”Mission Details”:

Sayuri arrived at the home just before noon as promised. She had been fortunate enough to be approached in the market by a lovely woman with her three adorable children, and the children had taken a shine to her immediately. It had been something Sayuri had always found simple enough, getting along with children that is. Now that she was here though, she was anxious. She had left her weaponry at the cabin, it didn’t seem to her that it would be necessary to have in order to mind some small children. Though out of habit she reached for the spot where her tanto should have been, and felt a small flutter of panic when she grasped at air. Sayuri didn’t have long to linger on the thought as the door to the humble home was flung open by a small boy with shaggy black hair and a wide precocious grin. “I know you! Mom! She’s here!” And the boy ran back into the house, leaving the door wide open and Sayuri standing there mouth open awkwardly mid “Hello”.

A warm woman’s voice called from within “Come inside Sayuri, shut the door behind you, don’t mind the mess!” And doing as she was asked Sayuri crossed the threshold and closed the well worn and suspiciously sticky wooden door. She looked around the room getting a feel for her surroundings. It was small she supposed for a house that was for five people, though to her it was a massive and sprawling mansion. Long low couches, tables and chairs dotted a sitting room and down a narrow hall she could see doorways to other rooms. The voice she had heard came from what must be a kitchen based on the delightful smells wafting her way.

She closed her eyes a moment to better appreciate the aroma and was surprised as she felt a gentle yet insistent tug on her pant leg. Looking down, she saw a quite small girl with an impish grin, messy black curls, and who was wavering a bit on her feet, so seemed to be using Sayuri’s leg to steady herself. “Well hello there tiny thing! Do you want up?” Sayuri smiled and asked rhetorically as she bent down and lifted the girl into her own small arms. “Oh good, I see you’ve met my youngest, Miku, she’s a handful. Here’s Minoru and Michi. I’ll leave you to it. Lunch is already prepared in the kitchen, nap time is at one thirty. For everyone.” She gave the older one, Michi, a pointed look when she mentioned napping. “Please help yourself to food Sayuri, I’ve made extra for you. I’ll be back late afternoon.” Sayuri bobbed her head once in an informal and hasty bow as she was handed a second slightly bigger, yet no less mischievous child and the lovely dark haired mother made a quick exit.


Sayuri looked at the three children as one might look at a hungry wolf, hoping that perhaps it didn’t find you particularly edible, and smiled shyly. “Well now, I guess since your mother made such good smelling food, we should go eat some of it?” She was really hoping that they were hungry, because she certainly was and she didn’t want to have to smell the delicious food and not eat it. Fortunately the smallest child that was pulling on her leg giggled up at her and started toddling her way over to the kitchen, falling once and crawling the rest of the way. Michi, the eldest boy, rolled his eyes and picked up the toddler “Why are you always falling Miku?” picking her up and tickling her roughly. Miku shrieked with laughter at first, but quickly tried squirming away in discomfort as the older boy didn’t let up with his assault. Sayuri had seen this sort of behaviour before and shook her head putting down the middle child, Minoru, before turning to help the shrieking baby. She was not much bigger than the boy, so picking him up was probably out of the question, so she opted for a more bizarre approach.

“Michi?” She asked while climbing onto the seat of a chair, “If the floor was suddenly covered in lava, how would you survive?” The boy stopped tickling his younger sister and looked up at Sayuri in astonishment. “Lava?” He breathed the word, and a glimmer of mischief entered his eyes. “Well first I’d make you hold the baby!” he crowed as he handed her Miku and leapt to his own chair, being careful to not spend too much time with his feet touching the floor. Miku laughed at the sudden handoff, as did Sayuri, and the four of them looked worriedly down at the lava covered floor. “It’s a good thing the food is already on the table!” Sayuri said with relief as she crawled a bit onto the table and started serving food from the large pot into bowls for the children. The children found this hilarious and laughed at the audacity of their babysitter as she sat on the table serving them soup. Well at least they think I’m funny, that’s a start. And I managed to stop Michi from picking on Miku. But now we’re trapped at the table surrounded by lava. I didn’t really have a plan from here.

The four of them ate happily as the children explained to her the complications of having a house full of lava. There was the fact that mostly everything in here was made of wood, and so it wouldn’t take long for everything to light on fire. And even if that didn’t happen, Michi made sure to point out that only he could swim. So, assuming that someone could swim in lava, he would have to carry both his sisters to safety, which he most definitely could. Sayuri humoured him with an attentive ear while the young boy boasted, and refilled his soup more than once, feigning almost falling in the lava once to allow for a hasty rescue. Nothing made someone happier she’d noticed than being allowed to be a hero.

After they’d finished eating Sayuri gathered their bowls together and gracefully climbed her way over to the sink, keeping a watchful eye on the three children. Though by now she barely had to, the oldest was doing his fair share of that having been presented with the task of keeping them safe from the lava below. “Michi, have you ever played the game Lion Tamer?” She was hoping he hadn’t, or that if he had, that he had liked it and not realized its true purpose. “No. . . What is it?” Michi was scooting his chair closer to his youngest sister’s as he spoke. “Well! It’s a tough one, you have to try to trick me. See you and your sister’s have to be lions, and I’m the lion tamer. All you have to do is be quiet lions, but if the lion tamer catches you. . .” Sayuri mimed a whipping motion while giggling. Michi’s eyes went wide with mischief again, and Sayuri knew she had him. This was a bit of a mean trick, the idea being that the children would lie down under the guise of being quiet lions, and before long they would likely fall asleep. Just in time for a nap. The lava floor forgotten the children followed after her into the living room and lay down on the floor, making quiet growling noises, that she rewarded with a raised eyebrow and an occasional “What lion is it that’s making noise?” After about twenty minutes of giggling and growling though, the only noises Sayuri heard were peaceful sleepy sounds coming from the three children. She smiled down at them and moved carefully through the house, gathering some blankets that she laid over the sleeping forms, before returning to the kitchen and cleaning up the days lunch dishes.


An hour later when the front door opened and the children’s mother came in Sayuri stood and waved shyly again. “They fell asleep in the living room, I hope that’s okay.” The woman looked in on her children with a smile, “Of course dear, you didn’t have any trouble I hope?” Sayuri just giggled quietly as she made her way out door. “No, no. No trouble at all. They were wonderful adventurers.”


{EXIT}

1423 WC

D-Rank Mission 600/600 Complete

Stat Training:
STR D-1 > D-2 400 words + 50 ryo
END D-1 > D-2 400 words + 50 ryo

23 words discarded