Re: Easing Through Eaulir - 119 4A

by **Nara-pyon** Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:03 pm

Daenis was still not used to animals or races aside from the ones she had grown up with, so she didn't understand Holly's comment bout Shiro and Kaito.

"Do Shiro and Kaito not like to swim?" she asked curiously. "Or do they not know how?"

Though even as she asked the second question, she realized how foolish it was. There were others who didn't know how to swim, but she knew that they were still getting swimsuits - Holly had just told her as much. She had alluded to something different about Shiro and Kaito earlier as well. Was there something different about them?

by **Kara Winters** Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:11 pm

"Most nekos do not like water," Holly explained, "However, it is a trait that one can unlearn if they learn at a young age. I don't mind water, but I lived on an island and learning to swim was mandatory. Teaching children how to swim prevented a lot of accidental drownings."

Though for all she knew, Shiro and Kaito could be one of those rare nekos who naturally liked water. Judging by Kaito though, Holly doubted it.

by **Nara-pyon** Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:20 pm

That still didn't help Daenis to understand, and her brow furrowed deeply; but before she could ask, Mailon explained, "Most cats dislike water, and the nekos are very cat-like."

Daenis rubbed the space between her eyebrows and suppressed a sigh. That explanation didn't make much more sense to her than Holly's had done.

Mailon chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Like Senka, but no wings and no speech ... and for the most part, much, much bigger."

by **Kara Winters** Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:43 pm

"Senka is really small...." Holly giggled, "I thought her a kitten when I first saw her. Though with just having butterfly wings, I guess she has to be that small."

Senka could barely fly, and more glided around places.

by **Nara-pyon** Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:52 pm

"She is even smaller than any kit I have ever seen," Mailon murmured. "The only place I have ever seen such small ones is in Caras Galadhon, where the smallest cats are kept as mousers."

"Are they elsewhere, then?" Daenis asked, completely ignorant.

Mailon smiled. "Remember that fur that was added to our stockpile a few weeks back? The large one, yellow and black?"

Daenis nodded.

"That was a large cat called a jaguar," he explained to her.

Daenis was amazed. "So large," she murmured. She turned to Holly again. "Were there many around the human town where you lived for so long?"

by **Kara Winters** Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:23 pm

"A few," Holly admitted, "Cats, at least ones that aren't kept as pets, make wonderful mousers. So people will keep them around to keep the mice away from the grain and food."

Which was very different than to why Gaians would keep a pet (most Gaians anyways).

"Most are about," she put her hands, "This size, so not large like a jaguar, but most certainly larger than Senka."

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:26 pm

"Well," Daenis murmured softly, "perhaps I shall see one someday."

"Likely," Mailon chuckled in agreement, "if we're to stay here for the entire Winter."

Winter was one of the longest seasons after all - twelve weeks instead of the usual nine. And since this was a climate where jaguars lived, odds were they would run into one.

by **Kara Winters** Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:30 pm

"I wonder what everyone is going to do for a whole Winter..." Holly mused.

Granted there was a lot of things to do, thanks to the tent. Also, thanks to the fact there were on-going projects everywhere. Miyuki's need to revamp the kitchen meant woodwork, and metalwork. Holly would be working on swimsuits, spring clothes, among other things.

And... while they sat outside (the kitchen was really crowded at the moment), Eron pointed out one other point of interest.

"I think I have found some metals, but I also think I found a cave while I was looking today," Eron told Shoneah and Andarien during dinner.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:35 pm

Andarien didn't grasp the implication of Eron's revelation, but Shoneah's interest piqued immediately.

"A cave?" she repeated curiously. "Where? We've checked out most of the area and it all looks like flat ground to me ..."

Shiro was also interested, and though he hadn't been invited into the conversation, he shuffled closer to the three of them, his ears perked up to hear more. "Cave?"

by **Kara Winters** Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:40 pm

"I think so?" Eron tilted his head towards Shiro to invite him into the conversation.

Shiro was like a walking encyclopedia, so Eron was always wiling to hear what Shiro had to say.

"I was sensing in the forest, about... a few meters west of the tent. The ground has some metals that can be used, but... there's... almost like a vein that is running through this land of nothing. There is no earth as far as I can tell, I'm having a lot more difficulty though telling how large this gap is."

And he wasn't sure why.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:47 pm

Shiro frowned, but it wasn't out of sadness or anger. He was simply thinking. A vein of nothing? That didn't make any sense. Unless it was a very large vein it wouldn't even qualify as a cave - the two words were hardly interchangeable.

"Which word do you think would best describe it, in your estimation?" he asked Eron seriously. "Vein or cave?"

In his mind, a cave would be something they could fit into, possibly explore. It had to have an entrance (somewhere) and possibly an exit elsewhere. There would be space, walls, ground, a ceiling, like a tunnel, even if not round or consistent. A vein, on the other hand, could be smaller - likely would be smaller - and could follow any shape or path, have no external beginning or end, and be more spotty rather than constant.

Unless it were an animal's burrow, which, he supposed, was always possible, except that he trusted Eron to know the difference between a burrow and a cave or vein.

by **Kara Winters** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:10 pm

Eron also frowned as he thought back to what he felt. It was very rare since he started training again that he was unsure about what he sensed, but what he sensed made no sense.

"It.... felt large enough to be a small cave, but it runs through the land like a vein if that makes any sense," Eron finally replied, "I know that's not helpful, but honestly, I reached a point and suddenly there was nothing. It was hard to find where that nothing ended."

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:12 pm

"Huh." It was a thoughtful grunt, not a question, and Shiro rubbed the tip of his nose as he gazed thoughtfully at nothing.

"Whatever it is," Shoneah spoke up again, "it sounds like something worth checking out. Perhaps tomorrow?"

by **Kara Winters** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:21 pm

"I would like that," Eron admitted, "If for no other reason than the fact I find it a bit confusing and frustrating. I know I still have a lot to learn, but normally sensing doesn't cause me this much trouble."

In part because Eron had always used it in the lab before coming here. It was how he knew what was in a jar without looking at the label.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:30 pm

"Is it something you've ever experienced in Gaia?" Shoneah asked curiously. "I mean, for all their similarities, they are two different worlds. Maybe this is just something you've never encountered before."

That didn't mean she knew what it was - she was sure she didn't: but it bothered her, seeing Eron so troubled, and she wanted to help put his mind at rest if she could.

"I wonder if we have any shovels," Shiro mused aloud. "I know we've a few pickaxes, but I can't recall that we've ever done any digging. I mean, aside from Wren's gardens."

by **Kara Winters** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:35 pm

"We do, to clear out whatever debris that was created by the pickaxes," Eron replied, "We only used it for that, not actually to dig into the ground."

Now that Shoneah asked, had Eron ever felt anything like it.

"And to answer your question Sliverbirch... no, but I've mainly used this ability in the lab... a high school lab no less."

Which meant only relatively safe chemicals were allowed to be used.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:38 pm

Shoneah nodded slowly. "So it could be something completely new," she rationalized, "or it could be something you've simply not experienced before, or it could simply be an odd-shaped hole in the ground."

She smiled. "Well, at least it won't be boring. Unless of course it turns out to be a burrow belonging to something completely common, then I might be a bit disappointed."

"Disappointed?" Andarien asked, finally joining in the conversation. "Why would you be disappointed? It's not like you're expecting something huge."

Shoneah laughed. "Perhaps not, but something interesting would be nice."

by **Kara Winters** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:41 pm

"It would be," Eron laughed, "It's like those adventures one would go on as a child."

When everything was new and exciting and adventure was around the corner even if it was only in your own backyard.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:44 pm

"Adventures?" Andarien repeated, blinking. "I never went on any adventures when I was a child."

"Oh, come, Andarien," Shiro chided him. "Don't you remember when you went exploring caves on Amon Darthir with Miyuki?"

Andarien shuddered. "That wasn't an adventure, that was exploring and nearly getting killed!"

by **Kara Winters** Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:25 pm

"Well... technically it was an adventure, just not a pleasant one," Eron amended for Andarien.

He imagined seeing how Andarien tended to be very binary in the way he saw the world that he didn't see anything good out of that exploration trip. Now that he thought about it, did Andarien even have the kind of 'childhood adventures' that most would associate with the idea? Had Miyuki? Since they both traveled a lot with their folks.

Then again he imagined Miyuki thought everything was just a grand old adventure.

by **Nara-pyon** Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:52 pm

"Besides that," Shoneah added, nudging Andarien's elbow and grinning at him, "you're always telling me about places you've been and things you've done and seen. You've had plenty of adventures!"

Andarien shrugged one shoulder and kept eating.

by **Kara Winters** Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:32 pm

Eron chuckled a bit, "But this is your life, so I guess seeing all these lands and being in all these situations is only part of life."

At least it would be really hard to surprise Andarien or Miyuki in life. Or anyone else who has traveled with this group for that matter.

"At any rate," Eron murmured, "Let's go and see what we can find tomorrow. It'll be interesting neither way. Maybe I missed something, and there will be something to find."

by **Nara-pyon** Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:43 pm

"Why?" Andarien asked with a frown.

Shoneah laughed. "For the fun of it, of course. For the chance of discovery. Who knows what we'll find? Maybe a cave that we can explore, or maybe some new metals to experiment with."

Finally Andarien was interested. "New metals?" he repeated eagerly.

by **Kara Winters** Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:25 pm

Eron chuckled, Andarien was still a bit single minded, but that wasn't a surprise. It was probably why Andarien was so good at what he did.

"Maybe... it's possible as we go through different lands to find metals or minerals that we haven't found before. For me anyways this is the first time we've been near a coast since traveling. Sea salt, which is a bit different from salt that is mined is one of those things we haven't come across."

It was one the more interesting things about traveling. Where in Gaia, one always had to cut back on salt, here they needed to buy salt and make sure they had it. Simply because they would not get any salt unless it was added to the food, and despite what some health nuts would believe, Gaians did need a bit of salt to prevent conditions like water toxicity. In a lot of ways it was boon, Eron could get someone to try adding sea salt to cooking without feeling guilty of having too much salt.

by **Nara-pyon** Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:31 pm

"Oh ..." Andarien was puzzled. "I thought we had lots of sea salt from Caras Galadhon ..."

"By this time, I'm sure we're either out or nearly out of it," Shiro chuckled. "We did get a lot of it, but that was nearly three years ago already. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm pretty sure we've been using mined salt for a while now."

Turning to Eron, he smiled and added, "That was a long time before we met you and Shoneah. Caras Galadhon is on the west coast of the continent and we spent a year there before starting out on our trip."

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