The Ranch

Carrier Pigeon (1)

Basile stares at the pitch blackness before in eye in bewilderment. He's fully aware of Tih's size and can image how he must look right now," You..."

Tih looks through the darkness at the embarrassment on Basile's face. He ignores it and carries him through the mountains. Once the illumination from the training ground enters their sight, Tih sets him down.

*cough* " thank you...boss." A stone-faced Basile meekly states. He hands Tih a lollipop before quickly walking off. Tih watches him leave and heads back to his dorm.

Tih continues his day's spending time with Kai's group, Victor's group, and the instructors, unintentionally furthering his camaraderie with all of them.

Soon, a month passed.

During this time, Kai's group and Victor's group have all found job and spend at least a couple hours working every day.

Originally, Tih had no one to follow during this time and spent this free period wandering wherever. He eventually settled in the mountains, spending those couple hours practicing with his grappling gun.

That time when Kai's group was signing up for classes mostly relied on luck and talent, pure unbridled talent.

But now, Tih has put at least some hard work to get better control over the grappling gun and understand it better. Now it can be used like an extension of his body. It can be used at will, whenever, wherever.

Tih spent a full month practicing before anyone realized he didn't have a job. Kai's group were the first ones to find out.

They were eating breakfast and discussing their jobs, exchanging knowledge. When they looks towards Tih, he takes out his grappling gun. The other two stare at it, trying to figure out what job it is.

Kai, who's spent another month with Tih and his character, put two and two together. His face twitched as he explained to Sherlock and Lucien.

Sherlock finally understood and even took it one step further, realizing Tih doesn't need a job in the first place. His free meals on the fifth floor plus the golden thigh named Phillip adds up to financial stability. If Phillip buys all of Tih's basic necessities like toothpaste and shampoo, Tih will never have to work a day in his life, not to mention the money he won from the tournament.

They don't know Tih have the money to Pierre without a second thought. If they did, they'd probably have a mental breakdown. That money could last them a long time if used wisely and Tih offhandedly gave it away like it was just plastic.

In conclusion, Tih's been practicing during the time others were hard at work, earning living expenses to survive on the island, a luxury not all soldiers have. They were smart enough to sign up to classes immediately and were able to find jobs because they passed their classes. Not all the new recruits can say that.

After understanding Tih's financial situation, they let him do whatever he wants. Tih continues to go to the mountains every day to practice.

One day, as he parts with the others and walks towards the mountains, he bumps into someone familiar. The other person also looks surprised," Tih?"

Tih looks at the ragged man's face, the large bags under his eyes. It looks like Private Scott hasn't gotten any sleep in the past few days.

After his initial exclamation, Private Scott says his go-to greeting," It's good to see you. How have you been? Ah, right." He remembers asking the silent child questions is not the best idea. He rubs his tired face, understanding why he's being so careless, but it can't be helped.

"I'm a little busy right now, so I'll have to cut the conversation short. It was really nice to see you're doing well, if you need anything, come find me." He then speed-walks away, not noticing Tih following behind him silently.

Private Scott takes out a few usb-sized trinkets, checking them before putting them back in his pocket. He eventually reaches B dormitories, below Tih's A dorms.

Tih follows him through the suburbs lined with two-story apartment buildings. They finally reach the main building, like the one Major Jax stays in.

Tih watches Private Scott enter the somewhat bustling building, a contrast to Major Jax's desolate one. Workers file in and out. A receptionist sits behind a counter.

Private Scott goes up to the receptionist and speaks with them, before walking through a door on the side. Tih follows without a sense of presence, like a ghost.

He slips through the door to see Private Scott hand a man sitting behind a desk the usb. The beefy man with scruff has similar characteristics as Major Jax. The only difference is this man's undereye bags that are identical to Private Scott's. In fact, Private Scott's are darker.

"Thanks, I owe you one. That bastard still refuses to get off his couch." The man behind the desk sighs.

"I patiently wait for the day he doesn't come back from his trial. Then, hopefully, a more capable person will take over his position." Private Scott agrees vehemently.

The man issues a tired chuckle," Haven't you been hoping for that the past decade?"

"Please don't remind me," Private Scott rubs his temples.

"Hmm? And who is this?" The man looks at the obvious child, the only other person in the room.

Tih was able to walk through the other room virtually noticed because of a couple reasons. For one, there were many people in the room, all of which were moving around. Second, no one was actually looking for him, making it easier to glance over Tih.

In this room, Tih's pale skin color is a stark contrast to the darkish colors in the room. Tih also happens to be standing in front of a ray of sun. His pale skin almost reflects the bright light, blinding whoever looks at it. His beautiful blue eyes remain still as they look around.

Private Scott turns around," Eh? Tih, did you follow me?"

"He's a new helper?" The man's question is directed towards Scott.

"No, one of the newbies I showed around."

"Oh yeah. You were assigned the job as a "break", right?" Scott grumbles at the man's words. The man behind the desk continues," Then you should make him a helper. It doesn't look like he has anything better to do."

"Thats...Tih, can you do me a favor? I'm actually running behind schedule right now, so you'd be a big help." Private Scott looks at Tih.

The old man told Tih he should always help people, though he hasn't fully grasped the concept of 'helping'. That's why, it makes it easier for him when people say what they need outright. Hearing the word "help", Tih nods.

Scott sighs in relief," Can you give this usb to Jax? He'll know what to do with it." He starts speedwalking out of the room. Pausing at the door, he says," Ah, and make sure he actually uses it!"

Only the man and Tih are left in the room. The man sighs," Looks like he hasn't slept in a week. Haha, though, I can't say I'm much better."

He looks towards the child," Scott is an extremely diligent person, bearing all that work alone when it should be a full team's job. Damn that Jax. If you ever have any free time in the future, please help Scott out a little." The man unknowingly gave Tih a new order he would commit to for the next month or so.