Super Supportive

ONE HUNDRED NINETEEN: Interesting

*

119

The gleaming tip of a slender chain whip inched through the air, approaching its victim with a quiet, lethal grace.

Gently, Lexi Roberts mumbled, staring at the marshmallow on the concrete floor a couple of meters away. Calmly.

Lexi? Youre not jogging this morning?

Writher wrapped around the marshmallow and sliced it in half, filling the apartment with a burnt sugar smell and making Haoyu Zhang-Demir smile sheepishly from where he stood by a leather armchair.

Sorry. You were practicing.

Not like it was going well. Lexi huffed and went over to pick up the marshmallow pieces and fling them toward the trash.

Dont throw them away! Haoyu protested. Toasted marshmallows are good.

Theyve been on the floor.

Its pristine. The robot vacuum cleans it every day.

The bags on the counter if you want a fresh one. You dont mind me using them for this, do you?

The marshmallows? Haoyu asked. Why would I?

They were on the shared food shelf. I figured youd bought them.

No. Alden did. He wont care. It seems like hes easygoing about most things.

Writher hung by Lexis side, writhing slightly. Do you think hes?

Haoyu looked at him.

Do you think hes one of those people who just gets how to use his powers naturally? Lexi asked.

Haoyu shrugged. I dont know. I havent known him that long. I havent had powers that long. He hasnt either really. Its premature to guess.

I know you were thinking the same thing as me last night, Lexi said. I saw your face.

When?

Several times.

Haoyu sighed. Okay. I was a little envious.

Yes, Lexi hissed. This isnt the first

I know. We met him a little less than three weeks ago, and that skill of his looks vastly more impressive than it did on assessment day.

Its so different than I thought it was, Lexi said. Even Kon mentioned it this past weekend, and at that point, we hadnt even seen him dowhatever that was last night.

The skill seems really versatile. Im glad for him. Stop worrying about your own progress so much. Youre doing great.

Writhers supposed to be versatile, too. But it randomly attacks

It was a tiny scratch. It was right after you first got it, and Kon wasnt even mad about it.

I dont want a deadly weapon Im responsible for to scratch my brother.

Its responding to your mood.

Thats not a good thing for it to respond to.

I mean its responding to your mood right now. It just singed the edge of the fluffy rug.

Lexi swore in Russian, and ran over to stomp on the smoldering spot while Writher withdrew.

Haoyu walked over with a pair of scissors and started trimming the burnt fuzz out of the rug.

Maybe I should get Kon.

Its such a thick rug. It hides mistakes like this all by itself.

Lexi stared down at him. How many times have you trimmed it?

Just once. There was an itty bitty tiny little stain that wouldnt come clean. And now its gone. Like it never happened. He snipped some more. I dont think Aldens had the opportunity to try most of the things with his skill that hes trying now. He wasnt surrounded by older Avowed when he affixed who could take him to safe places and let him experiment. And even though hes leveled, I doubt he was in the mood to take creative risks when he was stuck in a situation where mistakes would get him killed. If you think about it that way, its natural for him to be finding a ton of new things he can do all at once.

I know. Still. Last night it took him two hours to find the soup

Right. And he was like, Oh no thats such a long time.

After the first time I activated Writhers phase out feature, it took me a week to get it to do it again.

Haoyu stood up with a fistful of trimmings. It was his certainty that he could do it reliably from now on that stung my ego. But maybe hes figuring his skill out so fast because hes been through bad stuff with it.

I considered that.

So stop comparing your pace to his. Hes just got interesting circumstances. After youve been summoned to another planet for months, then you can worry youre slow.

Lexi was quiet. Then he said, When do you think itll happen for us?

Late uni maybe? If we both level as fast as we hope to. Unless some wizard who knows our parents decides to request us for a job out of curiosity.

Are you seriously going to that party tonight?

Yes. Its not that much trouble. And Lute needs support. Youre coming too.

No, Im not.

Well see.

Im not.

******

The Rabbits interestin.

Morrison, I hope youre talking about a cute animal or the zodiac right now and not one of our students, Lesedi Saleh said as she phased her hand through the top of the mini fridge beside her bed and pulled out a bottle of water. Students are work. And I dont discuss work when Im not fully clothed.

Morrison Waker rolled over to grin at her. You were just tellin me about that time you shoved your hand through a Meister to punch the Brute behind him.

Im retired from being Ghosten. Old work isnt work anymore. Alden Thorn is current work. Current work is off limits when Im naked or when the person Im talking to is naked.

Good policy.

She twisted the cap off the bottle, drained half of it, and then passed the rest to him.

He sat up to take it.

When youre not Big Snake or Little Snake, do people ever call you Medium Snake?

He shook his head. Hardly ever get around to being my natural self in front of strangers these days.

I like you this way. You look more like when we first met.

I can look exactly like when we first met if you want. Right down to the mullet.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. Not that I dont appreciate the possibilities of your morphing, but lets keep it simple for our first time trying this.

Youre the boss, he said happily. Then he gasped in false horror. Wait. You really are my boss now. Im sleepin with my boss.

She slapped his thigh.

This is terrible. Im being taken advantage of.

If you dont mind, Im going to take advantage of you a little bit more.

Some time later, as the lights in the room gradually brightened to indicate the arrival of morning, they lay staring at one another across the rumpled expanse of the sheets.

Was this a just in case you die out there kind of night? he asked. Or something else? Im happy either way, and I dont like to assume

Come back home safely so we can talk about it more, she said. It was that kind of night. There are a lot of people here on Earth who would miss you if you were gone.

He nodded. Will do. You want me to sneak off before your daughter wakes up?

Do you need to head home and pack?

Nope. Got a bag stashed in System storage.

Then stay for breakfast. Shell be excited to have company, and shes too young to care about why the company is here first thing in the morning. But be prepared to hear a lot about treehouses. I read her a bedtime story with one in it and now she wants one.

Who doesnt?

Morrison, do you know how hard it is to find a house with a yard with a treehouse-appropriate tree on this island?

After theyd dressed, while the coffee was brewing, he said, So. The Rabbit.

Lesedi sighed.

Weve got clothes on. And this really is interestin. He can use that skill of his with his eyes closed.

Why wouldnt he be able to?

Morrison examined the selection of coffee cups and picked one with red stripes. I mean he can use it to catch things out of the air and freeze em without opening his eyes to see whats coming his way. Saw it plain as day, but I still reviewed the video after class just to make sure.

Her expression changed.

See? You are interested.

Im surprised. Ive put quite a lot of thought into his skill, given the situation. An ability like that is beyond my expectations for its development.

He still has to target the person throwing stuff at him, so

That drives Torsten insane. We all know the skill vanished from the list after Alden chose it. But even if its experimental, the thing he calls entrustment seems like a pointless limiter on a fairly harmless power. Luna Plim thinks its the most wonderful mystery. Shes trying to find other skills with similarly impractical requirements.

How many levels do you think hed have to get on the one skill before he can catch bullets with it?

You want the B-rank Rabbit to be a bullet catcher?

I want to see him get something worthwhile for his troubles. Hes had it rough.

******

On the rooftop of a mirrored, cube-shaped building that stood by itself, reflecting nothing but the endlessness of the sky and the waves, a woman looked east toward the place where Earths newly risen sun hid behind thick gray clouds. Her brown hair hung down her back in three braids, cuffed together with wooden hoops. The uniform she wore was decorated with metal studs, and the fabric of her coat was a pale shade of green that one of the humans on the residence levels below her had said might be called sea foam in his language.

She was slightly disappointed that the sea here had not produced foam in a similar color since shed arrived.

This is a lonely place on such a lively planet, she thought.

But she did not feel alone.

She smiled and a minute later, her partner appeared on the roof beside her.

Lind, youve been out here for hours, he complained. I think youre doing it just to see if Ill miss you.

Did you?

A little. Isnt that absurd? Ive never been more aware of your presence. Youd think it would make me less inclined to follow you onto cold rooftops, but here I am.

His own hair, so dark it was almost true black, was braided to match hers. He crossed his arms over his chest and shivered dramatically.

Are you quite serious, Esh? she said in an amused tone. The last time we visited the first Rapport there was a blizzard, and I didnt notice you complaining about the weather then.

I was complaining in the privacy of my mind. Ill make sure you notice it next time. He looked toward the horizon. What are you out here for?

Late in the night I felt something unusual. I wanted to get some distance from the humans to think about it.

He waited.

An authority greeting, she said. But such a quiet, undirected one. As if they didnt seek an answer.

I didnt notice it.

You were observing the Avowed in their training. And as I saidit was very quiet.

Lets send a message to all of the unbound here on Earth and demand that the person sending out random hellos confess, he suggested. The mystery will be solved in moments.

She laughed. You cruel man. Youll have some frightened person convinced were angry with them.

We will tell them that their strange behavior distracted you from your work.

Lets leave whoever they are alone. There was something charming about their greeting. It was why I was curious in the first place.

Speaking of curiositiesI asked the local Contract for the profiles of all commended Avowed on this planet.

She turned to him. Were you going to invite them over for socializing, training, or work?

He lifted his hands. I just dont know what to do with myself when youre hiding on roofs and there are no disasters in progress. I thought if there was someone very interesting who wasnt already here we might ask them to stop by.

Come over. Enjoy the chaos miasma with us. Her tone was wry.

Yes. Something like that. Do you remember that story we heard about Alis-arth finding a human on Thegund? he said.

Of course.

Because of that experience, he has the highest commendation of any human Avowed. A thirteen-year-old Ryeh-bt boy. Isnt that interesting?

It is, she agreed. Very interesting. And disturbing. He must be a remarkable child. I do hope hes resting well now that hes made it back home.

******

Alden Thorn dropped out of his bed, and his feet hit the rug beneath him with a thump. He could hear the quiet sounds of Lexi and Haoyu having a conversation in the living room. And the shower running meant Lute was already up, too.

Nice, he thought. I slept a reasonable number of hours.

His messages light was blinking.

[Haoyu: Good morning, everyone! Happy Velra Mafia Infiltration Day! Lets talk about our goals.]

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

***