ORIGIN - Unsupervised Children

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sora says the f word

Sora answered Ru idly, assuming that she was being addressed mostly because she wasn't paying full attention. "Chrysoberyl," she said, feeling suddenly very embarrassed when another Gembound -- Garnet-Delta -- answered the hybrid. Her new ears flicked and she then turned her gaze sharply onto warrior, picking her head up at an awkward angle. Sora seethed.

"I was there for my own. Kini-yolotl and Morganite led our drove. I followed their decisions. I did what I was told. Before the Trial, Kini spoke to me. Told me to take their place if they died. And they did, and told me not to follow them, so I did what I was told and took up the mantle. If I'd thrown myself carelessly into the shadows to save strangers, or even tried to stop Orenstein, who would have taken my place? Who would have been there for Morganite? Who would have been there for my drove? I would have betrayed Kini-yolotl's last wishes. Don't fucking talk to me about helping. I did exactly what I was asked to do." She bared her teeth at him, and then turned her attention back to her surviving family.

Charles was twittering away again, and Sora moved towards him. "He's right. You worked with the Masked Merchant. I saw you. You and the six-legged thing. You call yourself Master? Some leader you are, sending children in against their will to do your dirty work."

She turned her attention back to her siblings, and approached Morganite to nose at her fur. "We'll get them back, if we can. Just not right now. We'll go back once we're stronger, and we'll find them. I saw Simon's stone, before we left. It was right there. I bet we can get it, if we go back in. For now though... let's go." She cast her gaze coldly onto Vargas. "Garnet-Delta will see us out."

@quartz five-two-four

Morganite immediately darted forward the moment she saw her siblings hatch, nosing one before rushing to another, making sure everyone was okay. She was black as night, now, she noticed, with claws and long ears with long whiskers. Changed.

She turned to face Warrior and cocked her head, eyes turning white as the light reflected off of them.

"... You tried to save my family," she noted, pushing past Sora with a gently apology as she bumped them, "We were locked up in a cave since we hatched. The Merchant- as Vargas said, fed us to that thing in the shadows. We've never seen outside of the caves and I said to everyone to survive, no matter what it took. Listen to your elder if I or Kini passes. So that they'd survive. And they didn't. And now you have the audacity to insult one of us left who... actually listened to me."

Morgan swallowed and turned away before looking at Sora, "Ignore him. We have to find shelter. Gather everyone up and stay close."

She looked up at Charles at his outburst and pursed her lips, sending a glare at Vargas. One day they'd all pay for this.

"... Let's go," she said, turning to the others and tapping on the chrysalis' that were left, trying to coax the others out.

pumpkin nodded, sticking close to morganite, perched on their horns. he glared at warrior. he had the nerve to call out his family, what a joke...

"you don't get the right to criticize my family.." he growled, well, as best a growl as a bird could do. "leave us alone.."

hey gamers
Commotion in the tunnel was magnetic for someone that'd essentially been on shutdown for some time; the orthoclase barked for Beta to take its place watching over the increasingly ailing Beatris and Two, and trudged down the corridor. Their Master'd paced down here a while before, waiting for the Trial's survivors to emerge. As much as that ignited a dormant grief in its being, it felt obligated to be there. It'd be a break from its routine, and it might be considered part of its job to watch over these reemergences. The Merchant apparently gave them... changes, as a reward for survival.

But, there was shouting and clamoring, and every little voice chaffed against the inside of Alpha's skull. Sleep-deprived and hollowly angry, it wasn't equipped to just sit by while the whelps that just had to be out of the ordinary and stand against the norm of Gembound kindness were screaming at one another, and up at its Master. The orthoclase had no right to step in for Vargas - no present desire to defend his honor (and perceived lack thereof) - so it kept its mouth shut. It just strode up next to Garnet-Delta, scar-faced and simmering. Let it take charge, it'd encourage these pathetic things to shut up.

They had no right to be alive. Not while its mother was dead.

It knew it was stupid and out of form to care so much about that little thing - a beast it only ever met once. To mourn what could have been once it'd proven itself worthy of its own individuality. Once it'd figured out what in the Hell that even was. But, every step of the was a cruel reminder, and that pig went for its proverbial throat.

Alpha bristled and glared at Sora even as it moved to escort the group out - favoring the side that the humans were being kept by. Magic reached and felt out for the chrysoberyl's heart, and went to slow the pulse as much as artificially possible. It'd be a great day if she went fully unconscious, but it didn't think the strength of it was enough. Teeth worked better. The orthoclase'd give them all a bite in the ass before they left.

Vargas turned, irked, at the small black bird's speech.

"None of you were children," he pointed out, half-amused, half-annoyed. "And you were created to feed it. That was your purpose. Some of you were allowed to live, and even rewarded for your survival; but that gift can always be revoked, if you prefer," he added, a dangerous patience in his tone.

"Now, I care nothing of your petty squabbles, amongst yourselves--get out, and argue with one another in Canis. I will not ask again."

He then gave a single nod to Orthoclase-Alpha: authorizing it to do... well, whatever it saw fit, really.

@Charles (and whoever else I guess)

He paused, turned back, as first Sora and then Morganite addressed him. At the latter, at first he softened; Morganite seemed kinder, for a moment, than the rest. Acknowledging, at least, that he'd tried. But before he could condemn the way they'd been raised--before he could step to their side and agree that their background was simply horrible--it had turned on him, accusing him of audacity.

For the first time in his life, rage--indignant rage--swept him up, and he turned fully to face the stranger.

"The audacity?!" he cried. "You are utter strangers to me and I risked myself to save you. So did others. And your friends did nothing to help one another-! You let them fall behind, and moved ahead--you stayed in the light and left them in the dark! While strangers tried to save them! Maybe things are different in the cave where you were raised but where I come from, we HELP one another!" He was sick of it; sick of the Champions wandering into his home. Sick of watching them sabotage one another, and let each other die. Sick of them turning Hydra into a deadly trap churning with chaos, of one kind or another.

He paused, trembling with anger, restraining the feral urge to paw the ground with one pale hoof. "The ones of you who fell behind--who tried to save others and died--I'm sorry for their loss. I tried to help them. But there's no fucking justice in this world because if there was, they'd be the ones who are still alive. You survived--but just fucking remember at what cost." Eyes narrowed, as he turned away, hatred and grief roiling through him. "At whose cost."

He switched his phosphorescent gaze to Sora, then. "Lead them? ...You didn't lead them. No one did. They followed a light, and if you'd 'thrown yourself into the dark' to try and save 'strangers' maybe you'd be a better person. But you didn't. And you're not." He turned away, then, cutting himself off abruptly--his anger was too much to bear, his memories of screams in the dark driving him away. He wanted nothing more to do with these creatures. With these who let others die, with whatever excuses they held onto; when it came down to it, Warrior simply couldn't bear to leave someone to die and he could not fathom those who could.

He'd never understand the practicality of ruthlessness, or the wisdom of selfishness. And if he could have, he probably wouldn't have wanted to.

Warrior moved off--he'd undoubtedly hear anything else thrown his way, but he would likely not respond.

@Morganite @Sora

Garnet-Delta's warning, it seemed, fell on the deaf, massive ears of some of these survivors. Its fur prickled, and it gave a passing glance to Master Vargas, waiting for a signal. It would gladly rip any of these survivors to shreds for speaking out of turn.

The little black bird spoke as if it knew anything. As if Garnet-Delta and Orthoclase-Alpha, who both stood at the entrance to Hydra having lost both of their stone-givers to the trial. It knew, even without so much as glancing at the Overseer, that it was probably feeling twice as blood thirsty as Delta was. Really, they were foolish to think they could say such things and not be torn to shreds.

One of them, Chrysoberyl, at least had the sense to say she was leaving with Garnet-Delta. Good. It didn't want to waste its energy beating the disobedience out of all of them. The other, similarly sized creature seemed to get the message, too.

Vargas spoke. Nodded to Orthoclase-Alpha-- permission to the Overseer, not it.

But it didn't particularly care. It took flight again, soaring over Chrysoberyl and the others, and started to take point on the path out of Tunnel P, back through to Canis. As it did, it reached out its magic toward the small, black bird that had spoken too much out of turn.

It grasped hold of Charles, crimson eyes meeting glowing blue as it soared over head, and Charles would find his body moving of its own accord, wings spreading and taking flight after Garnet-Delta, flying just under (and right by the sharp claws) of the other, though the black bird could resist at least somewhat; the magic wasn't perfect, and moved in beat with Delta's own wings as it couldn't focus very well on individual movements.

"Keep up," it hissed to the others, knowing that if they didn't, it would be their own funeral.

@Charles and the others

What kind of gift is living when half of the people who made it worth doing so are dead?

Morganite whirled around to face Warrior, hatred seething for a moment before she finally just let it all out.

"WELL I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY THAT THE MERCHANT AND THE MASTERS ARE SADISTS AND WE GOT HANDED THE SHORT END OF THE SHORT STICK!", she wailed, before exhaling with a snort, "... But sorry's don't mean anything. Not if there's nothing to back them up. So..."

Warrior ran off and she looked down. Forget it.

"I hope you're happy," she said, turning to Vargas, "I sure hope you're happy now. I hope you can sleep at night knowing that you're the cause of many people's suffering. The deaths of many."

Morganite offered a smile, kind in any other circumstance. It could even be taken as such, if Vargas truly wanted. The black creature's face dropped and she herded everyone towards the exit, steps dragging on the ground as she walked. She let Pumpkin perch on her, and Charles too, if he so pleased. She sagged at the thought that Owlface would never sit there again. That Simon wouldn't loop around her neck, that Oren wouldn't swing from her horns being chased by the others, that she would never feel Kini's body heat beside her.

Hatred blossomed like a bitter flower in her chest. The snuffing of so many lives, of her family and others.

Poor Oliver. Poor Alpha- she could see it in its eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said to the Overseer as she passed, "I'm sorry for your loss."

She said nothing more, for it was there too, and it did nothing.

Sora stumbled. A strange feeling swirled in her chest, and she would have lunged at Warrior if it hadn't been for the fact that she suddenly felt cold and drowsy all over. "Ugh," she grumbled, leaning against Morganite for support. She noticed the Orthoclase staring at her, and narrowed her newly-glowing eye. Sora almost barked at it to mind its own business, and absolutely would have if it hadn't been for the fact that Charles had gone stiff and followed very close to Garnet-Delta's talons. That didn't smell right either -- he should have been on Morganite's antlers, or perhaps on someone's shoulder -- and she realized that there must have been magic afoot. Stupid magic.

She muttered an insult under her breath, perhaps aimed at none of them or both of them, and stumbled forward at Morganite's herding. Warrior hadn't understood her, had assumed she meant lead in the same way the light had rather than lead in the sense of being an ongoing figurehead for her family. Those who went into the darkness died. As soon as Simon, Owlface, and Kini-yolotl left -- each of them begging the rest of the family, begging Sora not to follow -- they were already lost to the shadows. If they had been able to be rescued, then at least one of them would have survived. Owlface had been protecting Simon, and Kini-yolotl had been protecting Owlface. Sora wasn't good at math, but it stood to reason that if there was any chance for one of them to have emerged from that, Simon would have.

The hog wanted to snap back at Vargas one last time, but something about the body language of the older Gembound and the half-there amusement in his tone reminded her distinctly of the way their dusted sister had sounded when she'd played with her food. A cat with a mouse. It made her blood run colder than it already was, her heart slowed uncomfortably. An ear twitched irritably, and she cast a last glance towards Beatris. Clearly sick and scared.

The Master was massive. Clearly powerful. Certainly, if a monster like Orthoclase-Alpha, a magically powerful beast like Garnet-Delta, and a battle-hardened champion like the... fish-horse thing whose name (or designation) she still didn't know were all fearful of him, a weak and angry hog with a bone to pick couldn't do much. Vargas was right. you were lucky. your awful brood. you were never meant to live in the first place. i do not know why they even sent the others in. should have just let the monster take all of you.

Ah. The voice was back. Lovely. Still, Sora had a thought, almost in response -- soft, and somewhat defeated. "Maybe," she said under her breath, "that would have been all the more merciful."

uhhh probably like @charles or @orthoclase-alpha or something? idk

> exit sora unless someone has something else to say

Revoked was one word for it.

The orthoclase paused, staring as Vargas spoke - and acknowledged the single nod with a slight one of its own. Unspoken permission to let loose what was boiling over. It was pissed nearly to the point of incoherence, but an old lesson learned about provoking droves of things echoed in its head at the same time the horse kept talking. Alpha interrupted his exit with a slash of claws and a roar. Regardless of anything hitting or not, it hissed, "pick up the pace and get out."

And that went for the rest of the bunch, toxic eyes glaring down at the little beasts finally leaving. It presumed its magic'd been enough to silence the chrysoberyl in lieu of the gravity setting in. But - it glared just slightly to the right - the larger of the hoofed beasts carried on.

"I'm sorry -" Huff. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Alpha's stream of conscious slammed the parking brakes into place. It promptly shifted into reverse and mashed the gas into the floor. The kaiju leapt at Morganite with a snarl. Head twisting and diving down, it went for what'd ultimately be a scrape of overly sharp (and too many) teeth. Due to the angle, it might've landed somewhere along the smaller hybrid's rear. Regardless of making contact, the monster let go quickly and hissed, "don't say anything."

It glared emphatically up at Delta as the black bird swept beneath the cat's claws. "Follow it, or I'll do worse to you," it warned, quills rattling full-force. Alpha hovered right on their heels, looming and casting a long shadow.

permission given to hit/swipe at @Warrior without an attempt

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