Elisa
Within an intersection of the world tree's branches, a bird's nest sat. Although, it wasn't a regular nest. Even if any birds could get this high above the mortal realms, they would still not have been able to build a nest of this size, let alone lay the massive egg that rested in it. This nest was not an ordinary one, innocent as it might seem. No, this nest was the birthplace of a god. At least, it would be, soon.

Eventually, the egg began to hatch. Cracking, it tumbled out of its nest, falling onto the branch just below. The now-abandoned nest fell apart, hundreds of twigs retreating back into Gaia's branches. The egg itself broke the second it hit the branch, the upper part of the shell only being held up by what was inside. A mass of feathers rolled out from underneath it, revealing itself to the world for the first time.

The newly born god quickly stood up and shook himself, getting rid of all the last bits of the egg shell. Once all of it had been discarded, the pieces dissolved into nothing, leaving behind not a single sign that the egg had ever been here.

Immediately, he began muttering. **"Oh, how odd.. It seems I am here now, hm? Though..."** As he spoke, his hands- the only part of him that did not have feathers- moved through the air, gesturing without purpose. **"Where is 'here'? And.. Who am *I*.. Those are some questions to answer, indeed.."**

He turned around, looking at his surroundings. There wasn't much variety in what he saw; branches and leaves were all he could make out, the thick foliage preventing him from looking out any farther. Well, so much for knowing where he was, then.

**"Unfortunate, unfortunate,"** He muttered. **"Though, there is still another question to answer. Who, precisely, am I... Oh, that is not easy to answer, either."**

Just after saying that, the god's feathers ruffled, and he seemed to brighten up immediately.

**"Oh, but I can!"** He exclaimed. **"I am... A god. Yes, yes, that is right. I am the god of.. Ah, different things. Myself? No, no, not myself. Owls. That is what I am.. And what I am god of."**

He seemed to be testing the words as they came to him, analysing them in an attempt to find what felt right. This went on for a little while longer, with an occasional pause to list all that he had discovered about himself.

**"What I know, what I know... I am the god of Owls and Truth- no, no, of Truth and Owls, that's better.. I am god of Truth, Fact and Owls! But... That is a title, *What* I am. But *Who* Am I, is what I wanted to know, hm? And a question that starts with *Who* Should be answered with a name.. So then, what is my name?"**

His muttering continued on for an even longer time, the God of Truth testing out any names that came to his mind. **"I am.. Leor. No, not Leor. I am.. Muda. No, not Muda.. Am I... Ica, possibly? No, that isn't me either. Hmm, this is harder than I had thought..."** Instinctively, he seemed to know whether the names he called were his or not. Or, more accurately, he seemed to know that these names were *Not* His.

**"Eureka!"** He suddenly exclaimed, without any obvious reason. Throwing his feathered arms into the air, he yelled out: **"I am Vaias! God of Truth, of Fact, of Owls!"**

His strigine head began bobbing up and down, and Vaias made a few small jumps of joy. **"Finally!"** He screeched. **"Here I come, world! Vaias is ready!"**

He quit jumping quickly, already seeming exhausted from the effort. Now, he looked around again, trying to answer the first question he had posed himself. He clicked his beak in disappointment. **"No change, of course.. To be expected. If I were to explore, I would find... Things, hopefully."**

Decision made, Vaias flapped his wings, excited to discover and to learn. Without any trouble, he lifted into the air, searching around for any clues, anything that could tell him where he was.

Before he flew off into any specific direction, however, Vaias's appearance shimmered and became translucent, before splitting into five identical copies of himself. Each of them went their own way; one went north, another east, the third headed south, and the fourth flew east. The fifth, and last copy stayed here, hanging in the air for a few seconds before calmly landing on the world tree's branches.

When he was standing on solid tree again, Vaias continued his muttering. **"Oh, where should I go, then... Hmm. I'll see, it doesn't matter much.."**

Continuing to talk and gesture to himself, Vaias picked a direction at random, and began walking along the world tree's branches. Wherever he ended up, he would likely find at least some clue as to where he was. And if not, well, he had four other versions of himself out exploring. It would be surprising if none of them managed to learn anything.
Leeann
For such a long while Ainbheartach had simply not been. Living but absent from life. It had been countless cycles since he'd left his realm, since he'd left the dark, cold embrace of stone that he'd subverted himself to. He was no longer just a poorly functioning god, but a poorly functioning father. Before he could stand showing his face in his realm, he left it for a time to walk amongst the branches of Gaia with the hopeless motive she'd console him.

He looked far different from the way he had before as a newly born god. He had the same face, but the wild passion in his eyes, the cockyness of his grin, the perk of his step, it was all gone. His form no longer resembled so closely that of his mortals, but instead it reflected what he saw in himself. Sharp fangs and terrible claws, his antlers even having attained a gothic sort of whimsy, tall and thin, bent sharply like the branches of a dry elm. His bones long and thin contorting his body like a wendigo starved of will and life.

This was desolation.
Robert
Aphot's Yggdrasil ghost wandered as if lost, forever drifting towards a destination it would never reach; the eye Aphot never shut, always seeing all that happened, watching the other gods from a distance so close yet so far. Watching Ainbheartach.

The figure slowed its steps to a halt as its gaze came to rest on the hunter god, head tilting like a kitten catching notice of a shiny toy. A face seen so few times, yet belonging to one of the few siblings Aphot found great personal interest in. A sly smile crept across that devilishly innocent visage of his.

*"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."*

The clicking of a tongue carried on a bypassing breeze, nearly intoned in singsong. "Ainbheartach... Why the long face?"

And then Aphot was suddenly quite near him, standing next to him with a pearlescent crescent of a grin. "You look absolutely *Thrilling.* What have you been up to? Still having fun tormenting your little evil ones?"
Leeann
He pleasured the god with the muted hum of a sarcastic laugh while he brought his knees up beneath his chin. The movement was unnatural, though that meant nothing to a god, but regardless, it wasn't fluid, it was choppy, like a running picture missing the center frames. A bagel with nothing on it. Opening a book just for the first page to be the end. It was merely just the beginning movement followed by the outcome, add or subtract choppy mirages of contorted movement between, though for only a passing moment.

"Aphot, if a god is to be put to the responsibility of maintaining a realm, the living things inside of it, and the interpersonal relations, what reason is there for us to have emotion to cloud our judgement? We cannot properly meet peak efficiency if we feel sorrow or rage, and we cannot go through with the difficulties if we experience guilt and fear. If a bowsman can't make a shot because unrest causes his hands to shake, the stag gets away."

He paused and took a breath, gazing at the branch below him.

"I'm tired of chasing that stag, Aphot."