Children and Cats [Job/Solo]

Job Overview: The recent fighting between Kou and Reim was short but devastating, leaving many families short a father-figure. Some mothers could not handle this, and abandoned their children. Other families only had the father to look out for them in the first place, and became orphans, adding to the orphans the orphanages already had. The kids in the orphanage are sad and lonely. Visit them and cheer them up! Laugh, sing, dance, tell them stories. Whatever it takes. If you give them a good time you'll be rewarded by the head of the orphanage.

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Kioshi carefully juggled the two kittens in his arms as he moved through the streets. Lady Bali had told him about a local orphanage that could use some help with entertaining the children and if there was one thing the quiet man knew, it was that children loved animals. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, Kioshi made his way to the orphanage. The children would be cheered up and the kittens would get played with and have more human interaction.

He arrived at the orphanage without losing the squirming animals and knocked on the door. It was opened by a flustered looking woman.

“Listen, sir, I know this is an orphanage, but we do not take in stray animals!”

Kioshi was confused for a moment before he realized the woman thought he was there to drop off the kittens. He shook his head, his hair tied back with a purple ribbon, swaying back and forth.

“No, miss. I am here to entertain the children. I simply thought the kittens might help me.”

The woman flushed at her mistake, waving him into the drab building. There were several children bouncing around the main room, but all of them froze on seeing Kioshi and the kitten. A little girl squealed and ran forward, making a grabbing motion for the ball of white fluff in one hand. He gave a small smile and handed her Fluff, the name he had given the tiny cat. The other was grey and white with stripes that he had named Stripes. He was not very original with the names. He handed Stripes to a small boy pouting on the floor, quietly reminding the children to be gentle with the tiny animals and to share with the other kids. They played happily with the kittens while Kioshi sought out the woman running the orphanage.

“Miss, do you have paints?”

The woman nodded, handing him some cups of paint and several scraps of cloth, paper too precious to use for entertaining. Kioshi thanked her with a small bow before returning to the large room the children were in, spreading out several of the cloth scraps around a central painting area. Gathering a few of the children, he showed them how to paint, using their fingers instead of brushes. They seemed shy at first, but when he made a small painting of a cat, they soon joined in, asking him about how to make certain colors or shapes. For as quiet as the man normally was, he found himself talking quite a bit with the kids, though his voice was still quiet.

He spent the afternoon painting and playing with the children, winding down the day by reading them a story. When it was time to go, Stripes was asleep in the corner, trying to hide from the hyper children, while Fluff was happily purring in the lap of a little girl. Carefully retrieving the small animals, he gave the woman running the orphanage a smile when she thanked him for keeping them entertained for the day, allowing her a chance to get some rest. He assured her it was no problem and promised to visit again soon with the cats.

[533/500]