Loamhedge Orphanage

Kiro headed back into the Dining Hall, stopping a few steps inside to wait for Lin and Gim... and apparently, Feral now too. He took a few glances around before pointing to the kitchen door. "She's in there..." he said. "Would you rather me keep out of your way and let you guys handle things, or do you want me to go in with you?"

Lin stepped into the room after Kiro, looking over at the small entourage, specifically in hopes of finding a look of forgiveness from Gimbold.

"I think I should go in and apologize," he told Kiro. "Then, if she's feeling up to it, maybe we could all work together on something for lunch?" He shrugged at his suggestion; it was something he'd like to do, but he didn't have the energy to sound overly excited about it quite yet.

Raven could hear mumbling and voices from beyond the door, but at the moment she wasn't too worried about what or who it was. She was still shaking from the memories Lin had brought up. She sat in the corner with her legs pulled up so her head could hide in them. Her hands were holding her head as she tried to calm herself down.

Kiro shrugged at Linwood. "I'm not so good with food..." he admitted. "Not unless you want to get some from somewhere... not normally accessible..." He shrugged and wandered over to one of the dining tables, sitting down facing away from the table and bringing his knees up to his chest. "But I guess I'll help where I can." His gaze lazily shifted to Feral and Gim, wondering whether or not they'd go with Lin or stay with Kiro whilst the apologising happened.

Still sits beside Raven and hesitantly reaches out to pat her shoulder twice before picking up the bowl of mush to continue eating the last little bit. "Can I get ya anything?" Keeping his gaze on Raven a moment before looking to the hallway upon hearing voices. Sighing and brushing out some clothes to tidy up and also brushing hair out some but remaining seated beside the girl.

"I'll see what we have," Linwood gave Kiro one last response as he headed over to the kitchen. He stuck his head in the doorway, soon spotting Raven and one of the other orphans who he assumed had come to comfort her.

"Raven?" Lin asked quietly. He paused, trying to figure out what to say. "Can I come in?"

Raven peeks out from her legs to see Lin in the doorway. When she sees him her eyes turn red, and oddly enough her hair ignites on fire--a result of not having enough training on fire magic.

"Not if your gonna throw things and yell at me again!!"

She says before hiding her head agin. She takes a deep breath and her eyes as well as her hair go back to normal. She just pauses for a moment before sighing once more.

"J-just...don't yell at me and don't throw things...."

Gimbold followed the older children along, looking more confused. She seemed to have forgiven Lin anyway from yelling at her. Mostly because she had a horribly short attention span. Right now her thoughts were on food despite the drama that had happened.

And then Raven's hair caught on fire. The fire elemental blinked as she tilted her head to look at Raven. Her first reaction was to want to put out the fire as she had been taught by her mother. Though the flames soon went off. The girl looked between everyone before shuffling over to the corner of the kitchen and sitting down quietly.

Linwood flinched at the unexpectedly aggressive reaction he got from Raven, and he had already ducked back out of the kitchen and leaned against the dining room wall before she finished speaking, heart racing. He would have darted off, but seeing Kiro and Gimbold, and probably Feral, there reminded him to think twice.

"I... I just wanted to apologize," he responded after a good long moment to collect himself, peeking back into the room. He relaxed a bit, seeing that there was no longer a hair fire.

Raven just sighs as he ran out, only peeking his head back in once. She just closed her eyes and figured if nothing else she owed him an explanation.

"My mom and dad used to throw things at me and yell at me whenever they got angry at me....you just reminded me of that...."

She says while she tries to keep it together. However this was probably the first time anybody has ever apologized to her. She stood up and walked over to lin, hugging him.

"I probably shouldn't have pried though. So im sorry..."

Lin held his tongue until Raven came over. He gladly accepted the hug and gently ran his fingers through her hair after a moment. He knew he hated having his old memories brought up, but knowing he'd done it to someone else... he just felt awful about it.

"No, I'm sorry. You didn't know, and I shouldn't have freaked out like that. I..." he trailed off and let out a breath. "I'll be more careful."

Raven just smiled, and chuckled as he ran his fingers through her hair. When he was done she ruffled his hair a bit before laughing.

"You know, for having just freaked out about my hair catching at fire, you were able to run your fingers through my hair pretty easily."

She says with at smile just as her stomach growls.

Flinches and leaps partway across the room when the girls hair caught on fire. Muttering a few things under his breath and sighing, he needs to get to know the other orphans better. Relaxing after a moment and looking to the others, "getting lunch started? Need any help?"

"Just making sure you didn't have any embers still in there," Linwood joked, gladly moving the subject of the conversation as far from memories as he could. He let go of Raven and looked over at Ruth as he offered his assitance.

"Of course, let's go see what's to work with," Lin said before heading back into the kitchen. He new Ruth fairly decently, if only by association than actually interacting with him, but he knew he was on the older side and would probably understand if he didn't see quite as much in the cabinets as would be expected of an orphanage this size.

The boy had followed the whole scene in silence, his face barely reacting exept at the sight of fire, when it would give the faintest flinch of fear before Feral himself tamed it back to normal. As most in the room apparently, he had an history with things that could upset him at sight. But out of booth pride and for the sake of his rage-fuelled goal, fear was something he'd rather keep to himself.

Still, things seemed to have solved out in the end. Altought the wild boy couldn't help but wonder : Where all orphanages like this? Why civilized folks gathered sad people in a same place? Not that he had ever cared about the orphanage; most likely his toughts about the building rounded how to get out of it unseen...A simple phrase was able to get him out of his toughts.

"Lunch?" He asked, wide eyed. That was right...he had skipped breakfast earlier with his escape attempt, and only now he realized how hungry he was. "Ya'll are goin' to make food, right? I wanna go too." He mumbled, following the other two to the kitchen. He rubbed the wrist of his shirt against his face; the good thing is that the blood came out of his skin easily, leaving only a faint red mark behind it. The bad one was that the chest of his shirt and now the wrists where still stained, but would probably come out with some effort and a lot of water anyways.

Kiro sighed to himself and wrapped his tail around his legs snugly. Whilst everyone had crowded into the kitchen, nobody had requested his presence, so he decided to keep out of the way unless needed. He was tempted to wander off back to the dorm to do some more studying, but he was no longer in the mood. And whilst he was indeed somewhat hungry, considering the orphanage's financial status left him with mixed views on lunch. It was at this moment that he wished he was better at making friends... at least then he wouldn't be sat out on his own.

Kiro tried to convince himself that he didn't mind the solitude. He had gotten by with it for most of his life, and he wasn't one to care much about his mental well-being - he cared more about others being happy than he did about himself. But watching the others interact... he was more than a bit jealous of their social ability.

Raven was about to follow everyone else, before looking at Kiro and tilting her head slightly. He looked Lonley, and she thought to herself for a moment before walking up to him and grabbing his hand.

"Do you wanna come help us with lunch? You never know! It could be really fun!"

She says smiling, wanting to just drag him towards the kitchen. She didn't do anything until he said yes or no though.

Kiro blinked as his hand was grabbed. He had gotten so much lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Raven approach. Unwrapping his tail from around his legs, he loosened up his curled-up state for a moment before replying.

"I-I'm not good with food..." he admitted. "Besides, with so many of you in the kitchen, I don't think you'd need me... I'd probably get in the way..." he shrugged, lazily reaching forward with one of his legs and extending a toe to count the people currently crowded in and around the room... 5, including Raven. Surely that was plenty just to prepare food...

Lowering his feet back onto the ground, Kiro waited for how Raven would reply. He sort of wanted to join in with the others, but at the same time did not want to get in the way. He felt rather conflicted.

Raven just pouts at him and folds her arms, before staring at him and raking a seat on top of one of the tables. She crosses her legs and stares at kiro.

"You know, it won't be as fun without you. If you don't want to that's fine, we won't force you. But if you don't help us cook then you can't expect us to share the food we make. You only get what you give, and if you don't give you wont get. So if you really want something to eat then you have to help!"

She says smiling and waiting for his answer

Kiro sighed a loud, drawn out sigh; not angry or frustrated, just unsure of what to do. He fully expected that he'd end up stood in a corner or something not knowing what to do... and he wasn't too deterred by the idea of having no lunch... but if Raven wanted him along that badly.

"Fine..." Kiro said, standing up, his tone indifferent. "If it'll make you happy..."