- THE LEVIATHAN -

"V-Chaos-Two!"

His voice rang out, clear and loud, as he strode between Chaos-Two's common haunts. He was about to get into the creation mode again--to form his newest monster, and, he thought, to offer a little something else. The "something else" was a potential fix for V-Chaos-Two's problems.

Chaos-Two was his creation. And it was fundamentally flawed--and this was no mistake of its own, but a failure on Vargas's part. His creations, however, were just that: formed and molded, like clay, from magic and matter. Could he repackage it, reform it, fix it?

This was the offer he would lay on the table--assuming that Chaos-Two had not been negligent in its duties. He had no other children to raise, at the moment; the Agate was dealt with, the Sentinel old enough to handle itself. Now was the perfect time: so that Chaos-Two would emerge a little before his next creation. Time enough for it to prepare for its next task, then, after a week or two of further training.

@V-Chaos-Two

V-Chaos-Two had been practicing their growing magic, eyes half-lidded as they stared at the baubled item in their hand, glowing gently in the gloom of Draco. They yawned and rubbed their eyes, a bit tired. They stretched and prepared to flop down in their nest to nap, before a shout startled them from their day-dreaming.

They smoothed down his quills and grabbed their staff from nearby, turning towards the little trinket they'd brought from Ursa. They closed it and hid it away, afraid a sibling or Vargas might break it. They stood up with a pained grunt and took a moment to balance before limping off towards Vargas, leaning on their staff. It seemed like they were getting worse every passing day.

"Greetings, Master Vargas," they said, resisting the urge to rub their eyes again, "Is there something you need of me?"

Was Vedette back? Or Sentinel? Perhaps Vargas had another task for them, or more training to do.

They shook themselves out of their thoughts and looked up in the general direction of the Leviathan's head, standing as tall as they could without causing too much pain.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Ahh, there it was.

He strode over, easygoing, toxic eyes ranging over its form. How hard will it be to remake this-? To fix it? Will I manage, or damage it further..?

He came to a halt with a short nod, and started with the obvious. "Report," he ordered, simply, scanning their surroundings.

@V-Chaos-Two

"Ah-" Right. This would be no casual conversation, they guessed. "I believe I've advanced in my magic. It comes easier now and I don't fail as often. The trip to Leo with Overseer Alpha-"

They weren't aware that the Overseer was taking a break, as they'd maintained a respectful distance the moment Vargas even suggested privacy.

"-And the Sentinel went well, and though I haven't yet learned the process of enchanting myself, I believe I'm very close to doing so. Oh, and the garden that Kethri and Doctor are making is on it's way, and the earth has been freshly tilled and ready for plants to be either moved to that soil or seeds planted.", Chaos-Two was rambling a bit, but at least they weren't going off topic.

"The Sentinel has moved on from my own training," he said, "Though I can continue to do my best to train him with his weapon, anything else is beyond my own physical capabilities."

Vedette was a mystery. Right now, he didn't know where she'd gone.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

"Good," Vargas began, approval in his tone, though he seemed half-distracted. He had a list of things to do in his mind, and first and foremost among them was getting a rundown of Chaos-Two's current capabilities. That's half what he'd meant by asking for progress: "You had a list of things to learn, so that you could teach the young ones the basics. You were to learn combat from the Orthoclase, stealth from Garnet-Delta. Mending wherever you could find it. Tell me how far you've come on each front. I've a proposition for you," he added, eyeing his spawn, "but I require this update, first."

For planning, for time-management purposes; he needed it out and ready for the next batch of creations.

@V-Chaos-Two

V-Chaos-Two looked down all of a sudden, "... The Overseer, they've been distant. Yes, I've been training, and they taught me to use a new sense to be able to detect life, to further use my other senses to get around, but... aside from that, they tend to give me a task and then tell me to do it. I suppose I've been learning a little. Is... Are they well?"

They looked up at Vargas, though slightly to the left of his actual gaze, unable to exactly pinpoint where his eyes were.

"But the training with Garnet-Delta has been um... limited," he mumbled, a tiny bit ashamed, "As hard as I try, it seems that stealth isn't possible- or is just extremely difficult with my legs as they are. But I have developed a bit of a technique of laying in wait before pouncing on prey and such."

They'd been able to take down deer using the technique, by throwing rocks and waiting for them to come close enough that they could grab a leg or a neck and break it. It was a lot like how cats hunted, laying in wait before going in for an easy kill. Being taught by Delta, it was clearly their influence.

But otherwise, stealth was difficult. Either they weren't quick enough to be detected or they ended up in a mishap like a trip or a stumble that instantly had Delta alerted to his presence. Perhaps they just weren't meant for such a thing.

V-Chaos-Two looked up at Vargas, head cocked and brows slightly furrowed, "But... a proposition?"

Like a name? Had they truly done enough to deserve that?

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas peered quizzically at Chaos-Two. "You needn't learn stealth yourself. Or rather, you do not need to learn to sneak and to be stealthy. You need to learn the basics, to teach the new generations. You understand-?" he asked, and it was surprised, though not meant to be insulting or demanding. "What of these basics have you learned-?" he pressed, and he'd have frowned if he could have. This particular spawn had always seemed dutiful, steady; surely it hadn't misunderstood the fundamental nature of its commands.

He waited, to give it time to explain, and then moved on.

"As for my proposition, I may be able to attempt to remake you. It might involve brief pain, as I would have to return you to your chrysalis, but the damage done by my ineptitude might be repaired. I can guarantee nothing, you understand," he warned, solemnly, "but the possibility is there that your malformations might be corrected."

@V-Chaos-Two

They were about to say something about 'doing is learning', but then they understood. As long as what Garnet-Delta taught actually sank in, then they didn't need to succeed in order to pass the knowledge on.

"Apologies, I misunderstood," they said, picking at the ground, "It seems I have, but I confused learning with success, thinking that if I actually was able to do it myself then that's what you wanted. But if I can at least pass it on to others- sorry."

Rambling again, they had to break that habit-

Wait. What?

Their head shot up and they stared at Vargas, mind whirling, "You can... do that? I thought it only worked on unborn creations."

V-Chaos-Two needed a moment to think. Their disability had molded most of their character. Their determination to succeed despite their flaws, despite they themselves accepting that they'd never match up to anyone else. They still pushed to be good enough that Vargas was satisfied.

But now they wouldn't have to. They could do the things they couldn't before. They could run, jump, fight, play. They could see the colors Khavur told them about.

"... Alright," they said, only the slightest bit hesitant that they'd lose a bit of themselves in the process, "Could I have... hm. Could I have time to myself to get used to things? I don't think it'll take much time at all to figure out my legs, but I'm concerned about sight. I've lived my whole live without it, and I don't think it'll be an easy change. I'll have to learn to identify a lot of things others learned right out of their chrysali."

Having legs with no pain would be easy compared to what they'd have to learn about sight and colors. To identify plants and animals, to see weakness in prey that they simply heard by listening to footsteps to tell if they were uneven or not. Hopefully Vargas agreed.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

"Before I answer that," Vargas began, "go back to my prior question. I asked what of the basics you have learned." He sounded patient, but somewhat stern, as if this were a lesson: "You have given me another fact but it does not provide an answer. What of the basics have you learned? -Do you mean that you did not learn any, because you wished to succeed at something, and misunderstood my initial instructions? Or that you misunderstood my question just now and reported the wrong thing?" He paused, to let this sink in for a moment--in case of further misunderstanding. And then repeated, more clearly perhaps: "What of the basics of stealth have you learned from Garnet-Delta?"

@V-Chaos-Two(this tag didn't work it's fine though)

God damn it. Of course they'd gone off rambling like an idiot again, not answering questions and just saying stupid things. That was Twobutt for you.

They hated how a child had sowed such seeds of doubt and self-hate into them.

"... Sorry," they said, breath hitching, thinking about Vedette and how her failures gained beatings, "I-I..."

They didn't want to end up like Alpha, deteriorating from the inside out. They also didn't want to end up like Vargas, either.

"... Yes," they said, "I meant I misunderstood your orders. I've learned the basics, yes, but executing them has been my issue and I think I misinterpreted that I had to be able to do such things flawlessly, like Garnet-Delta demonstrated. But I'm only supposed to teach such things, as I'm not going to be sent out to do missions any time soon."

So he had succeeded in learning the basics, he just couldn't really perform them well.

"I've learned how to stalk," he said, "How to stalk prey- well, targets, and how to hide both in plain sight and to use my surroundings to hide too. I can also fashion weapons quickly, like a spike out of a branch by stripping the end into a sharp point with my teeth."

Chaos-Two's teeth, despite cutting him frequently, were sharp and useful otherwise.

@Vargas