Welcome to Gaia! ::

Relonyrd had spent years here. This was his home, his place. This was his stretch of sea bed and he knew every inch of it. As he had grown he had chased out every conceivable threat to his domain. He had turned his attention to the grounds and cultivated thick beds of kelp and flowering sea moss. All in all, he was positive that he had made fertile grounds for his future family. For a betta that had hatched alone, Relonyrd believed he had come very far on his own.

As he combed through the sands along a kelp garden, some sunfish grew startled and dashed away. Blinking, Relonyrds side fins immediately flared out in anticipation of a battle. His long finned tail snapped through the water, and he swam through the kelp to find...

MALE!

Instinctively Relonyrd inhaled a deep breath and flared his fins in challenge of that dark skinned Mer. He may have been a bit bigger, but Relon had far more passion and fight in him then any mere Nymph could possess! "This is my territory!" He declared.

The fact the male didn't event attempt to rise to his challenge was almost disappointing. Relonyrd felt denied his first match. The sharks he had driven off had been small mostly harmless things really, and there had been nothing else to prove himself a strong defender against sense. Relon looked at the cowering male and eyed his hands. He was clutching something and whispering to it. Furrowing his brows, he gave his tail a sharp snap and pushed himself closer to the male.

His words were cowardly and weak. He didn't think this male possessed any sort of fighting spirit with how pitiful he was acting. "Not until you tell me why you came here." He demanded. Well..he was finally dealing with one of his own kind wasn't he? He wasn't going to let him slip away like a slug among his kelp! He had to make certain he wouldn't creep back to try and take his things!

A new home? Relon felt a great swelling of pride that his well maintained territory would clearly appeal to the male. Of course he liked this place! It was a perfect place to...raise..a...child? Relon's side fins lowered a little as he leaned in to look at the shell. His nose wrinkled as he glanced from the shell to the male.

"Where is the mother?" He demanded. A mother should never be parted from her shell...even a bad mother should be allowed to have her shell. It was the responsibility of the mother to carry and keep the shell close to her.

And...the fins went down all the way. Well...this changed everything. Relonar started to look the male over a bit more closely. With a flick of his fins he circled around him. Well..he was pretty enough, even for a monotoned Nymph. "I see. Your a girl boy." He replied with a thoughtful nod of his head.

So now it all became so clear to him. This female male was looking for a place to raise her shell, and of course she had come here. His place was meant for shell raising! Relonar snapped his fingers and found himself smiling brightly. "Allright then. I agree."

Hmm... the girl boy was a bit dim. That was fine. He honestly did not care. This one would clearly be the first of his family and that mere fact was enough to make Relonyrd look past such flaws. With a spreading of his hands, he made a shooing motion off towards a large stone spire.

"I accept you. Your looking for a new home. I have a perfect home. I have a nice warm and safe sandy spot for your shell. I have a kelp garden inside my grotto for the baby to play in. I have plenty of edible plants planted around here. You can't remember the father of your baby, I will be the father. We just won't tell it otherwise." He rather proudly declared. "I accept you as my mate and I'll take care of you. You will be the first in my family."

Still feeling mighty proud of himself, and of course seeing the ease that the girl boy was accepting this, only fed into his feeling of triumphant pride. Relonyrd moved around behind Rowan and moved to give him a gentle nudge towards the grotto.

"Rowan? I like that name. It begins with the same sound as mine. I an Relonyrd." He boasted before pointing to the opening in the grotto halfway up the stone spire. "I made the opening there, so that the babies would be safe playing in the kelp garden in the base. I am going to have many many babies and must keep them all very safe so they grow up well." He was just so very excited! Smiling more brilliantly he looked Rowan over. "Are you hungry? Tired? May I hold my baby?"

Relonyrd was terribly excited to show his first mate around. He flitted his fins and darted ahead a little, then turned and came back to circle around Rowan. Once within, he knew he should have given Rowan a run down of the place... but having he other hand the precious shell off to him was far too attention consumeing. Relon accepted it with cupped hands. It was so hard to believe there was new life within this shell!

With a flick of his tail, Relon pointed downwards to the floor of the grotto. "See? There is the garden, and there is the softest sand I could find. I carried it all here myself. It's so we can hide the shell in the sun warmed sand. I have lots of clear shiny stones along the walls of the grotto, meant to catch the sunlight as the sun passes overhead and reflect it down below. "

Smiling with pride, he looked above. "I have about fifty shelf's here. I smoothed them all down so my mates will have comfortable places to rest, and I smoothed the edges so no little hands will get cut on them. I carved niches for belongings. I want to make certain everyone is happy!"