He did not know this place. doubtless, that was why Master Vargas had sent him to explore: to learn this and the other caves, but it still left him at a disadvantage.

Compared to other places he had been, Canis was lifeless: stagnant water pooling shallowly along the rock, piles of bones stacked high, the entire place with the faint metallic stench of decayed organic matter and minerals. There was very little plant life, here, and the calls of Lessers he'd come to appreciate in other caves were absent, here.

No life, he thought, absently, and then on the heels of that--and thus, no death. This place's lifecycle was as stagnant as its waters, any birth, consumption and "rebirth" wholly halted, bar the few who might scrabble out a meagre existence among the bones.

He padded along the Circuit quietly, making his way without hurry down the worn pathway that had once been mud. Glowing blue eyes studied the footprints embedded down below, and lifted to search the dusty bones. He took it in; he memorized it. And in one hand he carried the oversized halberd, a weapon that whispered and churned with faint shadow, just as he did. It was some nine feet tall to his seven, too large for him to properly wield, though he was passable with it by now. But he had much yet to learn.

Perhaps this place had a lesson or two to teach him; if nothing else, it was a grim reminder of what happened to those who failed.

@Enoki

But Canis was not entirely without life -- it was just rather well-hidden. At least, until it wasn't. A flash of blue and then of gray plus the sound of claws skittering on stone went by in a flash -- Enoki was sprinting at full speed after a walleye rabbit, upon whom they were quickly losing ground. The rabbit was swifter on its feet than Enoki, who promptly tripped over a bone and thankfully had the good sense to tuck their head in and roll with the momentum into a somersault. They ended up laying on their back, pausing to catch their breath as their quarry escaped.

Then, they noticed the black figure in their periphery, and their head popped up. "HI!" called the hybrid, herring to bound over to the Sentinel. He was an interesting-looking creature, but fundamentally they were reminded of Bayo and Momma. "Hey! Hi! I'm Enoki! What's your name?" They sat down like a dog, their head tilted back as far as it could go to try and look up at him.

@the sentinel

The flash of color caught his eye--one of many eyes, at least--and his head jerked toward the life-or-death scramble not too far away. The creature pursuing the Lesser went into a tumble, and without thinking, the Sentinel lifted his halberd and launched it.

It was a decent throw, the axe-head thudding under rather than impaling, though; the rabbit was tossed tumbling just as Enoki had been, and the Sentinel closed the distance with swift strides before it could regain its footing.

He lifted it up in one hand, dangling by the hind legs, alive and struggling; his other hand gripped the halberd as he looked over and down at the stranger. It had bounded his way, greeting him, and he tilted his head a little as he regarded it. He had no idea what it could be, but then, he had no need to categorize creatures. His own family came in a wide variety of shapes; it was only their magic that truly set them apart. Shapes held little meaning. Still, this one was curious; fluffy and gray, spotted, bright-eyed. "It is... the Sentinel," he informed Enoki, his voice in a whispering rasp.

The fact that he was referring to himself in the third person didn't seem to be deliberate, so much as matter-of-fact. "Enoki," he then echoed, as if in greeting, and offered the still-living Walleye down, hind legs gripped firmly in one hand. He lifted his halberd back in the other, almost hobbling as he moved to lean on it, his bipedal movement not quite perfect. "Does it... live here? -Enoki?"

Sentinel's head turned, raking the chambers, studying them. How could a creature eke out a living, here? "That is... impressive," he decided. "Or does life... keep a hidden foothold, here?"

Glowing blue eyes--on face, on ears--shifted back to the koala-hyena again, curiosity gleaming in their unblinking depths. This one was interesting; so was this cave. Did Enoki know its secrets-?

@Enoki

Enoki cringed when the halberd lashed out for the rabbit, and their ears laid flat when the Sentinel held it up, struggling and terrified. "Oh!" Enoki took it quickly and then, confusingly, let it run away. They looked... guilty, more than anything else, and looked back to the Sentinel. "Thank you, but... I don't do it that way. If it manages to get away, even if it's cause I messed up, then it deserves to. It just... doesn't feel right, otherwise. Doesn't feel fair."

Then, they cleared their throat and looked up at the creature speaking about himself in the third person. Enoki either didn't notice or didn't care. "But, uh, yeah! I live here. So does the rest of my family!" They grinned, a distinctly canine-like look. "The Bonebound have lived here for a really long time." Feeling rather smart today, they pushed over a nearby rock to reveal a small handful of Deathcrawlers, who quickly skittered away. "If you know where to look, there'll always be living things. Life is stubborn, and if you're kind enough, you might even help it. There's a place here in Canis where another Gembound built a garden, a long time ago." Then, after a beat -- "Don't eat these beetles, by the way. They'll make you really sick." Enoki had, thankfully, been warned of this by another Gembound -- they were probably too small to survive an encounter with the beetles themselves.

Thankfully, the Deathcrawlers were already finding other holes to hide in, and Enoki was returning their attention to the Sentinel. "That's one of the reasons I let things escape if they win -- if I just ate everything, then eventually there wouldn't be any left. Then I'd really go hungry! If it can get away 'cause it's smart, then maybe its babies'll have a better chance at getting away, too. If it can get away 'cause I'm dumb, then I should have t'live with my mistake, y'know? It's not like I'll starve over losing one meal, anyway. Thank you, though -- it was still nice of you to try and help me."


@the sentinel

The Sentinel turned, watching unblinking as the rabbit scurried off. And then Enoki was speaking; one ear turned, its eyes observing, as the stranger explained that Canis was not quite the abattoir that it seemed. That there was life here, hidden and tucked away.

He committed this to memory.

Until Enoki had entirely finished, the Sentinel remained silent and still, giving each word his full attention. He was indifferent to its hunting preferences. They had no impact on him, and so he dismissed that with little real thought, bar a brief pondering as to 'why?' and a tucking the concept away to possibly examine later. Currently, his attention was more caught by two things: the bettles, and the "Bonebound." Ahh--and the garden.

"Where is this garden?" he rasped, at last, and then took two swift steps to intercept the beetles. His fingers uncurled as he knelt, the little scurrying creatures clacking against his claws as they fled into the bones. He did not harm them, merely examined them, watching them vanish into their hiding places.

His head came up, peering at Enoki. "What are 'Bonebound?'"

All questions, it seemed, and little offered information thus far.

@Enoki

Enoki perked up, easily distracted. "The garden's this way, c'mon!" and immediately started to trot in its vague direction. They'd course-correct once they could see the greenery. In the meantime, they pondered how to answer the question. "Uhhh... well, mostly we're a family."

They did have an awfully long history, though. "It started with a guy called Azazel! He was a bird called a Lammergeier, a big guy who like, ate bones and stuff. He lived here in Canis, an' he called himself the Bone King. My mama, Giggle, was his best friend. They were the first Bonebound, I think. Azazel had a bunch of kids, and they all had a bunch of names and they were Bonebound, too. And all of them lived 'cause they helped each other -- the Caves were rough and there were mean people, but the Bonebound stuck together. Until they didn't, I guess -- some of them left, I think 'cause they got mad? Someone was mad. Uhhh..." Enoki paused, trying to recall what they'd been told.

"Okay so, um, some stuff happened and the Bonebound kinda broke up and it was really bad! Everyone was super sad and lonely and bad stuff happened 'cause they weren't together anymore. Then Azazel got really sad and died, and Mama was the Bone Queen for a little bit, but then Uncle Auré was born -- he's kinda a Lammergeier too, 'cause he was from Azazel's stone, but he has ears an' stuff. He's the Bone King now, and he has babies, too. Just one, actually? I think. Damask! She's really nice, but kinda shy. And then I have my littermate -- Bayo is a dog with his stone on his belly, and Chitin is like, kind of a deer?" They sniffed the air, seeking the scent of plants, and then changed direction. "And me, of course. We're all part hyena, though -- that's what Mama is. Oh! And Mama can see stuff with bones! Like, the future and the past and stuff. And I kind of can, too, but only the past -- but I think all of us can. I can tell you how something died if I have its bones. But Mama is really good at it. She's called the Boneseer -- if you go to her Bone Pit, she'll give you a reading, I bet."

Enoki tried to think if there was anything they'd missed. "Uhh... Oh! One of Azazel's bones is in the bone pit, Mama says it guides her like it guided him. I think that's everything I remember, though."


@the sentinel

Well, that had been a lot to take in.

The Sentinel nearly stumbled from the effort of listening, face settled into a studious frown as he struggled to take in each word. His fist remained gripping the halberd's haft, and he leaned on this as he followed Enoki.

"The Sentinel has not seen a Lammergeier," was what he settled on, at last, after a long and baffled pause. "Or a... Bone King." What sort of creature was a Bone King-?

He could gather, at least--if vaguely--that the Bonebound were some sort of family, here, with a long and questionably storied history. He made a mental note, too, with his interest sparking up, to visit this Boneseer when he had the time.

But his mind was still half-swimming with information about the stone on Bayo's belly, and Damask being shy--names he did not know, concepts his thoughts couldn't quite keep up with.

Eventually, his thoughts moved on from this topic. "The Sentinel's Forge remains in Draco. It has been sent here, and elsewhere, to learn to fight. Do your people know how to fight? Would they teach it what they know?" and the questions, strangely, almost had a tone more of someone thinking aloud than asking a real question.

@Enoki

Enoki glanced up at the Sentinel. "I might be able to find Auré, if you wanna meet him. He's pretty cool!" At the question of fighting, though, they paused. "Mostly we do magic," they said thoughtfully. "Lots of mushrooms!" Because there were. "Mama's really good with them. Ummm, Damask has... air magic, I think? But! Uncle Eythan is really good at fighting, and I'm tryna learn!"

They puffed out their chest, and looked over at the Sentinel. "I dunno if Eythan would teach you, he's kinda prickly, but I think Mama would teach you magic? She's been teaching the spiky guy with the funny eyes. I can fight you, though! I'm pretty new, but I wanna get better. Maybe we can be fighting buddies!" The prospect made them extremely excited, and they were already thinking up fun nicknames and secret handshakes, but in the meantime, they bounded over to the garden and passed behind the wall. Enoki immediately ran towards the nearest tree and tried to climb it, getting a couple feet up with sheer momentum and then finding that the strain on their arms and nails was too great before letting themselves fall.

Too heavy, despite all the muscle. Or perhaps because of it.


@the sentinel (and maybe oliver lmao)

He was careful as he stepped into the grove. Wary. Thick foliage wasn't familiar to him: the ferns and flowers, the trees and their hanging moss and ivy, were unknown to Sentinel.

He had no way of knowing that their creator was related to him: that the former owner of his very stone had spawned the gardener who'd grown this place. All he knew was caution, wariness as his paws first touched the soft growth underfoot.

"I would learn... anything you will teach me," he answered, a little vaguely, as he looked about. He meant from all of the Bonebound, though it likely wasn't clear; it sounded somewhat singular but he was thinking of all their magics, of the fungus and the air.

As he gazed up at the leaves, another thing Enoki said struck him. "This... spiky one... how are his eyes funny?" He swivelled to face the hybrid quizzically; he'd never found eyes humorous, before.

He watched Enoki tumble from the tree, not thinking to make any move to try and catch him. The fall, the thump.

He stared.

"What are, 'fighting buddies?' I will fight, if you will teach me," he added. This was, after all, what he was here for. As long as the "buddies" part was not some strange and ancient binding pact.

@Enoki

They grinned. "Well, his eyes are like, two colors? Except not like normal. The inside part is white and the outside part is black, like... the opposite?" said Enoki, who hadn't seen Tahi-shei in a while. They scratched at one of their ears with a back foot, and grinned even wider at the Sentinel's question.

"It means we're friends!! We fight each other, but like, nice fighting, like Bayo an' I do, and then we get better and fight other people but we're way good 'cause we know more 'cause we fought with each other." They hopped over to what amounted to the widest open space in the garden (which probably wasn't saying much) and stood on four legs. "Alright! Stances! Oh, um, but since I don't have a big stick like yours, probably just use your hands and teeth like me, okay? And no like, cheap shots. No trying to like, cut each other open. Friendly sparring. Okay?" they asked, making sure the Sentinel was okay with it.

"You can have the first move," Enoki said proudly, confident enough that they didn't need it.


@the sentinel