First steps turned to first fights. Desert's wings tightened against his sides as he straightened up, his feet brought together in watching the behemoths spar. If he had a selenite with Vargas, would it end up that big? He'd only hope so.

Professional familiarity was only reinforced as Vargas greeted the Renegade back. He didn't pay attention to much else of their conversation, already having familiarity with the explanation of how things were now-a-days. Different, yes, but with her help, it could be much improved. Perhaps with this stint, the caves- nest, he corrected himself, still acclimating to the word- it would prove well with this refresh.

There was also the fact that Desert hoped to elevate his position in doing this. Not training, maybe, but claiming those spontaneous hatchings? That would do well.

Anyways. The kids. Desert was preoccupied with watching his selenite being full on thrown at another. Resilient little fellow, wasn't it? He'd managed to not move towards them in defense. They'd be fine.

Though, a new voice drew his head down. Vargas? Ah, it must be mimicking. Well, it learned quickly.

It may need to learn quicker to appease the Overseer, though, as exampled by the awkward turn-around exhibited by him. Desert sighed and made to speak, but-

Oh? The little melanistic one was... Bowing? A smile ran across his face as he lowered it to the little blue-lipped being, looking over it closer. It took after his blood color, that was for sure- and with that hair! Oh! The dragon grinned slyly as he laid a hand on the newborn's head, tousling its hair before nudging it back to the others as Vargas did. He didn't exactly see its panicked running earlier.

Turning back to Vargas, Desert bowed his head again shortly before pulling it up to watch the larger ones' fight grow more severe. "Shall we address them?" They needed names, soon, and the sooner they instilled themselves as guardians, the better.

Vargas spoke to the stretched out newly hatched version of himself amicably as Delta's ears remained pricked up high with attention. There were a lot of words, an explanation of the world. There were many words that were too big to puzzle out all at once, but it did understand that they had all awoken "just in time". It didn't know who he meant for them to train-- unless, maybe, Vargas meant for the other to train it and its siblings? Were they going to be trained? Trained for what?

Though it didn't quite understand, there was a tingle of excitement. As Vargas looked down upon it with its intimidating glowing maw and spotted row of eyes, the baby puffed out its chest, holding its head high. It expected to be spoken to the same way that Vakornol had been spoken to-- as they had both just hatched, it did not seem to understand why Vargas corrected it, but not the other. Eyes squinting as it wrestled to understand the difference, it repeated, "Ovar-see-ar," it wrestled with the new sounds, getting a feel for the way they came out of its mouth.

It did not have much time to get out the Correct Way to address Vargas, however, as the massive hulking creature reached out a violet hand with huge claws toward its face. With a jerk, it spat reflexively and arched its back, scrambling out of reach by a hair and nearly tripping over itself. It stared wide-eyed at Vargas, glancing this way and that, catching a glimpse of its nearly same-sized, black-spotted sibling getting their hair tussled before being nudged back to the other hatchlings. Something about that clicked into the newborn's head, and it snapped its head back toward Vargas, ears flattening.

"Ovarseer Vargas," it mewled again, correcting itself; and it shot one last, envious look at Vakornol before it turned tail and scampered its way after the other Garnet of the bunch. Were they supposed to be tussling? Its tail (puffed up to twice its usual size) lashed as it tried to assess the situation a bit better. It had a healthy dose of apprehension toward the rough playing that was going on, to say the least.

The Orthoclase just wouldn't let go and the Ruby grew more frantic as the headlock tightened. It could still breath fine, the sibling was not going for its life, but it still couldn't help but freak out under the pressure of ithe hold. It squirmed fairly uselessly for a moment before there was a shift in the balance.

One of the Orthoclase's legs swiped out to knock it over, missing their legs, but changing the balance of their grip for just a moment. Maybe now it could strike back and get the larger sibling to release it.

They tried again, swinging their head to the side like a hammer to try and jab the horn-like growth on their head into the Orthoclase's face.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Round: 3/?
Attempt: jab in the eye with its face...two!
Defense:
Injuries: in a headlock

It grunted softly as its limb met nothing but air, sharp claws and three thumbs digging into the dusty floor for a moment as it tried to balance itself and careen away from the hammerhead slamming toward it. The orthoclase shuffled sideways on the spot, loosening its grip just enough to move its own head out of the way.

It twisted its neck again, arms tightening back around the ruby's neck. The orthoclase gave up then and there on simply bringing just its opponent down. With a jerky motion, it flopped towards its right side, hoping to drag the purple behemoth down with it in about half of a gator roll, considering it couldn't too nimble or flexible.

Round 4/5
Attempt: Gator roll!
Defense: Being approximately the shape of two barrels
Injuries: Punched

@Vargas

The Ruby let out a snarl when its attack missed. This was annoying, but the Orthoclase didn't seem to be having much luck either, as it seemed to give up on its continuous headlock, thowing itself on its side. The Ruby figured that it had been trying to take it down as well, but their baby strength wasn't enough to pull them both down together as elegently as it intended. The headlock loosened enough for Ruby to break free, stumbling forward and tumbling over the Orthoclase.

As soon as it regained even the slightest bit of balance, however, it turned, hissing, and leaped towards its opponent. It remembered just in time that they were just playing and not fighting for real and held back on the strength as it's powerful arms reached to wrap around the Orthoclase and its jaws opened to bite down on its shoulder and pin it to the ground.

But it seemed that holding back went a bit to far to the point that its grab turned more into another punch - so when it went to grab at the Orthoclase, it tried to hold it down with a nearly closed fist and ended up just tripping over its sibling's body. It went into a full-on tumble and slammed into the ground on the other side of the Orthoclase, knocking the breath of out its body.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Round: 4/5
Attempt: hold on the ground (+a weak bite)
Defense:
Injuries: winded and slightly bruised

The orthoclase made a noise of frustration, too, as its intentions were thrown out the window and its assault went awry. Meaty forepaws flailed through the air as its headlock loosened and the purple cat-beast whirled. As is tradition, the ruby went to turn the tables, to go for the pin all on its own. Two massive paws smacked into either side of the orthoclase's chest, but the weight went sailing over.

Twisting and floundering to its feet, tail smacking hard against the floor as it did so with a groan, the orthoclase charged at its foe one last time, aiming to pull the exact same maneuver, except to clamp its jaws firmly around a shaggy neck where it met shoulder. It hoped to have all four of its upper limbs... somewhere, holding down, but that was secondary to getting that finishing bite in.

Its claws bore in, but only on the dusty floor and failing to catch for whatever-odd reason. Giving off a startled grunt, jaws clicking shut, the orthoclase continued to slide, falling chin-first onto the ground and winding up with only a rudder-like tail smacking against the ruby's face. Sprawled out on the spot, the larger child floundered, immediately trying and failing to get back up in such a frantic state.

Round 5/5
Attempt: Take advantage of the opportunity and go for the pin!
Defense: Just keepin' on tankin'!
Injuries: Punched... TWO!

@Ruby-Beta

As the Ruby struggled to get back to its feet, it heard the pounding feet as the Orthoclase charged forward. It couldn't dodge, it was still winded, so it braced itself for the impact but...it seemed that both were still cursed with child-like clumsiness. It missed and flopped to the ground, the tail rearing up and giving the Ruby a hearty slap across the face.

It whined as stars danced in front of its eyes, but now here was the sibling sprawled out in front of them, perfect for attacking. They didn't waste any time, but technique wasn't really the first thing they thought of. Just avoid the mane of quills.

They threw themselves at the Orthoclase's head, bracing their front legs to hold down the horns while the bulk of their body would focus on just smashing itself down on their skull - not hard enough to cause damage, but hopefully enough to pin it down.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Round: 5/5
Attempt: body slam
Defense:
Injuries: slightly bruised

Vargas stared.

The two largest creations--his creations--didn't even need someone else to beat them up. It was his studied, professional opinion that, alone in a cave, they'd manage to harm themselves. No help required.

Vargas sighed.

"Watch your opponent. Use your strengths. You'll learn those," he added, drily. They were three minutes old; they could hardly be expected to know these things. But that's why he was telling them, after all.

Maybe Vakornol could do something more useful with them.

"Whatever you do, don't harm one another yet. You've got to learn to use your bodies properSTOP THROWING YOURSELVES BLINDLY," he interrupted himself, tensing as the purple cat-Vargas just flung itself vaguely in the other's direction.

He slid a gaze to Vakornol, and coughed, lightly, embarrassed. "They just hatched," he said, and it was almost pleading--as if hoping, vaguely, that this excused their ineptitude. Not that he had to answer to her, but-... damn.

[Origin Cave]

Character: Orthoclase-Alpha Age: +1 (1 Cycle) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgeling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +5 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +14 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +7 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +5 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +1 Penalties: -0 Total: 34

Character: Ruby-Beta Age: +1 (1 Cycle) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgeling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +9 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +7 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +6 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +1 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 Total: 29

WINNER: Orthoclase-Alpha

- navy

The orthoclase felt massive paws on its head and bucked immediately, bracing its own paws hard against the floor and pushing upwards. Weight atop it came loose, and it twisted to face it. Playfully, it lifted its hand and slapped at the ruby's snout with clicking jaws and teeth snapping clearly on thin air. Chittering, the big baby leaned forward for a quick nudge and bump on the shoulder.

Shaking itself, the orthoclase took a few loping steps towards the hulking Overseer and almost — was it sizing him up? Analyzing the possibility of initiating play fighting? Perhaps, not; it sat down on the spot and gave a short, clicking bark. Lifting a paw, it patted at his right arm.

Once (it hoped) attention from the very big triangle-head was acquired, the orthoclase stared up into his eyes. It chittered, trying out a series of sounds before coming to a coherent, complete "we played" before fixing its gaze hard upon another purple triangle-head. This one had a different face. The orthoclase shifted its weight a little, reaching up with a lanky arm to feel up its own face.

It quickly discovered its nose; then, it started picking each nostril.

You see, it hadn't thought actual words were a necessity up until now. Play fighting hadn't created a need for language. They seemed to come, but only after a long bout of intense thinking. For whatever reason, it had thought that Vargas needed to know that it was simple play. Practice for the real thing.