Welcome to Gaia! ::

The "new born" watched the actions of those around it carefully, rather like a baby would: observing and absorbing all that occurred. Unlike a baby, however, its eyes seemed strangely piercing and penetrating, and it seemed as if it analyzed each action, a judge rather than an observer. It watched them all carefully, but it's eyes seemed to lock on the short form of Tien Tzi more often than the others, and for a longer time. In its mind, running below conscious thought, was the knowledge that it and this boy held a deep bond, a tie of fate between them in a way that might never be voiced and only barely understood.

The child allowed the other man, the tall one, to wrap it in the garments it had been handed as if it were a doll, watching but not reacting. Then a thought ran through its head that hardly seemed its own. It was abstract, loose, and on the sharp edge between consciousness and oblivion, but somehow felt as if it started the child, as if it began its existence, though the strange child would not later remember it. It shook its head as if to clear its thoughts, though it realized it had not had any. Then the child glanced around again at the three males surrounding it: at Muoh Li's astonishment and concern, at Lien Si's indifference, and at Tien Tzi's fear and wonder, and it bowed and said in a clear tone, "Thank you."

Tien Tzi realized after a moment that he stood some ways from the child: after shoving the costume’s meager cover in the child’s direction, he had retreated to a “safe” distance and assumed what might be seen as a defensive stance. He instantly knew that this would not do. The only son of a wealthy family ought not express his fear so obviously: it is unseemly and lowers opinions of the family, even if Long-Gege was, in Tien Tzi’s opinion, the most likely future head of the family, and his own parents were already seen as being rather lax.

So he squared his shoulders and stood taller, in his mind looking manly and mature but in reality looking like an adorably posturing child pretending to be an exaggerated ideal of an adult. “You!” he called out rudely, obviously meaning the strange flower-child. “Do you have a name?” He only received a blank stare in response for a few moments, then a quiet and calm answer of, “I have no name, beyond what I might be given.” Tien Tzi easily fought the slight tinge of inclination to retort, “Don’t we all?”Instead, he simply looked at the child: with no name, no apparent origin, doubtfully a home or connections…it was hard to say what would happen to the child. Struck with inspiration, Tien Tzi took a preparatory breath. “Boy! You’ll be my personal servant now, and do everything I say!”

At the declaration, the child had blinked up at Tien Tzi for a few moments, then nodded in agreement. 'So,' it thought to itself pensively, 'I am a 'boy' in this one's eyes.' And, because his "owner" saw him as such, so he would be. As for the servant issue: he saw no issue with the arrangement and no reason to take offense: it was hardly as if his knowledge of the world was great enough to know whether or not this might be morally or socially acceptable, and saw no reason to believe the boy's ideas were not accurate if applied to most people.

Tien Tzi nodded at the adults statement, glancing down the road in each direction to find the source of the currently faint sound of voices. The flower child did not seem to understand completely: his expression was quizzical, however he seemed disinclined to inquire further.

He seemed startled, however, as Tien Tzi grabbed his arm and pulled him gently to his feet. The "Young Master" had a bit of a crazed grin glance across his features. "People..." Tien Tzi stated, "And that means we can finally get sweets." He looked over at the strange boy and realized that, while he himself no longer wore a costume (not that that would deter him in any way from "Trick-or-Treating"), the odd child wore something that might be considered to be one. He could hardly let the chance for more candy go. "And you're coming too."