Before Burnie, the mark was only a speech bubble. A thank-you that had not been said yet. It sat on the token and waited, the way an unsent message waits.
The first time somebody actually said it, and let a little supply go to mark that they meant it, the bubble caught light. It turned out the bubble had been flammable the whole time. Nobody had tested it, because nobody had said anything yet.
It grew ears, to hear the next one coming. It grew feet, because the thank-yous were happening in places, and it wanted to be there. The fire settled at the tips of its ears and stayed, which is why Burnie is warm to be near and completely useless as a candle.
It eats nothing. It cannot be bought, sold, staked or farmed. It has no wallet. If every holder in the world doubled their bags tomorrow, Burnie would not grow by one hair. It grows on one input only, and that input is somebody, somewhere, saying thank you and meaning it enough to let something go.
It is the shape of everyone's thank-yous, added up and given ears. We drew it. You are the one feeding it. That is the only arrangement we would be comfortable with, because a mascot that we could grow by ourselves would be a mascot that means nothing.
Burnie's body is the official Wowoo mark, unmodified. We add a face, ears and feet, and take nothing away. The mark is a speech bubble because the whole ecosystem is about something being said.