As soon as they'd left the private bubble, the dark notes of the tea still fresh on their taste buds, the weight of what had been asked of Luna began to truly sink in. They had to seduce someone in less than two weeks. They had never pursued romance before, and romance had never found them. They doubted anyone had ever even found them attractive - or, well, anyone brave enough to pursue them.

She paced around Canis, the dead watching her puzzle over this conundrum with eternal patience. She could always eat the loss - she got caught up in the heat of the deal! But admitting defeat so soon... She was better than that.

Perhaps there was some opportunity still here, in the Gembound who'd answered the call like they did. They'd already have something in common, and there had been some real lookers in the crowd. A chance to get close to someone new... Someone who isn't Vestyge for once...

Luna settled on a bone pile, draping themselves lazily on the corpses, a weak puff of pheromones immediately dissipating into the dry air. Yes, they'd attempt the art of seduction. Just this once.

The Room of Bones was busier than usual. Perhaps it would've been wiser to stay hidden and lowkey until the activity died down, but it galled Rena to have to hide her presence when larger, uglier, more dangerous beasts wandered free all the time. Instead she marched right through Canis on infinite fractal legs, dual heads held high like a dare.

Her eyes passed right over Luna the first time, the wyrm's brown-and-ivory colors blending in well to the background of bone piles. Then they snapped back. There was something on top of those bones. Fluffy, soft, and... animal. Rena slowed, stilled, and turned both heads to focus on this creature, bending into a U-shape that was framed symmetrically by her bat-wings. It looked limp. Was it... hurt? Dead? Or just relaxed? Rena did not have much experience with relaxing. If she were ever found in such a pose, it would probably be because she was hurt or dead.

She hesitated, then click-clacked closer still in her U-shape. Something about this creature--the softness of both fur and colors, maybe, or the insectoid shape?--stirred a protective instinct in Rena. It wasn't Hive, she could tell. But... maybe she could still help it, if it needed her to. She wasn't really busy right now, after all.

"What are you doing?" Rena's voice was flattened, robotic, and rough with disuse. She was not used to speaking. "Are you... all right?"

@Luna

Luna attempted to hold the pose for as long as possibly, the performance of effortlessness ironically quite difficult. Their antennae quivered, sensing the nearby movement and prompting them, finally, to act.

They began to slink down from the bones, blinking their big wet eyes at Rena, studying her design as she did theirs. Luna was only vaguely familiar with the hive, having spent so much time lingering around the Forge, but not enough to identify Mother's design cues.

This further served to genuinely fascinate the wyrm - a beautiful, exotic stranger had appeared on cue! This would be fate, if she believed in such a force. She did not.

Luna's blatant fascination with the drone's legs was purely scientific, you must believe this. They began to circle Rena, still puzzling out their approach in their head. They had to do something different this time, because all other conversations had ended in a mutual platonic appreciation, and they couldn't just spam pheromones forever.

"Oh, just waiting for ah, someone interesting and with many legs to come marching into this dry, boring cave. I'm fine, now that you're here - what brings you to this dreary place?"

@Rena

The giant-mothlike-creature came to life and slunk in circles around Rena, who blinked and uncurled herself so that she had one pair of eyes on each end to watch the creature no matter where they were. They had been... wait specifically for her? Or someone like Rena, at least, with many legs. Rena glanced down. She did have a lot of legs. It sounded like a pretty unbelievable coincidence, but... for some reason... she was inclined to believe them? It was even a little flattering?

Uncertain about how exactly to react, Rena clicked her pincers to herself. The sound was soothing and reminded her of the Cleaners in the tunnels at home. "Just... passing through. I didn't really have a plan." A pause, punctuated by more metronomic clicking. "... Do you think I'm interesting? What did you need someone with many legs for?" It was an odd set of requirements, wasn't it? But in any case, it sounded like Rena could help. Or maybe she already had.

@Luna

It took immense effort to proceed with this amount of poise, because every moment Luna had to themself their brain began to stutter, as if it'd rusted with age. This animal, the one that pranced around another in a desperate bid for some kind of pointless, destructive attention, was not one they were accustomed to being. Something in them was desperately pleading for the sweet release of death.

Luna's own paws tapped a subtle rhythm in parallel to Rena's. "Oh, you're positively... captivating."

Second question is harder to answer. "And we'll... uh, we'll see where the night takes us."

No one here knows what sex is. Me included!

"What's your name, darling?"

Luna may have been captivated by Rena's infinite number of legs, but Rena was rather captivated by the interlocking rhythm of their tapping pincers and paws. It was pleasant to get distracted listening to it, and more importantly, she could actually try to untangle and understand it.

Unlike this conversation.

Rena's tapping fell silent as she looked upward, half-doubting her own reality. A segment of her body even lifted off the ground like a periscope to make sure she got a sufficiently good look at the orb-lights.

No, it was definitely still daytime.

The air in Canis was clear, but Rena felt like she was wading through fog. What did Luna mean by that? Did she need to go somewhere at night? Was the night a person that would take them somewhere? Friendly? Hostile?

Focus. Easy questions first. "My name is Rena. Yours?" Belatedly, the darling tacked on to the end of the question hit her. Rena faltered again, myriad pincers making a rustling sound. Why was this fluffy creature using such affectionate terms with someone she just met? Was it in her nature to be as soft and trusting as her appearance? The fractal-worm felt a twinge of concern paired with protectiveness. Not everyone with knives all over their body was as trustworthy as the Hive.

Now, take a wild guess at what she meant. "Did you want to go somewhere at nighttime? I can go with you," Rena offered. The Hive's Cleaners and Praetors always travelled in pairs. "It's better to walk with- a friend." Of course, Rena used 'friend' rather loosely, considering they knew each other for all of two minutes, but if the silkwyrm was going to trust anyone then she might as well prove herself trustworthy. People deserved a world that was as kind to them as they saw it, Rena thought.

@Luna

Maybe if Luna continued to syncopate well enough, Rena would fall in love that way. It was hard to gauge how well she was getting through, and what in particular had sunk in.

"Luna. I live in Scorpio." A place paired with a name, a subtle promise, somewhere to find them again - though Luna didn't know that the other worm likely wasn't welcome there, or most places.

A friend. Ah. This might be the tricky part - romance was a particular taste, one that was indulged by very, very few. Luna had not anticipated to be among that few until an hour ago. But this wasn't some foolish thrill-seeking. No! This was business. This was real theatre.

But did Rena understand theatre? Could she?

"Sorry, figure of speech. But- have you ever been interested in... uh, something more than friends?" God forbid we're barking up the wrong tree here.

@Rena
late night post HOPEFULLY coheremt

Luna, Scorpio. Rena committed both of the names to memory. She'd heard of the latter before—she was pretty sure it was on the way from Ursa to this room, actually, but she'd never explored it. "I've never been there myself. What is it like?"

Something urged her to keep talking. Live up to the captivating expectations this Gembound had of her. Rena did not like to disappoint. (Once was enough.) "I live in Ursa. It's cold and white, and each of the snowflakes that fall are perfect fractals. They are also captivating to examine. Each one is unique, but together they create a whole snowy landscape." Did Luna understand? Could she?

Maybe the answer was yes, because Luna's next question had Rena snapping to attention, her entire focus suddenly locked in. "Of course," she said eagerly. She hadn't expected Luna to feel the same way for the simple reason that in the Hive's collective experience, people outside it rarely understood how people who were part of it felt. So this was the last thing Rena had expected, but also an impossibly happy surprise. "A connection that runs deeper than usual friendship. Understanding and love and unity that others cannot provide." That was exactly what the Hive stood and strove for. "I didn't know you also felt that way." Should she offer the silkwyrm her fungus? Was this a good time?

@Luna every day we stray further from the collector's original intentions (pensivegun)

"It's like... A home, I suppose. A proper hearth, not just some shallow hole in the ground. There's people, and there's food - they make a lovely stew! Every corner is cobbled, lived in, loved... It's a little cluttered, but its safe. It's a nice place to return to after an adventure." Perhaps this could turn into a proper dinner date. That'd be cute.

Luna studied Rena, considering Ursa's mysteries and silently admiring Rena's attention to detail. A tiny, beautiful snowflake joining so many others to change the landscape - she resonated with that.

They fluffed at the sudden switch in temperament. This was what they wanted, wasn't it? But there was a reason they hadn't gone to Ursa yet, and there were rumours about the Gembound who lived there, and all of a sudden it felt as though that somewhere, perhaps, there'd been a misunderstanding... Let's just make sure.

"And this connection... What is it's name?" Their voice was low, as if this was a dark secret - something forbidden...

@Rena crit successd the vibe check role [i know what you are .jpg]

"That sounds... nice." Rena recalled the tunnels beneath Ursa. A proper home, with far more care and work and complex architecture than a hastily-dug den, check. Food and people, check. Safe, check. The clutter was the only thing Rena wasn't sure about, but otherwise... it really did sound like a lovely place. "I've never had stew before. Maybe..." Rena had four long knife-pincers at either end, and a lot more on her legs. She could hunt down many stew ingredients for the softer, fluffier worm here. That, at least, was something she was confident in. "I can... help you make some?"

Luna's fluff alarmed Rena as much as Rena herself's eagerness had alarmed Luna. First her eyes swung around to look for possible enemies, more an automatic reaction than anything. Thankfully, and confusingly, there was no one around. Then it occurred to Rena that she was the one who had alarmed Luna.

This... upset her deeply. Rena was supposed to strike fear into the hearts of Valkhounds and others who wished to harm her family. Not fluffy, friendly Gembound who spoke of stews and being more than friends. She blinked and turned so that she was not facing Luna so directly, instead slightly tucking the business end of her pincers into her own body.

Perhaps it wasn't a good time to offer her the fungus after all. "What do you call two Gembound that are more than friends?" she deflected. Let someone who was better with words than she was answer their own question.

@Luna say it.