Welcome to Gaia! ::

Guyy stared out of the window glumly. Rain lashed against the pane and fierce winds rattled the thick glass. He sighed. Despite his nature he rather liked winter when it was all clean, white snow and sparkling frost. What he didn't like was this windy, rainy, cold, miserable bit at the end. The other clan members were probably feeling down about it too. Even Lady Aya, who loved the cold, probably didn't enjoy this weather.

He turned back to the book he was working on, his laptop humming as he carefully referenced and cross referenced his work. It was dull. Dull, dull, dull. But then in a moment of perfect clarity, inspiration hit him and he grabbed for his phone. It was time to call in a favour.

Just a few short days later the clan found themselves on a private chartered flight to the Southern Hemisphere, where the sun was shining and the days were long and peaceful. It had not been hard to find a company that would take them for a fee without ever questioning the nature of the passengers aboard, particularly the balls of red fluff that had spent the first couple of hours of the flight bouncing around and alternating between pure fear and delight. Except for Cloudchaser, who despite his many, deep scars and continued weakness, was quite serene. He seemed to enjoy being above the clouds. Even Wavedancer managed to settle down for a while in his lap, paws pressed to the window in awe. Guyy had hoped to use the young male cub to deliver the clan to their destination, but he soon learned that the cub could only teleport to places he had already seen. And so the cubs were bundled onto the flight.

And from the flight they were again bundled onto a hired bus. Guyy drove it himself, thankful for the warm sun that affected him much like espresso. The other clan members must be tired, and indeed soon the youngest were asleep. Some of the elder members too drifted off. A couple of hours later they pulled up a long driveway and their destination was in sight. A luxurious mansion lay before them, surrounded by palm trees and forest. The sound of the sea could be heard as soon as the engine was cut, rippling and sighing just behind the villa. It was practically on the beach.

The strongest and more awake of the clan were given the task of taking the luggage up to the rooms and even Cloudchaser made a good effort, before he grew weary and found a shady corner to rest in. It was already evening. Jovially, Guyy ushered everyone into the dining room and with the help of his family they soon had a small feast to celebrate their arrival. The youngest members of the clan were tucked into bed shortly after, and one by one the older members made their way to their own rooms, of which there were plenty. Only a few had to share, and they mostly volunteered.

The morning would come soon and after everyone was rested, the fun would begin.

The Shinigami were on holiday.

((Welcome to our beach villa, graciously loaned out to the clan via an old friend of Guyy's. The beach is behind the mansion, just down a short path. It's a large, private cove so we do not need to worry about trespassers. Though I do believe a certain floating airship will be joining us.

The villa has lots and lots of luxurious rooms. You are free to take a single, a double or a twin if you wish to share. All are en suite and look down on a central courtyard with a pretty fountain and a few outdoor tables and chairs.

There is a vast dining hall and well stocked kitchens, as well as a fantastic wine cellar (that holds more than just wine, if your poison of choice is something different). There is also a spacious indoor pool, a basic gym, a home theatre and a game room. If anyone needs any other rooms added, just request them, but they need to be in the realm of 'normal', seeing as this is not a Shinigami owned residence. There is a small boat house at the beach, housing a small pleasure craft and a couple jet skis.))

Mention the world holiday to Nikolai the Child Captain or any one of his hardy, most likely drunk crewmates and you can pretty much consider having an extra guest, or twelve, joining you for something that they may not even be all that interested in. One such chap had before mentioned a holiday involving a mountain hike, something nobody on the ship would find enjoyable bar Quick-Eye but they all found themselves bundling along for the ride anyway, and they didn’t even really know the person who mentioned it in the first place. Another such unlucky chump was Guyy of the Shinigami Clan, though perhaps his mention of a holiday also bordered on an invitation as well as each group did partially know each other; plus there was Ayreith, one of their old acquaintances. Regardless of whether the Shinigami wanted them or not, the Boozehounds and their grand galleon, Honeybee, were on there way to the beach. Not only that, but they were early too.

Bodo, the tall and bulky black-bearded and damn hairy second in command of Honeybee, stood glumly behind the navigator’s wheel, occasionally batting it back and forth to keep the ship steady on its gentle course across the skies. The air was cool and fresh, clear of the impurities that flood it as the day grows older, and the sun bathed him in a soft, warm light while a gentle breeze whipped around him and kept him cool. It was a beautiful morning, and it was damn terrible to be awake.
“This is much too early for a man to be awake, let alone working.” Bodo grumbled as a large hand found it’s way to his chin, rubbing it roughly, “’less he be short o’the mind or otherwise.”
“It’s a wonderful morning, how can you complain, B?” a tall, lanky man responded as he strode across the deck with a casual pace. One would find it hard to believe that the pair were of the same crew, as Bodo was dressed in standard grubby attire of a plain, sleeveless black tunic, a thick leather belt and heavyset brown baggy trousers while Quick-Eye, the lanky figure, wore a perfectly white buttoned shirt with a black, silk tie and a pair of pressed black trousers. Quick-Eye also had a black silk rag tied around his head, covering his eyes that people would have thought impaired him, but he was blind already. He was also the sharpshooter.
“You don’t have the sun trying t’burn yer bleeding eyes out while ye steer with a damn headache and a half.” Bodo replied as he turned his head to see who it was, though he already knew by the sound of voice.
“True, but I’ve got those damn seagulls screeching in my ear lugs, and they’re a touch more sensitive for me eh?” Quick-Eye added on with a laugh.
“Get some practice in then.”
“Can’t. Nikolai hid both Busty and Blondie, probably doesn’t want me to scare Mana while he gropes her to kingdom come.” Quick-Eye said with another laugh, “To think, he was the one telling us not to go too overboard with her!”
“Y’mean he’s really dressing her for this? I didn’t think he’d have the gall.”
“He just better hope her quiet mood sticks, or we could be without a captain again.”

A loud round of laughter and hooting disturbed the otherwise gentle atmosphere. Toward the rear end of the ship is where the majority of the crew had sat themselves, including the eccentric captain Nikolai. The energetic male, dressed in a standard pirate outfit in full green with various red and blue trims lining the edges of fabric, was currently in the middle of a fight with the enormous horned figure of Little Horn, who was far too busy laughing to fight properly with the much, much smaller man. Three other figures stood around the fighting pair and chanted the name of the larger warrior, much to the annoyance of their illustrious captain. Another figure stood a little further away from the group and was dressed in far less clothing than any one of them as well, being of course the only female amongst the bunch. In fact, Mana was the only girl on the ship that was ‘available’ for the rowdy jokes and games that required a female presence, as the only other two women on the ship were either an eight year old, undead girl or the fiery sister of Nikolai who would probably turn the ship and everyone on it into a smouldering wreck before letting anybody touch her. Mana may only be fifteen herself and her body probably looked younger still, but she was good enough for the perverse but fun natured games the lads often cooked up night after night.

Right now though, the girl was slightly confused as to what was going on and why. Nikolai had been dressing her only moments ago, though let her actually strip down in privacy and only intervened when none of her vitals were on display, but then Little Horn had popped his head around the corner and began to lay taunt after taunt atop the blonde captain. Apparently the captain had been manhandling her, groping her whenever he could and just flat out being a perverted little man, according to horn, but Mana never really seemed to notice anything bad about the captain’s actions, people before him had been much worse. Nobody before had ever fought about it either, she was slightly worried that they’d maybe be taking this situation a little too far.

“Bunch of idiots aren’t they?” a deep, rolling voice knocked her away from her thoughts. Her dull bronze orbs veered upwards to see who it was beside her now and saw that it was the large, bald man called Ayreith and the little undead girl, Sapphire, who was giggling happily at the fight.
“Who’s going to win? Who’s going to win!?” Sapphire shouted happily, kicking her legs back and forth lightly against Ayr’s chest.
“Isn’t it a bit cold to be wearing so little so early, Mana?” Ayr added as his large hands made their way up to the little girl’s waist, his fingers gently pushing in against her sides causing her to giggle and squeal. Mana looked down at herself and tugged the rag of blue fabric, literally just a strip, tied around her chest and covering, barely, her breasts. They had somehow managed to steal some real bikini bottoms from somewhere that were somehow of the same colour. The wind hit her suddenly, and she shivered.
“Sapphire wants to get into her swimsuit as well but wants someone to help her, would you mind? We’ll get something a little more… protective put on you as well.” Ayr added again, turning to walk away. Sapphire leant backwards and beckoned to Mana to come and join them with a bright, cheery smile. The blonde found it hard to really resist it and quickly followed behind the pair.

“Cradle snatcher!”
“Cow shagger!”
“Girly man!”
“Brutish lout!”
“Brutish lout!?”
“Ugly pig’s arse!”
“You’re getting worse!”
Everybody around the little fight continued to laugh and cheer as the pair threw insults and fists towards each other while never actually managing to do any damage. Little Nikolai was doing his damned hardest to try and beat the far bigger, far stronger Little Horn who really had to try and not knock his captain out with one punch. None of noticed that the girl they were fighting over had all but left the scene but then they wouldn’t really care either, Little Horn always loved to fight and Nikolai was just an idiot.

Honeybee began to loom over the first lengths of beach the Shinigami had managed to hire, the gigantic shadow of the airship swallowing up a small portion of the private cove. The redwood ship was much too high for it to stop where it was however, so it continued for a while yet towards the inland and eventually over the mansion that the clan were staying in. Lucky for them that the ‘whoomphs’ of the ship’s propellers were not really loud enough to disturb anyone if they were asleep, as now they’d have to listen to it for at least another half hour while the ship steered itself around and lowered down closer to the ground so that the Boozehounds could actually escape and join in on the fun.

“You always were a terrible driver.” Nikolai shouted towards Bodo, just moments before Little Horn connected an accidental blow to the back of the blonde’s head and smacked him down against the deck.
“Whoops!”

Jestenna, on the other hand, had been down at the beach, giggling as she saw about in the deeper parts in the water, her skin having morphed back to more of an Atlantean stage. Of course, when she felt the crack of dawn forming, she allowed herself to shoot up from the bottom of the water's floor, jumping up much like a whale would, letting out a glee of happiness. Slowly, though, she began her way back to the shore, her blue-ish tinted skin turning back towards a more pinky flesh color, her body in a black stringed bikini. Laughing heartily as she grabbed a towel, Jestenna began patting herself down, looking to her belongings as she stuffed them into a beige beach bag.

"Ahh, today should be very nice." By the time she had gotten to the mansion where everyone was staying, and, when she walked into the kitchen, she found that there were people already there. Now, however, the brunette was also dressed in a black skirt, though nothing had been added to the triangular top. "So, what's for breakfest, little Ilia?" she asked, looking over the android's shoulder.

Laughing a bit at how adorable the chimeras looked, and how Guyy's little...child, looked. It almost made a pang in her heart. Keyword, almost. Laughing, she went to Cloudchaswer and began dusting his fur off with a hand towel from the kitchen, looking to Ilia. The girl was so adorable...it was kind of unreal, having a child with them.

"Light and fluffy if you can manage it, Ilia."

Jestenna smiled again at Cloudchaser and Ilia, "No problem, Cloudchaser," she told the young chimera, going to sit at the table that was in the kitchen, yawning a bit. Laughing for a second time, she couldn't help but think of how weird things had been lately. The whole incident with her turning into a rabbit and all...she shuddered at the thought when she heard the ruckus of the other chimera children, half giggling at the prospect of going swimming with Wavedancer.

That would surely be an interesting experience. Shaking her head lightly, she looked back to Ilia and Cloudchaser, a half smirk bringing itself to her lips. "Oooh, I wonder if I should wake him up," she muttered, laughing somewhat evilly as she thought of Jack. He thought seeing her legs was bad? She wondered what would happen if he woke up with her standing beside his bed. Fun times, right?

Mmm, pancakes. Good thing she wasn't asked to help cook, she was sure she'd make a bigger mess of things than Ilia and...Cloudchaser, yes. That was his name.

And as a trio of furballs slid into her, she glanced down and grinned, letting out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snicker. She leaned over to ruffle Farclimber's fur, then answered the youngest cub's inquiry. "Yes, breakfast. Silly boy."

She straightened up in time to catch a glimpse of Cloudchaser holding the bowl out to Ilia, a dab of pancake batter adorning his nosetip. Heh. She held back a laugh as she took a seat, waving to Jestenna. With the cubs around, it was looking less and less like she'd get a quiet day on the beach, and more and more like a rowdy one. Ah well.

When she'd pulled his hands away from her hips, Kyvan had grinned to himself and sneakily reestablished his hold. He'd get up in a second. Really. Being dragged across the mattress woke him up a little, and he supposed he'd better let her go and get up.

And she sounded a little peeved, too. He let go, and looked up at her, unable to keep himself from grinning at her. "Getting up already?" He moved to the edge of the bed and planted a quick kiss on her lips before he stood and made his way over to the dresser.

"I bet half the clan is up already." He spoke as he sorted through the clothes in the drawers. "The beach first? Or would you rather check out the theatre?" He glanced over his shoulder, arching a silver eyebrow at Dev curiously.

Carys rolled over in the bed and snuggled deeper into the pillow. It had been a while since she’d had a chance to sleep in, and she wanted to enjoy it. Her body however, disagreed with her. It was in the habit of waking up at this time everyday, and had no intention of staying asleep. After fighting it for a little while, Carys gave up, and sat up, running her hand through her long red hair as she did so.

She sighed, and ran through the mental exercises that kept her shields strong before getting out of bed. Deciding that if she couldn’t sleep in, she was going to go bask in the sun on the beach, she headed to the dresser where she had unpacked her clothing last night and considered her options. There was a deep purple one-piece that she had had since high school, and an emerald green bikini that her mother had given her as a gift when she heard that Carys was going on vacation somewhere warm. The bikini showed more of her body then she was comfortable with, and she suspected her mother was trying to find her a boyfriend yet again. On the other hand, it was better for basking. After a few moments thought, Carys went with the bikini. She put sleeveless terry-cloth sundress in a matching shade of green on over it, then grabbed a bag, and put in a beach towel , 40 SPF sunscreen, and several books in.

Carys headed down to the kitchen to grab something to snack on, and was surprised to see the Chimera cubs, Ilia, Caira and Jestenna. They were apparently in the process of making pancakes, so she made her way in and sat down. “Hey, guys. Is there enough for me to have some pancakes too, or should I start making my own?”