Nemesis's forward momentum was suffocated by the sudden weight that came crashing down, knocking both her and Orthoclase-Alpha off course. The kaiju was thrown aside, and her head wrenched, nearly dragged away with it, but her body kept stumbling forward. She careened into a slide, knees roughing on the bloody tarmac.

Dazed and sputtering, it took her a moment to even process what had happened. Her blood-stained violet gaze blinked, bleary and confused at the shapes before her. The massive purple, spiky bastard-- that, she remembered seeing him before. Orthoclase-Alpha's sibling? Parent? Her ears rang with the deep, booming voice... parent. Their father. The word Overseer crawled across her mind, pulling up uncomfortable connections that left a foul taste in her mouth.

What she could see of Orthoclase-Alpha from her position made her already battered chest strain with tightness, each breath harder as empathy wrenched it from her. That wild, blind stare... It did not lash out at its father, however... It was afraid, the rattling sound of quills like a rainstorm, as it shrunk away. The scene was an overplayed allegory, one she had witnessed too many times.

"Don't," Nemesis rasped, though she had no way of knowing what Vargas was going to do. It was rather unfair, really, how she jumped to conclusions... But because of those conclusions, she didn't want Vargas to do anything to Alpha. "Don't. Let them go."

Belatedly, she remembered her audience, and shivering, she hobbled up to her feet, swinging her head toward Oliver and Shengxiao and everyone else as a yelp from behind caught her attention. Immediately, she felt revitalized as her gaze pinned on the black, feathery dog that was suddenly bleeding. She didn't want to go too far, in case her fears were justified, but she was also torn between too many thoughts at once. Was it the blood that had triggered Orthoclase-Alpha's freak out, or was it how she had struck the face? Did it even matter, now? Why, no, how was the bystander bleeding, now?

idk like? @Vargas @Orthoclase-Alpha @Shengxiao ???

also @Oliver i fixed,,

Vargas held Orthoclase-Alpha pinned, for a moment, staring down with consternation and puzzlement both. He was, truth be told, entirely unaware of any trauma from his single prior strike. The Orthoclase had been hurt, at the time, and he'd certainly felt a little bad about the whole thing, but savage wounds were not at all uncommon to Vargas' life and history. For the Orthoclase to have stewed in bottled-up trauma and become triggered into incoherent, uncontrolled rage wasn't even a connection Vargas made in his mind.

He didn't, then, know why Orthoclase-Alpha had done this; only that it had gone wholly out of control, and now its quills were smoothing back down. Cautiously, he began to step back--only to glance up sharply at the grey beast who dared order him to release it. Was she speaking to him-? Six toxic eyes narrowed.

"I intend to, but give me orders again and I will have your stone for a wall-ornament," he snarled. ...Equally as unfair a threat as Nemesis's far more understandable assumption had been, really. Vargas stepped fully back, releasing Orthoclase, staring at it. "Are you under control, now?" he barked, simply--first things first, after all. He had to know it wasn't about to snap, again; everything else could wait.

@Nemesis

"Don't," Don't.

Toxic eyes briefly left the exit to the right, boring into the trinceros. They ranged over all of the blood coating her front half, the soiled substrate, its own claws. How was she still standing — there was so much… ?

"Let them go," Let me go.

Weight eased up, and there was that second of give to buck upwards and worm out from underneath Vargas. It spun on a heel, strafing sideways until it was out of arms reach facing him. Half-crouched, head low, it just watched.

"Are you under control, now?" Alpha blinked, glanced back down at the claws fruitlessly curling into the sand to stop its shaking. It was always under the Leviathan's control, but was it keeping itself in check? Staying the course into a complete backslide? Proving every single preconceived notion Vargas had of it and its capabilities wrong in one swipe at the neck? Falling entirely apart at the seams?

No… it wasn't. It wasn't under control and it hated it. A claw lifted involuntarily, pressing against the scab on its head. It came back green, dribbling hot down its snout and mixing with all the other bloodstains.

For the sake of getting away, it offered a quiet, hoarse, "yes." Short, certainly sounding unconfident. The best it could do, skirting towards the exit and — "I'll go back to Canis." It was an explanation for the motions Alpha was already going through, shuffling away hurriedly but still waiting for permission, implicit or not.

@Vargas

cw: swearing again, bro!

Nemesis stopped in her tracks at the completely unnecessary threat thrown at her.

Excuse me? Her head swung back, hot air huffing out of her nostrils as she shifted on her heavy feet. If she hadn't believed that Vargas was an unruly, violent, oppressive and abusive warmonger, that single sentence was enough to make a full first impression. Oh, she wouldn't be forgetting his purple ass anytime soon.

But now wasn't the time to be picking another fight. Orthoclase-Alpha had cut some distance between itself and its master, hastily insisting it would be headed back to Canis; looking for the quickest exit. She inhaled, sides heaving, and wished any amount of meaningful look would be understood by her wrestling partner... But Alpha's wild stare would not leave Vargas for a moment.

She waited for Orthoclase-Alpha to pelt away, and then turned away, stepping over to the medics once more. "Sorry for the trouble," she grunted, "If I'm stable, I'd like to get some fresh air." Aka, get the hell away from this shitstorm that was the porcupine-monster family. Preferably before she picked a fight with Daddy, here. She barely waited for someone to give her the okay before she hauled her way up out of the arena and out for a walk around Orion's alleyways.

nem exit baybee

Oliver huddled in on himself, crouched, blue eyes wide. Those eyes remained locked on Nemesis as she approached him; how could she withstand such damage without even flinching? He was awed; even half her wounds had him curled over, shocked at the scent of his own blood.

To her question--or statement, rather--he managed a nod.

"Keep your wounds clean," he half-whispered, and then opened his mouth to add more, but closed it again. She was moving off, and he wasn't sure he could formulate words properly right now, anyway.

The faintest trickle of magicka sparked up to begin the slow process of healing; it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, and he settled down with eyes closed to carry on with it.

He offered a nod, a grunt of assent, though his eyes were still narrowed. Confusion, more than anything.

"Go, then; we will discuss this later." He could certainly chew it out in front of all these others, but there was no reason to. He had no idea why it had lost control; had he not tested it enough? Shaming it and making an example of his own Overseer had more negatives than positives, and anyway Vargas wanted an answer before he made any decisions or judgments.

Vargas watched it go.

He paced back to the benches, the scent of blood still sending a thrill through his mind, and awaited the next match.

exit Vargas
@Orthoclase-Alpha

Alpha stood in place while Nemesis lingered, squaring off with the Leviathan and hoping that it could take this out and go away; long enough to collect itself, at least. Alpha didn't harbor a single doubt that Vargas wouldn't want to address this later, but when your consciousness was a swirling, incomprehensible maelstrom?

It left you wanting clarity.

He nodded and grunted once. That was all the orthoclase needed.

Leveling its head with its spine, Alpha shuffled out of the arena, stained in blood and haggard. Even with the temptation to just flee to Eridanus, it headed straight for Tunnel K.

@Vargas (for visibility) @Shengxiao (in case you wanna exit! magicka...)

He sighed, looking up at the leviathan, and watching alpha leave, concerned. he walked back onto the benches himself, waiting.

exit sheng