To returning readers, I would like to apologize for the years-long hiatus, and for the fact that this is an overhaul instead of an actual update. I am not yet continuing this series, but these edits are being done as a way to lay the groundwork for a return. I would at least like to finish The Long, Long Walk(Destiny/Mass Effect) before I start writing for this series once more. Changes Include, but are not limited to:

*Plot

*Spellcheck

*Grammar

*Trimming off unnecessary filler.

*Trimming off some more OOC moments or dialogue from characters.

*Trimming off moments or dialogue that veered too wildly from the fic's intended tone.

*Changed a couple of interactions between characters.

*Changed the relationships between some of the characters.

*Fleshed out moments or dialogue that I felt was lacking.

*Trimming moments or dialogue I felt was lacking.

*Combined some chapters that would have flowed better together rather than separately.

To new readers, welcome, and enjoy what I have so far.

He had once heard a comrade of his father's say that war was an atrocity committed in the name of survival. That one could spend their life surrounded by it, and never understand that until it was too late; until something horrific and irreversible happened, something you couldn't stop if you tried, with the possibility that trying would only get you killed and make it worse. Thracius had always been of the opinion that Javik was a bit touched in the head at times, but he had refrained from voicing said opinion out loud.

It was one of the few times Javik had turned out to be right. Maybe some of the only solid life advice he's ever heard from the last prothean, right next to 'wear your fucking crash restraints', and 'don't touch this plant unless you want to die in agony'. The Horizon Syndicate had been gnawing at Republic space since before it was a republic. He'd seen and heard violence since age eight, though the real fighting had only picked up when he was ten, and before that, the galaxy had still been suffering the aftermath of the Reaper War-in fact, it still was.

But thing only got real when they took his father. He hadn't seen war for what it was until then. He understood now. But trying didn't necessarily mean risking his life; he knew where his father was, he'd been so close, close enough to make out his markings.

"Thresher spit!" He swore as his bad leg caught on a branch. The compound's alarm could be heard even from here. He might not have gotten his father out, but if he wanted even a remote chance of trying again, he needed to get off this rock alive and tell the others that his lead had turned out to be more than a lead. He shut his eye and fought back the urge to scream. So damn close...

Crunching twigs, undergrowth, and the sounds of branches and leaves slapping armor give away somebody's fast approach. Oh, for spirits' sake! He drew his sidearm, and primed his biotics, turning to meet his attacker head on.

It's not an attacker, much to Thracius' shock, but the culprit certainly looks furious enough to be one.

"What were you thinking?"

A Relatively Long Time Ago(2189)

Essex, United Kingdom, Earth

"What were you thinking?" The matron shouted, dragging him to his feet. Thracius' arm was still throbbing from the fall he'd just taken. Their guardian proceeded to haul Jackson to his feet as well, and started shouting at Marin to get down from the tree.

"I can't, I'm stuck!" The six-year-old cried, tears flowing down her face.

"You two, back to the rest, now!" The severe woman snapped. "I'll deal with you later."

It was a normal day, overcast, a slight smell of wet dust in the air. He was told that the air had smelled like dust ever since the war, and that the sky was overcast more often than not for the same reason. The park was occupied by their group of orphans, a few prospective parents trying to get a read on the kids, a man walking a dog, and what was ostensibly a cross-species couple who seemed to be taking an interest in the orphanage outing, as they had mingled with the adults since he had last seen them.

It had been three years since the Reaper War. And with such an abundance of orphans still at large, the chances of actually being chosen was slim to none. Your chances of being chosen were even slimmer if you weren't the same amino as the planet you lived on, due to the whole food problem. Thracius, though, was only five, and didn't quite know or understand all this; he just thought there might be something wrong with him, perhaps? Or maybe he wasn't polite enough to the adults who came around.

Or maybe it was the matron saying nasty things about him, or the other kids doing the same thing. Anything was a possibility to his overactive imagination.

It tended to get him into trouble, as it had just now. The other kids had wanted to have a climbing race, but he just wanted to know what he could see if he was taller than the adults. Would he see for miles? Would the people in the park suddenly look all tiny?

"Now!" The matron repeated, and the two boys scrambled to obey.

"Come on, let's go see that ugly guy!" Jackson prompted, not remotely shaken by his tumble.

"Huh?" Thracius was confused.

"Look, see!" The other boy pointed to the couple who had recently mingled. "He looks like you, but uglier."

Thracius scrunched up his nose. Jackson was a bit of a poop-head, so he left the other boy to play tag with Will. At least, until the firemen came to get Marin down from the tree, at which point everyone, adults included, decided that was more interesting than what they had previously been doing.

"Well, there's one turian boy over there." Thracius was distracted from Marin's ordeal by the sound of an adult pointing him out. He was the only turian here aside from the man said adult was speaking to. Thracius turned to look in the dire tion of the voice, and the moment they made eye contact, the older turian quickly turned his head away. He didn't hear whatever was said next, but his curiosity was piqued now.

So it was that he inched closer, just enough until he could see...

The right side of the turian's face had been mutilated. Horribly. Some of it looked like old burns, some it, like cuts. Did he get that during the war? The Reapers had liked blowing things up; maybe the Turian had gotten caught in a blast.

"...offered once to fix my face; maybe I should take her up on it." he was saying ruefully. His mandibles flickered.

"No. We'll find a kid who doesn't mind, or we won't find one at all." The quarian woman declared. "It's your face, Garrus. I didn't fall in love with it just for you to go changing it. And contrary to popular belief, it's the best face ever."

Thracius couldn't resist giggling. Oh, why did he have to giggle! In a split second, both adults were looking at him, and he was painfully aware he'd been caught eavesdropping. He quickly looked at his feet.

"Sorry!" he felt his mandibles flicker with unease.

"No worries." The quarian said warily. She seemed to be appraising him.

"Oh. Good." Thracius said quietly. "It's nice to hear the funny stuff instead."

It was true; he'd overheard a lot of things. Sometimes bad things, kids planning to play mean tricks on other kids, adults saying nasty things about the younger children. He knew why nobody wanted the younger kids; they got underfoot too much. They were considered annoying. This was the first couple he'd seen in the younger kids' ward in over a month.

"What do you mean?" 'Garrus' asked. He didn't sound accusatory, and Thracius forced himself to meet the older turian in the eyes as he shrugged.

"You just hear things if you listen. Like, I heard Ronda planning a mean prank." he pointed discreetly at a dark-skinned Human girl. "I heard her telling her friends she was going to put itching powder in Will's bunk. I told Will, though. He says he's going to leave a bag of turds in his bed so when she tries, her hands will get all gross. So I told Ronda. Then, I heard them both planning to put turds and itching powder in my bed, so I switched beds today. They don't know that, yet, though."

The Turian was giving him a look of absurdity, and he exchanged glances with his partner... or, at least, that was what it looked like to Thracius; it was hard to tell through the quarians fogged-out mask.

"That's... awfully clever of you..." Garrus trailed off, looking at him expectantly.

"Thracius." he told him.

"That's awfully clever of you, Thracius." his mandibles quirked up in a smirk. "Sounds like the sort of thing I would do."

"No; it's more the sort of thing Kasumi would do.'' The quarian disagreed. "But yeah... clever. I bet they'll get a shock out of that. Kind of feel sorry for whoever gets your old bed, though."

Thracius flinched; he hadn't thought about that. He could hardly tell the matron; she'd know he was an eavesdropper(even if it was unintentional... most of the time). He'd be labeled a trouble-maker, then he'd never get adopted! He'd be stuck here until he started service, he'd never get a real education, and... oh, bother, why did life have to be so complicated?

"Oh... I guess I'll just... stay on my bed all day!" he realized. Why hadn't he thought of that before!? "Then they won't have the chance! Thanks for the idea, mister!"

When he returned, after Marin was extracted and the matron had given him, her, and Jackson a stern lecture, he turned and practically ran back to his bed, on fire with his new plan. He checked the sheets and pillow carefully before climbing in his bed, and grabbing a book off the shelf next door. it didn't matter he couldn't read; he could pretend to read and that would be the perfect excuse to stay here. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ronda re-stash something behind her bed with a look of frustration, and he gave her a friendly wave.

Oh, it was good to be a listener!

Sadly, for all his cleverness, he failed to recognize what had really just happened, nor the fate he'd just written for himself.

For after the turian boy left, Tali and Garrus exchanged a look.

"Do you think... maybe?" Garrus asked out loud. Tali nodded, still left bewildered by the conversation they'd just had.

"Sure, I don't see how it could hurt to look into it. At least, we could get a rundown of how it's done?"

"Thracius?" He looked up, rubbing his eyes at the sound of the matron calling his name. He'd fallen asleep with the book in his lap. He looked to the west side of the hall; the matron was standing near his bed with pursed lips. She wasn't a kind woman, but she did what she could to keep them all alive, which was more than could be said for some parts of the galaxy; with the collapse of society had come the collapse of the foster system, and even though that had been three years ago, there were still too many children and not enough families who wanted them.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, gripping his book timidly. Was this about what he had said to that couple earlier? Had someone, for once, bothered to overhear him. Oh, this is why I shouldn't talk so much! He thought despairingly.

"No. The paperwork was still being finalized." she told him. He sat bolt upright. Paperwork!? But... that had to mean... had he been...? "Pack what you have while we finish up, and come down to the main hall when you're done; someone decided they wanted you."

The book fell out of his hands, and he swore his mandibles fell off his face, he gawked so widely. He'd been adopted. But none of those visitors talked to me! Then, like a bolt of lightning had struck him, he dug beneath his pillow, clawing out the only picture he had of his birth family, and practically tore the drawers open to gather his few outfits and stuff them in the bag he had hidden under his bed. I've been adopted! I got adopted! Me! The me!

He zipped up his bag, cast a triumphant look at Ronda and Will as they glared after him, and took off out of the ward. He had to remind himself to be slow on the stairs, and he made sure both feet were on a step before taking the next one. Even so, he was down to the main hall in the space of a few moments, and as he swung around near the entrance, he saw none other than the very same couple from earlier.

He ground to a halt, and subconsciously wondered if all the gawking he was doing today would make him sore tomorrow. No way!

"Yes... way. Okay, forget I said that, it sounded stupid." The scarred turian responded, looking slightly put upon. Thracius felt his cheeks go hot; he hadn't meant to speak out loud! While he looked at them and the matron, still bewildered and overwhelmed, the quarian walked up to him, and crouched at his level(though she shot a look at the matron with narrow eyes as she did so, he thinks it was a glare).

"Thracius, my name's Tali, and this," she pointed at her husband, "is Garrus. We've been looking to adopt someone, and we were hoping it would be you. Would you like that? It's alright to say no."

For some reason, something about that last part didn't ring true. He stared into her mask, trying to discern a face, make out more than the glowing eyes glittering from the fog, but he could only see his own reflection. He looked up at Garrus... who looked away, reaching up to scratch at his scars, though it was less of a scratching motion than a 'please don't see this' motion. He'd seen people do that, sometimes. Kitirus had an embarrassing birthmark on his forearm, and made the same movements when he was being looked at. Was Garrus shy?

He had seen horrible things during the war, things that were readily scary enough to burn into the mind of a two-year-old. Garrus' scars weren't even remotely frightening after seeing stuff like that; he still had nightmares sometimes. He thought perhaps the other kids either didn't remember as much as he did... or they didn't want a damaged dad. It was somewhat cruel, and quite rude, in his opinion. So in a way... it wasn't completely alright to say no, because it wasn't nice to hurt other people's feelings.

On the other side of the coin, an orphan would have to be crazy to say no to a family just because one member had gotten his face smashed in. And that he'd only talked to them once, and if he was reading this situation correctly they were just as apprehensive as he was. Garrus kept glaring at the matron, and Thracius decided that was the uniting factor.

"Yes." he blurted. "Yes I'd like to go, I'd love to go, miss."

He'd have to get used to calling her 'mom' at some point, but for now he decided just to stick with being polite. The last thing he wanted to do was say something rude and ruin his chances.

"Thank you." Tali told him gratefully, resting one hand tentatively on his shoulder. Even through her suite, he could feel warmth, and that felt right, like a good sign. "We'll do our best not to disappoint."

"Yes, very touching, could we hurry it along?" The matron said to Garrus. "I have work to do now that we don't need dextro things, I suggest you make sure your house is up to code for a young child; I suppose the Hierarchy will snatch him up if you two look like slobs."

Garrus' eyes narrowed, and Thracius wished the matron wasn't so rude and blunt all the time.

"I'll keep my room clean!" He insisted. "And I'll do all my chores, I promise!"

"It takes more than a child's effort in these cases." the matron tsk'ed, in that same 'you don't know what you're talking about, I'm older than you and so much more superior' voice she used every other time Thracius opened his mouth. "It's the parents who shoulder the responsibility, not you. Now, If you excuse me, I'll have your case logged by the end of the night, and I have to go re-assign several beds."

With that, the matron strode off, and Thracius reflected that this was, hopefully, in fact, the last time he would ever have to see her.

Thracius sat in the back of the transport with who would be, legally, his parents within the next month; at least, he'd heard that was how it worked. If he behaved. If he was good. If he showed them he deserved to stay. He simply couldn't go back to the orphanage, he couldn't. Not when he'd finally be chosen.

"What planet do we live on?" he asked Garrus quietly, mindful of the other passengers. He had about that, and a million other questions trying to bust their way out of him, but he didn't think the other people on the transport would appreciate the outburst he wanted to have. And being a nuisance was not the way to behave after being adopted, and the couple already seem wiggly and agitated.

"Rannoch." the older turian told him. His scarred mandible quirked up slightly. "Got a nice view near the cliffs."

"You're going to have to be careful where you step, and don't wander too far." Tali added. Rannoch. That was the quarian homeworld. He was going to an entirely different planet to live on!

"Will I see geth there?" he questioned eagerly.

"Maybe. We... don't have any geth compatriots." Tali's voice got quiet. She wrung her hands and shifted in her seat like Will when he was asked a math question.

"Why not?" the question left his mouth before he could stop it, and he hoped feverishly he hadn't seemed arrogant.

"It's... it's just the way things are." he settled for nodding and being quiet as the transport docked with the ship they would be taking. He took a deep breath as he stood with all the other passengers, clutching his bag to his chest tightly. He'd been on a ship only once before, and he could barely remember it. The only reason he did was because it happened shortly after the Reapers attacked his birth planet. He couldn't remember the name of the planet, or the colony, though he thought it might begin with an 'I'.

As they filed out, and the crowd towered around them, he felt his gizzard squirm with fear. So many people... it would be easy to get lost in that sea, that forest of legs and bodies so much taller than he was(most of them; there were only a few other children that he could see). Instinctively, he reached up and grabbed Garrus' hand, seeking reassurance from the other turian. Garrus gave a start, a tiny jump of surprise, and looked down at Thracius, who in turn looked back up at him. There was an odd sort of... dare he say 'wonder' in his new father's eyes, as if he'd been granted some honor he hadn't been expecting.

Which was odd. Thracius was nervous. Nervous kids held their parent's hands, didn't they? That was what he was supposed to do, right? It was expected. So why was it so special all the sudden?

Maybe they were both in a little wonder. Perhaps, because, he couldn't ever remember holding his birth parent's hands. And here was a quiet first, in a tiny moment that ended as they were ushered by the flow of the crowd to where they were supposed to go. A quiet first for both sides.

"I can't believe we actually did it." Garrus murmured quietly as their transport ship traveled through the gulfs of space. After three years, the Relay system had finally been completely repaired. The Reapers themselves had laid the foundation for a faster recovery of the network, shortly before flying themselves into a black hole near the trailing edge of the Sagittarius-Carina Arm. To this day, nobody knew why, and nobody knew how, but Commander Shepard had somehow, in essence, programmed the Reapers to clean up, then die.

Three years, and he and Tali had, to use an Ashley term, 'tied the knot'. After several months, after Specter work and organizing and building on Rannoch, after talking, discussing, preparing, searching... they'd finally agreed to maybe adopt a child. Got a bed in the spare room, just to remind themselves it was an actual, realistically achievable goal of their lives and not an abstract 'what if'.

Things in the Terminus systems were heating up, and quarian-geth space was right on the edge of it, Garrus had some reluctance with regards not just to the dangerous position of being a Specter(one that was a thorn in Aria's side to boot), but to his appearance as well. They'd decided that if they were doing this, they wanted a young child(they've been told it will result in less 'you're not my parents' tantrums), and, sadly, most young children were disconcerted by his scars. And the prosthetic.

They had really just been investigating at this point, and they had only gone into that orphanage out of piqued curiosity. And yet... here they were. They had actually walked out of there with a child, a child who was already warming up to them...

And, well... shit, he was attached already.

Thracius was fast asleep, his bag lax in one arm, curled up against Garrus' side. For the child, it was simply the time and place for a nap after a very long day, a necessary rest. For Garrus... it looked like one of those moments where you hardly dared to breath. Like when a wild bird decided to land in your hands, and you dared not to move out of fear for scaring it away.

The place hadn't been... abusive, per say, but Thracius was the only turian there, and he did seem a little thinner than a boy his age should be. Whether that was the orphanage or the general difficulties of importing dextro food to a levo world while the galaxy was still rebuilding, he couldn't tell, but they definitely weren't supposed to be able to waltz out the door with a child without background checks or even adoption papers to sign, but the woman had practically threw the boy at them, ignoring them completely whenever they said they were just investigating.

Then the kid had come, and there had been a silent agreement to just give it a shot, because same plans be damned, Garrus had committed many acts that might constitute as crimes, but crushing a child's hope and leaving him in a musty shack where food was scare was not going to be one of them. It took Tali approximately ten minutes to decide she would kill if anything happened to this child, and honestly, he just followed her example when it came to this kind of thing anyway, so why stop now?

Whoever they needed to talk to about this on Rannoch was going to have a hell of a time sorting this.

"I keep wondering if we're even ready." Tali whispered, shaking her head. "What in the galaxy did we think made us qualified for this?"

"What in the galaxy made us think we were qualified to hunt down Saren five years ago?" Garrus asked back. "In fact, we saved the galaxy, so who gives varrens' a- tail about what the galaxy thinks."

"I'm going to enjoy hearing you correct yourself all the time." Tali smirked behind her mask. He was working on it, yes. But, there was a reason humans said 'swear like a sailor', and sailors didn't have to be just on a water ship. There wasn't a single alien from the Normandy crew who hadn't picked up on human swears.

"I swear, if you buy me a swear jar..." he shook his head.

"Don't make me do it."she teased. "We're supposed to be all reputable and responsible now."

There was a buzz from Garrus' omnitool. His talons danced across the interface, and he transferred the call to his visor.

"Liara? Yeah, some crazy sh- stuff went down, we may or may not have acquired a young child. We're on our way back now." he said, jumping right into it.

"You're kidding." was her deadpan response. "I thought you guys were only 'just looking around' down there."

"There's uh... slight extenuating circumstances?" He tried. "I mean, I thought we might just take him somewhere better for a turian kid but we uh..."

"You got attached within the first ten minutes didn't you." the asari sighed.

"Look, can you just cover our as- butts? We were careful arriving, but you never know." He asked, looking again at their precious acquisition. "His name's Thracius; there's probably ten of those on this ship, knowing how common that name is."

"I'll see what I can do." she told him. " But I have my doubts that spontaneous child acquisition will end well."

" Guess we'll see." He ended the call.

With being members of the Normandy crew, with him being a Specter, with Tali being a key diplomat between her people and the geth, with all the trouble that had followed them through the years, they couldn't afford to hold back on caution. There were too many enemies, too many risks, to not hide in plain sight.

According to the records on the ships they took to Rannoch, they were ghosts. And as far as the crime lords of the Terminus Systems knew, there was no quiet little house on the Rannoch cliff sides. Some people would question whether a child would be safe in the hands of two people who were so at risk, but the truth of the matter was that, whether Thracius knew it or not, he was more than likely now the safest child in the galaxy.

And it was, in part, thanks to the Shadow Broker.

It was a wild place, surrounded by the wild. Some people assumed the desert, that rocky planets in general tended to be lifeless, and Thracius had been one of them. Until today.

He still had his face pressed against the glass, watching as twisting trees grew from broken rocks dotted and sprang from Rannoch's surface down below. There were bushes, even an animal or two, and if he looked really hard, and really fast, he could even spot the occasional flower. But more intimidating was the sea.

From the safety of the skycar, he could see it below the cliffs, crashing and throwing itself against the rocks like a rabid rou'tan. He'd never seen an ocean before, and the dark water was both entrancing and terrifying. Though he was too young to know it, said terror was instinctive, seeing as his kind couldn't swim.

"And there we are." Thracius looked up at the sound of Garrus' voice. Out the front window was a house; his house. That was where he was going to live! Hopefully for the rest of his life...

It was humble-looking, or at least he thought it was, and it brought back some forgotten memory of the houses in his birth colony. It was tucked against a forest of bare bones trees and bushes, and the sparse grass of the skycar's landing space was flattened by many takeoffs and landings. It was flattened some more as they set down.

"Are you ready for this?" Tali asked him. He nodded eagerly, but tried to contain the urge to jump about.

"I like your attitude." Garrus offered him a grin, and Thracius grinned back. He opened the door and hopped out, the grass crunching under his feet. He nearly jumped back in shock as the smell of the air hit him; it was tangy, almost salty, and crisp. He'd never smelled anything like it before.

"Why's the air smell so weird?" he asked, looking up at her.

"That's the sea, Thracius." she told him. "I hope you don't mind, this place is a bit out of the way..."

"It's okay. I just have more places to do stuff in." he said. The path up to the house was gravely, rocky, and for some reason very satisfying to walk on. He dragged his feet through a patch of gravel, leaving deep ruts in it, before jumping hard on rock. If even the rocks were entertaining here, he could get very used to this!

"Come on, you can make a mess later." Garrus urged. He was shifting his weight from foot to foot, the closest thing to impatience he'd seen the older turian express. But it didn't seem like the 'you're in trouble' impatience... yet. He scrambled to catch up with them, and cast looks back in the direction of the sea, curiosity trying to overwhelm him. He could explore later, but still...

"How much later?" he asked as the other turian opened the door.

"Later enough that the bruises those shuttle seats gave me will have disappeared," he answered. Thracius giggled. He liked his new dad; he was funny.

"Please, it wasn't that bad!" Tali scoffed.

"Please,"Garrus opened the door, "it was agonizing. Turian shuttle, you'd think the seats would be designed for turians, but no, they're designed for some species we've never heard of yet, because I'm pretty sure nobody would be comfortable in those seats."

It was filled with... house-ish things. He'd expected something grand and wonderful that personified just how great the situation was, but no, the house was filled with house-ish things, things he had vague memories of but at the same time couldn't remember. It was...

It was fascinating.

"Whoa." it was all he could say. There was a table in the center of the room, not at all like the dingy, long lunch tables of the orphanage. And there were couches, real, actual couches. For sitting in. There was a carpet on the floor! He'd never been on a carpeted floor before! There were pictures on walls, most with his parents in them, but they were with people(and races) he'd never seen before. He could see the kitchen, with what he hoped were not-creaky-like-the-lunch-benches chairs, and-

They had a vid screen.

"You have a vid screen!?" he exclaimed, unable to stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth. He ran up to it; its glass was black, blank, and he couldn't tell how it worked. He looked back at Tali and Garrus. "Is it broken?"

"Nope. Just turned off." Garrus assured him with a flare of his mandibles.

"Now, your room is just upstairs and-"

"I HAVE A ROOM!?" he hadn't meant to interrupt Tali, but he could barely remember ever having a room to himself before.

"Where did you think we were going to put you?" Garrus' eyes glinted. "The closet?"

"Whoa!" he whirled, and stormed up the stairs, taking them one at a time, barely paying heed to Tali's call of 'first on the left'. He burst into his room. His room. They had obviously put thought into what a child would need; there were selves, a closet, and bins that were obviously meant to have toys stored in them once he had a considerable amount.

But his main focus, the crown jewel, the most glorious thing in this room... was the bed. It was much bigger, and when he threw himself on it carelessly, having cast his bag to one side, it was much softer than the ones at the orphanage.

"Oh cool!" was the muffled exclamation Tali and Garrus heard as they stopped in the doorway, greeted with the sight of Thracius' back end sticking out from under the bed. "You've got dust bunnies! Real, live dust bunnies!"

"We should probably clear those out." the older turian pointed out. Thracius backed out from under the bed to face his new father with a look of alarm and horror.

"What? No! They live under there!" he exclaimed. "If you move them they'll get eaten or something! That would be horrible!"

For a few moments the room was silent, and Thracius wondered if, perhaps, he'd overstepped his bounds, spoken out of turn. But then Garrus made a chuffing sound- a laugh if ever Thracius had heard one, and Tali was snickering. Thracius beamed, jumped up and ran at them throwing his arms around Tali's legs.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" he burst. "You guys are awesome!"

Did it make no sense whatsoever that he'd only known them for, like a WHOLE DAY and already he loved them? All of a sudden, life was looking up farther than he could even see! But he was here. He'd been adopted, someone had taken him home, and now it was time to take that home, and make something of it.

He might as well start by hugging his mom

I think the biggest thing I did here was change the opening flash-forward entirely, and the circumstances of Thracius' kind of just took a kid and waltzed off the first time, and I wanted to give them an actual reason for spontaneously deciding to chose Thracius after one five-minute encounter. In this version, their original intention was to just see what was up, and after Thracius gets yeeted at them by an uncaring system, maybe get him into a nicer system where he can get food-

But oh shit, they're attached now. This experience is purely based on how I chose my gecko; I asked the lady to pick each of the babies up to see how their temperaments, and I fell in love with Pippin the moment I laid eyes on him( he was the first one she picked up, I probably would have fallen for even the sassy one of the bunch if it had been first, but I got lucky; Pippin was the most chill baby in the universe, only ever screamed at me once). I am well aware that adopting a child is vastly different from adopting a baby lizard, but that's the experience I have available for use.

I hope you returning readers enjoy these next few updates, and the changes they come with. I really do want to come back to this series at some point, and I figured I might as well lay the ground work. From here on in, these edit updates will come every other Wednesday, similar to The Long, Long Walk. Let me know what you you guys think of this version of the story!

Fare Thee Well!