[hider=Rahna/Eli Collab] (Collab with [@LostBrotherGrimm]) Rahna grinned at Eli’s response to her suggestion, promptly following after him so that she wouldn’t be left behind. It was a race afterall! Unlike Eli, she quickly put her goggles on before jumping off the edge, her glider unfolding. She felt an updraft push her glider upward, giving her a little more altitude. She glanced downward to see a wave of starlings swirl and loop from below. It was an impressive sight, a sight which disappeared quickly into the trees of the island nearby. Eli smiled as he moved his glider out of the way. He did get a slight head start, so there was no surprise that he landed on the island a bit before Rahna. His knee did bump into the ground - his landing skills not being on par with his racing skills. [color=ed1c24]“Slowpoke,”[/color] he stuck his tongue out, as he leaned onto his glider, watching as Rahna made her way towards him. He could modify the wings on her glider, only a bit - would definitely give her more control. Eli made a few mental notes to himself as he waited for her. Hopefully he wouldn’t forget them. He ought to get a notebook. She heard him call her a ‘slowpoke’ the moment she landed near him, letting her gliding skid across the ground like she was surfing on it. She didn’t even bother folding up her glider, carrying it over to him. [color=fdc68a]“You got a head start!”[/color] She retorted, but of course, she wasn’t very angry to begin with. In the end, she just gave him a shrug and a chuckle. [color=fdc68a]“So, what did you want to talk about?”[/color] [color=ed1c24]“I…”[/color] Eli tried replying, but in all honesty, it was a hell of a question. What do people usually talk about? [color=ed1c24]“How about you choose a topic?”[/color] If that was the best he got, no wonder he wasn’t carrying the title of the most charismatic talker in the world. Or Heron, at least. Rahna couldn’t help but laugh. [color=fdc68a]“We could talk about how silly you are~”[/color] She replied in an amused, mocking tone. “Geez, you suggest we talk, but you don’t even know what to talk about~!” She continued, giggling away. [color=fdc68a]“How about this, I’ll teach you about different plants while you fix up my glider! It’s boring, I know, but it’s probably less boring than what you’d come up with.”[/color] She said as she rummaged through her bag, pulling out a oddly thick notebook. She look at Eli with a cheeky smirk on her face. She knew he wasn’t going to enjoy this, but it was going to be amusing for her. The idea of him fixing the glider wouldn’t be bad in itself, but learning about plants? This was probably one of Rahna’s ways of teasing him. She couldn’t possibly be serious? It took him a few moments to notice it, but upon seeing the notebook, a dreadful expression replaced Eli’s usual grin. For a split second, he actually thought of modifying her glider to go even faster, as payback. But then again, this was his idea, so yeah, had he came up with a simple topic, all of this would’ve been a lot easier. Besides, she loved talking about plants. The signature grin came back as Eli decided to let it slide this time. [color=ed1c24]“Hit me with your best plants!”[/color] He proclaimed while approaching her glider. Rahna half expected Eli to make a run for it, but she was glad that he didn’t. She took a seat in the patch of grass that was next to her, opening her notebook to a seemingly random page. [color=fdc68a]“Let’s learn about a wonderful plant, named ‘Chusanor’!”[/color] she began. She started describing what it looks like in excruciating detail, talking about how to grow it and what it does when mixed with certain liquids or other plants. All the while, Eli could do little but sigh. [hr] [color=fdc68a]“The 'Eesramire vine' needs constant sunlight and lots of wood to consume…”[/color] Rahna continued, as she had been for the past three hours or so. She wasn’t even close to finished. These notebooks have been organized from A to Z in plant species and everything about them, although most of her notebooks were still in her bookshelf at home. During these three hours, Eli had managed to fix up her glider, modify it, give it some more spin, doze off a bit, watch some sky, think about food, eat some food. And Rahna barely scraped the surface of her notebook. He was currently laying next to her on the grass, watching the sky and trying not to go all Blin on her. Cocking his head to the side, Eli tried to figure where the hell was she able to write down all that information. Witchcraft, surely. It was the most plausible explanation. What was that about watching the sky? He turned his head back, light of the day long since faded from its peak. Or was it long? Eli lost the track of time around the letter D. As he inhaled, taking in the breeze, he started drifting off again. A light dream, barely even recognizable. The sky… slowly becoming a smudgy canvas. Canvas filled with flashing lights. What were they called again… Lights? Flashing lights? Eli sprang up like a cat. [color=ed1c24]“Flashing lights?! Hey Rahna, tell me - am I crazy?”[/color] He asked as he watched one light flash after the other. [color=fdc68a]“If you grind it up--”[/color] Rahna stopped mid-sentence when Eli piped up for the first time in three hours. She glanced at his expression before looking at whatever he was looking at, which happen to be the sky. Flashing lights indeed. She slowly closed her book, placing it beside her. Her gaze staying on the light littered sky. Small streams stroked the darkened sky. [color=fdc68a]“If you’re crazy, then I must be crazy too…”[/color] She replied in awe. It was such a beautiful sight. It was definitely one of those moments when Eli didn’t regret not going off on some adventure of his own. The day turned out to be quite memorable even without it. Simply stunning. And it didn’t seem as if it would end in a matter of seconds, for a moment it seemed as if it would never end. Not that Eli wished for it to end. [color=ed1c24]“Two crazy people watching the sky doing crazy stuff,”[/color] Eli blurted out, before scratching his head. At what point did this turn into a scene right out of a romantic play? [color=ed1c24]“Eli, you idiot,”[/color] he mumbled to himself. What Eli said didn’t really register in Rahna’s mind until a few moments later. She felt her face go a little red. Was this straight out of a romantic play or something? [color=fdc68a]“Y-you really are an idiot.”[/color] She responded with a slight nervous laugh. She tried not to think about it any further than she already had and tried to focus on watching the sky.. Doing crazy stuff. She mind had already gone back to thinking about what Eli had suggested, but such thoughts were interrupted when a single, huge stream of light hit the mountains in the distance, followed by a thunderous rumble. She was speechless. Not that she had said much during the meteor display, but even more so now. It piqued her curiosity. She wanted to know what it looked like, what is was. [color=fdc68a]“Eli.. I want to go see it.”[/color] She said quite plainly, her expression still quite stunned by the sudden event. [color=ed1c24]“Em… Y-yeah, definitely,”[/color] Eli mumbled, not quite sure what had just happened. This was one of the most intriguing moments to ever happen in his life. To ever happen in Heron. [color=ed1c24]“Like… wanna go… now? Or do you wanna wait ‘till the morning, tell our parents and stuff like that. Whatever you choose, I’m with you, y’know that.”[/color] He said, staring in the distance. This seemed like more than just a simple adventure. And his heart was racing - this was the real deal. [color=fdc68a]“I.. think we should tell our parents first.. And y’know, be prepared to go down there. I also need to pack some fresh notebooks. I’m sure there’s a lot to learn down there.”[/color] She replied in a serious tone. This wasn’t something they should take lightly. She had no idea what was below Heron so she felt that she needed to prepare for it. A couple more moments had passed before Eli finally moved his gaze away from the mountains. [color=ed1c24]“It’s settled down,”[/color] he beamed Rahna a smile before moving away towards his glider, stopping only to ruffle her hair a bit. [color=ed1c24]“Why so serious? It’s going to be okay. No - it’s going to be awesome!”[/color] Considering Heron wasn’t that big, Eli wasn’t surprised that he caught onto the commotion coming from almost all sides. This falling light certainly caused quite a bit of ruckus. [color=ed1c24]“Maybe we should check out what’s happening over there,”[/color] he pointed in the direction of all the noise. [color=ed1c24]“Then head home for the night, whatcha say?” [/color] She couldn’t help but smile back at Eli when he ruffled her hair. [color=fdc68a]“Y-yeah you’re right.”[/color] She replied in an uncharacteristically soft spoken voice. She took in a deep breath, regaining her usual composure. She had also heard all the commotion, thus she nodded at her friend. [color=fdc68a]“Let’s go check out what’s going on~” [/color]She agreed as she packed up her encyclopedia and picked up her glider. -- The pair had moved closer to the source of all the noise, only to hear about the ‘Exploration party’ that was to form at dawn. Rahna smiled at Eli,[color=fdc68a] “Well, looks like we’ll be meeting up with some other people too? I’ll see you tomorrow!”[/color] And with that she gave him a quick hug and sprinted off in the direction of her home. And just like that - she was gone. It seemed that Eli managed to cheer her up a bit from that serious persona she adapted every time something completely piqued her interest. He didn’t quite expect a hug, though - not at all. Eli felt his cheeks reddening a bit. [color=ed1c24]“I really am an idiot,”[/color] he stated as he slapped his forehead. [/hider] That evening, Rahna had rushed into the house to prepare all the things she'll need for her upcoming adventure. It'll probably take a long time to get to the mountain and back, but surely it wouldn't be too much of a problem? Probably. In the midst of frantically packing fresh notebooks, bottles and so on, her mother opened her room door with a knowing look on her face. [color=a2d39c]"I knew this would happen the moment that thing landed."[/color] She said as she interrupted her daughter's packing, bringing her into a hug. [color=fdc68a]"Mom, I--"[/color] Rahna began, but stopped mid sentence as her mother continued, [color=a2d39c]"I know you're curious about the world, and I'm not going to stop you from going. But please, stay safe. Don't do anything too crazy, okay?"[/color] Her mother said in a soft voice, an slight expression of worry on her face. [color=fdc68a]"Don't worry, Mom. I'll be fine. Besides, it's an opportunity to learn and write about the surface."[/color] Rahna replied with a smile on her face. [color=a2d39c]"I knew you'd say something like that."[/color] -- The sun hadn't even begun to rise when Rahna was packing her [url=http://orig02.deviantart.net/8e6c/f/2011/035/b/b/leather_backpack_by_lynfir-d38rkax.jpg]backpack[/url] with the various items she'd need. On top of her already quite sizable sling bag, she had packed quite a lot of things. However, most of the contents in her sling sack was a mix of empty bottles and bottles filled with salves, medical equipment and a gratuitous amount of fresh notebooks, with plenty of charcoal to write with. Of course, she didn't need to bring her plant encyclopedias around, since they were so cumbersome and she had already memorized at least three quarters of the contents from A to Z. Remembering the more important things like what mixes well with what and what it does. When she had double and triple checked all of the contents of her packs, the sun had begun to rise. Rahna immediately thought she was going to be late, thus she rushed out of her room. [color=fdc68a]"See ya Mom! I'll be back soon!"[/color] She shouted as she ran out the door, grabbing her glider as she left. When she flew in quickly, landing near the Weatherman's balloon, where some other's had gathered already. Being the Herbalist's daughter, she pretty much knew everyone here, except for a few faces, but they looked familiar anyway. It was interesting to see everyone gathering in one place for once. [color=fdc68a]"Morning everyone! Fancy seeing you all here~"[/color] She called, greeting everyone cheerfully as always. She wouldn't be surprised to see Nikki here, nor Blank, even though they weren't here yet. Gaius was a surprise though. Lee and Kelari were also a slight surprise, but she didn't know them very well to begin with. The last person she spotted was Sera, who seemed to be a dwarf among the giants, so to speak. The contrast between her height and Gaius' was always amusing.