Wouldn't it be nice...{{Jadon}}

[jadon marille justice]

The door to the orphanage opened slowly at Jadon's pull, and she stepped in calmly- a large smile planted on her face. She had been volunteering around the orphanage for about a month, but this would be the first day that she had the chance to work directly with the children. She was eager to meet some of the kids and get to interact with them.

Since Jadon had been caring for her younger brother almost all of her life, she was very comfortable working with younger children. She had much experience, and sometimes even preferred it to talking with people her own age. Children were so innocent and simple- they didn't need to know the answer to everything, they just did what they wanted to without giving a second thought about what the other children were doing. They didn't care about what others thought about them, they didn't fuss over looks- from Jadon's experience they simply found beauty in everything. Many of her paintings had been inspired by the children that had entered her life- after all, if all that children see is beauty, then they must hold the most possibility for inspiration.

Jadon knocked on the door to the playroom and was greeted by a teacher; Mrs. Andrews. She smiled at her, shook her hand, and made small talk for a moment or two. Then, she scanned the room.

Some children were playing with blocks in the corner, another group of older children playing with dolls in the center of the room and making a large mess. Jadon smiled happily to see the children at play, and she watched for a moment. But she noticed something- there was a girl alone in the corner, sitting in a small yellow chair that oddly contrasted the blue dress up gown that she was in. Excitedly, Jadon strutted up to the girl who was obviously dressed as a princess of some sort.

Kneeling down next to the girl so that she could be on the same level, Jadon looked at the drawing that the child was working on, and she smiled brightly. "Wow!" She said, already adopting the voice that adults take when talking to small children to make everything seem far more exciting than it actually was. But Jadon's surprise wasn't fake. "You're really good at drawing." She smiled brightly at the girl and let out a small laugh- something that happened when she was unable to contain her happiness. "I'm Jadon." She said, not completely sure that any kid would ever actually call her by her full name; it hadn't happened yet. "That's a pretty dress you're wearing."

Jadon suddenly found herself wishing that she had watched more of the Disney movies; Jadon hadn't watched TV in over two years, and remembered nothing about the Disney Princesses. She made a mental note to watch the princess movies; she had a hunch that she would need to. Still, the two did have a lot in common. This child was incredibly skilled at drawing for her age, and Jadon was an artist. She knew that a bond would be possible as she looked back down at the picture on the table.

Word Count 530[/blockquote][/size]

[jadon marille justice]

Looking around at the surroundings of the table, Jadon could tell that this young girl was quite mature for her age- she had managed to make absolutely no mess while coloring; each crayon seemed to be in its perfect spot and the coloring book was in perfect condition. Jadon was very impressed; glancing around at the rest of the room,she could tell that this girl wasn't clean because it was required of her. The other children had toys strewn everywhere. Each child had a several foot radius around them filled with toys that they had been playing with at some point in the day.

Jadon began to be concerned when the girl paid no attention to her and simply continued coloring. Maybe she just wants to be left alone... she thought. But finally, she recieved some recognician from the child. Not an incredible amount; the girl simply ceased to color. Though it wasn't much, Jadon was reassured by the fact that she had gotten her attention, and smiled brightly, even if the girl wasn't going to look up to see it. She's probably thinking something through... the assumption helped her to be patient, she folded her hands and set them on the table, waiting for the child to make a decision on what she was going to do.

Jadon's heart sank when the girl got up and began to walk away without a word. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to go after her, or simply let her go. Before she could make her decision, the girl reached her hand out. With a bright smile, Jadon took hold of her hand lightly and hoisted herself to a standing position. She was begining to understand that this child didn't seem to feel the need for words in order express herself. Without a clue as to where the two were headed, Jadon allowed the child to lead. She was simply pleased to feel as though this child liked her; at least to some extent. And if the child didn't feel the need to speak, Jadon didn't feel the need to push it. She would find out where they were headed eventually and that was enough for her.

Why was she sitting all by herself? Jadon wondered to herself, glancing around the room. But something in the back of her mind told her that it was probably the girl's choice to be alone; the child hadn't seemed to mind coloring in solitary at all. The other children didn't seem to pay much attention though, to the best of her observance. Still, she thought that they may just be obliging her wishes. Jadon was relieved that the girl seemed to be very interested in coloring; that was something that she could do very well. The fact that they both shared a similar talent relaxed Jadon completely, and she was content to let the child call the shots. She would do practically anything that the child asked her to do in order to get on her good side. She had taken a liking to this child; she seemed sweet and reserved, but incredibly mature for her age. Jadon guessed that she was about four or five, but wasn't completely sure of herself because she acted much older. Jadon's goal was to get to know this girl better; and hopefuly make a new friend.

Word Count 558[/size]

[jadon marille justice]

Jadon followed the small girl as she maneuvered through the room towards the door. Getting across safely seemed like a much larger task than she had originally expected; Jadon stumbled on a few toys and had to stand on her tip toes most of the time so that she didn't step on any of the toys. She knew that most of the toys would be alright if she accidentally stepped onthem for a moment, but she didn't want to do anything to upset the children. Still, she managed to get across safely towards the door, following the girl the whole way, though completely unsure of where she was going.

She watched as the child opened the door for herself, and Jadon pulled open the door more slightly for herself, then slipped out into the deserted hallways. She took the girl's hand again and allowed herlsef to be led once more as her mind wandered a bit. She still had no idea where she was going or what she was doing. And more so, she wasn't exactly sure that she was supposed to be allowing a child to wander the halls rather than be in an activity; there seemed to be no chlidren in the hallways, so she was guessing that they all had somewhere that they were supposed to be. Jadon suppressed her odd feeling and followed the girl; after all, she was accompanying the girl, so she wouldn't allow her to get into any trouble. Plus, no one even seemed to notice that the two of them had left the playroom. Why doesn't anyone seem to be aware of this girl's presence? she wondered to herself bitterly. It made her slightly angry that this child was almost invisible even to her teachers. Being in an orphanage already had to be difficult for a child, and Jadon couldn't imagine how much more difficult it would be to be ignore by those who were supposed to be your role models and stand-in parents.

As they reached the steps, Jadon ascended them lightly; she hated the sound of creaking old wood, and was doing her best not to make it happen. Since Jadon had volunteered here before and straightened things up, she was aware that the girl's rooms were upstairs. At that point, she could piece together that for some reason, this girl wanted Jadon to come to her room with her, though she was yet unaware as to why. She watched as the girl picked up her dress to safely climb up the stairs, and Jadon walked behind her in case she fell. The girl seemed fairly coordinated, but Jadon had bad memories of children stumbling down the stairs, so she spotted her just in case. As they reached the top, she was led into a room that Jadon could only assume belonged to this girl. Immediately as she entered, she could pick out which bed belonged to her new friend; it was the only one perfectly made and neat. Jadon smiled to herself.

She stayed at the door as the girl rummaged through her stuff, but walked slowly over to her bed once the child began to put coloring things on her bed. Jadon smiled; she understood now. This girl wanted her to use one of her coloring books. She watched as the coloring books were sorted out. This child had an incredible amount of coloring books. Jadon assumed that she was allowed to use any of the coloring books that the girl had layed out on the bed for her to look at, and she was excited. She looked at all of them for a moment, trying to find one that she knew something about. "You certainly have a lot of princess books." she stated with a delightful smile. She already knew that she wasn't going to pick any of the princess ones. Jadon knelt down and looked again, then finally picked up two books- Peter Pan in her left hand, and Alice in Wonderland in her right. "Which one do you think I should pick?" she asked, hoping that the girl would pick the one that she liked the least- Jadon didn't want to take anything that she loved. Still, she was quite pleased that the girl was going to share her coloring things.

Word Count 716
Notes It's fine. =) I did say that Jadon was ready to go anywhere so that she could be led. [/size]

[jadon marille justice]

Jadon looked at the belongings of this child. Most of the other children in the room seemed to have a large variety of random toys, but this girl definitely had very concentrated interests. From the moment that she saw the girl, she could tell that she was a huge fan of dress up. Now, Jadon could tell that the girl also loved coloring (judging by the incredbily large amount of coloring books that she had) and adored princesses (judging by the content of the aforementioned coloring books). Also, like any other young girl on the planet, she owned some stuffed animals. Jadon smiled at the stuffed animals; it was something that brought back memories from her own childhood. She used to be obsessed with stuffed animals. Sitting in this room and learning more about the girl, Jadon was getting more and more eager to get to know the girl- and learn more about her than simply the assumptions that she was ableto make currently.

Jadon waited patiently as this girl, whose name she was stil unaware of, put back most of the coloring books in an orderly fashion. Then, the Alice in Wonderland book was taken from her, and Jadon smiled happily. Of all of the Disney movies, Jadon had seen Peter Pan the most by a long shot. And though she hadn't seen it in a few years, she still remembered the plot and characters perfectly, as she had read the book multiple times as well. "I love PeterPan!" she exclaimed happily as the girl put back the Alice in Wonderland coloring book and then returnedthe entire bin to beneath her bed. Jadon would have been quite pleased with any book that she was given, but she had always loved Peter Pan, and the fact that she knew all about the characters would make coloring them more fun. Jadon flipped quickly through the book wit ha large grinon her face as the coloring books were returned to their spot, and then she brushed the wrinkles out of the bed spread that they had created through this process. She didn't want to mess up the child's perfectly made bed.

Jadon took the large box of crayons that was handed to her and tucked the coloring book under her arm so that she made sure that she wouldn't drop the crayons. They weren't incredibly heavy to her, but holding the box with one hand seemed nearly impossible. "Thank you!" she said with a bright smile. She was quite pleased at the idea of coloring, and followed the girl back down the stairs. The entire way, Jadon was impressed by how easily the child could walk in heels. They may not have been incredibly tall heels, but most children were not coordinated enough to walk in tennis shoes; much less dress up shoes. Jadon smiled at the unique girl as they headed back towards the playroom.

[/blockquote]
Word Count 484
Notes No worries. I know what you mean. Sorry if it's a little shorter than I normally write. I had a whole post typed out, and then the page randomly changed and I lost it all. So I lost a bit of patience.[/size]

[jadon marille justice]

Jadon smiled when the little girl wiggled downthe stairs on her butt. She thought it was absolutely adorable, though Jadon would have caught her if she was about to fall down the stairs. She walked down each step slowly and patiently, staying one step behind the child at all times. It was slower, but Jadon was okay with that. If Jadon didn't have patience enough to walk down the stairs slowly, then she probably shouldn't be working with children. She had seen people get annoyed many times with children only because they couldn't handle waiting. To her, patience was key in almost anything. And she had developed an incredbile amount of it through painting; one couldn't possible be a good artist if she was impatient.

Jadon followed the girl back to the room, only a few feet behind her the entire time. She got through the door and looked at the play room. It looked even messier now! Jadon didn't follow the small girl on her route back to the table, instead she walked the perimeter of the room, which was almost clear, in order to get to the table. If a small child stepped on the toy is was one thing: it could handle the weight for a moment. But if Jadon stepped on one of the toys, she may break it, and she really did not want to do that. The children seemed so content with their toys; if she broke one it would be a disaster. Still, she made it to the table only a moment or two after the girl did, and saw that a blue chair had been pushed out for her. Jadon smiled and pulled the chair out. She set the crayons between the two of them and set the coloring book in ront of the chair before taking her seat.

The girl was already busy coloring away, and Jadon smiled. She flipped open the Peter Pan coloring book and looked at the pages for a moment, trying to find which one she wanted to color. She settled on a picture of the twin lost boys; they had always been her favorite. Jadon flipped open the box of crayons and searched for a moment, pulling out a brown marker and starting on their hats. When it came to art, Jadon knew what she was doing, and she smiled. She began with a base shade of brown, making it as light as she possibly could, and then went over the two hats again in a few places to add shading. She wasn't a huge fan of the waxy feeling of crayons, but she could make do with them. Once she was satisfied with the hats, she switched colors and began to work on their skin. There was never a color of crayon that worked perfectly as a skin tone, but Jadon found one that was close; a lighter orange. It made the two boys looked slightly sunburnt, but Jadon figured they probably got sunburnt at some point. She was enjoying coloring with this child. It was something that she did very well.

Word Choice 517[/size]

[jadon marille justice]

Jadon noticed that the girl stopped for a moment when she flipped to the middle of the book, but she simply continued. This was the way that Jadon always did things: favorite to least favorite. She had always been that way, and used that order with almost anything. She used the crayons lightly and sharpened each onenicely before replacing it in the box. Every once in a while, a large wax blob would come off of the crayon, and Jadon used her nail to scrape it off. Once Jadon had finished coloring their faces, she noticed that the child was done.

The finished picture was pushed over to her, and Jadon smiled. "You are very good at coloring!" she smiled. She looked at it for another moment, the returned to her own drawing. Then, for the first time, Jadon heard the little girl's voice. And suddenly, the book was pulled away from her. Luckily, she was able to lift her crayon in time to save the picture. The girl flipped to the first page. "Oh." she said, slightly confused. She was supposed to start at the beginning, apparently. "Alright." she smiled, though disappointed that she couldn't finish the picture that she had started on. She had her order, but apparently this little girl had her own. Jadon shrugged- it was fine, she was sixteen years old and could deal with doing what the child wanted. She wasn't going to argue.

When she spoke again, Jadon noticed that the girl had a slight accent. It was very faint, and she allowed her mind to get wrapped up in attempting to discover where this little girl might be from. "Okay." she said with a smile smile, putting back the crayon that she had been using previously and pulled out another crayon to color Wendy, Peter, and John in their bedroom. She started with their hair; when she was coloring a person, she started at the top and worked her way down. She turned to the girl. "What's your name?" she asked with a smile, feeling as though now that the girl started talking, she would get an answer to the question. She had been afraid before that if she asked a question, she wouldn't be answered, but now that fear had disappeared.

[/blockquote]
Word Count 379
Notes I don't see what you're doing as power playing. You're only repeating what I already said Jadon did, and only assuming that Jadon isn't fighting back, which I don't see as power play because even if Jadon did tug on the coloring book, etc. then Adison could just tug harder, and still get the book. Plus, Jadon wouldn't, so it's fine. =) Sorry the post is kinda short.[/size]

[jadon marille justice]

Jadon began to color the picture; the two boys in the picture were given blonde hair and Wendy was given red. She couldn't remember the actual colors of their hair in the Disney movie, but she knew how she imagined them in her head. Before moving on to the skin, Jadon used a light grey to work on shading. She finished quickly: hair didn't require an incredible amount of shading. She moved on to the skin, using a very light pink for all of the children. She was about to pick up her grey shading crayon again when the girl next to her spoke.

"Adison Marie." Jadon repeated, then she smiled. "That is a gorgeous name." she said with a smile, definitely noticing the girl's accent now. Now that Jadon had heard it more clearly, she could more easily place it. Italian? she guessed to herself, but still unsure of her guess. She smiled as the girl began to write it down the paper. She was obviously just learning to write: some of the letters were backwards, but Jadon understood the writing. She was used to deciphering younger children's writings by now. She watched as the letters appeared on the page, but tilted her head slightly as Adison began to write a "e" on her paper. Perhaps it was just spelt differently that she was used to? She began justifying it, until the girl erased it. Again, Jadon smiled. She was enjoying this: Adison was getting more and more adorable with every minute.

Jadon waited patiently as the girl talked to herself and attempted to remember how to write her name, though she was longing to help. She wasn't positive that the girl would accept her help: she seemed to want to do her herself. So Jadon waited patiently, ready to help if she felt like that was an offer from the child. When she started speaking a different language, Jadon smiled again. "Italian." she confirmed to herself, then looked down at Adison. "Did you used to live in Italy?" she asked, eager to learn more about the girl.

As the name was completed on the paper, Jadon smiled and nodded happily. When the girl asked her question in a foreign language, Jadon bit her lip for a moment, then smiled again. "Yes. Very good!" she smiled reassuringly, hoping that she had gathered the correct meaning to the question through Adison's facial expression. Jadon knew absolutely no Italian, but as she looked down at Adison, she decided that she was going to learn some. If this child could grow up to be bilingual, it would be fantastic. "I don't understand Italian. I'm sorry." she wished that she knew Italian right this moment, but it couldn't happen. "Will you teach me some?" she smiled, hoping to learn a little bit right now. Jadon was a quick learner, and she was determined to know how to hold at least a basic conversation by the next time that she came to see Adison. She was growing quite fond of the young girl, happy that she had chosen a girl who was so sweet. Jadon hadn't always ad fantastic luck with children, and she had never grown so fond of a child so quickly. She smiled happily at the girl and giggled slightly: her happiness ws overflowing again.

[/blockquote]
Word Count 554
Notes Don't worry about it. =)[/size]

[jadon marille justice]

"Your sister?" Jadon was beginning to be very curious about this little girl's past. "What is your sister's name?" She smiled at Adison happily. This little girl was adorable, and she enjoyed learning more about her, little by little. Relief had completely fallen over her now that Adison had begun to talk, and she was giving her full attention to the conversation. She still had a crayon in her hand, but for the moment, Jadon had completely forgotten about the drawing in front of her. Her sister named her... she thought. Which means her sister must be older... Jadon couldn't gather much more than that from Adison's statement, but she was reading an incredible amount into every word that she was given from the little girl. She was so eager to learn as much as she could during this meeting.

With her question ignored, Jadon's hopes fell slightly. She was quite fond of this girl, and wanted to build a stronger relationship with her. But it seemed as though Jadon was going to have to try much harder to get to know more about her. Still, Jadon wasn't going to push it at the moment. Obviously, Adison had no desire to share about her past, and there had to be some sort of reason. Jadon decided that now was not the time to push it. Perhaps later along in their friendship, she would ask again. But Adison had no reason to trust Jadon right now, so Jadon didn't feel the need to force Adison to talk about something, or to push a matter that Adison was uncomfortable with. If she did that, then Adison may never trust her.

Adison never answered her mention of Italian, though Jadon really would have loved to speak to her in the language that she first learned, and probably knew how to say more things in. She was sure that many people here were trying to oppress her foreign side and force her to simply stick to the language that they could understand. America was full of people who refused to practice patience, but Jadon always believed that being multilingual was one of the best talents that a person could ever have. Communication was incredibly important, and on top of that, Jadon believed that languages were gorgeous. She had always wanted to learn a second language. Again, she watched as Adison began to spell her middle name. She got two letters in, then was confused. When Jadon was asked for help, she smiled happily. She was about to reply and tell her that 'r' was the correct letter, but instead Adison began to write a different name. Jadon watched as she continued to write 'Madison' on the paper, and she shrugged. She was beginning to understand that Madison, whomever she was, seemed to play an incredibly large part in Adison's life, considering her name had been brought up multiple times in the conversation.

Jadon put her crayon to the paper and spelled out 'Marie' in her artistic, neat handwriting. She smiled and pointed to it. "Marie." she smiled to Adison. "The next letter was an 'r'" she pointed to her r on her example. "Your turn to write it down." she smiled happily.

[/blockquote]
Word Count 551[/size]

[jadon marille justice]

The words on Adison's paper, scribbled on with childish handwriting, held a puzzle in them. Both names were incredibly similar. Adison had mentioned his other name, Madison, multiple times in the conversation and had also mentioned her sister multiple times. So Jadon decided to assume, since she had not been given an answer, to assume that Madison was her sister. Jadon had a sister too, a twin sister, but she wasn't aware of it until only a few weeks ago. Therefor, she and her sister were only beginning to get to know each other. With no idea what a dependent sister relationship was like, Jadon had absolutely no idea how Adison must have felt. She was obviously not with her sister now, and Jadon began to wonder where she was. She figured that she would feel much the same way that Adison seemed to be feeling if her brother and her were ripped apart. At the thought, Jadon cringed slightly.

As Adison scribbled out the name and said 'sister', Jadon knew that her assumption was correct. "Sorella." she repeated. She knew her first Italian word- hopefully she would learn many more. But she had noticed that Adison said it with a different tone in her voice, and Jadon decided to attempt to get to know more about the situation with her sister. She was slightly afraid to be prying, trying to get Adison to say something that she didn't want to say, so she was quite okay if any of her questions weren't answered. Still, she wanted to know at least a little bit more about this girl by the end of the visit. Everything that she had learned so far was from assumptions: she was eager to learn something that the girl was eager to tell her. "How old is your sister?" She could tell that Adison, for whatever reason, wasn't incredibly eager to share her story, but Jadon really wanted to know. But she could practice her patience for quite a while. She had no right to pry any time soon. Jadon was beginning to get anxious with asking any questions, and regretting asking anything about Adison's sister. But she really wanted to know something about this girl, and she really wanted to become friends with Adison. In order to do that, she had to find a way to get Adison to talk. So she was determined to continue asking questions until one wasn't ignored. She didn't need an incredibly deep answer; Jadon was just looking for some sign that Adison was going to give her some sort of friendship and allow Jadon to get to know her. So she would keep trying.

Jadon allowed the book to be taken from her so that Adison could write her middle name, and smiled as she watched 'Marie' appear on the page in front of the little girl. "Yeah, r is a weird letter." Jadon agreed with a small giggle. She watched, fairly intrigued by this girl's writing, as her last name appeared on the page. Adison's last name appeared oddly- all of the letters, whether uppercase or not, seemed to be around the same size. Jadon tilted her head a little bit at this curious detail, looked at it for another moment, and then pointed to the last name and turned to face Adison. "Why did you write it like that?" she asked curiously, very curious as to why her last name was different than her first and middle. Jadon figured that there was some reasoning behind it: it was consistent throughout the entire word, and therefor must have been on purpose.

Word Count 605[/size]

[jadon marille justice]

Jadon though she heard a sigh coming from the child and allowed her mind to wander with it. Obviously, Madison was important. That assumption had to be correct. Because the atmosphere had changed greatly since the name appeared on the paper, and, to Jadon, Adison seemed to be slightly lost in thought as well. Still, where could this Madison be now? Jadon was incredibly curious. Where had this girl's parent's gone? Why had she been moved here from Italy without them? Still, it was something that Jadon didn't feel comfortable with asking the girl during this meeting. Or the next meeting. It would take a while for her to even consider asking these questions: She wasn't adopted, and had no idea how this little girl might be feeling.

One three Jadon repeated in her head. Thirteen?" That would make sense, she finally decided. It we either that, or four. But the way that Adison talked about her sister, she had to be older. Jadon could tell that Adison held Madison's judgement in high esteem, so she was probably a fairly good role model. But still, where was she now? Would Adison be able to see her again? Gosh... I hope so... Jadon cringed slightly at the thought of this girl having to go her whole life without seeing her family again. Or at least her sister. Maybe she didn't want to see her family again... This new thought entered Jadon's mind with a hint of sadness. She knew what it was like to not want to see someone again, though if a four year old didn't want to see her parents again, it was probably a different situation. Jadon knew nothing for sure, but allowed herself to meditate slightly on the thought.

Jadon smiled and decided to explain by example. She studied the name for a second, hoping that Adison had at least spelt it correctly, since some last names were spelt oddly. She didn't want to be teaching her the wrong spelling of her own name, but she was hoping to explain which letters to capitalize. After a moment, Jadon took her own crayon and wrote "McKellen" on her paper. She pointed to the capitalized letters. "I know, it's a little bit weird." she said with a laugh. "You capitalize the first letter, then skip one, and capitalize the next." Though, Jadon wasn't positive as to why. That's simply always how it was done. Of all of the names that started with "Mc", they all capitalized the M, not the C, and then started it as if it was a completely new name.

[/blockquote]
Word Count 433[/size]