open | come bury your toes in the sand

[redigere]

WHO: Naminé and friends; open to passersby
WHERE: Beach near Heropa
WHEN: October 15th
WHAT: BEACH PARTY! Feel free to create a new prompt if the ones below don't appeal to you.
WARNINGS: None for now!

It'd taken a lot of last minute scrambling, a lot of runs to the grocery store, and a lot of help from her friends. But as Naminé steps back from the set up, she smiles. Allows herself a little bit of pride in what she's accomplished.

The home tent is where all the food is. Fold up tables have been loaded with an array of sandwiches, finger foods, and drinks, and a cooler nearby has fish and other seafood goodies to be grilled at the bonfire once someone gets hungry for it. This is also where she'll direct friends to drop off snacks and homemade goodies. Please do not sneak any of the chocolate and marshmallows meant for s'mores later.

Close by is the rest area, which is really just a big spread of blankets and a couple fold up chairs on the sand. She doesn't expect everyone to want to stay standing up all day, after all. Naminé knows she's going to be there for a bit, chatting with friends who are visiting, and she may have started a tiny sandcastle and collection of sea shells at the edge of the blankets as well.

The volleyball net and accompanying volleyball are borrowed from a co-worker, so it definitely needs to get back to her in one piece. There's plenty of space for other sports and competitions though...perhaps a game of soccer? And how could anyone ignore the ocean? She and a few others will likely be waist deep in it, learning and practicing how to swim.

Not bad for her first party. Now all she has to do is wait for her guests.

Comments

[renamaer]

'Elysia'... Is that the name of your home? What is it like there? The houses look almost like natural stone instead of being built?

[She's not sure she can extrapolate much from the shape of the structure he's building, but they seem very organic and natural, without the regulated box shapes of most human buildings she's seen...]

[historiology]

Elysia was the village I lived in with Gramps and Mikleo and the others! They were made of stone. I guess that is different from the buildings around here.

[Which isn't a bad thing. And well, they were built by seraphim and fulfilled their main purpose of shelter and privacy. Not that they necessarily needed the houses but it was their attempt to make Sorey feel normal. Him being the only one that actually really needed a house, as the lone human.]

[renamaer]

[Laughing a little bit:] I'm honestly still not sure what some of the materials for houses here even are. I know some are made of wood or brick, but there's also strange things like 'vinyl' and 'aluminum' that I haven't really figured out. Stone is almost normal, comparatively.

[Though looking at the way they were built...] Were they carved out from stone that was already there, or did the people in your village have to move stones and stack them...?

[historiology]

Yeah, the buildings here are really different. And bigger, with more rooms. Which isn't a bad thing. Just....different. I can't remember, but I know they made the houses when Gramps took me in.

[To make him comfortable. Prior to that, the seraphim hadn't bothered.]

[renamaer]

'They'? [Well, now she's really curious.] So you used to live with your grandfather, back home?

[historiology]

Yeah! With Gramps and Mikleo and the rest of the seraphim, after Gramps found me and took me in when I was a baby.

[Though even as he'd grown up more, Zenrus still hadn't quite explained the whole truth to Sorey. And Sorey can understand why. He's just grateful for them for raising and caring for him and Mikleo both.]

[renamaer]

Ah, I see! [This sounds like a pretty sweet story.]

What are 'seraphim', if you don't mind me asking? I've heard the term before, but I don't think I know of anyone who's actually met and lived with them...

[historiology]

Oh, I guess other places might not know of them. They're like...elemental spirits? Each of them has control over a particular element. So, Mikleo being a water seraph, he can control water, or Lailah as a fire seraph....

[He pauses then, giving a shrug.] I know it's not exactly...normal for a human to be raised by them. But that's how I have such high resonance to see and hear them. Most humans can't.

[renamaer]

Elemental spirits... [She looks and sounds pretty thoughtful about that. That did sound familiar.]

We...have something like that in my world as well. Though it sounds as though the seraphim that you grew up with have been around for a long time.

[historiology]

You do? You have seraphim too?! Nobody else has here that I've talked to.

[But well. He's barely really arrived from home again at this point so it's. Harder to say. Still, it isn't often he can talk about the seraphim to someone who seems to understand.]

But you're right. The seraphim have been around for a long time. Once, they even lived alongside the humans. That's what I hoped to work towards back home.

Sorry this is a million years late!!

[renamaer]

I-i'm not so sure they're the same thing, but... [Well, the terminology was similar, anyway. She's going to feel really guilty for getting his hopes up.] They haven't been around for nearly as long. But they control elements, and they're willing to help humans when the situation calls for it...

rl happens!

[historiology]

It does sound like the seraphim, yeah! But...I guess with people here from so many different places, there's probably some similarities with other worlds, right?

[It's kind of interesting and exciting to think about. So much more history than just that of Glenwood!]

[renamaer]

Yes, there must be! It's been really interesting hearing from so many people, and finding out how things are different, or even the same. Back home, I was only able to find out about things like this from books...

[historiology]

Books....like me then! I mean, Mikleo and I explored and found ruins and stuff, but we never went outside of Gramps's domain, outside of Elysia until we found Alisha.

[So Sorey is really, just as sheltered, if not moreso, in comparison to Estelle. Or, he was prior to his own journey at least.]

[renamaer]

[She's definitely seeing the possible parallels in their stories, enough to read a bit between the lines as well.] They really are a window, aren't they? Just knowing that... there's something more than what's immediately around you. Even if you never get to see it.

[historiology]

Exactly! I mean, most of what I read was history books and stuff about ruins or the Shepherd. Mikleo read more on the world in general, I guess, he said one time that he was getting ready since he knew I'd leave Elysia eventually.

[So he gets it, Estelle. He really does.]

[renamaer]

History and ruins are really interesting, aren't they? I've always loved reading about old civilizations, the different way they did things... Though. [She thinks back a bit on what he had said earlier.] You said the seraphim you lived with had been around for a long time, right? Were you able to ask any direct questions about the things you were reading in books?

[historiology]

Hm? Ah....some of them were able to help explain a bit more, but not all of them were old enough to know about some of the stuff I read. Or, if they were old enough, they weren't there at the time to have seen what I read about. Gramps was the oldest of them.

[But considering he never left Elysia until the age of seventeen, books were all he had to get any sort of knowledge on what was out there beyond the village, beyond Gramps' domain.]

[renamaer]

That was the case for me too... even the longest-lived people I would ask questions about still didn't know anything about the oldest lost civilizations. It's amazing how they can just vanish that thoroughly while still leaving ruins and information and learning behind...

I already always thought the world must be a really big place, and then to come here and realize that it's even bigger than just one world...

Did you learn anything from the seraphim on things you didn't read about in books?

[historiology]

I only really grew up thinking and reading about the ruins in Glenwood, let alone anywhere else. But being here, I've read a little on some ruins and stuff too.

[Of course he has, nerd that he is.]

But ah, well, Gramps is the oldest, so he was the one we usually went to with questions. Sometimes he explained things that weren't in the books, or added more that the books didn't cover at least.

[renamaer]

I wonder if there are any people like that here... Maybe not as old as your grandfather? Or maybe just people who are from past times who've actually lived through some of the events that are just historical to the people who are from more modern versions of Earth...

[Well, she could get trapped in this vein for a while but they're here to build sand castles, aren't they?]

Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to distract you. [You're pretty close to done though, right? Looking good!]

[historiology]

I guess, there's enough of us around that it's possible. From various times and all.

[Sorey muses, before looking half sheepish at her apology as he looks back to the sandcastle attempts.]

Ah, no, it's okay. I like talking about this stuff. But I think..... [He places one more shell as a decoration.] There. Done.

[renamaer]

[She's going to scramble back a bit so she can get a better look and claps her hands together in delight; now that she's heard more about the story and history, she can't help but find something wonderful in the unfamiliar shapes. They were important to Sorey, and that was good enough for her.] It looks great! Do you want me to take a picture of you with your work on your communicator for you?

[historiology]

A picture? Sure! I can show Mikleo!

[Wherever the seraph has got to. It is rare to see one of them without the other, joined at the hip as they are most all the time. Still, he passes her his phone, giving a peace sign in posing for it.]

[renamaer]

Yes, that would be good! [Okay, she's going to snap like, three or four versions, you can pick which one you like.

As she's handing the device back:] Ah, didn't you say your friend Mikleo was here too? Was he not able to attend the party?