Welcome to Gaia! ::

*~Citrine has been used as gemstones and other ornamental objects for thousands of years. In most early references it was often confused with topaz.

*~The name citrine comes from the old French word citrin which means yellow. There has been much confusion between citrine and topaz, and citrine has previously been known as topaz, topaz-quartz, madeira topaz, Spanish topaz and Saxon Topaz, as well as by other names.

*~The astrological signs of citrine are Gemini, Aries, Libra and Leo.
Citrine is the birthstone for the month of November.

*~Citrine is said to be especially useful in stimulating one's mental capacities, enhancing creativity & intuition and bolstering one's self-confidence. It is also said to give emotional control while making one more alert. Citrine is also said to be very helpful in assisting one to acquire and maintain wealth.

*~Citrine is said to be usefull in helping to remove toxins from the body and to treat muscular disorders, and to help stimulate healing in general. It also is said to have been used extensively in treating a number of other disorders including those of the heart, liver, kidneys and digestive system. Citrine is also said to help provide relief from the effects of radiation, and to facilitate absorption of antioxidants.




*~ Even at such a young age, Citani has developed a rather insatiable thirst for knowledge. She has taken a liking to holding herself up in her room with books and has proved to be highly intelligent for her age. More often than not she can be found in Zozma's room if not in her own, and visits the wise anthro daily if she runs across stuff she doesn't understand or to simply discuss topics of interest. She doesn't take much interest in things most children would such as games and the like and would prefer to curl up with a good book. While she may come off as a bit shy to others, she has no problem standing up for herself and would defend her friends without batting an eye.

~From Kira! heart

*Reserved for future use~*

~The Beginning of Something Greater~

The room was dark. Not just dark dark, but 'oh my god I can't see my hand infront of my face' dark. There was however a source of light in the room, and even that seemed insignificant and suffocating in the sheer amount of darkness. Its origin was a lamp balancing precariously on a hard wood desk. Spewn across the desk was a myrid of papers, old and new, crinckled and not, some were covered from top to bottom in notes while others may have had a line of writting before the writer got fed up and crumbled it into a ball. The only other visable object of importance on the desk was what lamp was directed on, though slightly off center due to the massive influx of papers.

There sat a small red pillow of sorts with golden yellow tassles hanging off its four corners. Perched upon the pillow still was a small orangish globe...or rock of sorts. Its flawless and smooth surface though seemed to dismiss any thoughts at all that it might have come from natural means. But there it sat, peacefully and unfazed through all the shuffling and glinting slightly in the light as if to mock the inhabitant of the room and say 'I'm still here'.

Just then there was a large noise, a mix between a sigh and a grunt as two bright green pin pricks pierce the darkness with a relative ease. As if following the intial pin pricks, more splotches of bright green, this time larger, seemed to flare up until they revealed the entire body of the strange creature that lay sprawled out akwardly over the small sofa backed against the wall. One arm was propped up by the arm of the sofa and balancing expertly in one hand was a large tome that appeared to be extreme heavy, yet the creature gave way nothing to hint at that. His eyes scanned a particular paragraph before he closed his eyes with a sigh and slammed the book close with one hand. He mumbled something incoherent before slowly lifting himself off his perch and trudging over to the desk. Falling back into his rocking chair with a creak, he dropped the book harshly onto the desk sending papers flying everywhere and shaking the desk just enough to send the lamp tumbling over the side. With a strangely praticed ease the creature shot forward and plucked the lamp from midfall before setting it back in its proper place. Once he was sure everything of importance was secure he flipped the tome open to his book marked place.

He wasn't gonna lie. It actually hurt to read this. The sheer stupidity would make anyone with half a brain laugh or cry, all for the same reason. Which was exactly why he'd found it when he'd raided his master's chambers. Of course she'd have something like this. She thrived on this junk. But in all honesty he was out of options. He'd exhausted every source he owned and that was saying something due to the packed bookshelves on either wall that remained hidden from sight due to darkness.

His eyes darted back and forth over the page for a few minutes before his paitence could no longer stand it, and with a roar of sorts he slid the book (and a whole mess of papers) onto the floor with one arm. The resounding thud was something every other occupant of the hall probably heard. With a cry of frustration his elbows hit the desk, his head cradled in his hands, both hands gripping onto his crimson locks of hair for leverage.

Once he'd calmed his frustration down he folded his arms on the desk and rested his chin on them so he was able to stare at the object that was the source of his frustation. However there was no malice in his stare as he gazed at the small orb. No, his gaze reflected more of the curious nature that had him doing this entire thing at all. With a shuddering sigh he buried half his face in his arms and closed his eyes in an attempt to drift off or something. 3 words though were whispered to the surrouding darkness as the bright green designs on his body faded into nothing.

"What are you?"

~Lost Again & Emergence~
Zoz & Em (~Kira~) with guest appearances from Crystal and some mysterious shadow (Rena-san & Dee-san)

After a prolonged period of time, one would think he'd finally start to learn from his mistakes. Off course not. For all of the common sense that he claimed to have, he seemed to be lacking it times two. Which of course is exactly how he ended up on yet another walk with the core. Only this time...he was REALLY lost.

At first it was just his room. She'd snuck in when he left to get something to drink, only to return to find himself locked out. Then as he left the area of the house to go to the roof and possibly swing in from a window, only to remember after he'd been completely locked out of the house, that he didn't have an windows in his room. Yes...his brain had apparently checked out earlier today.

Or yesterday, at the moment he wasn't particularly sure at the time of day, only that it had been dark for a very long time. Why he had chosen to wander off this far into the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night was beyond him. In fact, in an eerie sort of way it was almost as if something was to calling him. Or his utter lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him.

Yeah...that must've been it. That and the tiny core tucked away within the safe confines of his cloak was laughing at his stupidity by glowing. Not that he could see that either.

How long passed since that last incident with Crystal? Months, probably. Even so, the emerald Jumi never once ceased to pay the occasional visit to the chamber in hopes that something had happened. Of course, each time she came home with the usual disappointed face. Then again, she didn't frequent there with high hopes, either.

Sighing softly, she made her way down the swirling stairs of the city once more. It didn't seem like anything dramatic would happen anytime soon. Best to head home for now before anyone started to worry. The skies were already dark and she promised to be home at a reasonable hour. When she returned, she would have to expect a lecture from her care-taker for staying out so late, especially alone.

Regardless of the situation or what lies ahead, she blindly wandered out of the city. At night when the moonlight shined on the jewels embedded within the city itself it produced its own strange, yet beautiful colorful display. Now that she was getting further and further away from the city, it was harder and harder to see what little roads there were. She would only occasionally pass by a street light or two.

As if with another deja vu, she unknowingly bumped into a strange being until it was too late. "Sorry," She apologized. In the darkness it was hard to tell who she bumped into exactly.

It was odd. He didn't think his naturally ability to see in a dark would've been...turned off just cause he was down right exhausted, and in fact the more he thought about the idea the greater the urge was to smack himself for thinking as such. However, while these thoughts circulated in his mind he continued to walk...forgetting he couldn't see for one reason or another. So of course it was natural that he bumped into something...something that was living...

So he jumped and squeaked a bit in surprise his eyes opening to search for the being he'd knocked into. Then it hit him...when had he closed his eyes? Was he sleep walking or something? Nah..he could remember what was going on...even if it did seem a bit blurry. He was too busy thinking that he didn't feel deja vu poking at him, and it was probably for the best considering his...current state of mind.

Upon the notion that he'd yet to apologize, he mentally slapped himself before turning around, his hand raised to lower the cowl of his cloak. Peering over at Em, he found himself hard pressed not to choke at that moment. Then deja vu decided to smack him.

"Oh...you've got to be kidding me..."

For a moment there she could feel her core flickering as if trying to inform her of something. She was too busy apologizing and gathering herself back together, though. Certainly, she could feel the presence of another Jumi very close by, but she immediately dismissed the thought in thinking she was merely just exhausted both physically and mentally. Nothing unusual, probably.

When she came to, soft brown eyes gazed in bewilderment. "Zo--Zozma?" She asked with surprise, "What a surprise to see you! It's been a while," a soft smile followed her little blurb. What was he doing here so late, anyway? Getting lost again? At this hour?

At first she was distracted, then her core flickered once more. This was definitely not a coincidence. Perhaps fate arranged this, or even the Mana Goddess herself. She could feel the other core flickering back at her, as if to rush her towards the Clarius chamber in order to transform back to her original self.

"Your core...It's glowing."

Oh yes...the fates were obvious conspiring against him to make him look like an even bigger fool then he already was, especially to those he knew. The icing on the cake was when he saw that slight smile on Em's face. She was a smart girl. She knew him enough to know why he was out this late, or at least the person responsible. There was a momentary flicker of anger before it fizzled out. He didn't have the energy to be mad at Asellus right now, she wasn't worth what was left of his current comprehension. "A welcomed surprise to see you as well Em. The first sigh of relief I've had all day..." He paused. "...night...?" Another pause. "morning?..." He sighed in frustration. " Heck I don't even know anymore..."

So while he managed to completely slide past any words or signs that pointed at his permanently impaired sense of direction her next words caught him completely off guard. "I don't...think so?" It was more of a question before he began to fish around inside his cloak for the momentarily forgotten sphere. Finding it he pulled it out, before holding it out in his open palm. It was indeed glowing. His hand rose to bring the core right up to his face and his eyes seemed to narrow at it. "You know..you're really good at making me look bad..." He mumbled before lowering his hand back down.

He paused a moment before turning his neon green gaze back at Em. "Is this suppose to happen? Did I do something wrong?" It was becoming increasing obvious at how out of his element he was. He wasn't used to dealing with things he didn't know everything about...let alone nothing.

When he asked about night and morning, she silently rose up her arm. She gently moved the sleeve of her jacket out of the way, gazing momentarily at her softly illuminated wrist watch. "Almost morning," She replied softly, "About a half an hour or so until morning, officially."

She couldn't suppress the light chuckle at his response to the glowing core. He was an outsider, after all. She couldn't expect him to know the way things worked around here. Though, how will the core emerge with Crystal encased in stone? That was a different matter. She should at least have the courtesy of leading him to the Clarius chamber.

"It's supposed to happen. Don't fret too much over it, just follow me and things will unfold as they should." Not too soon after that she twirled around facing the far away glowing city once more. She didn't know it, but as she walked towards the large gates leading into the city a small smile flickered on her face.

The time didn't come as to much of a shock to him. After all his sense of passage of time seemed to be along the same lines as his sense of direction, also known as non-existent. He paused a moment to count the hours he'd been wandering aimlessly, on his fingers none the less. A true testament as to how much he just wanted to curl up on his couch and sleep.

Though the anthro had no idea as to what was going on, he was happy to follow. "Lead the way then." Lucky for him, whenever they finished what need to be done she could help him get home...Then he would proceed to sleep on his couch for a day or two, and by the god if anything, including the trivial obstacle known as locked door stood in his way...they would cease to exist anymore. Even if that meant he'd have to fix them in the morning. It would all be worth it.

With the promise of sleep sometime in his near future instead of the aimless wandering, Zoz perked up considerably. "Soooo where exactly are we going?"

She couldn't tell of her personality too well yet. It was only a brief meeting, after all. Same with the previous meeting. Too brief to get anything out of it. But soon she would emerge, or hopefully would emerge. Thinking about that temporarily placed the thought of the rock-solid Crystal in the back of her mind. For now she focused on the brighter thought of the two.

"To the city, of course." Her finger pointed at the towering, softly glowing building in front of them. Actually, it was too large for a building. The city, rather. Of course, the gates as usual were left unlocked. Not too many people could frequent such a place often enough.

With an effortless push, the gate slowly swung open on its own. "It's quite the climb to the top, but it's not continuous all the time, so we have regular 'flat' ground to walk on in between, too." She made her way towards the stairs, slowly leading the anthro and core towards the top. For sure even someone who was athletic and climbed many stairs before even this one was rather difficult. Even she could feel the exhaust in her legs despite climbing them so often.

"Oh..."He blinked up at the towering...building? Nah...buildings didn't come this tall or look like this. Walking slowly through the gates his eyes instantly traveled and followed the multitude of stairs that wrapped around and led to the top. "That's...a lot...or stairs." He paused for moment. "And I have a sneaky suspicion we're gonna have to climb all of them..."

The task of climbing all the stairs seemed to disappear the moment they actually started. Anything the sparkled, anything that looked remotely interesting....everything caught his attention, and soon he resembled that of a kid in the candy store. He'd heard of places like this, but never did he think that they really existed. After all..he'd read about such a place in one of his master's ancient civilization books. If his master read it that was nearly a given for it all to be false. Yet here he was. Climbing what seemed to be an endless staircase and passing by hundreds of shiny gems, not unlike the one tucked away in his cloak, all embedded in the walls off the very...place. Once again, he couldn't find a turn that could describe the place.

In fact for once he found himself just observing. His brain hurt too much to try and wrap it around everything he was seeing anyways. Little did he know of what would actually be happening in the so near future.

As amazing as the city decorations were, Em just continually lead him up towards the top never slowing down her original speed. She was too anxious to see if something would happen with this core. The core previous to this one was from months ago, at least. She could only hope that somehow within these few months something changed so that Crystal may emerge again.

The giant doors leading to the Clarius Chamber was right there in front of them both. Despite their appearance, they were rather easy to open. With a continuous push, she opened the door wide enough for the both of them to enter at the same time.

Crystal was right there in front of them, still encased in stone. It mattered little, though. She still reacted to Em's core, as well as that about-to-emerge-Jumi tucked under Zozma's cloak. "Crystal," She called out softly, "We have a glowing core for you."

Turning around, she faced the anthro and instructed him, "Just place the core over there by the...statue. She should react to it, despite her appearance. " Firmly, she stood aside to let the guardian and core through.

Even at the current pace Zoz continued to observe everything little thing of interest. While he normally wasn't a fan of shiny things, that was due to the fact they all seemed to give him a headache, but not here. Perhaps because the sun wasn't here to set everything off?

The long agonizing trek that he had foreseen turned out to be nothing to worry about as they climbed the few last step to their destination. At first the anthro had to look over the edge to prove that they had really climbed all the way up, but he was quick to follow Em into the final chamber.

The moment his eyes adjusted he noticed a faint glimmer coming from the flawless stone statue perched in the back of the room, but it was only for a moment. Instinctively he pulled the core out from beneath his cloak again to receive a similar reaction. He looked puzzled for a moment before he just shook his head. He didn't have enough energy to think. He just had to follow Em's direction right?

Fishing around in his robe once again, he pulled out the small red cushion the core had come with. He slowly approached the statue, eying it curiously before placing the pillow, and finally the core down in front of it. He backed up again to where Em was an crouched down, hands clasped in front of him as he continued to watch what was about to unfold before him.

For a brief moment they stood there in silence. Even though Crystal's core glowed when they first entered, nothing much seemed to happen after that. Was Crystal...umm...sleeping? She wasn't entirely sure how things worked when someone gets turned to stone.

"Crystal?" She called out loudly. Nothing, still. Frowning slightly, she approached the statue. "Crystal?" She called out once more. Nothing. Em was growing rather anxious. Maybe a tap would help. A light tap on the statue was exactly what she did, but so far no reaction whatsoever. This was rather odd. From the last emergence ceremony Crystal reacted almost instantly.

As the core was placed in front of the stone statue, the black pearl embedded in it's chest glimmered brilliantly. It seemed like there was life within it.

It's been so long...thank you..

And with that, the orange core pulsed with light, each one growing brighter and brighter, until the whole chamber was filled with almost blinding light. It soon grew easier on the eyes, flowing back towards the red pillow in front of the statue and forming a child-like shape.

The voice returned once more just as the light faded, almost as an omen of sorts, before the statue and it's core returned to a slumber.

Take care..Etansel is no longer the safe haven it once was..

The light from the core spread to the dark corners of the room, showing, when the visitors' eyes stopped burning, every detail. The carvings on the walls, and the dust- and a shape that had been crouching behind Crystal, but was staggering backwards, hands over its face. It was dressed in black from head to toe, but judging from the eyes that peeked out from behind black gloves, the person looked human. Humanoid, at least.

It froze for exactly two seconds, then turned and ran, taking a running leap out of the window. It didn't seem to matter to the mysterious stranger that they were several stories up, it simply went through and fell out of sight.

Everything had been so nice and peaceful...and normal. Even Em talking to the stone statue didn't freak him out as much as it should've. The sudden light show caught him off guard and he flailed a bit, falling onto his back side as he watched the core come to life. He found himself squinting with all the light and once it cleared he found himself staring where the core once but no longer sat. Instead he found he was staring into the dark brown eyes of the child that now sat contently on the pillow.

He opened is mouth to speak...various times, but no words would come. The anthro climbed back up to his feet, brushing himself off, but not once did his eyes leave those of the small girl. Blinking curiously he approached the small jumi and was almost there when his eyes caught sight of the unknown visitor. Zoz's eyes were glued to the new figure as it staggered about. When it decided to make a mad dash to the window, Zozma's instincts caused him to give chase, his cloak flailing madly behind him. When the mystery man decided to hop out the window the anthro nearly followed, but stopped, ending up crouched on the window sill as the unknown person disappeared once again into the shadows.

"Fast little bugger...." He mumbled before turning back to Em and the new jumi. He couldn't help but notice with a hint of amusement as the new child watched him curiously, her head tilted to the side slightly. Neither of them seemed to gather the significance of what had just happened, and Zoz was happy that he wasn't the only clueless one for once.

Settling back down he walked up to and sat right down in front of the citrine jumi. They both just stared at each other for moment before the young girl reached out for him. Zozma blinked before he leaned in a bit closer and the child wrapped one small hand around the horn that protruded from underneath his right ear. "Hey hey hey...careful there..." He muttered quietly before pulling the child's hand away. "Don't want you to hurt yourself...or me for that matter..." Still holding onto the girl's hand he used his free hand to scoop her up into his arms as he stood. The young jumi then found another source of amusement...Zoz's unusually long hair.

Turning back to Em he could help but give her a lop-sided grin. "Well this is the start of something interesting..." He spoke, wincing as the child pulled a little too hard.

It all seemed to happen in a flash with a dramatic slow down towards the end. Certainly, it pleased Em to know Crystal was still alive. Not well enough considering her current state, but enough so that she could even bring back the little Jumi in front of her. But then out of nowhere came that ominous warning. What was all that about? Etansel for the longest time was still mostly the deserted city that it was. What could change that and suddenly bring potential danger into the realm? A monster, perhaps?

In the blink of an eye, the humanoid creature not only leaped out from behind but jumped out of a window. Em never counted the flights of stairs, but they were at least five to ten stories high! What was he...she...it thinking? No normal creature could survive a fall that high.

Temporarily she ignored Zozma and the little girl as she ran towards the broken window to survey the area below. Even though the city glowed, the glow wasn't enough to illuminate much from the distance they were at. Too high off to see clearly. It also didn't help that the creature was clad in black, either.

Em with a frown, turned back at the two who seemed to happily get along with one another. While it was nice to see, this place at the moment was probably not the best place for parental or family bonding time. "I don't think...it's safe here anymore. Perhaps it's best if we return to the safe haven of our homes..." But before anything, she wanted to move Crystal to a safer, less obvious place. Who knows what that...thing was after? Or maybe Rena-san could help them, somehow? Even if the chances were slim, maybe she knew something, anything.

Zozma approached the broken window again, this time keeping a safe distance away due to the being he now held protectively in his arms. "Whatever it was is either suicidal, or really good. I don't know many other besides myself who could make that jump without a second thought..." He mumble out loud as he craned his neck to get a good look at the distance. "Well...if we get back down there and there is a huge hole or splat we'll know the answer to that question..."

He turned his head, glancing at the door before turning back to the window. He shifted the young jumi in his arms so she was cradled safely into the nook of his left arm and used his free hand to steer Em away from the window. "Good idea..we should leave in case it has friends...It's getting lat-" He caught himself. "Early anyways." With that he made his way to the door. He stopped, and looked back to the statue, realizing he'd left the ruby colored pillow on the ground in front of it. Walking over he carefully crouched down and scooped the pillow up and handing it to the child curled in his arm. He rose, his gaze lingering on the stone statue for an extra moment longer before retreating to the door again.

Hesitantly she took one more quick glance at the window. It still hadn't fully sunk in quite yet. Such a creature could leap out the window so flawlessly? It had to be a monster...no Jumi or human could possess such strength to do such things. Of course, its intentions were totally unclear at this time, but she doubted it would jump out a window to its own demise so quickly.

"Before we go...Let me move Crystal to a less obvious place." Brown eyes wandered around anxiously. Why hadn't Rena-san moved Crystal from the front door? Perhaps the grief got the better of her, Em speculated.

Quickly pacing over to the statue, she lightly dragged it across the floor to the corner of the room. Even though Crystal was encased in stone, she seemed rather light. At any rate, Em pulled the curtains down so it would at least hide most of Crystal for a brief moment. There weren't many other places to hide the statue, or at least places Em knew of. It would be too troublesome to drag a statue too far.

The emerald Jumi joined the two at the door rather quickly after leaving Crystal behind the curtains. With another brief glance and an exchange of flickering cores, she quickly closed the door behind their small group. When its day out, she would at the very least have to consult with her family about this. Kira-san would not be pleased, but would definitely offer some useful insights in this situation. Afterwards she would have to contact her fellow Jumi friends about this, too.

"Let's hurry. Best not to make our families worry," She nodded firmly as she started to move towards the stairs.

~What the.....Why are the eggs gone?~

It was given to her, as a test of responsibility. She hadn't like many kids, begged for a pet, but Asellus had suggested it regardless. Everyone needed to learn responsibility and respect for life (Zozma had scoffed at this point) and what better way to teach then to turn the bizarre blue egg that she'd found one morning, over to the young girl.

Citani had taken the test in stride, keeping an eye on the delicate egg and making sure it was within arm's reach at all times. When dusk fell and it was time for bed, she kept it close by on her night stand, nestled in the small red and gold tasseled pillow she had kept. So far everything had gone smoothly.

Today had been no different.

She'd gotten up with the sun as per usual, curling up amongst her pillows with her book. She'd gotten a few chapters of reading done before the other occupants of the house started to wake up, the whole house coming alive with sounds. She'd yet to meet any of the house's illusive residents, usually keeping to her room until the sounds quieted and everyone was out on their own for the day. Only then did she make her way to the kitchen for breakfast.

Asellus had whipped them both up some brunch (It was getting close to noon) and she'd spent a majority of the afternoon chatting with the older woman. Retreating back to her own room for the night she replaced the egg on it's pillow (The egg hadn't left her side all day) and climbed back up into her bed for a few more chapters before she drifted off to sleep.

*****************

She'd woken up late, that much was apparent as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took a look out her window and the sun was high, almost noon. She sat up abruptly, surprised she'd slept so long and was quick to scurry out of and make her bed. Hastily she changed from her night close and was about to make her way downstairs when she reached for the egg (An act that had become almost habitual by now) and found nothing but air.

Citani felt a bolt of panic as she shuffled around her belongings on the small table looking for the precious egg. Not finding it she dropped to her knees to check the floor, blindly reaching and groping underneath the table and her bed, but she still came up empty-handed. "Oh...nononono..." She fretted only to muffled her squeak of surprise at the sudden knock at her door.

"Oh Citani~ Dear are you in there? You didn't come down for breakfast so I decided to play bellhop for the day~" She'd clearly heard the younger girl moving about inside because she opened the door, the tray of food balanced precariously in one hand. She must have been startled by finding the young child on the floor because she quickly set the tray down and was at her side in an instant.

"The egg is missing! I put it right on the pillow like I do every night, only it's gone!" The small jumi continued to panic, not wanting to look up and see disappointment on the woman's face.

The only expression she had was a puzzled expression as she pursed her lips, suddenly lowering her head to the ground to begin looking underneath stuff. She knew the jumi would not lie. If she had put it where she said then something must've happened to it.

They'd spent the rest of the day looking for the lost egg, roping Zoz into their search not more than an hour in. Eventually though they all turned in for bed with Asellus promising that it could wait until they were all rested. After all it was just an egg and eggs couldn't just get up and walk away....

...right....?

**********

(To be continued~)