Nemo

You know how parrots lift their heads back and up, and fluff up all their feathers and look both offended and intrigued? Yeah, that's what Nemo does, beak opening a little bit in shock at the sudden bloom of gross across Giggle's pelt, before leaning forward and twisting his head in curiosity. The raptor has to take a second to restrain himself from poking the goop, since... well, it had been described as sticky, and he focuses his tilted gaze on the hyenah's face as she describes the other uses of fungi.

"Huh... So, how do you tell the difference between the ones that taste good, and the ones that only smell good...? Experience?" He draws himself up, then, shuffling his wings as he looks thoughtfully down at the sudden slap of a dislodged fungus. "I mean, that's how I learned about some of the things I can eat. Uh. Speaking of food, though, I was going to take a look around. I don't think that is going to lend itself to stealth," he chuckles, gesturing with one wing at her pelt before opening both to take to the air.


"Be right back." He takes one flap, like a jump but just boosted, and he rotates with a practiced twist of his tail and one wing to scan nearby, before landing with a muffled whumpf where he had started. "I spotted a lizard when I was up there? One of the ones like-" he mines the frill around his head with his wings, and wiggled his primary feathers for emphasis. "It's small-ish, though. Do you want to go for it, or should I?"


@Giggle

Giggle snorted, amused.

"Yeah, trial and error. Often more error than trial, but I haven't gotten too unlucky. Never got sent back to my stone from it, at least." She was amiable enough as she padded forward, bits of black goop sloughing off and dripping away as she went.

When Nemo took flight she halted, waited; and when he returned, she offered a gesture not unlike a shrug. "Whatever you want. You know where it is; why don't you grab it? If you were hungry, you can have it. There's plenty of prey."

She sounded in no hurry, really.

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

@Nemo

Nemo

Nemo nods along- a bit bummed about the whole trial and error thing, but it can be the best way to learn... if only there were some way to make an external note of stuff... But he nods even more vigorously at the comment about not having been chrysalized. "Yeah, lucky that hasn't happened- though I think I've gotten close a few times. Not with food, just with my magic."

At the comment about him knowing where it is and him getting it, he agrees- lets hope he can get this! Thinking back to his attempts to fish, with that low humming he can make that seems to render other's disoriented, he decides to try to apply it here. His magic sputters, flickers in and out a bit- but eventually he is able to produce a low and nauseating whine as he closes in on the lizard, striking out with his feet after a hop, flap, and drop above it.

"I... got it!" he seems shocked that it worked, and he turns his head to look at Giggle, if she's within sight. "Whew, I was worried that wouldn't work."

@Giggle

Her rounded ears flicked back, then forward--listening to the strange vibration sound. It was familiar; there'd been more than one with similar magic in the Bonebound, and oddly enough, all of them had been birds.

"Was that magic?" she asked, as Nemo returned. "The buzzing? I'd swear we--Bonebound, I mean--had some birds who could do that. It's not mushroom-magic, though, right?" Dark eyes scrutinized Nemo thoughtfully. "Are you sure this is the magic you want to be looking at? Not to discourage you, but maybe if your skills are in noise and air, you could look at that instead. But you could do both, I suppose. I'm happy to teach you what I know, mind. I mean, we can go over specifics, practice a little, but--what was the magic you were born with?"

She didn't want to discourage him, as she'd said; but it hadn't really occurred to her that his powers might lie down other paths. She'd known, logically, but it hadn't really sunk in until just now.

"Do you have a teacher for that, too?" she decided to clarify--both, then; not one or the other, but both. "Nice catch, by the way," she added, in approval, with a nod down to the prey.

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

@Nemo

Nemo

"O-oh. Yeah, that's magic. I use wind magic, mostly, but I can... kind of make rain? It's never quite worked out for me, as my magic tends to.. not co-operate in the first place." he sighs and shifts his weight off the now dead lizard, lifting it with his beak and making his way closer to Giggle and deposits the... well, morsel. Between the two of us, we'll need more.

He takes a dep breath, and nudges the bird with a knuckled talon, and looks the hyena in the eye. "I know it's possible to learn magic outside my normal talents, and I'd like to try. Since it's all difficult for me, I guess my view is really wondering how much worse it can be learning something new?" Nemo is half joking, his voice a lot more positive than the words themselves relay, but he does perk up at the comment on his catch.

"Thanks! I had to learn to hunt from the ground in Monoceros, so I just... use some of my old tricks sometimes. I don't have any teachers at all, I just keep practicing and messing with my magic until I can get something right... although I really don't think that'll work with me learning about mushrooms. All that concentrating might cause me to pull something... but uh," speaking of pulling, he bands down, and hooks his beak into one of the leg joints of the lizard. He seems to be attempting to pull a leg off, and he easily does so, just.. swallowing the thing whole, bones, scales, and skin all. Here. You can take the rest? I hunt better on an empty stomach."

@Giggle

Giggle stood still and quiet--listening, all four strong limbs straight to the ground. Her rounded ears were mostly pressed toward Canis, but flicked now and then toward Nemo as he spoke: and likewise that's where her attention was. Magic wisped out, invisible to the naked eye, as she took in the bird's words.

She was looking for something to eat, something a little more... substantial. Something they could share and get a little more out of, too.

"Well, that's how we all learned," she said, sparing him a dark-eyed glance, but it wasn't a correction. It almost sounded like reassurance, and she elaborated as she looked back out into the bones. "Way back, we had no teachers. 'Practicing and messing with magic' is how we all learned; and it definitely does work with mushrooms." She sounded amused, casting another glance toward the lammergeier. She then took a few steps further into the stones, as he divided up the lizard. "I know I said it before, but listen, because I've got a point: it's not all discovered, yet. We're still figuring it out as we go along. Don't fall into the trap of thinking older Gembounds've got some kinda magic list where everything is perfectly-practiced and totally known. Anything's still possible--you could invent a whole new magic by tomorrow. Don't ever let anyone tell you something can't be done."

Omen was out ahead, flicking, soaring, and Giggle sent her mind briefly with her. She knew there was a colony of rats over... that sort of way; maybe they'd get lucky and her familiar would spot one away from the den.

There one was: a little Gray, bonier than most. Without thinking she sent her magic toward it, attempting to impress upon it a horrible image of some vague, dark, massive predator bearing down on it from behind, all fang and claw--to drive it toward them. It was growling, in this image, and behind it were horrible screams-

Oh, SHIT, she realized, just before it happened. The Grays weren't stupid. Mimicry was their defense. Almost at once the distant rat echoed back the roaring it had heard in its mind, and then the screaming, and then the rest of the colony had picked it up--probably trying to frighten off this unseen predator.

Giggle flinched back as distant Canis erupted in bass, rumbling bellows and shrill, agonized screams, one sound layered over another as the whole colony echoed it forth. Omen wheeled back, screeching, and the last Giggle saw, the undersized Gray was bolting into the colony's den.

"FUCK," she spat, and then, glancing dryly at Nemo with half-pinned ears, "That was my fault. ...I was trying to get--never mind. It's not actually anything dangerous... just the gray rats. Let's eat, and thanks--I'll try to get us something else too, if I can, soon. YOu didn't need to give me all of this!"

Just... not yet. She'd messed that one up pretty badly. Still... maybe it was a trick she could remember. She filed it away; using the Grays to make noise was certainly something possible.

The hyena snapped up the lion's share of lizard, crunching it down, trying to ignore the horrific cacophony still going on behind her.

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

@Nemo

Nemo

Way back... how old is she, exactly...? Crosses his mind idly, and he is attentive to everything she says to him- tilting his head to follow her gaze while he spoke, and nodding in acknowledgement of her replies, wary to make noise and disrupt her hunting.

Not that he knew how she was hunting, but she might be using magic like he had, just... some other way.

The comment about him coming up with something new, though, gets a snort- one of amused disbelief. "Oh boy, it'd be something bad if I found it. Something for throwing people or re-creating that twister in Monoceros. Nothing I want, no thanks..." He chuckles, and shakes his head, about to continue before-

The screaming began, making all his feathers stand on end, his head shrink between his shoulders, and wings flap open and down in shock as he flaps away from the unholy choir all at once. He whips his head around to look at Giggle, eyes wide in alarm, but he relaxes instantly as he realizes she isn't scared. "Ah... ahwow, okay... wow... didn't know those rats could scream like that!" he starts to laugh, and slowly calm down, shaking his head and eyeing the lizard as Giggle eats the rest of it whole, the small gem clattering to the stone quickly pinned under a practiced foot. Neat... But...

"I didn't know other people ate bones, too. Usually I'm the cleanup crew, so I'm used to eating second. But I don't crack them like that unless I drop the bones or break 'em under a stone."

Nemo is still letting his laughter peter out, looking over her shoulder to seek out the source of the screaming, and he has a sudden idea.

"Wait, wait, I'll be right back- keep an eye on this," he lifts his foot to reveal the gem that had fallen from the Lesser, and noses it towards her, before he opens his wings and takes flight. "I have an idea!" he announces, before headed towards the louder areas of Canis- and attempting to track the colony of rats by their own attempts at defense.

If the rats mimic noise, and I make a nauseating noise, if they copy the noise they should be easy to pick off! Simple! Right?

Right?

@Giggle

The colony was still in their den, beneath a tumble of Canis rocks. They were well-hidden, and their compatriot had gotten to safety.

But they were easy enough to track by their screaming, roaring sound.

Had they not already been riled up, perhaps the vibration would have momentarily confused them. As it was, however, the darkness beneath the boulders slowly went silent...

...and then began echoing back Nemo's strange, vibrating noise.

It sounded as though the entire rocky nest was a hive of giant bees.

At least they weren't screaming anymore.

@Nemo

Giggle's ears pinned back, then forward, as she listened to the sounds. A huff and a quiet cackle escaped her, her tongue lashing out to lick the last of the blood from her muzzle.

Dark eyes cut toward Nemo, full of humor.

"Nice trick. That stopped them. Sort of," she said. ...Then, mischief lit her eyes. "Actually, that gives me an idea. Bones forgive my jerk-ishness," she added, but there was dark humor in it.

She stepped forward, and briefly debated what to say--what to permanently throw the Echoing Grays' way so that they might randomly shout it through Canis in the future. She didn't really have any enemies to mock; and she wasn't the sort to cry for help to fuck with her own friends.

I doubt they even know what they're mimicking, she reasoned, as she thought this over.

"I could get them to send people to me for readings, but--I have a better idea. Here... The hyena cleared her voice, then raised it.

"WE'RE JUST IDIOT RATS. THIS IS MIMICRY. DON'T FALL FOR IT," she cried, with faked anguish in her tone. "...They usually try to draw prey in with alarm cries so..." She glanced to Nemo, feeling a little foolish; "...maybe they'll pick up on that."

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

@Nemo

Nemo

The sudden silence feels like a physical weight- and then the buzzing began.

Nemo lands, head pulled high in confusion, and he blinks at the sudden... buzzing. Buzzing like he'd made, but obviously not doing what he thought it would, since the buzz is continuous... and he starts to laugh. First a single bark, and then he devolved into straight up cackling at the whole situation, shoulders high as he shakes his head in disbelief, barely able to calm down while he rubs at his face, turning to look at Giggle as she says that she has an idea.

Then, her shout of faux-distress sends him into laughter again, and this round takes him a bit longer to get his mirth under control, and he takes a deep breath, before asking - "You know, people who would listen to screaming rats to go find someone about the future, might just need some straight up common sense..." He chuckles a little bit more, and tilts his head at the humming nest, remembering what Giggle had said about alarm cries.

And, well.

Never let anyone tell you he's mature.

"Lemme, lemme try something again..."The lammergeier shakes himself out, as if revving up for combat, before he takes a deep breath and shouts, voice high in mock-distress.

"AH, NO! I GOT STUCK COPYING SOMEONE!" and he throws out his wings in a wide, dramatic gesture, bauble dancing merrily as he makes a right show of having fun with this.

Nemo's tone could be described as mockery of a Victorian woman in very vague distress over her dress, if anyone in the cave knew what it was.

@Giggle