Corruption of the Innocent

This time Arjean decided to play in the playground instead of faraway from the kids. It wasn't really their decision, as their mommies encouraged them to get closer to the kids, but Arjean always liked to please their family. Both of their mommies were here to keep them safe, which meant if anything bad happened they could swoop in and save them like the heroes in Rémi's picture books. Yet despite Arjean being closer to the children, they still kept their distance and tried to make themself not look too approachable. They didn't want too many kids coming up to them. Once in a while someone would ask them what they were, and Arjean would just try to look polite and quietly respond. Their discomfort seemed to be obvious, as kids would either move away from them, or try quiet down to make them a little more comfortable.

It was the most fun to sit on the chairs shaped like creatures and rock back and forth on them. Sometimes, in-between the rocking, Arjean would take notes on the people around them, just like what their mommies would do to others and themself. They tried to keep it as secretive like their mommies, and would write down stuff about the kids around them for the mafia. Some seemed more suitable for the group than others, who were usually older looking. The younger ones were easily distracted and messy, but Arjean felt silly acting like they were better. During their note-taking they would drift off into a daydream or play with their hair, and sometimes they wouldn't even notice how they moved from one toy to another. Now they were in the sandbox taking notes, but eventually they got bored of just writing and drawing and shoved their notepad into their bag. They did a lot of work and they deserved a break, and this break included them making sandcastles and sandhouses and people and animals.

(( @[Smol] ))

Another child seemed to be getting closer now, this one not looking like anything they've seen before. She wore the girl's uniform over her gooey, yet humanoid body. She looked similar to some of the slime people Arjean saw pass by now and again, and in fact, they looked similar to when an oricenta was shape-shifting. The difference was that a shape-shifting oricenta glowed and didn't have all that... stuff inside of them. When Arjean focused on the stuff floating inside of the girl they finally realized why the creature looked similar to something they've seen before. In their mommies' books, there's lost of information on cells and the nucleus and all that, and the slime girl thingy looked just like that.

Before Arjean could give a proper greeting to the girl, she poked their shoulder. Immediately Arjean moved away from her, even tripping over the sandbox and onto the grass. The poke wasn't painful, or even that hard, but it still made them feel sick and uneasy. They didn't want to be touched by anyone other than those they trusted one-hundred-percent, and even those they trusted they felt uncomfortable being touched by sometimes. When they looked over at their mommies, they didn't seem too concerned with the situation, though it was obvious they looked just a bit worried. Arjean couldn't tell if that was because they were in potential danger, or if it was because Arjean was a potential danger to the girl.

Now that their mommies were looking, they were definitely not allowed to cry and show fear, otherwise, they may get sent back home to calm down, or embarrass themself in front of all the kids. Slowly Arjean stood back up, trying to keep themself calm to prevent random shape-shifting or power use. Wasn't like they could do a lot with their powers anyways, but maybe if they caused it to rain over the girl she would melt away and not hurt them.

"H-Hullo," they greeted her, their face flushing a bright light blue that turned their freckles from a light blue to white. It was embarrassing acting brave and polite to someone who made them feel threatened, but running to their mommies now wasn't a good choice. "W-Who a-are you? Um... I'm... uh... Arjean Afolabi-Soie..." They blurted their name quicker than they expected, but they wanted to get the conversation over with so the girl would go away.

So far the girl only spoke in gurgles, but she also seemed to speak with her hands. Only time they've seen that was when people tried to communicate without others hearing, but this type of communication seemed so much more complicated. It wasn't just simple pointing left or "zipping" one's mouth closed to be quiet, it was something else that Arjean had no idea about. Actually, it felt more similar to how oricenta would sometimes speak to others while making gestures, usually with their wings. Since oricenta almost always kept their eyes closed when relaxed or happy, it wasn't very common unless it was necessary to keep one's eyes open.

"I... don understand?" Arjean responded hesitantly. As they tried to understand her an idea popped into their mind. They took out some pieces of paper and crayons, then walked over to a hard surface to put it on. Once they were done, they laid their crayons and paper onto the empty concrete and motioned for the girl to follow with one of their wings. "Write," they told her. "Or... uhm... draw... if you want..."

Her writing was more understandable than her hand language, which made things so much more easier. She seemed to understand their own speaking well enough, but they felt more comfortable writing things down than speaking. There was less stuttering involved, and it was easier to translate their thoughts onto paper than vocally. In response to what she said, Arjean picked up a blue pen and responded with, "Oh, okay." It took them a while to think of how to continue, particularly because they didn't want to continue. They felt tired from the earlier scare, and the look of the girl unnerved them a bit. The only thing that kept Arjean trying to interact with her was the idea of a new member for the mafia, she seemed to fit the age range.

The writing way of communication was perfect too: their mommies wouldn't be able to hear any discussion on the mafia. Maybe it would be best to move away... but then their mommies would definitely suspect something and try to follow. Instead of immediately jumping into an interview, there was a question Arjean just couldn't ignore. "Why me?" they wrote. "There are other kids." Some even looked similar to her too.

The response Poulos gave felt weird and vague, since Arjean almost always had a purpose when approaching others. Usually their purpose was because they were told to, or because they would be considered a good child for doing it. Others seemed to not have a lot of purpose for their actions, which sounded like such an empty life to live. How could anyone live a life where they weren't told what to do all the time?

"What do you want to talk about?" they wrote down before lifting up the paper to show Poulos, then they sat it down so she could write a response. When Arjean thought up conversation topics, they immediately take the paper before Poulos could get her hands on it, scribbled down some more words, then allowed her the chance to read and write. On the paper they wrote, "Likes and dislikes? Favorites? Um... games?"