ORIGIN

The hyena gave a short laugh. And then, impishly, tried to lend it magicka, as before.

The cackle rang out, and after a moment, unexpectedly, Omen--fluttering down to land nearby--echoed it. The dragon appeared surprised, which pleased Giggle; it was always satisfying to give what would be her money's worth, if she were being paid. And if money existed. Ahh, but she liked that touch of the dramatic.

"Cost? Nothing!" she cried, deliberately making it as rough and loud as she could.

COST! COST! echoed the bird, bobbing up and down, and Giggle had to hide her delight by turning toward the pit. She tried not to laugh as she waded chest-deep into the bones.

Briefly, she was reminded of her grim questions prior; and she gave the old keel of Aza'zel the gentlest, loving nudge, before searching through the rest of the bones. She picked a medium-sized bone, despite the temptation to go for LARGE for a dragon. Instead this one was smooth, and white, and had a gentleness about it she wouldn't have expected.

That fit.

She picked this up in her jaws, turning, glancing briefly at Bone in passing.

Once she reached the ledge above the pit, she settled on her haunches and looked quietly around. They were, for now, still alone; and she fixed her eyes back on Bone.

"It costs nothing. Though if these same bones are ever threatened, I think they'd appreciate protection," she added, solemnly. She'd never asked anything in return for a reading, before--she still wasn't, not really; but Bone's size and, hopefully, magicka might be useful in a fight. If the pit, the bones, were every truly at risk.

"Do you have a question for them, then; or should we look into your future as a whole?"

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"All right, then," Giggle said. She looked to the bones. "We'll ask the specific, first! What will happen between the Overseer, and his friends--or allies!--and Bone, and her family?" she asked. She lifted the bone in her teeth, and held the question in her mind: and then tossed it, and let it fall, and watched the way it fell.

She saw violence, in their fall, but at first it was not bad; the bone seemed protected from it, for the most part. And it moved others--they would gain. It may speak of children. Betwen them? she wondered. And last: a crack, as the bone smashed into another, and then, at last, they scattered.

"There will be problems between you, but you are safe from them, for now. Strong. You can defend yourself. And then I see some form of... addition, to your family. Children, perhaps. I don't know if that's related to Vargas. If you'll join families, or if you have other children while you're protecting yourselves from them. And in the end, the bones warn of violence. Combat, war, that could be avoided, or defended against, but isn't. Try to stop that one from happening, dragon, now that you're warned of it. If you don't, well... The bones don't say there will be violence. They say that there may be violence you can avoid. And you should--avoid it, I mean."

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Giggle glanced up curiously as the white dragon offered yet another 'thank you.' It occurred to her, then--perhaps a little late--that this one was far, far more well-spoken than her father. Dread, it had seemed, could barely string a sentence together--and most of that was bellowing. This one seemed composed and thoughtful, intelligent even, if quiet.

The hyena looked down, again, at her pit as she crested the edge, and set the bone again between her paws.

"Thank the bones," she said in answer, and was more than amused to hear the dragon do just that. She waited, a beat, and then went on. "Anyway--now for the rest of it, yes?"

Tell me, bones; what do you see in this dragon--Bone's--future?

It fell.

It tumbled.

Giggle watched with growing dismay. The clattering of the bones, this time, was portentious. There was not a single movement but spoke of danger, of misery. The old hyena glanced to Bone, and then to the bones themselves, wondering just how to break this to her.

Shit, she thought, grimly, and winced when Omen immediately blurted SHIT! with all the pride befitting a mindless mimic.

"...Thank you, Omen," she said aloud, drily, and then she looked to Bone. "I do not see a kind future for you, dragon, and for that I'm sorry. The bone doesn't... go well, at first. You'll find a journey--physical, or spiritual, or whatever--I don't know--going very badly. It might be trying to improve yourself or your situation or it may be literal travel that goes poorly. There's then emphasis... it falls badly again, and reiterates! A bad journey, dragon. A bad way. Things will be tricky, and you'll have to be very, very careful to avoid them going very bad. Catastrophe, even. I'm surprised it didn't shatter," she added, her tone again bone-dry. "And last it speaks of families, or children, of rebirth, new beginnings. A chrysalis, maybe, or kids--I'm not sure--but it goes badly. It could be bad family trouble. You'd better be watchful." She lifted her head, and studied Bone; rarely was a reading quite so dire as this.

"I'm sorry," she added, and her tone was grim.

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Giggle grunted.

Again, she trotted down, and again, she retrieved the bone. Again she tossed it, and again she watched it fall, and studied its movements and those of all the other bones it struck.

"Break away from others. And seek enlightenment... Knowledge! Your own magic, maybe. But you have to focus on yourself, on becoming better than you are, on not relying on them. Maybe they have to be able to rely on you, eventually; but for now you have to stand alone!" The bones, on this were clear. "I see things unchanging, eventually." She paused, and searched the bones with her eyes.

"It means you have to change yourself, in order to survive whatever comes. It'll still come. You have to fight to hear the future yourself... Maybe you have a touch of what I do. You can See-?" She looked up sharply, eyeing the dragon. Was Bone a seer, then, in her own right..? "I think then your family--even children?--will be all right."

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Giggle peered, and then trotted quickly down, pushing up alongside the dragon--near-fearless of it, now; it seemed perfectly friendly to her--to touch her nose to the very same bone.

What she saw was not the same.

A brief, snarling face; toxic green light. The sudden, sharp agony of a body torn apart.

The old hyena screamed, staggering backward and falling into the bones, flailing there for a moment--and gasping, going still as she caught her breath. Startled, Omen took flight, screeching and screaming of her own accord, frightened at what she, too, had seen.

It took Giggle a moment to calm herself, and a moment longer to calm the bird. Past that she could hear Bone asking worriedly if she were okay, and she took a breath and forced an answer.

"Yes," she croaked. "Sometimes, what we see isn't... the best moment of a thing's life."

Experiencing literal sudden death was... unexpected.

Unpleasant.

"I can teach you a little, if you have the time. But I don't want you leaving halfway through," Giggle added, somewhat harshly. Distant memories of rude, half-assed students declaring their own training complete still irritated her.

She pulled herself from the pit of bones, shaking herself off, exhaling unsteadily.

That had been... unpleasant.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr