The Night Of Swords

"Well. I don't know. Your old identity is pretty null and void, kid."

 

"That works. Null, I mean. It sounds more like a name than the rest."

 

Mutt bounces up and down. "Yeah! That's a good name!"

 

"...fair enough. Nul it is. So. Huh. I guess we better figure out some kind of... education program?"

 

"That's a good idea. We should figure out what I already know. I've clearly got speech, so maybe there's something else left over, too."

 

Legion chuckles. "Smart kid. Alright. Start with something simple - tell me a story."

 

"Uh - there once was a dog who had a bone and she was taking it home, but on the way she passed a river. When she looked in the river, she saw a dog with an even bigger bone. She wanted the other dog's bone, so she leapt in the water and attacked it. But the dog disappeared, and her own bone got lost in the river. She went home hungry, and never realized that the other dog had only been her reflection." He looks at Legion. "I don't think I made that up, but I know what a dog is, and a river, and so on."

 

Legion glances at Mutt, then back. "...huh. well. We know you've got some knowledge locked in there! Name a bunch of bones."

 

"Tibia?" Nul frowns. "Phalanges, I think. And ribs. Wow, these are weird words. Do skulls count or no?"

 

"They count. Anything else?"

 

"I know there's little bones in ears but I forget the names. Um...fibula? Is that a bone?"

 

"Um...fibula? Is that one? And there's little bones in ears, but I don't know what their names are."

 

Legion and Even exchange a grin, then look at Mutt. "Want to see if he can use a knife?"

 

Mutt reaches for their knife, then changes their mind and pulls out a different one. They hand it hilt first to Nul.

 

Nul takes the knife and grips it tightly. "What do you want me to do?"

 

Legion throws a pillow at him, fastball style.

 

The pillow hits him square in the face.

 

"....no killer instinct, that's for sure."

 

"That's okay, I can teach him."

 

"Great idea," legion smiles.