"I will, I'll use it; but I'm unsure you can see in the same way that I see. Still, I can explain as best I can."

Giggle closed her eyes, facing the pit, going rather still. As she spoke, she began to sound more dreamy, and more distant, as if she wasn't quite all there, anymore.

The wisdom is open to all. Not only those who see our patterns.

"I can't speak for other seers, but I have an obligation--an obligation to share the wisdom of the bones, of the mushrooms, with any who come and ask for it--enemies, friends, strangers. It isn't my knowledge: I am only a conduit. Like a place that water flows through. I'm not the river; I'm the riverbed. It isn't up to me to deny you water. So even if you cannot learn, on your own, you can speak to those who can, and the knowledge belongs to you just as much." She paused, for a moment, and then tried to explain the bones themselves.

"When I see, I throw the bones, and read the patterns that come through them. Many see nothing. Or I can see and hear what the life all around us sees, hears, knows. Seeing is only the ability to comprehend their patterns--and to interpret them. I will do this for you, since you ask it of me."

Now see.

The filth-caked hyena inhaled deeply, and then opened her eyes to gaze out over her bone pit, supremely composed and half-absent. Her voice had fallen even deeper and slower as she'd spoken, and now it was a husky murmur.

"What would you like to See, Dovefeather? What do you want to know... What would you ask of the bones?"

________________

Roll the bones.

@Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

The curly furred kitten perked right up as Giggle closed her eyes, reaching up on to the tips of her toes. The Eyes that see nothing, yet see All.

"It isn't our knowledge. We are only conduits. We are not the river, we are the riverbed."

She listened again, murmuring softly to herself, echoing the words of the hyena.

"If we share in our knowledge, we all come closer to the truth. A forest is nothing but many trees in a pattern, it is in understanding the pattern that you come to know the land."

As the hyena opened her eyes, the kitten bowed her head, purring and kneeding the floor-- almost nervously, like a child being called upon by their teacher.

"I want to See as much as I can, to see the hidden truths. I'm not sure what I would ask the bones, nor the All Mother, had I the chance. It is my goal to one day See as She does, but I think that this is a journey, not a simple question with a simple answer."

"So if I had to come up with a question, something specific to ask the bones..."

She paused and turned to stare down at the bones, her mind churning with thoughts. Her tail twitched at the tip, flicking as she held it high behind her. Her forepaws stood neatly together, forming the circle of deep gray between them.

"I do not Seek the future, I think, I will find this on my own, you understand? You may ask them about my future if you like, of course, I am curious... But it is not what I want to ask, no, it seems selfish to do so."

Her eyes fluttered shut as she spoke and the light caught slightly on one of her teeth, casting a shimmering rainbow-- just a brief, delicate flutter of iridesence color. She caught the glimpse of it when she opened her eyes, locking on a length of leg just barely connected together. She stared at the kneecap, ear twitching, thoughtful.

"I would like to ask the bones... What they think of the path the All Mother has sent me on."

"If they would impart upon you, and thus me, with that knowledge, perhaps I could learn to See something more from this. It would help me understand them, get me closer to Seeing them as you do."

words:......... as if im gonna fill this out
tagged:....... @Bones
ooc:............ heck yea
muse:......... 6/10 heat stroke

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Neither his mother nor the kitten noticed him. Bones looked left, then right, and briefly he thought about turning to see Kerberos instead, before he found himself dragging himself along without even bothering to lift his lower half off the ground. He shifted his butt only a little to help him shift along.

Eventually, he had shuffled his way up right behind his (stinking) mother and the tiny cat. He looked down at the kitten briefly, before looking at the hyena. Seemingly, she had found a new friend. He was silent for a moment, through extremely close to them both.

He decided he would wait until they were done.

The hyena listened, eyes again closed. She hadn't seen the flash of prismatic light. She still wasn't aware of Bones behind her. But she'd heard the cat's request clearly enough, and she'd ask what she wanted.

Giggle stood, turning to briefly lick Dovefeather's head, before stepping into the pit. She waded into the bones in almost-silence, barely clattering any ribs or leg bones together, instead looking over them before picking up a fully intact ribcage. It was small, delicate and bleached nearly colorless--an ashen white. Then the hyena turned to pace up the path, up and around to the ledge that overlooked the shallow pit.

Here she stood, staring down as if blind, yet her eyes were open. Delicately she set the ribcage down, turning to stare at Dovefeather as she spoke. Her voice again came hollow and empty.

"I do not know if I believe in such a thing as an 'all-mother,' but it may simply be another word for a thing we both believe in, so I will ask what you ask me to. If they are one and the same, however, then it may as well be the bones that have set you on this path, so the answer may not surprise you."

Then she looked down, and with a sharp, almost idle flick of her paw, sent the ribs spinning down into her pit with a clatter. Bones spun and whirled, smacking into other bones, one or two spinning right out of the pile and away. The ribs bounced, the bones closest to it flipping briefly into the air on impact.

As they settled, Giggle lowered herself to her haunches, sitting and watching them--searching for patterns in their chaos. Her voice, when it came, was still hollow and absent, her eyes still dark and empty, as if nobody was really in the shell that was her body. As if she were somewhere else entirely.

"To your past, the bones speak. The beginning was unsteady," she began. "Troubles, perhaps, with those who met you upon awakening--or merely trouble with your rebirth. With establishing yourself in the order of things. And then to your future, the bones speak. They speak of a distancing of yourself--perhaps the travels you speak of. A loss of connection with that which you value... family, or something more, I do not know. The bones speak of the end: that is, enlightenment. Little more need be said, I think, on that. A troubling start; a distancing; and enlightenment. Perhaps your journeys are precisely what the bones wished of you."

Giggle remained motionless, staring down at the bones as if still not seeing them.

"Is there anything else you would ask of the bones?"

________________

Roll the bones.

@Bones , @Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

"It is likely that the All Mother speaks through the bones, as she does through the plants and birds and fungi. It would make sense. She is in Everything, isn't She...?"

Yet when Giggle threw the rib cage to her pile and the clattering began, for the second time in her entire life, she fell silent.

Even the purring lowered to a barely audible hum.

And her pale eyes just stared.

As Giggle read the bones, her ears twitched. The kitten listened, but her eyes were locked on the way the bones had tossed and discarded a particular piece. She slowly made her way over to one of the bones that had been knocked away from the pile, doing her best not to disturb any of the others on her way.

She placed a paw on to the outlier-- a small one, perhaps one part of a finger of sorts-- raising her eyes up to meet Giggle's almost unseeing eyes.

"... May I try?"

Came her only words, unblinking eyes gazing up at hyena.

She was close to understanding, so close. The tools were all right in front of her-- one puzzle piece she needed to grasp, to help make the greater, grander picture.

words:......... as if im gonna fill this out
tagged:....... @Bones
ooc:............ heck yea
muse:......... 6/10 heat stroke

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Bones tilted his head. He didn't particularly understand how Giggle would see the bones, nor did he want to interrupt her. The dog got up to his feet with a sigh - Kerberos would surely be more talkative.

The pup began to limp off tiredly, bleary-eyed towards Tunnel K.

________________

[speed exit]

Normally, the answer would have been an obvious "no." But something about the cat and the situation said simply,

Let her try.

And so she did. She nodded once, not noticing her adopted "son" slipping away to find his playmate. Instead her focus was wholly on the cat, seeing its strange curled fur, its tattered feather and the intensity of its gaze.

"Yes," she answered simply, "you may try." The hyena shifted in place, and thought, briefly.

Should I explain to her my methods? How I choose a bone, when I ask my question of the bones, when to throw it? And how?

But a moment later she decided against it. No, she'd let Dovefeather choose her own method; she'd let the cat test the medium, the door that Giggle used. Let her open it her own way--or try to--and see if she could see through the gate that opened up. If even she got that far.

She wondered, as she watched, whether Dovefeather would see. So many who had come to her had tried. Some had seen in other ways; the bat Tal'at had been able to see what she had not, see in shapes and colors and concepts that were foreign to her. Some had thought that they saw; the foolish lion Usui had asked for a lesson, and then simply left as Giggle spoke, declaring that now he understood how to read the bones.

He had not.

Would this cat be any different? Where would she fall, on the spectrum of things? Perhaps her way to "see" would be found later, and this was but one stumbling step that would lead her to her final goal. Or perhaps she would see in other ways, or see something that Giggle could not.

Or maybe, she would see, as Giggle did. Maybe she would be the first.

________________

Roll the bones.

@Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Giggle permitted the youth to try, and so she reached down, delicately, to pick up the small bone.

The purring began once more, at full blast, as she scrambled her way up out of the shallow hole and over to the ledge where Giggle had perched to throw hers.

She set down the bone temporarily, casting a glance at the hyena. It was such a tiny bone.

"It shouldn't make too much of an impact."

She thought aloud, timidly, her claws hooking into the perch.

"But, I have a brother. He's small and fragile, and I thought of him, when you spoke of what you Saw. I don't think the bones meant him, but I think... I think it would be good to see what the bones think."

"He's been gone a while now, and I think if anyone knew his fate, where his path has gone, the All Mother-- the bones-- would be able to show me."

That said, she picked up her tiny bone, tail twitching, and she gave Giggle one final glance, one last curious, 'like this?', and then she tossed the bone into the air with a sudden jerk of her jaws.

The bone twisted through the air, a nice spin catching in its narrow shape, until it finally landed on top of another bone, a long wide skull. The bones shifted, rattling underneath, a small trickling cascade of bones shuffling down around the skull, spiraling and shifting down the minuscule avalanche. but the initial bone was caught in the socket of the skull, and together, they didn't move.

Dovefeather inhaled softly, her magic once again casting a shimmering cascade of color over Giggle's bones.

"Small bone, big waves, hm?"

She waited for them to fall still before turning her eyes to Giggle.

"When I first met Booker, I Saw a sign for him. There was a tree that had been struck by lightning, torn down the center, but it was regrowing anew."

"The All Mother was putting him through a trial, he had just hurt his paw and he was walking with a limp... But I think he has found his strength now. Or, he will find it soon. There is strength in the bones, a foundation, that he's attached to."

"But there is a disturbance, right? An uprooting, a change, on the outside... A distancing, from others. Perhaps this strength isolates him, it's a prison."

"The bones warn of this, I think, but I do not know... I'm unsure, Giggle. What do you think?"

words:......... as if im gonna fill this out
tagged:....... @Giggle
ooc:............ heck yea
muse:......... 6/10 heat stroke

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

The name didn't click, with her--not at first. Had the cat said "Baratheon," she'd have realized at once--but Booker had been named only briefly, and only in passing, and in conjunction with Baratheon, whose name she knew. As it was, she was too focused on Dovefeather's question, on her reading--on how eerily prophetic her words sounded.

Is that what I sound like...? Impressive.

Aloud, she said, "If that is what you see, then perhaps it is what is. Let me look, myself, and I will tell you if I see the same."

Into the bones she gazed, into the patterns that their falling had made; and she read what they told her, and spoke.

"I see him in darkness, in ignorance, in fear. Withheld--yet not isolated. I see the future--the bones gather. All will come to fruition soon. He will be completed. It will be challenging--but rewarding. And his strength--his courage--will be tested. And it will be proved."

She sat back, thinking, glancing to Dovefeather.

"I think that you See. Did you see that in the bones? And--can you tell me more about this Booker? I have the nagging feeling that I've heard his name somewhere before."

________________

Roll the bones.

@Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Dovefeather's ears perked.

"Yes, please, look."

The kitten purred, softly humming to herself, as Giggle stepped up to look and began to See into the bones.

The soft buzzing inside the kitten grew stronger and louder as the hyena gave her prediction, one that lined up neatly along side of hers.

She almost burst when Giggle turned to her and announced that she Saw the Seer in her.

"Really?! Oh, thank you! Yes, yes I think-- I think I Saw it, in the bones! I think I See it! I'll practice. I'll go out, and find more ways to See, until I find all the truths--"

"--And share them with any who strive for the knowledge as well."

That said, she reached up gently, lifting one paw and then, with a tiny hop, she rubbed her head under the chin of the hyena, a show of affection, purring her head off as usual.

She stepped back, raising her gaze to her kindred spirit.

"As for Booker, he's a small thing. Has a glass in one eye, the other holds a gem, blinding him. He is a brother, he shares our belief of the All Mother."

"He disappeared a little while ago, and I haven't seen him since. I wasn't worried about it, at least, until the bones reminded me."

"I hope whatever Trial he is going through, he succeeds in. He's such a sweetheart."

words:......... as if im gonna fill this out
tagged:....... @Giggle
ooc:............ heck yea
muse:......... 6/10 heat stroke

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...