ORIGIN

Giggle had waited, patient, quiet. As Azure'd worked, her own mind had wandered, her head falling to her paws, and she'd nearly drifted into sleep. But dark eyes, half-lidded, had watched the hybrid at her work. She knew what she was doing, that was for sure; she worked with a steady focus that said she'd done this a hundred times, or more. And the few necklaces scattered about the home--often baubled, or painted, or gemstones filled with flowers or stars--certainly attested to that.

When at last Azure lifted up a finished product, Giggle stood and paced over to inspect it. It looked better than she could've hoped for--primitive, certainly, with threads of tattered leather here and there, but wasn't that fitting for the Bone Seer? Polished perfection would never match Giggle's aesthetic.

"It's perfect," she answered, and suddenly felt as though she owed Azure more than a bone reading. Those, she gave out free, after all. "I feel I'm underpaying you. If you can think of anything else I can trade--I could bring you food, if you want? Or anything at all, really. More things for you to craft with-?" she suggested, with a glance up at the bird. "If you want to make more things like this, I can save the bones from my meals, if you want. The hides, too, if you need leather. You'd just need to show me how to treat it." Most of the skins off her meals just dessicated and rotted, really; she wasn't sure how to make it into leather. "It might be nice, so it doesn't go to waste," she mused.

"Those bands--think you could put them around, say, my right leg? Front one? This way I can get at the bones easy enough." Eyes travelled to the dyes.

"And you remember the paint pattern I want? -Do you need to rest, first?" she asked, glancing to Azure. "If you need to, it's fine. I'm not in a rush. I could sleep here, or even come back another day." With the hybrid's hard work, she didn't want to be a bother.

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

She opened her beak to protest--the idea of more payment made her feel uncomfortable. She liked giving stuff away, trading it out--even cheaply. She didn't like taking things from others, or owing anyone anything. She couldn't have quite said why, either. It was just... an unpleasant feeling, like ants under her feathers. But when Giggle suggested bringing her pelts, skins and bones, from things she was gonna kill anyway-? She felt faint relief.

"That's... a good idea, actually. So it doesn't go to waste," she agreed, thoughtful. "I don't need much, but leather's always good. I can show you how we treat it, or you can bring it fresh, but honestly just bringing it like--every now and then? It doesn't need to be often. And you can stop whenever," she added, hastily.

At the request for tying the armbands on, Azure nodded, though she didn't move to do so just yet. Instead she went to the water jar, nudging and pushing it across the rock--carrying it only once, awkwardly, by its lip in her beak. She moved it to the bone dust, and after inspecting the grain to make sure it was fine enough, she tipped a tiny bit of water in. Then she took sticks--little ones, brought for the purpose--and mixed up each dye individually, so it was smooth and creamy. She had to add a little more water to the bone dye, but in the end she had two good paints. "Let me do the paint first, so it doesn't drip onto the leather and the bones."

She was proud of her own forethought: a true professional, she thought.

"For the paint, you wanted big, like, bones, right? Down your back, and neck. So, white on top, fading into red down the bottom--like a backbone and ribs, painted down your sides and up your mane. And you wanted a skull of bone on your face, and like, a red empty eye on your shoulders. Is that all right? If you're ready, stand still," she added, easygoing.

This part, at least, was easy. She paced a circle around Giggle first, carefully examining the hyena's frame. It was with some surprise that she noted she was slightly taller than the Bone Seer: she'd thought of Giggle as massive, somehow. But she herself was slightly taller, even at the shoulder, let alone with her little branching antlers. (She hated those fucking things.) That said, Giggle was clearly a lot heavier: all muscle and bulky power, where Azure was light and lithe, for flying.

Regardless, Giggle was big, and thick, and she found that painting each thin bone might look both silly and be problematic. It was carefully, delicately, that she tried to address this fact. "The bones might be hard to paint, like, realistically. I think it'd be better if they were maybe... double width? So like... here, and here, instead of--here, and here," she went on, drawing careful lines down Giggle's flank with her beak. There was no paint, yet--just touch, demonstration.

"They'd be more widely-spaced than your real bones, but they'd look better; is that okay? I can try them thin, but they'd be harder to see, and might look weird. It'd be hard to get it precise, like, to line them up with your real ribs," she explained--"And, well, you're a bone, uh, person. So I guess you know how tightly ribs are packed. It probably wouldn't look as much like bones as just white all down your sides. And red," she added, pondering.

"Just let me know, and I'll give it a shot. You ready?" she asked.

Then she stepped back, the artist at work, and picked out a paint brush and put it in her beak.

Paint, first. That makes sense, Giggle thought, with a faint sense of relief that she must be in good hands. It wasn't the sort of thing she might have thought of, herself; it sounded like wisdom born of past mistakes.

"Anyway, yeah--show me or tell me or whatever how to treat the leather. I'll gather that shit all up and bring it over every couple weeks, or once a cycle, or something. Just gotta figure out how to carry it all," she added, amused. "And don't worry. If I ever get tired of doing it, I'll let you know. But it'd be nice not to let it all go to waste." It was true; she'd never really thought about it before, but if someone could do something with all the bones and skins, that'd be a good thing, right? Instead of just adding to the unwanted remains, and leaving it all to rot.

She listened patiently to Azure's considerations, standing still to allow the hybrid to circle and eye her over. The hybrid sounded like an experienced, critical artist, and having seen her work, Giggle decided just to trust her judgment. "Thick is fine," she answered, "whatever you think is best. It's just got to look like I'm a Bone Seer at sight, you know? A shaman, a witch doctor, whatever it is. As long as it looks good. But you've got it--white on top, fading red down the bottom, and the red eye and skull face. Don't paint over my gemstone, though," she added, tipping her head down to show Azure her forehead. "It's little, but it's that red spot up between my eyes--a little higher. I've seen it in my reflection," she explained, amused. And, as an afterthought: "It might be harder to paint all the scars, too--I'm not sure? But you can leave them if you want to, if it's easy. It might look better. Up to you, though--do whatever you think is best, all around."

Then she stood still, upright. "Yeah, I'm ready. And thanks again, for this," she added. Hopefully, she would look badass.

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

Azure came around to regard the scars with a critical eye. It didn't really occur to her that anyone might feel self-conscious about scarring, but she did wonder if they'd been from an incident Giggle didn't want to talk about. As for painting over them, but skipping them-?

"Uh, with the scars, I can try. If I paint just... the fur and kinda skip over them it should be okay, light strokes maybe, but if the paint dips down into them there's not much I can do. I could try to clean them before I fix the dye in place, but we'll see, I guess?" she said, with a shrug.

Then she went to work.

The brush was picked up; it was dipped in the bone dye. Then, bit by bit, she began to paint.

First were the bones, down Giggle's back. Tall edges, like the tips of vertebrae, were painted up her neck-mane and the longer fur of the back. These were then traced down into the lines of ribs, thick and evenly-spaced. Azure then moved to the front, and began--very carefully, and only from memory--to paint a skull on Giggle's face. She had, in her defense, studied a couple skulls in preparation; but one had been a bird's skull, and she wasn't too sure on hyena anatomy. It came out passable, though: a thick, creamy white paint in the shape of a skull over the hyena's face, skipping eyes, nose (as a skull would) and the gemstone, by request. She managed, too, to skip the scars, for the most part. The teeth were not as good: smudges down the hyena's black muzzle, more a suggestion of pointed teeth than anything anatomically accurate.

When she was done, she stepped back to admire her work. "C'mere," she said, hooves and claws clicking on the rock as she paced over to a shallow pan of water. She uncovered it, pulling the cloth off with her beak. "This look good?" she asked.

Once Giggle had offered approval, she dropped in the dirty brush; then she picked up a second, dry and clean, and--again stuffing her beak with it--dipped it into the dark red dye, instead.

She went back to work--her own neck starting to ache, as Giggle's had done from the pestle--and painted in the lower halves of the ribs in red. She had to admit that the hyena's vision had been a good one. At first, Azure hadn't been sure that white and red would mix well; she figured it'd look weird, the bones turning red. But as a stylized choice, they actually looked good. She allowed herself a little pride--sure, she'd doubted the design but the implementation had been hers, and her work was solid.

Last came the eyes. These were very basic, again highly stylized: just two broad, vaguely-eye-shaped designs, one on each shoulder, with a big red dot in the center as a pupil.

When at last she'd finished, Azure dropped the second brush into the pan alongside the first, to rinse away the dye so they could be reused later. "Right," she said; "now before I settle this on: what do you think? Anything you want changed? Once I make it permanent with magic, it's real, real hard to get off without. If you ever do want it removed, you'll have to find me again, or someone else with the magic," she explained. "But does this all look right?"

She tried not to fret: tried not to be the worried artist regarding her client, but-... It was hard. Usually her stuff was made by her, to her own design, then sold as-is--rarely did she do custom artwork by request, and she was hoping she'd gotten it right.

She held patiently still all the while Azure worked.

It was hard to do. It wasn't just the tedious motionlessness: it was the desire, constantly, to crane her head around and see what Azure was doing. And she couldn't: Azure was in the way, more often than not, simply by virtue of where she needed to stand to work. And she couldn't see her own neck. There was also the added discomfort of having a virtual stranger this close, for this long, touching her flanks and ribs. Giggle hadn't realized how uncomfortable this would make her--her experience with the random attacks, and her limit of mostly being close to family, left her a little twitchy and uncertain by the end.

This was quickly forgotten, though, when Azure led her to the pan, to view her reflection within. It wasn't a perfect mirror--the water was dull, the pan beneath dark, so all she could really see was the skull staring back at her. That was almost a better effect, though: it almost looked like a real skull down there, floating in the water. The strange lines along her muzzle, hinting at teeth, were suited, she thought; overall, she was very, very pleased. Bones, I actually look like--well, bones.

"It looks great. I love it--perfect," she answered, the half-growl in her voice one of satisfaction. Then it was time to hold quite still while Azure did the rest--the red lines, the streaks, the strange represenation of eyes.

When asked to approve the work, she did so again, with gusto. There was... excitement building in her, now: she was reinventing herself, in a sense, and this was a damn good start. Or not reinventing, no--no; she was improving a long-held impression she'd always tried to present. She felt... more herself, than she'd ever been. It was a good set of art, a good mask to hide behind, a good face to present. "It's perfect," was all she said, with a warm and confident nod to the artist.

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

Azure felt warmth blossom through her. Giggle approved! Her client was pleased with her work. The relief and pleasure of the successful artist flooded her. Yesss, she thought, unexpectedly happy.

"Cool," was all that really came out, though she did add, "I'm glad you like it. Now for the tough part; this magic is hard. I'll need a minute," she went on. "Like, uh, to focus. So I need quiet and time. Right? Okay, hold on..."

Azure paced around Giggle one more time, focusing deeply on the paint, on the dye where it had stained Giggle's fur. She concentrated, trying to draw upon her magic, to will it up and out--to settle the dye permanently into place. She'd need to fix it there, so it didn't fade--the bone dye already hardening into a soft shell, the red dye merely color-...

After a moment, it was settled. She could feel the magic drifting outward from herself, and pulling Giggle's dye against the fur--permanently.

Azure breathed a sigh of relief; for a moment she wanted to smile, but with her beak, she couldn't. That was a shame, but she gave it her best shot, a crinkling of her blue eyes as she circled around again to Giggle's front. "All done," she said; "it'll stick, now. Won't come off, no matter what you do. Just don't cut the fur away. I don't know if it'd stay through that! -Lemme get these leather cords on you, then--and the legband, too. That'll need magic again."

Giggle stood proud and tall in her new "finery," as pleased as Azure was. She waited patient and silent until it was confirmed that it'd worked. "Perfect," she said again, this time just acknowledgment that the magic had taken. It was interesting, the magic Azure'd explained--the fact the dye would stay forever. She'd been interested the moment the hybrid had offered it, when last Giggs had visited.

"Take your time." She glanced down at the cords. "I think I can get those on, at least," she added, and did so: she used her snout and jaws, and paws, to work them first over her nose, then down over her head and back. Thankfully, that dye had dried by now--if it hadn't, undoubtedly Azure would've stopped her.

The first she settled down almost against her chest, low on her neck; the second caught in her stiff mane higher up, nearer to her jaws. This suited her just fine: the one farther back was the one with the baubled stone, so now it'd be free to cast its light without the longer bones of the narrower cord pressing against it. And the bones wouldn't clack together, too, as she walked--she hoped.

She stood still, then, for Azure to put on the armband--the finishing touches to Giggle's new appearance.

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

Azure glanced to the cords as Giggle stepped forward--then quickly shifted rich blue eyes to the dye atop her head. She confirmed that neck and head paint were both dried--the spell seemed to have ensured that.

"The bone stuff will actually protect you, a little," she noted aloud--"the dye, I mean. It gets kinda hard," she went on to explain. "Not a lot, it shouldn't mess with your flexibility--but just so you know."

She then picked up the armband in her beak. She brought it over to Giggle's leg--and paused, quickly trying to remember and to calculate. Shit, she said right foreleg, right-? Is this the right one, or left--no, this is right, she thought, after eyeing both front limbs and trying to remember right from left. It was like her brain sometimes just forgot.

She found the positioning sort of awkward, and after a moment of trying to get to the back of Giggle's leg, she set the bands back down.

"Actually, can you lie down? On your left side--I can't really get to where I need to, like this." The hyena gave her a look--distrusting?--Azure was a little surprised, but once Giggle had (however reluctantly) obliged, she approached again.

This time, it was easier to get to the back of the leg--held up as it was, and horizontal, instead of half-obscured beneath the hyena's bulk. Using talons and beak, Azure carefully wrapped the leather high up around the leg--not too tight, but firmly enough that it wouldn't fall away. Then, holding it carefully in place, she reached for her magic to tie the thongs to keep it there.

It didn't work, but she couldn't exactly let go to ask Giggle to wait, so she just tried again.

Okay, one more shot, she thought--otherwise she'd have to tie this manually, and while not impossible it sure wouldn't be fucking easy. Not that this magic was, either; she'd thoroughly worn herself out, she realized.

Between using it to move the pestle to smash up a dye, summoning up the dye gemstone to begin with, and affixing the dye in place--not to mention helping herself thread the bones onto the leather--her magic was worn almost completely out.

She took a deep breath, resolving to give it one last, good attempt.

...Nothing came.

She exhaled, and decided to try to do it 'by hand,' then, instead. Luckily, the hyena was already on her side; and Azure had had some experience tying knots and manipulating finer objects with the tip of her beak, before. Conserving energy to do so was always a good thing, especially when she was already summoning up gemstones, preserving flowers and fixing dye in place.

This was a little more successful than her exhausted magic: she held the armband in place with a clamp of her own forefoot (earning a startled stare from Giggle, to which she could only offer silent apology with her own eyes as she worked--her beak being full of leather). Then she used her beak to thread the leather, focused intently for several long moments.

There were false stops and starts; once she tied one wrong and had to start again. But in the end both were firmly tied--and tied together; and a tug or two in testing found that they would stay put, too. She pulled them up as high as they'd go, and nodded, stepping back.

"Sorry about that. Magic shitted out on me," she explained, feeling the weariness tug at her mind even as she said it. "But all things considered, I think that all went pretty well. What do you think? Do you like it--does it feel okay? Not too tight, too loose?" she asked--once again the artist fretting over details.