Bayo had his nose to the ground, his ears perked up as his tail wagged back and forth behind him, searching for something. He perked up as he found it, snatching the toy up from the ground. He had been given it by someone who's name he didn't catch, but she seemed nice anyway.

He gripped the toy in his jaws and galloped off, the straw on the end streaming behind him. He set it down before he reached his sibling, prowling through the grass instead to try and surprise the other.

Out he leapt with a loud bark, slapping his paws down and giggling wildly, "Enoki!! Lookit what I got!"

He ran back into the grass and grabbed the toy, rushing back out to drop it at their feet before looking up, tail wagging.

"Damask got it for me," he said, grinning, "Did she get you something?"

Bayo seriously wanted to say thank you, but she was elusive, and no matter how hard he looked, she managed to escape every time. Or at least that's what he told himself.

@Enoki

The koala-dog had been grooming themselves, paws folded up underneath them, for some time now. To be specific, they were trying to lick off their spots, not aware that these were part of their body and not just dirt that had accumulated. Enoki had been at it for about twenty minutes, and still hadn't figured out that these were permanent fixtures of their body. It would happen eventually.

Enoki turned, startled, with their little paws flailing when Bayo pounced. "Ah!" they squealed, rolling onto their back and kicking out, though with little force. They knew who it was now, they were just being dramatic. "Hi Bayo!" they said, ignoring the toy to grab him in a hug. Still holding him, they glanced down at it and blinked widely. "Oh! Toys!"

At the mention of Damask, they paused and thought about it. "... Yes?" they said, because if Damask had given Bayo something she'd definitely given them something, but they didn't have a toy like Bayo's. They paused for several moments, thinking hard, and then perked up as they remembered. "Oh! Yes! She brought me green things to eat from different places! I already ate them, though."


@bayo

Bayo cackled as the other rolled over, easily accepting the hug and pressing into their sibling, always one for physical contact. He was technically the oldest, having hatched first (by like two seconds but whatever), so he was just the teeniest bit protective of his siblings.

He looked down at his chew toy and nudged it over, eager to share the happiness it brought him with Enoki, "Yeah!! This has green stuff on it, but I think it's supposed to just make pretty shapes in the air!"

He picked it up and demonstrated, waving the strands in a circle before dropping it again. His little tail wagged as he peered over at Enoki, curious.

"You eat green things?", he asked, peering at a nearby sprig of grass, "Like Chitin! Weird!"

He chomped on the grass and chewed it for a few seconds, ears pinning as he spit it out, pawing at his tongue. Ugh!! He did not like that! Enoki and Chitin were weird!!

"Tastes bad," he complained, "Why do you eat it?"

@Enoki

Enoki let him go when he started wriggling and rolled onto their belly to nose at the boy before Bayo started waving it around again. Their eyes followed, wide and intrigued. They followed his gaze to the grass, and pondered Chitin. "Not as much as them," they decided, because they didn't. Enoki ate plants mostly just whenever Damask brought them, and sometimes grabbed things from the Oasis when they felt like it, but broadly they just ate meat like everyone else in the Bonebound. Their teeth were better at it.

They watched him react violently to the grass, and flashed a toothy grin. "I don't think it tastes bad. Variety is the sauce of life! Or something like that." They pushed themselves up to sit much like a dog might. "Green things can have lots of different feels and I like that. Also, I get tired if I don't eat 'em often enough." It was a little more specific of a feeling than just tired, but that was the best way Enoki knew how to describe it.

They looked over at Bayo. "I wonder why you don't. Our teeth are the same. Well, except one!" They opened their mouth to point out the pink spinel in their jaw, nearly glowing with pride. It was a more convenient placement than Bayo's, anyway -- he couldn't even lay on his stomach!


@bayo

Bayo stuck out his tongue in disgust, "You're weird! Plants are gross."

He shook his head out and shrugged a bit, curious himself, "I dunno. Probably because meat's yummier."

Yeah, maybe eating plants was easier, but meat was more fun to catch and to eat! There was nothing better than crunching bones.

He looked into Enoki's mouth and cocked his head, "That's your gem, though. You'd have a tooth there if it were somewhere else, I think."

Bayo dug a hole into the ground and flopped down onto his belly, glad he'd managed to find a way to conquer his terrible gem placement.

"What do you wanna do? I'm bored," he said.

@Enoki

Enoki gave a vague shrug. "I like plants. And meat. But Momma says I'll prolly get sick if I only eat one or the other, so." They settled down with their front legs tucked underneath them like a cat, pondering what Bayo said. "Prolly," they agreed, "but this tooth is still cool."

Their ears pricked forward when Bayo suggested that they think of something to do, and Enoki frowned as they looked at the ground. Oh, they were bad at that. "Ummm... you're smarter than I am," they insisted. "You think of somethin'!"


@bayo

Bayo cocked his head, squinting. Weird... he didn't get sick from only eating meat. He wondered why.

”It's super cool,” he agreed, and looked down at the cluster of spikes where his belly button was, ”Mine's just in the way.”

His head snapped up and he batted a paw at Enoki, ”Nuh uh!! You're super smart too!”

He bombarded Enoki with hugs and kisses, ears down and tail slapping the ground as he tried to get Enoki to deny that he was less smart than him.

”Super smart!”, he bayed, and finally pulled away, ”We could chase bone moths. First one to catch five wins?”

@Enoki