Alone he sat, in the empty bowels of Canis, sitting lonely amongst the miles of bone, dark pelt a camouflage among the burnt, broken remains of long, long ago. The fur was plastered to his skin, wet and faintly sticky, but it didn't seem to mind. The shattered black remains of its chrysalis still sat in a semicircle around it, the new pup haven't even moved an inch from its hatching spot. No, it had hatched, breathed, and looked around, and all it saw were these strange shapes. ancient shapes, but it didn't know that yet. Remains of the living, but even if it knew, it would not be afraid.

Even now, it did not show fear, nor did it feel fear. With no need to fulfill needs of hunger or water just yet, and nothing but emptiness and boredom spreading across the world before it, it did what any child would do if left alone with a bunch of Things. It began to play.

The play wasn't particularly rambunctious or energetic, but the soft thoughtfulness of the quiet kid playing with blocks. It pawed at the bones around its feet, taking the shapes and creating new shapes. Piecing them together at different angles and points, creating lines curves until the shape it had created out of the bone was rather...all over the place. An indescribable shape, but the pup seemed happy with its creation, looking at it with the smallest wag in its tail.

And then a question came to his mind. This wasn't play anymore, but study. He wanted to know what these things were. He wanted to know where they came from, how they got here, what their purpose was. So he slid down onto his belly and took a bone, resting it between his front paws, inspecting it carefully, rolling it over, sniffing its many sides. But he could garner nothing but This is old from the wear and the chipping and how brittle it felt. And then, with a sudden, violent move, the pup brought his paw down on the bone's surface and a crackling noise bounced off Canis's walls as the bone crumbled beneath his foot. He stared at the shard, as if thinking deeply about his actions and what it meant. Because it did mean something. This means something.

The first noises--the soft sounds of hatching--pricked up her ancient ears, but she wasn't quite sure that she'd heard what she'd thought she had.

The second--the snap of a bone--was more distinct, and her curiosity was roused, if dimly. If she'd had better things to do, the crack of a single bone wouldn't really have drawn her attention but as it was, she didn't have better things to do. She shoved up off the rock, grumbling, noting the sensation of Omen sleeping somewhere off to the east. So Giggle shook out her spotted coat, stretched, yawned, and set off alone.

The pup she stumbled onto was one she almost didn't see, at first: the dark hues of his soaking wet coat blended in far too well with the charred bones, here. It took her a moment of standing and looking down the slope to realize he was there--and her ears pricked up again, eyes widening a bit with surprise.

"Huh," she muttered, and started trudging down to meet him. "Hey, kiddo," she called out as she approached, careful to come near slowly and to keep her voice soft and kind. She didn't want to scare the poor pup off before she'd had a chance to offer him some food and safety, at the very least.

It didn't occur to her that the bones and streaks of red she'd chosen to decorate herself with might come across as a little scary for the average kid--but maybe the jackal wasn't average. In any case, she stopped still some yards off, and lowered herself with slow caution to sit. "My name's Giggle; I'm not gonna hurt you. You just hatch?" she asked, gently. She wasn't sure if he'd understand; not everyone did, at first. But the only way to find out was to try.

@Anubis

He continued staring at the shards of bone at his feet idly, moving them around without really paying attention, but he snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of a voice, and the sound of movement as someone stepped through the many bones littering the ground. Head turned quickly to look at the stranger, eyes wide and curious as she approached and stopped a few feet away. He rose to his feet, but not to run but turn his body so he was pointed in her direction, shards of bone forgotten. His eyes raked her over, looking at every bit of her - the ragged appearance and many scars, striped bloodbathed fur, skull-painted face, bones and lights and things hanging from her neck...

Now this was much more interesting then the bones.

He approached her slowly, but with little caution, though he paused when she introduced herself. He could understand the noises she was making, tilting his head curiously. "Giggle?" And that was when he realized that he, too, had the ability to speak. He looked surprised himself, but then continued, his voice new and squeaky. "I just hatched? Um..." He looked back at the shards of gemstone and remembered how he'd broken out of it only moments ago. "Yeah. Yeah, just hatched. I am..." he pause again, wracking his brain, until a name fell out of his jaws. "Anubis. Yes." That sounded right to him. A nod to himself and he stepped closer to her, nose twitching curiously. He wanted to know more, about her, and what and who she was. And the bones and the things she had. He was so curious.

@Giggle

Well, that's just adorable, Giggle thought, prompted mostly by that squeaky kid's voice. She softened further, eyes squinting half-closed. When she saw his nose working she plodded a couple steps closer in a friendly way and offered her own snout down in an invitation to sniff, to learn who she was by scent.

"Giggle, that's right." Her tone was friendly, conversational, though her words were carefully slow. "Well, welcome to the world, Anubis. It's good to meet you. I live here--this cave, this... big stone room, is called Canis. Would you like to learn a few things?" she asked, slowly. "Maybe I can help you get some food?"

Half of her was (quite rightly, she thought) scared for this kid's prospects alone. The caves could certainly turn into bloodbaths at any given moment. But she also didn't want to scare him by telling him that; food, she hoped, would be enough of a draw to let her hang around long enough to make sure he could take care of himself, at least a little.

She'd sure been hungry when she'd hatched--that much she remembered.

@Anubis

The invitation to smell had Anubis more confident in getting closer. Ah, so he was allowed to do this. He wanted to know more, and scent seemed like a good first step, so he sniffed along Giggle's muzzle, catching the dusty scent similar to the cave around them, a dark warmth, and a more putrid scent that layered it all, which didn't deter him, but rather encouraged him to sniff along her paws as well. It was the scent of decay and fungal growth, although he was yet unfamiliar with either - perhaps soon he would know more. He would have to study it.

He turned up to look her in the face as she spoke, tall ears turning up to her as he carefully processed words. It would come easier later, he assumed, and looked around as she introduced the cave they were in. "Canis. Okay. This is Canis." He nodded again to himself. More info, that was nice. Hopefully it would keep coming! He liked this learning thing and if Giggle had more to tell him and teach him, he'd happily listen. "Learning...I like that. Can I learn more?" Perhaps he'd go out and find his own knowledge one day, but to a young, fresh mind, the task seemed beyond his reach for now.

He visibly brightened at the mention of "food". He was hungry - that was something he immediately became aware of. He hadn't eaten, ever, and already his mouth was watering at the thought of getting something in his belly. Tail began wagging behind him and he nodded, fervently. "Yes! I am hungry." How nice of her to offer to help him!

@Giggle

Anubis's attentiveness was a good thing--it'd make it easier to teach him the skills he'd need to survive. But Giggle was used to kids bouncing around, not paying attention, generally being balls of unguided energy. What was funny, then--what was a strange and almost hilarious counterpoint to his studious demeanor--were the giant damn ears. They were huge, pointed, and adorably oversized, and Giggle found herself staring at them for a moment.

Her heart melted, just a little. What an adorable little shit, she thought again, affectionately.

Then she dragged herself back to the conversation. "Well, there's a lot of things to learn," she began, turning away, and nodding for him to follow. She kept her pace at a slow amble, easy (she hoped) to keep up with. "The world you've just been born into isn't always safe. And every cave is different. Some are warm, some cold, some more dangerous or safe than others. Then, you'll have to learn to hunt for your food," because by now she felt she had a pretty firm grasp of "canine body eats meat." If he turned out to be a fruit- or a bug-eater, she could always work with that. "There's magic, too--all around us--you'll have your own. I don't know what it is, but you'll find it."

She shuffled to a point near a few boulders, one of the places where the cave rats clustered. "We'll get you food first, so you can feed yourself. There's rats here--they're big, but you can eat them." And, as an aside: "We don't eat those that can talk, like you and me. The gray rats pretend to talk but they can't--not really. So we can eat those."

She crouched down, eyes on the hole ahead. "I'll see if I can get one to come out, with my magic. You can try to kill it if you want," but she had her doubts; the jackal was tiny (had she ever been that small?). "You have to bite it hard, on the head or on the neck, and shake it. If you want, I'll show you how."

She spotted a bit of movement beneath the stone, and like an ambush, sent her magic out in a snap--spores drifting and carrying with it.

Giggle then focused--and a few moments later, a rat came out, albeit far more slowly and tentatively than she'd hoped. It was sniffing around it, looking this way and that, and she spoke quietly. "Are you ready?"

@Anubis

Anubis quickly trotted after the hyena as she began to lead him away. Her slow gait was just enough for the pup to trot comfortably at her side, looking up at her as he listened, instead of where he was going. He was listening so carefully to what she was saying, considering it all and thinking so deeply about these things she was saying - safe, dangerous, caves, hunt, magic - that he wasn't looking at where he put his paws and ended up tripping over a rock. He stumbled forward with a small surprised whine and then immediately righted himself, feeling his skin heat up with embarrassment. He quickly shook himself up and stood taller, clearing his throat and looking at Giggle. "Um...so how do I find my magic?" Not mentioning anything, eh? Very slick of you, kiddo.

He followed her over to the boulder, quickly forgetting his little fall, crouching down next to her, ears pricked tall, excitement beginning to race through his bones. This was a very important lesson, right here, he knew! Feeding himself would be important to living. He was glad to be learning from a master like Giggle and not trying to figure it out on his own, although the prospect if learning things himself was...thrilling.

"Your magic? What is your magic? How will you do that?" His nose twitched again and he wondered if it had anything to do with the scent of fungus that clung to her fur. Interesting. He didn't really know what fungus was, at the moment, but that was something he would be sure to learn as quickly as possible.

He nodded, excitement quickly switching over to apprehension. Was he really going to do this? To be honest, he wasn't even sure he knew what he was doing. What 'hunting' truly meant. The concept of death hadn't quite been introduced to the young pup just yet. He turned his eyes in the direction that Giggle was looking and watched as a rat came trotting out slowly. Ears pulled back and his paws had turned to stone. What was he supposed to do again? Bite? What if he fell again? What if he fucked it up? Was he doing something wrong, to act so brashly, to be so violent and active? All he'd done so far is learn and watch, he had never acted after snapping apart the bone.

That's what it meant. Action. No, no! This wasn't the time to think about that. The rat was right there, right in front of him. Without realizing it, he'd found his magic, senses opening in his panic and latching onto the spores that clung to the rat. He could feel its warmth, see the gray of its fur as if it were right before him, he could feel the life flowing through its veins. No. He wasn't ready. His belly touched the ground in his crouch and he glanced up at Giggle, his nerves only betrayed by a worried gleam in his eyes and a small shake of his head. "No," he whispered. "I'm not sure...can you show me how?"

@Giggle

Anubis's stumble was met with a sharp, brow-raised glance, and a brief "You okay?" At his cleared throat and question, though, Giggle didn't press--he seemed fine, and a little embarrassed, so she glossed over it. "My magic's-... well, many things. I hatched able to find... molds, mushrooms," she began.

She answered him, briefly, as they walked (briefly, so as not to overwhelm the poor kid with information) about how mold and fungus lived throughout the caves; how those with her magic could see it, see through it like having a thousand feelers out in the stone and earth; how they could control it, even. "I can calm something down--like this rat--or make it see things that aren't there. It is a lot to take in! For now... know there's many magics. A lot of them let you see things you can't see with your eyes; maybe you can start there, to find out what you've got? Try to tap into your magic, and see?"

It was a simple enough suggestion, but she didn't try to detail it further, yet. He'd ask if he wanted and again, she didn't want to overwhelm the poor kid straight out of the rock. Once he had some food in him, she could maybe take him to a waterhole and relax a little, answer his questions then--but if she remembered her hatching at all (and she did), a fully belly was an important start.

And as for the rat?

"I'll show you," she assured him kindly, and strode confidently to it. Her demeanor was nonthreatening. She had gone through phases, with hunting: childlike bloodthirst and fear, then later in life pity, and in time a sort of placid respect. She had to eat: they had to die, but that didn't mean she didn't feel a little bad about it.

Her jaws closed almost gently around its head and neck, and she had to shuffle awkwardly to the side to let Anubis see--then she tightened her grip, lifted, and shook. The snap was audible, but the kill was relatively quick, and clean, bar a series of tremors that went through the Gray's body as it died. There was no squealing or struggling--her magic had seen to that--and she moved the rat to set it down before Anubis.

A quick crush of jaws a moment later opened a place for him to feed, and she stepped back and sat down, tongue briefly bathing black jaws. "My magic calmed it; they will run when they can, or even fight back. Be careful, because some of them come in groups and they'll try to eat you, if you aren't careful. If you are careful, you're safe," she reassured. Usually.

"Have a sniff; have a bite?" she suggested, nodding kindly to the fresh meal.

@Anubis

He watched with wide eyes, creeping after Giggle as she approached the rat, watching with a mix of interest and horror as she lifted it by the neck, shaking with powerful jaws. Anubis flinched violently at the snap, feeling it echo like a torrent in his ears from the sensory magic. The spores covering the rat gave Anubis all the info he needed - the sudden stop of its heart, the cracked neck bone, and the absence of breath. It no longer lived, it was dead, it would never move again. Never think again, never eat or drink or see.

As Giggle set the rat down for him to eat, he considered these things deeply, staring for a moment at the open spot on its body where he was meant to eat. Instead of being revulsed by death, he found himself uniquely interested. It had been so easy for Giggle to end life, such a precious thing. They were fragile, all of them. A bite to the back of the neck could end them, forever. No more magic, no more talking. But was it truly the end, if all these bones still littered the floor? Did they not remain in some form after the body had been discarded?

Realizing that he was just staring at his meal, he suddenly blinked and looked up at Giggle, ears flicking. "Oh...sorry, I was just thinking. I made something happen when you killed it...like i could feel things up close. Not like I was in the rat's head, but like there were a million little points on his body and I could feel and hear and see from all of them. But...maybe I'm just imagining things." He shook himself out, focusing back on the rat at his feet. "Thank you for the food!" And he leaned down, then, sniffing deeply the aroma of the blood and meat that started to stir something deep in the pit of his stomach and he tentatively took a small bite. And then another, another, and another, until he was eating in rapid bites, relishing each delicious bite until his stomach was filled and a good chunk of the rat was devoured.

Sitting back, eyes wide, tongue washing the blood smattered across his jaw, he stared at Giggle with a sparkle in his eyes. "That was really good! I didn't think it would be so tasty!"

@Giggle

Giggle stayed on her rump, one hind leg coming up to scratch at her flank as she watched Anubis eat. The old mother in her was content, happy, to see a child well-fed; and she was pleased, too, to see that he didn't seem all that disturbed by the kill or the fact he'd need to eat.

The knowledge he'd already used his magic was quite reassuring too, and she gave him warm praise after he explained it. "Good! That's your magic, then," she told him. She wasn't sure if it was the same as hers; she could see similar but she knew that other magics also could, like the magics of diseases and so on. So she didn't jump to any conclusions, just yet. "If you want, I've got a den not far off, with some water; we can go drink and if you have any questions, you can ask." She was easygoing about it. Her first children--adopted or not--had been met with some fretting concern but over time she'd learned that kids (when they didn't just vanish into thin air, at least) tended to go their own way, do their own thing, and usually wound up just fine.

The hyena pushed up, shaking herself off briefly. "Wherever you go, you're always free to come back and visit, too, all right? If that's for guidance, or just food or company. My den's open, okay?"

Her words were warm, welcoming, despite the bones and blood paint that marked her. She made her way away, then, offer open--as it would remain.

@Anubis

exit due to inactivity