Call it a "Social Experiment" (Valerius, Nya)

[Verilian]

Social Experiments Timestamp: 10th of Spring, 512 AV Location: Kelvic Research Institution Nya Winters Nya Winters rode out the djed storm beneath the waters of Lake Ravok in a pristine cell of white marble deep inside the Black Hole. Her days the past season were spent in the reeducation chambers of the mysterious prison having everything she was, everything that made her Nya, erased from her being. She'd been beaten, pampered, tortured and coddled, subjected to mind altering magics and drugs, and all other manner terrible and pleasant things, all to reform her in the image that her captors saw fit. Of course it was impossible to erase everything from her mind, at least not in the time they had. They couldn't erase the connection she had to her god, though they surely tried. They might have even succeeded eventually, but there just wasn't time. The Djed storm changed everything. The prison began to flood and Nya was one of the lucky ones they managed to get out before the Ebonstryfe abandoned the place completely. There wasn't space to keep her, the Ebonstryfe had more pressing concerns at that moment, but her captors would not simply let her go to waste. Nya was to be taken to the Kelvic Research Institution where she would be held and studied, and subjected to a whole new kind of torture under the hands of the researchers there, however, during her transfer Nya managed to hypnotize her guards and simply walk away. Finding herself in the sun for the first time in a long time, Nya is left lost wandering the canals of Ravok. Valerius Nitrozian Valerius Nitrozian had his hands full with his work. Since he hired on he'd had so little time to actually study the kelvics he was so interested in. Amanda and the other researchers kept him busy cleaning cages, bathing, and feeding the hungry creatures. It wasn't an easy job, and it was lonely work. The staff wasn't allowed to bond with the kelvics unless it was part of a study which meant that Valerius could not linger to study them. After he'd fed or bathed them or whatever other task was required of him he had to move on and wasn't allowed to interact with the same kelvic for five days. After the storm hit his job became so much harder. He was part of the support staff which meant that he had the glamorous job of cleaning up while the researchers and guards went out to catch as many of the escaped Kelvics as they could. It was hard, thankless work, but he'd signed up for it and he wasn't allowed to say no. That was all going to change. The Kelvic research institute was in shambles. Massive waves from Lake Ravok tore apart a good portion of the facility and killed off many of the workers. The djed storm had taken down most of the fences and several of the cages allowing many of the kelvics to escape, those that didn't die in the flooding at least. It took several days to sort through the wreckage and find all the survivors and Amanda Nitrozian, the head of the Institution, quickly realized that with the damage they no longer had the space to contain all the kelvics that remained. Normally when there was overcrowding they would just auction off excess slaves. In fact, each season they did that anyway. But who had extra mizas for slaves in times like these? Still, they didn't have enough cages to house all the prisoners, and to make matters worse, the Ebonstryfe had just brought them another kelvic, and a big one. Amanda almost turned the kelvic away, but it was just to promising. The kelvic was marked, and Amanda had so few kelvics to play with that were marked. But where to store her? "Valerius! Valerius!" One of the workers, another cage cleaner like himself, came running up to the young Nitrozian. Valerius was busy trying to get the water and mud out of one of the flooded enclosures, but the man seemed intent on getting his attentions. "Amanda wants to speak with you in her office right away." If there was one thing Valerius had learned about his aunt during his time at the Institution, it was that you didn't keep her waiting. Making all haste to the building that housed her office and private lab, Valerius would would find Amanda and a pair of guards waiting for him. "Ah, nephew, there you are," Amanda piped up as soon as he walked through the door. "So, how have things been. Have you been enjoying your work here?" As if the presence of the guards weren't enough, Amanda's interest in him alone would have been enough to catch him off guard. The woman had not once looked at her nephew since he'd started working for her, and her only words to him were the occasional, "Fetch this," or "clean that." So when she looked right at him and spoke he was more than a little surprised. "Tell me, do you still desire to learn more about kelvics, or are you content to continue shoveling cages for the time being?"

[Nya Winters]

The kelvic knew it only took moments to develop bad habits and sometimes a lifetime to free oneself from them. The kelvic heard about the storm and in the back of her mind wondered how the outside world had fared, but the thought had been fleeting and in some ways painful to her, so she let any advanced thinking on it go.

It was a bad habit, letting things go, but it had been a taught one, strictly enforced and reinforced. Only the now mattered, not the five minutes ago or the five days ago. A hand could strike one moment and stroke the next. But the forest cat cared not for hands. She cared nothing for any of her handlers either. Most were afraid of her or perhaps just indifferent. Fear had been a slight tang of interest at first but her sharp mind had soon focused on those that were indifferent. Indifference fascinated her. She was a creature that felt everything, usually deeply, and had been taught since an early age that you noticed the details, absorbed them, and then used your mind to think.

Even when she wanted to kill she'd been taught to think. Stop. Be quiet. Go into a deeper place in side. Make sure it was the right thing to do. Here though, they'd changed all the rules. Kelvics could not think, not here, it was not allowed. Kelvics were to act, immediately, when asked to and be quiet and calm when not.

The forest cat was rarely calm. Quiet yes, but forest cats were naturally quiet. Her mind was busy, always processing new rules, changes, and motivations. She'd watched kelvics come and go below ground, seen them sold off, seen them abused, and also had been fed a few as well. Even as she was taught not to think, not to feel, only to act and react, it did not change inherently who she was or what she was.

Some things they had successfully taken from her however. Not inherently who she was, never that, but smaller things like her name had vanished over time. That was gone. Long ago her real identity had been replaced by rough crude names the guards had used for their charges. Kitty. Pussycat. Kitten. They were flies to her anyhow, buzzing around, annoying but not effective. There was a great big hole in her life too, one she ignored because facing it was too painful even now to think on.

So she went through the motions, pretending she didn't care, all the while studying her enemies, looking for weaknesses, and exploiting loopholes where she could. And in exchange, she ignored their hands on her, their experiments, the pain they could cause, and the thick collar around her neck.

It was perhaps the hardest thing of all. Crudely they bound iron around her fragile human neck and kept it there because the reality of her true form was something most of them didn't want to face. She stared at them with surprisingly human eyes for a kelvic. She had no true animalistic features, not like other kelvics. No slit eyes, no elongated canines. The only thing that gave her away was the brindled camouflage coloring to her hair. It was dark but not black, fused with a hundred shades of brown, blonde and russet. When left free it fell in a pattern that broke up her form and made her hard to see in the shadows and in the wilds.

She'd always loved her hair, of course, and it was one of the first things they'd shaved off. She'd thought it was to punish her for loving it so much, but later she realized they cared not one whit about what she needed or wanted. They'd shaved it off so she could participate in the training of soldiers, to teach them lessons about false identities. Back then, she'd had no collar. And she'd be left in a room devoid of furnishings, without clothing and wearing an obfuscation of weakness and vulnerability. It was always arranged that one or more soldiers would find her. The outcome was expected. Left alone they'd take advantage. And shorn and devoid of any clues that gave her away as kelvic, she'd defend herself. Some died quickly. Others restrained her and were able to take what they wanted because she did not take them by surprise or were able to just simply survive. These they promoted, some became priests and some even odder things.

Eventually the game was leaked, the surprise gone, and thus the challenge altered. The kelvic had stopped being used and they let her hair grow again. It was a long tangled mess when they fetched her after the storm. Clipping a lead into her collar, she was escorted out, up, and into the devastated sunshine. She studied the carnage indifferently, part of her horrified and understanding there was life lost here, the other part glad for it. She wore a simple knee length tunic, her collar, and no shoes. When she stepped into the sunlight for the first time, she inhaled deeply and glanced upwards.

Its name eluded her for a time. That frustrated her, though her frustration was not translated into something noticeable besides a toss of her hair and a soft big-cat huff. There were ruined gates, fences down, and buildings destroyed. All this the big cat ignored. She stared again at the blueness of the sky and the light within it, something she hadn't seen in a year.

Syna.

The name came out of the blue, brought to her by soft whispers of a zephyr who tried to get her attention. The little playful breeze taunted her to come walk with it, join it, see the city. The kelvic glanced at her handler, bored with his escort duty, and concentrated on him. They were passing close to where it was time to go inside, back away from the blue sky and into the cold iron bars of cages and the probes of instruments.

Suddenly she didn't want that. She wanted to walk around just a bit more. Perhaps hunt. Her stomach growled and the fresh air fueled her senses. Food was everywhere in the city. She could smell it acutely. Her handler, bored, had no idea what she could do. Most didn't. Suddenly she wanted sunshine, the ability to roam, and something sweet. She remembered in that instance how much she loved sweetbread. Turning to her guard, softly speaking, Nya concentrated. She sent a tendril of thought deep into his brain... all their brains. They'd done what they'd been ordered too.. they'd moved her to the Research Facility. Their job was done. Warm hard cider waited for them at their favorite watering hole.

Her leash was dropped. They just simply ignored the fact that she stood among them and as one they seemed to all want to go have themselves a drink. They were gone in an instant without securing her, and without recognizing the danger.

They walked away and so too did the kelvic, un-clipping the dreaded leash and slowly turning away. Her nose focused on a sweet smell and she simply started to follow it.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

When Valerius had approached his aunt and asked her if she would be willing to let him help out at the Kelvic Research Institute, he hadn’t imagined that it would be quite like this. He had been assured that he would have time to study the creatures in between cleaning their cages and bathing them – things that he had slaves for at the mansion – but he had only been able to dedicate very little time to that which he was most interested in. Oh, he had learned something about the creatures, alright, but it wouldn’t be a particular loss if he never had to deal with their bodily functions again. He saw enough of that when he spent time with his dog. It was a lonely job, but he actually didn’t mind that. He was used to working alone, to having very little contact with others. Before he had come to the Kelvic Research Institute, he had often spent bells in his chambers at the family mansion, studying. What was a disappointment was the fact that he was never allowed to spend more than a couple of days with the same Kelvic. How was he supposed to find out more about them if he was sent away every time he had familiarized himself with a certain Kelvic’s habits? Still, he didn’t complain. In his opinion complaining, whining on and on about a certain matter, was inappropriate and unacceptable. It was not a personality trait he found particularly appealing, neither in himself nor in others. He had signed up for it, and he worked quietly and efficiently. He talked very little to whatever other people he encountered when he came or left – or to the creatures for that matter. They were animals. You didn’t make small talk with animals. Most of the time he would just glance at them, study them out of the corner of his eyes while he cleaned their cages, the expression on his face unreadable. Even when he bathed them, there was a noticeable distance between him and them, as there should be. He would occasionally give them commands or ask questions if they pertained directly to the work he was doing, but not more than that. He wanted to study them, not form a personal relationship with them. After the storm it seemed to him as if he spent more time at the Kelvic Research Institute than in the family mansion. The whole area was in chaos. While he helped clean up, he would occasionally stumble across a dead Kelvic. It took days to return the institute to a semblance of order, days where he hardly got any sleep. Many of the subjects had been lost or managed to escape, and there was hardly any room for those that remained. Had he been a pessimist he would likely have wondered if the institute would ever be the way it had been before the storm again. He had just been trying to clean yet another part of the institute, when he heard the man. Furrrowing his brow, he turned around. He didn’t appreciate being interrupted, but the man seemed to be intent on getting his attention. As he revealed why he was here, the Nitrozian’s eyes widened in surprise, and then he nodded and followed. him Amanda had hardly bothered to talk to him since he had come here, so her sudden interest in him was more than a bit unusual. He couldn’t help but wonder what she wanted. Had she finally changed her mind? „Aunt“, he greeted her politely and inclined his head. „My work here has been … interesting so far.“ There was only the shortest pause as he said this, only the tiniest hint that he was not perfectly content. „But I have to admit, a change would be welcome. I’m still very interested in learning more about Kelvic, if you are willing to finally give me the opportunity to do so.“

[Verilian]

Amanda flashed her nephew a knowing smile, not missing the slight pause in his response. She wasn't a fool, she knew the work he had been doing was meant for people of far less station than him, but it was necessary. He had no training, no education, how was he to be of value in research? But now she had a use for him, a real use, and one that he likely wouldn't object to. "Good, good, you'll have ample opportunity to study them with the job I'm about to give you." Amanda motioned to the guards who shuffled nervously as soon as they realized they'd become the center of attention here. "It seems these two fine Ravokians were supposed to bring us a new kelvic, today. But, somehow, it seems they just let her wander off without even realizing it until a full bell later." This time she shot the guards an icy glare, and really Valerius was probably wondering how on earth someone just lets a kelvic walk away like that himself. "Now.. as you know, we don't have room for all the kelvics we have, much less a new one. So I'm giving you your chance. Take these guards and go collect her, and then I want you to take care of her. She's collared. They say her animal form is a large cat, so I don't recommend removing it either. You can keep her here while you work, and to feed her, but when you aren't here she goes with you. Outside of this institution, for all intents and purposes, she is your pet to do with as you will. I want you to take notes on what you observe from her. Talk to her, question her. If you can figure out how she escaped, that would be interesting to know as well. Other than that, it's up to you how you will study her. Just make sure to show me your findings each day." Once all was said and done Valerius was left with his two guards to ride the ferry back to Ravok. On the ride the guards filled him in on what they knew about his new pet. She was tall, with black and brown hair, and green eyes. They described what she was wearing when they'd last seen her, and told him about her animal form, a massive black forest cat. As far as they knew she'd been in the prison for a very long time, undergoing the Ebonstryfe version of obedience training. Apparently it hadn't worked as well as they thought though, considering the cat was now on the loose, but in theory she should know how to behave. When they reached the docks the search began, the three of them sticking together unless Valerius decided it would be better to split up. They began by returning to the last place they remembered having the kelvic with them, which was not too far from where they'd just arrived, but of course she wouldn't be there any longer. In truth, all there was to do was to start looking and hope they'd get lucky. OOC : Okay, so you guys can play out the search between yourselves. I'm just going to sit back and watch for now, but if for some reason you need me I'll still be here to jump in and mod something. The guards are named Flint and Garret. You can NPC them as you please, though if a fight breaks out I'll step in and take over. Flint Items: Basic Leather Armor, Longsword, Shield Skills: Longsword 30, Shield 20, Leadership 10, Negotiation 10 Garret Items: Basic Leather Armor, Light Mace, Shortbow, Quiver with 20 Arrows Skills: Light Mace 15, Shortbow 15, Brawling 25, Storytelling 10, Singing 10

[Nya Winters]

OOC: Nya has distracted herself by chasing after the scents of sweets in this thread. Can several bells or even overnight be given for it to carry out and we'll resume the chase after? I assume she wandered a bit before she found Coltyn and won't be with him all day... unless the thread goes that direction. I'm also leaving enough of a trail (learning the layout of Ravok) for people to have seen her and give your PC a trail to follow.

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The Kelvic slipped her leash easier than she thought she would. Setting out to see the place she'd been held more than a year, the Kelvic quickly began to roam the city. Waterways confounded her because she had to turn each time she hit a canal until she could find a bridge to cross. Loping quickly, she'd continue, until she'd basically circled the city finding it surrounded on all sides with water. She could not see the far sides to the lake either. Nya knew it was a lake, however, because she tasted it and there was no salt in the water.

Once she'd circled the whole city, she cordoned off the area in her mind and began prowling the individual sections carefully tracing down one main street to another, and pausing to watch the ravosalas trail down the canals, ferrying people to and from their destinations. She was lucky, finding a large central canal and a place where she could rent ravosalas which had a large map hanging on a wall near the place the men took money.

The forest cat thought her clothing would stand out, being barefooted and collared, dressed in a sleeveless tunic. But the truth was there were slaves roaming all over, some dressed even worse than she was. No one paid her any extra attention as she studied the map and no one shooed her away as she lounged in the sun watching the little ships traverse the water.

The Kelvic held no delusions that she was free. Her keepers would come for her eventually. But she'd enjoy the first sunshine she'd seen in almost a year before they moved her. She knew they were moving her because she'd overheard them talking. She was to be gifted to someone as a toy, a plaything, an experimental subject for him to study. She knew the routine. He'd poke, prod, do experiments, ask her questions, probably beat her, coddle her, use her body, and in the end think nothing of her and probably have her killed. The Kelvic wanted value. She wanted to matter to someone. She wanted a name, for hers had long been stolen, and she wanted to be treated not like a beast, but like the person she was raised to be.

And so she fled for a while, tasting a tiny bit of freedom while she learned the layout of the city and finally at last decided to follow the scent of a sweet fresh baked smell she crossed paths with. It was a substance who's name eluded her, but it was something she knew she loved. Cinnamon. She would only likely remember, after the substance filled her oral senses.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

As Amanda mentioned a job, he smiled slightly, although the smile disappeared again quickly as she drew his attention to the guards. He arched an eyebrow and wondered if he had heard correctly. Had those men really let a Kelvic walk away? Had they been drunk? Sleeping? „I’d be most interested in hearing how exactly that happened“, he remarked. „She is not a mouse Kelvic, is she?“ There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. That his aunt would allow him to take the Kelvic home with him was almost as surprising as the fact that the creature had somehow gone missing while two men had been watching her. He had been waiting for such an opportunity since he had first come to the Research Institute, but after cleaning cages for almost a season and doing other jobs that were better suited for a slave he had almost begun to doubt that it would ever happen. He didn’t show his excitement openly though. In his opinion it was a sign of a lack of self control, besides there was work to do before he was finally allowed to study the creature for real. „I will report to you every day“, he promised his aunt, and then he gave the two guards a sign to come with him. They had to hunt a Kelvic. As they told him more about what would hopefully become his new pet, he couldn’t help but wonder how big she was. They had called her „massive“. Was she bigger that the dog that his father had given to him for his last birthday? As they mentioned how she had supposedly undergone some kind of obedience training, he gave them another incredulous look. „She can’t be very obedient if she just walked off“, he remarked. Truth to be told, he doubted that she knew how to behave at all considering what he had heard. He’d have to train her. Of course there was no sign of her anywhere near the docks. The creature seemed to have taken advantage of the situation and run. „Since I doubt that she jumped into the lake and swam away, I suggest that we move in the direction of the city center“, he informed the two men. „She is still collared, isn’t she? It shouldn’t be too hard to find her. Her behaviour alone is probably going to attract a fair amount of attention.“ „Let’s just hope we’ll find here before somebody else does. I’m still wondering how exactly she got away, even though she was wearing a leash.“ He looked at the two men questioningly, but of course they were unable to answer. They seemed to be just as surprised that the creature had gotten away as he was.

[Nya Winters]

After her strange encounter with the man who had the sweets, the kelvic roamed the city for the rest of the evening and well into the night. In the early hours she found a quiet spot on a rooftop and curled up in her human form, more than willing to watch the city wake from her vantage point high in the sky. She realized before long that there wasn't much for her here. No real prey besides people, which she didn't like eating. There was no good cover. Trees were sparse. And she knew no one, and not even her name. It was like her mind was a blank slate though her soul felt full of holes.

But she followed her own scent backwards, towards the place the guards were taking her. She'd heard the talk about the Institute, but not what its actual title was. Someone knew something there, and so the kelvic traversed the streets before dawn and made it back to the facility just as the sun came up. She boldly padded barefoot through the doorway and waited quietly until someone noticed her.

When they did, she simply waited for the questions and when they came she refused to answer any of them except to say... "I was supposed to meet my new master here. I got sidetracked along the way." And with that she waited... knowing they'd either throw her behind bars or confine her somehow. And she didn't mind, not really, because here were answers. Out there, in the city, was just more loneliness and emptiness and pain. Her walkabout had proven that.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

They spent the whole day and the evening looking for her. As the sun began to set, the Nitrozian retreated into a café and let the men continue the search alone for a while while he rested. He was sore and tired and in a bad mood and didn’t see why he should spend the whole night looking for an escaped cat. Unfortunately the men continued to be tremendously incompetent and returned a few hours later with empty hands, despite his threats that they would regret it for the rest of their lives if they didn’t bring the creature back at once. Most of the time Valerius was a comparatively calm and polite man. He rarely lost his patience, but seeing those fools before him made having them whipped seem very appealing. He rose from his chair abruptly. „It seems as if you cannot do a single thing alone“, he observed. „Are you too stupid to find an animal? Trust me, this will have consequences. If I manage to find her now …“ He gave them a meaningful glance and left the café. The two men looked at each other, and then they shrugged their shoulders and followed him. ~~~ It was nearly morning when they finally made their way back to the Institute to let his aunt know that the creature seemed to have disappeared without a trace. As he saw her walk through the doorway as if nothing had happened, as if she honestly expected him to be happy about her return and compliment her on her good behaviour, he frowned. He came closer so that he could take a better look at her. He wasn’t impressed with what he saw. She was dirty, barefoot and dressed in little more than rags. „Sidetracked?“ He laughed. „You weren’t sidetracked“, he corrected her. „You ran away – only Rhysol knows how you managed that - and you would have spared us all a lot of trouble if you had realized your mistake a little earlier. Nobody escapes from here. The leash please …“ He extended his hand. One of the men stepped forward and handed it to him. As he fastened the leash to her collar, he raised her chin a little and looked into her eyes. „I’m your new master. You will live with me from now on. You should consider yourself lucky that I’m still willing to take you in after your little escapade and don’t let my aunt experiment on you like she does on the rest of your kind.“ „You belong to House Nitrozian now. Do you have a name? If I like it, I might let you keep it.“

[Nya Winters]

The forest cat studied him with wide unblinking moss green eyes. She wasn't frightened of his anger. Anger was something she understood. What scared her more was indifference and silence when humans concealed what they were feeling from her. She could read body language and know what was coming, but indifference was harder.

"I did not run." She corrected helpfully. "I walked calmly." The kelvic said watching his eyes roam her body and knew he scorned the filth and her lack of finery. Truthfully it was better to be wearing nothing but skin than the rags that stunk of filth that she had on. Once, she'd had good things to wear. She wasn't sure how she knew that, but she did. Fine things...

The Kelvic glanced down at herself. Different. She was different now. She didn't know if it was worse or better, but she suspected the confinement had not been as good for her as the fresh air would be. She was distracted so when the man snapped the leash on, she blinked, glanced at it, then at the young man, and wondered if she should speak. "Leashes are illusions of power. They are symbols of control, not actual control. If you want to be what these people here expect you to be, you would not need such a thing. Obedience should be a natural response to your leadership, not one forced by a leash." The Kelvic observed causally, though she did not fight the thing being snapped on and held in his hand. Sure, she hated it, but there was a lot she hated and had no control over. At least not now.

"Do you have a name?" She asked instead of answering his question directly. The Kelvic met his eyes, then roamed his form taking in his height, weight, and the russet of his hair. Red? Brown? She was distracted for a moment, having no word for auburn and trying to decide how best to describe it. But it was his eyes that startled her. Blue, burning, slightly determined. What did he want from her? She took in his clothing, his speech, and decided he was nobility of some sort. And that fact didn't bode well for her.

The man was taller by two inches and outweighed her human form by at least twenty pounds. "I was called many things below..." She added, rattling off a list of slang in three languages that meant everything from worthless to whore to stubborn. She said these words quietly, without inflection, and as if they were no consequence to her. "But I have no name. They stripped it from me along with my memory. If you want me to have one, you'll have to name me yourself." She added.

House Nitrozian sounded important. The Kelvic tilted her head and looked at him thoughtfully. She shifted from one foot to another, not pulling on the leash but respecting what it represented. "Why you.. and your House? Am I to Protect? Pleasure? Entertain?" The last she dreaded. Many below made kelvics entertain, and most of them entertained by hand to hand combat that ended in the death of usually one or more of the entertainment. The Forest Cat disliked violence unless it was merited or she was hungry.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„You walked calmy back to your captors“, he repeated. The tone of his voice was neutral, as if he actually considered the possibility that her statement might be true, but the corners of his mouth twitched a little. Did she think that he would fall for such an obvious lie? No woman in her right mind would voluntarily return to those that had imprisoned her, although, come to think of it, she wasn’t a real woman, but some strange half animal and likely of lower intelligence … As she informed him that leashes were illusions of power, he shook his head and stated, „Leashes give the one that holds them some amount of real power. If I pulled at the leash, you would have no choice but to come with me.“ He yanked at the leash to prove his point. „If I attached my end of the leash to the fence, you would have stay here, without food, without water or shelter if the weather is bad, until somebody takes pity on you and releases you.“ „For now I’m afraid I’ll have to use the leash, but I hope that you will respect me in due time.“ A smile appeared on his face, soft, almost gentle, as if he only did this to help her, as if he only wanted what was best for her even if she didn’t appreciate it yet – as if he wanted to apologize for using the leash. He wondered what he should tell her to call him. Master? No, that sounded a bit too cliche, the typical slaver and slave scenario. A different, more subtle approach would be necessary if he wanted to find out more about her and study her as he had been told. Creatures like her didn’t always respond well if you tried to enforce your superiority on every occasion, in a rather obvious fashion. Besides, if he gave her his full name, she would at least be able to calmly walk back if she got lost again. „Valerius. Valerius Nitrozian“, he introduced himself to the creature. „As for your name, if you can’t remember it, I’ll think of one. Or maybe I’ll let you come up with a name. Would you like that?“ Another smile. „Why me?“ he repeated and shrugged his shoulders. „I don’t know. Maybe the Head Researcher gave you to me because there was no more room at the Institute. Maybe I asked for you because I have such a good heart and couldn’t bear to see a runaway punished. I have seen what they do to creatures like you, and I disagree with it. You deserve to be treated with a certain amount of respect. I think I’ll make a better master than the people at the Institute, don’t you agree?“ The lie easily left his lips. „That remains to be seen“, he replied curtly as she asked him what she was supposed to do, although he found the idea of sleeping with her fairly revolting. He wasn’t interested in her kind. „And now come. I’ve spent almost a day and a night looking for you, and I don’t want to delay my return to the mansion any more. And you … you need to be cleaned.“ He glanced at the guards who were still standing there, waiting for orders. „You’ll accompagny me to the mansion. After that you can go home.“