Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was too nice of a day to be sitting around doing nothing. Summer would only be around for so long and Onigiri wanted to take advantage of it, especially after that overly long and harsh winter that they had. He loved the area that he and his large extended family lived in, but now was the season to travel, see some of the other lands and get ready for the upcoming winter, which would likely be here before they knew it. He didn't plan on being gone too long, after all he needed to help his family prepare and gather things they would need in the upcoming weeks and months for winter, but a few days away couldn't hurt. In fact it would be good for him and Akiko to get some alone time together away from everyone else.

With that in mind he headed to the small area he and his mate claimed as their own. "Akiko." He called out as he approached. While he knew his mate wasn't a fan of being in large crowds she would surely agree to this little trip, after all it was a good opportunity for them to bond more and surely they would find things along the way that would appeal to both of their likes. "Let's go for a walk. The summer sun feels so nice and there is plenty to see outside of our home." He said as he came upon her. Ah but she was beautiful. He felt forever lucky that he had happened upon her when he had and even more so that he had saved her from that Kalona, even since then they had been together and he had been at his happiest. "We've both been cooped up far too long. A nice long walk is just what we need to do." He was sure they would find all sort of things out there, like berries to eat, flowers and butterflies and probably plenty of surprises as well.

He returned his mates nuzzle with an affectionate one. Already he could see and hear the hesitation in her voice, it showed in the way she moved, but he knew she would be fine. She was always this way when he suggested leaving their home, even for a short little while. But once they were out and she saw that no dangers awaited them then she would be calm and happy to share the experience. "Yes, a walk. I think my fathers are out on one as well, I didn't see them this morning and they do enjoy early morning walks." He just hoped there were no accidents, since one of his fathers had the habit of being quite clumsy.

"I didn't really have a particular place to go in mind. I thought we would just pick a trail and follow it for a while. The sun is shining but it's not too hot, and there will be a chorus of birds to entertain us while we go." He paused and looked over at the small trinkets that she had gathered since they met. She really did love those things and made sure they were always clean and placed just right in their home. "Perhaps we will even find something along the way to add to your collection." He told her with a smile. That, he was sure of, would be the thing to push her past her worry and agree to the walk. And in the off chance that it didn't, he would slowly be able to coax her out of her shy and hesitant ways until she realized that no harm would come to either of them and that a walk would be a good idea.

His smile grew wide as he could see she was about to agree to the walk. He knew that she would, it sometimes just took a bit of convincing for her to want to go out past their little home. Of course he understood why she was hesitant to go, she still clearly remembered the Kalona attack, but that had been so long ago now and the chances of that same Kalona showing up after all this time here were slim to none. But he never pushed her, he just reminded her how safe things were her and eventually she would come around. Giving her a nuzzle Onigiri turned towards one of the paths that would lead them from their tiny home and out into the big world.

He turned to look at her after she asked about the flowers as they made their way down the path. "They may still be. It's getting late in the season but there are always those few late blooming flowers that will likely be open even now. We'll go there and see." The stream she was referring too wasn't all that far away and it would be a nice start to their walk to go and see if the flowers were still in bloom, from there they could choose another path and see what awaited them for the next leg of their journey.

He smiled once more at Akiko, seeing how much she had relaxed, already she was enjoying herself and they had barely left the grove they called home. He took in a deep lung of fresh air and let out a content sigh. "It's a perfect day that's for sure." He told her in a positive tone. There was no doubt in him mind that his fathers were also out there enjoying this beautiful day. A small part of him wished to be with them, to see what they were seeing, but the larger part of him was glad that he was having some quality alone time with Akiko.

Stopping on the trail Onigiri touched Akiko's neck with her nose to get her to stop as well. "Look." He told her in a quiet voice and then pointed towards the meadow where two rabbit were busy snacking on clover. It was amazing all the wonderful things they could find just outside of their home. Surely they were bound to see even more things the further away they got, and with fall nearly here they needed to take advantage of this nice weather to see and experience everything they could until it became too cold to venture out far.