She stepped over bones and rocks as she made her way into the heart of Canis where she often didn’t venture. She’d been awake for long enough to hear rumors that constantly circulated through the caves and one sparked her interest - the bone reader that resided deep in Canis, by a pit of bones that she used to tell the future...or something like that. Either way, it was enough of an interest to the goose that she sought out this bone reader for advice.

Because even though she told herself she was content, that she was happy with the knowledge she had, the life she lived, she couldn’t help but feel herself oftentimes falling into a pit of doubt and despair. She felt so lost and vulnerable, like her mind wasn’t caught up to the age of her body. She was missing time - she knew that much for sure - but how much she was missing or what it was she couldn’t tell. And she had no idea what to do about it.

So for once she sought advice. She went out of her way to look for someone that may be able to give her the help she needed. It wasn’t just a gentle word she needed, or else she’d just seek out Oliver. Nor a distraction from her doubt. She needed answers. And any answer would do.

As she approached the telltale pit, she paused, looking around. ”Ah, is this where the bone reader lives,” she honked softly, but loud enough to carry.

@Giggle

The ragged hyena lifted her head, turning it, her large, round ears rotating. So, she was on her ledge, her bones below--just out of sight--and someone was talking about her, to themselves.

Giggle was not one to pass up an opportunity for a theatrical entrance. Belief was important, and appearing, as she sometimes called it to Omen (in her many moments chattering away to the oblivious bird), "mystical and shit" definitely had its uses. Others were more likely to listen to what she had to say when they thought she was some sort of genuine conduit to the universe. So maybe she was, at least in her own mind, but it helped to add a little flair.

She debated clearing her voice, first--she was a little hoarse--but decided that might ruin the effect. Instead she rose up over the ledge, as ominously as she dared, to peer down.

"This is where the Bone Reader lives," she agreed, and let out a short, harsh cackle. Somehow, it had been a good idea not to clear her throat; her voice was definitely hoarse but it almost came out like a second, twinned voice. Omen, picking up on her emotions, let out a haunting, screaming call on the tail end of it.

Giggle tried not to laugh.

Perfect, she encouraged the bird; let's do that from now on. Very good! Giggle paused just long enough atop her ledge to look like some sort of batshit-mad medicine woman, which--in fairness--was fairly accurate; and then she turned, vanishing out of sight briefly before reappearing on the trail that led down. The bird was white--long-necked, graceful. Pretty, by anyone's standards, really.

"I am here to act as conduit between the living and the unknown beyond. My name," and for a split second the hyena was a little disappointed in how anti-climactic and un-mystical her name sounded--it really was a letdown, after all of that--"is Giggle. Have you come to consult the bones?"

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@Nameless

The goose flinched when a hoarse, crackling voice called from above. Her head snapped up with surprise as she laid her eyes on the ragged hyena above her. She had no idea that anyone was even nearby and she took a step back as the bone reader peered down from her ledge. She watched as she disappeared and reappeared in front of her, fairly spooked by her entrance.

Her theatrics really worked on the goose.

She wondered, for a moment, based on the appearance of this Giggle, if she was really right to come to her. She looked fairly insane and her claims to be a conduit between the living and the unknown were a little wild. No, pretty wild. Although, to be fair, if Gembounds could read minds, see the past, and keep fire contained in a circle, she was sure that there were stranger things that were possible as well. She cleared her throat and set her mind back on track. ”It’s good to meet you, Giggle. You are correct - I have a lot of questions that need answers, uh…”

She hesitated. ”I’m...sorry if it’s a bother, I’m sure you’re busy. Do I just...ask? Or do you need context?” It was blatantly obvious how nervous she’d suddenly become in the presence of this creature. She seemed wise, something greater than her, far more knowledgeable, and that had her feeling like she was out of her league asking her for help.

@Giggle

"Good to meet you too," the hyena answered, habitually and without much emotion to it. It was a blank, polite response, given gruffly, and only after she'd said it did Giggle realize the bird hadn't given a name.

Oh, well.

She padded idly around the goose, giving her a wide enough berth so that she wouldn't feel stalked, or anything--a few feet of personal space--and moved up to the bone pit's edge.

"You aren't bothering me. This power's given to me in exchange for my sharing it freely, no matter who asks--it's why I'm here," she added, and then nodded the bones, as if to indicate that she meant literally here and not generally "alive."

"Ask what you like. And I'll tell you then what more I might need to know, or if I have answers for you."

She lowered herself with a soft, abrupt thump to her haunches, and turned dark, intent eyes on Nameless, waiting.

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@Nameless

The goose sighed. That was a relief, that she wasn't disturbing the hyena by intruding so suddenly and asking questions. It was generous of her to be offering such power so freely. Although she supposed that everyone she'd met so far had been like this - the only exchange they needed for their skills was kindness. Nothing more.

She took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to put her confusion and doubts into words. How she could ask the question she needed answered in a short, simple phrase. It came up quite suddenly, almost impulsively, and she blurted it out without thinking too hard. "Who am I?"

It was way too broad, at least that's what the goose thought. Maybe that was too general and she'd get too general of an answer in return so she quickly retracted her question. "Wait, I mean, who am I supposed to be? Like, what's my purpose for being here?"

@Giggle

Giggle stared, for a beat, nonplussed. Who am I? she thought, puzzled, but then the white bird was rephrasing her question.

"You want to know what your purpose in life is? -Guidance, is that what you're after?" the hyena asked, pushing back up off her haunches. She peered down into the bone pit, and then at the goose; then down at the bones, again. It wasn't quite clear what she was looking for, and the black one-eyed bird was now hopping down among them, picking through them here and there. "Yes, I can ask the bones that."

I wonder if you'd like the answer, she thought, idly. It wasn't that she already knew it--it was that the bones always spoke true. She knew nothing of the white bird, or what its purpose might or might not be; but she wondered, deep down, if she would accept whatever the bones told her.

"That is your question, then--yes?"

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@Nameless

The goose nodded, wordlessly. "I...yes. Yes, that's my question." It wasn't...quite was she wanted to ask, but internally she was scared of the answer to the first one. Who am I? It was a question that constantly knocked around in her head. If she was old, then why had she gone into her chrysalis? Why couldn't she remember anything? Had there been a reason or had she just slept for so long that she'd long forgotten who she was before?

And if there was a reason, then what was it? Why had she been put to sleep and cursed to forget her life before? What had caused this reaction?

Even the question Giggle would ask made her fear, but more because it might not be the answer she thought it was. She thought her purpose was giving good and that was it, because that was what she wanted to do. But what if there was something else? Something more?

@Giggle

Giggle waded into the bones, chest-deep, coming alongside Omen to nose around in them.

"Normally I would say that your purpose is what you make it. But I've known some who believed they live for a specific reason. And others who were destined to do certain things. Destined-... hrm. Not the right word, maybe. There's possible futures; I see some of them. But the bones--the bones can answer your question as it stands." She bent down, some, her jaws closing over a pale, delicate, thin bone that curved like a rib, but was connected to something that looked like a short, slim scapula. She wasn't sure what it was but it was white and fragile, as the goose seemed to her, and so it would be her bone--for this reading, anyway.

The hyena turned back, wading out of the bone pit with a quiet clatter and eyeing Nameless briefly, absently, as she passed her. Then she loped up to her ledge, and positioned herself overhead, staring down into her bone pit and focusing.

Tell me, then, bones; ancestors, and spirits--this goose wants to know her purpose. What is it? -Has she got one? And then the little bone went spinning, flashing in the cave-lights, clattering amongst the others.

Giggle looked to the goose, and then to the bones, watching the scatter, the fall. "The place it first struck," she began, with focus rather than theatricality, though her hoarse voice was neutral--"did not shift. It was nearly tangled. Something in your past is an obstacle to you, or carried with you, and it is not something that will go away. Whether that means your purpose comes from your past, I don't know. But the bone bounced far; you are travelling, or on another sort of journey." Giggle eyed the goose closely, thoughtfully--pointedly--before continuing. "Searching for something, maybe--maybe for your purpose; or aiming for a goal. It was a strong bounce--you are moving forward. And it landed in that light, in among the white bones. It is open, upturned; it is clear to see. It's... knowledge; light. It's a good, pure place." Giggle studied the bones, for a moment, contemplating.

"Your purpose might just be to improve yourself. Or it might mean you bring light to others, and are on a journey to make the caves a better--or maybe literally brighter--place. I have met Lightbringers before; the last time the bones told me one would bring the light, the cave was dark, and she turned them back on. But it may also mean you might be a beacon to others."

Giggle trotted back down, back toward the pit, eyeing the goose with half-curiosity. "What is it you do?" she asked; "Is there a goal that you chase now?"

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@Nameless

The goose's throat went dry at the reading. That was...almost haunting, how immediately these bones seemed to know her past or, at least, her lack of one. But if they were right, and she surely believed that they were, then her past was important. It was something she'd carry with her, maybe never remember, but the weight would never leave. She wasn't really sure how to feel about that.

The journey bit suddenly struck her, however. Searching? Well, yes, she was searching for her purpose, that much was obvious. But was there something else? It felt like an itch at the back of her head, begging her to pay attention pay attention! The weight on her chest felt heavier and she looked down at the round blue gemstone she carried around her neck. Searching for what?

Searching for you.

The sudden thought came unbidden and sudden and wouldn't leave her mind, even as Giggle continued. Who...who was she thinking about? Who was she searching for?

She looked up at Giggle to finish listening to the reading - her past was tangled with her, the weight of her lost memory would never leave. She was on a journey to find something (or someone) and she was always moving forward. And, finally...her purpose. To improve herself. And improve others as well, shine a light. Perhaps not a literal one, as she didn't think she carried any light-making spells, but if she could touch one more life, then she would be content.

She looked down at the gem again as Giggle trotted back down, swallowing nervously as her question. "I...I don't know. I wander. I try to be good, to help others. I do what I can because I don't...I don't know who I am." She looked up at the hyena, eyes moving over the fungus covering her fur. "Literally. I can't remember anything from before awakening. I'm not new - I know that much, but everything that happened before I woke up a few cycles ago...it's not there. Pieces of it are still there, like a skeleton, but nothing else." Appropriate analogy for the location.

@Giggle

Giggle gave a soft, appreciative snort at the skeleton comparison. The rest of it, though, had her eyeing the white bird with sharp curiosity.

"Is that why you didn't give me a name--? You haven't gone one?" She rocked back on her haunches, again, one dark hind paw flipping up to scratch at her shoulder. Bits of spore drifted down, catching the cave-light in brief gleams.

Omen had moved clear of the bone pit well before the reading and now hopped to and fro around Giggle, as the hyena thought about this. She picked at a piece of something that fell from her fur, and then moved around behind her. Giggle seemed to ignore her, for the most part. "I've the ability to see into the past, by touching," she offered, "and to cast my mind out into the future, too, without the bones. That's far more... esoteric. The bones are clear. The loose magic in the future is usually more vivid, and less... it doesn't make as much sense. But your past, that I can find for you. I could even show you, if you like," the hyena added. "I can put my thoughts into your mind--not to make you think they're yours, but to see, to feel. If I see your past I could give it to you, I think, as memory."

It was an interesting concept, really, and Giggle found herself interested. This wasn't something she'd ever encountered before--full memory loss--and the idea that she could potentially truly help recover the goose's past was fascinating and appealing both. How well could it go? How real would it be to the bird? And what was her past like?

Studying her, Giggle didn't imagine it had been all that interesting--but there was only one way to find out.

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@Nameless