ORIGIN

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The witch doctor was once again at her bones.

Gibbering, talking to herself, occasionally breaking into hysterical-sounding cackles, the spotted hyena paced around the shallow pit.

It had become overgrown, in her absence, with clots of foul fungus. But fungus was hers, her magic, and so she hadn't simply torn it away. Instead she'd carefully carried it all to the outer edges, using her magic to grow it in a ring around the pile.

Above, perched on her ledge, the Hallowed Caller watched her work, its single crimson eye solemn.

Mother. Busy.

Its thoughts were simple enough, concepts and emotions and images, and Giggle had to translate them into something resembling words.

"Yes," she agreed aloud, then muttered something. "Busy busy, move the bones, fix the bones, so that they may speak. Long in silence, long in darkness, Mother in the void!" she cried, then cackled again.

It wasn't amusement, but terror that drove her into such laughter; hyenas "laughed" when frustrated or stressed, and Giggle was still terrified by her experience trapped in darkness.

She feared sleep; and so she stayed awake as long as she could. Sometimes, though, she slipped unconscious, and then invariably came the nightmares. Trapped in darkness--and considering most of it had apparently been in her mind, it was real, all over again.

"No sleep no sleep darkness, bones, we must fix the bones. My prophet, my omen, my harbinger," she added more quietly, looking up at the bird. There was gratitude, warmth; the bird had been her rescuer, as had Kerberos. It remained her anchor, and for some reason it hadn't fled her side after she'd awoken. It was their bond, she supposed; it wasn't afraid of her. When she finally succumbed to sleep, the bird nestled in with her, and she would wake curled around it and trembling, the Caller gently preening her as she whimpered.

You are a good friend.

Mother bird. Bird-dog. Love. Why bones?

The thoughts came clipped, and Giggle looked down at her handiwork, and grinned.

The pile was ready; it was cleaned of fungus, the dust and dirt scraped away. She paced up the narrow trail to sit at the overhanging boulder, flopping down alongside the Hallowed Caller a moment later.

"They will come again," she explained simply, and laid her head down while the bird settled up against her.

Now, to wait.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Louie (Azoo gets thread title credit!)

In his backwards and forwards treks through the tunnels, there was always the fork that winded away down deep into the caverns where the bone children lived. Being in a constant state of motion let his mind flow properly, he felt that if he stopped that he would just waste away again and become obsolete. In recent days he'd met and spoken to more gembounds than he had over the past couple of months. Possible an overestimation but he found himself in high spirits despite the criticisms from his lover and the terms they had left on.

Louie was absorbed in his confidence, and he wanted to pay a visit to even just the opening of the caves of Canis. It was an oddity he hadn't gotten to experience much of, as the group had sprung up so early on. Of course his own had been birthed only days later but that was to combat the rapid accumulation of animals working together. Both of his eyes were set straight ahead, the glow and differing colour from his left one merely an oddity rather than anything that could disadvantage him. "Children of the Bones, what secrets do you hide?" Louie wasn't entirely sure who actually was apart of the Bonebound anymore. Other than that overgrown pheasant who called himself a leader.

Ignoring protocol, he stepped into the room and could immediately hear the chattering of Giggle as she gathered and played with her bones. It was eerie, unnerving. The scowl set immediately on his face as he began to pace towards where she was. First to catch his eye was the stinking pit in front of her, next was the one eyed black bird that set perched, grooming the dirtied pelt of the frazzled canine. It was unlike one he'd seen before, and he had to blink a few times to really absorb the scene with all its crazy.

"What are you doing?" Chest raised, his tail flicked in agitation behind him. This seemed like some weirdly elaborate trap for wanderers and he glanced to the piles of bones behind her.

@Giggle

One is here, sister-mother.

I see it.

She saw it first through Omen's eye, a blurry, depthless image of a fox down below, hesitant, his tail flicking to and fro. He struck her as a thing of beauty: his red-golden pelt was simply gorgeous to look at, and his eyes, in particular, caught her interest. They were almost ethereal, one glowing a soft green, and as the fox approached up along the trail to come alongside her, she lifted her head and opened her own dark eyes to meet his.

"One eye is a gem, a gem, a beautiful, but not-gem? Glowing glow, it glows. A fox, it is. Has it seen it? She doesn't know," she chittered.

She stood rather abruptly, her still emaciated body hardly threatening, despite her size. The Caller let out a startled, raucous call that rang out through the cave, and with a swift beating of black wings it took off to circle the pair.

Giggle's mind swam with the double images: the fox before her, and the spinning cave. She cackled, again, the sound very likely grating.

"What does she do, he asks. Giggle, I was Giggle, but now I was void, and then I am the Reader of Bones. Who are you? Why do you come? Would you hear what they have to say? Maybe bad things, maybe good, maybe horrible void creatures that tear you apart with eyes everywhere--they have so many eyes..."

With another shrill cackle she turned, leaping past Louie and trotting down to the bone pile without any concern for whether she frightened him. Indeed, it didn't even seem to occur to her that she might. As she padded over to the edge of the bones, stopping just short of the fungal ring, the Caller swept down to land at her feet.

She stood, head low, suddenly rather eerily motionless; her dark eyes were locked on Louie.

"Your question, and an answer: what does she do? Visions of the future, for those who seek them. Wise, or eyes, but never lies."

Then she broke into another shrill and grating cackling, toothy jaw hanging wide.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Louie

Whether this creature was a female or male he had his doubts and as she began to talk, he had trouble following what she was saying. It was unnerving, it gave him weird goosebumps down his spine that continued to spread over his tail. There was no danger, that wasn't why he was unnerved. But her mannerisms were so alien to him it was putting him off. Starved beyond recognition of the creature she probably used to be, his eyes were glued to the bedraggled walk and laughter. "My name is Louie," he never liked to give out his name. Even Penelope hadn't heard it until he was sure that she wouldn't leave his side.

"Truthfully, I came here with no purpose. I know not what a "bone reader" does but it intrigues me." The calibre of his speech was raised when talking to such a demon like figure. But she was still a tangible being of this world, unlike the plague breather who wandered Origin caves. The only rival to his unmatched prokaryotic prowess. Before he could answer the remainder of her questions, she stealthily catapulted past him and he held his breath, almost afraid of drawing attention to himself like prey being stalked by a predator. Rotating on his heels, he only took two steps towards her before deciding it was better to just remain where he was until being invited over. Lest he be pushed into the pit and become the newest addition to the pit.

"What do you mean my question?" There were no questions he wanted to ask.

@Giggle

It spoke, and stood and it was mostly quiet and she liked it, it was calm and it was pretty to look upon and she liked that. Liked, liked, liked.

"Your QUESTION. A question you asked, what does she do, what am I doing, you asked a question I gave an answer that is how it works! Questions and answers, answers for questions, words and words and words--..."

She abruptly leapt forward, jerking, twitching, drawing close in a lopsided and broken fashion until her head was as close as he'd allow, tilted too far to one side and with her ears askew.

Pretty.

Be careful, Mother-sister.

He is very small, child-sister, do not fear.

She inspected Louie closely, sniffing, and this close--assuming he even stayed close--the rancid fungus thickly matting her coat like gore would be obvious. The scent and bloodstains of a fresh kill had dried asymmetrically over her muzzle, and the madness in her eyes was obvious.

"That question was answered, now. Never mind it, never mind, it is lost in the never in the nether of black and the eyes. They blink and watch you forever, but only if they are there. Sometimes they're not and it's only blackness forever. Do you want to know your future? Louie, Louie, phoey, gluey, rooey, gooey, ahahaHAHAHAHA! See it, feel it, taste it? Maybe it will taste of blood!"

She seemed pleased with the idea, spinning and leaping back to stand over the Caller, gibbering as she stared almost lovingly over her bones.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Louie

Face pressing up so they were almost touching, the stench was overwhelming. Maintaining eye contact was become a problem but he couldn't break. To break was to let her win and he wouldn't let her win as he set his jaw and just met her gaze. Even in her babbling and gibberish. He could feel her smelling him, but he didn't let himself pull away. Instead he stared straight ahead, thinking of other things. Thinking of Booker.

That broke his concentration and he shivered. By now he had tuned out the majority of her maddening cackle. Speak of eyes and voids. "Eyes and voids..." He murmured but when she asked if he wanted his fortune read, he pursed his lips and nodded firmly, almost slumping on his paws when she finally pulled away. Like some trance was broken as she bounced back to her cluster. It made his heart feel funny, he traced his paw down the broken and disjointed peridot. No longer so perfect in its ovular state. "What can you tell me about my future?" This whole situation had degenerated into something out of a horror movie and he was the perfect first victim.

@Giggle

Giggle let out shrill laughter, then leapt into her pile, wading in chest-deep. The bone pit was not dangerously deep, nor a tall conical pile, but it was a shallow dish filled with the skeletons of the fallen. Some were fresh bones, still stained orange with blood and flesh; others were ancient and time-bleached into white.

The hyena was looking for one that would fit Louie, to represent him. Joy flooded through her, erratic and shattered, and she didn't really understand it except that to read the bones again was like truly coming home.

I need a bone that is like him, like him. Pretty fresh new. Green and glow and goldred. Beautiful and mysterious and maybe bad? Is he bad?

Giggle paused, freezing abruptly, turning to peer at Louie slyly with her dark eyes. Was he bad?

As she gazed, the Hallowed Caller had hopped over, carefully picking its own way over the pile. A haunting, mournful cry escaped its beak and it turned, peering up at Giggle.

This one. Pretty. New. Shining. Fresh.

Giggle turned her attention back to Omen, moving over to peer down at what it had found. It had a slender, long bone, unidentifiable--a leg bone, or a strange rib, perhaps--with a small, pale green gem set into its side. The bone was oddly white, perhaps old, and it was perfectly beautiful and slender without appearing fragile. Giggle looked at the bone, and then at Louie, then at the bone again--and then seized it in her teeth, the crow leaping up and out of the way in time to avoid her lunge.

Perfect, sister-bird, thank you.

The hyena leapt out of the pile, trotting quickly to the ledge overhanging the pile. She eyed Louie slightly below her, then used her jaws to toss the little bone in.

It didn't make that much of a stir; it rattled the pile, yes, but it was too small to have much of an impact. Still, where it struck, it did send a few smaller bones scattering and spinning, and Giggle felt her mind spiral downward, descending into the pit to join the bones.

She saw from the Caller's single red eye, looked at the patterns that swirled below as the bird circled, and she cackled shrilly before, at last, speaking.

"That--that there, those them those, the bones, they scattered and fell--Ahaha, aha, AHAHAHAHA--... Hidden, your life is now hidden, as it is as you are you cannot see. Hidden mysteries, the past obscured, mysteries, you play and gamble and test, but wait, wait..."

The hyena half-closed her eyes, going still for a moment as if asleep. Then her voice came quieter, almost as if she were in a trance.

"I see in you a light that comes over a black land, it has words but I don't know them. No one does. It doesn't exist here but I see it in my dreams and it is you, a new beginning, the break of day. It is fast, and it comes strong, it is a sudden change and all is different and new. Such things are cycles," she added.

Giggle paced, moving along the outer edges. The hidden parts, the sun's rays--these she had seen, and the fungus whispered their names to her, to her mind. But now the last symbol: the chaos, no symbol, everything scattered.

Destruction, the fungus whispered into her mind, and Omen began to scream caws of alarm at the strange and intruding voice. Chaos. Madness.

"Chaos and storms," Giggle nearly murmured, turning and approaching Louie abruptly. She sat before him, lowering her head to stare at him intently, dark eyes wide with interest. "Mysteries, new start, but with the fresh beginning comes destruction. Why? It is born anew and wreaks havoc?!"

As if suddenly finding this concept hilarious the hyena turned, raucous cackling filling the air as she threw her head back in laughter, pacing away around the pile of bones.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Louie

While he was still deeply disturbed by her odd motions, he was captivated as she played and splashed within the bleached skeletons of victims long gone. Tentatively, he stepped closer to the edge, peering over and watching as she splashed around. Those eyes fixed on him and he immediately froze, standing stock still before she turned to that weird one-eyed bird of hers. Reminded him of Eve but obviously a lot less welcoming and definitely not the kind of person he'd be seeking to get high with. A lesser gembound, as she uttered not a word and just didn't have the same... look? That the sentient gembounds had.

Along his neck, the fur prickled but it was a pleasant feeling. It felt nice to be fussed over, even if it was by someone he'd never met before. Who gave off the feelings of not entirely right in the head. Now with her selected bones, she leaped out, bounded back to the ledge overlooking the pit and then tossed them haphazardly. It was weird, it didn't seem like it did much and he watched as it rattled a few of them around. Louie was almost not entirely sure if this was even legitimate but then she began to recite chiming words that were haunting, she couldn't get a reading on him or his past and his breath drew out slowly. As soon as something came through though, her pitch changed and her eyes half closed. It was weird.

Then the words came.

So far, it sounded like a good thing. Something was going to happen fast, he was going to be in the light standing over the shadows. He would be powerful, he would be the one. But again she changed, again it began to spiral out of control as it always had. Now with her looking deep into his eyes, he shrunk backwards and began to take shaky deep breaths. Fear gripped him, and he wasn't sure why. With fresh beginnings comes destruction. Laughing, she began to walk around the pile and with his head spinning and heart pounding he made a strangled sound after her, "Wait! Wait! You can't just leave it there... There has to be more." Desperation was in his voice, he wanted to know about him and Booker. He wondered if he could ask such a specific question about the future.

"There is another... I want to know what will happen between us. After the chaos and destruction... Is there light?" Louie wasn't sure what he was asking because he had no idea where her information was coming from. It was so outlandish, but he truly believed her words. No longer was he keeping a serious tone, forgetting he was in fact in Canis. He just had to know what would happen to him. If he could tell the future he could stop disaster happening. "We fought, we can't be together now but I just know.... I have to know. We will be together right?"

@Giggle

The hyena turned on a dime, wheeling at the words almost as if offended, though in truth she was only turning her attention sharply back to the fox.

She came half-galloping back, her crooked, bony body loping with a rocking motion. Her head was again askew at an odd angle, and Louie's words drifted through her mind. She nearly collided with him, dropping her rump and skidding up to him, going to seize him with her forelimbs and lick at his fur almost frantically.

"Oh, oh, he is worried, mm, desperate, in love," she crooned softly, her movements almost gentle as she pinned him to her. It was as if she were offering comfort--yet a moment later she sprang away again, eyes wild, leaping back to her bone pile. "Find yourself before you find another, you are lost, that is not the bones but I who speaks but the bones will be asked, they are never to deny, she is not to deny on their behalf." She was babbling, but she didn't seem to know, or perhaps care.

Omen stared at Louie fixedly, unmoving.

The hyena seized a cross of two bones--or rather a forking bone, a bird's wishbone perhaps. Her eyes passed over the fox as she passed by, dark eyes empty and mad, a grin on her face. Then she was gone again, up the ledge and on the boulder, tossing the bone in to rattle. Her cackle echoed through the cave, shrill and broken, and then she leaned over to peer down.

She was still grinning.

For a moment, Giggle was silent as her mind scattered, flittering over the bones like a fallen bird, spying their shapes and gleaning meaning from them. Only slowly did her grinning, empty gaze shift again to Louie. She began to speak quietly, entranced, her voice growing more rapid and deep as she went on.

"There is a seed, in the bones. It was planted, yes, you planted this long ago, and it twists, and what has grown is what you planted. Did you plant evil? Did you plant good? Did you plant love? Did you plant hate? I don't know, I don't know, the bones know, you know, I don't need to know. And then there is a tree, you see, I see, the spirit does not change. Even in death and in rebirth the spirit does not change. The bones show this. The bones are never wrong. Need. Too much need. Loss. Sorrow. Pause. Wait. That is the last, an empty hole, that is what I see. It is pause, it is wait. Lessons to be learned. Stop. Think. Learn. Push ahead and you lose. Lose. Aha... Ahahaha. AHAHAHA. Learn! LEARN!"

The mad hyena began to shove her upper body up and slam it down, over and over, ranting "LEARN" at the top of her lungs, interspersed with cackling.

Abruptly she paused, the grin vanishing, eyeing Louie sidelong with one sharp, dark eye that seemed suddenly filled with solemnity. And her voice, too, came quiet and eerily calm, after her madness.

"What you plant is what you reap. The spirit does not change. Learn your lesson before you lose all."

The caller peered over, giving a soft croak, echoing the word that was chiming so importantly and so repeatedly through its bonded's mind.

"Learn."

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ROLL THE BONES

@Louie

Personally, he wished he'd never asked as her head snapped awkwardly around to look at him. Those dark pools of madness and despair fixed upon his small body. Not even moments went by before she was approaching him at rapid pace, his heart beat began to palpitate awkwardly as he tried to scramble back to avoid collision when she dropped herself down and grabbed him around the shoulders roughly. A broad, wet tongue began to slick his fur back. An awkward hug, a gesture that he wasn't even willing to share with Booker, yet he didn't feel violated.

This creature was not of this world, her head was not thinking the same thoughts that the other mortals did. No he didn't feel pity towards her, mostly a sense of understanding that she wasn't connected with the earth they stood on. Almost dropping him, he slumped back onto his own paws as she happily skipped away to her beloved bone pile. Mentions of him being in love caused him to flush hard, and his temper was about to flare but he held back as she mentioned he was lost and he couldn't be with another until he found himself. Everyone could see it, heck even Louie had seen it and admitted to Booker they couldn't be together because of it. Their ties had been severed, but he wanted to make sure they were still present when he was ready to come back. When Booker was ready to accept him for who he was. As he didn't understand sincerity.

The process repeated, a bone was selected. It wasn't like the other and was one of the few variants from the pile. Not entirely sure what this meant, he waited for her to climb back to her ledge, the smell of her breath clinging to him as her saliva stuck to his fur. It was disgusting, but he didn't care about that now. A clatter, a shrill cackle and his wide eyes watched it bounce among the bones. It meant nothing to him, he saw nothing in it other than a carcass being tossed back. Broken words began to fall out of her mouth, this mention of a seed. Though she knew not the origins, apparently he was supposed to and the bones did. It was hard, he couldn't think what it was as they were all such... plausible answers? Lump in his throat, he continued becoming more and more confused and distressed as she went on. There was no defining answer, merely cryptic messages passed along from these "bones".

An empty hole. Lessons to be learned and sorrow and she was finished. Chanting the word learn over and over again he found himself thinking about his emergence from the chrysalis. That conversation with Booker and the capture and situation with Penelope. All of them were things he wouldn't have done before he'd almost died. So he had learned. What she was saying made no sense. Eventually he would have what he needed, and he would have learned what it was like to taste something he had been snapping at to reach. At first her ranting was unnoticed while his mind kept ticking, but the silence when she stopped was deafening until she repeated, more calmly, more eerie, that he would reap what he had sowed. It would be good. It had to be good. Booker would wait. All he needed was this one chance, this final opportunity to mean something to Origin.

Merry Men would rise. That was his final question but he didn't know how to word it without her being alerted to his intentions so he said nothing. Frog in his throat, he croaked out, "If that's true... It can't be true. How can you be so sure?" Louie wanted to now ask trivial and meaningless questions to test the validity of the ivory, but he didn't want to offend Giggle. This was a power beyond what any of the elements granted. It was otherworldly. Wiping his cheek with his paw, he kept his lips in a firm line. "I need to ask one more thing of the bones. Can it see the end of Origin caves? Is there more than just this? Are we all destined for eventual destruction?" That was something he didn't think they could answer. It didn't bother him, but his fears were in play and he couldn't just leave knowing he hadn't tried.

@Giggle

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