Day 317 (Backdated)

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Who: Anyone. Rob if you want him, but there are more interesting things than him here.
Open: Open
When: Backdated to Day 317
Where: The northeastern part of the Bastion
What: The Bastion has a forest now
Format: Whatever you want. If you're threading with Rob I'll match.

So guess what? The Bastion has a forest now. A rather big forest, with white birch, cork oak, sugar maple, black locust, and European beech mixed together on the flat areas and white cedar and Sitka spruce mixed on the hills, a number of the Sitka spruces being at their maximum size already: 300 feet tall and 15 feet in diameter at breast height. You could make a really awesome treehouse up in there. Or a small elven village. There are trails running through the forest and a few clearings of various sizes. Most of the clearings are small ones centered on plants that other people have brought in, allowing them to still get enough light, but there are three larger ones: one around the phonebooth, one in the gap between two hills and running up against a cliff face, and one to the south next to the river. Away from the trails and clearings the canopy closes in overhead to block the light and the trunks of the trees line up to block the view, making it possible to actually get lost despite the forest not being that big.

If for some reason you're more interested in a nerd than the new forest, Rob can be encountered wandering the trails for a bit, but you're more likely to find him in the southern clearing by the river, lying on his back in cargo shorts with his sandals next to him and using his shirt as a pillow. He's basically claiming this clearing for himself. He hadn't realized how relaxing this could be until now.

Comments

[notachickenhawk]

<The world looks a lot smaller when you're in the air.>

[daughterofursa]

"I guess it does. I haven't spent as much time up there as you."

Maybe it will seem small to Kizuna once she's grown.

Of course, she'll also be a lot bigger than Zuko.

[notachickenhawk]

<I should take you flying one day. It's really interesting to see.>

He'll have to morph Paarthurnax, but that's okay.

[daughterofursa]

Zuko is about to say that she doesn't think he's big enough for that as a hawk when she remembers he can morph Paarthurnax.

"I've, uh, I've been flying before. Just not much here."

[notachickenhawk]

<Really? What were you flying on?>

He's pretty sure Zuko can't fly, after all.

[daughterofursa]

"A sky bison." Which she's gonna say is less weird than Tobias's current form. "We had airships, too."

[notachickenhawk]

<... I'd say sky bison sound weird, but I guess I can't exactly judge right now.>

[daughterofursa]

"They are pretty strange," Zuko concedes. Seeing Appa for the first time really threw her. "They're enormous. And they have six legs for some reason."

She's... she's really not sure why they need six legs when they don't even do much walking.

[notachickenhawk]

<That doesn't even make any sense.>

But neither does he, really.

[daughterofursa]

"Yeah. They don't even look like they should be flying."

[notachickenhawk]

<How do they even get off the ground?>

[daughterofursa]

"Well, they're airbenders."

[notachickenhawk]

<Animals can do that too?>

[daughterofursa]

Zuko blinks in surprise. "Of course. They were benders before we were."

She glances up to where Kizuna is investigating leaves on a tree branch. "Dragons are the original firebenders. The air nomads learned from the sky bison. Earthbenders had the badgermoles."

[notachickenhawk]

<... Oh. That's actually pretty cool. A lot of humans don't pay attention to nature enough.>

[daughterofursa]

"It's not really any different where I come from. All of that was a long time ago."

[notachickenhawk]

<... Huh. Oh, what about waterbenders? Who did they learn it from?>

[daughterofursa]

"...I'm not sure. I don't know of any waterbending animals."

Maybe they went extinct? That's sad.

[notachickenhawk]

<... Huh. I'm sure it must have been something. Oh well. I was just wondering.>

Animals going extinct is always sad, unless they were trying to eat you. Then it's less sad.

[daughterofursa]

"If there are any waterbenders out there, I'll be sure to ask them."

Because there have got to be other people, from other worlds, out on the Skyway somewhere. Not everyone finds the Bastion.

[notachickenhawk]

<Yeah. ... I can never judge time limits here. I should probably demorph.>

He sets down the stick and bounds up into the trees, going a small distance away. No one wants to look at morphing, it's way too gross.

[daughterofursa]

Zuko will just wait here. And try to locate her dragon daughter up there. She seems to still be hanging out in the branches.

[notachickenhawk]

A few minutes later, he flies back, perching on a lower branch so Zuko doesn't have to strain to look up at him.

<Back. Sorry about that. ... The trees are pretty tasty here, though.>

[daughterofursa]

"That's... good to know."

Not really, but what else do you say to that?

Kizuna watches Tobias fly back in. In particular the flappy wing thing, she is watching that. And she's gonna try it. She's gonna do the flappy wing thing.

Thankfully she does not attempt to go far, and her leap from one branch to another is accomplished really without the effective use of her wings although she does try. Tobias will probably notice the small commotion a little ways above him as only her forelegs reach that second branch and has to flail around to get her hind legs up there.

Meanwhile Zuko is wondering if she should climb the tree. "Is she okay up there?"

[notachickenhawk]

He turns to watch her, and he'd smile if he could. He scoots a little closer to her and extends a wing so she can climb aboard if she wants.

<She's fine. She's just trying to learn how to fly. Her wings are a little too small to catch the air right now, but her balance is pretty good.>