|+|Chiyu Springs|+|

A pleasant, calm, and serene place of healing, rest, and relaxation. The springs are a great marvel of the world of Meddus, as the springs are said to have healing properties in the water. Many have said this rumor to be false and improbable, as mere spring water couldn't have the abilitys said it to have. One reason for this scepticism is one of the storys of the spring, where a wounded soilder ant, with a fatal wound was placed in the spring and in mere minutes, the wound had completely healed and the ant was saved. Others believe the rumors, despite the outrageous claims of what the rumors said it had done. Some believe the rumors due to hands on experiance in the spring, having been healed themselves, others only believe it because they believe what everyone tells them, thus destroying credabiliy to most to real officials. The scientists of the region have tried many times to go into and spring and inspect it, but they were stopped at the gate by the family who owned the springs, claiming they would experiment on the spring and destroy it in the process. The mystery of the spring's healing properties is in question to this very day, or at least it is 'offically.'

The springs are very large, spanning over 18 or 20 acres of land, many of the parts of the spring being rented by wealthy people as 'private springs.' The rest of the springs are two big open areas, and one smaller area for people who don't mind going 'co-ed.' The springs are surrounded by a big red fence made of thick stone and resembles a structure of that of an old japanese building. In the very front of the springs is a large gate with a large sliding door and a window next to it. Anyone wishing to come into the springs will have to speak into the window and too the spring's owner before the door it opened. The springs themselves would be many, large bodys of water spread out over a large area with white steam coming off of them. In the middle would be a fenced off whole where every day, spring water will shoot forth hundreds of feet into the sky and come down down to the ground in a warm, satisfying mist. The springs would each be their own size and depth, each one being randomly unique with not pattern at all. One could be 4 feet deep, while the other could be 10 feet deep.

(( I think that's good enough, I might add more later.))

The blue-green colored form of Aeira walked through his house after having just woken up to greet the shiney new day. The male walked over to the red and white kimono that he usually work and put it on over his blue-green colored form before picking up the necklace that was on his dresser with a red ruby at the center of it, putting it on after the kimono and finally putting a jewel on his forehead and making sure it would stay there before smiling at himself in the mirror with a small, yet bright smile. He then grabbed his long white hair and began to put it in one large braid that stretghed to the bottom of his back.

After getting ready for the new day, the male walked to the door of his house and grabbed the key to the springs and opened his front door, walking out and closing it behind him, looking around at the beautiful turrain that surrounded his house and the springs. The male took in the fresh air with a smile as he walked over to the front gate of the springs, unlocking the slide door and opening it as he walked into the spring's entrance. The male then sat down infront of the window that was next to the door of the springs, the door sliding shut after Aeira sat down, now waiting for anyone to come to the springs for some rest and relaxation. "Such a beautiful day."

A very rich voice drifted though the window towards Aeira, the person who uttered it did no cast a shadow and wasn't visible from the small opening.

"I would have to agree. Usually I come during the night, but today the girls decided to bath by sun light."

A mix of giggles quietly rose after the smoky voice finished the last bit of her sentence each one sounded younger and a bit farther away then the first voice. Some shuffling was made by the group as the girls clung to each-other and glance at the one behind the window without being seen. They knew better then to show themselves but it was hard to keep curiosity in when something new was happening.

Agrimony made a swiping motion to silence the girls. Each one clasped a hand on eachother's mouths and held them there, their action coming form being close to one another in small spaces for such a long period of time. Basically they sometimes worked as one. While the girls had hands covering up any nose they made that didn't mean they weren't watching for a reply from the person behind the window.

"Eh?" The male began to look around from behind the window that seperated him from the front of the gate. Apon seeing no one around, the male scratched te back of his head and layed back in the chair. "Oh dear, I'm hearing voices. I hope I'm not going crazy, I'm not THAT lonely yet." The male said as he kept his eyes on the window, just waiting for someone to show up infront of the window or atleast someone to finish their prank, either way that made sure he wasn't loosing it. The male then thought on another possability, made the scientists that were so intrested in the springs had hired someone to break into the spring and steal the water, or better yet.. Kill Aeira and seize the springs for their experiments which would undoubtably destroy the springs and it's rumored healing properties.

Agrimony blinked and looked at the window again. Her position was right next to it, leaning up against the side wall in fact.

Turning her body Agrimony suddenly completely filled the view from the window, looking at the male inside. Her tall figure made it so she had to bend down lightly to see his face properly. The sudden motion caused black threads to roll over her shoulders and create long side bangs to which she ignored. Half of her long hair was made up into a tight bun on the top of her head and held together by one of her blue bangles. The other half flowed down like it regularly did.

Being the tall dancer she is, Agrimony wore a high colored black kimono with a gold wrap around her waist. Two longer strips of cloth flowing down in front of her form and ended in small rings ( A traditional casual wear for the Mento's of her district). Upon her back the green leaf lookalike shield attached to her form was wrapped loosely with another piece of gold colored cloth but this one held a pattern to it sporing an eye.

"Oh dear me... has no one bothered to visit the springs and talk to it's guardian?" She said in what sounded like false sympathy. "Don't worry dear. I'll send some of my girls to talk to you if that's what you wish. They are rather curious about you..." More giggling ensued this time muffled by many hands.

The male, she thought his name was Areira or something, sat by the window constantly. This was the first time she had directly come to this specific gate keeper and not to one of the privately rented sections. This one was rather interesting, he was dressed up yet probably would never go out today.

The male looked back up at the window once more after the female stood infront of the window and spoke to him. "Oh sorry about that, I didn't see you there." The male said with a nervious laugh and the smile to fit it. "The window's very small, you see." The male then listened to the rest of what the female had to say, expecially the part about having 'her girls' talk to him. "Eh well, it's not like that. Everyone has to come through me to get in afterall, so it's not like I'm short on small talk."

The male thought it might be a good idea for him to change the subject or atleast try to get rid of it. He then stood up and walked over to the door that was next to him, unlocking the sliding door that seperated Agrimony and her girls from the springs. "You seem like a good bunch, you come in and enjoy yourselves." The male said as the door was completely opened, the male giving them a bright smile before moving to the side to let them in.

'Opps. I think I gave the wrong impression about them.' Agrimony though clasping her hands in front of her, extra, yellow ocher, sickle limbs folding around her chest. 'Oh well, it's his fault that he tries to read between lines that are not there.' She smiled a little more.

Keeping up her sly, half lidded face, Agrimony bowed slightly and thanked the male before moving to enter the door. Behind her the girls, about 16 to 18 years old, continued to crowd and move as one. Each one of the girls was a different species so it was a rather comical sight. As they passed snippets of their hushed talk could be heard...

" - on his forehead? I wonder what it's made of." "His hair is white. I -" "The thinks we're -" " I know *giggle*" "Misstress is being rather mean don't you-?" "She just have fun is all." "Shhhh, he's looking at us!" "No he's -!" "Yes h-! "

Agrimony halted just shy of passing in, turning her head around sharply she looked at his form by the window again. Some of the girls bumped into each other harshly as they too tried to stop.

"Are you SURE you wouldn't like one of my girls to keep you company?" Her eyes drooped even more giving him a lazy look.

As she paused for his reply, Agrimony remembered something and interrupted Aeira before he could answer.

"OH! I almost forgot. Do you mind if I smoke here?" As she said this her left sickle lifted out from it's cover and extended a black pipe covered in a silverfish looking metal on either end; sharp black spikes the only thing keeping it in the sickle's grasp.

Something lurked in the springs today, it's shadow cast underneath the water. A beast that cast fear into the hearts of most creatures. It had traveled a long way, following a scent trail left by a young hopper female.

Hera lifted her head above the cool water, generally she would have prefered salt water, but any water would do at the moment, the lapping of the cool water soothed her sore joints. Her size made travel across land hard, so she swum up rivers and frog hopped through lakes, trying to stay of the ground as much as possible. The sunlight set her crimson hair on fire as she aproached the shallows. She was avoiding contact with anyone else. She lifted the top half of her body out of the water keeping the marbled cyan and green shrimp body in the shallow waters. She didn't need any more trouble.

Her last contact with sentient life had left her injured, she rubbed the sore cut on her left arm, it was pink and raw, still open to the air. She leant over and licked it. People didn't like to find her kind in their rivers, eating their fish. The sooner she could find Venus, the sooner they could go home back to the islands, where the creatures there left her alone.

The male watched Agrimony as she passed him and then turned his attention to that of the group of girls who were all seemingly talking about him, the male watching them as they passed the door. The male's attention turned back to Agrimony as she stopped suddenly, causing some of the girls to bump into each other. The male listened to her questions before he got a chance to awnser.

"Well, seeing as it's an outside are, I don't think the smoke will bother anyone, just don't litter in the springs please." The male said, giving off another of his bright smiles as he spoke before he looked back over to the group of girls before speaking to awnser Agrimony's other question. "Well, it's their decision if they want to stay here and talk to me, I don't mind either way." The male said as he looked back over to the form of Agrimony, still smiling brightly as he did so.

"Wait a tick." The male said as he caught the figure of Hera in his periphrial vision, standing up and walking over to her,spying her wounds. As the male neared her, he spoke out in a soft voice and stopped at a safe distance, knowing she was an 'old blood.' "Are you alright, madam?" The male said as he decided to try and carefully get alittle closer to her, as some 'old bloods' would scare as easily as most animals would.

Hera whipped her head to look at the male, her eyes flicked past at the females behind him. She grunted, stretching out her claws as she moved into the deeper water. She grunted and licked her wound. "It's just a scretch, I've had much worse." She lifted her awesome body out of the water, groaning slightly as she did.

"If this is your land, I'm sorry for trespassing." She flicked her tail, it made a hollow thud sound against the water, spraying it into the air. She shook herself down and pulled herself out of the water, her back limbs that normally worked like paddles also help to propel her across the land, though it was alot slower then many of the land dwelling Old Bloods and Ferals. She tucked one of her claws away, but kept the other ready, just incase things turned nasty. She looked down at the small man, and the women behind him and smiled softly. She reached up and uncoiled a string of pearls from her neck, she untied the knot and dropped a couple into his hand, they were tiny specks to her, but to most bugs they were large, the size of a eyeball. "for the trouble I have caused. If you have any food i can give you a few more."

The male watched her as she got out of the water, apologising for being in the springs without going through the gate. "Oh no, it's no problem at all, the gates only there for a certain group of people who just wanna destroy these springs." The male said, giving a nervous smile at her as she stood infront of him, her size seeming to dwarf his own. The male kept his eyes on the large from of Hera before looking down at his hand as Hera dropped a few perals into it. "Oh no, you don't need to pay anything, these springs are for the general public and are free." The male said as he put the perals back into her own hands before speaking once more with another smile. "And if it's food you want, I'd be happy to prepare some for you."

OOC: Opps XD You guys are fast. I guess I should make my posts shorter. If either of you two saw my other post ignore it. XD

Keeping her posture relaxed, Agrimony looked up at the larger form before her. Seldom was she ever dwarfed by anything other then another Mentos or a Beetle. She kept silent as the "Old blood" moved to give her pearls to the gatekeeper. Feeling her girls suddenly glued themselves to her thorax to hide. How peculiar it was for her to see a creature considered a beast and a threat giving pearls away like they were rocks. Now that she thought about it, it was even more peculiar that someone of her nature would come out of hiding at all.

"Not to sound rude but, why are you here? Surely you know what most of us think of you?"

The male looked over to the form of Agrimony, who was now questioning Hera. The male gave off abit of an aggrivated look, a look that was very unusual for him. "What do you mean, 'what most of us think of her?' Think what?" The male questioned Agrimony, as if inspecting her, as if she was racist to 'old bloods.'

Hera lay down on the ground and laughed at the male. "You must live more of a sheltered life than I." Her face softened and she looked over at the female and licked her wound again. "I know what most think of me, I rarely travel far from my island, food is plentiful there, the nearby tribe worships me as if i were somekind of god...or a demon, i never know which." She tied the pearls back around her neck.

"I'm looking for someone, a young girl." She paused for a moment. "She's my daughter, she's got it into her head that she'll see the world, bleh foolish child, my mother never had such trouble with me." She laughed, a delicate laugh that still seeme dto echo around her.

The male took his attention off of Agrimony and onto that of Hera once more, hearing her talk of her daughter. "Oh, is she lost? And I think a dream of seeing the world is a very wonderful one, it's such a beautiful world we live in. I still remember my trip to the Mother Tree when I was just a child, it was such a beautiful sight, staring at it for hours while we continued to walk towards it, it's size made it able to be seen for so many miles away." The male said as he looked up, reminicing the time he spent on that week with his parents when they toured around the massive tree. The male's smile returning as he lost himself in a flashback.

Agrimony let the heated temper of the gate keeper wash off of her. The girls now shook in fear form the gatekeeper's sudden outburst. Quietly, Agrimony took in the interactions between the old blood and the gate keeper.

"So your own youngling has gone from you to explore. I know how that is." She gave a feint smile to the one before her. "My own child is exploring life right now. I would tell your not to worry so much, to let them live their life apart from you. However, your fear is founded. If anyone finds her they will try and take her."

Reaching out her hand she patted the top of the oldest girl's head.

" Go talk to Sakmeht. Tell him what you have heard here and send for a string to find what little information there might be about this old bloods daughter."

Quaking a bit the plain brown moth child nodded and rushed past her friends and out the door.

The male then shot out of his flashback apon hearing Agrimony's voice and remembered the outbirst he had shot at her. The male then gave a polite bow to her, now apologising. "I'm sorry for my sudden outburst a bit ago, I just get riled up over certain things." The male said in a rapid, sorry tone as he continued to keep his polite bow, waiting for Agrimony's response.

OOC: Brb, time for a shower.

She smiled and leant back to scratch a gap between her plates. "Ah i fear not for her, she's not like me, I have yet to meet another of my own kind to breed with." She seemed some what embaressed by that fact and lowered her eyes for a second. "She was left outside my fave as a child, her people meant her to be a sacrafice, normally they'd leave me food or shiny objects taht traders brought. But they had nothing else to give."

She laugehd nervously at that fact. "She's like you, only different shape and colour. She blends in well, but she has lived a sheltered life with me and knows nothing of the outside world except taht it's bigger than her and she has to see it all." Hera frowned. "She tames creatures, but most of the animals on our island are small, the odd feral, but all were heribvores, don't get me wrong she's a good animal trainer..." She paused. "But i fear she may think all like me are kind, my own mother was canbalistic and tried to consume me on a number of occasions."

She looked past at the collection of girls and smiled towards them, the large creature got to her feet and edged closer to them. "You have nothing to fear from me, do you like shinies too?" She asked pointing to the pearl necklace and small polished shells that decorated her hair.

"It's all right. That was only to be expected. You spend most of your time guarding this natural wonder." she put on a knowing smile. "At least that is what I assume."

With the tension broken the rest of her girls relaxed but did not release Agrimony's thorax. To keep them feeling secure she placed a hand on those she could reach and used her sickles to wrap around those she could not.

"Just keep in mind gatekeeper. Although you have a kind heart and a friendly soul that does not mean that that rest of this world has one too."

----

"Interesting." Agrimony twisted back to look at the old blood. "I shall keep that in mind if I should find her."

Upon the Oldblood's movement all the girls pushed towards Agrimony, but one. The littlest one, about 16 turned her head. She had seen the pearls the bigger one had given to the gate keeper. She loved collecting things like that. Whatever small objects the girls could claim as their own was precious to them, each having a specific thing they liked collecting. This young one, a small common black ant, liked things that sparkled in the sun light.

Weaving and arm out from the tangle of limbs this reached out, trying to touch the old blood. Many other hands grasped at her arm and tried to pull her completely back in but she kept them from doing so because of her skinny arms.

"Shiney?" she said looking rather hopeful.

"Yes, all my time goes into the springs. Not only am I it's gatekeepr, but it's groundskeeper and security if needed aswell." The male said after hearing Agrimony's response and stopped bowing down in an apologetic manner. Aeira then looked up to her to listen to what else she had to say, quickly replying with hisusual smile. "Yes, all my time goes into these springs, they are my family's pride and joy. And I am not only the gatekeeper, but the groundskeeper, cleaner and security, if needed, as well. I'm kinda the only one who works here now."

The old blood chuckled at the tiny female, she liked to see others like her. She often came across lost treasures and shiny objects whilst diving in the ocean, she kept some for trading with any traders that would allow her too, some for collecting and others she gave to the tribe.

Hera leant down to the small female, a smile spreading across her lips and her eyes glistening. It was nice to see one that did not fear her, many would assume this some sort of trap, like a spider laying bait on it's web. But Hera was a fish eater, and rather disliked the idea of eating bugs, all those crunchy bits. She held a large hand out and gently graspe dthe ants arm helping her to climb up onto her body. "You can choose anything you like my dear, they are many more where they came from and so are easily replaced."

The male gave off an adoring smile as he watched Hera pick out the child and told her she could have her choice of any of Hera's perals. The male thought it a very nice scene, but soon had to leave as a bell had rung, signalling that someone was waiting outside the front gate. The male then turned and hurried off to the front gate, where he sat down and began to talk to a rather old looking couple, no doubtably on a anniversary vacation. The male spoke to the couple for abit and exchanged a few laughs before he opened the sliding door and let the two in, watching them enter before his attention turned back to the others, who were still near Hera. The male then decided to stay where he was supposed to be, that way he wouldn't hold anyone up like he did with the older couple, watching Agrimony, Hera and the group of girls from where he sat.

OOC: Ok guys, I'm off to bed, see you all tomorrow.

"Well done then gate keeper. I have enjoyed resting here before. If it's you who's responsible for that then I thank you." She said tilting her head in a bowing gesture her hair acting as adventures as ever. She felt movement again by her side and looked down.

Agrimony clasped the wriggling girls closer allowing the young ant to slip free. She watched as the small girl name Peony attempted to take a shell from the Oldbloods hair without taking any strands with it. It was shiny, a trademark for he girl, and was a spiral cone shaped with a decent sized. It almost dwarfed the girls small hands which seemed to please her. Agrimony might have to stop her from putting things inside of it.

The other girls were nervous by her side. One of their hive was gone out on an errand, the other climbing all over a Meddian they had never even imagined seeing. They were insecure and a bit torn between what to do, their hive mind mentality straining a bit. The strain pulled at them to fallow one of their two members and the closest one was being dangerous but they needed to stay together.

One by one they each untangled and wandered a bit away from Agrimony, the Mistress herself neither hindering nor encouraging their actions. THey did not go to the Oldblood's side but stood near enough to her so that they could keep a good eye on Peony.

"You will have to forgive them. THey were all raised together and I'm afraid they have created a "hive mind". It is unusual for on of their own to act like this." she gestured towards Peony on the Oldblood's shoulder.

The giant smiled as the ant gently pulled a shell from her hair, the smile stretched to her eyes making them twinkle delicately in the sun. She chucked as the other girls began to near her, had she been a mischievous spirit she might have gone boo, but she felt her kinda had a bad reputation as it was.

"Tis fine, it is nice to one that doesn't fear me, espeialy one so tiny." She picked up the ant and lowered her back on the ground. "you becareful, there might still be a crab living in there." She laughed a little, though she often had sealife crawl or swim into her hair while she slept, she doubted very much that the shell contained anything. She looked at the other girls and held her hand out to them, offering another a chance to pick an item.