Panting heavily, Graam finally reached the Maisen Orphanage. It had taken a lot of asking around and an iron will to not look like some mad man with how much he had started to sweat from running all over, through and around the alleyways.

“Haa… next time… next time around, I will make sure to write down the home address of everyone I know!” He gasped, leaning heavily against his knees. Breathing in heavily, twice, three times and once more, he exhaled long before pulling himself back up. Arching his back, he let out a satisfied hiss as his back cracked back into place. Yeah, definitely not as spry as he used to be.

“Old Zetok would be laughing his ass off at me…” Graam grumbled under his breath. Snorting amused, he shook his head and gave the front entrance of the orphanage a discerning look.

“Not the worst I have seen.” He mused and stepped towards the entryway.

Graam had known Jak for a few years now, catching the rascal trying to steal from him the first time around. It had to have been shortly after he fled from the orphanage, looking back. First thing the shark had done was giving him a scolding and then taught him how to actually do it. It all laid in the fingers and wrist, you see! No stealing from the slum Back Markets, the official ones had better stuff and you didn’t want to make your life harder where you actually lived.

Since then, Jak had visited Graam at least once a week. Graam didn’t ask too many questions, his own experiences had made him maybe a bit too respectful of other people’s past, but he still learned that it wasn’t the staff of the orphanage that had driven him off. But the intense bullying through some wolf named Haggard. Yeah, he definitely sounded like a prime candidate for the Demon recruiters. Hindsight was twenty twenty, eh? Graam shook his head mentally.

Coming to a halt before the door, Graam hesitated awkwardly before actually shaking his head.

“Ah, get it together, ya lubber! Yer not gonna flake out now, are ya?” He scolded himself. “What are ya fraid of…?! Some landlubber kids? Haa…”

Sighing, Graam bit into the sour apple and marched through the door. There was a feeling of intrusion, like he was meddling around with Jak’s life. And what was he supposed to tell that Myra girl? That he knew her dear grand papi? Oh, by the damned deepborn!

“Can’t believe I’m acting like some greenhorn grommet…” He grumbled annoyed. “Agh! Jak can deal with some meddling old man! If I could, then so can he!”

Brashly bashing away his concerns, Graam entered the orphanage and immediately heard the excited chatter of children drowned out by the far louder lecture of a young woman.

“… don’t care what he said! You are all banned from the parks for the foreseeable future! And all sweets and toys will be confiscated! Understood?!”

The slender lemur girl of small height but gifted curves glared at her charges, arms crossed. Her hair and long, prehensile tail were of sandy blonde with colourful flowers interwoven throughout her hair.

“Yes, Miss Hailey…” Came the dour response of the children, ducking their heads in remorse.

“Ugh, I know you. Don’t pretend you care.” The newly named Hailey groaned. “Just… don’t put me on the spot like this again, okay? You know how the Head gets with Jak.”

Immediately all the kids looked back up, grins on their faces. Though a few of the shyer ones looked actually sorry.

Ah, it seems like he had missed them anyways. Graam let out a suffering sigh. Great, just great. That said, he still had to check up on the orphanage anyways. …maybe he should have come up with an excuse for his presence before bursting into the orphanage.

“Oh, hello there. Who are you?” Hailey looked at him as he stood awkwardly at the edge of the hall.

“Uuh…” He made awkwardly, his eyes wide and wild. Hand with on finger raised in the air as he tried to come up with an answer. “… I’m here to inspect the place for dangerous pests?”

And promptly facepalmed mentally as the young woman gave him a deadpan stare while the kids giggled. Not even they bought what he sold. This was why he didn’t do infiltration stuff!

———

Hanak sighed comfortably as he rested behind the counter, nursing a cold drink while cooling his still aching crotch. At least it had started to heal and he wasn’t about to waddle home that late evening.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The kiddie team, their new minder and the Punk Queen had gone back to the arena to give the little ones some tips and put their crab through the wringer. Heh, suckers. Hanak grinned amused before wincing lightly. Not like he wasn’t a sucker, too. But he could tolerate losing out on some Embers… even as he was already counting the Flickers it would cost him.

The sleek shark was pulled out of his idle musings as the entrance rung with new visitors. He spared them a side-eyed glance which he gave most visitors, the TC Gear Club didn’t get many newcomers and so most knew their way around.

A boy and a girl, not anyone he recognised. Huh, maybe the Club was getting some fresh blood! Now that would make up for the Flickers he had lost that day. A toothy grin came to Hanak’s face only to blink as he took another look at the guy up front.

Wolf Cat. Matched the description of that Jak guy… damn, what the Abyss happened to his face?! Well, anyways. Maybe it was that Jak. Now, should he ask directly or just wait and see? That bunny cat girl with the big bushy tail behind him, however, made him sniff some Drama~ in the future. Eyes narrowing lightly, Hanak turned his attention back to his drink but kept his ears perked. Could be just a coincidence, but…

“So, this is the place your sister and her friends visit, Jak…?” Myra asked curiously, looking around the shelves with big, curious eyes. She had never seen a shop like this, though the little gadgets reminded her of those Tyrant Crabs that held total control over the eastern side of the Tinkerer Coast.

“Yeah, Mina apparently found a Tinkerer Crab a few weeks ago…” Jak answered absentmindedly, searching intently for Jenny around the room before his eyes fell on the entrance to the back of the Club.

“Tinkerer Crab, that’s a pretty fitting name actually.” Myra mused thoughtfully, nodding to herself as she reminisced about the past. Only a few days ago, actually, but that already felt like an eternity and so far away to her. Jak had no idea what she was talking about.

… it could also be exactly right. Because what were the chances that there was a guy with a sister who fit literally name and description as well? Which meant that this Jak here was treading dangerous ground, teasing the Punk Queen was fine but he better not be two timing her.

That said, Hanak would rather not take his chance with antagonising Vee again that day. He would just hang back, watch from the side and make sure that that Jak guy got what he deserved if he made the Punk Queen actually cry.

———

“You know Jak, huh? At least he’s got some kind of guardian looking after him.” Hailey sighed with a smile as she lead Graam up the stairs. The shark followed after her, a nervous chuckle escaping him.

“Yeah, something like that…” He mumbled, rubbing his neck. His gaze flitted along the rooms they were passing by. Everything looked normal, he didn’t feel any ominous aura and the sight of the children following after them with a token attempt of stealth was rather adorable.

“Normally I don’t really intrude on his life much, just give a try to steer him in a better direction.”

The words spilled strangely out of him, trying to fill out the awkward silence before it could become to overbearing. But the lemur girl seemed chipper enough that it wouldn’t have bothered her. Not that that had been really his concern anyways. Though he had the mind to not mention that he had helped that boy on his path of thievery.

“So you’re the reason I have to deal with him buying my charges’ services~?” She teased him with mischievously twinkling eyes, the steel beneath however choked his laugh before it could escape.

“J-just told him the importance of paying your workers…” Graam replied with a nervous smile.

Oh, by the Klabautermann! Where was James when you needed him?! Or even Lyca, that girl could have very well stayed by his side! … okay, fine. She had been about to fall asleep where she stood but she could have snoozed on his shoulders. Would have made for a fun image with that small Numeryuu doing the same on her shoulders.

“Ah, here we are! My personal office where we can talk UNDISTURBED.” Hailey raised her voice with a sharp smirk, giving the kids peaking out from the stairs a pointed glare. Quickly they fled back down under cheerful cries of fun and played up terror.

“Uhm… are you the only one here, right now?” Graam couldn’t help but ask, having not seen anyone besides her and the kids the whole time he had been following her.

“Old Lady Tiffany is caring for the littlest ones, but yes. I’m the only one here actually herding these kids right now.” Hailey sighed in answer. “Today’s especially bad, actually. Some of the staff had to call in sick and we still went with the normal rotation for the park visits. Normally I would have three more helping me wrangle here. Even with the Lebensfest, things are a bit too hectic. But I don’t want to bother you with my problems, Mister Graam.” She waved him off.

“Ah, just Graam. The whole mister part doesn’t really sit well with me. Now Captain, that I would take, chahaha!” Graam chuckled as he entered the small and rather sparsely decorated room after her.

And then stared awkwardly at the tiny seat that was available to him. The wooden chair creaked audibly as he sat down across of her and she seemed to gain a strange sort of gratification from his discomfort as the door closed shut behind them.

“Now, why exactly are you really here? I don’t think it’s just for a visit of Jak, you would know he doesn’t really live here anymore.” Hailey asked bluntly.

For a second Graam thought how to answer this but he was already getting tired trying to badly spin some kind of web of lies. He would just answer just as directly, blunt and to the points. That’s what he was good at, after all. Still, there were things he just couldn’t tell her. Not if he didn’t want to risk his head and hers.

“Jak got targeted by a particular vicious group and that orphan of yours, Haggard, is directly involved with them. And I want to make sure that he isn’t about get this orphanage done in with his stupidity.” Graam answered without hesitation.