"Brainwashed?!" It growled. It wasn't brainwashed, it wasn't! It did what the Overseer demanded because it wanted to and because it respected him! But it only took Beta a moment to wonder...why? Why did it respect the Overseer? Because he was big? Because he was its life-giver? Because it had been told from hatch to respect him?

It's not like it cared about the other Sentinels much. It's other feline siblings were...small, underwhelming, and annoying and the only other spawn of Vargas was a jerk that always bothered Beta's naps. They didn't pay attention to the rest - they did not bother it and it did not bother them. Where they all brainwashed to follow Vargas?

These were stupid questions. It was stupid to think about this. Every single point brought up in Beta's mind could easily be pushed back. It respected the Overseer because he was strong and because he was in charge. The Sentinels followed Vargas because they knew the old ways and knew he was one to be respected and feared. "I am not brainwashed, I just know my place! And that's big coming from a lizard covered in neon feathers!" Perhaps that was a little mean.

"Art sounds like a waste of time. What's the point when I could just be taking a nap instead?"

Beta began pacing beneath Imp. This was going nowhere and it couldn't get up there, no matter how many times it yelled at Imp that it had wings, it wouldn't just grow them out of nowhere. "I can probably do art just fine! Better then you, probably, since I have eyes! There's just no point. Art is stupid." It was starting to hit low, but, to be honest, it was starting to enjoy this little bantering. If it ever talked this way to Alpha, the beast would surely just try to hit it instead of throwing a funny little tantrum like Imp was right now.

It let out a strange sound, high pitched sound, like a cat's meow and a cough. It made this sound a few more times, evolving into a short laugh as it wracked its brain for some random colors. "Yeah! Neon! Bright ugly yellow and blue that makes my eyes hurt! You're the ugliest thing I've ever seen!"

...It felt kinda nice just letting lose.

To be honest, Beta wasn't particularly disappointed that its insults didn't hit too hard against Imp. It was nice to just say them for once without getting a few thousand pounds of weight thrown at it. Still, it had thought that the "ugly" comment would frustrate Imp a little more then it had. After all, Imp calling Vargas ugly was hitting a nerve on Beta. Was there a reason for that?

It huffed. "At least the purple is dark and has a use! We can blend right into the shadows. You're gonna have fun avoiding predators with those colors." Beta didn't really understand the whole "going together" thing, the concept of color theory too alien for its mind to understand. "It doesn't MATTER as long as you can survive!" Because that, and of this it was sure, was all that mattered. Survival.

"I'm not a slave," Beta repeated with a growl. "I do what I want. And if I don't want to do it, I won't do it." And that was, at least, mostly true. "You can keep saying "fuck you" all you want. I'll just keep doing whatever I want. And the Trials are to prove your ability to survive. Amazing you haven't learned that already."

It huffed. "Yeah, I think I'll stay here. Unless you'd like to try and kick me out."

Beta didn't respond to his jibs anymore, mainly because he'd kind of gotten it there. Damn...he's kinda right. It really did only get off of its ass to do what Vargas wanted of it, but, unlike Imp, it really didn't see the problem in that. It liked to make the Overseer proud and to know that it was doing good work for him and the Sentinels. I liked knowing that it was getting stronger...but it liked naps even more.

It snickered back at his suggestion. "Okay." Beta closed its eyes and gave Imp just a moment before it started counting. "Alpha...beta..." Eyes snapped open. "Alright, I'm done counting!"

It watched Imp fly away, making that same meowing laughter as before. He looked ridiculous and Beta couldn't help but laugh at his expense. "Nice flying!" It called up with a snicker.

Ruby-Beta continued to watch Imp fly into everything in his path, chuckling a bit to itself. For a moment, it came to senses and wondered why it was getting so much joy over teasing this thing that couldn't hope to fight back. It had never spoken so rudely in its life - sure, it had teased its siblings, but that had been far and few between. It wasn't a fan of Alpha slamming it into the dirt.

The flying bluff, then, was a bust but it wasn't like that was going to last a long time anyways. As it watched him arch over and disappear by the ceiling of Pisces, Ruby-Beta waited for a moment, in case he decided to come back, or in case that it wasn't a tunnel at all. It turned towards the water, stepping forward until it caught sight of a fish. Imp had been trying to catch a fish before, hadn't he?

It lunged forward, snatching messily at a fish before it could swim away, pulling it onto the shore to kill it with a swift bite to the neck. It glanced up. If Imp was still there, this would be a hilarious way to spite him. If he wasn't, well, then Ruby-Beta got some lunch anyways. "Well that was pretty easy," it said, loud enough before digging into the fish.