Project Shikon

Chapter 12

Jason read to her for a little over two hours about a fascinating tale about a girl named Alice who fell down a hole into a fantastical sounding world. He'd had to stop because reading out loud for so long had started making his voice hoarse. And boy did she sympathize with that. He'd told her that he had some work to do which would probably be boring for her to watch. He didn't have anything for her to do in his room, so he told her that she could wander the manor if she wanted to. The only rule she was given was that she couldn't go outside without someone else. She was fine with that, going outside by herself was risky and she probably shouldn't have tried it this morning.

She decided to watch him for a while, not yet sure if she wanted to leave the room by herself again. After a few minutes of watching Jason, she found that he was a mumbler. He nearly constantly grumbled at his computer screen as he typed away. It was entertaining to watch in its own way. However, she was getting rather restless. Her mind started going between staying or going to look for something to do. She was used to her days crammed full of training and lessons. Perhaps she should take the opportunity to memorize her new surroundings. This manor was rather large, she had Jason's little house down pat before he had even come home, this place would take a while. She wasn't particularly fond of not knowing where possible hiding spots are or where a certain hallway may lead. She knew most of the labs like the back of her hand, even the areas she wasn't technically supposed to know about. She bit her lip in uncertainty, she did have permission to wander so there was nothing wrong with actually leaving the room. Right?

Her brain immediately jumped to the last time she had left the room without Jason. She had been attacked by the one called Tim. He had promised to keep his distance from her, but she had no idea if he would keep his word or not. She shook her head as she crawled off the bed and plopped onto the floor. She would simply keep her senses up and if he started coming in her direction she would promptly go the other way. She was fairly certain she was faster than them, so worst-case scenario she could simply sprint back to Jason's room. Mind made up she headed for the door.

She looked back to Jason with one hand on the doorknob to make sure he didn't change his mind about letting her leave. All he did was smirk at her and give a small wave. She waved back before finally opening up the door and slipping out. Now, what to do first?

She figured her best bet would to take stock of where everyone was. While she wasn't particularly worried about the people in this manor she didn't want to risk getting spooked. She closed her eyes and focused on both her hearing and smell. Jason was obviously in the room she just left. She heard Damian in what she was assuming was his room. The familiar sound of a pencil on paper made her realize he was probably drawing again. Her nose picked up the canine scent she could now associate with Titus in the same room with him. She was really glad about that, she was only okay with the giant dog when Damian was around to control him. She didn't trust the dog by himself yet.

The scent of glorious smelling food caught her attention so she assumed Alfred was cooking in the kitchen. She could neither smell nor hear anyone else near her location so she decided to wander a small bit just to find out where everyone else was. If she decided to still wander around after locating everybody would be something she decides then. Maybe it was best to start small on her newfound freedom.

She slid down the hallway in her tights and once she reached the stairs skipped down them with glee. Her shoulders shook in silent laughter. This place was really fun in such simple ways. She was free to simply be herself. Doing anything fun like this at the labs was not allowed and would be met with punishment. They always expected them to show no emotions and to simply follow directions. Here she was free to show all the happiness, glee, and excitement she wanted. She found herself being a naturally chipper person, so hiding what she found natural was really difficult. Yasha was more of a grumpy person so he had done better remaining neutral. She violently cut that line of thinking, no need to make herself sad by thinking of memories of her brother.