Vargas padded swiftly from Canis into the ever-unwelcome heat of Tunnel P. He was busy: busy training, busy checking, busy trying not to let the heart-thumping dread of Dhracia's potential return set in.

Yes, he was doing his best, but would she see it that way-? For that matter, was he doing his best? Perhaps he'd been sleeping a little too much. Or not culling the weak quite as often as he should have. He wasn't sure. He debated on it. He worried. His fear made him brutal. If he brooked no weakness, then there would be none left to reflect poorly on him.

He certainly hadn't been training Alpha and Beta enough. The scouts--those he could leave to Hemlocke; but the fighters, those were his to toughen and raise. Orthoclase-Alpha had been given its commands: now it was time to check on Beta.

He held higher hopes for Beta, despite its lazy nature--which was not, in itself, a bad thing; pointless wastes of energy were just that, pointless. So long as it kept itself in peak physical condition, so long as it trained, he didn't care about anything else.

The Overseer paused in his long-limb-sweeping stride, glowing eyes raking the tunnel in search of his child, and his quarry.

"RUBY-BETA?" he boomed, and waited.

@Ruby-Beta

It was in its den when the Overseer called, testing out its previously injured paw for any kind of numbness. It felt fine, if a little bit stiff, but that was more likely from not using it for a while. It stretched and made a fist, testing it and working it out. It was an easy way to say "I'm training" without actually having to get up and walk around. It could just sit here and do paw stretches instead.

That was how its days usually went. Getting up, stretching its paw for a while, maybe training for a bit so that it wouldn't disappoint the Overseer, hunting some food, and then sleeping for as long as it could. the peak of tranquility, the peak of laziness. Alpha had been all twisted up about things and had tried to prod it into a fight multiple times, but Beta refused to bite.

It was content to live like this, listen to nobody, only be useful when it had to be useful. But when the Overseer's booming voice echoed through the tunnel, it immediately scrambled to its feet without a second thought and stepped out of its den, head held high. "Yes, Overseer," It rumbled with its baritone voice. "I am at your command." The Overseer was a different story. It would not disappoint him.

@Vargas

Vargas glanced down, looking over the child, and its paw. It seemed healthy enough--and, like Alpha, was likely approaching its full adult size. But there were many things he could not see--such as how physically fit it was, how strong, how agile. How much it had been practicing. These things--he had to ask these things, and to test them.

"Good--there you are." A brief pause as he considered explaining his reasoning--and then dismissal; it was not his place to have to defend himself in advance. The child would listen; it was good that way, at least. "I am here to check on your training, and to test you. Tell me what you have been doing--how you have been training yourself, and tell me where you are at."

@Ruby-Beta

The ruby stared at the Overseer for a moment, finding that it really didn't know what to say for a moment. It desperately tried to reach for straws, to maybe carve out some lie to tell the Overseer so that he wouldn't grow angry, but that idea was burst in a moment. It would not lie, not to the Overseer at least. And if he was going to test it, then he'd know right away what was true and what was false.

It cleared its throat. "I have been staying off my paw as much as I could, initially. I let it heal until I could walk on it again. I have done daily exercises with it to keep it in working condition and am no longer hindered by limping or numbness." But it left out the bit about it being a bit stiff. "I have only recently begun training more again. Sharpening my claws and practicing good hunting every day." Yes, practicing hunting to catch food. "I've done some work hitting the cavern walls to increase my strength." To make more room for its den so it could sleep comfortable. It paused and then finished, "I haven't done a lot of sparring, though. I apologize." It dipped its head. It would at least own up to this, if not anything else.

@Vargas

Vargas studied Beta, and had it lied, he might not have had reason to question its words. (Of course, catching in lies would have had its own results.) He was not judging, not paying close attention to Beta itself--only considering its responses.

Then his gaze sharpened, as his thoughts came into focus.

"What do you consider to be your strengths, weaknesses? Where do you need work?" It was usually his place to make this decision: but he wanted to know, first, Beta's own thoughts on it.

He had his own ideas, of course; but he wanted its input. Not only that, but he wanted to see Beta's own judgment for himself: what it considered, imagined, gauged. Was it intelligent, was it a critical thinker? Was it a good judge, even of itself? Its answer would tell him much--not only about the topic, but about itself.

The Overseer settled in to listen, to perform his task as--yes--Overseer. It was time to actually oversee, for once.

@Ruby-Beta

Ruby-Beta released a breath it'd been holding. Ah, good, the Overseer didn't pry into what all of that meant or comment on the many things he'd..."presented". That would be been embarrassing if he knew exactly how lazy Beta had been the last two cycles. But that didn't matter so much now. The Overseer wanted to test it - that was good. This was a good chance to train so that it could make him proud.

It stood up straighter, quills rattling. "My strength is the same as yours - brute strength. My size. Raw power. I would like to develop this further, however. I could be stronger. I think I am also good at maneuvering. I am agile and balanced. My weaknesses are in experience. And practice. I don't know how to judge movements or another gembound's abilities. I haven't put much of this into test before. A do not know how to analyze in a fight." It went quiet, wondering if it covered all of its bases. It thought for a moment, trying to think if it'd missed anything, but no. Except, of course, for the laziness but he wasn't going to bring that up.

@Vargas

Vargas peered down at Ruby, and the tip of his tail switched, briefly, like a cat's, as he thought.

"Raw strength..? Do you imagine that to be my strong point?" He laughed, short and harsh. If only Ruby could see the true power that had dwelt in these caves--and elsewhere. "Compared to the wretches in this cave, perhaps I am strong. But no. Speed. Agility. I am a hunter, Ruby-Beta, I am not a soldier. And perhaps so are you! Your strength is only as good as your size, and there will always be things larger. There is a reason I chose to infuse with a cat: they are, so I am told, the ultimate hunters."

The Overseer paused again, thinking, as he stared at--and vaguely through, his mind elsewhere--Beta. How could he test its hunting skill, when all it had were rats, mice and deer? Oh, there were the bats, to be sure--and the spiders--but beyond that-?

He could take it into Hydra; tell it to hunt a sand worm, see how far it got. Though depending on the size of the one that erupted, it might be far too much for it to handle. No--not yet. Hm. And sending it against one of the dragons won't work yet, either. That's for a straight fight, for Alpha; for the front line. With Beta I need dangerous prey.

"When armies collide, that is where size matters most. But before the war--and after; and along its sides. That is where the assassins roam. They pick off the weak. They hunt the leaders. They break the supply lines. That is where you will be." Not would be. Not some theoretical, but a will, for in Vargas' mind, there would always be a war.

At length, after a bit more thought, Vargas came to a decision. "Come with me," he said, straightening, and shaking away the stray sand that had blown over his hide. "We are going to Orion."

@Ruby-Beta

It listened to him hungrily, drinking in his wisdom and his analysis of its strengths. Still, it was puzzled - it made sense to Ruby-Beta that raw strength would be both of their greatest abilities, especially against all of the smaller creatures roaming the caves. Those huge arms could crush enemies easily, without a second thought or a change to recover. It wanted to question this and it had to take a moment to even get the bravery to dare. "But, Overseer...if most of the creatures that roam the caves are smaller then me, then wouldn't it be beneficial to learn to be stronger so that no enemy could stand up to me?" Its muscles rippled under its pelt. Had it been thinking of its abilities in the wrong way? Had its minimal training been for nothing?

How could it be an assassin? It was huge! It hadn't run into a ton of other creatures, but they'd all been smaller, or at least around the same size, though Beta wasn't done growing. Maybe it wasn't as gigantic and powerful as Alpha, but it could learn to fight in other ways. It looked a little unsure of what the Overseer was telling it.

"An assassin?" Nobody had ever said anything about an assassin. "Isn't that a job for the smaller ones? Maybe Garnet-Delta or Garnet-Epsilon. They're small and fast and could sneak better then me." It didn't understand. It didn't understand why the Overseer would prepare it to fight bigger foes. Why he wasn't going to have it use its size and strength to its advantage. Probably because it had never tested anything other then brute, animalistic force before.

@Vargas

Vargas turned, peering quizzically at Beta.

"The Garnets-? They are scouts. Messengers! They are too small to kill a damn thing. Most of the creatures here now are small, but we will fix that. You are not that large," he told it bluntly. "You haven't the size, or the defenses, to be a soldier. If you think you can train so that 'no enemy can stand up to you' then I have been very remiss in training you," he added, scowling briefly. "Even some of the beasts in this degenerate nest on their own can defeat me in a straight-out battle. The element of surprise is your weapon. You must learn to kill before the other knows you are there. You must learn to read the air: the scents, the sounds. To sense all those around you before they sense you. To learn how to place your feet to not give sound, to position yourself so the air does not carry your scent to them. To move quickly and silently and then to fight, before your prey even knows there is a fight to be had!"

Vargas grinned at it. "The ones who can defeat me in a fight would be dead before they knew I was hunting them," he added, "if I wanted it to be so. Now come," and here he turned, with a tone that brooked no argument, and passed back from the mouth of the tunnel and into Canis.

"Your training is long overdue."

exit Vargas; @Ruby-Beta

Hot shame rolled over Beta as Vargas turned its weak argument on its head. Why did it question him? Why did it try to argue? The Overseer knew more, knew what was best for all of its siblings. He knew exactly what to do with each of them, how they should be trained, what their strengths and weaknesses were. Wait, then why did he ask me? The answer came less then a second later - to test its judgement.

And it probably failed completely. It chuckled silently to itself. It would have to do better next time. Hopefully it would receive some good training from this so that it did not fail the Overseer again.

It did not fight what he was saying this time, only nodded. "Yes, Overseer." He climbed fully from his den and followed him to Orion.

*exit