Completed Sanctuary Rebuilt

[Ricky Maze]

(A continuation from Here.)

His visit to offer aid had been followed with the success of obtaining some sort of useful task, but even so Ricky knew he was by far only capable of helping to an extent. Were it in his power though he would do any and everything he could, just to help give the kids that lived here a better place to call home. So Hadrian no longer visits 'ere eit'er... Does dat mean he's gone an' left Zeltiva on some trip? Like he did before? Ricky remembered that Hadrian had been gone due to some sort of plague, and of course his return to Zeltiva showed nothing different in turn it seems. That winter though was the last season the two ever had a chance to speak though, as Hadrian just somehow left Ricky's life without a single word to follow. No letter or nothing, and it seemed as though he did so in the same manner with everyone else as well. "This used to be a classroom." Madame Thea interrupted his thoughts when they entered an old room filled with broken down desks, it looked as though the very air of the place had yet to experience any signs of life inside.

Ricky could see that this was by far a favorite place the caretaker treasured, but it no doubt held great meaning to the children here as well. For the Wave Guard could even see that in this place resided an empty shell of what once was happiness, memories created a husk of a shell that remained empty to this day as living proof of its existence. "This room used to be filled with sunshine and laughter." As she stated this Ricky could not just hear but feel the sorrow found in those words, a sincere apologetic expression on his face as he could only show understanding in the gravity of sadness. This place no doubt had its days until it fell into this condition, but it was certainly not done having those days now. Not when the room as a whole just needed a major fix up to improve such conditions, and now that someone was finally here to offer such a needed thing maybe all that would finally turn around.

"Not t' worry Madame, Oi'll see t' it de place gits back int' shape." He assured her with a little bit of confidence in his voice, as he felt determined to keep his promise and help the orphanage out as he said so before.

She gave Ricky a bit of a smile but there were still traces of sadness within, nevertheless she seemed convinced that he would follow through with such a promise. "We would have cleaned out the room of its broken pieces but our hands have been full just keeping the children safe, warm and fed. You can start here by hauling the broken desks out to the back where they can be dismantled and used as kindling for this winter’s fires. There’s a bucket, some cloths, and other cleaning utensils in the front hall closet. If you can, this room could use a good dusting and some thorough cleaning." With hands then clasped behind her back she moved to leave him to work, only stopping by him with just one addition before she would finally leave him be. "You’re welcome to the afternoon and evening meals. The bell will be rung when they’re ready. If you have need of anything myself, Lily or Vasos are at your service." With that said and with a curtsey she was finally off, and left Ricky to observe the room once more.

Broken desks and worn chairs, dirty walls and dirty floors, old untouched chalkboards, even the webs looked to have collected so much dust, enough for Ricky to assume the spiders that nested there had long moved on elsewhere. Overall he had a lot of work to do, and there was no time like now to get started.

Sanctuary Rebuilt
Autumn 13th 514 AV, 11th Bell
Location: The Farson Home, Old Classroom

Gotta git started wit' de desks, movin' dem out would be de best way t' make space. He thought to himself in silence as he walked down an aisle in curious wonder, he couldn't help but imagine what wonderful studies and lessons the children learned here, how happy they were to have a place to gain knowledge at a time and how wonderful it was to be able to teach them. Part of him wanted to be able to be that teacher somehow, had he not already the duties of a Wave Guard as well as fatherhood to consider. Roi... When he looked over to the hall he first thought about the clothes, seeing as how they were offered as well as the cleaning utensils and such. Of course he came to the conclusion that he really didn't have to bother, seeing as how his brown shirt would need cleaning in a day or two anyway.

Thus the father took to observe what desks looked to be salvageable with but a few things that would need worked on, while the others would no doubt have to be dismantled no thanks to their condition. He made sure to go with the idea of counting them until every desk had been thoroughly examined, some just needing a few leg replacements or a new surface piece for writing on while others were better off being scrapped. It was then he came up with a viable solution that could prove useful, seeing as how the desks that were going to be junked anyways were to become firewood. Maybe Oi can take what's good off o' de bad ones an' use t'ose parts on what can be fixed. It was an idea that made sense and sounded plausible, so the best way to begin was by picking up the desks and moving them to where they were all bound to go. Out back.

He grasped the edge of the desks inside where a child would sit, a single desk in each hand as he drug them close for him to lift them. With the sound of wood scraping against the floor Ricky felt their whole weight then and grunted a bit, as he was caught by surprise by how heavy the writing desks came to be. Both desks creaked as they dangled in his hands, as the one lifted in his right hand cracked and in turn snapped. The sitting area of the desk fell to the floor with a loud thud while Ricky still grasped the writing surface, a grimace drawn on his face in turn as he broke a nervous sweat. "Shyke!" The word was shouted but not aloud for the whole orphanage to hear thank Priskil, otherwise he'd probably be teaching the children a very bad word to say when accidents happened. He only shook his head as he scooted the half of the desk that fell to the side, a sigh followed as he realized that he would actually have a lot more work to do than he realized in the beginning.

[Ricky Maze]

Seeing as how he had a load of work ahead of him he didn't see any reason as to wait, this room wasn't going to clean itself up after all and the sooner he got it done the better. So Ricky moved along with the desks that were left in the class room in both arms, given that it was better to simply carry one at a time to avoid breaking them it took longer than he expected. But of course within a bell and a half the desks were all outside and ready to be dismantled, and to say that his idea with using what parts could be salvaged to fix the other chairs seemed to actually pay off too. Though he didn't have a hammer and nails he was still capable of taking pieces from broken desks and chairs, and in turn compare them with the condition of others to see if they would serve better come the time to attempt a repair for them.

Okay, so Oi t'ink t'ey 'll know de difference between de pile fer wood and de pile fer salvagin. He assumed as he tossed the leg of the last desk into the pile that would be used for wood. He wondered how the orphanage seemed to be doing in that regard given that the caretakers no doubt had little time to collect such a trivial thing, perhaps he would see about helping out there as well before winter seemed to finally hit. Of course right now his only focus should be that classroom, at least before the day was over with anyways. Thus on his way back to the room he made sure to stop at the closet where the cleaning supplies would be, the bucket and a few other utensils grabbed so he could get started on the cleaning part. When he brought everything he needed to the doorway, he gave a good look over the space in the room now that all the desks had finally been moved out. By the looks of it he would be better off starting from top to bottom, seeing as how he'd only recreate a mess on the floor, if he were to do that first and then clean the walls and ceiling later.

Ricky grabbed the broom first and took it with him to the farther corner of the room, and raised the bristled end up to the ceiling to start there. He swept the surface gently as he used the broom to catch the cob webs, and in turn sweep off the dust that clung to the surface after such a period of negligence. He was surprised to see that the amount of dust that drifted downward, clumps of powdery dirt even glimmered through the sunlight that passed through the old windows. He felt his nose itch then and after much irritation he finally let out a sneeze, and decided to bring the collar of his shirt over his nose to cover it as he dusted and swept the ceiling further.

[Ricky Maze]

He took the entire bell working on the entire ceiling as a whole, dusted from corner to corner as well as the center of the room. Often did he find himself feeling a sneeze come on because the traces of it proved to be so thick, but he never took a moment to rest until he felt his arms finally grew tired from all the dusting that occurred before the ceiling looked a bit more appropriate. Granted it hadn't been touched in Gods only knew how long, he felt that it certainly was about time given the long overdue touch up this entire room had. Next to come was the walls and windows, which those too looked pretty nasty in terms of dirt and dust. Ricky sighed as he knew this might take a while, as he decided to start with the same method of the broom before, and then go back over the surface with a wet towel after that was done. Probably might do well t' use soap too. He figured as he started to work on the corner closer to the entrance of the room, he started from top to bottom as he would sweep down a couple of times, and did so with a grimace on his face as more particles continued to float about in the room once again.

Ye gotta be kiddin me, all dis damn grime? Dis had t' 'ave built up fer years o' somet'in. He shook his head and brushed his nostrils with a thumb several times, a few persistent itches continued to pester him further as he swept down the first wall finally. Dem kids definitely needed dis, a real fix-er-upper should do dis room justice. He reached reached the middle of the second wall, a glance over his shoulder as he though he heard sounds out in the hall. Where the children about? He didn't think that much time had passed honestly, but then again he'd been too caught up in work to worry about anything else. Nuttin' t' worry 'bout Oi guess. He shrugged his shoulders as he resumed the chore, his focus fully zoned on the clean up once again.

Ricky's task of sweeping the walls soon finished and then it was time to go with washing them as well, but for the sake of a good argument he found that maybe sweeping the floors would be a better idea instead. If he could sweep the whole piles of dust out of the room, then sure enough he would be doing himself a favor later on. So sweeping the floors, washing the walls and windows, and then mopping the floor were next on his list. Ricky started from one side of the room and swept the floor in the direction to the door, only stopping at the middle of the room as he worked his way from one side to the other before heading on down to the other section that he'd yet to sweep. He kept at this for another short while until the whole floor had been swept, a very large and dark pile of dirt huddled together near the doorway as he took another couple chimes to relax before hopping onto the next task.

[Ricky Maze]

Autumn 13th 514 AV, 14th Bell

At this point Ricky needed to only wipe down the walls and then proceed with mopping the floor, which he had a cloth, a mop, and a bucket to accomplish all this with. So really he just needed water, and rather than go about fetching some or even bothering to ask someone else, Ricky decided he would save up on time by using his Reimancy to fill the bucket. First he made sure nobody would see in terms of children wise, because he honestly wasn't sure how Madame Thea would like to know that there was a magic user in the presence of the orphans. Given the history Zeltiva had it no doubt had to at least unnerve a bit, hence why he felt it better to be secretive about it in this case. The fisherman knelt down and tapped into the reserves of his Djed and mentally pushed Res out through both palms of his hand, the liquid ooze immediately transmuting to water as it started to fill the bucket in the process.

As he did this he could help but sigh with a sense of enjoyment in the process as the water filled the bucket, until the contents of it finally reached above half to where he had enough to use for washing the room. With that done he cut off the flow of his Djed to stop the extrusion of Res, and leaned over to dip the wash cloth in several times, following up with wringing it out until mostly all the water seemed soaked into it. Now it was time for the fun part of wiping down the walls, which he decided to start with the windows first seeing as how that would allow a bit more light into the room. Upon the first wipe of the rag a huge streak of dirt was cleaned off by the cloth, which led a blotch that was almost black on the place where the fabric collected the dust. Ricky's eyebrows rose momentarily when he saw how clean the spot on the window became, with a grimace to follow once he'd noticed the blotch that appeared on the cloth afterwards. Dis is... ridiculous! He mused as he returned to wiping down the window, at this point he started to become less amazed at how much dust caked the walls and windows.

He wiped down the windows from top to bottom in horizontal motions, then went over them with a less dirtier part of the rag as he repeated the motions in a more zigzag like manner. Each window he finished led him to soaking the wash cloth again and wringing out the excess water, as the liquid within the bucket went from a clear opaque appearance to a brightened mud color within the first couple of times. Once the windows were finished he then proceeded to wipe the walls down, which would obviously take him a bit longer since he had more space to cover this time, compared to the windows at least. He drug the bucket over in the corner where he started, which was over by the doorway, and then worked his way from top to bottom as he wiped down the wall in circular motions. Often he had to stop and dip the cloth into the bucket once again, just to recollect moisture for it since the wall and dirt somehow managed to dry it out so quickly. How funny it'd be if Oi'd showered de walls wit' water.

He could imagine trying to explain to one of the kids here, though it would likely not end well for him granted the good Madam would hear about it. He continued to work on the wall as he scooted sideways on his feet, an occasionally careful nudge of the foot to the side of the bucket, so that he may slide it along with him and not have to carry it the whole time.

[Ricky Maze]

Autumn 13th 514 AV, 16th Bell

When Ricky had finished washing the walls and the chalkboards he'd found that he'd managed to accomplish quite a bit in a short span of time, although that much progress led him to feeling rather hungry and thus led him to deciding to have an earlier dinner than he thought to take. During that whole bell he'd actually managed to meet several of the orphans and get to learn about them, and in turn tell a story or two as everybody enjoyed their meal in the same room. His favorite story to tell was the one about Sebastian the Syliran when he discovered a den of pirates secretly hidden within Zeltiva, though the story had pretty much been changed to where he was the sole hero that saved the children that were kidnapped by the pirates, rather than share the actual story that involved him in it instead. He'd much rather tell stories that way because it gave him a better sense of joy and insight as he could describe things in a vivid way, while at the same time change up the horrid parts to where they were better for the orphans to hear.

Overall everyone had enjoyed a wonderful meal provided by the caretakers at the orphanage, and Ricky even got to meet up with the boy Carver for a while as he came back to the orphanage after handling a few tasks. Of course he still had more do to so the time spent together didn't last long, but when Ricky told him he had actually spent time working on cleaning what he could of the old classroom, the boy definitely appeared excited as he wanted to stay behind and see if he could help. The father had to remind him though that he still had other important things to do, and that while he would've appreciated the help he'd rather Carver not instead, so that the project as a whole would remain a surprise for the orphans once the whole clean up had managed to be done at the end of the day. When the bell ended and Ricky returned to the room he'd temporarily left to take a break from, he found that nothing had been touched but at the same time all his previous tasks had managed to paid off. Both ceiling and walls looked almost, but not entirely, brand new if one were to consider the amount of dirt that caked them in the beginning.

Now all that remained was the floor and then he could get started on the final task of the day, which would involve fixing what he could of the desks and returning them back to where they belonged. Eager to move along with the next chore Ricky grasped the mop with both hands and dipped it into the bucket, and immediately started to scrub the floor as he moved around in circles several times to thoroughly was the whole place. All while he pushed and pulled he leaned into the act and gave it some effort with a bit of elbow grease put into it, as he eventually started to work up a sweat over time thanks to the act of scrubbing the floors. He didn't stop though until the job had been done as a whole, and the floors altogether managed to be completely mopped, and in turn left to dry now that water dampened the surface. Yeah... dat's gonna take a while... He thought to himself after he used the mop as a sort of leaning prop, the grin on his face loosened a bit as he realized it could be rather time consuming waiting on it to dry. Then another idea hit him, one that he thought could actually help yet again. Though he'd hardly experimented with it, he felt pretty sure he could use wind with his Reimancy to blow dry the floor.

Well, it'd be worth a shot. He guessed as he went over to the door to shut it, an obnoxiously loud creak occurred in the process that pretty much made him cringe, as he thought as if that ain't suggestin' sketchy behavior. Still with a better sense of security to ease him all that remained was the act of using his magic, and so with a minor clap of his hands that wasn't too loud he rubbed them together, in a manner to pump him up for trying something new and seeing if it would at all work. Seeing as how he could manipulate the form of his Res he tapped into the reaches of his being and channeled Djed through his arms, as he raised them to where his palms faced forward and allowed a fog like form of royal blue Res to extrude from them. He only generated a decent amount of Res as he only needed a little bit, and then proceeded to spread that amount outwards as the density of the cloud began to thin. Finally when he covered a large area of the center of the room, he raised a finger up as though he pointed at the ceiling and started to rotate it in a clockwise motion.

The thin veil of Res mimed this movement as it slowly started to circle above the floor, which generated a swirling motion as he transitioned his fingers into a position where he readied a snap with his fingers. With his thumb in place and at the ready he allowed the Res to continue its intended motion just before the signal was given, and then with a focus on the transmutation he snapped his finger and bore in mind the force he wanted to create. Somehow remembering that wind was an element of force really helped him connect to it, which in turn made the intent to transmute the Res into that very element clear as a sudden short breeze wafted onto the surface of the floor. His Res had been used up in but a single moment, and while the idea seemed pretty sound to go with, it didn't necessarily effect the floor as much as he hoped it would. Though it looked less wet it still had traces of dampness as the water that soaked into the wood refused to be dried so easily, which actually just proved how weak of a force he created in his attempt to speed up a process.

Nevertheless he felt he had a basic grasp of air and that was enough for him, he wasn't willing to push it too far by trying to experiment further. Plus he didn't want to risk young prying eyes peeping in on him, and so he decided while he would wait for the floors to dry he would return outside to where the desks were. Although he only had half to move back into the room he still had to inspect that half, see if they were in working condition before he would go about cleaning them off in turn. He went off to collect the bucket and cloth once more, determined to finish the last part of his task seeing as how the least he could do was finish that task and provide what little he could to help the orphanage's funding.

[Ricky Maze]

Once Ricky had made the trip out back to the pile of desks once more, he inspected the many that were left out of the junk pile while he the rest looked to be nothing but a pile of wood ready for burning. Deep down the father felt as though he wanted to help the orphanage out later on, and seeing as how there was plenty of wood to chop around Mirahil Pass or the mountain range in general, he didn't think would be too much trouble granted it was only several trips spent hauling wood to the place. The children weren't going to have a cold winter this season, that much was certain with Ricky at least. Most of the desks looked to be in working condition, more or less worse for wear since they definitely looked worn down. The least he could do though was at least make sure they were all cleaned off before he returned them to the classroom, thus the fisherman went onward to grab the bucket of water with the wash cloth floating about. With the return to the desks and the bucket brought back with him, he proceeded to wipe down the surfaces as well as the limbs of the desks.

With a bit of hard work and effort he was able to wash off the whole grime found on the desks after a while, which left him the final task of moving those desks back to the room where they belonged. He definitely believed that the Madame would have to buy some new desks to replace the ones lost, and the only real way that would be accomplished was with a bit of financial support from helpful individuals. Such was the reason why Ricky had the inclination to help out in the beginning, the orphanage needed all the help and support it could get. Somehow there was a sudden sense of irony felt, as Ricky remembered how Hadrian planned on helping out the orphanage in his own way. The thought that maybe the long lost friend might see Ricky now and appreciate this act of kindness, it lifted Ricky's own spirits up with the hope that one day he might suddenly reappear once again. Though it was only wishful thinking he still liked to imagine the moment it would occur, the possibility of a few jokes tossed between the two once Hadrian would discover Ricky was a father. So much had happened over the course of the years that the fisherman wouldn't even know where to start, nor would he find himself able to wait to hear what the dreamwalker had been up to in his absence as well.

As he finished moving the desks to the room he stood for a moment with the first part of his idea nearly complete, he had to move onward towards the part of the Orphanage where Madame Thea resided, a request for parchment and ink so that he could send word to another to bring something important here. When he'd been supplied with this he proceeded to write a note to Telion, instructing her to collect a moderate sum of Mizas to donate to the orphanage and be over on her way. When he had finished this he sent it off with a courier and the given direction to the Old Quarter where the Maze Residence resided, granted that they pretty much lived in the same place for over a year it wouldn't be hard for the courier to find it. Thus his previous task he'd put on hold was returned to as he went back into the classroom, and then proceeded to scoot the desks about as their legs slid across the wooden floor with a creak. When he had finally finished all this he then admired his short handiwork he'd accomplished, quite proud to see that the clean up of the classroom made it look rather nice. That was when he heard a knock at the door as a tan boy with brown hair poked his head in, a sudden flash of surprise on Ricky's face as he recognized the boy momentarily after seeing it. "Papa Maze!"

"Well now, if it ain't lil' Carver! Come 'ere lad!" He encouraged with a laugh as the boy ran up to him with an earnest hug, a smile on his face as he flashed a few of his missing teeth. "Look at ya, ye grew a bit didn't ya?!" Ricky pointed out as he knelt a bit to even his line of sight with the boy, Carver nodded eagerly before he responded to the observation.

"I'm twelve now! Therefore I've got t' be a big boy."

"Dat's roi, ye gotta keep yer nose clean an' stay outta trouble. People 're gonna depend on ya as ye grow older, so always keep yer spirits up lad." He gave a gentle nudge to Carver's shoulder with a knuckle as the boy giggled, a sway of the door opening wider caught Ricky's eye though as a woman had proceeded to enter. Telion had arrived with a smile on her face, the sight of Carver a heartwarming moment as he got the chance to speak with his own personal hero. "Ah, so ye brought me wife t' me den. Good lad, ye're already livin' up t' yer reputation." The father gave a wink before he rose, a hand placed on the boys shoulder as he patted it a couple of times in a fatherly manner.

"Yeah, Mama Maze came fer a visit and asked fer ya!"

"I sure did! Carver had insisted on bein' a proper gentleman and escort me right to you."

"Well done! Why don't ya go play or somet'in lad, Oi'm pretty sure yer friends 're lookin' fer ya." He nudged the boy forward a bit as Carver looked up to him with earnest eyes, a look of wanting present as he didn't wish to leave the guardian's company just yet. "Telion an' Oi 'ave t' speak wit' de Madame anyways an' we'll be out, but Oi promise we'll visit ya more often. In fact ye might see me off an' on in winter as Oi bring firewood, ye'll even pro'lly git a few stories t' hear when we 'ave de chance?"

"Promise?" Carver turned around with a pinky raised, a short laugh brought out of Ricky as he thought to humor the boy, except save the humor for another day seeing as how he was without a left pinky. Thus the guardian hooked his right pinky around Carver's as he gave a promising grin that followed with a nod. Satisfied the boy giggled once more as he ran onward past Telion and out the door, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed out as he continued onward to the other area where his friends would be.

"Whew, he's definitely somet'in." He sighed with a pleased chuckle to follow, Telion came to his side momentarily afterwards with a kiss placed on his cheek.

"He is! Its cute t' see him look up to you like that." Her hands quickly went into his own as she grasped them gently, his fingers entwined around hers as he pulled her in close for a longer kiss to be planted on her lips. When she pulled back away she giggled as she looked at his forehead closely, her eyes filled with inspection as they trailed down to his neck and shoulders and in turn his shirt. "You've been workin' hard, seein as how you look t' be a hot mess." Ricky smiled as though it were right on que, a soft slap brought to his face as he teased her about calling him a hot mess. "Anyways I brought a decent amount of mizas to donate, I have t' say I'm quite proud of you for doin what you did today."

"Well t'ank yew, it felt good y'know. Helpin' dis place out was a real treat in its own way." He said as they walked onward to the door, they headed to the place where they could find Madame Thea once more and provide her with the donation that she'd brought, they left behind 50 Gold Miza's before they left for the orphanage to use it for whatever things that were needed. While it wasn't as much of a great donation as the couple wanted to make, it was still a decent one that would at least provide some relief to the establishment without putting the family itself close to the whole. With that and thanks towards the allowance of being able to help out today, Ricky and Telion were quickly off to return home and call it a day as the mood remained exceptional as good thoughts were kept for those that resided within the orphanage.

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Ricky

Experience

Body Building	+1 XP
Organization	+1 XP
Cleaning	+3 XP
Reimancy	+1 XP

Lores

■	Location: The Farson Home for Orphans
■	Thea Fleming-Lee: Senior Caretaker at Farson Home
■	Farson Home School Room: Filthy, filthy, filthy
■	How to tear down and reusing parts of desks
■	How to clean a room from top to bottom
■	The Tale of Sebastian the Syliran
■	Hadrian: Vanished without a trace
■	Farson Home: Needs all the help they can get
■	Reimancy can help clean

Items/Consequences

Item	Description
-50 GM	For donation to Farson Home

Additional Comments

Who knew that reading about chores could be fun? XD I really enjoyed Ricky puzzling out how to clean the room in the best way possible, and I think I laughed several times at all the grime he found too. It's nice to see someone helping out and caring for the Orphans, so I'm glad I got to read this.

If you have any pending questions or concerns about the grade the feel free to contact me and we can figure it out. Don't forget to replace your request to say graded so ST's can take it out of the cue. Thanks!