Someone new was in Canis.

And they weren't just passing through.

Their scent was strong, and wasn't fading. Instead it was becoming thicker, and layering, as though they had spent many nights there. The scent would lead away, some times, but always came back to the same area.

And there were feathers, too. And not black feathers like Omen's, but white ones and brown ones, long and healthy. Nothing like the ones she sometimes found among the bones, where Lessers had dropped them while hunting or eating.

And she was curious. She had left her little hidey-hole, leaving behind even her beloved little vertebrae, carefully tucked into a nook in her sleeping cave.

And now she waited. She walked through the bones, approaching the being she could hear sleeping. As she neared, she could make out colors, and slowly began to raise her head over the ledge on which it slept, until her eyes were peeking over it.

@Eythan

Well, he was angry-cry-sleeping again.

The crying at come first, abruptly triggered by some miscellaneous thing he had already forgotten about. Damn jags. As soon as he managed to flop down in some seemingly inconspicuous place, the tremble of his shoulders had eased and he eased himself into the fetal position. Obviously, he'd stayed there. Eythan had just cried himself into a (thankfully) dreamless sleep.

A sleep which was disturbed by the soft pitter-patter of feet. His ears glanced in the direction of its source, and he cracked his eyes open. They were crusty and bleary with sleep, and he reached up to wipe at his face. Eythan rolled slightly toward the sound, seeing big ears and then a strange face. For whatever reason, this strange visitor reminded him of Giggle. But not quite. It was far too small and resembled a Lesser Gembound. His stomach growled distantly, reminding him that he had forgotten to eat for the past three days.

So, in a sleep-ridden state, he rolled onto his elbows and rose into a hunter's crouch. His wings sloppily flapped once, twice and he descended upon the little hybrid.

@Skeena

The hybrid blinked her eyes, taking in the other. It was a hybrid, she could tell. That much was obvious. Its body was largely felid, but with a bird-like head, wings, and tail. So, what was it? It was nothing like Vinea, or Serek, or Mother, although it somewhat smelled of her.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't able to react in time. Only moments after her eyes met with his, and she realized that they were open - gleaming and yellow and predatory, her own going wide - she found herself flat on her back with a grunt and a gasp. Her ears flattened, and she battered her hind legs against his stomach as she spat "What's wrong with you?"

@Eythan

As soon as he descended upon the strange jerboa, it kicked up at his stomach and he made a choking noise not unlike a hroagh! Eyes widening in realization, Eythan chirped a quick "oh shit, sorry!" and flapped his wings to jump a small distance away. So, as it turned out, this was a Greater. Not food. Most pointedly not a dumbass rat.

Tucking his wings and situating them at his side, the hybrid dipped his head low, "sorry, I thought you were a Lesser." Ears flicking back in momentary apology, his tail flicked and intrigue filled his gaze as he more closely inspected the little creature. It looked a lot like Giggle, and the involuntary statement slipped easily from his beak: "hey, you look like Giggle."

Stating the obvious, eh?

@Skeena

The moment she was able to, the hybrid twisted, rolling until she was on her feet. She sat back on her haunches, hand-feet coming up to clean her muzzle in an ancient irritated habit. "Don't worry about it." she grumbled, scratching at an itch where her whiskers attached to her face.

"Be more careful next time," she reprimanded him, not wanting to think what would have happened if he had acted any faster, or she had been any slower.

Skeena stilled at the sound of the hyena's name, ears perking up as she looked at Eythan, before asking, "You know my Mother?"

And wasn't that a dumb question? A lot of Gembounds knew her Mother.

@Eythan

Rather content to just lie down, the hybrid did just that. Dropping eagerly to his elbows and rear, he flicked his ears back, apologizing again, "sorry, I will."

Eyes brightening, though, his ears arced forth at the likewise perking of ears. "Oh, she's your mother? That makes a lot of fuckin' sense, actually." Eythan wasn't sure about how this strange little creature had come about, and the stone upon her forehead was just different enough from Giggle's to tell him that it wasn't hers. Interesting. "She was, uh, my father's friend. And now she's sort of... my fuckin' babysitter?" He didn't mean it in any derisive sort of way, saying it deadpan and with a hint of confusion. That relationship was, most certainly, complicated as shit.

@Skeena

Skeena scritched at her muzzle, ears twitching as she listened to the skittering of lesser gembounds in the bone piles. Her tail curled around her feet, tapping idly.

"She is!" she agreed, eyes brightening. "My Magic-giver, I have two brothers, as well" she offered, ears perking up to lock on Eythan.

Her eyes widened in realization when the other hybrid explained who he was, and she nodded, "Oh! You're Eythan, I've heard of you! Mother never told me what you did, though." she tilted her head curiously, but didn't pry.

@Eythan

Eythan's tail flicked slightly, coiling about his hind legs as he relaxed a little more. "Oh, cool! Are they, uh, around?" He was just checking, really, to pay attention to if a creature had spots or not. That'd be a good indicator between Lessers and Greaters, actually. The dumbass rats tended to have very plain markings, or just absolutely nothing. Groaning softly to himself, the gryphon rubbed at his forehead with his right foot. He should've picked up on that sooner instead of just pouncing. Fuckin' cat instincts, man. Anyways, there was the fact that this little creature knew of his name. Content to just not respond to Giggle's telling of that he had committed a Crime^TM, he tilted his head. "Yep, that's me. What's your name?"

@Skeena