OPEN i'll come to know the living

[XANTI]

XANTI

Beneath the flickering torchlight inside the Doctor’s Caves, Xanti unwrapped xyr mother’s bones. The wrapping—iridescent black dragonscales, traded (not stolen) from a merchant during xyr last trip to the mainland—was worth far more to Xanti than xyr mother’s body. The soul had left. Besides, Xanti believed in bodily autonomy for the living, not the dead.

Not like xyr mother had enough brain cells to understand the definition of bodily autonomy. And Xanti’s father? Died in Valerius’s fight pits. What a miracle those two idiots had produced a child of Xanti’s intelligence.

The door to the Doctor’s Caves was open. Wide. Open. Xanti had been procrastinating on what xe knew xe wanted to do with the remains for some time now. Xe’d known the moment Kole said Siri’s name amongst the dead… well, his mother would become bone knives. The leg bones would become perfect, seamless weapons with a sharpened tip and an excellent handle. The curved bones of the ribs would become hilts for obsidian shards. Most of the others xe had no use for. Perhaps xe’d give them to Vale.

But what about the skull? Meteor had suggested mounting it on xyr wall. How Meteor. Xanti didn’t have to be told to know that Meteor had killed his father. But xe wouldn’t follow xyr former mentor’s advice.

Why? Because xe didn’t want those empty eye sockets watching from above.

Xe’d turn her skull into a mask, but, clearly, an adult cheetah could not wear an adult cheetah’s skull. Sizing issue.

However… Xanti had done much the same with xyr father’s bones—some to knives, some to hilts, the rest to Vale—but left the skull tucked away without knowing what to do with it. Xanti fetched it, then set the two skulls down on the operating table.

“They make a better set dead than alive.” However, there was a thought there… cheetah skulls might fit the hybrid duo.

Xanti set the first skull on the dissection table. Then, xe rummaged around the drawers to find its complement. When xe found it, Xanti nodded to xemself and levitated the skull from drawer to table. Side by side, the two skulls were almost identical.

And after xe removed the lower jaw? Removed the teeth? Took each skull and cut away the undercarriage of the brain cavity? Painted each skull with transparent resin to resist chipping? Identical.

Xanti squinted xyr right eye at the skulls. Ichiro and Ryosuke were not identical. Not even the same hybrid species. Maybe the skulls should be distinguishable from each other? No, that felt… wrong. Identical guaranteed the children would never squabble over who got to wear the ‘cooler’ skull. When they were older, maybe then one or both would want to customize their skull with resin or paint. But for now? Let the kids playfully engage with the culture of their home.

By Requiem and Vayu, if xe caused a friendship crisis between the two because xe thought it’d be fun to play at artistry… no, definitely not. It could ask Vale, but, having known the inquisitor for two years, it figured xe would arrive at the same conclusion. Identical.

Decision made, Xanti left the two identical skulls—really, xe couldn’t tell which one belonged to which parent now, and xe was in even higher spirits for that fact—on the dissection table. Poked xyr head out of the open door of the Doctor’s Caves and called: “Ichiro! Ryosuke! I’ve got a gift for you two!”

// This thread satisfies prompt #4 of the CDC, so if you respond with your character for 500 words spread across 1-4 posts (1 post of 500 words, 2 posts of 250 words, ect), you can cross that square off for the CDC yourself! (:

Word count: 582 / 500

[iida ryosuke]

It was not particularly uncommon to find Ryosuke lingering around the Doctor Caves like a bad smell. For whatever reason, the hybrid had formed some sort of attachment to Xanti, and found itself in the cheetahs company, or at the very least nearby, more often than not. Today, like all days, was much the same.

Tussling with Ichiro was one of Ryosuke's favourite activities. They were the only two children on the island, let alone creatures of similar size that wouldn't be grotesquely squished under-paw; cough, Vale, cough; and that meant they were really each other's only options when it came to playful sparring. Honing their skills, Nikolai had once put it, but now that Ryosuke had a brain that worked a bit better (debatably), he was starting to think that was an excuse to not have to deal with its antics. Peace and quiet time, or something along those lines.

He was about to bop Ichiro on that scaly nose of his when it heard Xanti call for it. And just like that, any ideas of tussling were out the window. He turned, the mention of a gift filling it with newfound excitement, and made a bee-line for the entrance, where Xanti's head was poking out.

"A gift? Presents for Ichiro and Ryosyuke?" He queried, curiosity seeping easily into its tone, trying to duck under Xanti's taller body as if it would be able to get a glimpse of whatever the gift in question was.

[kamo ichiro.]

Ichiro’s muscles tensed up as he prepared for Ryosuke’s paw to swat him, eyes squinting, the whiskers on the furry side of his muzzle twitching; but the ‘bop’ never came. Before Ryosuke had a chance, they both heard the sound of Xanti’s voice calling for them.

Ryosuke took off like a rocket towards the entrance of the doctor cave, whereas Ichiro meandered over slower, curiosity prickling at the back of his mind but his expression otherwise neutral. Ichiro had inherited a flinty, somber look in his eyes from either one of his two estranged parents. He would fix it upon the others sometimes, his countenance shadowed by an expression so startlingly adult it changed his whole face.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Ichiro murmured to Xanti as he reached Ryosuke’s side, though he, too, attempted to look around the cheetahcore’s larger body to get a look at the supposed gift.

[XANTI]

XANTI

The hybrid duo scuttled into sight, and Xanti immediately remembered that xe had forgotten to pack up the corpses and the sharp objects. While Ichiro and Ryosyuke had definitely seen bodies before—and definitely already eaten meat that previously talked—Xanti wasn’t willing to play keepaway with the surgical and crafting tools. So xe blocked the doorway with a lazy grin.

“Yup, a present for each of you. It’s a matching set, really.” A playful gleam in xyr eyes. They really didn’t need to know about the personal history that went into their gift, did they? Nope.

Then an amused wink at Ichiro. “If I had to get you a present, then that wouldn’t be a present, would it? That’s what taxes are, kid, and, thankfully, we don’t have taxes here on the Big Island.”

Xanti lifted his chin to glance up at the two cheetah skulls which soared above xyr head and between the doorway. Each resin-treated skull hovered in front of the kiddo, and Xanti telekinetically had both flip so the kiddos could try out wearing the skulls. Or, if the kiddo(s) seemed reluctant, the skull would gently lower down to the ground to rest between their paws.

“Whatcha think? With the tournament coming up, I thought your playfights needed some umph.”