Welcome to Gaia! ::

River Stone entered the room, tail swishing behind her slowly as she adjusted her eyes to the steam of the spring. The darkness was bad enough, bu she could identify the shapes of other kimeti in the room already, looking in the direction of something on the ground. Not wanting to draw too much attention to herself she shyly walked around the edge of the room and made her way to the bubbling waters.

"Do you... think a ghost could live here?" She turned to ask Humble, peering down to try to see if there was anything in the dark depths. When the steam rolled away and revealed the bones she gasped, a little frightened but mostly excited that maybe a ghost really was here! River scooted out of the way so that her partner could see. "It's not a complete skeleton, but... Maybe they drowned."

The blue buck had followed close behind River, pleased to finally have some company. The darkness didn't scare him much, and the steam was actually pleasant - it was warm, and Humble preferred things warm.

"I suspect a ghost might certainly live here. It's warm and cozy, and if I was a ghost I would want to be somewhere warm and cozy." Well, it was true... He wanted to live somewhere warm and cozy ALL the time. As River scooched aside, Humble blinked, staring down at the bones.

"Whoa..." Suddenly things were not quite as pleasant as he had thought before. Bones sticking up from water... Water that they were far too close to for comfort. "Yikes... I don't know, River. If you were a ghost, would you want to hang out around your own body?"

As they entered the cavern, Sing You Home did not stop her forward progress towards the middle group until Blinding Light’s words brought her up short. “What is in the room?” She trotted back over, peering closely up into his face and looking for some recognition within his gaze. She got nothing. “My apologies, cousin Light! I did not realize you could not see.” The Acha turned back to look at the gathered Kimeti. “I will be your eyes today.” She announced proudly.

“There are currently nine lovely Kimeti gathered around what looks like a bubbling pool of water. Better not fall in there. Hang on let me get closer…” Sing trotted towards the group. “Excuse me, excuse me, cousins!” She looked down at the neatly arranged pile of bones. “They are looking at a skeleton.” She called back to Blind, sounding quite pleased and not at all perturbed.

“Cuddles! Leave the dead thing alone!” Her sudden exclamation was tempered by a very fond look at the sand dog that had wriggled up alongside her. Cuddles waggled her tail happily and looked out at all the gathered Kimeti, a bone clamped firmly in her mouth.

Her attention was snatched by a newer entrant to the cave and Sing smiled pleasantly at Nocturne. “Perhaps I could help you. My Cuddles is a hunting dog from a very find lineage. I’m sure she could locate your Jolly.”

Wings blinked almost fearfully as a strange kimeti walked up to her, before a Cousin interceded. Oh, thank goodness, she thought to herself, letting her head hang slightly in relief. She hated it when kin questioned her directly. She couldn't answer, and that meant a lot of complication.

But the kimeti that the green cousin had been talking to... he was backing up, and bumped into someone, seeming totally bewildered. She blinked, stepping over. "..." Let me help. She walked up to the buck, clicking her hooves in a very obvious, way (she hoped it was a nonthreatening one) and, pressing herself shoulder against his, so that she could maybe guide him to one of the empty parts of the foggy cavern.

So many words, thoughts, sounds, feelings... All of them flooded through Blinding Light's mind, and first and foremost, he nodded an apology, beginning to shake from all of the contact. Maybe coming to the cave hadn't been such a good idea after all..? Who was he kidding. He knew it wouldn't be, and yet, he had been drawn to it like a fly to honey.

"Y-Yes... I am sorry." And when the other doe silently pressed up against his flank, the buck nearly flipped, but upon feeling her friendly energy, he was immediately pacified. This doe was strange. He could not feel the hum from her throat like the others... Could she not speak? Upon being backed up away from the water, he let down a portion of his guard, his eyes blindly searching for the doe's face, and when his mind focused on the shape of energy that was most likely her head, he nodded a thanks, his voice low enough for only the female to hear, as to not embarrass her.

"Do you not speak? ... My name is Blinding Light." How was the doe to relay her name, then..?

The noises were simple. They reminded him of the songs he heard the native creatures sing-- The winged ones. The birds. Was she trying to tell him her name? The energy the doe gave off suggested such, and so the blind buck played along, actually enjoying the female's company, where he would normally feel guilty for burdening someone with his lack of sight.

"Bird. Is that all?" Blind wasn't sure if Bird was her actual name, or just part of it, but either way, he knew that was what he would call her by from now until they parted ways. His tail swished gently as his ears perked up to the bubbling noises coming from the water, and he sighed, knowing that he would have to investigate further, but... it would be rather terrifying to be that close to the water with all of those bodies around. Knowing his luck, he would get knocked in, and drown.

Double-Stripe found herself pushed forward with the sudden influx of arriving kin before she could reply to the silver doe's compliment. Soon, she was close enough to see the skeleton clawing out of the bubbling pool - the bleached white bones weren't a terribly gruesome sight at all, really, and only mildly interesting. "Oh, there is a skeleton here!" she cried, unfazed, and turned to the newcomers. The green Acha, apparently called Sing, aiding a blind buck and scolding her lovely little dog for making his fortune of the decorations. A brown and blue doe and a dark blue buck kept close on the edge of the crowd, and soon the mute doe and the blind buck separated as well. A gray and violently purple doe nosed about in the steam for her Jolly? A pet, it could be assumed. Double-Stripe waited on the edge of the crowd and watched.

If Double-Stripe was feeling overwhelmed, it was nothing compared to the fierce panic rising in Twostep's tiny heart. He didn't know what was going on, or where his friend was, who any of these people were, or why it was so wet and hot. He buried his head in the nearest leg, sad and confused and scared.