Solo Even a broken home is a home (Job)

[Lo'campo]

48 Sunberth Winter 515 A.V The cold air nipped at his finger tips as he carried the spare wood he found through the orphanage. He placed it down near the nails and mallet Jilene had for him to do his job. The building was old and looked as if it were about to fall over any moment. Thus being said he and Jilene agreed to fix the building up for the winter. The blue giant held the wooden plank in place checking the sides making sure that it was even, or as even as the old wooden plank would get. This place really did grow on him over the time span of him living here. The kids looked up to him literally and rhetorically speaking. And he started to feel a soft spot in his heart for Jilene. Not that he would tell her. Knowing her she would probably fire him for speaking such nonsense and not focusing on his work. "Could you pass me the mallet and nail please?" He asked Jilene who passed him a broken table leg and an old rusted nail. At least she had gotten the nail correct. He gave a smile to the woman. Yes he knew that she was blind, he didn't ask her to do task that would require the use of her eyes as a joke, he did it to make her feel normal he guessed in a way. He didn't know how it was to be blind, but he knew that he would dread the day he awakened and could not see anymore. Kneeling down, he picked up the mallet and began banging the old piece of wood thus knocking it out of place. It didn't take much to break the old wood out form its spot. Just a light tap made dust and wood chips scatter into the air. Taking the new piece of wood, Lo'campo placed it into the space where the old piece was. With a grunt he squatted low taking the nail from his mouth with one hand whilst holding the plank with another. Positioning the nail so he didn't hit his thumb and make it more blue than it already was, he began banging away at the head of the nail pushing it in further into the wall. " Aw Petch. be spoke aloud after realizing that he nailed the damned thing in at an angle which made it protrude out from the wall. That was really dangerous, especially with all the children around. All it would take was for someone to run by without paying attention and cut their foot. Getting down onto his knees he gave a few hard knocks of the mallet bending the exposed half into the wood. Getting up from the floor he took a step back to get a look at his work. "What do you think?" He asked Jilene who stood quiet for a while before giving a nod. Having her approval meant that he could move on to his next task for the day. Pulling out his list and attempting to read his horrible handwriting, he gathered the tools and prepared for his next chore for the day.  The small breeze of the winter air caused the dirt and dust to dance across the floor as Lo'campo swept. He didn't know if Jilene stuck around to make sure that he was doing his job, or because she had nothing else to do today. Either way he didn't care. He was used to this kind of work seeing that his father mad him clean and focus on his mind rather his body all those years ago.He started at the end of the hall working his way back up sweeping all the dirt and dust in a large clump. In a way he wasn't surprised at the amount of dirt there was. This was probably the dirtiest place in all of the dirtiest cities of Mizahar. Hell the people in this city were pretty dirty including himself. Which reminded him that he really needed to take a bath. "Ms. Ironside can I ask you a question?" one of the orphans spoke out. Lo'campo stopped what he was doing to watch the little one. He was young, really young. Younger that the others at least. He had wild hair and hope in his eyes. Probably a former slave that ran away and ended up here. Pulling himself from his thoughts he refocused on eavesdropping on the conversation between the two. "Ask your question child" Jilene folded her hands into her lap and leaned forward so she could hear the soft voiced child loud and clear. Giving a cough the child asked his question. "The other kids say that you cant see, how long have you been like that?" Lo'campo's heart nearly stopped. A part of him wanted to burst out in laughter while the other halve wanted to rush in and save this child before he got the lecture of his life. Lo'campo had seen what Jilene looked like when she disciplined the orphans. It was already a harsh winter for the children, the last thing they needed were dead ones. Before he could think of something to say, Jilene spoke. "Now what kind of silliness is that?" By the heavens he was too late. "If I couldn't see, would I be able to tell how handsome of a young man you are?" Lo'campo had a look of confusion upon his face. Did she just let this boy off the hook? "I guess you're right Ms. Ironside." the boy smiled as he walked away with his false knowledge. Shrugging his shoulders, the Akalak returned back to his duties. The broom he used was old and barely caught any of the big things on the floor, but it got the job done for the most part, sweeping majority if not all of the dirt and filth outside turning the white snow black. "Lo'campo, can I ask you a question?" Jilene spoke looking into his general direction. Giving a grunt as his response, he listened as his boss spoke. "What do you look like? I only know you as a voice and can only make your face and build by the sound of it, and I know that you're very tall, but tell me, what do you look like?" The blue giant got quite for a moment not knowing how to respond."Well...um..I'm an Akalak....I'm blue...I have silver hair..." He really didn't know what to say. An idea forming in his head, he moved forward toward Jilene taking hold of her hand and putting it on his face. "Wow you are a very...very large man...How do you fit through the doors? Ha now I see why the children call you a monster." She continued to feel his face and shoulders, then continued to stroke her hands all the way through his hair that almost fell to the floor. He could tell that she was happy. It dawned on him that she probably never saw anything before in her life, so he stood there and let her continue to inspect his body with her hands. It was the least he could do. His next duty for today's work consisted of clearing the snow from the doors and pathway. He dreaded this chore seeing that he had no gloves to keep his hands warm. Blowing his breath into his hands for warmth, he began scooping the white powder up and tossing it aside. His hands felt as if they were going to fall off from being so cold. He had to take a break to let his appendages warm back up. He watched as the children sluggishly walked the grounds with sadness upon their faces. He wished that there was something for them to do that would cheer them up. Finally getting the feeling back in his hands, he returned to pushing the snow out of the way. He learned quickly learned that molding it into a ball was better than just shoving his hands into the snow. It sped up his work and was less harsh on his hands. The sound of a branch snapping quickly gathered the laughter of the children after a pile of snow fell upon Lo'campo's head. On any normal day he would have lost his temper and cut the tree down with his bare hands, but it was something about the laughter of the children that made him laugh too. "You think that's funny aye? He smiled picking up the ball of snow and tossing toward the kids hitting one and knocking him down to the ground. The yard filled with laughter from both the children and the Akalak. Something cold caught the side of his face as another snowball flew past his nose. Taking action, he dove onto the ground pushing the snow that lay before him up into a large dome like structure. A few of the orphans joined him as the others continued with their barrage of snowballs. Lo'campo motioned for the little ones to head out to the right whilst he went to the left to confuse their enemies. Following his command, the orphans moved as he did. Snowballs came his way as he pivoted around the few that were thrown towards him. He was large, which meant that he was a easier target than his other allies. More snowballs flew through the air aimed at him. Getting low to the ground, he leaped into a somersault, gathering a ball of snow throwing it at his attackers only to miss by inches. His plan had failed, and in the time span for it do so, the children that were on his side decided to switch teams. Thus he was all alone against an army of small children who were experts at throwing snow. "You want a piece of me? Bring it on." Lo'campo spoke getting into a silly pose that made the kids laugh. He unsheathed his great-sword as the snowballs were thrown. giving swing, he connected with the first few before missing the others. He was glad that the kids thought he was just goofing around, little did they know that he never really used the petching sword for anything really. He held the base of the sword horizontal so that the flat end of the weapon block most of the projectiles. A downward slash caused the sword to get stuck in the cold icy ground. More snowballs pelted him as he used his strength to yank the weapon from the earth. "Wow. Mr. Campo is really strong." the kids began to chat among themselves. "Yea i heard that one time he ripped a tree out of the ground because it was blocking his view from his room." Lo'campo couldn't help but laugh to himself at the childrens stories. "I heard that he's the strongest man in the world." He put his hands up in signaling that he surrendered. The children cheered in victory and rushed the Akalak climbing atop of him in laughter and happiness. He even caught a glimpse of Jilene standing at the door way a smirk upon her face at the sound of the kids laughing. Calming the kids down, he returned to his job duties finishing up with moving the snow from the pathway. Not that much needed to be done there, most of the snow had gotten cleared during their little battle. The grounds had even looked somewhat as a park for the kids to play in. A pause as Lo'campo took it to thought. It wasn't a bad idea. Taking out his paper and pencil. He quickly wrote it down so he would not forget. Jilene stopped him just before he had entered the orphanage. The two stood there for a moment. He looking at her, she listening to him look at her. "I just wanted to say thank you. That is all, back to work" she said coldly before turning back around and entering the orphanage herself. Lo'campo thought for a second before a smile came upon his face, as he entered the building. Not having anymore time to lollygag, he had fetched a bucket and piece of cloth, hurrying to finish the last of his job duties. His job title labeled him as a guard as well as laborer for the orphanage, something that he jumped to very quickly thinking that he would only be required to bring harm to those that threatened the building. Yet here he found himself mallet in hand ready to attempt fixing the main door. Something about appearance of the building having to do with potential visitors looking for orphans. He didn’t dwell on things like that too much, especially when it came to the orphans. He understood Jilene’s reason for leading them on to believe that one day they would be adopted by someone, to keep their hopes and happiness up. He could tell though that some of them already knew the unwanted truth. That this was their home, that Jilene would probably be the closest thing to a mother they had. He began his work, using his lakan to chip away at the ice that froze over the hinge that was supposed to hold the door in place. For some reason the door stood crooked, being hard to open and scrubbing across the ground as it moved. Knee kneeling in snow, he was happy that his armor protected it from the intense cold. He continued to chip away, trying to clear as much ice as he could so he would be able to see the piece clearly. Sheathing the blade, he dipped lower into the ground, hair resting upon the white powder. The piece was old, rusted and looked to be chard black as if it had been in a fire. Inspecting the blackened piece closer, he came to realize why the door acted so strangely, that being the bolt that slid into the hinge lay in the snow, thus making the door lean a bit. Lightly digging through the snow, he took hold of the brass piece, trying to slide it into its hole to no avail. It was the result of the door leaning, to which put the hinge in an offset position rendering him unable to slide the bolt into place whilst in it’s current state. He would have to straighten the door and align the hinge so he could be able to fix the entrance. Making sure that no one traveled through the area for the moment, not wanting to risk his hand getting caught and possible broken, he slid his blue appendage under the heavy door using his muscles and strength to lift it up, the hinge warily moving in and out of place with a “clink”. This was a bad position for him to be in as his hand shook, turning purple from the weight of the doors sharp edges imprinting on his skin. Bringing he free hand around he carefully slid the bolt into the hinge as well as cutting his knuckles from the wind blowing the door open whilst he worked. Taking the mallet he tapped the bolt into place before getting up and inspecting his work. It wasn’t perfect seeing that the pieces were rusted with time, but ti would manage until he or someone else with the skill could properly fix it. The stinging of his hand reminded him of his possible injury. A few scrapes, nothing time couldn’t take care of. Mallet in hand, he opened the door, testing it before retiring inside from another day of work.