ORIGIN - praise the light

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Knowledge injected straight into his mind, just like last time. Strange magic, to come around, make you wish, and give you knowledge for it. A spell, again - not quite on the same incredible level as the lesser gembound one, but it would be most useful for what he was planning on doing. One solution to his problem. Funny, then, that he had wished it for Giggle. Perhaps he wouldn't need her after all.

The book interested him, though - he wasn't sure if he would be able to understand it, but being given that knowledge so easily...oh, that was nice. How...convenient. This hadn't been a waste of a trip, then. If Giggle couldn't help then at least he had gotten these two things out of it.

"I don't know," he offered as he pulled himself out of his thoughts. "But it happened to me before. I wished for a companion of mine and he found a garden. But it's strange, I've never felt it before."

He looked down at the pendant on his neck. "And you...wished this for me?"

@Giggle

"That's what did it?" she asked, the shock still evident in her voice. She thought it over. "That's what did it," she repeated, answering her own question in surprise. "I know that magic. I think. That-... The feather," she mused aloud, then looked to Anubis. She remembered there was someone here; that she couldn't just stand here talking to herself.

"It brought someone back to life once. I, uh-..." and here her brain scrambled to catch up, to remember what she'd just wished. "...I wished for you to be able to make lights, like you needed. And to find history on that place, the history you were looking for." She hesitated, blinking, still trying to come to terms with what had just happened.

"I--I don't know you well enough now to know what you might've wanted, more," she admitted, half-apologetic, but still mostly just confused. She looked around, then, as though the magic might simply... return. Then she blinked back at Anubis. "What'd you wish for?" she asked, peering down at the firefly jar on its cord. "And did you somehow--I don't know, learn the history?" It seemed like a little bit too much to ask.

@Anubis

Anubis was only half interested in all of this. His mind was already starting to wander back to the prison, where the book awaited him and his fire was ready to illuminate the dark tunnels. But then Giggle said the magic words that not only pulled his attention back, but snapped it to intrigue and full attention: 'brought someone back to life.'

Anubis's eyes widened and he seemed to lean in, far more invested then he'd been a moment ago. "Truly? One who was dead was brought back with this magic? All the way, not simply a revival of the stone?" Almost half-consciously, Anubis began subtly releasing that lovely little pheromone that softly covered what was once the smell of fungus coming from both him and Giggle, and the empty smell of dust and nothing of the tunnel. It wasn't to push her in any direction or manipulate her in any way, in Anubis's mind, but rather to simply...to loosen her tongue a bit. Everything is fine, she can trust him, they are friends.

"Tell me about it, please. That's very interesting." There was not anyone in particular that he wanted to bring back, but he had been searching for so long, the answer to death. For nothing more then curiosity, knowledge. And if there was such an easy answer...he had to know it.

Oh, right. She wanted to know what he had wished for her. "Ah, I didn't learn the knowledge directly, but I now know of a book to find, that has that knowledge. And I...I wished for you to make lights too. My mind has been so wrapped up in...how terrifying the dark could be, so I wished for you to not have to fear it, as I have. I hope that is okay...?"

@Giggle

She noticed nothing odd. She had no reason to distrust Anubis to begin with, and the magic, unnoticed, had her easing her guard even further. "Completely dead," she answered wryly, and was perfectly willing to elaborate even if he hadn't asked. There was no reason to hide any of it, in any case. Before she quite did, Anubis explained his wish--and she felt oddly warmed. Oddly not because it was suspicious, but because being warmed by a stranger's actions was unusual for the mostly loner hyena. She felt awkward, but yes... warmed. "Thanks. I mean that; maybe not always the best with words but that actually means a lot to me." Had she told him of the dark-? Of being trapped within the void? She couldn't quite remember, and it would've been hard to explain anyway just how much she always clung to light. "It's-..." and she tried to look down at the vial, but she'd slipped the cord over her neck with her nose and now couldn't quite see straight down under her own jaw. Oops. "It's something that-" I already said it means a lot to me. "I'll get use from it. As for Aza'zel--that's who the wish brought back," and she dropped to her haunches, ready to launch into the whole thing.

"He died many, many cycles ago. It's a strange thing. I did give his stone life. Recovered his bones. He was gone, completely gone. He's-..." and here she paused, adjusting her weight distribution on her legs, tilting her head up a bit in thought. She stared off into the shadowed ceiling as she found her words. "This magic turned up. I wished he'd come back. And he did, but he doesn't really remember how. And he doesn't remember... everything. It's like..."

She looked back to Anubis but her brow was a little furrowed. It was something that was hard to describe, something even she hadn't quite been able to put words to yet, not even in her own thoughts. "It's like he was asleep for many, many cycles. Most of my own life. And you know how when you sleep, sometimes you forget a little? Or maybe you dream and forget half your dream? It's... like that. He doesn't remember everything from before." This was said a bit sadly, but respectfully, too. Slightly hushed.

Retrospectively she realized maybe this wasn't her place to say. But Anubis's friendly demeanor (or rather, his magic, though she didn't know that) had loosened her tongue just that little bit.

"Don't repeat this around, please." She could ask of him this, at least.

@Anubis

Huh. He hadn't actually expected his gift to her be particularly well-received, but he seemed to have struck a good nerve with that one. His tail wagged behind him in his feigned delight as a smile crinkled the edges of his eyes. "Oh, I'm glad! I will get use out of mine too - thank you for them." And now, hopefully, they could move onto what Anubis was really interested - the revived dead.

He marked down the name in his mind - Aza'zel. It confounded him, a complete wrench thrown in his understanding thus far. How could one, who was fully and truly dead, and already revived into a new being, be revived again as their old creature? There was no way it was possible. Was it some kind of magical copy or clone? A memory given form? What magic was that powerful, to be able to create something from only thought like that? It was different from their own magic, he mused. He, at least, created from spores, nudged them around, manipulated things that existed. But to create from nothing? Impossible.

He would have to look into it.

He hummed thoughtfully as he listened, still making sure to lean in and look politely interested instead of the creepy obsessive way that he could get. He nodded, ear flicking thoughtfully. "That is fascinating. I wonder why he doesn't remember. And you said...it was a wish that gave him back?" He looked down at the lighter on his neck. This was a new kind of magic. He would have to find some threads to follow. Talking to Aza'zel was one, but if he didn't remember anything, was it even worth it?

Ah, well. He would keep his nose in the air, if this magic ever came around again.

"I promise I won't tell. Thank you for telling me." And that, at least, he was fully honest about. This, he would keep to himself.

@Giggle

Giggle nodded. "Thanks," she said, with genuine relief. She'd have hated to be the cause of dark rumors circulating, particularly when they would have circulated around her best friend. "A wish, like this, I think." She couldn't be certain of the exact magic, but it was what it was.

"Did you still want my help with this new place?" she asked then, thinking. She glanced down to the firefly jar. "Two light sources might be better than one, but... it's up to you."

While the strange sense of easygoing friendliness was fading--something she'd have attributed to the Wish magic, had she even noticed it--she wasn't averse to continued help. She just wasn't sure if he'd need it anymore.

@Anubis

Anubis looked thoughtful for a moment, and then shook his head. "No, no I think I'll be okay. If the...thing in the prison is dangerous, I do not want you to risk yourself unecessarily for my own curiosity. With this," a paw came up to touch the lighter hanging at his neck, "I think I will be okay. This is enough." In truth, he had never really wanted Giggle to come with him. This was his to discover, his and, in part, Bacchus's. And should she ever find about their true intentions with the prison, she would most definitely stop them.

Also, the friendly facade would be exhausting to keep up if he didn't have to.

"Thank you. If I find anything interesting there, I'll let you know. It's the least I can do for this."

@Giggle

Part of her was disappointed, her curiosity to be left unsated for now. But a far larger part, the part that still had nightmares of the dark, was greatly relieved.

Giggle nodded. "Well, if you run into trouble, come find me." Though he doesn't want to come into Canis, really, she realized, but there wasn't much of a way around that.

The hyena stretched and stood. "I'll head back, then, but yeah; you don't owe me, not at all. But I'd love to hear if you do find anything interesting. I think... The history of these caves-" She hesitated and rephrased. "I think the future of these caves, our futures, is likely to echo its past. It's important to learn everything we can, to be prepared." She nodded, then; but she had little more to say.

If he was ready to go, she'd let him.

@Anubis

He nodded again, although he couldn't stop one eye from twitching at her last statement. How ironic it was that they both desired to learn from the past, and how different their motivations were. She wished to learn to protect the future, he wished to learn to continue, in a way, their cruelties. Although he was confident enough that he would learn to not repeat their failures.

On the outside, of course, he said none of that, instead expressing, "I agree. Knowledge is the most important thing." And he wasn't lying - knowledge is important, more important then anything else.

"Be safe, Giggle." A last dip of his head, a respectful gesture, and then he turned and trotted off back up the tunnel. He would find Bacchus, and show him the tool he'd acquired. They could speak more on their plans and then Anubis...he would be finding that book. He couldn't read yet, but that was next on his to-do list.

*exit

@Giggle

Giggle started to go, then glanced back, something occurring to her at the last second. "Anubis," she called, brow furrowing. "If it's dangerous--the place you're exploring--I could send Omen with you? Or spores," she added, head tilting as that thought also occurred to her. "I could watch through them, so if something happened I'd know. If you want that... extra safety," she added.

She wasn't sure where it was that he was exploring; it seemed these days that a new cave was unearthed every few cycles. But this way if he were trapped, or cornered, she'd know. And she could--with luck--get help.

If he didn't want it she wouldn't demand it, of course. But it'd have been remiss of her not to offer.

sorry!! i realized she'd offer-

@Anubis

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