Episode: 7.15

--- Trish ---

“Where’s the kid?” Mags huffed as she walked into the break room.

“I sent him out on an errand.” She answered without bothering to look up from her phone.

“Damn.” Mags cursed. “We’re out of envelopes and I’ve got a bunch of paperwork I need to mail out.”

“You could go get them yourself.” She reminded her friend.

Mags rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but I thought you were looking for busywork to pawn off on him.”

(Damn it. Always when I’m reading.)

She closed the book app on her phone before turning to Maggie. “I’m not trying to pawn busywork off on him,” (anymore) “I’m just trying to keep him active enough to keep him from brooding.”

“He does do that.” Maggie nodded. “But still the one time I actually needed something you’ve already sent him out. I mean what did you send him to get?”

“Lunch.”

“For everyone?”

(And of course, the mention of food causes an immediate one-eighty.)

“I sent him to grab a bunch of cheap burgers.” (That way Ozzy can actually eat his fill, without eating my wallet too.)

Honestly, she was glad Ozzy had come forward about his metabolism -even if her food bill were about to double- and was surprised she hadn’t considered the possibility. Especially since it answered several of the problems, she’d been seeing with his health lately. Such as his sluggishness, headaches, and mood swings.

(Thinking about it I wonder if it’s why he passed out last week too…)

For the most part she’d written the incident off as his body still adjusting to whatever changes becoming a Deadman had done to his biology. (But it could’ve been that he’d spent a week without eating when he needed to eat twice as much as a normal person.)

It was something to consider at the very least.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“Oh, that reminds me, do you have any idea what Walters has against Ozzy?”

She blinked, since apparently Mags had still been talking for the last minute or two. “Er, what?”

Mags gave her a look. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed how Walters keeps eyeing Ozzy?”

“No, I’ve noticed. I just figured it’s because Marian tried to stab your ex that one time.” It was reasonable enough to believe Walters had lost all faith in her ability as a judge of character.

“Never did thank her for that.” Mags commented idly, before shaking her head. “Still, no. He’s been acting weird whenever Ozzy’s just… sitting there really.”

“Do you really think he’s acting that much worse than he treated Jacob?”

“Maybe?” Mags shrugged. “Honestly, all I can say is he’s being more blatant about whatever dislike he’s got going on.”

She couldn’t help but frown at that. “You don’t think he’s anti-deviant, do you?” She’d never gotten that feeling from Dr. Walters, especially given how many of her friends he let hang around the clinic.

Mags tilted her head “Mm, I don’t think it’s that, but there’s definitely something he doesn’t like about Ozzy.” Her friend gained a thoughtful look for a moment. “Do you think it has anything to do with that collar he’s always wearing?”

She blinked. “Collar?”

“Collar, choker whatever.” Maggie waved the question away. “The point is that thing around his neck makes him look like a wannabe punk half the time. And when you throw in the fact that he’s pale, his eyes are ringed, and that he wears nothing but black and blue half the time…” Mags paused for a moment. “Actually, maybe he’s goth?”

“I, um…” She… actually hadn’t realized Ozzy was wearing a dog collar until that exact moment. Sadly, as someone who once associated with Jacob Sionis, her mind did not go anywhere good.

“Still, Walters could just have an issue with ‘punks’ and ‘goths’ rather than actual Deviants.” Mags pointed out. “Might actually explain his obsession with staying in ‘professional dress’.”

Rather than agreeing, she just gave a non-committal hum as she considered the fact that even after giving him a selection of her former tenants’ clothing, he’d only chosen clothes resembling what he was always wearing.

(I wonder if that ties into the whole manifest personality thing?) It was something she’d picked up when looking into ways to help Ozzy. Apparently Deadmen were, to a certain extent, meta-physical with their physical health tying into their perception of self. Meaning that the closer a Deadman was to their idea of ‘self’ the healthier they’d be, and thus they would subconsciously gravitate towards that idea.

Which according to the book she read, was the reason why Deadmen slowly became more monstrous the longer they existed. Since they had to eat people to survive, it slowly warped their sense of self into that of a monster, and given their manifest personalities, they would eventually turn into those monsters.

She’d made the mistake of looking up images of how those Deadmen had changed, and… -(Fangs and claws… Bones bursting through flesh… Ghastly green eyes bleeding glowing blood…)- Those people… they weren’t people anymore… (and I can’t let that happen to Ozzy…)

Realizing where her head was going, she shook it clear and forced her thoughts to a more positive place as she once more opened the book on child psychology she’d downloaded on her phone.

(All that means, is I just have to prove to Ozzy that he’s still a regular kid, even if… different.)