Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lasseyn Post One

The trek to Sol wasn't all that long, and although she really wished her father and twin was with her she was happy to have some more time with her mother. The pair of them were a bit at odds lately, mostly because of the independence that Lasseyn wanted. She wasn't a youngling any more, even if her mother said she was.

Thankfully her mother had let her stray from her side, as long as Afolabi stayed with her. Lasseyn quickly agreed, she didn't mind Afolabi and as of late the sprite seemed to favor her over her mother or sister anyways.

As she walked through the stalls, Afolabi at her hip she noticed another halfbreed like her! Sure they were different, this girl had stones that were different then she knew, but they were still pretty! "Hello! Isn't this all exciting! I'm starving, but my mom said not to waste all my money on food."

Xilarn
Post: 2

He should've known better than to expect 'no one bothering anyone else.' Not while Damissan Mataou lived and breathed, anyway. Xilarn heard the approach before he felt it and instinctively braced himself for the worst. It didn't save him from needing to take half a step forward to balance himself against Damis' push and huffing out a disenchanted grunt to counter the younger man's good cheer. If Xilarn had looked warm and pleased, he certainly didn't now. He cast his glare sidelong to pin on his young companion.

"You don't have to stay at my side when there are so many other things that could hold your attention better," he informed Damis in his most clipped and detached tone. "You might as well continue on as you were before," He caught Damis' arm from around his shoulder, dipped beneath it to escape, and stepped away, before giving himself a quick dust off as if he'd just been assaulted by something filthy. "and enjoy the crowd while it's available." Though, it was starting to feel like there never wouldn't be a crowd. The thought was displeasing.

Regardless, "No, I've never been to any of the Shifter's festivals." He hadn't exactly been the most welcome thing in these woods around the time of his stay in Jauhar, but he'd also never felt motivated to attend any such thing, anyway.

It was around that time that his gaze landed on Damissan's most recent purchase. While his initial thought was the he shouldn't intrude upon the fact that Damis might actually eat anything prepared by the locals in this jungle, the second and more overpowering notion was that it did smell good, and it was within arm's length. He reached, curling his fingers around Damis' wrist, and tugging the snack in close enough to take a quick bite. It had about the same consistency as near anything from any festival. Not surprising. "I didn't think you were interested in eating anything that wasn't rice."

JHANA Post 1

Jhana ran a hand through her hair. Since the tournament she felt like her parents wouldn't let them do anything. Not that she blamed them really. It was so irresponsible for them to have ran off like that. She frowned as she looked to Shima and Jerami. The blame wasn't on just one of them though, they had all wanted to and had all snuck off to go to Oba.

Her mama announced the idea of food and Jhana felt her stomach grumble. Well... they did have some time. She nodded her head with a grin. Even with the adult supervision it was still a nice vacation, and they were all together as a family. That was always neat.

Damissan | 2

“You brace yourself as though you might catch something from me,” Damis quipped good-naturedly moments after his ‘courteous greeting’ if one were being generous and ‘assault from behind’ for those more pessimistically inclined. “You must know you’d have caught anything I have already in our long, engaging hours together and in this atmosphere, I’d be more concerned about…” As his gaze flicked out over the native population — a bustling display of tribal jungle dwellers who made their home in a teaming forest within which at least half of all life had to harbor some degree of toxicity or disease — he cleared his throat, and shrugged the thought off. “Well, not me, in any case,” he finished. “And…”

He managed to look deeply agrieved—or somewhat so, at least—as Xilarn removed him, but quickly rebounded, expression brightening again but half a second or so after mourning the loss of contact.

“…I haven’t stayed at your side the whole while, as you must have noticed given your enthusiasm for my return. I’ve been doing this enlightening and entertaining thing commonly known among civilized company as ‘talking’ and ‘socializing’ with the natives. Do you know some of them are decently intelligent? At least enough so to make conversation. And they made all of those…” Damis flicked a hand in a casual gesture towards the nearest paper lantern, “…themselves, by hand. Not that it takes a great deal of technical ingenuity I’m sure, but I didn’t realize they—”

He trailed off, and squinted. Dark red eyes flicked to his wrist—or more specifically, Xilarn’s fingers as they coiled against his skin. And then up, to his mouth.

As it ate his food.

“Rice,” Damissan repeated. A moment later, he frowned, shaking his head. “It’s not rice. It’s—” The rest of the statement registered, and Damis diverted his eyes sidelong and upward, suddenly under the immediate impression that there was a great deal worth looking at elsewhere. “Yes, it’s not rice. It smelled edible, though, and looked…more or less so. Familiar? You know, I was—” He took the opportunity to draw his snack back to himself and spare his company a glance before biting, “—eating that. And,” he emphasized around a mouthful, swallowed, and continued, “I don’t see why you’re averse to my good company but have no qualms putting your mouth where mine’s been. If you wanted some, I could fetch you one. Or does it taste better after I’ve—?”

Realizing belatedly that no immediately planned-for end to that sentence was anything appropriate to say aloud in the present moment, Damis took the opportunity to re-examine the crowds, took another bite to buy time, and then:

“—made sure it isn’t poisonous?”

Ikuri
Post #2

"Oh!" Ikuri looked down at the child with a smile. "Hi there!" She said giddily as she admired Lasseyn's features for a second and smiled once more. She sure was a cute halfbreed! She really liked her eyes and her crystal's light hue. She giggled, finding her adorable. Not many kids would approach a stranger such as herself. Though she ought to be careful not to hurt or harm her in any shape or form-- she didn't want to make Lasseyn sad. The shifter nodded in agreement and crouched down to her size. "Seems like everyone's enthusiasm is clinging onto everyone wandering around! I'm so looking forward this!!" She smiled. She was really looking forward to everything.

The she mentioned she was hungry. It would be mean not to offer her some right? And with the extra money she had... maybe she could buy things for both of them? Of course she'd still spend her money responsibly. "Oh, well I can buy food for you, well, for both of us! Anything appetizing? I reeeeaally can't decide what to buy!"

"Think it'll be alright with your parents if we wandered about? I don't want to get you in any trouble., not that'll I'll cause you any troubles... She wouldn't do so, Ikuri knew what she could and could not do-- but it wasn't something bad to ask. Again, she wasn't getting into trouble as long as she did things correctly. The child seemed to know what she was doing and she definitely wasn't likely to cause any inconveniences. Oh, silly her. She forgot to introduce herself. "I'm Sentha, what's your name?" She perked up once more, stood on her feet while she looked for anything eye-catching to eat.

Jerarda Post 1

Jerarda was still upset with their children for running off without a word. The fact they were attending a festival now had been against her will, the kids should be punished but having to look at 3 pairs of sad faces pleading to go despite the fact they were grounded. Jerarda had been against it at the start, if they should be going anywhere they should be going to pay their respects to Aisha, but that would mean her mate would have to stay behind.

Not wanting to separate their family now that they were all back together she finally caved in and allowed them to go.

"We are spoiling them..." Jera muttered as she past a glance at their excited children, feeling Animah take her hand she tried to relax and sighing she nodded her head. It would be nice to get something to eat...

"Alright we should move to the vendors.." She spoke trying to take the lead and not allow their kids to try and run the show.

Xilarn
Post: 3

A low, annoyed groan slipped from Xilarn's lips, followed immediately by a quiet scoff and a roll of his eyes. "I tend to 'brace myself' against anything unpleasant coming at me from behind, regardless of exactly how many diseases it carries," he informed his companion flatly. To accent the statement, he swept a hand down his sleeve, flicked any lingering 'debris' with the ponciest twitch of fingers, and shot Damis a head-cocked and haughty 'now don't touch me again, street urchin' look. He rolled his shoulders and folded his hands behind his back.

"Besides, Jauhar and its natives aren't near as threatening as last I was here. I'm hardly concerned with all of that." And since none of them looked especially concerned either-- Well, it didn't say much actually, but at least the atmosphere was upbeat? And only becoming moreso by the minute as greater quantities of Shifters trickled in from wherever else they came from. Was Sol the only place these events were hosted?

Maybe.

But surely not. He was once again besieged by that notion that he could stand to ask just one of two basic questions... Irrelevant. Xil flicked a dread over his shoulder and quirked a brow in Damis' direction. His first thought was to reiterate his previous statement about sending his young companion off to continue to do whatever it was he was doing elsewhere. But it also occurred to him that repeating himself probably wasn't going to get him anywhere far. Instead, he grunted, "Socializing is for people with nothing better to do with their time, and you'd be hard-pressed to convince me it's 'entertaining,' besides. But yes, I did know they could carry on a conversation, and I was probably as surprised as you when I learned it was true."

His gaze flicked to Damissan's food then back to his face. "You put your mouth on my mug first, and since it's too late to going back to 'not ever having my mouth where your mouth has been,' I figure I ought to make use of it. Besides," Unbidden, the corner of his lip twitched up. "Everything tastes better when not paid for with your own coin."

Jerami - Post 1

Jerami had been smart this time along, having learned from the adventure that he'd gone one with Drexl some time ago. Today, despite wearing a nice, pretty dress of a deep, dark blue, he had also decided to wear shorts under it. He wasn't going to risk anyone looking up his dress, not when they were going to be at a festival that involved being high up in the branches to release the lanterns. He smoothed a hand over the fluffy shirt he wore, checked the sleeveless top of the same color to make sure it was all well in place, before he moved to catch up with his sisters.

It was a shame that they were under the very watchful gazes of their parents of he might wander off to look for Drexl, but he wasn't so foolish as to dare such a thing. The fact that they were allowed to leave home was a miracle granted by the combined powers of Aisha and Serin! He wasn't about to do anything but toe the line so that his mothers didn't change their minds. He wanted to enjoy the festival, eager to see how different it was from the Oban tournament that they'd gone to. At the mention of getting food he gave a nod of his head, "Food sounds nice!" Maybe they could find some good sweets? He was already down half his bag of hard candy from Oba and he wanted to get more before he ran out if possible.

As Shima suddenly pointed at something, some booths running some games, asking if they could go he turned to glance at his mothers, curious if they would go for such a thing. They were still grounded so it was hard to say if they would be allowed to play games... but he kind of hoped so. The one with the fish looked especially fun!