Giggle stood, shaking herself off and licking her jaws, watching as the cub pounced on the rat.

Good. It isn't going to starve to death, at least.

The hyena padded closer, sniffing at the lion cub and her rat, then turned and made her way back to the holes in the boulders, pawing about in search of another. As she did so, she spoke. Her questions didn't come all at once, but rather idly, one at a time, as she sniffed here and there and scratched at the thin layer of dirt near the stones.

"Who do you belong to? Where do you live? You're in Bonebound territory, but I suppose you don't know that? Are you newly-hatched?"

This time, as she scratched about, she was quick enough to snag the rat as it escaped--barely. She lunged down, her bulk thunking against a boulder and bouncing off, snatching the rat's hindquarters and tail in her jaws. The hyena then tossed it up--and it squealed horrifically, the sound piercing the air and echoing through the cave. A moment later it had fallen into her jaws and, after a sickening crunch, was abruptly silent.

Giggle turned, trotting back to the lion cub. She sat and awaited the lion's replies, meanwhile tearing bits of still-warm, still-twitching flesh from the carcass and gulping them down bit by bit.

________________

Roll the bones.

@anux

blood lust rushed through her excited veins.

this was a new experience for the newborn lioness.
she had just assassinated her first innocent victim
and she couldn't help but, love the blood haze that consumed her.
ripping and tearing at flesh came so naturally to her.
small but, apparently deadly ivories grinded into the corpuscles of the deceased.
the hyena seemed curious as she drew closer but,
only briefly before she went back to her hunting business.
peering up for a moment, her scratching tactic.
taking mental notes on her hunting habits, anux jotted down her strategy.
giggle was so nonchalant with her venatics.
questions spewed from her mouth as she continued her pursuit.

answering them one at a time she began.


"belong? I belong to no one... that I know of anyways."

"I have no home, I am a vagabond until than."

"I don't know much of anything about where I am or even how I got here."

"I only know that I somehow came to where I am now about a week ago, so if that qualifies me to be a newly hatched than, yes that is what I am."

feeling a bit confused and exasperated from all the questions
anux rose to her blood speckled feet as giggle meandered her way back to where she was.
bewildered with how giggle had managed to catch the rodent during their conversation
and than on top of it perform a show before even attempting to devour it.

a flitting simper planted itself on her freshly blood drenched maw.
she obviously was a messy eater, as much infants were.

anux eagerly watched her hyena savior gulp down the vermin.
"thank you for the hunting lesson, giggle." she said kindly.

she was beginning to like this hyena more and more.
maybe it was too much to ask out of the hyena
but, anux needed a mentor friend if she was to survive.
giggle was starting to fit the bill.

@GIGGLE

Giggle stared.

"Yes, that 'qualifies' you to be newly-hatched--why are you talking like that? If you're newly-hatched, you're newly-hatched. If you're not, you're not. Speak simply." She grumbled. Fucking lions.

The hyena did a mental head-shake and crunched down the last of her rat bones, then sat down, eyeing the cub.

I can't just leave her here. ...Can I? I could probably eat her instead. But no, I shouldn't. Or should I? Ugh. Lions.

The hyena sighed through her nose.

"If you want to sleep, you can sleep by my bone pile. It's safe there. Don't touch any mushrooms you find. They'll kill you. If you need me, I'm at my bone pile, normally. Come on, I'll show you where I rest."

The hyena stood, turning and padding off; she didn't have to go very far, in fact not even out of sight, to come to the edge of her den. She glanced sourly back at the lion cub to see if she'd followed, then at the den, again.

It was wide, encircled by stones and ferns and littered with small divots in the rock where stagnant water sat. Instead of bare stone there was a coating of dirt, here, or rather of mud, and the entirety was strewn with gnawed bones. A small garden on one side, raised on a rock ledge, held a wide variety of fungus growing on different substrates: dirt, offal, bone, rotting wood.

"My bone pile is just up the hill, but if you need to sleep, this place is safe. Just don't go too far, Anux, was it?" she warned, glancing back at Anux again.

________________

Roll the bones.

@Anux