Welcome to Gaia! ::

-August 4-

Oh dear. Seems like I've got yet another member of the household now...

It all started out normally, of course. Varlen and I were out shopping for yet ANOTHER bookshelf for the house (damn books keep piling up, I tell you), while taking Mengde and Lewin out for some fresh air. It was daytime, so Letinas was lurking about in the basement. but he always lurks there. Ah well. Moving along. It was almost lunchtine, and so Mengde was starting to get hungry. He was trying to get pocky AGAIN, even though he knows that's dessert food and NOT lunch food. Honestly, if I ever find out who introduced him to that stuff, I may have to smack them. Mengde's been HOOKED.

Anyways! We were looking for lunch, when I hear the sound of a kid crying. It wasn't sobbing hysterically in an attention-grabbing manner, but the soft sobbing of a lost child who's too frightened to draw any undue attention to itself. So I followed the sound of the searching, telling Varlen to keep an eye on the boys and wait up for a second. He gave me a weird look, but nodded.

So I follow the sound of the crying, and I find a little kid sitting miserably outside a dingy secondhand bookshop, crying. He (at least, I THINK it's a he) had short blue hair and really pretty skin- kinda like Mengde's only he's got some bluish tinge to it. He was young, too- a toddler. Wonder how he got there, and where his parent/guardian is. I'm also kinda wondering WHAT he is. He looks kinda elven, but there's something not quite right about it... Aquatic elf, perhaps? I dunno. It'd explain the webbed fingers, though.

"Something wrong?" I asked, causing him to start and look up at me with wide, blue eyes.

He eyed me for a moment, summing me up. Then he nodded. "I can't find my mommy..."

Oh dear. Lost kid. Sitting down next to him, I flashed him a grin. "Don't worry, kid. I won't hurt you. What does your mommy look like?"

"Well..." he said slowly, still eyeing me. "She has dark hair, and is pretty. She also wears dark clothes, too."

"Anything else?"

"She's also called Nychii."

I nodded. Hmm. The name was unfamiliar to me, and since dark hair and clothes are fairly fashionable, things could be a bit difficult. So I stood, holding out a hand to him.

"Okay," I said. "I'll help you find her. Are you hungry, though? Me and my friends are about to have lunch. It'd be nice if you could join us..."

He smiled. "Okay."

So I took him back with the gang and introduced him. Mengde, of course, immediately tried to draft the kid into his 'army'. I was worried he wouldn't understand Mengde's telepathic form of communication, but it seems he can understand Mengde well enough. That's good. He was a little unnerved by Varlen, but no surprise there. I mean, who wouldn't get a little edgy around a 7-foot and usually bad-tempered drow? He didn't seem like he was in one of his best moods when we came back, either. I think Lewin was bugging him again. He took a great interest in Lewin, though, and Lewin was also quite curious.

The five of us went to a favorite cafe of mine and had a rather... erm.... interesting lunch. I learned that the kid's name was Flitch, and he was something called a Sin'aeis. So he wasn't an aquatic elf, then. Ah well. I didn't learn much more than that, because Mengde discovered the glories of squirting ketchup everywhere (particularly himself) and how you could use it to draw things on the tablecloth. It's another bath for him, tonight. And then, just I was cleaning Mengde up as best as I could, Lewin decided to start pestering Varlen about how he should try to marry me and the usual stuff. So Varlen tried to suff Lewin in his soup bowl. You can guess how THAT turned out. A soup-drenched cupid against a 7-foot dark elf mage. Fortunately, things didn't turn out TOO bad. We only got kicked out. Least we didn't get a lifelong ban. Flitch took it well, too, surprisingly. He thought it was all pretty funny.

After we got kicked out, we spent until evening trying to find this Nychii lady. No luck at all, so now he's going to bunk down here for a while. We put an ad in the paper and on the internet. We hope to find his mom soon. If not, he's more than welcome to stay here. Varlen says I'm a sucker for kids, but meh. I can't help it.

Flitch is a sweet kid. He's getting along really well with Mengde, and the two are playing in the living room. Flitch seems really interested in all of my books. Maybe I'll let him look at them in the morning. Until then, I'd better make sure he gets some sleep...

~Playdate with Chael~

The weremutt was reclined in one of the many chairs littering the ridiculously large house that he had *cough*stolenandneverpaidforbecauseitwasabandoned*cough*, and was currently patching up a broken glass object that one of his children had attacked, letting out a heavy sigh. Urgh. What a day it had been... He wondered what possessed him to have multiple babies around at one time, AND Ajani. He must be crazy.

Chael, meanwhile, was sitting by the frontwindow anxiously. Someone was coming to play! He was grinning to himself, rocking back and forth on his feet and humming to himself somewhat. The little guy loved people. And his closest friend at the moment was Ayumi, so maybe some... Erm, other interaction would do him some good... Eheh. Probably a lot of good. But it didn't matter to him, either way. People were people, it was all good. He was a bit dense, so he didn't really notice when he was being mistreated, so any company was good company for him.
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Sure enough, it was Flitch coming over to play. His small webbed hand currently clutching the skirt of his guardian, Anvion, the little Sin stared up at the elven female with large curious blue eyes.

"So you're taking me to meet Chael?"

"Mm-hmm," Anvion replied distractedly, fiddling with the wrapping of a fair-sized plate of cookies. "And just to be nice, I brought some cookies along."

"But I don't like cookies..."

"Which is why I added those weird seaweed crackers you like, too."

A grin spreading across his face, the little Sin seemed to be satisfied by the arrangement. He lapsed into silence, not speaking again until the two started up the walkway to where Chael and his guardian lived. Anvion gave a low whistle at seeing the size of the house, making a muttered comment on his size. Flitch could only stare.

"Wow... That place is huge..."

Anvion laughed quietly. "Looks like a good place for hide and seek or something. But just remember to behave yourself."

Flitch nodded, murmuring his assent, then bounded forward excitedly. Yay! Today was going to be fun! Indeed he was so excited that he practically had to skid to a halt before he crashed into the large front door. Taking a cautionary glance to see that Anvion was right behind him, he reached up and knocked fairly loudly onthe door. Hopefully Chael was into playing and going on adventures...
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A grin spread across Chael's face as soon as he heard the knock on the door, and he hurried over, forced to wait though. He couldn't reach the doorknob. Rrgh... He bounced up and down slightly, waiting for his painfully slow guardian... C'mooon...

Freize yawned and set the shattered object down, pushing himself to his feet and trodding on over calmly towards the door. He shot a smile down towards the little guy before opening the door, offering a smile to their visitors. "Come in." He took a step back, opening the door wider, giving them room to enter. Chael looked towards their visitors cheerily, lifting a hand to wave at them, eyes hooking immediately on the older boy. He offered him a smile. "Hawwo."

Flitch had gotten lucky this time- Chael adored adventures and such, and if the other mentioned something like that, the little Sin' would most certainly decide that they should go and explore... Maybe the basement.
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"Hi!" Flitch eagerly chirped, returning the wave. Anvion also gave a grin and muttered a word of greetings, taking a step inside the house. Shifting the plate of food, she extended one hand to shake that of Freize's.

"Hello there. Thank you for letting Flitch come over to play for a bit. Lord knows he needs a chance to get out of the house for a bit..."

She gave a small laugh, then held out the plate clutched in her other hand. "I've also brought some snacks, too. Any place you want me to put them?"

Meanwhile, Flich was totally ignoring the boring grown-up talk that Anvion was most likely doing. He was too busy trying to see if Chael liked cool stuff. "Hey, what do you want to do? Are we allowed to go exploring? This place is so cool!"
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The weremutt smiled warmly, taking the offered hand and giving it a light shake, "Ah, it's no problem, really.. Chael loves people, he was really excited about all of this..." His gaze dropped to the plate and he nodded slightly, "Ah, of course.." He closed the door now, turning and beginning his walk towards the kitchen, "Follow me." The counter would work. Mm, cookies. He seemed to be a bit brighter after having eyed the sugar- sure, he was a pretty strict meat-eater... But he couldn't resist sweets. Even if he wanted to, it just would never happen.

The little Sin', meanwhile, was beaming at his new companion, nodding after a moment or so. Exploring! Fun! "Yus, w' can 'splore!" Freize had spent a lot of time teaching the kid to talk, and even though he wasn't the brightest of the bunch he was rather advanced for his age. His brother Evarobby couldn't talk at all, so their 'mutt guardian had decided to spend all of his efforts on Chael. It had paid off. And the kid knew exactly where he wanted to explore, right off. "Bassmen'!" The basement! Yes, of course!
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Anvion grinned, giving the two Sin' a quick glance. Well, it seems the two had hit it off right away. That was a good thing. Welll, it wasn't much of a surprise, either. Flitch was good at making friends.

"All right," she said, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I hope I baked enough. If not, I'll be sure to bake more if the two get along well enough for another playdate...

"Basement?" Flitch cocked his head to the side curiously. "Sure!" Maybe they had a vampire living in a basement like Anvion did. That'd be cool. He grinned. "Where's the basement?"
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Freize gave the two a thoughtful look, and then smiled to himself. "I'm sure it'll be fine. It was really nice of you." He tucked on hand into his pocket, tail swaying in an idle sort of manner behind him.

"Yaah." The angel food cake boy simply kept on smiling, turning his head towards the stairs that lead to the lower floor and eventually the basement. "Dis 'ay. (This way.)" He made his way towards the stairs now, having dropped to scoot along (hey, he could stand for short periods of time if he was holding onto something, but walking? Heckno,) hoping this was actually where the basement was... He got lost sometimes. Oh well, he was still little. He was allowed to do that.
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Eagerly, Flitch followed after the smaller Sin', his large blue eyes alight with curiosity. For the most part he looked at the huge old mansion about him, grin wide across his face. This place was so cool! It was like some haunted mansion or something. Only it wasn't scary, like in the books. This place was just neat! He wanted to explore all over, but first things first. The basement sounded fun.

"So, do you know what's down there? Or is it going to be like some great exploring adventure quest?"

Anvion watched the two scurry off, one eyebrow raised. "Mm-hmm," she agreed distractedly, "well, you were nice enough to let Flitch come over, so I thought it'd be a fair trade..."

A fairly akward silence fell on her now, causing her to fidget slightly with her long blue hair, tied back like it almost always was. She was always akward at small talk, and unfortunately she had run out of what little she really had to say. "Er... So..."
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Chael was excited he finally got to venture around with someone now, he had never really been down here before. Atleast not exploring. Freize had told him what everything was, and he could sometimes remember a little bit. Hm. "Av'ent're kwes'! (Adventure Quest!)" Came his bright response. He had never been down there before, and he didn't really know anything about it... But that never bothered him about anything before. He didn't know much about a lot, after all.

The weremutt immediately went in as soon as he felt how awkward the silence was, smiling, "Care to go... Sit.. Down.." He glanced down to find a toddler at their feet. Evarobby. "Hey there, Eva." The little treekangaroo-boy simply stared up at them for a moment before waving.. Freize looked to Anvion with a smile, "This is Eva. Er, Evarobby.." The little squirt tilted his head, and then smiled and lifted his arms to the stranger as if wanting to be picked up. He was a friendly little guy.
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Anvion smiled, bending down to pick up the little toddler. "Aww, how cute. Hey there, Evarobby. I'm Anvion." Lifting him up, she gently shifted him into a comfortable holding position and smiled over at Freize. "He's adorable. Is he your child, or are you acting as a guardian?"

Flitch down on the steps and scooting down them at a pace to match that of Chael. "Oooh, cool. Maybe we'll find something really neat. Like a vampire. I have a vampire living in the basement whre I live. He doesn't bite, though. And he's really weird..."
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Evarobby smiled brightly as he was picked up, cuddling immediately into the woman. He was an affectionate little guy. Freize smiled in return to Anvion, "Ah... Well... I have a wierd way of thinking. Kids that are given to me as babies I like to consider my children, and those that come as kids I consider myself more of a 'guardian'... I haven't actually had a kid of my own yet, but.." He suddenly seemed extremely cheery, "Arafel is pregnant.. Erm, my.." This part was confusing. Arafel and Frieze didn't know what they were to eachother, just that they were together. ".. Significant other." That'd work.

Chael was sliding down on his belly on the stairs, listening to the older boy curiously. He just smiled at what he said, although he wasn't sure he knew what a vimpire was. What was it? Hm, oh well.. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked around.. The lower floor was like the entrance into a whole different house, with a miniature kitchen and a TV room and an airhockey table right by the stairs. There were lotsa rooms down here, but the baby didn't know quite where they went. He just began his crawl towards where the second set of stairs were.
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Anvion nodded. "I see. I'm pretty much the same way. My friend Varlen says I'm almost as bad about getting kids as I am about collecting books. Can't help it, though. Since I can't have kids, I've decided to make my home open for anyone in need of a place and a family..." She smiled, stroking Evarobby's head absentmindedly. "And congrats. I wish you two and the kid the best of luck."

Flitch gave a small gasp of amazement when they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Wow! That TV is huge!" He wanted to explore more of the area, but Chael was already heading to another set of stairs, so Flitch had no real choice but to follow. Oh well. Maybe they'd explore it later. Hopefully.
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Freize nodded slowly, "I can relate." He pondered over his wording for a moment or so, as he was never all too good with conversation... But he had a point he wanted to get across in there somewhere, so he'd have to try. "See, Arafel and I went to a fertility clinic for it, because.." How to put it..? "There's something I have in my blood I don't want the kid getting.. So since we were never really able to have kids of our own, we both took in a lot of 'em that didn't have a family of their own." That should work... Hopefully.

Chael never would have thought to explore the lower level, him with his one-track mind. For him right now, there was only the basement. He huffed slightly, taking a momentary break in his crawling. Geez, it was farther than he had thought.... If this was even the right way. He hoped so. The little angel food cake boy turned his head to look up at the older male for a moment before pushing himself back up and continuing his way to and down the stairs. He was stopped by a door. He looked up, wondering how in the world this got there and how to get it out of the way. He looked to Flitch and pointed at it, "Unh..?"
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Anvion nodded slowly, an understanding smile on her face. "Ah. I understand perfectly..." She set down Evarobby, then straightened, smoothing out her skirt in order to fill the momentary akward silence. "Oh!" she exclaimed, an idea hitting her. "Are any of your other kids around? I'd like to meet them..."

At first, Flitch didn't get exactly what Chael was asking about. He wasn't too good with babies... "Huh...? Oh. The door, right." Reaching up to the knob, Flitch managed to grab it and push the door open. Of course, he almost fell down the stairs in the process since the knob was so darn high and he was all off-balance, but the dark and mysterious basement more than made up for it. "Wow..." he breathed. "This place is huge..."

~Playdate with Ani! Take 1!~

"YAYSPRINKLERRR!" Anisia shouted happily as she ran through the hallway of the house with a bathing suit on, heading toward the backyard.

Earlier Kiita set up the sprinkler and a small-sized pool, obviously made for kids. She wanted Ani to have fun today. She deserved it.

Immedietely Ani began to hop back and forth around the sprinkler, enjoying the water on a summer day. Kiita told her that Flitch would be coming soon. Fun!
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A new playdate! Flitch was happy. He was going to see Anisia, whom he'd met before but hadn't really gotten to know. Oh well! It was still going to be fun. He just knew it was. Walking towards the house with his guardian Anvion, a big smile was spread across his face. Anvion had brought cookies and crackers again, her typical offerings for whenever she was going anywhere. It was apparently some elven tradition. Oh well!

Excited, he skipped slightly ahead, darting up to the door and knocking on it by the time Anvion was only halfway up the walk. He'd also brought some books in games, in case Ani wanted to play. After all, games were fun!
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"Ani-!" Kiita was about to call as she answered the door, but stopped and began to laugh.

In the distance, a delighted "Wheeee!" filled the air as Anisia ran around the house to greet her playdate for today. Her streaked hair was soaked and water droplets ran down her arms and legs. "FLITCH!" She said with a smile and went over to hug him, not thinking of whether he wanted to stay dry or not!

Kiita smiled to Anvion and Flitch, "Well, hello!" She greeted.
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Flitch laughed, accepting the hug, though inwardly hoping she didn't get his things too wet. "Hey, Ani!"

Anvion grinned, holding a fairly large tray of cookies and crackers. "Hello! Thought I'd bring over some snacks for the kids. I hope Ani likes cookies. Flitch doesn't, so I brought along some crackers for him."
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Anisia gave Flitch a grin and turned to listen to the adults. Flitch didn't like cookies? That's crazy! Cookiesweresogood! "COOKIES!" She said excited. "Thank you!" She added after a moment, giving Anvion a smile.

Kiita nodded, "As you heard, Ani loves cookies. And that was real nice of you." She backed away from the door and motioned for them to come in. "C'mon in! We can set the cookies and crackers down in the kitchen for now."

The protector lead them down a hallway stood across the door leading to the kitchen and other rooms branching off from the hallway. A staircase was to the left of the front door a few feet away, leading to the upstairs rooms of course. "Go upstairs and dry off, Ani."

She was about to follow the three of them and gave a quick pout, wanting to get to the playing already! It soon was gone, and Anisia ran up the stairs.

"So, I don't believe I got your name." Kiita said, making conversation while they waited for Anisia to come back down, "I'm Kiita." She said with a smile.
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Anvion grinned, setting the tray of food down. "I'm Anvion. And of course, this is Flitch." She pointed offhandly at Flitch, who had followed the two of them into the kitchen.

He grinned and waved akwardly, due to the fact that he was checking to see if any of his books were damaged by the water. They were satisfyingly dry, though, so he set them down on the chair, looking about in curiosity. Hopefully Ani would come back down soon. Grown-up talk could be really boring.
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Kiita took a seat at the cherry wood table, "Pleasure to meet you, Anvion."

Anisia came in with new, not to mention dry, clothes on and came to the table, grabbing two of the cookies and beginning to nibble on the first one, "Mmm. So good!" She said with a delighted look on her face.

After a minute or two, she was already on her second one, "C'monFlickchlessgopway!" Her mouth was full, therefore her words weren't coming out right.

"Ani, swallow first."

With a big gulp, she swallowed and grinned, "C'mon, lets go play!" She said to Flitch, grabbing his wrist and pulling him toward and up the stairs.

Kiita gave the two Sin a smile before turning her attention to Anvion again, "Me and Anisia have been gone a while. I might be mistaken, but are you Flitch's original protector, or was he adopted out again?" She said curiously.
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Anvion shook her head. "Nope. I'm his second guardian now. His old one just up and vanished, so I've taken him in to live with us. We looked for his old guardian for a while, but no word. So Flitch is a part of my family, now. I'm not complaining, though. He's a good kid."

She let out a small sigh, sinking into a chair opposite that of Kiita's. "But anyways, thanks for inviting Flitch over. It's really nice knowing that he's got such nice friends. And Ani's so cute! So energetic, too..."

"Okay!" Flich replied, allowing Anisia to drag him upstairs. "What're we going to play? I brought games, too. Fun ones!"

(Like the camping trip, I also misplaced the thread with the rest of this PD...)

~trip to the clinic~


Sitting in the small front waiting room of the clinic, Anvion and Flitch were waiting. Flitch had been complaining of his eye bothering him, so Anvion had booked him with the closest clinic to get his eye looked at to see if anything was wrong. She doubted it was anything serious, but if it was contagious, she sure as hell didn't want the rest of the family catching it. Not with her current budget. Trips to the clinic could be expensive, you know.

Peering over the edge of the book she was pretending to read, Anvion gave Flitch a look. He was rubbing at his eye, and although she'd told him multiple times to NOT rub it, he kept doing it. Sigh. Kids.

"Flitch. Stop rubbing."

Pausing his task of rubbing his itchy eye, Flitch frowned at Anvion. "But Anvion! It's itchy. And it huuurts..."

Although he wasn't much into whining, his irritated eye gave him reason to. It itched like hell, AND it hurt at the same time. Rubbing at it gave both symptoms mild relief, though it always seemed more sore when he was done rubbing. Hopefully the doctor could fix it. His eye was sooore...
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Used to running around by herself, Jani hadn't been surprised when Indu had told her to go to the clinic alone. Her redheaded mother hated the doctor's office even more than the potato-girl, who was used to being treated by Yukito. Strolling in, she saw a blue-haired... Boy... That looked familiar. She didn't think they knew each other, but that hair was stuck in her memory from when she was first given to Indu.

"Hallo."

She was playing with her slingshot, knowing better than to shoot it inside. Noticing him rubbing at his eye, she leaned forward to give it the once over.

"Tch. Naw bad!"
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Yukito walked out of the room into the waiting room to look around leaving the door opened so that the one put in his charge could follow him. There were people in and since he was helping out today he wanted to see who was here and they were here for, to help to check them in.

It would make less work for the doctors for him to play the part of the receptionist/nurse today instead of the intern. Two of the Sin'aeis were present, he gave a smile as both of them were people he knew, "Flitch, Jani. Hellos, how are you today?" He asked with a bright smile, tail wagging back and forth rapidly.
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Dante wriggles slightly, as he's in Yukito's arms, and reaches out to the ones he knows. Flitch is a personal favorite - he would very much like to be able to talk. He flips his tail a bit, and starts to cry - He misses his daddies.
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Sjajan was slightly dissapointed that Yukito hadn't remarked on her new advancement into toddlerhood and looked quite upset about it. Storing the name 'Flitch' in her mind for later use, she stomped over and peered up at her tall friend, not noticing the crying babe in his arms.

"I growed!"

Her chin was thrust up at him, as if daring him to deny it, and with that slingshot in hand, looked almost threatening. If it wasn't for the girlish ponytails or her cute face, that is.
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Flitch smiled weakly at Sjajan as she looked azt him. He didn't know this girl, and had his eye not been bothering him so much, he would have most likely been a lot friendlier. But no. Not right now, at least.

Drawing his attention to Yukito and Dante when they entered, he flashed another weak grin, once more raching up to rub at his eye, which was by now starting to become quite red. "Hi, Yukito..."

"Flitch! Stop rubbing!"
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Yukito looked over at Jani, eyes widening a bit, "Wow, you did grow didn't you? And how cute you look." He gave her a smile, "Bet you will be able to protect me all that much easier now huh?" He loved that Jani had told him when she was even smaller then now that she was gonna protect him from stuff, he found it cute and sweet.

Then he turned to Flitch as he heard the blue haired Sin'aeis's guardian scolding him for rubbing at his eye. Yukito shifted Dante so that he was in one arm and wrapped his tail around the little catfish boy and then reached the other hand out to cup Flitch's chin and tilted it up so that he could get a look at the eye.
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Flitch looked yp at Yukito, dropping his hand so that his now-reddish eye could be seen. It hurt more than ever now, and any chance to make it stop hurting and itching was quite welcome to the youn Sin'. "It hurts..." He murmured. "And itchy."

"I think it may be pinkeye or something," Anvion offered, looking up from her book. "But I'm not much of a medic, so I'm probably wrong..."
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Yukito tilted his head to the side then nodded looking at the eye more closely, "I might have something that I can give you for it, a potion that will ease the itchiness and make the sweeling decrease."

He turned to look at Jani then got a big smile on his face, "Wow, you did grow. Aren't you adorable." He said with a little grin, "Very cute. Your hair is pretty like that."
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"I dun like it much."

Plus Ancelin had thrown a fit when she'd seen it. Smiling anyways, she turned to eye Flitch. His eye didn't look to great, and she was glad she hadn't touched it. Grinning back at Yukito, she showed him her slingshot, and all the stones she carried to arm it.

"Yep. I'll beat 'em up if they try tah mess wid yah."
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Flitch grinned. Something that'll make his eye stop itching? Yay! Looking happily up at Yukito, he nodded eagerly. "Okay! Thanks a lot, Yukito!"

His mood having been improved considerably by the fact that Yukito had something that would make his eye feel better (and stop itching!), he shot Sjajan a puzzled look. "Why'd anyone wanna hurt Yuki? He's nice..."
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Yukito gave Jani a smile, "I thank you for that Jani." He said his tail starting to flick back and forth. He rather liked the idea of her watching his back for him even if it wasn't something that he thought that he needed. As long as he was nice to people he didn't see a danger to his person.

He looked to Flitch, "Its rather like eyedrops, a couple drops in your eyes once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening. It should clear up in a couple days." He said as he went over to fetch his bag.
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Now Jani turned her attention to Flitch, looking him up and down briefly, as if sizing him up. She didn't know him, only remembered the blue hair from when she was a baby, however, she was a rather large toddler, bigger than Ancelin, although she was younger. She was about Flitch's height.

"Cuz some persons are bull-ees."

Like Akilah, she failed to mention aloud, instead watching Yukito go get something out of his bag. She casually rolled up the shirtsleeve she was wearing over her left arm, to expose a bloody, but shallow, wound.

"Yuki, you band-age?"

She'd been fighting with her brothers again. Turning brown eyes to Flitch, she gave him a warm grin.

"Wa's yah name?"
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"Okay! Thank you, Yuki!" Flitch smiled up happily at him, sliding down from his seat to follow the older Sin'. Inadvertently he reached up to rub at the eye again, but a warning noise from Anvion quickly made him drop his hand back to his side.

"I'm Flitch," he smiled, pointing at himself and smiling back at Jani. Something about the girl seemed vaguely familiar... but what? Had he seen her before? Maybe.
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Yukito looked over at Jani's wound, his eyes widening some then nodded, he should start getting used to that. For some reason he was certain that she was going to be getting a lot of wounds like that. She was a fighter and he was a healer, he would do his best to take care of her when she got wounds like that, "Let me give Flitch his eye stuff and then we can clean and bandage your wound how does that sound?" He asked.

Yukito shifted the sleeping Danted to his chest and wrapped his tail to hold him like it was one of those baby carriers, "Ahh. Here it is." He said lifting up a pretty colored potion, "Let me got and see if I can find an eyedropper. It will make it easier to use these." He said then went in search of that. A quick search in the first examine room and he had one in his grasp and he quickly returned to Flitch, "Now. All you have to to do," An explaination loud enough for both Flitch and his Protector to hear, "Is to pop the cork out, dropper in, and get some of the potion."

He set it and the stopper aside to reach up and gently take hold of Flitch's chin, "Now, you tilt his head back and two drops..." drip, drip onto Flitch's eye, "Its gonna be a little cool feeling. Now you close your eye Flitch and keep it closed for about a minute and thats it."

He put the extra back in the bottle and put the stopper back in, "Is there anything else that you need looked at while your hear Flitch?"
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Flitch shook his head, smiling and taking the eyedropper. "Nope! Thanks, Yuki!" Happily, he hugged the older Sin' in thanks before grinning at Jani. "It was nice seeing you, Jani. Maybe we can see each other again."

Anvion grinned, standing up. "Thanks a lot, Yukito. How much do we owe you?"
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Yukito gave a smile and returned the boys hug before looking over at his protector giving an odd, thoughtful look, "Hmm. Not sure." He said, he had never taken payment before for his work helping the other Sin with his potions so he really didn't see a need for it. After all the contents of the potions were free and the bottles they were held in his mom gave hom and he made them on his own, "Ah... don't know." He said shaking his head.
----------------------------
Smiling, Anvion dug about in her pockets. "Well, if that's the case..." she pulled out a small crumpled mess of five-dollar bills, pressing them into th Sin's hand. "There ya go. Use it to buy whatever you want, mmkay? Thanks again!"

She headed to the door, Flitch following her. Flitch also smiled, waving to Yukito as he left.

"Bye Yuki! Bye Jani! Come over to play sometime!"

-Stupid Siblings-

Parvana was coming! Flitch was excited. Ever since telling Anvion about their great adventure, she seemed quite pleased that he had made such a good friend and had even managed to arrange for her to come over today. Hooray!

He was flitting about the house, too jittery to sit still and just read a book or play quietly. After all, Parvana was cool! And he had lots of neat stuff to show her. Like Aileen the bog cat. She was funny. You could do anything to her, and she'd still be asleep. He hoped Kuzunohara would leave them alone, though. Although younger than Flitch, the kitsune had grown much more quickly, and was butting in on Flitch's buisness. Flitch didn't like that. Besides, Kuzu could get to become too loud. He didn't like that, either. Oh well. Maybe they could hide out near Varlen. Or play outside. Or in his room.

--------

Parvana looked up at Shanara and grinned, her Momma was taking her to see Filtch! She had so much fun with him last time and was so happy that she was going to see him again so soon. Her wings fluttering wildely as she nearly skipped along side.

Stopping at the door Shanara knocked on the door waiting patinatily for someone to answer, her fox ears twitching back and forth. Parvana jumped up and down waiting to see Filtch.

--------

Upon hearing the door being knocked upon, Anvion looked up from her boook that she had been reading. Oh? Ah, yes. Parvana was coming over today. How could she forget, with Flitch bouncing around the house like a madman? He'd been really looking forward to this. Anvion couldn't help but grin as she stood up. It was lovely to see Flitch having such good friends. And from what he had been taelling her, Parvana sounded like a real nice one.

Standing, the elven female made her way to the door, almost tripping over Flitch as he darted around her legs to make it to the door first. She giggled. Kids. So amusing.

PARVANA WAS HERE! Naturally Flitch had dropped whatever he was doing and shot towards the door as fast as his small legs could take him. He had to skid to a halt before opening the door, reaching up in order to turn the knob and pull the heavy door open.

"Vana!" he exclaimed with happiness, bouncing out onto the front step and giving her a big hug. "Yay!"

Again, Anvion giggled, offering Shanara a wave. "Hello! Come on in, you two!"

--------

Parvana squeeled as the door was opned tackling Filtch as much as he tackled her. "Filtch! See, Momma brought me over!" Her small arms warping around his chest just under his arms.

Shanara started laughing, a warm soft chuckle, as she watched the two kids hug, which almost looked more like wreastling. Her tail swishing back and forth, she reached down ruffling Parvana's shining purple hair. Shanara smiled at the elfen woman waving, "Hello, nice to meet you, and you to Filtch." She looked down at the boy a frendily smile on her face.

Vana giggled taking Filtch hand as they went into the house following the little boy. She looked up at the other woman waving, "Hi!"

--------

Anvion grinned, returning Parvana's wave. "Hi. It's lovely to meet you both, as well. You hungry? I've got some cookies in the oven if you don't mind waiting for a few minutes. If not I can whip together something more to your liking. I know Flitch isn't too fond of sweets, so I've got some other things in the kitchen..."

Leading Parvana in by the hand, Flitch had started up his own conversation, ignoring Anvion. "Hey Shana, what do you wanna do? There's a lot of fun stuff! Oh, oh, do you wanna see out kitties? They're really soft. We can play with them, too!"

--------

PArvana's black glittering eyes went wide at the thought of being able to play with baby kittens. She had seen them once at her house, but Sires wouldn't let her touch them. He said they were wild cats even though they looked like house cats, and thier momma wouldn't like it if she touched them. She looked up at her Momma curiouesly, Shanara grinned and nodded, "Go, it's okay becuse they belonge to Filtch's family." The foxen made shooing motioens at the two little ones.

Parvana cheered, looking back at Filtch, "Yeah, that would be nifity. I saw some once but couldn't play with them. I would like that very much!" Her face lit up in joy at the thought of getting to play with them this time.

Shanara followed Anvion to do grown up stuff while the kids played. "We can wait. Parvana likes nearly everything. Thank you."

--------

Flitch grinned. "Okay! I know where one is." Of course. Aileen was lazy, so she could always be found asleep in some patch of sunlight. Kon, on the other hand, was usually out and about. Oh well! Ai was funny. You could bother her all you wanted, and she never got mean. Flitch liked her.

Leading her into the living room, he quickly spotted the large black cat; sleeping in a patch of sun, like always. Grinning, Flitch let go of Parvana's hand and pointed at Aileen as he approached her. "That's Ai. She sleeps a lot. She's really soft, though. And nice."

Anvion laughed, waving a hand t Shanara. "Oh, it's no problem!" She watched Flitch show off the cat to Vana and grinned. "It's really nice to see that Flitch has such a good friend. I've been so busy that I haven't been taking him out as much as I should. But it's wonderful to see that he and Vana get along so nicely..."

--------

Parvana slowly crept up to the cat, her eyes wide as she watched her body slowly move up and down as she breathed. She sat down on her knees a few inches away from her, her yellow hand reaching out to touch the cat's fur and stopping short. Gulping she looked up at Filtch, "Is it okay if I touch her? She won't get mad?" WHen Yuber had messed with the cat he had come away with big angery red scratches all over....

Shanara grinned as she found a place to sit back. "I know what you mean. Vana has just started to get to know some of the other Sin. Ever since the last time they met she has been talking about him on and off almost non stop. Telling me about thier great advunter. I think she really likes playing with him."

--------

"Mmm-hmm! You can pet her. She doesn't bite or get mean unless you pull her tail or ears," Flitch replied confidently. As if to prove his reassurances, he reached out and petted her. She heaved a contented sigh, stretching out so that she could get her belly rubbed. Flitch giggled. "She likes to get her tummy petted, too. She thinks it feels good."

"Ah, so she told you about the island adventure, then?" Anvion returned the grin. "Flitch told me about it, too. Multiple times. Did he really teach Parvana how to swim? He seems to be really proud of that fact..."

--------

Parvana grinned and reached out her hand her fingers genteally running her fingers over the cats tummy. She felt and heard the creature purr, she pulled her hand back giggling widley. She clapped her hands before reaching forwared, this time a little braver laying her hand flat and softly petted the content kitten. "Kitty very soft, makes funny sounds to!"

Shanara breathed a sigh of relife, "I'm not sure how he manged it, but he did. I'm so greatful to him. We've had a couple close calls with Vana and water. It's like she is drawn to it." She chuckled, "Parvana wanted to show the family so badely she made everyone come out to the pond to watch. She even bullied her brother into it."

--------

Flitch giggled. "Hee hee! That's her happy noise. She always does it when she gets her tummy petted, because it makes her happy. My other kitty Kon makes the happy noise when you rub his ears. He likes that."

As if in response to his name, a smaller cat appeared. Unlike Aileen, he was bright yellow, with blue and grren stripes. Flitch clapped his hands. "Oh! Kon! That's Kon. He's nice too."

Anvion laughed. "Wow. I'm really glad she learned, though. 'tis always a good thing to know when you're attracted to water. Like Flitch when it comes to bath time. He's impossible to get out..."

--------

Parvana giggled, inhcing closer to Ail slowing rubbing her hand up and down the kitty's tummy as she watched Filtch play with the livelyer Kon. "I like your kitty's Filtch, they are lots of fun." She grinned happily.he paused petting Ail for a mmoment and started to laugh as the cat started to nudge her hand for more.

Shanara chuckled, "Parvana likes her bath time to, she loves to aplash all over the place until the bath room and everyone in it is soaking wet."

--------

"I like them, too. They sometimes sleep with me at night," he replied with a satisfied nod. "It's nice. They're soft and warm at night. And their whiskers tickle a lot. That's fun."

Grinning, Anvion nodded once again. "Oh, I've had those days with Flitch, too. I'm So glad Lewin enjoys cleaning it up. Saves me a hellvua lot of time. I don't know where that little bugger disappered to, though. Ah well."

The oven let out a loud beep, causing Anvion to start and then rise. "Sorry," she said, pulling on an oven mitt and opening oven. "Let me check the cookies... Ah, good. Kids! Cookies are ready if you want them!"

--------

Parvana giggled, snuggling her face against Ali's soft fur. "Oooo that must be nice, maybe I can talk Momma into getting me a kitty to." She lifted her head, hearing Anvion call them, her black eyes glittering brightly. "Yummy cookies!" she squealed.

Shanara chuckled as she watched her daughter come running into the kitchen, her purple hair bobbing up and down as she ran. Her wings fluttering as she stopped in front of Shanara and Anvion, looking back to make sure Filtch had followed her. Shanara looked down at her daughter lifting an eyebrow. "What do you say?" She asked firmly. Parvana blushed a little, lowering her head slightly. "May I have some cookies please Miss Anvion?"

--------

Flitch smiled. "Kitties are nice," he said as he followed Parvana into the kitchen. He didn't care for sweets, but Anvion would probably give him some crackers with salmon on them. THOSE were his favorite snacks.

Sure enough, when he entered, he saw Anvion pulling out some salmon from the fridge. He grinned. Yay! He loved salmon on crackers.

Anvion grinned at Parvana. "Well, that was quite polite! You get extra cookies for that. Here you go," she said, handing Parvana a plate with cookies. "That's for you. And here you go, Flitch. Salmon and crackers, since you're not too fond of sugar..."

--------

Parvana grinned, clapping her hands before taking the plate from Miss Anvion and sitting down on the floor. Happliey she munched on one of her treats rocking side to side as she hummed. Little crumbles sticking to her face and drifting down her clothes. She turned looking up at her Momma a huge grin on her face, only to see Shanara had a stren look on her face, a snow white eyebrow arched. The little girl blushed her cheeks becoming several shades darker then her normale color. Looking shyly back up at Miss Anivon. "Thank you Miss Anvion..." She mummred, her wings dropping slightly.

"Very good Parvana." Shanara smiled down at her daughter ruffling her hair. Parvana grinned, her joy in life restored once more. Taking another cookie devoring it in much the same way as the first.

Parvana paused, blinking her huge sparkling eyes as she looked over to see what Filtch was eating. Looking down at her cookie, then back over at the strange pink stuff on the craker that he was eating. "What that?"

--------

"This?" Flitch asked, peeling off a bit of salmon. "It's salmon. It's a type of fish. Do you wanna try some? It's really good..." He held out a fish-covered cracker to her, smiling. "Here. I doesn't taste good on cookies, though. But it tastes good with crackers."

--------

Parvana blinked, looking at the dark pink meat on the cracker, looking down at the cookie in her hand then back at the cracker. She set the cookie down on her plate and carefully dusted her fingers of all cookie crumbs. Flitch had said it does not tast good with cookies so she wanted to make sure no cookie stuff mixed with the salmon.

Taking the offered snack she stuck out her pink tounge to tast it a little. Parvana had never had salmon before, so the tast was very new to her. It didn't tast as fishy as say tuna or fish sticks that Momma made every so often. Encouraged by the fact that she didn't emeadtially dislike it she opned her mouth wide biting about half of the cracker off.

The look on the toddler's face was priceless as she struggled to chew and swallow what was in her mouth. It wasn't the worse thing she had tasted..... but it was not something she would want to eat on a regulare basis. Carefully Parvana sat the cracker on the plate, her eyes watering a bit. "Thank you Flitch." SHe mummred remmbering her manners.

Shanara chuckled pulling out a juice box from the bag she always took everywhere that Parvana went. "Here sweetie, take a few sips of this." She pulled out an apple juice box looking up at Anvion to make sure it was okay before offering it to Flitch.

--------

Giggling as he watched Parvana eat the salmon cracker, Flitch covered his mouth with his hands. The look on her face was so funny! He couldn't help but laugh. "Vana, you look so funny!"

"Flitch..." Anvion responded with a sigh. "You shouldn't laugh at others. Now apologize."

"Sorry..." Flitch said, bowing his head. "You looked funny, though, Vana. Like this!" He tried to imitate the funny face she had made, but soon broke out into laughter again. When Shanara offered the juice box, he started to shake his head in refusal, but decided against it and took the box. "Thank you, Miss Shana."

Anvion nodded in approval. Although she knew Flitch didn't much care for fruit, she knew he'd take the box so as not to hurt Shanara's feelings. He was a sweet kid like that.

--------

Parvana gulped down the juice, using the sweet juice to wash the fishy tast out of her mouth. She started giggling as Flitch did his impression of her. She munched on another cookie as she thought for a moment. She nodded her head as if decieding something. Carefully she set down her juice and whiped the crumbs off of her hands. Done with her snake she waited for Flitch to finish his so they could go and play.

--------

Flitch smiled, clapping his hands in childish excitement. "What do you wanna do now, Vana? Do you wanna go and play in the back yard?"

--------

Parvana nodded exciteadly picking up her napkin and whiping the crumbs from her hands and face in a rush. The standing up exciteadly, almost bouncing with energy. She had so much fun playing with Flitch last time, she couldn't wait to see what was in store for them this time.

--------

Flitch stood, once again taking Parvana's hand. "This way, then!" He led her out and in the living room, pushing open one of the large sliding glass doors and tepping out onto a good-sized wooden porch, which overlooked a large yard that had fruit trees lining the sides and what looked to be a forest starting on the far end. It wasn't a particularly big forest, but large enough for Flitch to spend hours exploring. He led Parvana out into the yard, pointing out all the trees.

"That's apples... that's cherries... Those're peaches.... Varlen made them magic so Anvion can have fruit all the time. You can have some too if you want. Or do you wanna go play adventure in the forest? Or-"

A soft thud made Flitch pause, frowning. A figure had just slipped out from the apple tree, and was making his way towards them. It was a boy, with baggy and dirty jeans and a green/gold shirt, with slightly shaggy orange-red hair. He had a tail, like a fox's. He trotted up to them, waving.

"Oy, Minnow!" He called, making Flitch groan. "Who's the girl?"

--------

Parvana looked around the back yard, her dark eyes wide and sparkling in aww. Those grew on trees??? She always thought they came from the big outside store her Momma like so much. This place was huge, and so very pretty, her Momma didn't have fruit trees at thier home.

Parvana's head snapped up, looking over at the new comer. She stepped a little closer to Flitch her gripping his hand a little tighter. She had seen the look Flitch had on his face when the other boy appared. She blinked, the new boy looked alot like her Mom, so maybe he wasn't so bad... but it also looked like Flitch didn't like him... so then again maybe he was.

She decied to wait, to see what he would act like.

--------

"Eh..." casting a glance at Parvana, he quickly returned his gaze to the fox boy. "This is my friend Parvana. She's here to play today. Parvana, this is my older brother Kuzu."

He made the proper introductions to be polite, but it was clear from the look on his face that he didn't want Kuzu to be here. Kuzu, however, looked over Parvana smugly.

"Weeeell.... Your friend's a cutie. Too bad she's hangin' out with you, though." He snorted with laughter, as if he had just told an amusing joke. "Hey Parvana, if you wanna hang out with a real boy, you can come with me..."

--------

Parvana blinked again, she had the feeling that she was missing something very important. She stepped closer to Flitch, wrapping her free arm around his. "Flitch is real. See?" She poked Flitch's arm, to show he was solid. "I like playing with Flitch, he is nice. You aren't nice, at least not right now." Her brows furrowed as she glared at the bigger boy.

--------

Oh. NO. Kuzu was NOT going to say what Flitch hoped he was going to say. Although his bigger brother was usually a jerk, Flitch never thought Kuzu would say-

Kuzunohara tilted his head. He regarded Parvana curiously, then shrugged. "Flitch is real," he agreed. "But Flitch isn't a boy. Didn't you know that?"

Hell. Kuzu DID say it! Flitch knew perfectly well that he wasn't either a boy or a girl and was totally fine with it, but it always made him feel kind of ashamed when people put it that way. It was like... like... like he was some freak. His face reddening with anger, he glared up at Kuzu. "Well I'm not a girl! And I'll tell Anvi you're picking on us! You're just jealous because I have friends and you don't."

--------

Parvana blinked, looking from the bigger boy to Flitch seeing the look of anger and....something else there. Flitch was really angery, she could hear it in his voice and see it in his face as he yelled at his brother. Once he was done she place a hand on either side of Flitch's face and made him look at her.

Her small hands where warm and soft and her solid black eyes glittred as she studied his face carefully. He could feel her eyes trace every line of his face every feature very carefully. "Flitch is Flitch." She finally stated firmly, her wings slowly moving back and forth as she spoke. "The rest doesn't matter, as long as he is Flitch, and I like Flitch." She smiled up at him, bfore turning and looking over at Kuzu.

Calmy she walked over to him, glaring up at the boy that was nearly twice her size. "And you are not nice to Flitch!" Her foot landing as hard as she could kick on the shin of his left leg right below the knee. "Leave my Flitch alone!"

--------

Flitch stared at Parvana in surprise, his mouth hanging open slightly in surprise. So he was Flitch... and that was good enough for Parvana? For some inexplicable reason, Flitch felt tears welling up in his eyes, even though he wasn't hurt or sad. In fact he was... happy. Very, very happy.

"Thanks, Vana," he murmured, wiping at his eyes with the back of his arm. It would be silly for him to cry in front of Parvana now.

Kuzunohara let out a yowl of pain, dancing backward on one foot, his hands holding his now-injured shin. "OW! Goddamit Flitch! Your girlfriend's crazy! I was just kidding!" Still obviously in pain, he shot inside the house and upstairs into his room. Well. It looked like he wouldn't be bothering THEM for a while...

--------

Parvana watched the fox boy go running into the house, scratching her head. Blinking suprised and confusied at how quickly the older boy went running away. "Huh... it normally takes lots of kicks and me yelling at Momma to get Yuber to leave me alone." She paused looking over at Flitch, tilting her head even more confuised. "Did I make you sad?" She moved back over to him, brushing her fingers over one of his cheeks, catching a tear on her finger tips. Had she said the wrong thing? It had made sense to her....

--------

"No," Flitch replied, furiously wiping away his tears and smiling at Parvana. "You just made me happy. Really really happy."

He gave her a big hug, the biggest hug he'd ever given anyone. "You know what? I think you're my bestest friend, Parvana. The best one ever."

He pulled away, his grin widening as an idea hit him. "I know! When we get big enough, let's get married! I'm gonna marry you and we can live happily ever after!" It was a childish idea, inspired from all the fairy tales and 'happily ever afters' he had read, but the idea seemed so PERFECT. Then he and Parvana could live together and play every day! It was a wonderful idea, the thought.

--------

Parvana laughed, hugging him back tightly. Bits of her long purple hair mixing with his short pale blue hair as they held each other close for a moment. As they pulled away and Flitch made his propusal she stopped and turned. Tilting her head for a moment as she consindered the idea. They never spcified happily ever after in the story books, but it had to be a good thing right?

She jumped up and down clapping her hands, "Yeah, I like that idea. Yes, we will get married, and have lots of advantures, and travel around the world. Momma has all kinds of nifty things from all over."

--------

"Mm-hmm!" Flitch nodded eagerly. "Adventures are fun! Let's visit everywhere in the world. And we can find magic items and rare treasures and get a thousand million cool things!"

He waved a hand expansively around, as if he could already see the great horde of treasures they were to find. Yes. It was to be a grand undertaking! And it was going to be great!

--------

"And music! Oh! I remmber, I brought something!" She turned, running back in to the house for a moment, pounding past Anvion and Shanara as ran to her bag, finding what she wanted. Finding it she went running back out to the back yard and Flitch, her long hair flowing out behinde her as she stoped in front of Flitch, holding up her flute.

The golden intstrment glittred in the sunlight, and he could see the echings of flowers and butterflys along the flute. "Momma got it for me when I was a baby, right before I grew. I like to play it..... Do you like music?"

--------

Flitch watched curiously as Parvana ran off. Did she forget something? It was only when she came back with her flute that he understood. Oooh! She was going to play music? He enjoyed it well enough, but wasn't an ardent fan of it. Still, he'd love to hear Parvana play!

"Yeah," he replied with a nod. " I like music. Remember that pretty song you sang when we were on the island? I really liked that..."

--------

She nodded, her head bobbing up and down excitealy. "I can try, I'm not very good yet. But I like trying." She sat down on the steps, carefully forming her mouth almost the proper way, a nice soft note floating up. The seconed and third note was just as full, and then it squeeked, the notes fadding away. Parvana lowered the flute giggling, her cheeks coloring with a little embaresment. "See? Still learning. I'm much better at just singing, and poems. Momma got me a book of poems after we went to a show where people read them. I bet I should have brought that instead...."

--------

Flitch grinned, clapping for Parvana even though she had messed up. It didn't matter that she wasn't perfect yet, he thought. She still sounded good! "It sounded good," he said with a firm nod. "You'll get really good at it someday. I know you will!"

--------


Parvana blushed furiouesly, twisting the flute in her hands. "Thanks Flitch..." She giggled softly, pushing her long purplehair out of her face. She smiled up at him, "You still want to go look at your pretty fruit trees?"

~playdate with Ancelin~

Tenshi carried Ancelin agienst him, gently cradling the little girl to his exposed chest. He still hadn't bought a shirt he could button up. That or he just didn't want to. He smiled down at the little girl as he carried her inside the mansion, and set her down on the floor in the hall. He then reached into the baby bag he was carrying on his side, and pulled out a fish plushy.
"Here you go Anny. You go play and be careful." He smiled, and Ancelin nodded before running to do just that.

The little girl went strait to the play room, sense she knew it was kept mostly clean. She paused for a moment when she saw a pile of linkon logs spilled out amungst the floor though.. Oh fooey, someone didn't clean up after themselves! She then set down her favorite fish toy, before she began to promptly put the logs back in their box.

Tenshi just sighed and shook his head with a grin, before he went to sit down on a chair in the room, keeping an eye on the child while she played.

-----------------

Back at the mansion again. Flitch found himself here more and more. Oh well. It was nice here. There was always a lot to do. He wandered about the halls, thinking. He'd spent a lot of time in the library lately, so maybe he should go and see if anyone else was here. It'd be nice if someone was here today. Then he could play! Or maybe go on an adventure. That would be fun, too. Flitch wasn't picky.

As he passed the play room, Flitch turned his head and paused when he saw movement inside. Oh! Someone! He walked over to the doorway and peered inside. Someone was here. Yay! He vaguely remembered the girl... she had the name like Ani's, right? An...something.

"Hello!" Flitch said, waving. Oh well. It was always fun to play! And if he remembered, she was pretty nice, too.

-----------------

Ancelin blinked as she heard someone call out to her while she popped the lid on the lincon logs case. She then turned her head to see who it was, before a wide smile grew on her face. It was the fish boy! Er... What was his name agian.. Filtch? No.. That was the creepy guy on the Harry Pothead movies Tenshi watched.. Flitch! That was it.
"Flitch!" She called out, before picking up her fish plushie and running over to him, smiling.
"Anny hasn't seen you long long long time! It good two see you!" she smiled, twisting slightly from side to side as she hugged her stuffy.

-----------------

"Anny!" Flitch exclaimed, glad that the other Sin' had said her name. Now he wouldn't feel bad about not knowing what it was. "How are you? You've gotten bigger! I'm happy to see you too!"

Happily, he hugged her in greeting. Hugging was becoming more prevalent amongst his greetings. He guessed he must've picked it up from Anisia. But hugs were cool! And nice. Anvion always said that the world needed more nice people with hugs, anyways.

-----------------

Ancelin smiled and returned the hugg, before puffing up in pride at the bigger comment.
"Thank you! It happen while Anny was takin bath! Just got inside and swoosh! Got bigger like spunge!" She giggled, before she looked to Flitch.
"Never see you round here. You no stay in play room?" She asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

-----------------

Flitch giggled. Anny was a sponge! He thought that was funny. Maybe if she took enough baths, she'd get even bigger! That was an amusing thought. "Hee hee! Maybe you ARE part sponge. But you don't have any little sponge holes... Hmm."

He shook his head. "No, I'm usually in the library. But I was just curious if anyone was here today. And you are!" He smiled happily. Having someone else around meant playing. Flitch loved playing. "Wanna play a game or explore?"

-----------------

Ancelin thought for a moment on the exploring coment, before looking over at Tenshi.. Who thanks to her last exploring expidition was now a man.
"Have to ask Shi-shi if it otay first," she said, before taking Flitch's hand and leading him over to Tenshi.
"Shi-shi! Flitch wants to go sploring, can I go to?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Tenshi at first looked VERY concerned with that notion, before looking to flitch.
"I guess it's okay. But don't go touching anything weird, okay? We don't want another portal incident happening." He said, before winking at Flitch.

-----------------

Flitch nodded, not quite understanding what Shi-shi meant by portal incident, but knowing what he meant by not touching weird things. After all, Anvion always told him that whenever he went into Varlen's room, and Varlen just told him not to touch ANYTHING, even if the weird items looked really cool. Maybe they were dangerous...?

"Okay," he said with another nod. "I won't touch anything weird. I'll be really careful. Let's go, Anny!"

-----------------

Ancelin smiled and nodded, before she began to run off to the stares. And looked back to Flitch as she reached the base.
"Common Flitch! Let's splore!" She cheered, before she started to lift herself up onto the first step. Almost crawling like a dog to get leverage, being her toddler legs weren't big enough to make normal steps.

Tenshi smirked as he watched Ancelin run off with flitch, and then leened back agienst the couch. She should be fine... Hopefully.

-----------------

Flitch grinned, following after Ancelin. Yay! Exploring was fun, and he'd never really been upstairs before. He scrambled up after her, blue eyes gleaming with excitement. "Have you ever been upstairs before? Maybe somethign cool is up there..."

-----------------

Ancelin smiled as she reached the top of the stares, wobbling a bit as she stood and regained her balance. Now where to go... She remembered where that nasty vortex was, so she knew to steer clear of THAT. She paused when she looked back at flitch, before pointing to a door marked "Aquarium".
"Wanna wook in der?" she asked. Ancelin couldn't read, so the picking of that specific door was rather ironic. But none the less she continued to gaze at Flitch, wondering if he thought it would be cool.

-----------------

Peering at the door labeled Aquarium, Flitch tilted his head. It was a big word, so he didn't exactly know what it meant. He'd heard it somewhere before. Something to do with fish...? Hmm. Maybe the answer was inside.

As a result, he nodded cheerfully. "Yeah! It looks like fun." He wandered over to the door, reaching up and shoving the door open. It was heavy, so he had to put almost all his strength in to open it. But, he managed to get it open. He held it open in a gentlemanly manner so that Ancelin could pass through, smiling.

-----------------

Ancelin giggled and made a playful cirtsy in return to Flitch, even though she was wearing blue jiens instead of a skirt. She then dashed into the room happily with her arms in the air.
"Weeeeeee!" She giggled, before stopping dead in her tracks once she made it into the room. A loud "GASP!" Was heard from the small pheasant's mouth, as her two tone eyes grew extremely large to try and obsorb the sight she just saw better.

"FISHIES!!" Ancelin blurted out as she saw the tanks upon tanks full of fish, before she began to run around gleefully to try and see them all.
"Rainbow Trout!" she said to one tank, pointing.
"Bass!" She said to another.
"Lionfish!" She said to the last, before making a playful 'rawr' sound. She then turned to look at Flitch at the door, pointing.
"This room is full of fishies!!"

-----------------

Flitch followed Ancelin in, looking around in delight. WOW! Now he remembered! It was an aquarium! They were full of millions of fish. Anvion had taken him to one once. She said it was like a fish museum. Hmm. But why was on here? Oh well. It was still cool! He followed Ancelin, pausing to look at the more interesting fish.

"Woooah..." he said, gazing at some brightly-colored tropical fish. "Hey Anny! Lookit these! Don't they look neat?"

~Anisia comes over!~

Yay! Ani was coming over! Flitch was happy. But, he was always happy at the thought of having his friends come over. No matter! Ani was coming over!

Happily the blue-haired Sin' bounced around the house, ignoring his brother Kuzunohara's complaints as to his hyperness. Bah. Kuzu was always hyper himself. Plus, Flitch was busy making sure that everything was just right. Anvion had said that she might take them to the playground if Ani wanted to go. What fun!

But before that, he had built a cool fort out of the couch cushions, his sheets from his bed, and a few books to hold it in place. He was rather proud of his work, since he had made it all himself. Hopefully Ani would want to play something involving his fort. Like pirates! He loved playing pirates. Just... not the really mean pirates. But the fun pirates always going on neat adventures were cool. He was gonna be a cool pirate like that someday, or so he hoped.

Now that the fort was finished and Flitch had finished his seventh inspection of the house to make sure that everything was perfect (which it was, thankfully), Flitch wandered into the kitchen, plopping down into the chair so that he could stare out over the front lawn. Ani was going to be over soon, and he wanted to be able to see her coming. He was so excited...
-----------
"I'll be over to pick you up soon!" Kiita said to the newly grown Anisia, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a wave goodbye.

It was obvious. Ani was in a good mood. A really good mood. She gave her protector a cheery smile and waved back, "Bye!" Then she turned around and walked up to Anvion's door and knocked on the door. She took a small step back and waited patiently for someone to answer.

Their last playdate had ended unexpectedly. She hoped they would get to play something this time. Something fun. But Flitch was just a fun kid to be around, so that shouldn't be too hard.
-----------
Ani was heeeeeeeeere!

Darting off the chair so fast that he almost tipped it over, Flitch shot to the door, opening it and grinning broadly. "Aniii! Woah..." he paused, realizing that she was now much taller than he was. He stared at her in momentary awe, then grinned excitedly. "You got bigger! Neat! How'd you do that?"

He opened the door wider, so that she could come in. "Come in!" Now he was even more excited than before, if such a thing were possible. Ani looked so cool and pretty now! It was awesome. Really awesome.
-----------
"I played the flute!" Anisia answered with a laugh, entering Flitch's house, "How've you been? Do anything neat while I was gone? Read any good books?" She asked with a smile. "Oh! And do you still not like cookies?" The cinnamon girl added. She felt like she hadn't talked to him in so long, she wanted to know everything that has changed and what hasn't!
-----------
"Really? Wow!" Flitch beamed. "So you must have played a magic flute! I read a book once with a magic flute in it. It was pretty neat."

At the mention of cookies, he wrinkled his nose and made a face. "Eeew, cookies. They're so sugary it's gross. Oh, and I read a bunch of cool books! Anvion has so many I think I'll never run out. She's read them all, though. I don't know how she managed to read so many... You wanna see all the books? We have to be kinda quiet if I show you, though. Anvion's working right now."
-----------
"Oh, I'm not sure if it was magic. If it was, I don't see how it could make me grow, because I played it really bad. I kept making it squeak and it didn't sound like a song at all." Anisia said with a small wince. Well, she grew. And thats all that mattered right now!

"I can't believe you don't like cookies still! They're so yummy...they're warm and good with milk...and sweet." She continued, then gave a small chuckle. He'll learn to like them. Ani'll make him see, one day!

"Sure! Does Anvi own a library or something?" Anisia asked. Flitch was smart. He could read already. She couldn't read or write well yet. Kiita told her she'd be learning how to soon though.
-----------
Flitch nodded. "Yeah. It's pretty big, and there's about a million books in there! I think Varlen put magic on the room to make it really big. Like THIS big!"

He held his arms out as far as they could go, so that he could proplerly emphasize the size of the library. "I've got some books in my room too, but only one bookshelf. Anvion has a lot!" he giggled. "If Anvion lets us, we can go exploring in it. Does that sound fun?"
-----------
"Whoa. And Anvion read them ALL?" Anisia giggled a little as Flitch spread his arms out. "Thats real big. I always thought Kiita read a lot of books, but she doesn't own a library!" It was true. She could usually find her protector absorbed in a thick book for hours on end...and she usually finished them in a day or two too. "Sounds fun to me! Where's Anvi at?" She said with a smile.
-----------
Flitch grinned, taking Ani's hand. "I can show you. It's upstairs! Anvion should be in there, too." He led her through the front hall to the stairs. From there he took her tot he second story and to the end of that hall pointing out where all the doors led along the way. "That's Anvion's room... There's my room. That's Kuzu's room, but he's out today. He's my big brother, but I don't like him much."

He stopped at the door at the hall's end, releasing his grasp on Ani's hand. The door looked fairly small, like the room on the other side was barely bigger than a closet. He grinned. "This is it." He pushed the door open, stepping in and peering about for Anvion. Aside from a good-sized desk that sat about ten feet across from the door, the room seemed to be filled with nothing other than book cases. Big ones. They spread just about as far as one could see no matter where you looked. It was huge, bigger than the actual house itself. Flitch beamed. "See? It's cool, isn't it?"
-----------
Anisia curled her hand around Flitch's and let him lead the way with a smile. Her smile became a little faint as he mentioned how he didn't like his older brother much, "How come you don't like him?" She asked as they continued on their way.

That door was tiny. Surely it couldn't hold such a "-WOW!" Ani's mouth gaped open for a bit, "How could...the door was so small...gosh!" She stepped in and gazed about in awe. "Theres got to be hundreds of books in here!" She exclaimed. Her eyes were bright as she took it in.
-----------
Flitch gave a small offhand shrug. "Kuzu pesters me a lot. He's really loud, too. And he... 'hits on' girls." Flitch was unfamiliar with the term, but that's what Anvion said he did a lot. That would explain why he was always bringing weird girls over. But he didn't hit them. Did he? Flitch didn't know, but the thought of hitting a girl was very unappealing. Flitch didn't like hitting in general, and hitting on sounded pretty bad.

Once Ani saw the library, though, his characteristic grin spit back across his face. "It's neat, huh? I don't know how Anvion managed to read them all, either."
-----------
'Hits on girls?' The phrase made Anisia frown a little, but she shrugged it off. Whatever it meant, it didn't sound nice. She had a feeling of relief she hadn't met Flitch's brother yet. Those words made her want to avoid meeting his brother now...

"It really is! I could probably get lost in this place." Ani said with a laugh. She looked to Flitch with a smile, "What types of books do you read? Can you read the really big ones with lots of pages?" She asked curiously, beginning to walk to the nearest shelf to see if she could find out what kinds of books there were.
-----------
"I can sometimes," he said. "but sometimes the words are too big and it confuses me. Or it's just written funny so that I can't understand it." He followed her, his own gaze sweeoing the titles. Most of the books were collections of fairy tales, myths, and legends, which were usually really fun to read. Anvion had told him that she was collecting and recording them. why, he didn't know. Some of the books were magic too, which was neat. But Anvion never let him try out anything in the magic books. She said that they could be dangerous.

"I'lll read anything, really," he admitted. "As long as it's not boring. Boring things aren't fun. They're... boring." he shrugged sheepishly at the remark. "Good thing Anvion has lots of cool things. You can borrow a few if you want."
-----------
"I can't even read yet! Well, not really anyway. Would you teach me, Flitch?" It felt a little funny, asking him to help her when she was technically the older one. But learning by Flitch would certainly be a lot more fun than learning by Kiita! Kiita had things to tend to around the house anyway. Flitch has got to be one of the smartest Sin...well, out of the ones she knew. "What book would you reccomend me trying to read first?"
-----------
"Really?" Flitch was surprised. He had a small tendency to forget that he was the most literay-inclined Sin' as of yet. There probably weren't any Sin' that could read as well as he could. But the request for him to teach her how to read sounded appealing. Flitch smiled and nodded. "Sure I can teach you. Reading's pretty easy, actually..."

Now, the perfect starting book. Flitch scanned the bookshelf, mildly frowning. Hmm. Not that one... no, not that. Ha! Found it. Smiling, he pulled out a good fairytale book out from some book written in Evish and a heavy leatherbound book. "Here we go!" he exclaimed happily, holding the book out so Ani could see. "It's a fairytale book. And it's got pictures too, so you can help see what's going on if the words get to be too hard."
-----------
Anisia smiled brightly and went over to give the toddler a hug, "Thank you!" She said excitedly. She honestly couldn't think of a better person to teach her how to read. And she knew Flitch was going to grow up as a genius or something. He had to.

Ani waited patiently as he looked over the books. She felt a little nervous at the selection of his, but she knew he wouldn't start her out on a book too hard for her. She gave him another smile, "Okay! Lets sit down somewhere." She said as she looked around for a bench or table.
----------
Flitched grinned, pleased at the hug he had recived. He was glad Ani still gave out lots of hugs. Hugs were awesome. He nodded in agreement for finding a seat, motioning for her to follow him. "I know where there's a table this way. Follow me!"

He led her past several of the massive bookshelves, until he came from a small break in the evenly-spaced book-laden shelves. There sat a small table with two chairs, a perfect size where Flitch and Ani could sit comfortably. Grinning, he took a seat, motioning for Ani to take the other one. "Here we go! Now, ummmm... Do you know the alphabet and the really basic stuff already, or should I just start from the beginning?"
----------
Ani followed obediently as Flitch led her to the table. On their way, her three eyes wandered about curiously, looking at the different books and their sizes. It was official. She knew she'd never be able to find her way around here. She was surprised Flitch could though. Then she thought how great he would be as a librarian. C'mon, he had one in house already!

The cinnamon bun girl took a seat across from Flitch with a small smile. "I know the alphabet. Kiita's been teaching me that for a few nights now." She said with a nod.
----------
"Mmkay, then." With a nod, he flipped through the pages, at last choosing a tale he was rather fond of. It was Hansel and Gretel, and he liked it because both of them knew how to use common sense and their heads. Plus, it was a very well-known tale, so Flitch had decided that using words from stories that the others knew would make it easier.

"I think we can start with Hansel and Gretel," he said, turning the book so that Ani could see and leaning over the table so that he could see, as well. "Do you know the story at all? It's a good one."

~Playing with Yvette~

"MAAAAAANIN!!!"

"Yes, Evie, it's the mansion." Rune sighed wryly as the bouncing little baby's foot thunked off her stomach. Yvette - and her fellow baby, Shaman brother Horo Horo - were bundled warmly in fleece-lined jackets and sturdy pants, strapped to her chest in a double carrier. Aimee was staying at home with the other two infants, Daimon and Angel, who were currently sick and very unhappy with the world. They'd figured it would be best to take Yvette and Horo Horo to, erm, visit for a bit while the two Tenjutsu had their medicine and a much needed nap. Last time, Daimon had put up such a fuss over the whole thing, Horo Horo had whacked his uncle across the knees with his hoverboard to stop him from picking the demon Tenjutsu up, and Yvette had been throwing plushies at the head of anyone she saw with a spoon. "We'll see if any of your friends are there, huh? Ancelin, Cameo, Jani, Akilah, Flitch - "

"Fitch!" Yvette and Horo Horo both chorused, looking around. "Fich?"
-----------------
As if being summoned by the sound of his name, Flitch came up behind Rune, blinking curiously. "Miss Rune? Were you looking for me...?"

He had just arrived here at the mansion, since Anvion, Lewin, and Varlen were having a three-way war in the house and he and his two brothers, Mengde and Kuzu, had decided it was best to steer clear of the house for the next few hours. Kuzu had gone off to flirt with some girls, while Flitch was stuck with Mengde. The porcelain stood behind Flitch, large grey eyes, peering cautiously up at Rune and the two noisy infants. Flitch, however, merely smiled.

"It's nice to see you again, Miss Rune. Oh! Yvette and Horo! Hi!"
-----------------
Rune turned, quite surprised, and Yvette cheered, Horo Horo waving his ever-present teething ring in one happy baby fist. "Fich ere! Fich pway?"

"Hello, Flitch." Rune smiled, dropping to one knee out of habit so she was the same height as the child. With several dozen of her own, it was something she tended to do with most small kids. "Who's your friend?" She nodded to the little porcelain, eyes friendly. "Hello, I'm Rune. This is Yvette, and this is Horo Horo."
-----------------
Flitch smiled, stepping aside so that Mengde could be seen. "This is my brother Mengde. He and I came over to the mansion to play for a bit. Things are a bit... crazy at my house now. So we came here!"

Mengde's eyes widened as Flitch stepped away, exposing him to the big scary person, but the small Porcelain quickly lost his fear. Peering curiously at the two noisy babies, he pointed back and forth between the two babies in an effort to remember who was who. Yvette? Horo Horo? Yvette. Horo Horo. Mengde knew now. Nodding in satisfaction, he pointed at the lady. Rune. Rune seemed nice. Perhaps they could all join his army!
-----------------
"Crazy, huh? I know the feeling." Rune smiled wryly, nodding to Mengde. She'd heard of the Porcelain, even seen a few of them, but never at more than a distance. He was quite cute, though. "I bet you're a nice brother to him too, Flitch." She ruffled Yvette's hair as the two babies peered curiously at this new person. Yvette wrinkled her little nose prettily, studying Mengde. He was rather pretty, and he belonged with her Flitch, so she supposed he was nice enough. Horo Horo eyed the other child for a moment, then looked intently at Flitch and nodded. Solemnly, he extended a clean teething ring to the Porcelain. "Fend. Fich bwoder fwend." Yvette giggled and clapped her hands. "Two fends!"
-----------------
"Yeah, crazy. But not a good kind of crazy." Flich shrugged. "So the two of us have come here to play. Can Yvette and Horo Horo play with us, Miss Rune? You can play, too!"

He flushed in pleased embarasmment at the comment of being a good brother, smiling. "I try to be nice to everyone. And he's my brother, so I gotta be nice to him, Miss Rune. It's only right..."

Curiously, Mengde reached uot and took the ring, large eyes blinking slowly as he turned it around, trying to figure out what it was. HE certainly didn't recognize it. t was funny-looking. His hands, being so small, managed to slip through the hole easily, though. Mengde grinned. Ah-ha! A bracelet! Proudly, Mengde held up his arm so that everyone could see his cool bracelet. Horo Horo had cool stuff!
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Rune grinned. "Of course they can play." She flicked open several of the buckles with a practiced air, amused by Mengde as she settled Yvette on the grass. "They actually asked about you, Flitch. You're one of hte few friends they've met."

"Fwend." Yvette giggled again, quite pleased, and reached up a hand to Flitch. "Sart fwend. Re ooks!" As far as she was concerned, Flitch being able to read meant he was just as smart as any of her big sisters.

Horo Horo, meanwhile, stared puzzledly at Mengde. It was true he tended to tuck his ring on his wrist when he needed both hands - leaving it in his mouth made it all slobbery - he'd never thought of it as a bracelet. This boy had thought up a new way to use his favorite toy! Pleased, the little Shaman clapped. "Men - " He frowned briefly, then tried again, pointing. "Men-de sart!"
-----------------
"Really?" Flitch beamed. "That's nice. I should have you all come play at my house some time. Not today, though. Anvion, Varlen, and Lewin are fighting. So this is a much better playing place today."

He sat down on the grass, turning his attentions to Yvette, holding out his own webbed hand in response to Yvette. "Hee hee. Maybe I can teach you to read too Yvette, when you get older. That'd be fun." Having already helped two of his friends learn to read, Flitch was rather proud of his teaching abilities, and wanted to help make everyone learn to read. After all, books were so fascinating.

Pleased at the attention he was getting, Mengde beamed at Horo Horo. He liked this kid. He thought Mengde was smart! Mengde never got this much praise at home. Taking off the ring, he slipped it onto his other wrist, holding that hand up, too. See? It could be used on BOTH hands! How cool was that?
-----------------
Rune beamed, quite pleased at the way the chats were going, though her eyes clouded slightly at the idea that Flich's parents might be fighting. It didn't sound like such a great thing, after all. Maybe she'd ask about that later. "My other two babies are sick today." She explained, settling Horo Horo a comfortable distance from his sister. "They've got a sickness that only their kind can get, as far as we know, but it's making them rather cranky."

Yeah, like tearing holes in the couch and setting it on fire. Happy, the twins were not.

Yvette's eyes, meanwhile, grew wide as she realized what Flich was offering. He would teach her to read? Just like her sisters? Her face shone. "Wike Aler? Wike Rosie, Kiwi, Ni-ki? Evi weed?"

Horo Horo clapped at Mengde, suitably impressed. Grinning, he patted the grass next to him. "Fwend sip? Pway?" He wasn't quite able to say 'sit' just yet, but he was sure his smart new friend would know what he meant.
-----------------
"Aww, I'm sorry about thiat. Being sick isn't fun." Flitch shook his head. "My friend Gillian says he gets sick a lot, so he and I are looking for a way so that he won't get sick any more. When we find out how to make him never get sick, I can show you how to make your other two babies not get sick. Because sickness is bad." He nodded firmly. "Or Yukito could make them better. He fixed my eye when it was itchy and sore."

He laughed, clapping his hands. "Yeah, I van teach you how to read. But when you get older. No matter. I'm sure you'll learn it fast."

Mengde sat on the grass, rather pleased at the fact that he had a new friend. Well, Mengde didn't have too many friends. All the other Porcelain had just... vanished. He hoped he didn't vanish. But Horo Horo was his new friend! And so he was going to make Horo Horo his new cool general!
-----------------
"No fun swik." Yvette shook her head seriously. She'd never seen Angel cry like that before - or seen Daimon take a chunk out of the cushions, either. She didn't like things that made her people cry. Then she beamed. "Fich BES Seen." She nodded firmly. "Be teas - tek - " She frowned. How did you say that word? Although she was quite good with speaking for an infant, many words still got the better of her small tongue. "How say?" She motioned widely with one small hand. Maybe Flich would know what she meant.

Rune simply grinned, entranced by the little boy. He was definitely a sweetheart, and smart, too! Special, that was the word. "Well thank you, Flitch." She ruffled his hair, another habit picked up from her own kids. "Maybe if your mom thinks it's okay, you can study some of the magic books I have at home for your cure. I'm a mage-healer, and so are a lot of my kin. We've got some alchemy books too."

A small squeaking noise came from the diaper bag Rune had set down, and a tiny white dragon smaller than a kitten stuck its head out cautiously, peering around with bright blue eyes that matched Horo Horo's hair. The little boy himself giggled, carefully scooping the dragon out and holding him up for Mengde's inspection. "Da-gon. Siret." Technically, the lizard's name was Spirit, but Siret would do. "Me pet. Men-de pway?"
-----------------
Flitch giggled. Yvette's attempts at prouncing some words was sometimes really funny. It was cute, but it amused Flitch. Not in a mean way, mind you. Sometimes the words just came out funny-sounding. Flitch couldn't help but laugh. "You mean 'best'?" he asked. "I'm the best? Thanks a lot, Yvette!"

He gave her a friendly hug, beaming. He got along quite nicely with pretty much anyone he came across, but no one ever called him the best. It made him feel special. Turning to Rune, his eyes lit up. "Really? That'd be cool! Anvion says I shouldn't learn magic yet, though. She says it can be dangerous if not done right. But if I'm careful I think I should do all right... do you think so?"

Mendge gasped in delight, the first actual noise he had made so far. Wow! Horo Horo had so many cool things! Horo Horo was cool. Beaming, Mengde reached out to pet Siret, as he believed the dragon was called. His hand paused, remembering that some people didn't like their pets to be touched. Could Mengde touch Siret?
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Yvette squealed happily. She had made Flich laugh AND gotten a hug! Hugging him back, she turned big eyes to Rune, who laughed. "Of course. As long as your mom says it's alright. If she's concerned, I can send over a few of the beginner books, and your mom can look them over with you. It'll be a while before any of my little ones need them again, and we've got duplicates of just about all of them." Necessary when you had two to four children around the same age, all learning to read at the same time. "Your mom's right, though. It can be dangerous, and you shouldn't do magic unsupervised unless you're very practiced."

Horo Horo, meanwhile, was grinning ear to ear. Gently, he nudged Spirit in Mengde's direction, nodding firmly. "Men-de fwend, pway Siret." Mengde was his friend, and Spirit was a good little dragon. Mengde could play with him anytime he wanted, as far as Horo Horo was concerned. The small dragon stuck a tiny tongue out, as if tasting the air, then fluttered his little wings and delicately licked the Porcelain's fingers.
-----------------
Flitch nodded. "Yeah, Anvion says that it could be dangerous. But sometimes the results are weird. Like her boyfriend Varlen had a spell go wrong when he got in a mage fight. The other mage messed up because Varlen was good at magic. But the spell made Varlen REALLY tall!" He held one hand up as high as he could in order to emphasize Varlen's hight. "Anvion only goes up to his chest. He makes everyone look short." He laughed. "But she still can boss him around. It's funny."

Idly, he played gently with Yvette's hair, twirling around the tip of his finger. She had really long hair for a little baby. He thought it was neat. "What do you wanna play, Yvette? Anything special?"

Delighted at the fact that the dragon was licking his fingers, Mengde practically squirmed from excitement. Not to mention that it really tickled. This. Was. So. Cool. He wanted a neat dragon like Siret!
-----------------
Yvette thought for a minute, nose wrinkling. "Tawl? Wike house? Unk Dhee?" Most of her family members were rather on the short side, with the exception of Mirelle, Shaz, and her "Uncle," Rune's friend's boyfriend Dhee. Naturally, she was rather impressed by this. Rune laughed herself, nodding. "It can. I once ended up with pastel hair and doll-ears for a month because a spell backfired." She grinned at the image of Anvion bossing her boyfriend around. Flich's mother seemed rather like herself and Jeane.

Spirit whistled softly and flapped his wings once more, then twice, hovering off Horo Horo's hand until he could land safely on Mengde's palm. Wrapping his small tail partly around the Porcelain's wrist, he looked up and tilted his head to the side, a dragon's version of a proud grin on his little face. This boy was interesting, Horo liked him, and best of all, he hadn't yelled or thrown anything at Spirit! The dragon liked this. Horo Horo, meanwhile, looked like his grin would split his face. Mengde liked his Spirit! Perfect.
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Flitch grinned. "Yeah. He's really tall! Kind of grumpy, though. Maybe it's because Anvion can boss him around. I dunno." He shrugged, as if disinterested with the matter. Smart enough to hold an adult conversation or not, Flitch was still but a toddler, and so had the attention span of one at times. "But having a cool spell backfire would be fun. Like if you got wings that could let you fly!"

Mengde grinned happily, holding up his other hand so that he could pet Spirit. Woooooow! Could he do any tricks? If not, Mengde was fine with that. The little dragon was already impossibly cool.
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Rune raised an eyebrow and laughed, eyes sparkling with amusement. Yvette's eyes widened, too, and she pointed emphatically at her mother. "Fwyyy!" She squeaked, bouncing up and down on her little bottom. "Mama fwy!"

Horo Horo grinned, watching his new friend and his pet. This was great! "Twik!" He giggled, pointing to Spirit. "See twik? Wooosh."
-----------------
Flitch blinked, a surprised smile coming across his face. "Really?" he asked, looking at Rune in awe. "You can fly?

Mengde grinned. he would have clapped his hands in excitement, but Spirit was resting on one hand, and Mengde didn't want to startle the creature. If he did, it might snap at him, or hide. And if it hid, he wouldn't be able to play with the cool thing any more...
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Rune sighed and grinned wryly. "I can - change into a couple other forms." She explained. "One of them is - " She paused. How did you explain an Anthromorphic Dragon to a toddler? "a human-type dragon, with wings and a tail." No need to mention the claws. "So I can fly sometimes."

Seeing Mengde's grin, Spirit whistled softly and sat up on his hind legs, front paws dangling forward in a classic "begging" position. His wings spread back as he bobbed up and down. Horo Horo nodded. "Begeh. Rowl!"

Spirit fired his powerful back paws and leapt into the air until he was clear of the Porcelain's hand. Then, with a hard down-push of one wing, he rolled in place.
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"Ohhh, a half-dragon? I've seen pictures of them in some books. The books are sometimes written funny, though. Anvion says that it's in a different language." Flitch nodded slowly. "But that's cool!"

Mengde let out a silent squeal of delight, clapping his small hands furiously at the trick. WOW! Spirit should be the offical mascot of his mighty army once it was built... speaking of which... Mengde tugged lightly on Horo Horo's sleeve. Did Horo Horo want to be a general in Mengde's mighty army?
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"Close enough. And there are LOTS of books written in different languages." Rune grinned. "I'm glad you think so. It's quite fun sometimes, especially the flying."

Horo Horo paused, frowning in concentration. Mengde wasn't exactly a spirit, but close enough that he could hear some of what the Porcelain meant. He didn't know what a general was, or an army, but if it was Mengde's, then he would belong. The little boy nodded fiercely. "Oro be Men's gen-al."
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Flitch nodded. "Yeah. Anvion has lots of books in lots of languages. And she can read them all! You should bring Yvette over to play sometime. I can show them to you." He nodded again, grinning. "It'd be great to have Yvette and everyone over to play!"

Mengde's day had just ben totally made. He now had a new general! And that meant Spirit was in too! He beamed over at Rune, Flitch, and Yvette. See? Horo Horo was cool because he was in Mengde's army.
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Rune nodded in turn. "I'd love to meet Anvion, or have you guys come over to our house." She grinned. "I'm afraid the Mansion's as far as I'll get in the next week or so, with the twins sick and my own Center starting up. You know, you and Mengde and your Guardian are welcome there, too." Flitch may be little, but she trusted him to repeat the message if she didn't get a chance to talk to his Guardian - Anvion? - before then.

Yvette squirmed and beamed a baby smile. "Fich pway click-click!" She giggled. Although she certainly couldn't pronounce "video games," her hand-miming left little to the imagination. Seeing Mengde looking at them and apparently in a good mood, she waved happily back. "Men-de pway too! Wide pony!"
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"A center?" Flitch tilted his head. "What kind? I know Anvion would like to come, though. She loves meeting with people. I'll be sure to tell her that you're opening a center, Miss Rune. She'll probbly try to help out, too," he added with a laugh.

"Click click?" Flitch turned his attentions back on Yvette, watching her miming curiously. He'd never played a video game before, since Anvion didn't even keep a television set in the house. But it sounded like fun. "Sounds good. I can't wait."

PONY?! They had a PONY? Completely in awe, Mengde was. He'd never been on a pony before. But Horo Horo would have to show him the awesome pony when he came over!
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"It's an adoption center, for a type of child called a Tenjutsu." Rune smiled. "My little twins that are sick now are Tenjutsu, though I'm fairly sure they'll be better by the time we open. And if she'd like to help, I'm sure we could use another pair of hands." She chuckled, realizing what Yvette was trying to say. "I think she means video games. She's been watching her big brothers play a little too much lately."

Horo Horo and Yvette giggled, seeing Mengde's expression. "Pony, ithia, riiiko." Yvette counted off on her fingers, and Horo Horo nodded. "Fun fun fun! An dagon, wike Siret!"

Spirit whistled again and settled himself on Mengde's shoulder, curling his tail lightly around the Porcelain's neck.
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"Really?" Flitch tilted his head, a frown crossing his face. "...were they abandoned?" His voice had gotten quiet, and unusually serious. "Abandoning children is bad. Very bad... But! If they need a home, Anvion would probably be more than happy to let them live with us. She says that she wants to give as many kids a home for those who need one." He grinned, the dark mood disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared. "And I've never played a video game before. They sound fun, though."

Mengde grinned, reaching up to pet Spirit as the dragon landed on his shoulder. Wooooow. He so couldn't wait to come see Horo Horo's house of coolness!
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"Some of them were." Rune's eyes darkened just slightly, but she smiled again in an instant, ruffling Flitch's hair gently. "And some of them were orphans, who lost their parents. But at our Center, they'll get new parents, who'll love and care about them just as much as your Mom does about you." She glanced at Yvette, who had snuggled happily up next to Flitch and sat sucking lightly on her thumb, and grinned. "Yvette loves to watch Cody and Tex play Mario Kart and Twisted Metal - I think she just likes hearing the cars crunch."

Spirit nuzzled Mengde's ear and licked his fingers, pleased. Horo Horo dug into the bag beside him, then made a triumphant noise, pulling out a plastic Ziplock full of lollypops. Giggling, he offered the bag to Mengde. He bet his new friend could get the wrappers off much easier than he could!
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Flitch smiled. "I'll help take care of them too, if you want. Mengde and I can play with them and be friends." He smiled, placing a hand atop Yvaette's head, happily patting her. "Is it all right if Yvette can play, too?"

Happily, Mengde took a lollipop, squirming slightly as Spirit licked his hear. That tickled! He unwrapped the one he selected, carefully licking it. Srawberry! Yay! He offered it to Spirit. Did Sirit wanna have some?
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Rune laughed, eyes bright. "Of course. You guys can all play together." Glancing up at the sky, she gave a gasp and dug a silver pocket watch from her pocket, flipping it open to read the numbers with a yelp of dismay. "Oh, curse it to the nineth hell, I have to get back - we still have to organize the weapons shop - and the Gates - and get the application papers in order - "

She cut off her babbling and grinned ruefully down at Flitch. "You can all play tomorrow, sweetheart, but right now I have to steal Yvette and Horo Horo back. It's getting close to their bedtime, and there are still mounds of paperwork to get finished with before the Center opens tomorrow." Gently, she picked up Yvette, who scrunched up her little nose and made grabby motions toward Flitch. Snagging the little boy briefly, she hugged him, then allowed herself to be hooked into her carrier.

Horo Horo giggled at Mengde; then - spotting the fate of his sister - leaned over to hug Mengde before being scooped up as well. "Men-de Fich bye bye!" He yelled. "Bye bye!"
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Flitch pouted slighly, seeing that his friend was leaving him for the day, but hgged Yvette in good-bye. "All right! I hope to see you all soon!"

NOOOOOOOOOOO! Horo Horo couldn't leave now! Mengde pouted, trying his best to look all cute and innocent so that Rune could let the two stay together longer. Seeing that this trick wasn't going to work, he pouted. Darn! Oh well! If he got to see Horo Horo tomorrow, then that was okay, too!
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Spirit made a small, half-sighing noise, then licked Mengde's ear once more before taking flight to land on Rune's shoulder. The older girl grinned, producing a small, pale-white parchment card with engraved blue writing and held it out to Flitch, patting Mengde's head. "This is the address for the new Center - it's a few blocks that way - " she pointed, "and a few more down. There'll be a sign out front, maybe a few balloons. And Horo Horo will be there, I promise." She told Mengde.

Horo Horo nodded, eyes intense and already thinking as hard as his baby-self could. Yvette giggled and waved as her mother turned to go. "Bye bye Fich! Bye bye Men-de!"