Welcome to Gaia! ::

Now that he knew everyone was safe, or as safe as they were going to get at this time, Masao turned his attention to how they would reach the caves. He watched Dimi as she spoke to the little pup, and was pleasantly surprised to hear that she was from the northern island.

“I too come from Hokkaido.” He said but there was no time for reminiscing on his old home. Dimi gave her idea on how they should go about getting to the caves and he nodded. It sounded similar to how one might travel through a snowstorm with others.

“I’ll have to lead. I can find the way. The little one will be in the middle, flanked by you and Sanyu. The others can press in on the sides. How does that sound?” He was already up and ready to go. Sorano buried back into his long brown hair with twitter that was almost a sigh.

"If nobody has any objections, we should get into position and get moving." The water was rapidly rising, the sea behind them becoming more turbelent and the waves wilder.

It was easy to sense that Sazanami was a little uneasy. Dimi knew that not being able to trust in dire situations could end badly, so she figured she would just try to gain the pup's trust as soon as possible.
"Hey! Sanyu! Come on over here, we're gonna start heading inland, so we want to keep our newest friend safe in the middle bvetween us!" Dimi lightly yelled to the soaked pink kuniku that had just recently joined the group out of the storm.
"That's Sanyu." Dimi said to Saza (nickname yo!!) nodding towards the kuniku she had called for. "She's really nice. Emil and I just pulled her out of the storm, so between us, we'll make sure nothing happens to you or anybody else. C:" Dimi was trying to sound as nice as possible without acting as though the young Saza couldn't hold her own. Sadly, she was pretty sure she was failing at the whole not making her feel like a child being babysat -.-

((OOC: Okay, I dunno if anyone else is going to get this, but sometimes you just get so annoyed with someone that you feel like everything they say sounds stupid and wrong and not just what they say but the way they say it and you just want them to go away, so that's where I was going with that confusing little paragraph.))

As Emil turned to look at Dimi when she spoke, a particularly strong wind caught him off guard, and with a lurch he toppled into the mud. A little yelp darted from his mouth like a desperate dog making a chase for a squirrel.
'How embarassing,' he thought as he picked himself off and tried to wipe sludge with the color and consistency of a slightly melted fudge bar off his fur.

"Erm, I'm alright. But that is a good idea Dimi. We can do that," Emil added with a little nod as he continued to attempt to get some of the muck out of already wet and dirty coat.

And then Masao started talking. He even said Sanyu's name nonetheless! Even in the midst of the storm, when Emil should have been thinking about something else, he was getting bitter again. He hated the way Masao said it. It just sounded all wrong in his voice, and the way he treated the word, like a china figurine set up on a shelf collecting dust gave Emil a bad taste in his mouth. He tried to snap himself back to the present.

Emil listened to Dimi talk to the child. He had almost forgotten about her. He hadn't really paid her any mind at all yet, but then again she didn't look like she wanted any more attention the way she averted everyones gazes and stared at her paws a lot.

"We really should get moving, is everyone ready? We could just sort of... make a break for it."

Tithe lightly giggled at what Saza said, despite the storm- until Emil fell over and she really saw how agrivated everyone looked.
And oh man, how she regret taking a look at her fur.
It sent shivers down her spine, it looked as if she rose up from the grave- or was buried alive.

Hearing Inari's command, Tithe looked about (still a bit apprehensive) to see were everyone was.
Suprisingly, they had found all the kuniku and they were all safe!
No injuries.

That was a weight off her back.

Inari waited as the Kuniku assembled about him, shielding his small frame along with Sazanami's. He gave the pup what he hoped was a 'don't worry, I'm practically a god, you'll be safe!' smile, but wasn't sure how well it would translate. Although the Gods and their endless adoration of the Kuniku got on his nerves, he still had a soft spot for the pups. Those fluffy manes were just so cute! And they weren't bigger than him, for once!

"Once we get to the caves, I think there's something I need to talk to you about. So none of you had better get blown away! This is important!" He braced his small legs, and readied himself to take down the shield.

Emil took one of the outside flanks after Dimi mentioned the stronger kuniku should stay on the outside. He didn't really feel that strong, but he puffed out his chest and tried to appear as strong as he could for the others.

Just a short trip, then they would be safe. Just don't get blown away, don't get blown away, please don't get blown away. What else did Inari have to tell them? The sooner they got to the caves, the sooner his curiosity would be quenched. That should serve as sufficient motivation, shouldn't it?

They were all just standing around, each of them trying to ready themselves and no one really doing anything. Emil felt a twinge of annoyance.

"Let's move on out!" he cried out to the others, trying to make his voice carry and not slip away with the storm, and then began walking.

Bijou awoke to the sound of the roaring wind and pounding rain. She had always been a deep-sleeper but this was ridiculous. All of her small pink body was soaked. This left her thin butterfly wings usless; Bijou was grounded.

This scene was much different from where she had been. Bijou came from Shikoku, where the weather was fine and full of cherry blossoms. She had hoped to meet more Kuniku, but apparently, she had flown over at the wrong time. The water around her was rising and the wind threatened to blow her petite body away with it. She began to slowly walk against the wind, hoping to run into someone else. This island was completely new to Bijou and she had no idea where to go.

Barely able to see, the situation seemed hopeless. She needed help; but Bijou hated asking for help. Admiting weakness is a hard thing for her. But she hated the thought of dying even more, so she did the only thing she could and began shouting out into the rain.