Vargas watched her closely, but he couldn't figure out what she was doing. She seemed to have to look over the bones quite closely to find whatever it was she was looking for. He wasn't particularly magicka-attuned, so he couldn't tell if she were casting a spell, or not; it almost seemed as though she were choosing on appearance alone. When she scrabbled back up onto the rock, he almost lunged at her, thinking she was fleeing him--but she assumed a slower pace, then, as she moved up toward the ledge.

Six eyes narrowing, Vargas pushed up and closely followed her. He wanted to see what she was doing--every step of it--and try to gauge if it were lies.

When she took her place atop the ledge, he was standing nearly over her; she could easily stand upright between his limbs and he, with his great size, would never touch her.

Giggle, standing at the edge of her ledge, wasn't unaware of Vargas following her up. She did not expect, however, for the beast to then practically straddle her, staring down into the pit from overhead.

She twisted her head back, half-sitting so she could peer up at him, scowling, the hook-claw held in her jaws. She was half-tempted to ask him to get the hell down, so she could focus; it was hard to concentrate on the bones with his... spikes and claws and fangs and way too large body hovering so close overhead. But the moment she thought this, she realized that she didn't need him to. If she could think this clearly--and this resentfully--then it didn't bother her all that much. But it was enough to potentially damage the reading, and she said so, regardless.

She set the bone down between her paws, and spoke.

"You will distract me from the bones, there, mostly because I feel you might eat me at any moment. If you're going to do that, get it over with; otherwise, please move." She paused, briefly, and then--to forestall any bellowing about authority--added, "I need focus for this to be accurate."

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Vargas was watching the pit when Giggle spoke, eyeing over the myriad bones clustered there. At her words he twisted his head to stare directly down at her where she stood, staring up, beneath his forelimbs.

With a grunt he stepped back; her words and logic were both reasonable enough. He moved to the side, down along the ledge's trail, where he could still watch (with his height) from above.

"Go on, then," he ordered gruffly.

As for her not wanting benefits--that wasn't her choice to make, but he hadn't said as much before, and there was no real need to bring it up now.

Giggle watched this 'Overseer' step down and away, grateful at least that he did so. Not to him, but to the powers at be, at large; she really hadn't liked him hovering, like that.

She turned her attention back to the bones. For a long moment, still and silent, she focused on her question. Bones, she thought, clearing her mind as best she could, this thing--Overseer Vargas--wants to know what the future holds for him. I think he's half testing you, she mentally told them, wryly, but I can't be sure. So deeply-concentrating was she that she didn't notice Omen flutter down to land beside her; didn't notice it staring silently at Vargas.

She focused instead on the large hook-claw, on hurtling it downward with a flick of her jaws, and on watching it as it tumbled down, as it smashed into a tangle of bones. Its hook at once caught on others, seeming to be stuck, though its momentum carried it this way and that. It then broke free, bouncing, and unharmed; as it lost speed, its hooked tip caught again on a few bones beneath, jerking it to a standstill.

She wondered, for a moment, if it spoke of others. Much of the meaning was already clear to her: the bone--Vargas--was already caught up in something that would be difficult to resolve. But was it the fates--the bones--of others that he was caught up in, or the situation as a whole?

She shrugged to herself, and read it as best she could.

"From what I see, you are in a very tricky situation right now," she began, and deep focus, and confidence in her abilities, loaned her voice confidence. "You've lessons to learn, and you might run into loss. Those lessons might go poorly, and you might have to learn them more than once; you might lose small things, or almost lose important things. Be mindful," she advised, dark gaze flicking up to Vargas in sombre warning.

"It breaks free, then--your bone," Giggle went on. She looked back to the bones. "Things become clear, dramatic and fast. That may be good, or it may be bad," she added, again in a tone of warning. "But it will be sharp, and perhaps sudden. That... new start will not be a good one. Things will begin anew for you. Metaphorically, I think; you will be caught up in confusion, in lessons, then you will find clarity, but it will not be a good clarity. You may come to realize something bad. I can't be sure of what. But... it may be down to others you are close to--family, or if you have no family, then those you consider allies and so on." There; she was finished.

Dutifully--to the bones, and not to Vargas--she looked back up and asked, "Do you have any other questions?"

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Vargas listened, attentively, despite his prior brash aggression. Which, he thought, had been perfectly fair and reasonable.

Giggle's words at first made him wonder if she were threatening him--berating him to learn manners. He bristled just a little, quills softly rattling. But as she went on, his bristling stopped. He ignored the black Hallowed Caller that landed beside her, bar to glance at it quizzically--it stared at him with its single red eye. But he was trying to focus on Giggle's words, and so he ignored it, for now.

A lesson--learning new things. Well, that much was true, at least; he'd awoken to caves drastically changed, and was trying to quickly learn more about them. So far as he was concerned, he'd already had a nasty revelation: that the caves were half left to fall into disrepair by lazy Masters. Perhaps she was seeing the present, rather than the future-? Or were there other aggravating revelations to come? If any of this is to be believed, at least. The idea that these bones would cheerfully predict my future is laughable. Obviously, Giggle knew nothing of his involvement here in Canis.

"Good. Clear, precise. This will be easy enough to test. I will return," he added, pushing up. "And no, I need nothing else."

Vargas stalked off without awaiting a reply--which was probably good, as he missed Giggle's muttered insult at his back.

exit Vargas

"Say thank you, asshole," she muttered--and for a moment, she was afraid he'd hear her. But he was off, already, his long limbs even at a walking pace carrying him away with surprising speed.

She looked to Omen.

I should've put spores on him, kept track, while I could--I didn't think of it. Follow him, would you? she requested.

The bird--strangely quiet, strangely solemn--did not question this. It lifted off, dutifully, and took off after Vargas. It would stay high--out of sight, and quiet--but shadow him through Canis, and see which way he went.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

exit Giggle