Welcome to Gaia! ::

Settlement preparations
( continued from here )

Sunset...

As the canoe approached the beach, a dark-winged tall figure could be made out, propping himself up against a tall spear. Rahujo shaded her eyes against the low sun and continued paddling, the canoe somewhat lower in the water than usual due to Acia's added weight.

The slim leonine Aerandir perched somewhat precariously on the canoe's outrigger, occasionally raising her wings to keep her balance. She looked slightly nervous - open water was not her usual cup of tea, away from the comfort and safety of the earth.

"Are we nearly there yet, Rahujo?"

Rahujo grinned. "Don't worry, Acia. We're not going to sink before we reach the island... oops..." She ducked an unexpected wave that splashed over the canoe's deck, flipped the paddle over the canoe and gave a couple of swift strokes to correct their course.

Acia turned slightly green. "Please don't make those our famous last words..."

Rahujo laughed and drove the canoe towards the beach. They beached with a loud scraping noise, the canoe's sturdy wooden hull ploughing a furrow in the warm, wet sand. Rahujo stood up, jumped to the beach and dragged the canoe onwards a few metres, until its prow touched the line of dark shingle that lined the high-water mark.

Osero ambled down the shore towards them, waving a hand in greeting and licking the fingers of his other hand absent-mindedly.

Rahujo looked at him curiously. He grinned. "Well, you took a little while. I took the opportunity to catch our dinner. And, well..."

"You decided to sample them to make sure they were fresh?" Rahujo chuckled.

"I don't need to make sure they're fresh when I've seen them wiggling on my spear..."

"Fair point. Anyway, shall we get started?"

Acia, momentarily overcome by a daydream about yummy fishness, came out of her reverie and scampered towards the boat. "Oki!"

Rahujo grinned and strode down the beach. Reaching the canoe, she untied the ropes holding a large bag to the outrigger and hefted it onto her shoulder. Behind her, Acia grabbed a spade and wandered back up the beach behind Rahujo.

The site of the new village was lit golden by the setting sun. It smelled fresh and earthy, the ground freshly turned from construction. There were over a dozen small houses scattered about the site, all of them silent and uninhabited.

Behind the houses, a sturdy log building stood. Much larger than any of the other huts, it would become the centre of the new community on the plains of Ar'Idil.

The three Aerandir walked towards the lodge at the back of the village, Osero striding ahead. He stopped in the wide empty patch of ground in front of the large building. "Here?"

"Looks good." Rahujo dropped her bag on the ground and turned to Acia. "Acia?"

The little Aerandir nodded and handed Rahujo the spade. Rahujo set it on the earth and pushed downwards, biting through the topsoil with ease. She lifted a clod of earth and held it out towards Osero, who bent down and rummaged in the bag for a few moments. He lifted out a small box and opened it, revealing a fistful of dry sandy earth from Cetalu.

Rahujo dropped the clod into the box and gestured to Acia, who reached out and placed a small hand on top of the box. The two earths shuddered for a second, then flowed into one another, swirling for a little while before settling into the form of a small figure.

Osero raised an eyebrow at Acia. "Show-off."

Acia giggled and lifted the earthen statuette from the box. "What's next?"

Rahujo gently took the statue from Acia's hands and placed it in the small hole she'd dug. She drew two bowls from her bag - one of bright copper and one of roughly carved wood - and placed them on top of the figure. She stood up, and nodded to Osero.

Stepping forward, the tall Aerandir produced a necklace of assorted claws and fangs and dropped it onto the small pile of objects. Once this was done, he straightened up and stood back, smiling to the others.

Finally, Acia crept forward with a small leather pouch, and tipped its contents onto her palm. Reverentially, she laid several small gems on top of one of the bowls, then placed her hands on the earth on either side. With a quiet rustling noise, the earth knitted together again, forming a small mound where the pile of objects had been.

The trio stood quiet for a moment before turning and walking in the direction of the beach.

"5 more minutes... mmmm...I don't wanna go to school today...mmmm"

A young brunnette was lounching on a chair on the boat, hugging two small jars tightly in her arms. She had fallen asleep on the long ride here and the stop of motion seemed to have woken her. Her eyes opened slowly and began to gaze around her new island home.

"I guess this is it.."

She said to herself, taking a deep breath and getting up. She made sure her backpack was slung securely over her shoulder and that the two jars in her hand were safe. She moved a stray strand of brown hair from her face and began on her way.

A few steps down she saw a girl, holding two jars and, more importantly, a map. Jizzy checkled to herslef as she remember what had happened to her map. It was now a paper sailboat floating of somewhere in the ocean. She approached the girl, hoping to recieve some directions from her.

"Excuse me, but could I see you're map for a while. I'm trying to figure out where the village of Setone is, and wuite frankly, I don;t feel like getting lost."

She said, a smile plastered on her face. Jizzy loved meeting new people, and by the jars in this girl's hands, she might even be one of her new neighbors.

Absinthe turned to the source of the voice, and the first thing she noticed were the two jars, which her eyes immediately devoured. The spine of a porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum. Not sure about the other one... Reminding herself to actually listen to people though, Abbey looked up and smiled at the girl, pulling the map back out of her bag to hand to her, "Sure. It's just a sketch - but the general idea should be right."

Another girl appeared, and Abbey looked over at her. She replied, "I believe we both are," she glanced at Jizzy for a verification before continuing to chatter affably, "From the look of it, we're all new Aerandir keepers? I suppose we'll be neighbours from today on, then."

[x_x bad tiiiming. sort of a post then run, I'm heading to school now. I should be back in around eight hours. ]

"Nice! Yah, I am a new Aerandir owner. Porcupine and Hoopoe for me."

Jizzy said, indicating to each of her jars in turn. She was smilling broadly. She loved meeting new people, and now tehy'd be neighbors. She made a note to be extra super nice to them.

"By the way, My name's Jizzy. Pleased to meet you all!"

She said,her smile plastered on her face. It almost looked, unatural, but this was very natural to her. SHe saw a map flutter by her and saw the girl who tripped.

"Not sure if that's good luck, tripping as soon as you get on this island."

Sin brushed herself off and started to walk towards the other people who'd been on the boat with her, not that she'd noticed or anything, as the sea-sickness had gotten her as soon as she's walked onto the dock.

"Hi Chao." She smiled at her friend. Turning to the other people present, "Hi, my name is Sin, it's nice to meet you. it seems to me that we're all in the same boat, no?" She asked, raising her basket-full-of-jars up for all to see.

Reassured that Sin was alright from the fall, Abbey smiled at the group of new friends. Inspecting the jars curiously, she filed the names away for later usage, then introduced herself quietly, "Nice to meet you all. My name's Absinthium Jeminea, but my friends usually call me Abbey or Absinthe."

She then introduced her jars, raising the respective materials, "Mine are African Wild Dog and Egyptian Vulture. I'm looking forward to the final product, as well."

Abbey glanced at the sky again, appraising the time. The introductions hadn't taken too long. "Should we get moving? It'll probably take awhile to get to the village," she commented thoughtfully.

"Mrf," Wyvern announced, staggering down the gangway with a lack of grace that would do any drunken ice-skater proud. She loved the sea, but ferries? Ferries were faaar too loud. Give her a sailboat anyday. Maybe now that she was on dry land, and more importantly away from the drone of obnoxious engines, the pounding in her head would deign to leave her be.

Huh? Oh, people. Her neighbors, most likely, since there was only one village listed on the map she'd seen. Say-somethingorother. Slinging her duffle bag onto her back, she slipped towards the group and blinked a few times, not really bothering with anything more in-depth than a curosry glance. The green-haired woman wasn't good with names and faces. Those would come in time.

"Yo," she said by way of greeting, accenting this with a little half-wave of her free hand.