[Moofius]

It was a beautiful day; actually this was Aldrect and it was rather prone to beautiful days. Maybe the gods just loved the place (or maybe it was location, but why think rationally?) it was beautiful, end of story!

Most people were out and about with their kuhna or kuhna were out and about without owners, Evelon sure was diverse in the workings (heck, there were even Jedi here!) and it could also be confusing. Most people who were just starting out hung out awkwardly in Terrace park, but you could see them here, too. They were the ones who stared up in awe AND confusion at the churches. You could practically hear their questions:
"What's the religion here?"
"What's a Xai're? Is it a kind of fruit?"

"I'm really glad we get to do this." Kinomi said in his usual soft whispery voice as he trotted along side Spark. Kinomi was one of the kuhna who preferred his kuhna form. In all honesty he'd never even tried out a human form; didn't even know if he had one. So, walking along, he looked like he was the pet of the woman next to him. She looked utterly and completely human, albeit a weird human.
Her ears were more holes then flesh it seemed, bits of silver, gold, plastic, rocks of all sorts (polished and unpolished) occupying the space. Her eyebrows were also pierced quite heavily, one piercing on her nose and those "snake bite" piercing on her thin lips. She looked pretty scary. Her short, stubby red mohawk sealed the scary look. Toss on the cliche "Bite Me!" black T-shirt and the baggy dark grey cargo pants and there you had it, the rents worst nightmare!

Spark absently scratched her neck with nails she'd painted black.
"It's good to get out, I guess. I'm itching to use my hands. What cafe did they say?"
"Erm... Bashy...? I think... What a strange name for a cafe..." Kinomi laughed, finding the word really bizarre. What was it suppose to mean, anyway?

Walking for a bit they seemed to have trouble finding it. All the store fronts seemed weirdly the same. It made for a clean look but it also made it weird to find what you were looking for easily.
Spark laughed, "Whoever made this place... I like it already!" Spark said, jogging down the side walk and opening the door to the cafe. It stuck out like a sore thumb (IE: VERY colourful).

The sign was basically the Jamaican flag with "BASHY!" written across it in sketchy orange, red and yellow lettering. It was very cool and compared to the rest of the street it popped (not literally, obviously).

"Oh-oh..." Kinomi said, surprised by the sudden burst of colour. Spark opened the door, still laughing. Reggae floated out the door and into the streets, the beat was quick and fun.
"I like this place already." still laughing Spark entered the cafe behind Kinomi and waited for the others to arrive. Hopefully this place wouldn't be too huge of a distraction.

[Freezair]

Ercole

Was this what people meant when they said "out of one's element?"

Ercole was in a completely foreign place. He'd never been much farther than the outskirts of Nabias all his life. Today? He hopped in a teleporter almost without second thought and wound up in the midst of Aldrect, people bustling all around him and nearly threatening to run him into the ground. Not that they meant to, of course. It was just that Ercole was a very tiny Lucain. And as a human? He was still a four-foot-9 little whisp of nothingness that would barely stand out at all if it weren't for his carrot-orange hair.

He looked down at the scribbled sheet of paper in his hands with worry. Where on Earth was it? You wouldn't think you could miss a place called "BASHY!," but Ercole kept on missing it. According to these instructions, he'd just passed it--but how could he have; the address numbers on all the buildings weren't big enough! He began to suspect that Aldrect was laid out in one of those bloomin'-fool City Planner systems that made sense in that city on the moon where all city planners came from. He took a swig from his bottle of Blue-Flavored Energy Drink, shook out the crick in his neck, and took a deep breath to sweep back for another look.

"Bashy," he mumbled to himself. "You'd think a place called 'BASHY!' would..."

"Pardon me," a small voice piped up. "Did I just hear you mention 'Bashy?'"

Ercole looked up. That was usually where unusual voices came from, to him. He saw nothing.

Then, in a highly abnormal occurance, he looked down.

"Yes, that's me!" he said. The Kuhna bowed down on his front legs. "I'm sorry to pry, but I thought I heard you mention the name of a cafe called 'Bashy.' Are you looking for it, too?"

"Are you a part of...?"

"Yes sir, I am!" the Kuhna said proudly. "Desmond."

"Ercole."

"Well met, Ercole. May I walk with you? Our eyes can work together!"

"Of course," Ercole said. "Always appreciate a head to put together with mine! What kind of instructions did you get, huh?"

The Kuhna didn't have anything in his arms, but he rattled off an address and street number. Ercole looked down at his sheet sheepishly. "Erm... Say that number again?" And Desmond did.

Ercole sighed. "Come on," he said. "I think we're on the wrong street. If this city isn't as insane as I'm thinking it is, we need to go south a block or two."

They'd barely gotten out of the alleyway when a brightly-colored, visually protuberant building lept into view. The two didn't say anything--they just looked at each other. Ercole shrugged. They crossed the street, and pressed their way into the strange, oddly-colored building.

[1, 26]

[Moofius]

Kinomi and Spark had made themselves comfortable at one of the cafes larger tables. Spark was booting up the laptop that was older then sin and Kinomi was taking in the cafe and the people. For being so amazing the place was pretty quiet at least verbally. Colour wise this place was loud, just like one would expect from Jamaica. Pictures of beaches, forest, waterfalls, plants, animals; they were everywhere. Traditional art and such hung on the walls and from the ceiling. The place was busy (again, not people busy but visually busy), not the usual place somebody would pick to have a meeting.

"Oh, I think that's them." Kinomi said, hopping down out laughing a little, "they look a bit confused."
"Yup," Spark sighed, smacking the old piece of junk in front of her, "That's probably them."

Because he really didn't know these two; didn't even know if they were the two here to meet him and Spark (Spark and him? eep!).
"Er, um... Are you two here for the..." That's when he drew a total blank. Oh man what was it called?
"Spark?!"
The really freaky girl turned, looking annoyed (though it was more at the computer then the new arrivals, or even Kinomi), "What?"
"What did we call it? What was decided?"
"Newbie Welcome Committee... or something. We can discuss that too." she said, waving it off. Kinomi had to learn to be less shy.
"Er, um, well that." he managed to force out the partly formed sentence which was mostly drowned out by the music.
" There's enough room at the t-table..." the kuhna stuttered, turning around and heading back to the table for a hasty retreat.

Oh man he'd totally forgotten to introduce himself and and... Oh man.

(( -pats Kinomi- Poor shy flustered baby. XD;;; ))

[Freezair]

The inside of the building looked like the Sixties had exploded. Rasta colors, beachy scenes, and what sounded like a steady drift of reggae music filtered down over their heads, though that might have just been the waft from somebody's music player. Ercole craned his head around, looking around inside. He liked the looks of this place. It was confident. It knew exactly what kind of establishment it was and wasn't afraid to display itself. He smiled, staring into a fake radio painted next to a fellow sleeping in a hammock.

A "punk chick" stared into her old computer at one of the larger tables. Ercole and Desmond looked around, waiting for someone to meet them, or wondering if they'd have to go looking for themselves. Would they? Ah, but here it came--a Kuhna, uneasy in body and voice, came up to them. He tried to talk to them, but his words kept getting twisted up.

It took him a while to get the name right. It was alright, though. They'd figured out that he and the punky gal were probably the ones they wanted to meet. Yep, there it was--Newbie Welcome Committee.

"That is us!" Desmond said. "Pleasure to meet you. I am rather happy to meet you--this endeavor sounds interesting." Easy as that, Desmond lept up into a chair and situated himself at the table. He stared into the back of Sparks' laptop, and introduced himself. "Desmond Dashall; it's a pleasure."

Ercole felt like he ought to tip his hat, but he didn't wear one. "Ercole Peppermint," he said. He took another chair. "It's--it's nice to meet you all."

[2, 27]

[Moofius]

"I-I'm Kinomi. Erm and this..." But the kuhna never got to finish.
"Stupid thing, LOAD!" and as if the computer really could feel fear it loaded, showing the icons for a few art programs like photoshop and Maya plus Word and an obscure looking internet browser. Very empty computer but then it could probably only handle that. The background was red and black, violent looking scribbles that gave one the distinct impression something had died. Weird.
The background was quickly covered by a blank word document.
"Erm, sorry. The name is Spark. I'm mostly here to type I guess." she said, wiggling her fingers which were long and... beaten and burned? She didn't seem to notice, or didn't find it weird at all as she started typing, using only two fingers. Obviously she hadn't been taught to type, but she was fast which was what was important.

"Pleasure to meet you both. I like the last name thing, that's pretty cute, huh?" Spark said with a laugh, looking at the two before turning her question to Kinomi.
"Oh uh, yes I suppose... Er-uh... I wonder w-why we don't have last names..."
"We could probably give ourselves some. I'll look some up, you guys start talking, alright?" the hollowheart wanted to give Kinomi some room to dictate this and she knew if she had nothing to do she'd just take over the berry kuhna's project.

Still shy, still nervous Kinomi cleared his throat.
"Er well I suppose we should get this started. We were all on-once new and we all know ho-how difficult it can be when you first start out, or in the case of some of us, wh-when the head of the home first starts out on li-living their own life. Moofius w-was very nervous when she first arrived and got lots of support." again he cleared his voice, "But not everyone ge-gets this support and... And that's what we want to fix, right?"
"Right," agreed Spark from the other side of the screen. She could still support the little guy, poor thing.

[Freezair]

"'...Last name thing?'" Ercole and Desmond were confused in stereo. They slowly looked at one another. They watched Spark beat and wrestle with her computer, half-noticing her seemingly hurt hands. Ercole was not frightened of her appearance--he'd seen weirder girls--but now she seemed a little... unhinged. Maybe it was just her computer. Technology seemed to bring out the worst in people sometimes.

Desmond was not phased. "Correct," he said. "And the means by which we intent to provide this support is via a mentoring program, whereby older, more experienced residents will work with them to show them the ropes, explain Evelonian bylaws and customs, and take them around different areas in order to help get them accustomed! ...Or at least, that was what I was under the impression we'd be doing."

Ercole's nervousness wore off a little when he saw how willing everyone was to jump right in to the discussion. It gave him a chance to work on his persuasive skills, and it cut straight through the awkwardness. "But I think there's more to it than that! We're not just setting up mentors, it's like... a help call center thing. I think. A big organization that has welcoming parties and Q & A sessions and cool stuff like that! Maybe even whole newbie expiditions, big venturing parties where they can all get to know each other--"

"Calm down!" Desmond chuckled. "Let's worry about the basics first. The mentors and our fellow members of this organization! We are the charters, but what criteria do members joining need to meet?"

[3, 28]

[Moofius]

Spark diligently typed away at what was being said of the goals for this little operation. Kinomi nodded, frowning only slightly at the last part.

"Actually going out with them...? Th-that could be rather difficult, yes? Especially if one person had to take on several new people, all spaced out, they wouldn't be able to travel all together..."
Spark looked up from typing, "You all talk rather quickly." she laughed good naturedly, taking down the points in point form now.
"Big adventure parties can be difficult to keep track of. People could, accidentally, be left behind. But I think we should start at... the beginning, which aren't the new adventurers but..."
Kinomi was given a 'go on, continue!' sort of look from Spark.

"Er, that is to s-say that the beginning are those... Well those who are not new. We-we should figure out just exactly wh-who will be doing this. Obviously M-Moofius has agreed to he-help out..."
They wouldn't be here if she hadn't, right?
"We need to decide ho-how we can find and decide wh-who will great the newer adventurers."
Kinomi nodded to Desmond, who was also on the right track.
"Obviously they need to kn-know about Evelon. At least the ba-basics."
"I heard, from earlier discussions," Spark said, "That we would have possible tests, with a few, randomized simple questions that touched on questions many beginners have had."
"Like whether or not you can ride on some species here."

Spark suddenly laughed, "I once saw somebody try to tie a sled to a dire fenref! It was quite the sight!"

[Freezair]

"I guess you're right," Ercole said. He rubbed his chin. "I mean, we don't wan't to overburden people."

He sat and listened quietly while Kinomi vocally brainstormed. "Hmm... My family can help! Trust me, I have a big family. Most of them are pretty friendly, too! ...Well, Uncle Peaches is kind of a grump, and I wouldn't touch Aiko with a ten-foot pole. My mom's probably too busy... and Uncle Orbit would probably hit on the girls. But that still leaves... let's see, Granpaw, Aunt Jade, Aunt Aisling, Uncle Hal, Hal's three kids Fenny, Zaza, and Danni, Rosemaw, Dex, Bergy, Nectarine, and Paniz. ...Yeah, full house!"

Desmond raised a paw. "Well, if we're talking volunteers, I know of a young woman by the name of Freezair who stops by our farm to purchase milk and eggs directly from the source. She was quite literally new to this entire world at once due to some spatial... oddities, but she's adjusted and would certainly be willing to share her knowledge. ...Oh, would she ever," he chuckled. "She does love to bloviate."

"A test..." Ercole mused. "That sounds pretty good, actually. I don't know about a riding question... I mean, aren't the laws about which creatures you can safely use as mounts in flux right now? Maybe we should stick to more stable rules."

"Perhaps a bit of esoterica, but not too much," Desmond added. "Like, for example, 'which creatures cannot legally buy or consume Ballama Potions?"

"Underage ones!" Ercole said reflexively. "Well, specifically, underage Kuhna, Lucain, or Paragon. Other young species can, such as Sparquils or Kuni, but it is known that it stunts their growth."

[4, 29]

[Moofius]

Spark wrote this down:

Questionnaire (Stable Questions)

She also opened up an internet tab to search "bloviate" and also, what was that other one? Oh yah "esoteric". Actually that one sounded familiar but "bloviate"? That word was a riot within itself! Perhaps Desmond was was one to bloviate himself. Hee hee... Wait had she used that right? Er... Anyway!

Kinomi smiled, "Well many of those back home know their way around. Isaku watches over all of us when Moofius is away. He's very knowledgeable and organized. He keeps records of what lives at home. There's quite a few of us so he can help others set up their homes. As for the other back home many of them know their way around Evelon, even the shadier places. And Olive!" Kinomi was speaking without stuttering, now that he was getting into it, "She knows all of the beautiful legends of her people and the stories about Xai're, Yepha and Zu'hai! She has many books with the old stories but she doesn't even have to refer to them, she knows them. But she'll use them to teach the young ones to read and such... But I think we'll need more then just us on this project. We can have those we know take the questionnaire, but we should have others too. Maybe we should outline stricter guide lines for those who can even apply? Just to keep people who think they might know everything from, well not wasting but, er.... Well, wasting our time."
The berry kuhnas tails flicked nervously back and forth. Had that been rude?

"Like," Spark began, taping her finger to her chin thoughtfully, "You'd have to have been here longer then a week... Maybe a month, even? Or more? And a certain number of posts. Just because you've been an adventurer doesn't mean you've done anything.

(( I think this RP will call for a bit of OOC. XD;; So what do you think, time period wise? And post wise? ?x? ))

[Freezair]

((Time period: I'd say about three months at minimum. About 400 posts sounds good, but if someone's been around really long and stuff, if they're not super-duper-active in posting, maybe we can judge it case-by-case. Though they'd have to be active. XD))

"We should advertise for new members," Ercole said. "We should put up fliers in the famed Advertisement Plaza looking for recruits! Calling for applicants."

Desmond cut in. "Wait! I mean, yeah, time and what you've done is important, but... it can't be all that, can it? Ee need to evaluate people. In addition to passing a test, I think they've got to write an application too. Something to convince us they'd be good at the job. We need people who have patience, to put up with new adventurers. People who set a good example, too--they need to act courteously to others, and be polite--they need to speak tactfully and intelligently ((AKA: Good conventions and the like)), and advise people. They should be warm and approachable, but able to tell new adventurers--gently, I hope--when they'd not doing things right. And hopefully, they'd display some enthusiasm for the job!"

Ercole looked worried. "...Do I seem enthusiastic enough? I worry..."

Desmond just smiled.

[5, 30]

[Moofius]

(( Okay that sounds good. =3 That means a rather experienced member. And I guess yah. So the post and time requirement, a questionnaire and then, with the questionnaire a "Why do you think you'd be good for this job?" ? ))

Spark smiled, "I'm rather familliar with Photoshop. I could design some posters for Advertisement. We have KS to have them printed professionally."
Kinomi suddenly beamed, "And it's that, er, the "Yephian" going to be in print soon?" he looked around the table, "I don't know much. I think I heard August eleventh?"
"No I think it was the first."
"The first!" Kinomi corrected, "We could request an advertisement in the Yephian!"

It was a good idea, one the kuhna was proud of. Spark noted down that they should find and contact somebody in charge of that after taking down what Desmond said.
"I agree with you Desmond. Just because people are experienced doesn't necessarily mean they'd be good mentors. I'm not known for being patient when it comes to people." Spark admitted.
"I am very good at telling people when they're wrong."
"Just not in the most polite way," Kinomi added quietly, to which Spark laughed. The hollowheart was well aware of that.

"Oh! I've got enough keystones here to get us all something to drink. Anybody want anything? We might be here for awhile. I can see that we're all interested enough." Spark said, digging out a small pouch that was heavy with KS.

[Freezair]

"Let's do it!" Ercole heartily agreed. "I can pitch in some of my spending cash, too! How much are the ads, again? I'll pay half. We can go Dutch on them."

"And speaking of pitching!" Desmond grinned mirthfully when the topic of drinks came up. "I would like some green tea, if they have any. Ah, but this place looks 'hippie' enough to have things like that! Hot sounds good. No sugar. And if there's a green-and-mint blend, I'd love some of it."

"Just a cola for me," Ercole said. He leaned back in his chair, relaxed. He picked up one of the pink Sweet 'n' Low packets off the middle of the table and started fiddling with it.

He stared intently into the little pink packet. "We should figure out what will be on the test." He looked aroud. "But... Well, I know it sounds silly, but I'm wondering if we should discuss it out in the open. I mean, what if somebody overhears us talking about the answers and things? We don't wanna... give it away. Do... do you think anybody who might participate is listening?"

[6, 31]

[Moofius]

"I don't think the option is up... For the Yephian ads, I mean." Spark said, cruising a new, somewhat plain looking site.
"Yah, it says that the option isn't available yet. I'll keep tabs on it." the girl was already typing a note on the word document. Kinomi smiled. She really was very handy for this, just typing away, taking notes and stuff.
Another word Document was opened, quickly titled "Newbie Questionnaire".

"alright, I'll go get drinks," The laptop was spun towards the lucain (he's in human form, right? He has fingers?), "you type suggested questions and blurbs for answers or whatever, kay? Kinomi, hot chocolate, right?"
"You know me too well. If they can get a shot of mint in it...?"
Spark nodded, counting the orders on her fingers as she walked away. She may have been whispering the orders, or just moving her lips, it was hard to tell with the music going.

"Lots of people," Kinomi started, after a moment of silence, "are interested in breeding... Erm, not them se-selves ob-obviously I mean er, kuh-kuhna and lucain b-breeding." Kinomi went back to stuttering, the sort of hiding his face with his paws was new. Weird subject for him? Maybe a little.

[Freezair]

((Haha, whoops, should have specified. Ercole is in human form, yes [the description basically said it, but I'll confirm it], and he's fully human. No animal bits. Desmond has a human form but doesn't use it much, and he's of the "animal ears and tail variety." But he's a Kuhna right now.))

Ercole tapped in a few questions, consulting with Desmond. Desmond peeped over his shoulder, nodding and mumbling a few things while Ercole typed. Ercole started writing out something long, backspaced, tried again, backspaced again, and stared at the screen for a little while. Growling, he mashed the back button until he was staring an a blank screen again. He rubbed his head in thought.

Desmond looked at Kinomi. "Ah, yes, they are. Do you think our service should offer something involving breeding? Well, we can't very well give away rare creatures all the time, and I don't know if I'd ask experienced breeders to automatically offer up their Kuhnas such as ourselves to new breeders. But perhaps they could offer advice and help in setting up a nice-looking breeder's listing, establishing rules they are comfortable with, and structuring their pet's profiles? A 'walkthrough' of the process, perhaps. Or would that be superfluous?"

"Superfluous" was one of those words that made Ercole wonder when the person who said it was going to start coughing up pages of the dictionary they ate.

[7, 32]

[Moofius]

(( That's what I thought, but I get paranoid pretty quick. xPx;; I always wonder "did I miss read that?". X3;; ))

"Well the point is to be ready to help when the new adventurer needs it." Kinomi said, thinking, "You're right in that we can't expect users to give out pets. Most breeders aren't made out of pets and many kuhna and lucain and paragon have established friends and family. We can't expect to have more experienced breeders give these things up." Kinomi looked down at his paws, "I think that helping out with set up would be possible, but not... necessary. Moofius gives random tips when she sees problems in new users and their zoos... Most of us do... But I don't want to see new adventurers being taken advantage of. So I think it will be included in what you're signing up for, yes."
He'd come back from the shy feeling the subject had given him and kept going (though he still looked a bit shy as he fiddled with one of those single serving cream cups).
"So er, in summary; yes the mentors should help with Breeders Listing and Zoo Pens of the adventurer requests it or seems to be facing some difficulty."

"Our drinks will be here when they're all ready," Spark announced as she sat down. She left the laptop in Ercole's capable hands for the time being.