ORIGIN

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Given the current jungle-gym situation and it already taking a break from babysitting, the orthoclase grunted, "I'll hunt." Blazing eyes swept across the actual menagerie of spawn, noting them all down as Probably Carnivorous. The one sticking its fingers in Vargas's nostrils seemed somewhat deer-like, but the hooked claws said otherwise.

Vargas's gold-digger conjured up a veritable field of glass, and Alpha couldn't help but to jerk away from it with a sharp hiss.

Quills flared up and composure completely lost, the Overseer just nodded in regards to Khavur, "yes, sir." It glanced at the many-limbed beast, just as newborn as the other spawn but looking capable enough. Just clumsy. "I could take it hunting with me." No better time than the present to start working on motor skills and shove duties off onto something else.

@Vargas @Khavur

Khavur's two heads focused; one on the big purple friend, and the other on Orthoclase-Alpha. The small-horned head gave a little grin when the picture of the little one digging at the big purple friend's snout registered in its brain. The large-horned head's nose quivered at the mention of hunting and training. Orthoclase-Alpha wanted to take it hunting? The big purple friend wanted it to train?? What did any and all of that mean? Khavur didn't have a clue. Even if it put both of its heads together, it doubted it could parse a meaning by itself. And that made it all the more interesting.

The large-horned head simply parroted: "Hunt." The small-horned head kept smiling wordlessly, not even quite looking at the big purple friend or the little ones running around it. Wings would fold and fidget, tail would idly thump, and great big belly would begin to rumble with a sensation all Khavur's own. The Reaver, it seemed, was hungry.

The other children were talking--playing--and V-Chaos-One observed. Cunning, mischievious eyes watched Vargas as the Master's attention turned this way and that--and like a snake Nidhogg darted out, tiny jaws snapping open to try and bite down on one of the over-long forelimbs.

It had no real motivation for this, other than a sense of malice and the knowledge that Vargas had hauled it from the swamp. And the fact that Vargas had, if only for a moment, looked away.

Tiny needle-teeth got in between two of the big arm-spikes, up closer to Vargas' elbow, and the little one held on--twisting, hissing, as if fully intending to somehow kill the Leviathan with only an eight-inch jaw.

Vargas eyed Selenite.

"Thank you. You are smart," he informed it, somewhat late, and then looked to Chaos-Two and its whirling glass. Despite its damaged shape, its small size, its malformed stone and mouth, its magic was apparently powerful and Vargas perked up at once.

Perhaps we won't have to kill it, he thought, pleased. It would be useless for creating soldiers but perhaps they could put it to use in the caves somehow-? "Very good magic, little one; we will need to train you in that, then, I think."Before he could think much on this, tiny teeth fastened into the back of his arm.

He came up fast and violent, a snarl and a fling of his arm not dislodging it. It took some contortion--it had, quite by accident, seemingly found a spot that the Master found hard to reach.

"GET OFF. STOP THAT," he demanded, six-thumbed hand peeling the jaws away. He snagged Nidhogg, holding it up and eyeing it.

Well, it had spirit, he'd give it that; he'd have to teach it obedience, then. He dropped it and grunted, looking to Orthoclase-Alpha and Khavur. "Go, then, and hunt. Do not take it too far, yet. And anyway, these things will need to eat," he added, firing a dour glance at Nidhogg again.

"I will try to keep them in line until you return." Then he sat up, and barked out: "What are your designations?!"

Because a little military drill was definitely how to raise kids, right?

@Orthoclase-Alpha @V-Chaos-Two @Khavur @V-Zoisite-One @V-Labradorite-One

Chaos-Two's eyes shone with glee, and it shook its head out before jumping up and running around in a circle, tripping over its leg and falling to the ground in its excitement. The praise felt good! It felt like they'd accomplished something!

They shied away when Vargas snapped at their sibling, pausing to watch silently before deeming the situation perfectly suitable to return to. Chaos-Two blinked and padded after their fallen sibling, and pounced on their tail, gums clamping down, head shaking back and forth in an effort to defeat the tail they held.

"Grr- BLAAAA!!" they blurted, before growling again and returning to trying to playfight with the other.

When Vargas called out, they looked up, wondering what a 'designation' was. Was it food?

They simply burped in reply and continued to gum at Nidhogg's tail, paws holding it down as best as they could.

@Nidhogg (for visibility)

Nidhogg neither knew nor cared what a designation was. It cared that it had been peeled away and tossed back--and it was snarling to hiss up at Vargas when something grabbed its tail. In time that tail would be covered in deadly quills but for now they were mere stubs, and the tail was caught.

"Ssssssssss!"

The creature was a savage little creation, and it knew nothing yet of "play." Only "fight." So it took this as an attack and with a swift attempt at a strike, curled over itself and lunged for Chaos-Two's face.

It would not be a very damaging strike, if it hit--it was an attempt to latch on, snag the head in its jaws and thrash but it was small, newly-hatched, and weak; its teeth were needle-like but not long or broad as yet. Pinpricks, perhaps, at worse, but it was vicious in its hit.

A tiny bully, really.

Zoisite quieted down as the rest of the clutch began to eeeeeeee around it, scuttling back out of the way as Nidhogg went rushing past it. The red grub inched its way to the edge of the tunnel wall, tilting its head this way and that until it had found a good position to watch from the sidelines as all hell broke loose.

There was a lot going on, and it had missed a lot of what was going on. Master Vargas had a lot of big words to shout and demand, but the topic of hunting kept coming up, mimicked by the freshly hatched babies. They were probably hungry; Labradorite-Sibling had been quick to snatch up the bit of rats it had presented.

If the family was hungry, then... Golden, faintly glowing old eyes locked on Orthoclase-Alpha, quills bristling at the dangerous burst of magic. Mandibles clicked together, and the Zoisite lowered to the ground, and quickly began a scamper past sibling after sibling, weaving around the shards of glass. It had to keep its head parallel to the ground, however, and that meant it couldn't see where it was going very well, using its peripheral vision blurred by its crest, and its sense of smell and sensitive touch from its belly of quills.

Soft shell bumped into obstacles here and there, and stumbling over its own feet, it managed to run headlong into one of Orthoclase-Alpha's legs. Mandibles snapped shut with a click, and it lurched backward, flipping its head up and nearly tumbling over on to its back.

"Wait," it protest, shoving legs out to try and balance. A deep inhale through parted mandibles, tongue clicking, and it grunted its request, "Take me!" Simple enough words. Its eyes gleamed up at the parental figure (if any of the Sentinels could even begin to qualify for such a role) that towered over it. Fur puffed out, quills rattling in an almost imitation of what it had seen Alpha done a moment prior.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

The chaos around it- the voices and movements of others, and the magically summoned glass shards- was all a little too much in a little too short amount of time. It froze, even as Nidhogg 'dove' at it and then 'attacked' Vargas. It only seemed to snap out of this once booming roar of Vargas's voice sounded once again. Its luminescent six-eyed gaze instinctively locked onto the leviathan.

...Not that it was listening, not really. It was beginning to get a grasp on language, but only just beginning. Vargas was big and important-seeming, though, so it at least tried to listen and understand his words. It paused, considering it's "designation" but this was quickly forgotten as it's attention was quick caught by something far more interesting. A play fight, between two of its newer siblings. The oily black creature that looked a lot like it did, and the bipedal, ungulate-like creature.

Quite the opposite of Nidhogg, it saw no "fight," only "play," even with Nidhogg's vicious strike at it's sibling. Scarlet eyes locked onto Nidhogg, with faint attention to Chaos-Two, but it was far more focused on it's fellow swamp beast. It's tail swayed, feet shuffling into the perfect stance… to strike!

A combination of it's front-heavy build and oil-slick claws sent it careening to the side, tumbling over itself and nearly crashing into one of the glass shards Chaos-two had summoned. It came to a stop near one of Vargas's gigantic claws, letting out a pitiful squeak unbefitting of a future soldier. It was fairly unscathed- a minor scratch or two, and the burn of embarrassment. But even as young as it was, the embarrassment hurt as much as any scratch would've.

Vargas's noodliest spawn was also seemingly the ballsiest, latching onto an arm with a rattling hiss. The orthoclase paused mid-step to defend - but who? Who would it've defended in this case? Certainly not -

It set its foot down, quills at half mast. Putrid points stuck in the air, smoothing down with force. The reflections of its eyes shifted minutely as its gaze drifted between the spawn. Khavur made its approach with parroting words, and another bumbled straight into a forearm. Alpha bared its teeth at the little grub and jerked its foot away - the zoisite'd moved back anyways, but just in case.

Glimmering eyes stared up at it, and despite not at all being endeared (no way) the Overseer grumbled, "I'll take the zoisite, too." Alpha paid the zoisite another second of attention, and then turned its head away. For now, it might just do best to watch. Hunting rats would end up being more like fighting rats, as small as the neonate was. No use in training it to be bait, though.

Hm.

If there wasn't anything else, the orthoclase barked ("Follow me.") and strode off towards Canis, barely listening for the hopefully inevitable pitter-patter of feet on its heels.

exit alpha to HOW THE SAUSAGE GETS MADE, unless stopped
@Khavur @V-Zoisite-One @Vargas (for visibility)

He observed the Zoisite, first--the creature enthusiastically, if clumsily (but wasn't that a trait of youth?), rushing for Orthoclase-Alpha. It was eager, and in its eagerness, it inadvertently gained some of Vargas' approval. His estimation for it rose a fraction, and he nodded. "Yes, that one is eager! Good." He paused, briefly. He was tempted to tell them to get a Greater--something large enough for these to eat--but he was reluctant to move to that, just yet.

First because it might turn even a minor rebellion on them. Granted, the Sentinels had been watching Tunnel P and its surroundings in Canis very closely--with and without magic. But even a few, when The Chrysalis was still here, was an unneeded risk. And second-

Before Vargas' mind could turn toward morality or anything so equally silly, the Labradorite was tumbling close by. He peered down quizzically, reaching with an almost automatic gesture to pick the thing up by whatever constituted the scruff of its neck. He gently set it back upright on its feet, grunting.

"You will learn to move with... grace, in time." Perhaps the assurance was too complex for Labradorite to comprehend, or maybe it understood. Vargas didn't know; he only knew that his eyes were casting back over the group that remained, trying to keep watch-...

...Aaaand one was biting the other one's face.

Master Vargas sighed.

@Orthoclase-Alpha (for visibility;) @V-Chaos-Two @V-Labradorite-One

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Orthoclase-Alpha

Khavur

Nidhogg

Vargas

Maximus

Nidhogg

Zoey

V-Labradorite-One

Orthoclase-Alpha

Vargas