ORIGIN - We ARE the Bonebound, After All

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When she woke, she gave Bayo a few gentle nudges. Then she pushed up, yawned, and paced over to the nearest pool of shallow water--a pool that had welled up (or maybe collected) in one of the shallow holes along the ground, here. She lapped at it for a time, and waited.

When Bayo was most definitely awake, she padded back to give him a few groggy good "morning" nuzzles. Her voice, when she addressed him, was warm: gentle, well-rested, with that hint of mother's humor in it.

"All right, kiddo; you ready to learn to read the bones?" she asked, and pulled back to regard him with a mock-solemn stare.

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@Bayo

Bayo had slept very soundly for the few hours the pair had laid in silence for, dreaming of nice things, like using his scarf-cape-bandanna to fly, or being able to change colors all of a sudden. At the nudges he stirred, ears flicking gently as he was slowly pulled from the depths of sleep, his memories of said dreams falling away like dry sand.

He lifted his head and blinked groggily, tongue curling as he yawned widely and rubbed at his sleep-crusted eyes with a paw. His tail started to thump as Giggle returned, her affection returned eagerly with a few sloppy licks.

”I'm ready,” he said, stifling a yawn as he stumbled to his feet, stretching his back and shaking out his shaggy fur.

The coyena slouched to the pool of water and lapped up a few mouthfuls, his mouth parched after sleeping with it half-open, drool matting the fur on one side of his face. He was anything but a graceful sleeper. Once he'd fixed his fur and woke up a bit, he trotted back to Giggle, lips pulling back into a sort of grin.

”M'kay, now I'm ready,” Bayo said, standing tall, ”Have uh... have any of my sibs tried to do this b'fore?”

@Giggle

She waited for him to prepare himself, idly standing around--and when he asked his question, she found herself stumped, for a moment. Sibs-? she thought, blankly, half-awake brain taking a moment to connect the thought. Siblings-... He must mean siblings, she realized. Bayo had always had a strange manner of speaking; the way he drawled and cut his words wasn't like anyone she'd heard, before. She'd wondered, vaguely, if it was some strange holdout from another life; memories unknown trickled along with him into this one.

"Yeah," she answered, easily. "It's touched a few in our family, really. Skeena was proving pretty good with 'em," she added.

"So, kiddo, tell me something. Why exactly do you want to learn to read the bones?" He'd given her a brush over it, an overview, but she was making conversation as she picked her way over to the pit. It'd give her a starting point, too; a perspective they could use to work with.

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@Bayo

Bayo bounded ahead a few paces, his tail wagging once again as his mood quickly improved as sleep left his limbs. He tossed his head and grabbed a bone in his jaws, wrestling with it before leaping away and cackling, prancing like a deer.

”I wanna be helpful!”, he said, ”An' if someone's feelin' especially lost, maybe I can try to help 'em out on their path. T' guide 'em in the right direction! I want t' help in any way I can and I also want... I wanna carry on your legacy, I guess.”

He came to a halt and looked back at Giggle, eyes soft, ”I um... I always looked up to you, mama. I always thought you were super cool and just... awesome. I just always wanted to be like you! An' any time I can spend with you is time well spent, too, so... I dunno, I thought on top of learnin' somethin' interestin' and useful, we could... bond? I guess?”

Bayo shrugged at what he thought was a meager explanation, his tail pausing for a moment before it started right back up again. He walked over to Giggle and nuzzled her shoulder gently, glad for her. He loved his mama so much his heart felt like bursting sometimes.

@Giggle

Giggle's was a warmly good-natured smirk, both as she watched her son frolic alongside and then as he paused, standing there with his tail first dropping and then popping back up again. His mention of her being awesome prompted the smirk to its widest point, though.

"Well, I am awesome," she agreed, amused and easygoing. She offered him a shoulder-bump, gently affectionate, after his soft nudge--to his shoulder, not his poor nose.

"Cmon, you silly goof. Guidance is a great reason, by the way. Wanting to help others. The bones pick Seers who want to do just that: I think they pass on knowledge through conduits, like me and maybe--we'll see!--like you. Even if they don't? You're right, time spent together is never time wasted. But it'd be pretty cool to have you carry on the legacy, kiddo."

She meant it all, too, of course. She felt quite at ease, now, and it was a good thing she had rested; all thoughts of death and void were mostly forgotten, her demeanor only comfortable. She picked her way over to the pit.

"Of course, if it doesn't work--if the bones don't talk to you straightaway--you might be a conduit for some other power. There's those that see fortunes in water and air. You could be one of those--but we'll see. Just don't get discouraged if it doesn't come right away. We'll find some other way for you to help others, if that happens, so don't feel too pressured, okay?" She kept her tone hopeful; she wasn't trying to discourage him at the outset, far from it. But she didn't want him dashed by a shattering of his expectations, either.

Giggle stopped at the edge of the pit, thick-clawed paws perched before the bones. She raised her voice to bright enthusiasm. "So let's give this a shot, huh?" She glanced down, and nodded to the bones. "Now, the first thing I do when I do a reading--and you can do it different, if you like; everyone'll have their own way. But the first thing I do is think of the question I want to ask, and try to pick a bone that looks-... No, feels like the subject of the question. Something to represent it. I focus real hard on that question. Someone who's big and spiky, I might look for a big, spiky bone. Someone wants to know about a family? I look for a few ribs, stuck together--that sort of thing. Why don't you try and pick a question, now, and then--take your time!--a bone to represent it?

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@Bayo

Bayo giggled as she spoke, bumping her shoulder back just as affectionately. He laughed harder at the name, unable to stop grinning as they approached the pit.

”Even if this doesn't work out, I don't mind,” he said, ”Maybe I am meant for somethin' else, that'll just mean I'll hafta do a little more lookin'.”

And Bayo was really good at looking for things, if all his games of hide-and-seek said anything.

The coyena peered over the edge of the pit when they arrived, looking over the different bones and tilting his head, amazed at how different they were. Prey, predator, greater and lessers alike.

”Pick a bone that feels like the subject,” he repeated, descending carefully into the pit, considering a question to ask.

He didn't want to ask a selfish question, nor did he wanted something too big. A question of little importance that could be answered easily.

'... What will I catch hunting?', came the thought, his paws carrying him towards some lesser bones.

A rabbit. A deer. A bird. He picked each up carefully in his jaws and climbed back up to the top, looking at Giggle for a moment before sitting down beside her and setting the bones down before him.

”... I uh... I couldn't pick which one sort of... fit more,” he said bashfully, tail flopping as he peered down at the bones, a wishbone, femur, and a small rib respectively.

What made a bird fly, the strength of a deer's legs as it ran, what protected a rabbit's beating heart as it fled from predators. He thought them fitting, at least for this question.

'What will I catch hunting?', he asked them, pushing them over the side and into the pit, eyes wide as he watched them fall.

A breeze blew by, catching his scarf and letting it flap behind him gently. He peered over the bones where they fell, staring at their positions. The femur lay vertical, as did the wishbone. But the rib was horizontal, the only one of the bunch that was different. Out of the three options given, the rabbit lay horizontal, not upright... as if that was the answer.

It didn't take a few seconds to get this, though. No. Bayo spent quite a few minutes pacing, staring at the bones and wondering what they meant. He tilted his head, rolled over to look at them upside-down, but eventually he came to a conclusion.

”A rabbit,” he said, his tail starting to wag, ”I-I asked the bones what I would catch huntin' later and offered a deer, bird, and a rabbit... an' the rabbit's the only one different, layin' sideways unlike the others. It's like it's sayin' yes, that I'll catch it!”

Bayo yapped in excitement and ran around Giggle in circles, prancing and dancing with utter glee.

”Was that right mama?”, he asked, bouncing up and down in front of her, ears flopping all over as he tap-danced, so excited he could sing!

@Giggle

Bayo was an apt student--and he moved at once to act on her guidance, throwing himself headlong into it. He picked not one, but three bones, but Giggle didn't stop him; she found it curious, and she knew (by virtue of his having repeated her advice) that he hadn't misinterpreted. He was finding his own way, instead. And he did explain, a moment later: he couldn't pick one. She offered a little nod in acknowledgment, but didn't interrupt just yet.

The bone toss was an interesting one. At first, she tried not to laugh at the sight of him with three full bones crammed into his jaws. But as he stood up top, there seemed to be some powerful aura about him: a certainty, a fate hanging over him like a cloak, a sense that he was touched by something greater. She stared up for a moment, admiring it, glad for him--and something about it tickled at the back of her mind with the faintest feather-brush of unease. Giggle couldn't put a finger on that, though, and so she just turned her mind back to her heroic-looking son at the tip of the ledge, and his reading.

"Is it right-?" she asked, then shrugged. "Who knows? We'll find out," she added, with amused mystery in her tone and a waggle of her heavy brows. "I've never used more than one bone before, but it's an interesting way. It's like you're opening up more ways for the bones to answer. What I do, is I watch the way they fall. I didn't mean for you to go straight into throwing the bone--I just wanted you to pick one, at first. Then I was going to explain how I read them, but that's fine. I can do that now," she went on.

A nod to the ledge, to indicate that he should follow her back up again (after his dancing circles) and she paced up the narrow path. Paws scuffed dirt, and the stale smell of mushrooms filled the air. "Be careful never to touch these, Bayo," she told him, as she ascended. He'd already been up here, but hopefully he (and his bones, and she didn't think the keel had been Aza'zel's) hadn't brushed along them at all. As she went, she indicated each with a point of her black nose, and told him what they did. "That's a hallucinogen. I can use it to make someone see all sorts of things that aren't there, though I can't control what they see," she began, nodding to a white-stalked, brown-capped plain little thing. Others--blue and green, and phosphorescent--were described simply as "These just give off light," with the 'in case everything goes black again' left unspoken. "And those, those smell like meat--but they taste terrible, so don't bite them," she advised. She was sure she'd shown them some of these before, but not all. "These here--these weird white ones--those are powerful fungus. They make others feel like I'm not the enemy, anymore. The reason I have all these here is to protect me if someone attacks me here--which has happened," as evidenced by the old scars raked across her eyes and face.

"Anyway, once you reach the top--you can throw and read them however you want. But I'll give you a few of my interpretations to work with, okay kiddo? Take 'em or leave 'em--you'll find your own way--but maybe it'll help you get ideas."

Perched atop the ledge, staring down into the bone pit below, she spoke.

"When you throw the bone down, try to focus on the question you were asking. Ask the bones--the spirits that once lived in them!--to guide you to an answer. I find that my mind sort of... interprets on its own, and yours might do it different. For me, when one breaks, it's a bad thing, to me: it means difficulties that will shatter the... person, or whoever is asking. Or being asked about! If it breaks the bones it hits, it might mean that it's strong, or that it'll damage whatever it's trying to do--it depends on the context. Then there's how the other bones react, how exactly it lands. If a bone scatters others away, it means to me that it'll end up alone, or might hurt those around them; if it gets covered by others, but isn't damaged, it might mean that they'll be protected, or surrounded by family, or friends. If it bounces away from the rest it might also end up alone! If it uncovers other bones, maybe it means it's finding a hidden truth, or even starting a new family, or new friends, if those bones wind up entangled with it."

Giggle glanced at Bayo. "You don't need to remember all that, Bayo. The bones'll guide you, in their own way, and you'll get the hang of it--you looked like you already did. But I'd be a pretty crappy teacher if I didn't tell you the process! Do you want to try another one?" she asked, easygoing.

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@Bayo

Bayo yanked his nose away from the meat-smelling mushrooms, looking disappointed for a moment that he couldn't eat them before turning and loping back towards Giggle, ears perked forward.

”I think... I think I made it easy? I tried to start easy with a sorta yes or no thing. 'What am I gonna catch?' An' then I offered three options that I almost always hunt for for the uh- the bones to choose,” he tried to explain, scrunching up his nose as the gears turned in his head, ”But I mean! More choices means the bones can be a bit more specific, right?”

The coyena shrugged and snuffled through the pile, searching for one in particular. After a minute with his head buried beneath the pile he drew back, holding a mandible in his mouth. He adjusted his grip on it and clambered up the side of the pit before plopping his butt down next to Giggle, letting out a soft whuff as he placed the bone down gently.

”It's... it's like finding pictures in the cave ceiling,” he said, tail wagging, ”Like finding pictures or meanings in how the bones appear. Cool!”

Bayo stared at the bone he'd picked up, his tongue poking out of his mouth in a 'blep' as he tilted his head, ears flopping.

”... I like this one,” he said, pointing to it with a paw and looking up at Giggle, ”AHA! I'm the smartest damn gembound ever-”

With his declaration he suddenly bolted off, though his initial launch left his front paws sliding out from under him as they failed to gain purchase in the loose dirt, leaving him falling flat on his chest with a wheeze. But up he got and with a shake, he was off, running to... somewhere.

A minute later he returned with a bag, chest heaving as he panted, taking massive breaths to try and catch just one. He dropped the bag he'd so smartly taken with him when he'd traded with the Collector, a well-crafted thing definitely not of these caves. No one in them could make such a thing, anyway.

”I got-”, he paused to pant, sucking in a breath before continuing, "- I got a bag! I wanna- hoo- get a buncha bones that I like in particular! Like this one. I think it'd a lot like you, like a guiding light."

Giggle was who he turned to for guidance and even if she wasn't present, just her memory and the though, 'what would mama do?', was enough to help him make important decisions when he was just too scrambled to do it himself. But like her, this bone just felt important to him, like it would help him learn the art of the Bone-seer.

”... I'm gonna cast again,” he said, his whole butt wiggling with excitement as he picked up the mandible, looking over at Giggle and squinting with thought.

'... What happened to my mama?'

A fierce, protective feeling washed over him as he stared for a moment, wondering why she feared. Why the stink of it clung to her fur sometimes. He was too empathetic for his own good.

He cast the bone, throwing it into the pit, time slowing as he watched it fall slowly, watched it turn mid-air as it slowly descended towards the other bones. A wind picked up, as if the thing before was going to happen... only for his scarf to whip up and flip over his head, making him yelp and stagger backwards, slowly turning as he tried to shake and wiggle the fabric off. His paws slipped and sent him tumbling down into the pit with a screech, bones flying in every direction as he fell into them.

Once at the bottom he lifted his head, dazed, ”Ow- I'm okay!!”

Bayo stood and shook his fur out, whirling around to try and find the bone, eyes wide. He needed to know this question! Come on, bones!!

He found it in the shadow of another, almost missing it where it lay in darkness. He sighed in relief and grabbed it, making his way back up the side of the pit, embarrassment clear in how he walked, averting his eyes.

”... So um... that didn't work,” he said with a sheepish grin, dropping the bone on the ground, ”... So uh... you ever fall in the pit?”

He winced and sat down, pouting just a little bit.

@Giggle

Giggle dipped her head a bit--a nod of acknowledgment--to Bayo's reasoning. "Don't get me wrong, kiddo, I'm not saying it's bad, or wrong, how you choose to do it. I'm just showing you how I do! Like I said, everyone's gotta find their own way." But she did add a caveat, thoughtful: "Just remember if you only throw three options, it might be none of those--and how would the bones tell you that? Keep in mind some way to know." She wasn't aware of exactly how he'd picked out the 'right' option, or that if all the bones had fallen to one side, it might've meant "none of the above." It was a good warning to give, in her mind, just in case.

"There's a thing about the future, too," she went on, and now she was pacing thoughtfully around the pit's edge.

"The reason Seeing works is because everything that happens--that exists--now is gonna become the future. So it's a sort of... probability. We--you and I!--can't see everything that is, but the dead, magic, it all can. And maybe the spirits, the bones, they look at everything and get a good, strong idea of the most likely outcome, where we maybe don't know all the... variables. You know? But that doesn't mean it's gonna be one hundred percent right. Just that it's the most likely," she finished, and then--with a smirk toward her son--"That's a bonus lesson for today."

She eyed his bag, as he grabbed it, brought it over--and she was about to comment, half-confused and half-admiring, when he bolted off to do another reading. Good-naturedly she tracked him with her eyes. "It's a nice bag, Bayo! Where'd you get it-? And don't take all the bones from this damn pit. These are mine. You find your own bones! -You can keep that one," she added, loud and humorous.

When Bayo went tumbling in, she winced--started. Like any mother she was quick to cross the distance, to ensure he wasn't hurt, but once he'd made that clear--and asked if she'd ever fallen in--she laughed. "You aren't meant to throw yourself in, kiddo. Be more careful than that, some of those are sharp! And you might break them." That would be disrespectful, she thought, and sent a mental apology to the pit of dead, dry bones.

"Anyway, I think I fell in maybe once, but that's because I was fighting. Like I said, I've been attacked here a couple of times. If I'm remembering right, it was the bastard that gave me all these scars," she added, briefly pawing at the ragged, ancient wounds that still traced thin lines across her face and eyes, where hair did not grow and the skin remained faintly shiny.

She'd never seen that one again; she wondered what had happened to him. Dead? Missing? Had her fungus--what she'd left rampantly growing on him as she'd fled--consumed him alive?

She vaguely sort of hoped so.

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

@Bayo

strong language

one whole swear!

Bayo shook himself off and used a paw to fix his scarf, gently setting the mandible into the bag and pulling it shut. He looked up at Giggle, tail flopping back and forth, smiling wide.

”I'll learn,” he promised, ”And I just... I just want one bone. I'm gonna call this one my 'funny bone'! Get it 'cause I picked it 'cause it reminded me o' you and your name's Giggle-”

He coughed and looked away, ”Anyway! I'll start a bone pile like you have! Or uh... a bone bag. A portable bone pit! I'll collect bones that speak to me especially well... or just look cool, whichever.”

Bayo dropped the bag and looked down at it, proud, ”Same place I got the seeds from! That wacky portal in the crystal cave- Gemini I think is what somebody else called it. Some people have really loud conversations- but it came out with the seeds in it and I traded the seeds for this cloak but kept the bag 'cause I thought it'd be useful later and it is! My bone bag!”

He took a deep breath afterward, barely having inhaled through his ramblings. He peered at Giggle curiously, eyeing her scars, and stepped forward, giving her nose a gentle boop with his own before pressing their cheeks together.

”I hope you taught those suckers a lesson. Ain't nobody gonna mess with my mama and get away with it, right?”, he said, grinning. "But per-so-nally-”, he said, enunciating each syllable for emphasis, ”I think they make you look bad- I'm gonna say a swear mama- ass!”

Bayo sat himself down next to Giggle and let his head fall on her shoulder, huffing happily, ”I'm glad you're my mama. Anybody could've given my stone life, but I'm glad it was you. No one else is as good a mama as you are.”

With his tail flopping happily, he nuzzled into her fur, cackling happily as he stood up and tried to nip at her ears playfully, hoping she'd play with him, scampering off and giggling uncontrollably.

@Giggle

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