose flesh jostling. "You. Effluvium remembers."

Effluvium bristled. Its stone hummed with magic, and its haphazard arrangement of bones set into a rapid unnatural growth, spikes slashing in a seemingly random arrangement that, just the same, served as a billboard declaring "STAY AWAY." The pain of its bones erupting only seemed to cause it more anger, as if somehow Vargas was the one to cause that, and its growl grew in volume.

"When I speak."

When I think.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Well, aren't you disgusting, Vargas thought cheerfully. He'd paused some distance off, a safe distance off... for himself, and for the meat-beast too. He made no attempt to close that gap.

"Effluvium--yes?" he asked, watching. His six eyes drifted over the protruding bones, and then back to the single eye that had sprouted in the midst of the pulsating, wet meat-mess. "I came to see how you were doing." 'If you had improved' seemed like it might be beyond them, truth be told. "You are speaking," he added. "That is already... better."

At least, he hoped it was. So far as he knew, Effluvium had been a relatively non-verbal meat-monster. There was no telling if it were still deadly-dangerous, stupid, but also capable of speech.

Maybe he'd just made things worse.

@Effluvium

(btw if you wanna tag for old friends just tell me when you want to do it!)

Effluvium's rumbling growl ended with a confused 'rrrp?' The enemy...spoke to it? Effluvium eyed Vargas warily for another stretch. Effluvium could recall meeting Vargas before, but neither time had been particularly pleasant for it. This was different, however. Vargas was keeping his distance. Finally, Effluvium spoke once again.

"Effluvium speak good," it snorted, as if it were oh so obvious. It briefly sized up Vargas. Effluvium had been taught a rule about not eating talking creatures. But Vargas was alone, and Effluvium did not like Vargas. Not to mention that Vargas looked like he was made of a lot of meat. But it took only a brief once over to put Vargas on the no eat list. If Vargas' size wasnt enough of a deterrent, the fact he was made out of weapons was. Effluvium gurgled in annoyance.

"What want Effluvium for? Not bring food. Not can eat. No use. Just talk?"
It used a small, clawed arm to scoop up and toss the half eaten leg into its mouth. The action was awkward and seemingly somewhat pained, what with all of the spikes it'd sprouted, but throughout the ordeal it kept its eyes on Vargas.

"When I speak."

When I think.

((Maybe after this round! Wangted see how aggro effluvium was feeling))
@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Effluvium seemed surprisingly... sane. Admittedly it already had food in its mouth, but it wasn't screaming, lunging, roaring, fleeing, or anything equally irritating.

"When we fought," Vargas began, keeping it simple, "I remade you to be smarter. So... are you capable of that?" he asked, pleased and surprised both. "'Just talking?' Tell me; what sort of things do you like to talk about?"

It was a genuine question, too. His guess was food. Effluvium had always seemed territorial and food-motivated, to him; a vicious predator at its core, with little room for other considerations. But the fact that it was speaking was already an improvement.

@Effluvium

Effluvium stared. "You make Effluvium smarter?" There was another stretch of blank silence as it processed that information. Eventually Effluvium came to a descision. It broke the silence with a threatening hiss. "You lie! Not work like that. Cannot make things smarter by smashing. Only eat them when smashed. Not make Effluvium smarter! Effluvium...learn to think better."

Effluvium raised its body, baring its jaws in threat. Spectral black horns and red wings sprouted from it, half splayed in display. The threat looked like halfdone, as if Effluvium wasnt fully commited to it. Torn between aggression and confusion.

"When I speak."

When I think.

@Vargas

old friends and new - echoes of wishes

Vargas and Effluvium were not exactly friends. But this magic was an echo, one without the perception to peer into the nuances of a relationship, to define it and to judge. It simply was.

It was a promise, and a possibility. It was a flicker, as two who had met before, met again. They had only a flash of time. No chance to discuss. No long minutes of soft debate, or calculation. Only this moment, a whim, the instinct to guide the spark of magic toward a gift. Would they choose something the other truly would like, adore, fall in love with, respect, feel forever grateful for? Or would their gift be a mistake, a misstep, well-intentioned but easily forgotten?

There was no time for second-guessing. Each of them felt it: the offer, for that split second, of making something come true for their companion.

__________

Each Gembound has only an instant to decide upon a Wish for their thread partner. While the players are free to discuss OOCly, the Gembounds themselves are the ones making this Wish: it should not use out-of-character information but should instead reflect the intent and beliefs of the Wish-makers.

Please GM tag a second time to have a Game Master confirm that all Wishes are viable.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

"Of course I can make things smarter. You can speak, now, can't you-?" If it had been able to before, he hadn't been aware of it. He was amused, despite himself; and he didn't advance on it further. He wasn't out to provoke a defensive response. He-

The magic curled past him like a whisper. This, again? he thought, surprised. And again he sensed that--as much as he wished it--he could not ask it what he wanted. No; this could only be for the meat-beast before him.

So, with as much magnanimity as almost playful malice, he made his wish. Make it even smarter. The subtleties behind that, unspoken in his thoughts, were to grant it the ability to truly converse. The brain to see things as they were, and not past a vague and shifting red film of 'meat' and 'not-meat' or however Effluvium might see the world.

@Effluvium

Effluvium hated the feeling of annoyance. Anger, hunger, contentment. Those were the feelings Effluvium enjoyed. Anger meant that it got to destroy something. Hunger meant that it got to eat. Contentment meant that it had eaten, and would soon eat again. Effluvium hated that Vargas was annoying it, because annoyance was not so simple of a solution. The simple solutions, the ones it enjoyed, were unavailable to it.

Effluvium could not fight Vargas--Vargas may have been large and meaty, but it had ended badly for it the last time. Effluvium could try to leave at least, true, but that meant turning its back on Vargas, and Effluvium did not want to expose weakness to Vargas, even with the bones crusting its form and the hellish wings it had sprouted from its back. Effluvium opened its mouth to retort that it always talked(though talking in some cases was just the word 'meat'), but it was then that the wish magic coursed through them. Effluvium's thoughts. But Effluvium knew it could end its annoyance here. It somehow felt that wishing for Vargas to die would not work.

The magic felt benevolent, like the indescribable but enjoyable thing that drove others to provide it with food. So Effluvium wished for the next best thing to death. It was a wish born of annoyance and a truly selfish being. But Effluvium knew no other way. It was a relatively simple wish: Keep Vargas busy for as long as possible. Effluvium desired to never be annoyed by Vargas again. For their future meatings to be on its terms. Whatever that did to Vargas, it did not, and would not, think on greatly.

"When I speak."

When I think.

old friends and new - echoes of wishes

The Wish magic flickered, as if somehow... considering. One of these was simple enough, molded by intent and the item that suddenly appeared over one of Effluvium's eyes--though it looked wildly out-of-place on them--was in a sense, an easy 'choice' for the magic. It was a monocle: fine silver and shining glass, instantly granting Effluvium a greatly expanded intellect. Yet there was an entity within, or at least an imitation of one: prim and proper, stirring into their mind as if slowly blinking awake. It would be an influence on Effluvium whenever they chose to wear it: a properly dignified speech pattern; a keenly insightful mind; a demeanor shocked at baser things.

For Vargas... 'busy' could mean many things. At length the magic settled on two that would, if things went well, indeed keep him busy with one or the other.

The first was a Wallcrawler infestation within Draco. Though they could be driven back, kept under control, they'd keep appearing as if from nowhere: a threat to the Black Spire and growing Oilstones. And when they did consume this Chaotic rock, they themselves would become Oily little monsters, only becoming ever-hungrier, so that keeping them in check was doubly important.

Second: Vargas would suddenly be aware of a new show to be shown at Cepheus's palace theater. The details weren't available to his mind, in part because the magic itself wouldn't be the one choosing. But it would be something, it ensured, to keep him enraptured: something that would end on its weekly cliffhanger, keeping him busy and hungry for more.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Gentleman's Monocle A classic simple monocle of silver and glass, on a fine silver chain. ELEMENT: MAGIC LEVEL: 100 DURABILITY: 50 SPECIAL: Enchanted. When worn, grants the user a merged thought process with a highly intelligent pseudo-entity within the monocle. This unknown "Gentleman" influences the wearer toward a prim accent, decorum and civility, but can be "politely arrogant" and shocked at impropriety. It lends its powerful mind to the wearer when worn. MATERIAL: Silver and Glass ATTACK: N/A ADDED: When fitted over an eye, it will stay there like a magnet until removed, regardless of the wearer's biological shape. DEFENSE: N/A WEIGHT: 1 EQUIP: N/A Currently owned by: Effluvium

@Vargas