Canis had been a silent land for a long time now, but all that was about to change quite abruptly. For in the depths of the Room of Bones a little glimmer of life had snuck. Its body was thin and trembling and it was clear that it had been without food for quite a long time... but it seemed quite unwilling to find it.

An ugly scraping sound echoed throughout the bone piles, and at the bottom of one of those massive mounds at the very centre of the room... there lay a bone-white rat. It sat there, as it had done for hours upon hours before this moment, chewing and scraping away in the shadow of the bones. Never once did it bother to leave and find food... it just sat there. Chewing and chewing, its fangs scraped eerily against a femur it had found, with an icy blue gem buried at its heart.

The bone was criscrossed with toothmarks and scratches but the rat was no closer to digging out the gem. Undeterred, it chewed. It chewed, eyes opened wide and red-rimmed with exhaustion.its flanks heaved with ragged breaths. Why it was chewing was unclear, but as the minutes grew into long ours it stayed until blood ran down the femur and onto the floor, dispersing in the moisture beneath it.

Still it chewed, and chewed, and chewed... even when it had no fangs left to chew with.

To join this event, post with your character below! Any and all are welcome to join this thread at any time until its completion.

Participants:
Yuma, Carni, Aeroth.

Yuma No! No, no, no, no. Not this again. Images began to flood the small Aye aye's mind as slowly from within his crimson shell consciousness was starting to take hold. It's boring out there! There's nothing to do. Nothing more to make. No pleasure to be had in in watching death anymore. I've seen it too many ways, can you at least take away those memories so it can be fun again? Yuma’s silent cry to the void went unanswered; the walls of his andesine cage weakened. What am I even supposed to do out there? When there was no more fun to be had in hurting others I turned my boredom to myself. How am I even supposed to move anymore? Am I to be a new piece of art for the cave to see? Is my twisted form to provide a source of amusement for the poor apathetic souls that still remain? A crack resounded, sending the albino aye aye tumbling down the remainder of the hill he had been forced into stasis upon. This last small bit was different from the start of his tumble though before he slipped into the void. The sensations of something... pain that's what it was... the sensations of pain were shallower. Yuma placed his hands down to lift his face off the ground. His arms could move well again? He wiggled his fingers. None of them were broken. With a sigh he lifted himself the rest of the way up onto his fully functioning legs. While his attempts at finding something to do before had indeed brought new sensations, Yuma decided to avoid experimenting with that again. With broken legs he hadn't even been able to brag bones into different permutations of the same configuration. All he'd been able to do was lie there on that ledge and experience even worse boredom than before. In a fugue state the aye aye wandered away from his elaborately decorated base, leaving it behind and seeking some purpose, some meaning that he should exist again. A rat. A very stupid rat ahead chewing on empty bones. His eyes emotionless and his movements robotic Yuma approached and sat nearby. How did these creatures stand it? All they could do was run away from being eaten. They couldn't build complex structures. They didn't have any power that would let them overcome larger creatures and study the interesting way they twitched as they died. All they could do was exist and perform inane tasks. Without even realizing what he was doing he grabbed another bone from a nearby pile and began to chew on it, his empty eyes reflecting a blank mind as the rejuvenating energy of his chrysalis began to fade and his thoughts became jumbled again.

Aeroth yawned and stretched, she was tired from exploring the caves, working longer and longer seemingly forever to find everything the cave had to offer. "Mraaaauuuuuwww" She yawned again before she stood up, licking her chops and standing to climb down the tower she was currently on before seeing a flicker of movement and hearing a scratching sound. Her ears perked as she took another step, her heart skipping a beat as she felt a bone dislodge, soon she was tumbling through the air as the tower tumbled behind her, yowling she hit the ground, bones falling onto and over her. until she was buried under a layer of them, there was just enough room for her to move her maw and call frantically for help a few times. "Help! Please somebody anybody help!"

@Yuma

Deep within the shadowy recesses of Canis, high upon the stone walls, there sat a gargoyle. Not a creature made of stone, but a stone made flesh long ago, left alone to lurk within the darkest corners of the boneyard, alone. The ever watchful king of bones had remained in his kingdom, and now, a stirring had woken him. A spark of life within his lonely, isolated home.

The king felt an emotional response from this disruptance. The first was a rat. The king was no monster, so a rat was no issue- at first. Now, however, its constant gnawing was starting to grate on his nerves. The king rose to his haunches, glaring down at the thing, but did not move otherwise. He would watch, and listen, but as he'd come to do now, he would not interfere.

Then came another. This one, different, but like the first it found itself a bone and began to gnaw. Kings, not more awful chewing! The bone king rose to his paws now, wings stretching in the darkness for the first time in a cycle.

Then came the clash and clatter of falling bones, a tower so carefully piled high, toppled- and the cry for help that the kind king couldn't ignore.

There came a brilliant flash of white under a cloak of black and bloodied feathers, and in a stroke of those great white wings, Carni landed beside the pile of disturbed bones, its victim at his paws.

He said nothing as he reached to dislodge one of the bones from the pile, in hopes of freeing the fallen hybrid- for to the cat who'd met so few, any cat with markings on its pelt must've been a hybrid, like Cure- with one action...

The bones slipped, as expected, but to the king's dismay, something else gave within the pile and the result was a mess and no progress in freeing the other feline. Well... that sucked. Actually embarrassed, suddenly awake and aware in light of his failure, Carni blinked down at the cat, who at least was more visible now.

"Sorry." He apologized, voice sounding unused. "I'll get you out, though."

Yuma Eyes stayed glossed over as Yuma chewed the bone. It wasn't a bad bone. His teeth probably needed to be worn down anyways after all this time. No? Well it didn't matter anyways. None of it really mattered. Rat. Greater gembound. They were all stuck here in this boring place. A clatter to the side almost elected attention from the distant aye aye. Something was near. Another prisoner. Feebly it cried for help, just like others had done before it. Soon it would be dead and amuse this land no more. All had happened before. All would happen again. Why should he even care about it? Another figure, this one not like any that Yuma had seen before. Something new? A single heat beat of excitement bubbled within Yuma, only to fall to death within a few moments. Another creature of flesh and bone and stone, speaking words and showing such interest in this mundane event. How long would it be before it realized? How long before all of the greater ones realized that they were trapped here and nothing that they did held any actual meaning. All was fun and games and laughter and pain until the laughter could bring no joy and the pain could evoke no feelings. Eyes gazing to the distance Yuma continued to chew his bone.

Tags: @Aeroth @Carni

Aeroth writhed against the stack of bones, yowling slightly even as her head was able to move some, the bones shifting though so even more weight was against her body. "Speech "Oh fuck get me out please." She sobbed through tears, the pain was unbearable, her leg was pinned tightly against a couple bones and felt like it was about to snap. Her ribs were being jabbed against with the other bones in the pile. She choked as the weight started to cut off her breathing.
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
Tags: @Yuma @Carni
Notes:

The rat didn't respond- not even to the almighty crash of a nearby tower falling, or the creature chewing slowly on a bone much like its own. The rat simply continued until its movements were jarringly slow and the rat seemed to finally acknowledge the pain that it had brought upon itself. It wouldn't be able to fill its emaciated hide now, not with nuts or hard-shelled beetles, but maybe a rotten apple or a worm or two would do it.

For an instant, it raised its head and looked directly at its wide-eyed companion, a sigh escaping its bloodied lips. Then it lowered its head to the ground, eyes closing, and heaved a rattling breath. It had been here too long. It had lost too much blood. Quietly, the rat fell into a peaceful sleep that it'd never wake from.

What had caused the rat to drive itself to this?

Surely, it couldn't be anything natural to override its preservation instincts so completely. Perhaps the Gembounds could find some clues?

@Yuma @Carni @Aeroth

Okay. Things were starting to feel more familiar now. A flush of heat under his fur, a rush of energy and thoughts; Carni was suddenly very much awake again as the trapped feline cried for help, cursing through the pain she was in. Yeah, okay. A glance to the side told him the other gembound wasn't interested. He still wasn't sure about being around his kind again, but this girl needed help and that one wasn't going to help the situation any.

Fine. Hard way, then.

"Sorry." He spoke his apology before he leaned forward and widened his jaws to try and latch onto as much of the odd cat's scruff as possible. His teeth were sharp, not the right shape for a cat's and he knew this. The hold was as gentle as it could be, once and if he'd managed to chomp down; but what would come next would be the painful part. This was what he was apologizing for.

In one action, the boy summoned his magic into his wings, flaring them, whilst squaring his footing on either side of the trapped cat, toes against bones in the pile. He held firm with his jaws and as he swept his wings forward, willing his magic into a mighty gust of wind, he'd also throw himself backwards with it, grabbing for her with his front legs and hopefully pulling her from the pile by her scruff and shoulders in the process...

...and the result couldn't have been any more perfect. Yes, the boy stumbled back, probably under the weight of his rescue, but as soon as he'd felt she was free, he'd unlocked his jaws and ended that terrible bite.

The wind from his wings was intense, rushing in from behind him as those feathers clapped together to knock everything in front of him into a scattered mess. The towering pile was gone, every offending bone sent scattered around Canis' floor.

He took a moment to regain his senses, grateful everything had gone precisely as planned, then shifted to hopefully stand over or beside his rescued new acquaintance. Ruffled fur and feathers, wide blue gaze pin-pricked by a sliver pupil, the boy looked as if he'd just flown for the first time or something.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" The white hybrid fussed, wings held up a bit in his unsettled fidgeting.
"I'm sorry about that first try. I wasn't really awake yet. I hope you're okay."

@Aeroth @Yuma

Yuma With a sigh the aye aye put the bone down. This wasn't doing anything, a pointless task that had served only to bring the rat to death. Nearby the cat and oddity were also engaging in a pointless task, one that sent a spark of interest in the back of Yuma's mind but that he knew would bring just as much satisfaction as this bone had to investigate. Still, if they were entertained then who was he to trample on that. Perhaps he could encourage them? That would be a new one. He had played games with gembounds before, taking on roles from the master of mosses to the demon of fire and shadow, but ultimately those had only been pointless wastes of time and shallow connections broken as soon as he was bored. With a disinterested breath the albino creature stood up and grabbed the warm corpse by its tail, putting his weight into dragging it away from the prize it had worked so hard to try to obtain. He might be able to make something with the body that might amuse him a bit. "It's dead. You two aren’t." he said flatly as he dragged the body across the wind-swept ground as though nothing had happened. "Don't chew bones until you bleed out I guess." It had been the most thoughtful thing he could ever remember saying. Words meant to build up others since that certainly wouldn't work on him. It was worthless, but it wasn't bad he supposed. Perhaps since he said something nice to them they would do something nice for him. That's how it worked, right? "Actually I could probably use more fresh corpses since all my old ones are rotten by now. When you're done being buried alive and unearthed again could you tell me if you've seen any more stupid rats like this?"

Tags: @Carni @Aeroth

The jaguarundi yowled in pain in the instant before she was pried free, her bone bending at an awful angle, just barely not snapping before she felt the bones give way, her tears blowing away with the wind. She laid panting on the ground with tears in her eyes as she looked up at the.. thing that had saved her. "Thank you," she sobbed "Thank you so much" she was in the process of saying when the short monkey-thing came over with a rat in tow. Her face slowly contorted in disgust as he spoke, she limped over and grabbed the rat by its scruff, trying to rip it free of the things' grasp. She threw it from his grasp with a growl. "Stupid rats? You bloody fool. The bodies of the living aren't play-things. If you aren't going to eat it then leave it be. Have some respect. The life of that rat was worth just as much as yours is now."
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
Tags: @Yuma @Carni
Notes: