ORIGIN

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- THE LEVIATHAN -

He was meeting with the creations, one at a time--those who had followed him here. It was not only for training, but to ask their expectations--their desires.

It was Ruby-Beta's turn.

He had little in mind; nothing specific to offer or to demand. But it was time to see where it stood, what it wanted, and what it needed. He wanted to know what role it wished to play--and to see if what it chose was as useful as what he'd had in mind.

The Master paced alongside the broken chrysalises, casting a glance, brief, in among their bones; he then called out, looking toward where a few of the others were gathered. "Ruby-Beta," he called, and then turned back away. The summons was clear.

Once each of them were in order--their training prepared and scheduled, their goals clear--he could move on with his tasks. With all of their tasks.

@Ruby-Beta

It had been waiting where the others were gathered. Some of them were standing, some were pacing, but Beta...was napping. The trek here had been so long and it was tired and it would much rather rest while it could before all the training and working and thinking started up again. It wanted a chance to chill out before it was thrust into expectations and stress once again.

But, oddly enough, it was finding that it much preferred the dark cavern of Draco to the sandy tunnel. It was more relaxed here, like a burden it hadn't noticed had been lifted away. And it knew why - because in Tunnel P, she still hung over its head. Whenever it glanced into Hydra it remembered her. It remembered those blood-red eyes that burned so cold, the soft, whispering voice that spoke of nothing warm or weak, that showed no emotion at any point on her hard shell. How she had set herself above all the others, and who had been torn down so brutally, and promptly forgotten because she had been nothing in the end. A failure. And her failure ran through its blood and every time it looked into Hydra it remembered that it was a constant, uphill battle to prove that it would not be a failure too. Whatever Palefur had been, whatever waste she had proven to be...

Ruby-Beta was not her. It would never be her. And here it was like...it was at least partially free from her memory. This was a new place, a new life, and it could prove itself as an individual instead of the offspring of a failure.

So it rested. And when it woke up, it would be ready to serve the Forge. And as soon as Vargas's call went out, its head popped up, sleep snapped away. It pushed itself quickly to its feet, as if it had never been asleep at all, and paced over to the Leviathan, sitting before him and giving him a respectful nod. "Master Vargas," it greeted in a steady, calm voice despite the rush it felt in its bones. "What can I do for you?"

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

A nod was granted to the smaller creature, its purple hues such a reflection of Vargas' own. Ruby-Beta had often struck Vargas as precisely its hybrid's nature: Vargas, but with a cat's liability to sleep away ninety percent of the day.

One couldn't say it wasn't efficient in its energy use, at least.

"Ruby-Beta," he greeted it, formally. The faint traceries of burns still lingered, the result of combat with Draconua, but that wasn't on the Leviathan's mind at the moment. "I will get straight to the point. We have guards, and sentries. We have spies, assassins. We have those to train new spawn. I want to see where you see yourself. Do you have a role you prefer to play?" It had trained--half-and-half--as hunter and as fighter, and Vargas was unsure where to place it now. "I am making plans for each of you, as we move ahead, and I need to know where you stand--or where you wish to stand."

He was already wondering if its best role might also be in babysitting the young, in sparring with them, playing games--but he'd never seen it hold interest in them, either. Perhaps simply teaching it to split itself, to give chaotic versions of itself to Dhracia--but was it big enough for her purposes?

Then again, his Lord's preferences were... eccentric, mysterious even to him.

@Ruby-Beta

It stood taller as Vargas greeted it, acidic eyes focused on him intently, trying not to look too excited at the prospect of maybe getting a real job. It nodded through each of the roles that had already been created for the Chaos Forge. It already knew what it wanted to be, or at least what it had trained for. What Master Vargas himself had put it on the path to do eventually. "I will play any role you give me gladly. But I believe I would be best suited to be a hunter or an assassin. I've trained myself as you've told me - blending into the darkness, moving quietly, and even some magic good for capture and suppression, should it be needed. I think that is how I can best serve the Forge."

It only hoped that he would give it a role like that. At the same time, it looked forward to spending a lot of time on the down-low. Maybe guarding or raising the new creations or making new creations itself, but there wasn't anything special about any of that. That would be a waste of all the work that it had already put in and if there was anything that Ruby-Beta hated, it was wasted effort.

Besides, it couldn't help but remember how fun it was to hunt. The the capture or the kill, but creeping in the shadows, surprising its enemies, and reveling in the skills it had worked hard to nurture. However, it knew that it had no control here. It didn't want control. Because control meant responsibility. It meant decision-making, forming opinions, trying to sort out the right and wrong and...that was simply too much of an effort, too much of a pain. Too much of a risk.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas grunted as he thought all of this over. The cat-beast's words reminded him of something: they would need someone dedicated to hunting Lesser prey to keep new creations fed. At least, the hybrid, Gembound-spawned creatures that were hatched nearly helpless.

Vargas studied it, for a moment. Would it be suited to such a task-? Most likely. Would it want to be relegated to something so... low? Would it see it as below it?

Ahh, but he knew precisely how to frame it.

"I have one task in mind, but perhaps you would find it... beneath you. It does not require an incredible amount of skill nor does it require a great deal of investment, and so often, you might be left with little to do. That task," he went on, watching it for any reaction--and Vargas was rarely manipulative but if this creature was going to grasp a job for itself, he'd rather it do so willingly, eagerly--"would be to keep any and all new creations fed. So that when one of you reproduces, if there are children, they are brought food." After brief consideration, he went on to add to this. "You would also take them to learn hunting, to begin with, in Pegasus, and be responsible with ensuring that the lesser stock in Pegasus does not run too low. And in the meantime, you would spar with Orthoclase-Alpha and the rest, and ask Garnet-Delta for training, in fighting and hunting Greaters, so that if we have need of you in that regard, you are ready. Does this sound appropriate?" he asked, his monstrous head tilting just a fraction.

@Ruby-Beta

It was only when Vargas said "you might be left with little to do" that Beta realized exactly how much it didn't want that. It was okay now because it was still recovering. It was still tired. And it was settling into this new home that was so much better then the dry, sandy tunnel that it had lived in most of its life. But it was starting to notice that the more quiet time it had, the more downtime it was given, the more it started to think. Think about the Lord and about Vargas and the nature of chaos, to the point where it was questioning things again. Doubting. And that terrified it because it had taken this arrangement. This protection. And if it started to think more, try to take back control as it oh so dearly wanted to, then all of it would come crashing down again. Besides, it had already established a place for itself. All it knew was impress Master Vargas. Be a tool for him, a valuable asset.

Not a food collector.

It hadn't spent all that time training its skills to be carted off to Pegasus to run around with the children. And that's when it realized that...ah, perhaps it would not be happy with whatever assignment Vargas gave to it. Still, if this was an order, no way was it going to turn it down completely. "If this task is crucial to the Forge, then I will, of course, do what needs to be done. But...if I may..." It paused. Swallow. Breathe. "I have done a lot of training on my own and I prepared to show you what skills I have so that you can think of an assignment that will utilize what tools I have the best. While I am, of course, capable of hunting for the young and teaching them those same skills, I am capable of more."

There was another paused before a heat began rearing in its stomach. There was something it wanted to say to him - something that might be a little bold but how was it supposed to know the boundaries between itself and Master Vargas, when it understood his superior so little? It barely knew him and he barely knew it. And that allowed Beta the strength to, for a moment, break free of its metaphorical chains. "I know you see me as lazy and only looking for a nap or time off...but I'm not. I enjoy resting and doing nothing, yes, but I also like it when I'm being useful - specifically to you. That's why I trained so much when I was away. I wanted to come home with skills for you instead of an empty set of claws. I think I've done enough to at least warrant an assessment of my skills to see what I am capable of now. I want to prove to you that I can be useful, that I can do important things for the Forge, that I'm not a failure like-" the word didn't come out at the end, as Beta had snapped its jaws shut. It had spoken too far. It had said too much and it glanced up at Master Vargas for a moment, wondering what he was thinking of this. If this was even appropriate but it wanted to trust him. It wanted him to know where it stood. Why? ...it didn't know. A need for a parental figure? No, Beta was old enough and independent enough to not need any father in Vargas. The desire for a friend? A companion? No, that wasn't right because it had a friend and it wasn't something it needed in Vargas.

But those thoughts didn't come to Beta, not yet anyways, because it had told itself it was not going to let any of that matter anymore. This was only Beta laying out to Vargas exactly where it stood so that he could understand what kind of a worker it was. It could only hope that it hadn't overstepped.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

He listened with increasing interest, noting the tickboxes in his mind: what was to be admired, which misconceptions corrected, and-... ahh, but what was this?

Vargas stored all these thoughts away, holding them off, for now, in favor of a slight tilt of the head. A lilt to his voice, as he asked: "A failure, like whom?" A simple question--asked somewhat quietly, without his usual demanding tone, but it was interest--and not concern--in his voice.

In the back of his mind waited, patiently, everything else that he would go over... but this little interlude was interesting. The Master was curious to see what would come of it.

@Ruby-Beta

A mistake. This was a mistake. It had hoped he would gloss over it, forget it, but this was Master Vargas. How could it so foolishly think he would let something like that go? It wanted to shake its head and tell him that it wasn't important, but that would be lying right to his superior and there was no way he would let the answer fly.

So it looked up and tried to gather itself to look stronger - defiant. Better then the failure that was always on its head, and spoke her name. "Palefur." Because she'd been, undeniably, a failure. Lost in the Trial of Hydra the first time she ran, where others lesser then her succeeded. Never of use to the Sentinels or to Master Vargas except to give life and stone. A breeder. Not that it was wrong to be a breeder, but she had always wanted to be more. She saw herself above everyone else. When Beta reached for a mother, she slapped its hand away. When it tried to be friendly she talked down, like it was a speck of dirt.

It wouldn't be like her, not who she was or who Vargas thought she was. Not the failure that had failed the Trials or the phony queen dragged from her throne that she had thought she was.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

...Ahh. He didn't know what he'd expected, but it hadn't been that. Vargas' rigid brow rose, just a little. "Is that a legacy that you imagine haunts you..?" he asked it, bluntly. "Hangs over your head, perhaps? Or does her fate concern you?" He knew that Orthoclase-Alpha mourned, in some ways, Elyon, though he'd never addressed it too directly. "Do you know why the cat failed, Ruby-Beta?" Vargas asked.

Ahh, but it couldn't, could it-? These hadn't been involved in the trial--hadn't watched, observed, as he had, even if from a distance. He hadn't seen everything, of course; hadn't even gathered it all in the reports offered afterward. But he knew enough.

"In each Trial throughout the ages there has been a precarious balance to maintain. Cooperation--teamwork--versus going alone. Hemlocke mastered the latter--it was excellent at surviving alone. Even so, it came close to death many times, with this tactic. Those teamed up betrayed one another, often enough, to their deaths. It was always a matter of choosing when to go alone, and when aid was needed. Palefur's mistake," he went on, head tilting, "was in thinking that she would be safe in going alone. Against a monster ten thousand times her size," he added, pointedly. "That... would have been rather a 'teamwork' moment, as most of the rest recognized. Her failure was not in her design, but in a single mistake in judgment. We all make mistakes," he added.

It was relatively forgiving, as far as the Leviathan's assessments went.

"Of her three spawn, you are mine: Palefur's weakness of 'size' is not one that you share, not unless you face something many times your size. And Garnet-Delta is as keen-minded and eager-hearted an assassin as I have met," he added. "I think that 'cats' seem to be fine hunters--as do their spawn; they are not, at their size, fighters of things any larger than themselves. She should have remained near others, if only to let them die first," he added, gesturing dismissively. "She failed as a fighter, but she was not 'a failure' in design."

If it was mourning on Ruby-Beta's mind... well, Vargas could not do much for that.

"First, for your other questions: yes, hunting is crucial, or the children will starve!" Vargas barked a short bit of laughter, perhaps a little unfeelingly given the circumstances, but his little speech prior was as supportive as the Master really got. "It is good to know that you wish to be useful. I will point out that assassination on its own will have only an occasional calling; I cannot send you out assassinating haphazardly. We would need enemies, first, and it is best to not have those to begin with. However, your words are taken into account, and so we will reconsider. So: show me, then, what you have learned."

A grin, it seemed, as Vargas waited: "Allow me to assess."

@Ruby-Beta

Again, it considered lying to Vargas, to say "no, he death doesn't haunt me I just don't wanna be like her" but no. It respected him too much and it had no reason to cover it up at this point. So it responded with an equally blunt, "Yes." It shook its head at the question and listened closely.

It nodded with each of Vargas's points - it wasn't surprised to hear that she had acted like that in the end. "It's her failure in the Trial and who she was that I don't want to be. She always thought of herself as better then those around her, when they, were in fact, better then her, and never admitted her weaknesses. And I guess that's what led to her ultimate failure, then. I don't want - no, won't be like that."

It was relieved and feeling better. Lighter. Because he didn't look at Beta and see only the failure of its stone-giver. It didn't have to feel like she constantly had her claws in its pelt, trying to drag it down into that pit that it so feared. "Thank you," it added and then pushed the matter from its mind because that was just about as much thinking as it wanted to do.

It shifted at Vargas's laugh and nodded at his comment. "I understand. I can hunt, then, and train hunting, when I am not on missions. If that is a good compromise?" Again, it didn't want to overstep or dare give the Master commands.

But at last he was giving Beta a chance to prove how much it had learned. What it had done to improve its skills. And it stood to its feet with hesitation at the chance, with a curt, "Yes, sir," before it stepped back into the shadows of Draco. But it wasn't as invisible as it thought it would be. Dammit. Draco's lighting was just so weird.

@Vargas

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