|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:33 pm
 Name: Shiro Aldrich Winters
Type: Demonic Neko
Stage: Child
Powers: None
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:37 pm
About
Family
Parents: Lore and Elnara Aldrich
Siblings: Celebor, Serenity, Skye, Storm, Starr, Idhril, Silvrendir, Kaito, Ura, Garrick, Hana ...
Grandparents: Kara, Donovan, Serenity, Garrick, Soronume, Rigel
Other extended family: Too many to list
Notes: eidetic memory
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:49 pm
Hello, Shiro
It had been a long time since Elnara had taken Kaito anywhere with just the two of them, so when he asked if he could come with her to the market that day, she agreed right away. What took a little more convincing was his plea not to have to wear the leather harness he usually always had to wear when they went out. But he had been very well behaved of late and Elnara had an almost naïve tendency to believe the best of people, so she agreed, albeit reluctantly. Still, she held tightly to his hand as they made their way through the throng of people.
“Stay close,” she reminded him, seeing how he was looking around in every direction almost as if he were looking for something.
He looked up at her but didn’t acknowledge her words. He only looked away again, his ears flicking in every direction, as if he were trying to hear something.
“Ro,” he murmured softly.
Elnara blinked and looked down at Kaito, then knelt beside him. “Did you say something?” she asked him with an encouraging smile.
Kaito kept looking around, his ears still flicking like mad. “Ro,” he murmured again. “Shi … ro … shi … ro … shi …”
Elnara’s brow furrowed in confusion, and she put one hand on her son’s head. “Kaito,” she murmured, “Toshiro’s at home, he didn’t come … he’s not here.”
Kaito wasn’t listening to her. His nose was wiggling as if he were smelling for something, and his ears flicked again.
“Ro … shi … ro … shi … ro …”
His yellow cat-eyes grew wide, and before Elnara could react he took off into the crowd.
“Shades!” Elnara swore, jumping to her feet and taking off after him. “KAITO!” She slung her bag over her back and ran as fast as she could without bowling anyone over. She was disappointed. She had been so certain that he would behave …
Kaito meanwhile was darting between people, following his ears and nose rather than his eyes – but still, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. He burst through two people and stopped short, his ears finally stopping and focusing straight ahead. Then he ran forward and took a flying leap, tackling a boy only a bit bigger than himself who was talking to one of the vendors.
“SHIRO!” he squealed, rubbing his head against the other boy’s leathery-winged back.
The other boy squirmed around to see who had tackled him, and his red eyes glowed slightly as they grew wide with surprise. “Otouto-san!” he shouted, throwing his pale arms around the smaller neko and hugging him tightly. “Where were you? I’ve been looking for you for so long!”
Such was the scene when Elnara finally caught up with Kaito, panting from the exertion of the run in the cold air: he and another neko, as dark as Kaito was light, together in a tight embrace. But the other neko was not angelic, as Kaito was … he seemed to be a demon. He had short hair, so black that light reflected blue off of it, and his wings were black. His eyes were red and seemed to be glowing, and Elnara’s first instinct was to fight – but then she calmed herself, remembering that the demons in Gaia were different from the demons in her world.
It was then that she noticed that he, too, had cat ears and a tail … had he known Kaito before Elnara had found him?
“Kaito?” she said hesitantly, stepping forward and putting one hand on Kaito’s shoulder.
Kaito looked up at Elnara, grinning, and pointed at the other neko. “Shiro!” he said happily.
Elnara blinked as the other boy looked up at her, grinning widely.
“Hello,” the boy said brightly. “Thank you for taking care of otouto-san! I’ve been looking for him for months, I thought something might have happened to him! Thank you so much!” He bowed deeply, his tail flicking back and forth much as Kaito’s did regularly.
Elnara was surprised. “I … who … are you?” she stuttered. “You know Kaito?” She had enough family members who spoke Japanese to know that the boy had referred to Kaito as his little brother, and she was so surprised that her mind seemed to stop functioning.
Shiro smiled up at her. “He has a name now!” he exclaimed. “When he disappeared I didn’t have anything to call him yet! Kaito is my little brother! I was so worried about him, have you been taking care of him? What’s your name?”
“Elnara,” she replied, still slightly dazed. But her mind was slowly catching up with the events, and only one thought was reverberating through her head: Kaito has his own family …
How could she have taken him like that? Taken him home as if she had every right, when she hadn’t even considered the possibility that he might have his own family that might miss him? How could she have been so thoughtless? True, she had thought he had come from that cardboard box at the side of the road, but what proof had she had? He could have come from anywhere!
“Kaito … is your brother?” she asked then, kneeling down to their height so that she could look the boy in the eye.
Shiro nodded. “Yes, he disappeared a long time ago.” He grinned and turned back to Kaito. “But now he’s back!”
Elnara felt a lump growing in her throat as she watched Kaito nuzzling Shiro affectionately. Kaito had found his brother … he had to go back, he needed to be with his family, with his real family, if it was possible … but that meant in turn that he would be leaving her … that he would no longer be her little boy … as much trouble as he could be, she loved him as much as any of her other children, as much as if he really were one of her own. But he had to go back …
As if reading Elnara’s mind, Shiro looked up at her and asked, “Can he come home with me again?”
Elnara nodded slowly, hiding a frown. “I … can I come with you?” she asked, clearing her throat so that her voice would come clearer. “I … would like to know where you live, so that I can visit him again …”
“Of course!” Shiro agreed cheerfully, nudging Kaito gently so that he would walk on his own without leaning. “Follow me, it’s not far!”
Elnara walked beside the two nekos, trying to keep tears from falling as she listened to Shiro chatting amiably about the time he had spent trying to track his brother down. He talked about his time learning to speak on his own so that he could question other people, how he had even managed to earn a bit of money to buy some clothes for himself, and – strangely enough – how he had managed to expand their tiny home.
“We’re almost there,” he said brightly as they left the crowd of the city. Interestingly enough, they were on the road that led back to the inn – one that Elnara was certain held no other structures. As her confusion grew, her eyes were drawn to a cardboard box at the side of the road … the same place where she had thought Kaito had been when she had found him … but the box was bigger …
Sure enough, Kaito released Shiro and darted for the box, sitting inside it and making himself comfortable. He grinned up at Elnara and waved for her to come join him.
“Come, Mama!” he called eagerly – but Elnara couldn’t move.
“This … is where you live?” she asked, blinking down at Shiro.
Shiro grinned and nodded. “It isn’t much, but it’s warm,” he told her cheerfully. “And now that Kaito’s back, it will be even warmer!” He darted into the box and ruffled Kaito’s hair lovingly.
Elnara knelt on the ground in front of the box and peered inside. “This … is it?” she asked again, incredulously. “Just … the two of you? Where’s the rest of your family?”
Shiro smiled at Kaito, who was grooming his wings. “It’s just the two of us, otouto-san and me,” he murmured, putting one arm around Kaito’s shoulders. “Just two of us, but we’re a family.”
Elnara wiped at her eyes with the back of her wrist and looked at the two of them. “Just … the two of you … you … have no other family?”
Shiro shook his head. “Just me and otouto-san,” he repeated.
Kaito poked Shiro’s shoulder and pointed at Elnara. “Mama,” he told his brother with a smile. He pointed down the road. “Home. Celebor. Serenity. Skye. Storm. Starr. Idhril. Silver dear. Family. Home.”
Shiro looked hurt. “You … don’t want to live with me?” he asked quietly.
Kaito reached over and licked Shiro’s cheek in a kitty-kiss. “Home,” he said again, pointing down the road. Then he smiled at his brother. “Shiro, home too!”
Shiro blinked. “Home … me?” he repeated in confusion. He looked up at Elnara. “What … what does he mean?”
Elnara smiled warmly. “I think,” she replied softly, holding one hand out to him, “that rather than him returning to this box with you … he wants you to come and live with us, to become a part of our … rather large family.” She paused, watching him carefully for his reaction. “Would you like that? To become a part of our family? For me to be your mother, to have a father, to have aunts and uncles and cousins and many siblings?”
Shiro’s red eyes were focused on Elnara’s hand, and he looked from it to Kaito’s eager face and back again. A slow smile crept over his face, and he reached out and accepted Elnara’s hand, shaking it slowly.
“I would like that,” he agreed happily.
Elnara smiled and reached out, pulling both nekos in for a warm hug. “Then welcome to the family,” she said with a smile, hugging them both tightly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:15 pm
Special Request Shiro had only been living with his family for about three months, and that was also the amount of time that he had spent in school. Ever. Yet he found that the pace at which things were taught, things were simply too slow for him, and more often than not he was bored, and got in trouble for reading books during class - books that he had borrowed from his father's library that were far more advanced than any of the courses at school could offer. He was getting annoyed, to be honest - very annoyed.
And for this reason, he was, during the time when he was supposed to be in his history class, heading instead to his grandmother's office to speak to her. Ura, as usual, was in tow, following closely on his heels, though he no longer held Shiro's hand, which he hadn't done since he had grown.
When they approached the headmistress's door, Ura moved to take the handle and open it, but Shiro reached out and put one hand on the demon's arm.
"No, Ura," he murmured, reaching up and knocking instead. "We might interrupt something. It's polite to knock and wait to be invited in."
So he knocked.
Kara didn't bother to look up from the work she was doing, since she expected it to be someone she knew anyhow. Who, she wasn't sure, though she had a few suspicions thanks to Donovan.
"Come in!" she called out absently.
There was another complaint from Tsubasa again but that wasn't a surprise really, she mused on this before working on something else.
"See?" Shiro grinned at Ura. "And now we can go in."
And he reached for the doorknob and twisted it, hoping as he entered his grandmother's office that she wasn't aware that he was currently skipping class. He hoped Donovan wasn't in there ... because he would know for sure.
"Grandmother?" he said hesitantly, taking a small step into her office. "Do you have a moment?"
Ura wandered past him and looked around, then turned and watched Shiro as he took another step into the room.
Kara looked up in surprise to see Shiro there, did he have class at the moment? She was sure he did not, but there was no one to tell her otherwise and balancing the time tables of nearly twenty children it was hard to tell for her anymore.
"Of course Shiro," she murmured shoving her papers aside, "How can I help you?"
Shiro walked forward until he stood directly in front of Kara's desk, then folded his hands neatly in front of himself and stood straight, proper.
"Grandmother," he began softly, hoping that she wouldn't take this the wrong way, "my classes are boring. I mean ... the material that the teachers teach is interesting enough, I suppose, but they go at a very slow pace, and I find that most of the time I have nothing to do. But when I read a book from Tou-san's library so that I can actually learn something new, I ..."
His ears drooped in shame. "I get in trouble."
Ura stepped forward and crossed his arms defensively. "Shiro is a good boy," he told Kara matter-of-factly. "He shouldn't get in trouble for learning in class."
That... was the other issue was had been expecting, she had heard and the teachers had complained seeing as she was his grandmother. Though Kara probably already knew why that was, and wasn't he already in a pretty high grade? Then again he could just read through the textbook, now that she thought about it.
"Shiro, have you been at least reading the same subject you're supposed to be learning in class?" she had to ask.
"Sometimes," Shiro admitted uneasily. "But sometimes it's just not possible ... I've read all of the textbooks for my classes, and for the higher grades, and I know all of those things already ... but I know all of the math, so I've been reading Greek history ... but even my history teacher won't let me read Greek history in class ..."
"Shiro needs special work," Ura said solemnly, moving to stand beside his brother.
Shiro glanced at Ura briefly before turning his gaze back to Kara. "I need ... something more," he agreed with the demon. "I can't learn anything here anymore. Not in regular classes, anyway. The only thing that I could learn here is magic, but ... there's no room in my schedule because of the other classes that I have to take."
And here she had issues with Lin wanting to do the same thing, even though she was managing quite fine. Thankfully at least there was a pace that Lin could or had to keep, but Shiro couldn't really help it though.
Kara had to wonder how was she going to keep Shiro's mind active, she couldn't fill everything with just magic lessons could she? Maybe fighting, but only if he would go for it...
Maybe she should suggest music lessons.
"Normally I don't suggest this unless one of the children is fully grown," she added absent-mindedly, "Or if I was cornered like with some, but there is a way to get around that. Take the exemption tests for your classes."
Shiro's eyes grew bright, and his ears pricked forward hopefully at that information.
"You mean like Lin's trying to take?" he asked softly, his tail beginning to swish back and forth contentedly. "That I can write a test on all of it and never have to take those courses again?"
"Shiro will need new classes then," Ura murmured, his brow furrowing worriedly.
"Yes, I know, Ura," Shiro hushed the demon. "Perhaps fighting or something ... something that is more than just head knowledge so that it's more of a challenge ... I would like very much to go back for another trip with Aragost-san sometime."
"Yes well... I was hoping Lin wouldn't try and take it for several more months," Kara murmured, "But that is what they are, the tests are originally created because of course your Uncle Triton, one of the first students is now an adult, when everyone else of his year are still children. It was mainly put into place because let's face it, even without your gift you would be taking it a year or two down the road anyhow."
She sighed a bit looking quite thoughtful.
"As for fighting you'll need to find a teacher among the family or someone else, your mother doesn't like the idea of the headmaster teaching fighting to you," not that she could blame Elnara, "There are still the magic classes... and probably the only other subject that you might not breeze through is the arts."
Shiro laughed sheepishly. "Well, I already know I can't draw anything more than diagrams or statistical graphs," he admitted, "so I really don't think the visual arts are for me. I'm not interested in acting or anything, which leaves music, doesn't it?"
He paused thoughtfully. "I've never thought about music," he murmured. "Mother plays very well ... and sings ... maybe I should give it a try, though I don't know what instrument I would learn."
Ura also looked like he was at a loss to suggest one.
"It would depends on how portable you would want the instrument to be," Kara replied softly.
As far as she knew no one in the family was a large fan of music, at least not enough to actually play.
"Something I could take to Arda," Shiro replied without even pausing to think about it. "I'd like to spend time there, in both areas, learning and, if possible, traveling. Aragost-san promised that he would take me on another trip the next time I came, and I would like to learn from Sir Valdemar as well."
"From Sir Valdemar as well," Ura echoed, though he hadn't met the elf and had no idea who it was.
"Hmm....." Kara looked thoughtful, "Well, there is the violin, but the best would probably be a small wind instrument of some sort."
As for the other issue about who to learn from as well.
"And you need to ask Lin to come along when it comes to Sir Valdemar, she takes lessons with him daily, though do please try and not develop her same sleeping habits..."
"Obaa-san," Shiro giggled, reverting to the more comfortable Japanese, "I'm part cat. Of course I won't develop Lin's lack of sleeping habits!"
Ura giggled along. "Shiro is very wise," he told Kara cheerfully. "He knows how to be good."
"I do like the idea of a violin, though," Shiro admitted with a catty grin, his tail flicking back and forth playfully. "Do you know where I might find one? Or find a teacher, for that matter?"
"I'm sure we have a music teacher around here somewhere," Kara mused.
Though she hoped the teacher played violin, though she saw why not. They had.. as Donovan called them, rich brats running around the school. Violin an instrument their parents would consider fit for their children, so they must have prepared.
"As for a violin try checking the music room, if there aren't any talk to me," she told him, "Besides, you're still quite small, you might need a smaller one."
Shiro nodded. "I'll see what I can find," he promised her. "Though perhaps I should first worry about the exemption exams ... when can I take them? Do I have to wait? I already know all of the material, I could write them today if it's possible ..."
His red eyes glowed with hope as he gazed at his grandmother. More than anything, he wanted at the moment to escape those classes which were nothing but a waste of time - like the one he was supposed to be in at the moment.
He hoped the teacher wouldn't come looking for him ... or that Donovan wouldn't walk in.
"They take a day or two to process," Kara murmured, "So you'll have to wait, it's a bit of paper work to make sure it gets all done right and the files updated."
Never mind finding someone to mark the bloody things, good heavens this might be a headache.
"Until then," a voice cut in from her office door, "I would suggest writing him a note and making some bull story about why he can't attend classes."
Donovan walked in and shut the door behind him, he didn't look upset or anything. Then again he was putting on that mask he did when he didn't want to be read.
"The history teacher is being a pain in the-"
"Donovan!"
"Behind."
Shiro froze when he heard Donovan come in, and his guilt was so great that he couldn't even bring himself to look at his grandfather.
Ura on the other hand scowled at Donovan. "I bet she tried to get Shiro in trouble," he guessed, "just because he's supposed to be in that class right now."
"Ura!" Shiro hissed through his teeth, glaring for the first time at the demon in anger.
"But you said yourself," Ura protested, "that there's no point to being in a class where you're not allowed to learn anything new!"
Shiro's face turned as red as his eyes, and he lowered his gaze, his shoulders slumping and his ears drooping as he waited for the lecture that he knew had to come next.
"Regardless," Kara replied, "He has to be in class because students are as long as they are in a course required to attend a certain amount of hours."
It was probably best to explain that, though she would have to admit in taking the exemption tests he wouldn't have to worry, but she as headmistress had to do something. Even if she knew otherwise.
"Not to mention," Donovan replied making his way towards the desk, "There is this little matter of keeping face. Sorry kid, but you can't get out of this one."
Shiro nodded. He knew. He had known from the beginning that he shouldn't have skipped class. But Ura was right - there was no point in being there if he wasn't going to be allowed to learn.
"I just wanted to do something worthwhile," he said softly in his defense. "Even if it is a history class, I get in trouble for reading history books that aren't the textbook, even though I know the textbook already."
His tail drooped towards the floor, and he sighed heavily.
"I just wanted to do something worthwhile," he repeated softly.
"And we don't blame you for wanting that at the least," Kara replied in turn, "But as Donovan said, it is more about keeping face. Until you write your tests and the results come back in, we can't justify not giving you some sort of punishment. Consider it a down side of being related to me."
"Meh, just give him detention helping the librarian in the school's library, she'll be grateful to have someone who doesn't automatically see book and think gaming reference. Besides skipping class for first timers means only one detention not several," Donovan muttered, "And Shiro if you really don't want to go get your mom to write you a note for a few days absence, it's going to take us a while. No one related to you can mark the damn papers, so we have to find someone to mark them."
"Donovan... your mouth is still horrible..."
Shiro perked up a bit, hearing that he might be able to spend his time in the library.
"So ... if I ask Mother to write a note saying that I don't have to go to classes, I can spend time really learning until after I've written the exams?" he asked, just to make sure that he had it straight. "But I just have to make sure I go to the rest of my classes for today?"
"Well... not in those terms... I mean having the note written like that, that would send teachers calling out neglect," Donovan murmured.
Logically it was sound, but socially... he really hoped Shiro won't end up socially blunt, not that it was a bad thing as he would personally note.
"Better have your mom write a note saying you need to study for exams, it sounds better and kind of the truth," he muttered, "Anyhow yes, attend the rest of the classes we don't need to make your detention any longer than it needs to be. Just show up in the library after school and I'll tell your mom where you are."
Shiro was beaming now.
"I'll do that!" he promised cheerfully. He turned towards the door, but paused before he had even taken a single step and looked back towards his grandparents.
"Do I have to go to the rest of this class?" he asked with bated breath. "Since I'm already being punished for missing it, isn't it okay if I miss the rest of it?"
Kara bit back a sigh, she could understand why Shiro would ask that, but really these younger ones were going to be the death of her one day.
"Yes, but don't get caught out in the hallway, just go," Donovan replied knowing what Kara was probably thinking.
Shiro's eyes grew brighter, and he grinned at Ura before turning back to his grandparents.
"Thank you!" he exclaimed before slipping out of the office, with Ura following after him.
Maybe he would spend the rest of the period in the library ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:30 pm
A Musical Gift
It had been Kara’s idea, really. Shiro was just plain too smart, he needed something physical that his body needed to learn as well as his head, so that he wouldn’t be bored. Weapons were out of the question. There was no way Elnara was going to let Tracy teach him. She didn’t trust the headmaster, not with her children. Well, Celebor maybe – but that was because Celebor was nearly an adult and had a good amount of training and he could handle himself. Besides that, Shiro had his heart set on learning from Aragost in Arda, so that was what Elnara had already given him permission to do.
Music was something that would be good for him, though. It required hours of practice, it would keep both his mind and body busy, and give him something that he would actually have to work at to become good at it. He had wanted something small, something portable, so that he could take it with him on his travels – he was considering traveling with Lin to Arda when she grew up, going on the trip that she had been planning with his royal cousin for a very long time already.
The violin had been Kara’s suggestion: light, portable, pleasant, and a challenge for the geniusly intelligent neko. He had liked that idea immensely, and now, only a few short days later, having had only three lessons on the school violins, he and Elnara were out and shopping for a violin for Shiro to call his own.
They had already been to three instrument shops, but no matter how many violins Shiro had tried, he hadn’t been satisfied with any of them. Despite her acute elven hearing, Elnara couldn’t tell the difference between any of them: but Shiro was a genius after all and she trusted him when he said that there was something wrong with them.
Finally, they arrived at a very small shop that offered only a small selection. The reason for it, they told her, was because their instruments were hand-made, each and every one of them, and not factory-made (whatever that meant) like most of the others.
Shiro was impressed by the information, though, so she smiled encouragingly and nodded for him to look around.
There was only one violin in the entire shop, and it wasn’t long before Shiro found it. He smiled, picked it up, put it to his chin, and began to pluck the strings, testing out its sound.
“Already in tune,” he murmured softly, his voice smooth like a purr. “Very nice.”
And then he took the bow and ran it across the strings, playing a few notes, closing his eyes to concentrate. A slow smile crossed his face, and he nodded, his wings twitching slightly.
“Yes,” he murmured softly, lowering the instrument and smiling at Elnara. “This one.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
