Who: Adam and Theora, with a brief appearance by Loki
Where: Combat Gym
When: Mid-Morning
What: Combat practice, a little chat, and interesting news from Theora.

Positioning his staff at a downward angle, his fingers held in a firm grasp around the middle, his eyes focused on his invisible opponent and calculating the movements the other would make in the next flurry of events. His staff came down quickly, striking forward and hooking his opponent in the stomach, before it pulled back and whirled around in his hand, the staff coming down and colliding with the invisible opponent’s staff — brought up just in time to block his weapon. He bounced back, whirling the staff once more, taking it down towards his opponent’s legs and catching it on the wood of other’s staff. Another miss. His next blow came in from the side as a surprise, the end jabbing his opponent in a weak spot, giving him an opportunity. The staff whirled around and spun upward, slamming down on the back of his opponent’s neck and bringing him down to the ground.

Inhaling a breeze of cool air deeply, Adam closed his eyes and let the feeling wash over him. Somewhere nearby, a young man was sword fighting with another, the clangs of their swords ringing out in the combat gym. One of them hollered in excitement at his apparent triumph with each creative strike of his sword. In his ears, though, he heard it — an unsettling hum on the air.

Adam opened his eyes, taking in the sight of the gym floors and the racks of weapons. It was not the air. The disturbance was in his own mind. Constance’s words from yesterday ate away at his consciousness. Are we unsafe? Adam wondered. Not once had the council dealt with a lawbreaker. Not yet. Did that mean it would happen soon, that it was only a matter of time before someone took rules into their own hands and shaped the law to suit their personal desires? Were they in danger, or was Adam’s mind just overreacting to what Constance had said?

I need to clear my mind, Adam thought as his steps led him towards the towel and bottle of water sitting on the bench put there earlier by him. Laying his staff against the wall, he picked up the towel and rested it over his shoulders, dabbing the sweat off of his face with one of the corners. Adam popped open the drink piece on his bottle and squirted water over his head. He drank some of the cool liquid and put his water bottle back down onto the bench, his towel catching the droplets of the water that fell from the curls of his dark hair.

Who: Loki and Emily
Where: Emily's Cottage
When: Right after this incident.
What: Tablecloth viewings!

Before he bumbled along back to the lake and forgot, Loki made a stop over at Emily's cottage while he happened to be in the area. After all, they had tablecloths to look over! He remembered well that they had made designing plans together for The Tiki Hut, and she had offered to make tablecloths resembling his ideas. Loki was excited to see them, of course, and a surprise visit never hurt anyone! Unless an eye got poked out, but the muse couldn't see how that would happen with this visit.

Who knew, though. It happened to his Auntie Myrtle once, so anything was possible as Loki saw it! At the moment, he stood at Emily's front door and raised his first to knock. Only his knock came out as a musical tune instead of a normal knock, which had to have alerted Emily to some sort of monkey business going on outside of her cottage. That monkey business just happened to be a very excited Loki.

"'Ello, Em?" Loki called. Yes, he had a nickname for everybody. Emily was now going to be known as Em unless she vehemently objected to the idea. Loki personally thought it was a nice nickname, or he wouldn't be using it, and waited expectantly at her door. "It's me!" he said loudly with a grin. "Loki Britton-Baldere, at your service!"

Who: Adair, Loki and Nico
Where: On the way to his forest cottage
When: Early afternoon
What: On the way home, Adair thinks about the peeps he's met and hopes for some company (or breaks into song-which ever title you like best)

Now was the time where Adair missed having something like and Ipod as he walked along the road, at times kicking at a stone or two and calling it his exercise of the day as he fumbled through his pocket to place a cigarette to his dried lips. As he lit his cigarette he let out a relieved breath. Thirty whole minutes without one. Bless.

The beach was a good place to go perhaps talk someone up. Talking with Amanda kind of had him feeling like he really wanted to get to know more people. Get to walking, get to being a "people" person once again. Oh yeah..and the lazy thing had to go. Maybe try and jog a bit. Even though the cigarette thing could totally kill him thanks to the smokers cough that came after it. But at least he could manage a steady walk.

Adrienne wow, that was amazing, only not. The fairy's of doom really sucked, but man just the whole thing was making him laugh. He was right, the whole thing now made him laugh his ass off.

Adair now had a pretty good friend count. How could he forget the ever so confident Mitsuko and the barely dressed Faye? He just got to know Emily who was nothing but sweet. All girls strangely...

This was all revolving through Adair's head as he now burst out into a Muse song singing it out loud and rather obnoxiously while doing air drums. No worries, he thought. It was just a song about the end of the world. It didn't occur to him that perhaps singing a song out loud about the apocalypse might be a tad inappropriate.

WHO: Loki and Mitsuko!
WHERE: The Freshwater Lake
WHEN: 'Round Noon
WHAT: A lunch date out on the water, oh yeah.

Loki hoisted the white sail on his brand new boat, grinning wistfully as a strong wind blew and the sail trapped it within an arc of the heavy sheet. The view was spectacular, so he leaned back to admire the open waters of Lake Alata’elen. Gorgeous blue! As far as the eye could see. Loki set the sail and hopped down from the platform he stood on, crossing the deck in swift strides to make it back to the dock. Today was his date with Mitsuko, and he’d be damned if it wasn’t fantastic!

He had to check all of his pointers to make sure he didn’t forget anything. The sail was up and ready. Check! The food was on board and cooked to a steaming point. Check! It may have been lunch, but Loki decided going all out would be the best way to impress a lady. All right, all right, Loki thought, what’s next? Untie the boat? Right, right! “I have ta’ get on top o’ that,” Loki muttered in a determined voice to himself, jumping off of the boat onto the dock and quickly untying the rope without getting dirt on his white dirt. Because that was not attractive. Unless the activity called for it, of course.

After getting the rope all untangled from himself and nearly tripping over it, Loki tossed it aboard and hurried back onto the boat to double-check everything. Mitsuko would be here any moment and greeting her at the dock with a polite ‘how do ya do’ was the way to go about things. She wasn’t a lady that needed help by any means, but he figured he’d help her onto the boat as well like he saw in all those romantic movies that girls watched. Loki scratched his neck. Was Mitsuko the type of girl to like that?

Loki heard footsteps on the other end of the dock and turned around to look, only the billowing sail blocked his view. “Bloody ‘ell, can’t see,” Loki muttered. Hopping over a pole and running across the deck, Loki jumped off the edge to land on the wooden planks of the dock and grinned widely at his approaching date. He held out his arm, hand upright and offered, and gave a little bow. “How do ya do, madam?” Loki asked, a beaming smile on his face as his eyes glittered with mischief.

Who: Everyone! [Open for All]
When: Evening, beginning around 6 PM
Where: Festival grounds NE of Helicharis
What: The Autumnal Festival!

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The happy sounds of the autumnal festival were ringing throughout all of Elysium even before the sun sank beneath the horizon. The hard work the fauns had put into the celebration was evident by the elaborate decoration and set-up of the grounds. Wooden lamp posts lit with colored flames littered the festival while garlands of flowers wrapped themselves around each post, adding to the earthy beauty of the entire scene. Each attendee was greeted with their choice of a garland of flowers for their head, neck, or wrist if they desired one (or more, for some).

Upon entering the grounds enchanted colored leaves fall from the sky and then back up again very slowly from the flora littered ground to create a more autumn-like atmosphere. The curious insects known as fairies were also in attendance due to all of the lights, the bright and happy colors attracting their attention while their prismatic bodies blinked in and out of sight like lightning bugs and little dust fell from their minuscule wings. The bonfires too added warmth to the cool night air and brought comfort to everyone who had come out to celebrate the changing of the seasons and the continuation of life.

What festival would be complete without fun and games, though?

The fauns, along with the centaurs, had set up an archery range at the eastern end of the grounds, along with areas for knife throwing and a ring for wrestling with a minotaur. "Care to try your luck?" read the signs posted in that area for all who ventured that way. The northern end of the grounds, near the saltwater lake, was also bustling with activity with the ale drinking and Lembas bread eating contests. The rowdiness of the crowds, however, did not take away from the good-natured atmosphere of the food and drink area nearby where many people were seated upon soft grasses of the earth.

The contests did not interrupt the music and the dancing either, both of which were only a few feet away. The musical fauns, with their pipes and flutes and drums, played with fervor and enticed the attendees to dance and sing joyously. Their music permeated throughout the entire festival and many, especially children, were invited to play along with flutes and drums that were handed out as they arrived. Music was a central theme to many of the faun’s festive activities throughout the year, the autumn festival being no exception, as was the dancing and the feasting upon delicious foods and decadent drinks laid out across the grounds.

The southern part of the festival held the games geared toward the young or simply the young at heart. Barrels were available for those who wished to roll down hills, piles of leaves were created for those who wanted nothing more than to jump and play in them. Colored sparklers were handed out freely and there were even pegasus rides for anyone who wanted to soar through the skies. There were contests here as well, simple ones that had participants bobbing for apples and fruits and curious prizes, searching for toys in piles of hay, and even pinning horns on a wooden faun.

As fairies danced their way through the crowds to spread the joy of the festival, fireworks explode into the night sky. The magical light show added to the overall joyous atmosphere of the first festival in the safe haven of Elysium.

Who: Mitsuko and Loki
When: Afternoon, after the archery lessons (Thursday, August 16, 2007)
Where: Lake Alata'elen
What: Relaxing after the hurricane of excitement that is Echo and hanging with the lake monsters

Mitsuko adjusted her sunglasses as she looked up at the sky. She leaned back and relaxed, basking in the sun. There was a groan from her side and she looked over, smiling when she saw one of the large lake monsters stretching out much like she did, except its body was far more rotund and unyielding. "Yeah, it's nice isn't it?" Mitsuko laughed softly. The small lake monster bowed its head towards Mitsuko and she reached out, giving it a small pat on the head.

She was dressed in a skimpy black bikini and her long hair was fluttering in the breeze. It was nice to relax after her time with Echo. She greatly enjoyed the younger girl's energy, but it was nice to just kick back and relax. She had a bit of a crick in her neck from the archery lesson, but spending some time out in the sun was making her forget all about that. It had been fun meeting the centaurs. Mitsuko was certain Echo had far more fun, gaining the attention of a young centaur buck. Mitsuko hadn't found anyone of interest. Probably just as well. If Echo were to get involved with a centaur, the relationship would be far more innocent than anything Mitsuko ever had. While Mitsuko had been involved with many species, she wasn't certain she was up for a centaur. That seemed like it would chafe horribly.

The day was gorgeous. Just perfect for sunbathing, as the lake monsters a few feet away from her could attest to. Mitsuko took a deep breath, taking in the scent of the air. It would have been the perfect day to steal another boat and go sailing. But for now, she'd settle for lying on the beach.

Who: Loki, Emily, and Echo
When: Lunch Time
Where: Beside the Freshwater Lake
What: Meeting for the first time!

The boat was in horrible shape. Mildew had grown on the outside of the hull, and it looked like there was a hole in its deck. Loki was willing to bet it was as ancient as his Aunt Grace, who was only around 201, but that was still pretty old in Loki’s book. Anyway, he had decided to try his hand at seeing if he could fix it up to make it look brand new. One of the planks came free and broke off completely in his attempts, thwacking him hard in the shoulder and knocking him to the sand below. Loki got a face full of sand that stuck to the sweat on his skin from working.

Grimacing at his fall, he lay still for a moment as he thought about just making a new boat entirely. This one wasn’t going anywhere. Loki carefully lifted his head to wipe off what sand he could and rolled over onto his back.

“Oy,” Loki announced to no one in particular, “looks like I have to reconsider my primary means of sailing.” He pushed himself upright, gazing at the war-torn boat with a sad look on his face. The wood had splintered in various places where the plank came loose. It was a goner. Patting the now busted hull, Loki let out a forlorn sigh. “You were a good boat while you lasted, mate.” Not that he knew how the boat had performed in its previous expeditions out onto the open water, but it was nice to encourage the fellow before it was demolished. It looked like there had been a name painted on the side, but time had eaten away on it and mildew covered up most of the rest.

Hopping onto his feet again, Loki set off for the nearby tiki bar he had erected for drinks on the beach shore. It was small and modest, nothing like The Tiki Hut he was working on with Nico. The little tiki bar was just a temporary setup until they got The Tiki Hut completely built. Grand opening in the near future! It would be a nice place for people to relax and have fun — or at least Loki’s idea of fun, which included partying, eating, and dancing. A little restaurant, a big patio of tables, an enormous bar, and a sizable dance floor. Right by the beach!

He passed by a few people lounging around the area and headed to the tiki bar. After fixing himself a drink, he realized he still had sand all over himself. Shrugging his shoulders, he gulped down his cool and refreshing Piña Colada. Loki smiled at the horizon. It was a nice day today.