Everyone and their dog really had arrived. As Eythan managed to settle beside Carni, the smaller brother seemed to relax visibly. More so when Xerxes arrived home with food for everyone. His smile became beaming.

"Some of you may not be aware, but Canis is home to a grand Kingdom. Once it was our father, Azazel, that led the Bonebound." He paused for a second, ears falling back. "He's been dead for some cycles now and in his absence, the position of the Bone King fell to me." He lowered his wings and spread them out, skirting the perch he and Eythan sat upon. "I watched my people leave, one by one, as the caves fell into silence and darkness once more." His voice was wracked with sorrow.

"We slept, all of us, alone." He waved a wing to the two growing shells nearby, their golden glassy shapes well protected amongst the rocks and bones. "No longer shall we be forced to sleep alone. No longer will death be final. Canis exists to honor and keep those who've been lost to the caves and we of the Marrowbound Kingdom will take it one step further."

"We will gather the dead, protect them here in the final resting place for their shed bodies, and grant their stones new life in turn. Beyond that, we will serve to protect and keep well these catacombs of the dead, so that those who choose never to return may rest in peace, undisturbed."

He regarded each one gathered with a careful eye.

"We will each use our best talents and skills to our advantage as a whole. Mages will use magic to protect and make this place something special. Warriors will train each member enough to protect themselves, and when not training others, they will protect this cave and our members. Tacticians with sound minds and sharp words will think for us, find solutions to problems we face and aid in advancing our kingdom as a whole. Finally, the Bone Keepers are our most sacred of volunteers, who watch over, protect, clean and sort through the catacombs here in Canis, making sure the dead rest peacefully and undisturbed."

Finally, with all that he could think of spoken aloud for the gathering to hear, he turned his attentions to the individuals.

"Eythan," He indicated to his brother beside him, "is to be my advisor and second, and next in line should I pass on without an heir."

He turned to Xerxes.

"Xerxes, as we discussed before, your strength as a warrior will protect us well. I'd like to make you our first Virtus, if you'll have it." He would soon address each member in turn. Yuma came next.

"And if you'd like it, bone-picker, I'd see your skills and interests put to use as our first Bone Keeper- that is, Magis- if you'd like that?" He'd give the smaller creature a chance to respond before moving on to address the public once more. "Our Virtus are our warriors! Our Magis are our bone keepers! Our Augets are our magic users! Ingenii are the free-thinking tacticians. If any of these positions are of any interest to any of you, speak now and you may join us, and begin your journey."

^{@Xerxes @Eythan @Yuma @Vianne @Aeroth @Felina}

Felina listened as Carni spoke. She considered the choices he offered. "My lord", she finally said, "I have always lived by my wits. Since I'm too small to be a warrior...and certainly not as magic-savvy as a mage, I'm willing to accept the position of 'Ingenii'.

I'm comfortable in the dark. I'm small enough to fit in a tiny space, where I can hide and might be able to gather information about others. I can climb both up and down, quickly and quietly. That might serve well for following someone without he/she knowing about it. I hope so, at the very least. I'll happily accept the responsibilities required that you specify for Ingenii."

Then she sat on her haunches. She sat straight and proudly, like a lady. Now she'd wait while bowing her head respectfully.

As the crowd settled and noise died out, the meeting began with the classic speech of motivation. Mentioning Him send ephemeral chills through his form, making him struggle to keep his composure in the background of Carni's motions. Eyes ahead, posture straight, ears relaxed. Nothing more, nothing less. The hybrid didn't want to hear this. But, by showing up, he had no choice but to be there to support his dear sweet brother in all that he did. This was Eythan's punishment. At least it beat that of Promethean legend: cast to the bowels of the earth, pecked by birds for all of eternity. Similarly, it felt the same. Grief and guilt were vicious vultures that feasted vigorously.

He barely started, surprisingly, as his name was beckoned forth in his announcement as advisor and honorary heir (which he had not agreed upon) and simply nodded in appreciation. Appearances, appearances. Eythan did not want to be king—he barely wanted to be advisor. The possibility made him sick. Power invariably corrupts went the aphorism. It would be a subject to discuss later. All he could do was look down upon the crowd and marvel at the size of it—he had lived to see only the tail end of the kingdom before the fall. It's sad, festering little crowd. Lost and found. Scattered misfits clinging to their home. He didn't miss it. Quietly, he wondered why wouldn't Carni let the kingdom die?

But, being the good brother he was, he kept his posture straight and eyes forwards, a beak cracked open in a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Yuma The 'king' began talking and Yuma sat up straight to listen. This cat-thing seemed to put a lot of importance on the past, and even after it was dead and gone it still seemed to propel emotion into its mind. His first clue perhaps? If these creatures derived some form of persistent interest from things that were no longer relevant perhaps that was making them blind to the present. Certainly if Yuma could emulate now the thrill of his first foray into imparting death to a large creature his joy might be endless, but trying to redo the actions had no effect on his mind now. Okay, yes, they'd been sleeping. Sleep was good; sleep was an absence of being and the cure to boredom. Wait, why were they bringing new life in? Perhaps to ask if it was happy and then kill it if it wasn’t. This was a new experiment so he guessed it couldn't hurt to try. Besides, if something had been dead in a pile it might be more interesting if it were alive and moving in the pile, right? The cat was starting to make sense, opening new thought patterns that the aye aye had never considered before. But ugggggh, if it wasn't so long winded. Yuma's gaze began to wander despite his efforts to keep up the facade of being an interested being. It needed volunteers to sacrifice their freedoms for a singular goal and subject themselves to being divided into social classes so they could be used as tools. Cat king obviously started handing out positions of power and prestige to creatures that were physically similar to it, with the highest honor going to none other than the one that shared the most in its appearance. Then it turned to him, a creature vastly different in almost all aspects other than hue. His fate was one that should have been expected coming to a gathering of fools. A Bone Keeper indeed! A fancy empty title given to the ones subjugated to clean up duty so they won’t try to cause trouble. Though Yuma’s face was completely blank as usual a sense of rage and indignation began to rise in the back of his mind. And then it stopped, the anger and rage and indignation all snapped at once into a profound and existential joy that filtered through his entire being. Despite his usual attempts at keeping a blank expression a wry smile crept onto Yuma's face. It was working! Empty words and posturing had actually produced a response other than indifference in him! Though this might be a step toward becoming as the inconsequential others it was still a step away from having to deal with having his own thoughts and feelings that only had ever brought him ennui. He would take this role, he would play this game, and he would show this cat king that he could be the best janitor the cave had ever seen. "Your wisdom is deep, my king." he spoke with his most respectful tone, bowing his head once more. "I will gladly accept this charge to become keeper of the dead." His execution was not perfect; even in the midst of the bow his eyes were wide and his grin even wider. What fun this would be!

Aeroth straightened her back and rose as he spoke, her ears flitting forward and her eyes widening. "Virtus.. I rather like that." "Umm.. Carni.. err.. my lord, I would love to join your ranks as one of your virtus. I'm light and nimble, very few are able to touch me.. heh.. that is so long as a tower of bones doesn't pin me against the ground." She cast a glance at the small white creature, she regarded him with distaste, but not as harshly as before, at least he won't be dealing with the living. She had a solemn expression on hiding her grin, she knew though that this was quite serious. She didn't want to ruin the solemnity by making a gruesome grin like the little white creature down there.
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
Tags: @Carni @Yuma @Felina @Eythan @Vianne @Xerxes
Notes:

Grim has heard all that has been said.

Felina chose the rank of Ingenii. A good fit. Aeroth in turned chose Virtus. Yuma accepted becoming a Magis. All was going well. Everything according to plan so far.

Carni folded his wings neatly behind him finally, and after addressing any further ranks, it finally came time to end the kingdom's first meeting.

"Your new jobs are important, regardless of what it entails. Each rank in this kingdom has been carefully tasked to cover all of our life needs and no single 'bound will go without as a result." He waved a wing to the opposite side of Eythan.

"Please, make yourselves at home. There are many chambers available to any looking to bed down. We've a small meal provided by our ever gracious Virtus, Xerxes- thank you, by the way!- and Canis has plenty of space to explore and find privacy." He indicated to the pool of water at its basin which, in recent days, had been cleaned and tidied; it no longer looked quite as dusty and mud-drenched as before. "We even have an in-house watering hole that's safe to drink." This comment was slightly comedic in tone.

Finally...

"Welcome home, Marrowbound."

^{That's that! Feel free to exit the thread in your next post. Our new meeting will be posted in the next day or so, addressing the lights going out and the events in Polaris. @Aeroth @Felina @Yuma @Xerxes @Eythan @Vianne}

Yuma With new task laid out before him Yuma turned around and walked away without a single added word, wide grin still on his face. The food offered was of little interest to him, he'd find plenty of things to eat back at his little corner of Canis. Oh! That would be a good place to start. Most of the time when he killed or salvaged parts from a non-talking one he'd found little gem chips somewhere in them. He could deconstruct all his art supplies and gather those first; they weren't as big or complex as the gems from talking creatures but he could find plenty of those later, right? Perhaps later he would go out into the cave at large to collect things, but there was plenty to do here for now. He’d gather as many gems as he could and put them in a centralized location, and then arrange them in categories by color then size then shape. He'd never tried that kind of art before, it hadn't even occurred to him! - Exit Yuma -

Felina now stood up from her sitting position. "Thank you for having me, sire (Carni). I'll try my best to help this Clan and you, too, of course." She bowed her head in the general direction of her Clanmates, showing them all the respect she felt they deserved.

She departed the gathering. The first thing she knew she had to do was find a den or some other place to live. She found a place that seemed good enough for the runty female bobcat.

At first light, maybe even before that, she decided she'd scout the perimeter of the Clan's territory. Her mind made up, she settled in. Felina then just...fell asleep.

((OOC: Exit Felina.))