ZjoZjo padded around the perimeter of the Fiends For Hire compound, scheming her next infiltration. She tested the barrier at a few spots, double checking its durability to see if it was as impenetrable as the rumors said. And it proved its worth, at least to her measly strength. She also doubted she could dig under in any reasonable amount of time, if that was even an option in the first place.
The girl briefly had musings of hopping onto the back of one of the members to sneak her way in. She’d found theories in her research that it was a possible way to circumvent the barrier. But that would have to be a last resort since that really would be unlawful entry at that point, and the ignorant child card would only get her so far.
Unfortunately, most of her other plans didn’t bear much fruit, at least until she heard children screaming. But it wasn’t a pained scream of terror. No, it was one of pure joy and youthful happiness, which ZjoZjo found even more unbearably annoying. The girl has never related well to her peers, especially not during free time on a playground. How was she supposed to derive enjoyment from climbing on top of bits of scrap metal?
At the very least, she could understand that athleticism served some merit, but playing around wasn’t even a proper regiment. And to her, how fast she could run or high she could climb were the least of her worries. What good would they serve her when she grew up? If she was attacked by a monster? In that case, she just needed to not be the slowest and least agile of those around her.
The girl would much rather spend her time bettering herself and building future prospects than dallying in childish activities. To be expected, she didn’t have many friends, not that she took much stock in the concept. Though she got on well enough with her HuddleBuddies. However, it seemed they viewed her more as their leader than comrade, often going to her with concerns and questions more than their actual tutors.
‘You’re destined for great things.’ Those words had been repeated to her so often by countless different adults that they’d been etched into her very DNA, lest she want to disappoint them. So while ZjoZjo felt no kinship—only annoyance really—to the piercing screeches she heard over the wall, it didn’t mean she couldn’t take advantage of them.
By her guess, since she couldn’t actually see into the compound due to the tall fortifications, she must have been right next to the schoolyard. Since it was currently summer break, the girl didn’t actually have any schooling herself, which is why she was able to spend a whole day trying to extort the rich for money—a luxury of time she couldn’t afford if she had homework to do. Maybe the Fiend school worked differently and they had classes year round, or they still played at the school grounds even during breaks.
Regardless of the reason for their presence, she was glad they were up so early, especially since they were likely unmonitored by sleepy adults. ZjoZjo called upon a forbidden technique, something she could manifest whenever the need suited her. The girl suffered from a distinct lack of childishness which came along with a stunted range of emotions, symptoms that often only plagued adults of a much older age that were swimming in depression.
However, she could cry on command. The girl collapsed to the ground and tears started streaming down her face. What started as simple whimpers quickly evolved into full on blubbering with wails of anguish that nobody could ignore. Sadly, this trick no longer worked on her parents, since they’d become wise to her antics. But for just about any other adult, it worked like a charm, letting her get whatever she wanted. If the butler, Mallea, wasn’t such a known child hater, she would have tried it out shamelessly on her as well.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” In less than a minute, a face beaming with innocence peered over the wall and expressed their concern for the crying girl. But that wasn’t all, one at a time more curious faces sprouted up into a view, like an infesting weed. ZjoZjo had to hide her grin since her plan had worked so swiftly, and that she’d caught such a big audience with her net.
“They, they, they won’t,” she started to explain, sniffling between each word. “I just wanted to come in and play and share my snacks with everyone, but they won’t let me iiiiin!” The girl sobbed like she had just witnessed an unforgettable trauma of unspecified horrificness.
“Well then we’ll come play with you!” Without hesitation, the Lesser Fiend girl hopped over the wall without a second thought and landed effortlessly on the ground like a trained gymnast. Another girl immediately jumped down after her which led to a chain reaction of children hopping down from the wall. In seconds, ZjoZjo was surrounded by youths of every age, not a normal eye color among them, and they all seemed rather concerned for her wellbeing.
“I’m Mazie, and this is Bray, and…” the girl introduced herself and then went down the entire line of Fiends and Lessers, not missing a single face. The human made sure to memorize them all, not wanting to upset any of her unwitting conspirators. “So what do you want to play?” The girl finally asked.
“Uhh, like I said, I have all these snacks,” ZjoZjo wiped her eyes. “I’m not supposed to just give them away for free, but maybe they could be a prize! How about we play tag? The winner could get a whole bunch of muffin tops! But I want everyone to have some, so how about you get one too if you get tagged?”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The children were delighted by the prospect of fun and snacks and agreed to her game wholeheartedly. ZjoZjo was the chaser for the first round. She struggled to catch anyone at first, completely outclassed by their physical prowess—both from their boosted bodies and from just being much more active in their daily lives compared to her.
But they caught on quickly and slowed down so that the girl could tag them. The round was over in a few minutes, and the group took a short break to munch on their muffin tops. Squeals of delight murmured around the group as each of the children stuffed their faces. The winner, Bray, took her time eating each sweet but still devoured every last bit. Perhaps given her history, she’d tried extra hard to win since she actually knew what she’d be winning.
And now that the children had experienced a taste of what was on the table, the dynamic of the next round changed entirely. It was utter chaos. Bray was the chaser this time, and she wanted the round to be over as soon as possible so she could get her treat and another chance at winning the jackpot.
Meanwhile, some of the kids let themselves be caught early on so they didn’t have to really put in any effort for their next muffin top. However, those that wanted to win, really wanted to win. The entire experience devolved into mad dashes around the area and countless shrieks and giggles. It was quite the rowdy raucous and would surely garner the attention of anyone nearby.
And that was the angle that ZjoZjo was counting on. She wasn’t going to make any money off of these children—well, pocket change at best. It was all an attempt to lure those with deep pockets, those with the desire to placate the children and do anything to get them back to a quieter state of being, regardless of the cost.
Her first pull wasn’t quite the sucker she was hoping for. It was the children’s dorm mother, Senli, and she was quickly drug into the game by the children upon her arrival, not even really registering ZjoZjo’s existence. She seemed quite use to their chaotic nature, catering towards the fun they were having instead of trying to reign them in immediately.
But one of them eventually brought up the hot topic all of them were clambering about., “Big sis Senli! These are amazing, you should try one!” a child handed their muffin top to the young girl.
And then another asked, “Can we buy some for the school?! I’d eat them every day!” Now that was more in line with what ZjoZjo wanted to hear.
There was some opposition at first, of course. “Well I don’t know about that… We have plenty of sweets already, and… huh wow, these snacks really want to be eaten. They seem almost desperate to be bought and consumed, and to make the children happy. Well if that’s the case then… I guess we would need to ask the headmaster.”
“Ask me what?” The elderly gentleman Ipucco appeared as if from nowhere. “I was drawn by the sound of the children’s joy and wanted to see what was going on for myself. Well, if they enjoy these muffin tops that much, I suppose we could buy them for the school. It is well within the budget, so we could include them in the rotation.”
“Buy a hundred, Mr. Ipucco!” One of the kids cried out.
“No, a thousand!” Another child upped the ante.
“A million!”
“Uhh, what’s bigger than a million…? Two million!”
“Well, I don’t know about all that,” Ipucco smirked. “Where would we even store two million? But since you all seem so enthusiastic, we’ll give it a proper trial. If you all don’t get sick of them, then we’ll order even more.”
“You there, young madam,” he turned his attention to ZjoZjo. “We’ll take a year's supply. Enough that the children will not go wanting, but not too much that they will overindulge. You seem like a smart young lady, so I’m certain you’ll be able to work out that figure for us.”
“Uhh, yes sir!” ZjoZjo couldn’t help but feel like she was being tested. This man was a teacher after all. If she produced an inadequate number, there was a good chance he’d call off the sale entirely, so she needed to be precise. The girl got to work, doing some mental math based on the speculated number of Fiends For Hire students and the recommended serving sizes, inflating it just a smidge since Lessers and Fiends could take a few more calories compared to the average human.
She then filled out the order form and handed it to Ipucco. “Yes, this will do nicely.” The headmaster pulled an exquisitely intricate fountain pen out of his pocket and scrawled his signature before handing it back to the girl. “Now come along children, class is about to begin. Say goodbye to your new friend. Even if you don’t see her again, we will have these snacks to remember her.”
““““““““““Bye ZjoZjo!”””””””””” They all waved her farewell. Instead of scaling the wall back into the compound, the children were led to the north gate and out of her sight.
She took a glance at the order form and grinned. Ipucco’s signature was by far the most elegant she’d seen in her entire life, turning the simple slip of paper into a silver ticket for a successful future. With just that, she’d surely win the fundraising competition, or at the very least be a placing contender. There was always the possibility one of the children in another Huddle had a rich family member who could sponsor their entire endeavor.
Really, the girl should have just taken her victory and left then and there. As far as she knew, there were no further conceivable ways to break into the compound, and she doubted she could bring them to her again so easily. But the day was still young… And just as she was starting to ruminate on a few ideas, a pinching pain dug into her skull.