A Guide For The Outsiders

Chapter 4: Society

TW: PTSD,
Please let me know if I missed any

The lanky enderian was fidgeting throughout the walk there. "How are you, Theseus?" He asked at some point.

"In pain." He muttered, his body ached, and his wings were overworked.

Ranboo snorted. "Sure you are."

"You're an odd guy, Ranboo." Tommy said as he scanned his keycard.

Ranboo muttered something in ender, shifting the items again. Tommy stepped into the tower, relishing the clean smell, but Ranboo seemed to tense up more.

"So, how are you, Ranboo?" The blond asked the enderian.

"Not in physical pain." He said as they walked to the elevator.

"You speak ender."

"Yep."

It was dead silent as they got into the elevator. Tommy cursed that someone knocked out the speaker the day before.

"I haven't met many enderians around here."

"Well, there aren't many left." He said, watching the elevator number slowly rise up. It stopped at level 75.

"Don't go all fanboy over the heroes." Tommy warned.

Ranboo merely scoffed. "Trust me, I won't."

The elevator door opened, and the enderian tensed, Tommy expected some reaction, and got absolutely none out of the guy.

Tommy stepped out with Ranboo in tow. "Hey, Peregrine."He said, setting down his things on the counter, Ranboo mirrored his actions.

"Who's that?" Wilbur asked.

"This is Ranboo. He is the barista who helps me out from time to time."

"More like all the time." The enderian muttered, and Tommy snickered.

Metus came over and glanced at Ranboo, doing a double take.

Ranboo's eyes widened slightly in recognition.

"Ooh, is Ranboo a Metus fan?" Tommy crooned.

"Sure, Tommy." Ranboo said, flicking their tail casually. Metus gave a slight nod and walked off.

"So how are you, Ranboo?" Peregrine said, sipping his coffee.

Ranboo tensed up again, cagey bitch, "I'm good." He said stiffly.

"So you work around here, where do you live?"

"I hardly think it is important for a hero like yourself to know where a random civilian lives." Ranboo said with a cold edge.

Peregrine looked taken aback. "Ranboo, is it?"

"Yes, now I need to get back to the cafe, as I am one of two workers most days."

He made to go to the elevator when Peregrine tried to grab them. They dodged swiftly and jumped into the elevator as the doors shut again.

"What'd you do that for Peregrine?" Tommy asked.

Phil stared him down, "He's avoiding that question. There's something he doesn't want us to know."

"Cool it, Philza," Metus said, walking back into the main room. "It's their life, and they are right. You have no reason to question them."

"You're defending them. Aren't you?"

"It is my job as a hero to defend people, Philza." Metus said, looking out the window. "That is my top priority. It should be yours too."

● ● ●

Tommy knocked on the piglin's door. "Yeah?"

"Will you come and spar with me?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?" Metus was twirling a pen absent-mindedly.

"I need to know how to beat people, how to defeat people, I couldn't beat Toxin, and ERROR did instantly, so how will I defeat anyone?"

"And why'd you ask me? Peregrine is in charge of your training."

"I don't want to talk to Phil right now."

The corners of the hero's mouth quirked up a bit in a grin. "Me neither. Let's go."

They stretched out on the mats before they began, Tommy picked a staff and a blunt sword. Techno grabbed a blunt broadsword.

They sparred for a while, Tommy continuously getting knocked off his feet by the older man. While they were taking a break, Tommy asked the question. "Why do you think ERROR helped Toxin?"

The piglin considered it to a length. "It is in the best interest of a vigilante to save the people, and to ERROR, Toxin is a person, that they are one in the same." He paused for a moment, "It's a lot harder to kill someone when you are actually in the position because then they are human, not an enemy, nor a villan, just a person.

Tommy pondered this as they went back to sparring. Would he be able to kill someone? If it came down to it, would he be able to kill someone he could consider a friend? Yes, he hoped.

"Do you think I could beat Toxin?" The avi-coon asked as he parried a blow.

"That's hard to say. We don't know his abilities and his strengths."

"Then ERROR? Could I beat ERROR?"

Metus snorted. "No."

"Why not?"

"Tommy, ERROR is an ender-ghast hybrid with fire power and an unpredictable, glitchy teleport. They've been on the field for years and training for longer than you by a mile. They're better than I remember them. So no, if Theseus and ERROR had a duel to the death, ERROR would win, and in less than 10 minutes."

The hero trainee was taken aback. "Well, how do I defeat them then?"

"A lot of heroes have asked that." Techno said, tripping Tommy and bringing the blade down. "Not one of them have managed to even capture them, let alone bring them in. We don't know the extent of their powers. So you don't. They are to do their thing, and heroes aren't supposed to bother them."

"What if someone were to bring them in?"

"Don't think about it, Tommy, it's not happening."

Yet Tommy still thought about it

__________________________

I'm at school so bye.

Luv you friends 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙