Oh wow, was he doing it on purpose? Had he found a way to weaponize his cuteness? No, the innocence of the situation was a major factor so unless he was an unparalleled genius it wasn't all an act. Cecelia definitely had an argument for her behavior, if you subscribed to her warped personality and outlook on there being nothing wrong in capturing and loving on cute boys. It was that final thought that brought Lorelle's rapidly beating heart and racing imagination back under enough control that she was able to clench her fists in her lap hard enough to leave red marks in her palms. After a second or so of increasing pain in her palms her resolve had been strengthened enough to keep herself in check and she released the tension in her body with a shivering sigh. After her vision focused on Ethan once again she realized his expression of helplessness had been replaced by one of concern and he was leaning forward slightly.
"Ms. Lorelle are you ok? Your face is all red..."
Victory! Her resolve remained and with only the slightest of hesitations she held up a hand and a sincere smile slowly formed across her soft mouth.
"I'm just fine Mr. Kipley, thank you for your concern."
"Oh, ok..."
"Now, go head and fill out what you can and then we'll review the rest together." Reaching over to the cart next to her she picked up a small black bottle that stood only about an inch tall and a large feather with a metal tip. Presenting him with the feathered pen and ink she waited for him to take them before moving to fill both of their mugs. He thanked her as she did so and began to look over the application while she refilled their drinks.
Burned into the top of the scroll, in the center and covering two lines, was the full name of the guild and which branch there were currently located within; Adventures Untold Company Adventuring Guild's Cloudcrest Branch.
Stolen novel; please report.
A little further down the form started by asking for information such as his name, age, sex, species, height, weight, place of origin, and so forth to which he applied the appropriate information with little difficulty. He wasn't a fast writer by any stretch of the imagination but still managed a decent pace, at least until he hit a question that did two things to him; invoked a sense of sadness and also presented his first problem. Remembering what Lorelle had told him he skipped over the question about his Next of Kin and continued.
After completing some more standard questions he came to another that, while easy to answer, still invoked some thought and introspection, Party Role. Following the two words several standard roles were listed such as Castle, Shepherd, Striker, and Ballista but he stopped after reading the first three and went back to the first option to circled "Castle" for himself. After a few more question he finally began to read over what he could in regard to the terms and conditions at the bottom. Ethan had been so engrossed in completing the form that he didn't realize that Lorelle had been watching him intently and noticed rather quickly when he started to struggle with some of the larger words and phrasing of the more formal text.
Leaning forward with a smile she summarized each term or condition, truthfully of course, and explained what needed to be explained. For the most part he understood the concepts; the guild won't be held responsible if he gets hurt or is killed, unless it is due to their own negligence, that any possessions, in the event of death, would be returned to the listed Next of Kin, which he had simply listed as the Headmistress at the Orphanage. He would have to find something that would very much annoy her to receive to keep on his person in that case. Thankfully Lorelle couldn't read minds or she may have been given a glimpse into the boy's more mischievous side. She mistook his half grin as one of happiness from understanding everything. Finally, the form was done and he carefully wrote his name across the bottom and placed the date; 4th Torrentday of The Gathering.