Blooming through hardships
I woke up from sleep with a nudge from an unknown source, I slowly opened my eyes to see Julian smiling above me, and he looked like a completely different person, I was surprised by his appearance; he looked like a jacked 14 years old kid now compared to his previous self.
Julian: What's wrong master?! Are you okay?
Claudio: Julian. What did I say about calling me that word?
Julian: S…Sorry Claudio!
Claudio: Relax, can you tell me what happened to you? You look…
Julian: The sweets you gave us yesterday healed me Mast… Claudio! Look, I can do this now
He did a one arm handstand and held it for 6 seconds before crashing down hard on his face.
Claudio: Impressive, show me your Stomach I want to see your injury.
Julian tried to play it off as if his nose wasn't killing him, he lifted up the shirt that was given to him by Masha, the shirt barely fit him now.
Wow, just wow. How? Not only did the wound stop bleeding, it closed off almost fully! I really need to reevaluate my knowledge about the denizens of this world; they are not even close to my kind. I fixed my posture and began probing around his scar.
Claudio: Julian does this hurt?
Julian: Th…this is nothinmgm
Claudio: Julian stop with this nonsense I am your physician, not a girl you are trying to impress. Tell me the truth.
Julian: Sorry, it hurts a little, I guess I am feeling sore?
Claudio: Probably, you should rest a little, congrats on your recovery kid.
I got up and patted him on his head and to my surprise he was almost my height! How? Overnight at that? Yesterday I carried him around like a 5-gallon bottle of water on my chest, and now his head was at my shoulder level, unbelievable.
I made my way to the restroom so I can freshen up, looks like everyone is still fast asleep. After my usual routine, I decided to shave the annoying stubble that grew on my face for the past weeks "I looked 16 years old huh…" I thought to myself.
After I was finished, I made my way out to the door and I heard a couple of high pitched screams across the orphanage. I busted the door open and saw everyone awake, all of them looked different! All of them. Not one kid fit in his clothes, looks like the cookies affected all of them simultaneously.
All of them grew out of their clothes and looked closer if not older than their age. Masha and his friend Markus were flexing their muscles and comparing their heights. I was confused and so was Viviane, she looked better than yesterday but she was still the same Viviane.
Viviane: Looking good Claudio!
Claudio: Thanks, you look good as well, was it the cookies?
Sasha: Duh! Look what you did to us Claudio!
I turned around to see the source of the voice, and Sasha was standing near Nora's room while wearing a spare of Nora's clothing. I could not believe my eyes, so far, Sasha and Julian were the most affected by the magical cookies, they were almost the same height. Sasha looked like a 13 year old that could pass as a 17 years old easily, this is bad, I was stun locked for a minute trying to figure out a solution to this problem, do I give her one of my guns? Or maybe a bear mace? What should I do? I was 100% sure that she would get harassed constantly, before she was hilariously tiny and now her physic almost rivals Viviane all of a sudden! At least Viviane can defend herself but I am not sure about Sasha.
Sasha: what's wrong Claudio? You look… concerned?
Claudio: Nothing Sasha, gather everyone, I have an announcement to make.
Sasha did as I instructed her and walked away pondering "Announcement?" she looked anxious as if she suspected that I would be moving out today, it was approximately 10 am in the morning, looks like everyone slept like a log after consuming a ton of cookies with milk. I turned to Viviane and asked her:
Claudio: So Viviane, anything unusual yesterday?
Viviane: Some tall woman with a scar near her throat followed us from the merchants' guild, she was scouting the orphanage yesterday; I hid myself pretty well from her so she didn't notice me.
Claudio: What did she do exactly?
Viviane's face turned red and she whispered in my ear away from the kids.
Viviane: She started salivating when she smelt the cookies you made, she couldn't take it and decided to leave, you know.
Claudio: That's actually funny, but why are we whispering?
Viviane's face became even more red, almost as red as her hair.
Viviane: When everyone went to sleep, she started playing with herself while staring at you, she almost broke in the orphanage to do something funny but Nola stopped her by opening the door to go to the restroom, she fled after that.
I could not believe what I'm hearing, I opened my mouth at a 90 degrees angle and started laughing my ass off. This is fucking hilarious; the amount of jokes that came in my mind was infinite. Everyone including Viviane were confused at my sudden hysteria; they thought I finally turned mad.
I wiped my tears and said:
Claudio: Thanks Viviane, I am glad I met you.
Viviane: what's with you all of a sudden? Who was that woman?!
Claudio: She was my trader, I am protected by a contract so don't worry about anything funny happening, matter of fact, let's talk outside.
I spilled everything, from the contract to the amount of groshen, and finally the housing and security. Viviane was shocked; she didn't understand why I was trusting her with all that info.
Viviane: I… I don't understand Claudio, why are you telling me all of this?
Claudio: Because I trust you Viviane, and I need every help I could get. I want to pay for your full loyalty.
Viviane: But…
I knew what she was about to say, she twirled her fingers around while looking at the ground; I interrupted her before she said anything else.
Claudio: I know Viviane; do you think I'm that dense?
Viviane began to form a bead of sweat on her forehead.
Viviane: Kn…kn…kn…know w-what?
I stared into her eyes and gave her a smirk. Her eyes were wide open and I could hear her heartbeat from where I was standing.
Viviane: S-so? What's your answer?
Claudio: Sorry Viviane, no, at least not right now, I promise to explain everything later, right now I want to pay for your services.
She took a deep breath and fixed her posture, she was in visible pain, I gave her some time to recover. She finally turned to me and said:
Viviane: You better not play with my feelings Claudio, I understand, you better explain everything later you know.
Claudio: Good, I promise.
Everything was handled professionally and we recovered pretty well, as adults should. I really liked Viviane but right now was really not the time, I am still not over the loss of Angelica and everyone else, I still have nightmares where I was strapped in a chair and my dad was killing everyone I loved front of me over and over again while yelling "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!".
I am not mentally ready for another relationship, and physically as well if you count the Mageia poisoning that keeps getting worse every day.
Claudio: Here, this is for your protection yesterday. Right now, I want to hire you for a different task.
I handed her two silver coins that Brenda gave me yesterday.
Viviane: Isn't this too much? This is twice the amount that the guild pays me for security you know!
Claudio: You earned it; we wasted enough time already so listen up.
She stomped her feet at the ground and shouted "YES SIR!" I stared at her dumbfounded and we both laughed like idiots for two minutes.
Claudio: Ah… so anyways, I want you to accompany the kids to the market and protect them while they shop for new clothes.
Viviane: I don't understand. Who do they need protection from? Oh… you meant the girls.
Claudio: Yes, now onto the real task, I want you to teach the girls how to protect themselves, and of course, I am willing to pay you for your troubles.
Viviane: You know… even if you don't share my feelings, I still owe you for saving my life you know, do you really have to go this far?
Claudio: I am afraid I do, a professional relationship is better than a personal one; I know that from experience, sorry Viviane.
She nodded her head and we entered the orphanage together, everyone was looking sad except for Masha. Everyone changed, except for Nola and Viviane, Violet grew out of her clothing but she was still adorably small, Julian had a jawline that could cut steel, and Arktos… he was the biggest one in the orphanage, easily standing above 6 feet, those bear genetics were not to be taken lightly. Myrad and Mira looked pretty much their age now instead of some power boosted powerhouses which was a breath of fresh air, I am starting to think that my height is below average in this world now…
Claudio: So… As you know yesterday, I went to the Merchants' guild and made a deal with them. From today, I will be moving to a different home, I also landed a job so you will be seeing me less from now on.
Silence, everyone was silent. I could see tears starting to form at the corner of their eyes; Mira was the first to break the silence with a wail. After that a symphony of cries erupted in the orphanage, I wanted to be sad but their faces were fucking hilarious, Sasha's face looked like a crumbled piece of tissue. I quickly pulled out my phone and took a group picture of them.
Viviane: WHAT THE HELL? THEY ARE FROZEN IN THE IRON?!
Claudio: Something like that, here get close to me and smile.
I did not give her some time to recover from the shock and took the picture anyways, she looked like a confused Persian cat, she was not happy and started twisting my arm to remove her from the phone.
After convincing her that I "removed" her I went to the kitchen to bake the left over cookie dough so that I could give it to Brenda and rom on my way to the Merchants' guild, one by one everyone came to say their goodbyes and were crying at my shoulders. When Arktos's big ass came to bear hug me I finally had enough with overdramatic shenanigans and yelled at them that they can still see me and visit me at my apartment.
I quickly left the orphanage's doors with a fresh patch of cookies and Viviane at my side and before we speed walked to the guild, Sasha came to say goodbye one more time, she rushed towards me, cried at my chest, and said:
Sasha: i-i-I knew this was gonna happen one day, w-hy did it have to be so soon.
I patted her on the head and said:
Claudio: Sasha I am not going anywhere, I have an important meeting right now so please don't blow snot bubbles all over my shirt.
She jokingly pulled my shirt and pretended to wipe her nose with it, I smacked her hands away and she was laughing with a face full of tears.
Man, I promised myself to never get attached to anyone and here I am with what felt like a second family to me, I really need to put some distance between us since I did all I could to help them, maybe one day.
Before I left, I turned to Sasha one more time, this time I was dead serious, I put my hands on her shoulders and she was startled by my sudden attitude.
Claudio: Listen very well Sasha, please, do not tell captain Aerov about me, ever.
Sasha: wh-what? Why? Big bro Aerov is a nice guy! He helps us all the time and he would be happy to know about you!
Claudio: Promise me Sasha.
Sasha angrily pushed my hands away from her, I never saw her like that.
Sasha: fine, I promise.
Claudio: Thanks Sasha, and please tell the other kids the same thing, I want my identity to be a secret.
Sasha turned around quickly and her hair almost slapped my face.
Sasha: Whatever.
Claudio: And don't forget to take a bath! You all stink!
All of them, everyone was crying near my face as I was being fried by their morning breath, all of them stunk, especially Arktos, maybe it's a beast folk thing.
***
With my communication being limited since Masha was not with me, I regressed linguistically, sure, I studied my ass off for the past few days and I could comprehend most of what everyone was saying but still… I really wish I were as talented like Kaneki.
We walked and walked and walked blah blah blah, the usual, but today was different, almost no one glared at me, on my way to the butcher a drunk man yelled "Angelus Claudus" which roughly translates to crippled angel, Viviane nudged me and said:
Viviane: That's what everyone's been calling you as of late, you are pretty famous you know.
Claudio: Shit, that's bad.
Viviane: Very.
Fuck, what now? Do people expect me to fix them up for free? Or something worse, now more people know that there is a cripple in this city, which paints a target on my back, Glad I made the deal with the merchants'.
We arrived at the butcher, Rom came quickly to lift his daughter up in the air like a child while she struggled embarrassingly, I gave him three cookies and told him to enjoy them with a glass of milk. He stared at me with tears in his eyes and went down on his knees to apologize once again, I had a visible vein in my forehead as I stared into the distance trying not to lose my cool, this is getting ridiculous, I'm definitely not coming back here.
Next stop Brenda, she lived near the market so we visited her home. I told her to stay away from the oven last time; hopefully her coughing has reduced by now. I knocked on the door and Ronald came to open the door naked, he only wore one sock while his other foot was bare, and he rocked a short brown undergarment, the house smelt like old people and sex.
Ronald: The cripple? What can I do for ya.
He said with a smile, I turned around and said:
Claudio: You know what never mind.
Viviane grabbed my arm and said:
Viviane: Do it for Brenda, Claudio!
I massaged my forehead, turned to the dwarf, and said:
Claudio: Here, this is for you and Brenda, enjoy it with cup of milk.
I turned around immediately because if I got a whiff of that house again I will lose my mind, Viviane followed after me and we left Ronald naked and confused at his doorstep, last stop, the Merchants' guild.
It was a long boring walk so Viviane and I chatted a lot the whole time, we talked mostly about useless stuff, I talked about myself here and there since I was planning to tell her some things about me later anyway, I wanted to ask her about her guild but I didn't want to sour her mood once again.
And finally, we arrived at the guild, we quickly said our goodbyes and went on our ways.