From: Nikki (Player 606) To: The Director Subject: Cake
Hey!
I know it’s been a while, but I was making cakes and I made you one! It’s in the Floor 20 diner kitchen, on the counter.
I hope you like it!
Nikki
The Director shook her head. She’d thought the child had gotten the message about bribes.
Regardless.
She sent a polite reply to Nikki, and sent the cake to the Admins. They always seemed to enjoy Nikki’s cooking. And waste not, want not.
Then the Director went back to work.
* * * * *
Admin 6 looked over as a small table with a chocolate cake on it popped into the room. He smiled, wondering if this meant Nikki would start giving them things more regularly again.
Admin 5 was already on her feet, heading over with a newly-summoned knife to cut it.
“For all of us?” Admin 1 asked, getting up and stretching. “Not just for 5?”
“This is from the Director,” Admin 4 said. “Although I believe she gets food from the same source we do.”
“Her loss,” Admin 2 said with a shrug, summoning half a dozen plates. He and 5 passed slices around before sitting down to enjoy the cake.
Admin 6 summoned an iced coffee as he took his first bite. Flavor exploded onto his palette. It was orange and chocolate and creamy and delicious. Nikki had truly outdone herself.
There was something odd about it, but it wasn’t enough to make him stop eating. Just a slight… aftertaste. Something chemical. He didn’t know enough about baking to even guess at what it might be, but iced coffee washed it away fine.
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And then.
The darndest thing happened.
He realized his buildings were totally boring! They had, like, zero artistic merit! Admin 6 was super disappointed in himself.
He moved his chair closer to the desk, focusing on putting art into his cities and towns. Swirls. Lots of swirly swirls. Like, why make things with lines all the time, when there could be spirals? Spirals and domes.
In the background, 2 was confessing his love for 5, but whatever. Calvin was discovering the joys of painting every single cobblestone on a street a different color. He liked rainbow colors. It was so colorful.
Roof tiles were similar. They layered over each other, and he could do so many epic patterns with them. It was almost like pixel art! Calvin realized he really liked pixel art, and was pretty good at it, really. After a few tries. That first dog didn’t turn out good at all, but by the fifth roof it was discernibly a dog.
Streets, though, they were better suited to pointillism. He wasn’t good at that, like, no. Well, he didn’t suck at it, but it kinda, like, he needed a full plaza to do anything interesting, not just a street. Streets looked better with wavy spiral waves.
The street he colored like a waterfall was his magnum opus for cobblestones. It was ten out of ten. Or maybe even eleven out of ten.
He was briefly distracted by Admin 3 throwing his chair into the wall, but that wasn’t as important as deciding what the perfect flower for pixel art domed roof tiles was. Obviously it was whatever Emmy’s favorite flower was, but he’d never asked what her favorite flowers were.
He missed Emmy so much. She probably liked sunflowers. Or at the very least she wouldn’t dislike sunflowers. Everyone liked sunflowers! They were so pretty! And easy to make with roof tiles!
And then Admin 6 realized he was starving.
Which was odd, because Admins weren’t supposed to get hungry.
He sat back, blinking hard, and noticed the clock said it was a full day later than it should be. Looking around, he saw Admin 1 asleep in his chair, snoring away. Admin 2 was gone. Admin 3 was hiding under the desk. Admin 4 was repeatedly opening and closing a screen, the clickclickclickclick as he hit the button providing a sort of background music. And Admin 5 was eating a bucket of frosting with a big spoon.
She saw 6 watching her and moved her bucket away, making a noise that was almost a snarl.
Admin 6 looked back at his screens and was assaulted by neon rainbow colors.
Feeling a headache descend, he slowly opened a message box.
From: Admin 6 To: Nikki (Player 606) Subject: (Empty)
Nikki?
What the hell was in that cake?