As soon as Charon walked into the dining hall his ears were assaulted by a cacophony of children.
“Big Brother! Big Bro! Come play with us! Let's play!”
Two kids latched onto his legs like spider-monkeys as he was brought down by a mob of little terrors.
“Hey! Hey! Hold up. I’m sweaty!”
After a few more moments of feeble protest from the ground he gave in to their demands. The kids roared in happiness as he carefully stood up with a few still hanging from his arms.
“RAWR!” Charon pantomimed a slow bear as he chased the screaming children, “How dare you choose to fight me! RAWR! I’m the big bad bear of the woods!”
Athena giggled at the sight while Finn jumped in to try to save his friend.
“Oh thank Cyrus you all are here. The kids have way too much energy today. I don’t know why.” An old lady walked up to Athena gesturing broadly at the mess of children running around.
Athena turned to her concerned, “Gran gran Molly. What are you doing up already? You still haven’t recovered.”
The aged headmistress of the orphanage shook her head, “Nonsense. Just because I can’t keep up with these whippersnappers when they are hyper doesn’t mean I’m bedridden. Besides, I have to be up anyway.”
Tilting her head, Athena gave her a questioning look.
The grandmotherly figure sighed, “Vardan hasn’t made it back. I checked his room this morning and he isn’t responding to messages or calls. And that New Dawn suit wants to meet with me to discuss something later.”
Athena’s face soured. Vardan was the residential security guard and student physical education instructor. A veteran explorer who lost his dominant arm while fighting to survive in the MAZE. It’s likely he had lost himself drinking again.
Looking towards her two friends play-wrestling with the children she yelled over the noise, “Charon! Finn! Grab some breakfast quick! Vardan might be sleeping on a bench somewhere!”
The playing suddenly stopped as Charon and Finn turned to her.
Finn questioned, “Wait Vardan hasn’t made it back? I thought he said he was gonna cut back on the drinking.”
Charon grabbed his friend's shoulder and shook his head. “You know how he is. Whenever some of us are about to turn 18 and maybe head out to the MAZE he gets like this. Let’s grab something to go and try to find him. We shouldn’t talk about this here,” slightly nodding his head towards the children.
Finn extracted himself from the cluster of protesting children as Charon reassured them they would be back soon with Mr. Vardan safe and sound. Athena turned to the food and started to make egg sandwiches for all of them.
Walking to the other end of the table Finn poured out some orange juice for each of them. Taking a quick swig from his cup he stopped and looked at what he just drank, “Woah this stuff crazy good. What is it?”
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Charon looked at him confused and asked, “Isn’t that just orange juice?”
Shaking his head and finishing off his cup Finn replied, “No man. Try it. It’s like drinking liquid energy. Stuff is better than energy drinks and coffee together. What is this stuff?”
Grandma Molly looked up in surprise and walked up to the container, “That’s the stuff New Dawn gave to us as part of their sponsorship package. They said it's a new product they want to share with the kids. Maybe this is why the kids are trying to tear down the house.”
Laughing, Finn poked teasingly, “Hey gran gran maybe you should drink some of this stuff. It can take 10 years off of you.”
Giving the offending young man a glare that could crack concrete, “Boy you best wrap up and go find Vardan before I smack you upside the head for all your sass.” Turning her head back to the container she gave it another look and said in a low voice, “Maybe we shouldn’t give this to the kids.”
Nodding her head, Athena walked up to grab a cup of her own, “Maybe for now we don’t give the kids this stuff. It might be like an energy drink. Let us try some and if we think it’s safe we can give it to them later. I’m sure this stuff is fine to drink later as long as you refrigerate it.”
Finn protested, “I’m sure this stuff is fine. Why do we have to keep it away from the kids?”
Charon reached through the middle to grab a cup of orange juice for himself while conveniently obstructing everyone’s view to stop a possible argument, “Well I’m curious about this new super juice so don’t mind me...”
Sighing, Athena turned to grab the sandwiches she made. “Let’s go find Vardan before something bad happens.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2 hours and a lot of running around later the three met up on the street.
“Ok. We went to his usual places. Where do you think he is?” Charon turned to his friends looking for clues.
Finn shrugged. “Beats me. He usually is at the Wailing Rose or Sneaky Gear but both places said they haven’t seen him recently.”
Athena muttered, partially to herself but loud enough for the others to hear, “There aren’t too many places that serve alcohol strong enough for an explorer. Any normal place would only serve civilian grade stuff. Maybe he didn’t go out drinking? Do you think he is in trouble?”
Charon shook his head. “Naw, Vardan might have lost his arm but he still tosses me around like I’m made of feathers whenever we train. I doubt he would have that kind of issue.”
Finn then shrugged and asked, “What now then?”
Charon picked up his phone. “Let me call gran gran and see if she has any ideas.”
*Ring* *Ring* “Charon? Have you found Vardan?” The voice of the headmistress came out over the phone’s speakerphone.
“Sorry gran. He wasn’t at his usual spots. Looks like he hasn’t been drinking for a while. We have no idea where he is. Where do you think we should look?” Athena asked.
There was a long pause over the phone. The headmistress then said, “It has been an awfully long time… but he might be at the river. That's where he used to meditate and train in between his dives into the MAZE.”
“Thanks gran gran! We will be back with a wild capture Mr. Vardan soon!” Finn smiled as he said that leaning over the phone.
With a guffaw and a snort headmistress retorted, “Finn… one of these days you are gonna say something to someone you regret. Be safe and come back after you make it to the river even without Vardan. That New Dawn suit wants to meet the three of you when you make it back.”
Agreeing to be back as soon as they could, the three jogged towards the river.
It was there they found the source of their worry.
An older grizzled man in his 50s sat in a meditative state on top of one of the large decorative boulders that dotted the path alongside the river.
As the three walked up he turned to them.
“Hmph. Took you three long enough.”