The creature's name was Giggle! This, of course, made the lovely lamb laugh, his ears wiggling and wobbling, shaking with his bleats and baas of joyous laughter. What a wonderful name! "Heheh-- hello Giggle! I love your name, it's so great! Ehehe!" It truly was, too. Imagine having a name that was so happy and sweet! Wynry sounded nice, but it didn't mean much to him, not like giggle did.

The hyena asked him if he would like her to... Do something weird with the... Bones? Was that what those white things were? He tilted his head and drew still, his hooves collecting all together under his body as he became quiet to consider. How unusual. The future? Could creatures see the future? Wynry could do a thing where he cast his voice, and he had heard about other cool things other gembounds could do.

"My future is going to be awesome, I bet," he boasted as he nestled down, his fluffy white down settling to the earth on top of his legs. Soon he was nothing more than a marshmallow with a fluffy face and big eyes. "Please, I want to know! Tell me all about it. I bet you'll see all the fun stuff Vazi and I are going to do."

His tail wiggled-- for no part of him wanted to stay still for too long-- and listened with earnest interest.

Giggle grinned, and it wasn't even entirely unpleasant, this time. The creature was earnest, and innocent, and amusing; there was little to be gained from manipulating him, bar perhaps gaining whatever friends he might have.

She turned, nodding. "Then Giggle will tell you."

She looked at the lamb, then at the bone-pile, and selected a bone that reminded her of him: pure and smooth, rounded. It was a piece of pelvis, but she didn't know that; she just knew, as she carried it up to her boulder, that it was nice and solid and would send the other bones scattering with a pleasing clatter.

The hyena reached the top of her boulder, and dropped the pelvis downward. The pleasing clatter came, the bones tossed this way and that, some striking the boulder and then bouncing away. Giggle lay down atop her boulder, watching intently until all had settled, then picking over each bone with a sharp eye. Eventually, she shifted her gaze to the lamb, watching him appraisingly.

"At the first, there is darkness. Giggle does not know--I do not know--if it is a darkness of fear. Or a darkness of danger. Or ignorance. ...I think maybe the last." She smirked a bit, then looked idly back down, practically lounging up there!

"Then there are legs that carry you. Legs, little-lamb, Fluffy-Happy Wynry, they are for moving. And they are your friends and your partners. You will go through much and you must be carried, if it is you, or others, who do the carrying."

Giggle looked back down, eyeing the bones over again. Then she stood, picking her way down the boulder and coming to Wynry, the little fluff-loaf, leaning a long neck down so that she could lightly nuzzle his ear. She spoke softly, not feeling soft, or even affectionate, but more a sort of vaguely comradely feeling.

"From then on, the bones show a protector, a guardian. Maybe the Dancing Lamb will become one. But Giggle thinks--I think, he will have a protector. And you are a little thing, a fluffy thing, so you might need it."

Giggle turned, pacing to the bones, then looked back at Wynry, curiously wondering what it was he'd need protecting from. True enough, he looked an easy meal for any predator--soft, small and naive--but maybe that wasn't all. She waited to see if perhaps he knew more, though she imagined he knew nothing at all of danger.

________________

Roll the bones.

Wynry was so very glad that Giggle would tell him. "Please," he added, again, just in case he hadn't before. He wanted to be as polite as possible because, well, the hyena seemed so nice. Why was she doing all this, just for fun? Did her bones tell the truth? Why wouldn't they, since they probably didn't have much of anyone to talk to except for Giggle.

... Ignorance? Darkness? "I was born in the dark! And then all the lights came on, when me and Vazi-- we got up and explored and just after I took my first steps the lights came on, see..." He considered the rest of what the Giggle-Bone-Master had to say. Oh, she was full of lots of wisdom, wasn't she?

What did she mean by going through much? Carried? Well.. He did suppose that he had Vazi and Deer Dad-- the big dear who had helped him already. Deer seemed to always be protecting him and they were all legs. That made sense. A protector, she told him, nuzzling his ear. It tickled a bit, but he smiled and then lifted his nose to hers-- going to boop his to hers but she was already turning away.

"I think Vazi is my protector, right? He's my big brother, he's been there for me always. He'll protect me always, right? That's what the bones say?" Wynry considered. How did Giggle talk to the bones? It was such a curious way, the way she dropped her bones and then walked and read the signs among them.

Giggle snorted softly at the lamb's excited manner, and strode back to the bones.

"'Vazi?' I will ask them."

Giggle sat, and hooked a paw beneath a leg bone of some creature or other, flicking it so that it was hurled into the bonepile once more. She glanced back at Wynry, then forward again, eyeing the pile intently. She could see lines that put an image in her mind of soft plants swaying under a bright light. They were growing. And that, there--a rib, curled and poised as if to cut it away.

"Have you seen plants grow, Little-Lamb?" Giggle glanced back at Wynry. "They need light, I think. Or at least, that sounds right." She looked at the bones, again, so that her back was to the lamb as she spoke, voice echoing in the low-hanging space.

"He is your light, as you grow, I think. Or then he is your guide, too. I think he will nurture you. Yes." Giggle shifted her eyes again to the hooked, curved bone to one side. "All things end, too. They seed the plants, and then they are harvested. What you plant is what is reaped. He is your light, to guide and to grow. And you reap what you sow. That may be good or bad," she added, glancing back to the lamb, careful not to phrase it too poorly. All in all the bones were positive about this Vazi fellow, at least in regards to Wynry here. It would not do to be overly negative and frighten the poor little fluff-creature.

The question blooming in her mind was, what was this Vazi growing the little lamb into?

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Roll the bones.

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

His little brother had gotten away from him. Where he'd gone the deer didn't know. He wasn't in their usual places and if he had been perhaps Vazi wouldn't have worried. Since he wasn't the deer was starting to get a bit unnerved. There was one more place he would search before enlisting Arkrael's help to find him. She had an ability that was infinitely useful for searching for young gembounds. He didn't need to panic and involve anyone else. Not yet, not before he was sure that the lamb was missing like before.

However, upon searching the last place. An ominous one filled with bones that set the fawn on edge he saw Wynry. "Wynry! There you are!" He ran over to the fawn and rubbed his head against his head in a loving nuzzle. "I have been searching all over for you!" It was only then that he noticed the assortment of bones and the creature before him. A strange canine-like thing with sharp fangs. He honestly didn't know what to think of her. She hadn't hurt Wyn so that was a plus but what was all this laid out before them? "What is all of this?" He asked curiously to the hyena.

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words: 202
tagged: Giggle, Wynry
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

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

Wynry LOVED plants. They were so tasty and delicious. He nodded enthusiastically and got to his hooves, walking over to see if he could see just what she had seen. Of course, all he saw was more white bones, all weird and shaped funny. His eyes returned to hers as she told him all of the lovely things about Vazi.

He really was Wyn's best friend. He knew it. "That makes sense," he agreed, considering it all. This Giggle knew nothing about him or Vazi, but yet she understood just how it was between them... And probably how it would be. Wynry was sure that everything would turn out fine, of course, with his big deer brother-- OH!!!

There he was!! Wynry's eyes lit up as his brother came barreling over, nuzzling him and announcing that he had been looking for him. "This is Giggle! Giggle, this is my brother, Vazi! See, isn't he awesome? He's starting growing horns now."

After the introduction was done, Wyn grew quite serious. He wanted to convince his friend that this hyena knew what she was doing and he wanted to make sure Vazi's future and life was just as hopeful and warm and safe as his was. If not, Wyn would have to do something about it, wouldn't he!

"Giggle reads the Bones. They tell her things, like the future. It's so cool. She's told me all about how you're my protector and my light and everything. I bet she'll talk to the bones about you too, if you want. It's fun, I promise!"

Giggle shifted her gaze to the newcomer, and then to Wynry--and then more sharply to the young stag, again, as he was introduced. She gave him a brief, hopefully subtle eyeing-up-and-down, then tilted her head and forced what she tried to make a pleasant smile. It came out a little... toothy. But hell, she was a hyena.

Though she was not a cat, her hoarse voice purred a little as she spoke.

"Ahh, so you are the one who's looking out for the lamb?" She eyed Vazi over, and nodded. "The bones have spoken of you already. What he says is true; they show me, and I will show you, if you want to see. To hear. ...It doesn't hurt, I promise."

Giggle grinned.

________________

Roll the bones.

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

Vazi ducked his head shyly as the lamb praised him but he couldn't help but tilt his head slightly when his horns were mentioned to give the hyena a better view of them. He surely was proud of those! Rolling bones for fortunes, eh? Vazi didn't know how to feel about that. Was that sort of magic actually real? Well, even if it wasn't it was all in good fun, right? He looked first at Giggle then at his brother's cute little face and he consented. "Yes, I am the one who looks after him. I found him before he hatched and we have been together ever since." He looked down at the little sheep fondly.

"Okay, might I have a fortune told, Giggle?" He asked as he lowered himself to the ground next to Wynry. It was supposed to be fun then it couldn't for him to have his fortune told. He tucked his limbs beneath himself and lowered his tail while his steel gray eyes locked onto Giggle and then at her bones. Just how did she read these things anyway? They just looked like normal bones to him, all different shapes and sizes, but no different than the norm.

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words: 202
tagged: Giggle, Wynry
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

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

Giggle seemed more than happy to read the bones for Vazi and, of course his best buddy couldn't resist his big midnight blue "puppy-dog" eyes. As his friend consented, a look of glee filled the young lamb and he pressed his muzzle to Vazi's cheek. As his friend settled down, so again did the sheep, hooves tucked under precious white fleece.

His wooly body leaned into the deer's sleeker, velvety fur and he gazed up at Giggle, excited to see the third cast of bones he would have the pleasure of seeing today. Like a child about to hear the title of the story book their father-- or in this case mother-- was about to read, he waited with baited breath, his heartbeat drumming in his ears.. Or was that Vazi's heartbeat? He smiled, curling up into his friend, putting his cheek against the buck's neck, feeling the blood rushing through his body.

Two brothers, connected not by blood but certainly by heartbeat-- Wynry was certain that their hearts beat as one. It was a strange thing to think in that moment, but he was sure of it. Sure as sugar. They were as different as night and day-- one tall and handsome, the other small and adorable-- but no doubting it, they were brothers through and through. Until the end.

And as ever, Wynry couldn't wait to hear the bones confirm what he believed.

Giggle watched the two cuddle, and smirked.

Oh, I could just eat them both right up. Literally.

She eyed the young stag over again, and turned, looking through the bones. It wasn't long before she found what she was looking for: a stag-like skull, with at least one stump of snapped-off what-was-once-probably-an-antler. This she gripped in her jaws, then made her way up to the top of her boulder once more, peering down.

She tossed it.

Into the bones it went, scattering them and sending them spinning. Giggle watched, intently as ever, as they came to a stop.

After awhile, she sat, still quietly looking them over. Finally, suddenly, she spoke, her voice sharp.

"That. There. I see a maw open, and it tries to speak, but you misunderstand... 'Vazi.'" She looked over at him. "A voice, a truth, reality. You have missed its words, or taken them wrong. As I might misread the bones."

Giggle eyed Vazi, then settled herself a bit, nodding back down to the bone pile again to draw attention to it. She eyed it again, silent for a moment, before going on.

"Next... the skull has rolled away. You will stand apart. You must. A separation. Perhaps to make the voice more clear. This, I don't know. I don't see the why, not unless you ask for it.'"

Again Giggle fell silent, her eyes picking over each bone and its position relative to the other bones, their angles, how close they were to the ground. "Then you will be the light, again. Or you will find your own."

She said this last bit simply and plainly, and then turned her head to peer at Vazi, quietly awaiting his response.

________________

Roll the bones.