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 Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 12:27 pm
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 1:55 pm
Growth 15/15 One fish two fish red crab blue crab. XXX 5 Fishing XXX 3 Surf's Up XXX 3 Fibre Arts XXX 3 New Board XXX 1 Youngling Growth Form Character Name: Qethiar
Current Location: Matori
Journal: X
Growth Point Links:
One fish two fish red crab blue crab. XXX 5
Fishing XXX 3
Surf's Up XXX 3
Fibre Arts XXX 3
New Board XXX 1
Physical Description: Not much to change this stage he looks pretty perfect!
Body Type: Average
Preferred Artists: Kana or Scar Main, Ely Color.
WIPs: Yis
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 1:56 pm
Information and History
Son of Theriar and Onora, has a sister named Nenna. They live in a small village in Matori on the coast. His Dad makes a living fishing.
Personality
Non Confrontational - As stated he does not like to argue or yell or any of that such. Thats not to say he wont but he wont go out of his way. He tries to be respectful and get along with people for the most part.
Hands on - He really enjoys doing crafty things with his hands. Currently he likes spinning wool into usable yarn. He may choose this as a career later Im not sure.
Zen - He enjoys being contemplative, and being self reflective. He is learning to surf and greatly enjoys the one with nature attitude that comes with it.
Prideful- He doesnt take critisism of his work or life well at all and will shut down and avoid people that do critisize as much as possible.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 1:56 pm
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 1:56 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 8:54 am
Solo 1
A special kind of quiet befell the beach in morning. It was something that Qethiar enjoyed with a drink of juice fresh squeezed every morning. The silence, besides that of the regular morning bird chorus which at this time of year couldn't be termed quiet. It was well into second nesting and the birds were just as eager as ever to show off or maybe find a different breeding partner. His Dad had explained to him why they made such a lovely fuss in the morning. Dad was also an early riser to go out fishing with the tides and bring in lots of catch for them to enjoy. Qeth had been allowed on the boat once or twice when it was in harbor with his Dad around. Sometimes they would even go for a toodle around the bay. He liked that though for the most part the fishing vessel seemed to move quite slow. No wonder it took Dad all day to fish.
This was apparently not Dads first ship. Some in fact many had been lost over the years to one reason or another. But his Dad always came home, as regular as clockwork. Qeth would too for Mama's good cooking. He could tell that his parents simply adored each other. It was evident in how they moved so poetically around each other and how they gazed at each other with adoration. He thought that was pretty cool.
He drifted across the white sand beaches, no where in particular in mind. He liked to come out and read the local wildlife news and see what had gone on while he had been sleeping inside. The footprints told most of the story.
His parents waved him off, used to his morning walks. He knew better than to go out of bounds. He couldn't imagine a world without a beach. He knew that he already wanted to become a pro surfer.
As per his morning ritual, he let the mood take him as eh got to the beach as to what he wanted to do first. Right off the bat he took a refreshing swim. That always started his day out right.
He supposed that he got a love for water on both sides of his family tree. Mom liked to boil it and was Matorian through and through and Dad though not born here loved to fish on the sea and had moved here. He personally preferred to be in the water. He didn't even mind all the falls off of his practice board. Surfing took time to learn and he had his whole life ahead of him.
After his swim he crawled out back onto land. Then he noticed that the little red crabs with the big purple and blue claws were back. Females had a smaller sky blue claw in lieu of the males hammer claw, which they used to fight each other for the females favour. Incidentally they were both good in soup. He collected a few really big males, leaving the females to make more crabs later. Then he watched the ensuing chaos in the hierarchy as crabs switched dens, stole females and fought over previously defended territory. Life itself was fascinating to watch. He watched the crab show for about an hour before he got bored and mosied back to the sea. Another refreshing swim brought him to the reef along the shore and he watched the fish swim around him for a while, enjoying the intimate moment with nature.
He loved water like nothing else. It flowed, it moved, it could devestate if it wanted. Admirable qualities if he did say so himself.
For a moment in time he became fascinated with the sand that was golden and fine and soft beneath his feet. Life was such a fascinating place, particularly outside he didn't understand why adults would like to stay inside all the time. He obviously preferred to be where he could feel the wind and sea and plants and other living things all in a massive dance together.
He dropped the crabs off at the house to be cleaned by mom, he left them for her fresh on the kelp. He had cleaned them first. It would save her some of the work. His parents worked hard to look after him the least he could do was return the favor.
Then back outside he went with a length of string, as he walked he played cat's cradle with himself. He had no idea what it had to do with perzi but whatever. That was what the game was called anyway. He skipped past the garden, ignoring the weeds that were his job to take care of, he had weeded yesterday, he was sure it would be fine.
He had more adventures to go on before his stomach betrayed him and forced him back to the house for lunch. Food was a good motivator, especially since from the size of his feet, his Dad said he might get quite tall. Qeth wasn't so sure, they were so much smaller than his Dad's feet. Mom was tall for an earthling but nothing on Dad and his alkidike blood. Qeth still found that interesting that Dad had a little bit of the great mother tree in him, he certainly looked like it, having the antennae and such.
He would have to ask Dad more about his side of the history. Qethiar was just getting used to all of the gods that his Mother's people worshipped but to be born from a tree seemed like a pretty physical thing. He couldn't see the Matorian gods and he wasn't allowed to see Aisha but he knew she was there, there were many paintings of her from the local artists that hailed from Jauhar originally in the market. Qeth loved looking at all of the art there. So many different cultures all with a touch of matori, art could convey home sickness as well as place. He found that quite interesting too.
His yarn tangled and he was quite displeased. He put it in his pocket to untangle later. He would have time at bed time he would work on it before he fell asleep. He usually had a hard time falling asleep, at least if he did not get enough exercise in during the day that was. Dad had told him that was pretty normal. He had the coolest parents.
The beach seemed to have refreshed since his short amount of time spent indoors. There were new shore birds to id and count. More crabs. Another swim to be had but he got out of the area because there happened to be a very large shark named Moriko who had taken the occassional swipe at bathers before so he didn't stay around to potentially annoy her. Dad swam with her fine but she new him and he was the same length she was. Old girl had been in these waters for a while. She patrolled the reef. Dad told him she had an important job of keeping the fish stock healthy. Qeth was pretty sure she was not a healer though, he wasn't sure exactly what his Dad meant as sharks ate fish they didn't make them feel better. Oh well that was a problem for another day to be sure.
A pair of Zanteer charged up the beach romping and racing. Might be playtime and then again it might be territorial, they were subadult size so it was around the time that they became at times slightly more serious about things. He was told that until he was older to be staying out of all creatures way thank you very much. His parents worried and he was aware he was a bit uh bite sized. Besides he wanted a kinfa and a snaptrotter and this was neither.
The beach was a very busy place today it seemed. Then there was a commotion down the way. Oh! Something that happened once a year that turned the tides basically. It was the great hatching of the sea turtles! How exciting. His Dad had told him long stories about how some seaturtles had helped sailors who had been shipwrecked out by guiding them to the beach where they laid their eggs. What his Dad had left out was that the turtles had been female and may have been going there to lay their eggs anyway.
Eventually he went back to the house and did some weeding while the tree shaded the garden, walking in the sun was one thing, melting in it trying to weed the garden was an entirely other story. He stretched occassionally and did some yoga poses in between garden rows. It was a good day. And he was inclined to ignore the rest of the world and just enjoy himself. No more chores as he had got them done, everything else could wait. Maybe Moriko would be gone. He went to wash off in the sea and the shark was gone so he made it the proper swim he had missed during the day.
1520
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2025 2:35 pm
Fishing
He had decided to take the small skiff out to go fishing and surprise his parents with dinner if he could catch it and maybe a creative whale story if he could not. He like his Dad loved to be on the sea, or better yet in it. He loved cruising with the moray eels and being checked out by the seasnakes. He loved to grab the dorsal fin of the big friendly hammerhead that patrolled the reef and he liked to at least see Moriko the big shark at her work. Pelei was what he had named the hammerhead as it tended to make the others cower, even Moriko but it was friendly for the most part to him. He got out to the sandbar that marked as far as he was allowed to go and cast his line out after baiting it with a special sharp cheese that his mother might strangle him for pilfering, so long as he caught a fish the cheese theft would be forgiven as it gave them a return on the investment. She was particular about the cheeses she brought it, they had to be of fine quality, flavourful and just so. Dad had a sense of taste but his skills lay in cooking fish and coffee, Mom was a chef and that was that. Who was he to argue when he and his family benefited so much from the skills of both parents. He took a big sigh. There was nothing quite like fishing to help your mind relax as much of a struggle as it could definitely be. He took a deep breath again and watched the horizon. Peaceful, very little chop, clear skies with the odd cloud to provide some shade, looked like the start of a low pressure system judging by the clouds but nothing that would even amount to rain in the far horizon yet. Good for fishing especially early in the day as it was now.
What he didn't notice was that the edge of his little boat had gotten caught in the rip tide and he was slowly but surely being pulled out away from shore. By the time he noticed he was quite far from where he wanted to be and Moriko of course dropped in for a visit to check out the new floating thing in her world. It could be worse though she stayed in the water he was glad it was a shark and not a yaotl.
"You just stay down there where you belong." He smirked down at the shark that had sort of become his unofficial shadow since he spent so much time in the water off this part of the coast which happened to be the very heart of her homeland too, though he did notice she left for about a week at a time to go patrol the further reaches of her territory or when there were fish spawning elsewhere.
"Well Moriko, my girl, I seem to be in a pickle. I know my parents said to just relax and that eventually the tide will bring you back in to where you are supposed to be. Leave my bait alone I might need the fish for energy to get back if the tides muck up and I am stuck here. I will give you the guts and heads and in return no bumping the boat pet." He tried not to remember that she was in fact longer than the skiff he was on. He hoped she wasn't awfully hungry.
He drifted and talked to the shark, imagining her overtime to be a sort of angry grandmother figure. There were old old stories that said that the people of the villages on the coast that passed away would return as creatures of the sea. He wondered if Moriko was one of those spirits. He was fascinated by stories and good yarns in particular. It was not lost on him that he also had a fibre obsession.
He caught three fish that day. Two were small enough he just fed them to her directly, she seemed to be pleased with his piscivious offerings. The third was big enough that he fed her the head and guts and then washed the rest of it when she had passed by. "See this is sharing it is good for you." He explained patiently. She was from an ancient lineage, there were sharks in many many stories, along with the snaptrotter they were very old. She kept the snaptrotters away and he was glad there were no yaotl, something that big would even scare Moriko.
When the rip tide finally swung more toward shore he paddled his butt to the beach and breached the boat on the sand. They could come collect it later for now he would make a small campfire, the smoke would draw his parents in like flies and while they were looking for his little marooned self he would eat the fish he had caught.
He gathered firewood and used the flint and knife he always kept with him for emergencies just like this. Anyone who spent any time on the sea was always more prepared than they strictly needed to be which was good as just like today stuff happened on the sea that couldn't always be predicted.
He certainly didn't think he would be going on such an adventure today, no sir, his plan was to catch small fish near to shore so he didn't get himself in some sort of trouble. Trouble like this. He found a shallow barred off pool and dunked himself as it was getting hot then he babied the fire until it was a big enough flame then he staked his fish out on a stick to cook.
The answer to every shipwreck, barbeque that's what.
973
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2025 3:30 pm
Surfs Up!
He was in the peewee surf competition. His parents watched from the sidelines as he floated with the other younglings in his class waiting for their turn to challenge the waves that broke over the shore. They were not in the real heavy surf area, that was for adults in good standing skill wise. But his little heart was a racing. This might be something he would pursue for the rest of his life. The perfect wave, the best score, the accomplishment of doing something really difficult for a change. It wasn't just him verses wave it was him versus his wave verses every one else and their wave.
There were five of them bobbing out there in the water waiting for the competition. At the horn the oban/matorian hybrid girl with red eyes and teal hair went first. She started out strongly but fell off her board midway through the ride when her back food slipped on the slippery surface of her board. He felt bad that she hadn't been able to finish, that would have been a really good ride too.
She paddled back to shore and the horn sounded again. This time a pure blood Matorian guy swam out to greet the surf. Everyone cheered as he caught his wave but he chickened out at the very last moment and missed it by a hair.
Then it was his turn, his hands nearly shook as this was the most exciting thing that had ever happened in his short life. Could this be the start of an illustrious career? He told himself to relax, that it was just he himself and the waves, no onlookers, no cheers, and especially no judges. He could have a shot if he could stay on his board, and then it was just the two others after him, another Alk and water hybrid and a pure Oban child that lived in the area with her parents. It was nice to see that there were many other younglings entered and around and interested in the surfing competition it gave the young ones a real taste of the future, he had heard that some places got up to 20 entrants for the same category. That seemed like a lot to him in his little beachside town but them were the breakers.
He was out in the sweet spot and saw a promising new wave roll in on the horizon, he lined himself up and started to paddle furiously feeling the swell catch up to him he rose as the wave rose and off he was riding it! This had to be the best feeling in the world, being one with the water, not fighting with it but working together to glide him along the surface, using his weight he stayed where he wanted to be. in the tunnel, he dared not yet reach out a hand and brush the inside barrel as so many more experienced people did. The judges couldn't see him right now but he dared not take a risk and loose his well earned focus at this critical moment. It happened fast and he was out of the barrel coasting along until the wave ended and he ended up in the soup. He had done it! He wasn't sure about how many points he would have gotten as he hadn't tried anything fancy, he didn't know how to do anything fancy yet but just riding the darn thing was an accomplishment. That he could be proud of. He paddled over to wait, he stayed in the water of course to watch the others it was nice in there and rather hotter than he liked out on the beach.
The next contestant was drawn out of the shallows by the horn and this was almost worse than when they had gone out before him. He had a big stake in the competition now he was at least in the running. He had a decent score for his age and ability and he was happy with it.
The hybrid obviously had the song of the sea in her heart, she placed a great wave and rode it through. That right there would probably bump him into second place at the least. And then for the last contestant. She flashed him a peace sign before paddling her desert bred self out onto the other kind of desert the watery kind of desert and she placed a wave with much wobbling. She finished but that put her behind him in points. Alas that was a good placing for them, the last three that went. He was so happy with second in his heart he might as well have come in first. He had done well in his first ever competition and he made sure to congratulate both first place and third.
He proudly brough his ribbon home to be hung up in his room. He had practiced for a long time for this and had not disapointed himself. That was the true mark of worth in his opinion. He would continue to work hard and over time with more experience he would improve.
One day he hoped to be the best surfer in Matori. Only truth and dedication would get him there. He spent a goodly amount of time tending to his board, rewaxing it and living the moment over in his mind. He would celebrate with a nice reef swim, maybe bring Moriko a fish from Dad's stock. He was sure that she had cheered him on.
923
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2025 3:47 pm
Fiber Arts
There was something almost rythmic about cleaning a shorn fleece from scratch. He had saved his pocket money for quite a while to be able to buy this second fleece which was of much higher quality than the first. That made him a little nervous about processing this one. The staple lengths were much longer. There were many myths and legends about such fleeces, since he paid so much for it, he wanted to do it justice.
He thought of the book his mother had gottne from the local bookstore, "Myths of Matori and Beyond." It was so good and indeed there was a story about fibre and yarn. He recalled it to his mind while he skirted the fleece. Which meant sorting through the good wool and the bad, removing dung tags and second cuts.
"In the land of the waves, there was a village, well hidden behind forest cover. There a bevvy of expert weaver women and their warrior mates resided."
Many of the myths included women as many men preferred the loom over the task of spinning. Children traditionally were assigned the task of carding the fibre.
"Men sought out the woman of the island, stories of their beauty and sweet voices drew the sailors in like sharks to a carcass."
Quite the colorful comparison, but it fit the theme of the story!
"All who found the island tended to want to stay. It was a nice quiet place and the island provided for its people's every need. However there were a group of sailors that none dared name. They found the island and in greed they wanted the fine yarn made by the people all to themselves. So they set about burning and trashing the business and homes of the island hoping that without a home or livelihood that the people would be easier for them to control and take advantage of."
Fat chance of that, he thought as he remembered the story. Wool skirted, he set himself down to some flick carding, opening the tight locks so that the vegetable matter would fall out and the wool would come out that much cleaner after washing.
"The islanders of course fought back, in any way that they could. Shamans, spinners and warriors all, the outsiders were thrown out but for a long time afterward the people were warry and mistrustful of outsiders. They drove them off their land the moment they landed. It was during this time that the hero of our story had an unfortunate ship accident that landed him unconscious on the island, drifting in from the sea and the remains of the ship that had born him and his crewmates there."
This was the part where it got very interesting.
"The man had been shipwrecked and he was only half Matorian. He startled a maiden spinner who had been spear fishing for her breakfast and the tide had brought his body in. She knew that outsiders could not be trusted but this man looked at least half like her. And ahem, he was so very handsome. Perhaps he had some good in him after all? Perhaps he may deserve a chance to prove that?"
Qethiar wasn't sure what he himself would do.
She brought him to her island home and nursed his sorry self back to health. When he regained consciousness it was love at first sight. The pair kept his presence hidden for about a year until one too many sightings had spread rumors about his presence like wildfire all over their island home.
It was then that she turned to the sheep on the island once more, the sheep that made the wool that made this place famous. She picked the fleece of the finest ram on the island and she spent a lot of time prepareing the fibre, pouring her hopes and dreams and love into it. Skirting just as he had done, carding just as he was doing. Washing and then carding again before she spun the finest cloak to go about her partner's shoulders. He would be safe now. The magical shawl changed his appearance to that of a pure blooded Matori man, with a face a mash of those that lived on the island so that he very much looked like any local yokel that lived just down the road in any direction they chose to look.
The people accepted this disguise handily. And they were left in peace for many many years. Then when the ban on outsiders finally lifted he was able to take his cloak off and reveal himself. The islanders said nothing about that either. It was said that that very cloak had been lost to time, perhaps in someone's old fabric stash, perhaps buried with its master. There had been many hunts for it but so far it had not been found. And the story also said that perhaps that was for the best as no one these days should have to pretend like they were someone else they should be able to wear their face proudly for all to see.
After all of the flick carding he washed the fleece. First with the presoak then the next day the soapy wash with hot water then rinse with hot water, then rinse with water and vinegar. It was a labour of love but it kept his hands busy when he wasn't surfing so there was that.
904
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2025 9:18 am
Custom Board
When he was finally ready to grow into a new board he got his Dad to help him craft the wood and then he spent hours painting a lifelike Moriko representation on the bottom of his board. His guardian spirit would be with him now wherever he went.
He road out onto the sea, working very hard to keep his balance on the new board that was a bit harder than his first model. This was more water dynamic and a bit smaller which would make him more maneuverable once he was more comfortable with the board. The balance and weight were different, it was a bit perplexing.
He hoped it would keep other sharks away from him too. Moriko was a power, and his pet hammerhead friend wouldn't be phased by it. One of these days he would get a snaptrotter and be able to keep up to a certain extent in the water. Now that would be fun!
He paddled out and fell off and off and off. It seemed just like the shark, he would have to earn the respect of his new board as well. Challenge accepted. Either way through talent or just not giving up he would get through this learning curve and ride this board in a great competition one day!
Tired he dragged himself back to the sand and then turned to look out at the beach. It was beautiful here, he was so lucky to live here, he would like to travel and see other places one day, the deserts of Oba, the cliffs of Sauti and the grass fields of Tale, all the places and from each place he would take a souvenir and then he would come back here and surf. It seemed like a cool destiny. He would practice as hard at surfing every where that he could and in unique waves and then he would come back and worship his Matori home.
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