Episode 3, Chapter 4: Learning the Ropes

They didn't see each other for the rest of the morning - or for most of the afternoon. Once they had left the library, they had split up - Easier to lay low if they're not constantly near each other.

This, unfortunately, left Jess alone to witness how things operated in realtime. Well, they thought it unfortunate, but most of their mental energy was spent furiously absorbing every shred of information they received. How Residents operate, what Servants do what and where…

They heard a loud noise behind them - an argument between two Residents, and then the sound of Servants sprinting to break up the fight. Jess decided to follow the two Servants; off to the side as the two held the two Residents apart.

"Heeey-hey-hey-hey." One of them said quietly, lifting his Resident by his arms. "You don't wanna go back to the Nodes again, do you?"

The other Servant saw Jess lurking, and motioned for them to come a little closer. "You'll wanna watch this, new guy."

"They."

"New they. Whatever - this is how you break up a fight with the… less eager Rezzies." He lifted his Resident up, wincing as he was continuously kicked in the knees. "Nope. You're not gettin' dropped til you calm down."

The other Resident growled, ducking his head down and biting the Servant's fingers. The Servant yelped, unintentionally dropping the Resident. Immediately, he landed on his feet and headbutted the other one, the Servants groaning as they pried the Residents apart again.

"Why not lift them up like that Romeo guy did to me this morning?" Jess asked quietly as the Servant dragged his Resident out of the room, blood trickling from his hand. "...Especially if he broke skin, ew."

"Ehh, it's not good practice for Rezzies. They might vomit, then you gotta get your suit washed, and the spares never fit…" the Servant mumbled, shaking his head. "'Sides, 0413's a whackadoodle who just. Eats whatever he damn well pleases."

"And your fingers are looking delicious right now, punk! Drop me!"

"You wanna go back to dealing with your stupid twin, you freak!?" The Servant barked, wrapping one arm around the Resident's stomach, carrying him under his arm. "Can't bite fingers you can't reach."

"Ohhhh that's what you'd like to think, huh!" the Resident hissed. "You watch out, when my time back down in those damn Nodes is up, Redd's gonna be missing his damn ears!"

The Servant sighed. "Well, that's going to just be Redd's problem." He touched his lapel, the Resident's jumpsuit color changing as he groaned indignantly. "Don't whine, 0413, you brought it upon yourself."

"I'm going to-"

"Bite me? Again?"

"Don't finish my sentences!"

Jess watched as the Servant carried the Resident off, the Servant touching the iron door and walking… through it?

"Oh, yeah, those doors don't open." the other Servant said, letting his Resident go and wiping his hands on his stomach. "If you're sending someone to the Nodes or you're doing patrol, you just touch the door and… walk through."

"...Huh. Do fights happen a lot?" Jess asked, "3120[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] tried to attack me earlier, and with those two…"

"Eh,... not really. Usually the worst offenders are the Node 'frequent fliers.' That funky little man that the other Servant carried off? He's the brother of the head of the Node Guard. I don't know why that makes him think he's gonna always get a free pass to jump to and from the Nodes whenever he wants but… well, if anyone starts a fight it's usually him."

"Uh… huh."

"Oh, I should ask - did Romeo give you the full rundown of what you can do with your powers?" The Servant laughed. "He's a sweetheart for sure, but he's not the best at explaining everything in detail, yknow? Here… hm. I think I know."

"Eh?"

"C'mon. I'll point out one of the other frequent fliers and we can use him to show you how to use your powers."

"Alright…?" Jess raised an eyebrow as the Servant led them up the stairs into the Resident quarters, opening the door and leading them onto the upper walkway. "So… what's the plan?"

"Hah. watch." the Servant grinned, crouching down. "See that girl over there? The big one?"

Jess nodded, ducking behind him. "Uh… yeah? I think I knew her, actually…"

"Hm. Wonder what she did to piss off the Admin, then." He chuckled. "Anyway… put a hand on your Source, and think up… I dunno, some kind of weapon?" His voice dropped to a low whisper, peppered with chuckling.

Jess shook their head, wrapping a hand around their suspenders and concentrating on the image of.. A sword. A simple, easy, stone sword.

"Hey, 0108." The Servant said, motioning for Jess to step aside. "You've got something on your side."

"I-wh?" She moved her arm, gasping as the Servant reached over and pulled the sword out. "I- I don't-"

"Don't know how it got there? Of course you don't." He chuckled. "You been bribing the Servants again? You know weapons are against the rules."

"I didn't have this sword a minute ago!" She protested. "Come on, I've been good - don't fuckin' send me back to the Nodes 'cause you thought it was funny to plant a damn sword on me!"

"Hm…" He put a hand on his chin.[6] "Well. Jess, did you pay attention? What do you think happened?"

"I think…" Jess bit their lip. "I think you're being kind of a dick."

The girl and the Servant's eyes both widened. The Servant leaned down, looming over Jess. "I'm what?"

"Being a dick." Jess put their hands on their hips, leaning forward. "0108 didn't do anything, you're making me set her up to be your punching bag."

"Wait… Did you say Jess?" The Resident raised her hand, pointing. Jess nodded, pointing at themself.

"Look, you two shouldn't even be friends! I oughta tell Xara and Romeo what's been going on."

"Oh like they're going to care! Have you seen how often they're next to each other, or in front of each other, or facing each other, or-"

"0108, that's enough." The Servant rolled his eyes.

"Shut your mouth," The Resident balled her fist. "Before I knock your teeth out again."

"Do that and Jess will actually have reason to- MMNFH!"

He was promptly interrupted by the Resident launching her fist forward, clocking the Servant right in the jaw and knocking him to the ground.

"Dragon's breath, Em…" Jess mumbled, nudging the Servant with their shoe. "You knocked him out cold."

"Yeah, and they'll be sending others out to launch me into the Nodes any minute now - anything you wanna ask before they lock me up again?"

"Well, for one, how the hell did you end up here?"

"Well, you go off on your own adventure, you find some artifacts, you decide you wanna use one of 'em as a training dummy… Turns out, guy who it was made for has the ego of a bottle of Elegant after a high-speed meeting with the wall."

"Maybe I can… uh, save them the trouble?" Jess shrugged, placing a hand on their suspender again. They focused, and Em's jumpsuit went from the dark turquoise of the normal Resident suits, to a deep red color - and as Em turned around, a large "X" was visible on her back, with "NL1" underneath it.

"Ugh… this is gonna suck." Em sighed. "I guess it could be worse… hopefully you end up with patrol soon - not that I'd wish it on even my worst real enemy."

Jess shrugged. "Maybe when the opportunity presents itself," They replied as Xara barreled into the area, lifting Em up effortlessly.

"Make way- huh?" She looked up. "Oh. You already put her in the other jumpsuit… did you wanna take her to the Nodes?"

Jess shrugged. "I may as well; I could do with the experience of being in there just in case I get pulled."

Xara nodded, setting Em back down as Jess took her hand, leading her down and towards the red room. Like they'd seen before, they touched their hand to the iron door, and then closed their eyes as they walked through it, Em close behind them. In the center of the room was a red platform, which Jess and Em both stood on.

"Then I guess I just…"

"I dunno, they touch the flappy things on their suits and suddenly we're in the Nodes." Em shrugged, Jess wrapping their free hand on their suspender and closing their eyes.

When they opened their eyes, they were on a Nether brick platform, over an ocean of lava as they walked slowly across the narrow platform, Jess and Em walking through another iron door. At least these walkways were covered with glass…

Jess looked around, before taking slow steps towards the iron door across the hallway.

"Not one step further." A voice said behind them, sighing indignantly. "Oh, great, a new Servant. One who isn't used to the Nodes yet." He sighed, pulling Em to his side as he lifted Jess off of the stairs. "That door is to stay closed."

"Why?" Jess asked. Em's face screamed 'you should not have asked that,' but the man holding the two of them simply rolled his… eye.

"Because beyond that door is someone truly, wholly irredeemable. The definition of a 'bad apple.'" He pointed to the right, and Em walked into one of the larger domes. "You'll learn more about the Nodes once you finally pull a patrol, but - I'm Redd. This is my own personal hell."

"Jess. I'm new."

"I can tell. Go back topside." He pointed towards the exit. "Don't come back unless you get pulled for patrol."

Jess shrugged. "Fine by me," They said, walking out and back out to the platform. They got a better view of the Nodes - four spheres, each split in half if the inside of the building was to be believed.

And, oddly, a larger sphere in the middle, separate from the others but with a hallway leading back to where Jess and Em once were.

As Jess teleported back to the Resort, an idea brewed in their mind, and once the lights were out, and the four of them were able to regroup by torchlight, Jess told them their plan.

They sat around the tree in the courtyard, a book in Jess' lap as they held a quill between their teeth. Lukas leaned back against the trunk, while Jack and Nurm sat on branches.

"So, once I get patrol… you three cause enough of a ruckus to get sent down after me, and then… distract Redd and whoever else might get patrol, so that I can sneak into that center ball and see what might be back there."

"And what makes you think that whatever's back there won't immediately try to kill you?" Lukas raised an eyebrow. "Kind of a running theme with you - You learn of some bizarre new concept, and then it's either a hack fraud or is trying to kill you."

"Well, I think whatever's behind that door would like to be free, at least for a little bit." Jess shrugged. "I mean, think about it, it had to do something pretty heinous to get locked back there, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but we don't know what. As far as we know, it could still be bloodthirsty and ready to kill any of us, especially anyone who happened to be dressed like a Servant?" Lukas rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Jess - if we're risking our asses for this, you're taking the risk. I'm tired of being almost killed - or worse, actually literally killed - because you screwed up."[7]

"That said," Jack interrupted. "Let's assume that whatever's back there isn't going to kill us and wants out of there. What's our plan for getting out with this thing?"

"Well…" Jess blinked. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"I'm sure we will." Lukas said sarcastically. "Didn't you say that when you became the hero-in-residence of Beacontown?"

"N-no!" Jess protested. "Don't even start, Lukas!"

Lukas laughed[8] , "Hey, I was only kidding!"

They heard a door open behind them, and Jess stood up, pointing. "Alright, 0225 and 3120, get to bed."

"What about 0224?" Jack asked.

"Him too!" Jess barked. The three of them sulked off to the Resident quarters, while Jess walked up to the Servant quarters.

"What was that all about, huh?" one of the Servants asked as Jess walked into the room. "Entertainin' the rezzies?"

"Pshh, no." Jess rolled their eyes. "Needed to tell them off for something they'd done earlier - 3120 slammed me against the wall and, well, he's new. Don't wanna Node someone who's only had their first day here."

"Hmph. Fair enough. Don't let Xara hear you say that though - she's crazy when it comes to letting folks off the hook for things, especially when it comes to Rezzies. She'll think you're gettin' friendly and then you'll end up in the Node Guard." The Servant laughed. "As for up here.. Well, pick a bed, fall in it, wait til Romeo starts screamin'. That's how we do things."

"Better than nothing…" Jess mumbled, suddenly finding themselves rather tired as they flopped onto one of the beds, not even pulling the blanket over them before they fell asleep.