Alone he sat, in the empty bowels of Canis, sitting lonely amongst the miles of bone, dark pelt a camouflage among the burnt, broken remains of long, long ago. The fur was plastered to his skin, wet and faintly sticky, but it didn't seem to mind. The shattered black remains of its chrysalis still sat in a semicircle around it, the new pup haven't even moved an inch from its hatching spot. No, it had hatched, breathed, and looked around, and all it saw were these strange shapes. ancient shapes, but it didn't know that yet. Remains of the living, but even if it knew, it would not be afraid.
Even now, it did not show fear, nor did it feel fear. With no need to fulfill needs of hunger or water just yet, and nothing but emptiness and boredom spreading across the world before it, it did what any child would do if left alone with a bunch of Things. It began to play.
The play wasn't particularly rambunctious or energetic, but the soft thoughtfulness of the quiet kid playing with blocks. It pawed at the bones around its feet, taking the shapes and creating new shapes. Piecing them together at different angles and points, creating lines curves until the shape it had created out of the bone was rather...all over the place. An indescribable shape, but the pup seemed happy with its creation, looking at it with the smallest wag in its tail.
And then a question came to his mind. This wasn't play anymore, but study. He wanted to know what these things were. He wanted to know where they came from, how they got here, what their purpose was. So he slid down onto his belly and took a bone, resting it between his front paws, inspecting it carefully, rolling it over, sniffing its many sides. But he could garner nothing but This is old from the wear and the chipping and how brittle it felt. And then, with a sudden, violent move, the pup brought his paw down on the bone's surface and a crackling noise bounced off Canis's walls as the bone crumbled beneath his foot. He stared at the shard, as if thinking deeply about his actions and what it meant. Because it did mean something. This means something.
The first noises--the soft sounds of hatching--pricked up her ancient ears, but she wasn't quite sure that she'd heard what she'd thought she had.
The second--the snap of a bone--was more distinct, and her curiosity was roused, if dimly. If she'd had better things to do, the crack of a single bone wouldn't really have drawn her attention but as it was, she didn't have better things to do. She shoved up off the rock, grumbling, noting the sensation of Omen sleeping somewhere off to the east. So Giggle shook out her spotted coat, stretched, yawned, and set off alone.
The pup she stumbled onto was one she almost didn't see, at first: the dark hues of his soaking wet coat blended in far too well with the charred bones, here. It took her a moment of standing and looking down the slope to realize he was there--and her ears pricked up again, eyes widening a bit with surprise.
It didn't occur to her that the bones and streaks of red she'd chosen to decorate herself with might come across as a little scary for the average kid--but maybe the jackal wasn't average. In any case, she stopped still some yards off, and lowered herself with slow caution to sit.
@Anubis
He continued staring at the shards of bone at his feet idly, moving them around without really paying attention, but he snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of a voice, and the sound of movement as someone stepped through the many bones littering the ground. Head turned quickly to look at the stranger, eyes wide and curious as she approached and stopped a few feet away. He rose to his feet, but not to run but turn his body so he was pointed in her direction, shards of bone forgotten. His eyes raked her over, looking at every bit of her - the ragged appearance and many scars, striped bloodbathed fur, skull-painted face, bones and lights and things hanging from her neck...
Now this was much more interesting then the bones.
He approached her slowly, but with little caution, though he paused when she introduced herself. He could understand the noises she was making, tilting his head curiously.
Half of her was (quite rightly, she thought) scared for this kid's prospects alone. The caves could certainly turn into bloodbaths at any given moment. But she also didn't want to scare him by telling him that; food, she hoped, would be enough of a draw to let her hang around long enough to make sure he could take care of himself, at least a little.
She'd sure been hungry when she'd hatched--that much she remembered.
@Anubis
The invitation to smell had Anubis more confident in getting closer. Ah, so he was allowed to do this. He wanted to know more, and scent seemed like a good first step, so he sniffed along Giggle's muzzle, catching the dusty scent similar to the cave around them, a dark warmth, and a more putrid scent that layered it all, which didn't deter him, but rather encouraged him to sniff along her paws as well. It was the scent of decay and fungal growth, although he was yet unfamiliar with either - perhaps soon he would know more. He would have to study it.
He turned up to look her in the face as she spoke, tall ears turning up to her as he carefully processed words. It would come easier later, he assumed, and looked around as she introduced the cave they were in.
He visibly brightened at the mention of "food". He was hungry - that was something he immediately became aware of. He hadn't eaten, ever, and already his mouth was watering at the thought of getting something in his belly. Tail began wagging behind him and he nodded, fervently.
Anubis's attentiveness was a good thing--it'd make it easier to teach him the skills he'd need to survive. But Giggle was used to kids bouncing around, not paying attention, generally being balls of unguided energy. What was funny, then--what was a strange and almost hilarious counterpoint to his studious demeanor--were the giant damn ears. They were huge, pointed, and adorably oversized, and Giggle found herself staring at them for a moment.
Her heart melted, just a little.
Then she dragged herself back to the conversation.
She shuffled to a point near a few boulders, one of the places where the cave rats clustered.
She crouched down, eyes on the hole ahead.
She spotted a bit of movement beneath the stone, and like an ambush, sent her magic out in a snap--spores drifting and carrying with it.
Giggle then focused--and a few moments later, a rat came out, albeit far more slowly and tentatively than she'd hoped. It was sniffing around it, looking this way and that, and she spoke quietly.
@Anubis
Anubis quickly trotted after the hyena as she began to lead him away. Her slow gait was just enough for the pup to trot comfortably at her side, looking up at her as he listened, instead of where he was going. He was listening so carefully to what she was saying, considering it all and thinking so deeply about these things she was saying - safe, dangerous, caves, hunt, magic - that he wasn't looking at where he put his paws and ended up tripping over a rock. He stumbled forward with a small surprised whine and then immediately righted himself, feeling his skin heat up with embarrassment. He quickly shook himself up and stood taller, clearing his throat and looking at Giggle.
He followed her over to the boulder, quickly forgetting his little fall, crouching down next to her, ears pricked tall, excitement beginning to race through his bones. This was a very important lesson, right here, he knew! Feeding himself would be important to living. He was glad to be learning from a master like Giggle and not trying to figure it out on his own, although the prospect if learning things himself was...thrilling.
He nodded, excitement quickly switching over to apprehension. Was he really going to do this? To be honest, he wasn't even sure he knew what he was doing. What 'hunting' truly meant. The concept of death hadn't quite been introduced to the young pup just yet. He turned his eyes in the direction that Giggle was looking and watched as a rat came trotting out slowly. Ears pulled back and his paws had turned to stone. What was he supposed to do again? Bite? What if he fell again? What if he fucked it up? Was he doing something wrong, to act so brashly, to be so violent and active? All he'd done so far is learn and watch, he had never acted after snapping apart the bone.
Anubis's stumble was met with a sharp, brow-raised glance, and a brief
She answered him, briefly, as they walked (briefly, so as not to overwhelm the poor kid with information) about how mold and fungus lived throughout the caves; how those with her magic could see it, see through it like having a thousand feelers out in the stone and earth; how they could control it, even.
It was a simple enough suggestion, but she didn't try to detail it further, yet. He'd ask if he wanted and again, she didn't want to overwhelm the poor kid straight out of the rock. Once he had some food in him, she could maybe take him to a waterhole and relax a little, answer his questions then--but if she remembered her hatching at all (and she did), a fully belly was an important start.
And as for the rat?
Her jaws closed almost gently around its head and neck, and she had to shuffle awkwardly to the side to let Anubis see--then she tightened her grip, lifted, and shook. The snap was audible, but the kill was relatively quick, and clean, bar a series of tremors that went through the Gray's body as it died. There was no squealing or struggling--her magic had seen to that--and she moved the rat to set it down before Anubis.
A quick crush of jaws a moment later opened a place for him to feed, and she stepped back and sat down, tongue briefly bathing black jaws.
@Anubis
He watched with wide eyes, creeping after Giggle as she approached the rat, watching with a mix of interest and horror as she lifted it by the neck, shaking with powerful jaws. Anubis flinched violently at the snap, feeling it echo like a torrent in his ears from the sensory magic. The spores covering the rat gave Anubis all the info he needed - the sudden stop of its heart, the cracked neck bone, and the absence of breath. It no longer lived, it was dead, it would never move again. Never think again, never eat or drink or see.
As Giggle set the rat down for him to eat, he considered these things deeply, staring for a moment at the open spot on its body where he was meant to eat. Instead of being revulsed by death, he found himself uniquely interested. It had been so easy for Giggle to end life, such a precious thing. They were fragile, all of them. A bite to the back of the neck could end them, forever. No more magic, no more talking. But was it truly the end, if all these bones still littered the floor? Did they not remain in some form after the body had been discarded?
Realizing that he was just staring at his meal, he suddenly blinked and looked up at Giggle, ears flicking.
Sitting back, eyes wide, tongue washing the blood smattered across his jaw, he stared at Giggle with a sparkle in his eyes.
Giggle stayed on her rump, one hind leg coming up to scratch at her flank as she watched Anubis eat. The old mother in her was content, happy, to see a child well-fed; and she was pleased, too, to see that he didn't seem all that disturbed by the kill or the fact he'd need to eat.
The knowledge he'd already used his magic was quite reassuring too, and she gave him warm praise after he explained it.
The hyena pushed up, shaking herself off briefly.
Her words were warm, welcoming, despite the bones and blood paint that marked her. She made her way away, then, offer open--as it would remain.
@Anubis
exit due to inactivity