Welcome to Gaia! ::

Maurice's fingers had curled midway through his ruffled hair, grasping the strands with something that may have been tight surprise. With a bit of a hum, he had leaned forward on the stool he had been seated on, glancing back at his wagon curiously. A tug in his stomach had captured his attention. Something was drawing him, and that was compelling enough to convince him to stand.

"Alright, then." He had murmured to himself with a grin. Quickly he had reached down to toss his hood over his head; it was a custom all his - he never walked away without it on, the small premature antlers sitting as they would atop the hide.

The scent of fire, and the warmth of it, proved a further lure as he drew nearer. Maurice had taken step for step, glancing left or right at the gathering and its colorful cast of attendants.

"Well, en't that something." He had breathed at the fire. He always had liked the smell, and it hadn't taken him long to be drawn to it like a moth.

"oh yeah" said Zak from behind his modified fetal position "just great"
Zak sniffed the night air, there was food, why had he not seen the food before. he hazarded a glance from under his hands at the food wagon. there was a whole food wagon. he swallowed instead of drooling outright and got up from the fire.

Rana looked up from the puppy and saw speckle guy getting up, she followed behind taking care to step over and not on the infant. what's up speckle guy I haven't seen you this interested scene oh my! Rana had caught her own whiff of the marvelous wagon of wonderful fantastic wonders you are gonna send some of that my way aren't you? you are right, remember the whole friend thing, you wouldn't shut your bestest best friend out in the cold like that would you? she wagged her tail and looked imploringly up at sweet, kind, wonderful, speckle guy, generous speckle guy, who was sure to see that she was practically wasting away before his very eyes and who would surely take pity on his poor doggy.

Zak picked up a plate, turned it over curiously in his hand. paper was a precious commodity used for writing important stuff down on by people who were not Zak. He had never seen it like this all round and bumpy at the edges, it was either not paper or not a plate either way it couldn't be for him to be eating off of. must be something else then, best leave well enough alone with these folk he thought munching a handful of the hot orange friend yam things and stuffing the rest in his dirty handkerchief. he pocketed half a muffin with the other half disappearing with grateful snorking noises towards the ground.

Zak munched one of the honey and seed things and holding the begreased handkerchief in one hand and another honey thing in the other walked back to the fire. Rana followed him with a shade more attentiveness than usual.
"mumm mauagg maurf -gulp-" he swallowed the offending sticky mess "uh sorry" he looked apprehensively at the woman he didn't know, the one he did was something, the thought bubbled towards the surface and was overruled by a useful yet imperfect version of reality, something weird, to be avoided anyway. "th-these are free, right?"

Tsura nodded " I call her Gisli or more recently Gisli the glutton, she's particularly interested in nuts for some reason. Do you know if they were a treat for her before?" That at least might explain the obsession.

As Tsura relaxed to talk, Berit popped out of her grip and darted up just out of the woman's reach. Closer tot he fire but in more danger of being walked on than burnt alive. Giving a soft trill Berit watched the fire and the people around it with fascination.

Tsura looked over at the small red quail and sighed " At least Gisli behaves better than her." Not that Berit was a horrible troublesome little thing but sometimes when the bird got an idea in their mind they were a right pain to control. Like an unruly little child she swore.

((I'm probably not going to have a lot of time to post, but I thought I should at least get everyone to the party... XP Sorry guys, life seems to be constantly eating me nowadays. sad I'm also introducing Savior baby here, as Irina would definitely have popped him out by now. XD))

It was not Irina who first felt the pull of the meiji this time, but Kalpana, who had grown suddenly into a rambunctious child. Irina had managed to sew up a new dress for the badger girl, and though its colors remained similar to her old one, this new one was longer and more ladylike. Not that it mattered much to Kal. She was more than happy to dirty it up as much as she could, playing outside in the dirt and grass and annoying her brother.

Eerie had also grown, becoming a handsome young man with impeccable manners and a knightly demeanor. Although Kal annoyed him to no end with her giggling and spurts of jabbering, he looked after her, sighing as he watched her dirty her clothes. There was nothing he hated more than being disheveled.

"Mama! Mama!" Kal shouted, opening the wagon door as she heard the music begin to play. "Something's going on out here! We should go!" She grabbed Irina's hand and tugged on it, hoping her mother would agree to follow.

"Ah, so it is," Irina replied, grinning as she looked out into the circle of friends she saw gathered around the fire. "It looks as if it is time for another wagon ordering. We definitely should attend. Eerie, make sure Kal has everything she needs for the evening. It's getting cold outside."

Eerie followed his mother's directions, carefully wrapping a shawl around Kal's shoulders and fitting a woolen beanie over her ears and hair. She stuck her tongue out at him and rolled her eyes while he worked, allowing him to dress her more warmly, but insisting that it wouldn't be all that easy. "Thanks," she said sarcastically as she watched him put on a jacket of his own.

"You're welcome," he replied cheerily, knowing that his sweet reply would get on her nerves.

Turning to the cradle that had made its place next to the bed, Irina looked down on the Savior, who was sleeping, as he did most of the time. She had barely seen his eyes since his birth -- it was strange, true, but she tried not to think anything of it. The Savior would be what he would be, she supposed. She shouldn't think he would be like a normal baby. Grabbing a blanket that was edged in small, tinkling bells, she picked up the infant Savior from the feathery bed and swaddled him in the cloth, wrapping it tightly around him. Amazingly, he remained asleep through all of this, and Irina just smiled down at him.

"Okay, are you both ready? I'm not sure if you remember the other wagon ordering ceremonies, but they are very important to our caravan. We must balance our elements to ensure the safety of our travels." She nodded gravely at them, making this a serious subject. "We shall see where we fall tonight," she said, looking from Eerie to Kal and back again. "Shall we?"

With that, she ushered her family out into the night, and they moved quickly toward the fire, bracing themselves against the chill of the evening.

"Hello everyone!" Irina exclaimed, a feeling of joy rushing over her. It had been so long since they had all joined together in celebration.

Eerie and Kal immediately headed toward the fire, warming their hands and looking around at all of the other Fortunettes that had gathered. It looked as if it was about time to learn to be social...

Caroline laughs in delight as she's joined by another newcomer. "Aye, come join me!" she exclaims, twirling around Maurice. "I'm Caroline," she says in a more normal voice to both of them. "Welcome!"
She trills her tongue and shakes her tambourine emphatically and starts up the dance again in earnest.

Baptiste is having trouble hearing the violin over all of the other noise. Without breaking beat too much, he moves 'round the circle to sit next to Voltaire. "A lovely instrument," he comments to him, smiling cordially. "And such skill." He looks around, wondering what's taking Tamlin so long.

Solas, deprived of his new playmate, pouts and climbs up in Rojiza's lap. He watches Caroline and the others dance. "MAAAma!" he screeches happily, clapping his hands more-or-less in time with the music.

Rojiza bends and kisses his black head and holds him close. She idly strokes her little brother's downy armfeathers as she listens to Tsura talk. Vahe ruffles his feathers and settles on her shoulder, watching Solas with sharp eyes. He'd made a pass at the bird before...he might do it again.

Covet's lips drew back in an even wider smile as she was welcomed to the dancing by the woman who had moves that could certainly rival her own. Turning her eyes to the man as he gave his name, she smiled warmly and dipped her head to him in greeting.
"Covet!" she grinned in a twirl of indigo, the silver stitching in her clothes catching the firelight. "That would be me," she explained as she faced them once more and gave a wink, her hips moving to Baptiste's thrumming beat.

Tamlin had been resting in the wagon when she felt the pull to the bonfire. that wasn't beyond normal, many people congregated there in the evenings, but she felt she should bring her music, something felt a little different this evening. Noting that Baptiste had disappeared, probably had left earlier, her intuition told her. So she took some extra time to pull out her performance full of bright flame colors, bells and beads. She noticed Baptiste's instruments were gone as she went to collect her flute, furthering her idea that he had already left for the fire.

Alais had also felt the Meij strongly this evening, and after Tamlin gathered all her stuff jumped upon her shoulders for her ride to view all the commotion.

Tamlin and Alais upon her shoulders wandered over to the fire, and just as she had predicted many people had already gathered. she saw her wagon mate and Zak and that furry dog of his, and Caroline and her brood were all there enjoying themselves she also noticed others she hadn't seen before, perhaps more newcomers then she had previously met were joining up.

she smiled and nodded at Baptiste picking him out of the crowd. "you could have told me a party was going on, now I missed the whole beginning. you can make it up with a tune and a dance later." she lightly berated him, but it was obvious she was to excited with the whole gathering to truly be displeased with him. She moved along towards Caroline to give her greetings "hello dearie, lovely evening for song and dancing isn't it?" Tamlin saw she was busy enticing some of the new members to mingle so she moved on the the slightly reticent form of Zak.

Alais having not much of a mind for the formalities of greetings, the human creatures were weird like that, had bounded off of Tamlin's shoulders as soon as she had smelled the food wagon, she needn't rely on others for her food when it was such an easy target. she had already sampled her way through most of its contents when Tamlin walked up to the cart and the big man with the annoying, loud, and smelly creature. What took you so long? all the good stuff is over here. her expression told Tamlin and then she jumped back upon her place of honor on Tamlin's shoulders.

"Ah, I should have known you were to be found here" at both Alais and Zak "What's good to eat? need some nourishment before breaking out the flute and grabbing a dance or two."