Chapter 20: Nicknames
Cyrus's eyes, which were slightly heavy with fatigue, lit up at the sight of the steaming bowl on his lap, and he hadn't realized how hungry he had been until now.
Wait, what day is it?
Renee handed her brother a spoon, and he smiled a 'thank you' her way before clinking it on the porcelain bowl. The lentil soup was rich, with the earthly blend of lentils, carrots and celery. The broth shimmered with golden hues, carrying a hint of aromatic herbs that only stirred his stomach.
Tender chunks of vegetables peeked out from the liquid, promising both nourishment and flavor, and Cyrus could not resist the idea of taking a spoonful of it into his mouth.
As expected, the taste was as satisfying as it looked, and his sister waited for him to finish, also digging into her bowl of chicken noodles. No wonder Peaches was assigned as the cook, she was worthy of that title because the chicken noodles tasted amazing, Renee doubted her cooking skills were as perfect as this.
"At this point, I don't care if the meal is poisoned, I'd eat this knowing I'll die a happy man." Cyrus praised with a satisfied hum, wondering who could cook so fantastically well. If their city wasn't in complete mayhem, he would court her as long as she promises to cook like this for him everyday.
"I thought you hated lentil soup?" Renee questioned him with a raised eyebrow.
"I thought so too," he pondered, "the last one I ate tasted like a big ol' pile of mush, so you can't judge me."
"You say it like my cooking is bad." Renee frowned at her brother who paused in his intake, and he shrugged guiltily.
"Heh, I'll rate you a 3.5 if that'll make you feel better. I'll just have a taste of your – hey!!"
Cyrus yelped when she slapped his hand away from her bowl of chicken noodle. She was glaring at him with those dagger eyes of hers – that look that made him wonder if his sister was the reincarnation of the mythical Medusa.
"What happened to sharing meals together." he humphed at her defiance, facing his plate and rolling his eyes, "fine, fine, a 3.6 then."
"You ungrateful–"
"That reminds me," he interrupted her process of venting, shifting closer. "What's this place called again? When I woke up, all I saw were those two freaks standing in front of me. Thought I had been kidnapped by some mad scientist and was about to get whisked to the lab where abominations happen." He spooked, realizing he had been more creeped out by the stranger in a lab coat, and then his expression wavered as though he just remembered something depressing.
"I suddenly recalled the car crash after getting my senses together and thought of you, your state. The relief I felt to see you walk in, I can't explain it but I hope you can forgive me for endangering your life like that. I should've been more attentive to the road."
"Well, it is your fault," Renee huffed at him, but noticing her brother was actually serious with his apology, she couldn't help but drop the act. He wore a lopsided grimace on his lips, staring heavily at the bowl in front of him. His spoon made clinking sounds on the porcelain bowl, and he only ever did such with his food whenever he was starting to lose appetite.
"Mistakes happen," Renee uttered with a soft smile, "we were caught off-guard and things happened, but we're both alive, and that should be the only thing that matters right now. I shall inform Peaches about your compliment on her wonderful meal, maybe your love story was set to happen during an apocalypse, and you won't end up dying a virgin."
"Hah-hah, don't go making such comments in front of people." His face contorted shamefully, "that's not even the point right now, who are those people? And how many more are there?"
"Ah, yes." Finishing her meal, Renee took her time to explain to him what had happened. She started with Robinson, then Lysander, including what he told them all at the grand dining room. She mentioned the nice people she had interacted with so far, and the guild.
"So you're saying we're in a guild owned by a secret mafia." He briefed all her speech in a sentence. He didn't look as excited as she hoped he'd be, even if the thought of other survivors lessened his worry a bit. He seemed to ponder on all the information she fed him with, his brows furrowed into concentration, and Renee leaned forward to convince him.
"Why don't we join their guild? The people here are nice and easy to talk to." She reasoned, "everyone's making plans to understand the system, the virus, and the evacuation is slowly being processed. If we stay here, we can get help, we can even find out more clues concerning the government and why they did this to all of us."
Cyrus glanced at his sister, a little doubtful, but he wanted to believe her. It wasn't like his sister to be interactive with REAL people, she was mostly introverted and preferred her room to people, another reason why she was homeschooled till she turned sixteen. To show how serious it was, his sister never made a single friend till this day, aside from the dumbass boyfriend she fell for, she hates socializing – but he was the only person who understood that side of her, while others saw his adorable sister as a creep.
He honestly assumed it had something to do with trauma, but then what sort of trauma could his sister possibly have? So he decided to see it as her own unique personality.
For her to justify the niceness of these people, he believed her, but then her choices sometimes…ehmm… could be wrong too.
"I need to see things for myself, help me." Handing her the tray with the empty bowl, he gave her his hands so she could help him out of bed. She assisted him to the bathroom so he could wash up, and in the next few minutes waiting for him, Renee's mind drifted to how their sudden consciousness seemed too strange, especially after suffering from an intense car crash.
She remembered bleeding, but there was no wound on her forehead when she woke up this morning. Robinson wasn't good at hiding his surprise either, and she knew he was taken aback for a moment, only to replace his expression with a knowing smile.
Something feels sketchy, but she couldn't point her fingers on it.
Few minutes later, Renee was walking side by side with her brother, and his eyes refused to divert from the structure of the house. She wouldn't say her parents were poor, her parents in this world were comfortably wealthy, considering where they worked, and her brother's job too, but it was nothing compared to this. Although her parents loved to keep things simple and comfortable, she knew if they wanted to aim for something like this, it would take many years.
Making it downstairs, Naya was the only one in the dining room. She was busy with her phone, scrolling through something when a ray of hope lit in Renee's eyes.
"Naya, is there stable wifi here?" Renee reached her side, peering into her phone to see what she was up to, but the excitement in her eyes wavered when she saw Naya playing a sniper's game. An earpiece was connected to her phone, and only one of the earbuds was attached to her ear.
"You're playing a game?"
"My phone and I can't be useless at the same time." Came her usually blunt response, and her deadpan gaze shifted to Cyrus who just stood meters away, blinking back at her, and she raised a questioning brow at Renee.
"Naya, meet my older brother, Cyrus." Renee introduced him to her, "Cyrus, this is Naya."
"Your brother's quite a catch" Naya's indifferent gaze returned to her phone, "you better keep him away from Peaches though, she has a thing for cringe-naming guys she finds…"
"I heard Peaches, anyone call my name?" The pink-haired lady had stepped out of the kitchen with the same bright, energetic vibrance following her like a protective shield. She glanced at Renee and Naya, but then her peach eyes went round in wonder upon sighting the young man standing beside Renee.
"Isn't he the same guy you were brought with?! It's always nice to meet other survivors! I'm Peaches!" She immediately introduced herself to Cyrus. "How are you feeling now? Your state earlier was so critical, thought you'd lay in bed for weeks, but just like your sister you're both miraculously healed! Are you joining the phantom court too? What's your name?"
"Uhm… Cyrus?"
"What a lovely name, but it can be better! I'll call you–"
"Don't say it." Naya interjected.
"Smooth operator." She announced with a proud smile, "you and your sister are so lovely, your parents must be beautiful people." She shook his hand and glanced at Naya with narrowed eyes and a suspicious, slight grin.
"Smooth operator?" Cyrus was instantly caught off-guard, and she nodded, taking it as something normal.
"It's what I do, I'm really good with nicknames! For example, there's Robinson, I nicknamed him Bobby cause he likes it when I call him that."
"No he does not." Countered Naya, but Peaches paid no heed to her opposition.
"Lysander gives me daughter treatment, so I call him Daddy Zander, and now you're on the list. Welcome to the phantom team smooth operator!"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone