This was home.

Or at least, as close as she'd get, anyway. Secluded. Quiet. Lively, despite its deathly aesthetic. She'd grown up here. She'd sheltered here. This had been her sanctuary...

...and her father's crypt.

It had been her reason for leaving, for disappearing into the darkest corners of the caves as easily as she'd taken to life the same way. So many cycles ago. A lifetime ago. She'd perhaps grown bored of her isolation, or perhaps lonely and remorseful, she sought to rekindle the flames once smothered by death. She'd come home either way, and now approached the cave's only entrance, its mighty gate, to seek its sanctuary once more.

The tunnel had never felt tighter, nor more inviting, all at once. She'd not realized how much she'd missed the browns and dreary grays of the bone-scattered hall and its chambers ahead.

She stopped at the gate, as if burdened by some invisible force. There, she squared her shoulders, rolled her wings and heaved a steadying sigh of breath. It's now or never.

That sing-song cry, more music than roar, lifted across the space of the cave and summoned any who'd recognize it. Family. Friends. Forgotten foes, perhaps- though she knew none by heart.

Either way, Remedy Kartata had returned to Canis.

He'd been away for so long, hiding from his father. He could hardly face him since the day he'd falsely called him Carcino and reminded him of so many memories that weren't his. Every time he met someone new, he felt an odd sense of deja vu, like he'd seen them before.

Like right now.

The gryphon-esque cub was shaping up quite nicely, finally growing out of his cub fat and into his wings quite nicely. He had begun to practice gliding on his own, though his first few attempts weren't the most successful. Actually, they'd been far from it. He had ended up just hurting himself in the process and leaving a little bruise on his shoulder where he clipped a rock. Today was a practice day.

Spreading his wings, Eythan jumped off of the stone he was perched upon and tucked in his legs for a better flight position. Flicking his ears forth, he noticed a creature he hadn't seen before. Curiously, he adjusted his wing position and felt a bit of pride as he successfully turned and didn't crash. Now... it was a matter of sticking the landing. To his luck, he managed to this time. Sticking his forelegs out like boards and landing on them first and flapping his wings to allow his hind legs to find purchase on the earth, he landed.

"A-ha! I did it!" He crowed in delight before turning and putting on a sudden air of composure as he sized up the "intruder". She smelled of The Bonebound, although it was faint and muddled. Something about her, though... was familiar. "H-hello?" The cub whispered, ears lowering in slight curiosity. "Who are you? You look... really familiar..."

@Remedy

The rustle of feathers and the shift in the air brought her gaze instinctively upward. Her heart stuttered for a moment as she reigstered the shape of the creature moving towards her from above- and for a moment, she saw herself. He landed awkwardly, new to flight. She adjusted her wings as he celebrated the feat. Very new.

Then, he looked up and seemed to actually see her, and Remedy straightened- posture proper, assured, despite their similar size. He called to her, and in his words were confirmation, as far as she was concerned.

This awkward cub with fur and feathers, spots and horns, was too obviously kin, if not another sibling. Her father had been unstable in his final days. Perhaps he'd forgotten this one.

That certainly looked like his stone upon the cub's skull.

"..." She responded wordlessly, a faint rattling in her throat as she stepped forward. Ears angled forward, she regarded the younger hybrid openly, but without judgement. "...you look like him." She sighed and sat though, wings slacking at her sides. This kid probably had no idea.

"I'm Remedy Karkata." She greeted, a little formally. "What's your name, cub? Where are Amaria or Aza'zel?"

As he composed himself, he noticed the newcomer (or, rather, his long-lost kin) sizing him up. Or, well, it seemed. Those heterochromatic eyes of her were flicking all around his own icon. Eythan knitted his brows in naïve confusion, tail flicking. The cub found himself staring at Remedy, curiously staring at her horns. They were almost like his. They shined in reds and greens and sometimes even blues. His mind immediately flashed back to the image he'd seen of a room full of waterfalls of feathers flying, of three stones clanging on the floor. Could this hybrid be one of those stones? Did she know Scarborough?

There was that odd pang of familiarity, as well... like deja vu.

When she saddened visibly, however, Eythan knew there were connections. Slowly, he took a step forward, ears lowered in submission and head lowered. "What do you mean? Who? Is it..." slowly, he teased the thought of saying it. Shaking his head, he mewed a quick, "nevermind," before trying to compose himself again. "Karkata? I'm Eythan Karkata-Vita."

At Remedy's question, Eythan's ears drooped. "Memaw's been gone for a really long time and... I'm not... talking to Dada right now... or ever a-again. "

@Remedy

Amaria

You fell away,
What more can I say?
The feelings evolved,
I won't let it out,
I can't replace...
Your screaming face,
Feeling the sickness inside

Long had she been away. Even longer had she been lost to her ownself. Paws moved silently across the barren stone, pulling her towards a scent she had not scented in such a long time. Not since then. She had only herself to blame for her solitude, but she knew it was for the best. Slowly her draconic tail swayed with her movement.The Karkata family had to deal with things that most families did not. Gentle blue eyes searched the area before her as she drew closer and closer to where she knew her adopted daughter would be. Remedy was home, cycles after Cure had left, the little hybrid her mate had bred with a certain bird had returned to what should have been their home.

Amaria, having dealt with her own inner problems, was ready to return to the life of living with others. And to find that it was the same day Remedy returned as well was just...soothing. She had silently kept a watchful eye on Cure, staying in the shadows and allowing Cure to deal with her sorrows as Cure saw fit to, but she would never step in knowing that Cure had wanted to be alone. Probably just as much as Amaria had. It broke her heart, honestly, that both her daughters had chosen to seek solitude. Alas, she could not blame them at all, nor would she harbor any ill-thoughts towards them over it.

As not one, but two little hybrids came into her site a warm smile pulled across her features. She caught the last words of Eythan, but she did not let off a sound as she came closer towards them both. The moment she was behind Eythan a soft, deep rumbling errupted from her throat as she dipped her head down to nuzzle it along the hybrid's back and up towards the top of his head where horns that used to belong to someone else sat proudly. She had no words to give the cub, knowing it was her own fault to have gone away even though she knew of Eythan. She would make up for it as best she could, but for now her gaze lifted to Remedy's.

There was a solemn, quiet acknowledgement before slowly a warm, affectionate smile crossed over Amaria's features. "It's good to see you, Remmy," Her voice was just as full of affection as it normally was when Amaria would speak to the hybrid. Though Remedy was not her true child, Amaria would always see her as such. Amaria very much so wanted to go up to Remmy and just give her a hug, but she also did not want to push affection on the gryphon just yet. There would be time for Ammy to be motherly to the girl, but first she wanted to make sure Rem had been fairing well. For a moment Amaria wondered if Remedy had come here first, or if she had sought out her twin first. She supposed she'd find out eventually.


"Speech" 'Thoughts'

Tags: @Remedy @Eythan
Words:
OoC: OOP HAVE AN AMMY

---

Keep on trying I’ll not die so easily
I will not die…
Why is everything so fucking hard for me?
I will not die…
Why is everything so fucking hard for me?
I will not die…

The cub knew. He knew the familiarity he carried, the weight of his genetics, though neither had any idea just how much so. He introduced himself as Eythan, and carried both kings' names. Vita. Heh. So this was Aza'zel's doing.

She'd long suspected her father to have a thing for that bird.

He'd always liked birds.

Eythan went on to call Amaria Memaw. Ah, so she'd taken him in, then. He wasn't talking to Aza'zel (Dada), either. Likely the damn bone King couldn't keep his emotions in check. He'd always had a hairpin trigger, that bird. The cub seemed upset now. She rumbled out a dove-like coo, her version of a purr, and stretched a wing out.

"It's alright." She assured him. "You've got more family than you think." She'd wink, and smile. "We're kin, probably siblings actually. You're welcome to flock with me, if y'like." She was so quick to drop her sober expression for a more inviting mask. The picture of purity.

Then came Amaria, rumbling a purr and nuzzling the cub and Remedy tucked her wing again, dancing on her front paws. Amaria might've been hesitant to greet her so openly, but the moment the mutant locked eyes with her, the hybrid skipped forward and shoved her face into the other's shoulder, keening her delight.

"Ammy, my gosh, you look so good!" She praised, then immediately broke into babble, stepping back with a fluffing of her plumage, joyous. "I've missed you so much! I'm sorry, I should've come back soon, but I ended up in a new part of the caves and I was such a bummer, but I'm better now and I just had to make sure the rest of you were alright and then THIS LITTLE WONDER!" She stepped back and flared her wings in a wild gesture towards Eythan. "I guess the old man left us a parting gift after all! S'nice to have another bird in the family! Oh man, kid, I'ma teach you how to fly and hunt from the air, just you wait, you're gonna be a chip off the ol' stone!" She'd go as far as to swipe a paw at Eythan's head, to ruffle the feathers between his horns, affectionate and open now that Amaria had arrived. In all her excitement, it took a moment for her to finally turn with a grin.

"Is Cure around?"

@Amaria @Eythan

The boy's sadness was almost immediately cured by the reassurance of his possible sibling's wing extending over his form. Eythan smirked and bumped his head into her chest. With the coming of Memaw, however, Remedy easily withdrew her wing. Bounding over to his surrogate parent, he happily accepted the nuzzling that she offered before joining back up with the fluffy gryphon. He stared down at his own talons for a moment, and then hers. Glancing at one of her footprints, he slowly edged one taloned paw into it and found that his fit almost perfectly. Every contour felt familiar... like his own.

He was lost in his own thoughts as Remedy went on and on into a furious babble of excitement and happiness. Tail swishing at the mention of a little wonder and a flare of wings, his ears pricked up and he smiled softly. Not wanting to ruin the moment, the gryphon did not ask who "the old man" was in particular. He had a pretty good guess, anyways. At the mention of learning how to fly and hunt from the air with the help of someone just like him and not a bone-headed King that only had two legs and not four, Eythan immediately brightened and about jumped out of his skin in excitement. For a moment, his soul probably left him and went to another plane of happy existence. "Really?? You'd do that?!"

A paw booped him on the head, and for a moment, he was almost offended. The cub giggled, wings flapping excitedly and paws scraping at the earth. He aimed a little revenge smack at the poof atop Remedy's head, but he fell a little short in height. Instead, he had a nice little faceplant. Great first impressions, boy. With the question of if Cure was around, Eythan sat up and turned to Remedy with a cocked head, "who's Cure? That name sounds familiar, too."

He honestly had no clue.

@Amaria (wow ark, i'm sorry i tagged cure, lmao)

Ooc: Haha alls good.

Amaria couldn't help but purr deeply the moment her little Remedy came rushing over and instantly gave nuzzles of affection. Ammy gave a quick few grooming licks to the gryphon's feathers before Remedy soon pulled away and instantly started talking. A warm smile curled across her lips and the mutant leopard slowly sat down upon her haunches, curling her draconic tail around her side. Deep rumbling laughter escaped Amaria as Remedy went on about eythan. "He certainly did. Aza'zel is also to thank for him too," She smiled down towards the cub that so excitedly wiggled around to his...well she would be his sister now wouldn't she. For a moment she pondered on this detail for a moment before shaking it off. Sibling it would be, regardless on how anything came to be. Amaria was particularly happy to know that Remedy would more than happily take the cub under her wing and teach him the things that Amaria just could not do.

Light blue eyes lifted to Remedy once again. Silent in her regard to the grypon's question. Slowly Amaria's ears splayed out to the side before ultimately pinning backwards. "I'm afraid she is not. She uhm..." She paused for a moment as her gaze fluttered down towards the cub. "She didn't handle hearing about it very well. She hasn't been back here since...and I only caught glimpses of her in Orion before I couldn't find her anymore..." She admitted. Her voice was steady, calm even, but her eyes were anything but. She worried for her other daughter. Battled the turmoil that came with the knowledge she held, but there was no amount of malice within her.

"Cure is my other daughter, Eythan. She is Remedy's twin, and another older sister to you, " Amaria finally answered Eythan once she finished explaining to Remedy where she last knew Cure may have been. "She'll come around eventually. Especially if she hears about having another littler brother," There was a playful note in her voice towards the cub before she ultimately turned her attention back towards Remedy. "You are her twin Rem...if there is anyone that can find her...it would be you," There was almost a pleading in Amaria's eyes. She had duties here. Of course she could have easily took Eythan with her to go hunting down Cure, but she never really got around to seeing how Eythan would think to go exploring with her. Regardless, she would now leave it to Remedy. And perhaps Remedy could convince Cure that it would do well for at least a visit.

"speech"
Tags: @Remedy
Ooc: