[SpringsSong]

The young, brown-haired female pushed her way past several large leaves and other such vegetation as she made her way to an open spot in the forest before she smiled, giving a slight nod.  "This place will do just nicely.  Deraj?" she called out over her shoulder, waiting for her companion to emerge from the dense forest foliage that she had easily pushed her way through.  It was another few minutes before Deraj would emerge, however; Aila had already set down her bags that had been strapped onto her back and was pulling out the camping stove.

"Aila, you know that I can't walk as fast as you when these darned ribbons see a need to wrap themselves around my legs and slow me down.  They can be helpful for carrying things or for armor, but... that's just in my Shielupe form." Deraj said, letting the rest of the bags that he had fall to the ground as he flopped down beside them, his curly black hair wet from the humidity and sweat.

Aila shook her head as she said, "Oh, Deraj; you know that we won't have to deal with those restricting pet forms that we have now much longer.  I'm gonna miss being able to climb mountains with no problems, but... Slynxes aren't fire elementals, like I am at heart.  They're ice elementals.  I can't... this doesn't work for me."

"Can we just get the camp set up now?" Deraj asked, slowly standing up and dragging a rather large bag--no, not large; gigantic--off to the side and began sliding the bag off of the contents inside.

[1.1][1.1]

[Cookie]

{has no pet form right now}

Ariana carried her bags, trailing not too far behind Deraj and Aila, smiling as she saw the two "Hey, wait up" she called, jogging a bit to catch up to them, putting her bags down as she stood beside where Deraj was, smiling a bit at her mate as she saw him, and his other mate, Aila. Most people might mind that their mate loved another too, but she didn't, and she was friends with Aila, and they oddly got along with each other. Plus, Aila had him first. Ariana gave him a quick kiss and a hug, smiling and then looking over to Aila "Well, what can I help with?" she asked. She didn't have her pet form yet like the other two, she would be getting one soon though, and like them, would be a Paragon.

[SpringsSong]

Deraj smiled as he hugged Ariana back as well, kissing her cheek before he resumed attempting to get the bag off of the tent.  Aila thought for a moment before she said, "Well, considering that I'm gonna want to get really acquainted with that Paragon form I'm gonna have soon, we all need to set up the tent--we purposely got one that could easily fit three Battlehearts, since they're roughly the same size as the Paragon species we're gonna be."

Deraj scoffed as he said, "That bag is so heavy... once we have our Paragon forms, carrying it shouldn't be a problem, but... this tent is upwards of twenty-six feet tall.  Aila and I, if she were to stand on my shoulders and try and set up the tent, we're still about 16 feet short--so we're gonna have to set it up from the trees." Aila gave a slight nod as she looked to the trees, which were rather tall.  "I can get up them easily enough in my Slynx form..." she said, looking to Ariana.  "This is gonna be a rather interesting tent setup..."

[1.2][1.2]

[Cookie]

Ariana nodded "Well, I can climb too, so I can help" she said with a small smile, getting somethings out of her bag "This should be very interesting to say the least... and.. fun" she smiled again, taking off her necklace so that she wouldn't loose it while she helped set up the tent. She didn't feel like spending most of her day searching the forest floor for her necklace. "So, just show me where you need me and I'll be there" she said, looking from the tree's back to Aila and Deraj, not totally sure where exactly they wanted the tent, and what needed to be done first.

[SpringsSong]

Before she did anything else, Aila sent a controlled blast of fire out from her core to clear the stray twigs and branches from the area.  "We'll just have to get more firewood later." She said, shrugging as she took on her Slynx form and scurried up the tree, chuckling to herself as she thought, This is quite possibly the only thing I will miss about my Slynx form; being able to climb up trees so easily.

Deraj thought for a moment before he said, "Okay.  Aila's in that tree over there, so... to balance things out, Ariana--you should get in the tree directly across from her.  I have some minor powers over air, so I'll try and lift up the tent fabric as high as I can so that you two can grab it while I get the inner frame assembled." Aila nodded as she sat perched in the tree, looking around before she heard the beating of wings.

"Mom!  Dad!  Wait for me!" a voice said, and Aila caught a glimpse of a dark grey Paragon in the distance.  "Perfect timing, Yeri!  We need a little help with setting up our campsite!"

The Grim Paragon landed right behind Deraj, who just barely looked up to be able to tell who it was.  "Like one of your mothers said, perfect timing.  Mind lending a hand with getting the tent set up?  You're tall enough in that form." He said, and the Grim smiled as she nodded.

[1.3][1.3][1.1]

[Cookie]

Ariana looked over to Yeri, smiling at her, and then nodding to Deraj "Hey Yeri, do you think you can give me a lift into that tree across from Aila? I'd prefer not to risk falling while trying to climb up there myself" she said, laughing slightly. She looked up to the tree, which was pretty high up and breathed in, sighing. She wasn't afraid of heights, but she was afraid of falling, that was for sure. She walked over to Yeri so her 'daughter' could take her up to the tree, patting the Paragon's side a bit "So what are you doing out here, Yeri?" she asked, slightly curious.

[SpringsSong]

Yeri smiled as she lowered her head so that Ariana could climb up onto her head.  "It was kinda quiet back home where I live, and I'd heard that you were coming out here, so I figured I'd see if I could help any." She said, raising her head so that Ariana could step off onto the branch.  Deraj chuckled as he said, "You have a perfect sense of timing, Yeri."

"I'll say.  Hand up part of the tarp, please, Yeri?" Aila asked, and the Grim nodded as she grabbed part of the tarp with her horn and brought it close to Aila, who took it and held onto it tightly as Deraj said, "Okay... someone's gotta help me assemble the frame."

"If Mother Aila and Mother Ariana have no problems keeping the tarp held tightly, I can help." Yeri said after a moment.

[1.4][1.4][1.2]

[Cookie]

Ariana climbed up onto Yeri's back, nodding "I think me and Aila can do that.. right Aila?" she said, smiling up to Aila, then making sure to hold on tightly to Yeri, not wanting to take any chance of falling off of her too. "Well, its a good thing you came out here.. now the whole family can be here" Ariana said, looking from Deraj, to Yeri, to Aila, then patting Yeri's neck "Alright, well lets get this done so we can actually kick back and rest" she said, pointing up to a decent sized branch across from Aila "Think you can get me to that one, Yeri?" she asked, then leaning back, holding on tightly to the Paragon.

[SpringsSong]

Yeri nodded as she raised her head so that Ariana could step off onto the branch.  With extreme care, she grabbed the tarp and handed it up to Ariana, and then, she looked down at Deraj.  "So... how can I help with the tent assembly?" she asked.

Deraj thought for a moment.  "Um... well, if you could get in the tent and hold it up while I get the framework assembled, and then I can hand them in for you to take and you can put them in place." He said finally, and Aila nodded as she tightened her grip on the tarp.

[2.0][2.0][1.3]

[Cookie]

Ariana stepped off carefully onto the branch, sitting down and pulling the tarp on her side tightly also, nodding down to Deraj "Alright, me and Aila got it up here" she said, leaning her back against the tree, making sure to keep the tarp pulled as tight as she could, not wanting to have to do this all over again. She hummed to a random song, looking around a bit at the scenery below "Well.. it wouldn't be too great if we fell, Aila... that might hurt... a lot." she said, half jokingly.

[SpringsSong]

"Yeah, it could more than likely severely injure us." Aila said, looking down warily at the ground as Yeri carefully stepped inside the tent, taking on her human form first, and then shifting back to her Paragon form.  "Oh... this is why it's this big..." Yeri said, laughing slightly as Deraj began to assemble the first of the metal poles.  Once it was assembled, he handed it to Yeri; "This one goes up top there.  you might want to just hold onto it for now until I can get the other poles that it attaches to assembled." He said.

Yeri nodded as she took the metal pole and set it beside her, waiting patiently for Deraj to finish assembling the rest of the poles to go inside the tent.

[2.1][2.1][1.4]

[Cookie]

Ariana looked over to Aila "Do you think there is some type of swimming hole around here? We can go cool off for a bit if there is one" she said, looking around to see if she could spot one from the tree. Maybe they could even go hiking up here too, that would be fun, if they mark their way back so they didn't get lost. Being lost in the woods wouldn't be too much of a fun get away trip. "Hey, did anyone remember to bring bug spray?" she asked, hitting a mosquito on her leg with her free hand, wiping it off on the branch, making a face about it. "These bugs are annoying.."

[SpringsSong]

Aila chuckled as she nodded.  "There are actually a few pools around here, so no worries there.  And I got the bug spray as well." She said.  "As well as sunscreen and lotion and other various things that we'll be needing..."

"Is that why one of those bags was so heavy, Aila?" Deraj asked, rolling his eyes as he finished the last of the metal poles.  "Okay, Yeri; here's the last of the poles for the framework.  I'm comin' in there, so don't move."

"But I can't stay anymore, Dad... I need to go.  I--I don't know what it is, but I have to go..." Yeri said, tilting her head as she carefully walked out of the tent, making sure it didn't fall on Deraj.

[2.2][2.2][2.0--left]

[[EDIT: Pulling Aila and Deraj out for another plot.]]