i think waiting 4 cycles to do my chores is a bit excessive

Now that Beta was awake, it figured that it still had that list of jobs to do set down by the Overseer. Or, actually, it was the Master now. That didn't sound as good as the Overseer so, just Master Vargas, then, or Vargas, if he allowed it to call him as such. Well, it certainly hoped that it didn't run into him anytime soon to ask because then it'd either get a test, showing off exactly how little it had trained or just ripping its gem right out of its chest. Which would really suck.

Plus, Alpha was an Overseer now, leaving Beta far behind in the dust. There was a deep-seated jealousy rising in its chest that it didn't expect, the need to, if not rise above Alpha, but at least prove to Master Vargas that it was just as worthy. Maybe not to be Overseer, since that sounded like way too much work, but at least enough to live comfortably and maybe breed. And maybe get some fun jobs!

It figured it should go out, then, if it did want to train and impress Master Vargas, and look for things to hunt. Lessers, Greaters, didn't matter - as long as it was training. It crouched down, then, jumping from shadow to shadow, trying to stay silent and hidden, as it searched for its first target.

Morpho was back at Orion more out of habit than anything. That, and the hope he would find Pip here. He hadn't seen her in a while, and he was getting worried. Pip was much, much smaller than he was. What if she had gotten hurt on accident? Or worse?

His gaze was mostly focused on the ground, occasionally skirting across piles of rubble or large rocks. He was looking for a tiny speck of shiny amethyst, not dark purple alien-cat accented with neon green. Perhaps a flicker of movement drew his gaze once or twice, but for the moment Beta had not been spotted.

It saw the thing and at first didn't know what it was looking at. It kinda looked like a giant leaf - like, a really giant leaf. Bigger then any leaf it'd ever seen in its life. But at a second glance, just as it moved a bit, it realized that it was some kind of creature. A giant bug or something.

Strange, but it had seen stranger. That would be its first target, then. Beta turned and began to sneak closer. It was a straightforward approach, but, really, it didn't have much else to practice. It needed to learn this fundamental that it always always failed. It did its best to stay light on its feet, careful not to knock over any rocks or make too much noise. It definitely made a little bit of noise, it was inevitable with the amount of training it had, but it was better then nothing and within a few moments, it had gotten right up behind the...thing.

Morpho continued on his search, more or less oblivious of the creature stalking him, at least for the time being. As time drew on, however, he began to get more concerned and a little bit frustrated. Why hadn't he spotted anything yet? Was there simply nothing around, or was he just not paying good enough attention? He decided it would be good to look even harder. There was surely no harm in it, right? There's no such thing as being too observant.

He certainly wasn't looking as hard as he could. Part of him was more focused on trying to be more observant, rather than actually being more observant. It was, however, slightly better than he had been before.

The sound of footsteps, though quiet, reached his ears. He thought it was his own, at first, but then he noticed those footsteps were out of rhythm from his.

Hmm. That's not usually how it works.

So, finally realizing something was a foot, he began scanning his surroundings with his big ol bug eyes, trying to pinpoint the source of these footsteps. It took him a surprisingly long time. A little bit embarrassing, even. But he managed to catch a glimpse of a creature. Large, compared to many others he'd seen, the dark purple of a shadow or bruise, and a flash of neon, glow green. He quickly lost track of it, however. He was puzzled, since he had never seen a creature like this. It certainly wasn't a cat- one of the few creatures he knew the word for. Whatever it is, he was curious about it, Pip temporarily forgotten.

"Hello?" He called, looking around for the creature he had so briefly spotted,"Who are you?"

Beta was getting ready to do...something, maybe jump on it or tag it harmlessly, but then it just so happened to turn around and lay its eyes on its sneaking form. And call down. Dammit, another failure, but that was ok. It wasn't like this was a real-life mission. With a short chuckle, it backed up and sat back on its haunches to look up at the mantis, tension disappearing quickly from its limbs. "Damn, I almost had you there!"

It tilted its head. Had the mantis...lost sight of it already? It let out a strange barking noise to try and alert the mantis to its location. "Hey! I'm over here! I know you're big but I'm not that small! What is your designation?"