The rat had fled, during the conversation--it certainly hadn't waited around.

Well, the rat skeleton.

Wilder's spell caught it where it had dashed away to, but this barely held it, and panic--or the rat's own, strange magic?--broke the spell.

It clattered to one side as the fire swept out behind it, avoiding the heat; undoubtedly, were it a flesh-and-blood creature, it would be squeaking in terror. But the bones were eerily silent as they vanished beneath a boulder--and then farther into the labyrinth of large stones all around. It was hard to tell where, exactly, it had slipped off to; perhaps Wilder, but only Wilder, could pursue due to her small size.

Had Azrael cost them the solving of this puzzle, or would one of them find another way?

@Zevruu

Zevruu was silent as the others talked amongst themselves. He agreed that they shouldn't destroy it - it may not be living, but there was...something eery about this rat. But he didn't want to destroy it, much as it unnerved him. He was just about to voice these thoughts the big creature let out a warning. His eyes were narrowed, and he was suspicious, but he wasn't going to get in the way of whatever it was going to do.

His ears lay flat on the back of his head as the blaze of fire was shot out of the creature's mouth. The rat immediately ran off and vanished under a boulder. He grunted. Would any of them be able to find it now? "Nice going," he grumbled, rolling his eyes a little. Perhaps some cycles ago he would've been scared to act in such a way to someone so big. But now...he found he didn't really care.

"I agree that we shouldn't destroy it. And, preferably, not scare it off. Is anyone able to go after it?" He looked around at all of them, his eyes landing on Wilder. She was certainly the smallest in the group. If anyone could go, it'd be her. But he had no idea if she would or not, so he grew silent, looking back in the direction the rat had gone.

"Speech" l 'Thoughts' | @Giggle

Giggle peered down after the fleeing bones, snorting as Azrael tried to blast it with fire. He came close, too, but the hyena felt herself darkly amused by the attempt.

So many went straight for violence; whatever this one was, with his bulk and his shadowed form, she was glad to see the bones outwit him.

Though, perhaps it was more instinct and luck--whatever of those a skeleton could have--more than any real cunning.

She paced over toward the boulder, calling on her magicka as she did so. A faintly-flickering wisp popped into being, and she crouched by the great stone, peering beneath and sending the light ahead of her. It bobbed up and down at the edge of the shadows, illuminating, if only barely, the tiny bones huddling far beneath the boulder. "It's under there. Don't get eaten, cat," she added, though her tone was relatively indifferent.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Oliver whirled to stare at Azrael, eyes wide--and then they narrowed, their blue slits glaring. He wasn't a combatative sort of Gembound; far from it. Normally, he was a shy pacifist. But violence ran rife in the caves, trauma had stayed with him--and this one had outright ignored him. Feeling rather sick of being tread upon, of other Gembound thinking nothing of violence and destruction--of them attacking the weak, and those not even fighting back--he lashed out with his magicka.

His intention was to drag roots up to snare the big beast, to hold him there while the others followed up on this mystery. But Canis, despite Oliver's long-term attentions, was hardly a bastion of life and plants. Instead, the roots were sparse--but they were still there, still attempting to tangle the demon's legs.

"I said, don't," Oliver said, and his voice, loud and stern, held a tremor.

He edged off toward the rat, but he kept one eye toward Azrael, suspicious and rather angry.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Wilder

Wilder jumped with surprise as the demon suddenly loosed a burst of flame towards the skeleton, squeaking as the heat rolled over her. She backed away a bit, not out of fear, but so her fur didn't get singed. She was a little shocked that he was acting like that, right after the bird-dog had said not to attack and that he'd jumped to violence so quickly. But, to be fair, Giggle had said that destroying it was a viable option. It left a bad taste in her mouth all the same.

She glanced up at the demon, his limbs held by weak vines called from the ground, probably the bird-dog's magic. "H-hey, we should probably calm down and...not do that? We can also give it a gift, after all! I'll try and bring it back!"

She bounded forward towards the boulder it had disappeared under and, without further prompting, stuck herself underneath, sliding on her belly and pushed herself forward. She tried to focus on where it had gone, opening her mind to try and track it through the labyrinth with every sense she had.

As soon as the rat was jumping out of the way, he shut his jaws, cutting off the stream of fire. For a moment, he thought he'd hit it and it was just collapsing, but now it was skittering under a rock and disappearing. He snorted angrily and moved to pursue it but tripped on the sudden restraints curling around his limbs. He looked back at the winged wolf that had created the vines and stared at him with confusion. "Why not?" he huffed. "Easier to destroy. Also, it is not alive. If it was, it is only Lesser. I eat many lesser rats. And bones," he added on. But it didn't seem like any of them were very happy with him.

Why not? What had he done wrong? He didn't understand how they were thinking, but he suddenly found himself feeling something weird. Like eyes were glued on him, pricking at his skin, making his chest uncomfortably warm and achy.

Yeah, that was embarrassment.

"Sorry," he rumbled. "Will think next time. Not hasty." Although it wasn't really clear if he truly meant it or not.

The rat skeleton--as Wilder's magic, and Giggle's faint light could both detect--was huddled beneath the overhang of boulders. Its bones even clattered, a little, as it appeared to tremble in fear.

Could bones... feel fear?

Moments later, though, it seemed to be scavenging again--even briefly scooting toward Wilder and her shining gemstone, then back as it perhaps remembered its fear.

@Zevruu

Zevruu flicked an ear as the bird-dog used magic to hold the creature down. Well, good. Hopefully now it wouldn't cause unnecessary violence. He was also a little surprised to hear the bird-dog speak in such a way to the larger creature, too. He had figured he'd be too scared, but he supposed everyone had a breaking point. And anyone could change, just as he did.

And then Wilder was going into the tunnel to find the rat. And there was nothing for him to do. Not now, or even after it came out, not really. But he wasn't going to leave. He had to find out what this "something" was that was going to happen if they ever succeeded in giving the rat a gift. He just hoped he wouldn't regret it.

"Speech" l 'Thoughts' | @Giggle

The hyena mostly ignored the goings-on, intent instead on peering this way and that at the bones. Curiosity had gripped her.

What was the unexpected thing she'd seen them reeling from, in her visions-? Maybe it was best to just... leave it all alone? Still, the bones themselves interested her. She was Bonebound, and a bone-reader--a seer; she spoke to bones or, rather, listened to them. They guided her. She was reluctant to just leave these bones behind.

Intent on spreading more light--and just to see what would happen--the hyena concentrated on the light-giving mushrooms that Kera had shared with her many cycles ago. She did her best to spread a carpet of them to extend beneath the stone, to reach the skeleton, perhaps, or stop just before it. She wanted to offer more light for the others--and to see how the rat might react.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Oliver dipped his head down, his ear-tufts laying back and tension leaving him. Obvious relief flooded his face, and he lifted blue eyes to peer at Azrael, then nodded.

"Thanks," he said in response, returning almost at once to his friendly, timid, even apologetic demeanor. "I'm sorry for, um, planting you. But being mean is bad," he added. "It's one thing, to have to eat--but it's bad to hurt stuff for no reason, I think. And you can't really eat bones, or well--can you? I mean--it's magic, it might be a bad idea," he added.

The roots of the plants seemed to grow relatively still, easy to pull out of, as if the hybrid had relaxed his hold.

Quietly he scooted forward, and peered beneath the stones. The skeleton was down there, barely-lit by Giggle's magic; Oliver pushed the banana, from before, down beneath the boulder.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Wilder