Welcome to Gaia! ::

Raiku bundled through her home cave with excitement. Her papa said he would let her go outside on her own for the first time today! This was going to be fun! Her papa had taken Raiku just about everywhere on their territory, so she wouldn't get lost.... Today she wanted to go to the waterfall! Kigu, Raiku's papa, finally returned from his hunting excursion and placed a large mouse in front of Raiku, keeping a couple of them for himself, "Good morning my little Raiku! Eat up! You have a big day in front of you!"

Raiku giggled and devoured the mouse in a couple of bites. She then gave herself a quick wash like her papa told her to do after every meal, and ran to the cave entrance, "Aww... lemme go lemme go lemme go lemme go already papa!" Kigu ate his meal slowly and chuckled, "Just let me finish eating so I can see you off properly!" Raiku ran in a couple of circles and waited for her papa to finish eating. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Kigu was finally finished. He stood up and walked over to the cave entrance next to Raiku and began to clean her fur much to her annoyance. "Papa! I already did that!" Kigu chuckled again and replied, "You may see some one while going about your wanderings, and what will you do then, looking like a little monkey who rolled around in the dirt." As he finished Kigu jumped to his paws and yelped, "Are you ready to go!?" Raiku then also jumped to her paws, glad the grooming was finally over, "Yes I am papa!" Kigu then replied, "THEN! THREE! TWO! ONE! GOOOOOOoooo!" And at the go, Raiku sprinted out of the cave as faster as her little puppy paws could take her, hurtling down the hill and into the forest.

Raiku bundled through the trees with a goofy smile plastered upon her face. Her first time alone in the woods! This is going to be fun! I can go fishing, or hunting! Or i can run through a meadow... maybe even climb a tree! Oh! I can go bird watching like my papa does! Or maybe even bug catching! I can... I can... wait... where am I?! Raiku's full hearted sprint slowed down very quickly to a fearful crawl. She slunk across the forest floor, staring about herself with fear. If she had been with her father, Raiku would have noticed that she was still well in the heart of their territory, but she was so blinded with fear she couldn't even tell a leaf from a rock.

You are being silly Raiku! Raiku chastised herself, This is just the forest, there is nothing to be afraid of! You've been through here so many times with your papa! Everything will be alri.... Suddenly a twig snapped somewhere behind Raiku and she started with panic. She yelped and bounded off through the forest with fear lacing her heart. "Its going to eat me its going to eat me its going to eat me!" She yelled as she ran blindly through the trees. Without knowing it, Raiku was hurtling herself strait towards a waterfall. The same waterfall she always dived off of when she was younger, but this time, she had no idea she was about to go for a dip....

Raiku heard the rushing of the water a little too late, she had too much momentum in her paws to stop. As she neared the edge of the waterfall, Raiku saw a slightly bulge in the water. With surprise, and just in time, Raiku saw the little bulge move and decided it was a living thing! Not wishing to disturb any sort of little creature that may be rest on the waterfall, Raiku took a couple more bounds and then launched herself over the creature and over the edge of the precipice. With expert and practiced ease, Raiku streamlined her body and dove into the water below. As her body collided with pool of water, not even the slightest splash was made as her well adapted body let her slip right through the water. With a couple of rapid strokes, Raiku's head broke through the water's surface and she paddled over to the edge of the pool, finding the set of stone stairs the led almost to the top of the waterfall. She wanted to get back up there and apologize to whatever little creature she had scared so badly....

Raiku jumped up from rock to rock happily with her tongue lolling out, Maybe I'll make a new friend today like Papa said I would! With a final leap, Raiku scrambled to the top of the waterfall and plopped herself next to the little form in the water. "Well hello there cutey! I'm a dragonfly, you silly! Just like you!" She giggled and sniffed around the pup curiously, "You smell all wet! My papa says if you stay wet for too long you can get sick... You wanna move somewhere drier?"

Raiku blinked in surprised, she was completely dumbfounded by this new little being! It was almost like she didn't know what she was! That's preposterous! Of course she knows what she is.... she is just a pup though! She doesn't know THAT much... Raiku mentally debated for no more than a moment and then replied, "My Papa is my dad, my father, he... along with my mother... helped create me.... and..." She paused for a moment and stared at the little pups tail and then continued, "Your tail... it... its like a small river! But... wait... you don't know what water is...?" She looked around slightly and then scooped up a pawfull of dirt and smeared it on Abi's paw. "THAT is dirt... that is what it feels like, don't forget!" And then Raiku got her tail wet and sprinkled some water on Abi's forehead, "And THAT is water. When you get water on yourself it makes you wet.... You are IN the water... therefore you are wet..."

Raiku blinked and sighed, "You were in the water when I almost ran into you... sorry about that by the way.... This is my first time out in the forest alone, with out my Papa that is... I got scared when a twig snapped behind him and it was a bit of a panicked sprint..." She blushed slightly at her clumsiness and the looked at the little one wonderingly. "Why did you seem ashamed of being blind? You paused... why? There is nothing to be ashamed of... Well... actually... you're pretty amazing really. You're just a pup and are wandering about all on your own, but you can't even see! You're so cool!" Raiku, in the heat of her discovery, completely forgot about Abstinence's strange watery tail....