Haze wasn't there to greet them at the top. Just the babysitters waited around for them. It was a solemn march. A few kids went to their babysitters and talked. But thirty of the youths just walked to the stairs and started to ascend. No words were exchanged. Rega for her part had fallen apart with Flavor's meltdown.
Flavor seemed to be in the drained stage now. Rega was still sobbing and holding onto her though. Flavors shirt had become a snot rag, and now Rega used it as well. Almost as gross as the rats, Cutlery thought. For her part Cutlery didn't mind. She had already seen some fucked shit in the slums around Many Home.
It wasn't unusual for people from outside Zurkonia to just swing their powers around. They would walk into the cheapest taverns and leave with people ripped apart behind. Cutlery at first avoided them. But she later learned they would toss whole gold pieces to beggars, and leave behind unlooted bodies that could have as much as two silver on them.
Power seemed to drain humanity. Cutlery had simply been drained by watching the powerful. Many people were drained in several different ways around her at this very moment. Cutlery listened to their draining of eyes, words, and energy as they finished their climb. Rega bid goodbye with a snotty,
"Goodbye Fwavour!" Rega said. Her eyes fluttered as she looked around seeming confused. Cutlery took her hand and walked her back to the room. Chloe had tried to help but went to help some other babysitters whose kids' building emotions were more violent. They swung at their guards and Cutlery turned away.
They walked down the hall and opened their bedroom door. By the time they were inside Rega was sleeping on her shoulder. Cutlery lowered her onto her bed. She couldn't imagine how hard that would have been if Rega was a beefcake sliver like Roddy.
Cutlery for her part was gonna enact her plan. It was time to get some info on what was going on. With her new powers, if she made it outside, she would be unstoppable. Surely escaping from the castle is what the gods would want! No master would put her on a railroad of boring training and quests.
They hadn't been given any orders after leaving the cellar so she wasn't breaking any rules just yet. Secondly, they were gonna give them wine so she was certain they had planned for a lot of break time. Meaning they were busy, with something. That something was likely interesting since they wanted all the kids tired, drunk, and out of power while they did it. She could just be overthinking things.
Perhaps Haze just wanted time to take a shit and read his papers for once. Babysitting was always hard. Cutlery had done her time with newborns at Many Home. Feed, clean, put to bed, move objects in front of their face, easy. The idea of doing that same thing but with super-powered youths was exhausting to theorize. So Cutlery sank into the halls.
She made it to the dining area and found the door flanked by two armored soldiers. So she had been right. Something worth guarding was happening. They were even so kind as to put it on her floor. The gods surely did want her to learn and escape.
-
Nothing. She had no plan. The dining hall had no windows, airways, backdoors, cracks, or anything besides the two doors. One here, and the other by the stairs. The stairs also had two guards. This was why they were doing their important unknown thing in there. Dang smart people. Why couldn't they be like street gangs or shop vendors who just do stuff out in the open?
She sat down and began to think. The walls of the dining hall slowly curved like most walls in the tower. Checking on the guards a few times, they seemed pretty attentive. If she could get past them then she could get in. Now how was she going to go about that? She scratched her head. A distraction could work. They likely wouldn't come to check a rock bouncing off the wall or even a voices sound since they knew people were on the floor.
What were things the guards had come running to before? Fights, they had always come to break up fights. Whether it be against monsters or each other. They must have orders to keep us alive. So she had to figure out a way to start a fight. Since she couldn't be in the fight it wouldn't be as simple as punching someone. She would need to convince two others to fight. Who hated each other in their group? Everyone seemed pretty buddy-buddy after the two horrifying incidents.
She knew of one group who had staged a fight when they had first arrived at the tower. She would need to find their room. While she wasn't allowed to go into others' rooms, it was okay to knock.
Now that she thought about it, every time she went to bed here it was because of exhaustion, she had rarely met her neighbors. Perhaps that was another ploy to keep them from napping in each other's beds. Adults were obsessed with who was sleeping with who. So she was sure that the people who ran the tower were as well. At least they had the sense to keep youths from sleeping together. Like Chloe had said, it could be a disaster.
While she was thinking about it her mind wandered to Pink House street. Outside people of all kinds fought, threw money, threw up, collapsed, and waddled about without clothes. She couldn't imagine what kids would do with a Pink House-like situation if that's what real adults did.
She had almost reached the bedrooms again when she heard voices coming from one of the communal rooms. It was the kitchen and chill area, as Chloe had stated during their tour. Looking inside she saw the huge group of kids that had attacked her and Rega over the bunk on the first day. Now though only seven of them still were alive.
Cutlery slipped in the door and quietly walked over to their circle. They talked to each other about something that required a whisper.
"What are you guys doing!" Cutlery said loudly. Two of them jumped and the rest snapped their heads to her. "Wanna do a real quest!" Cutlery purposed. After a few blinks a voice entered her mind like last time.
"What the fuck do you want big tits?" It said. Wonderful.
`-
Was that an insult? Cutlery wasn't so sure. Between Rega, Chloe, Mome, and everyone's glances, she was pretty sure Big Tits was a good name.
"Jealous?" She said aloud.
"Huh?" The group said as one. Except for the insect-looking youth. Now that they were grown up their hard skin was red. They still had the third small arm in the center of their chest. It fed small bits of meat into their rapidly moving mandibles. They hadn't changed much, but maybe she was just not used to insect people's faces.
"It's you! You're the one in my head!" Cutlery said and pointed at the insect. Two antennae that stuck out of its forehead twitched. It made some clicking noises through its pincers.
"Yes, it's me. I can't speak your language with my better mouth." The voice said in her head again. The other kids were looking around when one spoke up.
"Click must be speaking to her." The youth boy said. The rest of the youth's confused looks went away. Click sat forward. It brought a glass of water to its pincer mouth with the third arm. It was odd to watch since its main humanoid arms above those two were still laid across the back of the couch.
"What do you want." Click thought to her. Thunk to her? Thought at her? She was gonna stick with just thought.
Cutlery scooted a lanky mage boy to the side and sat down.
"I want to figure out what the real adults are doing in the dining hall while we were supposed to be drunk." Cutlery thought back to Click. Their pincers waggled and their antenna wiggled for a few seconds before they responded.
"Why?" Click through at her. "Even if we learn they are having an important meeting, what do we do? Leave?" Click asked.
"More interesting than just doing what we're told till they get what they want out of us. Whatever that is." Cutlery thought. Click nodded.
"True. I was on board at the start. After that guard made it clear we are just tools when we beat you, I didn't much like them. I wanted to know your angle. Good to know it is simple, like most of your kind." Click thought.
She was about to speak but then she noticed everyone's eyes were dilating one at a time. When that happened their mouth would move like they were talking. Ah, that must be what most people look like when Click is thinking at them, or them back. That was hard to put. Psychics were hard to explain.
Everyone but Cutlery stood up at once and started for the door.
"Are we going? What's the plan?" Cutlery asked.
"He already told us what to do. Clicks real smart." The mage boy said. Thoughts edged into hers once more as Click spoke.
"Go left around to the dining hall. We will go right to the hall. Wait, then go when you think is a good time. We will do the rest." Click thought at her. Well, that was easy. Cutlery guessed she was right. Their theatrics that first day wasn't just a stunt. This group was a well-oiled machine. With a great queen bee, king, insect person.
Cutlery smiled for the first time in a while. It was good to be in control.
