Kerberos's entry had Giggle deeply amused. It was both the best and worst possible way to affect her whole theatrical getup: a three-headed, scarred, massive beast bounding in but with a goofy, happy, familial greeting. But even if he'd been a roly-poly puppy she'd never have been mad for him crashing her party, if even he did; she was perfectly glad to see him, and happy he was there.
Before she could give him a proper greeting, the stranger--Arcturus--introduced himself. And Giggle was relieved and pleased to find that he was polite, rather than stiffly Cat. She paced over to give Kerberos a friendly nuzzle--one for each head, of course, motherly and loving. "We'll get snacks later, if you want, but thanks for the thought!" she told him; "-and welcome back to the BONE PIT." This was delivered with a dark-eyed wink and more amusement than mock-drama, this time.
Arcturus's question had her tilting her head as she moved back to the pit to choose a bone. "A good question! A wise question, to ask what to be prepared for! Some want to change their fate entirely, but it's not so easy as that. Preparation--that is wisdom." She nodded to herself, actually meaning this little bit of wavering-voiced shaman's advice. She fired a glance to the cloud-wreathed creature, eyeing the stars that seemed to glint in his mane and the wings that ran with the colors of flame, and considered. There weren't very many bones that'd remind her of such completely alien beauty; bones were hard and whitish, and that was that.
With a mental shrug, though no less deliberation than usual, she selected one: a large bone, but slender, with an unusual curve she hadn't ever been able to identify. It had some kind of weird, bright green stone embedded in it, which while not matching Arcturus was certainly colorful.
Gripping this in her teeth, Giggle made her way to the bone pit's ledge, and there she stood, a beat, staring down. It probably looked dramatic, and in her mind, she was reciting his question to the bones: Bones, what does the future hold for this one--for Arcturus? This cat that looks like he's wrapped in red smoke. What should he prepare for? -If anything? Then she lobbed it down, so that it fell into the pit with a clatter; and she considered how it fell.
The result was... not a good one; the way it fell and stuck, at first, to tumble farther alone and covered by other bones, the way a small piece chipped off and left it damaged but no closer to the rest. The reading, in fact, rather dampened the whole 'mystical theater' thing she was putting on, and Giggle struggled to frame it in a positive light. She stood pensive for a moment, scouring the bones for any signs she might have missed, but--no; nothing.
"I see a complicated future for you, Arcturus," she began, careful in her phrasing. "I see... stagnation for you now. Things unchanging, a life you will need to work to renew. Fate holds nothing, at first, and that is a silence you will have to choose to break! But I see other things," she went on, "in the bones."
Shit.
"I see loss. One thing, parted from another. It may be a prized possession, something you value very deeply--or it might be family. A child, split from its parents, perhaps. And I see another form of loss: a failure, a pointless sacrifice or a fight fought for nothing. My advice, the bones' advice, on what to be prepared for..?" She lifted her eyes to Arcturus, trying to seem mysterious and all-knowing, and instead feeling sort of bad for the cloudy creature. This wasn't the sort of news she liked delivering. Focus on the flip side... give advice to make it better. He asked how to be prepared, right? "Push to change your life; push to make things better. Be careful what you give away, and what you fight for--and cherish whatever you have, in case it is lost." If it wasn't already.
"Do you have any other questions for the bones?"