Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shikoba adored the cooler weather. While the Elaria was okay with the heat of summer she simply preferred the evening autumn breeze that sent chills down one's spine. It allowed for perfect afternoon naps with the right temperature and the changing colors of the trees always fascinated her, especially in her new home. It also was a time when some of the Elaria were fond of gathering around a bonfire and telling stories to creep out others and make them especially jumpier around shadows. The thought brought a small smile to her lips as she continued fiddling with some rope around the base of a tree. The Elaria was not usually too social save for whenever it was necessary and kept mostly to herself away from the encampment but when it came to pulling a few tricks well....she was rather fond of them. The Elaria had started crafting a creature of sorts out of leaves and in the darkness of night it would look like a monster or even a ghost floating down from the trees to greet whoever was unfortunate enough to take the path that she had chosen around the encampment.

One could say I'm just simply too bored now that winter is coming. Quipped Shikoba quietly to herself as she continued fiddling with the ropes and then focused on finalizing her creature. She just had to keep stuffing the leaves in the material she had sewn together so that it had a nice plump shape to it. Afterwards they could hang it on a post somewhere to scare away birds from where some of her Sisters had planted herbs and other fall vegetables in a small garden.

[Shikoba 1]

Hmm? Shikoba's gaze widened slightly in surprise as she found someone else had joined her. She had been so occupied with making her creation that the sudden noise nearly spooked her and she found herself biting back a sharp retort when she saw that it was one of the younglings. While she had a bit of a sharp tongue against other Elaria and the Alkidikes, she found herself much kinder towards the newer generation. "I'm making a surprise for others." She replied quietly as she gestured for the youngling to join her. "If you keep it quiet and a secret we can work on it together?" Why not share it with someone else after all? It would definitely speed things up a bit.

[Shikoba 2]

Shikoba let out a laugh at the girl's concern. "Trust me I won't hurt anyone. It's just a simple trick because of the season." She shifted and patted at the ground so that the youngling could join her. "We have stories back on Yael about spirits, something that their earthlings strongly believed in, and during this season the younger ones enjoyed doing pranks." She held up the head of the creature which had some leaves sticking out of the holes she had made for eyes. Eventually she planned on sewing buttons there and adding in a mouth as well but for now she was content with just stuffing the body more to make it plump. Shikoba grinned as she studied the youngling. "I'm not in the encampment that often but my name is Shikoba, little one. I promise that I'm just playing around and once we surprise someone once we can hang it in the fields later to guard our gardens from the birds."

[Shikoba 3]

"Hmm...well it is complicated." Shikoba pursed her lips thoughtfully as she pondered the best way to answer the youngling's question about Yael. "Peace is slowly making things come together but we weren't always on the best of terms with those we left behind in Yael. It's always hard to leave your home but sometimes you have to move forward in order to feel at peace with the world. As for the season? I'm not exactly certain about earthling habits but I know that with it getting darker easier and the cooler weather giving us more free time that many simply get bored." She shrugged her shoulders. She was not completely supersticious like the Yaeli though she had noticed that some of her Sisters did spook easily and somewhat believed in spirits and the like. If she had been able to meet with her Yaeli friend more then perhaps she could tell Kasumi more about their supersticions but for now all Shikoba had were her own assumptions. She personally was simply bored. Summer was gone so there weren't as many oppurtunities to go swimming for pearls and similar underwater treasures. She could do some hunting but preferred to do things on her own like gathering berries and herbs. WIth those tasks taken care of why not use her free time in getting a good laugh here and there?

"Birds are surprisingly skittish. When we hang this on a pole it will look like someone is standing watch so they'll be very wary of our fields." Shikoba wiggled the face towards Kasumi teasingly. "I mean would you want to risk getting close to this when you could just fly away instead?"

[Shikoba 4]

"Mmhmm." Shikoba watched the youngling with interest as she contemplated her words about their cousins who still lived on Yael. "It's kind of like we couldn't agree on music....some could tolerate it while others loathed it so much. Those that could tolerate it and others who actually enjoyed it got tired of hiding it from those who hated it and so they went to a place where they could enjoy themselves. Could you imagine never being able to sing or listen to instruments because someone hated it so much?" It was too hard to meet with others in secret and even harder to live in a place so full of hatred. Shikoba still felt anxious just thinking about her mother's cruel nature when it came to earthlings. Would they truly be capable of peace? Either way she wanted to forget about that for now and focus on the prank at hand. "Anyways here we are and now we have you little blooms running about to brighten the island up even more."

A grin crossed her lips at the reaction to the wiggling face. "Exactly! So we're going to test the courage of some of our Sisters with it first and then use it to keep the birds away. Consider it a test? If it scares someone we know then surely it can scare birds, right?" She winked playfully before gesturing towards the body that was resting on the ground. "We just need to stuff some more leaves in it and I can work on sewing on the face."

[Shikoba 5]

Shikoba's grin only widened as Kasumi seemed to get into the idea of testing out the fake creature. "Excactly!" She chuckled as she crossed her legs and picked up a needle from her satchel so that she could thread it and begin working on the eyes. "This way once they get over the surprise we can explain exactly how this little guy will come in handy." She worked on sewing the buttons into place, the gray thread darting in and out of the dark material. Maybe she should also add in some paint or something to make the crimson buttons pop more? Maybe some white so that they truly shined in the darkness....glancing towards Kasumi she held up the face once more, its red button eyes shining in the sunlight. "Now to just paint on a white mouth and some other markings to really give it some personality."

[Shikoba 6]

"Yep!" Shikoba nodded encouragingly as Kasumi started to stuff in the leaves. "Once we get it fully finished I'll hang it on the tree over there and we can wait in the bushes to see who walks into it." She started painting on the white markings and the sharp teeth for a grinning mouth. It truly was a mischevious looking creature for certain! Shikoba was eager to try their prank out and truly hoped that it would startle a few of their Sisters. She glanced over towards Kasumi as she finished painting and smiled. "It looks good. Thank you for your help, Kasumi." It was rare but for once Shikoba was happy for the company. Doing pranks with at least one other person made it more fun since they could share in the suspense and the laughter together afterwards.

[Shikoba 7]