Welcome to Gaia! ::

Yukio didn't honestly find it all that surprising that the two brothers now that they had returned from their first official exploring trip were now overrun. Even if they hadn't had the best time at the even the Creche had certainly proven that their people adored and accepted them. Though there wasn't any real cause for concern for them getting hurt (Ram had made sure of that) there was an invested excitement with everyone to see what they had learned in their outing, what sights they had seen, and what stories they had brought back.

Not that Yukio could deny herself being one of those people. Don't get her lack of interest to rush to go find them with indifference! She was positively giddy with excitement to confer with her two friends about all the wild places they had been and new people they had come across. Well not only did she want to swap travel stories but she also just plain missed the two troublesome brothers. Life just seemed a little more dull without them barreling through getting themselves into some sort of sticky situation.

...Most of the time dragging their group of friends along for the wild ride in the process!

Yukio though had chosen to keep herself busy in their absence to dive right into her own personal little projects. Ever since she had returned back to the Bahari and decided to become a permanent member of the pride she had kicked up her wild inventions and abstract art projects into high gear. She had learned quickly upon settling back in that she absolutely needed to do something with her paws constantly to keep her mind active least she get restless feet and a want to go out and get herself in trouble for the sake of having something to do.

Sadly the standard lazy beach bum lifestyle most of the pride took up just wasn't her cup of tea.

Thus she found herself knee deep in the tide, her head hidden below the waves. With her already gankly, all-legs appearance she had with her body trying to play catch up to her extreme growth spurts, she looked more like a strange new breed of ocean ostrich than a lion at the moment. Oblivious to the world, and those who might be in it, around her.

Most of those who found themselves hunting under the waves were looking for trinkets like pearls, clams, even sand dollars or sea stars to prize as a trophy. Hell there were even some in the Bahari who had the unique talent to be able to walk on the ocean floor it's self, though they mostly used that ability to catch fish for the community. Right about now she dearly wished that she had a knack for the skill. It would have made this whole thing a lot easier!

What was she after today however? Well the boys got their answer when she finally emerged to the surface, her fact stuffed with the base of a giant seaweed why the rest was flung over her back much like a cape.

Though her well fought for prize was quickly dropped out of her mouth upon seeing some very familiar silhouettes standing on the shore.

"Huo! Shui!" She exclaimed excitedly. They had actually gotten away from the massive mob to come visit!? Well that was certainly unexpected to see them so soon! "Ohmygoodnessyou'reback. Hang on I'll be there in a second!" She sputtered out as one jumbled mess. With her infamously short attention span she forgot the fact that even though it wasn't in her mouth she still had a piece of kelp about as long as her draped over her back. Thus when she went to go bound forward to greet them on the shore instead she found herself smooshed face-down in the sand with her front legs sprawled out in front of her in a failed attempted to break her fall.

Stuck in the sand, wet, buried in kelp. Clearly this was the 100% best way to do a reunion.

There were always consistencies with life in the Bahari, for example there were the simple obvious things like the fact you would always look like poodle that had gotten stuck in a static electricity storm, you would have to get use to enjoying fish or you'd grow to hate meals, there would always be a mix of some of the most down-to-earth people here and some of the most outgoing people here...

One consistency is that Yukio would always, no matter the situation, with her clumsy nature would always find a way to embarrass herself! As it were just like their first meeting Yukio had essentially fallen head-over-arse for the brothers.

Honestly she needed to find a better way of greeting them than this.

With a extremely unladylike snort she blew out the mud from her nose as she lifted up her head, her expression void without emotion as she stared at the boys for a few moments the only sound between the three being the soft plop from the wet sand still slumping still off of her face.

She finally broke the awkward silence with a slow purring, "A traditional greeting hmm?" She pushed herself up to her hunches. Without warning she slung both of her front legs around their necks, one for each brother, before tugging them close into a tight hug. Bellowing out a loud laugh she made sure to rub her still sand-covered cheeks against them to rub off as much onto them as she could.

Pulling away she grinned wildly as she admired her handy work. "Haha! Now you two have been officially welcomed home properly with the new Bahari branded greeting." She remarked before booping first Shui on the nose and then Huo. "What does little olde me owe a visit from the infamous world traveled duo?"

"Well of course you are." She replied with a small tsk of her tongue. "I just expected you two to be far too caught up with important foreign affairs or dare I say marriage alliance proposals to come grace us little people with your presence." She replied back mocking the same teasing tone as the boys. With a dramatic sigh she set the back of her paw against her forehead. "I have the utmost grave news that the cool club has been disbanded in your absence. We simply couldn't keep up the cool levels."


Just as soon as the over dramatic teasing had come it disappeared as Shui brought her attention to the massive amounts of seaweed covering her body. Opening her mouth to respond she quickly shut it again as Huo beat her to the punch sparking a tangent with his brother.

Ah, truly some things would never change.

With an amused grin she leaned her weight onto her back legs, patiently waiting for her chance to explain herself. Or well, she was until Huo's certain comments about any objections of her affection being tied down! With a sharp gasp she straightened herself back to her full height. Did he seriously just call her...fat!? Oh. Hell. No. Friend or no friend she couldn't let such a comment slide without response!

Furrowing her brows tightly together Yukio plunged forward right into Huo knocking both of them into the ground. Without a second thought Yukio adjusted herself into a sit on top of him, using her own weight to pin him down. "Well this was originally going to be used for an experiment..." She drawled slowly as she snapped the larger pieced of seaweed in half with her paws. Grabbing his front paws first she shoved them together unceremoniously, tying them together with the make-shift rope the seaweed could make.

"But you've sparked my muse," She continued as she tugged forward one of his back legs forward adding it to the messy tangle of limbs that was forming. "I could simply hold down my object of my affections down with my paws, sure, but that's sooooo boring! Where's the fun? The excitement? The artistic vision?!" She inquired loudly as she slid off of him, scooting just far enough away so she herself wouldn't be caught mixed up in all the knots and rope.

Lifting his final free limb up she finished her crude hog-tie of him. Peering down at her work expectantly she rubbed the bottom of her chin. Why Huo undoubtedly look adorable all the time there was just something missing from this project that she couldn't quite place her paws on. "I think that he needs some additional decoration to take this over the edge. Something to add some," Waving her paws around she wiggled her toes to empathize her point. "Sparkle! What do you think, Shui?"

Huh, well that certainly had produced some rather interesting results. Not necessarily the ones she was going for, but none that she would turn down at the same time.

"Aye, I'm quite surprised honestly that it reacted this way. It held up pretty well previously when making bracelets." She confessed as she gave a tug to the necklace of old sea weed bracelets strung around her neck. Though the boy's pair that she had made them ages ago had likely been torn to shreds by now due to their more rough and tumble lifestyles Yukio had managed to convert the set to a new necklace with minor patchwork once she had outgrown them being bracelets.

She made a mental note to further test the different strengths and durability of the different seaweeds found naturally around the Bahari. Ah, but that was a plan for another day!

"I'm glad that I didn't use these things in my experiment then." She mused as she peeled for bits and pieces of the sloppery seaweed from Huo's body. Kicking her legs out from under her rump she casually leaned against the fiery of the two brothers with her elbow as she began to fiddle around with the pieces of seaweed, trying to make at least something with the tattered scraps.

Her focus briefly pulled away from her work as she cocked an eyebrow at Huo. "As much as I'd like to say I'm a savant in that regard alas, I'm not." Well at least using them on live subjects! "I'll certainly make a mental note of that for whenever I do gain a official object of my affections."

She grinned impishly, lightly nudging him with the elbow already resting on him. "Though you talk like you have some experience in the subject. My, My~ Someone is going to have to spill the juicy gossip later on!" Though she highly doubted any of the normal gang of theirs had any sights on 'special someones' yet it didn't mean that it wasn't fun to tease each other on the prospect!

Letting out a low 'hmm' Yukio's eyebrows furrowed together. Yeah, that sounded about right all things considered. The boys might not enjoy the sound of it but why they were on their grand adventures many of their friends had started to make their first strides into proper adulthood, most starting with settling into their preferred jobs. "Actually that's...not too far off."

With a click of her tongue she gave a loose shrug in response. Going back to her mini-project she began a more detailed explanation, "Peeps started to grow up without ya. Me and Maji both have gone into den building, Soleil does...well Soleil things. But she seems to help with the fishing a lot. Tiamat I see running around but I haven't pinned her down long enough to have a proper chat with. Meri is really the only one who hasn't found something or the other to do."

After the possibly disheartening news Yukio unceremoniously plopped the newly finished edible sculptor of a butterfly onto Huo's nose. "Finally you have one to match his." She remarked off-topic.

Lifting her head she flashed a mild smile at Shui. "But you know if there's anyone who can roar us all back into a jam it's you two. When do we start this grand shing-dig?"

Visitors? Did they say they were going to have visitors!? Letting out a small gasp of excitement Yukio couldn't help but shiver with anticipation. Why she didn't necessarily bounce on her feet like she use to as a cub her toes still did wiggle in the sand from the news.

Old habits died hard it seemed.

There hadn't been a large band of visitors that had arrived to the Bahari (not counting the number of wary travels that came for a good vacation) since the Stormborn!

...Though she did hear later on that once the stomach of lionesses who had taken a particular liking to the gruff set started to round their little visit was looked down on in less than favorable views. Ah well, mistakes were made. Hopefully they wouldn't repeat this round of tourists!

Her head subtly swung back and forth to each brother as they bounced off of each other. Her eyebrows rose at their comments about informing Ram. Ohhh boy, she wouldn't want to be a wall on that wall when that discussion went down. She couldn't imagine that Ram would be particularly pleased with his sons that they had laid out the red carpet without consulting him first.

Speaking of..."Who exactly is visiting?" She inquired softly during the first pause the two brothers had with each other.

Of course, they just changed the subject. Still, they knew her too damn well. The best way to distract Yukio was to get her going about any of her projects! Her eyed widened as she visibly perked up. "Thank you." She replied with a beaming smile.

Taking a deep breath she picked up another piece of seaweed from Huo's head, starting to weave it why she delved into a larger explanation of her new found talents. "Well it's getting harder for my aunt to cook for herself so I took up the duties, that includes making her this weird drink that she loves." Truthfully she didn't even know the name of it, but her aunt had said that it was delicacy that she had brought from her homeland. It was a long process - and honestly Yukio was a bit shite at it - but it made her aunt happy none-the-less.

Pausing for a moment Yukio's brows furrowed together. Well it was a bit silly of her to just bore them with all the details of it, no? "Actually why don't you pop on over to my place and I'll show you guys first hand? Plus.." With a snicker she tossed the half-shaped sea weed kick-knack to the side. "If you're that hungry that you'll munch on old sea weed than I'm sure you two can stand for some lunch, ya?"

Who said you couldn't kill two birds with one stone?