he smiled brightly at all the happy voices and faces around me, wiggling his body happily and making small noises of contentment, waddling over to giggle, offering her his bone, smiling brightly. "mom take bone!"

@Giggle (sorry for short jsjsjd

Giggle let out a throaty laugh at the "mom" thing, and shook her head. "Well, I wasn't planning to be Mom, but if you like," she told Ozzie, warmly and with good nature. She carefully picked the bone up in her jaws a moment later, then started at a trot up to her ledge. She considered putting it down to warn them to stay behind, in case the kid just followed her automatically, then realized it didn't really matter; she was used to making the readings with the subject of them staying below but it wasn't a rule or anything. With a mental shrug she made the top, looking down at the bones and anyone who remained beside them.

And then, she concentrated, mentally asking them her question. Okay, bones, she thought at the pit below, and these thoughts, too, were warm--like greeting an old friend; can you tell me what Ozzie here--what the future holds for Ozzie, this bird? This was a mental question, rephrased halfway through with a friendly glance the bird's way--as if to, via her own mind, show the bones who she was asking about.

Then she looked to the pit below, and spoke. "We gather here for the first bone reading of Ozzie--newest of the Bonebound!" she crowed, with all the theatricality she could manage; "Tell us, bones: what does the future hold for him-?"

She picked the bone up again, and then lobbed it lightly down, so that it would land in the pit below with a clatter.

The scattering, and the way they fell, was... not good. Oh, the reading started out good enough, as she studied it: a bone landing amongst others, signifying togetherness, family. A solid start! -...But then...

...It rolled. And it rolled down. Away, not leaving the others, necessarily, but falling poorly, tumbling clumsily. It landed badly, jutting up and upside-down, and Giggle suppressed a grimace. This--the first reading--was meant to be a positive occasion, and while she'd never lie about the bones, she had to give it a positive twist to avoid ruining the atmosphere. A... constructive aspect. Advice, perhaps. And this moment was about family: about the newest member, about togetherness... she'd focus, she decided, on that.

With a breath, she began to speak. "The bones speak of a strong start! Family, and home. Ozzie is one of us! ...I see confusion, a dangerous journey ahead. One with misunderstanding, or a path poorly-chosen: we as the Bonebound must watch for this, and guide him close, so he doesn't fall too far. Or else its end, I see: a loss, against another, or others. A bad decision; a sacrifice that leads to nothing! We must protect him, as one of our own," she finished, her voice strong, her tone firm. This kid would need guarding.

Shit.

Another brief moment of studying the bones, her eyes slightly narrowed. Yes--some of the family-bones, the ones it had initially landed amongst, had gone with it; not down but alongside, likely preventing a worse tumble. Hmm.

"If we're vigilant, we'll give him that gift: safety, family, forever!" she added, a crow of a sentence, to emphasize that unity-in-numbers thing. She hoped it had been... dramatic enough, positive enough, though the bones' warning was a grim one indeed.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Kerberos

Aure couldn't help but laugh, too. If Ozzie was going to claim Giggle to be his mother, well... that meant that they were now adoptive brothers. Looking between them, it'd be pretty hard to find evidence that they weren't from the same cut of gem or bit of magic. He settled down next to the fuzzy little guy, preening at the wet down. The Bone King found that he was actually just slicked over with Kerberos's saliva, and very subtly left that to dry.

Giggle trudged up the ledge, and Aure - as was tradition - stayed down below. If the newborn followed her, ah, well. It was never... a specific thing, for the Seer to be alone in her readings. He, himself, had stood up there and watched the bones fall and clatter into place. The initial noise rang out, and Aure took a brief, distracted moment to reach with his magic. Nothing came of it. Oh, well.

There was a moment's hesitation that he read as consideration, or interpretation, rather than how best to sugarcoat this strange omen.

Aure perked up as she began to speak, ears swiveling forward and eyes widened at full attention. Strong starts, a good beginning; but... something happening, something to safeguard against. The Bonebound would have protected the little one regardless of omens, yet this one almost required it. He blinked slowly. Strength in numbers, indeed, but - his mind was running through the calculations - "we'd have watched over him, no matter what." The Bone King stood and moved to wherever Ozzie ended up, "do you think... that Damask might take him in? He could be the - the... um, yes, apprentice, that we talked about."

Ding! went the lightbulb in his head. He looked down at the hatchling, "have you eaten yet, Ozzie?" Hopefully someone'd fed the kid, but just to be sure...

whaddup, it totally hasn't been an entire month - sorry fam. i'm sure we can wrap this up pretty quick?
@Ozzie b/c I know that shaf's focusing on chars and narrowing them down :')

he wiggled as the people around him talked loudly at the bone falling down. was this exciting? they sounded happy! some of that sounded bad but it was mostly triumphant! so he made a happy little noise in agreement, "bone! family! bone family!"

he turned to aure, wiggling. "eat?"

@Kerberos

Kerberos's listened eagerly to the bone reading. It was one that was muddled, mixed and confused at the start. But Kerberos had known his own start was difficult, and listening to his mother's encouraging words, he didn't hold a single thought that things could-- or would-- go wrong. They would work it out together, because they were family.

"I'll protect him," Kerberos woofed, reaching down a nose to nudge at Ozzie's soft, baby-fluff down. But Aure had another recommendation... Damask? Ears pricked, considering it for a beat. "Oh!! That'd be good!" He barked a second later, after he registered who that was-- Aure's kid, right? They would be best friends, for sure.

(Kerberos might not have understood entirely what arrangement they were talking about.)

But more important than all of that was food. Ozzie began to chirp about eating, and he was more than eager. "Yes! Eat! I'll go catch something..." And like that, Kerberos was turning tail to tromp off and go hunting. They couldn't have a hungry baby, after all!


@Giggle exit unless stopped; he's definitely forgotten about the question he was supposed to ask oops but if giggs remembers............. she can stop him :smirk:

Giggle eyed the bird, considering. "You can try," she agreed, still warmly easy-going. "I don't know if there's any one right or wrong kid. I think anyone would do, for-... all the reasons we went over."

Kerberos was off to hunt, then--and Ozzie more than enthusiastic about a meal. "I can babysit if you like. Or you can take him to Damask. Meanwhile--oh, Kerberos!" she called after the guardian hound. Had it been mere conversation, perhaps she'd have forgotten--but his mention of bones was a brief reminder, even if she had no idea of how serious his question would be. "Once you're back, remind me and we can ask the bones, or talk, about whatever it was you wanted to ask?" she offered.

Her mind was on the kid, though, and her tone wasn't urgent--she was in no rush for speech or meals. She was settling, in fact, content here, whether they wanted her to watch Ozzie or if Aure would take him, or what have you.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Aure (and @Kerberos for visibility, I'm happy to continue in this thread, or in another, if Kerb does hear her & remember)

"Eat?"

That was as good an answer as any, and good ol' Kerberos had already picked up the cue. Aure gave him an acknowledging nod, and stepped over to nudge in farewell. They were brothers, after all. Just... perhaps from another mother. And, of course, from beneath an entirely different King.

Let's not think about that too much.

The young King looked to his mother then, and hummed softly to himself. "Babysitting works for now, while he gets all... y'know, settled in," Aure paused to laugh softly, also slowly settling down to his stomach, "one thing at a time, yeah... ?" They'd fiddled with the bones for long enough—now was the time to wait for food and get used to the idea of being around family.

So, he craned his neck slightly and nudged the little fuzzball with the curve of his beak, "how're you feeling about being here, Ozzie?" What'd a newborn have to say to that? If he even had the awareness to respond... ?

... let's pretend it hasn't been another entire month now. it might be for the best that we find a way to wrap this up, since it's so old??? :']
@Ozzie