Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ylva found herself making her way down toward the beaches of Chiume. Mostly, she'd been bored, but as she walked, the inklings of a new idea began to form in her mind.

The prentice wound her way down toward the edges of the isle, hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the visitors they sometimes received. She loved seeing the sight of new faces - their main village and blossomed in the last few years, but strangers were still few and far between. By now, many had learned the ways of her little tricks and pranks, and some were getting tired of them.

She needed some new subjects. And she wanted some company, someone to bounce ideas off or to just muse aloud as she went.

At the sudden sound, Ylva leaped and did a solid hundred and eighty degree mid-air, jerking her head about to find the source. She wasn't skittish - she didn't think so, anyway - but sudden noises could be cause for concern! It was one of the lessons she had internalized from her lessons.

She finally found the culprit - an Alkidike girl perched up in a tree. Ylva relaxed and beamed, tilting her head back to look up at the girl. "You had me going there," she said, letting out a breath and laughing. "I've seen you around before! My name is Ylva. I was, uhm, heading down to the dock." Her expression changed to be a little more mischievous, a little more twinkly-eyed.

That seemed to be exactly the response Ylva was hoping for. She wiggled a little in good cheer as Faenna swung out of the branch to drop to the ground beside her. "Welllll, Faenna, I'm glad you asked! It's nothing specific at the moment," she admitted. "But I had the beginnings of an idea."

She scratched her chin as her smile widened. "Cause we've got a tight-knit community here in the village, right, but the visitors. Well the visitors don't know anything about us." Hence her bright idea, of course. "I just thought, well, maybe that's a ripe opportunity for some harmless pranks. Like a... gentle Chiume initiation."

Ylva bounced up and down on her feet, gesturing toward the docks. "I'm so glad you agree!" she said, looking positively thrilled. "What are we waiting for!"

She skittered off, fully expecting Faenna to follow. "Okay, so I don't have any really fleshed out ideas, but... We could tell them that they came to the wrong place? Although... they probably wouldn't believe that when they saw... well, us." She gestured to herself. Kind of a dead giveaway. "What if we told them they had to relinquish all their weapons, and then hid them? Or... that Chiume customs dictate they have to wear a certain style of clothing?"

She scratched tugged on one of her dreadlocks in thought.

Ylva was so thrilled that Faenna was so readily participating in this venture. The Vandrea was practically buzzing with energy, sweeping her gaze this way and that along the beach. "Seaweed! Yes!" she agreed with a big bobble of her head. "How silly do you think we could make it? A seaweed scarf? A seaweed blindfold?!"

Ylva's eyes positively lit up at Faenna's idea. "For the earthlings!" She echoed, laughing with glee at the thought. "They'd probably believe it too!" Chiume was purposely kept free of earthlings, and those seaweed blindfolds would play very nicely into the secretive nature of their isle. Plus, you know. A prank on the earthlings. What wasn't to love?

"You're right, you're right, for the guests that we actually do like, something like a scarf is a bit less out there." She hurried to join Faenna in looking for the right pieces of seaweed. "Maybe we'll even start a fashion trend," she said with a small giggle.

"These look good! Maybe we should knot them a bit at the end, so they don't just slide of like dead fish?" she said, peering at the weeds Faenna held in her hands. Ylva gave a little nod, and plunged her hands into the tangle as well, pulling out some nice long pieces that could serve as lovely, slimy scarves.

"How long do you think before we get caught?" she asked, beaming radiantly at Faenna, growing more pleased by the minute as they sorted through the seaweeds. There was nothing Ylva loved more than a good, cooperative prank. Egging each other on was half the fun.

Ylva giggled and nodded, heaving up a pile of seaweed in a bundle - much less neatly than Faenna had arranged hers - and scampered toward the docks. "Maybe we should just camp out right on the end of the dock, don't even let them question it as they come off their ships." She drew herself up to her full height, cleared her throat, and in as official a voice as she could manage, said, "Welcome, welcome to Chiume! We are so excited to welcome our sisters and cousins to our Isle, and please, in order to fully comply with existing village regulations, pick up an identifying scarf to wear as you continue on your visit."