>>5182390“Was there anything in particular Leviathan found interesting, in this Crucible or the others you three have experienced?” You ask, curious.
“Hm…it’s kind of hard to narrow that down, actually.” Ziz murmurs, four of her seven heads swiveling this way and that as they try and recall any items of note. “When Levy talked to Behemoth and I, they’d usually tell us all about the life forms on the planet, and how they all worked together. Called it an ego-…iko-…eggo-?”
“Ecosystem.” Snowbird intones.
“Yeah, that!” Ziz chirps happily. “Leviathan loved figuring out how it all fit together before the Crucible, and how it changed when we arrived! If you wanna have a good talk with Levy, leading with that is a great idea! They’ll love it!”
“Good to know. Any topics it’d be wise to avoid, or anything that gets Leviathan upset, like Behemoth?”
“Oh, Levy doesn’t throw tantrums like Behemoth; Leviathan just gives you the silent treatment. Will maybe try and make things harder for you out of spite, if they’re real mad. This one time, during a really long Crucible that was in a real spooky part of space with all these hungry ball-sorta things that wanted to eat—a-anyway, Behemoth, Levy, and I were awake or a really long while, and while Behemoth was having a really great time, Leviathan was getting bored. Went really quiet and stopped talking to either of us. Even started playing with some of the stronger Amalgams and Daughters to pass the time.”
“And by ‘playing’, you mean…?”
“Um…well, Levy always wants to know how things work, like I said.” Ziz stammers as you feel Gina’s hackles go up. “They’ll ask nicely most of the time, but that Crucible was really hard on all of us, so…Levy kinda stopped asking, and just started picking at whatever and whoever seemed to help the boredom. B-but that was just the one time! And the Daughters of that Crucible weren’t nice, like you!”
You can feel Dorian’s eyes on the nape of your neck as Snowbird turns to look up at one of the Amalgam’s eyes, which utterly dwarfs the Daughter’s imposing fame.
“Tell them what you told me. When I was telling you about Prime’s objectives.”
“Oh, uh…so apparently you’ve run into Snowbird’s mom, kinda? She sounds a lot like Levy!”
“…How so?” You say, suppressing a snarl with your best expression of innocent inquisition.
“Leviathan really likes the changes that come with the Crucibles.” Ziz explains, leaning down to try and be eye-level with you and your allies…it doesn’t quite work, but you appreciate the consideration at least. “It sounds like whatever this West Prime wants to do would be something that Leviathan would be super-interested in.”
“Pardon, but is there any chance that your sibling could’ve run across information about West Prime yet?” Dorian asks, his even-keeled voice hiding an apprehension only you and Gina catch.
(Continued)
