Evil Is Pink (bxb)

Chapter 8

The following days and weeks, Sticks spent his time laying low and learning from his new...'companions'. Tendril, his mysterious cellmate, never seemed to acknowledge him or even meet his eyes in public, but would sometimes pop out of nowhere and drop new, helpful tidbits of information, always vanishing before Sticks could properly thank him. Thanks to him, Sticks was beginning to learn how to maneuver his way around the complex with minimal problems. There were a great number of key hiding / blind spots that were absent of cameras and guards, should he ever need to duck for cover for whatever reason.

From Pimickie, he learned which guards were more likely to look away at the first sign of trouble, which guards loved trouble, and which ones he could bribe if it came down to it. He also learned a great deal about the prisoners and famed villains he needed to avoid confrontation with at all costs. If there was ever a bank made for whispers and secrets, Pimickie would be the face of it.

"How did you find out about all this stuff...?" Sticks had asked her one day, while they were outside in one of the many courtyards. The one they were visiting was particularly well known for its garden, which Pimickie seemed to enjoy perusing very much.

Pimickie simply giggled at him. A cockroach crawled out of her bushy black hair. "Uu...I'm sure you can guess..."

Sticks stared at the bug. "So...you have an insect xenos...?" He swallowed. "But if that's true how can you still—? I-I mean with our collars and—"

She sneezed. Which was her way of telling him to shut up. She was grinning her yellow-toothed grin at him. "...You should be more careful you know...I'm not the only one who likes to listen to whispers..."

"S-Sorry..."

She leaned in close. Her sour smell wafted across his nose. "Can you keep a secret...?"

Sticks nodded.

"Uu...that's good..." She leaned closer until Sticks could practically smell her teeth. "My collar's been broken for a very long time..."

"W-What? Really?"

She backed away, giggling, "Uhuhu...just kidding..."

Sticks was pretty sure she wasn't kidding.

From Rackus, he learned that stockpiling was a very important thing that all the prisoners did. And so, with meaty boy's advice, Sticks began to store an assortment of soup cans, silkworm cans, and instant noodles under his bed for safe keeping.

"It's not for eating you freakin' fairy." Rackus grouched at him when he had tried to open one of his newly acquired tuna cans. They were standing alone in Sticks's cell, with Tendril off being sneaky somewhere. Sticks understood from the way Rackus spat the word, that 'fairy' was meant to be an insult. But Sticks never understood why. From what he saw in picture books, fairies were cute little creatures who could fly and spread joy everywhere they went. Why was that such a bad thing?

He knew better than to ask though.

"You trade that stuff. For other more useful stuff." Ruckus continued.

"Oh...I see."

"Yea. Dummy."

The advice couldn't have come sooner.

One day, Sticks was absurdly late for his job in the kitchens. Every month or so, the prisoners rotated jobs on a regular, strict, unchanging basis, with the exception of kid-prisoners who were guaranteed to have "school" every other month. It was Sticks's first day at Kitchen duty and he had been warned by Tendril that his kitchen had Overseers who were especially strict.

"Be careful of the fat one." He had warned.

But in his anxiety, he ended up taking the wrong turn and got himself hopelessly lost. Even after a few months of living, navigating the Central Prison (which was about as large as a city) still felt like an impossibility.