substitute teacher - Printable Version

Ruby-Beta, for whatever reason, decided that this was the day that it was going to fulfill one of its duties, given by Master Vargas some many many cycles ago. It wondered if that was even on the table anymore, but it supposed that it probably was since...well, there were babies running around. And even if some of them were gonna become magic users or physical fighters or whatever, it supposed it wouldn't hurt to learn some sneaky skills from the Chaos Forge's one and only Sneak Master Ruby-Beta ™.

It led the group out of Draco ~~so that nobody would judge Beta's poor teaching skills~~ to get more space to train and into Pegasus - large expanses of open fields and swatches of trees would make for good stalking and hiding ~~games~~ lessons.

Once at the edge of the trees, Beta turned around and sat, bringing up a paw to scratch at an itch on the side of its neck. "Uh, we'll train here," it said to whoever had followed close behind. "Wait for whoever else wants to join." Well, whether they wanted to join or not probably wasn't relevant. It assumed that Master Vargas or Cain had told them to be out training whenever gemboundly possible. So, this was more like...required schooling rather then a daytime activity that could be attended at their leisure.

Beta just hoped this wasn't gonna turn into babysitting.

V-Jasper-One and V-Jasper-Two trod along behind Opal and Ruby at a growing distance, their feet hobbling over the roots and undergrowth of Pegasus's forest. It probably didn't help that both of them were at an easily distracted age, and their eyes kept drifting in two different directions. Only once or twice did they nearly walk straight into a tree, but...

It wasn't their fault, not really! This was where they had been born, and One loved the distant sound of birdsong, and Two wanted to see if any of those trees had branches that could hold their weight. They kept moving, however, each head quietly reminding the other what they were doing when they started to drift too far.

Two was the one that noticed Ruby-Beta had stopped, which brought one of their halves to a complete stop, leaving One's half near-buckling when the other half lagged behind. Blinking, One's gaze snapped forward to attention at the Ruby's voice. This lasted about half a second before they gave a squinting side-long glance toward Jasper-Two, showing just a hint of teeth in a barely contained grin.

Opal was the first to ask what they would be doing. "Deer?" Two echoed with enthusiasm, teeth snapping on the air. "How big? Bigger than us?"

"They can't be that big," Jasper-One argued-- though they supposed they weren't all that big yet, the point remained: "Lessers are all small."

"I bet Ruby-Beta can take down a deer with a single pounce," Jasper-Two stage-whispered to their siblings, eyes gleaming. They looked up at Ruby-Beta, the large cat-beast a huge figure of intimidation and power.. just like everyone in the Forge. "Come'on, you have to show us!"

Ruby-Beta settled itself down on its stomach as the two kids appeared (well, three, if v-jasper counted as two). It could probably count the pallasite out for today, which was fine since it would rather train fewer numbers anyways. It didn't feel like waiting much longer to get going.

It's acidic eyes first looked to the opal. "Uh, we're not fighting. I'm not much of a fighter." It scratched at that itch again - dammit, it was persistent! "I'm more of the, uh, sneak around and smack 'em in the head kinda guy. So that's what I'll teach you. We can hunt deer if you want, but I had something planned."

The praise from the Jasper actually...made Beta feel kinda cool. It stood up a little taller and grunted, trying to seem nonchalant about it, but it was actually quite giddy to know that the kids of the Forge, at least, looked up to it. "Ah, well, I probably could. Buuuut I'll let you guys decide what we do. Deer? Or...a game!"

Of course, Beta was not the creative sort. It wasn't going to be coming up with its own game when it could just rip off a training exercise that Master Vargas had made it do when it was in its younger cycles. It held up a paw before the kids could shout out their answers. "Before you decide, I'll explain the game. One of you will be hiding. Use your best skills to get out of sight and stay there. The other will be the seeker. You'll be trying to find the one that's hiding. And I will be the hunter - I'll be trying to catch the seeker." It's eyes glittered. "We'll play twice, so you each have a turn being the seeker. So...what do you think? Do you wanna play or do you wanna hunt some deer?"

"Nu-uh," Jasper-One argued, lips drawing back to bear florescent pink gums and sharp teeth. But Opal dismissed it as a lame idea, even though the Jaspers truly did want to see Ruby-Beta's rippling form take down the imaginary deer in person.

Not that it mattered for very long. Ruby-Beta offered a third option: a Game.

It was obvious from the outset what Opal would want. Jasper-Two gave Opal a side-long glance, a smirk drawing up their face as the game was explained. This would be good.

For half a moment, Jasper-One considered arguing that the game wasn't fair, because One and Two could work together-- and what was even more egregious was that they couldn't hide and seek seperate from one another, so Ruby suggesting they were just one was--

But they knew they were just going to ruin the fun, so they shook their head and let out a snort.

"Is that a yes?" Two asked their double, scratching at their chest with their front paw.

"Opal really wants to," answered One.

"Great!" Two chirped, looking back at Ruby and Opal with a wide, toothy grin. "We can hide first," They scampered forward with only a bit of stumbling, whirling around to stare down their opponents.

"You have to go the opposite way so we can hide!" V-Jasper-Two shouted. "And Ruby, you have to close your eyes! All of them! It's no fair if you cheat!" With that new rule declared arbitrarily, they scrambled off into the foliage with a noisy rustle.

The pair dipped down into a natural dip in the landscape, putting their heads together to whisper urgently. "Where are we going to hide?" Jasper-One hissed. "You do have an idea, don't you? We can't lose right away... Opal won't let us live it down."

Jasper-Two's eyes glimmered, and they gave their sibling an affectionate lick on the cheek. "Of course, silly. I have the best idea ever. You saw that tree we passed?" Two paused long enough for One to give a slightly confused nod. "We're going to climb up it," they whispered. "Come on, follow my lead!"

There was no arguing with Two's conviction, and they led the way, speed-crawling their way to one of the larger trees in the forest, with thick branches that could maybe-- just maybe-- support their weight. Jasper-One hesitated for only a moment, but Jasper-Two lunged and it was all One could do to keep up, trying not to make too much noise as they scampered up the bark for dear life.

Before long, Jasper-Two had led them up into the tangled heart of the branches, and stretched out along the branch. They gave a mischievous look to their sibling, who held their breath and stared at the ground below-- hoping that they didn't get found too quickly.