this post is m for mother*ing language

Imp paused, rocking back from where he'd been gulping down the water. Good thing I'm half-dead or I'd not be able to drink that shit, he thought, the metallic stagnancy grating on him.

Eyeless gaze shifted toward Kerberos. Can I trust him..? Any of them? The last fuckhead I trusted-... What if they're his servants, or some shit? Eh, I don't see why they'd go to the trouble. FUCKING Nemean, though.

And this, at least, he muttered aloud. "Fucking Nemean. Far as getting me back home, big guy, I'd appreciate that." He paused, hesitating awkwardly. He'd never been one for fair play or fair trade, but that's because he'd always been wholly self-sufficient. Having others do stuff for him, when he had no way of paying them back, almost felt... wrong. Free stuff, though, his more practical side countered, and he conceded the point to himself.

Bat-ears strained for a moment to listen in on the brief interlude between Eythan and Giggle, and Imp grimaced. "That fuckhead" (and he was apparently trying to out-swear everyone) "VAAARGAS knocked me into my fucking rock to begin with. They were there when I woke up. They waited for it. I dunno if I could go right back in. And I dunno if it'd mess something up if I did. But it's-..." he paused. He'd been about to say "just my eyes," which logically, yeah, it certainly wasn't life-threatening. But it pissed him off. Those were his eyes.

Imp huffed. "It wasn't gonna kill me," he settled for explaining, with a begrudging tone. At Eythan's offer of rats, he dipped his head. He was already hauling himself to clamber back on Kerberos, if the big dog allowed it--and he could hear the hyena trotting off. "I like fruit, or bugs, but I'm guessin' you don't have a whole beetle menu rolling around. So a rat sounds good. Great. Thanks." His gratitude, despite his words, sounded genuine, at least.

Then, after a brief pause to think, Imp's face half-scrunched up with some confusion. "Did she, uhh." Giggle was a she, right-? "Did she say she was going to talk to bones?"

@Kerberos

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos nodded with one-third of his attentive heads, but stood stupidified in place for a while longer as his mother loped off to go talk to the bones. The bones. For some reason, it sent a lurch in his stomach.

Better not worry about it, was the conclusion most of his brain matter came up with. "Won't be a problem, small guy," his left mouth replied to Imp while the others seemed a bit distracted. The rest of him seemed to shake off the stupor as the dragonbat clamored up his foreleg, reaching down with one nose to help give the blind gembound a boost. "Maybe some beetles, somewhere. Probably hiding under big bones," he thought aloud, giving a derisive snort at what a terrible hiding space 'under some bones' would be. Worth looking, all the same. "Rats are always plenty, though."

The question Imp posed was met with a heartbeat of silent consideration as the cerberos started to trot toward Imp's new, temporary home. "Giggle reads the bones," he commented pensively, "and they tell her things, based on how they fall or... or Magic, sometimes. Magic that can see the past and the future..." His tone turned a bit conversational, though for the most part he was vague in his rambling explanation. "It's been a while. But the bones don't lie. Dead things can't lie, I think." It made enough sense, right?

And in other news, Giggle gave them a very specific instruction that, belatedly, was starting to bother the big guy. Find Aure. "Eythan?" The hound barked, shortly, heads swinging toward the vulture-hybrid. There was something he was forgetting, something his memories struggled to put together. Things had certainly changed, but there were-- well... It was like walking in a dream, where the details were easy and familiar but slightly wrong.

"Who's... uh... Aauuree?"

@Eythan (lemme know if yall wanna wrap this thread or drag aure into it, im good either way!)

Mind your fucking language, Giggle. Eythan shot her a glare that said as much, but broke out into a brief, whistling laugh. He settled and nodded, "aye-aye, chief." And then there were three.

The gryphon's ears swiveled back towards Imp, an almost embarrassed expression on his face. It was mostly from being caught out on gossiping right in front of the hybrid. Well, maybe not gossiping so much, but definitely talking about him. At least Imp didn't seem too upset by having to regale them with his reasoning for not retreating. For one, there wasn't anything else physically wrong with him, except for maybe the fucked-up tail (and that looked painful.) "I've been in a few times - uh, I got my skin punched off by a golem once in Cetus," Eythan offered, like it was a piece of damn solidarity, "but that's definitely not the same as... um..."

That was that. No need to be rude and keep talking about the lack of eyes, right?

Anyways. "Yeah, rats are pretty easy to find," Eythan chirped, dismissing his prior comments. Canis definitely had flies and stuff gnawing on the newer bones, but nothing that could be caught easily - or, uh, fruit. The gryphon trailed after the big lug, somewhat at his side (but not so much that he had to run to keep up with those long legs.) He did not pretend to understand how bone-reading worked, but dead people not lying made plenty of sense, right?

Kerberos turned to look at Eythan, and suddenly he felt like he was definitely on the spot. "He's Giggle's kid and my brother, but - oh - um, it's not my place to tell you that kinda thing," his tail flicked, wings adjusting tensely at his sides. "Can it... uh, can it wait until after we get... Imp, here, settled down?"

The gryphon totally wasn't stalling for time and figuring out how he was going to put the facts down: Hey, yeah, I gave our last King a chance to off himself and didn't catch him. Trust me, though, I really tried to and ran away with his stone for cycles on end and left the Bonebound with Carni, who ended up being a little bit nuts. Dude skinned our dad and everything and wore him. Ah, scratch that - Aure's just the new King! Azazel's sleeping! Permanent retirement! That explanation was strikingly similar to the one the young King'd presented to Ashtoreth. Small minds think alike.

@Imp

Imp's face furrowed a little as he listened. Kerberos' assurance that carting Imp around like a sack of broken vegetables was a relief, one he hadn't expected--so much so that he sighed and relaxed into the warm and woolly fur again.

"Thanks, I think I love you," he said. There was no emotion in it--it was dry humor--but the warm almost-peace he felt on the giant three-headed dog's back was very real. His gratitude was very real. And wasn't that strange-? Gratitude alone was pretty new to him.

As to his explanation about Giggle, bone-reading and... and the lying dead, Imp snorted. It was a joking snort, and his humor again kicked in. "I think 'lying' is all the dead can do. Am I right-? Eh? Eh? -Lying around? ...Get it?" And for good measure, he snickered.

Then Eythan was talking, and Imp would have blinked in surprise if he still had his fucking eyes. "You've got no SKIN?" he blurted, in horror. "How?! How does that work?!"

He hardly noticed the faint subtext of Eythan's words to Kerberos; his horrified mind was conjuring up all sorts of images of bare muscle and bleeding flesh. It was almost worse not seeing, he reflected; the mind tended to bring up the most terrible possibilities.

Other than that, Imp was just a passenger--perched on Kerberos's back and silent now as he waited to be carried to... wherever they were going.

If you guys want to exit, and start a new thread just aure/imp or everyone or whatever, we can! or just aure joins this one?? Imp's just riding along so idm!

@Kerberos