Two owlcats jumped in tandem up and down a skull until an audible snap confirmed their task done. Key chased runaway femurs, rolled around and did the prisoner in a ribcage thing. One owlcat ran off with a rotted off tail leaving a trail of fluff, fur and vertebrae in its wake. Oddly a possessive sort, one owlcat hoarded a pile of hooves. Some loomed over while others played and Glossbones prepped. To the shallow banks of the water he went, towing his possession carefully behind on a long broadleaf. Submerging the skull with his tail, he swished it around to dislodge the loose flaps before bringing it to the upturned tortoise shells. He replaced an old skull with his new one in the briney solution. Hoisting the strong smelling skull with just the tip of his tail, he brought it to a nearby anthill for the final cleaning process. Back he went to the pile of bones to repeat the process, his owlcats pushing a new perfectly intact skull into his path.
Doom watched a short while before wandering over to the log that displayed clean skulls. Kimeti, acha, kiokote and even a totoma skul. The latter one even had small sunflowers for eyes. Looking further down the macabre line she saw some were decorated with vine bearing flowers, stuffed with herbs and dyed and painted if the two other kin's colorful tails were any indication. Sniffing an acha skull she caught a wiff of lavender before a silent buzzing of irritated wasp wings had her spinning to confront River-Swollen. Like most kin, boundaries was a foreign concept. Standing her ground, she eyed the curly brown, spiney doe.
"Careful of that lavender one. It's actually full of powdered wolsfbane to poison trespassers." River-Swollen announced. In Doom's mind she wondered if a celebratory congratulations was supposed to be given on her end or what, she was just perplexed. She was saved the awkwardness by a glowing skull in a hollowed out trunk. It reminded her of the haunted house caves.
Bold, but keen, River-Swollen answered Doom's silent inquiry: "That one has glow in the dark mushrooms in its cavity. But because those mushrooms are a bit tricky to find, and the glow won't last forever, we've also outfitted the eyes with glimmering iridescent beetle wings. So at least once the fire's died out it'll stil reflect still reflect some light" the matteroffactly tone rolling off her lips.
Like a dislocated joint being pushed back into place, Doom had her dilemma solved. She was slinking around the swamp, avoiding the inevitable meeting with Gloom. This was as good as ever an ice breaker.
She eyed their gaunt frames, serpentine and fine silk hair luxuriously hanging off a dangerously skinny tail. Skilled hunters they were not. Even their owlcats, though spry and energetic, made her ghost look monstrously plump in comparison. They were pathetically starving artists in every true sense of the phrase.
"I'll take this skull, but first I'm going for a little run."
