8 Home

Kaleb had decided to postpone his plans with the Library. Instead he was directing most of his time and effort into procuring himself a place to stay and practicing his powers. So far he'd been mainly focused on his room and the general necessities of the building. Since Kaz technically still owned the building, getting the water and electricity back on was relatively easy as soon as they actually started paying the bills again. Apparently Kaz's late master left behind a small fortune… which he never used.

Kaleb had chosen a bedroom on the second floor, coincidentally it was the same one he entered into through the window. It wasn't really a hard choice, all the rooms are the same after all. They had a bed, dresser, desk, nightstand, a mirror, and a connected bathroom. He only chose this one because of the access to the fire escape. 

He'd also spent some time becoming familiar with the layout of the house. The first floor had a sitting room, a dining room, a kitchen, and the study. The second had five bedrooms, four normal and one master bedroom. The third was taken up by a large library. Every one of the rooms had all the expected furnishings, all of which were in the same victorian style. There were also quite a few anomalous items in the house, most of them are pointless but there were a few of note. For example there was a painting in the entryway, it was one of the first things you saw if you entered through the front door, if you looked at it you couldn't look away until you have "completely appreciated" the artwork. This was usually only around an hour or so but it wasn't unheard of for people to be stuck there for days, luckily Kaleb was only standing there for around three hours. According to Kaz it was designed to be a defence mechanism causing any would be intruder to be frozen in place, and since it only worked the first time a person laid eyes upon it, it was quite effective.  

Kaz provided money and expected it to be used for the house, either repairs or food. And that was another thing, Kaz expected Kaleb to prepare meals. Apparently this was part of the "contract" they had. Luckily, in his previous life, Kaleb wasn't the type to survive off of instant meals, he actually knew a few homemade dishes. Kaz wasn't expecting this, If his reaction to the first meal Kaleb prepared was any indication. He probably saw it as an easy chance to kick Kaleb out but now Kaz probably won't let him leave. 

Kaz himself rarely seemed to leave the study except for meals, but Kaleb knew better than to think that, he suspected that Kaz had hidden passages or something. Judging at how he always seemed to know what happened in the house. Luckily being left alone gave Kaleb more time than he expected to practice his powers. Freezing existing water was a cinch at this point freezing the water in the air however was not, it was far too slow right now to be practical in a fight. The overall control had also gotten better, making it float in the air, breaking pieces apart into shards, combining shards, and launching said shards as projectile weapons were all now within his ability. He had also learned a neat trick while trying to freeze the water in the air, by targeting the area around him and dropping the temperature of the air in that area he could create a thick fog. 

Things went well, and within a few weeks the whole building was livable and clean again. Well, short of the stain that was Kaz's master. It was without saying that Kaleb was now a permanent member of the household. Because of all this Kaleb felt that he had earned the right to ask some questions, so he waited until the one time Kaleb got to see Kaz for any length of time, dinner. 

Kaleb had prepared some grilled fish for the dinner, in an attempt to gain some extra points in Kaz's favor. The meal went like all the rest did, Kaz recounting what Kaleb did during the day and asking what he planned on doing next, but this time Kaleb didn't have an answer for him. He had gotten the house back to near peak condition and there weren't any major tasks to be done. 

"Well, there isn't really anything left to do for the house, so instead I was going to pursue some of the projects that I had hinted at before" Kaleb told him.

Seeing Kaz nod slowly in recognition Kaleb continued. "But first I'd like to ask some questions about Three Ports, I'm still pretty new here and I know you have answers."

"Alright, ask away" Kaz responded. 

"Alright then, so first I was wondering if you could give me a run down on all the major groups in Three Ports" of course kaleb already knew more about these groups than anyone but the groups themselves, however he didn't know what period of development all of these groups were in. He had realized this when he heard something about Anderson Robotics while out shopping. Anderson's company should have already been destroyed by the foundation by this point but apparently they were still around in this version of the world. Kaleb's best guess as to why was that Dionysus changed things around to make them more "entertaining" for him and the other gods to watch.  

Kaz took a moment to gather his thoughts before answering, "Well the major groups you'll find around here are Wilson's Wildlife Solutions, the UIU, and Anderson Robotics. WWS is basically an anomalous animal shelter, they work pretty closely with the UIU and the Jailors when dealing with anomalous wildlife. The UIU are a part of the US FBI and act as the city's police force, and Anderson Robotics is a company that makes robots more advanced than anything ever seen. Both WWS and the UIU are good groups, mostly made up of good people trying to do good things. Anderson used to be a good guy but as his company has grown he's become less and less considered about the common man's well being."

Nothing about Wilson's Wildlife Solutions or the UIU was new information for Kaleb, but now he had an idea of what stage Anderson Robotics was at. It was around the time when the group Anderson started his company with, began to break apart due to differences on how to run the company. Anderson wanted to sell prosthetics that gave people superhuman abilities to the highest bidder, most of his colleagues were against this. 

"Other than them there are numerous groups involved in Three Ports there's groups like the Jailors, Marshal Carter & Dark, the remnants of Prometheus, Gamers Against Weed, and whatever Maxwellist groups are out and about." Kaz finished, picking at his teeth. 

But Kaleb had one last question, it was a risky one, but he had a hunch Kaz would answer. "What about the Serpent's Hand?"  

Kaz's eyes narrowed, "what about them? He asked, radiating that same distrust as when they first met. 

"Well…" Kaleb began choosing his words carefully, "They're the ones who control the lybrary aren't they? I was going to try and gain access." 

Kaleb was purposefully playing ignorant in an  attempt to not seem suspicious, especially if Kaz was this agitated by the mention of their name. 

Kaz softened a little at that, "well yes they are in charge of the library, but the library is open to anyone who  it allows inside," He corrected. 

"Just be careful if you ever get involved with them, they have more enemies than You can count and they show no mercy." 

And with that he stood up from the table, Taking his plate with him. "If you're really interested go check out the city public library, I know there's a way hidden somewhere in there." With that said he was gone, leaving for the study and dropping his dishes off in the kitchen on the way. 

'Well now I know where to start' Kaleb thought with a smile.