Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jeanette had to really think of something they did differently. She'd already been going to the Academy for so long, sometimes it was easy to forget that it wasn't where she came from. But she thought of the meals she hadn't had in a while, the food she wished would cross her plate in the dining hall, and she perked up. "In the desert, we eat cactuses!" the little Bakeneko announced proudly, twitching her little ears. "I read in a book that we used to eat them raw, because it was one of the only ways we knew of how to get moisture and keep ourselves hydrated. But as time went on we developed more gourmet ways to enjoy cactuses, making cactus popsicles and grilled cactus and all sorts of things like that! It's really hard to find a Bakeneko or Naga food place without there being a cactus option on the menu."

Discussing culture was a fun topic for Bambina to learn about. It was interesting to see how one race different from another, and then also how individuals like hybrids melded cultures together in their own special way. While it wasn't as interesting as science to the young girl, she could find herself appreciating other beliefs and where they came from. It was crucial to know why certain races believed what they did, and what made them tick. As for herself, well....what did she do that was different from others?

The freshling thought long and hard on how to best answer the question. It was a difficult one for her, in all honesty. Although she was a goblin and a bakeneko hybrid, she had never really had much of a family that the two races were said to love so much. There was a cruel irony in that, the little girl felt. "...Both goblins and bakenekos put a high emphasis on their family," she found herself explaining, with a hint of sadness lingering in the air as she trailed off. "...though I wouldn't know much about that. My brother and I were on our own, for the most part, at the orphanage..." The notion of having a large family, as others of her lineage might have or experience, seemed like a dream. A wonderful, unobtainable dream.

Archimedes didn't like talk about tradition, it made him think of his parents who had left him, but he tried his best to direct his thoughts to his siblings instead, though he hadn't spoken to his one sibling in a while. Arch sighed and said "We used to have family dinners every night, it was always important to us to gather as a family, and on the winter solstice my siblings and I would try to stay up as late as well could together, looking up at the sky." Arch sighed he was sad since everything got turned on it's head in his world, he wondered if any of those things would happen in his life again. Could he trust his new parents not to dump him and his sister like yesterday's new?? Was it possible that they would have family dinners and smile and laugh together?? Did Arch dare hope everything would be ok again??

Philo had to think long and hard about this. While he was technically from the area, he himself was a hybrid. He was part geist, part chimera. While he loved both parents dearly, neither of them were really around much for him, so his cultures were largely lost on him. All he really knew about Chimeras was that some of them lived in clans -- and his mother Talfia had been rather high ranking within one of those great clans before she decided to shed her old life away. Philo also knew that female Chimeras were viewed as more 'desirable' despite there being no stress or need to have a female child. Philo definitely wasn't a female, though, and because of this felt weaker in comparison to his sister and mom. As for Geists, they had a reputation for being pranksters -- even showing their affections through stealing objects from those they loved. Philo ... wasn't like this either.

"My family doesn't really have any ... traditions that link back to my culture." Philo admitted shyly. "The only real ... tradition we have is ... well. Spending the holidays together. My one mom works ... not here. Really, really far away so we never see her ... I guess our 'culture' is that we just try to see one another when we can ... "

Rune shot up when it was his turn. He was so giddy with excitement that he would be able to talk in front of the class. Everyone else had very interesting things to say about their families and customs and he was sure he had something interesting too. His pink, smoke-like tendrils wavered with almost as much excitement that he radiated. He had written down what he was going to say so he wouldn't fumble or forget anything.

"I'm Rune! And I'm a Geist if you couldn't tell." He paused, peering over his paper at his little audience. "It is said that we steal and are manipulative," he sounded out the words carefully, "But we are taught that what we do to others will happen to us, so we don't really steal unless we want something to be stolen from us." The pink Geist nodded, remembering his teachings. "Thank you!" rune smiled and went back to take his seat.

Orea squirmed in heer seat trying to think of something that was a value to her race. She had the luxury of having two races to draw from, but at that moment, she was drawing a blank. She stared at her paper trying to focus on something to write. She wanted to make sure she had something down before she would talk to everyone.

When it was her turn, she focused on just looking at her paper and getting this over with as soon as possible. "My n-name is Orea and I'm Imp and Baphomet." Her eyes remained glued on the paper in front of her. "Imps value family and things. I don't have much family, but I have a lot of things!" She gave a little laugh and peered to see if anyone else was laughing or even listening. "Baphomets are great hostesses. They are very accommodating to their guests and make them feel like they are true friends if you are invited to stay at their house." She sighed, wrapping up and going to sit down in her seat. She was glad it was over and that she didn't stumble over too many words.

Lilo couldn't help but roll their eyes. Sure everyone had something to complain about, but it wasn't other peoples business. Everyone else seemed more than okay just to blurt out things they didn't like about their races, but it left a bad taste in Lilo's mouth. Sure there were plenty of things they didn't like about the Baphomet culture, did they want everyone else to know things like that about them self? Absolutely not. Instead of just discussing it, Lilo went with the written alternative. Lilo's turn came around and they waved the paper in the air, letting the teacher and the class know that they were going to write it down instead.

'The one thing that really ticks me off about my culture is how hospitable we're supposed to be. Who decided that for us? If someone comes into my place and they act like a total jerk to me, I'm not going to be nice about it. Actually, if anyone comes to my place, friendly or not, I'm still not going to be nice about it. I'm not about to cook food for people and offer them drinks just because they came over, that's so dumb.'

Keon fidgeted nervously in his seat as the others began discussing out loud the things about their races. It wasn't that he didn't have anything to say, because oh boy did he, it was more or less just speaking in front of the class. He could feel his heart rate increase and his stomach was in knots. This wasn't going to be good. Just make it quick and it'll all be okay... The junior in front of him finished speaking and he honestly was afraid he was going to have a heart attack.

The Naga bolted up from his seat when it was his turn, speaking a million words per second. "I really don't like how the Naga race is okay with persuasion magic, I think it's really wrong. It's okay if we get away with it? No that's terrible. No one should do anything like that. Thank you." He sat down as quickly as he got up and immediately buried his face in his arms.