Companion Ceremony
Along a journey one is bound to encounter and bond with many, however Wilhelm hadn't intended to pick up quite so many bonds or take some along with him. The solarians and their animals were all so friendly, not that there weren't dangers and foes, but he'd never thought he'd find himself going to G'Ma's pet daycare to pick up his pets.
Bagel the dog and bread hybrid bounded over first, happy to see him as always. Many things about Solaria were mystical but Bagel always made him smile as the doglike creature always smelled vaguely like a bakery. He patted the little guy and when he looked up he noticed Coin had floated over.
Coin was by far his most... mysterious companion, the orb was clearly alive, but seemingly emotionless upon first glance. The orboros did occasionally show some irritability but Wil was learning how to deal with it.
He couldn't see his fishbowl though, his newest pet, Iris, the rainbow clown fish, was out of sight. He turned to ask G'Ma about it but felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey mister, here is your fish! Sorry I just... borrowed her! She's really pretty and I just thought- Well... I was bored of being here and- anyway I taught her some tricks! So uh... here you go!" A bright peach and cream colored microkia was standing before him sheepishly explaining how she'd borrowed his fish. he accepted the fish and watched her scurry off in a bit of a shock.
He couldn't remember much but suddenly a memory from before the rift spit him out hit like a ton of bricks. A girl laughed as he spun her around, he couldn't make out her face but he could see her dark ringlets in the sunlight. He couldn't remember who she was but this memory... it made his heart squeeze with emotion. His heart felt so full, so warm and happy but also so full of grief. His chest constricted, who was this little kid he couldn't remember? Why was she so important to him?
"Everything okay, Wilhelm?" he heard G'Ma ask and he snapped back to reality. He realized his face felt wet and that he had been crying. He sniffed and wiped the tears away quickly.
"Yeah I just remembered something..." He said, glancing at her and then trying to locate where the micro went, he had to know if there was a connection between the two.
"Where did Manon go?" He asked, not giving G'Ma his full attention. She looked at him quizzically for a moment.
"Oh you mean the microkia? That's Pippa, she's been here a while, got lost from her colony a while back, and hasn't bonded with a Kia or Droma yet. I think she went out back." G'Ma said even though she felt like Wil wasn't listening.
"How does that work? Bonding with a Microkia?" Wil had started walking towards the exit to find Pippa but after a moment he stopped and asked her.
"It's pretty simple, it's kind of like taking in a little sibling-" She didn't finish her sentence before Wil thanked her and was outside faster than she could blink.
"Hey Pippa is it? Would you like to show me the tricks you taught my fish? Her name is Iris by the way." Wil called out as he went.
"Really? I'd love to! I'm the best fish trainer around!" Pippa replied enthusiastically. She was hopeful that Wil would be the companion every micro wants.
And as they say, the rest was history.