Giggle's head came up, dark eyes blinking. She pushed up, calling out, but to her surprise Damask was not immediately visible--not where she'd expected. Magical volume, then-?

Ahh, and Giggle. How she detested being called by her first name by someone who was family. It was always as though Damask hated family, to her; as though she wanted to distance herself even further. Giggle tried not to be prickled by that, to sigh at the cat-blooded-creature trying to elevate herself above the other Bonebound... in Giggle's mind, at least.

She doesn't see us as family, she told herself dismally, and not for the first time. Still, there was nothing then that indicated anything really wrong, bar Damask's volume.

Ahh--there she was. Down at Giggle's den, searching for her. Curiosity rose in the hyena, and she tilted her head a little, lurching into a slow lope in her approach.

"Damask," she called out, voice rough as ever, tone curious. "What is it?"

Her full attention was on the hybrid; this wasn't on schedule for one of Damask's stilted, tense visits, so what was it about?

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Giggle peered, brow furrowing, some. There was an inherent "something went wrong" about all of this, and her heartbeat quickened, fear for her son flaring in her. She tried to steady herself, but there was a nightmarish wave of unreality, a sort of grey-black fog crowding in at the edges of her consciousness.

"I know there's some kind of rings that opened, and he wanted to go investigate," she heard her own voice saying, as if from outside herself and quite some distance off. The hyena blinked. She took a step toward Damask, worry roaring through her, over her nerves, through her veins. "-Why? Did something happen? Is he all right?"

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Her mouth went dry. Fear crushed in on her, vision threatening to drop into darkness, at Damask's total avoidance of her question--but she said nothing, too afraid to. A brief, unexpected spike of pure, hot, red rage seared through her at the other's refusal to answer, as yet, but Giggle waited... knowing that, with no answer, the answer was already 'no.'

At the word 'chrysalis,' however, Giggle abruptly took a single deep, sharp breath--unaware that she hadn't been breathing in the moments leading up to it. She blinked, too, her mind clearing some, that dark lurking tunnel falling away.

"His CHRYSALIS!" she brayed, in that blunt way of hers, relief clear in her tone. "BONES, Damask, I thought you were gonna tell me he was dead!" Another sharp breath, another exhale, and she shook her head.

A pause as her forehead wrinkled, then; as she tried to quickly work back past the other things Damask had said, the things Giggle had half-missed in the roaring flood of is my son dead-? A trial--some beast, running him over, and a--proctor? What was that? She didn't know and she dismissed the thought, for now. What mattered was that her son had done something, apparently, fucking stupid; that he hadn't told her (and again, that lurking desire to just leave flashed through her mind, briefly). That he was in his stone.

She sighed, heavily, and it seemed more irritated than concerned. "Right. As far as I know, stones usually last about two weeks, then he'll be back out. Usually as good as new, sometimes with some... new features," she added, grimacing. Whatever'd happened, it had to have been bad, then. Violent. "There's nothing urgent that needs tending to right now, at least. Not with the Bonebound. He's been putting off a meeting for awhile," and she didn't add that she wasn't sure why, or that there really should have been one to introduce Damask to the rest.

A brief, wincing grimace curled her lips as she tried to push those thoughts away; and again she shook her head. "Thanks for telling me. Can you-..." show me where his stone is... but what if it's a trap? Giggle winced, again. Eythan-... No, stop. They're family. Cat or no cat, it isn't some kind of bait, Giggs. Get your shit together.

The hyena sighed. Again. "Can you show me where his stone is?" ...But it wouldn't hurt to be careful, either way.

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I apologize for the misunderstanding. Stiff, standoffish, cold? Or was it polite, meek and afraid? Giggle was inclined toward the former, given the hybrid's direct stare, the cold steel core she showed when she was, as Aure called it, "pushed."

Before she could really ask about it, Damask was talking: Polaris, then. Giggle opened her jaws to ask where the hell Polaris was, but the child was already winging her way away. Well, not really a child, but-...

The hyena shook her head, and mentally called out to Omen to follow; the black bird raced after. Polaris, Polaris, she thought to herself, meanwhile; Ahh, isn't that where Eythan ran to-? Bones, I hope this isn't a fucking trap. What if they've killed Aure? What if that's why she's always been like this--Eythan got to her first..? Omen, stay high and be careful, she warned, and spread out her senses ahead of her to sense for a trap.

She was, just vaguely, aware of how tragic it was to suspect family of such things. Aza'zel would not have approved. But what could she do..? Damask was 'troubled,' and that was putting it lightly; Giggle had hardly seen emotion from her. All she'd ever shown was an ice face, and lies. No real warmth, no care, and the hyena had never really delved deep, after that first meeting, into the hybrid's mind. There could be any number of things going on that she didn't know about, and she didn't like that.

They'd have to get to the ritual, then--and the sooner, the better.

Again, the distant lure of Monoceros tugged at her--and she tried, for now, to ignore it. She'd lived in Canis her whole life; she was the Bone Seer. She couldn't just abandoned the Bonebound because of one member making her uncomfortable.

But it wouldn't be abandonment, it'd be... a break. Somewhere brighter. Warmer. Aure's let the Bonebound turn to... mush. I wouldn't say Kalama was right, and he showed strength, then, but what are we if not even meeting up as family-? And this kid's in the middle of it now, a cold spike through what should be fucking warm, a broken bone in what was a strong leg, and she's driving us apart.

Giggle grimaced. If only they'd brought Damask to see her sooner. If only Aure had had the common sense to help her with that groundless fear, early on! Or the courage to confront her! Her words to him, again, rang in her mind: "you'll have to confront her, sooner or later, or she'll stay a mess her whole life." Or something like that. The hyena shook her head, and entered the cool dark of tunnel K...

...and paused.

There was something different, here.

Giggle lifted her head, sniffing, turning; the odor of several Gembound, though stale and old, led to one edge of the formerly-featureless tunnel. And within a crevice, she found a black hole: a mouth, yawning away into the ground.

What the fuck-? she breathed, and hastily backed away. After a moment's hesitation, standing quiet and breathing heavy steam into the air a few yards off the tunnel mouth, she again approached. Flashing memories of darkness and screaming filled her mind, and her heart began to pound; when she cast out her magic, like a net, it was hesitant and trembling. Weak. But what she saw was... terrifying.

Distant: but black. Some immensely powerful magic down there, but so far that she could barely touch it. Dark eyes widened. Was that Senka's doing-? This hadn't been here before, she was sure of it...

Giggle turned, turned tail and fled, all thoughts of Damask's fear forgotten as her own roared up inside her. This... she'd have to ask Aure about this, too, when he woke.

Shit.

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