Chilly winter air bites at Astrid’s nose as she and Blue Raspberry make their way through Sol City. The two of them heard about some Winter’s Crown activities to help people, and neither of them could resist the opportunity to do just that. Well, Astrid couldn’t resist. She more than likely tempted Blue along with the promise of interesting things to eat.

While they make their way through the Housing District to scope out the place they’re supposed to be scoping out, Astrid remembers something: Blue somehow acquired the deed to a home in this part of the city! That’s right, she wanted to check it out to see if they could find out if someone is living there or if they could sell it or something.

Spinning around on her heel, Astrid looks up at Blue. “Hey, ya still have that deed, right? We should go check that place out! The place is in Sol City wasn't it? We could see if it belongs ta someone an' give it back or if it don't, we could do somethin' with it.”

"Yup, got it right here!" Blue replied, clanging their metal clad fist on their front of their cuirass. The ooze carried just about everything they owned around inside them except the few things they deemed worthy (and Astrid had allowed them) to display in their room at home. But all of that was stuff that even the horrendous hoarder thought they probably wouldn't need with them all the time. The deed to the house they'd found was not among these.

"You really think it might belong to someone?" They asked while sliding the rolled up piece of parchment from the neck hole of their cuirass. They were pretty sure the guy they'd found it on was dead and if they hadn't been already, they certainly were after being completely devoured by the ooze. Maybe it didn't belong to him? They weren't really sure how deeds worked still, so they didn't question Astrid's logic very much as they handed her the deed to take a look at.

Astrid watches them take it out of their internal storage and present it. "Well, it did belong ta someone," she says. "Ya said ya ate someone and took all their stuff. But what if they had a family or somethin'? If someone's livin' at the place, we should give them the deed back. We don't really need it 'cause we have a house!" 

She takes the deed from Blue Raspberry and looks over it again for the address. 14 Solaria Way. Sir Upticious Lee. It didn't occur to her before when she read it. "Sir? Oh, they might've been a knight fer Capitol Landin'..." she murmurs. If someone finds out they have this, they could get into trouble... 

"Yeah, I guess so." Blue replied with a shrug. They hadn't really thought about it since they'd eaten that corpse. They thought about things a lot less back then. They've been getting better at thinking though. They were definitely way smarter now than back then! Probably. At least they had a lot more experience now than they had then, that was for sure.

Pretty soon, the house in question was in sight. A large number 14 was on a shiny plaque on the gate that enclosed the small courtyard in front of the house. It was a pretty big place with a fancy wrought iron fence all around it and an ornate gate in front. The hedges and grass in the yard were a bit overgrown and beds that were probably full of flowers were bare. It must have been neglected for a while now.

Beyond the yard, the front door was tall with big glass windows framing it. There were signs of wealth and lavishness all over, but compared to a lot of the homes in the area it was relatively humble. What was there was likely the bare minimum to keep up appearances in this city. There was no big fountain in the yard or fancy marble statues. The windows were pretty plain in design with red painted shutters. The walls were white stucco. There were two floors with a balcony hanging over the front porch held up by stucco columns. Whoever this Sir Upticious had been, he didn't seem as snobby or elite as the uptight nobles who called this area home.

On the front door, visible from the street, was a crest. The crest of the Knights of Duros.

In Astrid's mind, at least, when suggesting that they return the deed, she's considering that this knight had a family or someone that cared a lot about them. Since she's had someone go missing, she knows how much that can make someone worry, and the last thing they should worry about is whether or not they still get to live in their house. 

However, once they arrive at the gates in front of the small estate, her enthusiasm drops a bit. "Oh," is all she musters before she shrugs. "Well, that's too bad, ain't it? Maybe it was a summer home or somethin'. I think rich people have those. Still..."

Now what? 

"We don't have a key, and it ain't right ta go snoopin'. Havin' a deed means ya own the place though..." 

Astrid looks around, her brow furrowing because she's not a fan of Sol City. "I mean, do ya wanna have a house here?"

It doesn't occur to her that the Knights of Duros are figures of high society. She doesn't even recognize the crest.

"Hmmm..." Blue thought for a moment with a hand to the front of their helmet. They weren't crazy about Sol City themself. They didn't hate the place. They actually had fond memories of it since it was practically where they were born if you didn't count the boat they fled from. It was where they crawled into a suit of armor and introduced themself to the world as Blue Raspberry. Still, they preferred living in Dragon's Cradle with Astrid. They didn't really have a need for a house in Sol City.

Before Blue could answer Astrid though, they suddenly saw something move in one of the upstairs windows of the house. A curtain swished back into place as if someone had just released it. Had someone been looking out the window at them? Maybe someone was still living here after all.

"Hey, I think someone is in there. I saw something in that window." Blue said to Astrid, pointing to the window they mentioned. "Let's just go check it out!"

Blue pushed open the big metal gate easily, it hadn't even been locked, and made their way up to the front door. The front door, unlike the gate, actually was locked. But that was no problem for the ooze who just started picking the lock, the blue goo flooding the keyhole and clicking the tumblers into position until the door creaked open.

---

Bull's Strength
Lock Pick

“Huh? Someone’s in there?” Astrid asks. Before she knows it, Blue is on the move. “Hey, wait a second, we can’t just go breakin’ in ta the house. Ya may have the deed, but yer name ain’t on it.” Too late. The gate is opened, and the most she can do is follow.

“Guess we can open the door and see if anyone’s home,” she continues, stepping over grass that’s diligently pushed its way up between the bricks of the walkway. It seems weird that anyone would be here. She’d think that they’d have taken better care of the yard, but maybe they’re not able to do that on their own. But this is also a pretty rich-looking house, and don’t rich people have landscapers?

Wait, Blue’s picking the lock. “Blue!” she hisses, looking back to make sure there aren’t any guards or watchful eyes on them.

That’s when she notices someone is looking at them from a neighboring house’s window. Then the window opens.

“Sir Umpticious!” the woman calls in a friendly tone. “Hello! It’s been so long since we last saw you! We were beginning to worry! Who is that with you? Your new squire? Lovely to meet you, dear!”

Uh oh.

"Wha-?" Blue looked back at the woman in surprise. Who? Sir Upticious? That was a familiar name, but it wasn't either of the names Blue Raspberry went by. Why would this woman think they were- ohhhhhhhhhh. The armor. Right. It belonged to that guy, didn't it? Alright. They were being mistaken for that guy because they were wearing his armor.

What was the best way to deal with this situation? Should they act natural? Maybe lie and pretend to be the guy? No, but they were trying to return the deed to his house to his family or something. That would be weird to pretend to be him. Should they tell the truth? How would this old lady react if Blue said "No, sorry, that Upticious guy is dead and I'm just wearing his armor and breaking into his house."? She would probably call the guards. They shouldn't do that. Yup, there was only one thing to do.

"Run." Blue said simply to Astrid before breaking into a sprint right out the gate and back down the street.

Astrid freezes in place when the woman calls out to them, but she doesn't seem suspicious of them at all. "Huh, oh, uhhhh, nice ta meet ya too, miss!" Astrid awkwardly calls back with a sort of half-wave to try and hide her panic. She glances at Blue Raspberry, expecting them to attempt to pass themselves off as the guy, and even with the helmet on she can see the cogs turning behind their eyes. What will they come up with? 

So she continues, "We're just uh... comin' ta get a few thin's before he sells the place!" That's a good lie. It's even a half-truth! But wait, this lady's mistaking them for this knight and a squire. How many others have mistaken Blue for this Sir Umpticious? 

"Sell it? Oh, but it's such a wonderful property..." the woman says before murmuring. "Well, except the overgrown yard..."

That's when it comes. "Run." And suddenly, the knight takes off running full speed. 

"Huh, what?!" Astrid shouts, confused. THIS IS EVEN MORE SUSPICIOUS THAN BREAKING IN DISGUISED AS THE OWNER!! "Wait!" She glances at the utterly surprised neighbor. "Uhhhhhh, duty calls!" And then she blitzes away from the door full speed. 

"Blue! What the heck are ya doin'?!" she demands as soon as she catches up.

"I don't know, I panicked! I didn't want to pretend to be him, but I didn't want to tell that lady I wasn't him, so um." Blue stuttered, trying to explain why they did what they did as best they could. Thinking more logically, it probably would have been a much better idea to just give the lady a wave and then go inside the house or something. Running off like that had certainly been suspicious. Thankfully she didn't chase after them or anything. Maybe she believed Astrid about needing to duty or whatever.

"Do you think we should go back? Maybe there's a back door we can go through so we don't have to see that lady again."

Heavy breaths escape Astrid as she recovers from the full-blown sprint down the street. "O-On the one hand, I wanna find out if the knight had any family or anythin'," she says, stretching her back out as if it will open up her lungs a bit more. "On the other hand... Maybe there's a knight outpost, and ya can just... ask fer a new assignment somewhere? Maybe get yerself a new place in Dragon's Cradle? Or we can find a um... Ah, what're they called? Well, someone who sells houses an' we can trade the deed with them? That might be fine..."

It's a tricky situation, and Astrid doesn't have the worldy experience to exactly make a good decision about these kinds of things. The morality in her says they should do the right thing, and the other part of her says that there's only so much they can do. 

"Ya know... yer the one with the fancy piece of paper. What do YOU want ta do?" 

Blue looked back down the street they'd just run down toward the house. It had definitely seemed abandoned, but they'd also definitely seen someone in the window. It was true, they didn't need a house. They already lived with Astrid and Cantio and were happy there. It would be great to sell it or trade it, but... what if it really wasn't abandoned? If Sir Upticious really had left some family behind, they should give the deed back. Maybe they could consider it their thanks for the meal and the armor.

"I want to go back and make sure he really had no family. If he did, we should give it back. I feel like I owe him that much for..." Blue finished by motioning at themself and then shrugging. They started walking back toward the house, keeping an eye out for any more old ladies. Before reaching the block, they turned down an alley between some houses to try and approach the house from the back, a bit more stealthily. There was indeed a back gate, but this one was locked unlike the front. Easily taken care of.

With the slime flowing back out of the key hole, the padlock fell to the ground and Blue pushed the gate open, walking up the path to the back door which was.... wide open?

"Huh? We didn't open that one.... right?" Blue asked, pointing to the open door. They could be forgetful, but they were pretty sure they'd have remembered whether or not they'd dabbled with the back door before, and they definitely hadn't.

---

Lock Pick

Astrid's glad Blue wants to at least check things out again. They're still learning, but it shows how much they've learned. Sure the knight was already dead by someone else's hand when Blue ate him, but the knight's armor has given Blue a chance to live a life outside the sewers. The least they can do is make sure his family is alright. 

When they approach the back gate, Astrid stays vigilant for anyone who might see them, and when Blue gets it opened and points out the open back door, her brow furrows. "No, we didn't come back here," she says, cautiously approaching and looking around for anyone nearby. How long has this been open? When she gets to the doorway, she looks at it and realizes that part of the frame is broken and the door is damaged. It's been forced open. 

"What the heck...? Someone broke in." 

With caution, Blue pushed the door open further and went inside, glancing around in case whoever had broken into the back door was still inside. Something was noticeable right away as they took in the sight of the interior. All of the furniture was gone!

The back door entered into what seemed like a kitchen, but it was only identifiable from the cabinets and counters that were built in around the walls. The large area where a table and chairs would have been was empty. The counters were bare or any utensils. Some of the cabinet doors hung open, leaving the empty insides exposed. Even the area that looked like it used to have a stove was empty, the evidence of it being ripped out and taken away was left there covered in dust.

It was all covered in dust, except for one thing. A path of footsteps leading straight through the kitchen and into the door on the other side, opposite the exit. Someone had run through here, and they'd done it recently, but they couldn't have been the one to loot the place clean. Not with the dust left on everything else. The place was looted a long time ago.

After Blue opens the door, Astrid steps in cautiously, looking around. The place really is empty, and there’s dust everywhere. Who knows how long it’s been since someone broke in and took everything? Long enough for a lot of dust to settle, apparently. Or maybe the family that lived here moved out and someone broke in looking for anything left behind. It’s possible there were squatters.

“Uh, Blue..? How long’s it been since ya got that armor?” she asks, her eyes taking in the completely empty townhouse.

She notices the light doesn’t catch the floor in the same way through one path. It looks well walked, with a fresh pair of footsteps leading out to the other door. “Maybe the person ya saw in here was just tryna live here since no one else was. Must’ve run off when they heard us at the door.”