Hey, I got a review! That's a shock! (No, seriously.) Although I'm way ahead of you, buddy. Really, you'll see why after reading this.

Short 6

Plague Knight was seriously considering bolting the whole way to the house of the child whom he was supposed to socialize with. He only resisted the urge because even if he did manage to evade Mona, he'd surely get horribly lost and his damn child side would inevitably take over, causing him to cry until some random passerby took pity on him. That sounded even worse than dealing with some snot-nosed kid for a couple hours.

Eventually, the two arrived at the woman's house. Mona knocked on the door, and after a couple seconds, they were let in.

Plague Knight tried to not look around in sheer wonder at the house. It was that of a lower-middle class family, but Plague Knight only associated houses such as these with dirt and decaying rats, the main reason behind his lack of regard for life, due to his far from perfect upbringing. This house, on the other hand, was clean and relatively homely. While certainly nothing to write home about, it was clear as day that a happy bunch lived in it, and they loved it.

There was a small playroom to the side, which Plague Knight marveled at because it was filled with toys, most obviously handmade by a semi-experienced hand. There were a number of them that were clearly older, not only by how well-worn they were, but also by the sloppiness in the quality.

The mother noticed this. "Is Erik's playroom interesting to you, Adam?"

Plague Knight had to remind himself that he had to respond to that name as he turned to face her. "My parents weren't bad people," he told her; lying through his teeth. He never once believed they were good. "I never had any toys while I was with them, though."

"You unfortunate dear! Were they poor?"

Plague Knight had to resist scoffing, a very non-child-like action. "No, I think they were just lazy."

The woman frowned. "That's not an excuse."

Plague Knight chuckled. "Yes, it is. It's just not a good one."

The woman's frown did not disappear and she looked up to Mona, who shrugged and mouthed, 'He's just like that.'

The woman shrugged helplessly. Looking around the immediate area, she failed to find what she was looking for, so she called out, "Erik! We have a visitor here to see you!"

A young boy not much older than Plague Knight had likely become slowly entered the room. He was clearly the timid type, not much better than the child-alchemist that he was supposed to play with.

"H-Hello," the boy muttered shyly.

"Good morning," Plague Knight responded as smoothly as he could manage at the moment, immediately realizing a second later that this ordeal might be easier to get through than he had initially anticipated, as though other child was easily as awkward as he was in a social situation as he was.

The boy seemed to shrink away a little at the show of faked confidence, much to Plague Knight's confusion.

"He doesn't get out much, which is why I wanted you to play with him, Adam," the mother explained in a low whisper.

Plague Knight blinked in surprise. "Why isn't he social? Everyone I saw on the way here were more than friendly enough to each other."

"I don't know, he's just a bit of an inside kid."

Plague Knight nodded. "I get it." He walked forward, slapping on the best 'kind' smile he could manage on his face, even though he was sure it made him look like an idiot. "Not much of a talker, are ya?"

The boy seemed to shrink even more, if that were possible, and nodded hesitantly.

"I won't hurt you, you know," Plague Knight informed him. The boy was silent. He rolled his eyes. "Still not talking? Alright, what do you do for fun around here?"

The boy blinked and replied, "Play."

Plague Knight desperately wanted to say, 'No shit,' but caught himself in time to realize that was rude, which was not something he wanted to do while pretending to be at least a semi-decent kid. Instead, he said, "I gathered. What do you play?"

"Things," the child replied, much to Plague Knight's ire. In the background, he could hear Mona stifling her laughter.

"You do realize that neither of us will be allowed to leave and return to our normal lives until you open up a little, right?" Plague Knight informed the boy; whose eyes widened as though that was a completely foreign concept that was being introduced to him. Plague Knight looked back at the mother and asked her, "No offence, but have you been raising him in a hole? I seriously thought that I was the most anti-social person to ever walk the Earth. I have just been proven wrong."

The mother looked distraught by this development. "I-I see. I sorry to have bothered you about this, Adam."

Plague Knight scowled. "You know what, no!" He whirled around to face Erik. "I will get a full sentence, no matter how grammatically incorrect, out of you before the day is done!" He reached forward and grabbed the other boy's wrist, dragging him to the backyard.

Erik, whilst being dragged, looked at the boy whom he believed to be named Adam, thoroughly confused the whole way.

Five minutes passed, and Plague Knight returned, saying, "I give up."

Mona let out a small snort of laughter. "That didn't take long."

"The kid's anti-social as all heck," Plague Knight said, catching himself before saying 'hell' and possibly getting a weird look from the mother. "I'm not really the type to bring people out of their shell."

The mother looked disheartened. "That's alright. Thank you anyway."

Plague Knight nodded and bid the mother a small farewell as they took their leave.

"Were you trying at all?" Mona asked.

"Yeah, I did, actually. Hell, I even brought up alchemy to get a reaction out of him. He just stared blankly."

"He's not going to have a fun time growing up."

"Indeed."

You told me to give him a friend. Doesn't mean I need to do it in a particularly obvious way. I initially intended for Erik to be the friend, if you couldn't tell. But I realized quickly that I didn't actually want to do that, and changed it at the end. So, it may look a tad weird for you.

Next time! Plague Knight get a friend in the second most obvious way!

Now come up with a better idea! (Nah, you don't need to if you don't want to.)