Playtime's over, kid.

Shutting her eyes she could picture the room. It was recall, she'd been taught it early on. If there had been phases to her training, she could've considered it Phase One. Walk into a room, two minute turnaround and then his hands would cover her eyes. He'd ask her where the exits where, how many obstacles were in between them and the nearest window. Where the best place to stand would be if there was already someone at the door trying to break in.

Small tests on the way to the big exam. She knew that from the start that there was always one end goal, one thing that they were working toward. When it was over, when it was all done things were going to be different. Mindy could feel it. She knew that it'd all be worth it.

"The big picture window, is it to your left, right, or in front of you?"

Mindy had to think, he'd been turning her around with him, moving in that small tight circle as he tried to figure out things to ask her about. It was an amusing shuffle of a walk, a dance little girls might have learned by resting their arches to the tops of shoes. Though, Mindy wasn't facing her father and the thin layer of dust on the ground didn't exactly lend to the thought of a smooth hardwood floor.

"We've turned two-hundred and twenty degrees, so it's to my left."

"Good job, Baby Doll. Now, if we turn another forty degrees, what are we going to be looking at?"

She hummed in thought for a moment, before grinning, "A table with four chairs overturned onto the table top."

"Right again!"

Grinning, Mindy couldn't have felt more proud. This was easy stuff. It was just a run-down storefront with a kicked in back door. Next week they were going to start with warehouses and she'd have to learn the layout. One walk-through and then she'd have to map out her way back without looking.

"Come on, Daddy, you promised me we'd go see the lions."

"Did I?" There was a quality in his tone, it was borderline teasing and she knew it, in fact he would've been upset if she couldn't pick up on it.

Laughing, she nodded, feeling the rough callouses of his fingers lift off of her forehead giving the room light once more. "Yeah. You even said I could make one of those wax animals, too."

"Well, if I said there were wax animals, we better get going."

Smiling, she reached for his hand, gripping onto it tightly, glad that she had done so well today. "Come on, they feed them at noon and I don't want to miss it, just in case they turn on the trainers," she said, tugging his hand toward the back door that they had come in through.

He followed, easily being tugged by her attempts to overpower his one arm.

"We wouldn't want to miss that, now would we."