marked PRV but open to all SoS

Vargas returned to Tunnel P after a day's absence, and under one arm he carried a struggling, oily black... thing. It was hissing, and spitting, and if it hadn't been only a hatchling he'd have killed it by now for its defiance. It had bitten him no less than three times before he'd gotten a better handle on it. He'd half-hoped for some strange bonding moment of the child blinking up at him, as Titanite had done, but no; the thing had immediately tried to eat his arm, despite his far larger size.

Vargas glanced up at the chrysalises, and over at any others present, as he stepped down into the warrens.

"This one is an idiot," he informed them, lightly lobbing the creature down.

An idiot, or very brave, but most likely just an idiot. No sooner had he dropped it than it was coming after him again, its five foot or so length squirming for his foreleg. He kicked it lightly away with a grimace and a grunt.

"V-CHAOS-ONE, cease this foolishness," he barked; but it only hissed at him.

"SSSSSSSSSSSSS!" Nidhogg--and he'd decided that was his name, regardless of the random-sounding syllables Vargas was barking at him--hissed, mouth open, the extra eye in the back of his throat glaring. Quills stood up along the back of his neck, and along his spine, in a threat display.

He'd hatched and, like the Labradorite sibling he'd never met, his first instinct had been for water. But this giant purple asshole had scooped him up, and every one of his instincts had screamed 'predator' and he'd fought the entire way back. So far, he hadn't run out of energy.

Black smoke was roiling off him, yet again--an acrid cloud of the stuff, meant to drive off enemies. He didn't recognize the exasperated, impatient stare the Master gave him; he only turned, scampering for the nearest thing resembling a crevice in the wall. It was more a divot, really--just a shallow nook and not deep enough to truly hide in.

But the big, smoking hatchling got halfway into it and curled around itself, jammed in and slippery, and hissed again at everyone and everything outside.

It wanted the cool dark of the swamp. It didn't like that it had been hauled into this hot, bright, bad place, at all.

@V-Chaos-Two @Khavur

The second Vargas child to hatch was the smallest out of the brood, even Alpha's. The black, chunky egg had rattled for a good thirty minutes, the beast inside struggling to get out, but everything was against it, it seemed.

Tawny fur finally appeared through a chip in the side of the chrysalis, showing a small chest that heaved from exertion, so tired from trying to break free that it was doubtful it would escape the rest of the way. A tiny black claw poked out, gently tugging at the opening, pushing and prodding, chipping away more and more until finally... there was a gap big enough to slide out of. They lay on the ground, limp as they panted weakly, coughing to get the last of the fluids out of its lungs.

It was small. With two hooved back feet and what were supposed to be menacing claws on its front hands. They were more like kitten paws with tiny thumbs than anything Vargas had planned for it. The two traits it shared with him were the nubs on its back, suggesting quills that were slowly growing out, and the purple 'X' across its face, the same color as Vargas. One wouldn't dare call it cute in front of Vargas, but it was rather undeniable. Somehow the Leviathan had spawned a munchkin of the highest order.

It was hornless (though again, two bumps suggested they would grow), slimy, though it had two tusks that jutted out of the sides of its lower jaw. As it opened to cough weakly, more shards of its gem were visible, poking out through its teeth, a few close to falling out from the gem poking up from between, three small shards underneath its tongue, forcing the hatchling to contort it awkwardly to avoid cutting itself.

Weakly, it struggled to stand, eyes squeezed shut as it tried and failed to stagger to its feet, bleating pathetically with its small ears pinned to its head. It wiggled and got onto its front, hind legs lagging behind as it tried to get them under it. Once one back foot got under it, pain flashed through its rump and it flailed away from it.

It took a few tries and too many fails for it to finally give up and sit down, eyes damp. They opened weakly and peered around, gently shivering as it sat there, but not really doing anything. Too overwhelmed, perhaps?

Two rattles was all it took.

Two rattles and the largest chrysalis of the bunch splattered open, a smattering of fluid and shards staining the floor like blood.

And the cause of it all?

This funky-lookin’ two-headed dragon demon thing, with its two wings fully stretched, exposing their span. Its hide had decided that camouflage was bull honkey and it was going to change colors and patterns every five seconds like an indecisive fashionista in a rich person’s closet.

It wanted a name.

It fidgeted; three pairs of limbs, a massive tail, wings, and two heads were a lot to learn to use all of the sudden. It was bound to be clumsy. And a part Vargas couldn’t have known: at first, it was bound to be... almost kind. Once it felt ready, a single head looked over to the weak little thing trying to bust out and stand. The creature, wobbly but determined in its stride, would attempt to wander over to the small thing and crouch down. If the small thing would allow, this giant beast would try to surround the little one’s body with its own.

And then it would just lay there, like a supportive but lazy dog.

@Vargas @V-Chaos-Two

Zoisite had been awake and alive for the better part of two days now, and despite its initial confusion and bristling, had settled down quite nicely. It took well to Overseer Orthoclase-Alpha's instructions, and just then was politely dissecting a rat that its mother had brought it.

The big purple guy-- grandpa-- Master Vargas had finally returned, smelling like the wet and damp of Labradorite, with something making a whole lot of fuss... like a snake, or something. Zoisite had to tilt its head back to actually see over its crest, six neon eyes blinking at the newcomer.

It was long, and snaky, with slick, slimy black hide just like Labradorite, and Vargas dropped it down to the ground and kicked it away when it tried to approach again. Zoisite's soft, still forming quills rattled against its coarse fur, and it fell perfectly still as it watched the long-black Labradorite-sibling scramble off to a divot in the wall to hide.

The sound of cracking had been a constant for the last half an hour, as the other two chrysalis had been on the verge of hatching. It seemed like the Chaos siblings (Zoisite would not know their names yet) were on the cusp of breaking free, but Zoisite's attention was captured by the one that Vargas had brought.

Its grabbed the remaining scraps of its meal by its tail's pincers, and crawled closer to Nidhogg, slow and caution. It stopped at the first sign of "stay away"-- a hiss or a spit or another flare of that choking smoke was all it took to stop Zoisite in its tracks-- and instead twisted, turning around to waddle tail-first toward the angry sibling, and released the meat from its pincers, depositing it in front of Nidhogg like a gift.

That was, after all, what family did for one another. Its mother had brought it the rat, and now it shared what was left of the rat to Labradorite's sibling.

@Nidhogg

Selenite trailed in after the grub, looking for all the world like a scavenger waiting for it to accidentally drop the scrap of rat clutched in those back pincers. It'd already figured out those weren't real eyes back there, so it must just be another weird hand or a mouth. Mouths opened sometimes, so by that logic... the Zoisite would inevitably drop that bit of rat. Not that the infant was extremely hungry or anything. There didn't seem to be any harm in eating, yet, and it felt good. Little did it know, it'd discover stomachaches. At least then Labradorite's cuddles wouldn't the worst thing in the world.

While following Zoisite around and staring at its rear end, the pudgy infant had a particularly sharp piece of its sibling's chrysalis clutched in its mouth. It couldn't figure out why it had the rock now, because it'd outlived its usefulness as far as cutting off a piece of rat was concerned. Selenite didn't like having its hands covered in blood - it got crusty and annoying really fast - and couldn't bite good like its hatchmates. The gem'd helped, but it took a fair bit of effort and strength the baby didn't have. The Overseer-parent ended up having to tear the rat into smaller pieces for it.

Anyways - cyan eyes flitted away from the rat as Zoisite backed towards the noisy-wall; it was completely enraptured by the big thing stretching out of a chrysalis. So many legs - like it! - and four pairs of eyes - like it! The eyes were on different heads (also cool!) but they were four eyes nonetheless. Selenite's nose twitched as it sniffed and skittered forwards on all sixes. Caught in a momentary bout of bravado, the child puttered right up to the massive newborn on its hands and feet.

Tail lashing like a cat's, it circled the brightly-contrasting beastie (and the smaller one underneath) and blinked. Floppy ears pricked. Selenite stole forwards, zoisite-knife still in its mouth, and reached out to pat the right snout with a curious hand. Allowed that, it took a mile: trying to grab onto whatever it could and hoist itself up and onto the oily-stoned creature's face.

@V-Labradorite-One (for visibility! baby party!)

He returned to two things.

First, a devastating failure: almost immediately it looked weak, its gemstone placement... unfortunate, something desperately wrong with its hind legs. It was small, soft, and Vargas grimaced as he looked at it. Perhaps-... Yes; it was young. Perhaps it would grow stronger-? He was still unfamiliar with how 'children' worked.

Ahh--but THIS beast-!

He leaned back to regard Chaos Three and every part of him swelled with pride. It was enormous; it was winged, multi-headed, strong! It was-...

...Changing color?

Vargas' eyes narrowed some, his heart picking up a pace. Surely he couldn't have made such a bad mistake-? My Lord would-... no; perhaps it only needs time to learn to control it. He desperately hoped that he were right.

He marched up to them, glancing only briefly off at Chaos-One and the Zoisite grub, addressing them one at a time.

"YOU are V-Chaos-Two. Do you understand me, yet? -And YOU! You are my first, finest creation. I will call you Khavur: you will be Reaver, of the Dark Above." Whatever the hell that meant. He opened his mouth to speak further--to give orders, perhaps, or declare his expectations for their futures--but the Selenite had toddled up and was feeling for Khavur (REAVER OF THE DARK ABOVE)'s snout. Snouts.

Vargas scowled.

"None of you kill each other. Not yet. I will have need of you," he growled, and then looked around. "ORTHOCLASE-ALPHA. It is your turn to hunt," he bellowed, knowing it wouldn't have left the children too far away.

There were others, here, and Nidhogg (Chaos-One, whatever--he didn't LIKE that name--well maybe it was okay. Kinda cool, even-) was unnerved. It didn't know others existed. It didn't expect to see them and it didn't know what to make of their sizes.

Another of them was entirely too large--like the purple asshole that had dragged him here--and it had wings, too, and two heads from what he could see, from here. Then there was the grub: trundling toward him, and then... turning around? His pre-emptive hiss turned into a low squeaking growl of confusion, but then the scent of meat caught his many nostrils.

Oversized eyes narrowed and then widened, and, snakelike, V-Chaos-One darted out and snagged it in his teeth. He started to drag it back to his half-assed hidey-hole, but he had trouble getting a grip on both the wall and the meat at once and so he squiggled out and started to tear at it, before tossing it back and gulping it clumsily down.

He looked at Zoisite. At what was... might? have been a face? And wondered what to say. After a moment, he settled on a high-pitched, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

It sounded sort of like a dolphin. If the dolphin were being thrown like a football through the air.

@V-Chaos-Two

V-Chaos-Two bleated weakly as something big and dark crossed it's vision, not recognizing it as friendly before warmth very suddenly surrounded it. Weakly, it used the new creature to try and hoist itself up, managing to get its wobbly legs under it for long enough that it could see over the tail they'd managed to latch onto, but could barely see past it. Squinting, they could pick out moving forms, like shadows across its vision, but nothing solid enough to truly distinguish a shape by.

It pulled away and fell onto its rump, trembling gently as it shook its ears out and decided to try and explore the thing around it, half wobbling, half dragging itself to the scent of... cherries? It didn't recognize it, but it knew it was sweet, and instinctively crawled towards it, head bonking against Khavur's neck. It shook its head and sneezed, before pawing at the creature, bleating insistently.

Selenite lunging at one of the heads made it look, trying to process what was happening past the haze of green, like a light obscuring everything. Even having four eyes didn't help its vision. It forgot its mission of trying to find the cherry smell, sitting down with its hind legs splayed to one side as it tracked the movements of its sibling, its teeny tiny little tail shaking a few times before they pounced.

Front paws outstretched, it whapped at the other creature's tail, the limb coming into better focus the closer it was, though small details were still too difficult to see. They smacked at it, belly flat on the ground and legs awkwardly splayed behind it, bleating and sneezing the more excited it got.

@V-Selenite-One

There were many noises, and many sounds. The two headed beast was trying to take it all in stride. Unlike the rest of these teeny little monsters, it had been born with two fully grown heads, capable of reasoning perhaps a little faster and easier. It wanted to understand. The little one was using its heads and necks to stand. That was interesting! And then another little thing that was better at standing than the little one approached. It even pat the beast on one of its heads (which was much appreciated by the way)! As it pat, the beast tried to look into its eyes. Again, it wanted to understand. The magic inside attempted to reach out, to grasp for that understanding.

And it did. Somehow. The beast's own mind, it morphed somehow, chemically. All that was felt was a childish curiosity. 'OwO what's this?' It wasn't much of a change; the beast felt the same way towards the walking one.

When the walking one climbed aboard, the beast didn’t stop it. If anything the action was encouraged! And when the beast noticed the little one it had coiled around trying to swipe at its ward's tail, the beast began to bob its mounted head up and down! Effectively turning the ward's tail into a pinata for the little one. The beast just wanted to see where this would go, what it would do. Experimentation was a child's way of understanding, and the beast, despite being full grown, was still mentally juvenile.

It could understand language, it would find, as the big purple friend spoke to it. But speaking back... an ordeal that would be. Control is a thing to learn, not to inherit.

Khavur, Reaver of the Dark Above. It sounded cool, if not insincere. “Khavur” would accept the name and title, and probably think of something better... later. It used its unoccupied left head to speak: “Kha... Kha-buh. Vvvvvv. Er. Long long. Long nam for long me. Long Khaaaa..." It was too long to finish so just end it with, "yes.”

One head, still bobbing with the mounted walking thing, was idly smiling. The one used for speaking to the purple friend held a straight face, but the eyes gave that glimmering curiosity away.

@V-Zoisite-One