The girl seemed unimpressed by the overly enthusiastic scholar. The cub's heart sank as she moved towards him with the same derisive attitude. What was she going to do, confront him? But no, she conjured something terrible in her path, and Usui retracted two steps back hastily. It was a magic unbeknown to the lion cub who felt apprehensive yet awed all the same. When the fungi stopped sprouting, he crouched down to get a better look, and reached out a claw tip to test the frequency. It was slippery and maybe poisonous - he didn't know - and so he scrapped the remains off onto the floor on the right. She then snapped, and the cub quivered a bit. "Um...I'm sorry." "I didn't mean to" - this short phrase almost escaped his mouth but he remembered, he had meant to break the rocks. So he looked at her apologetically and hoped with all his heart that she would forgive him.

Not wishing to aggravate this bad tempered dog shaman any longer, the cub upped his attentiveness. She looked at his pebbles, and spoke with what he perceived as great wisdom. Alert, Usui turned to look at the same set that she was referring to. Indeed, the pieces has broken off into a sharp triangle thing resembling a large fang. "Yes, I see a fang. It is sharp, pointed towards...the pile of bones." He turned to look at her, waiting for her elaboration of the message he had just conjured.

Giggle exhaled slowly through her nose, watching the fleeting, mixed reactions of enthusiasm and nervousness dance over the cub's young face.

Right. She could work with this. He was eager, though bones only knew if he had the skill.

"And when you think of a fang," she asked patiently, "what does it put you in mind of? What images drift through" (and here she tried to gently tap him on the head with one paw) "that thick little skull of yours? Do you hear a voice, feel a sensation? What does 'fang' mean to you?"

Again, Giggle sat back, tilting her head, pondering what the cub would respond. Then she smirked, and added--

"...Usui?"

Let us see if he has the Sight. Perhaps he would make a useful apprentice... if I'm careful not to teach him too much.

________________

Roll the bones.

The boy furrowed his brows as she spoke. He pondered on what "Fang" meant. Images of rows of sharp teeth of the warriors, and winners of the world appeared. Large gembounds that had such powers to crush others. Aquarius appeared in his mind, an entity that was overly powerful and ferocious. A feeling of sodden fur overcame him. It was a deja vu of when the gigantic thing had splashed the water. The next image was this Shaman. And finally, himself. But, why was it pointing to the pile of bones and, why had the trail of broken rocks led to the pile of bones?

"I think," he spoke carefully, pale green eyes fixed on the dog thing, "it represents power. Power comes to those who wreck ruin and destruction on others. Like, those that fell to become a pile of bones." He shuddered, and looked at his paws. Sharp obsidian claws greeted him and he flexed them. Usui knew then he was capable of being big, and capable of many things. Although he had yet to know his true adult form, a sense of power rushed over him.

The next moment, he was back to the small cub that he was. Black-rimmed, scruffy fur. He waited to hear her reply, then ask the girl more questions. "So, what's your name? You're very wise. Also...what creature are you? I've never seen one like you before."

Giggle sat quietly as the cub spoke, watching him with an intent and hooded gaze. When he spoke of power she listened carefully. And when he had finished, and addressed her with his own, she cocked her head.

"The Bone King calls me Giggle. And I am a hyena."

Is that right? Yes, that sounds right. Hy-en-a.

She eyed the cub over, and nodded again. "And how about you, then, little one. Usui. You said that you see power, but why? Are your stones speaking of you? And more importantly, this question. One which may teach you much."

Giggle herself already knew the power of a spoken word, of a glance, of a nod. Of a tone, and of respect. Of the ability to hunt or to provide a service to others. She stood slowly, dark pooled gaze fixed on Usui, and padded closer. She lowered her head so that she could look him in the eyes, and spoke quietly, her brush of a tail briefly swishing back and forth.

"Do you think that ruin, and destruction, are the only sources and the only proofs of power?"

________________

Roll the bones.

"The Bone King," he spoke, rolling the name over his tongue. This entity sounded royal yet creepy. Usui did not ponder too much over it though. Giggle the hyena was what intrigued him. Usui looked at the girl and registered her physical features. She had this weird hunch at her shoulder area, and tufts of hair sprouted over. Her jaws seemed powerful too. Alas, he would now know that hyena was like a mix between a dog and cat, an entirely different breed and neither of the above.

She approached him then, questions growing more intense. The boy flicked his ears and held her gaze solemnly. Just because he had given her the answers as the bones had spoken didn't mean that he was ignorant. The lion cub would hold his gaze steadily, honesty written over his youthful features. "No, Giggle. There are many forms." He had seen power when the Gembounds ganged up together against Aquarius, and he had known his own power when he summoned courage and determination to attempt his own magic.

The cub stood up and attempted to bump heads with Giggle in a friendly way. He had gotten his answers, and she had taught him something valuable. Usui was starting to assimilate into the world and grow his wisdom. "Thank you Giggle. If you need help, well..." the cub called back boyishly as he walked away, "Call me maybe." He would flash a grin at her, letting the hyena know that she had made a friend today. Then, he would turn his furry rump and leave the area feeling enlightened.

He had learnt the way of the bones but it was his wisdom now, with the rocks.

-Exit Usui-

Giggle started to open her jaws to speak, to praise the cub for knowing and realizing the truth of power. She thought that perhaps he'd misunderstood--but then he was speaking, and turning. She frowned faintly, but said nothing, flint-eyed and silent.

For a moment, there, she had thought that perhaps he'd stay awhile, and learn.

Filthy lions, she thought abruptly--then pushed the thought roughly aside.

"Travel safely, lion," is all she said, voice calm and even touched with friendliness. And then she was turning, curling back up in her bone pile with a quiet clatter as they were tossed slightly here and there by her movements. She settled, shifting a bit to avoid some sharper points, and watched the lion cub go. She was left wondering if indeed he had any sense of Sight--or if he was guessing, grasping at straws.

Of course, she herself wasn't guessing, no--not half-mad with her own delusions. No, she truly felt that she had some kind of connection to--... To something, that the others, thus far, did not.

Laying her head down upon her paws, she closed her eyes and rested, for now. Perhaps the cub would return some other time. Perhaps not. He was no longer her concern.

________________

Roll the bones.

Wynry didn't understand. How could Vazi fail? He was strong and brave and wonderful-- but the lamb started at Vazi's sharp refusal to believe the bones and a slight prick of doubt entered the sheep's gentle mind. No.. No... The baby sheep went after his brother, hearing the harsh words the hyena sent showering after them. The horrible laugh. His brother, shaken, retreating in what might have even been... Rage? He followed his brother, trembling, wanting to tell the hyena that he believed in the bones but...

As Wyn went to tell the hyena, now left behind as they went for the tunnels, he found he couldn't. Something happened to his spell, and in his grief over the news that his friend would fail and something bad could happen, his words hung around him, whispering to Vazi and Wynry the simple truth.

"Sorry, so sorry, the bones do not lie, sorry, Vazi, sorry, Giggle I believe, sorry,", they gargled around them, words barely heard and said into the space between them. Wynry tried to speak, but his voice was gone, replaced by his worries and fears and inescapable thoughts.

"We have to be strong, and we will be. Vazi, will be strong, sorry. Sorry. Brother. Brother. Brother. Sorry, brother."

Poor Wynry so loved the bone reading, so enjoyed Giggle with her sweet name and fascinating (and almost creepy) nature. However, if one were to look at the bones, perhaps they might tell them that this little lamb would likely never see Giggle again, no matter how much he wanted to.

;; wynry exit

The voices were loud.

Echoing, deafening, stronger than the bat's ears could handle. A sneeze escaped the tiny creature's snout as it clung to the ceiling-- his preferred method of travel involved flying and clinging to the ceiling, far away from danger. It seemed that no one noticed him, as the voices faded away, and now he was on the search from what those loud things were storming away from.

You see, something had clearly upset them, and Tal'at understood, on some level, that this disturbance had a source. It made him curious, gave him a certain hunger to know more. His senses opened, the sound of a heartbeat far, far away. The curious creature dropped from the ceiling and caught the wind with the skin between his fingers and flew, flew, flew towards the heartbeat.

He lost it almost immediately and began to stumble through the air, trying to catch where the strange heartbeat had gone-- and that was when he heard the bones. The rattling noise made him "Tch! Tt! Tch!" in response, and he suddenly dropped to the floor with a faint thud.

His round gem tilted up to almost stare at Giggle, his ears coning towards the creature. He knew she was there, though he for some reason had lost his sense. Perhaps it was weaker than the others.

"... Who are you?" Came his simple, clicking voice, from a strange strained smile that seemed to plague his muzzle under the cats eye at all times.

There was a whispering scratch of tiny-soft on rock, and then a small voice, speaking before her. Her rounded ear twitched, one dark-pool eye opening to peer in surprise at the little Gembound that lay clinging the stone before her.

What is this creature? I didn't even hear it approach...?

Blinking, Giggle sat slowly upright, tilting her head to one side quizzically. Had she rested long? No, she thought not--in fact, only a moment or two. That meant this creature--this tiny thing--had been lying in wait. Was it that confident, to surprise a much larger predator on its own? Was it here to ambush her? Was it venomous, toxic? Giggle pushed the thoughts away with a brief shake of her head, peering at it. It had a stone. On its face. What was that all about?

"...Aza'zel calls me Giggle," she replied, at length. And then, keeping her voice lightly polite, and remaining sitting a few feet away, she continued. "And may I ask who you are...?"

It looks so tiny... and helpless. But somehow, I don't think it is. I will have to keep my wits about me, though I don't think it will attack. It seems more that there is... potential, in it. Somewhere. Somewhere deep, maybe. But it's there. ...Fascinating.

________________

Roll the bones.

Tal'at listened, her voice strange to his ears. She did not click or cheep, her words having a sloppier sound, a gentle clack of many small things coming together once or twice. She also sounded much larger than the other Heartbeat he knew. He pressed on his senses again, trying to pinpoint her more concretely than following her echoing voice in the chamber.

... But again it didn't work, this time not even a little. "Where are you?" Tal'at asked, his voice terse as he pushed himself up (a large effort, for his tiny size and heavy head made him clumsy and lopsided) to peer at her. He had an idea, but why was her Heartbeat so hard to hear?

"I am Tal'at. Why are you?" He went on, clicking stronger now. The chamber echoed around them, and though he grew more and more agitated, he knew it best to restrain himself. He let out a long sigh. "What is Aza'zel?" None of this made sense, but he would figure it out, certainly. So long as this "Giggle" answered him.

Finally, he found a way to explain his trouble, and so he answered, in his short, brief sentences, "How are you... I cannot see. Heartbeat is silent."