fh_trips | Rotorua, New Zealand [Tuesday Morning into Afternoon]

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fall break 2023: new zealand

Rotorua, New Zealand [Tuesday Morning into Afternoon]

Get set for a big day in Rotorua!

Start at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, a spectacular showcase of New Zealand's most colorful and unique geothermal elements sculpted by thousands of years of volcanic activity. Explore the out-of-this-world landscape, including the famous mud pool, the largest in New Zealand. Arrive at 10:15 am to hear the history and see the beauty of the Lady Knox Geyser, which erupts daily to heights of 33 to 66 feet (10 to 20 m).

Or you can go back to the swings (or the luge that are up by the swings), try the skydiving, or stay close to the lodge, which also offers activities for the day.

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Sending a text to Graham meant that at least it would be spread to everyone in his DnD group, if not to a few others, and then it would be pretty silly if he helped extend the invitation and then didn't even show up! Once he saw the gonolda, he might have a few regrets, but what kind of knight was he going to be if he let a silly little thing like precarious heights throw him off?

So he was definitely showing up and giving Arden a wave when he saw her, like it had been ages since he last had and not, you know, earlier that morning because roommates and what have you.

"Hey, Arden! Great idea! See? I told you this whole getting out there and having fun thing was easy!"

Whereas Arden looked positively delighted at the whole setup. Dangling hundreds of feet in the air while peering out and down? Who didn't see this as the best idea? At least until it came time to plummet down even< faster than they'd come up!

"Hey!" she said, waving back with just as much enthusiasm. "You were totally right! There's so many different things to do!"

By which she meant 'so many different ways to fling yourself into the air and then down.'

"And," Graham chirped encouragingly, "it's only even the second full day! If you're not exhausted from all the fun and adventure by the end of the week, well, then," here he chuckled, "you're probably doing it wrong, in my opinion! But gonoldas and ziplines, huh?"

There was a slightly nervous swallow, but hey! If it wasn't safe, they wouldn't be able to do it, right? But he was thinking he should have maybe found some saffron and eagle's feathers before heading out here, just in case. Maybe he could use his cloak as a parachute? Zards! He could have brought a parachute in his cloak!

Arden looked disgustingly chipper and energetic this morning, for all that she was pretty literally awake with the birds.

"Gondolas, zip lines, skydiving, and the swing!" Arden enthused. "I love being up high and stuff. Flying had to be the coolest thing in the world and all this stuff is the closest I'm gonna get, you know?"

In a second, she might realize that she was the only person excited about this.

"I took a Flight and Flying class once!" Graham offered helpfully. "But it was less about flying yourself," to demonstrate, his arms went out and he flapped them a little, "and more about flying in things, like planes and spaceships and things, which was still pretty cool, just not exactly what I was expecting, but you should keep an eye out for if that class come up again, you'd probably love it, then!"

"Oh, that does sound cool," Arden said, eyes shining. "Not as great as flying under your own power, but the next best thing, definitely."

Maybe instead of being a PI, she could go for her small craft piloting license or something. Or still a PI, but a cool pilot one, too...

"How about you?" she asked. "You got anything on your specific agenda today?" Like not getting roped into being Arden's partner on the swing, for example...

"Nope!" said Graham (who always had been pretty ripe for being roped into most things) brightly. "I was definitely,absolutely, no doubt about it at some of the events yesterday, so today? It's all about seeing where the adventure takes me!"

Even if that adventure was taking him....very high up in the sky!

Wasn't it awesome?!? They were going so high!

"Yeah, and the boiling mud and geysers sounded pretty cool? But not cooler than more skydiving! And zip lining! And there're apparently animals we can see and hang out with at the top? Mostly sheep or something, I think, but sheep are cute, right?"

Said the city girl who had never need near one in her life.

Super awesome! Not scary at all!

You know Graham was going to want to do it again immediately once it was over.

"Really?" he asked. "Zounds! That's great, I really brushed up on my Sheep before coming here, since I read there was a lot of them, so it'll be a good chance to use it! I haven't really had a chance to talk to a lot of sheep before, mostly just Libby when she turns into a lamb,but I'm not sure that really counts. Oh! And a herd of them mistakenly came into the radio studio during my broadcast last week, they were a little lost, I don't think anyone knew where to find them! But I heard, if you just leave them alone, they'll still come home, wagging their tails behind them!"

Arden would be only too happy to indulge him in going super-high all over again. She was a giver that way.

"Brushed up on your....okay, I can't tell if that was a sheep pun, or you're saying you can talk to sheep, or both."

It was Graham, so the pun seemed kind of a given, but she wouldn't be terribly surprised to find out that he just casually chatted with animals on the regular.

"No, I really can talk sheep!" Graham said with a laugh. "Although now I kind of wish it was a pun, that'd've been a great one! Though it's nowhere near as good as my Capybara, and definitely not up to my Squirrel, but it should be enough to get by! Check this out."

Graham took a second to clear his throat, pulled himself up importantly with fingers steepled at his chest as he proudly rattled off a series of baas and bleats, and then grinned at Arden proudly.

"That," he announced, "was me saying 'hello, lovely sheep of New Zealand! My name is Graham and this is my new friend Arden, it's very nice to meet ewe all!

"Admittedly, though," he added, a little remorsefully, "THAT pun actually does get a little lost in translation."

Arden was just staring at him. "So you're also magic?" she asked. "Like Charlie? And Grey?"

And apparently everybody?

"Oh, no," said Graham, "not like Charlie, I'm no where as good as Charlie, and Gray has been holding out on me! I didn't even know he had magic! Or did I? He may have mentioned it and I forgot."

He shrugged.

"But Speaking with Animals isn't really magic, I'd say, it's just effective communication!"

It was definitely magic.

Edited 2023-10-17 23:56 (UTC)

"I mean, he's cursed," Arden explained. "It's why he falls asleep so much. I guess being cursed isn't the same thing as being magic...? But I have no idea how all this stuff works anyway."

Because none of it worked the way it did in her world, which was both reassuring and also deeply unsettling.

"Also? Preeeeeetty sure it's magic. I mean, I've got a knack with birds--" and that was magic "--but we can't communicate, like, as a language. We just sorta...vibe."

And sometimes they bullied her.

"I can make sure you're perfectly safe if you want," Charlie said quietly, so no one else could hear. Might a charm have been involved in that? Maybe. "Just a little charm and then you can just enjoy the thrill."

"Oh, no," Graham chuckled a little, turning a bit pink across his cheeks and over his ears, waving a dismissive hand,"I'm not worried!"

He was definifely a little worried.

Worried enough to then follow it up by leaning in with a hand over his mouth to better hide his secrecy as he whsipered back, "But better safe than sorry, right?"

Charlie smiled at him and under the guise of leaning in to kiss him on the cheek she sketched a quick protection charm just under his ear. "Now even if something were to go horribly wrong, which it won't, you'll just float down like a feather."

Did she also take the opportunity to refresh her 'mine' charm on him? She absolutely did.

Ah ha! So his clever ruse to totally, definitely, absolutely act worried (really! Just an act!) to illicit sympathy and a kiss on the cheek and a charm had clearly worked, and had most certainly bern his grand plan all along!

"But what kind of feather, though?" Graham asked, giving Charlie a warm, grateful smile. "A big strong eagle feather? A long and shimmering peacock feather? Or maybe just a little fluff of goose down, especially since I was a goose that one time!"

Like ruses were needed with Charlie! Ask for a kiss - heck, say you wanted to have sex, and she'd happily drag you off somewhere. She was easy. Really.

"What kind of feather do you want to be?" she asked with a grin

Shhh. Let him have this.

"That," Graham said, eyebrows lifting and sounding impressed, "is a good question, actually! Can I think about it and get back to you? Because I keep wanting to say one, but then another pops up and that one sounds good, too! Like, if it was a duck feather, I'd fall and be water-resistant, or a raven feather could make me more dark and ~mysteeerious~, but a phoenix feather, now that would really be cool! Or hot," he chuckled, "all things considered."

"You just let me know and I can make it happen," Charlie said with a grin. "And feather you like!"

"Hmm..." Graham hummed thoughtfully for a moment, rubbing his chin, until his face brightened and he grinned at Charlie, an idea clearly having sparked.

"Well," he said, "if you were to be a feather, what kind of feather would you be, Charlie?"

"I'd be all of them, of course," Charlie said. "Peacock, owl, eagle, crow, hummingbird, ostrich - I want 'em all!"

That answer sort of put a small damper on what Graham was angling for, but he had to laugh anyway, because it was a pretty good one....and seemed to suit Charlie pretty well, too.

"Well, then," he decided, "I guess I'm going to be all of them, too! You know why? Because birds of a feather should flock together!"

Yes, he'd asked just to set up that homerun of a joke.

That was Charlie disappointing people since birth, and yet somehow everyone liked her anyway!

"We'll be our own flock," she declared. "And no one will be able to label us because they won't have any idea what new and wonderous flock we are!"

Re: Doing Your Own Thing

pun_king - 2023-10-17 23:53 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Doing Your Own Thing

wildgalegirl - 2023-10-18 00:04 (UTC) - Expand

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