ONE HUNDRED NINETEEN: Interesting

ONE HUNDRED NINETEEN: Interesting

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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.

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.

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