this thread is a continuation of QUESTIONABLE PERFECTION
Their walk to Canis was a short one, but it gave the Overseer enough time to think about how best to handle this. One of the spawn was of a capable enough size, but clumsy; the other was... a small, upside-down grub. It could compensate for that deformity in time - or maybe they could fix it through a chrysalis? Hrmph. Alpha wasn't sure what to think of that disgusted feeling thrumming against its conscience for even thinking of such a thing. For now, it packed that away. Eyes on the ball, as they say, and the ball was hurtling ever-closer.

Either creature could watch it hunt, but doing was better than seeing. They were too new or too small to make the actual attack, but there wasn't anything keeping them from learning to stalk and track. Alpha would close in on their quarry once they found it, but it was a matter of getting there.

It paused mid-stride and glanced over either shoulder for the neonates. Once located, it squinted and urged them, "quiet."

Beat.

What now?

Swinging its head around to scan Canis for smaller, squatter forms of life, it sniffed. There were hardly any solitary figures of the sort it was looking for, but something was shuffling among the bones. Whatever breed of rat that was, it'd do.

Alpha lowered itself somewhat - glanced at the younglings to do the same - and grumbled, "there's a rat this way." It shuffled to face the indicated direction. "Smell for it - like the food you've had," it glanced at the zoisite, for that. "Show me where it is, once you find it. Don't scare it off." No further instructions or advice for how not to spook off rats, of course. Everything's a test...

... or just left vague because the Overseer was out of its depth and not the most informative teacher.

@V-Zoisite-One @Khavur

The Zoisite had given up on holding its head up to look around. It kept its head parallel so it could scuttle smoothly after its mother Alpha, using its sense of smell to navigate and only watching the ground just ahead of it for uneven ground and obstacles in the way. It was getting to be quite successful at moving in this way... at least, when it had something to follow.

Alpha stopped, and so did Zoisite, twisting its head so at least it could hallf-look up at the face of its caretaker. Pincers slowly closed tight, and stayed still as it listened. The instructions given, Zoisite began to sniff for it.

It could smell the familiar, warm scent of rat, a food that had provided it sustenance a few times before. Pinpointing it would be tricky, though... The grub pushed itself upward, rising on to its back four legs, and then its back two legs, golden eyes sweeping as it turned its head this way and that, inhaling the scent through the pits in its lower jaw.

... there? Zoisite squinted, staring at the strange amalgamation of bones that rustled. The grub had chomped down rat meat, bone and all, but why was there just dry bones laying about everywhere? It caught sight of movement among them, and immediately its quills bristled, rattling quietly as its fur puffed out.

"what's that?" It asked in a hush voice. From under the bones, it finally spotted it, the food, the RAT-- fur, meat, sustenance-- scurried out of the bones, diving into another pile, and Zoisite froze up completely on the spot.

The rat wasn't supposed to MOVE. It had never moved before!

'Quiet.' The command was given, and as best as a giant two-headed beast, still clumsy in its "newborn" form, could manage, the order was fulfilled. It crouched low, mimicking its teacher, but alas its own hide betrayed it. Against stale beige, the pelt of the Reaver of the Dark Above flashed a dazzling verdant green, as if it was trying to act like some random oasis in the middle of BoneVille. Hard to hide without cover. Mounds of bones didn't look like they'd do any kind of tricks in Khavur's favor. The rats -- they were looking for rats weren't they? -- could've considered Khavur's colors their hazard warning. And there was nothing the beast could do to stop that.

The next order was to sniff. To find the scent familiar to that of the food they'd before eaten. Khavur hadn't eaten food before. Didn't recognize anything such as a rat's scent. But it sniffed anyways, in the hopes that it would all make sense the moment something new hit its nose. Nothing hit its nose, though, no matter how hard it sniffed. Confusion spread across both its faces. It looked to Orthoclase-Alpha for some form of guidance; maybe the mentor knew why this method "wasn't working". It didn't speak, however, for that would've gone against the order of 'quiet'.

The zoisite creature was doing... something, it appeared. Perhaps this scenting method worked for it, for whatever reason, and not for Khavur. It asked about something behind a bone pile. Was there something behind that bone pile? Apparently, seeing as Khavur's eyes, instinctively trained to detect movement, gave the alarm as something seemed to fidget. Movement. From one pile to another. How curious. How small! Even smaller than anything or anyone Khavur had ever seen before!

Once again, both heads of the beast turned to Orthoclase-Alpha, confused as to what was to happen next. It seemed Orthoclase-Alpha was supposed to know all the answers. Khavur wished it could ask all the questions, but alas, no order of 'quiet' had been revoked, so the facial expressions would just have to do.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Alpha watched as the zoisite rose up to sniff, head tipping - it hoped that the grub wouldn't have to stand up like that every time it needed to catch a scent. But, children and inexperience. It'd perhaps been like that at some point, too. The huff that escaped it was carefully measured and quiet - again, not wanting to spook away the rat. While that one was busy -

Toxic eyes narrowed at Khavur. Its colors had shifted and made its hide stick out like a sore thumb no matter how far it hunkered down. The Overseer growled lowly, "stop that." Not the observant sniffing - that was what it'd ordered - but the... brightly-colored scales. Wasn't it brown before... ? Quills clacked quietly in consideration. Camouflage came to mind, but - of an embarrassingly inexperienced sort. In any case, Alpha stared at the two-headed beast's side pointedly.

But, either of them had done what it'd asked, and to them it nodded (because that's what Vargas would've done as an Overseer) "good." It hunkered lower, banishing the last of its own magic. "Hide," Alpha ordered quietly, jerking its head towards any number of stones and bones, before starting to creep along in the shadows of a mound, "and watch."

Actual practice was best, but considering one was a clumsy newborn and the other was but a larva that'd get ripped to shreds, they could hold off on that.

It moved towards the rat, entirely too quietly for such a massive beast, and lunged for it at the last second. Squeals resounded through the bones, and a harsh thump! as Alpha's meaty fist closed around the stunned Lesser's body. The red rat's head whipped around to nip at the monstrous hybrid's thumbs, but it didn't seem to care. It just hoisted the thing up as it walked back to Zoisite and Khavur, before setting it on the floor.

The Overseer shifted the bruised rat in its one claw, so that it held the beast by the rear - and lifted another hand to put it over the creature's head. Alpha held it straight, and growled, "kill it. You want to try to bite it here -" it lowered its head, barely nipping the squealing rodent's neck, "to make it easy and fast." Toxic eyes stared at either of the spawn. Zoisite might be too small to make a dent in it yet, but Khavur...

... that one, somehow, would likely be the one doing the hunting until the others grew.

@V-Zoisite-One

The SQUEALS and the CRUNCH OF BONES echoed and drilled holes into V-Zoisite-One's head, bouncing about inside of the soft grub's lumpy head, eyes staring wide as it processed... processed...

mother caretaker Overseer Orthoclase-Alpha wrenched the still squirming, crying, living creature from its hiding hole, hauling it back over to the two young, setting it down in the dirt so it could clamp another huge fist over its head and hold it straight.

The rat could feel, could breathe, it was scared and in pain and this was what they did to survive, to eat the flesh of something that lived. Lived like Zoisite, and Selenite, and Labradorite and Khavur. Pincers opened and closed, tail twitching and clamping, again and again with the thought process. Outwardly, it seemed like maybe it wanted to kill the rat with its tail, but the motion was entirely subconscious as it stalled in thought.

What stopped mom Alpha from crushing it or its siblings, feeding it to the others? What if all of the rats disappeared, would they have to eat each other? It didn't want to eat the rat anymore. Would it rather starve? Hunger felt like pain, though. Would pain make it not move anymore, like the rat? (Was that what killing was?) Would its siblings then eat it, too?

This was wrong, and bad, and still soft skin rippled, fuzzy underside prickling as the Zoisite swung its head toward its sibling, golden eyes wide and blinking. It didn't say anything. It didn't know what to say.

@Khavur

Orthoclase-Alpha snapped at Khavur to 'stop doing that'. Khavur's facial expressions twisted; the large-horned head's to confusion, and the small-horned head's to fear. It did not understand the request. What had it done? Its flesh was changing to stick out against the scene, to highlight the monstrosity's presence in the image. Khavur didn't notice that, for this had been natural from the start. Its rebellious flesh had started off that way, thus making Khavur unaware of the fact that that was indeed out of place. Never before had it seen a camouflaging pro of any kind. Nobody had taught it about magical camouflage, or better yet, chameleons and octopuses.

So, Khavur was stuck with that it knew. So far, that was 'follow directions', 'you must become strong', 'really tiny creatures exist', and 'everyone else seems to understand scent, but you do not'. Oh, how those lessons would develop into so much more. A thought intruded: 'But how can you follow directions when you don't understand them? A question for later. For now, yet another lesson.

Khavur studied how Orthoclase-Alpha used claws and limbs to catch and carry the tiny creature. Didn't it have limbs like that? Those limbs flexed idly in place, to reassure Khavur that they were, in fact, there. It observed as Orthoclase-Alpha instructed it... to kill. Where to bite. Fast and easy. Khavur's belly moaned, its jaws opened. But it hesitated.

'What is strength? What is strength? What is strength?' End message. Skip back. Press play. 'What is strength?' End message. Skip back. Press play. 'What is strength?' Repeat. 'What is strength?' Repeat. 'What is--' And so on.

One head, the large-horned, was tentatively stretched forth. The small-horned head's eyes drifted to Khavur's own claws. The wings shifted every so slightly, as if shuddering in the midst of a phantom breeze. One of Khavur's rows of teeth hovered around the tiny mouse's neck... and no bite came. No death. Just more squealing and crying.

Khavur's head retreated.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Its gaze drifted to either of them. The Something of the Dark Something was staring at it in abject confusion, and if only Alpha had the visible pupils to indicate the creature's entire being. Its head just tilted down and up again, like a once-over. Eyes narrowed for good measure.

Fast-forward to the rat squealing and writhing hopelessly beneath its claws; the orthoclase was staring between either of them once again, eyes narrowing. It'd thought off the cuff that V-Zoisite-One would still be eager to hunt, that it was with the persistent clatter of quills and mandible-teeth. That was anticipation, it thought. But, it was twisting to face up to its larger clutchmate, eyes widening. It's confused. Alpha thought with surprising mildness, what can't it get?

Catching and killing Lessers to eat had never once seemed like something for it to object to. They were made to be food; far as it knew, they didn't think and feel like the Greaters did. If these spawn were unwilling to kill to eat... Alpha tightened its jaw. It needed to fix that.

The Overseer shifted a meathook of a hand, further suffocating the rat beneath its weight, and glared at the retreating Khavur. It bared its teeth, hissing lowly, "kill it." (A beat, to figure out what incentive it could give.) "Kill it, or don't eat." They'd have to, eventually. Gnawing on bones and grass wouldn't suit them. It didn't seem likely that the Leviathan had made his creation with anything but carnivorous tendencies in mind.

Something... gnawed at it, its stomach lining. If they kept refusing - no, no, that wasn't it...

@V-Zoisite-One

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

violence

gore

death

graphic themes

Khavur, the Reaver, of the Dark Above, didn't say anything either. It kept flickering through unhelpful, bright colors as it moved. It had two heads (real heads, not like the Zoisite's false head) and it reached forward, as though it would solve the problem for Zoisite.

The grub was not freed from this horrible moment, however. The large head retracted, shuttering; all while the rat squealed, cried, in agony that the grub couldn't help but quiver with empathy for.

Overseer-Orthoclase-Alpha's monstrous, wicked claw-hooked hands curled tighter over the head of the rat, muffling the sounds. It struggled still, now trying to gasp for breath. The zoisite stared, wanting to look away, wanting to run far away and hide. What would it do, pushed between the truth and the necessity of its own life? If it died, its life made a waste of effort and blood, it would only be fed to its siblings. What was its life worth, compared to that of a rat? It had no idea that it had been consuming things that lived and breathed, and suddenly, against all instinct, it was sent into a moral conundrum that made it sick.

Pincers clacked. V-Zoisite-One couldn't take its own breath, and now it was starting to feel the pain it caused. The rat was in pain, and dying slowly, with or without them-- to make it easy and fast-- the back of the neck. Could it do that? Khavur shied away.

Every second.

Every slow, agonizing second, the rat was slowly dying.

Its last moments, fear.

Even if its mother let it go, it was hurt badly. Would it be okay, if Zoisite convinced ITS MOTHER to let it go? Would Alpha listen?

Would it die, slowly, unable to breathe or cry for its family, while Zoisite tried?

No, no, no, no no no--

--nothing should suffer like this.

Zoisite couldn't look. Head swung down low, and it scurried forward, lashing out with its tail; bloodsoak-painted pincers opened wide, and snapped shut, delicate neck bones dislodging from each other as razor sharp edges eviscerated, head from body.

The grub felt the resistance, the tear of flesh, race up its body like an earthquake through its nerves. It shivered, and crouched low to the ground, and eyes shut tight, it remained perfectly still as the warmth of blood dribbled on to its tail.

@Khavur ENJOY

REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAt--
Kill it, or don't eat.

Stop that.

Grrroooowwwllll... Hunger. You know this one. You've known it since first breath. You know it. So...

WHY CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?

R-- Stop that. Kill it, or don't eat.

And in a swift move, it was killed. And if it DIED. What did that MEAN.

There were no judgements passed when Khavur's magic reached forth to find out. It failed. For better or worse.

Khavur looks at the grub. It had hesitated. What. Did that. Mean. Of all the words it had known from first breath, WHY DID IT NOT UNDERSTAND THIS ONE? WHY WAS IT SUCH A PROBLEM? WHY--?

Stop that. You did not kill it. You do not eat.

Khavur's heads turned idly towards Orthoclase-Alpha. There was no expression on either face. There was a fuzz in that mind. A fuzz that could not be cured by reprimanding or corporal means. A FFZHZZZZHHHH-- of a radio turned to a station too far off. Out of range. Out of... its mind.

No words. Vacant.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

The grub shook as its dropped the guillotine on the rat—its head lolled clean off the shoulders—and something... pinched Orthoclase-Alpha. It was indescribable. The monster lifted its head, blistering eyes gazing at the other creature; Khavur was staring blankly at it or the proceedings. Perhaps, at death itself. Did spirits walk away from their bodies? Or, did they linger eternally? It didn't—couldn't—contemplate this.

"Good," it growled hollowly. Hooked claws finally broke away from the rat. Fleshy-pink limbs were still twitching with the last few fires of a neuron. Without any brain or connections to give the commands, it jolted its last.

Alpha stared at either of the creatures, and found its throat running dry. V-Zoisite-One; Khavur, Reaver of the Dark Above, Cowering, blank, respectively. One of them had done it, eventually. They'd both acted like it was some heinous crime against life itself. If they were carnivorous and starved due to a refusal to eat...

Teeth gnashed and it twisted down to look at the rat. A stone glistened at its side. Here. The Overseer dislodged it with a grunt, "see this?" It waited for a moment. "A stone means that it will rot fast." Alpha lobbed it into the bones. "I'll hunt more. You two—eat this one, quickly." Zoisite could teach Khavur how to eat, if it didn't already know.

Magic—at least a hundred bloody signatures—wafted into view, but it did not leave quite yet. It levelled the spawn with a nearly wary stare.

a month since the last post? noo...
@V-Zoisite-One