Welcome to Gaia! ::

Even as the vibrations shook the ground beneath Emi's feet, she had ran right to the lodge. Jars were under one arm in the camera case, and the other held a rather bewildered dog. Toby was half her size, but after he'd bolted around the house after that first vibration, it certainly wasn't something Emi wished to repeat.

Then it hit her. Large ears suddenly turned, and the tip of her nose twitched. Her brow knitted in a worried frown. It was faint, and only on the breeze here, but that was the smell of smoke. Smoke meant there was a fire, somewhere. Fire meant burning, and burning meant... Shaking her head to remove that thought, it wasn't something to dwell on at the moment. After all - it was very faint from all the way back here, and her nose might have been deceiving her.

The lodge was little more than a few seconds away now. Bounding over those last few steps, she very nearly collided with Anthony. Her paws skidded to a halt on the wooden floorboards.

Trying to get back one's breath, and then realize that one isn't alone any more, was certainly one feat Emi would have rather avoided. Except she couldn't. Toby, finally figuring out he could escape, wriggled out of his master's grasp. Four paws hit the floorboards at once, and the dog fell flat on his stomach.

"I think there's smoke in the air," Forget hellos for the time being, a warning was more appropriate for this point in time. The furry did her best to smile in greeting, but the belated grin looked more like a lopsided-attempt-at-a smile than anything else at the moment.

"I mean, hello, I think there's smoke in the air." The sentence was promptly revised, nervousness plaiting her words. Her tail flickered at the tip, large ears pressing right back to her hair.

Chao nodded to Anthony, "if he radios I'll tell him where you've gone, good luck," the guardian sat down and quickly set herself to working out the radio. Yep, it was similar to ones she'd used in the past, thank gods.

Looking over her shoulder she attempted a smile of greeting to the newcomer, "hello there."

Sanar's ears flicked and she watched the newcomer arrive and the Anthony man leave. The nervousness in the air was practicly contagious and she could feel it draping over her as well, and she'd didn't even understand what was going on.

The hand connected to Chao's pant leg tightened its grip.

Emi really didn't have any time to do much more than shake her head and nod in the respective places. All the time she clutched onto the bag by her waist, looking like only the fear of death itself would make her let go. As he left, her silvery orbs followed his tracks like a bewildered rabbit matched with a pair of headlights. It was only when the other two guardians pronounced themselves there did one ear twitch, and she turned to face them.

"Hello," What could she say? Heaving the camera bag over one shoulder, the furry did her best to keep a smile on her face. It was one of her many plausible beliefs, and the least she could do was try to be friendly. Spotting Gael by Sin's feet, she cautiously took a step forwards. Not far enough to frighten the young Aerandir, but just enough so she could stand by Toby's side.

Toby raised his head as Anthony address him. His tail thumped on the floorboards for a few moments. Raising his muzzle, he picked himself wearily back up onto four paws. He trotted forwards to stand beside Emi, his back legs hitting the floor once more as he situated himself in a sit-down beside her.

"Would she mind if I sat down? I wouldn't want to frighten the child, I'm sure she's scared enough as it is." The words came out as a jumble, and the guardian paused anxiously before adding in the last bit. She spoke rather quickly, fingertips clutching tightly to the bag sitting on her hip. It was only when she felt Toby's fur brush over her own that she tore her gaze from somewhere just over Sin's shoulder down to the dog.

Jizzy turned around at the soudn of the newcommer, nodding a small greeting. She flopped down on one of the chair, still a bit paranoid in case the tremors began again. SHe nodded another greeting to SIn, not wishing to interupt the conversation.

Tobias could feel the tension in the air and he made a questioning hoop to Sanar. Maybe she knew what ahd gone on. He toddled to her, the beads on his quills clinking a he walked. He rasied his small head to try to look her in the face and hooped the question again.

"Oh!" Chao stated suddenly, head whipping around, "you must be Emiko then! Thank you again for the letter, it was for my Aerandir, Sanar's quest. San hun, show her your bag?"

Sanar tenatively relinquished her hold on Chao's pant leg and raised the bag up to a better hight so that the leaf on it was visible to Emiko. After a moment Chao helped her manuver the strap over her shoulder so she wouldn't have to keep clutching it and she turned her attention back to Tobais.

She shrugged at the questioning hoop, doubting she'd know the answer to whatever the question had been-then she shreiked, the alien sound instictively rising out of her throat at the thunderous rumble that had just ripped through the air. She clutched onto her mother's leg again.

Chao let out a little squeak of a scream as well and immediately grabbed Sanar, who in turn quickly reached down and grabbed Tobais before she could be hoisted onto her mother's lap.

Progolo sprinted up to the lodge, followed by a dark red griffin that didn't appear to be an Aerandir. Under his arm he was clutching a bag, containing mismatched Aerandir jars. As he burst through the door, though not as violently as Wyvern had, he spluttered, "Wh-what's going on?"

Progolo pressed further into the room, hoping his griffin wouldn't notice the frenzied dog and start panicking as well.

"So I wasn't hallucinating...I thought I'd heard someone yelling in the village, but I wasn't sure...whoa! Shhhh, calm down, Taal..."

Out of the way of the door, Progolo stopped and firmly flung his arms around the griffin's neck, who'd began to caw fearfully at the sight of the terrified dog. Progolo gritted his teeth, feeling the temperature of Taal's feathers rise as fear gave way to the griffin's Pyrokinetic abilities.

"Hush...you're fine, you're fine," Progolo soothed, trying to keep the strain out of his own voice as he pulled off his jacket and flipped it over Taal's eyes. Taal's wings flapped furiously, but his sudden blindness made him go quiet. After a few more twitches, he slid down onto the floor, quieted.

Progolo sighed and pushed his sweaty bangs out of his eyes. Carefully, he tied the jacket arms around Taal's head so that it wouldn't slide off his face and make him go berserk again, then he sat back and looked around the room curiously.

"Hello," he grinned awkwardly.