Deep in the shadowed outer edges of Canis, where the darkness pooled within shelters formed of bone and death, there was the sound of a soft crack.

This was not the birthing of a new Gembound--no, that had come some hours before, the young hyena tumbling blinking into the gentle dazzle of orblight.

It was, instead, the splintering of dry bone as the hapless creature, stomach rumbling and aching, sought sustenance.

Dry. They're all dry.

She stood, shuffling with a soft hyena's chortle of frustration, and pawed again at the wall. Bones. Bones, in the darkness. Some burnt black; some twisted. Charred. Some too big or too small to be of her kind. All of them dry--no food. She began to pry another from the wall with powerful jaws, her eyes deeply-shadowed mirrors in the strange bone hut.

She had spent days quietly listening from her chrysalis, the fire agate within sometimes glinting with the brighter flickers of the new orbs. She had heard voices, sometimes, and learned something of the meaning of words, but she had not felt until today that it was time to emerge. It had been hunger that drove her out.

And it was hunger that had her tearing bones from the wall, leaving crumbled pieces behind, crunching loudly into them in a fruitless search for marrow.

Finally, frustration overwhelming her, the hyena turned and strode back into the dim light outside the shelter. And she voiced that frustration, in the way that hyenas do. She let out a loud, sharp and chilling cackle that echoed down over the rock, through Canis, reaching even to the Circuit and the Chambers beyond.

"EE-EHA-HA-HAHAhahaha..."

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Roll the bones.

Ugh! That cursed laughing sound again! He'd been away for a while, but now... every time he tried to sleep, there was some twisted sound of laughter echoing around Canis. You know, at first he thought of it to be just one of Louie's hallucinations, but it was persistent. The Bone King had been checking his nest atop a pillar of stone in the chambers, making sure that all of his belongings were in place... Glowbone, Shimmer, and Sparkle. The glowing femur, sapphire, and ruby were all nested together under the guise of sticks and stones. Twisting his head to cover them up once again and hide them from sight, the bird whirled around, peering over the edge of his nest. A high-pitched laugh echoed around again, and Azazel screeched loudly, "KNOCK IT OFF!"

Well. That didn't end well. He'd put too much heart and soul into that screech, the sound barely leaving his nest, instead echoing in some sphere. It was a twisted and LOUD noise that filled Azazel's ear and gave him the most earsplitting yell ever. It pushed the limits of his eardrums, and The Bone King doubled over in the nest in pain. "SHIT! OUCH!" He screamed, even though he couldn't be heard beyond the sound barrier.

He was left with a constant ringing sound in his ears, but that laughing sound was gone! All of the other sounds were gone! That was good for now! Maybe he could get some rest... if he didn't have this splitting headache and feeling of weakness. Lazily stumbling to the edge of his nest, the bird dove down toward the source of the laughing sound... but he couldn't tell that he was literally about to run into it. It was a hyena speeding closer and closer to him in the bone fortresses. Sure as sunshine he was going to crash into it.

Rounded ears pricked up, her gait slowing, as distant shrieks caught her ear. They sounded quite loud, but oddly muffled, the voice shrill and angry. Knock it off, what did that mean? And shit? She was sure she'd heard that one before--

The hyena blinked, pulling herself to a stop as she spotted a dark silhouette rising like some sort of harbinger of death from the cave ahead. It seemed to hang in the air for a moment before spreading broad, dark wings and launching toward her, and her briefly surprise quickly gave way to a twitching instinct.

Bird.
Something about it sang along her nerves, something primeval. These--these vultures. They meant food, nearby. Unfortunately, this translated into a cheerful cry from the young hyena, directly translated without any thought as to how it might be misinterpeted:

"FOOD!"

Perhaps the vulture would be too deafened by his own magic to hear it. Either way, though, the hyena had already begun a puppy-like charge, bounding joyously toward the bird, expression hungry and hopeful. Too late she realized it was diving directly at her, and she was not an agile creature. As she flinched, dropping her hind end on the rock and twisting away, a heavy body slammed her with a surprisingly solid weight.

She went skidding along the stone with a pained grunt, then lay blinking and dazed for a long moment.

"Ouch."
She said this plaintively, then turned, shuffling into a half-buckled-over, breath-knocked-out-of-her sitting position. A quick glance around located the bearded vulture, though she had no idea if the creature was all right, or even if he'd recover. Concerned, she eyed him and let out another softly apologetic and questioning chortle of nervousness.

"...Ouch?"
And then, more hopefully, despite still swaying from the impact,

"Food?"

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Roll the bones.

The Bone King screamed loudly as he fell closer and closer to the ground, unaware of the fact that he couldn't hear how loud he was. "AIYEEEEEEE!" That was odd. Each time he opened his beak, it seemed no sound came out. Just the dull ringing noise that echoed in his ears constantly. Maybe it was from the air surging around him, causing his voice to be lost in the molecules of the air. Once he'd snapped out his wings and managed to not break his whole body, it was already too late. Feeling himself brush fur, he panicked and flapped his wings even more. His body collided against that of another, who'd been running right toward him, tongue lolling out at the excitement of food being an idea. The canine skidded off and away on the floor, while Azazel dropped like a stone. Sorely, he just laid there. Everything hurt. Why did he have to yell? He'd never yell again if it meant hurting himself like this!

Dazed rubies glanced up, taking in the sight of a now curious child. In the halflight, he could see her lips move, but no sound came out. He gave a small sigh and tipped his beak up. "I CANNOT HEAR. I THINK." He screamed, hoping he could hear himself talk... but he thought he had been just talking. Nah, he was yelling, "CAN YOU TALK LOUDER? I CAN'T HEAR YOU." The ave grunted and twisted to move to where his feet were. Once his belly was on the floor, he lazily pushed himself up, booted legs rising. Instantly, he felt like he was about to die, because of his bruised wings from a previous spar. "EH. JUST EH." Nope, he wouldn't ever say 'ouch' out loud to someone, especially a stranger he had just run into... literally.

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Giggle flinched now and again as the bird shouted--didn't he know he was shouting? ...No, he didn't. He was deaf, she realized--though of course she had no way of knowing it was only temporary. She shook her head a bit to clear it, still dazed, and grimaced slightly at the ache of her body where the heavy bird had slammed into her.

She wasn't injured, though... that was good. She blinked and eyed Aza'zel, raising a paw playfully and then--realizing her big clawed puppy paw might hurt him--placing it carefully back down. She leaned in to sniff the bird, way too close--possibly to lick him, too--but some small shift or other of Aza'zel sent her flinching and scurrying backward, uncertain if he'd just ruffled a feather or gone to bite her face. Or maybe she had imagined it.

Giggle looked around.

"Hungry. Food."
She looked back at the deaf, blank bird, and then pondered, frowning faintly... How could she show him?

Giggle turned, bounding the short distance back into the bone hut, where she grabbed the particularly fine femur she'd torn from the wall a little earlier. Clamping this firmly in her jaws, she sprinted back, galloping down toward Aza'zel again--and skidding to a halt, hind end dropping to the ground.

Unfortunately, she didn't yet have full control over this ungainly hyena-cub body of hers, and in a tangle of limbs went skidding toward Aza'zel, tumbling with the bone still clenched between her sharp little teeth.

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Roll the bones.

The pup simply stood up, a little sore but otherwise fine. But then there was Aza, who had just fallen from quite a height. He thanked all saving graces for letting him be able to slow himself down a little bit, but the air pressure and his velocity had been just too much on him. He groaned again, shifting onto his side and gazing off drunkenly toward a wall. The Bone King didn't notice that the hyena had run off to prove her point and explain it to the deafened ave that she was hungry and wanted food. "Ehhhhhh..." He chirruped quietly, trailing off to blink, as if it took a ton of effort.

He felt a few paws skitter over him, and he was wide awake as a puppy toppled over him in a squealing mess with a bone in her mouth. Azazel's sides screamed and he kicked out his legs and wings, hoping to skitter off just far enough to escape the puppy's wrath, unintentionally using his magicka to aid him in his quest.

The Bone King felt a little bit of the girl brush his tail feathers as he escaped, and she went tumbling like a bouncy ball. In her jaws was a bone, which had Azazel instantly intruiged. Scurrying close, the bird tilted his rufous crown. "YOU LIKE BONES? I LIKE BONES, TOO! YOU HUNGRY FOR BONES? I CAN CRACK A BONE FOR YOU!" Yes, screaming again. This time, they echoed around the fortresses, quite embarassing and the sentences a little wrong to those who took it the wrong way.

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Past the bird she tumbled, a muffled sharp exhale escaping her as she impacted the rock yet again. She blinked, sitting upright--then jerking back as she found Aza'zel's reddish feathers inches from her face. She slowly blinked again, pulling slightly away and nearly forgetting the bone in her mouth. She was glad he had managed to move out of her clumsy way, though she had no idea how he'd done it--but the thought quickly vanished from her still-young mind. Right now, she wasn't sure if he was going to bite her!

He spoke, instead--or maybe it was more accurate to say that he squawk-shouted right in her face. She flinched back, twisting her head away a little with a grimace. She wasn't sure what exactly he was offering--her grasp on language wasn't that good, not yet. But she was hungry, and that word, she knew. She immediately bit down on the bone, the dry splintering crack making it apparent that the poor hyena was picking through not fresh bones, but ancient dry ones with nothing left in them but dust, ones she'd likely picked from the old structures up the hill. She dropped the two halves, bleached white with age, at Aza'zel's feet.

"Hungry," she agreed. "No food," she added mournfully, and nudged the bone toward his talons. Perhaps he could find her better bones? Ones with meat inside! She stared at him, wide-eyed, clearly expecting him to be able to find her something to eat.

He was a vulture, after all, and vultures meant food.

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Roll the bones.

The pup eagerly dropped her prize, little teeth marks in the pristine white bones. Mmmm. What did that mean? Food? Did the puppy not like bones? He had to make sure. "YOU DON'T LIKE BONES, GIGGLE? I'M GONNA CALL YOU GIGGLE, OKAY?" At this time, his squawk-screams could be heard by him, and he shied away. He was yelling that loudly? Azazel skittered back a little, tucking his wings. "Ummmmmm... I think I can hear now." Yeah, that sounded better. Casting a quick glance to the side of nervousness, carmine eyes glimmered. Back to the no-bones issue. With all of his yelling and banter and crashing around, he probably couldn't find any prey -- let alone catch any. "I don't know if I'd be able to get you any food. I'm feeling pretty out of it." Super oblivious to the girl's lack of language, the bird crouched down and managed to wobble toward a pile of bones, picking through them quietly. He'd at least try to get something for the pup.

As soon as he shifted one little bone, a small black form went scurrying across the floor. Azazel lifted his wings and went running after it, quite quickly despite his tiredness. He approached the Gembound mouse that he had discovered, and tailed it. He'd hope to jump on top of it and kill it with his talons. The prey squeaked and squirmed as he fell atop it, but soon faded away from life. A small little gem clattered to the floor, and the critter was gone. Hopefully that would suffice. Leaning down, Azazel plucked the rodent from his talons and hobbled to Giggle. Proudly, he'd drop it at her feet. Please let it be sustenance and not let Giggle want slash need more.

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The little hyena sat back, listening as Aza'zel finally skittered back and lowered his tone. She wasn't sure what all of the words meant, but she paid intent attention to them nonetheless, trying to puzzle them out and commit each one to memory.

Then the shaggy rufous bird had turned, and was picking through a pile of what Giggle could only hope were somewhat fresher bones on the ground. She came up close--and tensed as a small, dark shape shot out.

She watched intently as Aza'zel pounced it.

I knew vultures meant food! ...But doesn't that mouse have a gem? Like me? Oh... he's killed it. And the gem fell off. I guess anyone is food.
So ran Giggle's thoughts as she watched the brutally short hunt, wide-eyed. Of course, her inner words weren't quite so clear--they were impressions, colors, images, sounds--but the thoughts were there, nonetheless. Gembounds could be food. Lesson learned.

And then Aza'zel was depositing the thing at her feet. She leaned down to sniff it, obliviously trusting with the naivety of the young, or perhaps just overcome by hunger. A moment later she'd leaned back, tossing it slightly and crunching down on the tiny bones, a primal glee filling her as the taste of blood and flesh filled her carnivorous maw.

Giggle's dark eyes remained glazed, for a moment, as she licked her lips. Then, her eyes focused on the lammergeier crouched before her.

He'd brought her food! She knew it! Immediately overcome with joy--for what was better than the munching of flesh and bone?!--the hyena lunged forward like a puppy, doing her best to slather the poor bird in grateful slathering licks of her tongue.

She wasn't sure who Aza'zel was, but she did know that if he meant food, she'd try to follow him.

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Roll the bones.

One minute, the pup was gleefully chomping down on the prey he had presented to her, carnivorous teeth gnashing through flesh easily. So she was just like Saudade and Beau. Let's just hope she didn't...

Shit.

The puppy. Reared up. And licked him all over. ALL. OVER.

Azazel was done. He couldn't take this anymore. With a final surge of magicka, The Bone King scrambled to get away from the hyena. His wings were a sopping and slobbery mess once again, but hopefully with some magic, he could survive this horror and run away... or maybe try to fly. Flapping his wings, he flung slobber everywhere and soon took off. Giggle would have to learn NOT to lick him. The lick counter had just gone up to three times. He didn't want it to be more than three times.

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{ EXIT AZAZEL }