Little Lost Ones

After the Ajkadi-led fundraising efforts to support childrens' charities across the sector, the humble Duna City Children's Home for orphans, disabled, and special-needs children, most age two through sixteen, was bustling with the ambition of childlike hope.

"We'll get new beds! New food in the cafeteria! Maybe new books for school, or new teachers! They can fix the air conditioner, and even the computers in the study hall!" Children passed ideas back and forth excitedly. It was refreshing to see some glimmers of enthusiasm for the future since the atmosphere here at the orphanage was usually so bleak.

Nestled within Duna City, right on the edge of the half-decent downtown area and the rough ghettoes sprawling for miles, sat the compound which consisted of a few worn-down buildings that had been erected at some point in time when Duna City was less of a shit-hole than it was now. There was the administrative building, the staff quarters, the schoolhouse, the playground, and the boys' and girls' quarters all tucked into a fenced-in property that was often forgotten by the outside world. Anyone outside of Duna City might have expected to see the well-funded Tyton orphanages and childrens' homes - sparkling, clean, and state-of-the-art by comparison. But the Duna City kids, by and large, had no idea. While the Tyton kids had neat dress codes and shiny shoes, the Duna kids had street clothes and scuffed-up sneakers. But they liked it that way. They were mostly content in their decrepit graffiti-ridden buildings, because for them it meant a roof over their heads, food in their mouths, and warmth from the cold, hard Duna streets that had taken many of their parents, siblings, and friends. This place was still a second chance, however slim it might be.

A young girl of obvious Indian descent, probably no older than fourteen or fifteen at most, sat quietly in the computer lab amongst all of the clamor. She figured that the promises were empty, as they had been before. She tied her straight jet-black hair back into a tight ponytail while she watched the younger kids frolicking through the building and out towards the playground, and then turned back to her research project on the computer.

"Devyani," one of the teachers' aides spoke up as she walked past, "why don't you take a break from that, honey. Go on out and play with the other kids for awhile."

She sighed, knowing it was futile. "Fine, I guess." She saved her work, fidgeted with her glasses, and then made her way out to the playground. She stood awkwardly by the door, glancing out across the swing sets, monkey bars, and asphalt playing fields, hoping she might spot something interesting enough to watch.

Off by himself a young boy around her age was practicing some kind of martial arts. He paid little mind to the others around him as he fought imaginary opponents one by one, turning abruptly to face another of his assailants when he he caught sight of the girl standing dumbfounded by the door. He watched her for a few moments without recognizing her, something about her concerned him...is she lost?

She stood studiously by the door, particularly interested in the boy's martial arts. But she certainly wasn't about to be outgoing enough to approach him, so she watched veiled by shyness from a distance.

He continued about his practice for a few moments, watching her from the corner of his eye until he realized she wasn't going anywhere. He stopped and turned back to where the girl was standing and sighed, why am I such as damn sap, he asked himself as he began walking toward her.

"Hey, you lost or something? You're just starin' off into space you know."

On the playground there would be one child, no older than 10 or 11 by the looks of him, sitting by himself on a swing. He was a little chubby and didn't seem to be very athletic at all, he had very dark brown hair and his skin was a lighter shade of brown. He seemed to be lost in a bit of a day dream.

His name was Cody and he had been in the orphanage for awhile, he was always either by himself day dreaming or drawing and writing little stories. People worried about him but no one really did anything to see if anything was wrong because he never did anything wrong, he never really did anything at all. He kept to himself but he seemed happy that way. He seemed to
Not really notice the others talking.

Devyani had just glanced over at the younger boy on the playground. That's Cody, I think...the boy that never really talks to anyone...I wonder - just then her thoughts were interrupted by the older boy walking up.

"Oh, um. I was just watching. Didn't think there was anything wrong with that," the girl said with a bit of embarrassment in her voice. She quickly tried to bridge into a conversation. "What kind of martial arts were you practicing?"

Suddenly, an excited voice rose over the playground. "Children! Children! Come on, kids! Ma wants you all to come inside." One of the aides eagerly beckoned the kids over towards the back door of the building, away from the playground, one of the orphanage's old walkie-talkies in her hand. "We've just got good news!"

A social worker - one that all the kids knew by Ma - hustled to the back door. She was no spring chicken, but she could shuffle around pretty quick when she was excited. They saw her hunched form and her dark skin appear before them as she opened the door, and then her sweet but hoarse voice called out as some of the children started to gather anxiously.

"We've got a fella here from a university!" She called out in a sing-song voice, with a lovable and excited smile on her gingerly wrinkled face.

*bumpbumpbuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuumpitybump*

The boy rolled his eyes at the announcement, he had hoped for some actual good news. Not that someone from the university was visiting, he hated their lectures.

Cody wasn't listening to anything until he heard University, as soon as that was mention he jumped up from his spot and sped over to her with the biggest smile on his face. He was far more excited than any other the other orphans gathered around, but he stayed relatively quiet.

:: a boy that had just scared off a bully from threatening some of the younger kids made his way over. He had pretty fair skin, with deep almost hunter green eyes and red hair that came just to the back of his neck pulled into a kinda unkempt rat tail, he was probly around 14 in age, but coulda been a 15-16 year old. He wasnt shy nor was he outgoing, but he was always warm and welcoming to anyone that needed a friend. His name was Killian, he found a place next to Cody::

Devyani slid over at a distance just close enough to hear what was going on. She made sure that she wasn't touching any of the other kids as they gathered around, and somewhat uncomfortably maneuvered herself away from them as they pushed to get closer.

"A'right! A'right!" Ma's big grin was audible in her voice. "Hush, now, everybody listen up! We're gonna file right on into the mess hall, an' everybody's gonna grab youselves a seat on the floor, and this university fella's gonna tell us why he's here." She and the other aides helped shuffle the children into the building and through the run-down hallways to their community room in as orderly a manner as they could. Once they pushed some of the worn-down tables and chairs that they ate lunch at, played, and did arts and crafts at every day, they got all the children to settle down onto the floor. Ma appeared back at the front of the group.

"A'right, little ones! Now, listen! Best behavior! Big smiles!" She took a seat next to the children and waited with hushed anticipation.

Connor looked over at the girl from before who looked uncomfortable in the crowd of orphans as they made their way to the mess hall.  Decisively he went next to her, probably not making her feel any better when he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the line of the group and more toward the front of the line.  He rushed her forward, careful not to run and alert Ma and the others, toward the mess hall door before the others.  He had been watching her and thought she was actually interested in the Universities bullshit.

"Come on, there won't be any good seats if you keep letting the others push passed you."

Cody was small and easy pushed aside as people began to move toward the hall, cody sighed and struggled to get to the front, he knew he needed to get in there and hear what the man had to say, maybe he would even get to talk to him. Cody ended up not getting all the way to the front, but he was close enough. He sat in wait and smiled wide like Ma said, and bounced a little in excitement.

The girl seemed a bit surprised but did not object as the boy very actively guided her past the crowd. She seemed uncomfortable, but lost the initial shock once she realized that he was helping.

"Thanks," she said somewhat questioningly as she and the boy made it towards the front of the group and got a seat on the floor, in the front row.

Ma clapped a few times, signalling for the loud rush to settle down once the last kids had streamed in. A man in an un-scuffed, neatly kept suit (clearly much too nice to be from Duna City) had his hands clasped in front of him, very business-like, as he approached the front of the group.

"Hi, children," he began with a slightly nervous smile.

((posting as Cody))

He smiled wide as he began to talk and sat in complete attention, like this man was going to speak gospel to him.

:: Killian did his best to stop the other kids from pushing Cody too much, it really pissed him off how fast people didn't care about you if they couldnt see you. he plopped himself next to cody and whispered:: Sorry, you didnt make it to the front, you seem really excited

(ADR)

The man continued.

"My name is Connus Lee," the man continued over the hushed din of the children. "I'm from a place called the ADR, which some of you might also know as Reza. I work for a man named Zeth Johnson, who is one of our representatives. I advise him on matters pertaining to education." The man was very consciously trying not to use too many big words in front of the kids - more out of respect than arrogance.

"A lot of our work involves the UOR, or the University of Rescenta. It's one of the very best universities in the world," he smiled with a hint of pure, genuine enthusiasm. "Has anyone heard of it before? Raise your hands!"

____________________________

(Devyani)

The tween girl's hand shot up like a dart. She knew all about the UOR. Her grandfather had worked there in administration once, and at least two of her uncles were professors. Some of her cousins had been students, but she didn't know them. She had even been there once. She didn't remember much because it had been when she was very, very young - but she had been there. That little shred of memory was always deeply treasured. What could this man from the UOR have to offer a bunch of kids in Duna City?

::Killian raised his hand, anyone who listen to or watches any datanet transmissions has atleast heard of the UOR

Cody smiled and meekly thanked Killian for trying to help him, and when he asked that question, Cody's hand was up like a rocket. Whenever he got the chance he read about the UOR or watched videos about the UOR. It was his dream to go there one day, a dream he knew was probably never going to happen, but a dream he held on to.

Connor listened to the man without much interest in what he was talking about. He had little care for the institution of 'education.' But he sat up at the front with the girl he practically dragged to see this prick blabbing on about college. Conner was a little older than most of the children in the orphanage, almost he thought, old enough to get out of here this wretched place.
When the man asked Conner did not raise a hand, although he had heard of the University, he didn't care to participate in the mind numbing talk.

Somewhere from the back of the hall another hand was raised, small with long slender fingers of a girl. Her face framed with bangs that feathered down into her long auburn hair, she was young, barely a teenager, her eyes were light golden hazel. She appeared to be of mixed Asian descent.

"Excellent! A lot of you have! That's wonderful," the man smiled as he looked around at all the excited faces - and some...well, not so excited.

"Well, at the UOR, we have a lot of people from all over the sector come to learn. Some of them are the very best in their fields. We have doctors, scientists, researchers, and some of the smartest people in the world working there. We also have a lot of young people - but, none as young as some of you guys. So, we've been thinking - if we really want to help people learn, what's the best way to do that?"

Connus Lee smiled, keeping his upbeat attitude as he enthusiastically gestured back and forth, walking to and fro to both ends of the little crowd in front of him as if he was giving the speech of his lifetime.

"And after a long time of planning, and putting things together, we came up with an answer. The best way to help people learn is find the people who want and need to learn the most. Find the people who might really love to learn, but who might also need some help to find out how to do that," he gracefully skirted around this part of the issue, not wanting to seem condescending towards the rather unfortunate youngsters. "And some of the people who love learning most in the entire world are young folks like you."

"So, we started a new program. It's called the Up and Away Program. And we're coming to places like this, where there are lots of promising young people such as yourselves, to give you an opportunity...to come to the University of Rescenta as students. Free of charge. All expenses paid. What do you guys think?" His voice ended on an upbeat, cheery note, trying to draw some applause and excitement from the kids.

Connor looked around the room at the others. He shrugged indifferently at the excited university official, he didn't care about there program until it dawned that he could use it to get out of this hell hole of an orphanage. He turned toward Dev inquisitively for her thoughts one the speech.

The girl in the back clapped in reserved excitement, probably much quieter than any of the other applause. She stopped soon after and began turning a small metal disc shaped pendant chained around her neck.

::Killian would look abit surprised, no one cared about kids like them. he applauded along with the others waiting for the catch, waiting for the inevitable "but" that he was sure was coming::