"Nah, this isn't Junior." TJ forced a smile. "This is Luz. I'm taking care of her for a while. Maybe until she gets to be an adult. But she's not mine."
"Are… you sure?" Molly asked. "She smells and feels like you to my Bloodline."
TJ had to force down the explanation he wanted to give of how other followers of Xolotl had reacted to that scent. Molly didn't need to be burdened with the knowledge that creatures that might fall at her feet in worship were those that'd slaughtered Luz's parents simply because of their Bloodline. That they'd wanted to kill her too.
"She's got the same Bloodline, that's probably it." TJ shrugged. "That's how I found her in the first place."
"Huh. That's cool!" Molly said as she leaned forward and offered a finger to the toddler. Luz just looked at her suspiciously without doing anything else. After a couple seconds, Molly asked, "How do you know her name? How did she get there?"
It took a second of thinking for TJ to decide if he wanted to shield her from the truth, but after considering it for a second, he forced himself to remember the Tutorial, not so long ago and so bloody. Dozens of twisted bodies, each murdered by monsters and visible to everyone nearby.
"Her parents chose to bring her back after they completed their Tutorial." TJ spoke quietly. "They were killed by monsters just before I got there. I was barely fast enough to protect her, but the System will tell you the name of an infant unable to tell you themselves, so long as they don't have a guardian."
Molly's face fell, and she looked up at TJ. He didn't know how to react, and William stepped forward, patting Luz's head for a moment. She shook her head and pushed the hand away.
"Your son. He's about this age?"
"Older, but not too much." TJ answered.
"And you saw… that?"
"Yes."
"I can't imagine… how that was." William swallowed, hard.
"I think you probably can." TJ let out a shuddering breath. "I don't want to dwell on it."
Molly's father nodded as he reached an arm out and pulled Molly against his side. She didn't struggle against it and leaned against his chest for a short moment. Then, Lucy and Stella walked forward to check out the baby. Luz recoiled against TJ's chest and hid her face, though not in fear. Instead, it was more of the performative shyness that many children have, where they're seeking for the adult to try harder to get attention. It worked, and before long, Lucy was gently tickling Luz's ribs while Stella held her.
"She feels safe with you." Lucy said as Luz reached her hands back out for TJ to take her. He settled her on his chest, realizing just how easy it was to hold a baby as a Copper tier literally hundreds of times stronger than he was as a regular guy.
"I'm glad." TJ replied. "It's not ideal, but there's nothing else I can do."
The conversation died at that, but it wasn't a painful silence. Instead, TJ walked towards his rooms, though the other people with him seemed conflicted about following.
"It's no problem if you come with. It's still a dorm room, so there's not gonna be enough space for all of us to be comfortable, but it's probably for the best if you at least know where I stay while I'm here."
Molly didn't need more of an explanation than that, and she hopped ahead of TJ.
"So, what's the deal with the rocks? You talked about them a little."
"Copper Elite." TJ said by way of explanation. "Basically a living pile of rocks, called a golem. Didn't look like anything, and while I was walking, it collapsed the sewers underneath me. Then it closed them overhead. Tried to kill me that way, but luckily it was pretty stupid. Let me out without too much trouble, and once I wasn't underground, I was ok. I'd avoid them, though, because if it's smart enough not to weaken the roof, it'd probably be a death sentence."
"Really?" Tessie asked, her eyes more worried than before.
"Yeah. More dangerous than the mountain lion I fought in the Tutorial, for sure. Just stupid, so I survived."
Tessie fought to keep her breaths controlled, and TJ regretted the reaction, though he wasn't sure what else he could have said or done instead.
"So…" TJ trailed off as he pushed open the door. "This is my room—"
"Welcome home, TJ—"
Mimi went quiet from her greeting, turning away from the small table where she had four plates set up. Sam walked out of the bathroom and his mouth dropped open as he saw seven more people than he'd expected. Seth recognized Sam and was the first to break the sudden silence.
"Hey, Sam. Been a while."
"Yeah, hey Seth." The high schooler responded mechanically. "I, uh… didn't expect to see you?"
"Me neither." Seth shrugged. "Glad you're doing ok. Get away from the monsters?"
"Traded them for ones I'm allowed to kill." Sam said, then cringed as he saw so many other people witness what he was saying.
"Good for you. I'll be around, but there's just too many people here for now. I'll find my room, let you know where it is when I can."
"I'll come with, if it's alright?" Sam answered, seeming to want to escape the space. Mimi obviously mirrored the feeling, though she continued to watch Molly and Tessie with a curious look on her face.
"Feel free," TJ said, "but I'd like to make some quick introductions. I think most of you'll probably end up working together in some respect, so it'll be worth it. Plus, I want to make sure you guys get to eat your food today."
"Yeah, sure." Sam said, stepping to the side to allow the procession of adults into TJ's room.
"Mimi, Sam, these are some people from my Tutorial, and their families. Sam, you know Seth, he's a good guy. These are William and Lucy, Molly here's parents, and those are Brad and Stella. Tessie's theirs. Seth, Molly, and Tessie were in my Tutorial, and they're all Copper tier, so if you have questions about that, then ask them as well as me. Got it?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
"Sweet." TJ nodded. "Sam and Mimi here are siblings who I ran into on the first night of being back here. We've kinda fallen in together, though they're still Dirt tier. They're good kids, and I've been looking out for them since then. Um… I think that's it?"
William walked up to Sam and Mimi, offering his hand to shake. Both did so, though Mimi obviously kept herself further back from the taller man. Lucy and Stella stayed back, just waving, while Brad nodded as he asked, "Do you need any healing?"
"I'm a Disciple too." Mimi shook her head.
"Sounds good." Brad smiled softly. "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you, ok? Happy to help."
Mimi nodded, then looked at TJ imploringly.
"You're not prisoners, and you're not my children." He said. "If you wanna go, go. Take your dinner, though. Thank you for taking care of this for me and Luz."
The nervous teen looked back and forth, not sure what she should do. TJ sighed, grabbed two of the plates, passed them both to the kids, and nodded towards the door.
They took the plates, and with quick goodbyes, they walked out the door. Molly followed for just a second, dragging Tessie along behind her.
"You some kinda orphanage director before all this?" Stella asked. "You're just picking kids up left and right, even during the Tutorial!"
"Nope." TJ chuckled as he sat down with Luz to feed her. "They were going around, trying to find stuff to help them run away from home. I decided to help them out. The rest of the story is theirs to tell, if they wanna. But they're genuinely good kids, and I'm glad to have them around. Mimi's been pretty helpful with Luz."
"Toddlers are hard." Lucy agreed. "It's been so long, but I remember how much of a struggle Molly was. Doing it alone is hard."
"It is." TJ felt the melancholy settle over him. Instead of wallowing, though, he continued to deal with Luz, feeding her small bits of rice with some pureed vegetables and meat.
"So…" Brad said, breaking the silence that TJ had let settle back over them. "What's your plan moving forward? Forgive me for asking you this when we don't have much of a plan ourselves, but reality is that we'll probably be relying on you for a while yet. At least until we have our feet under ourselves, I can't imagine that there'll be much that we can do entirely independently."
Something in TJ revolted at that. That these people, wholly capable of taking care of themselves, were going to count on him to do all the hard parts. The parts that he didn't want to have anything to do with. Beyond that, these were people who were going to count on him for what? To just coddle them every step of the way? Their daughters had fought through and survived hell, and now they wanted the easy way out? His disgust fought to curl his lip, but TJ managed to school his face.
"I'd suggest you speak with some of the people in charge. They've got plans about who can stay where and why and so on, and I have nothing to do with that. By choice, frankly. I won't be much help. However, if you want general advice from me, I can give this. Do the hardest things you can. Don't take the easy way out, or you're going to find yourselves more and more outpaced by your daughters. Don't look for safety and security, look for challenges, because the old world is dead."
Brad's face twisted a little with that, though William seemed to understand more about what TJ was saying. Lucy spoke instead of just making a face.
"You're not going to help us?" Her tone was disbelieving.
"If I don't have to, no." TJ answered with a shrug. "I've already explained how important it will be to pass challenges and grow on your own merits. If you don't you'll reach Copper and find that you're weaker than the weakest Copper tiers. One of my levels will be worth two of yours, and I've already got a head start. If you want to be strong enough to protect yourselves and your family then you've gotta do something about it. If you're fine being weak in a world where strength is going to be the number one determiner of your fate, then I suppose that option's available to you. Don't ask me to facilitate that for you. I have a son I need to protect, and he's going to take precedence over you."
"You're strong enough to help us at the same time, though!" Lucy retorted. "You took out a Copper Elite in the Tutorial! Why can't you just make sure that we don't die when we're out here? It's the duty of the strong to protect the weak, isn't it?"
"I don't disagree with you." TJ kept his tone level. "I think you're right that strong people, especially in this world, should help others. If they don't, then the weak will all be destroyed by this world."
"So why don't—"
"I don't think you're that weak." TJ cut her off. "Sure, your daughters, Seth and I are all stronger than you. We had a terrible Tutorial where nearly 200 people were slaughtered, and as a result, we came out of it a lot stronger than you lot are. But the world out here? It's not so dangerous that you need to hide behind my legs like children. Get stronger, and protect yourselves. If you don't, then even if you were Silver tier, you'd be too afraid to go out and do anything."
Lucy's face flushed, but as her daughter poked her head back into the room, she held herself back. When Molly spoke, Lucy went entirely white.
"He's right. If you can't fight monsters on your own… does that make me your parent? Will I have to protect you all the time? Or… just leave you alone to see if you can survive? What can I do?"