She'd never told a story, before. What should she even make it about?! He hadn't answered that part...
Giggle glanced quickly around, eyeing the bones and the ground, the rock, and the orbs, wondering just what in hell she could tell the pup.
Finally she glanced down at him, and realized that he was depending on her to tell him a tale. She softly cleared her throat--she couldn't disappoint a pup, after all--and began to quietly speak.
"Then I will tell you about names, since you have only just gotten one. Once upon a time," Giggle began, "there was a cave."
...A cave? DAMN it Giggle, you can do better than that!
"The cave was dark, black as night. Nobody could see anyone else, so they weren't quite sure how many they were. They came to recognize this voice and that, but some beasts sounded like others, and so there was much confusion."
Giggle paused for a moment, both rapidly thinking of the next turn for the plot, and quickly assessing the pup's reaction. Then, she continued. "Finally, one strong-voiced Gembound came up with the idea of names. A Gembound might know that they had claws, or feathers, and so they'd name themselves like that--Softfeather, or Talon. Or maybe they would pick a sound that they liked, like Krakarak," she continued, remembering the cawing raven.
"For a time, everyone had their names, and all was well. But after a few weeks had passed, a very greedy black lizard decided that he wanted many names, and he began to collect them. Soon, he had dozens of names. He called himself the Skrak the Cave-Eater, and Woll the Darkness-Gatherer, and all sorts of other silly and grand names."
Giggle paused again, to gather her thoughts and her breath, before continuing. "But even that was not enough. He began to steal the names of others, too, adding them to his own. When someone asked who he was, he would say the names of others, and they became his own. Now--I ought to tell you," and here Giggle paused, tilting her head to smile humorously down at Bones, "This lizard was not very big. He was not very strong, and he was not pretty to look at, for many of his scales were dull and damaged. But he had a very big, and very powerful voice, so that when he called himself the King of the Cave, and the Most Handsome Royal Squig, well, the others believed him--for they could not see him in the darkness, and so they didn't know any better."
Giggle paused awhile longer here, to let all of this sink in, before continuing. Now she had some idea of where to take this story, and she was rather pleased with it.
"Finally, one day, in outrage at their stolen names, the other Gembounds formed an army. They knew, Bones, that they couldn't ever let anyone take away what they were. Your identity is all you ever have. And so they marched on the tiny black lizard, and he fled before them, and he left their names behind. And they picked them all back up again, and so they got their names back. But then they carried on after Squig the Magnificent, knowing that if they did not stop him then, they would have to face him again in the years to come. In his haste to escape, the lizard raced up the tunnel walls, and pulled himself up the ropes that held the light-orbs, and tugged them into place quite by accident--and for the first time, there was light in that cave."
Giggle widened her eyes dramatically, letting her slow, soft voice set the tone. "Then they could all see what they had been afraid of all along: a tiny, squirming lizard who could have never truly hurt them. So they learned two lessons from Squig: first, never lose who you are--there is only one of you, and only you to guard that. And second, never be afraid of someone just because they seem powerful; once you see them truly, you might find out you were cowering from something pretty damn silly."
Giggle fell silent, eyeing the pup. She was relatively sure she'd said it all slow enough for anyone to comprehend, but then, he was young, and he was sleepy. Ahh, well. She lay there quietly, waiting to see if he'd fallen asleep, perhaps, or if he had something to say.
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Roll the bones.