ORIGIN - Skin and Bones and Brains and Blood

This thread is backdated to being after Show Me What I Chose For those curious that places it about 4-5 months ago. Shh.

"Giggle?" Khavur's inquiry carried over creaking bones and tepid waters. "Red dog? Seer?" Several names tried, just to be sure. Khavur was, as usual, pretty hard to miss -- inverse-camouflage made sure of that. They clunkily clanked through Canis, calling out... honestly, they may well have alerted the whole Bonebound neighborhood at this point.

She came heralding some very important questions. Questions of the future, and fruit, and what fruit the future may hold. What future the fruit may hold was of no consequence to the beast.

They clambered on, sibling walking with them. 'The Sentinel told me she, Giggle, had seen its future... and in it, this Seer had seen a mango. The Sentinel did not seem to understand, or was somehow nervous about it... I wondered if it might help the Sentinel to clear up the confusion.' Maximus had a right to know the brief and humorous history behind it all.

@Maximus @Giggle

Maximus trotted along happily, unable to wipe the smile from their face. They kicked a patella like one would a rock, entertaining themselves as they walked along, just happy to be in their sibling's presence.

"Ah! So this is where we might learn of the Mango," Max said sagely, nodding, "I am excited... do you think she might see our futures? I hope they are bright."

They leapt over a pile of bones and landed gently, bending down for a moment to peer at a bone moth that had alighted upon a stone for just a moment. Fascinated, they knelt down, gently picking it up and making baby eyes at it.

'A butterfly...’ they thought excitedly, ’A triangle butterfly!!’

giggs didn't have her sick bling at the time of this backdated-ass thread, but you couldn't pay me to not use the table

Hind paw scratched behind ear, a grimace peeling back the hyena's black lips. She was very busy trying to dislodge a biting... something embedded back there, or maybe it was an overly-tenacious fungus, or hell, an ingrown strand of fur. Midway through her industrious scratching session, though, a curious warning flickered along Omen's link.

Someone is calling. Well--Omen didn't warn her in those words, but the awareness was there, and if Omen COULD speak, that's what she'd have said. She didn't, but she would have, and Giggle understood. Someone was vaguely around; Giggle was being summoned. And judging by Omen's hesitance along that link, it was someone she didn't know, or didn't trust, or maybe both.

Gleaming green eyes. Wings. Claws. Horns.

Sentinels? she wondered, the habit of the name still lingering long after the 'Sentinels of the Sands' had become the 'Chaos Forge.' (What a stupid fucking name.)

Her thick limbs lurched her upright, and she shook herself out--tongue lashing over her jowls--before pushing into a slow lope toward Omen's perch. The bird wasn't far off her bone pit. Hmm. The hyena knew the value of theatricality; knew the added reputation factor that came from being a spooky supernatural being rather than just someone reading dry information off as blank fact. So she paused a beat before actually stepping into sight, and gathered her breath and her magic. The pair could probably spot the black Caller with her single ruby eye perched on a bone pile not far off, but of Giggle herself there wasn't yet any sign--until she let an eerie, magic-infused cackle (and a hyena cackle, at that, so doubly cackling) ring out over the bones in all directions.

Then she pushed dutifully back into motion, cresting the hill with what she hoped was a sort of ominous, or eerie, or at least mildly impressive head-held-low dark-eyed stare of a trot.

She almost stopped, almost gave away the game immediately, upon spotting the pair with her own two eyes. To Omen, everything looked big, but these two really were big. It wasn't by any means the first time she'd seen them, but she couldn't remember them having visited her bone pit before, at least. In any case, their appearance certainly confirmed their origins.

Managing to gather herself before stopping short with widening eyes (successfully, instead, keeping her composure) the hyena came to a halt maybe twenty yards away.

For a moment she forgot what she should actually say, and then she managed to whip something together: "I am Giggle, the Bone Seer, and-" (wait this isn't my bone pit, not yet, fuck) (-'we are near my bone pit' doesn't have the same ring to it-) - "-I can see the future in your bones."

Wait.

Dark eyes narrowed.

"...And your future in the bones."

...Well, eccentric wasn't necessarily a bad thing to come across as, either.

"-You were looking for me?"

@Khavur

The presence of the ominous black bird and the cacophonous double-cackle made Khavur's hide prickle. Truly, based on this presentation, this Seer was all she had been worked up to be, yes? Well, Khavur had no reason to distrust the Sentinel, or the eerie facade.

Out she came, into view. A red dog indeed, but also a mosaic of other things. Khavur's whiskers twitched. Her approach, words, yes it was all consistently ominous... and surprising! Props to Giggle, this introduction was working despite the flub-ups. Khavur hadn't expected the usage of their own bones, however. It doubted such a small creature could take any particularly significant bones of theirs, but she did have something of an intimidation factor... Khavur would be on guard.

The Holder would step forth, acting somewhat defensive of Maximus in its posture. "Greetings, Bone Seer Giggle. We were indeed looking for you." Khavur studied her with four eyes, not feeling particularly threatened or suspicious. More just excited, and willing to play along. "I doubt you could take a bone from me or my sibling, you may have to rely on the bones... at hand." Khavur gestured broadly. 'If that will not do, I might have bones to spare.' An internal joke prodding at Vargas's choice of design. Many parts and a tolerance for pain made a few parts of the body nothing short of expendable, when necessary.

"We come seeking our futures... or a reading of them, as well as a definition for something known as... a Mango." Khavur would try to hold back her amusement, just so that the energy in the room was left undisturbed.

@Maximus

Maximus stood at the initial cackle, the moth fluttering away as they swiftly attended to Khavur's side, placing a hand upon their hide. They themselves felt their quills bristle, though something about this was... familiar.

’I can do that,’ they realized, ’That laughter, it is a spell.’

Their unease faded, replaced with excitement. They knew this spell! But then again, they were getting ahead of themselves... they doubted Giggle- or anyone- would wish to bond over a single spell. But the excitement remained and they were eager to watch the show she put on and technically such a display would be their first to see with their own four eyes.

’She's a few cycles late if she wanted one of mine,’ Maximus thought dryly, ’I'd have happily let her take that one.’

"Greetings, Bone Seer," Max said, voice soft, but let Khavur introduce their wants for being here.

The Mango.

@Giggle

The others took her stumbled words at face value, and she ran with it: drew herself a little more upright, as if offended at the idea she couldn't use their bones. But the mention of mangoes sidetracked her, so that she never commented on the former.

Mango-? she thought.

Hadn't she granted a vision, a long time ago, of a mango in someone's future? Could these creatures be related? Maybe their futures intertwined, somehow...

"A mango," Giggle said (after the requisite head-nods to greet them both), "is a fruit." She paused, thinking, then suppressed a shrug: "If you want readings, you'll need to come back to my Bone Pit. It's this way," she told them, turning to lead the way back up the hill, along a worn but narrow trail that curled along the slope. "I saw a mango in another's future, once. Why do you ask about it?" she questioned, and wondered.

"As for your futures, I will do two readings, then. Do you have any specific questions, or just want to know what happens in your futures? Did Vargas send you?" she added, curious. He had gotten his own future here, once--to test her, she thought. He hadn't been back since, but she had fought in Ursa; maybe this was another test, or he'd sent his creatures to meet her.

Or maybe they weren't related, though they certainly appeared to be. The eyes on the one were sort of a dead giveaway.

@Khavur

'Oh?' If Khavur knew anything about magic beyond instinct, she might have had a follow-up question. Something like, 'what kind of magic is it?' or 'how do you both know it?' But magic was not a learned thing for Khavur, not like combat. She could not differentiate types, or sources, or even the methods by which they are cast... perhaps she ought to learn, since she now had nothing more to say to Maximus on the subject besides: 'Interesting.'

Also due to her lack of magical knowledge, knowing now that the red dog had these spells did not give Khavur a clue as to what her exact abilities were. Not a problem, in this scenario, but it could lead to some bad circumstances in others. 'I should really learn more about magic... of all kinds.' A fun project for the future? Guess we'll have to see.

The excitement bubbling up in Khavur's gut about that future reading made it a little hard to keep patient. The Holder took careful note of Giggle's definition -- as it turns out, a mango was a fruit. A fruit? Well Khavur knew about fruits. It hadn't grasped that there were... specific kinds however. It also only really added to the confusion. What role could a fruit have in the Sentinel's life? Was the Sentinel...?

She followed the Seer to the Bone Pit somewhat absentmindedly. Of course, a soldier of Vargas should really always be on guard, but then, a soldier of Vargas also wasn't exactly prone to be attacked. Not by the Gembound equivalent of civilians anyhow.

Ah, a question! "That other of which you spoke, they did not seem to understand the... connotations of a mango. We wished to provide clarity..." Would just "oh, it's a fruit" suffice? ...No. "Does it bare any additional meaning in your field?"

Upon giving them the agenda, Khavur nodded in understanding. Upon the next questions, it stopped to consider, looking doubly pensive. '...I do not believe I have any particular questions. That, or there are simply too many to dissect... And no, we were not sent." It did not seem strange to her that Giggle would ask. I mean, come on, if anybody had a radar for Vargas and his creations, neither of them were ever going to slip under it.

Khavur looked to Maximus expectantly.

@Maximus

Maximus was in awe of this revelation. A mango was a fruit? Was it soft, sweet, or delectable? All of the above? They had so many questions!!

"Where can we find one?", they asked, their tail shaking with excitement, "Have you ever had a mango? Is it delicious?"

Were they perhaps a little too excited about a mango? Perhaps.

They felt no fear as they followed Giggle, clutching their sling in their knife-hands, using it to hide the massive talons. For a moment they wished they were more fluffy and less scary like Giggle was (not that she wasn't formidable, her markings were the coolest thing Maximus had ever seen) but shook it off, their quills smoothing back down against their back.

"A question... just one? Okay, um...", they hummed, biting their cheek gently.

One came to mind immediately.

"... It sounds... odd, but my sibling and I correlate 'being butterflies' with... hm. I suppose being happy, or free. Could you ask the bones something along the lines of that being a possibility? Being... happy? You know the bones best, so perhaps you could form the question better than I," they said, and looked down, "Though if you're doing it for the both of us, um... will my life-giver ever see me as more than he does now? Which is to say, very poorly."

They still clung to the hope that he might just be proud of them. Khavur gave them all the love they needed so this was just a silly little hope of theirs. ~~(Maximus would know that this was a lie. They still ached for love and attention, for any sort of authoritative praise and a family to support them. A proper family.~~

@Giggle

She reached the bone pit as they spoke, the hole as deep as she was tall and twice as wide--but piled to the brim with bones, so that it was hard to tell at first glance just how deep it went. There--holding Khavur's intended question in her mind--she searched first for a bone for them.

Conversation, however, was ever-distracting, and she glanced wryly at the winged... dog-dragon? She wasn't sure. "Connotation-? It's a fruit," she repeated, slipping back from "theatrical bone-witch" to "blunt, foul-mouthed grandma." Humor colored her voice as she continued. "I was just as confused as you are. As they are," and she shrugged spotted shoulders lightly. "That was a vision from straight magic-..." Lesson time? Lesson time. "Reality's woven of everything in it. A seer can grasp at the present, all the little things that make up the now, and use it to look into the future--not certainties, but potential--alities..!" She wasn't sure if that was a word. She'd just now made it up. She shrugged again. "But we can do that in all sorts of ways--magic's in everything, all of reality, so some of us see through fire or water, others in bones or straight magic, or fungus. My readings are with bones but I can use magic, too. And the magic showed me a mango."

She eyed Khavur sidelong, dark eyes brimming with mirth. "Sometimes, there's context. This time? -It was just a mango. Fruit can mean... karma. Getting back what you put into the world. But I think this was just a mango. Stay here."

Giggs looked back toward the pit, and after a moment, picked a large and misshapen scapula--something that'd had little spikes along the bone itself. The bone was nearly as broad as her entire ribcage, and it was ancient, so that she had to half-straddle it to get it up the trail that led to the ledge overlooking her pit. Once there, she settled onto her haunches, the bone held between her forelimbs. "I'll do yours first," she said to Khavur, shifting her attention to Chaos-Two. "You still need to pick which question! Or I can ask the bones both." Raucous humor bled into solemnity, mixing, as she continued: "I can give you one answer already: it doesn't matter. There's shitty sorts in the world, and some of them are parents; if you live to please them, you'll never live for yourself!" This advice was given loudly, freely, brashly, without a care in the world as to how it would be received. And just as quickly, the hyena moved on.

"Anyway. You know my name; you didn't give me yours. What should I call you?" she asked. And once she'd gotten those, she focused on the bones--a name, at least a title, was important to help her focus on the question, and on the reading.

_____________

The thick scapula was lifted again in Giggle's jaws; she pushed back up from her lazy sit, and peered down into the pit. Tell me, bones; what lies in Khavur's future? She held the image of Khavur in her mind: their double heads, misshapen horns, the wings and too many limbs. She imagined them, in the future--where would they be?--and lobbed the bone to clatter down below.

She watched it fall, and spin, light gleaming off its dull ivory. She watched as it clattered into the pit, her dark eyes sweeping over the other bone that bounced up with it, entangling side-by-side. Watched how the pair fell together, bouncing, only for others to fall in line close by; watched as a larger bone beneath, a jagged few ribs still twined with ancient and dessicated cartilage, shielded it from its own fall.

Giggle didn't bother with theatricality now; she probably looked dramatic enough, poised over her bone pit, searching the bleached remains with her gaze as if she'd genuinely find some meaning in their empty lifelessness. And the certainty with which she looked over them, and spoke, lent her a somewhat esoteric atmosphere all its own.

"These are good signs!" the Bone Seer cried, after a moment, with enthusiasm in her tone. And it was genuine; nothing forced. "I see you on a journey, here and now. Travelling, not only physical but toward a goal and you are not alone: a pair, a team!" Her gaze flicked up to Chaos-Two. "-But maybe that much is obvious!" she added, with a hearty cackle laid in afterward. "I see this team as inseparable. A union! Your future holds only good that I can see. The bones speak of allies, those who walk the same path as you. They'll know whatever it is you're going through; you won't be alone if you don't choose to be. Working together, you can manage great things. I see, farther in your future, victory; like a hunt, a good success. And you may not see it, but you are protected, all along; some powerful force is guarding you, sparing you from something. The bones speak only of fortune for you, Khavur."

She fixed them with her gaze, and glanced to Chaos-Two. "Do you have any more questions, for the bones? -And what of you; do you want only to know if you will be happy? Free?"

confirmed ooc that names would be given!

@Khavur

Maximus stared at Giggle for a moment and looked away, her answer troubling. On one hand, it was encouraging that she didn't need to read the bones to give them an answer, but on the other... of course Vargas' opinion of him mattered. He was Vargas.

They would just have to figure it out later.

"... What will be my fate?", they asked, "Just in general, I suppose."

They were excited again. Khavur's answer was positive and good and judging by her nod, she deemed it alright too. But they were nervous, too. What if their fate was something terrible? What if their fate wasn't as good as Khavur's?

The knowledge that this wasn't set in stone made them feel a bit better, though. At the very least, Khavur would be fine, and that was perfectly fine with Maximus, too.

@Giggle

Confirmed ooc that Khavur can be powerplayed to nod and can be skipped this round