Closed [Welcome Home Orphanage] A Rose By Any Other Name(Rosalina)

[Garland]

Aneeka stumbled towards Roselina and leaned on her back. She looked at Garland with a childish smile and waddled behind the much adult woman to hide from him.

"What do you do, Roselina? I mean what work do you do. You seem quick with your hands given how quick you switch the coin in your hand." Garland gave a knowing smirk at her. "Hands like that are either from a dancer, or someone who doesn't keep her hands to herself."

Garland laughed loudly. "Don't worry, I'm off duty, people do what they must to survive in this world. Try to avoid me when I'm in my armor though, don't want to have to arrest someone I know. Makes things awkward the next time you meet, but if I do see you doing something illegal, I would most likely think my armor would make me have a hard time moving, if you catch my meaning."

"You say you've been in the orphanage before? I assume you're a local, I don't remember you though, but you do look familiar." Garland then saw the tattoo on her arm. It seemed familiar. "That symbol... Are you related to a man named Ferrin by any chance. He's a good man, a bit silly at times."

Garland thought about what he needed. "I can't think of anything that I can make into a snowman, wood maybe, but I don't think the kids would like that, also fairly dangerous. I guess sand would be the most logical choice."

[Roselina]

A chuckle slipped out of her, her career was something she enjoyed, but not something she felt good about neccesarily. "Well, I'm no dancer, I'll say that at least."

She listened to him, it was true what he was saying, yet she had never expected someone who worked to protect the city to understand that. Most of them seemed to have a view where good and evil never blurred. The ones she had encountered anyway.

Laughing at what he had said with a light smile, she replied, her tone slightly regretful. "Well its not a nice career, but it keeps me alive."

She almost yelled when she realised that she had forgot to wear her cloak. This happened too often recently, but Garland seemed nice.

"Yes, I'm related to Ferrin." He voice was cheery, perhaps too cheery. Tone it down. Truthfully, she didn't trust anyone related to her at all. She hated talking about her family or relatives, but she shouldn't sound like someone who was that happy. "I met him recently, he's my cousin."

She smiled, "I'm sure sand would be fine, better than wood at least."

"Sweet Dreams."

[Garland]

Garland nodded, her voice took a sharp turn up the happy meter when he mentioned Ferrin. Somewhat strange, but a thief in a family of knights can make anyone a black sheep easily.

"I won't pry, but Ferrin's a good man, have you met his kid? Got her here, they seem happy." Garland didn't know how or why Roselina was in the orphanage if she had living breathing relatives and Garland knew that Ferrin's family had knights, Garland didn't think all knights were good, but more often than not they're harsh but fair.

"I'll be honest, never liked sand, loved the beach, hated the sand. Ever had sand in your eyes or shorts? Absolutely dreadful, that's what sand feels like in places you didn't even know you had, especially wet sand. Ughh..."

The twins have started playing together, and using Roselina like a jungle gym.They giggled at each other, hiding in front and behind Roselina

"It's hard being a single parent, their mother just sorta left them there for me when they were just barely old enough to eat mushy food. These two are a handful." Garland just sighed and took out two dolls he had in his pocket, and handed them to the twins. Phobos was cared for, less chew marks and generally just cleaner, while Aneeka's doll was almost broken by the seams.

There was an odd stitch here and there indicating a patch job from Garland. He handed the toys to the twins and they giggled with glee. Aneeka just started biting down on the doll, while Phobos made the little doll wave around with his little hands.

"These kids really need someone to look out for them, a big sister perhaps, Ser Brock comes around, he's a good man, like the father to some of these kids, he's harsh but he has a soft side, they need someone to teach them to have fun, not just sit in the room quietly while they eat their food. Jess is no bloody good, she only looks out for herself, she's a good kid, but money makes her world go round."

[Roselina]

She was glad the conversation had turned to things other than her family and job now. Both were things that were unpleasant to talk about for her. Family especially.

Relatives weren't something she had a good history with, it had been rough. From running away as a child, to her brother's death.

Shaking away from the thoughts for now, she smiled in agreement. "It's not the most brilliant thing, is it? Gets everywhere. The beach is nice though, not that I get to go places like that often."

They seemed to be using her to hide behind now, Garlands kids. She moved her hair out of the way of them, having noticed how they liked to pull on it.

She chuckled with a grin, this guy couldn't accept that he was an alright parent, from what she had seen anyway. "I'm sure your kids are happy either way."

Roselina nodded with a smile. "A lot of them will end up like that if they don't learn otherwise. Many of them spend time outside all day though."

"Sweet Dreams."

[Garland]

Garland smiled as Aneeka and Phobos started chasing each other. "The kids need some fun in their lives, and all the rules and knights aren't very fun. They're cool to look at and imagine yourself in, but ehhh... Sometimes breaking a few rules is the greatest fun you can have."

Garland stood up and started following the twins, to make sure they didn't hurt themselves. They just ran around, and played with the other kids, the older ones greeted Garland. "Hey there, hope you're staying out of trouble. At the very least not getting caught."

The kids gave a few nervous laughs. "Hahaha! We've been very good." They were lying through their teeth. Garland just smiled and nodded, he knew when they were lying, there was nothing they could do that Garland couldn't top given enough time.

The twins ran around in the yard enjoying the air and chasing after each other. "Roar!" Garland gave a very fake roar that the twins seemed to enjoy, they started running away from Garland.

Garland slowly walked towards them, hunched back and his lower lip extended, he did a passable job of being a monster. "I'm going to catch you, rawr!"

The twins then split up, Phobos went right, and Aneeka went left. "Roselina! I call upon ye!" He gave a wink, signalling her to join in, with that he started following Phobos, with his slow gait.

[Roselina]

She laughed joining in with their games, chasing after the kids for a while. A plan had started to come together in her head though. She wasn't sure if Garland would be up for it, but she decided to mention it anyway.

After a while of playing with them, they sat down, slightly tired put from all the running they had done. Once she was out of earshot of the kids she turned to him, speaking the plan that she had come up with.

She had wondered how the man would take it, he seemed like a good person, though he had said that he didn't mind it when he was off duty.

"Do you still want to make that snowman? You mentioned pots and pans, right?" Roselina asked, her voice slightly mischevious.

"I could borrow them for you, I'm sure they wouldn't miss them for an hour or two. Besides, those kids would love to make one, wouldn't they?"

It wouldn't be that hard to take some, anyway, perhaps she could get some of the older children to make some noise to distract them as she sneaked in. She wasn't going to keep them anyway, they wouldn't be missed as long as they were returned before they ate.

"Sweet Dreams."

[Garland]

Garland took the twins and held them to him, it seemed like they were hungry, given they were crying their lungs out.

Garland reached into the cradleboards he had and pulled out two small baby bottles, he turned away from Roselina and willed his res to flow out of him.

A small blob of blue gel formed in Garland's hand, he willed it to form into a small mist and floated above his hand. He thought of flame and the res burned brightly, he thought of a weaker flame and the fire he had created started dying down.

The flame was now something akin to a candle flame. The fire warmed the bottles and Garland handed the twins a bottle each.

"Hmm? You plan to steal them? Why didn't I think of that!?" Garland looked around and saw no one was looking at them. The twins were busy drinking their bottles to notice Garland and Roselina.

"Most of them are obviously in the kitchen, but there are a few in the storeroom because of the occasional celebration or some such." Garland also thought about something. "The twins stayed in the orphanage for a little while once, when they said they couldn't stay in the dormitories, if you see any other toddlers in there, tell their caretaker that Phobos and Aneeka are here. Having some friends to play with would make them happy I think."

[Roselina]

She was surprised at how open he was to the idea. It was unexpected, but she decided not to think about it much, it wasn't worth reading into deeper than that.

Smiling slightly, she spoke in a quieter tone than she usually would. "Well, it isn't exactly stealing if I plan to return them, is it?"

The question rhetorical, and her tone playful, she listened to what he told her.

The storeroom might be the easier one, though she would have to be extremely careful with making sure she didn't make too much noise. The kitchen might be alright if there is no one in there, perhaps if she caused some kind of distraction.

She felt bad about this, but it'd make some kids happy, and that was something she'd feel good about doing. Maybe it balances it out?, she pondered that for a moment, before deciding it didn't. A crime was still a crime, and she especially didn't like stealing from an orphanage.

"Okay, but I might need a distraction so they don't notice I'm taking them. It wouldn't be great if they did."

Perhaps she could convince some of the kids to create a distraction for her. It wouldn't be hard to give them a few coins and tell them to make some noise and yell for the workers inside.

"Sweet Dreams."

[Garland]

"Of course its not stealing, this is a prank if anything and I do love myself a good prank." Garland took the kids and set them on his lap. "I'll wait here, I guess."

Aneeka was already fast asleep, while Phobos tumbled away from Garland's lap and crawled over to Roselina.

The little boy then clung onto Roselina's leg and started babbling, making him drop the bottle that was in his mouth and let the thing roll the the ground. Garland took the bottle and placed it in his pocket.

"Alright, you little rascal, come here." Garland reached down to grab Phobos but the little boy simply held on tightly.

"Nu! Nu! Nu!" He kept repeating the word while Garland just sighed. Phobos looked up to Rose and with his big blue eyes just stared into her very soul.

"Looks like he wants to come with you." Garland just let him go. If he took Phobos, he would definitely cry and then Aneeka would wake up and then she'd cry and then Garland would have a migraine trying to calm the two of them down.

Phobos then started nomming on Roselina's pants.

[Roselina]

She signed, kneeling down to the child's level and giving him a serious look. "Okay, but if you want to come with me, you're going to have to be very quiet, okay?"

Grinning as Phobos nodded at her, lifting him up and walking into the orphanage. There wasn't many around, as the majority of the children were outside, and the caretaker was in the kitchen with a few of the toddlers.

She smiled at the caretaker, and spoke. "Garland asked if you could take the toddlers to play with the twins." It sounded like a question and the woman smiled happily in response.

"Okay, let's go!" Her voice was bubbly and kind, going over to the toddlers and leading them outside. Once she had gone, Roselina quickly grabbed the pots and pans, putting the boy on the floor who held onto her skirt as they walked back to the outside.

She carefully stepped as she walked, careful not to tip them over, as some of them had began to tip precariously, Roselina handed one to Phobus to hold, so it would be a bit easier, who dragged it across the ground, making an irritating noise.

Continued here

"Sweet Dreams."