ORIGIN

Giggle lifted her head, yawning and blinking slowly. She'd been dreaming, vaguely--something about a prisoner of war in a pile of bones, sinking and crying for help. She'd remembered feeling a sternness, a grim satisfaction, in seeing them perish--but she realized now the sounds had come from outside her mind, and that they were still going.

She could hear the ringing voice of Kerberos, and with a shake of her mane she stood. Bones was--... Where was Bones? She glanced around, and let out a brief, quiet cackle to call him, before trotting off toward the noises. If Bones was close to her den, hopefully she'd have woken him.

It took some time to narrow down the noise; one of the bone fortresses, it seemed, had collapsed, and someone was trapped beneath. Giggle thought nothing of it, really; surely someone had been sleeping within and it had fallen. Maybe they'd been pulling bones from the wall, weakening its structure until it had crushed them.

Hopefully they wouldn't die.

The fact that it could be a trap wasn't lost on her, but the likelihood seemed slim. Wordless, with only the sigh of the recently awoken and another yawn, she took up position next to Kerberos and began to pull the old, dry bones away.

As she worked she saw Aza'zel, and she must have been tired because there were three of him, and two were black. Double vision--or, rather, triple. She grunted, pawed at her eyes, and blinked at him.

Nope. There were three birds.

"The hell, Aza'zel? You breeding with the bones or something?" She let out a coarse, uncouth cackle before seizing the next bone in her jaws, still helping Kerberos to free whatever was trapped beneath.

"Is it one of your spawn stuck under here? Maybe another Bone Prince hatching? Or did someone get trapped?"

________________

Roll the bones.

There appeared to be some minor struggling beneath the bones, but otherwise any movement was reserved, as if the thing trapped by the collapsed fortress was too weak to displace them itself. It wheezed and whistled with deep breaths that it struggled to make, trapped - another desperate call rang out before it heard the sudden rustling of bones above. Something was beginning to dig it free. With that, it fell silent and waited.

Bones was indeed awoken by the call of his 'mother,' lying just outside the hyena's den by a shallow pool of dirty water. Watching his mother pad outside he stumbled to his shaking feet, quickly dunking his face into the water before he limped after her, shaking his head. Apparently, this was as much of a bath as he was going to get today.

The hyena seemed to notice the wild dog getting up (and showering) not too soon later, pausing and looking back she waited on him with a tired expression plastered to her face. Once Bones got up towards her he licked her entire muzzle.

And then they were off.

Giggle seemed to be out of it, but it was nice to be out of the den with her for a while. It gave the pup a sense of normalcy, despite the hard limp in his step. With his tail waving to and fro, he looked over the vision of the collapsed structure.

Perhaps the white-cat's tower had fallen over? He honestly couldn't tell. He watched carefully, sitting down as his mother and Kerberos tugged at the bones, and he noticed Azazel had tripled in numbers. He flinched and got close to the hellhound and hyena. "... What happened to Grandpa Azazel?" he muttered quietly.



________________

Of the few places Delphine rarely frequented, Canis stood neck to neck with Monoceros. Both rooms offered little in the way of amenities and beauty but both places were also home to Gembounds she significantly cared for. So it was the adolescent found herself traipsing the familiar tunnel that led to Canis, remembering a time when she'd attempted to howl with the friendly three-headed dog and of the unfortunate events to unfurl afterward. It'd been a difficult subject for her to broach in regard to the trauma that Kerberos had inflicted on Meredith and though it'd been discussed briefly, it hardly meant she was entirely comfortable with the dichotomy of her own encounter with the dog and the one that was so opposite Mer's own experience. Nonetheless, she tried to justify her bestial friend's actions as that of the nature between predator and prey but it did nothing to deter the undercurrent of nervousness that bled through her every step leading to the boneyard.

Unfamiliar scents drifted to her nose, reminding her instantly that this was a place inhabited by many but what caught her attention was the nervous energy and pulse of magic that gathered in Canis. Her interest was instantaneously piqued as she made her way toward the fortress and not soon after sighted the multiple Gembounds gathered by the fortress. Hesitantly, the adolescent stepped forward, drawing closer to the three-headed dog given their prior familiarity.

Before she could inquire of the situation, a slim understanding permeated through her foremost thoughts urging her forward with the urge to assist in what ways she could. "Perhaps I can help?" If she could have foreseen the failure to come, she would not have offered where there were more than enough Gembounds to assist in the matter but as was the nature of Delphine, she could not deny her immediate desire to do what she could. She was a protectorate, one who was bound for imminent failure. She'd learned a new skill recently and it seemed in a circumstance as this, it would be most appropriate so she tried. Focusing inwardly, her powers gathered and the gesture came naturally, a lift of her one leg and not soon after, she slammed it upon the earth. She was certain she'd done everything correctly but what she could not have predicted was the pain that shot up from her hoof through her whole body. A jolt that lanced with an immediate pain that collapsed her balance and forced the horse to the ground.

She'd broken (or perhaps fractured) her leg and with a small whinny, Delphine found herself mortified more so by her failure than anything else.