((i'm making the sun rise just to get people moving ^^;; ))

Everyone had been quiet for a long time now. Ray looked to the horizon, the sun was rising. "Good, it'll start getting warmer now." she put her bag over her shoulder. she took out her pocket knife again and took up a twig. Out of boredom she sharpened the twig to a sharp point. Something pulled at her hair, Ray looked behind her. A little pixie was there looking at her like she had done something wrong. "What?" Ray said to the pixie. The pixie just stuck up her nose and fluttered away. Ray went back to sharpening twigs.

Celest woke up from sleeping on the grass and rubbed her eyes as she yawned and stretched her body out. "Mm.." Looking up at the sun rise she tilted her head and wondered when the full moon will arrive. Sighing she sat up and looked over at hideto. She wondered if she should make him or tell the others to look after him while she walks off. Sighing she decided to just wait till he wakes up. Walking over to the water she looked around suspiciously for the monster but didn't see it. Celest began washing off her face and arms.

Claire opened her eyes she had drifted off after talking a bit to Clyde. She saw the sun rise and smiled a bit. It was better to travel in daylight than at night. She stood up carefully, making sure not to hit her head. Unfortunately she did. Aw, dangit! She rubbed her head, hoping that no one heard her. She turned her head across the room ,but Ray and Clyde didn't seem to notice. She gave a sigh of relief and stretched. She was tempted to make a loud noise with her guitar.

So far all she played were slow songs. She took out her knife and tested, apparently she had nothing better to do. She walked out to get some air. The air here was nothing like in the city. There wasn't the smell of gasoline or cigarette smoke. Only fresh air, with the occasional stench of nature. Speaking of nature, she hadn't seen that many, if any, normal animals. She felt a pixie tug on one of hairs. it was the same one that Celest had run into yesterday. "What now?" She realized that she had almost pounded a small, leafy structure. The pixie pulled that strand of hair out, before "punching" her. "Fine keep that hair. I have a million more." By the time she had shouted this, the pixie flew away. She walked back to the cave and saw Ray sharpening sticks. "Hey did you just see a pixie fly by?"

Ray looked up to Claire "Yeah, in fact one just pulled my hair a second ago. Why? One pull your hair to?" Ray had at least sharpened seven twigs. "Wanna sit with me?" Ray gestured to a spot next to her. "It would be nice to talk to somebody." she smiled.

Claire chuckled. "Yeah actually. Something about me hurting it's play house." She leaned in and whispered to Ray. "Personally, I think that pixie has a special hair collection somewhere." She sat by Ray and picked up one of the sharpened sticks. It was pointy, but only good for arrows. She debated on being an archer. The weapons were certainly easy enough to make. She was tempted to make a spearhead, but she didn't have the materials to do so. Another flashback from camp was emerging. She shook her head and responded to Ray. "Yeah, it's just nice to stay out outside and have some normal small talk."

Hideto rubbed his eyes as the sunlight woke him up, laughing softly as he realized he didn't even notice he had fallen asleep. He felt a slight sting at his shoulder, realizing he hadn't even had a chance to clean off that scratch he had gotten from that rock. "Ato o hikenai kana..." he muttered to himself as he made his way over to the water's edge, keeping an eye out for anything that looked dangerous. He removed his shirt and gently splashed the water over his shoulder, softly rubbing the area with his fingertips, but being extremely careful not to open the scratch again. After a moment, he moved on to cleaning his shirt, the brownish-red spot easily washing off the smooth synthetic fabric. He loved this material - it had a soft and smooth feel to it, and a slight shine, but it was very difficult to stain, unlike other fabrics with a similar appearance and texture. Perfect for him.

He shivered slightly as he put the shirt back on, realizing that he probably should have waited a little while before washing the spot out; morning always felt like the coldest time of day to him, and having a damp shirt on didn't exactly help that feeling.

(("Ato o hikenai kana" - 痕を引����� - "I hope this doesn't leave a scar." Once again, I'm such a sucker for authenticity...XD;))

Ray tipped off another twig "So...Did you dream? Or a least do you remember it?" Ray asked feeling a little weird about asking, but this was the only she had actually talked to anybody back home. Her dreams always made little sense but she could sometimes get her head around them.

Claire shrugged at the somewhat weird question. "Well, not usually. I tend to have dreamless nights most of the time. The thing is though, the times that I do dream tend to be lucid dreams. I mean it takes out the dreaming part if I know it's a dream." She sighed and looked at the rising sun. It felt weird being in a dream when you knew it was one. She usually went along with it, but sometimes it became too real. Thank god it's warm over at this place. Wearing a freaking skirt and tank is cold She wasn't worried about the morning, but at night when things really started to freeze over. "So, when do you want to leave?"

Ray shrugged "I don't know. Maybe when Clyde wakes up, But I'm also tempted to leave without him." Ray looked down, Clyde was okay but she couldn't think of having to listen to him for the long walk to the village. But Ray thought it to be better to bring him, as she said herself: it would be better if they stayed together. "So do you want to wake him up or should I?" she asked looking at Claire with a small smile on her face.

Claire nodded and sighed. She thought about what Ray said, but shook it off. She knew that Clyde had been harsh and arrogant, but it didn't feel right leaving him. At least this way, they might be able to make amends with Celest and Clyde. She ran a hand through her hair before remembering that they had to go to the village. "Uhm, I think I'll wake him up. The best way to wake someone up is giving someone an earfull right>?

Celest sighed and finished washing up before walking down to the dirt path that was supposed to lead to the village. Sighing softly, she began walking down the path kicking up a little dirt here and there. Feeling some thing pull her hair she flicked her head and made a sound. "Stupid pixie's" She yelled and swatted at it as the pixie pulled her hair again. "Stop it!"

Ray raised an eyebrow at Claire "An earful of what? Noise or a wet-willy?" Ray turned around, she thought she heard somebody yell. "I bet you that was Celest. You go ahead and wake up Clyde, I'll put the fire out and find Hideto." Ray stood and stamped out he fire, the she started walking towards the pond. Once there she saw Hideto "Hey, you wanna come with us? Claire, Clyde and I are headed toward the village."

Claire laughed and hid an evil smirk. "Oh, you'll see when you decide to sleep in late." She turned her head to see someone who yelled. She agreed, it was probably Celest. She nodded at Ray and walked back to the cave. It was finally time to set off to the village. She hoped that it would be a turning point and that they would finally know their purpose. She arrived and saw her guitar still sitting next to where she had slept the previous night. She put the guitar over herself and adjusted the strap before tuning it. She tested out one note. It was at the right pitch now.

She stroked another string to see how silent she could make it. If it worked one way it should work the other right? Well now is the right time t test that theory. I just hope I'm not wrong. She walked up a bit closer to Clyde before blasting out an F-sharp. She felt tempted to play a loud song, but felt that this would suffice for now.

Hideto turned abruptly, having heard someone apparently calling to him. He was already beginning to feel a little warmer, as the morning chill lifted away. He ran the question through his mind a few times, even though he knew right away that the answer was simple; hadn't EVERYONE just been talking about going to the village? That's where everyone was going to be, and his best chance at finding anything more that could help him...still, due to the odd nature of many questions he'd been asked before, he couldn't break his habit of looking at all possibilities and hesitating before answering.

His train of thought was suddenly derailed as a bright glowing creature zipped past his face, and began tugging at his hair. He flailed around wildly, struggling to shake the pixie as it tugged on his hair, eventually flying off with one blonde and one long black strand. Hideto, however, had lost his balance and ended up falling flat on his back, halfway in the water.

"Kuso kurae!" he shouted after the creature, groaning lightly as he pushed himself up, the back of his shirt now covered with brown and green spots. He began wishing he could go home and just throw away every white shirt he owned - this was, what, the third time he he had gotten it dirty within the past 12 hours? "Kuso mushi..."

He paused for a moment, then laughed softly as he realized he had once again made a spectacle of himself. "Heh...sorry about that...sure, I'd like to go," he laughed, brushing a dripping strand of hair out of his eyes. "Maybe they'll have a new shirt for me...that isn't white," he jokingly added as he headed toward Ray, now feeling that morning chill again.

((I almost forgot to warn you that Hideto comes off as a bit of a klutz. XD; But I think you've figured that out by now. ^^; Anyway, translation time:
"Kuso kurae!" - ��食ら� - closest translation is roughly "Eat shit!" though as with all vulgar Japanese words, "kuso" doesn't carry the same "OMGDUNSAYTHAT!" stigma as English swear words. "Kuso mushi," - ��虫 - "Damn insect."))

"Yeah. I'm going with Ray on this one. By the way, isn't Ray a guy's name?" Clyde pondered (to himself, but out loud nonetheless). "Whatever. If we keep walking we'll reach something sooner or later. Maybe I'll find a giant hoard of pixies and have them play with you until you're bald." he visibly chuckled. Although he had to hand it to Hideto: that definitely made his day.

Celest grumbled as she made her way along the path until she came to the village. Mumbling more she walks down the hill and in to the Small surroundings of towns. There seemed to be a market but there weren't people selling things rather they were all different types of creatures. Goblins selling rotten apples, spider people selling blood (which made celest gag). Celest walked throw the crowded area of the marking looking around for some place for answers. She didn't care about being alone now, she was surround by... well they weren't people but she was surround she didn't need the others.

Claire shrugged. "Maybe it's short for uh....Raylena?" She snorted. Heheh, wait no Ray's actually short for Raymond isn't it? She kept pondering this as she ran her hands up and down the neck of her guitar. She trudged along with the others and "sight-saw" all the different features of the land. No buildings, no apartments, just grass and grass-like huts. It's like camp! Jesus.. She chuckled at Clyde's comment about the pixies. Despite being at Hideto's expense, she couldn't help laughing. He owuld probably need a new shirt or something. She looked forward and thought back to when she had seen the village. They couldn't have been too far now. She squinted forward and saw a small hill with outlines of houses.

Ray turned around and looked at Clyde "Yes Ray can be a guys name, but in this case it's a girls name. Get over it." Ray felt like slapping him. When she heard Claire say some thing she responded with a calmer tone "My name isn't short for anything. Just Ray." Ray turned back around and headed toward the village.

"Oh, I see then." Claire wondered if Clyde did that often. Thinking out loud wasn't always a good thing, especially when the people you're thinking about are in the same area. Smart one She shook her head and continued on. It had been a while, (at least it felt like that) since they started walking and she left a bit bored. "Ugghh, hey guys can you see the village from here?" She had hoped so, at least at the village they could go see what junk they had. Maybe they'll have some giant Cloud sword.

((haha giant cloud sword XD))

While walking around looking over things and eyeing some items Celest was pulled in to a building and thrown in to a room. "HEY whats the big..." Her mouth was covered and she noticed they were a bunch of fairies. "You have come to save us!" One exclaimed. Putting up a curtain they pulled Celest behind it and began stealing her clothes replacing with new clean ones after washing her. "Hey, stop that what the hell." She grumbled and was pulled and shoved and pushed as she was changed and washed. When they were down she glared at the and mummbled "Whats the big Idea!!" Her long black hair was now braided and twirled in to a bun on top of her head while a dark blue dress trimed in sliver with long sleeves cut half way off at the shoulders appeared to take place of her clothes. "GAH! what happened to my pants.." she cursed at them. Her pale skin seemed to show throw the cloth less spot on the shoulders and the open back.

((what the heck just happened to you Silent???))

Ray pulled her hair back and let it fall again.
"Stupid boy..." Ray's face tightened with anger. Then she heared Claire and saw the village at the same time.
"It's not to far." she yelled over her shoulder. After a few more minutes of walking, Ray come out of the forest and into the village. Strange creatures were selling the oddest stuff, but Ray saw an art stall and almost ran over to it. The shopkeeper looked like an elf with ears about a half-a-foot long. He asked her if Ray wanted anything he had.
"What do you have concerning quills and ink?" Ray wondered if maybe she could trade her stuff for some of his. The shopkeeper took out an array of beautiful feather quills and a couple different bottles of colored ink.
"Would you take a bottle of the red ink for my bottle of black?" Ray reached into her bag. The shopkeeper shook his head and said that the red ink didn't cost anything and that Ray could take it and be on her way if nothing else sparked her fancy.
"Thank you." Ray said beaming and she took the red ink and went to look for Celest.

Hideto quietly followed along, immediately looking for a clothing stall as soon as he reached the village. He soon found there was no shortage of clothing...but what he saw right off mainly appeared to have come from medieval England. He laughed as he tried to picture himself wearing anything like that - he looked ridiculous enough on World Cultures Day back in tenth grade, wearing historical Japanese clothing, and at least then he looked the part.

Another problem was that he wasn't sure whether or not anyone here accepted normal earth money, and even if they did, whether or not he could afford anything. He rummaged through his pockets and found two ink-stained twenty-dollar bills, and 2,000 yen from his latest trip back home. He sighed, unsure as to whether or not this was a good thing. He continued digging through his pockets, searching for anything he had to trade. He found three pens - one black, one blue, and one red, a single piece of clean paper, two guitar picks, and a cheap-looking ring he had found on the ground the day before...but nothing particularly useful.

He sighed heavily, feeling the need to find SOMETHING he could get - this shirt was starting to get a bit uncomfortable. He felt something itching behind the collar and reached back to see what it was, and realized it was what appeared to be...fanged algae of some kind. Shuddering, he tossed it to the ground, hoping there was nothing else similar back there.

((The village knows about us and thinks of us as gods, so then she got hijacked XD))

Claire followed the group as they finally came upon the village. It seemed to be a melting pot for many races of mythical creatures. Ah, just like back at home. Only without all of the CO2 She broke away from Clyde and the others, looking for a shop of her fancy, when she came upon an assortment of instruments. There were guitars, harps, flutes, panpipes, and other things well. She came upon a medium sized acoustic guitar inside a woven case. "How much for this?" The shopkeeper mumbled something that made Claire sigh in disappointment and search her pocket. Let's see: a small pen, a tissue, the letter, what else? Yes! Gold coins. At least it looked gold. What she had were some shiny Sacajawea dollar coins.

She hoped that they would be enough to suffice for the guitar. When the shopkeeper shook his head, she bit her lip. Well, I've always wanted a career in street performing. She pushed a crate into the middle of the marketplace and stood on top of it, before hitting a note on her guitar. It got the attention of those around her. "Here ye, here ye people..errr creatures of the land? Is that it? Uhhm, anyway, today I will play you a song and if you like it then leave a payment, if not then keep ye mouth shut!" The crowd seemed puzzled, but complied. She strummed her guitars letting out a mellow, yet edgy tone. She played on for about five more minutes before stopping. The crowd cheered. "Our chosen one, Claire the Lyrical has arrived!"

A large amount of coins were tossed her way. "Claire the Lyrical? Not very much pizazz, but it's the thought that counts." She collected as many as she could and handed them to the shopkeeper. He seemed to have lightened up and quickly gave the guitar, insisting that she keep the money. "No really it's fine. Annnway I jsut realized, yeah I got to go." She left in a hurry, onyl grabbing a handful of coins on the way. She ran back to see if the others had gotten the same treatment.

Ray heard the sound of a guitar and stopped in the crowd to listen.
"Claire?" Ray waited for the performance to be over. Once Ray could actually get to Claire through the bustling of people and creatures she she went over to her.
"Claire, that was awesome." Ray smiled.
"Do you know why they called you 'Claire the Lyrical'?" Ray stood next to Claire among all the stalls and people yelling. It all seemed a little funny.

((no idea XD))

Celest walked out on the street grumbling. "Bloody hell, I am wearing a dress.." She slapped her forehead just in time to hear the crowd cheering. Turning around she saw the others from the cave. "They made it atleast.."Reaching up she felt her hair in a braid on her head and rolled her eyes. "I knew i should have gotten that hair cut then they couldn't have done this... damn faries." she grumbled again and walked over to the others. "Do you guys know what in bloody hell is going on?" She crossed her arms the sleeves attached to the end of her fingers making a ring around her middle fingers.