Giggle and he had travelled extremely far through the caves, taking a shortcut through Tunnel M to reach Pisces faster... or as fast as they could. It still was a long flight, and an even longer walk for the hyena. There was many a break, a many rests. The two had pushed the limits, and Azazel had even attempted to use his magicka to speed up the trip. It had lifted and carried Giggle a short ways, but it quickly diminished. Much to the soothsayer's chagrin. Azazel had been too busy laughing his butt off and helping her up.

He wondered what the Bonecaster thought of the rest of the caves. Did she like Orion? Azazel always enjoyed just visiting that room and gazing at the millions of shimmering quartz crystals... like stars.

They had picked there way over sheets of ice, but they were finally here, arriving near what he knew was called the Ridges. Breathing deeply, he could smell the scent of musk and water. It was common in these caves... but it was definitely most prominent in Pisces. Azazel didn't bother with flight in this room, so he hopped amongst rocks and clambered over slippery slopes. "This is Pisces, Giggle. The room of waterfalls and home of Maji Walezi." Smiling, he looked back and slipped when he lost his center of gravity. Tumbling downwards did Azazel right into a puddle that had formed in the room. "Watch your step. It's slippery. Obviously," he grumbled, "I did not." Pushing himself up and ruffling his feathers to get the water out, he looked up and clambered onto a rock, looking for someone that was familiar. Then he stupidly waved his wings if anyone was looking.

Surely he'd get someone's attention.

@Giggle

The gore-and-fungus-matted hyena was still grumbling, irritated by Aza'zel's gust of wind, and didn't move perhaps quite as fast as she could have when he tumbled into the puddle.

"Well at least you're warning me this time," she growled, stalking past him to get a look at the room.

Her thoughts ran back to tunnel K. The voices had remained with her, the patterns that she could see beyond what was visible to the eye. She thought perhaps that she was more like the blind bat, Tal'at, than she had realized--the bones weren't what was teaching her. They were merely the instrument used to write out the truth.

And the speaker was all around. The fungus, ubiquitous. It had whispered disturbing facts about the truth behind the unnatural chill she'd felt in the single tunnel leading from Canis. Truths about a magical barrier. A last hope. Based on the vague whispers, Giggle imagined a clump of survivors, a hoard, a desperate attempt to live, apart. She just wasn't sure if the enemy had been locked inside Canis--or without.

And that led her to wonder about the other caves that they had passed through. If Canis had been some sort of last-ditch ark-turned-graveyard, the survivors of some previous era slowly wasting away in their safe haven, which had become, in truth, a prison, then what was the rest?

Aza'zel wondered what she made of the caves, but though she had taken in the throne of Orion and its star-studded quartz ceiling, what she'd truly looked at was beyond. She'd seen resilience, a spiritual seat, a place bright with growth--though whether that growth had been crops, or wisdom, she could not say. Only that once, the place had been filled with optimism, or so she thought.

Now, this.

Physically, her dark eyes flicked over a waterfall, over ponds and rolling, mossy hillocks. But her mind saw something else, and it wasn't nearly as clear-cut as the chilled tunnel had been. In Pisces, the soothsayer saw a thing that had not become what it had been meant for--a place of cycles and growth, ebbing and flowing but remaining, in essence, the same.

What this meant, in practical terms, she wasn't sure.

Giggle knew that, should she seek long enough, should she gather enough of the pieces, then the overall puzzle's picture might become clear and reveal many truths of the caves. For now, though, she carefully catalogued her observations and set them aside, focusing her attention (with a sharp inhale and a straightening of her posture) on the task at hand.

She'd been about to ask Aza'zel exactly who lived here when she realized that he was waving his wing at the empty cave. For a moment she stared, and then in a wry, deliberately saccharine voice, spoke as she stalked past him.

"Oh, please, Your Majesty... allow me," she crooned.

Before Aza'zel could protest, the hyena inhaled deeply, and let out a ringing, eerie hyena's cackle that rang and echoed throughout Pisces.

"AHAHAHAAHAHEHEHAHAhahaha--AHAHAhahaha hahahaha!"

Satisfied, she glanced smugly back to the Bone King. Granted, he could emit magical screeches that could shatter eardrums--and maybe that was the point of her cackle. Just a little payback.

"Hopefully, someone will have heard," she said primly.

________________

Roll the bones.

@Makyna , @Bevy (all MW welcome)

MAKYNA
"let's sing a song for the heart"

The lioness, happy that she was to be engaged pranced about her den with a large fern leaf grasped in her mouth. What was the fern leaf for? Why dusting of course! She couldn't abide a dirty den so she brushed the leaf all over her many items. While she did this she hummed a jaunty little tune and deftly picked up misplaced flowers with her paws and placed them at different locations to accent the look of her den and maximize the fragrance. Ah! It was so lovely and so perfect! Everything was just--

"AHAHAHAAHAHEHEHAHAhahaha--AHAHAhahaha hahahaha!"

Terrible! The fern came falling out of her mouth as she let out a sharp gasp, eyes bugling comically from her head as the fur along her spine spiked up. A... A... HYENA! Oh, All Mother, why did it have to be a hyena here? Ugh, they were so unclean and filthy and terrible and blegh! Was it coming into her den? Or... Or something else? She scooted her fern leaf into her large nest and peered around worriedly at her den. If it was coming up here then it would track its carrion-stained paws all over her freshened living space! Well, she would just have to make sure that it didn't come up here.

Quickly she grasped one of her blue flowers and tucked it into the fur at the front of her right ear then she poked her head out of the den and looked down to see Aza'zel and... Giggle. Ugh, it was Aza's prophet or bone-chewer or whatever she was. She heaved an inward sigh. For this hyena --and any that she met to be truthful-- she'd have to put on a facade of kindness. After all, Giggle had never really wronged her but for some reason she could just not abide hyenas! They just freaked her out and put a snarl upon her face even though she didn't want it! So weird.

Well, time to go down there.

The lioness carefully picked her way down the ridges and then stood before the Bone King and his Prophet. She dipped her head down respectfully, tail sweeping around her paws neatly. Her fur was fluffed and groomed and with the flower she felt quite sure of herself. "Hello, it's good to see you Aza'zel!" She raised her head and glanced at the hyena, giving her a curt nod. "And Giggle." Her blue eyes turned back to Aza'zel with a smile. "What brings you here? Are you just visiting? Or perhaps..." A glance at Giggle and her less-than-clean-carrion-stinking-fur. "To take a bath in the pools? You know they're the best around!" Another grin at her friend and... hyena-tolerance.

______________________________________

"This is how I talk!"
"This is how I sing!"
This is how I think!

447
Aza'zel, Giggle, @Bevy
ooc:
muse:

Well, he barely had time to protest before Giggle gave Azazel a little bit of payback. His wings snapped back up to his head, but they were too late. The sound pierced his eardrums, and he squeaked. "Well, that's karma for me." Furrowing his brows and frowning playfully, he ruffled his feathers again, preening a few as the duo waited for someone to arrive. And that someone was someone who was at least familiar to Azazel. "Hello, Makyna." He bowed his own head, completely oblivious to the toxicity between the hyena and lioness. "We came here for, uh..." How to put it so that she didn't think that The Bonebound had just waged war on a group. Finally, he tapped a talon on the rock and perked up.

"There's a group called The Merrymen, and they have waged war on us. We don't know why, but we came to see if maybe someone in Maji Walezi could aid us... with knowledge, advice, or training." He was going to add that the bones had pointed the two here, but The Bone King didn't bother. Adverting his gaze to Giggle, he would await her input.

@Giggle

Giggle listened politely and quietly as the two spoke, her eyes locked on the lioness. She remembered her. She'd given the stinking cat a reading, wisdom from the bones--not a gift from her, though, but the fungus itself, so she could hardly claim to hold something over Makyna's head. Still, the cat had been somewhat rude back, her jabs pointed but subtle.

The hyena made a show, after Makyna's offer, of looking down and peering over her coat. She then looked back up, blinking dark eyes.

We're here because we need their help. I probably shouldn't do it. ...I can't resist.

"How kind of you to offer your water for someone so filthy, Songcat! You know, I have shit in my fur, and three-week old blood, and fresh blood. Some intestines from a mouse, three different fungal species growing on my coat," Giggle said, letting out a soft laugh and standing and moving sidelong up toward Makyna--perhaps just a smidge too close--to peer toward the pools. "So you have no idea how much a bath would be absolutely lovely, thank you. I think I will."

She took a few steps toward the water, glancing back briefly. "Bone King, I won't be long. Could you ask her about their leader, or Baratheon? See if they know what we don't? I for one would be willing to pay any way I can for such knowledge. There's every chance those insane creatures will try to wipe out our young ones--and we still don't know why," she added smoothly, before beginning to saunter toward Pisces' crystal clear pools.

________________

Roll the bones.

@Makyna

MAKYNA
"let's sing a song for the heart"

While Aza'zel was distracted with bowing and trying to figure out why they came Ky pointedly stared at the hyena. Her eyes narrowing somewhat into a glare but only somewhat for as soon as Aza'zel looked back up she was all smiles and sunshine. The Merrymen? She wasn't sure if she'd ever heard of them. Her head tilted to the side as she tried to ponder on this... She didn't know a thing about them but she could see about them. Look into the future or past to see why they were so angry. "I'm afraid I don't but there are ways that I can--" The hyena. She was speaking. Ky fought the urge to hiss at the creature and instead turned an indulgent grin on her instead.

Those words... Was all that really in her fur? Ugh! Disgusting! How could you let your fur get so filthy! It was a disgrace and-- What was she doing? Before she could even react the hyena had moved up and stood next to her, close. Far too close. Ky tensed and again fought the urge to hiss at the hyena female. Her eyes narrowed just a smidgen. Oh no... Was she really going to do that? "No! I mean... yes... The pools. They're open to all... who would... wish to use them! Completely, utterly... That is to say happy! That you wish to utilize them. Please... Go on..." Her words were strained and tight while the on her face smile, one that looked far too wide and happy to be real. Oh, Mother, why had she told this filthy beast she could bathe in the pools? Now they would have gunk and fungus and carrion and who knew what swimming around in the water! They would be cleaning out the water for weeks if they didn't die first! Ugh...

One eye twitched as she watched the hyena and her fur was spiked out to the extreme, claws unsheathed and grasping the ground as she stared. Perhaps she had blown her cover but who knew? After a few blinks she snapped herself back into the present and turned her head forcefully back to Aza'zel, her nose wrinkled every so slightly in disgust. She hadn't even heard Giggle's latter words, she was so angry and disgruntled that that filth was in Maji Walezi's water... her water. Filthy, stinking, stupid hyenas!

What had she even been talking about before? Her head shook and she tried to ignore Giggle. "Yes... Um... There are things I can do. I can look into the future of Maji Walezi or Bonebound or both... Wait! War? Oh my! Do you need troops, or help? We can help train and Bevy and I can care for the injured!" Maternal mode was going in overdrive. Why would anyone want to wage war on anyone else? It was terrible! "If you would like more information on the Merrymen I have a power where I can look into the future and see the outcomes of the battle, I could also look into Merrymen's past and see what caused them to wage war. But for the looking into the past I would need an item of theirs, something that would have been in Monoceros with them." The lioness pressed, all business now. If there were lives in danger, even hyena's, she would be glad to give her all to help.

______________________________________

"This is how I talk!"
"This is how I sing!"
This is how I think!

565
Aza'zel, Giggle, @Bevy
---
7/10

Giggle snorted into loud and good-natured laughter for a moment, pacing back around to sit by Aza'zel's side--and slightly behind him.

"I'm just fucking with you, Songcat," she chortled hoarsely, and she seemed genuinely amused and relaxed, for once. "It's fungal cultivation, and I'm not going to ruin it with your water--or get it all in your drinking supply. We'll take any help you can give."

A thing that belonged to Merrymen, though? Did they have anything like that?

Giggle glanced to Aza'zel, awaiting his response.

________________

Roll the bones.

The bear was first alerted to the arrival of the Bonebound when a familiar hyena cackle rang out through the cave, causing all of his fur to stand on end. He'd been busy fishing - as he often was these days, confined either to the caves due to his responsibilities with the upcoming wedding, or the fresh injuries he had sustained while fighting the dragon. His wounds weren't bad enough to keep him cavebound for long - there were just a few spots on his back that had been badly burned, but Leon was a creature of fire - burns didn't keep him down for very long. Still, he'd been advised to stay in Pisces while he healed, and he had preparations anyways.

In any case, he was within range when the hyena cackle broke out; his gaze had instantly flickered up to where his and Makyna's den was carved into the wall. From afar, he could barely just see her form slip out of the entrance and move towards the sound. Leon dropped the task at hand and followed the noise as well. Makyna had beat him to it, as was made obvious when he arrived to see the lioness standing before said hyena and a large, red bird - Aza'zel. Curious, Leon quickened his pace, overhearing a strained exchange between Giggle and Makyna before Aza'zel had started explaining why they were here. A war - a war?! Now? His brows furrowed slightly as he reached Makyna's side, listening as she rattled off all the things she could do to help them.

"What are they thinking?" He grunted, cutting into the conversation. "There's no time for a war. There's a huge dragon in Polaris setting everything on fire, and - what did you even do?" The bear demanded, wanting to know the context of this apparent war before he'd agree to help. He liked Aza'zel, and if he had choose a group to give his alliance to it would be the Bonebound, but he really needed to know what was going on before that.

@Azazel

It seemed Azazel had finally noticed the relationship between the hyena and lioness, watching as Makyna strained to let Giggle advance towards the pools, until the soothsayer finally admitted she was kidding him... and Azazel wasn't oblivious anymore. Nope. He was laughing his tailfeathers off.

When he was done, he wiped a few tears from his eyes and gave a heaving sigh, looking at Makyna and listening quietly and respectfully. Gazing into the past to see why the war had been declared would have been an intelligent thing to do while he was still in Monoceros. But at the time, he was too focused on not getting caught red-handed and jeopardizing the mission... as well as Baratheon. He really did care about that dragon and his brother, Booker. "Well, I don't know if we need troops, but we could use medical aid... and someone to protect all of the young Gembound. The Merrymen took a gembound named Booker prisoner to keep a dragon, Baratheon, on their side. I don't have a doubt in my mind that they would jump at the first chance they got to try and hurt us by kidnapping the children." They were a rotten bunch, and he glared hatefully at the floor for just a moment, clicking his beak. He shook his head, "I went to Monoceros to spy... and I didn't think to take anything. I don't want to go back there. But you can see into the future?"

If Makyna had that ability... Azazel pondered... they could find out how to win this war. Perhaps even when they would strike. The Bone King nodded graciously. "Could you try to discover where the Merrymen will strike? How we can win the fight? Even gain an advantage?" He didn't mean to sound needy, but it could come off as such.

Another Gembound approached, and Azazel looked off to the side to see a great bear, Leon. And he bristled like fire. He nodded solemnly and simply said, "The Merrymen are merciless and cruel. They wouldn't care if the core was on fire. The Bonebound stay in Canis. We don't go around picking fights. We have not a clue why they wish to fight us... let alone declare war on us." Hopefully they could figure this out and not be left hanging with only scraps of clues to figure out what the hell was going on. He gazed at Giggle, wondering if she had anything else to say.

@Giggle

Giggle sat on her haunches, quietly listening to the others speak for a time. She nodded a greeting to Leon, eyeing over the bear and his shaggy coat, his scars, his jutting stone. When Aza'zel looked at her, she in turn looked back at the lion and the bear--and like Makyna, she was now all-business.

"I have never even left Canis, and I imagine most of the Bonebound aren't particularly prone to provoking others, so I couldn't tell you, either, why there's to be a war. Baratheon--do you know him? Kind-hearted, but loses his shit at the scent of blood, becomes a raging, violent maniac? We are trying to think of how to prevent something horrible, here, but we don't know why they want to attack us to begin with. It's hardly like they've expressed an interest in using our cave, or bones. And those bones, when I asked for an answer, told us to come to allies--allies of us, perhaps, and of water--to find an answer. If you are capable of Seeing, or if you know anything that we don't--anything at all--we would be grateful. But if you offer to help us in other ways, to offer medical aid or to shelter our young, they may target you too," she added, finishing her speech with a deep and throaty tone of warning. "Don't offer such aid without considering the danger it might put you in--and we won't accept it without acknowledging that you've done so," Giggle added, glancing solemnly to Aza'zel.

And it was true enough; a war target, if given outside aid, well. The Merrymen might target Pisces, then, as well. Cut off supplies, maybe ambush Maji Walezi solely to kill off Bonebound.

The hyena had an uncharacteristically sombre demeanor as she looked at the strangers. She had come here to ask for information, not direct aid--she had asked Aza'zel to do as much, at least, and accompanied him. But what if the aid they offered were what the bones had warned her against?

They'd spoken of a sacrifice, a deal, a negotiation, that would backfire, or end very badly. The last thing she wanted to do--smelly lion or no--was to put yet another group in danger. Yet maybe strength in numbers might deter the Merrymen from attacking to begin with; it was hard to say.

Even the best Seers, she knew, had their limits--and so now she looked to Makyna, hoping that another Seer, one Giggle's own bones had apparently directed her to, could See where, and what, Giggle herself could not.

________________

Roll the bones.

@Makyna