ORIGIN

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Giggle lifted her head from her paws, blinking blearily. Who the hell was waking her up? She needed sleep, and she'd--...

"Oh. ...It's you," she observed (showing off her uncanny intellect), before stretching out her forelegs and yawning rather massively. "The little red-and-black-bird was afraid you were dead. So was I, for that matter." Giggle eyed Aza'zel in thought, then added, in a very matter-of-fact, almost offhand tone, "Glad you're not. And yes! Everything is fine here; I'm great, thanks for asking." Her voice was drily humorous rather than annoyed.

The hyena then paused to rub both paws over her eyes and yawn again before actually answering the vulture's question.

"A bear. I don't remember his name, if I knew it. Some of them, you know, they're fighting every day, life and death, and they're still cubs and already all they can think about is their heart." She sounded vaguely amused, in a detached sort of way, as she eyed the bird once more.

"I don't suppose I should ask you what happened...? Or, for that matter, if you've any idea why Canis is drying up?"

Again her questions were offhandedly idle, her sharp gaze on Aza'zel, observing him with full attention as she awaited his response.

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Roll the bones.

Flapping his wings and shifting so that he could properly land atop a stony pillar similar to the one that the Oracle sat upon, gazing at her absently. The last time he really had seen her... she was but a little pup, who he had flown into. Oh, how long ago that had been! Chuckling to himself, the bird would gaze at the bones. Fortunetelling? He hadn't known that she had been dabbling in it... but he wasn't surprised. The girl always had a mystical aura about her, as if she could see the future just by looking into your eyes. "It's me." He couldn't help but snicker at his own comment, but soon he was listening. As the hyena described a small bird, he instantly thought of Bevy. She was the only other small bird he knew that was red and black... maybe orange. "Well, I was... hiding, trying to recover from a fight that I got into with another group leader. I don't even know what happened." It had gone by so fast. "All in all, I got banished from some cave that I don't even remember where it was and got lost over by Pisces." Sad stories aside, he was more interested in who had just left.

"Leon?" He had about fallen off his perch, staggering on it with the scraping of talons against the stone. "Why was he here? Was he looking for me?" As soon as the girl answered his question, he'd answer hers. "I suppose it's the same as asking why The Bonebound are in shambles. All good things just fade away after a while. It's up to the living to renew them. We must search someday, or we'll never find anything."

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Giggle had to think, tilting her head to one side for a long moment as if that'd help pour the memories back through her brain. Then she turned dark eyes back on Aza'zel.

"Yes, I think he was looking for you, now that you mention it. He's in a bad place--or... 'bad' isn't the right word. A lonely place. Or so the bones tell me. When I told him what they said, he turned and ran." Giggle shrugged, a little, eyeing Aza'zel again. "They say there's truths he'll have to come to terms with on his own. You know, if you're going to run off again--fly off--you should see me, first. Maybe I could've told you there would've been a fight."

She said this with a smile, almost gently, as if teasing. The bird didn't seem anywhere near as boisterous and intense as she remembered, or maybe she was just still half-asleep. He seemed somehow more thoughtful, almost... slower, and she wondered if perhaps he were simply maturing.

Giggle listened to Aza'zel's idea about the water, where he quickly likened it to the Bonebound. She pushed the idea away, for now; he would be no help on that front, and his mind was obviously on his group.

"Well then, maybe it's a good way to rebuild," she offered. "Or to start rebuilding. This is our home, and we can't live without water. Maybe gather them, organize them, and offer rewards to those who can find out what it means?" She then glanced back, toward her bone pile, and then to the vulture again. "Of course, if you've anything to ask the bones, just speak up."

Then, rather abruptly, she tried to push forward and give the vulture a quick, single lick on the head.

"It's good to have you back, Bone King."

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Roll the bones.

Leon... in a lonely place? It couldn't be that Makyna had abandoned him... or was it? Cancer could have been the cause of it, and The Bone King resolved to later try and find the bear and comfort him. It really felt like Leon and he were the only two with a sense of what danger was in this cave. Well, perhaps that mustelid named Fisher as well... but that little noodle never backed down from danger. Azazel almost crossed his gaze and furrowed his brow at the thought of Fisher. They needed to have a talk, for the Ave was done fighting without good reason. Simply, he murmured, "Poor Leon, he always get the short end of the stick..."

Shaking his head then looking back at the hyena, he chuckled a little, "I could have and should have come to you to see if there was going to be a fight... but we can't go back now." There was only the hope to go right into the future with a running start, head tipped up and mind open to whatever happens. "Regardless of our numbers, we all should still look for why Canis is drying up. Like you said... we need more than bones, insects, meat, and plants to survive. Unless we can find someone who manipulates water or the meaning behind why Canis is drying up, the water will keep fading away." Returning a smile to Giggle, Azazel hopped up and glided over closer to the girl, just as she began to lick him atop the head. He vibrated a little, peeping quietly. He hated when he was licked all over and slobbery, but this was a nice clean lick. It was like a little kiss. Wait... a kiss. Instantly, his cheeks reddened and he glanced off to the side. "It's good to... see you Giggle." Shrugging and looking away, the bird turned his gaze to the bones. "Could you... tell my fortune, Oracle of The Bonebound?"

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Giggle stared at Aza'zel as he blushed, then burst into raucous, hearty laughter as she turned away, shaking her head. She padded back to her bones, speaking as she went.

"Like I said," she stated, amused. She didn't explain this, instead continuing. "Of course I'll tell your fortune. C'mon. You might be interested to know that I asked the bones about Canis," she told the Bonebound leader as she walked. "The meanings are one of two. I think they were trying to say that the weather in the caves is always chaotic, always changing, and nothing can be done about it. They might have also been trying to tell me, though, that we aren't ready to deal with it, and it will fall into chaos. I think it's the former, but it can't hurt to be prepared for the latter."

Her language skills had gained considerably in the past couple months, and she didn't even seem to notice. Her eyes, instead, were for her bones; the pile lay before them, ringed with white-stemmed, brown mushrooms. Giggle stepped delicately into the circle, glanced back at Aza'zel consideringly, then chose a delicate-looking but rather tough rib. She plucked this up in thick fangs and then trotted up to her boulder.

She set it down before her, at the boulder's lip, and then stared at Aza'zel.

"Want to come up here, see it from my view?" she asked. The boulder was ringed by dark, rather sinister-looking orange-red fungi, and Giggle herself was backlit by a distant light-orb, leaving her looking somewhat malevolent. The tone of her offer, though, was anything but; she seemed almost professional in her demeanor, polite and neutral as she awaited Aza'zel's response.

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Roll the bones.

Azazel shrunk a little as the hyena began to give out pealing laughter. Laughing along nervously, the bird scooted away and kept his gaze on the bones. Just the bones. But with the call to follow, The Bone King had to follow. Flapping his wings and gliding along with Giggle, he watched the bones. "Origin Caves is like a living being, like a big gembound. I've heard some others say that, but I never really thought of it. Could the water be going somewhere else, and if it is... where?" Nodding along, the bird hovered in place for a moment, then landing on the floor near the bones quietly.

Giggle seemed to stare at the bones quietly, stepping inside the seemingly sacred circle of mushrooms to choose a thick rib. Good choice... Azazel would think inwardly, watching as the Oracle placed it beneath the lip of the boulder that she once sat on. With the offer of coming to see from her view, Azazel simply hopped forth and stood just outside of the ring of mushrooms. He felt like they were magical, something sacred. He didn't want to break any seals...

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Giggle eyed Aza'zel once, and then looked forward, focusing down on the pile of bones below. For a moment she was still, simply staring, breathing, as if waiting for something, some hidden cue: and then, with a slight, abrupt movement, she flicked her forepaw at the wrist and knocked the rib into the pit.

There was a clatter, a ringing but brief cacophony as vertebrae spun and something small and dusty smashed, and scapulae and femurs slowly rocked to and fro or spun away. Giggle watched it all very intently, and for awhile she remained quiet.

It was only when the bones had been still and silent for some time that she began to speak, and she sounded preoccupied with her thoughts.

"Bones entwined, rocking together where before they were alone. You are bringing things together, Bone King," she began, tone hollowly absent. "And you are succeeding. You will succeed, at least in this. But a challenge will arise. Large bones lie around them. The challenge must be met head-on." Giggle then looked around, eyeing the pile, brow furrowing faintly as she thought.

"The teeth, the jaws. There will be violence, to our detriment, to yours. Or conflict. Something that should be avoided, but maybe can't be."

The hyena shifted in place, the fungus and clotted gore hanging from her coat swinging very slightly as she did so. She seemed to be reexamining the bones, leaning forward, looking for something more.

"...A broken bone. It will begin with a sacrifice or a... negotiation. Something of... Importance. A hard choice. It will be uncertain. Don't do it. Don't act--wait. Stall. Things will become clearer, if you do. You mustn't rush into it." Giggle turned dark eyes to Aza'zel, regarding him with a rather blank gaze.

"Do you have questions, Bone King?"

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Roll the bones.

Azazel simply watched, knowing that this would be the very first fortunetelling he would witness by the hyena. Perhaps to those without any context behind it, it would just look like two scavengers picking through bones to share. In reality, it was much more. Eyes blinked as the woman stood still, staring simply at the bone. Suddenly, it had been flicked into a pit, leaving a resounding clatter echoing through the caves. Tilting his rufous crown, the Ave watched intently. The bone rocked back and forth, but soon silence filled the cave, interrupted only by the interpretation of the bones by Giggle.

Bringing something together? Suceeding in it? Could the bones be referring to the Bonebound? It was the offer of a challenge being reared that set the bird to ruffle his feathers, chills running through him. It sounded as if she were predicting a war, with a larger group. With Maji Walezi? That alone was one of the biggest groups in the caves, but they were peaceful. Why would they wage war? Came next, violence, to the harm of everyone... especially himself... So was there war in the future of his? Questions burned in the back of his mind as he tried to interpret the meaning of what the bones told Giggle. The final sign was of a broken bone... some decision. Waiting.

Finally, the bird sighed. "Are the bones telling you that a great battle... a war is on it's way?"

Giggle turned, and for a very long, very solemn moment regarded Aza'zel intently.

"Only if you fail," she answered at last, voice soft.

Then she was silent for a bit before continuing, nodding down to the bones as she did so. "I assume they refer to us. To the Bonebound. Your bone-family. As to the war? I feel like another group--somewhere far from here--will ask you to make a... a deal. Tell them... Tell them you'll think about it. Enlightenment," she continued, turning to stare at Aza'zel with a mysteriously hooded expression, "will come with those close to you."

A great trial. I think it will strengthen us. She thought this but she did not speak it, simply watching Aza'zel and hoping she'd answered his question clearly enough. The last thing she wanted was for him to rush off with the idea of war in his head because she'd not explained well.

"Don't agree to any compromise, any sacrifice, when we're in that strange place," she added at last, and in a clear, strong tone. She hoped this would settle things, that it would prevent whatever that violence had been. "If we do go to war--I haven't asked the bones what would happen."

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Roll the bones.

The pup trotted towards the bone pile, head held high. He'd checked the den before (keeping a good distance from the shroom garden) but to not much avail. He could taste the rat in his jaws and it only reminded him of his own hunger, but he could hunt for more later. Unless she wasn't there. Then she'd just be missing out and he'd eat it instead.

He hoped she was there.

As Bones reached the pile he noted the hyena and the bird. He tilted his head, but didn't speak or approached any further. Instead, the wild puppy flopped onto his haunches and began to lick the blood and dust away from his muzzle and paws. He seemed to know not to touch the bones - as he sat a fair distance away from them. His tail thumped at an alarming rate against the ground.

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Giggle

Azazel (Original)

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Azazel (Original)

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Azazel (Original)

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Azazel (Original)

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Bones