#collector doesnt know about that + about the boiling rain that developed bc of it

[witchnordemon]

What drew them to the Titans, exactly?

Collector hesitated, if only for a minute, while he debated on how to go about answering that. ❝ They're so cute and fun to play with! ❞ He retorted, far too quickly and with far too much fake gusto in his voice.

..No, that wasn't the whole truth, was it? Collector visibly deflated, their earlier glee replaced with something more... vulnerable, and honest. Did they want to be that sappy in front of Golden Guard? Philip never wanted to hear their pity parties, and they weren't so sure their new friend did either, but... then again, Philip never directly asked.

❝ And... they're kind, ❞ He began again, slowly and more deliberately, ❝ and accepting, and so so welcoming - they never judged me for being different than them, or told me they didn't care about my games, or pushed me away. ❞ He admitted, gaze pointedly averted. ❝ My siblings never wanted to play with me, or let me play with any of the mortals they discovered, ❞ Collector huffed, crossing his shadowy arms and trying to move on from his previous uncomfortable bout of honesty, ❝ so it was real nice to meet the Titans, and to have them be so nice and... stuff. ❞

As such, they were very grateful when the subject changed, and they let out a more characteristic giggle. ❝ Yeah, they don't hurt each other, at least not usually and never on purpose... when you say it like that, I guess what Titan babies do when they play is pretty similar to griffin babies. ❞ The visual made them glance off, slightly unfocused, trying to hold back more laughter as they mentally pictured a bunch of little tiny griffins just like the one Golden Guard had shown them last time, play wrestling all adorable-like the same way Collector's own beloved Titan friends did. Oh, another reason he must like griffins so much, if they did stuff like that too!

Collector nodded in confirmation, re-enacting the swaddling motion once more, ❝ They're teeny tiny, ❞ he "clarified", before resting his hands back on his cheeks, puffing them up as he continued to answer each of his friend's Titan-related questions. It made him think, a lot, on stuff he didn't even know he was aware of way back then. It was... nice, to have this type of friend again; one who was actively partaking in a discussion with him and not just... pushing aside Collector's own ideas and thoughts to interrogate him on something only they cared about.

Then, something strange happened. Golden Guard, who had seemed so engaged with Collector's informational splurge said something they didn't quite hear, and stopped, changed somehow... drew back? Their heart sunk as he sat, tightly curled up. Oh, no, were they boring him? They didn't mean to! They really thought he had been enjoying this, that he had liked learning stuff from them -

Then he apologized.

And Collector was left (metaphorically) scratching his head.

Man, every time they thought they were getting closer to understanding mortals and their behavior, something they weren't used to popped up and knocked them off their trail.

❝ It's okay. ❞ He said awkwardly, pausing, clearly out of his element here. It was always Marrow who was good with emotional stuff and making people feel good and accepted, not him. Hmm. What did he say in response to himself now? Something to reassure his friend further, right? Oh no, he was making this even more weird by taking so long to follow up. ❝ I like talking! ❞

Their expression shifted from that of uncertainty to barely holding back immense self-cringe. They couldn't believe they just said that. ❝ Uh, you know, if you like listening! ❞ They offered once more, seemingly blissfully unaware of the concept of putting one's foot in their own mouth. Golden Guard didn't seem mad, though, so they attempted to sit with the impending yelling tirade directed their way lull in conversation as best they could; clasping their hands together and staying quiet while observing what Golden Guard did next, which... seemed to be... drawing pictures?

It was a short while before their friend spoke again, and Collector was frankly shocked to not hear any annoyance or dismissal directed their way. This Grimwalker really was confusing. But... confusing as he was to them, he once again inquired something about the Titans with what they assumed was still genuine curiosity. ❝ ...they do. ❞ They answered quietly, perhaps quieter than they had ever spoken with Golden Guard before, ❝ ...I mean, they took me in as basically one of their own, so... adopting another Titan is, like, first nature to them. ❞

❝ I... actually, I have no idea. ❞ He replied next, wracking his memories for any potential talk of other extreme environments. ❝ They do fine in extreme cold, and extreme heat, and I think extreme weather too, so... maybe? ❞ He offered, shrugging. ❝ I'm pretty sure they can also live kinda in water - not all the time but a good chunk of the time, and can spend a while swimming in the Sparkling Sea before they have to head back to land. ❞

At Golden Guard's repetition of their previous words, alongside his small smile, they nodded and relaxed a bit more, this time slipping into a more comfortable conversational lull. Maybe... he really wasn't mad at them for talking so much after all.

"What drew you to the titans specifically?" There were so many different kinds of creatures out there, and titans were turning out to be quite amazing, but there was no interest in any of the others at all?

"Pretend sparring . . . ?" If sparring was pretend fighting, what was pretend sparring? He was about to ask what difference there was between sparring and practice (sparring was practice, right?) when they mentioned claws and biting, and something clicked. "Oh! Do you mean like, when baby griffins crawl over each other and pretend bite but it's gentle so they don't actually hurt each other?" He knew that behavior at least, though his teacher had only ever called it roughhousing.

He leaned forward again and continued writing down what the Collector said. "They're that small?" he asked with wide eyes. How incredible it was, for a creature to grow so much in size. "Does the parent ever have to worry about accidentally crushing their offspring? Or do they stop reproducing after they get to a certain size?"

They could already crawl upon hatching, though, and they still had horns and fangs, though they were only nubs. He attempted to draw out how he imagined a baby titan might look based off these descriptions.

Several questions rose up within him - How long did it take for the horns and fangs to grow? If they started out tiny but got huge, how quickly did they grow? How long did it take for a clutch to be able to forage on their own? - but when they tried to come out all at once and resulted in only a rushed splutter, he snapped his mouth shut, ears immediately dropping.

Valor drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, the pen held tight in both hands, linking them together. The questions overtaking each other made him realize just how much he was asking and-

"Sorry," he muttered, looking away. "I'll be quiet." He was sure if the Collector could touch things, he'd have already gotten a ruler snapped against the table to stop him. His beastkeeping teacher liked to do that a lot, to stop him from going off-topic. He never knew which questions were okay to ask and which ones weren't. And the expression of an annoyed, disapproving Belos was seared well into his mind, and he knew with him he wasn't supposed to ask any questions at all.

He was lucky he caught himself before the Collector got to that point.

He nodded quietly at the further information, writing it all down. That answered his question about accidentally crushing their offspring due to their size. They tended to stay away, and it was the smaller ones of previous clutches that did the incubating. Okay. And only 2-4 per clutch, unless lone eggs were found which were then adopted into the clutch.

He had to be careful here. It was a balancing act.

He was supposed to still ask questions if he had any, but not all at once.

One at a time.

"They had a strong sense of adoption, then?"

Lived in ice and snow. He shoved down his questions on thermoregulation, subspecies, and potential migration and instead asked the single, "Can they survive in all extreme environments, or just temperature extremes?"

The Collector's declaration did get Valor to smile a bit again, though, small as it was. "That's good." No little guys left behind.