In Canis lies a purple jade gem and in that gem is a perfect and unique gembound. No one knows what gembound lies inside a beautiful gem until the gem cracked opened. That day was now. The gem started shaking and glowing. The Occupant inside the gem start to wake up and kicking around the gem. A light shone inside the gem and the creature kicked hard. With one strong kick, the gem broke open with a loud crack and a wet little creature laid there covered in her gem juice. Her legs moved and she looked around as she got up. The spotted little cub looked around her tail flicking and she let out a few cheetah cub chirps wondering where she was. The little gembound cub was scared and alone. Scared, the little cub took off running as fast as her little spotted legs could carry her, but running only got her lost. River stopped running and chirped again. She looked aroound and got even more scared.

Giggle was already sniffing over the ruined chrysalis when she heard chirping from somewhere nearby.

Her first thought was, Oh, hell, did Aza'zel make more babies...? The last thing she wanted was even more Lammergeiers hopping around Canis.

But then, she'd never known them to chirp, and this gem was unfamiliar to her, the shards a strange color. With a shake of her head, the hyena followed the sound.

Her coat was matted with gore and fungal growth, and she gave off a rancid smell. As she passed a bone pile and finally caught sight of the new Gembound on the other side, however, she didn't seem hostile. Rather, she tilted her head, blinking, eyeing over the baby cheetah.

She approached slowly, tentative, afraid to scare the cub, and spoke gently.

"Hello there, little one. Are you lost? ...Or new? Both, maybe...?" She cooed this quietly, not really expecting a response from one so young. Maybe it'd know a few words, maybe not.

She noticed that whatever the strange creature was, it looked like a cat. She hoped it wasn't a lion. She'd found them to be rude, snide things, and disliked them immensely. But did lions have spots? She thought about it, but she wasn't sure.

Then again, she wasn't even sure she could think of this cheetah as "spotted." It seemed... striped, too, somehow.

The hyena stopped a few paces away, falling quiet to see if the young one would respond.

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Roll the bones.

River huddled into a corner near a rock scared wondering where she was. Her little ears were listening for anything and everything around her. She heard something or someone coming so she looked around for whoever was coming towards her. The little cub's eyes caught a creature coming towards her but the creature didnt look like it was there to hurt her, but River didnt really know. It spoke to River and River watched the big creature as it talked. It asked if she was lost or new or even both. All the little cub could do was investigate the other creature. " I am lost and new...my name ish River. You wonts eat me, wills ya?" she asked getting closer to the hyena. The spotted cub wasnt afraid as much but she did wonder about the creautre and what it was.

She blinked. Well, for a newborn--if it was indeed a newborn--the cheetah cub could speak rather well. Giggle chuckled a bit.

"No, I'm not going to eat you. I live nearby. I have a pile of bones that tell me secrets, and food, and water. If you want to, you could come back with me?"

The hyena had a maternal instinct, that much was true; but she wasn't a particularly affectionate creature. If the cheetah didn't want to come back with her--well, that was the creature's choice. She wandered closer, sniffing at it; it was still damp with fluid from its chrysalis. Newly-hatched for sure, then.

"My name is Giggle," the hyena said, stepping back a bit. "Do you have a name? Do you know, yet?" She asked this gently, giving the cub something to think about, something to focus on. Maybe she'd be able to make her feel a little bit more secure.

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Roll the bones.

@River

River watched the hyena get close as she talked to the new gembound. River's ears picked up the Hyena asking her if she wanted to come back with her to her home. The cheetah cub didnt want to pass up a place to stay along with food and water. The hyena asked her for her name and River smiled. "I wants to comes to your home, Giggle. I ams River or Rivs fors shorts." she said. Her fur was still wet some so she shook some and still it wasnt dry enough. River's fluffy fur was a unique pattern. It had a variety of size spots on it that ranged from small to big with stripes that run from the back of her neck down to where her tail would begin. Her Purple Jade gem now was on her ears as if she had gotten her ears pierce. It glowed some but then went back to normal. Her tail flicked and the little girl walked over to the gembound and nuzzled Giggle under the chin purring. Giggle seemed motherly to her and that was what River thought Giggles was.

@Giggle

The hyena dipped her head, turning to pace back toward her den.

"River, hmm? Nice to meet you, River. This way, then, if you're strong enough to walk...? If you're not, I can carry you," she added, inclining her head politely. This cat was friendly, and plain, unlike the snooty lions; she could get along with it, she thought.

It can talk so soon; I wonder if it can feed itself, too?

"Are you hungry?" Giggle asked as she started away. She knew the first thing most Gembounds wanted, upon hatching, was food--and sometimes, lots of it. "And if you are, do you know what you eat? I'd assume meat--you look like a cat--but who knows," she pondered, glancing back. It looked catlike, but also sleek and thin and swift, like Bones--her adopted African wild dog son. He was built for speed, and this thing, too, looked quick.

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Roll the bones.

@River

River wasnt afraid but she was afraid of being alone or losing friends that she would make as she grew. Giggle asked if she could walk and the cub nodded. "Yesh I can walks. I can runs too. Pretty fast." she said. The little girl knew that she was fast though she is a cub. The hyena asked her to follow her and they started walking to Giggle's home that she told the little gembound about. River followed close behind her and she listened to her surroundings as she did. Giggle asked the spotted cub if she was hungry and if so what kind food did she eat. Not knowing what she ate, she assumed it was meat because of her sharp canine teeth and her retractable claws. "I believes I only eat meats because I ams only a cheetah cub. I love to runs. But I donts know to hunts or play or even fights, Giggle." she said as they walked.

@Giggle

Giggle winced slightly as the cub spoke; she was cute, adorable even, but her habit of adding "s's" after everything was quickly getting on her nerves.

"You don't need to add an 's' onto everything, you know. You can walk, not walks. You can run. Not runs. Come on, there's rats down this way." Her voice was calmly matter-of-fact, not cruel, and she managed to keep the annoyance out of it. Just teaching; she was just teaching the cub, that was all, or so she told herself.

The hyena idly led the way to her bone pile, first, where she paused. This was a shallow, broad pit filled with various animal bones, with a ledge overlooking it from above. One could reach the ledge by walking around behind the pit, and climbing. Giggle turned to the cub.

"If you ever need to find me, I'm usually at this bone pile. Or," she added, turning to walk further down the narrow path, "down this way."

As the path wound down, it became gradually dirtier, slicked with mud instead of just smooth stone. Giggle glanced back, every now and then, to be sure that River was behind her.

At the bottom there was a den, of sorts: a flat area of dirt, surrounded by ferns and pockmarked with small, shallow puddles of water. At the far end was a garden of fungus up on a ledge, and in front of it, half-eaten meat bones. None had a whole lot of meat on them, and she tilted her head, then turned to show them to the cub.

"You can eat what you can scrouge off of these, but there's rats further down, if you want me to show you how to hunt them."

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Roll the bones.

@River

River listened to Giggle as she told the cub how to speak. The cub really couldnt help it because she was a cub and a new gembound. River knew that she would have to grow out of it sooner or later and later wasnt really an option. The spotted cub heard the hyena tell her that if she ever wanted to find her that she would be in the bone pile that they were now at. The bone pile had different animal bones that River thought was cool. There was a ledge over looking it from above and the cub looked around before being told to follow Giggle some other place. The path that the two were taken, wound down and became dirtier and slicked with mud instead smooth stone.

River looked around as they traveled to wherever Giggle was taking the cub. She always caught a glimpse of the gembound looking back at her as if to see if the cub was still behind her. The spotted girl didnt was to leave at least not until she was older and bigger. At the bottom there was what River assumed was a den of sorts. It was a flat area with dirt surrounded by ferns and marked with small, shallow puddles of water. At the far end was a garden of fungus up on a ledge and in front of it were half-eaten meat bones. The hyena gembound turned to show the cub the bones even though the cub had been looking around at everything before they stopped there. She told the spotted gembound that she could scrouge off of the bones but there werre rats further down that she would teach the cub how to hunt them. River didnt mind learning to hunt rats for it would help her learn to hunt and kill bigger game to bring to Giggle. "Sorry for how I talk, Giggle. I am still learning things . As for you teaching me to hunt the rats I would be fine with you teaching me to hunt them so that way I can catch some and other animals to bring back to you." she said.

The hyena laughed raucously, shaking her head as she turned to lead the way down to the Western Wall, where carvings adorned the stone.

"You don't need to apologize, cub. Most can't even talk so soon after they're hatched--or not so well. But there's no reason for me not to teach you while we go, hmm? Now--look here."

The hyena stepped aside, nodding ahead. Next to the cave walls ahead there were boulders, big boulders, with holes where water and sand had eaten away at them. This left tunnels beneath, and large, shallow spaces where the rats nested.

"First of all, don't worry about feeding me. Worry about feeding yourself. Second--these rats can bite. These ones are relatively small, but there's rats out there that are bigger than you--so watch out. All you need to do is wait until one comes out--you can leave food out, and they'll come out to get it, and you can pounce from above. Or you can try to dig or chase one out--do you have any magic?" Giggle added, glancing back and eyeing the cheetah cub over.

Most animals in the caves, she knew, had one sort of magic or other. What kind might such a small, polite cub have? Would she even be aware of it yet?

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Roll the bones.

@River