Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tiwaz lay on her bed crimson eyes focused on the medium sized vial on her left hand. As her fingers and thumb stroked the warm glass she grinned. Though she wasn't sure what lay inside the vial she knew she would cherish it becuase she felt a strange sort of connection to it. As the green, tan and purple goo bubbled within the vial and gushed around the twisted neck Tiwaz noticed offhandly that her orb seemed to glow dimlyand yet contactly.


Tiwaz took this to be a sign that whatever would emerge from the ooze was probably not the nicest of creatures but then again Tiwaz doubted her mother would have gotten her something that could hurt her. With a soft sigh she placed the vial on the head of her bed and stood, Enigma was still her responsibility and even though she'd rather spend hours trying to understand the vial being, she had to take care of Enigma, who was growing into a rather complacent dog as opposed to the exuberent young pup it's originally been.

"It's not fair, I dont want to wait years to flyI want to fly now, you're not even a month old and you can fly" Tiwaz grumbled and shot a crimson glare at Kushiel. When the small sprite returned the glare she sighed and returned her attention back to the book she was reading. It was a novel on how to prepare for flight, the woman who'd written it has wings similar to Tiwaz's so she'd figured it was her best resource.

Apparently there was a lot more to flying than she had everimagined, thermals, altitude, velocity weight distribution, most of it still confused her. What didn't confuse her made her mad, her wings were too small to support her at this time and it was supposedly take years of excersises to get them into good shape as they grew. This to Tiwaz was unthinkable, she was not going to wait years to fly there had to be a better solutions. Still she would work on the excerises, there was nothing wrong with building strength in her wings.

Drumming her gloved fingers in the open page Tiwaz let the soft rythmic sound lull her into a somewhat less agitated mood.Blowing at plum colored bangs as they fell into her eyes she tried to concentrate on the type. The thick blocky letters were blurring making it harder to understand than ever and anyone who'd normally read to her was out. Frustrated she tossed the book across the room and stood, grabhing her orb from her desk she stode across the room towards the door " Come on Kushiel I wanna go do something" She growled not pausing to see if he followed.

The pair roamed the house until setteling upon the backyard. There Tiwaz spent the rest of the afternoon furiously weeding the gardens and venting her frustration .Kushiel watched, occasionaly ferrying clumps of weeds to the compost heap,his presence whether he was helping or not did however comfort Tiwaz a bit and she smiled when he bothered to chip in. It wasn't the first of such days the irritable tall tale had experience lately and it was unlikely to be the last.

Still half asleep Tiwaz blinked confusedly at the creature sitting on her stomach. It was Kushiel of course the wings and crescent moon marking on his head gave him away. What confused Tiwaz was his size and appearance, apparently during a fever induced nap he had grown.

He looked more like her now than the ball like sprite he had previously been. Purple hair a shade lighter than Psy’s or her own stood up in a series of spikes. His crimson eyes and black and silver wings remained the same if slightly large on the wings part.

“Ku Kushiel?” she croaked hoarsely, throat dry. She knew it was him but still she had to ask, had to be sure.

The strange chaos creature grinned and nodded “ Yes I am kushiel but you already knew that” he replied in a teasing tone.

Sitting up Tiwaz forced Kushiel to hop off her stomach and rest on the far arm of the couch. “You grew while I was sleeping” She grumbled stretching out her wings. Tiwaz was sure the site of Kushiel changing had been marvelous and she was quite disappointed to have missed it.

Kushiel gave an amused snort and smirked “ I run on my own schedule besides you needed your sleep more than you needed to see me.”



Dear diary:

Kushiel grew again while I was sick sleeping from the chicken pox Psy gave me. He’s even smarter now than he was before but not smarter than Tode or Mom.

I feel funny with him around now and my orb really doesn’t like him too much. I don’t care though because now he’s my own special friend just like Enigma only I can take him more places.

Tiwaz Tesseract.

Tiwaz, Elena, Sylvester & Khalindra

Daytime was usually a trial for Aiden to deal with when he was with Khalindra. However, the young star child had been calming down or at least trying to surpress her crankiness. Perhaps she was getting used to the harsh rays? He'd been taking her outside enough in the hopes that she'd grow an immunity.

In all honesty, it was probably the little parasol and the long sleeved clothing that she'd taken to wearing. They gave her more shade than she had before. Her dress had changed, though.

Rather than the usual victorian clothing, she had been enthralled by the long, loose skirts and peasant-style tops that she saw in one of the windows when they were shopping sometime in the last week. Abandoning the pretty princess clothing, Khali had begged her father to buy her some of the colorful skirts and a few long sleeved white shirts that were just the slightest bit poofy.

He did, gladly. Those victorian era dresses were expensive and difficult to lace up. So now, the star child was dressed in a long skirt that went down to her ankles and flowed in colors of dark purple and a slightly brighter red. Silver and gold threads were embroidered through it.

And her disposition was a great deal happier. Today, Aiden was being dragged to the stationary shop by a very enthusiastic young child. She had been learning to read and wanted to show off to one of her friends. Anyone! Maybe Angelus was there...or Armel! Or...SYLVESTER! That pretty stuffed animal boy that bought her a book.

"Daddy, daddy come ON please?" She was pleased that Aiden had listened to her and left Emi at the sitters. She couldn't get him to leave Selah, though, and he was currently holding the copper haired child in one arm while being dragged by the other.

"Khalindra, we're there. You don't have to pull me anymore."

The door was pushed open and a very happy looking star child rushed in.

"I'm here!"

Elena was already in the building, sprawled over a couch, looking rather dead. Khali's exuberant cry caused a wince to pass over her face and she sat up slowly, pressing the back of her hand to her head. "Yes, you are," Elena replied, her eyes scrunched closed. "How nice for you," she added in a dry tone her mum would have been proud of. A small chirp chided the girl and Elena opened her eyes, tugging a small dragonish creature off the top of the couch. "I didn't ask for your opinion," she told Hadar, holding onto the Kyuu by it's tail as it spun slowly in the air, wings spread to maintain some semblance of balance. He chirped again and waved a wing at Khali and Aiden.

Elena sighed and looked towards the door; she'd been napping and Khali had woken her up. "Stupid baby sisters who can't sleep all night," she muttered under her breath before she figured out who was at the door. "Ah," she breathed out, nodding her head regally towards the smaller girl, "Hello again Khalindra. And Aiden, yes?" she asked, tilting her head to the side a bit, causing her hair to fall over her shoulder.

Sylvester was in fact "here" as well, but not "here" as in, in the room. He was in one of the back rooms, where he and Rhea had once played Hide and Seek, and he was sleeping. He started awake as the front door's little bell clattered, and sat up quickly, still half asleep. Someone was here.

It took the Tale a couple of minutes to get into a standing position and wander out into the main room, but when he did, he couldn't help but smile. "Hi Khali," he said, holding his hand up to his mouth and yawning. He gave Khali's author a short wave, and nodded to the sparkly, irritable girl on the couch. How long had he been asleep?

" I keep telling you it's not my fault " Tiwaz grumbled sending a crimson glare in her mother's direction. " It was Riycan's idea in the first place all I did was hold the candle and spill the ink." It wasn't fair, Ricyan was the one who'd wanted to see if he could make invisable ink that only came out when you put heat near it. Tiwaz had agreed to help and accidently spilled the ink pot and dropped then candle when the flame had burned her fingers, how was she to know ink was highly flammable.

" I don't care who's fault it was you were both involved and you're both being punished, Riycan has to clean everyhting up and you are buying him a new journal from your allowance " Talon's tone brooked no argument as she lead her daughter towards the stationary store she'd been born in.

Tiwaz strode sullenly into the store muttering under her breath. She stopped short at the sight of the other's, Sylvester in particular, the last time she'd seen him had been when she'd met the horrid twins and that had not been good experience. Warily she moved towards them saying nothing just yet.

Khali's silver eyes blinked at Elena's words, though the smile didn't waver from her face, "Yes, it is nice for me," she chirpped before looking around the shop. Was she the only one there?

If she was, that was okay. The princess had amused her greatly when she had first met her...Even if she did scold her and take her father's side. Of course she realized she had been an undeniable brat, too, so she supposed she deserved that.

"Hello again, Miss Elena."

Aiden shifted the copper haired child on his hip, who was currently wiggling madly with an attempt to get down. She hated being confined to her father's arms. Why couldn't she move? Her little wings fluttered madly and Aiden sighed, setting her on the floor.

"Yes. A pleasure to see you again, Elena."

Khalindra was about to say something else when Sylvester wandered into the room, her smile blooming further, "Sylvester!"

The child took off running, skirts swirling around her legs, and flung herself onto him, hugging his legs. The stuffed animal! He was there! She could show him how she could read and..."I can read!"

"She can read a few words and write a few letters," Aiden corrected, crossing his arms, "She likes to embellish."

Turning her head, Khalindra glared, "I can read," she insisted stubbornly. She didn't notice the new people entering the shop, too busy being involved in the staredown that she had started with her father.

Ah. Well, at least she was remembered. Elena curtsied to Aiden and eyed the child he'd set down on the floor warily. More babies? She couldn't seem to escape them! "It's nice to see you again as well," Elena finally mustered a response in the name of politeness. Another nod at Khali and what? What was going here now? Elena's sleep fogged and deprived brain was having a hard time keeping up with everything going on but it looked like there was...a giraffe? Right, okay, Elena was obviously still asleep.

"That's still...kind of reading?" she offered, trying to forestall any argument and argh! More people! Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Why was it whenever she wanted to be alone, people always found her? Offering a weak smile towards Sylvester the not real giraffe because giraffes didn't walk around town, Elena turned to face the door and the new arrivals. "Hi."

Sylvester stumbled a little and grabbed onto the edge of a nearby bookcase as he got a legful of zooming Khali. "Kind of reading, yeah," he agreed. He still couldn't do much more than read and write his name, but he had a sneaking suspicion that if he sat down and looked at it, english wouldn't be terribly different from the one language he already knew. It just seemed like such a waste to sit and read things when there were movies to watch. "That's cool. How'd you learn so fast?" he asked, trying to break up the staredown.

The last time he had seen the strange red-eyed Tale currently sneaking around the door, she had been more than a little pissy. She was scary too, and that was partially the reason he even remembered her name. Tiwaz the Terminator. "Hey Tiwaz," he said, kneeling down to be closer to Khali. The little Tale was the perfect size for a human shield, and Sylvester wasn't afraid to admit it to himself.

" Hello" Tiwaz responded tonelessly to the older girl, nothing else had been spoken to her by the girl and so she offered nothing more in return. Her gaze felt once again to Sylvester and she gave him something between a smile and a smik " Hello Sylvester they aren't around are they? An who's the girl?" she asked nodding towards Khali.


Talon hadn't brought Tiwaz here to socialise but it couldn't hurt to let her do so. Besides, it gave her a chance to judge how her daughter related to those of an older age. At home most of her children were seperated by only a few years, whereas here there were children of all ages for Tiwaz to interact with.

"Fine. SORT of read, but I can still read," she answered, relenting. It wasn't worth an argument, but it was an important accomplishment for her! So she couldn't say otherwise. She looked up at Sylvester and pulled away from him.

"Angelus helped me, and Daddy..." she paused as he knelt closer to her and greeted the new person she hadn't even noticed. The girl turned her golden head and locked her silver eyes on the darker child entering the room.

Hmm.

"He--" she was cut off by the girl's speech and blinked, "Khalindra," she answered, giving her a look that purely said 'You don't know who I am?' and was almost indignant.

"Who are you?"

Yay for not caring about who you're talking to! Elena was all for a little apathy right now, as she was far too tired to be her normal polite and attentive self. Good thing Lance wasn't here, she'd have been mortified if he'd seen her in such a state.

"It's a start," Elena said to Khali as she twitched the skirt of her dress into a semblance of order. Turning to face Tiwaz, Elena straightened and mustered all of her (considerably) royal bearing. "And who would you be?" she asked imperiously, as Hadar unwrapped from around her wrist to escape the extreme cold escaping from her tatoos.

They? Oh right. Probably Elana and her brother. "Nope, not unless they're sleeping somewhere too," he said, voice trailing off as he spoke. These girls were getting a little... icy. He didn't feel the need to give Khali's name again since she had done such a good job of it herself, so he just stayed where he was, crouched on the floor.

" If you had been listening you'd know who I was," Tiwaz responded coldly to the two inquiring girls. It was clear to her that she probably wasn't going to like this older girl, who so obviously thought the world revolved around her. Khalindra she'd tolerate for the time being, she had some of the older girls attitude but gave off no presence than demanded respect.

Ignoring them she smiled at sylvester " Good" was all she said before turning her back to them . After all she was here for a purpose.

"It's only polite to introduce yourself," Khalindra countered, raising a brow at the darker girl. Immediately she decided she didn't like her very much and moved closer to Sylvester, small head nuzzling into him before she whispered loudly, "She's not very nice."

Her head turned to stare at the one she dubbed "Mean Girl" and blinked her silver eyes. Had she been that rude? She was sure she hadn't been but she couldn't be sure. Not with her crankiness often clouding her judgement.

She hoped not.

Sylvester's eyebrows furrowed under his hair. He really didn't feel like breaking up a fight between the girls and was silently grateful when Tiwaz turned her back. "Um, sure," he said to Khali as quietly as he could, hoping that Tiwaz didn't hear. She sure looked focused about something.

"What are you looking for?" he asked Tiwaz, patting Khali on the head. Why did he just ask that? He should have just kept quiet.

"It's redundant to give out information already known" Tiwaz retorted not bothering to face the girl while answering, secretly she wondered how long her mother would let the verbal sparring go on. She was enjoying herself to be sure, it was always fun to argue, even if the other person is really annoying.

" I need to buy my brother a new journal since his was wrecked, even though it's not my fault" Tiwaz said turning her head slighty so she could see the only male tale in the room.

Khali furrowed her eyebrows at Tiwaz's words. What was...Re...done...dant? Curious, Khali leaned up and whispered to Sylvester, "What does Re-done-dant mean?"

Khali was usually not afraid to ask questions, but Tiwaz made her feel slightly uncomfortable for some undescribable reason and...Well, she'd rather not ask her anything that may make herself look stupid.

"She just means she thinks she'd be saying it twice if she told you, since I said hi to her and said her name and then you asked her name again and stuff. No biggie." He sighed and flopped the rest of the way to the floor, gathering his legs under him and stifling another yawn with the back of his hand. Sylvester looked up at Aiden and Talon, suddenly feeling very old. He was never having kids.

Feeling proud at having won that argument, Tiwaz continued her search all the while occasionaly glancing back at the others just in case one of them pulled something sneaky. It annoyed her that so far two of the three times she'd been here she'd found the visit less than pleasant.

"Oh. Well, it's not always bad to repeat things," her silver eyes narrowed in on Tiwaz and she simply shrugged, "She should learn some..." she searched for the word that her father always used with her, "Manners."

Aiden raised a brow. Even if he agreed, he did NOT want to get in the middle of a chick fight.

Even if said chicks were children. Women were scary sometimes.

Elena rocked back on her heels slightly. "Yes, she should," the older girl said softly, a wicked smile cutting across her face. "My dear, I'm sorry I didn't hear your name mentioned earlier. I thought I was still asleep and I try not to pay that much attention to things I think are figments of my imagination," she said to Tiwaz in a honey sweet tone with an apologetic nod towards Sylvester. "Now, would you care to repeat it, or shall I simply make one up for you?" she asked, her hand on her hip and eyes glimmering coldly in the light. The temperature of the room has dropped slightly overall, and significantly around Elena herself. The skin around the tatoos on her wrists looked like they were covered in frost, while the marks themselves were the same bright blue that glaciers were on their deepest levels.

Sylvester had wondered what Elena had been doing, staying so quiet for so long. Apparently, she was bringing out the big guns. He leaned forward onto his knees, glad his Tale shield was still present. "Her name is Tiwaz," he whispered faintly to nobody, the tiniest flicker of anger drowned in Elena's sudden chill. He was reminded of little Elana's handshake... had that only been yesterday? Sylvester didn't want to butt in. He just wanted to sleep.

Frost-covered tattoos were pretty cool though.

Tiwaz shrugged manners meant little to her at this point and would probably continue to mean little until she felt a need for them. " You were able to say hello to me and speak with Khali more than once using more than one or two words, either you were paying attention to what you thought were figments or you're lying, which is it" She asked wondering how the girl would explain her slip up.

She was aware of the temperature drop, particularly in the membranes of her wings were the blood was thinnest. Tucking them to her back where they could rely on her body heat she turned to give Elena her full attention. She was probably in for a fight and having made no allies she was on her own. She wasn't going to make the first move though, oh no she had enough problems as it was without being accused of starting a fight. She just stood there and attempted to lock eyes with Elena to show her she was not intimidated in the slightest.

The cold temperature didn't bother the star child much at all. Truth be told, she barely noticed the temperature change. Khalindra supposed that it was a large advantage to be a star child at the moment.

However, the animosity that seemed to be brewing in the shop was not something she wanted to be stuck in. But she didn't want to leave her friend, either, by requesting to go home.

"...Can we go somewhere else?" she asked quietly to Sylvester. Maybe that play room that Angelus showed her?

"You seem to have misunderstood me. I was asleep when Khalindra first arrived and I woke up then. Then," here Elena furrowed her brow, trying to remember what Khali had called the giraffe boy, "Sylvester showed up and I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't still asleep. Your arrival, however, assured me that I was indeed awake." A pause, for emphasis. "I certainly would never dream up anyone quite so rude as you." Elena met Tiwaz's gaze firmly and after another pause, laughed. "Don't get above yourself dear, you're beyond a certainty not someone I'd lie to. Not worth it," Elena finished dismissively.

"Yeah, I guess... wait, what time is it?" Sylvester said, remembering that he hadn't been home for more than a day. He slowly got to his feet and reached out for Khali's hand. "We're gonna... yeah... okay," he mumbled, realizing that no one cared where they went. Had Elena really thought he was a dream? That was a first.

Tiwaz shrugged the dismissal away, Elena's opinion of her mattered not to her and she was quite content to let the girl feel she had won that round. It wasn't worth risking damage to her wings to continue anyways so it was best to drop it. Still in the back of her mind part of her wondered if the tension between them wasn't somehow caused by residue left by the twins, heck Elena's name was even similar to Elana's.


"I...don't know," she answered, looking around. Clocks weren't her thing. She didn't know how to tell time and wasn't planning on learning any time soon. Well, maybe she would, now.

"Outside?" she suggested, sending a glance towards the door, "Or somewhere else...Just...Away."

"It's Four," Aiden supplied, hearing Sylvester's question.

Tiwaz's indifference towards Elena was more than returned; the older girl had decided based on their last exchange that Tiwaz wasn't worth bothering with. Khali possibly was, and Sylvester was currently an unknown, so Elena toned down on the chill from her tatoos, although the coldness remained in her icy blue eyes. "Four? Already? I must have been asleep longer than I thought," Elena said to Aiden, twirling a bit of her hair around a finger. "It's so hard to get a good night's sleep with younger children around," she continued, smiling at the man in a conspirital fashion. "But I should be returning home, my mum probably needs my help," she sighed here, and tugged gently on Hadar's tail. "Goodbye Khali, Aiden. It was good to see you again. Sylvester, we'll have to meet again under..better circumstancs." Elena pointedly ignored Tiwaz as she walked out the door of the Stationary Store, Hadar flying behind her, the starry markings on his hide nearly as bright as Elena's hair currently was.

Sylvester waved at Elena's departing figure, frowning slightly at how late it was. "Actually, I don't think I can stay either," he said to Khali. "My mother's going to start looking for me, if she hasn't already." He bent down again, and gave Khalindra a hug before addressing Tiwaz. "I guess I'll see you around too," he said. He wondered if she would ever want to see him again, actually. He seemed to bring bad luck, at least as far as she was concerned.

The star child hugged the giant plushie before he left and looked over at Tiwaz. Well, she didn't want to stay with her there. Bad manners were so unbecoming. She was reminded sharply of Tybalt and shook her head.

"Daddy, can we go home now?"

Aiden nodded, picking up the half asleep child that had managed to curl herself unnoticed in the corner, "Selah looks like she could use some sleep anyway, yeah?"

Khalindra nodded and moved towards Aiden, her skirts swishing around her ankles, "Bye, Tiwaz," she said politely before the entire family left the shop.

At least Khali showed some manners. Even if she didn't like someone it was only the nice thing to do to say farewell.

" Bye Sylvester I do hope to see you again" Tiwaz said, she wasn't sure if this boy was a good one or a bad one but it wasn't his fault there were problem people around him all the time; well at least she didn't think so, the next meeting would tell for sure.

"Bye" Tiwaz replied somewhat startled by Khali talking to her again, perhaps there was hope for her after all.


" Let's go mom I couldn't find what I wanted" she muttered somewhat annoyed that they'd have to go someplace else to find the replacement.

Talon nodded and said nothing, while she didn't fully approve of her daughter's actions, she could feel that there had been more going on than was being understood. Opening the door she followed her daughter out.

Gifts from Nephrenia
posted by me since she can’t reply to the thread

Dear diary:

I went to school today and it was strange, mostly we just talked about ourselves and got put in seating groups. I really like my group, everyone in it is fun or interesting in some way. Mark is my favorite person in the group becuase he knows card tricks his uncle showed him. His unlce is a magician who can rip a card up and then put it all back togeather again. I wish I could do that.

Oh and I won this bear in a game, he's purple and has a shirt that says I like toast. I dunno why his shirt says that but it's ok becuase I like toast.
I think school is going to be very interesting.

Tiwaz Tesseract.



P.S I started reading my book miss Neph sent me and even though I still need help with some bits I think it's cool.

*Cross posting from Riycan's journal as it will important in future entries.

Riycan sat cross legged on the couch, despite his green and black tipped bangs frequently getting in the way the boy was reading. The book was one of plants and was naturally about as interesting as watching grass grow. Still Ricyan scanned each page carefully searching for just the right set of words. There was certain criteria the plants he chose to grow in his room this winter would have to fall under and so he was stuck reading untill he found four or five that met his list.

"Riycan how come all the jumps have different names if they all look the same ?"

Riycan lifted his head and peered down at Tiwaz who sat on the floor watching the t.v. His eyes flicked from her to the screen where a young man was skating to some boring music. Suddenly he took off spinning and landed just the same then jumped again.

" A beautiful triple axel double toeloop combinationl" The announcer proclaimed.

Riycan blinked confused, he'd seen no difference at all between the jumps " Um I dunno why maybe they are different and we just can't see it, or maybe they just want lots of fancy names for stuff. They don't wanna say hey look at him he jumped twice weren't they awesome spinny jumps."

Shaking his head he turned his focus to the book. Still something nagged at him from the back of his mind and every so often he found himself gazing at the screen again, hours passed and he switched from researching to doing the hoemwork his teachers had assigned. He'd seen more men skate watched them glide across the ice and fly through the air graceful and strong like he'd been once.


It irked him that he was no longer able to fly, to soar and wheel and turn and be free, he was grounded and he hated it. Still when he watched the men then women and finally couples skate it had given him an idea. If he could learn this skating if he could get good enough perhaps he could regain some of that lost freedom.

"Tiwaz you wanna take skating lessons with me, maybe we could skate togeather." Of all his siblings Tiwaz was his favorite ( having currently replaced Psy) and was the only one who he could imagine agreeing to leanr with him, the othera all had different hobbies that took up their time.

"If you drop me I'll kill you" Tiwaz said nodding her crimsion eyes filled with amusement.

Riycan grinned, once again he had a new goal and something to point himself towards, this could only be the start of something great.


*normally women skate before men and I don't think pairs ever skate with the other two during competitions but I'm taking creative license here