Kala went further than they'd ever gone before. In thirty-five cycles. This was a particularly exhausting but very fulfilling moment for them; they slid lazily through the marsh-waters, using their heavy tail as a makeshift, very slow rudder.

The sights were... well, disappointing. Although it had never really gone far from what it deemed its territory (literally right next to where it hatched), it certainly knew what Cetus looked like, and they were quickly finding out that other parts of Cetus... looked like Cetus.

Not very worth it, if you were to ask their opinion.

But it was an adventurous day, and Kala was feeling... adventurous, maybe. They were certainly going forward, and that must count for something, surely. They couldn't scent anything to eat nearby yet or-- anything different. Until they did.

Something distantly sweeter-- a scent Kala did not often come by --caught their attention when they passed close to an opening in the cave wall. They stopped, hesitated, and then twisted around to crawl out of the water and onto the slightly-shallower-water, ungracefully hauling their way up to land.

Where, again, they stopped.

Sometimes, as Kala had learned, everything was a lot. And sometimes, you just had to stop and process it for a while. A tunnel wasn't exactly something they'd even encountered before-- never mind the smell on top of that. When Kala stopped it wasn't out of laziness (at least, not entirely) but instead out of... adventuring, maybe.

If that's what they were supposed to be feeling.

@Isolde

This was disgusting.

Some part of Isolde had told themselves to wander this way. Some part told them they needed to figure out the caves for themselves, that they'd never know where they were if they didn't do this.

The other parts hated that. This- and, you'd have to excuse their internal dialogue- sucked. If they had a lip to curl back, they would, as their tail lifted up just to keep it from trailing in the muck. They hated the sound of their feet going through the mud, they hated the noise of bugs itching at their flesh, they hated the way the water dared to lap at their spiracles in some of the deepest parts.

All of it was a bit ugh. Hopefully something would come of this excursion.

A new noise drew their attention. Their wings rustled at the distant schlorping of moving feet, ones that mimicked their own as they made their way through. Except, perhaps heavier, and accented by water. Something new, at least, and it didn't sound like one of those idiotic deer lessers.

Isolde huffed out through their spiracles as they approached from the shallow side, curious. Was there a sapient being here? Eyes squinted in the dark as they peered about, looking for a distant something.

With their alien nature, it was clear they stood out- visually, and orally, as they smelled too clean for this place. Even if they were covered in mud.

@Kala

Kala was as quiet as ever, breathing slow, ragged breaths. The smell of sweetness was shifting and melding, they could make out more. Berries, they'd guess, and trees and water that wasn't full of dirt and mud. Adventurous had twisted over into a new feeling, one they were a little more familiar with. Curiosity.

Yes. Curious. That was it. It was a curious smell that made people curious for looking into curious things, such as curiously-smelling tunnels. One foot lifted, and then another, and then Kala began dragging themselves along again, hind legs lazily touching the mud to propel themselves forward.

And then there was a much closer smell. Deer, almost, but bigger-- deer to the left, perhaps. Stronger and clean, quite similar to what it was smelling through the tunnel. They rattled themselves around a little to haul closer towards the creature.

The bark mask hid their eyes, but they could sense it. Too big to eat-- that much was clear to them, but what it was doing here was quite beyond Kala.

Unfortunately, in Isolde's point of view, she only would have seen Kala slowly shambling forward. Looking not-quite-dead but not-quite alive either, stopping only until they were about fifteen feet from their side. This seemed to be as close as Kala was willing to get, a sort of comfortable distance of... many feet.

It did not speak. But it did let out an elongated sort of chuff, half-tangled in with a growl.

@Isolde

The noise- as quiet as it was- was coming closer. Isolde tilted their head to it- or, head-tentacles, whatever was closest- and peered into the dark, struggling to see past the grime.

No. The mud was... moving? Isolde danced back, hissing slightly through their spiracles, a faint buzzing coming through the line. What was that? It had a crest like them, but it was brown and mucky and wrong-

Their jaws rippled uncomfortably, gently clicking as teeth unlocked and rezipped. Even if the stranger had stopped far away, Isolde fluffed up, their wings now audibly rustling with unease. Their crest- small, for now- lowered down like a presented set of antlers, bright eyes squinting past them as Isolde took one step, then another, in the mud, silently watching. She hadn't seen anything like them.

They were like some corrupt counterpart. "Who are you," they hissed, voice level and buzzing with a manufactured air with it, no malice meant behind it. "You have a-- crest. Like me." There was hesitation in their voice. Was crest the right word? It looked like their's, anyways.

But they weren't built like Isolde. Were they truly some sort of mirror, or was that simply a fascination Isolde had created?

@Kala

Kala may be stupid.

Well, you could probably just end it there. But they knew what it was to be uncomfortable with someone's mere presence. It was a horrible feeling, one of the only few things that could twist Kala's gut over and make them feel ill. It wasn't going to stand around and continue to inflict that sort of thing, even to a stranger.

It had started to turn away again when Isolde spoke. It paused for a long moment before it readjusted itself in the marsh and settled down, folding long, twisted digits underneath its belly.

Crest? It shook its neck and its head, jostling the mask to briefly see. A dozen unblinking eyes briefly came free, all staring at Isolde, before it nudged the mask back over its head with the slightest of absent-minded growls.

That didn't seem right, to Kala.

"Kala," it said after a full minute of dead silence; but seemed hesitant to add anything further than that. It hadn't seen anything as-- white as Isolde before, nor really, as clean.

It shifted, and then it let out a rumbling sigh. It didn't seem to have anything more to add, for now.

@Isolde

Isolde lifted their head minutely when Kala had settled in. Was it... Comfortable? Their head reared back fully at that, twisting slightly in faint curiosity. The crest had moved- and eyes were underneath, and Isolde squinted their four back to them. So, it wasn't a crest.

A mask? One of Isolde's front hooves lifted, then slinked back in the mud, giving an outlet for the thoughts rattling in their mind. Kala. "I am Isolde," they had responded- which was fair, correct?

They were quiet beyond that. Well, relatively quiet- they were still sinking into the mud, rustling their wings before stretching them out experimentally, feeling for the dull light across the caves. There wasn't much. They'd do better to suntan in Cepheus. Huffing out a snort, Isolde's neck reared back slightly, the moment hanging on. Kala wasn't one for conversation, it seemed, and neither was Isolde.

They guessed one of them had to say something. James had asked if they were palace 'staff', and his purpose was being a visitor to Cepheus, and so they extended this sense of needing a purpose to Kala. But, what was it for them? If Isolde looked like palace staff, then was Kala... Swamp staff? They couldn't imagine having that job.

And so, with a rumble, they spoke out with "What do you do here?" It could be taken any way with their lack of inflection.

@Kala

Kala checked out.

Not because it didn't like Isolde, or was looking to be intentionally rude-- but it felt quite content. Their head rested down in the mud and stayed there. If they had eyelids, they'd all be closed over. In short: Kala was Vibing.

Whatever Isolde was doing (sinking, stepping, flapping their wings around) was beyond them, currently. There was a long rumble and a series of half-abrupt, gunshot-like chuffs that came from its throat, alarming but ultimately quite cheerful noises. Or as cheerful as any noise coming out of Kala could sound.

This continued until Isolde was speaking again.

It shifted and hissed almost irritably, like a bear disturbed from its rest. Its head half-turned for Isolde again, staring through the mask.

What it did here wasn't a question it'd ever really considered before, and some thirty seconds later it had come to the conclusion that it didn't actually do anything. It ate here, and it slept here, and that was it.

There was no real existential crisis for Kala to come from this, however. It couldn't have given less of a shit about greater purpose or life fulfilment. Kala was alive and that was damn well enough for it.

"Survive," it growled back. "What is it... to you?"

@Isolde

Isolde waited for a response.

And they waited.

And, eventually, Kala had responded. Or, well, they had, but they certainly hadn't been happy about it. Isolde's mouth worked, clicking as it moved, trying to decipher the intentions behind Kala's words.

"Nothing," Isolde eventually hissed back absently, looking to Kala. They let in a sharp breath. They still didn't like Cetus. They weren't sure that they even liked Kala. But, they took a small, calculated step forward, their eyes never leaving the massive figure before them.

And they sunk to the ground. Their teeth clicked more as mud crawled up their sides, their pelt shuddering at the ick. The water here felt nasty in their spiracles, and they hissed out bubbles from their sides as their system switched to the new medium.

Perhaps this would calm them. ... Why did they want them to be calm? Why were they even still here? They rumbled, pawing at the muck below them and staring at Kala, before eventually turning away.

They didn't have anything else to say, and Kala seemed content to be in silence, so that's what Isolde would give them.

@Kala

Nothing. Okay.

Good enough for Kala.

It was happy, but that didn't accent itself in any way other than not moving away from Isolde. It was silent, but it was laying there with very soft, contented rumbles vibrating from its throat, in some brief approximation of a purr, perhaps.

It didn't sleep-- at least not yet. There might have been some distant desire to savour the company of someone else for once in its life, at least in a way that it actually liked.

But ultimately, it did absolutely nothing.

@Isolde
exit kala bc it wont do anything else i think

Isolde waited again. And nothing happened, truly, this time, as Isolde folded their neck back like a swan winding down, resting their head on their neck and glancing to Kala.

They were both content. It actually wasn't half bad here, Isolde marveling, studying Kala gently to remember them. Perhaps they could come back. It would be nice to see a friendly face (or mask) again, wouldn't it? In the end Isolde found themselves doing nothing, too- they weren't sure how long it would be until they moved again, but they could spread out their wings and simply bask in the low light of the swamp.

They'd like to come back. That would be, perhaps, more than nice.

;exit because isolde's not gonna do anything either for a while either-