The young one stood tall at the weak little creature's feeble question. Yes, he would protect! Although, he wanted protection too. For the first time in his life, and certainly not the last, conflict raced through the little one's head. Did he want to protect his sibling? Or did he want the protection of his mother? Perhaps he could have both! But wouldn't mother also protect sibling? What was his job, then, if mother would protect?

Perhaps he could simply help mother protect. He nodded both to himself at to his sibling. "Yes, I promise!"

He looked at the other two as they introduced themselves to Mother. They were speaking strangely. Were they not intelligent? Or, at least, not as intelligent as him? And again, a new thing entered his brain that would be there many more times. Arrogance. Superiority. Despite his shaking feet, he raised his head tall, proudly, showing off the thin green gem spikes that were studded through his neck. "I am Serek." Mother had introduced herself like that, so that, apparently, was how one introduced themselves. He bounced forward so that he was standing in front of Mother. "Mother, I am Serek! What is learning? How do we do it? What do we learn?"

"I'm screaming submission"
I don't know if I am dying or living

tags: @Giggle
notes: notes here

Giggle looked them over, her thin form puffing up with pride. They were good children, all of them. Attentive, good children.

"I am Giggle. Mother. You are Vinea. You are Serek. You are Skeena," she explained slowly, to help their language along. "There are things to learn, so you can live." She spoke slowly--keeping it very simple. She knew that they might not understand everything--not yet.

"There is water here--you need to drink that. Then I will show you how to get food." It occurred to her that they--Serek in particular--might eat plants. She could find out soon enough, she supposed.

She lapped at the water and paused a moment to see if they would drink, and then turned and loped slowly down along the path toward the boulders where the rats tended to make their home. She stopped often, turning, peering back at her new children. Eventually, assuming they followed, the skittering of the rats and their rank odor would be noticeable just ahead.

Giggle turned, sniffing along the undersides of the boulders, then lunged and with a loud clack of jaws, hauled out a screeching rat. A shake of her head, a slam on the ground and it was stunned, then dead; and this she tossed at the feet of her young hatchlings.

"Catch. Kill. Eat." she instructed.

If they grasped this lesson, then she would take them to the bones, and tell them what she saw for them, in their future lives. There were few gifts that she could give them, but she would give them all that she could, while she had them.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Vinea @Skeena @Serek

"Mother," he reaffirmed, ignoring the interactions of his kin at his side, choosing to skirt-hop about them. "Learn? Live?" Wide orange eyes trailed up to the stone set into his mother's forehead, an urge to snatch it pricking at still unfamiliar little feet. Instinctively, Vinea flexed them, joints spreading apart into the dust. "Learn-live already!" Living was what he was doing, wasn't it?

Without an answer to his question, he plodded after Mother and found her doing something... strange. There was something coming out of the place words seemed to come from. Like what he had. A tongue! Was that necessary for drinking? Gingerly, he knelt over the water and stuck his long, thin tongue out, noisily slurping up the water to no avail. Worriedly, he plunged his whole lower jaw under, unhinging it slightly and gathering up an enormous amount of water between two mandibles before snapping his mouth shut. Tossing his head up and back, only about half of the water actually made it down. The rest spilled out the sides of his mouth as he swallowed.

Before he had a chance to take another gulp for good measure, Mother was off again and they, without any other guide, had to follow. However, as her jaws clicked viciously against bone, Vinea hopped back and flattened against a stray boulder, eyes wide against himself. Mother dragged something vile-looking from the stones, flopping its limp form at his and his sibling's feet. Unsure what exactly to do, he hoped to mimic the action instead, eyeballing an enormous fly that had begun to approach the corpse. He lunged at it, but completely missed and flopped onto the corpse instead, despondent. He twisted his head back, looking at Mother with absolutely pure sadness and disappointment in himself.

@Skeena

SKEENA

The kindly sibling promised to protect her, and the jerboa hybrid pressed up against him. Remembering what the mother had done, she raised her head to sniff at its fur, trying to memorize its smell. She drew in a few huffing breaths, imprinting the scent upon herself. Yes, she'd always know her sibling's scent, and so long as she could smell she'd be able to follow the scent to the ends of the cave.

So the scary one was a sibling too? But they'd tried to pull her from her chrysalis, to eat her! But she needed to know their scent, too! 'Coward! You don't need them! Or does the ickle baby Gemling need others to survive? Should show it what you can do, that we're not to be messed with!' The hybrid shook her head, whining pitifully as she tried to shut it up.

The protecting sibling raised its head high, revealing spiky green gemstones in its neck. So its name was Serek? So they were Giggle-Skeena-Vinea-Serek? She could remember that! Mother Giggle - self Skeena - scary Vinea - protector Serek! The jerboa hybrid giggled quietly, repeating softly "Mother Giggle, self Skeena, scary Vinea, protector Serek!"

The mother said something about... learning? and she tilted her head. Before she could muster her voice to ask ('cowardly hatchling, voiceless child!') the protector sibling did instead.

The Gemling looked between each in turn as the mother introduced each of them, tilting her head. "Living? We're living!" she squeaked, wondering if the Mother had gotten confused.

She watched as Mother began to lap at the water, before scurrying forward on rodent-like paws, lowering her head to dip her long muzzle into thewater. She came up sputtering, before seeing how the Mother did it. Her tongue flicked out, and she squeaked happily as water made its way into her mouth. Water! Water was good!

And then the mother was leaving, and Skeena hurried to keep up with her. Her rabbit-like ears twitched at an odd scurrying sound, much like the one she made, and her nose picked up a nasty odor. What was that? But something about it made her salivate, drool sliding from her muzzle. She became aware of her empty stomach, rumbling quietly.

And then suddenly there was a dead rat at her feet. She leaned down to sniff at it, only to see Vinea snapping at a fly. Without thinking, she lunged forward to grab at the missed prey. Her teeth clicked shut around it, caging it in, and she swallowed it down. The hybrid looked up at Giggle proudly, smiling.

"Stay away from me..."
'I'm a monster inside...'

@Serek

When the small one, Skeena, pressed against his side, he almost flinched away with surprise. But he had promised to protect his sibling so that was what he must do. Slightly uncomfortable with the physical touch, he forced himself to stay steady and let the smaller one show affection. When they peeled away, he breathed out a breathe he realized he had been holding.

He followed Mother to the stream and bent down to lap the water. While others may have thought the water rank and disgusting, Serek found it to be perfectly fine. It was his first drink of water and it tasted as fresh as it could be, his normal water. He wanted to keep drinking, but the rest were starting to follow Mother somewhere else and Serek couldn't be left behind! He jerked his head away from the pool and followed proudly, but internally missing the water he thirsted for.

But Mother's display of the capture of the small creature was inspiring. He looked at it with glittering eyes, a small creature, killed. Its life gone. He was alive. Could he be killed like that? Snuffed out in an instant? Made prey for another, larger creature? His legs starting shaking, but he forced them to stop, fearful that the others may think him weak. He shook out his head and looked around.

There was movement among the bones and Serek, realizing that this was his chance, leaped forward. The others were trying to catch a small buzzing thing but he would catch a large furry thing, just like Mother had! She would love him, be so impressed with his skills. He would be better then the others!

But his claws came down upon nothing and the creature scampered away as he stumbled forward. He stared after it for a moment before a strange emotion boiled up in his stomach. He thought he was going to have it, he thought he could do it. But he couldn't, and now it was gone and he just looked like an idiot. He stomped angrily at the ground with his back legs and, in a sudden burst, lunged forward towards a bone and kicked it with all his might. Being a small thing, it didn't clatter far, but it certainly felt good to get this horrible, burning emotion out.

"I'm screaming submission"
I don't know if I am dying or living

tags: @Giggle
notes: notes here

Giggle watched. If hyenas could smile, she would have smiled. They were so determined, so independent, even now; yet they would, if all was as it seemed, protect one another, too. She praised them, in her hoarse and masculine voice, loudly.

"Good! You all hunt, yes, you all hunt and bite and fight, and that is good. It means you will not die so easily! You are strong! All of you. Eat the rat, if you want." She tore into its belly with her teeth, flipped it toward them so that its spill of intestines and blood flopped their way, so that the acrid scent of coppery blood was strong in the air. She sat down for a long moment, short tail twitching along the stone beind her, watching her three children with proud, dark eyes.

At length--whether it was when they had eaten, or merely in response to some unknown prompt that only Giggle knew--she pushed up again and started back the way they came. "The bones speak, to those who listen. Or maybe not to those who kick them," she added. "All of those who fell and died, they leave their secrets behind. They remain, they linger, they whisper! They see ahead, into the mist! They--"

Giggle abruptly realized that the poor youths probably had no idea what she was saying. Determind to simplify it for their young minds, she turned back, fixing them with a sly expression of humor as she walked. "You learn language. The bones have their own. I will speak to them, and ask them of your futures, if you wish."

She led the way, if they followed, up to her bone pit.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Vinea @Serek @Skeena

SKEENA

The little Jerboa hybrid swallowed down the buzzing thing in her mouth, crunching it between her budding sharp teeth. It wasn't a big creature, but for a small being like her it made for a sizeable meal. She licked her lips, finding she liked the taste.

Skeena's head jerked to the side as movement caught her eye. The protector sibling had suddenly leaped forward into the bones, trying to catch... something. Evidentally, the protector sibling had failed, as it stood staring in the direction which she could hear scrabbling from.

The hybrid jolted as it suddenly stomped the ground, before kicking a bone as hard as he could. What had that been? ... Could she do that? A quick look at his back legs, and at hers, made her think that, most likely, she could not.

The mother began to speak again, and she listened raptly. A rat? The dead thing was called a rat? Her mouth began to salivate at the metallic scent of blood, and she scrabbled forward, greedily gulping down several mouthfuls of the meat. Unfortunately, she could only swallow down a few bites of the meat before her small stomach was filled up.

She backed up, tan muzzle dark with blood. The hybrid looked at Giggle as though to ask 'what next?', the voice in her head surprisingly absent.

Suddenly, the mother was moving again, and Skeena had to scurry forward to catch up. She was talking, but the Gemling had no idea what she was saying.

Thankfully, the mother suddenly dumbed down what she was saying. Skeena tilted her head, following the mother. "B-bones speak? You listen? Will I learn?"

"Stay away from me..."
'I'm a monster inside...'

@Vinea
@Serek

whaddup i died for a bit again but i'm back now

The moment an acrid scent stung the air, primeval instincts kicked in at the promise of safety in the offering. Just to the side of their smallest kin, Vinea tore off a large chunk of the rat and tossed his head back. Like water, he attempted swallowed the thing whole after grinding some teeth against the much-too-large piece. As it immediately reached an obstacle, he made some horrible retching sound and spat it back out, dejectedly tearing it in half before trying again. The next two times were met with success and his stomach filled with it.

Unable to really comprehend the concept of death so soon after birth, Vinea just watched blindly as Mother spoke. He spared glances to the bones surrounding him, instead only seeing nooks and crannies to hide in. As she departed, he stood and scampered in her wake. "Died?" He asked naively, bright eyes wide in severe curiosity. Then, he perked up his ears, not fully grasping another concept: "future? Mine?"

@Serek

He heard something flop on the ground an a scent caught in his mouth, a scent so delicious and strong that he had no choice but to turn and follow it. The rat, as that was what it was called, lay on the ground, blood spilling over the bones, its insides opened deliciously. Without really thinking, he walked up, a little more slowly then his siblings, and leaned down to tear off a chunk.

Blood and meat flowed down his throat and he brayed softly with pleasure. Being the largest sibling, he ate the most, tearing off the large piece that had been left by Vinea. It was declicious and warm, not quite enough to fill his large stomach, but it satiated the little hunger he had.

He looked up when Mother suddenly began to move and talk faster then he could keep up. He had no idea what she was saying and barely comprehended anything at all. He did not know of death or of futures. However, he did understand that she would show them something, something in the bones that was strange and mysterious.

He smiled with excitement and bounded ahead until he was walking alongside the front half of Mother. "The bones can speak? What will they say? They will say futures? What are those? Do I have one?"

"I'm screaming submission"
I don't know if I am dying or living

tags: @Giggle
notes: notes here

Giggle trotted quickly up the path, only to remember that her new hatchlings were likely too young to move so fast. She paused, moving back to herd them up, eventually leading them to the pit of bones where she spent so much of her time. As she moved, she spoke to them, slowing to a gentle walk. "Yes, you have a future--each of you. Yes, bones speak--in their own way. I will listen, and learn. Speak, listen, learn! That is how to live." Vague memories of Kerberos, the great three-headed white dog, flitted through her mind. Speak. Listen. Learn. "Dead. It is when you are injured too badly to be alive any longer. I don't know what comes after," she added bluntly--and then they had arrived.

A quick glance over the bones--ringed as they were by bright bioluminescent fungus--showed her which one to take. A smallish, but heavy skull: the mind, the future. She snatched this up in her jaws, trotting quickly up the path to the overhang that shadowed the pit. She didn't explain this to her children, nor did she wait for them--instead she simply tossed it into the bone pit, and observed how it clattered amongst the others, apparently lost in a world of her own.

Then, sure and strong, she began to speak.

"In the bones, I read your destinies," she called down. ...And then again remembered that they were young, and probably could not understand more complex words. "Your--futures."

She looked over the bones, and went on. "I see--for all of you--a fight lost. A defense failed. Yet then you will triumph--light and good over the evil and the dark!--and then, so it will remain!" Her hoarse voice raised at this, triumphant in itself.

She then ran down to the bones once more, at full tilt this time. After a brief glance, she lifted a heavy piece of horn, a longer, thinner bone, and a piece of something she could not identify but that was jagged, and pristine white.

These three she carried back to the top, and she eyed her three "children." Serek, she looked to first. "Serek! You already know your name!" she declared, and tossed down the piece of horn. She looked over the bones, quickly examining the way the horn struck, the way it fell, the way its ringed gray form clattered pieces from her pit into jagged, angular forms. "The bones fall roughly--violent. Too violent-... Your future! You must strive to avoid your violence, Serek. The battles and blood around you. Seek the peaceful way! I see... Water!" she added, as a single bone fell, grey, like a drop of water among the rest. "A life falling into the sea! Chaotic perhaps and powerful, but the tides return. And then I see, for you, Serek--knowledge and wisdom gained from the beyond. A message, like that which the bones give! A message you must hear. A message you will hear."

For Skeena, Giggle tossed the longer, thinner bone; this, she watched, watched as it spin, watched as it fell.

For a time, she remained silent. The omens for Skeena were not good. A black pit of grief bit at her, and she shook it off, trying to think of how to tell this to the little one. Even to merely tell her nothing would be terrible-... No, she had to pass this on. "I see again that failed defense..." Perhaps they would fail to protect Skeena. Perhaps their sibling would die. Giggle shuddered and sighed; she must look after her more closely, then. "The bone becomes overwhelmed--Skeena. Skeena." She reminded herself of the little one's name, and continued. "You must seek your inner strength! There is delay... and a need... I do not know what this means," the hyena admitted. It could mean that the young one would be forced back into her chrysalis, for a time--Giggle had heard of that happening--or merely that she would wait to grow, but remain small... She was unsure. Whatever it was, it wasn't good: the bones spoke of hopeless situations and endless, unfulfilled need. Giggle eyed Skeena, then the bones. Dark eyes flicked over them, searching for any thread to cling to.

"You will hear things and take them wrong--you must remember that not all you hear is true. You will clash with those around you, and... Remain simple. You cannot! You must always strive to be better. A better person! Wiser. Smarter. Only then can you thrive." She wasn't sure about what exactly Skeena might misunderstand, whose wisdom she might take--perhaps her own? Perhaps she would simply go feral, violent. But the bones had not spoken of that.

Sadly, Giggle tossed the last piece down--the jagged yet smoothed white piece.

"Vinea," she began strongly. These omens were good. Very good. She puffed herself up, and continued. "You will defend yourself, and survive. Be wary like your brother that you are not too violent! But all that you begin will come to a good end. You will face your challenges and bring together that which goes together! And you will find wisdom and truth, knowledge, in the end, of whatever sort you seek."

Giggle watched the three, unsure if they had understood. Unsure if she was rushing them into this too quickly. Yet she knew all too well that Gembound had a tendency to quickly leave home, and she wanted this in their memories--this gift from she, to them--a bit of guiding wisdom.

All that she could offer.

"Do you have questions for the bones, little ones?" she rasped, and she found herself hoping that they all found their happiness--regardless of what the bones might say.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Vinea @Serek @Skeena