Welcome to Gaia! ::

As a Reward for RP participation we are holding an Event Raffle. Your character will earn One Ticket Each for Participation, then One ticket for Each RP post over 100 words.

We will take care of adding these tickets with each page that is completed in the thread.

We have designated Twelve Items that might be rewarded at the end of Summer. The item you win will be determined by a Random Number Generator, prior to drawing the Winner.

As a reward for all your Role Playing, we give you the chance to win your own, one of a kind item... After all, you earned it. While this item may not be custom, or reflect your personal plot, it will be something new, and original, or a specialized version of an item you already own.

Below we have listed all the available options as well as a more detailed description on what the item is. If you have any suggestions for a category that isn't on the list, tell us about it, and we will consider it as a possible later reward.

Keep one thing in mind. These items are here to help enhance Role Playing.

01. Ice Armor (Immune to Cold)
02. Aurora Mantle (Immune to Darkness)
03. Diamond Saber (Un-Breakable)
04. Amulet of Curatia (Cure's lesser wounds, speeds healing of serious injuries.)
05. Ancient Aqua Pendent (Purifies, condenses and disperses water)
06. Terra Shield (A ring that summons a wall of earth between you and a single attacker.)
07. Brilliant Death (Twin Dirks imbued with a waisting poison, never dull.)
08. Mirror of Truth (A small mirror that can either conceal you from sight or reveal the unseen.)
09. Collar of Time (Can Slow Time to within heartbeats of stopping it, limited to 10 feet.)
10. Mutinous Soul (Lesser Rift: Can open a portal to anyplace within sight.)
11. Bracers of Vitae (The embodiment of life, many souls were lost in its creation, they are said to prolong the life of the wearer by three times.)
12. Third Eye (Visions, able to foresee catastrophic events. *Determined by Masquerade Staff.*)

In the end there will be One Item Awarded to the Raffle Winner. When the item is awarded, the winner will receive a more detailed description, possible art, and all the strengths and weaknesses of the item.

As a warming summer wind begins to sweep across the land, a splash of sunshine and longer days starts the spring thaw. The rivers swell as snow melts, filling the lake near Home Base to near capacity.

Tree's once in bloom dance in the breeze filling the air with perfume and fond memories as the colonies occupants slowly drift from their homes for longer hours, mending or building fences and preparing gardens.

Life as the Say... Is Good.

The figure smiled leaning back against a tree and enjoying the subtle creek of the wood, the shouts and teasing the hovered echoing out of the colony rose to it's ears. They wouldn't know what hit them, drawing away from the tree the green of life drew from its limbs and down the trunk until the tree was a skeleton of it's previous glory.

The cycle had started a new rotation, and would find a new power to reckon with.

The problem with fixing an electric fence, you see, was that you had to turn the power off while you were doing it, and you had to be really careful about fixing it because there was a lot of voltage running through the thing when it was on and you could NOT have it backfiring. It could explode the generator that powered it, start a fire... bad things. Very bad things.

Currently the fence only surrounded the "camp" proper, though it had long since turned into more of a village. A couple of the home gardens, the houses, the meeting building, Cern's pond, and the emergency supplies. If the Rade really wanted in they could probably find a way, but thus far it had helped a lot with the animals raiding the place at night in general. Except for when things happened like this very large tree branc falling on it.

They'd cleared out most of the trees in the area around the camp, though they left a few of the biggest ones for shade, for the kids to play in (supervised), and because the place just looked bare without them. Haisyn had thought they'd build the fence out far enough from the tree not to worry about things like this but... and she should have known, but nature always found a way to interrupt the plans of men. It was just how things were.

She'd dragged Ash and Verran out early so they could get the downed part of the fence back up and running before the heat of the day hit. Working on this and the other more simplistic barbwire fences around the outer areas of the Base complex was bad enough without it being hot. And as much as Verran had grumbled about it this morning, when it started warming up he'd been apalled. "You and Devil Girl were putting these things up all spring?!"

And they had. Everyone had been chipping in with the new building additions; a pen for the Kirin, the new water tower, some storage buildings for the increasing number of agricultural tools and extra produce... and the fences. Haisyn had taken on the fences as her personal priority after the bit of exploring she'd dragged Ashirha out on to check out the flora and fauna in the area. These were her people now. A new family, of sorts. She wanted to protect them, and every day she got up early to check part of the fences. There was too much to do for her to spend her entire day doing it, and honestly they probably only needed maintenance like once a month these days... but, to put it bluntly, Haisyn was a bit paranoid and overprotective about some things. And everyone knew how dangerous Masquerade could be, so it wasn't like anyone complained.

Except Verran, anyway. But though he might whine sometimes, and he could be a coward, when it came down to it he would do what he had to to help the people he cared about. At least eventually... try as she might to let the past be water under the bridge, there were times when Haisyn had a hard time letting go of the hurt that happened between herself and her brother in times long before they came here. It really shouldn't matter anymore.

And boy did Ash get fed up with Haisyn when she went into one of her standoffish emo moods. Her Guardian kept everyting bottled up inside most of the time, and the wounds would never heal like that. But... blah, at least Haisyn was starting to relax a little. She supposed things would just have to take the time they needed to take.

The now maskless young woman all but collapsed at the big table at the picnic area, seating herself and half-flopping across the table. Verran sprawled in a heap all the way down the bench on the opposite side, belly down on the rough wood. He was actually tired enough that he didn't complain when Haisyn propped her feet up on him after sitting next to Ash.

"Mrr... you think it's too early for lunch? Some food and a half hour nap... Yeah..."

Verran grunted and finally pushed Haisyn's feet off and sat up. "Only half an hour? I could sleep the rest of the afternoon..."

Haisyn snorted. "You'd do that without having any work to do if I wasn't here."

Verran pouted. "Aw, that's not nice, Sis. Why do you say these things that hurt me?"

Haisyn grinned. "'Cause you're a big ham and it's fun to tease you and have you play along. Cry baby."

Verran groaned again. "You'd cry too if your arms were threatening to fall off like mine are."

"I doubt that." Haisyn glanced around. "Where's Kittyboi anyway?"

Verran shrugged and grimaced at his sore arms again. "I think Tavil's doing inventory for the supply run in a couple of days."

Haisyn nodded. "Yeah... good. I was gonna do that next but I think I'm gonna have to agree with Ash and go raid someone's fridge..."

Satehl felt out of place. It wasn't just the manual labor happening around him (he was currently looking for some sort of use) but something more, something greater. Sure, he'd finally, finally made it home after so many years away. He had finally found the lost planet that he had been so swiftly taken from after what had felt a lifetime of searching.

Plant by plant, space station through space station, Uta had vowed to return her 'son' to his rightful home world. And she had come through with such a plan. Twice. But though the dark skinned lad had wanted such a position, had dreamed only of his return, now that he was here he now felt very much an outcast. Socially, not so much. He remembered familiar faces and names - Nikia had been but a boy when he'd left, fairly new and 'younger'. At least at the time. Ashira and her good-humor and pranks, her pony-tail tugging and overall life. Saniya, the aqua mask he had grown up with partially, before everything fell to pieces. . . .

But now that he was home, now that he'd quite suddenly grown, Satehl wasn't sure where ot begin. Picking up the pieces wasn't so easy when there were very few pieces yet to pick up. As a child, naive and social, his ignornace and youth had made him believe that returning home would merely mean everything could go back in to place. In childhood selfishness, a sliver of the child could only imagine Masquerade as what it had been when he'd left - wild and unexplored.

But that wasn't the case. . . there were more people, more inhabitants; Io had gone, which left a pain in his heart - he'd never even had the chance to say goodbye. Ash had grown and now wasn't chained to her mask, a pretty sight to behold and Fauve had grown and found herself some sort of lover. In fact, it seemed like everyone was bonded with everyone else, be it in friendship or something more. It made sense though, the teen couldn't blame everyone for going on with their lives. . . .

But as a child it had hurt. And as a teen, settled, he felt very much so out of the loop. Sometimes to the blitz teen it felt as if he were a new colonist, but one who just happened to be of kin to the natives.

Today, as usual, was no different.

Rubbing the back of his neck, tugging self-consciously on the tail of his pony-nub the ripped jean lad ambled through the village. Uta had gone out hunting earlier that morning, investigating the native fauna as was her chosen position; Satehl had meddled with a few traps but found himself antsy and on edge.

Such was a state he had been in since first being swept away from Masquerade in a horrible trick. Perhaps such inward tension was a state he'd always be in. . . . Whatever the case, the laid-back, easy-going blitz had found himself more than a few resident shadows with time away and age.

Shoving his hands deep in his pockets, Satehl caught a flash of blue and an all too familiar form. It both pleased and confused him to see her grown. . .hell, even he forgot himself from time to time - being so much TALLER had played hell on his mask. Thankfully now the teen had learned to duck when entering certain doorways and corridors.

For a moment he thought of harassing his friend but she did look to be on some sort of mission. Blond curls could also be sighted further off, away from Saniya. . . Perhaps his best childhood friend, Ashira. Ah, but they looked busy too as was the tradition of masquerade - work. . . .

Oh, Satehl had no objections to work, not at all! But sometimes the teen much preferred to play. A shame that had caused him no amount of trouble back in the day. . . Hell, it still did when he let such a trait get the best of him.

((Apologies for the lame post. ._. Still getting in to his character and honestly have no idea where to put him at the moment. So he's out. . wandering. . . I'll better place him soon as others respond. xD ))

K'Dan looked up, a motion in the corner of his eye catching his attention, and focused on the figure standing atop the - he raised his arm-display and keyed the MMWSAR to check the height - thirty meter cistern. He briefly wondered what they were doing up there, especially with no safety line, and his curiosity got the better of him. He began walking in the general direction of the water tower, really having nothing more pressing to do at the moment.

He swung himself onto the ladder and started up, absently examining the construction of the structure as he climbed. Simply built, yes, but the craftsmanship was good, and it would certainly serve its purpose well. He stopped at a bracket for the ladder and stepped off, his claws hooking over the junction of the metals as he leaned out to get a better look at the seams on the tank, curious how they had joined the material.

Sani was gazing in at the basin, dejected when she spotted K'Dan and making a half hearted salute to the new comer her eyes tilted up warmly at the corners in greeting. He was probably there to inspect progress, since the team to build the dome would be back on Masquerade in about six weeks if all went according to schedule.

And they would be expecting the cistern to be full.

Squaring her shoulders she took hold of the railing and carefully sidestepped onto the maintenance catwalk, inching, there were a few things she could try in order to fill it.

Condensation, which she had only ever done in the smallest of minute amounts.

Summoning would probably be easier, but the lake wasn't clean enough and the only other source she could think of was the underground waterway.

This had to be some kind of test. That's why K'Dan had come up, he was hear to see if she could do what they billed her at being able to do. Well they would find out together wouldn't they?

About jumping out of her skin she looked all around before realizing to her chagrin that it had been Ash talking using Telepathy. 'Thanks Ash... I'll see if I can reach the river, I haven't summoned water as a teen so I don't know my limits.

If you don't mind I would like a Sandwich and something cold to drink, I'm sure K'Dan would too... If you're busy you can send Trivii with them, she's moving some of the foods from harvest into Colony food storage.'

Waving at K'Dan she shifted and moved closer to the northwest intent on trying to summon the water from the snow run off water.

*****

Trivii shifted large storage barrels of grain and stacked bushels of fruit, trying to clear space for the freeze drier. Part of the original landing equipment its intended purpose had been to store dead bodies en rout to Masquerade but since it had never been used.

There was nothing wrong with using it to freeze dry some fruit and vegetables right?

Ash waved an acknowledgement. We'll bring them up. We're taking a break for a little while, we were out fixing the fence all morning. With that she trotted after Haisyn.

It took them a few minutes, but sandwiches weren't particularly difficult to prepare, nor were bottles of half-frozen water. Haisyn was curious by this time about the water tower; she'd helped gather the materials and rented some equipment to help put the thing up but she hadn't really taken a close look at it. She'd been more preoccupied with security type things. But that in mind she gripped the plastic sandwich baggies between her teeth and began the climb up the ladder, Ash close behind (and showing off a bit by carrying the drinks in one arm and quite easily making it up the ladder with only three appendages).

"Sani." Haisyn said it to get the girl's attention and handed over the food right before Ash caught up with the drinks. Then the two traded off so that Ash had food and drink and Haisyn brought over a share to K'Dan. She quirked a brow after handing the items over and peered out toward where he was facing. "Dead patch of trees?" Well... there was a patch of dead trees. But she didn't remember it even being there a couple of weeks ago. "That's... not normal."

((I feel like that's a bit of a flub... but... I wanted to post something... ^^; ))