Slumrat Rising

The evening routine went about as well as it could. Truth kept his parents from interfering with the evening routine as best he could. They studied pretty well. The practice tests weren’t a rousing success, but he thought he would make it. He was consistently passing the Talisman Maintenance section, but still struggled with the General Knowledge part. Just a little more. He wasn’t there yet, but… just a little more.

Fortunately, Dad had pressing business at a dice game, and Mom was fretting over shifting her latest drug. It seemed that MegaShroom wasn’t exactly flying off the shelves. Truth guessed that she hadn’t sold a single box. The thing about multi-level marketing was that you either had to sell horizontally, to suckers that knew and trusted you, or vertically, recruiting new marks to labor under you. Mom had burned every horizontal bridge she had years ago, and she wasn’t nearly charismatic enough to recruit people vertically.

Same old story. Over and over again. But that was the other secret to conversations with Mom- never let her try to sell you things. Never let her get you to sell things for her. It never, not once, ever, worked out.

The sibs quietly went to their room and started a round of cultivation. The two youngest shared a bed, Truth and Harmony were in bunks. There wasn’t much room to stretch and move, so they got used to avoiding each other. Or standing on the bed and doing it, but it never worked as well.

The morning routine was more of the same- Dad passed out in the broken armchair. A slice of cheap bread washed down with water for breakfast. Mom was still asleep. She probably had a late night, judging by the empty bottle on the table. Mom usually didn’t drink as much as Dad so… probably not a good sign. But he couldn’t fix it so Truth resolved to ignore it.

No Thierrie this morning, which didn’t exactly make Truth feel better. Just to be sure, he invested some precious money earning time walking them all the way to school. Nothing happened, but the sibs were a little happy about it. And complained a lot, of course, but that’s siblings for you. Truth had the constant fear of what would happen when his parents could no longer collect his welfare subsidy. Would they push the sibs harder to earn, no matter how? Maybe cut back on the little food they bought? He had to get them out of there!

Back to running odd jobs, only today nobody wanted help. It was well before noon that he gave up and started trawling the canal. It was not too long before nightfall that he turned up at Phils and got a miserable three wen. Dinner would be light tonight. Despite that, he didn’t want to touch their savings. It was the sign of hope.

Truth looked up at the billboard of the handsome Starbrite Man lighting the beautiful, presumably Starbrite, Woman’s cigarette. Golden Bats were a luxury product. Not only did they contain (so the advertisements went) the finest blend of choice tobaccos, they were also laced with mild cultivation stimulants. You wouldn’t break through to your next level just because you smoked Golden Bats, but you would progress a little faster. The rich and beautiful, getting stronger than you and richer than you, faster than you.

And they had the System. Only Starbrite had the System, and if you had the System… you were the next best thing to a god.

Starbrite didn’t hire Level 0 workers. You could be a trainee, but you wouldn’t get the system or the real benefits of being in Starbrite until you leveled up. Like housing. And legal support. Truth sighed, and started running home. There was a persistent myth that hard physical labor sped up cultivation. Truth was past ready to take a gamble. Besides, he could intercept the sibs’ convoy back from school. A little bonus.

“Hey Truth, guess what?” Harmony shouted cheerfully.

“What’s up?” Truth asked.

“I got the janitor gig at the school! Two hours a day, one before school and one after.” Harmony boasted.

“That is awesome! I am so happy for you!” Truth really was, too. The school offered work opportunities to kids in need, but since that was everyone in the slums, the jobs were damn hard to get. They also paid less than what a Level 1 adult would demand but… that’s reality.

“When do you start?” Truth asked.

“Next term. Actually, two days before the next term starts, to get the school in shape before classes start.” Harmony sounded very responsible, wanting to show off.

“Awesome, awesome, awesome!” Truth smiled. He didn’t think about the possibility of not getting into Starbrite. He refused to permit the existence of such a reality. But, some low, weakling part of him was glad the sibs would have some income while he was doing his national service.

Day 28 before the exam- not a complete loss after all. Do the scheduled studying, throw in some extra cultivation… it might even qualify as a good day. In fact-

“Tell you what. To celebrate, let’s buy some candy.” Truth grinned at the siblings.

“Eeeh? Can we afford it?” Sophia asked, but she was already flashing her brilliant teeth in a grin. Truth insisted they brush twice a day, and it paid off.

“Just this once. I’ll get it from the hidey hole.”

It’s not like a couple of wen would matter either way. Even tainted, trash cultivation support cost hundreds of wen. And morale mattered. So a small indulgence could be made to celebrate Harmony’s achievement.

They trooped back into the house, chatting happily. Dad was half cut, zoned out as he stared blankly into space above the scry. Mom was fluttering about, humming to herself. Truth looked over at the sibs then glanced at Mom. They got the clue.

“Hey Mom! How was your day?”

“Oh you know me! Always working my hardest for my little angels!”

Truth slid into their room, and stopped dead. The beds had been pushed around, and half shoved back into place. The blankets and pillows had been thrown around and not really put back properly. The drawers had been tossed. The school books they hadn’t sold were scattered around, with one old volume having its spine sliced open. And down by the corner, a rat’s nest had been pulled out of the wall.

Truth checked just to be sure, but he knew. The money was gone. He assumed it was Dad, but… on the bed that Vigor and Sophia shared, were two packs of Deluxe MegaShroom Supplements, and on his pillow, a box of Deluxe MegaShroom MindBSharp! Tea.

He didn’t remember moving back into the family room. He could hardly see, the edges of his vision were turning black as he hyper focused on the smiling face of Mom.

“SURPRISE! I know you kids have been worried about exams, and I thought, what can I get these little angels that they can’t get anywhere else?”

“You stole our money.” Truth ground out the words. His hands were shaking. Mom looked outraged.

“How dare you!” She screeched. “I never stole a thing in my life! First of all, you don’t have any money. Living under our roof, anything you earn is our money. Second, you know perfectly well you aren’t passing a damn thing without help. MegaShroom is the best. It’s the only damn thing that gives you a hope in hell of a real job anywhere, and what do you do? You scream at me like an animal.” Mom shouted.

“YOU STOLE OUR MONEY! YOU STOLE FROM YOUR FUCKING KIDS!” Truth shouted back. He was panting, his hands clenched into fists. He could hardly see through the haze of hate. Level One be damned, he would drop her ass like the sack of shit it was!

He felt something moving behind him, but before he could react, he was knocked spinning to the floor. Dad was out of his chair, roaring with anger. Truth could see a dozen ways to drop his ragged ass- and none of them mattered. Dad was Level One, and Truth wasn’t. Technique didn’t mean a damn thing when the difference of power was that absolute. Dad blurred forward, almost too fast for Truth’s eyes to follow. He tried to roll to his feet, but Dad’s bare foot caught him in the gut and knocked him over again. His gut exploded, watery vomit bursting onto the dirty linoleum.

“How dare you raise your voice to your mother like that! You little shit!” Dad slurred. Truth scrambled up, using the wall for support. When Dad started throwing hands, he could usually roll with the punches. Not this time. This time he got the full taste of the difference in levels.

“You Level Zero piece of trash, acting like your shit don’t stink, and now you think you can yell at your Mom like that? Fuck you. Fuck you. Maybe what you need is to spend some time on the street, huh? Think that would fix your attitude? Mr. Studies all the time? You think someone is going to hire a piece of shit like you?” Dad was swaying.

Part of him wanted to say “Fuck it,” and go. But he looked past his victoriously nodding Mom and saw his siblings. If he was gone, his parents would turn on them. And he knew exactly how they planned to earn off them. He could only protect them if he was around, and if he got into Starbrite. So he bit his tongue, and dropped his hands.

“Apologize.” Mom sniffled. “Apologize at once. From now on, every evening you kids will empty your pockets. Any money you earn will be held by your father and I for safe keeping. You understand? And when you do wash out of the army, you will be paying rent to stay here. Am I understood?”

Truth felt whatever thin grip he had on his temper strain almost to the breaking point. And then he looked at his siblings. He lowered his head.

“I apologize. We’ll do it like you say.”

Twenty. Seven. Days.

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