The drake had been doing absolutely nothing in the span of the few minutes that everything happened. It was just sort of staring off into space with wide eyes like it was just system rebooted. Not that there was much to reboot.

The sound of shouting pulled it from its inactivity. The blinking stare was moved onto Vargas, confusion read across its face. Why was that thing being so loud?

No matter. Movement drew its now active gaze onto something a little more its size, sprinting across the sand. Did it want to play fight? Was that what they were supposed to do? With a burst of energy, the drake burst to action and jumped in front of the thing with the white muzzle, a hiss and a smile coming from it. It laid its front half down, tail lashing as well, curling this way and that as though it didn't know what to do with it.

A clear initiation of play, if they would accept. The big ones were doing it, the bigger thing- biggest thing, was making noises at them as they did so. It wanted noises! No- speech! Encouragement! It wanted to be the attention, it wanted to do good.

A flash of teeth and claws exemplified its excitement to fight.

Garnet - Epsilon

They listened carefully to what the Bright Big Importants where saying - the one closest to them being Overseer Vargas now, in their mind - and they lift their head only when they notice Desert Rose moving closer, seemingly friendly. Teeth aren't usually good, but the only ones willing to aggressively contact one another are the larger two of it's hatchmates, causing them to brace for a head turn, or something like they had seen Vargas turn the other Garnet around with. The soft paw in their mane, however, make them rumble softly in their chest, and they look up at Desert and copy the smile... in a very bird like way.

They ignore the nudge, looking back and forth between their present company, being the others that seem their size, and the behemoths and offering their best look of, With all due respect? Uh. Are you nuts? before they stand and shake themselves off head to tail to wings, flapping once and stirring up the sandy floor on accident. A surmised snort morphs to a short, alarmed - "Shhrk!" , not unlike that of a hissing, angry bird as they note their other Garnet puffed up and approaching, before being caught off guard and cut off by the Selenite, the wingless noodle that had been flung earlier.

Garnet - Epsilon's beak closes on open air with an audible SNAP , not really pleased at all about the swinging limb in front of their face and deciding to do something about it with an angry grumble.

The children were already all engaging in play and practice for more proper spars; thankfully, they seemed to stick to their own weight classes. Vargas's offspring went at it clumsily, seemingly unused to their bodies (Hemlocke didn't remember having that much trouble, and it had awakened fully-grown.) The smaller children - its garnets and Desert's wingless selenite - were starting to congregate into their own circle. One of the garnets had gone so far as to figure out speech and address their Overseer, only to be turned away.

Hemlocke remained from a watching-post until it was clear that the Revenant wasn't going to up and kill them all. Vargas had warned it to stay out of the way, but while she was distracted by conversation...

The odd alien fluttered down, wings flapping noisily as it came to the fox-dragon's side. Swallowing, it eyed the children, particularly the one it shared with Desert. "They already seem like a success," it chirruped, barely restraining its hopefulness that the experiments would go well, "ours will blend in well in Hydra - and Palefur's." Basically, all of the little ones. Hemlocke glanced at the more sizable children, pondering. Size would have to be their advantage, if they did get bigger.

"I think - we should suggest that they stay in this tunnel unless they're... supervised by one of us," it chittered quietly, "keep them out of the way of... Younger influence. We don't want them to get any ideas, right?"

Desert flicked the ear covering his gem as Hemlocke joined him, only to look at it for a moment. His head tilted slightly. A success- sure, but what of their personality? He regarded the children curiously, his eyes squinting somewhat as he turned between the groups that had formed. "I am a little disappointed in the lack of wings on the one." His eyes had landed on the selenite, who was currently accosting and being accosted by the garnets.

"That seems best, yes," Desert's words were low to match Hemlocke's. "I can suggest it to the Overseer once he and the Revenant are done." It was here that he watched Hemlocke, watched it watching the children. "They also need designations." They had no chance of knowing what number each one would be of their stones, but, perhaps-

"Isn't there an older numbering system? Something like Alpha, Beta, and such. We can employ that if it pleases the Overseer." The question was who would get what number in this, but perhaps he could just have them line up and they could assign it then and there. But- Vargas would be the one to assign in this case. Best leave that to him. He'd suggest it along with the restrictions, in any case- and get them to move on to clearing out the warren after everything was set in stone.

Its fellow Garnet made a terrible hissing sound as it approached, much to the confused swishing of its tail. It did not have a single moment to figure out what its problem was, however, as another equal-sized newborn slid in front of it. The dusty furred almost-cat hissed and lashed its tail in a mimic, lowering into a play-fight pose that triggered an instinct in the young one.

It didn't want to fight the big things that could crush it with a single misstep, but this other hatchling was the perfect size for a playfight. It didn't notice the way its fellow Garnet snapped its beak; in fact, it had forgotten in entirely about the other Garnet. Its ruby eyes were locked with the fluffy tan cat-thing in front of it, ear twisting back to catch the words that Overseer Vargas was offering them.

Watch. Use Strength. Learn.

Its newfound rival flashed teeth and claw, and with a squeal, the black-faced Garnet spread its narrow wings in an intimidating display and scrunched down for just a moment before pouncing toward the Selenite. It threw its webbed paws forward, aiming to do... something with their outstretched fingers, whether it could grab or just slap at its opponent. It hadn't exactly thought very far ahead, and it was still trying to figure out how to use its little body.

@Selenite-Gamma
Round: 1/5
Attempt: pounce attack!
Defense: ???
Injuries: we good fam

Ruby-red eyes glanced at the selenite as it tussled and antagonized its hatchmates. Sure, lacking wings may see it falling behind, but - "well, you remember that I couldn't fly, even with the wings I - used to have." Hemlocke mused softly, "it might be the fastest runner." Or, it might not. Time would tell and reveal all of the faults and perfections these spawn held.

Designations - ah, yes. It would be easier than referring to its own stones as brown-garnet and orange-garnet. Inefficient. Too descriptive. If the Overseer didn't immediately have numeric designations for the offspring, then it may be well to try out a more archaic form of numbering. "That may work - we can do it in emergence order, or... the order they were given life in." Hemlocke tossed its head in the direction of the sextaped currently patting at Vargas's foot, "the Overseer brought that one with him - it would be first, Alpha."

A pause, and it admitted softly, "I feel... excited - about all of this."

It'd been centuries since it felt such a raw positive emotion.

The snap behind it surprised it, first of all, enough to make it jump in the air and lose all of its composure. What happened? Trying to twist its head around, it missed the pounced headed directly towards it, letting out a high pitched rumble as it was knocked over by the pounce.

Pouncing. That was something it could do. It could also bite and grab, like it did with the big one! Determined not to be pinned, the drake flexed its back and tried to flip the other being over to come out on top, claws trying to grip for anything they could find. Sheathed, of course- it could hurt this one a lot more than the bigger siblings it had.

It didn't put much force into it as it could've but still managed to try and wrap its body around the other before shoving off the ground with a push of the elbow, hoping to put the assailant in the predicament it was about to be in.

@Garnet-Delta
Round: 1/5
Attempt: Wrestle Delta over onto its back
Defense: None
Injuries: None

Immediately the pair fell into a tussle, grabbing one another and twisting about until finally the Garnet was on its back, forepaws pressed up into its rival's fluffy fur. With a playful hiss, it thrashed bellow Selenite, throwing one wing out across the sandy floor, the other uncomfortably wedged under it. Grit drove up into its short fur, plumes of dust making its nose itch.

With a fierce snort, it managed to bring its hind feet in, blood now rushing from the adrenaline, and started to kick with its hind feet toward Selenite's lower body. Like its rival, it didn't aim to dig its claws in or anything, pupil huge with the excitement of play. It wanted to win, and it couldn't win being pinned down by the cat-thing!

Getting a bit of leverage, it wriggled free from under Selenite, quickly scrambling back to its paws and arching its back, wings flaring out dramatically once more. "Hey!" It chirped, flicking a tongue up around its muzzle. Its tail flung back and forth wildly, and it raised a paw as though ready to strike if its opponent got too close. Again, it antagonized, squealing playfully, "Hey!!" Come and get me, it seemed to insist, ears twitching toward every stray sound.

@Selenite-Gamma
Round: 2/5
Attempt: pummel kick Selenite off of!
Defense: ???
Injuries: maybe a lil' scuffed up but babies bounce back

The drake grinned at receiving its prize, its tail lashing in happiness. It had done it! It was bound to make some noise before it launched off, landing on the sand beside it with an oof.

Its ears pinned back as it scrambled to stand again, its long tail tripping it up for a moment before it stood once more. Its fighting style was beginning to develop- it may not be strong enough to pin, but it could hit and run.

The second shout came its way and it squeaked back a high-pitched "Hey!" in return, its dirty fur standing on end. Was it smiling? Just a little. But, how would it approach this? Pacing one way, than the other, the selenite looked for an opening and dove unexpectedly to bash into the other cat like a ram brandishing its horns. Which- it had some, just very tiny little nubs barely poking out from the surface.

It landed into the sand beside them, and hard. Pain shot through the horns and soft skull it bore, blinding behind its eyes and drawing out a pitiful mewl of despair.

That was enough for it for the second- all it could see was white, and that hurt.

@Garnet-Delta
Round: 2/5
Attempt: Ram into Delta
Defense: None
Injuries: Big ole bad headache

The black-masked Garnet's ears shot up as the dusty tabby Selenite charged, falling face first into the ground next to it as it hopped out of the way. "STOP!" It squealed in mimic of Vargas again, a whole second after its rival had collided with the ground. Its fur fluffed up into a completely bewildered poof. It glanced this way and that at the surrounding others, inching forward to sniff at its downed hatchmate.

The Selenite mewled pitifully, and though there was the hint of sympathy and empathy from a creature realizing that other beings felt pain as well, it had no idea what to do. It raised a webbed paw very cautiously, and did the exact inverse of what would be helpful. It tentatively wobbled its paw closer, then drew back, and spent a few seconds considering, before it slapped its paw down toward its rival-- maybe to smack it out of it?

Truth be told, the little creature didn't have much sense of cause and effect. It didn't put too much strength into the smacking, but it certainly wasn't doing a gentle "hey you doing okay?" touch like might have been more appropriate for its train of thought. Regardless, with any luck, a little slappy might pull the other baby back to the present.

@Selenite-Gamma
Round: 3/5
Attempt: smack Selenite like a broken monitor to "help"
Defense: ???
Injuries: maybe a lil' scuffed up but babies bounce back