No, it had been a raid. One building, isolated a bit from the others, had been targeted by the raiders.
That building had been an orphanage.
Looking at the smouldering ruin, the wrecked town, and the group of crying kids - Ranma wasn't feeling entirely too sure about what to do next.
A tug on his pants brought his attention down to one of the little girls in particular.
"Are you a hero?" asked the little girl, looking up at him.
"Nah. I'm a martial artist," said Ranma.
"I liked it! He was all 'wham' and 'ka-powie' and and AWESOME!" declared another little girl.
"Well, yeah, I suppose," said Ranma, not really seeing anything wrong with that label.
"Cans I learns to be all 'wham' and 'ka-powie' and awesome?" asked a little girl pleadingly as she clasped hands and looked up at him.
"Uhm, well, I..." tried Ranma. Damn. Is that some sort of special manuever?
"So where do we go now?!" asked another little girl between sniffles. "It's all burned down."
"Well, who was taking care of you before?" asked Ranma.
"She's d-d-dead," began one of the little girls and suddenly ALL of them were crying.
"Aw hell," said Ranma, not knowing what to do but girls crying was something that usually got to him quickly. "Maybe someone in that town can take care of ya?"
"Nobody wanted any of us," pointed out one of the older little girls. "That's why we were at the orphanage."
"Oh well," said Ranma, thinking that maybe he ought to just pull out his little hole and go back now. This wasn't his problem after all.
"I know who you are! You must be the handsome prince!" declared a little girl who had a sort of greenish-blue color and was pointing at him with one finger. Water shot out and hit him, triggering the curse.
"Oh," said several of the little girls staring.
"Maybe you're the momma?" asked the little green girl.
"NOT the Momma," said Ranma, looking around.
"Poppa!" tried the little green girl.
"Not that either," said Ranma, still checking the ruined building.
"Whatcha looking for?" asked a dark-skinned little girl.
"Water," said Ranma absently.
Splash! went another water-blast.
"In a cup or something," appended a wet-again Ranma. "And then I have to heat it up!"
The dark-skinned girl found a cup. The green girl filled it with water. A golden-haired girl produced a flame in her hands and held it under the cup.
Ranma watched this all happening with some amusement. "Okay. That's handy."
Ranma watched the farmer walk away but really couldn't argue with the guy. Oh, he could physically force the guy to take in the kids.
"Did... did we do something wrong?" asked a little girl's voice.
Ranma stiffened. He didn't want to look. It would be bad if he looked. Just that voice with the whole sniffle thing going was bad enough.
Another sniffle.
Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.
"He... won't even look at us. Uhm. I'm sorry!" (sniffle)
Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.
"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! We gonna be sold to slavers!"
"WAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Daddy doesn't love us no more."
"'Daddy'?" asked Ranma, turning around. "I ain't no..."
Crying girls. Looking up at him with the wobbly tear-filled eyes. Oh kami, that is SO not fair.
"I'm sorry! Please don't sell me to slavers!"
Any moment now, someone's going to pop up out of nowhere and I'm going to have to dodge someone's outraged attacks.
"You're selling them?" asked a voice.
Ranma stopped and slowly looked. Middle-aged bald guy, black expensive-looking clothing, jewelry, had a "used horse salesman" sort of look to him.
"Give me them, and I'll give you twelve coppers." The guy smirked at him at the end of that statement.
Predictably, most of the little girls began crying again.
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(Posted Sun, 21 Sep 2014 19:20)
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