Have I really not given him a name yet?

My hands were shaking with nervousness as I walked up to the store, or the "distribution centre", as people chose to call it. As I walked, I tried to plan how I would get some alone time with one of the Alma, and how I would convince them to trust me. I was going based on the assumption that the worst case scenario was true, and that the Alma did want to be free, but weren't allowed that right by human society. If I go in with the opposing assumption, I may miss warning signs. If I go in without any assumptions...I'm actually not even sure that is possible, not for me, not for this. I can't summon up the level of calmness and emotional distance that I would need in order to not make any assumptions. I want too badly for the best case scenario to be true, and I am too terrified of the worst case scenario for me to be emotionally distant. Planning, planning, planning. How do I plan this? When I am shown the Alma, should I ask for time to inspect them, alone without the store owner there to try and distract me? That seems reasonable enough, but any salesperson worth their salt wouldn't want a customer to make decision without trying to get any input in, so they are not going to want to do that. Maybe I should try to be intimidating, and make them back off. The only issue with that plan is that I am not sure that I can be intimidating. Once I'm alone with the Alma, what do I say? "Hey, how ya doin', like bein' a ****?" In either the worst case scenario or the best case scenario, the answer will be the same. It may even be difficult to tell with nonverbal cues if they have been trained to act in a way that makes the lie believable.

I stop in front of the door, my mind whirling with all these thoughts, as I draw a deep and shaky breath, and push on the doors. They're pull doors. I try to get out of my head a little as I pull open the doors, and walk into the store. I barely have time to get a syllable of my pre-prepared speech out of my mouth before I am hit witha flying tackle. An Alma girl my age wraps her arms around me, nuzzling my chest while happily whispering something over and over again.

"It'syouit'syouit'syouit'syou"

"Uhm," I clear my throat, "It's me who?" I am not sure that question made any grammatical sense, but it seems that I got my point across, since she bolts upright with an answer.

"My Master!" she exclaims, before rising to her tiptoes to kiss me on the lips. My brain shortcircuited from the shock for a second, before I came back to myself enough to separate from her. I manage to just barely unentangle myself from her arms when the store employee walks in.

"Oh, you'll be taking her then?" he says, with complete disinterest in his voice.

Damn, that is one hell of a sales tactic.

"Unfortunately, I'm no-," I'm cut off by a sound somewhere between a wail, a shriek, and the word "No!" erupting from the Alma girl beside me. The sound is filled with such heart-wrenching agony, that I find myself wrapping my arms around the girls, holding her tight and whispering comfortingly in her ear that it will all be okay. Whatever is happening here, she must obviously want to get away from, she seems to find the idea of staying here utterly terrifying.

"Yes, yes I will take her. How much?"

The employee looks the girl over with a crtical eye. He then turns an equally critical eye to me, probbly trying to guess how much money I had on me.

"$7000,"

I grit my teeth. That's a lot of money. Like 6 months rent, all at once. Seeing as he blatantly made up a price in front of me, I think that I would be able to bargain under normal circumstances, like buying a car or a house. But bargaining would mean acting like I wouldn't buy the girl, and judging from how tight she is clinging to me, I don't think she would be able to handle that.

"Fine,"

I wrap my arms even tighter around the girl and whisper, "It'll all be okay. I will never hurt you, I swear."

"D-don't abandon me"

God, this girl's life must have been horrible, if that is what she is afraid of. For all she knows, I could be purchasing her just so I have someone to beat senseless whenever I feel like, and she is afraid of being abandoned. I can't imagine the terrible neglect someone has to go through to think like that.

"I won't. Ever"