Cutlery blinked. She wasn't even in much pain. Just dull points of impact chattered at her nervous system. But that was it, it was over. The two hooks were pressed into Tall's throat. The short man sat on their shoulders with a ready posture.
Applause and cheers came from the benches. The hot one lifted a foot from her head and walked away. The short one rolled backward off Tall and landed on their feet. The two went to their group and began amiably talking. Cutlery moved into a sitting position as Tall walked over.
"They pway to ween," Tall commented.
"Yes, how cruel." Cutlery thought aloud. Cutlery stood and they walked to join the others. The two boys turned to them. The hot one spoke first.
"We just wanted to establish this isn't a sport." He said.
"Or a game, or competition of any kind. Just good old winning." The short one added.
"I'm Gilgamesh," Gilgamesh said. What a hunky name too. "Everyone calls me Gill," Gill added.
"And I'm Meshagilg," Meshagilg said. "But that's not my name and everyone calls me Fish," Fish said. Cutlery smiled at that. Fish seemed nicer now, after beating them. Gill didn't seem to care.
Gill turned and motioned to the rest of the seconds.
"These weaklings are also seconds. We were all firsts like you guys, most of us have been here for one to three months. Some a few weeks more or less." Gill said. He began to walk through the group and introduce people. Cutlery tuned it out. She wouldn't remember the names anyways. The crowd here was similar to downstairs. Even though humans took up most of Zurkonia, it seemed the tower liked to recruit by species. Humans only took up half the group. She counted a total of twenty-three others besides her group.
"You'll get to know them better in the ring here though as time passes," Gill said, looking at her. "We mostly train on this floor. Not much questing. It's quite hard to become a third," Gill said.
"Why?" Cutlery asked the obvious.
"They don't seem to have many spots for that. Or something." Fish answered. "Anyways, after you eat just come back here. Pretty much every day. They have every lesson here. Lot's to learn, so little time, they always say." Fish said with a sigh.
"I heard you get to go outside on missions!" Angela added in. She hadn't spoken for a while.
"The best of us do," Fish said. Gill stiffened.
"The very best," Fish said quietly.
"What is it?" Angela asked. The group had gone quiet around them. Everyone got busy fiddling with something or other. Gill and Fish glanced at each other. Gill turned and walked up the stairs to leave. Fish opened his mouth, then closed it.
"Maybe later," Fish said and followed Gill.
"Okay bye?" Angela said. "What do you think that was about," Angela said. She had turned to talk to Cutlery.
"I think we killed their friends to get in here." Cutlery said. Angela's gears turned. A few kids nearby turned slowly to look at them.
"I thought they had just run away?" A thin girl said to them from a bench. uh oh, Cutlery thought.
-
Cutlery looked back at the girl with a blank stare. She had the confused worried look of someone who didn't believe what they just heard.
"One of them got caught. The others came back. These people and I became seconds after killing them." Cutlery said. She had probably just saved them months of drama by just saying it.
"Oh." The girl said. Cutlery watched a few fists clench in the group. Others smirked. A little worry escaped from Cutlery. There was a small chance all of the seconds would have killed the noobs right there. Some seemed happy though. A divided group wouldn't do something so drastic.
The two girls beside Cutlery hissed under their breaths at the tension buildup. Cutlery looked and saw the two girls she still didn't know were wide eyed.
"Let's go," Cultery commanded. The five of them walked up the stairs and exited. "What are your names by the way?" Cutlery said. They looked at her.
"You didn't know Cutlery?" One said.
"We know you!" Two said.
"Everyone knows me." Cutlery said. She was the main character of their first sliver group thus far. Everyone else cared too much to be the main character. They blinked at her and then smiled.
"I'm Savannah." The short-haired ginger girl said. She had a thinner body like Cutlery. Throwing shit at people seemed to be her schtick. A large complex crossbow had been on her in the lift fight.
"And I'm Holly," Holly said. Holly was blonde and wore heavy armor at most times. She seemed to be an odd spell caster of some kind. She did use light weapons like Cutlery but had a stringed instrument on her. Odd.
"Well Savannah and Holly, we all gotta stick together till we are sure they aren't gonna stab us in bed." Cutlery explained. They nodded. Holly smiled. Savannah seemed worried.
"I'll call you two Savvy and Whole." Cutlery told them. They nodded, seeming to go along with her odd whims. Now she had nicknamed everyone but Angela. "And you're Angle for now." Cutlery decided.
"Not Angel, like with wings?" Angle said.
"No, like, the Angle you point your bow at." Cutlery explained.
"Well, okay," Angle said. Cutlery was happy with that one. During their conversation, they reached their rooms once more.
"See you in the morning!" Angle said.
"Goodnight Angle the Angel!" Savvy said. Cute. They all turned in for the night. Surprise struck Cutlery when Angle walked into the same room as her
Angle undressed and changed into a set of softer loose clothes they had been given. Angle was hot under the cloth. She was a bouncy rounded type. Cutlery figured that was her preferred type if she had to choose. Or hunky boys. Like Gill. Drool. She would need to try grappling with him if they fought more.
Chloe's warnings from a few days resurfaced. She would hold those in the back of her head. Cutlery changed as well. The two of them silently went to bed. Angle wasn't a talky bouncy type like Rega. She might miss her, a little. Things were easier then.
-
The next morning Cutlery found Angela still neatly under her covers. Snoozing is the word she would use. No wild horse Rega positions in the morning anymore. Cutlery sighed and got up. Their window was about twice as tall but still featured the iron bars outside of it. The higher floor afforded a minutely better view of the city.
Angle spoke suddenly.
"Goooo morning Cuddle..." Angle said in a sleepy voice. She slowly exited her sheets and began to change again. A tired but quick waker. Cutlery bid her good morning and left for breakfast.
The dining hall was a bit more efficient than the firsts. Smaller, with less space around the tables. The food window has scoops so everyone got as much as they wanted on the first go. The fancy plate dining of first slivers was done. Shoveling food onto your plate was more, hmm, fashionable. Now at least they couldn't poison one specific person as easily.
She served herself up some biscuits and gravy. A large hippo-looking humanoid was cooking inside the kitchen. She sat at the end of a table Gill and Fish were at. They glanced at her but kept talking with a few girls. Tall entered next, then Holly. Savannah and Angle joined a minute later. They all sat together and ate quietly. Fish stood from his end of the table, got seconds, and sat by them.
"Hello, new gang. You're lucky you all got promoted at the same time, usually you have to be a loner for a week before getting to sit with this many friends." Fish said and chuckled. Holly smiled at that. She did that a lot.
"I came over to tell you guys what's what so you don't slow us down in training. First up, no training wheels, but keep the training." Fish explained, his food was untouched. "You can do pretty much whatever here, we aren't babied like firsts, but we aren't important like thirds who get jobs in the tower. You gotta work your way out of here or you'll spend all your days eating Yups biscuits and gravy." Fish said. He paused for a bite to show it off. Savvy's mouth opened but Fish spoke first. Savvy seemed annoyed.
"Fighting in the pit is your best bet. Good training, and you can just get healed if something goes wrong. Hammering in a specific skill is your best bet. Other spaces outside the arena can help, but hands-on learning is always best. If you do a full pit fight, not in just one of the four circles, then you can get noticed." Fish said. He took another bite and surveyed the group.
"How do we get to be thirds?" Savvy said.
"GOOD QUESTION!" Fish yelled back. "You gotta win in the big pit a lot. Beat the tar out of the most people. They'll just yank you out one day for a city mission or something. If you complete the mission, you're a third. If you fail, back to the pits." Fish said. He shoveled the rest of his plate into his mouth while we all thought.
"Have fun. We usually do full pit fights at the end of the day once everyone is trained up." Fish said. He stood, winked, and walked back to Gill. He put his plate down on top of Gills's unfinished plate and wrapped his arms around his neck and started noogying him. Gill placidly reached up and grabbed Fish's hair in return and they noogied each other for a while.
Cutlery's awareness shrunk to her thoughts as Fish flipped over Gill in the edge of her vision. She just had to fight and fight and fight, for a chance. Easy enough. Once she was in the city, would she try and escape? Or would a third sliver not be so bad? If those other seconds hadn't come back to save their friend, they might have escaped for good! That one fire mage had gotten a third sliver or something on his own as well. That decided it, she wouldn't fall for their system of carrots on sticks anymore. She would run.
She heard a gasp from Tall and followed their gaze. Gill was violently making out with Fish on the table. Wow. Dream crushed. Maybe.
