A hushed few words, then blackness, dark, dark, dark—! Nothing to grab on to, hold on to. Gravity impossibly heavy, holding him without quite doing so, rendering his wings useless with paralysis and fear. Running, running, running. Outside of the link, Eythan stumbled fearfully, wings tucking frantically to his sides. He couldn't feel it. He couldn't do anything. Nothing, eternal, infinite. Then, voices came, loud against the stark nothing from before. Images, shapes forming where there was nothing.

Feathers fluttered and Omen appeared, single crimson eye standing out against millions and millions of silver eyes, shining, unblinking, watching—

A shock of breath stole through Eythan's lungs as he managed to blink away the vision, as the visions flitted away like a distant nightmare, all too real. Bright eyes glazed over with tears from the overload and deprivation, he tucked his wings closer to himself and stumbled away softly from Giggle, whining, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, sorry." Falling onto his stomach, the hybrid mulled rapidly, fearfully over the impossibly long void. And the Bonecaster had been trapped there for so so long.

"I'm so sorry that you had to— be there." He mourned softly for Giggle, but a hint of resentment filled him, toward his father rotting up in his cairn: he should have looked for her. Selfish basta—no, it wasn't worth getting angry about. "I'm… glad you made it back. That Omen found you."

@Giggle

Giggle watched, sombrely quiet. She then took the few short paces over to where Eythan had stumbled down, and offered him a grim nudge of solidarity.

"Now you know. You know what there is. What to be wary of. I've already confronted the one who sent me there, the shit-cat, naked cat," she added, turning away more slowly. "Not defeated--I don't mean defeated--but she is as wretched a mortal as the rest of us." A silence as she padded a few more paces away--placing that careful distance between they and Aure.

"I appreciate your words. And I don't know when... I don't remember having seen you, either. But as you can imagine, everything was--sort of a jumble, then." Giggle fell silent, and still, pausing to stare off thoughtfully and somewhat distantly at Canis, before looking back to Eythan.

"There are things that I know--things that the Lorekeeper has told me. I can tell you of them--or we can spar, and try to hone your skills. Or both, and in either order. What do you want to do?"

She had a faintly world-weary expression to her, now, the tenseness of the memory only just leaving her--but she was iron beneath, strong and stoic.

She carried on.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

Eythan tucked his limbs beneath himself, mutely accepting the nudge. "Would it be possible to destroy the void, maybe?" If it existed in some tangible space mortals could, then there could be something to destroy, to tear apart, so that no one else would have to suffer. Right? Another thought flitted by, wondering if the void was perhaps whatever was after death. They all had emerged from the void and, inevitably, they would all return to it, cycling through and through. The hybrid kept this thought to himself, though. He simply listened and got to his feet, plodding after the hyena.

"It was... definitely a jumble of things happening. It was so quiet, though," he said, confused. He didn't remember any semblance of life in Canis as it once held. As he fled to Polaris, Eythan only saw chrysalis after chrysalis. Everyone was sleeping or simply gone. Distantly, he nodded toward Giggle. The gryphon's head dipped low, horns arching up above his nape. "We could do both. Maybe we could spar first? To relax?"

@Giggle

Giggle nodded a little in agreement, and spoke wryly. "If there is anything I understand, it is the idea of things being a-... jumble," she agreed, then laughed harshly. "As for destroying the void, I do not know. I could ask the bones, perhaps. if it is a natural place, which exists--then I assume not, but perhaps the ways in and out could be destroyed. I think if Omen can come and go from it, then perhaps it is not a-... hmm, a fake... an artificial construct?" She hesitated, and then shrugged a bit.

"We'll see, I guess. For now there's little to do but perhaps consult the bones, though it isn't a bad idea, Eythan. Now--"

Giggle turned to square off against the hybrid, though her body language was limber and relaxed. "Let's start with this--what do you know about fighting?"

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

"I'm sure there are Ancients we could ask about it," Eythan said, mind flitting to the Collector at the very least. He could already hear the damn tree's rather sultry voice as he offered some quest for knowledge. Ugh. No, thanks. "If the bones don't know, I mean," he added, not intending to discredit the knowledge they held. Just because he didn't understand them didn't mean they meant nothing. The intensity of which Giggle threw the bones and inspected them was information enough to say that she saw or heard something, at least.

The gryphon imitated Giggle's squaring off motion, expression rather relaxed compared to the unintentionally puffy appearance he was putting on. Based on muscle memory, his wings were already flaring out and prepared to flap as needed --- either for a boost or for escape. "I know to try and not fuckin' make my throat or stomach vulnerable. And to go for the eyes and important shit. Maim, don't kill. Escape if I need to and can. Distance is good when you need to think. Throats are a good way to go but legs work too. Play for defense over offense, especially." It was basic stuff, really. More complicated maneuvers would be difficult to describe, so he hoped his simplified words made enough sense.

@Giggle

Giggle listened closely, rounded ears rotated forward, and then winced.

"You say maim, rather than kill; but to go for the throat. That makes no sense. You should not be fighting if it is not to kill." She paused, then explained as best she could. "You should not be resorting to violence unless your intention is to kill! If you have no other choice, if you are backed into a corner. Otherwise you do not need to fight. And you will do great harm if you go for the throat."

She considered, for a moment, expression distant as her mind raced over all that she knew. "I will tell you these things--I am no expert fighter! But I will tell you what I know. First, a slash that bleeds, and then distance, will win a fight for you. If you can cut the side of a neck, the back of the leg, and then fly away and wait, your enemy may die over a few minutes--or weaken greatly--with you at no risk. You have wings! That is a bonus."

A pause again, and again she stood there gathering herself, before going on. "By the same bone, don't let another Gembound get that one strike at you. Don't risk it! Let them slash and thrust but wear themselves out, if you can simply dodge. All you need is one strike--but that is all they need, too." One thing Giggle did know, and from bitter experience, was that a single good slash and the bleeding that resulted could have a Gembound weakened and stumbling surprisingly quickly, even with the rush of adrenaline that came from the fight. And after that wore off...? They could be as good as dead.

"You are agile, avoid that. Others will use magic. I don't know all the magic, but if they are using magic primarily you'll need to be fast and very aggressive! Never mind guarding, then. Just get in close and pressure them so they cannot focus on their magic. Get behind them, do what you must. And if someone is larger than you," she warned, "Never, ever let them get a grip. They will wrestle you to the ground and crush you!" Fearful memories of Kerberos, when he was still a pup, yet rivalling her in size and far outstripping her in aggression. Yet the fear turned to brief, but intense, warmth--a mother's love--before she turned her mind back toward Eythan.

"Hrm. Hooves kick and can be sharp. I think that is all; I will tell you if I think of more. Let us say... the first to tug the other's ear three times, wins?"

A faintly playful note had entered her voice, at this, but one of challenge too. She was ready for some fun and a game. She just hoped that Eythan could control himself.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

"I don't mean for the jugular. Throat could just mean neck, I guess?" he started, but then dipped his head slightly, whispering to himself, "that sounds real fuckin' stupid, actually." Regardless, Eythan's ears remained arced forwards, raptly catching every word the bonecaster spoke. Maim, not kill. Do not fight without intent to kill. Be skillful and precise. Agility could be used to his advantage, he supposed, if he'd just step back and take a moment in a fight, playing to defense rather than offense.

But then Giggle proposed that he should use aggression for those who were more magically adept. Now, that he knew rather intimately — too intimately, even, from past experiences of fighting with his brother. Every time the two clashed, Eythan would do his best to stifle each attempt at magic and just keep going and going until neither could anymore. And, sometimes, he ended up sprawled on the floor with a broken pelvis and at Carni's mercy. Fun.

The hybrid dipped his head low, eyes furrowed in concentration, but eyes and smirk betraying a certain eagerness as he bounced on the spot. "Alright, alright. Three ear tugs sounds good." No drawing blood, no breaking bones, no nothing. Perfect. No stakes could possibly serve both of them well.

He stalked to the right side, pinning his ears against his skull and leveling his head with his spine. Ears rather safe among his fur and stone, Eythan began to edge closer to Giggle, not ambling in any direction in particular. Still keeping his distance, but keeping himself light on his toes. Waiting, watching.

@Giggle

Giggle stood near-still, just turning her head very slightly to track Eythan as he circled.

"If someone is hesitant to engage you," she offered in her husky voice, "if they dance around you and feint and leap and snarl and leap back. Let them. Let them waste their energy; they will be all the more tired when they finally make contact." She knew that wasn't what Eythan was doing--not exactly--but it brought the lesson to mind, and she gave him a toothy grin, dark muzzle wrinkled up.

Abruptly she made her own lunge, aiming to bridge the gap between them with a guttural growl, trying to bash into the lighter gembound chest-first.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

"Be patient," he clarified softly, more to himself than to Giggle. It was a little bit of repetition to show that he was, indeed, listening and condensing the lesson within his mind. Eythan warily watched the hyena as she showed teeth in a grin.

Clicking his beak shut so he didn't bite hid tongue, Eythan started a little at the lunge, skittering back a pace or two before crouching low, wings at the ready. Seamlessly, he flapped his wings once or twice and springing upward. He sailed over Giggle, swiftly gliding away a short distance and alighting.

@Giggle

Giggle turned, peering at Eythan, watching him and shifting to face him as he lifted off and landed at the other side of her.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, though wary that he might lunge again at any instant. She remained on the defensive, not circling, nor pacing, just turning in place to face the hybrid. She kept her head low, her eyes and ears fixed on him, her body tense. Her forelegs were ever-so-slightly splayed, ready to leap back--or forward--as the situation might require.

Behind her, her short brush tail flagged upward, balancing her to some little extent.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan