Zelk, the polar bear cub was wandering around in Canis with her best friend, The bear cub made sure she walked side by side with her best friend to make her feel comfortable. Everything was just fine until a large, house cat sized rat came into their view, getting a little to close. Zelk wasn't that scared, and spoke to the rat. "Hey, you're in the way and we're trying to explore, could you please move out of the way?" The rat didn't seem to understand, but then it opened it's teeth and tried to snap at Zelk, and as soon as the bear cub saw this, it backed up worryingly telling Orlaith to follow. Then more rats appeared, and they showed their teeth too. "Orlaith run!!!" Unfortunately for the children, more rats were coming, and they were backed into a corner. It wasn't anything like an army or anything, but there were a lot of them around. Orlaith was crouched next to Zelk cowering, and Zelk wasn't doing any better. Zelk let out some loud bear cub roars that resembled crying, and she hoped someone would hear them and help her and Orlaith. These rats were vicious, and the children were terrified.

[url=/member.php?action=profile&uid=603">@Eythan

Everything had happened literally all at once, and Eythan was literally tired of it; the Collector had pulled together some hijinks while he basically lied dead for a few weeks, Aure was bringing together the Bonebound, they were having heart-to-hearts, his kids were hatching, et cetera, et cetera. After spending so long bored, the gryphon wasn't sure that he ever wanted this much action. Oh well. These events had already happened, and he was over it. His way of getting over it, of course, was to plop down on some nondescript ledge and conk out for a few hours.

Or… try to, at least. His body was tired of sleeping, apparently, and unwilling to calm the jittering sensation in his limbs that suggested all sorts of fun activities like: run! jump! fly! hunt! Even after checking all of those boxes, Eythan still couldn't sleep. Canis wasn't exactly a bustling hub of activity, either, despite all of the everything happening. Gembound-watching wasn't a very practical thing, but the gryphon had to sacrifice some bit of fun for something to do. Wings tucked neatly against his back and tail wound about his rear, Eythan had been lying rather gracefully atop the ledge. Chin to his paws, bright eyes scanned the bones down below. Sometimes, cave rats would skitter about, chattering and squabbling. Sometimes squabbling would turn to… um… a show, and he'd be forced to avert his gaze. Gross.

Just when he was about to doze off, though, an uproar came. The rats began scatter, their little hand-paws causing a calamity that would break anyone out of a dead sleep. Weird. Very weird. Eythan stood, stretching briefly. Leaping from his ledge without using his wings at all, he broke into a trot. Panicked sounds rose above the swarm of rats, drawing his ears forth. Babies? Trot: cancelled.

The gryphon took on a gait resembling a full-on sprint, then flapped his broad wings. Easily rising above the squealing rats, Eythan searched ahead. Indeed, there were two little cubs --- one feline in nature and the other bear-like --- squaring off against the rodent menace. Oh, those fucking rats! The gryphon put on a bit of speed, flapping his wings a few times so that he could wind up above the children. As he did so, he called out, a clear and sharp note against the squealing rats: "duck!"

Diving and falling heavily on all fours, Eythan (hopefully) stood above Zelk and Orlaith, tensed and bracing himself against the rats. He lifted sharp talons, swatting at them and hissing. "Low-life bastard gemfu---" right, kids, "---fudgers!" Each swipe was only met with air, but he sure hoped he was spooking these rats off.

@Zelk

Zelk suddenly heard someone telling her to duck and she did just that. She also put her paw on her friend's head, making her duck as well. The bear cub got a good luck at her rescuer, and saw that it was a male. He was a mix of a bird and cat, and boy did he have big wings. As he landed very near the two children, the two cubs calmed down some. Though the cubs were still very scared of the rats, the brave hybrid gave them a sense of comfort. The rats seemed to be highly scared of the hybrid's sharp talons, and his hissing seemed to add to that. While Zelk was crouched near Orlaith, she was able to get a glimpse of his sharp talons. The rats may have been angrily nasty, and all the hybrid's talons may have met was air, but the rats seemed to be backing off. After a moment the rats scattered, for the hybrid's display finally got to them. When they disappeared, Zelk and Orlaith finally took a deep breath, and Zelk spoke up. "Thank you sir, I thought those rats were gonna get us for sure." Zelk assured Orlaith that everything was ok, then spoke her thoughts out loud so they could be heard, loudly. "I don't think it's safe for us to be roaming around the caves on our own, even though we like to explore."

@Eythan

As he swung at the rats --- scattering them with minimal effort (good fucking riddance) --- Eythan kept his ears peeled for the cubs beneath him. They seemed to quiet down as he landed. At least he wouldn't be getting his stomach slashed out in fear. Giving one last swing at the tail of a rat, Eythan hissed: "and stay away, you little b--- brats!" In one last intimidating show, he scuffed his claws across the stone, bringing about a rather horrid sound. Just a warning.

Once bright eyes scanned and ensured there were no other rodents about, the gryphon pivoted so that he wasn't standing over Zelk or Orlaith. A quick once-over indicated that neither child had wounds or injuries. Tension left his shoulders at this realization, relieved that he hadn't been too late. Tail flicking and wings adjusting, Eythan nodded, "ah, they're little jerks, thinking they can pick on kids and get away with it." He laughed quietly, adding, "I keep telling them that, but they're not very smart. They can't really think or use magic, y'know?"

Not that he could do the latter, anyways.

"Something must have the rats all riled up, because usually they don't attack. They like to stay near those rocks over there, see 'em?" he paused to indicate towards the western wall of Canis, "Usually a couple of us keep carcasses over there as bait. Somebody must've forgotten." Note to self: catch a rat and leave its mangy little corpse by the boulders. Eythan shrugged a shoulder, finally getting his wings flush against his flanks. Looking back at the kids, he blinked, "the caves are pretty dangerous, yeah, but as long as you know how to fight or use magic, you can explore plenty. I mean, do you?"

Ah, wait. Eythan took a few steps back and bowed his head, "my name's Eythan, by the way."

@Zelk

Zelk brightened up as there was no sign of the rats, and mentally agrees with Eythan when he called the jerks. She quickly looked over when Eythan pointed out that the rats liked to stay near rocks in the west direction. The bear cub's ears perked up as Eythan seemed to reply to her outspoken thought. Zelk greeted Eythan kindly as her short stubby tail wagged a bit. "Hiya Eythan! I'm Zelk, and this is my friend Orlaith! I'm a bear cub and she's a tiger." Her face got a bit disappointed as Eythan mentioned fighting. "Well Eythan, fighting and magic aren't our strong suits. As for magic, Orlaith can control water, but the only thing she knows is how to absorb water in case she gets really thirsty. As for me, I never used magic before, and I don't even know what I have. As for fighting, well, you can see how small we are, and the only damage I think we can do is hunting smaller creatures when we're hungry." Her nose wiggled as she made sure her friend wasn't scared, and thank goodness she was doing fine. "Um, I know facing those rats was just one of the bad things in these cave. What if we run into something meaner? What if something tries to really hurt us? What if there are crazy gembounds out there who wanna take us!" Zelk's voice was laced with fear, and facing those rats made her realize that if they wanted to continue exploring, they would need a safe space, but nothing came to mind for somewhere her and Orlaith could come back to for stability and safety.

@Eythan

Eythan frowned, for a moment, as he glared over at the rat-rocks. Hopefully those mangy little shits would stay in their lane. As soon as he had these kids all situated, he'd go on a hunt right away. Dumb rats, perfectly okay with cannibalism. Once they got their teeth into those bones, they didn't seem to care at all if it was once their kin; really made you wonder just how desolate Canis was that even the rats resort to eating their own kin just because they're lying there.

Anyways, the kids: "well, that's why you have to practice. There's two of you, so you could practice fightin' together. Just keep your claws in and don't go kicking at stomachs." Eythan laughed quietly, remembering how well that went for him when sparring with Giggle. "I could help you with fighting and stuff --- doesn't matter how small you are, y'know? --- but I'm not that good with magic, either. Never really been in touch with it." He shrugged, again. "If you're fighting others that are bigger than you, you just gotta be careful. Hit them and run if you have to. Don't get under them for any reason, or you'll just end up pinned." Then, that's a real big problem.

Oh, ugh, now he had to explain how awful the caves were to these small, impressionable gemlings. The gryphon's forehead wrinkled as he narrowed his eyes. His gaze drifted down to his claws, ears flicking back. A sigh whistled from his beak. "Alright, listen. There's always going to be something bigger and meaner than you or me or someone else. You've just gotta be careful and keep an eye out, y'know? If you see something suspicious, get right out of there and go somewhere else. Don't approach if you don't have to." Well, that was the best he could tell these kids.

"At least you two have each other." Man, if only he had that growing up. "You're less likely to get heckled by someone if you're together. Even more so if you've got family and friends around you."

@Zelk

Zelk could do with some practice with fighting and magic, it would definitely help with surviving in the caves. She appreciated Eythan's offer to help them out with that. She minded the important part of not getting under her enemies, getting pinned would suck, and endanger her life. The bear cub especially drilled in her head the information about bigger and meaner gembounds, and how to be careful. Zelk commented on Eythan saying that they had each other. "Yeah, I guess it is a good thing me and Orlaith have each other, she is my best friend. Hey Eythan, do you have any family and friends? I mean, do you have other gembounds you are close to?" The two cubs were completely oblivious to Eythan's affiliation. They sure hoped Eythan wasn't alone, he had saved them after all.

@Eythan

The cubs didn't really respond verbally, but that was fine. Their rapt attention was all Eythan needed to know that they were taking his advice to heart; he just hoped it was good advice, in the end. A spotted shoulder rolled slightly, stretching out a sore muscle. Apparently, lying down for a few hours on cold, hard stone wasn't good for your joints. Anyways.

"I've got quite a few friends across the caves," he assured with a nod, "and I have family living here. There's a couple of us scattered around here, if you go looking. We call ourselves the Bonebound, now, I guess. My little brother's honorary leader and stuff. He's got spots and wings like me, but no front legs or horns."

@Zelk

Zelk had no clue that there were groups of gembounds living in the cave! The bear was shocked, and Orlaith's eyes widening was an indication that she was surprised too. "You have an honorary leader, in a group called Bonebound? That's so cool! It's nice that you have family here." Then, an idea popped in Zelk's mind. Maybe they could explore, and have a home too... Zelk scampered over to Orlaith as she started talking to her by whispering quietly in her ear. When she finished, Orlaith started to nod very quickly. "Hey Eythan, would it be ok if maybe, we could join the Bonebound?" Zelk's tail wiggled as she asked the question. Zelk really meant what she asked in her question. She added another thing. "Also we really do appreciate you helping us, so that means you're our friend!" Her adorable black eyes stared up at Eythan, her friend, as she listened to what he wanted to say. Goodness gracious, kids.

@Eythan

The kids seemed absolutely astounded by the concept of Gembounds banding together somewhat en masse, and it was pretty adorable. Eythan laughed softly as the polar bear skittered over to the other cub, whispering into her ear conspiratorially. Rather cartoonishly, Orlaith began to nod something fierce; a group consensus had been made, it seemed. The gryphon tilted his head, brows quirked curiously. He hadn't really expected them to want to join off the bat, but what was the harm in it? These kids seemed innocent enough and could use some protection while they grew up.

May as well tease them a little bit. "Well, I don't know," he drawled out, tail flicking, "joining the Bonebound's a pretty long process. You gotta go out and find the best bone there is and claim it as yours in a battle royale---" Unable to think of anymore joining requirements and to keep his laughter in, Eythan shook his head. "I'm kidding. I'm sure you two could join up. I'll let Aure know whenever I see him."

As for the thanks, he simply winked: "you're welcome, kiddos."

@Zelk