H-his WHAT had fallen off? His orange eyes went wide with horror as he noodled himself into a circle and reached his hindpaw up to scratch out his ruff. With a clack, clink, plink, the perfect, vibrant marble gem fell from his scruff and rolled into a rib.

With a whine, the mustelid plopped, stretching out on the floor to reach his paw at the perfectly round shard. He put his paw over it and gently wiggled it over to his nose. He carefully lifted his paw to stare at it, the dull golden line in it, just like his own. What was this? How had he done this?

He clutched it in is paws and looked up at Azazel, wiggling up on to his butt. He held it up to the lammergeier, eyes bright. "What the heck did I do?" He wondered out loud-- and then, abruptly, remembered. It was a distant memory now-- but his friend, Arkrael, had made gems. Had he made a copy of his own gem as a tiny little marble?

"It didn't hurt, so I guess it's okay," he mumbled, putting on a toothy grin. He was shaking a little, just from the surprise, but he was truly alright. "You should keep it, Azazel. To remember me by! But really. I need to get going-- Black and I are looking for a teeny white kitten and Giggle said she was just up by that bone tower."

private ;; @Azazel
held between Fishing for Fallah [Pt.2] and [Pt.3]

Watching Fisher go into a panic, Azazel tilted his head, looking at the noodle as he noodled himself into a ball of brown noodle. With deft little brown paws, he swiped furiously at his ruff, searching for the shard of his stone that had fallen off. A perfect little marble of his stone was procured from the thick ruff around his neck, and the mustelid gazed at it thoughtfully for a period of time. It was almost like an exact copy of his own, a small oval-ish shaped stone with a shimmering band of light wherever you looked at it, like an eye that followed you. Once the fisher was done, he wondered out loud. What had he done? The Bone King was not sure. It seemed too odd to be considered normal. Quietly, Azazel pondered if it had hurt Fisher to lose a piece of his stone.

His question was answered when the small noodle grasped the stone in his paws and came over to the lammergeier. Then, he saw a sweet and toothy little smile from him, and as he spoke, Azazel was a little shocked. Fisher was going to give a piece of his gem to him? For a moment, the bird shook his head. "You should keep it for someone." Then he took a look at that smile again. "Alright."

At the mention of leaving to find someone, he tilted his head. A white kitten... D'oh! "You mean, Mau? She'll be in the Bone Fortresses... somewhere... over in that general area." Lifting a wing, he pointed in the direction of the fortresses, whose bony precipices rose above the ground in great towers that Mau had crafted herself. With a smile, Azazel bowed his head, and took his leave. "See you soon, Fishyface!" he teased.

{ EXIT AZAZEL }

@Black @Fisher

Black had watched, stoic and a bit sternly as the two tussled. He remained tense--silently in the background, but ready to intervene. As it turned out, intervention was unnecessary; the dog instead remained standing close by, ignored and perfectly accepting of this. He stiffened when Fisher's gem cracked, a soft growl escaping him as he eyed Aza'zel suspiciously.

How did they know that the bird hadn't done it deliberately?! He stepped forward stiffly, head lowering, face wrinkling up in studious concentration--but the two kept talking, and despite Black's low growl, neither seemed concerned. He bared a canine briefly at the bird, and then simply stood awkwardly close to Fisher, but again, neither seemed to notice him. Only after Aza'zel had casually given his farewell did Black turn his attention back to Fisher, staring almost directly down at his brown friend with consternation.

"Are you sure he did not damage your stone on purpose?" he rumbled.

________________

@Fisher

Fisher stood there for a moment, sort of dumbstruck but pleased with the turn of events. Nothing hurt, Aza'zel seemed to find it just as weird, but went off with the gem anyway. His tail gave a slow wag, watching the dumb king of Bones fly off. Soooo they were friends now, huh? That was kinda weird. Still, better than fighting all the time. He wasn't really cut out to fight or anything anyway. He was apparently super bad at it.

"See ya, Bonehead!" Fisher called after the taunt, a wild grin strew across his face. For a moment, they were quietly just there together-- him and Black. As the mustelid spared a glance for his buddy, the mastiff asked a very ridiculous question that gave him a slight pause.

"What, no! Aza'zel is my friend, Black, he would never deliberately hurt--" There was a slight drifting off to his words, as the died in the noodle's throat. "Wait..." He paused for a great moment, sitting there in silence for a bit longer than a few seconds. He considered it. He thought about it.

Aza'zel was barely his friend.

The stupid bird was always picking fights and hurting him.

In fact, if anyone was going to hurt him, it was probably Aza'zel.

He had left. Quite. Quickly. Too.

Fisher drew back his lips and bounced after the Bone King, hissing and spitting. "BONEHEAD!! HOW DARE YOU!" He howled, fur puffing up until he looked like an overgrown pipecleaner. "You'll pay for this! No one gets the better of me!" There was a slight glint of humor to his voice-- the bird hadn't really hurt him or anything-- but he would be wary of the bird from now on.

Aza'zel was such a sneaky bastard. "-- I'll get him back later. Let's go find Mau, yeah? The white kitten? She should be right up here!" Fisher changed his tune quickly, tail wagging with excitement. Forget the bird, he was a waste of breath. They had better things to be doing!

fisher exit! ;; @Black
held between Fishing for Fallah [Pt.2] and [Pt.3]

Black stared down quizzically at Fisher, his muzzle wrinkled as the skin of his face fell toward the brown friend, leaving him looking overly-worried. Really, though, his mind was slowly processing.

"Perhaps he did not mean it," Black offered, after Fisher was done shouting and speaking. But Black accepted it as a possibility, and with a last glance up toward where the bearded vulture had moved off to, he moved off. The thought was catalogued, set neatly aside as a potentiality in the future, and--for now--dismissed.

Instead, there was the White Cat to look towards. Tail slowly swishing from side-to-side in good-natured idleness, Black padded along behind Fisher, peering up toward where they'd been pointed to.

I wonder how many of them live here, in this place of bones? I wonder if they might attack, all at once? I will have to watch him closely.

Black glanced around, forgetting the wag of his tail almost as soon as it had begun, watching the cliffs and holes of Canis as they walked, his paranoia that of any good bodyguard.

________________

((ooc -- exit Black))