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
Holy gosh darn giddle gobber gops. Kerberos was a starving beast and after empty tunnel after empty tunnel after boring crystal place after boring crystal place, he had finally found a place that smelled absolutely amazing. Dead things were here. Bones were here. The oversized white puppy didn't know much, but he did know that he wanted to be here. All three noses hit the ground and he snuffed and sniffed around, snake tail wagging wildly as he trotted through the large room of bones, looking for the source of that wonderful, delicious smell. There were so many bones here!

Each head tugged in different directions and he stumbled through the area, slobbering over the occassional bone or interesting smelling spot-- until eventually, he came to a place where a massive pile of bones had been amassed. For a moment, the great multiheaded canine paused, staring in wonder at the massive treasure trove he had found. Did he just jump in? Did he see how many he could shove in his three mouths? His tail wagged harder, panting loudly, as he stared in wonder, trying to process the overwhelming prize before him.

It was then that a bit of movement caught the attention of the right head. "Wha's that?" He woofed, whirling to face whatever it was. "Who's it?" The other head barked, and lastly the center head howled:

"I am Kerberos!"

The gore-and-mud-caked hyena had glanced down to briefly eye over the bones as the huge dog-thing had come trundling in. She was frozen, immediately made wary by his size, his three heads, and his general boisterous demeanor--particularly the howl. And so her gaze flicked over the bones, searching for a hint as to what was to come.

Senseless violence, best avoided. I will prepare.
She stood, standing atop the tall boulder that jutted out over the bones.

"Hello, Kerberos," she said, firmly and quietly and with no trace of fear. "I am Giggle. These are my bones. I can look into them, and see the future. I could see your future, if you wish," she added. It was an offering she made to all travellers. The bones sent her strange visitors, and she felt it her duty to offer wisdom to all who made the journey.

She wasn't too sure, though, that the big, shaggy creature was particularly interested in fortune-telling, and so--though she now stood out of polite greeting--she did not yet descend from her little pinnacle.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
It was an eatable thing! The dog grew quiet as the hyena spoke, staring up at the bloody, messy thing on the bolder. That was the smell he had smelled, better than the bones. Of death and carcasses. Yes. He wasn't sure if he wanted to eat her-- Giggle, Giggle was her name-- or find what stash she had clearly tucked away somewhere and devour it all. One of his heads became distracted as she spoke, lowering to sniff at a large thigh bone. His tail wagged harder by the moment.

"Your bones..." The middle head started, followed by its neighbor who was still paying attention. "Give them to me!" He asked, or rather, demanded, from the hyena, his voice high pitched and whiny like a small child... Because, well, he was. The hyena was certainly his senior, for though he was huge he was just a puppy still.

The head with the orange nose-- the distracted one-- reached for the thigh bone, sniffing loudly, and huffed. He couldn't reach because the others were too busy with Giggle, and although the rest of him had other ideas, he was hungry and he wanted the bones. He reached out his paw and tried to reach it, but only got a growl from the others as his massive body tumbled over-- plopping on his side useless.

"Hey! Stop that!" The others snapped at the orange head, who huff and growled right back. "Bones! Hungry. You stop it." "No you!" "Yeah!" He bickered among himself, flailing on the ground, paws fighting paws-- thankfully he was juuust about far enough away not to knock any of Giggle's bones around.

Giggle eyed the creature, his snapping teeth, his tumbling body; she listened to his keening demand. He was a child--young. She was a child, but he was even younger, perhaps even newborn. He would be huge, she realized at once, and unless curbed soon, dangerous to all of those around him.

As he tumbled around on the floor, his heads snapping at one another, she began to pad down from the boulder, moving in a stately, regal fashion. She still showed no fear, instead speaking clearly and firmly once more.

"There is food--real food--and I will show you where it is, if you behave yourself as I say," she said. She didn't use an aggressive tone, nor even an overly stern one--simply very matter-of-fact. She knew that she was walking a knife's edge, here, and she was uncertain if the creature even remembered her offering of a fortune-telling. Its attention span might be very low, or perhaps it held no interest in such things. "Sit down, and tell me if you want me to tell you about your future. Or, sit down, and ask politely for food, and I will show you where it is," she offered. She herself sat, warily tense and still several yards away. Perhaps if she could teach the creature a bit about normal social interaction--through example--their exchange would become somewhat safer.

Somehow, though, I doubt it.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
Kerberos stopped fighting amongst himself as Giggle came down to his level and spoke of food. Each head stopped, and slowly he rolled back on to his belly, his three sets of pink-red eyes locking on the hyena's form. She spoke simply, calmly, in a way that truly spoke to the usually obtuse beast.

"Food?" Woofed the middle head. While he could try to eat the hyena, he wasn't the best hunter yet and if she had food... Well, he wasn't going to turn down a free meal. He could eat her after she had fed him. For now she was just out of reach, and considering his track record of lunging and missing horribly when trying to catch a thing, he decided to go the easier route.

"Food and bones," agreed his other head, shaking his floppy ears out-- slobber flying in all directions as he did. On the other side, his red-nosed muzzle grinned. "Give me everything!"

"Bones, Future, Food," he woofed, until each head started going off. "Bones! Food! Future? Food! Bones, yes!" The heads went off, woofing happily, tail wagging, paws kneading at the earth.

Giggle eyed the three-headed-dog, quietly and calmly watching as he clamored for everything, all at once. For awhile she was silent, letting him go on, barking, and then she herself suddenly raised her voice, speaking out in a loud, sharp tone. Still calm, still tense and trying to hide it, but in a commanding voice. She would try to bluff, to act the adult, and see if it calmed the pup.

"QUIET," she demanded. "Sit, and be still. If you do that, then I will bring you to the food. You don't want to stay hungry, do you?"

She eyed Kerberos closely, mane bristling ever-so-slightly. She wondered if he'd call her bluff, perhaps dive into her bone pile, or even go for her--or try to sniff out the meat himself, perhaps. It wasn't too far away, though the scent of rot pervaded the area.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
The puppy hushed almost immediately.

The heads whimpered slightly in confusion-- where was his food? She had not given him his food-- but then she explained and he sat there, in silence, considering. Kerberos was hungry-- and he had been hungry for a long, long time. He hadn't got a really good meal in yet, just the occasional rat. Each head nodded enthusiastically towards the hyena, biting their tongues. The smell of rot was alluring for the hound from hell, a beast who probably could digest just about anything he ate. He just had to consume.

Like a school boy he stayed quiet, sharing glances with himself, antsy in his wait for the food to appear. After having been fed by Baratheon, Kerberos had learned the value of waiting and seeing what food would come to him, so staying still and hushing for a moment seemed like a valuable trade. Though he couldn't seem to stay completely still, his tail wriggling, his floppy earred head sniffing around some more towards that thigh bone again.

It seemed like at any moment the pup's reigned in energy would burst like water overflowing a dam, but for now, it was holding. His eyes bright, he looked around and waited and wriggled with impatience.

Giggle eyed the pup solemnly for but a moment, nodding sternly when he sat quietly. Then, suddenly, she grinned--and, after dipping down in an abrupt half play-bow, launched off and sprinted down the path.

"Come on, then!" she called, enthusiastically. She bounded in a rocking hyena gallop down to where the ground grew damp, pitted here and there with little pools, studded with green and leafy ferns.

In the center was a worn spot, dryer than the rest but still moist, as if something slept there and used it as a den. Around it, bones were scattered--many thick, laden with scraps of meat, some chewed or splintered. Some were even still more muscle than bone, and a pile of viscera near the far end offered a tempting morsel. Giggle went through all of this, leaping over it, and stopping on the other side. She had no desire to get between the three-headed dog and his meal.

At the far end she turned, waiting for Kerberos to come and claim his food.

Hopefully, that wouldn't be her.

________________

Roll the bones.

Don't you ever tame your demons

But always keep 'em on a leash

αριστερά . κέντρο . δεξιά
Suddenly Giggle was not a stern parent but instead a playful friend-- and this seemed to solidify Kerberos' opinion of Giggle as yet another like Baratheon: someone to eat later, but not yet, not yet. As she bounded off, he leaped to his feet and let loose a cacophony of howls, chasing after her like hounds after a fox.

He tore through the ferns and splashed through the puddles, his lumbering form disrupting the peace that usually occupied the land of bones. He almost lost sight of Giggle a few times, but one head always managed to keep sight of her, and eventually they came to the place where the hyena called home and huge chunks of bloody, meaty bones laid splaid out everywhere.

The smell was overwhelming as the dog pelted towards the largest chunk, snapping it up with gnashing teeth. The mouths fought over the carcass, snarling and biting, tearing it to pieces. Eventually the left head-- its nose like a drop of blood now almost hidden by the smear of blood that drenched his muzzle-- took hold of the prize wholly, while his body tromped over to some other bones and the two left over heads got their own prize.

The snarling and growling continued, but became muted once each pair of teeth had a tasty chunk of muscle and bone and flesh to devour. His tail was set to a slow wag, though every once and a while it stilled as his eyes flickered to Giggle, a snarl rippling through his chest. She had provided him with food but it seemed he wasn't the least bit grateful, and would not part with any of the bones now that he had claimed them.

Giggle stared at the hound, stern once again and silent, watching him fight over his own food. The first few times he looked up at her and growled, she simply stared impassively back; eventually, however, she spoke. At the same time, she idly pressed one paw over a large bone very close to her, trying to focus both on the big dog, and on calling her magic. Her real magic.

"No, Kerberos" she said, carefully imitating the name he had howled earlier. "I gave you those; why would I take them away? But growling over them, that's bad. If you growl at people, they won't help you anymore. They won't give you food--or anything else," she warned. He was a puppy, still--he had to be taught everything, from scratch. "It's also polite to say 'thank you,' since I just gave you something for nothing."

As she spoke, a faint red tint had spread over the bone. It wasn't nearly as juicy as she would have liked, nor as thick--but the fungus did grow, as she'd tried to coax it to. It smelled utterly delicious, rancid and meaty, but it tasted utterly atrocious--something she had learned from a hostile pack of invaders some time previous. "Now eat, and afterward, if you want me to tell you what will happen to you in the future, we can go back to the bone pile and I will."

The bone she had cast magic on lay at her feet, temptingly aromatic; Kerberos might decide to be good and keep eating his own food, but if he came for the bone that she was idly resting one forepaw on, he'd be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

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Roll the bones.

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