Inferno trotted up to the Overseer and set the ear down before backing off again and looking towards Ruby-Beta, "We found them."

Bloodstone hoped that the Overseer both noticed the trophy they'd brought back and the fact that they'd found Ruby-Beta and brought them to them themselves. Char was a bit miffed at the fact that they didn't receive immediate praise, but stayed silent when both of his sibling heads glared at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

For the most part, the hydra stayed silent and observed, not liking the tone of voice the Overseer had.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

The orthoclase glanced down as the hydra drew nearer, depositing the ear. It grunted, reminded for the moment. "Good. You can eat that too," Alpha offered, then corrected somewhat neutrally, "you found it."

Its quills prickled at the greeting, putting a slight grimace on its face. Beta's casualness wasn't anything new, but - where had it been?! Alpha didn't immediately read the grin as such, and bristled further at the amused note. Sleeping away the days, lounging about as it usually did. That was nothing not associated with the purple cat-beast, but for whatever-odd reason, it was suddenly so pissed it couldn't stand it. Perhaps, it was the inherent, subconscious loneliness surging up.

The ruby had essentially just vanished off the face of the Warren, just for a whelp to happen across it and bring it back for a family reunion. Blaring-bright eyes narrowed, and Alpha shifted, "too long." It didn't actually know the time span, but that was as good a guess as any. It inhaled slowly, glanced at Bloodstone in its periphery (not that the whelp would notice, with the lack of pupils) and exhaled, "you have a lot to make up for. Our Overseer has been made a Master." So, you better [fucking] compensate, was the implication. "He's made me his Overseer."

It was dry and monotone as could be, but that wasn't anything new, either.

@Ruby-Beta

It couldn't sense Alpha's frustration with it, having been away for so long that it couldn't read the stoic gembound's moods anymore, if it even had any of those to begin with. Just a monotone rumbling that threatened punishment for being lazy. Same old, same old. Still, it sighed. "Yeah, I know. I said I didn't mean it." No, even Ruby-Beta wasn't daring enough to sleep away three cycles on purpose without reporting in once. It knew that Master Vargas would punish it when it returned to the warren, something it definitely wasn't looking forward to.

"Yeah, I know. I'll train a bit before I report in. Master Vargas might kill me if I return late without having done any of the jobs he gave me." Its tongue poked out and swiped over its teeth. "Oh yeah, heard about the new Master and Overseer. Big job for you. Lots of responsibilities, huh?" It slipped out unintentionally, a playful jab at someone that had never really taken to jokes or humor, but hey, that was just a part of the Beta Package.

@Bloodstone

Bloodstone didn't like 'it'. It was used to describe an object, not a living, breathing person. Their ears pinned but they didn't dare say anything. Their opinion was kept to themselves.

Inferno scooped up the ear and scarfed it down before they retreated to try and entertain themselves while the grown-ups talked. They spotted something moving and cocked their head, walking towards Ruby-Beta before circling around behind.

Their tail.

Each head's white pupils widened as they stood there, watching it flick and move, the urge to play and pounce making them twitch as they resisted the urge. They got down into a crouch and followed it, butt wiggling as if to pounce. They really wanted to... But they ultimately stayed put, tail curling around them as they folded their wings up at their sides.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

"... didn't mean it." Alpha huffed and grunted at that. As much as the ruby thought it was otherwise not stupid enough, the Overseer wasn't convinced. It'd be a blessing to sleep uninhibited for three entire cycles - one that the cat-beast would jump on in a heartbeat, even with consequences staring it in the face. In Alpha's eyes, anyways.

What was done was done, though. No going back and changing the time in the settings.

Quills flared out moodily yet, the orthoclase glanced at Bloodstone as they it moved to stand behind and fell into a hunter's crouch. In a moment of brilliant inspiration (or encouraging assholery) Alpha nodded subtly as it spoke, hoping the whelp would catch it, "what did he tell you to do?" Short, sweet - absolutely nothing to make Ruby-Beta suspicious. The perfect distraction. As for responsibilities... "you wouldn't know anything about that, you useless layabout." Toxic eyes narrowed into a squint.

Did it... deliberately miss the joke? Or was it jabbing back? Hm?

whaddup i'm 2+ weeks late to this punch bowl -
@Ruby-Beta

It continued to flick around its tail casually, noticing Bloodstone beginning to move towards it out of the corner of its eye, a small smirk sliding onto its face briefly. It pretended not to notice, however, allowing its long, feathery tail to continue to move around, in case Bloodstone was going to try and grab it.

It didn't pick up on any ulterior motive on Alpha's part, its brain still in the startup phase. And its mind was half elsewhere anyways, thinking about how it was going to present itself to Master Vargas when it returned, so it answered casually. "Oh, you know. Train. Hunt lessers and greaters alike. All that kinda fun stuff." It shrugged. "I did a little bit, but I'd like to come back after this long of a time with a little more then "I met a lizard" to report, you know?" Although it had a feeling that Master Vargas might take an interest in Imp's opinion of him.

It paused at the sudden insult, but it was nothing new from Alpha, so Beta responded with a good-natured laugh. "You got me there! In all honesty, I don't envy you at all!" Its quills quivered with its amusement, its daring jab at the bad-tempered Overseer almost a little exciting.

@Bloodstone
oops sorry for the eternity wait

Crouching down, their pupils widened like a cat's, butt wiggling as their wings gently spread out. They pounced, paws slapping down on the tail, teeth grabbing fur and tail and growling, the small whelp not able to actually do much, especially with three heads snarling at each other, trying to claim the tail for their own.

They snapped at each other, grabbing ears and pawing weirdly at the air, each mind struggling to gain control to smack the other heads. Rolling onto their side, Inferno managed to pin the other two down and held Ruby's tail up triumphantly, his siblings growling and snarling from under their own paws.

The moment he let go, they were on them, the little hydra rolling on the ground, flailing as the heads fought. If they interrupted Alpha and Ruby's conversation, they didn't quite care.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

"A little bit isn't good enough," Alpha warned sniped, a narrowing squint in its gaze. But, of course the ruby knew that. It was so intimately familiar with what the bare minimum was, but that'd shifted drastically in the past three cycles - it would even moreso in the next three. Ruby-Beta would have to huff and puff to keep up.

The orthoclase shrugged dismissively, and most certainly disdainfully, "you're behind." A little more wouldn't be enough to color anyone impressed. Quills clicked and clacked against one another, though, at the laugh - baring teeth and a comment.

Bloodstone's successful hunt went unnoticed, as did its resulting conflict between heads. The monstrous hybrid stood and loomed, baring its own teeth in a low hiss: "sleep made you soft in the head." Grinning, smiling, laughing, picking up on all those positive little cues and taking what wasn't its - the orthoclase whirled around, "don't come back with that, Beta." Vargas would strike it then and there for it, it was sure.

Moody and ill-tempered, Alpha trudged away - but not without a parting gift: a bolt of electricity. It wasn't meant to be particularly painful, and definitely not strong enough to travel between Beta and Bloodstone - ah, wait, "Bloodstone. Come back with a mouse's tail." There. It stalked off.

exit alpha, unless stopped
(because this thread is older than dirt and i barely know how to write this alpha anymore F)
@Ruby-Beta

It watched Bloodstone out of the corner of one of its eyes, smiling to itself as they managed to successfully pounce on and hold down their tail. It didn't hurt, especially since it'd been expecting it, so it snickered a bit, pulling out its tail once their grip loosened and curling it around its paws.

It almost missed some of Alpha's jabbing remarks, but managed to play them off cool, despite some of them sticking and digging in. Welling up a memory it didn't want to think about, of Vargas's voice, warning it, threatening it, to not fall behind. To impress. To be worthy, or it would be remade. Why had it passed it up at the time? Why hadn't it taken it seriously? Because now here was Alpha, telling it exactly what it didn't want to hear. Striking deep. Welling up discomfort. Making it remember why it was so afraid of going back, why it only wanted to sleep and forget. A temporary way to cope, to pretend that all was okay, when, in fact, it wasn't.

But none of these anxieties or dreads would show on its expression or in its voice, buried, for now. It snorted, instead and rolled its eyes (not that eye rolling was visible with its pupilless gaze). "I know, I know. I literally just said I wasn't going back with that. There's no need to be such a grump, Alpha!"

As Alpha trudged away, Beta, too, rose to its feet, stretching out its legs as it started to think about what, exactly it was going to do now when a sudden shock raced through its muscles. It jumped back with surprise, letting out a small, involuntary yelp, and stared at the retreating Alpha with surprise. Why...why had it done that? Alpha had always been bad tempered and unfriendly, but...it thought that there was something between them. Perhaps not a close bond but...something. Despite its teasing, Beta cared about Alpha. They were hatchmates, they shared the same life-giver. But...

Alpha didn't care about it back.

Shocked into silence, Beta just stared at Alpha's retreating figure, the mirth and mask wiped from their face, just...watching as it left before turning around itself and going in the opposite direction, sharing no more words for Bloodstone, as if it had forgotten they were there.

Man, what a great first day this has been.

*Exit

@Bloodstone

Bloodstone grinned up at Ruby before she yelped, heads pulling back. They looked at Alpha and pinned their ears at the command. A mouse tail? Mice slipped through their paws like water, how were they supposed to do that?

They went to talk to Ruby, only to watch them... leave.

They slowly sat down, watching the two creatures walk away, leaving them alone. Their ears drooped and they stared off after them, shuffling their paws gently.

Char huffed out a puff of smoke and kicked at a rock, grumbling. Of course they'd leave. Of course they would.

Bloodstone stood up slowly and slunk off, heads low. Alone again.

Exit.