Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rime pulled up to the hotsprings in her rental car, and took a look around before getting out. Avery had his nose pressed to the glass, and she could still hear him asking questions, even outside the car. Alida was pretending to be deaf as well as mute, and Sybil had long since fallen asleep, her head tilting over to rest against Ritsu's arm.

Ritsu, poor boy, had had an anxious look pasted on his face since she had done so, staring at her, and twitching everytime the car had gone over a bump. Rime knew he was worried about transforming, even though Rime wasn't. She respected his right to keep it private from his siblings... but it was going to come out someday. The only reason it hadn't so far was that Alida respected that he didn't like casual touching, and Avery was a boy. Sybil... well, Sybil worked by her own set of rules, but for the most part, she observed, and didn't take part in the action.

Looking around, Rime realized they must have been the first here. "Alright! We're the first ones, kids! Everybody out, and let's go get wet!" Rime called to them enthusiastically, and Avery didn't need telling twice. He was out the door and running past her by the time she said 'kids', his clothes bag swinging around wildly at the end of his fist. "We're going swimming!" he shouted loudly.

Alida followed more sedately, carrying both Sybil's and her own changing bags, but Ritsu was still staring at Sybil with the look of a hunted animal. Rime shook her head and took pity on him, reaching in to pick the sleeping little girl up so he could get out.

"Thank you very much Rime-san. I didn't want to wake her... but..."

"It's alright, sweetie. Go ahead and change, okay?" Rime handed him her changing bag to carry with his own, and Ritsu complied docilely. Rime balanced a still sleeping Sybil in one arm, and picked up the rather large cooler in the other, kicking the door of the car shut behind her.

She walked towards the changing rooms, and saw her bag sitting on a little bench near the girl's room. Rime walked inside the room, set down the cooler, and gently woke Sybil up. "Hey, sweetie, we're here. Do you want to go in the nice warm springs?"

Sybil yawned mightily, but nodded yes, her face still buried in Rime's shoulder. "Warm..."

"Okay, then. You need to change into your suit, though. Here you go." They both changed, put their clothes in the lockers provided, and went outside to find the other three kids changed and waiting for them by the springs. They had listened to her telling them not to swim without her... though it looked like Alida had a death grip on Avery's hand.

Rime's suit was an icy blue color, with dark blue panels on the side, and both her own and Sybil's towels draped over one arm. Sybil had a pale purple one with a small bow on the front. Alida's suit was green, with black piping, and she had a rainbow towel wrapped around her waist. Avery was dressed in his red and black trunks, and Ritsu wore a pair of yellow and light blue trunks, and had his palm tree towel around his shoulders.

"Okay! Everybody in!" Rime caroled, after setting the cooler and towels down next to a small table that had Avery's towel carelessly flung over it. She charged towards the water, held her nose, and took a flying leap. She tucked her legs in close, and landed with an enormous splash, surfacing a couple seconds later with a content smile.

Avery shouted, "Alright, Mom! Woohoo!" And followed her example. Alida looked doubtful at their behavior, but took Sybil's hand and they both sat down next to Ritsu, who had slipped in just before them. Ritsu had the look of someone who was cataloging the surroundings, and Rime figured he might be comparing to the other set of hotsprings he knew.

((WAHHH!!! There's no Momiji... We should come up with our own song! ^_^))

((Gah! But Avery is really me, and I'm no good at song making! sweatdrop And besides... Avery can't sing. He's tone deaf. He might want to, but Alida and Sybil and probably half a dozen others would dunk him before he got three notes out.))

Aqua skips in, cannonballing into one fo the hotsprings. "Wheee!!" (SPLASH) She disappears into the water, melting and merging with it. After a moment her head pops up from the surface, though her body is invisible. She is grinning broadly, and giggling. "C'mon, Sere! It's nice an' warm!"

Sere glowers, sitting cautiously on the edge of the hot pool, dipping her feet in. She winces as she touches the water, and rolls her eyes at Aqua. "Nice n' warm, my butt! This thing is super super hot!"

Niko sighs, sitting down on a stonebench nearby while taking her t-shirt off to reveal her violet bikini(Just a plain purple bikini). She dips a toe in, and then steps all the way into one of the springs, folding her wings close to her back so they don't smack anyone.

"I'll drown!" Rene howled, holding a towel around herself. Jeane had, somehow managed to get the little girl into a swiming suit. Rene hadn't been pleased.

"No, you won't." Jeane said, holding firmly onto her own towel. "You might rust, but you won't drown."

The girl glared up at her guardian before sitting on the edge of the hotsprings, dangling her feet in. Rust, indeed! "I don't see you jumping in." She accused.

"I'm a very scary looking under this towel. I'll just... sit." And she did.

Yume walked down the bath towards the hot springs, a smile on her face. Her braids were pulled up make little loops on the sides of her head. As the hot springs came into view, she stepped to the side, pulled off the t-shirt she had on over her swinsuit and move into the warm water. Smiling as she felt the heat touch her skin around the blue bikini and she moves covering her body up to her shoulders in water. "Feels good after that last snow."

Sirene appeared behind Yume carrying a small bundle in her hands. She looked down at her relaxing daughter and tapped her shoulder lightly as she shifted her bundle onto one arm. "Yume. Jiyuu wanted to come with you." She smiled as she sat on the ground, her feet dangling in the water.

Yume turned around and looked up at her mother. "You brought him out here! She questioned picking her self up and sitting on the side of the hot springs. Reaching out slowly, she grabbed Jiyuu and held him to her warm body. "You really are a small trouble maker for me." She giggled as he reached up for her hair.

"Mew" He cried out softly as he heard Yume's voice. He smiled brightly and nodded fast. It didn't matter to him what Yume said as long as he could still follow her. He moved out of her hands and fell off her lap onto the ground rolling back over towards Sirene's legs. Shaking his head as he stopped, he looked over at the hot springs and started to move towards them.

"No you don't. Not until you learn how to swim, you are much to young." Sirene smiled reaching out and scooping him up back into her arms were his ears dropped and he gave Sirene a small, hurt look that caused her to just smile.

((Zhome, what's wrong with the php? send me a PM with the map.php code and the code you put in your sig with the URLs so I can check it out. ^_^ And crap. Alida grew in the middle of the conversation. Uhm. I'll just say she grew just before this, and she's always been a teen. Yeah. rolleyes ))

Alida nodded understandingly. She pointed towards an as yet unpopulated corner of the spring, away from the splashing people. How was she supposed to write if her notebook got all wet? She scowled in their direction, and then took Yuki by the hand, holding her notebook in the other, and pulling him along behind her as she walked through the water.

There. Now we're away from the crowd.

She tilted her head at him questioningly, asking if this was an okay spot and waiting for his answer before sitting down. A light breeze was making her chilly as opposed to the hot water of the springs.