ORIGIN - A hyena meets its mother

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Zawadi walked in the the room of Canis, and was quite surprised with how the room looked. There was shallow water touching her paws, and it had a chilling cold temperature. At first it was a bit uncomfortable, but hey, she was a spotted hyena, and that meant she could adapt. These caves were knew to her, but she knew right away that these caves were her home. She hatched knowing a lot, even a different language, and also hatched with an accent. Not only that, ever since she hatched, she has had vivid dreams of a world different to this one. There were golden plains, and amazing things she has never seen in the caves. Though they may have been just dreams, the little cub believed it was real, and even at her young age, had strong faith in what she saw when she slept. Not only that, she had a hunch that these caves had stories to them, and she was determined to find out what they were. Now, she was simply looking around, and the small child was fascinated with seeing this things. But being a spotted hyena, a social species, Zawadi felt alone. She lifted one of her shorter hind legs and kicked the water, splashing it a short distance away. She shook her spotted coat, and her mane as well, wondering about the place she was in. Zawadi found a bone with a small gem attached. She pawed at it, rolling it around with her paws. Should she bite it? The cub didn't know any better, and definitely did not know to show respect to a gembound's gem. She let out a soft growl, thinking about whether she should bite it a little.

@Giggle

(OC Note- You may already know this but just wanted to put this out there again, and didn't want to put it in her post. Her accent is African and she speaks the African language Tswana. No more notes from me!)

Only after Zawadi had been wandering Canis for quite some time did Omen find her. The small black bird, with its single red eye at the center of its forehead, was flying high overhead. She was idle, circling to see if anything was new within the caves as she so often did.

Some distance away, the adult hyena Giggle was resting. Her eyes were half-lidded as she kept drowsy watch over her bone pit, and her mind paid absent attention to the faint and sporadic imagery and feelings that struck her along the mental link with her familiar. At the sight of a hyena cub, however, her eyes shot wide and her head swung up hard enough to strain her neck. She was scrambling to her feet even as her mind reached out.

Is that a hyena?! she asked Omen, but of course the bird did not know. Faint confusion greeted her query.

She was afraid to hope--she'd never seen another hyena before, or couldn't remember having done so. She hadn't since her incident, anyway. She wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a fox cub she'd briefly glimpsed along her link, dusty brown and fluffy with youth. But she had to find out--and anyway, any lone cub wandering Canis had to be picked up. She'd at least have to ask if it knew how to hunt and fend for itself, even if it wanted to be left alone.

Giggle covered the distance at a swift lope, dust kicking up behind her and dark eyes fixed keenly ahead. Omen's thoughts guided her, nudging her direction slightly when she went off-course.

By the time she reached the cub's location, her jaws were parted--she was panting, catching her breath. Wide eyes roamed over the stranger's small form, and she pulled herself together some--ignoring, for now, the black bird that circled overhead--and spoke. "Hello, there. I do not know you. You are in Canis--home of the Bonebound; I am Giggle, their Seer. Are you new here?" The words were somewhat rough, purely by virtue of her hoarsely masculine voice--and she was bluntly to the point, rather than kindly or polite. But she wasn't rude, either, and something in her demeanor spoke of friendly maternal patience.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Zawadi

Zawadi stopped pawing at the bone, and her attention went from the bone, to the figure that approached her. The cub could tell straight away that it was another spotted hyena, an adult one at that. The adult's voice sounded very kind, and as she looked up at the older hyena, she spoke to another hyena for the first time, her accent somewhat thick in her voice. "My name is Zawadi, and yeah I am very new to these caves, and alone. I don't like the feeling of being alone. I do like the feeling of meeting another spotted hyena like me though. It's nice to meet you Giggle." Having voiced her thoughts, she looked around for a quick moment before focusing back onto Giggle. "Canis, is this that the room I'm in? What is Bonebound, is that a group that owns this place? What is a seer?" Though she was new here, the cub was quite intelligent for her age, but information still needed to be learned, even though Zawadi was a fast learner. The hyena cub did not want to be alone, she wanted a home. Technically, the caves were her home, but she just kept wandering around in the rooms. The cub liked the rooms and exploring, but wandering alone without a proper home isn't what she wanted. Though, Zawadi felt a natural feeling being near her own kind, and strangely she couldn't describe it.

@Giggle

Giggle stared, for a beat.

Right, this one's more well-spoken than I am. Not a new hatch, then!

She stood and shook herself, dander from her coat flying in all directions, then licked her jaws as she eyed Zawedi thoughtfully.

"Some just don't like to be alone," she agreed. She herself had always been content with solitude, but with the knowledge that family was close by if she needed them. Too, she'd never had a problem being around family, or even strangers; it was only in very large gatherings that she felt discontent. As to what the hell a "spotted hyena" was, Giggle couldn't say; "hyena" she knew, but this cub hardly looked like it had much in the way of spots. Were there other hyenas out there? Ones without spots, ones with stripes or patches? --Was Bones a patchy hyena?

Giggle squinted a little, pondering this, her brush tail twitching slightly for a moment. After a beat, she gave up and moved on.

"Good to meet another of my own kind. I think we may be the only ones," she added, though now she was wondering about Bones. "Yes, this is Canis." Giggle nodded vaguely around, chocolate-black snout nosing in several directions as if to indicate the room as a whole. "Bonebound--we're a family. A big one. A long time ago a big bird--Aza'zel, the Bone King--he got enough of us together to proteect one another, to take care of each other. His descendants still live in the cave to this day. I wouldn't say we own it," she added, but then drily continued--"but I'd say I wouldn't want to be the moron to start trouble here."

She shook herself again, nodding off toward Omen, who landed with a soft flutter of black wings about a dozen yards behind her--ready to take flight at an instant's notice should the cub spring for her.

"Omen. My familiar. Not to be eaten," she went on. "As for a Seer-... Well, what do you know of magic?" Dark eyes peered into the cub's own as she contemplated: what might this cub know? What might she have yet to learn? What potential did she hold..?

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ROLL THE BONES

@Zawadi

The cub listened intently as Giggle spoke and explained the answers to her questions. Zawadi sure hoped that they weren't the only ones of their kind. Her ears perked when Giggle started to explain of what the Bonebound. Her eyes flicked to her bird, Omen, as she was instructed that the bird was not to be eaten. Well, she knew very well not to eat other gembounds, now she knew not to eat this bird called Omen. To her, eating other gembounds was wrong. When Giggle asked her what she knew of magic, her eyes brightened. Was a seer someone who controlled magic? Zawadi then answered Giggle's question. "Magic is kind of power I guess. It's something like an energy that others can control. Do I have magic? Do all gembounds have magic?" Then another question popped into her head, but she was a little hesitant to ask it. "Um Giggle, you said the Bonebound was a family. Could I, join the Bonebound? I mean I hope that's ok." The cub really wanted to, plus, the name sounded pretty cool.

@Giggle

The cub explained what she knew of magic. Giggle opened her jaws to explain what a seer was, but before she could, Zawadi had moved another step forward--asking to join the Bonebound. Giggle closed her mouth again, perking one brow with dark amusement.

"Perhaps. You'll need to speak to Aure about it--he's serving as a leader, of sorts, for now. But it's not a thing you can come and go from, you understand? We're bound, all of us--family, until death."

She lifted a hind leg to scratch heavily behind her right ear, thinking for a moment. She set the leg back down, settling her hindquarters on the stone. "As for Seers. Magic is something like what you say--but it is all around us, in everything. We cannot see it, but it's there! You likely have some--I think we all do. The little rats and things do not--Omen doesn't. They can't speak," she added, though she'd never really grasped the connection between these two facts. "Now, what you must understand is--all things are connected, little one. The past and the future, the here and now, are all parts of one big thing! The past shaped the present, which shapes the future. The thoughts of the living, the spirits of the dead--all of them are wound together with the same web. A Seer is one whose mind can pass along those strands of being, from present to past to future, climbing along the patterns of reality!"

Giggle let out a sort of off-kilter little cackle, and continued. "A Seer touches all of reality more deeply than some. Maybe she dreams of things that come true; maybe she can speak to others in their dreams. Often we see the future in different things. Some see it in the bones--as I do--or in magic or fungus, as I do--or in other things, like stones! But it does not matter how you See, for all things are connected. It is only the way you will hear--the way you will understand. That is what a Seer is, and that is what I am--I read the bones, and see the futures."

She felt satisfied with her own answer--and, feeling her emotion along their shared link, Omen gave a soft and throaty call from behind her.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Zawadi

As Zawadi sat and listened to Giggle explain about what a Seer was and magic, she listened with wonder. It was like a child listening to a magic story, only this one was true. Hearing that it was possible she had magic, made her feel like jumping. Though unbeknownst to Zawabi, she did have magic, the most secretive of them all, arcane magic. Her short tail wagged a bit, then she complimented Giggle. "You sure do have a cool job! It really is exciting to hear that magic is in everything. Sure makes everything more exciting!" Then the small cub remembered what Giggle had said about the Bonebound, something that she couldn't just leave from and come back. The Bonebound was family until death, this was something Zawadi could not take lightly. But, Zawadi refused to second guess herself, or the fact that if, no, when she joined the Bonebound, that she would be bounded to them until death. The cub understood what loyalty meant. The little one had a glint of determination in her eyes as she looked up at Giggle. "I understand Giggle. I wanna be a loyal family member, like you! After seeing Giggle and hearing of her job, and magic, Zawadi was very inspired by the adult hyena. Already she had an idea of who her role model would be, and she was talking to her role model now. "What is Aure like? What does he look like?" The determination was gone from her eyes and it was replaced by the pure curiosity of a child. Her head slightly tilted to the side, wondering about the leader. Was he a big noble creature? Was he a hyena too? So many questions rushed through the child's head, wondering about the Bonebound leader.

@Giggle

Giggle listened. A thread of disappointment ran through her at a part of the cub's responses--or lack thereof--but she didn't press that. Zawadi was clearly enthusiastic--about magic, at least, if not Seeing--and about the Bonebound. Giggle pushed up, shaking her coat again before glancing around.

"A bit smaller than me. Brown wings, a beak, red and yellow eyes." She paused, glancing at the cub. While she was always willing to bring new Gembound to the Bonebound, she'd known this cub for all of two minutes. "Let's meet him, and speak to him, and then you can decide. Come with me," she added, turning and pacing up to where Aure often rested. Omen rose up with a flurry of feathers, taking to the sky above.

As heavy paws scuffed over dusty stone, Giggle spoke further. "You may be able to find what sort of magic you have. You can focus on trying to do different things--make fire, or water, or to See, or make strangely loud noises. Eventually you'll unlock it. Do you know how to hunt for yourself?"

She glanced sidelong to the cub. As everyone knew, magic and hunting were the two most important things for a new Gembound to get a handle on--with that, they could survive on their own.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Zawadi

Zawadi of course was still a child, and like all children, the fact was unavoidable that they had a lot to learn. As Giggle gave a description of Aure, one word pooped into her mind. A bird. Maybe Aure was some sort of bird. When Giggle instructed her to follow, the hyena cub made a note to show respect when meeting with Aure. The cub scampered behind Giggle as the adult hyena led her to where Aure was. The older female then asked if the cub knew how to hunt for herself, and she gave a quick nod. "Yes, I do." She answered Giggle respectfully. Boy, did the cub sure like to eat. She wagged her short tail, as she thought about how the meeting would go with the Bonebound King. She hoped it would go well.

@Giggle @Aure

"Right. Good; let's see if we can find Aure."

Giggle paced up the smooth stone slope, her head turning to and fro. The cub already knew how to hunt; Giggle couldn't force her magic (she'd have to try that on her own). Nothing remained but to look after her, and for now, that meant taking her to Aure.

She'd let him decide how to handle this.

Once upon a time, Giggle had called to Aza'zel when he was needed. And back then, she'd called to him not by name, usually, but by a bone-chilling, deafening cackling that rang throughout the piles of bones. Without really thinking about it, that's what she did now: a call that started off low and ended in a high chittering, echoing throughout the cave.

Omen circled overhead, too, her single eye scouring the ground.

Hopefully, Aure would hear.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Zawadi @Aure

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