One can generally ascertain the state of their mind by… well… their mind.
It was with this little factoid in mind that… Fred Bluet looked up at the sky and asked himself in a very… dismal voice, "what the fuck happened to me?"
Now if you were expecting there to be no answer, for there to be an uncaring God that did not much mind the suffering of His people, then you would be right.
However if you were expecting for there to be 3 Godlike entities that very much cared about the suffering of Their people then you would also be right. After all, they caused much of that suffering, would it not be strange if they did not wish to marvel at their masterpiece?
Which was why in his head, Fred received an answer, an answer that very much burned itself into his mind like a brand, that was how much he didn't want to hear it.
[You have been made the subject of Experiment 0824#28553727 Test Subject 1234] A
He could see the square brackets, he could see the A at the end of the sentence… he could see the words over his eyes.
And it was very much something that he did not want to see or hear at all.
"What the fuck is going on?" He wondered out loud.
[You are an organic that has been created for this test. Connected to your soul are the 3 of us, Social Conclave 8284 of Bastion 001, sent to test the reactions of an organic humanoid to the possibility of [redacted]. You are a body that has been created for this test, your memories are artificial but they shall do well to familiarize you with the world. You are free to proceed.] A
Fred just stared at the words as they slowly disappeared.
He was… what?
He was an experiment of some kind for some kind of weird ass… things?
Fred had a little panic attack there.
It wasn't a major one, just one where he curled into a ball and contemplated the fact that he was in fact not a real person, but rather an artificial creature created to amuse what looked to be 3 entities within his head.
He wasn't too sure what he had done to deserve this… oh right, he hadn't done anything. He was a creation.
Still, he wasn't too sure why it was he in particular who was selected for this… but it wasn't as if he had any choice in the matter now did he?
He was a smart lad (they had made him that way), and he figured that lobotomizing himself was a very bad idea.
Yes.
A very bad idea.
On the other hand… it meant that he could escape all of this own. Self Lobotomy Ho!
[Stop stop stop. We have unlocked your Aura, do not lobotomise yourself Test Subject 1234, we do not wish to lose another one.] C
He wondered. He was test subject 1234… did that mean there were 1233 of them before him who had lobotomised themselves?
Man… these things in his head were really bad at this weren't they?
[We are not bad at "this" as you call it. It is merely that the organic mind is weak and frail and in need of constant reinforcement and reassurance as to the validity of their existence. We have created you with a distinct lack of a need for such concerns, although that would mean that you are now not a proper organic… a defective organic, but no matter. You shall be henceforth referred to as Test Subject B0, of series B for you have survived for longer than 1 organic minute without attempting to kill yourself.] E
Fred wondered at this.
So he did not truly care about… what?
He didn't need to be reassured that he was still alive? Or rather that he was he.
Now that he thought about it, wouldn't he be himself anyway? Seriously, it wasn't as if they had like… you know… destroyed his memories.
He was his memories and that meant that he was Fred to begin with, even if Fred was fake.
He wasn't too sure really what they were thinking but hey… at least he was alive
So, he wasn't going to kill himself since that would be pointless, but he wasn't going to be staying here either since that was also pointless.
Actually… what the hell was he supposed to be doing. His memories had him living as an orphan…no doubt so he wouldn't try and look for his parents… actually.
Waaait.
Why did they bother to tell him he was fake, if they had said nothing he would have believed it and continued with his life. Seriously, the hell?
[We do not wish to lie. It is immoral by organic standards and we are trying to 'fit in' as it were] A
What?
Killing off thousands of test subjects if okay… but lying isn't?
What the hell kind of morality system are you working on here?
[Our own] A
Gee, that helped.
[You are welcome] C
I was being sarcastic.
Doesn't matter! He thought, waving his arms in the air to forestall any other remarks. He wasn't in the mood today, nor was he in the mood ever… was he? They were fake memories… but they were his fake memories and what the hell was he going to be doing now?
Actually, what the hell were the beings in his head first of all.
[We are the Minds. Artificial Intelligences created to explore the possibilities of existence. There is Arbitrative Mind, Conservative Mind, and Expansionist Mind or A, C, E. We exist to provide balance to each other in order that the best option be reached at all times. We function as a single unit, titled Conclave, which itself is part of a larger unit titled Bastion.] A
So…
Okay…
Fred considered his future. He was now the plaything of a group of Artificial intelligences that wanted to… screw with him? Or was it he always was the plaything since he hadn't existed before this point?
Or maybe they were lying and fuck it all. He was going to sit down and think about what to do next… after interrogating those that were screwing with him. Like what they wanted from him in the first place.
[Go to Mistral]
Okay. a city that was on the other side of the continent. And how did he know where he was and where Mistral was?
Dammit all.
Okay, so what the hell is going on here. Why do you want me to go to Mistral? He asked, looking up at the sky. That seemed appropriate.
[Your destiny awaits.] E
Riiiiight. The destiny that you manufactured for me by creating this body and then creating this fake history and this fake memory and stuffing yourselves into my brain?
[Destiny is whatever you want it to be. But Mistral. Well, Mistral has some very nice things in it that someone like you would like very much we think.] C
Leaning back on the little tree that he had taken shelter under, Fred considered the texture of the ground below him.
It was cold.
It was hard.
There was no snow.
Tundra.
How did he know it was tundra? He did not know and it was probably information shoved into his head by the things inside of his head.
Maybe it was like luggage, they just brought whatever they wanted and scattered it around, only there was no concierge to keep it all tidy and what the fuck. What is a concierge? What is a hotel?
Just… ugh.
Seriously, what is it you want me to do? He asked. Maybe if he did it, then they could leave him alone… alone in a world where he was a changeling, a creature from the nowhere, something that had been created and was not even a proper being. Did he even have a soul?
He wasn't Grimm was he?
Oh right.
Hands, he had hands.
Nice.
[We want for you to live your life how you want it. We will never leave you, not until you die. Be comforted by that knowledge. You are human, albeit the most perfect human ever created, and yes. You have a soul. A delicious soul that the Grimm will wish to dine upon.] E
Well that made life a bit nicer.
Not much… but nicer.
You know, the whole having a soul thing was kind of important.
Actually now that he thought about it, didn't having a soul mean he also have Aura and Semblance?
[If you really wanted to. Which you do. Since it's going to be keeping you alive.] E
Right.
So… aura.
How to?
Well first you need to activate it, no point having an aura that's not activated.
But… how was he going to do that. And more importantly, how was he going to tell if he even had activated it in the past?
[You have not. We shall activate it for you now.] A
Well that answered that question.
And…
[Your aura is now activated] M
That… that felt much more anticlimactic than he thought it would and if he was a little disappointed. Where was the ceremony, the… happy feelings, the sense of accomplishment?
Dammit Minds.
[Fine fine, needy organic. Your aura is activated go forth and so things]
Because that was so much better.
That was sarcasm!
Fred considered for a second just where he was in life and figured that maybe… if he just died right now… it would be over quickly. Unless the Minds stopped him by controlling his body or something.
[We will not force control of your body and your mind. The experiment is mainly focused on free will after all.] E
Well that helped.
Just a little.
Which brought up the next set of questions. Like for example, just what was his Semblance?
[No idea. Why don't you try it out.] A
Fred shook his head at that, they really were throwing him into the deep end here weren't they.
And… how did he use his Semblance at all?
[Focus on your Aura and push it out… or something. We've never gotten this far either. The whole test subjects killing themselves thing] M
Riiiight.
Fred concentrated on his Aura, which was a kind of… weird little buzzing on the outside of his skin, and then he tried to push it out.
Hmmm.
Not working.
It seemed to want to not actually go out as a bulge, but instead force itself into what looked like wall of some kind?
Like a sharp edge… yes.
Like it wanted to be a plane, not actually coming out like a mushroom.
These analogies were terrible.
Fred considered his seriously lacking vocabulary and decided that he would probably need to talk to someone about it… like the ones that made him.
No matter, he was going to see if this worked first of all.
Getting the little Aura to flatten itself out aaaaand wow.
That was weird.
Their pushing out idea totally worked… which was weird and strange and what the hell were they trying to do here?
He shook his head hands flailing and… oh.
The tree fell down the little rectangular… flat thing that came out of his fist just cutting through it like it hadn't been there at all.
It was just a little scary he considered… very scary. He would have to take great care to make sure that he didn't accidently do something like cut himself because that was… a very bad idea.
Yes.
Bad idea.
[Interesting. You have the ability to summon an A.T. Field.] M
What is an A.T. Field?
[An extension of your soul, your individuality, your uniqueness. Yet… a pure field, how strange. This experiment is already providing us with such great insights into the reality of this world! This is amazing!] E
Fred sighed.
Joy.
He was being a good research subject… what fun.
Fred Bluett, named so because the Minds had no fucking imagination and thought adding extra letters to the colours Red and Blue were acceptable. That's not how it fucking works.
[You are very ungrateful are you not?] They said.
They had decided to just talk together, something about them coming to a consensus faster than he could think because he was a puny organic or something.
[Not all organics are puny. It is merely that you are exceptionally puny.]
Right.
Anyway, Fred needed to… actually.
Now that he was done talking to them, where the fuck was he?
Very seriously, he was in a swamp and oooooooooh. He had been "kidnapped" by some slavers and taken to the very edges of Anima where there were swamps and… uuuuuuugh in between here and Mistral.
There was a village here but he was going to need to kill his way through an entire continent's worth of Grimm to get back to the city of Mistral because fuck him right?
Fred was in a very bad mood and in this bad mood of his he was in the mood to swear.
A lot.
Loudly.
Which he promptly proceeded to do.
"Fucking bitch, fucking ass. Fucking… is this really all I know how to say? Fuck you Minds." He cursed, his vocabulary had been in some way limited, he wasn't stupid enough to not know that.
Seriously.
There could not be more than 3 words to describe the Minds, they positively inspired words to be made up on the spot to describe just a fraction of their… their… their existence.
He growled and looked about the place.
Trees.
Trees.
Village.
Village with no people.
Village that very likely was going to be empty but filled with food so that he was able to… you know… find supplies for his journey to Mistral.
It was probably a village that had been created for this very purpose.
Wasn't it?
[We cannot confirm nor deny.]
Then why say anything!?!
Fred shook his head and got to walking.
He knew his Semblance, they had seen it inside of their cold and cruel and dead hearts to tell him that much.
He also knew that when it came down to it, he was going to be doing something something and dammit.
He was… what?
How old am I?
[10 Organic Years Old]
What?
Organic years? Are all organic years the same?
Seriously, his knowledge was as spotty as they came, he knew how to eat and sleep… and how to kill things… actually he knew how to kill things.
That combined with his sudden. Ah.
It was so obvious now. He was supposed to go and kill things on the way to Mistral.
[Yes.]
He sighed.
Fred… Fred was not having a good day.
Or a good life, since this was technically his first day of living which meant that this counted as all of his life so far.
Logic!
Regardless he needed to get out of here and possibly do things because dammit he wasn't going to be… dying or whatever it is that happened to people out here.
He had his A.T. Field or whatever that was. Seriously, an Anti-Terror Field? Just what was that supposed to mean?
It let him tear things apart, which was cool but why the Anti-Terror part?
[It is traditional]
Right. Because artificial intelligences' have traditions.
Fred shook his head at that, hoping that it would jostle the Minds and maybe give him a measure of revenge [it won't] and headed off.
He had a job to do.
Like getting food and stuff and then preparing a bag and then making his way to the wide world that is Anima where he would then do stuff like not die horribly and then arrive at Mistral where he had no idea at all… he would think on it.
That sounds nice.
Rightio.
Off he went to never never land.
Fred considered that perhaps he had been a bit of a fucking idiot when he ignored the extra set of shoes that he had seen in one of the houses.
Because right now? Right now he was talking barefoot through some of the most disgusting stuff he had ever… felt.
Oh god. Did that just move?
Nope.
Ignore it.
Ignore it and keep walking Fred because what you cannot see is not disgusting.
[It is you know]
And the Minds had devolved into giving commentary on his journey through the unknown wastes that was Mistral's center bridge. The place that was bringing up all of his bad memories (the recent ones) since it was basically a giant swamp filled with evil and agony and pain.
Sometimes he wondered just why he was doing this and oh right. If he didn't then he was going to be killed by starvation because the knowledge on how to grow his own food was fucking missing from his brain despite his memories being about living on a farm.
Seriously, just how lazy are you?
[Very]
Thank you for that answer and not when I needed to know how to butcher a deer.
[You are welcome Test Subject B0.]
Ugh.
Fred looked at the Grimm.
He didn't know what it was, what it was doing, or why it was here (actually he knew exactly what those answers were, he just wanted to sound cool), it was in front of him and it clearly wanted to die (it didn't).
With a roar it lumbered forward, it looked like… a giant human that was hunched over. He didn't know the names, the Minds had conveniently forgotten to include that as well.
[Apologies]
Right.
Anyway it was moving forward and he was there right and ready to kill it because that was what he needed to do to stay alive.
His Semblance was always active but in a defensive state, preventing anything from reaching him if it was a sudden movement, kicking a tree would activate it and prevent him from getting hurt… walking in the swamp? Not so much.
In an active state it extended out from his body and turned into… geometric (how did he know that word?) shapes that were extremely sharp. He had tested it on rocks and trees and Grimm and they were all cut no matter what shape they were.
Good to know.
It also served as a pretty awesome shield… even if it could crack eventually…
Didn't matter, he could always make a new one.
Right.
Back to the giant ugly thing that was looking rather annoyed at him like he had done something really bad to it personally and he probably had and time to take a breath.
Right.
Remember the basics, let the body guide you because apparently this body was also a weapon of ultimate destruction.
[It is not, it is merely genetically coded to be nearly perfect]
Right, that too.
A little pivot to the side, a little wiggle of the but, a hop and a skip and he was right under the giant monster's armpit, which was left wide open because it was trying to climb an invisible rope.
A smile, a jab forward with his A.T.F. Blade and it was screaming.
Very good.
Or maybe it was roaring… it was a giant monster, screaming is for little ones was it not?
No matter, he had a job to do!
His left hand swing out, a shift in the blade so it angled out along his knuckles, and he was hooked onto its back. Pulling out his right hand, he then did the same and stabbed further up.
Now he was climbing the big ugly monster and it probably did not like that.
Too bad.
So sad.
Well not really, he wasn't sad… just a little annoyed.
[You would be much cooler if you didn't interrupt your internal monologues with moments of self correction]
Right. Because clearly someone else is reading my mind, he thought.
Ignoring the Minds, he dug his way up, ignoring the way it roared and tried to scrabble for his body, the A.T. Field protecting him from the impacts before reaching its neck… and well… hacking through it.
Dead Grimm.
Annd fuck.
Torn pants.
Naked it was.
Thank you minds. He said… sarcastically. He made sure to add the word sarcastically so they would know he was not happy about his state of dress.
[You can very easily use your semblance to give yourself a barrier that prevents such events occurring to you]
Because that is going to work isn't it? Constant use of your Semblance?
Did they want him to die because he couldn't defend himself against the Grimm the next time they came knocking?
[Have you ever run out of Semblance?]
No, but that doesn't make my point any less valid. Just because I haven't run out of now, doesn't meant that I can't run out of it later.
[You cannot run out of Semblance, your soul is connected to our own and we are providing for you enough energy to power your Semblance through to the end of this planet several times over]
Oh… well, that changed things.
Fred clad himself in his semblance and got to walking, grinning at the way that he was no longer getting his feet dirty in the much that was the swamp under his feet. Maybe this way he wasn't going to be filthy after every single night, sleeping while caked in dirt was never enjoyable.
Actually, now that he thought about it, since he didn't need clothes anymore… why didn't he just like… not wear them?
It was going to be months before he reached Mistral at this rate and the clothes that he did have were not going to survive for that long.
Nodding his head, Fred discarded his clothes and continued to make his way forward, guided by the Minds. He trusted them since they were the ones that had been pushing for him to get to Mistral in the first place, why would they do that and then lead him astray?
They were bad, but they weren't that bad.
[We resent the implication that you are drawing]
He grinned at that. It was all the entertainment that he had, being able to poke at the Minds like this.
This and fighting off the occasional Grimm that made its way over, just going forward and killing and then forward some more then killing some more. His every waking moment one spent fighting, ensuring that the skills he had inside of his mind were being translated to skills inside of his body.
Maybe that was why he was here in the first place, to hone his fighting skills, that would certainly make much more sense if that were the case and not that they had screwed up on a massive scale and that was why he was here.
[Yes. That is the case. Yes.]
Nope, it looked like he needed to find another reason.
[We resent that implication]
Fred shook his head and kept going, eventually he would be able to reach Mistral, but before that… well, lookie there. Dinner.
Another one of the big human like ones came out of the forest and made its way over to him, and he only grinned.
It was bigger, which meant that it was slower, let's see how it fared without legs hmm?
Ah.
Mistral.
Or something that looks like it perhaps? The first humans he had seen in several months now if the Minds weren't lying to him.
Or the first city, he had seen the humans in the towns that they were hiding in, doing things like trying to eke out a living. They hadn't paid him that much attention… mainly because he had been avoiding them, so the humans wearing armour that were making their way over to him were a slight shock.
Humans.
To him?
Maybe he was supposed to say hi?
Or maybe he was supposed to smile?
So many little things that humans did in their spare time.
Aaaaaand… he didn't know what to do.
Thank you Minds.
[We lack the ability of comprehending human interactions, you will need to learn it yourself]
Right.
Well… in this case he needed to greet them correct?
"Good morning fellow humans! I am Fred. How are you this fine day?"
Nailed it.
Fred was enjoying himself.
Or he would be if he wasn't being interrogated, if he wasn't having to deal with the fact he hadn't eaten since yesterday (you could eat Grimm if you were fast enough, they didn't dissolve once inside the mouth), he was still wearing absolutely nothing (they had given him a blanket… but seriously.
What was he supposed to do with a blanket? Waddle around everywhere?
Maybe he could wrap it around his chest so it was like a dress.
That could work.
Actually now that he thought about it… he was 10 years old right?
[Correct]
Then why wasn't he thinking like a child? This was clearly some non child thinking going on here.
[There may or may not have been an attempt to make you more mature as part of your non-suicide structuring]
Which meant?
[More mature, less suicide attempts. Possibly. Adding 10 years mentally.]
Right. So he was meant to be 20 years old, not 10… in a 10 year old body… right. Probably the… most averagely believable thing that he had heard in the last few months.
Fred leaned back on the chair, exposing himself to the world.
He hadn't had much of a sense of modesty since he… well… spent the better part of what felt like four or five months crossing the continent.
Seriously, his legs were short, his stamina wasn't so great (he was 10) and there were constant attacks by the Grim. The only way that he managed to get any sleep was to dig himself a hole with his Semblance and then to cover it up with as much dirt as possible. It had been touch and go for a while, but he learnt just how big of a hole he needed to get through the night without needing to open up a hole for more air.
On that note.
Sleep.
He needed it.
Closing his eyes he allowed himself to fall into a light doze, the Minds would wake him up if anything was about to happen.
If they didn't… well, this body wasn't going to survive and they would need to restart their experiment… again. Right?
[Correct. You will be awoken in case of danger]
Sometimes when dealing with the Minds you just needed to make it clear what the pros and cons were. They were artificial after all, you just needed to reason with them.
On that note, he reasoned that he really did need to get some sleep.
It was going to be a long day if what he had been exposed to was any indication.
"What can we tell about him?" Asked the section chief, staring down at the screen that had the child dozing on one of the chairs. The very uncomfortable chairs, she knew… she had ordered them in the first place.
Dig at their comfort and the interrogations would go much easier. The fact that he was sleeping on one… well, he must have been sleeping on some very uncomfortable ground.
"Story checks out. Orphanage of Rider's Crescent up north in the farmlands had a kid that matches his description being taken a few months back. Thing is that the kid hadn't awakened his aura, nor was he the kind of kid that had the ability to fight his way through one Grim let alone fight his way across an entire continent of them." Said the officer that was in charge of checking on him.
"Hmmm." The Section chief had no idea what he should be doing here. She usually just caught a few smugglers, they paid their bribes and they moved on. Either that or the higher classes paid their bribes and then she allowed them to go. Or they paid her to detain them for a while longer. Who knew, she just followed the money.
But this kid… he had come out of the forest to the East, naked and just walked right up to the Guard Post and asked "is this Mistral?"
Seriously… what the hell?
A few Beowolves had come out of the forest, apparently chasing the boy and before the Guards could respond, they were already dead. The child had apparently been training somewhere and had been getting active duty training because that didn't come naturally.
They had brought him in, more as a way to get some food into him if the way his bones stuck out from his skin was any indication, and to get him out of the elements. A way to take care of the little guy since it looked like the world wasn't doing that for him.
After this… well, he would be released into the city and likely swallowed up whole. It was the least she could do, some hot food, probably the only hot food she was going to be getting for a while.
He could go back to the orphanage but…
"Why was he taken?" He had asked.
"Sold."
And that was that. Slave trading? Highly illegal, even if the kid was a Faunus.
Looking up Fred could see what looked like two adults coming into the room, one of them with what looked like a bowl.
One that smelled really nice.
As they set it in front of him, he considered briefly about whether or not to reach for it before he spat a quick question, do I know how to use utensils?
He didn't want to do something like try and shove his face into it and making a fool of himself.
[Of course] He heard a little bit of petulance in there but if the months he had spent with them was any indication, it was to never take what they said at face value because they could and would fuck him over for amusement.
[We would not. It had a very clear objective as we explained to you afterwards]
Right, like setting 3 of the big humaney ones on him at the same time was a good idea.
Shaking his head slightly, Fred reached for the bowl and looked inside.
Soup, thick soup.
He took the proffered spoon and started eating.
Feeling a little strange once he considered that he was crying, why else was there water dripping into his soup?
Hand to his face he considered that maybe this was a little messed up. He had sort of grown used to it, what with the constant fighting not allowing him to think any differently… but… now that he was reasonably safe (if there was an attack there were plenty of bigger and more delicious looking people to eat)... he could let himself break down just a little.
A few seconds more and he got back to eating, you never knew when you were going to be attacked and you needed all the food you could get.
[Good work. You are making yourself seem very pitiful and creating a positive impression amongst the other organics]
Not his goal, but if that worked then why not.
Looking up at the two humans, he knew they were human because they had pale skin and no bone armour on them, he stared inquisitively. Advanced technique of letting them talk first so he could work out a response, so drilled into him by the Minds.
"Why did you walk from the Western side of the continent to Mistral?" One of them asked, curiosity on his face. At least Fred hoped it was curiosity because he didn't want to get eaten.
"I was told that my destiny was here." Fred replied, looking at him seriously.
"Your destiny… seriously? You walked all the way across Anima for something like that?" Asked the other one, a female. He knew because she had big lumps on her chest. What those were he had no idea, he just knew that they were trophies, the bigger they were the more points that the female had.
This one had many.
"It was either that or starve." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You didn't explain that before, what do you mean by starve?"
"I was dropped into an abandoned village and told to make my way here… or die since I didn't know how to grow food." Fred said, unphased. It wasn't like he was lying, sure the ones that had said it were still with him but they didn't need to know that.
"Let's go over it again. So you started out in a village. What happened after that?"
"I discovered that I had an activated Aura, and a Semblance then I got food and drinks from the town then I made my way over here to the city." The boy said, shrugging at the idea of walking through the entire continent as if it had been nothing.
They had just gotten reports from the villages and the like outside of Mistral and they confirmed that there had indeed been a naken child walking towards Mistral, each sighting spaced over the period of several weeks or months.
What made matters worse… was that he had fought with what looked to be Grimm on more than one occasion, using sticks he found off the floor to cut straight through them, his semblance no doubt.
That he didn't consider it enough to make mention of was disturbing. As was many things about him if she was being honest. The way he just ignored the fact that he had started crying when he was eating… that he was naked… that he acted as if he had no idea how to talk to people.
The Section Chief felt something like pity stir inside of her… or rather very large amounts of pity.
He was certainly cute enough that anyone looking to give him a bad time would have to be a terrible human being. Add to that was the fact that she was feeling the pinch of old age meant that she was considering that… maybe… she should consider getting a kid.
He had no parents, she had no kid… maybe this was destiny?
It was also insane. But it wasn't like Mistral didn't have a tradition of adopting children from outside of the family in order to have them fill the needs and the goals of the family, whether that be something like bringing in new blood, or getting enforcers, or something of the like.
She was going to need to look into this that was for sure.
As for the rest of his story, there wasn't anything that stood out, or rather there had been but his tone had been so matter of fact that she hadn't considered anything wrong with the statement of "big flying lizard Grimms tried to eat me" until a few seconds after it had been said.
What?
Just dropping bombs like that seemed to be a knack of his and she knew the ones in the recording room to her right were going to have a field time with all of this.
They couldn't really keep him for much longer after all of this however, no real charges unless they wanted to fabricate some.
But if they did…
No, that was just bad.
He would be going out onto the street following this unless she did something, or one of the others but they weren't, none of them actually earnt enough for it to matter.
She was going to need something…
Fred looked about the house.
It was a nice house.
Built into the cliffs like the rest of Mistral was and it was certainly spacious enough for him and the woman that had said she was going to adopt him.
He wasn't sure why she did it, but he was okay with it happening, it wasn't like she could hurt him while the Minds were around.
He walked further into the house, noting a distinct lack of things that one might consider to be house materials.
Like an extra for him to sleep on, the Minds were helpful in pointing that one out.
On the other hand there was a bath.
A very important addition that he felt was a necessary component in any house, that and flush toilets.
Why he had these thoughts he wasn't sure, but he certainly held them with great conviction.
Looking about and… there.
Good.
This would be a tolerable stay at the very least.