Welcome to Gaia! ::

Untold Wishes walked slowly through the ashen swamp she now called her home, her head held high with quiet pride. Although her eyes watered slightly she still kept her regal and graceful air she always had about her. A sense of relief filled her as the smoke started to thin and clear, and she kept heading in that direction. It wasn't long before she heard the movement and voices of others and her curiosity peaked. She shook as she finally reached the clearing, ash falling out of her mane and tail. "So much better," She crooned softly to herself. She trotted lightly over to the mound she saw in this clearing, with ever different kind of kin crowded around it, considering it silently. Strange, the dwellers of this swamp were, but if she were to live here she'd have to learn.


Perpetual Motion was less elegant than Untold Wishes. He ran through the swamp, wondering at the fire, at how it burned, why it burned, how it knew where to travel or if it was just wild and chaotic. No, everything had a reason and some logic behind it. Despite his curiosity, he could only take so much of the heat and smoke, and he made his own way to the clearing he'd heard others talk about that had already been ravaged by the fire and others were already building. Building and inventing was his specialty, of course he was there! He shook violently when he got there, spraying ash, dirt, and soot everywhere and causing a small scene. He didn't care, though, who looked at him. He was a spectacle and everyone should have the chance to see him at least once in their lifetime, right? He held his head high as her surveyed everything - everything and everyone. Everything his eyes alighted on his brain took apart and put back together in a moment. He watched those that continued the repairs of building the mound at the same time considered the space and supplies he saw around. "I've got a great idea~!" He announced enthusiastically, because of course everyone was listening to him, "Any able-bodied builder come with me~ this will make everything vastly easier!"

Praise? Praise was quite worth interrupting a conversation to hear. Very often when someone spoke to him it was to ask him to move or mind his step or to stop staring through them. Praise was a welcome change and Leaves' ears lifted a little in unvoiced pleasure. "Yes, hello," he said in return. "And thank you. We must make certain that all is as it must be." He stamped a hoof against the same spot a few more times, then gave himself a good shake and turned the rest of his attention on Wanwood.

Oh. And on the mass of others that had arrived since he'd last noticed. "Oh. Shades. I've been standing here a while. I hardly noticed -- well. Of course I noticed but I didn't at the same time, and -- yes. Hello."

Seafoam Voices was terribly late. Fashionably so she liked to think- As the reason she was late was draped ever so carefully across her back. There on her hide lay the most beautiful reeds, flowers, and grasses from the swamp and desert both. Her main purpose? Making the mound as beautiful as she could. Stepping up to the elder of her tribe she miled brightly and proudly at Meets and Sand before prancing about the mound to delicately decorate the growing pile. As she worked the acha did what she did best and sang of the dunes of the desert in her soft, bubbling, voice.

Despite his misgivings about being an appropriate spokesman, the doe nonetheless seemed engrossed in thought over the matter. When her intense stare wandered past him, Spindrift took a deep, self-congratulatory breath, relieved that she appeared more or less satisfied. Still, any more searching questions and he was resolved to make an excuse and take his leave. No sense in getting pinned down by an uninformed bystander this early into the day. He gave a surreptitious glance around, looking for just such a pretext in case her curiosity was inflicted upon him again. More kin met his eyes than he'd seen when their conversation had first begun, some late-risers and later-arrivals joining in the festivities.

Thankfully, her next words were not another question, but instead an appeal. The buck swelled at the prospect, his grin stabilizing again, this time with a slightly indecent edge. Show her, she said. Now that was an occasion he could rise to. "Baby, are you asking the right guy. I'm practically Mister Fun and Frolic." His tail curved slightly, the tufted tip angling toward her like a dowsing rod, testing the waters. He was so used to her wordlessly turning aside his advances that the sudden acknowledgement took him off guard. His forward progress jerked suddenly back, and the buck barked out a laugh after a startled second, eyes glittering with suppressed mirth. "I think my feelings are hurt. At least a little stung: think bee sting and you've got an idea." He gave her a once over, then sighed in mock sorrow over the loss. "Can't blame a buck for trying, eh?"

He turned aside after that, gesturing to indicate she should follow. "Lucky for you, I'm good for the regular fun stuff too. Or so I've been told. You hungry?" The "marlin" that everyone was fussing over was around here somewhere, dragged out of the ocean's belly and salted to taste. It was a little unnerving to look at, for all that its days of skewering creatures were finished, but he wasn't about to let that ward him off. And no one would miss a little meat harvested from under the fin.



After the disaster of his last few mutterings, Wan was prepared to be ignored for the better of everyone gathered there. He missed the quiet of his den with an almost physical ache, hoping that it had been spared by the fire even as he contemplated its unintended effects. The destruction had chased many otherwise solitary creatures out into the open, for instance, giving him a first look at species that had previously been considered extinct. It had been the rumor of the flame-borne salamanders that had lured him to the Mound in the first place, eager to see them for himself. Why he insisted on torturous interactions with others of his kind as well was beyond him. There had been no such requirement that he was aware of, and it was not as though he had any practice at it.

But then he was being spoken to in return, and Wan forced himself to look up again, his gnarled horns weaving uncertainly through the air. The kin whose work he'd hindered did not come off as perturbed, instead politely replying to his greetings and even... thanking him? Nonplussed, he nodded a little too enthusiastically to show his agreement with the spoken sentiment, only half-comprehending what had been proposed. "Ah, yes, of course. Return everything to its proper order, and all." He straightened up from his slouch, then remembered his substantial height and ducked his head again. No sense in making the other feel threatened, even if it was a purely visceral reaction.

Mention of shades drew his attention over his shoulder, assuming that the other buck meant someone in particular. No one individual stepped forward, however, and he turned back to be slapped with yet another stream of babble. His social skills were certainly rusty, a reality he lamented as he struggled to keep up. "Sort of busy here, isn't it?" he offered, hoping that was an adequate response to whatever had just been said. Then, after he had worked his jaws a bit to build up some confidence, "I'm called Wanwood, by the way. Or Wan, if you'd prefer." No one had ever called him by his full name, save for once, and that had been a special occasion.

He towered above her, admiring every single detail. To be any closer the buck would have to be right on top of her. “You are truly sublime. So very delicate.” Watch Me was thoroughly enamoured and completely unaware he was terrifying the poor Acha. “What is your name?”

Before he could get the answer he wanted, Story’s saviour recovered and shouldered her way in between them. Keep True pushed against the Kiokote’s chest, blue eyes narrow with anger. “Back off you! Get away from my sister!”

“Oh dear…” Watch Me stepped backwards, giving his head a shake of apology. “My enthusiasm got the better of me. Your sister is truly lovely. I only want to ask her a question.” Through the exchange he did not even look at Keep True, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on Story.

Caught in the Kiokote's blinding stare, Story could not break the gaze. Her limbs, however, were rather more self-possessed: they started moving of their own accord, quick, shuffling steps that brought her fully behind Keep True, till only the top half of her head could be seen. With the wide blue eyes still caught by Watch Me's own, the tiny, quivering voice emerged, "Y-y-you m-must have m-m-mistaken me for s-somebody else."

Seafoam Voices placed the second to last of her found beauties amongst the ash and mud of the mound, finishing her song as she did so. With a bright smile, she turned to face her clanmates and was pleasantly surprised to see Slide there as well. One would have thought she'd had noticed him barely three footsteps behind her... Laughing, she danced her way over to the three of them and stopped just shy of Sand- "Oh my darling dune-sister, you're covered in swamp!" She was, of course completely oblivious to the fact that she was as well. Still, as she made her declaration she settled her last water lily behind Sand's ear. "Perfection."

Turning her attention to the two Legendary kin that made up the head of her new home, her brows furrowed and she scanned the area as best she could. "Are the others not coming?"