Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Sorry, but I'm visiting family, and currently have no way of making pretty pictures . . .))

The event will begin on Sunday, at the Cetalu Centre. Kids (and gryphons!) should gather there, where Nehanda will take charge and head over to Fae's house. There is a special ferry that will transporting everone between the islands.

Acia had spent most of the day making and hanging up decorations in the Center. She had gotten her hands on some cree paper from the dark abyss known only as 'The Cupboard' and had cut it into witches, ghosts, cats, pumpkins and bats - referencing them from a book on human customs and cultures. It felt slightly strange to be following a human custom but, at the same time, the Aerandir had few of their own.

The leonine Aerandir had managed to rustle up some provisions too: nuts, pumpkin slices, apples, oranges, various squashes roasted and sprinkled with cinnamon. Her spread was simple and looked like something you'd expect to see at a harvest festival but Acia had reckoned on the young ones eating so much junk and sugar that some healthy food might be a nice start.

Stepping back, she surveyed the room. It had a very home-made feel to it and she was still picking glue from her fingertips but she was pleased with the result. Scooting to the doors she noticed a shadowy figure outside. She opened them carefully, peeking until she had ascertained it was only Nehanda and a little gryph.

"Nehanda!" she called out to the tall youth. "And who is this?!" Acia leaned down to look at the new gryph. She usually kept records of the Aerandir as they grew but she assumed this must have been from one of the seedpods Nehanda had used. "She's gorgeous!"

"Ahh I see" Acia said, thinking that the little red all of fluff was somewhat cuter than her 'big sister' seemed to think her. Surely she couldn't be all that bad? Acia had never met a badly behaved gryph yet. She grinned, wondering if Nehanda was finding the burden of raising a gryph a bit more challenging than she'd realised it would be.

"Thanks! I've been trying.. it'll be nice for some of the children to get together and this place has such... bad memories after the eruption. It needed to have something happy happen in it!" Acia enthused. "I've made some healthy snacks, feel free to grab some while you wait. " Acia walked in as she talked, her eyes swivelling about the room as if searching for something. Busy, her tail swinging to and fro, you would not believe this was the same Acia who cowered or ran from humans.

"Aha!" Acia found the small stereo under a pile of discarded crepe paper and clicked it on. She had gotten a tape of suitably childish-eerie movie songs from Alyosha's collection. The kitsune really did have some odd tastes...

"I wonder when the others will arrive." she smiled and then stopped "will the kids be coming alone or will their guardians be coming with them, Nehanda?"

"I see..." the thought left her slightly uneasy. At least in here though she could quickly dissapear if any of them brought their guardians. She looked down then, distracted by the little gryph at her feet.

She knelt down, her wings flarig to keep her balance and tail curled around at her feet for the same. She had her own small pile of nuts and offered one delicately towards the rather strange little gryph. "Well aren't you such a pretty girl?" she smiled, her green eyes intent on the small cat-like baby Aerandir.

"She doesn't seem so bad..." Acia said, briefly looking up at Nehanda. "I wonder why she's usually so grumpy like you said?"

Acia giggled slightly as the gryphon snatched her prize. "Hmm.." Acia considered Nehanda's question, leaning back and thumping lightly onto her rear on the ground. She stretched her wings before folding them against her back, letting the long flight feathers bend slightlyon the ground. Her tail flicked back and forward lazily as she spoke.

"I guess we shouldn't be so conceited as to believe there are not I mean.. We've lied to the human and done things were were not supposed to. We know what good and bad is so therefore... I guess we could act upon that. Maybe sentience means we're closer to humans than the animals which make us... I guess it's almost likely and maybe unusual that most of the children seem so happy and not 'bad'."

"And from my reading cats are well known for their scratching things they're not supposed to." The tawny Aerandir grinned, flexing the claws on her feet and winking at her hoof-toed friend.

Bending over so her arms were resting on her knees, Karma managed to catch her breath. She hadn't the slightest idea why Faust had insisted they run almost the entire way to Cetalu, but he had. Regaining her composure, the lady looked ahead at Faust who had skipped too far. "Faust! It's over here... I think. C'mon!"

Faust had indeed skipped past the Lodge, but that was fine with him. Landing on one of his hooves, he spun in a wobbly circle before launching into a run. "Eeeeee!" he yelled gleefully as the black cape he was tightly clutching billowed out behind him, leaving the red inside shining like his eyes. Karma had given the newly-grown Aerandir child a breif discription of Halloween and it seemed to be that Faust was excited about, well, everything, especially the Aerandir in costumes.

Karma smiled at her child, glad that he was enjoying himself in whatever he did. As Faust made a final jump so that he landed beside her, Karma held out her hand for him to grab -she was still worried that he would accidentally fall.

Staring at the lodge before them, Faust looked back at Karma. "Kaa?" He began to ask, grabbing his mother's attention. "We go..." He paused, and tried again. "We-we go.." The child pouted at not being able to communicate verbally. However, extending his first finger, Faust pressed it against the door of the Lodge, using the 'point-and-touch' method, and tried again. "We go?"

Karma grinned and nodded. "Yup we are going inside." She stressed the last word, hoping he would repeat and remember it.

Faust gave a victorious smile as he found out that Karma had understood, and immediately repeated her. "We go in-in.." He struggled a bit, trying to produce the 's'. "We go... We go inside!" Faust beamed.

Karma nodded. "Yes, we're going inside." Pushing open the door, she stood back as her young bundle of energy darted in before her, declaring as he entered, "We inside!"

Wyv's only concession to the Halloween was a pair of curved horns, taloned wings, and a swinging tail over her everyday clothes. It made for a stark contrast to her companion, who was covered head to toe. Well, almost to toe. Makai flatout refused to wear shoes. He did clink and clang a bit as he raced along, the little bits of armor he wore jangling. A lance dangled from one hand, tracing lines in the sand.

He halted in front of the center. "Trick or Treat?" He looked back at his caretaker, removing his goggles from his eyes to his forehead.

Wyv nodded. As if he hadn't been practicing all day long. "Gotta say it to the people inside though. No tricks, though," she said, fixing him with the look.

"No tricks," he ecchoed back. TPing houses was out, even if it did sound like fun.

She grinned and patted the pocket where the confiscated roll was stored. "That's better. And in we go." Wyv held open the door and herded Makai inside.

Nehanda's smile grew as yet another child and guardian entered. "Hi," she called out cheerfully. Returning her attention to Karma, she shrugged. "You're certainly free to come along with us. We're starting out here, and there's a special ferry that will be shuttling us back and forth between the islands all evening."

When Faust approached, Cerise hunched even closer to the ground. Her fur stood on end and she ruffled her feathers, trying to look large and intimidating. It was rather comical; the little gryphon trying to scare off the much larger child. She hissed again, and raised extended claws.

"Cerise, be nice!" With an apologetic smile to the rest of the little group, Nehanda swiftly crossed the room, and swooped the gryphon up. "I'm sorry," she said to Faust. "This is Cerise. She's a complete brat sometimes."

Turning to face everyone, she announced. "Several other kids will be joining us troughout the evening, but I think we'll leave soon for Fae's house."

((Fae's is the first house, but she's not online right now. We'll just wait until she's here!))