Vavaren

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Vavaren is a richly forested planet with large bodies of water. It's cold, not cold enough for snow but cold enough for frost to form overnight. The oxygen levels are high.

There are no mammals, only lizards, insects, arachnids and some birds. Everything is huge.
Their oceans are populated by giant squids, immense fish and various other enormous and terrifying creatures of the deep.

The Vavare have built large webbed communes in the trees.

Visitors are not common, Vavare tend to do most of their business off world but those who visit are welcomed warmly.

Ships will dock at a small simple space port which is surrounded by their capital "city", if you can call it that.
It looks more like a vast marketplace.

Visitors are advised to wear rebreathers when leaving their ship, dress warm and to avoid any flames, sparks or static buildup.

Enjoy your stay honored friends, welcome to Vavaren.

The kids admired the view Goran showed them. Meanwhile, several miles away by now, Shock skidded to a halt out in the wilderness, breathing heavily. He waddled over to a nearby forest pond, admiring its glassy texture while curiously dipping a claw in it.

After successfully scaling to the top, John and Sonata would also grab their brushes and help paint, though stopped in bewilderment as Vanessa's bell-like laughter echoes through the air. She and Merith were racing along the sides, paint buckets magically trailing behind them as they skated across the ship's out surface at an angle, the brushes following behind their feet in circles and curls. It didn't stop there. The paint seemed to move and expand from whence it came, curling outward like frost in graceful patterns that quickly spread across the hull. Quinn and Sara watched, the fox hopping along the top making similar but not as intricate patterns while the borrower rode on top.

Asher smiled at Merith and Vanessa's work. It was nice that they were still trying to have fun.

Tala looked annoyed. They should be taking this work SERIOUSLY. They were getting PAID for it.

Starr landed on the lookout post and looked over to the kids and the Vavare with them smiling and walking the last few feet."Hello"

Goran bowed their head to Starr. "Greetings friend. You are another of the cruise ship?"

--

The water rippled as Shock touched it. It was icy cold and inky black. Enormous winged insects hovered over the surface and every so often something moved beneath the surface, sending ripples across the dark surface.

---

Luka stopped what she was doing to stare at the display of magic in awe.

Mourn ignored everyone and just continued to paint methodically.

The three Spiderkin hung together, painting carefully.
Berit would have to rest after a while, leaving the two males to continue to work while she lowered herself to the ground on a string of silk and found somewhere to settle.

Matt would teleport down and make sure she was okay, getting her a drink and sitting with her for a while.

"You okay?" He asked.

She nodded. "Just tired. Being home should help, the air here is better. "

"How far along are you?" He asked.

"I have another month or two. It will be nice for my children to grow up on their homeworld."

"You take it easy okay? "

"I will. Thank you friend." Berit smiled softly.

"If you need anything just yell, grabbing stuff and transporting it around is totally my job today" Matt chuckled and went back to the ship to continue the painting.

Kooshie wrote:Ellie headed into the city, admiring the sheer strangeness and the design of it all. It was almost weird enough to remind her why she used to hate aliens, but she managed to shrug off her fears and head over to a nearby vavare who might have been male or just not full grown, she couldn't tell. "Excuse me," she said, "Do you know if there are any herbalists or botanists nearby?"

The spiderkin smiled and bowed their head. "Of course friend, my cousin runs a herbalist store nearby." The would give her directions and tell her to "say Lennea sent you."

Starr smiled and bowed her head bac to the Vavare "Yes, I am Starr." She said, not knowing Cassie had given away her secret yet.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:The spiderkin smiled and bowed their head. "Of course friend, my cousin runs a herbalist store nearby." The would give her directions and tell her to "say Lennea sent you."

Ellie smiled brilliantly, then remembered she had her breathing mask on, and gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up instead. "Thanks, Lennea! You're a hero."

Goran's eyes widened and they bowed extra low. "The other Star Dragon? It is such an honor to stand in the presence of a free dragon, Weaver be praised, surely this must be an auspicious sign."

--

"You honor me." The vavare told Ellie with a smile.

Ellie would hurry off to find the shop. Through a mixture of luck and skill, she made it to the shop and headed in, feeling seriously excited to be seeing new plants on such a weird planet.

Starr was surprised hat he knew and lanced over to the kids then back to hm. "Yes, how do you know?" he asked, wanting to know if they had another way to know or if someone had said something.

"Your child mentioned you by name." Goran told her, nodding to Cassie. "Not only one, but two. Truely the weaver smiles on us. If I may ask, how did you come to be free?"

Star glanced to Cassie then smiled a little before shifting to her natural form. "Cassie is not my child though I would gladdly adopt her if she wanted that." she said then looked to Goran again "I have always been free just in hiding until I had the streangth and knowledge to help my people."

"A noble goal great Dragon. " Goran bowed their head once more as she shifted into her natural form. "Will you join us on our tour?"

"One I pray to complete. " Starr replied then dipped her head in a nod. "I would like that"

Goran would lead them all back down from the dizzying height and show them around the rest of the city. The market was vast and colourful, full of people and various wares.
Most of their trade was done off world, so the market was set up to cater for local needs. there were stalls selling insects, others selling smoothies. There were clothing stalls and fabric stalls. Places selling homewares and herbal remedies. Most of the vavare stopped what they were doing to watch the strangers pass, bowing their heads and whispering to themselves at the curious sight of the spider children and the star dragons.

Goran lead them to the centre of the city. Rising above them, carved into an ancient tree and draped in ornately woven webbing was their temple to the Great Weaver. Silver garbed priests passed by on their daily duties and Goran bowed his head and didn't look up till they had walked by.

Starr took in the scenery as they walked. She has never seen a place quite like this before and was interested in it.

"Do you think Jay could eat an insect?" Cassi chirped, admiring the oddities the market provided. The boy made a face.

"No." He said flatly. "Could you?"

"Mm..." The dragon hummed in uncertainty, "Maybe we should buy some... One for everyone, and we would all have to eat it together."

"You've... been hanging around Quinn too much." Lilian suddenly looked a bit sick.

"The mealworms are particularly succulent this time of year." Goran helpfully told them. "Or perhaps the aphid milk will be more to your tastes?" He was oblivious to how gross all this must sound to outsiders.

"Oh! Merith could!" Cassi piped up again, "Merith AND Shock! They totally love insects, remember?"

Lilian sighed, knowing where this was going. Kids wanting to buy things they would never eat themselves, so they found excuses. "Do... ya'll use credits here?"

"Oh yes, we accept most currencies and barter goods. " Goran assured them, leading them to the nearest food stall.

Eventually the painters would finish painting Vestia's new ID on her, and would be free to do whatever they wanted. Tala would go find a patch of ground to graze, and sniff it suspiciously to test for toxins before sampling.

~~
James would come out of hiding to explore, looking smug about his lack of a breathing mask. He was jumpy about the huge sky though, and kept looking around nervously.

Asher watched him, amused. "Are you okay there?"

James glared at him, "I'm fine." He did his best to not look nervous.

Lilian went to go buy... several dozen of these mealworms, not looking too happy about it but it did excite the kids, at least. She flatly refused buying the aphid milk, believing no one would drink that, not even Shock or Merith.

There was another sound like a whip crack as Shock returned to the ship. He bounced a bit as he stretched, his suit protecting his bones from shattering to pieces.

Matt would go rest because he was EXHAUSTED from all that running and teleporting around.

---

Armin and his family disappeared to go meet up with family, promising they would return later and thanking everyone for the lift and their hospitality and suchforth.

--

Mourn was wary of this place, with the giant insects and huge hawks circling in the distance. There was also way too much water, he was extra suspicious of that inky water.
He decided instead to spend his time on the ship, because that was where he felt most comfortable.

--

Swarm scattered across the ship to watch the comings and goings, and watched out the windows to see at least from a distance, what there was to see of this strange new place.
They trusted James to bring them back great information though, he was a good android like that.

---

Luka didn't like it here, it was just TOO alien. She also retreated to the relative safety of the ship.

---

Esk however decided to go check out what there was to see. He wasn't about to be intimidated by some giant bugs, it wasn't like much would survive trying to eat him anyway. HAH.

He donned his mask and headed off the ship, tilting his head at James' nervous behavior. "I doubt anything will eat you, you don't smell alive enough to be food." He told him flatly. "Well maybe the birds." He looked up at the hawks in the distance, shielding his eyes from the sunlight. "How big do you think those actually are up close?" He mused aloud.

--

Now there was no ship to paint, Kay would also venture out onto the ramp with a mask on. He looked wary, this place was pretty alien and that city looked.. pretty high up with woefully inadequate safety barriers.

"Pretty big." shock called out to Esk and the androids. "Don't run under them, though, and don't slow down if you do." He leaned down to touch his toes and stretch his hamstrings, "All they do is glare at you. One of them nose dived at me."

"I'm not worried about the wildlife," James told Esk, "I'm worried about this whole planet. How big is pretty big?" he asked Shock, suddenly worried about that too.

~~
Asher wasn't terribly worried about giant hawks himself, so he left James and Esk to their speculation and went over to Kay. "Quite possibly the most alien planet we've seen yet, isn't it?"

[It's simultaneously fascinating, and terrifying. ] Kay agreed, looking up at the ship. [You all did a good job, and nobody broke their neck which is a relief.]

Esk looked at the ship as well, she seemed even more massive when you were standing here like this. It was messing with his head, he shook his head and went back to watching the distant birds.
"I'd estimate about the size of a personal shuttle, big enough to grab someone anyway." He shrugged. "We'll stay away from the birds." He watched James. "Is it the heights, the spiders or the great outdoors in general your scared of?" He asked flatly. He glanced to Kay as well. "And are you still unreasonably scared of heights?"

Kay frowned. [It's a perfectly rational fear] He contested.

"No, fear of falling is rational."

[What's the difference?]

Esk shrugged. "Your true form has wings."

[That doesn't mean I can fly.]

"Maybe you should learn. Leap off something, see what happens." Esk smirked.

[You'd love that wouldn't you? ]

Esk shrugged. "Nah it'd make a mess. I think the spider people might consider it rude."

Kay shook his head and turned his attention back to Asher. [Ignore him, i'm fairly certain he's trying to get a rise out of me and I refuse to play his game. ]

"We used safety harnesses," Asher said with a smile. "Can't have people invading our sickbay, right?"

James gave Asher a 'you guys are ridiculous' look, then in answer to Esk's question, waved his arms in a grand gesture that encompassed the entirety of the outside world. "It's huge. Look at it!"

Asher patted James' shoulder, looking amused. "You'll get used to it, don't worry. The outdoors are fun!"

James looked unconvinced.

Asher ignored Esk's unpleasant comments by Kay's request. "We can try to find enclosed areas on the ground to look around," he suggested.