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 Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:01 am
A bench, in a park, by a path, at the base of a tree. It's barely dawn. Children clutching oversized stars clamber on to the bench at the direction of a rather elegant woman. She takes leave of each of them in their own way - a hug, a peck on the cheek, a pat on the shoulder - tells them what they're waiting for shouldn't take too long, and goes back the way she came.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:04 am
Nozomi waved a cheerful goodbye to Stella, then looked around her with the innocent curiosity of the very young. The little girl's face carried a permanent expression of wonder. She had barely manifested into this four-limbed body days ago, and the world seemed fresh and new from this new perspective. The sights, the smells, the sounds! The Child of Celesi was able to sense her general surroundings as a fruit, of course, but never quite so vividly. She inhale deeply and exhaled on a sigh, feeling cheerfully alive.
As she watched Stella's figure dwindle slowly into the distance and then vanish from sight as it turned a corner, Nozomi couldn't help but think of the person would replace the adult star in her life.
"I wonder what my guardian will be like?" She mused aloud, readjusting her grip on the star and accidentally elbowing the kid next to her. Nozomi wasn't exactly the most spatially aware.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:16 am
Vydia watched as the shadows claimed Stella’s elegant form the further she walked from the children. Vydia placed her dark star on her small knees and rested her head between two of the points. She didn’t look forward to waiting on some stupid bench and was sure if she were to leave she could find her own guardian. She was excited though to be able to get a new guardian and see the world.
Vydia grunted and pulled back as the bright child’s elbow rammed into her arm. She glared at the vibrant girl but otherwise said nothing. Finally, with a sigh, she jumped off the boring bench, and dragging the star behind her looked for something interesting to do.
The best entertainment around proved to be a rock, so she took to lightly kicking it back and forth.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 2:08 pm
Kaiden stood, arms crossed, with his star leaning against his leg. Bright, wary eyes constantly scanned the slowly brightening surroundings but always managed to keep the other star children in his sight. His brow furrowed slightly as one of the girls wandered from the bench, but relaxed again when she went no further than the path to play with a stone. He did not know the other children, having only really interacted with Stella since he had manifested into this new form... but while wishing him well with his new guardian, Stella had placed a gentle hand on his head and told him to keep the others safe.
Golden eyes once again scanned the now familiar route: nothing moved in the dawning light, the bright child remained happily on the bench where she had been told to stay, the dark child entertained herself with a rock; and nothing moved in the dawning light... Having nothing to do beyond stand guard and not really having any desire to break the silence, Kaiden let his thoughts wander to what his existence would be like now, as a manifested star with an earth-bound caregiver.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 10:30 pm
As her neighbour hopped off the bench, Nozomi realised she'd stuck her arm into her. Whoops. The other girl didn't look too friendly - she actually seemed kind of sulky - but as a Light-aligned star, Nozomi couldn't let this pass.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I dint mean to do that," she said in a light, musical voice. She hopped off the bench and walked towards the other girl, dragging her star along with one hand. At the same time she noticed a golden-eyed boy along the way, standing still and looking thoughtful.
It wouldn't hurt to make some friends before they were all spirited off by their new guardians, right? Besides, she was feeling chatty.
"So... what are your names?" Nozomi asked cheerfully, looking from the boy, to the girl, and back again.
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Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 5:37 am
Vydia cringed and stopped the rock under her foot as she heard the other child’s soft melodic voice break the silence that Vydia had been content to keep. She heard the other girl approach and turned around, releasing her star and letting it lean against one leg. She thought about not answering and ignoring her but what would it hurt to play along, she probably wouldn’t see the girl much, if at all after leaving with a new guardian.
“I’m Vydia.” She replied, her voice deep for a child. She glanced at the boy who stood like statue and then back at the girl. She was pretty, her eyes bright crystal blue and her hair pale blue and purple.
Vydia lifted her foot and rolled the small rock forward, “Want to play?”
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Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 5:53 am
Startled out of his thoughts, Kaiden's gaze focused on the girls as their voices broke the silence. His eyes darted back and forth between the two as they exchanged greetings and he thought he'd seen the darker girl, Vydia she'd said, glance at him... he suspected her hesitation meant she would have preferred to maintain the silence as well.
Muffling a soft sigh, Stella had already worked to ingraine manners into him, he offered a slight nod to both girls. "Kaiden... a pleasure to make your acquaintance, um... ladies." Cringing, slightly embarrassed at how awkward he felt in this admittedly strange social situation, Kaiden shifted his weight and after another quick scan of the surroundings looked back at brighter girl hoping for her to either continue... or let the safety of the silence return. The inner nature of his fire alignment already made it hard enough for him to stand still; he didn't need to feel any more ill at ease. He cringed again, inwardly, at the mildly reproving look he could imagine Stella giving him for those thoughts. Re-centering himself, he decided to make the best of the situation and at least attempt to walk away with friends instead of responsibilities.
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Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 6:14 am
"I'm Nozomi. It's great to meet you guys, too," the bright girl said with a smile that lit up her eyes. She looked up and down the path quickly, and, noting there was no sign of people approaching from either direction, turned back to the other kids.
"Well, we've got lots of time. Vydia... how do we play your game?"
Not once did it occur to this child of light that Kaiden might not want to play with two girls, or that anyone actually liked silence, or that kicking a rock around could get someone hurt. All she really wanted to do was make friends.
Life really wasn't very complex for Nozomi at all.
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Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 6:50 am
“Likewise” she replied, though unsure if it was good to be meeting them. This would prove to be more entertaining then sitting in silence she supposed. The boy looked slightly uncomfortable as she glanced at him so she offered a quick smile, “You can play too?”
She didn’t consider kicking a rock back and forth a game so Nozomi’s question was hard to answer. She hesitated before replying and studied the rock and with a quick scan of the area had come up with an idea. “How about we try and kick the rock under the bench. Whoever does gets a point. Kaiden is going to be the score keeper.” She decided the last part without the boys input. “It would be uneven if you played” she directed the statement at Kaiden, “and you and Nozomi could take turns playing and keeping score.” It was Vydia’s idea and rock so she didn’t have to do the scoring. That was fair right?
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 5:40 am
Kaiden blinked looking back and forth between the two, now hopeful, female faces. He kind of felt a need to scratch his head or perhaps shake his head to clear it... how had he become involved in this exactly? Not seeing any polite way around it, he nodded slowly to Vydia. "I can keep score for you. And it's, um, fine with me if Nozomi wants to just keep playing. I'll just, um, I'll just..."
Seeing they still had their stars to contend with, Kaiden figured he could at least offer to guard them. How could you kick or run or play with a star in your way? He knew he wouldn't want his too far away; but the stars would be safe enough with him. Clearing his throat tentatively and looking somewhat bashfully at the ground, he directed the offer toward the two girls. "I, that is if you want me to, I could watch your stars over here. I promise to not let anything happen to them..." He looked up, solemnly sincere in his promise to protect and hoping his offer wasn't overly offensive or anything. He acknowledged that he was not be the biggest fan of socializing, but he didn't want to drive away his first two potential friends!
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 6:11 am
Nozomi looked first at her two bare feet, then the rock, and finally Kaiden.
"We can take turns... really... I get tired easily, so I'll have to rest. And then you can play," she decided aloud, not really wanting Kaiden to stay still all the time. He was waaay too much like a statue! Things with legs, Nozomi decided, should put them to good use; unlike the poor trees who were rooted to the spot and couldn't move even if they wanted to.
"And, um, thanks." Nozomi grasped her star with both hands reverently and offered it to Kaiden. "It's a good thing all our stars are different colours, isn't it?"
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 7:37 am
Vydia rolled her eyes, of course they both weren't going to agree on anything. "See Kaiden, when she gets tired you can.....you will play!" She said the last part while standing as straight as she could trying to look imposing, maybe she could scare them into agreement. Probably not, Stella wouldn't like that so she added a quick, "if you want to."
Vydia studied Kaiden, he seemed reliable enough if not a little awkward and if he did decide to do something with her star she could just go over and get it back. "Fine." She picked up the dark star and offered it to the boy, "and ahhhh thanks." There, see, she was being nice.
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 7:53 am
Figuring arguing wasn't worth it, and really, just glad he had not offended the girls, Kaiden relocated his softly glowing golden star from leaning against his leg, to leaning against the tree he had taken up his station under.
Turning and taking the few steps that separated him from where Nozomi offered her star, Kaiden offered a surprisingly genuine smile as he gingerly reached to take the lavender star from the bright girl. "I don't think we would be able to mix up our stars even if they were the same color ...Nozomi." Shy laughter danced in his eyes as he relieved the smaller manifest of her star; "I knew just reaching out for this," he slightly raised the star he now held in his hands, "that this is not my star. It feels different... it has a different... I don't think I know the right words, but it's really different."
He turned, placing Nozomi's star against the tree, next to his own, and looked back at Vydia hesitantly... slowly approaching the dark girl to relieve her of her fathomless star. He cocked his brow slightly at her abrupt thanks and in stark contrast to the grin Nozomi had surprised out of him, he offered Vydia a cocky half-smile, "You're welcome."
Returning again to his post, Kaiden placed Vydia's star on the opposite side of his own and turned back to the girls, crossing his arms and planting his feet a bit more than shoulder-width apart, waiting for the game to start.
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 8:06 am
"Different as in... doesn't feel right?" Asked Nozomi, curious. She'd never touched someone else's star before. It just seemed a really personal part of her, more so than her hands but less than her bum. She definitely wouldn't let a stranger hold it, and maybe not her new guardian until they got to know each other better.
Oh well. Mysteries. The glowy girl positioned herself so that the rock was equidistant between her and Vydia, and they bench was just as far away from both of them.
"Umm... I guess we'll start when Kaiden says to," she ventured, suddenly feeling kinda nervous about wresting something from someone else - even if it was just a rock.
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 8:34 am
Vydia listened to Kaiden's explanation of thier stars. It made sense. Though she had never touched anothers star she could feel hers, as if it was just a seperate part of her. It was hard to put into to words, but it was like her star had a pulse and she could feel that it was near. She glanced at her star, feeling a bit weird that it wasn't with her but she trusted Kaiden as he obviously felt the same respect she did toward their stars. She shook off the detached feeling and focused on the game.
Vydia stretched down to grab her toes and shuffling her feet on the floor a few times nodded at Kaiden, "Ready when you are!" She could think about stars another time, now she wanted to focus on having some fun....and winning.
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