TJ's eyes flew open. He couldn't see in the perfectly black bedroom, but that was ok. The blackout curtains would serve to make sure the intruders couldn't see him either. The only question was if he wanted to open the door or wait for whoever was there to make their way to him in the bedroom. His initial reaction was to just sit in the bedroom and see what happened. After all, there was no reason for violence, was there?
The rest of him shouted down that idea. He was strong and in his own home. He wasn't about to let some moron sneak into his house while he did nothing about it. Instead, TJ smoothly unlocked the door and eased it open. It made a slight sound, but he didn't mind it. Instead, he stepped quietly into the hall. Two intruders whispered quietly to each other, but he could still hear them.
"You're sure nobody's here?" A feminine voice asked. "The table was pressed against the window, why would that be the case if the place was abandoned?"
"It's just from the Tutorial." The lower voice countered. "I bet there was a fight here or just came through looking for food."
"I guess." The first voice trailed off, obviously not entirely sold on the idea. "But if someone already took all the food, why are we here?"
"Everything's gonna be looted already." The male voice dismissed the argument. "We'll need to search a lot more carefully than the others did, because we're safe for now. With monsters showing up again in the morning, moving will be a lot harder. Now, we're gonna take whatever we can get, cause we gotta stay moving. If they're still around..." the voice trailed off.
As he poked his head around the corner, TJ saw two kids. The boy, maybe 17, was squinting and trying to see what the kitchen looked like through the darkness. On the other hand, the girl was probably only barely old enough to have been put in the Tutorial. Both had similar enough features, dark eyes, loosely curly hair, sharp chins, and what might be a smattering of freckles across their noses, that TJ suspected they were siblings. Their clothes were ill-fitting and dirty. If the Tutorial had just barely ended, TJ wouldn't have thought twice about that. But they'd had the opportunity to go home since then and they hadn't. Or, if they had, there weren't clean clothes for them there. As he actually looked at them for the first time, TJ Appraised both.
Zealot, 16
Disciple, 18
The younger sister was a higher level than the Zealot brother. Maybe the big brother was always getting hurt and she was healing him? Or maybe the other people in their Tutorial had kept him hidden in the safe zone while she'd still gotten experience from healing the people who returned from the hunts injured? But more than that, why were they here instead of their home? He had a couple thoughts about that. Finally, TJ had to say something.
"Hey, kids."
Their response was immediate, the boy having a paired sword and shield appearing out of nowhere as he stepped between himself and his sister. The girl eyed the window, evaluating how easily she could escape while her hands started glowing faintly.
"Woah there!" TJ kept his voice low and calm. "Sorry, I don't have anything that'll let us see each other real easily right now, I just heard you come in and wanted to let you know you're not alone in here. Welcome to my house. You're looking for some food, right?"
His greeting seemed to confuse the two kids. Then, a thought occurred to him and he spoke again. "I just realized I have a couple candles in the closet right here. There's a lighter I can grab too. You gonna run away while I get them?"
"Sam," The girl whispered, "do you wanna run?"
"We'll see." Sam whispered back. TJ didn't let them know he could hear and understand their faint whispers. To their credit, they couldn't have known that his Perception was halfway to 400, given his equipment and Skills.
"Not unless you do something that scares us off." Sam said in a normal tone. "The whole 'world is burning down all around us' thing makes for bad neighbors."
"True enough." TJ chuckled, more at how grown up Sam was trying to sound. Without another word, TJ collected a couple of candles out of the pantry, scented things that Mari'd loved. Then, beside them was the lighter, and TJ carried all the items he'd just collected out into the kitchen once again, where he lit three candles and put them on the counter.
"You guys wanna let me see your faces? I figure we can introduce ourselves and see if I can't help you get a late dinner." TJ smiled. "I'm TJ. You can call me that, or, if you really wanna, I guess you can call me Mr. Harris? I'm not a fan of that, but some people insist."
"I'm Sam." The boy offered. "This is my sister, Mimi."
"Really?" TJ cocked his head, confused. The girl's face fell at that, and he saw that he'd committed a faux paus somehow. "I was just wondering. It's what my dad called his mom."
"Her name's Sammi." Sam offered with a sigh. "Mom and Dad didn't want to have to think too hard about which of us they were calling."
TJ felt his lips purse subconsciously. His suspicion had been correct. Shitty parents. The poor kids had stiffened up at the familiar explanation. He couldn't say why exactly that was, but the mom and pops there were obviously not the kind of parents anyone wanted to have.
"Sorry Mimi." TJ offered. "I was just used to that being something some people called my grandma. Now, I do have a little food for you, if you'll answer some questions while it warms up and you eat. That sound good?"
"Why shouldn't we just take it?" Sam's voice quavered a little, a boy who was used to violence even if he seemed to hate it.
TJ smiled in as apologetic a manner as he could manage as he said, "Appraise me, then I'll explain something."
Both did so, and TJ could pinpoint the very second that they did as their eyes widened and they shifted a little closer to each other. Before he could keep speaking, though, Mimi asked, "What can you turn into?"
Pulled from his planned speech, TJ took a second to understand what he was being asked. Then, he answered, "A snake. Pretty big."
Mimi was initially frightened then obviously disappointed at that answer. She blushed as she realized what she'd done and explained, "Mr. Anderson turned into a lion. I… like cats."
TJ chuckled. "I don't blame you. I might have chosen a lion instead if I could have. No choice in the matter, though. Now, now that you've done as I asked, my explanation. I Appraised both of you before you knew I was in the house. I'm a much higher level than you two, and, more importantly, I'm already Copper tier. Have you met anyone in Copper tier?"
Both shook their heads.
"I get at least 90 Attribute points per level. And I've gotten quite a few levels as a Copper. If you wanted to get away and I wanted to catch you, you wouldn't be able to get away. If you wanted to rob me, you wouldn't be able to do anything to me. Now. I'm going to get you each an MRE. I'll be right back."
He didn't stay right next to them after saying how completely in his power they were. There was a small, sadistic part of him that enjoyed being the slightly mysterious older man mentor type in this situation. Two siblings against the world, looking for food, stumble across a strangely powerful man in his kitchen in the middle of the night. He still figured there was at least a 50% chance they'd run away, but that wasn't really a problem. If they did, they wouldn't have that food that TJ didn't imagine he'd need long-term, and nobody would have any hidden information of his.
To his surprise, both kids stayed basically exactly where they had been since he'd made himself known, and when he returned with a water bottle and two MREs in hand, TJ showed them off.
"I was telling the truth. Now, as the food's warming up, I figure I ask you a couple questions. That'll be payment for the food. Sound alright?"
"Sure." Sam answered, obviously wanting to reach out and take the food. TJ didn't allow it, filling the packets to the required line and putting them to the side, behind him.
"Now. What school did you two attend?" TJ asked, figuring he'd start off easy.
"Tempe." Sam answered.
"And what were you, a Freshman and Junior?"
"Sophomore and Senior."
"You on any sports or extracurricular teams?"
"No."
"Did you work then?"
"Yeah."
"Fast food, service industry, what?"
"I work at a grocery store." Sam offered. He was obviously confused about the random questions, but TJ figured he'd ask those to get things started.
"Ok. What was your Tutorial like?"
"We were in a canyon with pueblos, there were a bunch of scorpions and snakes and a bunch of giant jackals. We had to fight them to live. The snakes were dangerous, but we've spent most of the past weeks eating them. The scorpions… were mushy." Sam shuddered.
"Ok." TJ nodded. "Did you two fight a lot, or did the adults keep you back from fighting?"
"I made sure I got to kill some monsters every day." Sam stubbornly set his jaw. "Mimi got more experience because she didn't have to argue with anyone to let her heal. But I know how to fight!"
"I believe it." TJ raised his hands as he turned to pick up the MREs. "I just wanted to ask. Now, by my timer, your food should be ready, so here you go."
Both nearly tore into their meal without utensils, but TJ was quick enough to dig forks out of a drawer and offer them to the kids. They destroyed the MREs with animalistic furor, though. They were already halfway through the meals when TJ decided he needed to ask his real question.
"You two… are you runaways?"
Sam was the first to meet TJ's eyes, though it took him a couple minutes to turn his attention to TJ. Then, as he swallowed the last bite of his "pizza", Sam asked a question of his own.
"What are you going to do with us?"
"Nothing." TJ shrugged. When Mimi met his eyes, he insisted, "Really. I'm not an obligated reporter, or whatever that term is. I'm not a teacher, a therapist, a lawyer, or doctor or anything. I don't have to talk about that to anyone. Even if I was, I suspect the government… doesn't really exist any more. There's nobody to report to, and nobody else will be able to do anything about it. That said, I suspect you're both from a house that doesn't treat you too well. I wanted some more details to see how I could help you out. If you don't wanna say, well, there's nothing I can do about that."
"Our parents don't care much about us. We've always taken care of ourselves, but they can be… controlling." Sam's shrug mirrored TJ's, though Sam obviously wasn't nearly so unaffected by what he was saying as he pretended. "If they've gotten a lot stronger because of the System, we didn't want to be around when they came home. So here we are."
TJ nodded, keeping his eyes on Mimi. She seemed more honest by nature than her brother, and he could see that there was more, a darker side of humanity that TJ knew but was unfamiliar with personally lurking there. He ground his teeth, but took a deep breath. He justified to himself that this was for himself. After all, Father's Sacrifice was something he needed to get before Silver.
"Ok. You can stick around here for the night, if you want. I can't give a whole lot, but a safe place to sleep and water in the morning is more than you'll easily find around here. I'll promise I won't tell anyone you were here, and I can see if I can't find a good place for you to hide out and get more levels. Maybe a place where other people are safe."
They looked back and forth at each other. Mimi seemed to want to whisper something to her brother, but TJ raised a hand. Once they were both watching, he said, "I don't want to overhear you or make you feel like you can't get away. I'm gonna go into my bedroom and close the door. If I hear you go into the room across from me, I'll think you're staying the night. That's my son's room, and that's the only other bed in here. There is the couch out here, if you wanna use it instead, I guess. If you leave, I do ask that you go through the door, and I'll lock it up a couple minutes after you leave."
He didn't say more, retreating back to his room, where he locked the door. A couple minutes later, he heard quiet steps in the hallway, and when they entered Junior's room, he smiled a little. The bed was small, way too small for two nearly-adult children, and TJ called through the door, "You want me to bring the extra mattress from the garage in and some blankets?"
It took a minute for Sam's response to come through the door, "Sure."
TJ didn't mind the couple of minutes it took to pull the nearly-forgotten mattress out of the garage, an old tarp hung over it. When he carried it through the hall, he thought of the last time it'd been used, a year or two ago when an old friend came to visit. Then, with Sam waiting at the door of the room, TJ passed the mattress through and watched as he set it up in front of the door, keeping it from opening easily.
"I'll be right back with the sheets." TJ smiled as he went to collect the bedding from the linen closet. He still tried to convince himself that he was just doing this for a Skill, though the idea of helping out two needy kids wasn't something that he'd regret either.