Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alyosha gave the boy a slightly crooked smile, hoping that he was not reverting to his quiet self. From what he'd heard Kiro was becoming almost sociable... who'd have thought. He grinned silently to himself as he gave Kiro a brief nod.

"I'm here on some business, Kiro, I have a little something for you and Tsu. " he paused and held the object forward, wanting to get to the heart of the matter with little preamble. The boy seemed to respond well to being given something to think about, too.




"It's, ah.. an artifact" he said by way of explanation.

The next stage!

Alyosha nodded slightly at Kiro's guess "Yes a qui..."

As Tsu tapped the object, he began to change. It spread from his beak, up over his arms, paws, wings to the tip of his tail. He became a bluish hue, then slowly began to loose substance, becoming ethereal. The now slightly larger Tsu was sitting partways through Anakiro's shoulder instead of on it.



"Ah.. well, it appears it did work" He smiled towards Kiro, searching for a list in his pockets. "You do know the particulars about the wisp stage and the need for other items and the like, yes?" Alyosha proffered a list with a number of decidely odd items in it.

(( biggrin In order for Tsukai to progress beyond the wisp stage, I'd like you to collect the following items and bring them to me:

Tsukai:
1 feather from Rahujo
3 strips of leather
1 woven piece of cloth
Some mixed beads
A small jingle bell
A small ribbon

You may get these by buying them from minishops, from other people drawing or creating them for you, or by drawing, creating or photographing them yourself (although no more than one item should be supplied by yourself.)
Tsukai should stay close to his bonded object at all times and should not be able to speak much or touch things while he is in this form. ))

Alyosha had seen troubled wisps and unsettled ones but never one so frought. "Poor Tsu.." he murmered under his breath, hoping that the little aerandir, still little even as a wisp, would be allright in what was obviously an unsettling time.

"If you need my help..." he said to Kiro, trailing off. The young neko-jin knew where he resided, knew his door was open - he'd offered several times before now. "Maybe reading him some stories would settle him a little?" he said quietly, stepping back a little "given his job and all. I've known others to be more settled when pre-occupied by their er 'jobs'." There was little else he could do, right now. The wisps always made him feel so.. helpless.

He gave what he hoped would be a comfortin smile to Tsu. "A story, that sounds good, doesn't it Tsu ?" he said, calmly but with enthusiasm. Children were not as immune to adults when it came to passing on enthusiasm.

"I guess I'll head back, let you get on." he said to Kiro, moving down the corridor. "If you need some new storybooks swing by later, I'll look some out for you both" he called over his shoulder, dissapearing round the corner.

~~ 2005/08/24 ~~

Tsukai, by the next morning, still wasn't feeling too good about his newly-found appearance. He'd flitted around the room all night, restlessly floating around different objects as they took his interest. Kiro had stayed up as well, watching the poor thing float around aimlessly. To begin with, he'd pulled out one of the books to read. This ploy had worked for a while, but Kiro could tell after an hour or two he was losing the wisp's attention, and given it up for a lost cause.

So the next step was to start talking. The neko-jin wasn't really sure what he had even said that night. He'd just talked and talked in the hope that his voice might convey something.

It had, however, seemed to have had a positive impact on the worried creature. Tsu was seeming a lot less frantic as the morning came around, now just floating and skittering around as though looking for something to do. And so, out came the storybook again, Tsu floating as close to Kiro's shoulder as he could get, watching the book his guardian was reading from.

Eventually Kiro finished the particular story he had been reading, and closed the book quietly. He turned to look at Tsu, dismayed at how subdued the wisp still looked. "Okay Tsu... You and I need to have a talk..." he murmured, still unsure how much Tsu even understood. He leaned against the desk with an elbow, thoughtfully supporting his head with that hand. "This," he indicated Tsu's ghost-like state with his free hand. "This isn't permenant, okay? You're growing up... You don't need to worry about it so much." He sighed a little as Tsu still looked fretful. But he was obviously paying attention, so Kiro continued. He reached to the list they had been given and pulled it across. "See these things here? Once we get all of these things, then you can grow up a bit more, okay? But I need you to cheer up a little for me." He paused before adding. "You're making me sad too..."

As always, the tone of Kiro's voice seemed to have an impact on his small charge. Tsu's expression changed as he tilted his head, now looking concerned. He circled Kiro a few times, his large eyes watching the neko-jin. So... Kiro seemed to be... implying this wasn't as bad a thing as Tsu thought it was. But Kiro sounded sad too... So... umm... Tsu continued circling Kiro for a little longer, before coming to a halt in front of him. Hmm... This required thought... But for the moment...

"That's right..." said Kiro, watching Tsu brave a smile. "It's not as bad as you're making out. I mean, it probably feels really strange, but it's not all that bad... I mean, you can go through things now right? How fun must that be?" Kiro smiled back at Tsu, before reaching for the book again. "Okay, now that we understand each other... where were we?"

((RP ~ Data collection from Osusuki))

~~ 2005/08/26 ~~

Kiro turned from the journal entry to find out what Tsu was doing. The wisp was floating around Hope by this point, murbling to her enthusiastically and getting confused mews in response. They were amusing to watch together, and again, Kiro was glad Hope had turned up.

He stood up then, intending to go see if there was any post - returning a few seconds later. He glanced towards the wisp. "Tsu, I think you might want to see this..."



"Wow," the neko-jin murmured as he held the bell up by the string. "I didn't expect anyone to send something to someone they don't know... and so fast too..." He held it out so Tsukai could see it, jingling it a little as he did so. "You remember at the fesitval Tsu? They were there, they live on the other island." A nod and a quiet murble of agreement.

Smiling widely, Kiro set the bell down on the desk next to the half-empty jar of beads. "So, that's two down..." He paused. "We should probably write her a letter to say thank you, huh?" Another nod and a murble, the little wisp almost beside himself as he floated over the bell and was trying to grab at it. But..he...just ...couldn't quite... touch it...! Gah!! Eventually he gave up on his efforts and looked up at Kiro hopefully. This prompted the neko-jin to smile, and reach out to jingle it again. "Like that?"

An excited nod came in reply, the little wisp's hands balled up near his chin excitedly. Yes, yes, just like that!! It made such a fun, jingly sound when he did that to it!!

((RP ~ Data Collection from Nehanda -- Meeting Foenix and Nehanda for the first time -- Saying "Hi!" to Pueblo and Fae again!))

~~ 2005/08/29 ~~

The best things always seemed to happen when they weren't around, Kiro reflected as he and Tsukai returned to the Centre. Yet again it had been another 'nice day walking' affair, and yet again they'd missed some kind soul with something else to help Tsukai grow a little more.



Kiro crouched down to pick up the small message, a grin splitting his face as he realised he had three pieces of leather in his hand. He laughed quietly as Tsu seemed to realise it too, zipping happily around his guardian. "Almost there kiddo," he confirmed as he opened the door. "Almost there."