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Shane had been around enough to know by now that when a lab sends a letter, that he had better bring his van. Not because they were going to load it up with supplies, but because he was probably getting another kid. It was just a fact of life around here, but then again, Shane liked kids so it wasn't that big of a deal to him. He understood why these sorts of letters needed to be handed out to those who were a little more unwilling to accept a charge, but with his history of previous experiences, the letter he received today just might as well have said "You're looking after a kid whether you like them or not". For the sake of his household, he seriously hoped that he would.

Walking into the front door of the labs, Shane noticed that the place was rather new and didn't seem to be hostile, which was a nice change from the previous trend. Standing twiddling his thumbs, he waited to be greeted by somebody that would let him in on what was really going on.

Yup, it had started. Shane smiled at the lady too and glancing at her triumphant pen, pulled out the letter from deep in his coat and presented it to the lady.

"I got this in my mailbox a little while ago. Are you the person I see about this? Though I think I can guess..." he said, his thought trailing off a little as he looked around the labs.

"Oh? I have a choice?" Shane asked honestly as he followed behind the woman. "Normally, people just give one to me, not like that's a big deal really: it's nice to have kids around the house. They're not usually too much trouble. It's just strange that I actually have a choice as to who comes into my house and who doesn't."

He gave it some thought as he walked, honestly he wasn't entirely certain as to what to ask for, so he just gave the woman some basics.

"Well, right now I don't think that my other son, Espen would get along well with girls, y'know? He's kinda...at that age, if you know what I'm saying. Also, I don't like kids that are too much trouble. It's not that I can't handle trouble, I'd just rather not deal with it, if I had the choice. Also, I just got a large above-ground pool, so if they like water, it's a plus." Shane paused and scratched his head "Heh, sorry. I'm not being very helpful am I?"

In the tank, the boy was swimming on his back with his eyes closed. Just another day of doing nothing was fine by him. The tank was hot, as usual, and he didn't have to even look to see where he was going while he swept through the current. He could just feel where the walls of the tank were based on water flow alone, and was very careful not to bang into them. It was fun to swim, but he wished that there was someone else there to swim with him, the tank was large enough.

Oh sure, Apoxi came around every so often to check up on him, but he could never convince them to get in the tank with him and go for a swim race, which was too bad. Suddenly, as he was thinking about her, the boy heard her voice through the glass walls of the tank, and another, deeper voice as well.

He turned to face the voices and opened his eyes, and spotted their blurry figures through the glass. Happy to see someone else in his room, the boy did a somersault and opened his mouth wide in a silly expression to exhale a slow series of large air bubbles. Laughing to himself, the boy swam to the top of the tank and split his tail into two naked human legs that kicks back and forth in order to keep himself above water.

"Hello Apoxi," he greeted, then pointed at Shane with a clawed hand "Whozat, your friend?"

"Me? Really?" he said and pointed to himself, trying to imagine why, then grinning "Okay Apoxi! I'll be good."

Suddenly his legs were back to being a flipper and he shot back underwater to the right side of the tank where a towel was waiting for him and he climbed out.

Once on the ground and dried off, the boy grabbed a pair of swim trunks and a shirt that seemed to dry itself on him. The boy then awkwardly made his way over to Apoxi and looked at her, still not understanding the meaning of the visit or who this man was either. The boy also began to fidget a little, wanting to get back to his swim.

"Poxi, is mister Shane a dentist?" the boy asked.

Shane looked at Apoxi, then the boy and shrugged too "No, I'm not a dentist. I'm-"

"-well, cuz y'know..." the boy fidgeted, lost in distraction "I'm not sick, so he's not a doctor, but my teeth don't hurt so...Apoxi what's mister Shane here for me for?"

"Really?" the boy gasped, and then quickly looked down at his toes, feeling awkward that he wasn't better prepared. He really didn't know what he would've done differently but he really hadn't expected to be leaving today. He hoped he didn't say anything that would make mister Shane not like him. As much as he liked it here, he really did want to find a home.

"Yeah, really." Shane nodded and smiled, and got a little closer and knelt down to talk to the boy on a more personal level. THe seemed like a good kid, like Apoxi said but for some reason as soon as he got out of the water started acting a little skittish. Maybe that was the key to get this boy to open up to him, he figured he'd give it a shot.

"If that's okay with you," he said putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. It was surprisingly warm, like the boy had a high fever, which made no sense. Shane figured it must be part of the whole phoenix thing "It's a pretty big house so you can have your own room, and there's another boy there just a little older than you. Oh, and we've got a new pool that's just a bit bigger than this one, and there's a really big lake not too far away either, but it's only for really good swimmers."

"Oh, I'mma really good swimmer!" the boy exclaimed, suddenly very excited. This place sounded like it would be nice, and Shane started talking about something that he could relate to, he loosened up and smiled. "I can swim for a really long time too. And really far! And fast! And--"

Shane laughed a little and stood back up, glad the boy was starting to open up again and that he hopefully no longer saw him as a dentist.
"Well with a tail like that I bet you could swim for miles."

"What's that mean?" the boy asked.

"Oh, well a mile is a really long way but..." Shane trailed off and looked at the boy as an idea sprang to mind.

"You know, Miles is also a name." he said half-turning to Apoxi and back remembering that she had said that the boy still needed one, "Would you want that to be yours?"

The boy thought and tried the name. He liked it, but was a little unsure if he should take it, after all it was just given to him by a stranger. "Apoxi?" he whispered, so as not to be rude "Izzit a good name?"