Welcome to Gaia! ::

It all started with an out of focus camera. “Come on, Elsen. This is silly.” It was a nightmare’s voice that she wasn’t quite familiar with, but she kept watching. “It’s not silly. Come on!” The image panned out to Elsen, standing there with a large grin. It looked like the living room. “Hi, my name is Elsen and this is my video. My cameraman is Jamey and we’re about to have some fun. My sister is currently asleep in her room and the house is currently booby trapped. We’re going to give you a rundown!”
He turned and walked into to the next room, putting a finger up to his mouth. “We’ve set up another camera inside, but we have two lovely pranks in her bedroom. First, her bedroom is covered completely with bubblewrap. She’ll be starting the day off with a bang, or a pop for that matter!” He snickered at his own, terrible joke. “Next, there’s a bucket above the door. She won’t know what hit her, but we do! It’s whipped cream.” Again, snickers, this wasn’t going to turn out well.
It was like a terrible chain reaction, “Wake up, sis!” POP POP POP.
“ELSEN.” The camera was a blur at that point and chaos ensued. A scream cut through the air “OH MY NINE, ELSEN YOU’RE DEAD.”
The video cut short with the screams of the two boys.
A small addition was added to the video, “Thought you were funny, huh, Elsen?” It then cut away to a picture of the boys duct-taped to the wall.

Video footage:

To be perfectly honest, Aysl hadn’t planned on vlogging, but he’d been so distressed by the reaction(s) of his peers that he’d felt the need to do so acutely. So he’d pulled his hair up and settled himself into his desk chair before the camera with a frown as he prefaced his video.

“So I was having lunch with my friends today and somehow managed to piss one off enough that they called me an ‘emotionless robot’.” This seemed to bother him enough to require a pause, though he continued on shortly. “Not sure what that says about them or me, but I don’t appreciate being called an emotionless robot just because I don’t react to things the way others feel I should….”

The video continues, with Aysl going on at length about how and why this disturbed him, and also his rational for the whys of how he felt. It boiled down to one thing: “Just because I don’t emote like you might, doesn’t mean I don’t feel. Or that I can’t be hurt.”

With that he simply sighed a bit into the camera, pushed his hair back and signed off. Some time was spent sipping tea and chewing a granola bar, then editing and posting. Not many views, though it seemed to gain a bit of interest in others after a certain point -- perhaps the problem was that he'd disabled comments? It didn't matter, he hadn't posted it for the views.

Mytrax discovered a short 5-minute video your NM posted on the internet. What was in this video?

When Jinresh received the gift of the mobile camera, she was elated to put it to use. Her flying was borderline athletic, causing her excursions to often be alone. This was a way to finally show her family and friends the world she saw when exploring, and in the most accurate way possible. While the samples she brought back were often beautiful, there was no way to capture the vastness of the caves she found, the excitement aglow in her eyes when she found a new cache of malachite, the incredible feeling of isolation atop the peak of a mountain.

The cave she frequented the most was unnamed, and she often called it "my cave" in her head. She lighted atop the entrance of the cave, taking a swig from her canteen. Her shoes crunched on the gravel of the floor of the cave as she approached the center, taking in the dusty air of the stones around her. Her backpack thudded onto the ground, and the chimera removed her new camera. It was shiny against the dirt of its new surroundings, glinting gently from the light that just barely reached this area from the entrance. Jinresh set up a tripod, screwed the camera onto the top, and turned it on. She took one final breath before hitting record.

"I hope this thing is working," she muttered, before stepping around and into the frame. Her face was barely visible in the darkness. "So, I wanted to show you all this cave I've been visiting for the past few months. It's probably the best place for crystal hunting, or just chilling out. I hope you can see okay." The girl lit a small flame on her palm, illuminating her face, and then allowed it to spread to light the cave. Vast and ancient, the cavern was as deep and wide as a cathedral, and absolutely covered in giant pillars of semiprecious, white, crystal.

"This is called selenite," she said, holding up a smaller piece of the crystal. It was out of focus on the camera for just a second, before it came into focus. "It's a really common crystal, but it just grows in the most amazing quantity in this cave. It brings a great relaxing vibe to this atmosphere. Here, let me show you the rest of this cave." The camera was shakily picked up, and as Jinresh held the tripod in her left hand she wished she had thought about doing a walkthrough before starting the recording. The next few minutes of video was a shaky but impressive display of the various nooks and crannies of this cave. Jinresh showed her friends and family where she liked to sit and have her lunch, and even a little place where she kept her favorite specimens from this particular cavern.

When she felt she had recorded enough, the chimera set the camera back down, and came to the front once more. "Anyway, that's it," she said, giggling a bit. "I hope you guys liked seeing this cave!" Jinresh reached over with a clawed hand and pressed the button to stop the recording. She couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, because for the first time she could show everyone the vast scope of what she did for a hobby.

What is your NM's favorite holiday and what did they do during that holiday?

For the Hunter's Jubilee festival, Orimeila was stuck doing readings in a small curtained booth. She wore clothing that was too thin for her liking, watching giggling couples come in and out in a blur to demand their fates. The chimera had always liked this holiday in the past, but this year, she couldn't help but feel like this somewhat warm, cramped booth was her future as a fortune teller. She shuffled her cards in irritation after a particularly skeptical imp couple walked out with raised eyebrows. She wondered why she had agreed to this gig in the first place.

And then, entered a tiny Dryad, just barely a junior like herself. They took a seat, sitting on their hands. "Welcome," Orimeila greeted, putting on her showtime face. "What would you like the cards to spell out for you this evening?"

The little nightmare shifted uncomfortably, their eyes cast down to the ground. They waited a moment before speaking. "I haven't talked to my sister much since the beginning of this school year. I just wanted to make sure... is our relationship okay? Does she still love me?"

Orimeila was shocked by the innocence of the question. Often, people forgot that Hunter's Jubilee wasn't all about the romantic love between two or more parties, and had a lot to do with familial love as well. It seems that, in the mustiness of this makeshift tent, Orimeila herself had forgotten. She handed over the deck to the Dryad, asking them to shuffle it to their satisfaction. It's been a couple weeks since I last wrote to Mytrax, she thought, her heart sinking with the idea of her sister missing her. Orimeila had been so caught up in schoolwork that she had nearly forgotten about her family, something she valued the most.

The Dryad handed back the now-shuffled deck, and Orimeila cut it. She drew one card, placing it on the table - the Three of Cups. "Oh," she said with a grin, spinning it around so the Dryad could see the happy triad of people on the card's face. "This is a great card to get, see? The Three of Cups symbolizes happy relationships and familial love. I recommend you get in touch with your sister."

The Dryad's blue eyes lit up, with a "Really?"

Orimeila nodded. "Really."

Glad to have brought so much happiness and hope to just one person, the Chimera went through the last few readings of the night with much more vigor. In great detail, she explained to couples the strengths and weaknesses of their relationship, and she assured lonely freshlings and seniors alike that they'd find love sooner rather than later. And then, before she knew it, the night was over. She assisted the volunteers for the event pack her booth up, placing her cards into their knit pouch.

As Orimeila walked back to her dorm, she couldn't help but be a little nervous. She wanted to write a letter to Mytrax, but what would it be about? Would she bore her sister to death with excuses and explanations of her homework for the last month? She fingered the soft, worn edges of her cards in their pocket, allowing them to comfort her. And then, she decided to draw one, to see how things might go. The Three of Cups stared back at her, the three sisters on the card sharing their drinks happily.