ORIGIN - [M] The Prince of Bones

Pages: 1 2

She was uncertain why she was trembling.

Fear? ...She was afraid, yes. What she was going to do-... there was no turning back from. She was going to kill the child of her King--or die trying... or perhaps worse, leave him alone after getting confirmation that he had killed her best friend. And then have to live with the knowledge.

A hyena cub, bounding flat into an adult Lammergeier. Tumbling over bones, a tangle of feathers and fur. His gift of food. Hunger, sated; gratitude. Kind pale eyes.

Anger? It certainly eclipsed the fear. Rage, hatred that boiled hot through her body. He killed him. He lied to me-... and he killed him.

A startle of movement. Misery. Guilt. Resignation. Choking. The roof of Canis, falling away, Eythan staring down at him as he fell.

Or perhaps it was grief. He had been her King. A father to her, and later a friend. She had been lost, and when she finally began to stir from her madness, she had looked for him--and found him gone. She had never seen him again.

Not until now. Not until she'd at last found his bones, lying forgotten at the bottom of a stagnant pool. They were familiar. Slender. The pointed, slightly-hooked beak; the talons. They'd been too fresh. Too different from the ancient ones that littered the cave. She'd stood there in the water, alone but for the bones of her dead friend, and she had used her magic to See.

To See flashes of his life. To See her old friend again, so abruptly, tearing open a wound that had nearly stopped aching--dragging her through his loss all over again.

To See his death at the claws of his own child. A child that had lied to her. A child who had slunk away into Polaris.

She was here to retrieve him. To confront him.

And most of all, she was here to retrieve Azazel's stone. She would see his son dead--or she would join the Bone King in death.

Ahead, the black Hallowed Caller soared silently toward the Spire. The bird's single crimson eye kept a lookout for the filthy cat hybrid, and Giggle, trembling and tense, paced through the darkness behind it. It did not matter, to her, that the lights were dim.

She had a prince to kill.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

DREAM IN MY SOUL
AND I WON'T LET IT GO

Ever since that day --- when the only remnants of the Bonebound (that he knew of) came --- Eythan had been warier, more careful in his actions. One might call it paranoia, but he refused to give his actions such a moniker. It was caution, he promised himself, rationalizing why he moved his hideout for the ninetieth time that week. All because he knew he would be found out, that they would come for him. He had offered too much information in hindsight. Giggle would go looking in Canis's mud and find that damned skeleton and do her bone-reading bullshit and they'd tell her absolutely everything. It was, perhaps, the fault of not knowing her too well that he was so paranoid. Despite living right near her den for the majority of his life, Eythan was still unfamiliar with the full extent of her magical abilities.

To say she scared him was an understatement.

He swooped down, primaries curving ever so slightly in the force, keen eyes searching through the dimness of the lights (which, by the way, he hadn't bothered to check out the generator situation). His stomach growled petulantly, begging for a meal. However, for someone who hadn't had any source of nourishment in about a week or two, Eythan was doing quite well. That is, until he caught the gleam of one red eye in the darkness, iridescent feathers capturing the Spire's light. The stench of carrion and rot filled his senses and he recoiled. She was here, ready to kill him and find out what he had done---!

Fuck, he murmured softly to himself, ducking behind a stalactite. His claws locking into little cracks, he pivoted to look down. Tail flicking and hitching up behind his back, Eythan managed to maneuver himself to face toward the cave floor. Wings loose and ready to catch wind, he dropped dead toward the floor. He hoped to snare the hallowed caller on the way down, talons spread toward it. If he could, perhaps, silence Omen, he could escape to live another day.

♫

@Giggle

Giggle kept padding on, the bird--though its eye lay atop its head--at first unaware of the impending attack. The hyena's senses were extending out, feeling through the myriad mycelia that lay throughout the caves. Where are you...

She was almost too late. She felt the living thing along the cave roof, felt it shift, saw the warmth in it through the fungal life. Warning thrilled through her as she realized that Omen was just about to pass beneath it. MOVE!

Omen screeched, shifting to one side--but Eythan's claws still caught her on the way down, talons ripping through flesh and wing. The bird tumbled away into the darkness with a single haunting shriek, a few pearls of crimson blood spinning away in her wake.

Giggle could feel that she was still alive--wounded, but alive--and her rage flared up in hot fury. Any grief she had felt, any hesitation, was wiped away in that instant: he was ready to kill her familiar, her ally and her savior, without any halt of his own. Murderous fucking CAT!

The hyena lurched into a lopsided gallop, her lips wrinkled up to bare thick fangs. She could not fly, but in she charged regardless, dark eyes flashing as she looked for Eythan.

She'd feel fairly silly if it turned out to be some random other predator--but she had to assume.

Then he knows why I am here. He knows that I know.

A shrill of pain along her familiar's link, of fear--and faint indignant anger--reached her. She reached back with the soothing fury of a mother, reassuring her. Shhh... I will get him for you. For both of us. For Azazel, she promised.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

DREAM IN MY SOUL
AND I WON'T LET IT GO

Claws quickly and eagerly shredded through feather and flesh and bone --- a feeling becoming sickeningly familiar to him --- and he snapped his wings out. The hallowed caller faded from view, crashing down towards the earth. With a soft thwoomp! of feathers combing through the air, he hovered for a moment. Pushing himself upward into the air, Eythan perched atop a rock once again, straining his eyes through the dark. The bio-luminescent plants dotted around the cave gave some insight into what direction he was actually facing, but not to any sort of cave exit.

The Spire was to his right, pulsating vividly, outlining him in its vivid blue glow. He was most certainly visible from below, but unable to find Giggle. That rot-stench was overwhelming him. Eythan could hardly think as he looked around wildly. A spark of magicka flitted through his skull, igniting his horns and eyes. Darkness, miraculously, swelled around him, pouring from every bit of his being. He had intended to summon a great gust, but perhaps stealth would be a better alternative, despite the glaring bright eyes peering from his shadows.

With the billow of wings and smoke, Eythan took off dead ahead, claws stretched out in front of him, searching for some wall to follow to an exit.

♫

@Giggle

She was running when she saw the silhouette: slinking, catlike, the shadows already roiling off him. She startled, eyes widening, her feet stumbling on rock as she skidded to a halt. He is a servant of the EYES?! Horror, rage and betrayal ran through her. It was one thing to kill--even family, even friends--over what she imagined were some sort fo politics. It was another to betray life itself and all of the living within the caves to side with Senka and her filthy void.

As the cat swept outward, his wings snapping open once more, she charged. He did not seem to see her; he passed straight overhead, and she leapt upward, a snarl fixed on her blunt-muzzled face. She couldn't reach him, not to bite him, no--but she could will her magicka, and the spores in her coat, to get just high enough to get him for her. She felt it flare up, felt the spores sparking off toward him, though she knew he would only barely pass low enough for the top of the spore cloud to strike him. It might not be enough--but she knew what the hallucinations could be like.

She willed him to falter. To fly into a cave wall. To land in a panic. To--above all else--be unable to see a way to flee.

"YOU KILLED AZAZEL," she found herself shouting, her voice hoarsely rasping. "YOU KILLED THE BONE KING! YOU KILLED THE BONEBOUND!" And it was true, wasn't it? If Azazel hadn't died, the Bonebound would have never drifted apart as they had. Yet her words held as much question as accusation: had Eythan really done as the visions claimed..? Would he defend his actions, and admit his guilt (and his lies)? Or would he lie further--or was she wrong, somehow, about it all?

Or perhaps he would be too maddened by the fungus to tell. Giggle snarled and turned to chase the flying figure, determined to catch up with him regardless of whether the spores had any effect.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Round: 1
Attempt: Make Eythan hallucinate
Defense:
Injuries:

@Eythan

DREAM IN MY SOUL
AND I WON'T LET IT GO

Shadows trailing behind him gave to light, the tell-tale gleam of his eyes being his downfall. The snap of teeth far below him was enough to tell him that, indeed, he had been found. Suddenly, his entire axis of balance shifted violently. Eythan struggled to right himself, but down he went, overcompensating for a slight shift to the right and spiralling out of control. N-oo! He keened as he went down, trying to discern up from down. Sticking his limbs out abruptly and flaring his wings, Eythan felt his limbs crumple uneasily beneath him with a sickening pop!. He jumped to his feet, stumbling and wincing as he did so. Automatically, his feathers flared out, trying to correct himself.

"YOU KILLED AZAZEL," echoed a voice behind him, prompting him to whirl around, absolutely shaking. He wanted so badly to say something but words escaped him, the weight of everything he had done smashing down onto his shoulders. "N-no! I told you! Carni did! The damn bastard did it and fuckin' wore him and tried to take over the Bonebound!" It would be futile, however, as his voice wavered and Eythan backed up. His wings were held tense, drooping down in preparation to take off at a moment's notice. Totally not suspicious at all. His ears flickered back and he edged along the wall, calling upon magic again. His whole body was off, for lack of a better word. "Giggle, p-please. I didn't do it. I didn't---I wouldn't. I'm sorry about Omen. Is she okay? I thought it was just---a hallowed caller. In Polaris." A feeble wind began to blow around himself, barely enough to serve the purpose he wanted. Damn his lack of practice.

♫

Round: 1/?
Attempt: Casting gust to get Giggle to get her to get away or knocked over or something
Injuries: Possible bone fractures, funky balance from minor hallucinate

@Giggle

Giggle continued her charge forward, picking up speed as the hybrid spoke. Her thick fangs bared.

"JUST MY FAMILIAR?! YOU HAVE MET HER! JUST MY FAMILIAR, IN YOUR HOME?! YOU--" But before she could continue, the wind hurtled into her, sending her skidding off to one side.

A shrill cackling escaped her jaws, frustration and fury rising unbidden from her chest in a spill of frantic sound, chittering and echoing through Polaris. She quickly got her legs back under her, and--praying the hallucinations held him long enough, and feeling a savage thrill that she'd managed to ground him--she charged in.

Her body was heavy, but not agile, and the cat-bird was undoubtedly lighter than she. As she leapt for him, blind with rage,

Is he still lying to me!? EVEN NOW, he is STILL LYING?!

she felt her powerful jaws clack sharply shut on nothing but thin air. Her landing was heavy, her jaw nearly hitting the stone, and she huffed and growled as she quickly shoved back up--looking around for the betrayer.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Round: 2
Attempt: Maul
Defense:
Injuries:

@Eythan

DREAM IN MY SOUL
AND I WON'T LET IT GO

There's other callers, Eythan called out, bracing himself. The frantic, rage-bound hyena came at him, jaws bared and ready to strike. By some miracle --- even in his state of disturbed balance --- he managed to flap his wings and get some lift, jumping out of her furious warpath. The hybrid landed quite roughly again, but at least it was a better fate than being at the mercy of those jaws.

His eyes narrowed, tears struggling to rise and choke out his voice. Every single thought was blurring together and he whined, please stop it. I can't think! I didn't do it! Spreading out his talons, he tried to balance some more. I didn't. Carni did! Eythan's voice hitched, wavering between pitches. He dissolved into a haggard sob, looking down abruptly and feeling the world spin around him. A spot of red grew in his vision, shrinking as it fell. Just before he fell with it, his stone glowed with a flash of magicka. The breeze from before shifted towards him, swirling lightly, barely. His beak collided with the stone, and he shrieked brokenly, n-no! not again! His wings opened, limbs flailing slightly as he saw it all over again, all from his late father's view.

♫

Round: 2/?
Attempt: Subconsciously trying to keep Giggle away
Injuries: Possible bone fractures, funky balance from minor hallucinate

@Giggle

Giggle again snarled as she listened, her rage fuming.

All lies.

I KNOW!

She braced as the wind thrust her back, her head turning to one side--and then began to stalk toward Eythan, head low and fangs bared. Her magicka flickered up as she did so, and black, ichorous fungus began to slowly sprout over her ragged coat here and there, slicking her with dripping lines of foul-smelling liquid and creating spongy--though patchy--dark growths over her hide. "I know it was you... Eythan," she spat, half-unwilling to even use the traitor's name. "I know it was you... because I saw you do it. The bones do not LIE!" she added, in a near screech. "You have slain Azazel--and his son! And how many more?! HOW MANY? And WHY!?" The last word was shrill, sharp, full of grief and rage.

Somewhere in the distance, Giggle felt a pang of agony and fear from her familiar, and this only fed her hatred hotter.

He had done this. All of his words... his innocent gaze, his soft and pitiful demeanor--it was all lies. All a false front, all to protect the murderer within.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Round: 3
Attempt: Inky Cap, for a protective pre-tussle coating
Defense:
Injuries:

@Eythan

YOU GOTTA FACE UP, YOU GOTTA GET YOURS
YOU NEVER KNOW THE TOP TILL YOU GET TOO LOW

Eythan managed to open his eyes --- not quite remembering when he had screwed them shut so tightly --- to see the hyena stalking toward him, magicka buzzing in the air as fungi took to her body. The bones? He whispered, barely audible over the gust. He still felt as if he was falling, the wind buffeting at his cheeks and stinging his eyes. Tears unbidden slipped down his face and he smiled bitterly. Ha. The bones. Eythan shut his eyes again, shaking his head, arching his head up towards the roof of the caves. His father, vanishing far below, blipped out of existence. Balance slowly, but surely, came back to him.

He should've hid the bones better. I shouldn't have trusted him with that. A dark look fell over Eythan's gaze, shadowing his eyes as his head dropped back towards Giggle, still approaching. The gryphon clambered to his feet, tch!ing as he did so. His hackles rose and talons flexed. I didn't kill anyone else but --- it was an accident. It was one last shot at reason, one last shot at trying to fight for his life now that he was grounded.

♫

Round: 3/?
Attempt: To break free of his hallucination
Injuries: Possible bone fractures, slightly off-balance from minor hallucinate

@Giggle

Pages: 1 2