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.

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Roll the bones.

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.

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Roll the bones.

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.

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Roll the bones.

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.

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Roll the bones.

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.

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Roll the bones.