Welcome to Gaia! ::

For Speak Softly, it didn’t matter if there was anyone there or not to listen, she would happily chatter away to the plants and the bugs, and since anyone she spoke it rarely got a word in edgewise she rarely seemed to notice the difference.

“A cat.” She looked greatly, greatly amused when the lithe, beautiful beast was reprimanded. “I have never seen one before. Not one like this. They came with the Kiokote, right?” She grinned. “I know my stuff. Or some stuff.” She glanced at the Acha again. They must be new indeed for her not to know about them.

Looking back at Guide she watched him slink under the buck and giggled, moving closer until she had pretty much stuck her own head under his belly. “He’s a little shy.” She whispered (loudly) and then addressed the poor Cheetah. “Don’t worry! I don’t bite.” Maybe a bit of flattery would work. “You have very nice spots.”

Glow pressed even closer to her brother, causing her moth to flutter from the uncomfortable closeness to someone that wasn't its owner.

"Searching... it's ok, look, she's not mad anymore, so it's ok, let's just go, we don't have to keep fighting."

Glow really didn't want to fight, she really hated being scared in fights, especially when she could be having fun.

"Please Searching, let it go, let's go watch everyone, ok?"

She pulled away from him and walked a few feet away, hoping he would decide to follow. She thought she could distract him further.

"Searching, there's someone here that isn't either kimeti or kiokote, let's go and see! Can we please?"

Shadow shivered in delight, enjoying the doe's light ministrations. And as the doe stepped away slightly, he made a small sound of displeasure. "My name is Iridescent Shadow," he murmured. "As far as I know, no one has left me. I was on my own to begin with, ever since I woke up in the swamp. I've just been wandering and I saw people were all walking in one direction, so I followed. And there was the huge noise...and...well, I've never seen another kimeti before..." The tiny colt let the sentence trail off as he became distracted by the many flashes of color all around him, but there wasn't really much else to say, either. There were countless kimeti, as well as other races he'd never seen nor heard of before.

The smaller creatures in particular caught his attention, as did their dogs. They seemed so lively and energetic, and Shadow wondered how such a tiny thing could must be so excited. He himself was almost bigger than the creature and he had never felt an energy like that in all the months he had been alive.

Until the doe had brought it upon herself to defend the outsider, Riddle had contemplated offering the Acha a truce -- after all, he was proving himself to be timid, slight and quite entertaining. Other Kimeti weren't afraid of Riddle, not on first glance. It took a few sarcastic remarks and cleverly disguised insults to grow an aversion to the dark, ram-horned buck. This Acha, though, was put off almost immediately, and it gave him some satisfaction. Like the doe had so bluntly interjected, he was rather rude. Unfortunately, he didn't have it in his guts to disrespect the doe, seeing as how she was very intent on protecting the Acha and to bully a female only made you look like a brute.

"I didn't mean any offense," He said half-heartedly, keeping his eyes fixed on his violet colored counterpart. "Wouldn't you say he's one of the strangest looking little things you've ever seen? I almost mistook him for a foal." He added, chuckling darkly as his sentence tapered. That would be sure to bite both of them the wrong way.

The fair-coated doe nodded her head in gentle silence as the colt spoke, admiring the darkness of his complexion as well as the genuine awkwardness that accompanied every Kimeti of that age. Little ones made her smile. She heard the breath of his story before offering the colt a bit of wisdom, gesturing to the crowd with a bob of her neck. "You'd be clever to relish in this opportunity, Iridescent Shadow, it isn't often you see so many in such a small area." She said, noting small sounds of distress the colt made at her various movements. She stepped closer to him then, feeling that maternal tug once more. "The others call me Caller --" She stated plainly, "And you are very brave to wander towards these strangers without knowing what to expect."

Silent dipped his head slightly in appreciation as the doe moved closer once more. "You can just call me Shadow. Can't say anyone else calls me that, since you're the first kimeti I've actually talked to. And I wasn't brave about anything," he said slowly. "I was just swept away by all the bigger kimeti here. Though I don't know what the rush is about. It just looks like running to me." The young colt wasn't trying to be insulting. He just didn't get the point of it all. Didn't they run enough in their everyday lives? So why bother doing it even more?

He gave a small, tortured sigh. But, I guess if you say I should, I'll try to enjoy it..."



Silent moved forward eagerly, slowly gaining speed, impatient to see the festivities. Pushing ahead of Light she raced up the knoll and skidded around the brush to a stop beside Tomorrow. There, she paused momentarily to take in the sight before her.

"Wow..." she gasped in amazement, awestruck by the crowd milling about in the field below. The rippling of so many colors was mesmerizing and dizzying. To think so many kimeti, of such a variety of color, lived in Matope was hard to even contemplate. Every shade was represented and shown at its best. There was no such thing as an ugly brown or too bright of a pink. Not here.

Among the crowd, Silent noticed a few creatures wandered about that were definitely not kimeti. One type was stockier with a wild mane but no horns. Others were small and could have passed for kimeti foals if it were not for the large horns that adorned their heads.

"What are they?" she asked in a daze, still hypnotized by the colors before her.

Was she expected to hold in her laughter when the colt expressed his indifference to the gathering? Granted, he was very young and had yet to realize the importance of the strangers, and it did seem to be all about bravado, but to Caller it was much more than that. It was a learning experience, really. "Little Shadow," She managed between quiet giggles, "You might not know it yet, but there are creatures here we Kimeti didn't even know existed before this season." Again, she had to stop and laugh. He wouldn't understand the complexity of it. He didn't know until this meeting that other Kimeti existed and he was taking the discovery in stride, as if it were obvious to everyone from birth that there must be others of every walk and way. "Nevermind..." She added, circling him absently. "As for the games, it's all about bucks proving whose strongest. They just want all the does to see how strong they are." That last part came out barely a whisper. She didn't want to embarrass anyone within earshot of her blatant opinion.

Even among the throngs of kimeti and kiokote -- and even some of the acha! the kiokote thought -- there were still lulls in the conversation, brief bits of quiet that would serve quite well. A kiokote, grey in coloring and with a brilliantly-red mane and tail, leapt up onto a rock in the rough center of the giant field. It was the only dry place -- or one of them -- and definitely a place where he'd be heard, if he shouted.

Which he did, planting his feet and sucking in a deep breath, which made his voice come out in a loud roar:

"The Games have begun! First -- a race around the plain, bordered on all sides by trees! You will start from that tree," he nodded towards a huge grandfather cypress, uprooted so that its tangled roots stood in crazy array, "And the first one back to it wins!"

No prizes, as of yet, except the fierce respect of the other kiokote -- which was something in and of itself. To be regarded as a worthy opponent by a kiokote was a great prize; and, for the runner up, several kiokote were busily searching for another prize. It looked like it would be berries, or perhaps something else. Several kiokote were worriedly searching the field, heads all together, trying desperately to come up with something.

Immediately, a wave of kiokote began to head to the cypress, all flashing tails and grins and sparkling eyes. Some bumped into one another in playful taunting.

[ooc: I will post for the start of the race later today, after work! This is a very loose sort of roleplay so feel free to worldbuild and start other events in the meantime. ]