ORIGIN - CRUNCHY MUNCHY BONES

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Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
The canine's ears perked as the hyena spoke his name, a growl rising from three sets of bloodsoaked teeth. He listened, however, and as she spoke he tried to really listen to her, even though a small part of him thought that she was just trying to trick him so she could take back her bones. She didn't say she was taking it back-- just that she wouldn't give him more if he continued. So he hushed, going back to chomping on his bones, though his middle head paused to ask a question.

"...More? Thank you? More?" He woofed, softly, his beady red eyes trailing over the bone under her paw. The other heads didn't seem bothered-- they were still enjoying the tasty, tasty meat bits. He could smell the deliciousness of the other bone, and like a child seeing another with a toy, he wanted the toy for himself. "More?" He repeated, nosing at the other heads-- which growled in response at first prod but eventually looked at what he was looking at: that tasty new bone.

The left and right heads snatched up the rest of the meat that they could, licking their bones clean, before he stood up and padded over, tail wagging low. "More? Bones? Bone pile." He drew to a stop only halfway to the hyena, lowering to the ground but staying on his toes. "Hrf?" Floppy ears tilted his head, and cropped earred red nose spoke with new curiosity-- Kerberos had been fed, and although he certainly wanted more, his hunger was curbed enough to think about other things... though his eyes did wander down to the bone she was holding, how could he help it? It smelled so good.

"Future... More food in future? Thank you! Bones?"

Giggle nodded slightly, listening to the pup, smiling a bit--clearly pleased with him.

"Yes, very good, Kerberos--very good. Thank you. And you can have bones whenever you like. I will have food here often. There might not always be enough for you, though--you will get very big, and need more than I will have. I can show you how to find your own food, if you want." She spoke slowly, more clearly than usual, to make everything gently clear. He was behaving himself well, after all.

"But some things that smell good--like this bone, or like some Gembounds--are not for eating. They smell good, but they don't taste good. This bone is bad," she added, tapping it with one paw before stepping away. "You must always trust me. This bone would be bad to eat."

She was uncertain as to whether he'd listen to her, but she almost hoped he wouldn't; if she could drive the point home that her word was to be trusted, she (and others here in Canis) would be a lot safer around him--theoretically, at least. And maybe he'd not waste his, or her, time in trying to eat the dried bones with no marrow left inside.

"So--do you want to see your future, or do you want me to show you how to hunt?"

Giggle wasn't sure if anyone had shown him in the past; it seemed unlikely, but perhaps Origin's regular prey animals were simply too small to sate him. Either way, she moved well away from the "bad to eat" bone, still coated in the utterly foul-tasting but delicious-smelling fungus, peering back at the three-headed hound--awaiting his decision.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
This time the dog whined softly as she spoke, a puppy too eager to sit and bare what she had to say but listened all the same. She said that he could eat here whenever he wanted, and for a moment he thought he might not eat her for a great long while if she was going to provide him with food. The heads exchanged glances, and then they were all panting happily, tail wagging gentle as she went on to talk about the bone and gembounds, whatever those were, were not for eating.

Giggle backed away from the bone and all three bright eyed puppy faces focused in on that bone. Bone was bad. But it smelled so good. A few eyes glanced back up at the hyena, judging how far away she was... And then, in one sudden movement, he lunged for the bone, tackling it and almost snapping it under the weight of his big paws.

He sniffed at it, pawing and scratching at it, trying to decide why exactly it was bad-- but he did not eat it. She had told him not to, and so he didn't, but he did promptly try to tear it apart with his claws. When he had finished, his eyes snapped back up to Giggle, all six of them, and he flashed three big grins, tail wagging as always.

"Future! Future with bones and food!" He woofed eagerly. He had technically been shown how to hunt before by another baby gembound, and surely her advice would be a lot better, but he wanted to know just how many tasty bones and meat he would get.

After that, maybe, she could prove his future and help him get all the tasty meals. That sounded real good.

Giggle froze for a moment, looking back toward Kerberos as he pounced the bone--what if he lapped up the marrow? That would taste fine--... But no, now he's splintered it into a mashed mulk--the only word for it could be mulk, even if mulk was not a word--that would probably... hopefully, have enough of the nasty fungus mixed in it to deter him should he taste.

But he didn't, and she smiled encouragingly at him.

"Future, then," she said, turning away, her voice softer than it had been--though still confident. "You are very smart for not eating that bone. Very good. Now, follow me." She paced back up the hill, looking back once to be sure the pup was following. She was still very tense, very on edge, but she pretended to be calm and relaxed, very at ease with Kerberos's presence. She bore him no ill will, but that didn't mean he might not bear her some.

Her destination was the bone pile. She'd read his future--and then see if he had the self-control to not try to eat her bones--those in the pile, or otherwise. Most of the bone-pile-bones, she knew, were dry inside--very old, nothing but chalky dust. But others were fresher, and might tempt him--still yellow with the stain of flesh, still faintly rank-smelling like meat--so she'd have to be careful. Very careful.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
Yes, he WAS smart! His tail wagged wildly until it looked like he had three whole tails to match his three heads. She started to go, back to that pile of lovely bones he still wanted to roll in, so he tilted his heads and then started after her.

And like a human walking a puppy straight out of training school, Kerberos followed her with a much more calm demeanor than before. He was easily distracted-- one head always sniffing out some smell while the rest of him pressed onwards after the hyena who was to tell the future for him.

Being a young growing dog made of hell fire or something, he was starting to feel the usual drowsiness he felt quite often after eating. A yawn escaped one of his jaws as they reached the bone pile and he sat down by the bones that smelled tasty but less so than the extra tasty bone he had just destroyed and not eaten.

"Thank you!" He woofed, waiting for permission to pounce on all of the bones and make a big old mess.

Giggle eyed the pup, and smiled. She had no idea, of course, that he had every intention of eating the bones. Instead she spoke as she went to the pile, lifted a large, thick rib bone, and paced up to her boulder.

"Stay here."

Once at the top, she eyed the pup--still sitting politely, that was good. My, he looked just like a puppy, eager to please!

"These bones are for seeing the future in, not for eating. They're dry. No good to eat. I'll show you where to find more of them, later."

She watched the dog for a moment, briefly wondering why his ears, and his nose... noses, how odd--why they were different between the heads. How strange.

She shook the thought away and focused on the pile below. "I'll tell you what's in your future, now," she said at length--and pushed the rib off into the bones below.

It was a heavy bone, and it fell with a smash, sending some of the bones scattering. If she'd not, by now, been blind to all else but the pile, she might have noticed the effect on the pup--but she was fixated on the spinning and clattering ribs and skulls and femurs and vertebrae, noticing every rocking settling flying nuance of motion they made, and the patterns and shapes that they fell in.

For a long moment she simply watched them. Then she nodded slowly, and tilted her head, pondering.

I don't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't this.

She eyed Kerberos with something of a new perspective, and then looked back down at the bones again. She began to explain in a patient, clear voice.

"Right now, you're having trouble getting along with others, Kerberos," she started. Then, she hesitated.

How can I explain this to him...? He's very young. Maybe too young. How do I explain that his mind is stunted so far, that he doesn't get along with others, that he is stuck as a beast, when he could be so much more...?

Giggle was suddenly broken from her brief reverie by a loud clatter of bones.

She had gone silent for too long, and to her chagrine, she realized that the three-headed dog had pounced right into her bone pile. Her eyes widened.

"Nooo-oooo," she called out through clenched teeth. Foul words she'd heard when still a hatchling raced through her mind.

Shit, shit, shit!

She dashed down from her boulder to the edge of the pile, one forepaw in the air, grimacing as Kerberos went to town on her bones. Her precious, precious bones.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
Bone no good to eat. That was alright. He could tear these apart too and she would be so proud of him-- but he had to wait. Had to wait for her to get far away; he wasn't sure why this was a thing he had to wait for, but he understood it naturally. He listened to her with curious ears, expecting to see something in the bones, but as she dropped the bones and they smashed, scattering everywhere, Kerberos did not see anything but a whole bunch of fun that he wanted to be involved it.

He bounced up to his paws, going into a play bow, wiggling his butt in the air, but caught her glancing at him again and gave her a full set of three innocent grins before she looked away and he could go back to preparing his pounce. She said his name, and he focused on the bones, looking for his future but only feeling a deep urge to pounce and make a big huge mess.

There was silence. He took that for permission, like when she had backed away from the gross bone before. With a bark, he plunged into the bones like a child would into a pile of leaves and began to snap at the bones and kick them around, scattering them with his wide paws and even his currently tiny tail was whacking them about. He rolled on to his back and wriggled deep into the pile, his massive shoulders displacing the bones as he squirmed about, teeth snapping at random. He chomped and chomped and got up to pounce around some more-- until floppy ears spotted that thigh bone, that tasty tasty thigh bone, and then tore through the bones to it, snatching it up and chomping down on it until it was nothing but splinters.

Boy, he was having just the best doggy time of his young doggy life.

She was exasperated, a little frantic, and not nearly as calm as she should have been. Still...

Breathe deep. He needs structure. Talk to him.

Half of her was an intelligent, manipulative mother figure--the other, an upset child ready to throw a tantrum. He was just a pup--but those were her bones! They were sacred bones, not hers, but she had collected them! It wasn't his fault, and she could get more, but it was such a mess! (Never mind that they were generally a scattered, random pile regardless.)

So she tried to keep her tone relatively peaceful and firm as she waded in. Hell, it almost made her smile to see how much pleasure he was taking just to roll around in the bones, and half of her was tempted to let him be. But he had to learn.

"Kerberos," she started, loud and clear. "These bones are my bones. There are others bones--lots, and lots, and lots of them--up the hill from here. I can show you but you can't have these. These bones are important," she tried, tense. Patience--she had to keep her head.

The question was, would he accept her word, or ignore her? Or, worse, would he forget everything so far, and become aggressive over them?

And if so, what would she do?

She eyed the puppy, and barked a couple times--sharply--to get his attention, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"Come out of there, and I will bring you to other bones, more bones--these are mine," she tried to repeat. Best to make it clear. Obviously, his young mind was rather selective in its understanding.

Still, he was trying. That was... something.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
Her voice got to him and, like a puppy caught in the trash, the middle head swerved to look at her, innocence splayed across his sharp, intelligent expression. His tail slowed to a gentle, hesitant wag and seemed to wriggle at the end as if it was part rattler trying to rattle. "Thank you?" He woofed in reply to her calling his name, but he seemed to know he had done, well, something wrong. The other heads started to fight over a rib, one that was the tastiest bone he wasn't supposed to eat so far.

"More bones?" He considered, wondering if she would take him to them. His tail wagged a bit harder at that, and excitement filled his once worried eyes-- but the other heads started to pay attention to the hyena's words when she barked sharply and the rest of him did not like what he had to hear.

"What if I want these?" He asked, a growl building up in his throat. "Yeah, my bones! These mine now!" He woofed, cropped ears laying back as he bared his teeth. The middle head hesistated, considering the idea of having all these bones for himself, but he seemed to still be somewhat reasonable as the massive dog rose, growls filling two pointy muzzles.

"Maybe give other bones," he rationalized. "Yeah, all the bones!" Agreed the floppy one who had ruined his thigh bone within moments and was eager to find another perfect bone. "You give me all the bones! All of them! Yeah!" The middle head found it hard to argue with that logic as he prowled towards the hyena, fur bristling. He wasn't hungry, so there was no reason to be so selfish, but he didn't see why she had to have all these bones all to herself, and if she did then why couldn't he have them all instead?

Giggle stood her ground. If she didn't now, she wouldn't, and this beast would chase her off from her own bones. She had to make it clear, here and now, who was in charge. The last thing she wanted was a giant bully puppy ruining the little life she'd built here for herself. She'd have said he was a lost cause, but she knew better. She'd seen what the bones had to say, and "lost cause" was far from the truth. Instead, she tried to retain that reasonable and authoritative calm.

"These bones," she said, rather quietly and very firmly, and switching eye contact slowly between each of the heads, "are mine. You--" and she nodded very pointedly toward the middle head--"are the smart one--the reasonable one. You other two should listen to him; you wouldn't like it if I tried to take your bones, would you? These ones are mine. There are plenty up the hill. Middle-Kerberos is the right one," she added again, again very firmly.

Maybe by praising the one, she would turn the others against it--not physically, not violently, but rather their attention--long enough to get Kerberos to understand. Maybe the praise for the middle head's reasonable reaction would give the dog, as a whole, pause.

...Or, judging by the bristling fur and prowling posture, not.

________________

Roll the bones.

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