Welcome to Gaia! ::

The first room had been the trickiest -- Fire had searched in a wide area around the cave to find as many dead and well-preserved bugs as he could. Some of them tasted absolutely awful; it took him some time to carry all of the good specimens inside, because he had to wash his mouth out every few trips.

But all of the bugs were carefully arranged on ledges, put just so so that they looked real and alive and scary. Some of them were huge. He'd found a hive of giant wasps, and searched the ground around it for dead ones; those he stuck to the walls of the cave with sap. Big earthworms and nightcrawlers were arranged on rocks and all over the ground. Beetles and ants were heaped in corners, spiders were tangled up in thin vines to hang from the ceiling--

All in all, the cave was full of creepy-crawly, icky-sticky bugs, enough to make his own skin crawl. All of them looked alive enough to jump out at an unsuspecting kimeti and sting them, or buzz up their nose. Despite this being the first room of the cave, it was dark enough to be spooky. Creepy. It set the stage for the rest of the cave.

Oh why, why oh why, had he come in here? There had been too many about for his liking upon entering the cave. So then why had he not left and chose to go further in? He hung his head -- the chatter from the wide open echoing behind him as he slunk foolishly into the first chamber. Only to met with bugs. Bugs. Everywhere. Bug everywhere.

Bitter Heartbeat shuddered -- swallowed thickly and squinted his eyes shut. Please, please, please, stay away. He had nothing against bugs. There were very few things he had anything against (minus himself, he had everything against himself) but he hated being the center of attention. And there was no one else in this part of the cave besides the bugs. What if one of the bugs decided to bite him? Maybe if he held very still they wouldn't notice?

"I'm not here," he stated loud and clear. He didn't move and kept his eyes shut tight. Maybe no one would notice he was there at all! He nodded, he liked that idea.

Entering the first cave running, with his eyes closed, was probably not the best idea. Nevertheless it was how he came stumbling in, eyes starting to squint as he ran. The adrenaline rush continued to fuel his jitters, but it was just enough of an energy spike to shift his senseless, scared sprinting in a slow gallop. Dreams-of-Dawn cautiously opened his eyes to see what mess he had gotten into.

Before he could really react to anything in the room, he sneezed.

"Of all the -" ahssnerk! "lousy, rotten -" AHHsnerk! He tried walking forward in his sneezing fit, only to end up with a head-ful of spiderwebs. AHHHSHNERK! "-things to fill a room with. Bugs!" In addition to his bug allergy (what exactly it was about some bugs that caused him to sneeze, he did not know) irritating his nose, the cobwebs adorning his head kept brushing against his nose. "Absolutely horrible!" The colorful buck let loose a stream of equally colorful curses.

The bugs themselves didn't bother him too much, some were rather pretty, and the bugs scattered about the room didn't pose much of a threat while dead. However, large numbers of dead insects were not a good omen and Dreams wanted to leave the room more so because of that superstition.

On his way trying to exit, he heard a "I'm not here," promptly slipped on a large worm, and ended up in a tangled pile with someone he failed to take notice of when he entered the room.

Dreams-of-Dawn had gained several bruises in the fall, but other than that and his stuffy nose he was relatively intact. He rolled over, wincing at the crunch and oozing of another bug. Hopefully it wasn't poisonous, although he was sure it's guts all over his hide would spawn a rash later. "M'okay," Dreams mumbled as he stood up, attempting to shake off some of the bug slime in the process.

"M'nose is gonna be stuffy for-ever now." He frowned before asking, "You okay too?" Dreams shivered, feeling some of the gook on his back slither downward. "Uck. We should get outta here as soon as possible." The buck gave himself a shake again. "M'name is Dreams-of-Dawn, by the by."

Pieces' first step had him squishing a rather large worm - it's innards splashed upwards, and he hastily backed away, experiencing some slippery blood-trodding deja vu. He relaxed when he realised it was not a puddle of blood...but felt increasingly uneasy as he scanned the room, floor almost swarming with more crawling things to unpleasantly squish, and piles of insects that could get very dangerous indeed in large quantities. He eyed the wasps, chivalrously moved in front of his sister (while gently kicking worms out of the way) and started, "Well -"

The murmur of voices interrupted his brotherly intentions and he squished more unlucky worms in his panic.
"Good Swampmother the bugs are talking," he whispered in terror, now afraid that some gigantic spider or something would devour them for their impertinence.

He found himself peering at the beetles as well, and caught himself just as he started to tilt his head for a better view, trying to recall how a ladybird looked like and what the difference was - no no no, Pieces, focus! Goodness, Re-wind could really get caught up in the small, fascinating things. "At least it's dead," he said hesitantly, of the fossilised insect, and squinted in the dark to locate exactly where the bucks were. Perhaps he should talk to them, and Stealjaw could get a better look. "Let's go ask those talking bucks then, since they seem chatty enough." He smiled at his compatriots, and started to slough his way through the littered floor.

Nothing you can catch. That was good. I think. Or not. The buck decided he had best keep a little distance between them. He was not going to tempt anything when it came to his health. All right so he wasn't likely to tempt anything ever but that wasn't the point.

"What little thing took what?" he asked. It was then he noticed nothing had bumped into his legs and his brow creased in thought. Had his turtle not followed him in then? Oh bother. He turned his head, he really didn't want to leave this room but if his turtle was out there lost bumping into random kimeti for lack of sight or sense or simply silliness (his name was Bump Into You) then maybe he should find it.

The sound of more voices stopped his thoughts. Yes, who was there? Not his turtle. "Hello..." he offered though he was starting to feel more like saying good-bye and leaving the cave behind entirely. Where was the courage (stupidity would work, too) he'd had during the flood?

Dreams pondered the question for a moment "I'm not exactly sure, really. It was...Shadow-y. And very fast." He nodded, deeming his vague description satisfactory. Dreams didn't have any pets, and the little thief didn't look like any creature he'd seen before. With his luck, it was a ghost or some bad spirit. His stomach turned. The superstitious buck really, really hoped it wasn't anything unordinary.

"Hullo there." Dreams sniffled again, feeling another sneezing fit about to come on. This buck didn't seem unordinary, nothing to worry about. Although his up-beat tone could be considered out of place in this creepy environment. "Not many, from what I've seen at least. I was just leaving though, bugs make me -" ASHSNERK! "sneeze."