Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kalakaua 1

He inhaled deeply of the waterfilled air. It was so similar to Matori and yet so incredibly different. He had been born where his two renegade parents had resided in Matori, so far from here, where his Father Ikaika had been raised. His sister's brown skin would have blended better, he stuck out like a big blue thumb. However, he still felt more welcome here than he would have where Kaiko lived, for fear of running into that set of crappy grandparents, they had tried to control his blue dad to within an inch of his life. He was so happy that his parents had found each other and promptly ran away. There they had made themselves a sweet little empire. He was so proud of them. He could only hope that he did them proud.

It was their anniversary coming up and he hoped to gather some much needed spices that he could only get here as a gift. They did love their food. He giggled to himself and wondered what romantic nonsense they were carrying on with. They had been getting more adventurous now that their last set of kids had grown up a bit more. Four was a healthy number of spawn, they had said with love and kindness in their eyes, he was actually surprised they had not had more.

He had been on a few dates but nothing really solid. He was a free spirit his sister said, but he wasn't sure if she had been sarcastic or not. He wanted to see where the wind took him. Adventure was in his blood and he was never happier than on the sea. Matori however would likley always be 'home', no matter where he hung his hammock.

Spices, yes, that was why he was here. He loved the Menehune markets, all shades of browns and greens and a few pops of color. He got more than his share of odd looks. He was a half and half mix, which his bi colored eyes would instantly attest too, and he was tall like both dads, at the upper end of the height spectrum. Though there were many other tall ones here, more so than in Matori where he could pick out Aishans and Kahi's based on height alone.

Kalakaua 2

It was a bustling port market so it would make sense that people were looking more at the stalls than where they were going, he too was guilty of that. He had been looking at food, his snoot following the scent of fish breaded and fried in oil on a stick....who wouldn't want that?

He felt an impact of a much smaller body and looked down to see to his shock and delight a Matorian water tribe woman. It may seem odd but her kind were what he was actually used to seeing everywhere and inside him a small part that he hadn't known had been on edge relaxed.

"No, not at all, I barely felt it, no harm done." He soothed, she looked distressed and that made him a bit sad. She was too lovely to be distressed. Green curls cascaded over bright Matorian skin and lamp like golden eyes glowed with an inner fire from simply the loveliest face. He swallowed. She was so pretty and she was talking to him. He was happy his face was dark so she couldn't see the blush. "I'm from Matori myself, I know I don't look it, but I was born there after my parents moved." He wanted to peer around her hair but dare not invade that sacred veil of mane for her privacy.

"I thought a trip here would be nice before my parents anniversary, there are certain spices that are much easier to get here. I was heading for that stall there, when I must admit the fish distracted me." He rubbed the back of his neck in shame. She stuck out in the crowd like a blue thumb too, but she was so short she would have been able to hide a bit better than his tall self. Oh what should he do?

"Right, yes, my name is Kalakaua, feel free to shorten it if you like. I'm pretty easy going and it is a bit of a mouthful." He looked too at the frowning green and brown faces that seemed less than pleased with them in the middle of the road. He nodded toward the spice stand he had been heading for. "It is just over here, there is a dark brown spice from a certain bark that is ground for meat dishes, its called ansabi and danakiu is also important its like if you crossed a citrus and a mildly hot pepper. My dads will fight over the jars when they are running low on canned danakiu. " He pointed out the spices to the vendor and told him how many of each. "Then there are these leaves, see how smooth they are, that is a kind of wax that you boil off and collect, it helps keep food from spoiling and has some agar capability as well."

He thought all the variety of spices just fascinating, he was fortunate that he had triple the amount of spice exposure, between Dads from two different cultures plus the Matorian cuisine itself. It was visually pleasing to have many spices and palatable. "Ten lard leafs as well please. Aonoki tea and marbled sour fruit and you have everything you need for a classic menehune meal so long as you add more veggies."

He was going to have to get a bag. "There is another seller too, that sells what this fellow doesn't." Just a few differences, some things were harder to come by so the vendors tended to have the basics and a few specialties. He had to admit he liked shopping and it was just that much more fun with another person.

"I thought I was being adventurous by coming here. Belrea would be a leap of faith even for me, their magic is so...fascinating." His eyes lit up, he had found his passion but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in Belrean methods. "What is it like living there? What made you go? I have the travel bug but I think Belrea might be a bit far even for me."

He looked over and saw her distracted perhaps by the music in the background and then she straight up mentioned dance. Hmmm.

"Do you like to dance?" He glanced down at his pile of spices. He was an excellent dancer, he had always been asked by his sisters to step in and be the guy, though some of them were more than capable of playing the roll they would giggle and whine and he would cave and have a good time anyway. Now he enjoyed it quite a lot..and to maybe dance with someone who wasn't a sister...she was short but he could probably make it work.

"I have almost all the spices I need if you want to go and check it out?" His eyes sparkled. He could think of nothing better than to take this lovely matorian belrean flower for a round on the floor..but if she didn't want to dance with a complete stranger that so far had talked her ear off about spices well, who could blame her. No skin off of his shoulders.

He was very much a go with the flow kind of guy. "Belrea sound fascinating and scary, so much reliance on contraptions and magic where magic is pesky in its own way. I'm glad I found my niche." Which happened to be deep water type magic, very scary to most, especially sailors who regarded the ocean with suspicion anyway. Though he couldn't blame them either.

"Magic is wonderful, I was just able to start using mine as well! It is much harder to do than I initially thought but as I am told it gets easier with practice just like everything else so long as we are working to improve in a timely manner."

He leaned over to peer at her face that she was trying to keep away from him.

"Why fight the call to something that you so desperately want to do, I will do my best to keep up, I have been dancing since my early teens, not as long as you but it is the most fun form of cardio besides swimming."

She needed to break out of her well crafted shell a bit and live. He wanted to live every day of his own to the fullest.

"Oh ho! New dances! Well I know moakai and menehune dances only but I could teach them to you if that would be of interest? I'm not perfect but more than passable."

"Follow the music!" Nothing had ever sounded more right either. He hadn't chosen dance as a career but well magic was useful, dance was too but it couldn't summon aquatic creatures to help him on the high seas, if it could he did not know the proper choreography.

"I know a few of the Matori ones, we do go out sometimes." He grinned. He was yanked away toward the music and something in him thought that that was the exact right path he was supposed to take, she seemed to love it so much. He did his best to keep up, she was short compared to him and fast as heck.

He caught up to her eventually and she was already going. He had been hoping to ask for a dance but he thought he still might be able to. For now, he stepped out onto the floor and joined the festivities.

His feet whirled smoothly to the beat and the traditional dance, she was doing really well for a new person, she couldn't have much time to watch but dancing seemed to be in her soul. It was wonderful to see the smooth scarf moves.

Eventually the song ended and as another was about to begin, he offered her his hand. "May I have this dance?" This one required a partner and it was obnoxiously fun.

He was pleased that it was a slow dance as it would make it easier for them to catch their breath, and this one traditionally had a lot of twirls to it which was plain fun. He was honored that she would accept one from him, but it made sense too as both of them obviously loved the freedom of expression that came with it.

"It was a rush, I'm glad this one is a bit slower, though I do love the fast ones." He would dance until he dropped given the chance when the music was good. But having slower songs occassionally helped with the stamina needed.

A lock of hair fell over one eye as he bent his head down. She was tiny compared to his frame but that let them do a few nifty lifts that had some showstopping force to them. Unbeknownst to him a little bubble of respect had formed around them as they were the belles of the ball so to speak. But to him there was only her, the base drum beat and the sweet melody overlay twining around their dancing forms. He was having the time of his life. Who knew that he would find a fellow Matorian so far from home.