ORIGIN - Striking out... kind of

Skeena had found a hole.

In Canis there were a lot of holes.

But this hole was in the wall, and the perfect size. It was hard to see if you weren't looking, but plenty big. Four times as wide as she was, and three times as high, it was easily big enough for her to carry something inside.

And, to her glee, it split off at several points. One was big enough for her to curl up in, with the walls pressing in on her just enough to be comforting. There was another one, which she had almost fallen into. It wasn't too deep, but not too shallow, either.

And there were a few other branches. Ones that led to smaller 'rooms', which she could already imagine uses for.

But at the moment, she was looking around the little room she had taken as hers. The ground was rocky, so she called upon her magic. Slowly, rather sad looking mushrooms budged out of the ground beneath her.

It had been some time since Skeena had used her Magic, and she felt it was weak. So she wasn't upset that the mushrooms seemed sickly, and instead decided to try again. Her gem throbbed, having been disused for many cycles, but acquiesced.

A great many mushrooms bloomed beneath her paws, growing out from under her. They plumed out, until they made a carpet and blanket, cushioning the ground from wall to wall, trailing to a stop a few strides out of the 'entrance'.

There, that would work. She could always add other things later, grow more mushrooms if she needed to.

But now she had a home of her own. And so she needed a Cairn, a cairn like Mother's. But hers would be different. Yes, she couldn't just copy Mother.

So she set out. Trotting through the tunnel, she hurried out, and struck out towards one of the piles of bones, she began to dig, testing the various bones of their strength. Some were too chipped or weak, some too yellowed or too bleached.

Skeena pulled the bone carefully from the pile, not paying much attention to the shape. She wasn't interested in the shape or the species, or even whether it bore a stone. Whether it bore a stone, or not. Instead, she eyed it. It had startled her to realize she was capable of Hindsight, but now she put it to good use. Focusing on the bone, she pulled at her Magic, feeling it tug.

Everything was dark. There was a sense of fear; a quiet skittering, and a hiding.

It was always hiding.

A creature came into view. Something alien--something beautiful; shining skin, bristling hairs along its back. Too many eyes, glowing pale in the shadows.

It slipped along a bank of stone, no bones underfoot. It hid.

It was always hiding.

There was no gem in the bone.

@Skeena

Skeena went still, immersing herself in the memory.

It was a fearful creature, one constantly on the move, always hiding. Not a Cave Rat, no. A Mouse, maybe? That would fit the fear, at least.

She was taken aback by the alien thing that appeared. What was it? Immediately, she wanted to learn more. But she needed to do other things, first.

Like emerging from a pool, she came out of the memory with a gasp.

She wasn't going to Throw this bone. She wanted to learn, to know who this bone had been in life. And then she would throw this Bone.

She was firmly of the opinion that the life of a bone would effect what it revealed when Thrown. And so she did not want there to be any unknowns when she Threw.

Of course, she had other ideas, things to be built upon. But she was just starting out, she didn't think she would ever be as good as Mother, not in one hundred Cycles.

Carefully, she picked up the bone, and began to scurry back to her home.

The hybrid dragged the bone into her cave, hurrying through the tunnels until she found a cave she thought would fit these bones.

She laid down, curling around the bone, before setting her teeth to it. She didn't yet know much about the story behind the Gembound that had embodied this bone, so there wasn't much to write. But she managed to engrave a shaky drawing of the alien - then something hiding, and a throbbing heart.

Now to find more bones.

The hybrid scurried out through her tunnels, heading deeper into the stacks of bones. She wanted something good, something Mother would approve of.

And it didn't take her long to find one. It was like she had a sixth sense, guiding her towards it. She had to dig through a pile, before coming across a femur that was bigger than her. There was a large crack in it and, if she didn't know better, she would say it was leaking magic.

It took her a bit of strugging, but finally she managed to drag it off to the side, away from another other bones. But still, something was pulling at her. So she left that bone, and bolted off.

This one was a skull of sorts - she couldn't tell what, yet. She was nearly blinded by a buzzing in her head, and so dragged it over to join the other.

But still, she wasn't satisfied, sitting up on her rabbit-like hind legs, it felt like she was being torn in two. So she went for the right-most pull first, eventually finding a ribcage that was held together by moss. This, too, was added to the pile.

There was only one pull left, thankfully.

This one turned out to be a bone, so small she almost looked it over. It was a verterbrae of sorts, only as big as her eye. She had to be very careful as she held it, bringing it back to the pile.

Would she be able to view the memories of these?

Something told her, 'yes' and she was startled to realize that it was The Voice. Why was it being kind?

But she was so curious and the Pull was so strong. So she reached for the femur first, placing her forepaws on it and closing her eyes, focusing her Magic on it.

She needed to know who this had been.