Ni Iki Tai ((Ithica))

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithi put his head in his hands, listening to her story intently. "Aditi.." His eyes raised to the ceiling, and he was mentally flipping through the pages of one of his religion textbooks. "The one with divine wisdom, isn't she?" He tapped his head, trying to remember something more. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind to formulate some other response.

"That's terrible about your parents." Ithica's forte was to point out the obvious. "Is there any reason why you went to Ganges?" He inquired. "Were your parents a follower of the religion? If you don't mind sharing." Ithi shrugged, lowering his eyes to the table. He felt truly sorry for her, especially since he had come from a happy home. His father still loved, and his mother...well, he wasn't sure where she was, but he knew she still loved him.

Ithica stood up, and, careful to avoid stepping on any cracks in the tiling, sat next to Sophie. He hugged her. "You needed a hug." He informed, pulling away. "At least, you looked like you needed a hug." He snapped his fingers, and bounced in his seat with excitement.

"Haha! You're name means wisdom, and the goddess you thank is the goddess of divine wisdom, well, and a bunch of other things but wisdom is one of them!" He poked her forehead, giggling with his discovery. "You see? You can't just be plain old Soph, because you're surrounded by wisdom. Surrounded!" He opened his arms widely, as if to show that all that space was wisdom. "And you have to be clever to pull off walking to India. I can hardly walk from my apartment to the university without getting lost!"

He lowered his voice, aware that it had been increasingly rising. "So, you have to be clever. And I'm clever. We can configure clever clubs conquering cities and countries."

[ooc: :0 clever fourth wall breakage right there. xD]

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran giggled at Ithica's shbiel. He was a funny man. He was so eccentric, it made him want to carry on laughing, and he did. He was curious, however as to why Ithi was so cautiously avoiding the cracks. But when he was hugged, he hugged him back. He seemed such a lovely character. Still smiling, he asked him;

"Why aren't you stepping on the cracks?" Cocking his head to one side. When he had done that particular action, a woman in france had literally squealed with joy, and said she wanted to adopt him. Somehow she knew it was him, and found him all the cuter because of it. he politely told her that he was over age, and that he was on a mission. He liked free rides.

"Anyway, in India, I was taught that Aditi was the mother of all, not just the stars. She was an overseeing godess, like Brahman. (Not sure if this is TOTALLY right, as in, I migth ahve confused Brahman with something else)

"I think you're a little crazy, and that's good!" Aaran said, but, the confidence drained from him. He resumed his regular behavious of sitting slouched and silent. He finished, and looked at Ithica to see if he had. He suddenly felt very forlorn, and he wanted to return to the adademy, and go to his dorm to sleep. he was frail, and he already felt tired, although it was the middle of the afternoon. He was also resuming his regular sleeping pattern - it had been far too hot for him to work in India during the day, and he had collapsed once from heat stroke.

"Ithica, I think I want to go back now." he said with a frown. "I'm really tired." he got up and dragged himself feebly over to the till, and produced money from somewhere within his dress, and paid.

He then walked out of the shop briskly, not waiting for ithica, knowing he;d be sure to follow. He found it easy finding his ay back to the academy, but collapsed from exhaustion when he was inside. his tiny frame had been pushed too much emotionally and physically, and he had styill not recovered from his trip earlier.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica followed, his hands in his pockets. He had noticed the severe drop in Soph's mood, and was naturally worried. She generally seemed like a cheerful person. Maybe it was because it was her first day and it hadn't gone according to plan. Maybe it was because he had pushed her to keep talking about India and things that were obviously uncomfortable.

He didn't know the exact reason as to why he couldn't step on cracks. He did a lot of things he didn't know the reason to. Like washing his hands until they were raw, brushing his teeth until his gums bled, or playing hopscotch compulsively. Maybe it was because Ithica was so weird that Sophie's mood dropped. He tended to suck the energy out of people if he stayed by them too long (literally).

Ithica was lost in his musings. Then his face hit the ground, shocking him back into reality. He grumbled, and turned to see what he had tripped over. There was Sophie. He squeaked, flailing his arms. "Sophie? Sophie?" He poked her, panicking. What if she was dead? What if he had killed her? What if she was in a coma?

He picked her up awkwardly. "I have no idea where your dorm is, Soph, so you kind of have to help me out here." He said, hoping she'd wake up. He took her to the only logical place he could think of -- his dorm. He put her on his bed. He should call the Academy and tell them that she was here, but... the phone was...somewhere around here. Ithica sighed, bringing Rosie alive.

The porcelain doll scuttled over to Sophie. "Kidnap another little girl, Ithica?" The doll shook her head, sighing. "You're such a creeper."

"I am not! Just watch her... or something. Have you seen the phone?"

"How would I? I've been dead for the majority of the day!" Rosie pointed out, staring at the girl.

"Welll...well...bah!" Ithica wandered into the living room, searching under the sofa and around it.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran felt himself being moved and he could almost feel as though he was going somewhere new. When he opened his eyes, he was facing a little talking doll. It took a moment - in his current state of exhaustion - to register this, but as soon as his mind had figured out that this was wrong, he screamed. He was in a new alien place, after collapsing on the grounds. Not good.

He looked at Ithi who seemed to be panicking, and this worried him even more. He started to cry, it was all just too much for him. He sobbed and buried his face in his hands.

"Ithi, Ithi where am I? I just want to go back to ym dorm." he gasped in-between sobbs. He was at his emotional end and was dangerously close to fainting again. Waves of exhaustion overtook him, and he stopped crying, and hiccoughed. A cloud of dust poofed from his tiny shaking form, but he didn't giggle.

He sobbed once more, wishing he could go. Wishing that somewhere, someone loved him enough to care, that eh had a place called home. But the stark reality came rushing in on him, and another wave of tears came, and he curled up, glaring at the doll.

Would his life ever pick up? He hoped Ithica would take him to his dorm soon. He hoped sincerely. He also wished that he didn't feel this way - Ithica would probably think it was him. The lovely man was just that - lovely. He was a little strange and very eccentric, but Aaran thought that that added to his brilliance.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica sat down at the end of his bed, glad he didn't have to find the telephone any longer. "You're at my dorm." He answered, putting a hand on her arm. "I was going to phone the Academy to pick you up, since I didn't know where your dorm was." He explained.

"I'll take you back to your dorm, Soph, if you can lead me to it." Ithi was trying to lower his voice to calm her down. He pushed Rosie towards her -- after all, she should be better comfort than he was.

"Yeah.." the doll said awkwardly, sending Ithi a withering glare. "You can ride on his back. Or he can carry you. He carries me a lot." Rosie nodded, patting out her dress with her stubby hands. "You don't have to cry about it."

Ithica flicked the doll on her head, sending Rosie tumbling off the bed. "Sorry. Rosie isn't good with people." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry about all of this."

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran whimpered slightly.

"Dorm five hundred and twelve." He simply said. The talking doll was a little too much for Aaran. And, once again he collapsed.