Desert turned back to the hyena as she struggled for information. He was at a loss at what to do- and her jump at the request, he nodded. "Of course-" he didn't give himself time to think about who she even was, why he had to watch her. Was there a danger she was seeking out?

"I'll meet you there. Go," he nodded to Aure. He knew of the garden, seen it several times, yet he hadn't been in it personally. Hopefully it'd have something there to help.

He could grab Doctor, but not now. In the moment, he turned back and trotted to Giggle, ears pricked with a guarded attention. He expected her to start moving, too, and yet now she was... Calling, to something, it seemed. The lethargic movements struck him as magic instead of a loss of consciousness.

He sat, respectfully, watching down as the bird fluttered to her still body. It must be a familiar like Mischief, and he chuffed to the caller gently.

He was responsible for this stranger now. ... How long would she be out? His ears flicked back as he idly moved to watch the ram snuffing out the last of the mushrooms.

There was no dream, only void.

Giggle would find herself walking through an endless black; a cold, empty, death-like space. Here, dreams might have manifested, but for now, the mind remained utterly silent. There was nothing. She was alone.

But, there was an oily shimmer. It glistened in the horizon.

Then, as if summoned by her voice, something rose from it, as if it were rising from tar. A familiar shape began to take form. Color soaked it; purple and yellow. It was the eel. He did not turn around to face her. He did not even acknowledge her; just sat, still, facing the void.

"She used me..." Was all he said. His posture was downcast; tone, empty and despondent.

The oil began to spread, stretching from him to Giggle, like a writhing long shadow.

@Giggle

She had not done this often, and she found herself somewhat puzzled, and quite on edge. The blackness was... empty, yes, but there was no sense of terror, no lack of senses, no silver eyes blinking at her in the darkness. She padded forward, across the nothing-scape, pushing past the very real fear of stepping foot in another's dreams, leaving her own self behind. Her focus, determined and half-puzzled, was on Opal.

"Who used you?" she asked, as gently as her hoarse voice could, and her eyes slipped to the oily slick along the ground.

She felt herself fading, then; felt the magicka flickering away, and she didn't have time to warn Opal, didn't have time to reassure him she'd be back. Instead she pulled free, the not-dream falling from her, dragging her back into the waking world.

_______

Her body remained limp, at first: breathing steadily, shallowly, the bird atop it idly beginning to twist its beak into loose tufts of fur.

Then the hyena twitched, and stirred; she rocked upright abruptly, Omen fluttering skyward, and turned to blink blearily around. Ahh, right-... I'm here.

Dark eyes focused, after a moment, on Desert Rose. "Hrmph. That's supposed to last a little longer. He said someone betrayed him--no... used him," she corrected herself, and shook her fur out as she lurched back upright. "Come on... we'd best get after them."

@Desert Rose Thirty-Five

Desert's eyes rested on the bird. How long would he have to stay here? Was she fine?

When she moved, Desert bent down with curiosity and an offering of his nuzzle to bring her back up, but he pulled it back when she shot up instead. Not long, then. He tracked the bird before she spoke again, muscles twitching with anxious energy.

"What was supposed to- Hm." He cut himself short, head cocking slightly. Did he mean the Masters? In any case, Desert scrambled up after the hyena with a curt nod, moving to jog briskly to the garden once he was sure she was fine.

@Giggle

Giggle shook herself, and nodded after the others before lurching into a trot to catch up.

"I was trying to enter his dreams. His subconscious," she added, firing a sidelong glance at Desert Rose. It occurred to her only now how strange it must sound to hear it described.

"So--who are you, why are you here?" she asked, and it was polite, rather than demanding.

The hyena seemed fairly unfazed by what had happened to Opal; and why shouldn't she be? She'd seen horrific shit all her own, and seen the sort of things that Greaters did to Lessers all the time. She could certainly understand being horrified, though--Aure was a kind soul, and things like these must be difficult for him to see. Well, she'd try to get a handle on what was going on, at least--starting with their new companion, here, and ending with Opal.

She wound her way down, sniffing once or twice to make sure they were going the right way, to the little grove that stood in Canis' center. The trees arched overhead, a crumbled wall lining one side; plants and flowers grew in a thin layer of soil that had been carefully laid around the purified pools. And there, Opal had been laid out.

Giggle studied him thoughtfully. "He said, 'she used me,'" she informed the other Bonebound. "I don't know what that means. What happend to him-? Was it my magic, or yours?" and here, she glanced at Aure. She still wasn't quite sure what had caused this amount of damage--or what to do to fix it.

She cast her magic out again, scrutinizing Opal once more--carefully, bit by bit. She found no trace of fungus on him, and nodded to herself before speaking in a very certain tone. "There's not a trace of fungus left in him, at least."

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Desert Rose Thirty-Five @Aure

Desert gave pause mentally at the explanation of magic. Well, it certainly seemed to work. He didn't look to her as he kept walking, ears flicking back. "My name's Desert," which came easier to say than the last time. "I live in Tunnel P. I heard problems, so I was curious, but I stayed because I figured I could help with the Opal." He finally turned to look at her ahead of him as he spoke. "He's one of the Champions that woke up when Hydra was opened. Something was off about his personality- I don't know why he'd go out of his way to attack someone without reason like that. I hadn't seen him around here recently, either."

He followed along, his scales tingling in anxiety. Was it fine that he was helping? He shouldn't be a bystander, right? His nostrils flared as he passed into the grove of trees, head ducking down in a faint reverence. It felt like he shouldn't be there- like he was in a different world.

He stood a distance away as Giggle approached the Opal, his attention pulled forward. He claimed to know basic medicine- but what the hell could he do here? There weren't the typical plants that grew in Hydra. Actually, he didn't recognize any of them around him. There was a faint flicker of concern as he'd put himself in a position he couldn't back down from.

His head lowered when he stepped forward. "He might be talking about a Master- Nemean? But she wouldn't do fungus. Astraea's a he, so maybe that theory doesn't work…" His voice trailed as he looked over the Opal.

"We should get something cool on him, at least." Desert turned to the plants around them, trying to gauge anything that looked familiar. After a moment, he spoke idly, "That fungus has something to do with this."

It's too bad he wasn't a doctor or anything- Doctor! He would know what medicines to use, surely. Desert wouldn't dart off yet, instead leaning in again to study the wounds. They certainly did a number on him.

He'd have to remember how to describe this scene to the bird.

The silence - even if it was coupled with grim sights - and the gentle splashing of water was what Aure needed to somewhat compose himself more. Eythan's presence next to him was reassuring, even as rag-like knots of flesh fell away and revealed fresh, angrily pulsing wounds on the eel's side. Somehow, knowing that he could help was enough to steady his ragged breathing and loosen the iron grip around his throat.

"You good?" Eythan had asked him in his blunt manner (and with a flick of his gaze) after some time. Aure nodded quietly, bright eyes meeting the gryphon's just as he tossed his head more deliberately towards the approaching Gembound. Oh. Aure swallowed dryly, uselessly, flicking his ears and blinking slowly. One wing-claw raised to wipe at his eyes, still a little watery and glassy. Slowly, but surely, he was getting his act together.

His mother spoke to him first, offering what little she'd gleaned from - whatever it was that she had done. "Yeugh -" the young King coughed, clearing his throat, "you mean Opal? I - don't know anything about 'she' with what... I saw in Pisces." Bright eyes glanced down at the eel-creature, only a faint tingling of bile at the back of his throat. "I don't think it was Astraea, either," he mused quietly, head tilting towards Desert, "why would he force a Gembound to attack Rezik, rather than doing it himself?" Aure stepped out of the bloody and purulent water, wondering worriedly, "the fungus is definitely important but - is it natural? Or is someone controlling it?"

No, no - Aure shook his head - one crisis at a time. His head dropped slightly with his quiet admission, aimed towards Giggle, "it was my magic. I - I've not used it much before and I shouldn't have, and I didn't think it would do so much -" What was done was done, and they could only deal with the now, and avoid the future incidents, "Eythan and I have him cooled off, but - but, um..."

The wyvern was clearly at a loss, here. He didn't know much about medicine or healing. Perhaps the basics, but little more. But, seeing most of Opal's flesh gone and still bubbling, Aure had to wonder aloud in the vague direction of a certain Champion, "why hasn't he gone into his chrysalis, yet? Is it - something to do with age?"

@Giggle

Giggle just grunted, thinking.

"I saw a fox-thing, in his mind. Might have been that. From what little I've heard of Nemean, it might be her--she might've tricked him. Or it might be a cat," she added, with zero justification other than her idea that cats were all traitorous bastards.

Well, except Dovefeather, but she'd vanished before she could betray anyone, so there was that.

"I don't have healing magic. Nothing like. I can try to keep food coming, and water, but I don't know when he'll wake up." She paused, then nodded to the others. "Keeping his wounds clean's a good idea, though. I should go ask the bones about this," she added, and half-turned, peering to Aure as if awaiting permission--or to see if there was anything else he'd want her to do.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Desert Rose Thirty-Five

Desert's eyes narrowed. Fox-thing... Not his brother? Not unless someone transed his gender, or something.

But, there weren't any other fox-things he knew off.

"It sounds like her," he grumbled into his cheek, as if he didn't want to admit it. Nemean was a trickster, after all. But, he had it in his mind for what to do next.

"I'm going to go get a friend. A doctor- named Doctor." That gave him a string of amusement despite the grim scene. His declaration done, he backed up and flared out his wings, powering into the air without giving the others the chance to even say goodbye.

Y'know, unless they tried to flag him down or anything.

;exit temporarily
@Auré

Aure hummed softly, ears flickering back. "I don't know about any foxes but - maybe," the young King gazed down at Opal and gulped yet again. It would, fortunately, be his last. He'd somehow managed to get his stomach settled down, simply by the act of not thinking too hard about the radioactive eel at his feet. His thoughts were elsewhere, such as considering how best to clean the vomit off of his own feet.

The wyvern shuffled his wings as Desert went off to find a literal Doctor, and gazed at his mother. "Eythan and I will stay with him, mother. Do whatever you need to," Aure called, a hesitant hardness at the edge of his last sentence, sort of implied permission for Giggle to do whatever she needed to, because the King was clearly inept in some ways. She could do what was necessary while he tried to steer himself back on track.

And he settled down at Opal's side, waiting for the good doctor.

@Giggle