《From Beast to Man and Back Again》Ch.16 The orphanage
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I'm dressed in a set of the casual clothing we bought from Linsley, a grey shirt and black pants. We picked them up when we went to get the weapons. The old man and I are walking on the path to town. The old man is lecturing again, he's always giving lectures.
"Remember Chaise you must call her Miss Ramount, she is very strict about manners. You are there to help so do what she tells you. I'll leave immediately, because she doesn't like me. She thinks I treat children like research and raise them to be weapons. I don't, but she doesn't believe me. Once I leave you're on your own. If someone starts fondling your ears and you don't want them to move away, don't smack their hand, if that doesn't work gently move their hand away and tell them to stop because you don't like it. Don't injure anyone. Most of the children won't try to insult you, but the ones who do are just trying to prove that they are tough. Just ignore those ones because what they want is attention. Don't injure anyone.-"
"Old man why are so certain I'll injure someone? They are neither food nor a threat so why would I? Some people just don't know who they can and can't pick a fight with. All I'll need to do to teach them a lesson is hold them to the ground until they submit."
"Don't do that either. Please just tell an adult, they're the ones in charge of teaching and taking care of these children. Don't do it yourself."
"What if the problem is an adult?"
"Tell a different adult about it. Also don't use magic while helping out."
"Okay old man."
.....
We've arrived at the orphanage. It's a big house with two floors. It's very wide. Behind the house is a yard with a garden that takes up half the space. Their are children running around playing with each other. Some of them are screaming, but not with fear...why? I don't understand it. Ah, one of them fell on their face. And~ they've started crying. Oh, Lavender has come out and is comforting that child. I turn my attention back to the door we are walking towards. I can't see behind the house anymore. We stop at the door and the old man starts knocking on it.
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"Just a monument~! Artemis could you get the door? "
The thumping sound of running starts. A child dressed in black and white opens the door.
"Hi, how may we help you?"
"Hello child. Chaise here will be volunteering here once a week from now on. We've come for him to get started helping out."
The girl looks at me curiously. She has blonde hair and silver-blue eyes. Her expression turns to shock briefly before she nods to herself seriously and stares into the distance. She turns back to us like it never happened. She's weird. Another lady walks up to the door. She has pale green hair and blue eyes.
"Come in, come in. You must be Chaise. I'm Miss Ramount. It's wonderful that someone your age would devote their time to helping others like this. We are always in need of more help running this place. Neil I hope you've been treating this child well."
"Don't worry I let him be a child. I don't just lecture him all day. One of the main reasons I'm have him volunteering here is so that he gets to know children his own age. Chaise remember what I told you earlier."
"Okay."
The old man turns and leaves. It looks more like he's fleeing. I look at Miss Ramount expectantly.
"Hmm, what should we start with? *clap* I know! How about you help Artemis here. She was helping out with cleaning. Would that be okay?"
"Yes, but I'd need her to teach me how to."
"Wonderful! I'll do get you an apron."
She goes into another room. I sit on the nearby couch to wait. Artemis sits next to me. She's being fidgety.
"Hi, so your name is Chaise? I'm Artemis, nice to meet you."
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"Nice to meet you."
She looks down at her feet, she seems hesitant about something. She looks away from me, like she's staring into the distance. She holds a fist near her face and looks regretful. I think she's strange even for a bipedal. But she is pretty funny to watch. Her head whips around and she looks at me startled.
"What?"
"You just laughed. What's funny?"
Really? I did? I didn't notice, oh well.
"Your behavior is. It's weird even for a human. Although... You don't quite smell human. You do smell human but not like other ones. Does that mean you're a high human?"
Now she's all flustered. She's waving her hands back and forth in front of her and going waa waa. *hahaha* She's really funny. Her reaction and expression are really exaggerated. It's fun to watch.
"N-n-no I-I'm not!...How did you know!?"
"Like I said, you smell different. It's actually an improvement compared to other humans."
I lean in closer to smell it better. She smells like places with high sec- mana concentrations. It reminds me of the area my mother liked to take me in the spring... Oh Miss Ramount is almost back. I get off the couch and move to meet her. She's carrying a white piece of cloth, that must be an apron. It's similar to the white clothing Artemis is wearing, but her's is rounder and frillier.
"Here you go Chaise. Artemis knows what to do so listen to what she says okay? I need to go buy some things, so I'll be gone until lunch."
"Okay."
I turn back to Artemis, ready to start. She's curled up face down on the couch. Her ears peek out of her hair, they vaguely resemble a feathered wing, and re bright red.
"The character did do those kind of things, but-but *mumble mumble* my heart isn't ready! *mumble mumble* magic academy! *mumble* ..."
She's weird. I wait for her to come back to her senses. I could probably shake her awake but this is fun to watch.
.....
It took her awhile to stop mumbling to herself. She sat back up and acted like nothing happened, except for the fact that her face was still a bit red. We started cleaning around the house. Apparently all the kids were outside playing or in town helping people to earn some money to spend. As we cleaned Artemis kept staring at my ears, she looked like she really wanted to touch them. Some of the kids I saw outside had animal ears too, so I don't understand why she specifically wanted to touch mine. She would move past me a try to touch my ears secretly. I would casually dodge her hand and look at her face out of the corner of my eye. She always made a devastated expression and then hold a fist near her face with an expression saying she won't give up. I don't think she could tell I was dodging her on purpose. Hmhm, she's so weird.
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