Welcome to Gaia! ::

Celaien was sitting on the balcony with his new glaive, rubbing oil into the
shaft to make it smoother. Aria flew over, looking a bit out of place. She had
flown from home, a bit upset, but her mind was working. Maybe she wasn't around
the others enough.

"Hi."

Celaien looked up, surprised, as Aria flew over. "Hey Aria,"
he said welcomingly, standing up and wiping his hands to go greet her.
"What brings you here?"

Aria smiled, pleased. "Well, I decided I don't really have a lot
of friends, I don't spend enough time to make any friendships. So I decided I'd
try." She glanced at the glaive. "Oh...is that what you
made?"

Celaien grinned, holding it up to show her. "Tis," he said,
pleased. "I haven't had much chance to practice with it yet, but
Tenan has promised to show me some stuff."

Aria landed to take a closer look. "That's nice. Do you know any
moves with it?"

Celaien shook his head ruefully. "Not yet. Before now I was mostly
waiting for the gum to finish setting up, and now I'm making the shaft smoother,
so I don't get splinters."

Aria nodded. "That's good, cause those hurt. Rynn got one a few
days ago." She looked at the weapon. "Mind if I hold
it?"

"If you want," he said, holding it horizontally out for her.

She took it, holding it gently. The shaft was quite smooth. Celaien had put a
lot of work into it. "You did a great job."

Celaien grinned proudly, colouring slightly. "Thanks," he
said. "I can't wait until I learn how to really use it..."
His eyes took on a faraway gleam as he remembered. "When Tenan and
Dae were practicing... it was amazing... like a dance, almost..."

Aria handed it back, the same way he had gave it to her. She was smiling.
"I bet that'll be interesting. Just don't get hurt."

Celaien accepted it back, tilting it upright and half-leaning on it.
"I'll try not to," he said. "Promise. Hey, d'you
want something to eat or anything?"

"Sure. What do you have?"

Celaien shrugged, grinning. "I dunno, usually we eat whatever Tenan
makes us eat. But I bet we have some cereal, or maybe some other stuff... Shall
we go to the kitchen?"

She nodded. "Sounds great to me. I've not eatten in a while.
Hey, is Tenan and Dae around? I'd like to meet them."

Celaien thought for a moment. "Yeah, they're probably here... Likely
enough, playing video games," he said, laughing quietly to himself. The
two could be so adult at times, and so childish others. "Let's go
see!" he said, flittering off through the library in the direction of
the living room.

Aria followed him, wanting to meet the two Celaien was always speaking about.
Well, not always but she had heard the names often enough. "Wait
for me!" she called, laughing.

Celaien obligingly slowed down, grinning back. "Sorry," he
called. He landed at the doors, slipping easily through the space underneath,
and waited on the other side for Aria.

{{ s'a pretty big gap - easily an inch or two }}

Aria crawled under the door, looking around. Celaien offered a hand to help her
to her feet, then looking down the hall, pondering. "This way,"
he said decisively, taking wing again.

Aria stood, then following his example, took wing again as well.
"Nice place you have here. Roomy."

Celaien laughed. "It's gigantic, to me... I *still* haven't seen all
of it... I think the house itself actually belongs to everybody, and stuff keeps
changing all the time. It's a bit confusing.."

Aria giggled. "That would be very confusing. It's like Rynn's
place...if she ever cleaned...I'd think I'd die."

Celaien grinned. "You're seeing the *clean* part of the house now...
Just wait until we get to the living room, or anything belonging to Cele..."
Speaking of, there they were! He flew in the living room, and sure
enough, there was a Mario Kart game going on between Dae, Tenan, Tsuki, and
Cele.

Aria hovered, watching. Oh wow...this was cool! It was a bit messy, but she was
use to it. She giggled, flying over to watch.

Cele flailed a bit as her Kart (once again) *mysteriously* flew off into the
void. Celaien landed on her head. "Hey you, know where any food
is?" he asked, grinning cheerily. Aria laughed, watching Cele and her
Kart. She'd never played a video game before.

Celelorien blinked, noticing Aria. "Hey Aria! You guys want some Cinnamon Toast
Crunch? That's about all the feien-sized stuff we have at the moment... Though I
could cut some stuff up for you, I guess.." she said, shrugging.

She waved. "Hey! Sure that sounds good. I've had no
lunch." She waved to the others she didn't know.

Cele stuck her tongue out at Tsuki, who had (for no reason wotsoever, she was
sure) chucked her off the side again with some Koopa shell, then abandoned her
controller. "Want a lift, Aria?" she asked, pointing to Celaien. He'd made
himself quite comfy on the top of her head, riding on one of the little
hair-balls.

Aria giggled, landing on her shoulder. "Sure." She
giggled more. "Rynn's a Moonie. Sailor Moon has hair like that
and called her Meatball Head. I like the hairstyle though."

Celelorien sighed. "Yeah, Tsuki and Dae think it's funny to call me that, too."
She shook her fist at them playfully, then headed off for the kitchen. She
snagged a bowl from a cupboard and the cereal from another cupboard, and poured
them a nice full bowl, munching some herself as she wandered back to the living
room. "You guys wanna play?" she asked, settling behind her controller again.
(Dae, Tenan, and Tsuki had knocked her unmoving player off the side at least
eight times while she was gone.)

Aria snagged a piece and bit into it, watching the screen.
"Sure! How do you play? Just press the buttons?"

Cele grinned. "Well that's how I play fighting games. For this one, you have
to steer with the joystick and press the accelerator and weapons fire. Why
don't one of you drive and the other shoot?"

Aria grinned. "Celaien, wanna drive or shoot?" She
dusted her hands off. That cereal was good! She'd get another piece later, but
she wanted to play!

Celaien looked up from the bowl, piece in mouth. "Mrffm!" he
said, then broke off the bit he had in his mouth. "Doesn't matter,
which do you want to do?" he clarified, grinning.

Aria laughed, flying down to the controller. "I'll drive, you
shoot."

"Okay," he said agreeably, sticking the rest of the piece
back in his mouth and hopping over to the buttons, stepping on the one Cele said
was the accelerator.

She grabbed hold of the joystick, pushing it and pulling it, yelping as the Kart
went all over the road. There was a huge grin on her face, as she was truely
enjoying herself.

Careening all over the track was FUN! Celaien laughed, enjoying this much. By
some random miracle, they managed to hit a weapons box. Tsuki (coming up to lap
them) was then promptly beaned with a Koopa shell.

Aria was laughing, stirring all over the place. She hadn't grasped the concept
of following the track, so was driving the way she knew how. "I
hope Rynn has this game! I love this!"

Celaien grinned back. "This is way more fun than just watching,"
he said.

Aria nodded. "Yeah! I have to come over here more
often!"

Celaien grinned, firing weapons randomly as soon as he got them, enemy around or
not. "I bet you guys would do well with a fighting game," Cele said, grinning.
"That's just a lot of pushing buttons too."

Aria grinned, laughing as she managed to turn the Kart around. She was now going
backwards. "Oh...can we try that?"

Cele smiled. "Sure. You guys mind switching?" she asked, poking the other
three. They all were amenable to the idea, so she switched off Mario Kart and
put in Super Smash Brothers.

Aria pulled on the joystick, laughing as the little person on the screen moved.
"This is fun!"

"Hmmm..." said Celaien thoughtfully, then pressed a button.
The guy did an attack. Celaien grinned - he was so going DDR on this
controller! He started dancing around on the buttons, pressing them at random.

Aria watched, her attention on both the red Feien and the screen. She laughed,
the guy firing away as he danced, her moving him alaround.

"Grr..." mumbled Tsuki, as his little yellow mouse thing
was flung squealing into the distance by the Feien's jointly-played guy.

Aria laughed, seeing they'd beaten one guy, some sort of yellow mousey.
"Yay!" she cheered, moving him all around.

Celaien laughed. "This is so great!" he said, accidentally
setting off a chain of combo moves.

Aria squealed in delight as the chain of combo moves knocked yet another person
offscreen. "Yay!! We're winning!"

Tenan grinned. "It's all up to you, Dae, or we'll be beaten by
four and six inch fairies!" But it was too late. Dae's guy, Ness, was
thrown wailing into space and the winner message came up.

She cheered, grinning, hugging Celaien. "We won!"

"Woohoo!" he cheered, laughing as he was squished into her
hug. "We rule!"

Aria grinned, letting him go. "This rocks!" She went to
the bowl and got another piece of cereal, eatting it, smirking.
"We rule!"

Celaien snagged another piece as well, raising a toast to her with it.
"Muwahahaha!" he laughed, mock-evilly, and munched cheerily
on his delishous square of sugar.

Aria toasted him, her piece half eatten. She was having a lot of fun here. She
was grinning, and bouncing.

Celaien grinned back. "Let's play another round!"

Aria nodded, going to the joystick again. "Yeah! Lets
play!"

Tsuki made a face, but agreed, and chose the pink blobbity thing this time. Dae
selected a Donkey Kong with a blue tie, and Tenan took Ness this time.

"I want the mousey!" Aria cried, trying to make it land
on Pikachu. Finally she managed and off they went.

"Wheee!" shouted Celaien as his random button pushing made
the little mouse thing do all sorts of neat lightning tricks.

Aria was laughing, watching as the others were getting blasted. She glanced at
Celaien, grinning. "We make a good team!"

"Buttons!" was his response as he grinned and stomped around
some more. He was having way too much fun, perhaps that sugar was going to his
braain...

She was laughing at him, moving Pikachu all over the place. Aria was having a
lot of fun herself, reaching over to snag another piece of cereal.

They eventually cleared the stage of foes again. Celaien grinned and cheered,
holding up a V-sign for victory, laughing.

Aria cheered around a mouthful of cereal, hugging Celaien again.
"Yay!" she said, after swallowing, grinning big.

Celaien overbalanced this time, falling off the controller but still laughing.
"Well that was fun," he said, grinning. "What
now?"

Aria laughed, smiling down at him, offering him her hand to get up.
"I dunno. What all do you do here? "

Celaien blinked, accepting the help up and shrugging. "Not much
really... ooh! I knows!" He flew up to Dae and clung to his bangs.
"Dae will you and Tenan spar, please please please puh-leeaasee?"
he begged, giving him the biggest puppy eyes he could manage.

Aria giggled. "Oh, please do!" She wanted to see a spar.
That'd be neat!

Dae blinked. "Weeelll... I dunnoo," he said, looking at
Tenan and grinning. "What do you think?" Celaien
launched himself at Tenan, clinging to his nose.

"Pleeaase?" he begged. "I want to learn anyway
you said you'd teach meee!" Tenan laughed, then relented.

"Okay, you guys go have a seat on the balcony and we'll practice in
the garden."

Aria clapped her hands. "Yay!! I've never seen a spar before!"


Celaien zipped over to her, grabbing her wrist and attempting to pull her into
the air excitedly. "Come on, come on, it's the coolest thing in the
world!" he chittered. Sparring was one of the few things that could get
him this worked up.

Aria took wing, allowing him to pull her. "Ok, ok, I'm coming!"
she excalimed, her eyes shining.

Celaien half-dragged her back down the hallway, scooting under the library doors
and half-running, half-flying back to the balcony. He perched, peering down at
the nice flat bit of grass the two were going to practice on, waiting for them
to show up.

Aria was giggling, taking a seat on the balcony along side Celaien. She peered
over the edge, waiting on Dae and Tenan as well. "Do they use
glaives too?"

"Tenan does," he said. "Dae uses a
katana." The two walked out, smiling as they chatted amiably.

Aria nodded. "Oh cool...I want a real katana, but none are our
size."

Celaien grinned. "Yeah.. that's why I had to make my
glaive."

"Rynn saw this website...had small metal weapons. She might get
me one," Aria replied, nodding. She looked to Dae and Tenan, ready to
watch. She was nervous and excited.

Dae and Tenan bowed to each other, weapons in hand and padded. Their eyes
locked as they came up, and they began.

Aria watched, leaning over to watch, Her eyes followed their moves.
"Wow..." she whispered.

Celaien's eyes shone. "Isn't it amazing?" he whispered.
Tenan dipped to a crouch, sweeping out with the glaive, which Dae dove-rolled
over to avoid, lashing out in turn. Tenan pirouetted with the weapon's weight
guiding him, stepping just out of the katana's range.

Aria clapped, watching. She nodded to Celaien's comment, her eyes glued to the
action.

They dance-fought for a while, then mutually decided to end it. They paused,
and drew themselves upright, bowing to each other again and grinning. Dae
called up, "Did you guys enjoy the show?"

"Yeah!! That was so cool!! Can you teach me too?" She
called down, smiling, clapping. "You guys rock!"

Tenan grinned up. "I'm sure Dae wouldn't mind teaching you
swordwork, but I'm only any good with the glaive."

Aria grinned. "Would you mind, Dae?" She thought it
better to be polite and ask.

Dae shrugged, smiling. "If you like."

She grinned, flying down to thank him. "Oh thank you!! Whenever
you want to start, I'm ready!"

Dae laughed a bit. "Not so fast, little miss! First, I'm getting
something to drink. Then maybe we'll start the lessons," he said,
winking.

Aria grinned. "Well, I'd have to get my sword. It's at home....I
guess I should go back..."

Dae smiled. "Ok, well we'll take our break and you can fetch
your sword, if you want to begin now. Otherwise, we can start with a basic
history lesson."

"Ok, the history lesson sounds good." She really didn't
want to go home, not just yet.

"Come on down then," he said, offering up a hand.
Celaien, interested as well, flittered down from the balcony.

She flew down, landing on his hand. She grinned at Celaien.
"This will be fun!"

Celaien grinned back. "Most assuredly. Dae knows a lot more about a
lot of stuff than he usually tells, but when he does, it's cool," he
said. Dae carried them into the kitchen and set them on the table, removing the
padding from his katana while Tenan bustled about getting juice (and a small
pair of shot glasses for the feien).

Aria sat down on the table, indian style. She smiled her thanks at Tenan for the
juice, sipping it slowly. She couldn't wait and watched Dae remove the padding.

Tenan handed a glass to Dae, then settled in a chair himself. Dae took a drink,
then started talking. "Katanas originated in Japan, and they are
extremely tough. They're nearly indestructable, actually, if you wield it
right. This is because in the forging, often the metal used is folded over to
make it stronger. They retain a good cutting edge for a long time, as well,
because only the sharpened edge is hardened. This gives the katana its curved
shape," he said, running his finger along it to show the way it curved
back slightly.

Aria nodded, listening. Even Rynn didn't know that much, about the metal being
folded over.

"Most people use two hands to hold katanas, though it is possible
to only use one. They were originally intended as swords for cavalry units, and
often paired with the slightly shorter wakizashi. It's mostly meant for
cutting, in an arc, and not so good at thrusting, though it could be used for
such."

"Rynn has a Wakizashi, though she calls it a Katana. She can't
remember the name though. It's name is Phoenix." Aria grinned.

Dae grinned. "That's a common misconception," he said.
"Katana is the name that refers to swords over sixty centimeters
long. Wakizashis are between thirty and sixty. They're also forged a lot
differently, with different blade thickness and different metals. They're more
of a field weapon, whereas katanas are kind of like rapiers."

Aria nodded again, picking up the shot glass to drink. That juice was good. She
swallowed, setting the glass down. "Ahhh...I see. Well, we both
know it's not, she can't recall the true name to it."

Dae sipped his juice. "There are, of course, several different
types of weaponry used overall that were quite popular in Japan. Masamune were
extremely long, and I don't think anybody ever got the hang of them
one-handed."

Aria nodded. "I bet not, if they were really long."

Dae grinned. "One weapon almost nobody could deal with, one
handed OR two, was the zanbato. Now THAT was a weapon!"

"What did that one look like?"

"It was a gigantic blade, taller than a man and about as wide,
with a short, thick wooden handle. It was meant for foot soldiers to use
against cavalry, the idea being to cut through both horse and rider in one
sweep."

Aria's blue eyes went wide. "Wow...but if it was so big, how'd
they expect anyone to use such?"

Dae chuckled. "That's why almost nobody could handle it. It was
only in service for a short while, because they were just too heavy for normal
usage."

"Those that could much have been huge men!"

"Aye, or very very strong," he said, shrugging.
"Which is why these were much more common." He gestured
to the katana. "Wakizashis were even more so, because their
shorter blades meant quicker drawing, and the way their edges were done made
them much more vicious against soft flesh. Katanas, being very sharp and very
strong, were a sort of all-purpose weapon good for cutting through harder
materials. Often, if a samurai could wield a katana one-handed, he would put a
wakizashi in the other. They were paired so frequently they even got a nickname
- daisho."

Aria nodded. All this was fasinating to her. "Cool. I bet they
were hard to beat."

Dae sipped lightly at his juice. "Daisho literally means 'large
and small' - large, for the katana, and small, the wakizashi. They were a
formidible force to face - at least, until the age of gunpowder. But that's a
different story."

She nodded, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was awful late.
"I appreciate the history lesson, but I should get home. Rynn's
gotta be worried about me. But I'll be back!"

Dae waved. "No problem! Perhaps next time you can bring your
sword," he said.

Aria nodded. "I will. It's plastic though...that won't be a
problem?" she asked, standing.

Dae shook his head. "Not if you just want to learn kata, or all
you're going against is plastic. I bet we could whittle you down a bokken,
though - wooden katana, meant for practice," he explained.

Aria grinned. "I'd like that! That would so rock!"

Celaien stretched, grinning at her. "Glad you had fun! I can't wait
until we can make a real katana our size," he said, smiling.

Aria nodded. "Yeah!" She grinned at him.
"Thanks for having me, come over anytime!" She waved,
and flew out the kitchen window, grinning.

"Any time!" he called after her, waving back.