Loamhedge Orphanage

Bialis sighed. "Yeah, I do." But he didn't clarify what other language -- or speak it. Perhaps he was lying, or bluffing, or just messing with the drow. Finding himself addressed, he frowned towards Poppy. "Ah... is there anythin' t'tie up th'braid with...? Uhm. I'm Bialis... like he said... iunno. Ain't never lived inna orphanage before. Not got much t'compare it to as they go, can I.... 's much nicer'n prison was though, so... can't complain, can I."

He looked briefly to Marle and her squirming charge: "Why's she yer favourite, then," He inquired very quietly.

Marle coos at the wee bairn and holds her high up in the air for a moment, giving her an affectionate jiggle before bringing her in for the snugs. She cradles Kalene against her chest, settling her backside onto one thick, fuzzy forearm.

Tufted ears flick as she catches the sound of her name. She turns on the spot to face Kiro, a warm smile on her muzzle--which might be a strange or even fearsome expression for someone who wasn't used to dealing with furres. "Of course, lad," she says immediately, but realizes immediately after that perhaps it was a bad idea. Parchment wasn't cheap, and with their predicament ... "Ah, on second thought, Kiro--perhaps ye could use a writing slate instead? The slates and chalk are in the trunk. T'will be better fer practice." She lightly bounced Kalene as she talked, and with her free hand began to comb long claws through the girl's hair ... not with much success.

At Kalene's urging, the burly badger carried her over to the gathering of kids and set her down. "Good morning, children," she said to them, dark eyes settling on each of them in turn--even Ethel, who she knew wasn't fond of her. At Bialis' whispered question, her ears flicked his way, but with all the commotion in the room she didn't hear it fully. "Have ye aught tae ask me, Bialis?" she inquired, still smiling.

Walks out of the dorm with a yawn and into the common room. Brushing bushy hair out of his face before rubbing his eyes and looking around the room, offering sleepy smiles to everyone. "Morning." Gaze falling to Marle a moment, "what's everyone up to? Sorry I'm so late getting up." Dropping hands to his lap feeling more awake now. "Oh uh, I'm Ruth." Smiling again and lifting a hand to wave.

Kiro tried to repress a sigh of disappointment, but he never had much success in self control when it came to his emotions. He liked tracking every moment of his studies and found that looking back at past practice attempts was helpful to him. Whilst he tried to make up for the cost of those preferences by making the most out of every inch of parchment before obtaining new pieces, he had previously ran out of room on all pieces he had stored away. He kept forgetting that the situation in the orphanage was not what it once was.

"Very well..." He said quietly, his voice barely a whisper as he tried to think up alternative ways of permanently recording his practice. He was a little disappointed in himself for starting to take things for granted and perhaps even becoming wasteful.

In the meantime he did what was suggested and grabbed some slate and chalk from the trunk. He thought about sticking around and doing his studying here but the room was becoming far too crowded. Instead, after heading to the door and giving the whole room a nod of acknowledgement, he began moving toward the dining room. Perhaps Marle was right... maybe he didn't need to record every practice attempt after all...

Every chubby limb straightens with a brief shriek, likely the closest that the little one has come to laughing thus far. Determined to "fly" through the air once Marle kindly lifts her a little higher still! Oh the joys of finding such entertainment in the silly things. Now placed upon the ground to finally play with the others, Kally backs up to quite literally sit atop one of Marle's feet. To keep her warm, of course! Ruth's friendly wave leaves the toddler lifting one of her own tiny hands, shaking it clumsily to mimic a wave. "Hihi.." She greets softly.

Ethelian gave a snicker at Poppy's reaction to the thought of it, he thought it was a fine idea- he remembered the times his brother brought back dead goblins, hung them up like decorations while smothering them with preservative. Though his expression turned cold at the notion that Marle was the favourite, barely resisting giving a sour snort.

Beasts and furred things were bad, very bad, not amount of 'care taker' labelling could help. He moved to give a reply and point out something to tie his hair up when the Beast spoke up and addressed them, this time he did look at her- turning his head to face her despite needing to stay in one position for the braiders.

His older brother had constantly trained him to be brave- to look danger in the eye, grab a sword and- well he didn't have a sword, magic was unreliable (would not be ideal to get detention for icing a plant stalk onto the beast's fur would it?)

Ethelian shook his hand adamantly, on a train of impulsive thought he bolted, lithe legs carrying him to the corner of the room as he stared with defensive fear at the Beast, giving her a cold glare- as best he could muster, with lowered ears and bared teeth that were barely comparable to her fangs.

Yellow eyes glanced to the exit and then to the Beast- with a rush of fight or flight insticts he didn't take a moment to consider the other children's feelings about him interrupting the braiding session.

"Ogglin!"

Raven watches the encounter between marle and basically everyone else. She raises an eyebrow when male says he should use chalk instead of parchment.

"Parchment had never been a problem before..."

She mutters under her breath before watching the toddler squirm to get to them. She can't help but chuckle as she squirms. She stops however and looks at marle.

"U-um...m-marle....can I talk to you....w-when you have a second?? I-if not then that's fine...."

She says quickly fidgeting with her hands as she quickly became nervous that she would ignore her or yell at her.

Bialis frowned, as the young drow began to get rather agitated -- he tried to finish up the braiding, but Elthelian was squirming to regard Marle -- which only confused Bialis. Sure, her claws and size were a bit intimidating, but --

"She's only a furre..."

Ruth, he had seen before -- of course he must, due to the shared dormitory -- and tended to look at him in an odd way now and then, staring too hard, almost as if seeing a ghost. He did so briefly, but found the drow scrambling away from him and himself being addressed by the caretaker -- he paused, opening his mouth and trying to gather response, but between Ethelian's fear and Raven's question, he just -- shook his head, sitting quiet.

Marle wiggled her toe-claws underneath Kalene's backside, enough to jostle her around a little bit. She smiled down at Kiro as the boy left to study. Ruth's late awakening was met with a "tut-tut" and a shake of the head. "Well, good mornin' lad! I hope ye enjoyed yer beauty rest! If there's aught left in th'kitchens tae break yer fast, ye can have it ... but only good lads who wake with the mornin' bell get hot porridge, ye ken?" Marle clearly didn't tolerate nonsense!

The badger puffed up a little in offense as Ethelian scampered away, but she took the high road. If the drow had been an adult, she'd have really shown him the rough side of her tongue ... but he was just a lad, still trying to adjust to life on the surface. So despite her urge to bare her teeth right back at him, all she displayed of her irritation was several lashes of her puffy tail, and she didn't engage him.

In fact, rather than agitate him further, she laid her heavy hand upon Raven's shoulder. Bialis had shaken his head to her question, so she now focused on the girl. "Of course, lass. D'ye wish tae speak now? We can go tae the hall. Bialis," she added. "Can ye keep an eye on Kalene?"

Raven was surprised when marle put her hand on her shoulder, and flinched. After a moment she relaxed and nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be good.."

She says standing up and going to the hall to await marle. While she waited she fidgeted with her hands, and then her hair. She bit her lip anxiously as she waited.

The green toddler squeals outright, downright delighted as she bounces upon one of Marle's fuzzy footsies. Why, this leaves her head tilting towards one of her own chubby feetsies, now wondering why she lacks Marle's fuzz. Hmp. The realisation leaves her pouting another moment, for hearing her Sound sweeps her attention upwards. Kally tilts her head in silent question. With a rather theatrical-sounding sigh, both palms lift to slap against the ground below. Crawling onward with that insane length of hair dragging far behind.

The freckle-faced lad looked up in surprise hearing himself addressed again by Marle -- looked hesitantly to the green-skinned tot, the uncertainty clear in his eyes -- he'd no experience caring for younger children -- well, not that much younger, anyway. "Ah... Righ, sure," he answered with a nod. She'd likely only be out of the room for a bit, right?

Marlemier nodded to Bialis as the boy accepted his task. If he wasn't comfortable with kids, he would be after a few more weeks in the orphanage! "Maybe have a go at her locks if ye feel up tae the task," she said, half in jest, before following Raven out into the hall.

(As not to clutter this thread, I'm going to move this aside to the general orphanage thread!)

With the Common room growing quieter still, golden hues lock upon poor, poor Bia. C'mere, you! With a little tongue poking out the side of her mouth, the chubby toddler crawls across to sit directly before his feet if possible. Chin lifts higher to properly gaze upwards, dimples greeting either chubby cheek. After further staring in complete silence, the little one finally lifts a tiny hand, flailing her arm in some uncoordinated wave. "Hihi.." This poor form of waving continues at Marle's direction, for it's only polite given her departure! How thoughtful.

Nods to Marle with a sigh, "Mmh, fine." Running fingers through his hair trying to get it to be less messy and such. Leaning back in the chair and crossing arms over chest while watching the others leave to talk. Hmm... brows knit together a little as the youth switches his gaze to the toddler and offers a goofy smile. "Hello there little one." Wriggling his fingers at her with a small chuckle, "are you having a good day so far?" Leaning forward with elbows on knees and stealing a small glance to Bialis, taking note of his staring. Shrugging that off for now and returning attention to the little girl with a bright smile.

Bialis frowned. "Course she is..." She'd spoken words, though, in her excited and bizarrely quadrapedal approach, so he considered it only polite to respond with a quiet, muttered, "Hi," right back. The incredibly long mane of red hair was positively intimidating, nothing like the silky locks of the Drow -- he sighed, however, trying to fish things that had become caught in it, out.

Between the more welcoming greeting, and those wiggle of fingers, tis' only natural that Ruth appears more approachable than the quiet Bia. With a brighter, still-goofy smile, the green babbu crawls towards Ruth now. "..Yush!" Kalene answers within a soft, but borderline squeal excitedly. Yet she drops to sit down directly before Ruth, that long stretch of hair still within Bia's reach. This is when she finally notices him fishing things out, such as small twigs and even leaves. "Ah.." A chubby hand lifts to wave. "Tank 'oo."

Bialis was quiet and withdrawn as he picked bits and pieces of things from the mass of long hair -- until quite abruptly and without the slightest hint of warning, he jumped, quite literally jumped, with a gasp of abject horror -- moving as to try and flee, before his head whipped round to regard the green-skinned toddler he was meant to be charged with the task of watching. A distant sparking sound came from the boy's dormitory -- he rushed again with the same urgency and fear in his movements, seized up the child without explanation from before Ruth -- and made to hide with her in his arms, concealing the both of them behind the loom in the room, rapidly gathering up her hair so it did not emerge from behind it.

Heart pounding, he finally articulated a warning to the other children in the room. "Run."

Chuckles a little while watching the toddler and continues to wriggle his fingers at her and also making goofy faces, wanting to keep her entertained. That is until the spark sound startles the boy, glancing over shoulder to the dorm with a raised brow and starting to walk around the room. "Ya alright Bialis?" Blinking a few times while looking to the other boy and toddler. "I'll go see what happened." Heading toward the dorm.

Her cheery smiles and bubbles of giggles are quick to halt immediately, a quiet squeal surfacing as Bia suddenly sweeps her from the ground below. Golden hues narrow immediately with worry. While she understands few words, Run is certainly one that Kalene is familiar with. Both chubby hands reach out, helping assist him in pulling her own hair towards herself, wrapping most around her own form. To both cocoon herself for security, as well as stop Bia from tripping over this insane length. Only her face visible now, though both tiny hands push past the strands carefully, chubby fingers curling to cling onto the boy's shirt. The sound of Ruth leaving makes the toddler whine quietly, wishing she knew enough Sounds to tell him to stay put!