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"Hey Yakobi, Taranis," he greeted them both, nodding a little.

"He'o!" announced Tsu, getting down from his chair a little quicker than Kiro, bouncing as he landed on the floor and racing towards the newcomers.

"Just the people I wanted to talk to," Kiro commented, squatting down next to Taranis to talk to him. "I've got some favours to ask you for... if that's okay?" He paused before going on to explain. "I've got some invitations I need delivered for me, for a Halloween party. I'd also like to measure your height and weight for a job I'm supposed to be do-"

"Tha' bi's fun!" Tsu announced suddenly.

"Tsu likes reading the scales," he explained, then glancing up to Yakobi. "And bouncing on them..."

Kiro grinned widely as Yakobi's outburst. He totally forgot she'd never met Tsukai the way he was now. "Yeah. He's not been grown very long..." he murmured proudly.

As for 'Hull-o-bean'... well...

"Ha'o'een!" said Tsu excitedly, throwing his hands up. "I's we'n pe'pul dress up as sca'y stuff and te' sto'ees an' stuff! I's fun!" he assured Taranis excitedly, unable to help himself hopping from foot to foot excitedly.

Kiro, having retrieved the things he always got when he was measuring the children, watched Tsu's excited explaination. He'd gotten himself so eager for Halloween that he could talk this animatedly about it having never experienced one?

He put the scales on the floor, and knelt beside them, tapping them with a finger. "Could you step on this for me Taranis?"

"Ha'o'een's... uhh..." His expression a little uncertain, Tsukai turned to look at Kiro. Dates came with numbers, Kiro noted, as he wrote down the number on the scale.

"It's in about two weeks. Fourteen days." Kiro spoke softly, not at all certain if Taranis had sorted out his numbers yet. Reaching across for the tape measure, Kiro stretched it out and up the Aerandir. "Stand straight for me kiddo..."

"Ha'o'een's soon tho'!" Tsu carried on enthuiastically.

"Thought about what you wanna dress up as?" Kiro asked his charge, rolling up the tape measure and indicating to Taranis that he could step off the scales now.

"Uhh... no' ye'..." the boy admitted thoughtfully. He wondered if Hope would want to dress up too. Somehow he figured it wasn't the cat's type of scene...

"Not bad," Kiro answered, pushing the scales to one side, laying his notebook on top of them idly. He needed to get a move on with these things - he'd already taken his sweet time as it was, and he'd not even finished on Cetalu yet. And he didn't like offering excuses for tardiness. "Running a little behind with a few things - but it's nothing I can't catch up on."

He then got to his feet, dusting off his knees and took a pile of invites off the table. "These are what I want Taranis to deliver for me." He offered the pile towards the Aerandir. "They've each got everyone's names on, just whenever you get around to it."

After handing them across, he looked back to Yakobi. "How about you? We haven't seen you for a long while."

Kiro nodded in understanding. "We've got a cat too - Hope. I don't think Tsu's figured out that she doesn't like being prodded. He's too curious for his own good I think." He grinned a little and poked Tsu with the end of his own tail before looking back to Yakobi and continuing. "Hope there's not been any trouble on the mainland?"

"Cupboards, yeah?" said Kiro with an amused expression. "Hope's favourite place is under Tsu's bed - which is a bit strange. I figure they love to hate each other," he said with a smile.

"Speaking of Hope," he murmured, "she's probably wondering what's happened to us." Kiro smiled apologetically. "Thanks for your help guys. I really appreciate it."

So, the night before party night.

Kiro only hoped Taranis had managed to get all the invitations to their respective guardians - he hadn't seen either the Aerandir or the guardian to find out.

Absently the blonde approached the door of the Centre, his arms full of the mysterious pumpkins that had turned up. One or two seemed to have vanished - by Kiro's guess anyway - but Kiro figured the best place for them now would be near the festivities. Maybe some of the children would want to carve pumpkins? While their guardians were watching of course.

Kiro moved to prop the door open with a hip, but was surprised to find it already open. He smiled down at Tsukai, who had an armful of the feeble decorations they'd tried to make and was standing with his back against the door, holding it open. "You looking forward to tomorrow kiddo?"

A gleeful nod. "Uh-huh!"

"Well," Kiro said, "I don't think it's gonna rain tonight, so this stuff should be safe enough outside. We'll finish taking the pumpkins and stuff down and then we'll finish your costume and do one of the Jack-O-Lanterns, yeah?"

"Yeah!"