Fismuthian Tales for the Hospitalized Children {Job|Solo}

Tane had not adjusted scent receptor to the smell of the hospital just yet. It was quite the medical smell, if she could put it that way. Her nose twitch slightly, an action humans did when the smell they were getting was not very favorable. It was not like her scent receptor was in her nose. Like all the other senses, they were all in a single organ that was hidden inside her body. Honestly, no one could tell what was in her body - everything about her except for her appearance was not human. Her metabolism was of a whole different tier. Her kind did not perspire, but after being on Earth, she had begun to sweat, but only when using her magic. And of course, she did not sweat rivers like most people. Just a slight sheen on her skin that made her look like she had applied oil to it.

The hospital was mostly white. The workers of the establishment wore white as well. White coats, white uniform, white equipment. She wondered if it was a universal thing, if all the hospitals on Earth were painted white. Tane shuffled towards the reception at which a lady was whining about something she could not quite hear. The desperation and anxiety was clear in her voice. The brunette mage approached her, tapping lightly on her shoulder and standing back for the woman to turn to face her, which she did. “Are you in need of help, madam?” she asked. Tane did not know that the reception was a place that provided help and instruction so she thought she could be of assistance rather than the receptionist. The receptionist ladies blinked in a confused manner. The lady did too.

“Oh, I was looking for someone who could help me entertain the patients at the children ward. The usual asked for too much pay we couldn’t afford him anymore,” she spoke in a sad tone.

Tane beamed with bliss. She loved the young ones. The older ones can be annoying sometimes, but the young, they were like the Prestigious when they were young. Wait, of course they were like them! The Prestigious are hand picked by the workers and brought to Fismuth. So they were basically the same. Tane smiled at the lady. “I would love to help entertain the children. Please lead me to them,” she said. The woman grinned, her eyes bright with delight. Tane could not help but grin back.

“Yes! Please follow me!” she said with a clap. They began to walk through a corridor and towards a large compartment. The first thing Tane heard was a child’s cry. She immediately covered her ears and squirmed. This seemed to have surprised the lady to some extent because she stopped and exclaimed, “Are you alright miss!?” Tane removed her hands from her ears, then, blinking at the woman.

“Yes, I am sorry,” Tane replied apologetically, her eyebrows knitted together for only a moment while she regained balance and looked into the room. There were children everywhere. She smiled a bit and walked right in. She really had no idea how she was going to entertain these children. Maybe tell them a story? That would be nice. Children loved stories. Although it was not the right time to tell them stories - since human children listened to bedtime stories before they slept - Tane figured if she told them a story from where she came from, she might be able to grab their full attention and fascinate them with the wonders of her land. Yes, that was the plan. And so, she took a seat on the chair the previous entertainer used to sit. She could tell, hearing the laughter and joy he brought to the children, the faded sounds that he had left behind.

The children looked confused at first, but after the introduction that the woman made, telling them indirectly that Tane was here to keep them happy in a twistedly constructed sentence of simple words. Tane smiled at each and every one of the children who came to gather around her seat. “I will tell you all a story, from where I come from,” she began. Of course they were intrigued by the glow of her skin, but she cleared the confusion by saying, in a joking manner, “I am an angel, thus I glow,” with a slight giggle. This made the children giggle too. And so more children gathered around her, sitting with their legs crossed over each other under them on the floor while Tane was up on a cushy seat. “You must all remain silent,” she instructed in a hushed tone. “I am about to tell you about Fismuth - the heaven that all of you are going after death!” she spoke. This was not true - in fact, nothing about that was true. It was purely human belief. Fismuth (or heaven) was an entirely different realm with Fismuthians and other beings. It was completely different from what the humans thought.

So she began. It was a surprise all the young patients were so engrossed in her story. She had already told them one, but they requested for more. Tane could not refuse the requests of such pure little beings. She could see the lady pleading from the back of the group of children for her to continue on. Tane did so, with a slight nod to tell the lady from afar that she would continue. This brought a relieved expression on her face as the children made happy noises and clapped their hands. The Prestigious was incredibly amazed however. The little humans liked to ask questions as well, much like herself. They asked question after question, raising their hands whenever they had a question - about her story, about Fismuth. It sounded all too real, because it was. Tane was over the moon. She had never encountered this many humans accept the tales of her homeland. It almost brought a tear to her eyes. Being ‘over the moon’ was an understatement. She was over a few several hundred moons!

The children took a toilet break, some went to have some water and food as their condition required frequent feeding. Tane wondered why humans needed to eat so much. Her kind ate only once in three or four days. Humans at three times in one. They did not seem to grow bulkier in shape however. Tane was the height of the average man although she ate very few compared to them. She also discovered very recently that there was such a place called a ‘gym’ where humans went to increase their stamina and build up their body, basically overworking their muscles until they were tired in many different actions that their small brains had thought up and recorded. A gym routine, she had seen once, on a poster consisted of very silly body movements and positions. Tane never did such a thing as ‘work out’. She trained herself to be compatible with the rest of her people. She did not find a need to surpass them. She was not in a rush to prove to them that she was much stronger or try to gain a form of respect and admiration by doing such a thing. These were the things human did that mdae her shake her head.

About five to ten minutes later, the children were back, all huddled up together in one big group around Tane’s seat. They looked like they were ready for a few hundred stories, which Tane could not fit to tell them in just a single day of course. So she only told them three more. Each and every one of her stories had their own morals and a unique buildup. It was not the kind of stories that you have already heard of a million times. Not in the way that the stories were identical, but more like in the way the story was built up. Humans were not as creative as they seemed. Most were dull, some were innovative, others were lazy. Tane seemed to be in full flow, her facial expressions switching back and forth to suit the theme of the story. It was quite easy to attract children’s attention, she figured. They had shorter attention spans, of course, but once they were interested, they would not care if a bug had entered their ears. That was an observation according to recent discoveries. A child who was sitting right in front of her could not sense a ladybug (from who knows where) enter his ear. Only when Tane pointed this out, he began to scream and was taken to the clinic to remove the bug.

Tane concluded her story with a twist, making the children want more. This was unexpected. She actually wanted them to draw their own unique conclusions for the story in their minds, not bombard her with a million different questions. She made sure she answered each and every one of them so that the children would continue to think on their own. In the end, she had to tell them openly. “I want you all to draw your own conclusions for the story. That is how life will be. You are going to make your own mark. It is your story and only you can shape the way you want it to end,” she told them. The last tale was not about them of course, but she wanted to make them think of an ending for the story she had told them. In Fismuth, she had never entertained children, and thus she never really knew what was going to happen if she did something like this. When she was a child, her guardian had told her a story and done the same thing. Tane, however, drew her own conclusion for the story and it was the end.

At the end of the story telling session, Tane stood up, the children doing the same to return to whatever they were doing previously. Big smiles could be seen on their faces. She had lifted up their mood tenfold from what she saw the moment she entered the ward. The lady was so pleased she forced her to take money. Like all the times she was asked for help. It was getting kind of annoying really. She never asked for the money. And it was strange how humans like to reward each other with money. There was no currency in Fismuth. There were a million different currencies on Earth, for the millions of ‘countries’ on the planet. It showed the lack of unity they had. Even earthly animals were much more united than the ‘most intelligent’ beings. That was what the humans deemed themselves. Of course this had surprised Tane, but it did not bother her. Everyone had the right to think freely. She had to take the payment, as always. The Sabertooth mage left after bidding the lady farewell and a quick wave at some of the children who waved at her.