“Hui, the hell!” yells Crimson, who’s waiting outside the bathroom. “It’s been an hour man. You’ve taken longer than everyone combined!”

“You try styling green hair,” Hui screams through the door. “I have to fix it or I look like a bush!”

Mon, Deidra, and Echo are all sitting on their bunks waiting for Crimson to negotiate Hui into exiting the bathroom. Mon leaning down in front of Echo while Deidra watches to make sure Mon doesn’t fall.

Crimson sighs, giving up on getting Hui out the bath. He turns to look at the rest of his team, checking the room once more.

The room was a huge surprise for everyone. Instead of a homely barracks, they were given what looks like a homey bunker. A small meeting table filling out the center of the room, the beds carved into the walls to preserve space. The carved sections even giving small amount of room for personal possessions, not that any of them had much.

A fire pit near the corner of the room for cooking, with a small vent to make sure the initiates don’t kill themselves via smoke inhalation. The bathroom sporting a standing shower. The best part of the room was the luminescent, possibly sentient chandelier. It only lights up certain parts of the room where each member needs light, those sleeping are left in darkness, those who need varying amounts of light will see it change without them having to do anything. The only annoying bit being it blinds you in the mornings.

“They seem to have spent a lot of time making all these rooms,” Crimson says, sitting down on his own bunk. “I was kind of expecting something worse, way way worse.”

“You have to remember that this is Stena, this room is probably better than what senior members of other organizations get. I doubt they get running water this easily,” Echo says as she fiddles with a metal object in her hand. “I shudder to think of the luxury the seniors of Stena get to live in.”

Mon jumps down from her bunk and bolts to Deidra, who is sitting at the meeting table. Mon practically jumps in the seat next to Deidra and looks at the blonde warrior expectantly.

“You’ve seen Fey’s room right? What did it look like?” Mon asks, inching closer to Deidra with each word. “Did she have servants? Did she have pets? Both in one perhaps…”

“No, I was never allowed access within her room,” Deidra says with a shake of her head. “I went to the hall outside her room but some of those janitors entered and collected the clothes for me. I was never permitted to see inside.”

Mon’s excitement quickly deflates and she slumps onto the table. Crimson walks over to the table, patting Mon’s shoulder as he pulls up a chair.

“Echo, come on over. I think we should try and figure out each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Crimsons says, somewhat hesitant with his words. “That isn’t a taboo right?”

“No, those on a team, or those taking a job together have to know how to work together,” Echo says as she walks over. “It’s not a good idea to ask those you aren’t working with through.”

Crimson nods as Echo sits down next to them.

“Well we do have to wait until Hui decides to get out of the bathroom!” Crimsons says, partially yelling towards the door to the bathroom.

Hui exits the bathroom as Crimson finishes yelling and walks towards the table, sitting between Mon and Echo.

“I’m here, I’m here,” He says with a grin. “And I look good too.”

Everyone looks at his hair, the green somehow not taking away from the style and looks Hui has.

“Yeah, I can’t deny that,” Crimson says with a sigh. “But we’ve got more important things than that.”

Hui nods, his joking demeanor replaced by his serious face. Which looks like his regular face without the nefarious grin.

“I’ll start I guess; I only have one mutation. It’s the hypnotic eyes I used against Deidra,” Crimson says with a sigh. “Besides that, all I can do is shoot a bow and stab at random with a knife.”

Echo pats Crimson’s back supportively.

“Don’t sell yourself short, you managed to down more than a couple dozen of those wexu,” Echo says, attempting to bolster Crimson’s confidence. “Once you get a few more mutations and do some training with Deidra, you’ll be unstoppable, maybe. If not, you look like tasty bait.”

Crimson nods, his confidence somewhat bolstered. Hui raises his hand to go first.

“I’ve got four, the hair, enhanced reflexes, increased muscle density, and I have really good spatial awareness,” Hui reveals. “I also take a really long time to make my hair this good looking.”

Mon thumps him on the back of the head, quieting his joking.

“We know,” She says, annoyance in her voice. “I’ve got my adorable ears and tail, enhanced reflexes, thicker skin, denser muscle and increased muscle mass, my claws, night vision, a really good sense of smell, and my teeth are really sharp and durable.”

“I believe Mon has us beat in the number of mutations, she seems to be more regal than human,” Echo mentions with a giggle. “I can make vibrations with my body but it strains me quite a bit. I am also very resistant to heat.”

Crimson looks towards Deidra for her to answer but she simply remains quiet.

“Deidra, you wanna tell us what you have?”

Deidra looks down, seemingly embarrassed but looks back up.

“I don’t have any,” She says with a shrug. “I only recently became inducted and most of the time I was on the move. Never had a chance to get a mutation.”

Everyone looks at her, somewhat stunned.

“I know initiates without mutations isn’t that rare, but I’ve also never seen a human as big, strong, and fast as you,” Hui says with a frown. “I understand if you’d prefer to keep them secret but you don’t need to hide them from us, we’re going to see them eventually.”

“I’m not human, I’m a kinslo,” Deidra says, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “We tend to look a lot like humans, except… different I guess.”

Crimson stares at her confused. He looks around expecting the same expression, but all he sees is a solemn look of surprise on everyone’s faces. Even Mon is uncharacteristically quiet at the news.

“That information doesn’t leave this room,” Echo announces. “Everyone agree?”

Everyone nods understandingly. Even Crimson despite his utter confusion. After a few moments of silence Mon jumps out of her seat, quickly forgetting about the intense feeling in the room.

“I’m hungry, do you think they have breakfast?” She asks happily.

“No idea, but we can go check.” Echo says, standing up to join Mon.

“I’m down.” Hui says, walking towards the door.

Crimson also stands but looks to Deidra to see her sitting quietly, not trying to hide her discomfort.

“You going to join us?” Crimson says, sitting next to Deidra. “You do eat right?”

Deidra chuckles lightly at Crimson’s question.

“Of course not, I eat souls.” Deidra says, her face serious.

Crimson stares at her for a moment, trying to discern whether or not it was a joke.

“That’s an odd diet…”

Deidra bursts into laughter, her gloomy expression vanishing.

“You really know nothing of my species do you?” She asks, her stoic persona returning. “Most people at least hear tales, specifically of them being hunted.”

Crimson leans against the back of his chair, trying to get comfortable.

“Let’s just say I don’t come from a big community,” He says with a smile. “Stena was nothing more than myth before Fey literally saved my life.”

“That seems like an interesting story,” Deidra says.

“Oh it is,” Crimson says smiling, but that smiling quickly disappearing. “Do you know why it’s taboo to share practically anything with anyone?”

Deidra leans her elbows onto the table, searching her memory.

“From what I was told, it’s because we can’t get caught up in that old life,” Deidra answers. “To make sure we get to keep living, and not die in the past.”

“But is that worth it? To just cut yourself off from everyone to survive?” Crimson questions. “I mean come on. We live alone just to die alone. What’s the point of a second chance if that’s the inevitable end?”

“I don’t know, though I don’t think we have to cut ourselves from everyone. Just the past,” Deidra shrugs, standing as she does. “But we won’t figure it out if we don’t keep moving right?”

Crimson looks up at her, a slight grin on his lips.

“Fair enough,” He responds. “One question though… your species doesn’t actually eat souls right?”

“That was a joke,” She laughs. “Mostly.”

Crimson stands up, walking towards the door and holding it open for her.

“Well. That’s going to keep me up at night,” He says with a sigh. “At least eat Hui’s first.”

“Of course,” Deidra says with a nod.

Just as She is about to exit the door, Crimson grabs onto her arm.

“Human or not, you’re still a team member,” He says with an honest expression. “No need to act differently because we know what you are, it won’t change how we act towards you. I’m sure I can say that for everyone… besides Mon, she’ll probably try to get you to cook Kinslo food. If that’s a thing.”

“I was worried due to our lack of histories together but each of you surprised me,” She says with a smile. “But now isn’t the time for that, food is waiting.”

Deidra exits the door, heading towards the spiral staircase leading towards the upper floors of the HQ. The canteen already bustling with initiates.

Crimson looks back into the room for a moment before shutting the large door behind him and jogging to catch up with Deidra.

“Where do you think they’re sitting?” He asks, looking up towards the second floor.

“Probably as close to the food as possible if I had to guess,” Deidra answers.

On cue they can see Mon practically skipping with happiness. Watching her they see her sit at the table less than twenty feet away from the janitors serving the food.

They walk up to the table, sitting down next to her.

“Oh you finally made it, I was getting a little worried!” Mon exclaims. “I was going to come check on you, but… food.”

Hui and Echo walk up to the table, noticing Deidra and Crimson have joined them.

“I’m surprised you found us so easily,” Hui say, an unidentified piece of meat hanging out of his mouth. “There are a lot of people.”

Crimson looks around and the near full canteen, initiates and full members mingling together.

“We just guessed where Mon would be,” Hui shrugs. “That got us close enough.”

“Closest to the food,” Echo announces. “Smart.”

Mon looks up from her food, bits of multiple dishes covering her mouth.

“Hey! That’s completely true,” Mon says with nod. “But can you blame me? This stuff is great.”

Mon dives her face back into the massive pile of food. This prompts everyone else to enjoy their meal as well. After nearly an hour of eating, with Mon and Deidra going back for more than a couple additional plates, they were done. Multiple stacks of plates surrounding them.

Mon rubs her stomach, the clothing she’s wearing exposing a bit of her midriff. Her face covered in food unlike the rest who are a bit cleaner. A hand holding a rag suddenly covers Mon’s mouth, causing the girl to squirm out of reflex. Everyone shakes off their after meal drowsiness and look at the person in hostility, just for them to sigh in relief.

Standing over Mon is Fey, her hand aggressively wiping the mess from Mon’s face.

“Haven’t I told you not to eat like a pig?” She says, handing the dirty rag to a nearby janitor. “It’s bad enough you look like a cat human hybrid.”

“But you said it was fine,” Mon pouts. “You saw me fight, it worked out.”

Fey rolls her eyes and sits next to Mon, grabbing the girl by the chin and checking around her face.

“I said your fighting was fine,” Fey admits. “But you draw too much attention for a rogue, people will remember your face.”

Mon nods as best she can, Fey’s hand not left her chin.

Crimson stares at the altercation, surprised at their relationship. The rest of his team surprised as well.

“A mother and daughter…” Deidra mutters. “That’s the closet thing I can compare this to.”

Fey looks at her suddenly, letting go of Mon’s chin as she does.

“I won’t say that isn’t the idea a lot of people get,” Fey says, turning towards the rest of them. “I guess it’s an old habit.”

Before anyone can stop her Mon jumps from the table, heading towards the line of food once more. Fey sighs watching her go, not making any attempt to stop her.

“She did mention you took care of her,” Crimson remembers. “Didn’t think you were this close though.”

Hui burps, interrupting the conversation and getting a glare from Fey.

“Wait, aren’t we not supposed to talk about our lives before the induction,” He says, burping once again. “It is a pretty staple thing with us right?”

Fey nods, leaning into her chair.

“It wasn’t before her induction, she was inducted nearly at birth,” She confesses. “Wasn’t really her choice.”

“Why?” Deidra asks. “Aren’t we supposed to be inducted because we have potential to be a part of Stena?”

“That’s the point, but with Mon it was different. She wasn’t the healthiest newborn,” Fey says with a sad look. “I knew her mother so I made an exception. With the mutations we gave her, she managed to survive.”

Crimson nods at the explanation, still confused as to why she allowed this to happen.

“Is that common?” He questions. “What happens if they don’t become a part of Stena?”

Fey leans closer to the table, bringing everybody closer so she can talk.

“We aren’t supposed to do that, but when you’re the best of the best… you find few people willing to argue,” She says with a grin. “I just had to make sure Mon became part of Stena, or I’d have to kill her.”

Mon appears behind Fey, a pile of food in her hands.

“Oh… why’d you have to tell them? I love telling the story,” Mon complains, sitting down next to Fey. “You always make it so gloomy.”

“Wait, you’re ok with her just telling us your history?” Crimson questions. “Aren’t you upset or something? That’s pretty personal information.”

“Yeah, you guys are my team now so I don’t mind. If she trusts you all with it I do too,” She answers. “She didn’t tell you the juicy parts and if worst comes to worst I’ll just kill you.”

Everyone remains quiet at the sentence, noting to never betray Mon for fear of becoming her next meal. Mon looks up from her food to see everyone has scooted slightly away from her, save for Fey who is chewing on some of Mon’s food.

“I was joking; I wouldn’t kill you guys. You’re apart of Stena now,” Mon laughs. “They wouldn’t let me even if you deserved it…though they probably couldn’t stop me if I tried…”

Crimson puts his head in his hands, sighing heavily.

“You all suck at jokes, stop making jokes.” He begs.

Fey stands up, chuckling as she does.

“I’m telling you all this to explain Mon’s… exotic behavior, can’t have you all being scared off,” She explains. “As much as it matters, this is her only life. Don’t expect her to understand civilian ideology, you’ll have to keep her on a leash when you aren’t fighting.”

Everyone nods at the request. Hui however grins wickedly at the wording.

“Was that a cat pun?” He smirks. “Or a kink?”

Fey looks at him with a glare, everyone else slinking away from her gaze. Just as it looks like Hui is about to become a barbequed hedge, Fey drops her gaze. Sighing as she does.

“Mon, stab him next time he isn’t looking,” Fey orders, grinning slightly at Mon’s excited purring. “You have off today to get used to your teams, but tomorrow all of the initiates are following me into the outer plains for some field work. Don’t be late, or you’ll end up being the bait.”

Fey walks off without another word. Leaving all of them wondering what tomorrow holds for them.

“She said bait right?” Hui asks. “What are we baiting?”

Deidra stands from her chair, handing off her dishes to a nearby janitor.

“Hopefully it won’t be us baiting anything,” Deidra sighs. “She did say don’t be late.”

“With Hui’s morning routine, I don’t think we have a choice,” Echo complains, following Deidra. “I vote we leave Hui.”

Mon shrugs, picking up each of her piles of plates in a limb, two in her hands and one on her tail. Handing them to a conveniently waiting janitor, she follows behind the others. Her claws flexing and retracting in preparation.

Hui slams his head into the table, somewhat regretting his last couple of choices. He looks up at Crimson to see his brow furrowed in confusion.

“You alright man?” Hui asks. “Thinking about tomorrow?”

Crimson shakes his head.

“No, no. I’m thinking of something much more important,” He answers. “I just don’t have the answer.”

“Well, what are you thinking about then?” Hui questions, curiosity getting to him.

Crimson looks down at the table for a moment, then looks back up, staring Hui in the eyes.

“Do people actually put leashes on their cats?”

“You know Mon might kill me right? And you’re more concerned about that?” Hui asks in disbelief.

“Like, who would do that? Is it a fashion thing?” Crimson says solemnly, his head in his hands.” I just can’t understand it.”

Not bothering to continue with the conversation Hui begins walking back to their room, watching out for a lurking predator as he does.

Crimson remains slumped on the chair, his mind full of poor cats trapped in leashes. A janitor pats him on the back reassuringly, spurring Crimson to return to the room.

Crimson eventually gets to the team room, opening the door with a heavy heart. He’s greeted by a wounded Hui, a stab wound in his thigh. Deidra wrapping it with a heavy bandaged. Crimson shakes his head, heading towards his bunk. Mon waves at him as he does, her blood stained claws not yet cleaned.

“So you actually stabbed him?” Crimson asks, not really surprised. “I think Fey was joking about that.”

Mon shakes her head as she cleans her claws. Either not understanding the sarcasm or knowing Fey well enough to know she wasn’t joking.

“She didn’t puncture anything that won’t heal by tomorrow,” Deidra says, tightening the bandage causing Hui to wince. “Have to appreciate the healing the induction process gives us.”

“It makes us heal faster?” Crimson questions as he flips the knife given to him by Fey. “I thought we had to get a mutation for that.”

Echo looks up from her bunk, setting down a piece of paper as she does.

“The process gives our body the ability to rapidly regenerate cells, this gives us the power to actually gain the mutations from creatures. We adopt their blood as part of our own.” She explains. “It isn’t as powerful as some mutations you can get for regeneration, but it makes small cuts like that heal far faster than normal. It isn’t very useful for major damage unfortunately.”

Crimson nods at the explanation. Glad to have that cleared up.

“I just thought they had a mutation for healing they didn’t tell us about,” He explains. “Wouldn’t blame them.”

“I already told you all of the mutations that matter,” Mon pouts. “You still don’t trust me?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Crimson responds.

Before the situation can escalate Echo jumps from her bunk, the same piece of paper in her hand.

“Mon, I think I’ve got a working blueprint for your claws,” Echo says, saving Crimson from a lengthy explanation. “I can probably make them tonight so we can try them out in the morning while we’re with Fey.”

In an instant Mon flies out her bunk and towards Echo. Mon effectively kidnaps Echo, the latter screaming in surprise as they head for the forge. Everyone else in the room sit in silence at the act.

“I think I’m done for the day, going to get an early rest,” Crimson says, putting his head down on the Stena provided pillow. “Goodnight.”

He saw Deidra walk to her bed as well, mouthing a goodnight to him as she did. Hui nodded to him and picked up his rapier, intent on training.