Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sound never leaves the den under the mangrove, as if it kept within the garden by the thickly tangled vines, moss, and mangrove roots. For the doe that lives here, the constant hum and drone of the garden has become a silence all its own, and silence has become deafening. The walls have grown so thickly, so tangled, that a kimeti doe left a larval sac in here among the branches not a season ago, and it was only found when it ruptured, spilling a foal onto the ground.

Had she not found the foal then, it might have died, and after nearly losing a son to the bugs and crawling things before, it was not her wish to lose another. Especially when it turned out to be a grandchild.

Other kimeti might have cleared a path into the garden at that point, but Beetleshell has left it wild and overgrown. Concealing and protective. It may appear abandoned except for the rhythmic buzz of insects, but off to the interloper's left, a rising drone signals something large has taken flight. A giant wasp suddenly rises over the top of the garden, altering its course to hover in front of him: the thing is nearly as big as his torso, and its insectile eyes gleam with alien intelligence.

Wasps should not posture. Wasps should not wordlessly demand to know what one is doing near their territory, but the things are still new to Matope. It could, after all, just be curious.