Bone Kenning -- Assorted Dead

“...oh no you don’t.”

Being an exo came with a hell of a lot of downsides, but it came with some equally-impressive benefits. The ability to go without food, water, or air, for example. Or the ability to link up to jumpship AI cores and effectively become a ship. Best of all, though, was the fact that aggro-tech never really turned off in the back of an exo’s brain. It ticked away like some anthill composed of ones and zeroes, forever dissecting its surroundings with an optic towards efficiency.

And if aggro-tech excelled at one thing, it was flagging intruders.

The moment that little firelizard flitted up over Kemori, Dust’s HUD lit up with target-locks. Most of them flickered away a tick later, leaving only three: one over the kitsune himself, one over the offending paint brush, and one over the bony little pile of problems bent on causing mischief. Another series of alerts went up soon after- because that skeletal pain-in-the-ass had disappeared!

And when she reappeared? She had yet another paintbrush in her paws, one she shoved in his hand before disappearing back into... wherever it was firelizards went when they really didn’t want to be seen.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” More resigned than annoyed, Dust fished a pair of worn bandanas out of one of the pouches at his hips. The first went around the paintbrush, wrapped securely enough to absorb any paint that might try to run off and cause problems. The second was wadded up and chucked at Kemori.

“It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it,” Dust grumbled, padding over to make sure the kitsune didn’t need any help. “Though I’ll be skragged if I can tell you where that little shit of a firelizard went. Thing poofed off the moment it shoved this thing in my hand.”

A beat as realization dawned, then- “Sonuva- it was trying to frame me!”



For a moment Jessera was quite certain her head was about to explode. The first touch of an unfamiliar dragon’s mind was always overwhelming, and never more so than when that dragon was a queen, but this? This was in a class all by itself. All Jess could do was dig a hand into Hightower’s ruff and hold on for dear life until the ringing in her psychic ears faded to a dull whine.

It vanished entirely a moment later, replaced by an incandescent joy she could only feel the edge of. That upwelling of emotion clearly wasn’t meant for her. In fact, it couldn’t be. That light show of glee was far from unfamiliar. She’d felt it at every hatching she’d ever attended, beaming in from every dragonet who stumbled egg-damp and creeling into the arms of their lifemate. It was the unmistakable psychic victory cry of a dragon who had found themselves in another.

It was a beautiful moment, but it was not and was not meant to be her moment.

“Congratulations, Eve,” Jess called, raising one hand in a departing wave as the silver bounded off.

And if she turned away before the knot in her throat could choke her, well, that was just good manners. What kind of asshole let their own fear of inadequacy ruin another’s moment of Impression?

Besides, things were getting interesting now, and Mehros was perhaps most interesting of all. Unicorns weren’t unheard of even in isolationist Aphadon, but precious few called the weyr home. Jess had only seen a few before, and then only at a distance. Here and now one was practically within touching distance, and the fact he was technically dead did nothing to dim the beauty inherent in all unicorns.

That impression took something of a beating the moment Mehros opened his mouth, of course, but that wasn’t about to stop Jess from oohing and aahing just a bit.

“I don’t know what happened to you,” She told the unicorn, stepping up to join Taki, “But she’s right, it must’ve been terrible. I’m sorry that it happened, and sorrier still that it happened enough to grind you down. What can you, or we, for that matter, do to make sure it doesn’t happen again?”

Lamia regarded Keldos with a laugh when he proved to be so concerned about the Gryphon's lich.  "Oh, archangel, I know your like does not take well to mine and certainly not to Balzorek's, but do leave the old grump be.  To date, he's never murdered anyone without just cause."

What- what do you mean JUST CAUSE? He's the one who stole from my master! I was just retri-

"You were looting the poor man's tomb because your master was too smart and too lazy to go thieving for himself," Lamia interrupted, flicking the Gryphon on the beak. "I would stake genuine money on that. I know Balzorek. And the way he staked you out, I can only guess your master had you stealing Balzorek's phylactery from him. That is one of the few things that would make him so extremely angry as to disgrace the cadaver of a Gryphon. You tried to steal his soul, impertinent creature."

But my master said the lich stole it from HIM! the skeletal Gryphon insisted, wing bones rattling with distress. Master... Master was a kind man, a good man! He gave me discipline. He taught me to value hard work. He taught me to do everything for him! He would never lead me astray... would he?

Lamia sighed and shook her head. "I fear you were quite betrayed, my friend." In more ways than one.

Even the resident asshole agreed.

So rare is it I read the sins of the unworthy by proxy, but your stupidity makes you singularly simple to turn into slave labor that is nonetheless grateful to be abused, Mehros sighed, disgusted. Your 'Master' beat you until you did all of his dirty work for him and thanked him for it. And then he quite rightly assumed you would be too dull of wit to realize that the lich would be the rightful owner of the item he sent you to retrieve, because as all good Gryphons are taught at a very young age, liches are bad.

You don't SAY that about my Master! the Gryphon cried, angrily clacking his featherless wingbones against his ribs as he screeched at the dead Unicorn. He didn't even know the lich would still be there! He didn't knowingly send me into danger! He would never have!

You have tried. It is impolitic to press further. The Kitsune turned his skull back around to face Cobalt once more.Your offer is...humbling. But I cannot accept it. I sense that I am one very thin barrier from becoming something truly unholy. Truthfully, my spirit was not at rest before I was called back to my bones. I am Earthbound, a spirit driven by a terrible thirst for vengeance. Only the ideals of the Fire Clan sustain me now. The honor of the Fire Clan is that we do not harm the innocent, and harm the innocent I would if I embraced the rage that threatens to consume me now. You are, yourself, an innocent.

Melonwei regarded the entire tableau with something akin to despair. "The Kitsune has a point, it is impolitic to press further, more to comment, but the Unicorn has a better point. I raised a mental defective."

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, the skeletal Ilythiir cackled, turning his attention from Dominic briefly to aim his skull in his creator's direction. That's what you get for not choosing the bones more carefully! Back to Dominic, and the zombie could almost swear that the skeleton was grinning at him, more than just a skeleton's default expression. Oh, I've no need at all for those brains, but you... It'd right reveal what you are to everyone here, wouldn't it? The Illaro howled with laughter. I'd like to see that, kid. I really would. How'd you think the crazy lady would react, you think? Maybe even the woman who raised me? Maybe SHE would want to take you apart, see what makes you work. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Meanwhile Mehros had his hooves full. While he was berating the Gryphon, of course, Jessera gave Taki permission to do what she wanted, "Give it a try and see if it helps, if not, you aren't out anything but a few moments of your time."

And then the Unicorn turned his attention back to the two that surrounded him to answer Jessera's earlier question in true Mehros fashion. What can you-? Child, can you make sapient life stop sinning? Make governments stop oppressing their subjects, make parents stop abusing their children, force rapists and murderers and thieves and bandits and liars and professional victims to stop what they're doing and turn to a lifestyle of wholesome productivity for the betterment of their fellows? And above all that, can you make sinners stop demanding Sin Eaters absolve them of their sins so that they can sleep at night without feeling *guilty*? Mehros' voice was shaking and thready by the time he got to the end of his tirade, as if he was out of breath, despite the fact that his voice was mental and he had no breath. A moment passed, and then two, and Mehros straightened his bones. Even I have to admit, however, the two of you are the first to ever ask that question or make that offer. Perhaps not all life is as ugly and broken as I thought it to be. Think it to be. A Myrgwae I can accept as an anomalous life form, but you... you're human. You're human and you're hurting, envious, jealous -- nasty little emotions, those -- and yet you still take the time to come here and ask what you can do for me. He evaluated Jessera with his skull canted to one side, truly confused for the first time in a long time.

It wasn't often sinners confused the Sin Eater.

Now, Dust may have joined Kemori in darting around the cemetery. They might have found they had relatively little room for running, between headstones and the stone walls that kept the entire cemetery contained. There was also Eve's large form taking up a relatively huge amount of space -- there wasn't really space for a whole dragon in this cemetery, least a Silver Mottle. There were also other skeletons that were...not small. Three of them were equine. There was at least one Hellhound.

There was also a Gryphon. Things were getting crowded, space was limited, and their scampering chase was walled off. There wasn't quite the space for darting around in straight lines. Actually, the two of them more or less ended up running in circles, searching for their mysterious assailant. But she was not done with her tricks yet.

The dead copper mottle blinked back into being over their heads just long enough to drop brightly colored paint balloons onto first Dust's, then Kemori's, heads. Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Immediately, she was gone again, the unseen menace.

Where was she getting her supplies?!

To Tangle, "Eve" lowered her large, fleshless head and nuzzled her newly discovered rider with great fondness. Apologize not to me, K'las, the dragon assured her rider. Life takes us in strange paths, and I always had faith. My faith sustained me for many long years, and here you are, my faith rewarded. Even as first I hatched I knew full well my rider had worlds to walk before we would be united. The blizzard of her spiritual presence would always include the safety and warmth of her love for her rider.

Gertude found her first statement met with a wash of amusement. Oh, this Starmane hadn't been dead all that long. He knew of Tomlin's legendary incompetence, himself! Funny, was it not, how the man managed to mangle even the simplest messages? Even this! All he'd had to say after bones walking was homes needed, but instead he'd said bring food. Did anyone here of Melonwei's design look like they required food? Even a Starmane could only be so charitable.

But Gertude herself, now, Gertude was a much more charitable person, the Starmane made clear. So kind, coming here on the chance that something dead would need a home! A touch of shame, Gertude's behavior was worthier of the Starmane species than the Cherub's own. He had a pang of regret for that.

But she had his undivided attention as she described her old home. Such an interesting place! So full of wonder, and its own share of heartbreak. ...maybe Gertude would be willing to extend that offer of home to a broken Cherub and tell him more at length? Maybe introduce him to this Rissinoth he's been hearing about?

Melonwei picked up a clod of dirt and chucked it at Cain. It sailed harmlessly through the gap between Cain's lower mandible and his clavicles, where a fleshy person would have had neck tissues, a throat. "I was on your side at Blackthorn, I shall thank you to remember," the fallen priestess reminded him primly. A second dirt clod actually hit Cain this time, exploding into a flurry of moths upon impact with his skull. Sense? No. Illogical? Definitely. "I shall also thank you to realize I bloody well have a sense of humor."

Lamia stared pointedly at her protege. "This will be the first I have heard of any such thing, Melonwei. I think perhaps our guests may also be pardoned for missing your joke. You, as a rule, do not make jokes."

The next dirt clod went flying at Lamia. The tall woman ducked, leaving the roughly potato-shaped ball of earth to continue its path until it hit Mildred square in the face and became an explosion of Dijon mustard, which might have perhaps hampered her efforts to chase Cain around the graveyard. Visibility, anyone?

Melonwei surveyed the aftermath of her actions with some disbelief. Not much, but some. She had the advantage over most foreigners to get plucked up and dumped onto Teragaia in that Kassan'ha, her native world, had some very hands-on and actively participant gods whose direct interference was not oft far-flung from the Illogical Field.

I think the phrase is something about Hell and handbaskets? the animate Hellhound offered, observing the carnage of spattered brains, mustard, and idiot moths fluttering senselessly everywhere from the safety of behind a monument. What next? Talking smoke?

"Ha! Actually, I can do exactly that," Melonwei replied. She turned back to her pile of unfinished projects, and found another skeleton.

Literally, and without the aid of the Illogical Field. That was...not a suggestion, you know.

Looking to Jeremi, Melonwei grinned a very sharp, not very friendly grin. "He might not have meant it as a suggestion, but it was quite the timely reminder. And not a bit of it to do with Tomlin's creative writing. Though you have a point. That Harper did actually manage one correct piece of information in the lot. Well, no, three. Bones walking, location, time. How he knew about the bones is a mystery, however, as it was never part of the original message." Melonwei pulled a note from her pocket and handed it to Jeremi. "Feel free to read that while I ready the next."

She moved the skeleton of a canine with a gem-encrusted skull into the sarcophagus.

The note, if Jeremi cared to read it, read: Lost souls looking for homes, see cemetery after dark.

She'd written the note twice, tying one copy to Adelindra's leg and sending the golden firelizard to Harper Hall for a drum cadence, keeping the other as a sort of insurance. A reminder of what the drums ought. A panacea to her sanity in case of Tomlin, apparently necessary.

Finds you I~! trilled the aforementioned firelizard, popping out of between over Melonwei's head and flying in joyful figure-eights. Tells Harper I! Bone bones~

Well, that was half of one mystery solved.

Melonwei shook her head, sighing in disgust, and stepped back up to her podium-monument. She chanted again, once more pulling the power of the land up through her blood circle and into the sarcophagus, a rote incantation so very, very different from necromancy. Necromancy required magic, power originating either from a god or from the caster herself, but this was something older, something deeper. Melonwei was merely a conduit and barely that, power surging up from the ley lines of the very earth and only directed in the vaguest sense by mortal hands.

And then a cloud of some kind of fog roiled out of the sarcophagus. Smoke. It was smoke.

This new, the smoke observed about itself. Thought dead. Bad air. What this?

You ARE dead. If you bothered to form up, you'd notice. The equally dead Hellhound was obviously not amused about the talking smoke prophecy coming true.

For clarity's sake, the talking smoke DID form up, and for the first time, the Smoke looked down at himself from the point of view of empty eye sockets to the sight of bare bones and the canine skeleton did a surprised hop backwards, stiff-legged, before picking up each fleshless paw to examine it more closely.

Huh. AM dead! This really new! ...Like see bad air get this time. Not need air, not breathe, not die!
Already dead!

"As if Mistwatchers were not nearly invulnerable to begin with," Lamia sighed.

---

Thank you Owl for providing me some responses to weave in and Absent, I hope this helps firm up Taiyoth's character a little bit more?
we can keep going too

Anyway!

Congratulations, Gertude! You have a very bony horse now.

"Was that the first thin' ya resurrected? It is a lit'le..." He waved the mouths away as he side step past Mildred, letting her get hit with the next dirt clod that decided it was mustard this time. "Lackin' in the life department." Cain would have crackled at his own joke...If he had bother to stick around for the fall out of it. Melonwei generally didn't have much of a sense of humor that the skeleton was aware of and considering he would rather not have moths and Brains fighting for territory, he was going to do his best to keep out of target.

Speaking of target, he had actually forgotten about the now blind Mildred who tried to find him by voice alone. When she wasn't wiping away the tears and stinging mustard from her eyes. She hadn't been paying attention to what was going on, and thus had no idea where the mustard clod came from.

Didn't stop her from trying to tackle Cain and missing completely. Unlucky or lucky as the case may be, she only ended up head first into a gravestone.

Sitting back against it, she lifted up her shirt to wipe at her eyes. Should have been the first thing after getting nailed in the face, but Mildred never quite had her priorities start when her temper was riled. "Mental defect? More like a child in an adult's body. Bloody hell gryphon! Why not think before you go rushing off?"

Jeremi would just shake his head and look skyward at his cousin's comment. Pot...The Kettle was calling.

Taking the note, he would look through it and compared to what he had heard. Very little to none of it actually matched up and the healer really had to start to wonder just how Tomlin kept his job. Maybe someone was bored and liked his...Way with the beats?

Best not to think about it too hard.

"To be fair, you let her pick up a mistwatcher soooo..." Jeremi would shrug and offer Lamia a smile. "At least this one didn't try to take us out like the gryphon." What Jeremi actually meant, at least this one used his brain and thought through things as opposed to the gryphon that liked to just look at the cover and not the inside of a book.

"How many more you got to go?"


Gertude would frown in concern at the regret and shame she felt from the starmane. Over something she didn't think required such feelings. Not everyone could offer people a home and there was no shame in that. You do what you could and that was that in her opinion. Of course, she wouldn't put up any protest about Archesis coming with her. Not if she could prattle on about her home for hours on end while she worked on her various projects. And if he wanted to meet Rissinoth? She definitely wouldn't stop that. Not when the silver mottle was just as curious to see this dead yet not dead horse in dragon.

"Then are you a Lich?"


Questioning Lamia, it was an interesting convo to be sure, a gryphon; perhaps not the brightest one in the lot; but one duped by a lich no less expelling his grievances to those present to listen had enraptured her curiosity. A lich you say? she'd never met one, or so she thought, perhaps she had but never knew. Alas that was neither here nor there. She set a hand on 'Eve' and soothingly pet at the bone memorizing ridge where once perhaps horn or scale once was.

"Judge not lest ye be judged"

quipping cheekly Tangle stuck out the tip of her tongue, perhaps not the best response to a 'sin eater' but hey she knew what that perhaps entailed to some extent, after all she was a 'curse eater' or 'warlock' in her home tongue. Glancing once more at Keldos Tangle's smile never really wavered but she winked quiting down so that the two strange humanoids, one perhaps human and uh. . .mur- murgewai? something, she wasn't sure if she heard it right.

"Solarion, god of light and choir, there is only one other little bird I know. We'll have to have lunch some time, I do so want to see how Muse has decorated his home. That is if she followed in his secondary transition."

Meanwhile Layla moved her way up towards Melonwei, having given up on her cover once she realized what was going on she chewed casually at a bone she found. It splintered between her teeth as she eyed the open sarcophagus and back to Melonwei with curiosity. How did the bones move, talk and dance once placed? She'd never seen bones move before so this was new! and oh she wanted more chew things, yes more tasty bones.

Lamia regarded Tangle with some amusement. Or bemusement, perhaps. "Ha! Nay, I am no lich, merely a thanaturge -- one who harnesses the death energies of the very land beneath my feet, drawing strength from my Territory. This is the purest art, reading the stories from the bones and giving them life from the earth. A lich is an undead creature, usually a wizard or sorcerer, sometimes, more rarely, a priest of some great strength, who has stored his or her soul in an object, a phylactery, and hidden that away so that no matter how many times the body is destroyed, the soul always has somewhere safe to hide. This is what makes liches so difficult to kill, as one with a supply of spare bodies and a well-hidden phylactery can make it a battle of attrition that you will likely lose. But that is necromancy, not thanaturgy, liches. A distinction I've debated at length with old Balzorek."

Mehros, with ironic courtesy, waited for Lamia to stop speaking before giving the sense of glowering (inasmuch as he could with empty eye sockets) in Tangle's direction and sniping, My *purpose* is to judge. If you want to judge me, find me wanting, fine, go ahead. I don't give a flying figure skate what you think. And hopefully you have an equal opinion of what I think because I judge you and I find *you* fall very, *very* short.

That's low, even for you, the Hellhound accused. Do you have any setting other than 'asshole'?

Rich, coming from a 'hound that has torn infants from their cribs and painted nurseries with blood. Mehros managed to snort without any breath and pawed at the graveyard dirt with a rose gold hoof. I did warn you not to bait the Sin Eater, Hellhound.

Unicorn not pulling punch, the Smoke observed, somewhere between impressed and mildly terrified. Maybe gate need guard for bit. And, like smoke, the Mistwatcher was gone. Night had just about fully fallen by now, making a Smoke's favored vanishing trick even more effective than usual. The bone dog re-materialized by the cemetery gates and sat down, making a show of looking outward as if protecting the cemetery from intrusion.

He needn't have bothered. There was probably not a soul in the cemetery that would judge him harshly for needing distance from the angry Unicorn.

Including self-same angry Unicorn, for that matter.

Melonwei read the expression on Keldos' face and grinned. "You should have met the King of the Deadwalk, back home in Kassan'ha. The Lich King Cyphereas, probably the only truly good and just and noble king left in the lands. Still in his original body, too -- probably why he never had any problems with the Silver Shroud. It's not a grave desecration if you do it to yourself and you never touch anyone else's remains. The Withered Mask wanted Cyphereas dealt with, but we never could figure out how. Retrospectively, I'm glad."

But liches are evil! the Gryphon insisted, climbing out of the sarcophagus and righting himself. Gryphons were an interesting anatomical mess down at the skeletal level, haphazardly leonine and aquiline with rougher transitions between than one might expect to see. Master told me so!

"Child, Cyphereas became a lich so that he could guard over an innocent population for eternity and keep them from harm," Melonwei informed the poor, daft creature, patting his skull. Even she couldn't bring herself to be cruel to this one. He was too childlike, too innocent, too naive and foolish. "Not all liches are created equal, just as not all masters are created equal. Squire, I suggest you find a new master to serve, one with a truer and purer heart, one who will lead you down a better path, one of honest work and just reward. Trust me, I know it is a difficult thing to do. I have had to do it myself. But the reward is worth the effort."

When had she become a motivational speaker? Well, the Gryphon was tugging at some instinct deep inside of Melonwei that was beginning to bubble to the surface, something nurturing and emotional and fiercely protective. Something maternal. Melonwei crushed that thought and stuck it in a cabinet for later consideration, and turned her attention back to Keldos.

"One might even think you would do, Archangel. Certainly you would never lead the lad astray, nor abuse him. You even staunchly advocate acceptance for who and what he is when all the rest of us see is deficiency. He could have no greater home than with you."

Would that...would that really be okay?

Leaving Keldos to answer the Gryphon's question in his own time, Melonwei guided Yolathen around to another skeleton due to be placed in the sarcophagus. And that was when the junior thanaturge spotted chewy little Layla.

"You should be careful whose bones you chew, little one," Melonwei cautioned. "Some of these may chew back."

She gathered up the remains of a Hellhound, made obvious by the nearly charred blackening of the bones, and carried the carefully-articulated thing back to the ritual sarcophagus, gently placing the completed puzzle inside. "Just three more," she answered Jeremi. "This and two others."

Again she stepped behind her podium, and again the energies of the land surged up, Melonwei little more than a conduit leading the energies in the right direction. Power coalesced in the sarcophagus, light welled up and burst. And then a spray of flame burst up from the head of the sarcophagus, but the cause of that became obvious as a black canine skeleton climbed out, howling flames all around herself, forcing Lamia to push Jeremi out of the way or risk getting torched.

What is this? I demand an explanation!

Which would be more forthcoming if it would please you to desist your fiery assault, the Kitsune remarked coldly, deftly leaping from Cobalt's side and joining the center of the congregation, pacing a-circle across from the Warrior Hellhound, calmly harnessing her fire and drawing it to himself until it gathered up as balls of flame between his waving skeletal tails. It is most difficult to speak while dodging flames.

Do not be angry. Do not be angry. The Kitsune repeated this mantra to himself infinitely within the confines of his empty skull, fighting the overwhelmingly sweet temptation of rage. Oh, but to just let go and be what he was meant to be! The destroyer, the inferno, the apocalypse! But no. He had more honor than that. He had to hold onto his sanity for the sake of the innocent, and for the sake of the innocent, he had to forgive one sinner.

I don't need any answers from the weak or the pathetic, the Hellhound retorted. If they can't stand a little heat, what good are they?

Forgive one sinner even in the face of overwhelming irritation.

Having Terror-mates like you is why I challenged my Alpha to a battle to the death, the Hunter spat mentally, disgusted. Please, do not make me home with her, whatever happens.

As if I would allow it. You're no Hellhound.

It is quite apparent neither of you is Kitsune, either, the six-tailed Fire Clan fox murmured, bowing deeply to both Hellhounds, though he bowed visibly deeper to the Warrior female than to the Hunter male. By now the Warrior had been distracted from expelling flames all over the place and the Kitsune had gotten the fire under control, dismissing the flames as if they had never happened.

He trotted back over to Cobalt, situation apparently defused. Six thousand apologies for that. I was going to speak when we were so rudely interrupted. You flatter me with your estimation of my willpower, and it is my sincere hope that I can live up to the image you have of me. If I cannot, the consequences would be quite dire. An Earthbound Spirit is...the most destructive storm the afterlife can unleash upon the living world, and I am holding onto my sanity by the tips of my claws. You, however, are not a dead thing that should have been left dead. You are alive. Grasp life. Savor it. Learn what enjoyment feels like. Chase it. Perhaps even learn to savor the emotions that hurt, because pain tells you that you are alive.

Melonwei threw another clod of dirt at Cain, but he was a moving target this time, and her ammunition went sailing harmlessly into the sky until it twinkled like a star, exiting the atmosphere.

The junior thanaturge was soon to be avenged, however, and so was Mildred, as one of the reanimated skeletons grew tired of being ignored (she apparently wasn't interested in playing second fiddle to a game of chase-the-firelizard) and decided that a moving target looked mighty fine to her. Cain might have had some slick moves for dodging airborne projectiles, but the Grim Reaper was probably not prepared to be run down by the blackened skeleton of what looked like it had been a horse, if horses had teeth like savage carnivores and violet flames instead of flowing tresses, metal hooves that tore up the cemetery ground and shattered the headstone plaques beneath them as the Wraith propelled herself forward. The cemetery was small and crowded, but that was no issue to a Firemane, who dodged and cornered appropriately with incredible agility to chase down Cain, stick her neck between his legs, and raise her head suddenly to flip the smaller skeleton into the air.

Of course, how he landed was up to him. She just wanted to get his attention.

Mehros, master of multi-tasking conversations, turned his attention back to Jessera and Taki. It might surprise you how little choice a Sin Eater truly has when directly confronted. However, you are correct now, girl. I cannot eat of the bread of their sins, and I cannot truly be a Sin *Eater* anymore, thus making the rest of my existence theoretically mine for the taking. The problem is that sin is ALL I CAN SEE, because we are the creation of a naive and foolish god. Sorry, that's redundant. Gods are, by definition, naive and foolish.

And the wind just started...leaving his sails. Mehros' neck drooped, skull drifting closer to the dead cemetery grass.

Small, mysterious creature, you are making it very hard to stay angry.

At least someone is. Is there anyone here tonight you *haven't* taken a raging bite out of, yet?

Yo! Didn't Spike-Face McSnotty over there say something about not baiting the Sin Eater? The Ilythiir turned his bone face back to Dominic. Now, kid, that lady up there doin' the reanimating doesn't fling anything anywhere on an operating table. She's an artist, not a butcher. But I get your point. I didn't exactly ask to be her arts-and-crafts project neither. A pause, and then, I miss hunting, now that you bring it up. Wind in my fur, scents in my nose, earth under my paws, heart pounding- and now I don't have fur, a nose, fleshy paws, or a heart. Or an appetite. I mean, I guess this beats being dead-dead, but it doesn't beat being alive. Bet you miss that too, eh kid? Every so often, get a little nostalgic for what was...

I am sure you are all very funny, Mehros spat, obviously disgruntled at his new nickname. It is not often I have souls who wish to improve themselves on their own merit. I don't believe you understand how rare that is, child. How truly, singularly *unique* you are, wishing to keep your mistakes and your sins as learning experiences when absolution is just a grasp away. With Taki doing her thing, it was easier for Mehros to keep his discourse with Jessera much more civil. Easier said than done; Mehros was not by nature a civil creature, at least not in death.

Meanwhile, Dust and Kemori were on a Firelizard hunt. Kemori had just been spectacularly ignored by an irritated Firemane, and Mildred had just dived headfirst into a headstone at Dust's feet. She had been aiming for Cain, but mustard had been her downfall. Unfortunately for Mildred, this put her in the line of fire when little missy returned, wielding a flit-sized paintball gun loaded with brightly colored sparkly glitter paintballs that never seemed to run out of ammunition no matter how many paintballs she fired down at them.

The little skeletal firelizard swooped down to strafe, firing paintball after paintball, hitting all three targets in rapid succession.

Apparently death wasn't colorful enough for her and she was determined to fix it.

---

LONG-OVERDUE UPDATE GO

Also I feel I owe everyone a universal apology on behalf of Mehros, who insists on speaking as he does, so if anyone wants this asshole...

Keldos/Kay! The Gryphon is actually asking permission, so the bond requires a yes/no answer depending on whether Keldos wants to be the caretaker of a special needs Gryphon. Tide/Cain! The Wraith tossed Cain up but however he lands is up to you.

Mildred, Dust, and Kemori, you are now being harassed by an airborne entity with firepower, however silly. Some of you ought to be able to return like fire.

Meanwhile there are shinies going without interaction, and still two more to be raised! Anyone want to dive in? We're still open! (Sure I'm slow as hell but we'll get there eventually.)

Cobalt

Cobalt watched as the Kitsune skeleton briefly moved aside and the resulting verbal sparring match silently. It wasn't visible but one of her chains had loosened into her hand, though she'd retracted it when it became clear this wouldn't escalate into anything physical.

"You don't need to apologize," she said to the Kitsune when he returned to their chat. "I admit I know little about spirits, though I have heard many stories about them and I believe I have seen... something like that, once or twice around certain battlefields." She paused in her words, thinking over his. "I have found it hard to know how to as you put it 'grasp life.' My Bondeds have been trying to help me with that. I think like a soldier. I see conflict and battle at every turn, rather than what they may be. Perhaps that is all I will ever see. Such confusion is... " Here she hesitated; even voicing the thought was far more than she'd done often before, and this was a far more public place than the dojo.

It was one of the most 'alive' things she did.

"...It is perhaps as frightening as the grasp on your sanity is to you."

As she knew she was tall Cobalt took a knee to put them more on eye level. "I have asked my Bondeds, but they have all given me different answers, and that is just confusing me. Can you tell me how to be alive? What does that mean? How do you grasp life? How can I be certain that I am as alive as others say I am?"

((Lol! I'm flipping the script! The Candidate as it were asking a question of the creature to be Bonded!))





Taki

Taki made a soft murmuring sound of sympathy as Mehros elaborated on his current situation. It did sound like he was in quite a predicament! She couldn't imagine having a purpose and then it being taken away, and then still seeing times when he should act but couldn't. While that could be a good thing in some regards it probably was really upsetting too. But that didn't stop her from looking up at him with tail flickering back and forth and a brilliant, friendly smile on her face at his comment.

*That's what Myrgwae do best! We try to make people feel better when they're sad, or upset, or angry, or anything bad like that.* An idea hit her and her eyes crinkled with the size of her grin. *I guess you could say we're Bad Emotion Eaters! Though we don't literally eat it.* The Myrgwae's expression turned thoughtful. *We give hugs and listen to others when they need someone to listen to them, but if we really need to we Draw the bad emotions out, like how doctors pull poison from someone, and make it go away. It can come back later, but sometimes it helps to just not feel that way for a while. Oh! But I haven't done that yet. I like to have permission before I do it if I can. That's the polite way.* She nodded in a very factual manner, adjusting her hat with a hand afterwards. *Is there anything I can do to help you see things better, to not see so much sin around you? Like maybe if I bring you pretty things to look at, or tell you funny stories! I know lots of those! I know you can't eat being a skeleton – my friend Cain is a skeleton, and he can't eat or drink – but can you smell things? I could find some nice-smelling flowers.* Probably efforts in vain, but she had to offer. It was the thought that sounds right?

Briefly Taki looked at those who'd been inciting Mehros with a small frown, expression clearly showing that she felt they were bullying him – none of them had expected this situation and they really should be nicer to one another while they were trying to adapt to it, though she supposed several of them it was just their nature. But she quickly turned her attention back to the closer chatter, expression turning thoughtful. Which did she think was better?

She found that she agreed with Jessera, though she didn't know if it was really her place to speak up to such. But being a Myrgwae she definitely had a thought on it.

*If someone forgot their mistakes, let them go, then wouldn't they be fated to repeat them later? Then they'd have to live with the regret and the sadness and the pain all over again, and again and again until they learned. But if they learned from it, then wouldn't it be impossible to forget it? Isn't that what 'absolution' means? To be forgiven and forget?* Perhaps a child's perceptions, but in many ways Myrgwae, especially ones like Taki, were child-like.







Kemori

Well, ignore Kemori, hmm?

Normally such a thing would provoke a further response from the Kitsune, either that of a mischievous counter or an offended one depending on said Kitsune's current mood.

But such wasn't to be as the little Firelizard made another straffing run with a new toy, splattering Kemori in a veritable rainbow of shimmering paint! Kemori yelped, quickly scrambling to his feet and away from the skeletal equine to take cover behind a tombstone and look at himself.

Paint everywhere, glittering at him, matting his fur and patching his visible tails that seemed just as shocked as he had, marring the otherwise stately decorum of his attire.

Keep grinned.

Oh yes. As previously stated, it was so on!

With a loud battlecry in his native tongue (if anyone inquired later it meant something along the lines of 'never challenge a Kitsune at their own game!') Kemori rushed out from cover, casting his gaze about to find the flit in question even as his hands traced the kanji for a spell. From his person and surroundings blobs of paint were pulled from their impacts by air and water (to prevent drying out of course) and sent zipping back towards her!

"What's good fire the Kitsune is good for the Firelizard!"

Yeah, just ignore the frolicking Kitsune in the background of the serious business taking place elsewhere.





Keldos

Given his initial meeting with the former Withered Mask priestess, to hear her speak so was definitely something Keldos would've never expected. Not that he would ever say anything to that effect.

He was a tactician and valued his well-being.

He was mentally agreeing that the Gryphon definitely needed a better guide for his new existence when Melonwei addressed him directly. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips at the 'even you would do' part, but she had a point. To harm him in any manner would be as anathema to Keldos' nature as it could possibly be.

"I would have no objections," he replied with a kind smile at the Gryphon. "In fact I welcome the chance to aid you if I can. To that effect perhaps my experiences and personal history will be able to help clarify anything that remains dim or foggy to you, or correct errant lessons you were already given." He chuckled wryly. "I admit there have been stumbling blocks and triumphs aplenty; Solaris has seen fit to refine me well."

He was growing more used the drum calls. They still weren't something he could interpret on his own, but given enough time Hei Bohai knew that he would be able to just fine. Although he was beginning to think that the one doing the drumming was some form of incompetent. Perhaps even on the level of those Heavenly Official's he'd dealt with on a day to day basis back home. Surely there was no way "bones walk at midnight" and "potluck" went hand in hand.

Perhaps it was some weird festival they had here on Teragaia. He shouldn't judge. (He was going to judge.)

He Shui and Xiuying were darting around his head, herding him to where the drums said the event was. They got horrifically lost along the way, but that was something he was also growing used to. They meant well, this he could feel through whatever bond it was they had formed with him, but they didn't always know where they were going either. At least Xiuying kept up a steady stream of chittering as she winged ahead.

Or perhaps that should have been "unfortunately" she kept up a steady stream of chittering. Hei Bohai sighed and pushed his hair back behind his shoulders once more, and kept walking. Admittedly, once they had found where the cemetery was, it was a little hard to miss it.

There were skeletons everywhere. It reminded him of his own bone fish from home--idly he wondered how they were getting on without his power there to hold them together--and he ached from the homesickness. He'd never thought he'd say he missed his life from there, but at least there had been some comfort to it. Some comfort in the routine.

What he saw before him now was just straight pandemonium. A bone miniature dragon, similar to He Shui and Xiuying, was flying around with a weapon of some kind, another skeletal humanoid was in the air, and it looked like there was an array being used to bring consciousness back to the bones as a whole.

Hei Bohai blinked once, twice, and then edged closer to the array, peering at it. Now that was interesting.

He Shui, on the other hand, darted for the firelizard with the paintball gun with a battle cry. He was on the attack!