MV2: Settling In

It took two days to get him properly set up and logged in to the online classes, but once they were ready Andy loved it. He could work almost any time, even during the day when he was trapped indoors; he could work as quickly or as slowly as he wanted to; and while he still had particular curricula he needed to complete, he could look at other things as well. It didn't take him long to fill out his class schedule.

Maria and Tom were frequently awake, especially when night was approaching, and the three of them wound up bonding over shared schedules as much as anything else. Maria was calling herself Maria OG -- "Original Ghoul" -- and had been turned much as Andy had, though ghouls didn't usually bother with the living. She'd been working in a mortuary, she explained, and had the misfortune to cross paths with a particularly desperate ghoul. Unlike Andy's maker, hers apparently felt really bad about it, and had brought her to the Authority himself, risking a citation to do it.

Andy tried not to be jealous about that. 

Tom, on the other hand, was less clear on his own origins. The black-eyed children were another order of being entirely, more akin to a ghost or a nature spirit despite having a physical form. "I woke up beside a stretch of road," he'd said quietly. "There was a car going by, so I put my thumb out. The driver picked me up, and I knew he'd done horrible things and was planning to do them to me, too. So I did horrible things to him."

"So how did you wind up here?" Andy asked. "If it's not prying, I mean. Don't tell us anything you don't want to."

"No, it's okay," Tom said. "After they found the wreck, a few people came to poke around who felt... I don't know. More like me. I ran, at first, but after a while I decided to talk to them, and... here we are."

Maria had nodded slowly at that. "Well, if it's any help, I'm glad you're here, Mijo."

Tom had nodded. "I wish I knew what I was... like, am I kid? Am I a ghost who just looks like a kid? I have these instincts, but... I like being here, where you two like me. And you're not... what that guy I killed was."

Andy had nodded at that. "I don't know either," he said. "I barely know what I am. But if you have a problem and you want... I don't know, help or advice... I'll do the best I can." 

"Me too," said Maria. "But you know that." 

Tom hesitated, then just said, "Thanks."

And then they went back to watching the baking show.