Huh. Fancy. Okay then.

I'll give them that, stuff here's pretty fancy.

They should use that as a marketing tactic. 'Join us, we are super fancy.'

I think they kinda do. I'm sure one of the pitches for new tinkers is getting access to other tinkers' stuff.

True. But there's having resources you need to accomplish things, and then there's - movable walls. You know?

Oh yeah, definitely. I think they also offer that to other Wards, especially poor ones. There's the allowance—which I don't really get, mind you, what with being on probation—and there's help for struggling families and such.

Well, good. I'm glad to see they're treating their Wards well. Sorry you don't get an allowance, though.

Eh, I'll eventually get stuff, after I graduate, and it's not like I was livin' easy before. When I stole stuff I'd usually send the proceeds to charities.

That was nice of you. Thanks on the charities' behalf.

But if you need help, let me know? I'll help you out.

I will. For now I'm cool, though. I'm sure I'll be able to befriend more people here soon enough, after all the hazing ends.

Now I'm curious about how they're hazing you.

They're sort of reenacting the pranks I played, on me. I found my toilet clogged with plush fairies yesterday and my computer's been overtaken by unicorns and rainbows.

How colorful.

It's actually pretty funny. They're trying to get a rise out of me but.

Yeah. I'm glad you find your hazing entertaining.

I'm exactly the sort of person who would, aren't I?

You could still potentially find some of it unpleasant even if you're generally easy going and whimsical.

Yeah, and I might, some of them, but, you know, I kinda do deserve it, so I'll weather it and try to make friends.

... That wording sort of makes her wince.

Still, you being a former villain that gave them shit doesn't excuse mistreatment, okay? If it goes too far, let me know.

Okay, I will. But it's fine, really. Some of them like me in spite of everything. Legend's all disappointed father figure but Cobbler's fun.

I bet you'll win most of them over.

Me, too! Anyway, I gotta go, Wards are calling me over for something—fifty-fifty on it being some prank.

All right, good luck. Let me know if you need me, or even if you just want to talk.

She decides that it's too early to start pestering Eidolon to play hooky with her to kill the Blasphemies, so she spends her time surveying and studying African countries. Nothing really overt, but if she's going to be a warlord of a place, she's going to know something about the place.

The word "countries" has somewhat lost its meaning there, given how quickly the borders shift around and the rather loose governmental structure. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call them "territories."

Well. Yeah. That makes sense. Having a bunch of unstoppable warlords running around killing people and sectioning off pieces for themselves will turn any governing bodies irrelevant very quickly.

She looks up the borders of the countries that once existed, and then she can look up territories now, and start figuring out how they evolved to where they are now. Who took over what, who defeated whom, how people tended to run the place, what happened and who did it. She's not going to get accurate or complete information by any means, but she wants to have some idea of something before she shows up out of nowhere to take over.