Soft, moist steps filled the silent swamp. Bright white eyes stared up at the tree branches above. This place was... disgusting to say the least. But.. at least it was damp. Her people normally liked staying around water, just to be safe. No one liked drying up. It was quite painful after all. Esmeray didn't have a sense of smell to sense a border with, but she could see the many many footprints left in the dirt. Even if they were washed away with rain and movement in the underbrush, their soul was still there. She could practically taste the residue left over from the many many paws that have rested here. The strange creature tilted her head, blinking away the tears from the corner of her eyes. Might as well take a resting stop then. They must have stopped for some sort of reason.

  The smooth cat-like creature then sat, staring off into the distance, a charming (but slightly creepy) smile spread across her muzzle. She had a small head of hair and bangs that hung around and over her forehead, barely brushing over her eyes. Her skin was sickeningly smooth, though it had the illusion of fur and fuzz. Her eyes were bright and wide, always curled up in a joyful meaner despite the tears that constantly formed and fell from their sockets. She blinked, idlely reaching up to wipe the liquid away from her white eyes. The cat hummed a quiet tune under her breath, slowly swaying back and forward. Whoever was here, their destiny was fulfilled. Hopefully her's would be too. It would be nice to rest again.

//I rewrote this like 3 times im sorry if it reads poorly my next posts will be better

"SPEECH"

  Esmeray tilted her head. Stop crying? ... Boy if only it were that simple. The cat creature reached up, wiping away the tears again. I cannot. She responded simply, her smile never fading away. She had been crying for millennia. She was fairly sure it was her heart bleeding that caused it, where ever it was. It obviously wasn't here with her. She wouldn't be bleeding with so. And she would have pupils. Those would be nice to have again. It was slightly annoying seeing the same amount of light at all times. The sun hurt her eyes while she couldn't see in the dark. It was hard.

  She had to admit, she wasn't expecting to see a panther of all things. Especially one with wings. Esmeray tilted her head, humming quietly in the back of her throat. She could feel her heart beating far, far away as she called her power to her core, watery wings sprouting from her back to mirror Anima's. She turned back to the feathers, reaching up to comb her paws through them. ... Hmm. Nope. Not a trait she was interested in keeping. The feathers exploded, forming into white puddles on the ground, soaking into the dirt. Small sprouts grew where the liquid dropped. She slowly turned back up, wiping her eyes for the third time.

  She was silent for a few moments before replying. I'm not sure, She spoke in an almost alien tone, Many people have waited here before, for reasons I'm not sure why, so I waited as well to find out. Her tail tapped against the floor as her shoulders squared up, her smile growing. And here you are! Are you a prophet? What is a "tanglewood?" she questioned.

"SPEECH"

Tanglewood attracted many interesting people. It was actually rather intimidating for Mira. The girl was already easy to intimidate in the first place, but she felt out of place among all of the fantastical people that had found their way to Tanglewood.  It wasn't like she could complain, though. As uneasy as she was, the people here made life interesting, and she wanted to protect them as much as she could.

Upon hearing Anima conversing with a complete stranger, Mira arrived at the scene, in time to catch the odd wing formation. Wait, she could just will the wings to grow an disappear? People's powers were rather amazing these days. Mira stood there for a few moments, afraid to approach until the stranger spoke up. "H-hey. Tanglewood's a group. We all sorta, uh - live together, protect each other. Kind of like a family, you know?" she rambled on about the clan, dipping between sounding nervous and calm. Was she giving a good explanation of her home? Mira sure hoped so, but maybe it didn't sound good to anyone else.

"family my ass. it's more like a bunch of idiots who decided to camp together," he idly stated, coming over in large, confident strides. he had lived here for a few months already, and he had come to realize that most people here were shitty. some weren't, of course, but the vast majority unfortunately were. they weren't fit for the bloodline, clearly.

malphas padded next to mira, not having much of a relationship with her. they were both medics, of course, but malphas was better at working alone. "anyways- what the fuck are you? you're not even a real fuckin' animal." he knew he couldn't stop her from joining- his idiot clanmates liked to accept anybody who asked nicely- but he wanted to let her know that just because he was a medic didn't mean he was some sort of soft boy. "if i pushed you into the swamp, would you just disappear?" he asked, a malicious grin spreading across his face. 

While agreeing with Malphas felt like a kick to the balls, Arrow had to begrudgingly admit they really were a bunch of morons in an abandoned town launching themselves over gators with the tree branches and otherwise cheating death every day. Except Mira, she was good. Not an idiot.

[color=#31b94d]"What....are you?" Maybe that intro was a little rude, but in her defense this was one of the strangest beings she had come across in the hell swamp. Arrow watched the puddles grow sprouts for a few moments, blinking in disbelief. Was no one else seeing this? Or was everyone just desensitized to this weirdness? Hell, maybe the winged panther, the so called prophet was one of the stepping stones to this. Also Amunet the god. Arrow was like the leader of the dumbass brigade when it came to the intellect of Tanglewood, but she could point out was was strange and not just another normal ass addition to the swamp club. [color=#31b94d]"Yeah, we're fucked." Arrow shook her head, trying to keep her thought process on track.

"[color=#31b94d]speech"

  Esmeray smile grew slightly. So this is what those before her were waiting for. Well. It was nice to see so many different happy faces. She scanned each one. So many souls with different traits and personalities. It was delicious to see. She giggled quietly, her shoulders squaring up. They all seemed confused on what she was. What were they talking about? She was a cat, just like them. No more, no less. This "tanglewood" place seemed nice.

  I am Esmeray. She answered their questions, keeping her answer purposefully vague. They asked what she is. That is what she is. Esmeray. Nothing else more. She slowly turned to Malphas at his second question, tilting her head. No? She hummed, I would just be very very wet. Just like a normal cat. Because that's all she was. A normal cat. And normal cats join "tanglewood"s right? That is what she shall do as well. She turned back to Mirabelle, her white eyes staring through her. May I stay here with the rest of you? She asked.

"SPEECH"

for once, arrow agreed with him, and malphas shrugged. "i mean. i literally cannot stop you from joining or beck will display my corpse in the middle of camp for weeks-" he shuddered, not ever wanting to piss their leader off. malphas was devoted to tanglewood and wanted only the best to join, but beck didn't really agree with that. "so... i guess. whatever. you're still a fuckin' freak though."

he paused, realizing he had to introduce himself. "anyways- the name is malphas. i'm a medic here." he said, somewhat softening up a bit. was his anger just misdirected self-hate? "so.. if you need anything, uh.. come see me, i guess."