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Children’s Week

Alekxandar Winchester liked kids. He didn’t want any of his own, not just yet, kids tied you down and he wasn’t ready to be that responsible just yet; but other kids, orphans, children of friends and family, they were alright. They were honest, most of the time; liars come at all ages and he frequently scoffed about the notion of kids being truthful to a fault. They were honest when it came time to tell you how they really felt, or if you were different, or they disliked something about you. Ask who took that candy from the jar or if they’d eaten their vegetables, done their homework, stolen a playmates favorite toy and they would lie like anyone else. Alek enjoyed that duality; he remembered raising hell as a boy and how much fun it had been. He looked forward to children’s week.

Malikí Silverson loved kids. She liked doing fun things, she liked taking care of them and making sure they were fed and clean and happy. It never occurred to her that she herself was so childlike. It was her most redeeming quality, being so innocent and naïve. To her, kids were so much easier to get along with, they didn’t confuse her or make her feel lost and stupid. She got them and they got her. She looked forward to children’s week almost as much as Winter Veil or Hallow’s End…coincidentally, so did the children.

The very moment Children’s Week began she sprung from bed and got ready. She made sure that the bunk bed in the extra guest room was made, the new toys were set up so that when the door was opened so many surprised greeted you, some of the toys were hidden too, that was her idea. She smiled broadly. She quickly turned down the second floor hallway and began pounding on the door to Alek’s bedroom. “M’lord! Wake up!” she hollered, beating the door with her fist, “Children’s Weeeeeeeeeek!”

Alek grumbled and rolled over in bed, putting the pillow over his head and waving her away as though she could see him through the solid oak door. “Mal, what time…it doesn’t matter. It’s too early! No kid is awake yet! And it’s not like we need to pick through them to get the best ones before all the cute kids are taken.

Malikí pounded even harder and stomped her foot. “But they need breakfast! Aren’t you hungry? We can get pastries on the way and then surprise them! They would love it!” She had bent over and yelled through the keyhole, one hand cupped near her mouth like she was yelling some secret. He grunted and sat up in bed grumbling, “I’m gonna surprise you in about three seconds…” “What?!” she hollered, the pressed her ear to the keyhole. “I’m up! Go away, I’ll be out in a few minutes,” he said a bit louder then laid back down. It was quiet and he had hoped she’d went off to do whatever it is she does around the house, maybe he could get a few extra minutes of sleep…

The silence was broken yet again by her pounding on the door with both fists now, “I’m up! I’m up!” he yelled and jumped up from his bed and slammed his own fist into the door on the way to the dresser. He heard an audible “Eep!” and grinned as he got ready to go.

Each year Alek took the same little boy from the Stormwind Orphanage. Throughout the year he’d send a little money in secret and wrote to Matron to make sure he was getting a good education. Once Mal became his squire he thought it would be good if she too had a young charge and was delighted to find that little Jimmy had an identical twin brother, Graham. So now, each year they brought both little boys along on adventures and Alek did his best to impart his wisdom unto both young lads.

They learned quite a lot through his tutelage, they both wanted to be knights when they grew up, knights slayed dragons and kissed pretty girls. Knights could do whatever they wanted, even drink beer in the morning and they didn’t have to wear pants and could curse in front of old people! The Matron wasn’t fond of many of these lessons, but even she couldn’t turn a blind eye to how the twins kept bullies from the smaller children and made sure that anything extra they were given was shared among the less fortunate orphans. She wasn’t sure what kind of paladin this Winchester man was, but for all his faults he had a heart of gold and that grin of his sparkled whenever she tried to scold him.

They had breakfast, the four of them; Mal had stopped to buy all sorts of goodies and the three of them gobbled most of it up without stopping for air. It was a warm day so Alek decided that they could all go swimming in the pond afterwards since it would be easier than attempting to wipe up all the jam and sugar and sprinkles they had coated their faces in. Mal flew home quickly on her gryphon and came back with her bathing suit and a change of clothes. Alek and the twins had already stripped to their shorts and dove in. They had fun for a while and then the wind threatened to turn water a bit too cold Alek decided it was time for something else.

“Well then, guys, what’s next?” he asked, allowing himself to dry off in the sun. The boy’s reclined next to him and grinned like little demons. Graham tried to peek out of the corner of his eyes towards Malikí as she dried off and changed behind a large tree. He had a crush on her since he first laid eyes on her, she was prettier than the matron and all the girls at the Orphanage. Jimmy turned to Alek with a look on his face that the paladin knew well. “We want tattoos!” he cried, pointing at the few Alek had, “Just like yours! The other kids would flip out if we got them!”

Alek laughed and shook his head, then looked over at the two boys, “Hmm...how old are you guys now?” he asked. “We’re eleven,” the other boy said, now turning to grin at Alek like his brother, “eleven and a half!” “Three fourths!” Jimmy cried out, “practically twelve!”Graham nodded his head vigorously, “Might as well be twelve, we’re so close!”

Alek laughed himself as Mal joined them, fully dried and dress and wondering what was so funny.

“Alright guys, no one said there was going to be any math today,” he said grinning. “Looks like we’re getting tattoos, Mal!”

“Ta-tattoos?” Malikí questioned the three of them. All three grinning like jackals nodded at her. “Well I don’t know..” She had only started before the puppy dog eyes set in. Rough and tumble boys as they were they still knew how to work their childish charms, at least on Malikí. “But the Matron already gave me a hard time about sponsoring an orphan this year! She said she wasn’t letting Templars have children without extensive background checks!”

The boys were starting to turn on the water works and Alek was having a hard time hiding his smile as he could see her giving in. “They only let you come stay with us because Alek isn’t a Templar anymore!” She pleaded with them.

“Oh come on Mal, its not going to kill them!” As soon as Alek spoke up the two boys were nodding their heads and had cleared their expressions back up into brilliant smiles. Malikí continued to frown but looked to Alek who gave her a smile and a nod. “But I’ll get in trouble.” She finally pouted and frowned to Alek as her last line of defense. “Well,” he says with a wink, “if anyone asks, we made you and you fought tooth and nail the whole way. Besides, we’ll get ice cream afterwards and you can tell everyone it was my idea.”

“Fine.” She said only frowning a little. “Do you know what you boys want?” Their faces broke into smiles and they both nodded quickly. “Yes!” Malikí gathered up the wet bathing suits and hung them over a limb. “So what do you want to get, and when do you want to get them?” She asked turning back around to them. “I’m going to get one like Alek’s!” Jimmy said pointing toward the paladin’s back. “Yeah me too!” Graham grinned but didn’t point out any specific one. Malikí simply nodded and looked to Alek waiting for him to answer the ‘when?’. “Well today is good as any, besides they’ll need to get healed good before they go back to the orphanage, after a day we can help that along.” Alek grinned and nodded at the boys.

“Alright. While we’re still near Stormwind then? On no I guess we’d have to go somewhere else to I don’t?” she looked to Alek about where they’d have to go. “Booty Bay!” He explained. “I know this great little place...” He started explaining a little goblin run establishment that offered such services and didn’t ask questions. Malikí looked a little worried. “Oh don’t worry Mal it’ll be okay we’ll get you a disguise the goblins won’t even know you’re an Admiral!” He laughed to himself, he still had no idea how she’d managed it, and without even knowing. Maybe they needed a scapegoat or something.

They caught a gryphon ride from the flight master and soon found themselves in Booty Bay. The boys had never been there before but they had heard tales of pirates and treachery and goblin treasure hidden all around. Their eyes sparkled like gems themselves as Alek led them into a small shack in a middle tier. The proprietor, a heavily tattoo’d goblin himself looked up from the orc he was working on and nodded at Alek, then did a double take at the two boys he had with him. The boys looked around as the goblin finished his work and for a moment he looked as if he might say something, then shrugged his shoulders, money was money.

Jimmy lept into the chair as soon as it was empty and smiled his most winning smile at the goblin. “Alright, whaddaya need, kiddo?” he asked, as he prepared his little workstation. “I want a skull, like his,” the boy replied, pointing to Alek. The paladin grinned and obligingly pulled the back of his shirt up to his shoulder blades. “Yeesh, maybe a little better than his, huh, kid,” the artist grimaced. Alek turned around with a furrowed brow and nodded, “I was hoping you could touch that up for me, and uh, I dunno how appropriate a skull smoking a cigar is for a boy...” Jimmy pouted a moment, then grinned, “What if instead he has a monocle to match his tophat!?” The idea of that struck Alek as simultaneously hilarious and fitting. “I think that’s a fantastic idea,” he replied. He paid the goblin ahead of time, and surreptitiously cleansed the boy and the chair with a blast of holy magic as the goblin worked the till.

Even as the artists began and the look of shocked pain came over Jimmy’s face and then fell away to courage and finally pride Alek didn’t think this was a bad idea. To him, it was just another step in becoming an adult and these poor orphans had to grow up quick to be swallowed whole by the world around them. With no parents and no real opportunities, it might be a matter of time before these kids were on their own and Alek wanted more than anything for them to be prepared for that as much as possible. He smiled as the goblin worked, now and then inspecting the tattoo and nodding reassuringly to Jimmy and giving him a thumbs up. In no time at all it was done and the boy saw it in the mirror and laughed himself, “That was no big deal, I could get six more if I wanted!” Alek laughed and shook his head, “Whoah, whoah, slow down big guy. You gotta grow some more muscle first, or he won’t have any room!” The boy laughed and flexed his biceps, grimacing slightly at the soreness then hopped off the chair.

His brother jumped up and grinned coyly, rubbing his hands together. “Ya, whadda you want, kiddo? Skulls? Swords? Axes?” the goblin asked, changing out his tools for a second. “No way,” Graham said shaking his head with that same sly smile still stuck to his face, “I want a naked lady!” This time everyone laughed, even the tattoo artist. He looked to Alek who shrugged and was about to say something when the boy cut him off. “One that looks like her,” he said, pointing directly at Malikí. This only served to make Alek laugh even harder as Mal’s face turned a deep crimson and she shook her head, “What? Me? No!” She crossed her arms and tried to step back behind Alek who was now almost doubled over in laughter. “Mal,” he said in between deep breaths, “if it’s what he wants, who are we to argue? Isn’t his life hard enough?” he asked, then lost himself in a fit of laughter.

The boy, however, looked deadly serious and when it dawned on him that perhaps he’d pressed his luck and now they were all laughing at him and not with him he too turned red. Malikí was the prettiest girl he’d seen and he had such a crush on her, he thought she’d like the idea. Alek told him that ladies like feeling pretty and when boys ask them for dates! The goblin wiped his eyes and face and then held his hand out to Alek. “Well, thanks for the laugh, but it ain’t free pal, nekkid redhead’s don’t tattoo themselves.” The paladin nodded and looked at Mal, her face was still red and she still had her arms crossed in front of her chest, but it was true, this little boy’s life was very difficult. How could she deny him something that would make him happy? Her face scrunched up a second and she sighed, this was all Alek’s influence, other little boys wouldn’t ask for such things!

Alek handed the goblin a few more gold coins, “Tastefully, huh? I still have to bring him back to the orphanage and I’m already going to be in trouble. I don’t want them denying us when we come back next year!” The goblin nodded his head, “Sure, sure mack. Don’t worry about it.” He looked up at Mal for a second and she immediately felt scrutinized and her face reddened yet again but before she could say anything he looked back down at the boy’s arm and set to work. Jimmy was going a mile a minute in the shop, looking at everything and exclaiming how jealous the other kids would be and Alek has his hands full keeping him occupied and not touching things. Before too long the goblin looked up with a grin and winked at Malikí, “There we go, how’s that?”

Alek came over and was surprised, his eyebrows arched and he let out a whistle. The tattoo was impressive, a red headed woman in profile, though her torso was turned away and she looked over her shoulder back at the viewer. Though she was nude, it was very tasteful, nothing inappropriate showed and it was fit enough for a gallery. “That’s absolutely great,” Alek said, “Mal, come look at this.” She begrudgingly stepped over and an audible sigh of relief was heard as she finally uncrossed her arms, it was better than she expected, and looked just like her. The goblin grinned a big toothy gold and truesilver capped smile and nodded his head as he cleaned his tools. “Of course it’s great, I’m an artist!” he said with a knowing nod, “What you think just cuz I work in this dump I cut corners?” Alek laughed and shook his head, “No, and thanks! Now how about we fix this on my back, huh?”

The goblin sat him down and took a look at his back, “Drunk, huh? Well it’s gonna cost you, I might be an artist, but I’m not a miracle worker.” Now it was everyone else’s turn to laugh at Alek as he grinned and began shelling out more gold.

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