Growth Resources

[Kara Winters]

:Growth Resources:

Because we would like to see all Seconds grow up happy and healthy, we have here ways to help you fulfill the requirements so your Second can grow. Remember, if you run into any trouble, whether it is to find a role play partner, problems in role playing or problems with time please tell us, and we’ll try to help you the best we can, but before you panic about growth requirements, let me explain to you what those requirements are.

A growth requirement can be one journal session or one role play session, this includes:

heart A series or one well thought out journal entry
heart A role play session with a beginning, middle and end either in the shop thread, or guild.
heart A transcription of a role play session of your Second anywhere outside the shop which includes other Gaia guilds, threads, instant messengers, PMs or e-mails in the guild library.
heart Taking part in a role play event with your Second.

As you can see you are not confined to the shop, if you do not feel comfortable in role playing with your fellow owners, or if you do not feel comfortable role playing at all, you have the choice to do everything by journal if you wish, whichever you choose that is up to you.

(Please don't post here)

:Why Are There Growth Requirements?:

While role playing in order for your Seconds to grow has been part of the shop since it was first created by Tea and Tiia, old owners will notice that there are now specific growth requirements, which was different before when the rules had stated you role play and they will grow.

Has the role playing requirements gotten stricter?

No, no they have not, the truth of the matter was, the role play requirements were undefined. No one knew how much role playing it took for a pet to grow. So it is not that it has gotten stricter it is just they are now there.

In fact compared to a lot of shops it isn't that strict at all, where most shops say you have to have a certain amount of role plays and journal entries, we're allowing you to do one or the other or both.

But now that we have role play requirements it seems to have become harder to make my pet grow.

Actually no, the problem was with having it undefined was that owners were marked weekly in who showed up to talk and to role play. The problem by going by this method if an owner rarely showed up to role play (in other words the time gap would be weeks), there was a good chance their pet would never grow because they were kept track of by a weekly basis.

By giving a certain amount of requirements it means it doesn't matter how long it takes you to fulfil those requirements, you will eventually have your pet grown and that was the most important part. For those of you who have been always role playing often, the only lag you will suffer is the time it would take to grow your pet (finish it).

What will happen to my pet now with these requirements?

Well if you show up and don't role play, the same thing as always. They just won't grow, they won't be taken away, but they won't grow. Nothing else would happen to them.

But I don't think I'll be able to handle these requirements...

If you have trouble finding a role play, you can write journals, if you need help with your journals that is what this resource is for. If all else fails ask Elnara or Kara for help. In total there are only 12 needed role plays or even quicker 12 needed journal entries. The latter being better if you don't have a lot of time.  

[Kara Winters]

:Role Play Issues:

Role playing is always difficult no matter who the person role playing is, and for many different reasons. Here are some of the basic problems with role playing you might run into, if you have any issues not covered please PM us about them.

Don’t have time to role play.

Want to role play, but life is eating you up? The best way to try and get a bit of role play time in is actually ask the person(s) you’re role playing with if you could do so in the guild, this way your role play doesn’t get lost in the shop thread, and you can get to it when you have time, even if it’s just one or two replies a day.

Another choice is to role play with yourself, believe it or not, especially if your Second has a guardian (aka you or one of your characters), you could do a self role play with them.

My role play partner disappeared on me.

This happens, unfortunately… because sessions require a beginning, middle and end, the best way is to continue role playing with yourself once you’re sure your partner is never going to show up again, and end the role play. How you deal with your missing partner is up to you, maybe your Second lost him or her, then you can end it and it still counts as a session.
Don’t feel obligated to wait for weeks, if you’re not sure send a friendly reminder PM about your role play, but otherwise end it if you feel it is going nowhere.

I don’t want to continue my current role play.

Again, this happens, it might be because the role play isn’t going anywhere, or maybe you’re not so fond of the role play you’re in… for other reasons. You can direct the role play to end if you wish, don’t force to speed it up, and do ask your role play partner if you can wrap it up.

But I don’t have sessions, mine is one large story with another person!

Some role plays go on and on without an ending and we understand that too. One way to make it work is write in where one day (if you’re doing it that way) or event ends and another begins. For every day or every event that would be a role play session because that within the large story as a beginning, middle and end.

I don’t have anyone to role play with.

Ask, is all I can say. Ask in the thread if there is anyone who has Seconds they might like to role play with, and now would be a good time to remind you, you need not role play in the shop or guild. If you decide to role play with someone you trust outside the shop, simply transcribe that role play into the library and that counts as a role play session.

If you still do not have anyone, ask Nara or Kira (or the shop owners) to see if they have a Second to spare.

I’m not really fond of role playing.

That my dear… is what journals are for.  

[Kara Winters]

:What is a ‘well thought out’ journal?:

A well thought out journal IS:
heart The Second’s thoughts, feelings and experiences, or the owner’s thoughts, feeling, and experiences on the Second
heart Journal needs to have a point, whether it is something important that happened or something that affected them.

A well thought out journal IS NOT:
evil A few sentences long.
evil The same entry copy and pasted for every Second with only changes to names.
evil The same topic over and over again.
evil About the owner, unless it’s how the Second feels about its owner or what the Second experiences with the owner
evil Ramblings of nothing  

[Kara Winters]

:Journal Ideas:

Journals can be written as a short story, from the Second’s point of view or from the owner’s point of view.

Write a journal for each growth stage

When a Second grows there is a wealth of things to write about. For the vase stage think about… how the vase appear? If there is a guardian, how did the guardian come by the vase?
For both Reaction and Surprise, what happened with the stuff/Second came out of the vase? How did the owner (if there is one) react to it?
For each of the growing stages unless it was role played out, there are many things to consider. Like, how and where did the Second grow? Was it painful? Was it sudden? Did the Second feel disoriented or ill afterwards? Did his or her clothes grow with them, or did they have to get new ones? How did the owner react to this growth?

Write a journal(s) for each spell learnt.

No Second can learn a spell perfectly the first time, after all especially when they learn young they do not have much magic to begin with. So learning magic provides a journal or series of journals marking the progress of the magic learnt (it will also help make your magic for your Seconds official).

What was it like learning the spell for the first time? Was the Second excited, scared, or nervous? How did it feel casting that magic or spell for the first time? Were there any accidents or mishaps while casting the spell? What sort of accidents? (ex. Lin tended to teleport herself a few feet above from where she wanted to be, so she kept falling) What are the limits on the spell, such as power needed to keep it going, or the range of the spell etc… How did it feel to finally be able to master the spell?


Write a journal response to a role play

Yes believe it or not, a journal about a role play is counted, and it is helpful especially if you don’t feel up to transcribing an out of shop role play. However, it cannot be a summary of a role play, think of it as doing a post modem on the role play after the fact. So what would be included? Well consider these questions.

How did the Second feel about the experience (the role play) or the people (in the role play)? Did they make friends? Did they make enemies, do they hold certain persons in high regard or they have no respect for that person? How did the experience affect them? Did it cause them to make new goals? Fulfill old goals? Did it make them work harder; did it create a love for something or a fear for something? How did this shape your Second?  

[Kara Winters]

:Other Ideas:

Role play it with others or by yourself, or just write about it in your journal.

Holidays With Seconds – If you have a guardian for your Second that celebrates Christmas, Halloween, Easter… a birthday or whatever that would be a good thing to write about. Especially since when you first get your Second it could be their first.

Height Issues – Surprises are very small doll beings, babies are larger than they are, write about the problems of being so small whether it is being chased by a squirrel or getting to the cookie jar that is up to you (or heck eating is interest).

It Hurts – All Seconds start out as children, and as children well… accidents happen, whether it is something minor as scrapping a knee or major as breaking a collar bone, things do happen. Write about how, and why it happened, oh and what got hurt.

Education – Seconds when they are born are like blank slates… minus the part that they can talk, but they soak everything up like sponges (and if you grew that fast you would too!). How do they learn? If they have no guardian how do they teach themselves, if they have a Gaian owner does the owner teach them or do they get sent to school? What is that like?

The Birds and Bees – Seconds come from vases… Seconds of Seconds also come from vases… mating is actually not required. How does one explain to their Second that they (the guardian) came from inside a person and not a vase. That might be a bit difficult to explain (or very difficult if you get embarrassed easily).

Child or Teen? – The hardest growth is the one from child to teen, because one goes from an innocent child to a hormonal teen. How is this sudden physical development difficult on the Second? How does that Second cope with being suddenly ‘grown up’?