It left Garnet-Delta in charge of any training. Alpha had intended to have it working with the selenite anyways. What was a few days unsupervised? (Betrayal—) Grudges be damned, the alien could take care of things in its absence.

Even with a few days' time, there were phantom shocks lurching through its frame. It was sore and hollow-eyed with exhaustion. Vast stores of its magic'd been expended on repairing what it could. Most of the numbness had been chased away, and its wounds were halfway to scarred over—but, time would have to finish the job. Eventually, though… that little cat would awaken again to finish her job, too.

Which had brought it here, lumbering slowly to bear witness to the throne. Toxic eyes ranged over its tall back, a ragged huff slipping out of its mouth as it hoisted itself onto the platform. Its flanks heaved with the exertion, and it stood in place a moment to recuperate before making its call: "Pride?"

The Overseer didn't settle down or anything, but it shift its weight into a slight crouch, scanning the ruins for that familiar bit of white.

@Pride

He pushed up, stepping out from behind the Throne, ears pricked up. Is Jampa asleep-? He hoped so, because the toxic-eyed beast down ahead was one that he knew well. Orthoclase-Alpha. His heart jumped a notch in his chest: why was it here-? A number of reasons ran through his head all at once. Was he to be summoned, for some reason, to the Masters? Was it here with some grim ultimatum? Was-...

It looks wounded, he realized, and stepped down with concern dawning in his face. Magicka reached out instinctively as legs carried him down the platform with graceful steps. "Orthoclase-Alpha. Are you wounded-?" A foolish question, perhaps, as his magicka flickered and failed to even help (Damn-). He came to a halt some yards away, tension in his frame, worry in his gaze.

What was this all about?

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Cli—it whipped around in an instant—ck!

Toxic-green eyes zeroed in on Pride as he appraised it, and it now became conscious of its entire self. Haggard, adorned in new scars, likely still covered in its own soot in places that couldn't be reached. Quills rattled as it put a respectable amount of distance between them. In response to his innocent-enough question, it ground out, "no." Mostly not, anyways. Not at this point.

Alpha huffed. No need to practice any of the socialization skills the stag had attempted to teach it. It cut straight to the chase: "a cat attacked me in Pegasus." (It posthumously realized how embarrassing that might sound.) The monster took a few pacing steps to the side, "it was the one at the... magic—competition. With lightning." Pride had been there, yes? Would he even remember that little thing? "It was powerful. I killed it, but it should have killed me first."

Now, "it will come back." What a stellar conclusion. Anything else—"how..."

The orthoclase levelled its gaze on the pale stag, one of few that it was consciously aware of as holding so much power in his being without being of the old magic or a Master; he was demonstrably impervious to damage through magic.

"How does something become so... strong?"

@Pride

Perhaps he should have been raising his barrier, but guardian's instinct still thrummed through him, and he again attempted to reach out with what Tenzin had taught him, as he spoke. This time the magic took, reaching out, and almost at once Pride felt the immense drain of it. He hadn't used it before, but he staggered as he stepped, nearly falling, his breath catching in his chest. It felt as though he'd run for miles, and abruptly he lowered himself to the ground, lying there and blinking.

"-The cat returned to its chrysalis, then?" was what came out of his mouth, instead of 'shit what is this' or 'am I dying.' His brain had practically misfired, settling back into logic, and as he took another breath and realized that he wasn't dying, he struggled to refocus his mind. "Magic-?"

Think, Pride. Don't sound a fool.

Another blink of silver eyes, and a gesture, as if in invitation for Orthoclase to join him. On the ground. Of course, he had no way of knowing that it would drain Orthoclase-Alpha, too. He could feel the weariness overtake him, and he struggled for a moment to even stay awake. Could he manage, at least, this one conversation-? "-Practice, hard and long, for many cycles, for one thing-... I--ah." Blink. Focus.
"I... worked with magic my entire life, in an attempt to... learn how to wield it. How to--form it into new shapes. There was also a--a trial, recently; that owl creature in Polaris. But I do not know how much it truly added to my magic." In Pride's mind, his power had already been considerable--and, in truth, it had been.

But the only route to that, at least, was simple repetition, and work.

A breath--a deep one, a fight against fatigue--and he asked, "May I ask what makes you ask this question?" Curiosity sparked in him, tired as he was; the Orthoclase had never sought him out, not since that last conversation. Fear, perhaps-? Had the cat beaten it so badly that it wanted to improve-? Or was it something else entirely?

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Its muzzle twisted as far as it could as a pull drifted through what little it had in its reserves. Flesh knit further back together. The stag was already staggering, but Alpha—now bracing itself on one elbow—growled shortly, "don't." If it had the wherewithal, it would've jumped at the chance to assault immediately.

Fortunate for Pride, then, that it flopped onto its stomach instead.

A chrysalis—"It did," the orthoclase answered quickly, then shifted so that more of its back was facing the stag, rather than its sides or underbelly. He'd face the armor and quills, first. In any case, it was twisting over its shoulder, listening. It was dissatisfied, at first (of course practice makes perfect) but... "a trial?" Alpha blinked. "Like Hydra?" Had Vargas organized one in secret... ?

"May I ask what makes you ask this question?"

Orthoclase-Alpha considered.

Perhaps.

Lifting its head, it said outright, "if it returns for me, I'll kill it." Quills rattled. "It's a threat."

@Pride

Don't. A warning that came too late, as now Orthoclase seemed as exhausted as he was. ...Interesting.

Polite, however, he turned his mind to what Orthoclase had said. "Hydra--hm. No, I don't think so? Or rather, it might have been similar but... it was only myself. Though I'm not the only one to have undergone it," he added. "It is a door, in the north of Polaris. Rounded. Within, I believe you can simply call for Emuh, as it is called, and it will come and grant a trial. Whatever this creature is, it certainly holds great power. But I warn you," Pride added, and his tone was indeed one of warning, "I grew weaker, first. Drained, weakened as a whole. As if, in gaining magicka, I had to learn to use it again. Like-... adding water to a pond I was in, so that I was nearly drowning, until I learned to swim a little better." He didn't mention the added spell--not yet; instead he continued with urging toward a more reliable method. "I think it best to simply practice. I am happy to teach you, if you wish, what I know-? To work with you?" A hesitant offer, as he did not quite know Orthoclase-Alpha's motives. He wasn't even sure that it would feel the same sense of give-and-take, or loyalty, that another would; perhaps even working closely with it for several cycles would elicit no response of kindness, and it might simply try to kill him once it had learned what he had to offer, in order to protect its secrets.

Pride had no idea.

It was a more empathetic impulse, however, that prompted his next offer. "If you wish, you can show me where the cat fell asleep, and I can try to be there when it wakes-? To ask it why, perhaps to talk it out of pursuit?" Perhaps he could play peacekeeper, at least a little, and learn what this was all about.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

A low hum escaped it.

One would think that something as apparently significant as... some creature named Emuh offering trials in Polaris would be more widely spoken-of. (There was a bit of information missing, given the orthoclase had spent the better part of the past four cycles in the same three caves around the same few creatures, but...) Great power did not go unnoticed in these Caves. Alpha wondered, briefly, if its Master might be aware of such a place; more privately, it wondered if it should find out on its own. Maybe, maybe, it would.

The Overseer punctuated Pride's explanation with an indifferent-sounding snort. Then, all four of its eyes narrowed. There it was again: "... simply practice."

As if it hadn't been doing as much since day one. Quills prickled along its neck. "What would you offer that I don't know?" It bit, eyes narrowing. Limbs shuffled beneath its chest, bracing in case it needed to get up. He'd already offered assistance before, but with talking. (Deep down, it did appreciate that, no matter how much its arbitrary grudge flared up.)

Pride's last offer received just as warm a reception: "no." Its jaw dropped somewhat to bare its teeth and the putrid green glow of its mouth. "I'll handle it myself."

@Pride

He had forgotten how alien this thing was; how cold and aloof and indifferent. It spoke as though from another plane of existence, another, uncaring world. He was reminded again that it would likely kill him without a second thought, and this was a sad thought: there was no real way to reach this one. It was alone, it would remain alone. Pride did not matter to it and he couldn't change that fact.

He answered, then, matter-of-factly, without emotion in any of it. If this was how Orthoclase-Alpha wished to do business, then so be it.

"Are you asking me to list my abilities..?" -Okay, so maybe a little amusement got out, here. "The ability to lift and throw you with my mind. The ability to throw away anything that draws near. To control your body with but a thought. The power to obliterate anything I wish into nothing but white flame in an instant--or to crush it into a black hole. I could teach you, perhaps, to form gemstone at your own whim, into armor to shape itself around your body--and magic to lift that armor and put it on you. Magic to shield yourself, to hide yourself, to look into another's mind. I could teach you to make it rain. Or, if you get lazy, to float a few inches above the ground, instead of walk, hm?" An impressive list, rattled off, and still only a portion of Pride's abilities. "Unless you know all of that, of course," he added primly, studying his front hooves, after a moment.

Silver gaze then swung to regard Orthoclase-Alpha coolly.

"-Are you certain you don't wish aid with the cat?" he added, and there was just the tiniest bit of snark there, now. Amusement, really. Did Orthoclase really want to turn down such powerful help--that was the implication, though Pride doubted that it would grasp his sense of humor.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Pride, in a manner of speaking, slid his resume over. He listed off talent after talent, and while Alpha ought have tried to commit any of them to memory (in case Vargas had need of him later, of course... ?) it simply waited for him to finish before grumbling, "I wasn't." The knowledge was there now, at least. It rolled a shoulder, running the ridges of it through its quills.

Time to drop the subject.

Itch scratched, it flared its nostrils and shoved back to its feet; it gnashed its teeth through the brief bout of unsteadiness. Whatever the stag had done to it, the orthoclase refused to show any signs of being impeded by it. A slowly paced circle was indicator enough, hm? It was from another plane, after all—one focused on strength and a refusal to show vulnerability. It shook itself. Swinging its head side to side, Alpha huffed a half-hearted, "thank you."

An extraordinary display of manners... even if it was still baring its teeth and balking at the idea that the stag would intervene with its own apparent issues. "Yes," Alpha remarked scathingly.

It turned, put one foot halfway off this particular part of the throne's platform—as if preparing to leave—and cast a wary glance over its shoulder at Pride. Anything else?

@Pride

Pride, on the other hand, did not bother to stand. He simply watched Orthoclase-Alpha for a moment, darkly amused.

It had asked what he could teach it that it didn't know, and then said that it hadn't wanted to know. Refuses to form any links. Admit any ignorance. Mischief flickered in him, and he couldn't help himself from speaking. "Ah, you already know the secret of the stones, then." A nod, knowing. He didn't even know where he could go with this--Pride wasn't normally a creature of impulse, but he was already turning away, stretching a tad, rolling his shoulders.

"You're quite welcome. If you ever wish to know what Emuh's tests entail, do feel free to ask. Though I suppose you might already know that, too," he added, his tone deliberately flippant: surely the reticent creature knew all this already.

Hrmph.

"But if there were any minor points you'd like going over, I would be happy to cover them for you. A reminder, of course." Nothing more.

@Orthoclase-Alpha