Welcome to Gaia! ::

Masao was woken by something pulling insistently at his ear. As he opened bleary eyes and uncurled himself from his position beneath the palm trees, he felt as if something in the world was distinctly off. There was an annoyed chirrup noise and Sorano hopped into view, his blue feathers puffed out in every direction.

It was dark, making it difficult to see the world around him and as he sat there, the already fierce wind seemed to pick up, howling in from across the sea. Masao half rose, his bird companion clinging to his shoulder and trying to hide within his hair.

Then the rain came and Masao was instantly soaked down to his skin. A storm? They couldn’t stay out in this weather. They had to find some shelter. Lightening and thunder crashed overhead, and as he attempted to step forward he nearly found himself bowled over by the driving rain and wind.

Turning desperately Masao searched for his companions, calling out their names, only to have his voice drowned by the thunder.

Inari, messenger of the gods, hovered high above the skies of Honshu biting his tongue. There was definitely something going on down there; thick black clouds obscured any glimpse of the land below and flashes of lightning bounced across the continent.

Oh noooo, He whined in his head, Why do I always have to do this kind of thing?? This looks dangerous!

The gods had sent him to investigate, and who was he to say no? Well, he'd have to go down there and try to sort out what was going on. Maybe he could find a competent Kuniku to help him out.

He bounced down through the atmosphere and plunged through the blackness. It was almost like diving into a pond there was so much water, and the howling wind nearly blew him into a few trees as he descended. He was lucky he had been blessed by the gods, or he wouldn't have been able to stand against the storm.

Definitely the work of the Oni Lord, this is nothing natural! I'm going to have to try and get the Kuniku out of here. Curses!

As Dimi lighlty snoozed in the pooring rain, she dreamt of teh next days to come. Why were there so many kuniku here? She knew that not all of them lived on Honshu, for she was one that traveled from Hokkaido. This was strange, it seemed as though all the kuniku were coming together to do something big, important, but what?

Suddenly interrupting her thoughts gushing water came almost out of nowhere. Dimi was swept off her paws by rushing current and sent spiraling down the rocky slope like a leaf in the rapids.

Dimi could not swim. Not to save her life. When she was much younger she had tried tiem and time again, but it just never worked out for her. She has amazing agility on hte ice and snow, dodging things at high speeds, turning on a dime, but water in its liquid form was the only thing that could trump her.

Shimoyake had tried falling asleep on the beach, but found it unnerving to sleep on the shifting sands. Eventually- after he made his way to higher, more solid ground- he had just started to snooze when the rain pelting against his fur woke him. He was groggy from lack of sleep, and was used to sleeping in the rain, but this storm was too much. He jumped up, immediately feeling the wind try to take him down again as he saw rivers of run-off coming down the side of the hill.

His red eyes widened as he thought of the others and started down back towards the ocean. The wind was fierce and the rain felt like hail against his skin, but he continued forward, the need to get everyone to safety overrunning his body with adrenaline. That was when he saw something caught in the current. At first he thought it was debris, branches knocked from their trees and swept away from their homes. Then he noticed that it was fighting back; the debris was actually a green kuniku! Upon looking closer though, he saw that Tithe was struggling against the current as well!

Immediately, he jumped towards the water- taking a deep breath and blowing out towards the rushing water, freezing a portion for him to stand on. He reached for his friend quickly, grabbing her by the back of her neck and pulling her from the water. How he managed to pull them both onto the little piece of ice, he didn't know but he did none the less. Making sure they were still breathing, Shimoyake started scanning the dreary scene for any others he could find. There was no rest for this blue beast.

(so exciting!! xD)

Inari scanned the area for any signs of life, although it was difficult to see through the lashing trees and rain. It seemed that most of the smaller animals must have sensed the storm and fled earlier, or had been swept under the tides and perished.

Then he heard yelling across to his left. Turning, he saw a small group of Kuniku lying beside what had become a raging river. None of them looked particularly strong and mighty, but maybe they would be able to help him out? Besides, it looked like they'd already fought the river, and it would be best if he helped them anyway.

He bounced across the ground until he stood on the opposite side of the river.
"Hey you! Kuniku! You stay right there all right, I'll be over in a second!"
He'd have to use some of his small godly powers to get across, and that would take a moment of concentration. If he didn't a tiny fox like him would certainly be swept away.

((Ooc- You'd be right Kat, so I guess I have to fix a few things so you guys don't have to. xd ))

The water rushed past and through Emil, and he found himself overwhelmed and he spun down the slope. He squinted his eyes tightly, trying hopelessly to see what was there beyond the white foam and dirty blue-green water. The wind whipped his ears, and he gave a little yelp that filled his mouth with water. Working his paws furiously, he was surprised to find that he was able to fight the torrent to some extent. He forced his face above water just in time to see a very wet green kuniku before he collided with her.

Her smaller body struggled against the water, and he tried furiously to help her. Taking as deep a breath as he could manage, Emil ducked under the surface of the water and tried to prop her up on his back to receive some air. He swam furiously at first, trying to fight the current to get her to higher ground. It seemed like there was another kuniku there too now, but the longer Emil stayed under the water, the more that the water flooded his brain, flushing out all thoughts beyond the most basic survival instincts.

Then, the weight was lifted, and Emil's head bobbed to the surface. He paddled around furiously trying to get her back for a moment before he realized that another kuniku had grabbed her out.

His brain, still oxygen deprived and near drowned from staying under water so long, would never be able to quite recall exactly how he had managed to get back onto solid ground. He couldn't be quite sure, but he could have sworn that when he reached out with his paws, grass from the bank had literally reached out to him and pulled him in with an almost loving embrace while Trumpet Voluntaire played somewhere in the distance.

At any rate, he was now on solid, if rather soggy ground, being lashed with whips of rain and twisted ropes of wind. He squinted around at the rather bedraggled group that had somehow assembled in the madness. There was the male Shimo that Emil didn't really know well at all standing on a stretch of ice that made him give an involuntary shudder as well as Tithe (who must have been the other kuniku in the water) and the green female Emil had helped in the water. If it was possible to get even more soaked than he already was, Emil imagined he would look like she did. She seemed surprisingly good natured about things though, and directed his attention to a small white creature in the storm quite a ways away with a swarthy, clever face that, even in all this dirt and wind and rain managed a luminous white glow. He called something out to them, but even as much as Emil strained, he couldn't catch it above the loud tattoo the rain beat out against the ground.

((I'm really sorry for confusing Emil and Tithe back there!))

While the block of ice was close enough to the grass that Dimi could almost reach out and touch it, she gave a flying leap to make it to solid ground. As she landed, she nearly collided with Emil, throwing them back into the water, but luckily she spun around quickley and they managed to just bang their heads togehter lightly.

Regaining a clear head, Dimi looked up in time to see a bright shiny orb, white somethign very white in hte middle, floating towards them. It was almost too much to resist trying to pop the orb like a bubble, but Dimi occupied herself with reaching across the small expanse of water ot the ice block and digging her claws into it so that it could stay steady enough for Shimo and Tithe to jump ashore.