In he stalked, all spidery limbs and glowing eyes, confident that Ruby-Beta would be close on his heels. He'd spoken little on the way in, except to tell it what he'd planned:

"There are buildings there. Burnt now, yes; in ruins. We will find someone who can fight back, and loose them in those buildings, and you will hunt them. And I will hunt you. It will be good training for us all."

Who that lucky "volunteer" was, he had yet to find out. He'd find someone, pick someone; someone who could sneak, fight back. Someone who--

The cat was sleek, large, and black-coated. If Vargas had been a cartoon character, hearts would have lit in his too-many toxic eyes; as it was he stopped abruptly, and let out a faint sigh of approval, almost wistful. Cats were, apparently, this cave's answer to peak performance: to the ultimate predator.

This one was perfect: sleek, pitch black, and big enough to do some damage, if that's where its strengths lay.

"YOU!" he boomed, lurching into motion again, sweeping toward Nassir. "I am Overseer Vargas, and I am requisitioning you for training."

@Nassir @Ruby-Beta

It was indeed following the Overseer closely, trotting behind and keeping up easily. It, honestly, had never gone farther then Canis and so had to pause when they first stepped into Orion, its many acid eyes fixed on the ceiling above. This place was beautiful. How had it not gotten itself into this cave yet? It took a second to just stare at the ceiling's stars before it realized that it was starting to fall behind and hastily pushed forward to catch up to the Overseer.

The rumbling ruins and towers got its attention as well and it wondered what it would all be like, hunting through terrain it had never even knew existed. But, then again, this was training - the point was to get better. It didn't like it internally - this sounded like a lot of work, more then it had done since it hatched - but if it would make it a better tool for the Overseer, if it would make it more useful when he needed it most, then it would endure it.

Eyes moved to fix on the cat in front of them. So, it would be hunting this one. It wasn't quite expecting the Overseer to be hunting it at the same time and it had half a mind to complain - "Don't you think this is a bit too much?" - but it wisely kept its mouth shut.

For lack of any better phrasing, Nassir'd just been vibing.

He was going about his business, wallcrawler-free (for the moment) and taking some time to inspect some of the ruined buildings. Some of them were far more dilapidated than others, and some had the blessing of some more modern decorations. This one featured a faint, buttermilky odor and many hatchmarks along the walls and floors. Were he able to step inside without retching, Nassir would've found a series of rolled up cloths and some soft tablets with similar hatchmarks inscribed.

But, he was distracted by a booming voice, six menacing eyes, and another set of six menacing eyes.

His own eyes widened abruptly, claws sliding out on instinct as he backed away from the two-story tall kaiju that seemed to just manifest across the thoroughfare... demanding something about - "tt-raining?" Is this some member of the Seven that's reawakened...?

Nassir took a few hesitant steps forwards, calling uncertainly, "... um, okay?"

@Vargas

Vargas grunted his approval. This one was obedient, then. Good! Some of them, at least, still knew their place.

He turned and looked to Ruby-Beta.

"This is your quarry. You know nothing of him and that is as it should be! You--beast, what is your designation?" he added, glancing back at Nassir, questioningly. It was pliable enough, but no snap 'YES, OVERSEER' or designation had been on offer. That being said, he liked those who only spoke when asked, at least when it suited them. Or him, really.

"He will have three minutes to enter the ruins and cover his tracks, set up ambush or otherwise prepare. Then you will go in after him and then, I will go in after you. We will all try not to kill each other. Go," he added, to Nassir, commandingly.

There was no explanation of what the win conditions were.

Almost killing each other would probably do.

@Ruby-Beta

Ruby-Beta stayed silent as the Overseer set the "rules" of this little training session before them. Honestly, it was a little surprised the cat had agreed. He knew that if some random guy walked up to it and asked it for some kind of training exercise, it would definitely have refused. Not that the Overseer would probably have heeded their refusal.

It nodded in understanding. "Yes, Overseer," was all it said to his commands - that this would be its prey and that it would follow into the ruins after him to find him. It frowned a little. This seemed a little unfair. It had no idea how to sneak around or how to cover its tracks. It didn't know how to be an effective assassin. Shouldn't the Overseer give it some helpful pointers first?

@Nassir

Nassir didn't have much of a spine, but the fur along it was bristling with a faint prick of worry. Quarry - beast!? Ghostly-white eyes widened as he balked, tail flicking up in clearly telegraphed alarm, "uh, Nassir - did you say qua -" and this Vargas character was mowing over top of him with instructions that he'd really benefit from listening to.

Try not to kill each other - his mind balked, again, and he looked worriedly to either of the purple behemoths. The smaller of the two just chimed in with an ineffective agreement, not at all alleviating his worries about what he'd just gotten wrapped up in.

Well...

May as well go as commanded - go as far away as possible from here.

Completely on reflex, the black panther galloped off, ears flicked back and head sunk low. Once he'd vanished behind some relatively intact wall, he turned a corner here - a corner there. All the while, he kept an eye out, refraining from conjuring those rolling shadows that disguised him so well. It was no use when he was in the relative open and trying not to broadcast where his line of sight was. He moved until he found a nice place to squirrel himself away into, shifting to he faced out with dimly reflective eyes, watching Orion from his tiny, narrow hole-in-the-wall perspective.

@Vargas

Well, it seemed neither of them had questions, anyway.

If Nassir had, Vargas certainly hadn't heard them.

He watched the black cat obey, scurrying off into the ruins, and vaguely wondered--only briefly--if it would flee Orion altogether. He hadn't explicitly forbade that, and if it did so, he'd approve of its cunning.

Time would tell, he supposed.

He waited about the three minutes, and then nodded to Ruby-Beta--assuming it hadn't moved yet (and if it had, he'd have bellowed at it, because fair was fair, at least where Vargas ran things).

"Go," he said, at last, and waited.

@Ruby-Beta

Ruby-Beta waited next to the Overseer. It had no reason to move. It would follow the rules as Vargas said, both for fairness and because it was a waste to start early. It's not like the Overseer would just...let it go. So, once the three minutes were up and the Overseer gave him the go ahead, the ruby slipped into the ruins.

As it had expected, it wasn't great at this. It tried doing what it thought would work, slipping into corners and shadows and trying to make itself smaller and hidden, but it had no sense of how to stay hidden and would commonly step into open spots as it went after Nassir. Its quills rattled expressively, enthusiastic but also frustrated. Its massive paws, clumsy without practice, scattered rocks. It wasn't used to maneuvering through tight spaces, whatever it had told the Overseer before. It scraped along walls and made a ruckus as it tried to move through the city.

It even made the extremely stupid decision of making a noise purposefully - a small snarl as it tried to correct its behavior.

@Vargas

He was absolutely going to just bail. Can't be hunted if you weren't even around to be hunted, can you?

Pale eyes watched fretfully from his cover, ears swiveling to a fro. His face pressed out of the alcove slightly, trying to listen better to the movement of at least one of these creatures - Caves, they're noisy. Which, of course, was a blessing. Nassir didn't think much time'd passed, so the other one couldn't be moving about, yet.

Rather than gallop straight out of hiding, the dark beast slunk carefully from the shadows, clinging to them as they came along in his path. He skirted as quietly as he could, holding his tail's tip up (avoiding any unfortunate knocking into rocks.)

@Vargas

The Overseer dutifully waited his three minutes, give or take a handful of miscounted seconds, and then pushed up from where he'd been resting atop his haunches.

He shook himself, quills giving the softest little clatter, and then focused his senses into the ruins. It came slowly--as it often did--and the Overseer was patient; when it did come, he saw a few dim red glows moving amongst the derelict structures.

Some were undoubtedly too small to be his quarry--either one--and so he dismissed them; cave rats, most likely, or mice. But the stealthily-slinking figure slipping gradually for the city's exit was shaped enough like Nassir, and Vargas felt himself break into a grin.

Clever, that one, he thought to himself. And then-... there was Beta.

He could hear, even now, its faint movement as it progressed clumsily through Orion. Was it deliberate-? A ploy? He would have assumed it to be misdirection, but his magic told him that the sounds were coming directly from Beta himself. Hm, he thought, puzzled.

Vargas leapt neatly up onto one of the tall structures, landing quietly and surveying his hunting ground. He picked a spot he could perch briefly, unseen; his ability to see Ruby through the walls aided him in this. He then began to search the ruins with his eyes not for Ruby (who was out of his line of sight, and deliberately so) but for his path. For the best approach without being spotted, heard, or drawing himself into a tight corner.

Once he'd mapped out two routes with his eyes, he dropped back down, preparing to begin his stalk.

@Nassir