Summer is full here and that never makes me happy. I miss the oddly cool June. I am not made for heat.

I’m continuing with the get to know you conversation in the shuttlecraft between Kaleo and Aneirin. It’s a wee bit (i.e. a lot) over 6 sentences.

Kaleo spoke so casually about the violence he had suffered, Aneirin couldn’t comprehend it for a moment. Violence was light years from Aneirin’s reality. “I’m not going to use a pain inducer on you.” He wasn’t even sure they were entirely legal but now that he thought about, every Toy he had seen had one. He’d never paid much attention and that bothered him. “ I’m stuck with you for now. You’ll have to trust me to do right by you, and I’ll have to do the same.”

Kaleo made a face. “Trust no one, that’s what keeps you alive. I forgot and look where I am.” He rubbed his reddened eyes. “You really don’t want me, do you, Master?” The honorific got spat out like a piece of gristle.

“You don’t have to call me that, Kaleo, and no, I didn’t but it changes nothing. You’re my responsibility.”

“She called you doctor, that lady.” Kaleo pressed his fingers against the pain-inducer. “You taking this out?”

“Not that kind of doctor, but I’ll have it removed.”

“Does that mean you’re not sending me back, doctor? Please don’t send me back.” Even in the bright light of the cabin, Kaleo’s pupils were round and huge, a sure sign his sympathetic nervous system was still fully engaged.

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