Ah... it would seem premeditated, wouldn't it? The hybrid hummed softly, out of ideas for the time - although, he still wanted to at least grant Damask that adventure in discovery. "Let's go, then - I'll... try to think of a good way to go about it, if there's even a good way." Would just... outright stating it and asking to talk be best?

Bright eyes met dark ones, "what is it?" Hesitancy traced that, if only for just... not knowing what to expect. He tried not to anticipate the worse.

"It be nice if I was just a bone, sometimes," he laughed softly. "There's just a lot of activity. Who knew that... there was so much - stuff in the caves that would've been revealed if we'd just asked." Aure returned the smile with his own bird-face - albeit sleepier - and finally shuffled away into a standing position.

He stared wryly, adding, "like... reading and writing."

"Our conversations with him are usually about other problems," Aure returned with a smirk that quickly faltered...

... and twisted into a grimace and wince. His heart jumped in his chest, throat running to a feeling like cotton with the phantom swelling in it. There was a cloying scent of decay in the air, and blood and rot. Trying and failing to swallow that surge of anxiety down, Aure settled for rooting himself to the spot, talons curling into the soil. It was a sad attempt at grounding himself enough to listen fully.

Giggle - his mom had gone and found that, kept it here... to ask it questions and see what it knew, but - the hybrid quivered in place regardless. There were too many what-if scenarios running through his mind, his complete unawareness and being out of touch with his own family giving rise. She could've been infected the whole time, and he wouldn't have known, and Damask had been left with her -

"... if you want me to get rid of it I will."

"Please," he croaked, bright eyes suddenly searching his mother for those grey smudges, himself for it even though he'd know if he'd been touched, searching the fungal garden for a pulsating mass. It lay in the corner, terrifyingly dense even as it was surrounded by other fungi. Neither of them were clogged with it.

Aure... did not blame his mother for keeping this to herself, for trying to find a good time to mention this, but even still - what if Astraea'd found out? He'd already stripped her of fungus once without batting an eye, he could do so much worse to her for deliberately keeping this - thing, this common enemy of theirs. And yet, the hybrid's beak drew into a thin line, and he sighed shakily, "it's okay, I... I understand."

He swallowed and followed Giggle. "If it's... useless, get rid of it and - wherever you found it. I... I don't want to go through what we did, not again."

"I figured you'd be more angry."

"No," Aure chirped, then sank further into his shoulders, "maybe a bit. I'm... more worried. Having it right there terrifies me, what it could do and what it could cause. What if Astraea'd come in and sensed it? He'd -" Bright eyes broke away then, eager to dance away from the subject given an opportunity to.

Away to action, maybe - "that sounds good - the... hunting, I mean. I'd like for more of us to know how to remove it, at least." (In case you - we - aren't there, said his tone.) It, as a spell, was relatively easy to cast - one of his first ventures in magic, even. He and his mother could teach it to the others and encourage them to search regularly. If they couldn't sense it via magic, they could search through the scent alone.

But, enough of that -

The Bone King settled at the edge of the pit, near the overhang and looking out across it. His mother - his Seer - lobbed a bone in, and she watched. (Someday, maybe, he should at least try to learn how to read them.) Her voice rang, speaking of teaching - training. Maybe someone impressionable, with few prior standards to worry about? "I hate to force a... student or sibling on her. We can - keep it in mind?" Aure verbally shrugged, pitch rising on the last sentence with each successive word, "I'm sure that a child'll emerge here or some other Gembound will come and join us at some point."

Inevitable conflict, though? Aure physically shied from it, ears pricking back. No matter the address, there'd be... that. Another break. His conscience immediately began looking for excuses to never let that necessary conversation - related to herself or rearing children - occur. But, it'd be a miserable existence, perpetually in unrest, even if it wasn't visible. The hybrid shifted weight to either foot, chirping, "... I don't think I'll have to worry about her - having kids. She's definitely proven that she's not interested." At least, not yet, given that Masquerade had come around (and vanished) when Damask was some two cycles old.

Regardless: "do the bones say that... one method of bringing it up is better than another?" Quietly optimistic, wasn't he?

"I know," the hybrid turned away, ears pricking down, "and I do want to help her." He suddenly became very interested in the jagged fold of the floor beneath him, the way a layer of rock gave way to another in sweeping curves and spines. Damask and himself'd fought before, but at least they both came out better for it, a lesson learned. Aure knew he was a father on shaky footing, but he could do his best - to push where needed and... to make himself available as a listening ear. He was better at the latter than confrontation.

Best to do it before he lost the nerve or it straight-up just slipped out of mind like many other obligations and responsibilities of his.

As for putting it on the bones - Aure laughed softly, "just this once, then." He regarded the bone pit for a moment, dipping his head in silent thanks to them, as he always did.

A fairly long pause stretched afterwards (full of him trying to figure out if he had more to say, more to do, but they'd covered all their current bases) before he took wing to get closer to his mother. Despite his initial upset, he pressed his beak into her cheek and chirped, "thank you, Mom." Leaning back, he added, "do you... think there's anything else? I'll - be back to see you in a few days about organizing a meeting - and for dinner, of course." Dinner was said with a soft smile.

If only Giggle knew that any form of pushing would feel like force - Aure'd done little as far as discipline. He hadn't thought he needed to; Damask was a good kid, well-behaved, independent. Or... he thought she was independent. Perhaps that was to a fault? Or...

"You're welcome, Aure, for what it's worth, and... No. Go do whatever you need to do. I'll be here."

The hybrid frowned slightly, feathers lifting and flattening. Before she paced off, he delivered one more nudge, a brief, "I love you, Mom." Simple, sweet, so so genuine. Aure would do better to make that known through his actions instead of passing words like these.

He stared out across the bone pit a few moments, longer, bright eyes roaming in search of his father's keel, and then he took wing.