It turned out that the only thing Clyde liked more than sharing information about Classes was receiving it.

He threw questions at Tanya on repeat; everything from how she unlocked her Class to what Attributes it used and the other Classes of her friends in and around the Wyrm and Needle. Lilian bandaged Adam's leg over the strange amber substance with repurposed plastic bags, but then she sat next to them listening too.

"So it's a Unique Class rather than a Pioneer Class?" Lilian asked.

Tanya's head snapped towards her. "Pioneer Class?"

Clyde's mouth dropped open. "Of all of your friends with Unique Classes, none are yet Pioneers?"

Tanya looked at Adam. He seemed less groggy than before. "Don't look at me. I don't know what he's on about either."

Clyde stood up and started pacing. "Tattoo Summoning I understand—but I wonder how no one has replicated the conditions of the Bunker Wizard or the Mecha something which I'm still not sure I understand."

Adam tried again to explain Mechs to Clyde. "It's like a robot that's around a human. Like a suit of armour but bigger and robotic."

"Hm, I see," Clyde said, with a tone that made it very clear he didn't understand at all.

"Pioneer Classes?" Tanya insisted.

"We both have one," Lilian said casually.

A strange stillness bloomed in her chest. For a beat, everything inside her just… paused.

How the fuck have I not heard of this?

Her thoughts kicked back in all at once, tripping over each other. Pioneer Classes. A completely different classification for Classes. The word buzzed in her head like it was lit up in neon.

"How would you describe them?" she asked Clyde.

He scratched his chin. "Well, initially they're Unique Classes, but later on they convert because someone else unlocks them."

Unique Classes that evolve? She didn't even know that was possible.

Her fingers tingled. Her mind raced ahead, sprinting through implications she didn't fully grasp yet—but god, she wanted to.

"What's the new Achievement? Do you know if mine will too?" Tanya asked. She snatched herself back from even more questions.

"And me?" Adam asked, sitting up straighter. "Mine is still Unique too."

Tanya waited with baited breath, just for both Clyde and Lilian to shrug.

"We don't know why they change, but I could read you the Achievement if you like?" Lilian said.

Tanya nodded greedily, grabbing a solitary biro from the pot of crayons across the room. The colouring sheets themselves were long gone.

She noted it down meticulously, then showed it to Lilian and Clyde to check it.

Designation Update: Pioneer Class

Your Class has been acquired by another. It is no longer classified as Unique. You are recognised as the original holder.

"Did it come with anything else—any changes or feelings or buffs or—" Tanya took a deep breath. "Anything?"

"I don't think so?" Clyde said. "I woke up with it randomly one morning."

"Mine appeared whilst I was healing someone. It took a while for me to realise I hadn't done it with my own actions," Lilian said.

"They aren't from anything we do that we know of," Clyde added. "Our current theory is just that the rare conditions that we met to unlock the Class have been finally achieved by someone else, somewhere else."

Tanya raked her hands through her hair.

A man walked in and lit a tealight on the plastic table in front of them with a smile.

Oh, it's darker now.

Tanya looked out of the window. It wasn't yet night, but the sun was beginning to set. The pink hues above the buildings faded through purple and into the darker beginning of dusk.

Ah crap. I should get back and let Marjorie know he's okay.

"Come and see me some time," Tanya called at Lilian on the way out. "Or I'll come to you if I get a chance. Maybe I can increase your healing amount somehow."

• • • • • • • • •

The feeling of being watched returned as soon as Tanya was back outside and her walk turned from brisk to a jog, and then a run.

No harm in gettin' back to Marjorie quicker… she thought, but she wasn't convincing herself.

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She wound through the streets, distracting herself with the view of the pink clouds ahead and her loud thoughts.

Tanya hadn't expected to trust people she'd just met that quickly, but leaving Adam with Clyde and Lilian felt like the right decision. Maybe there were more good people out there than she thought. She suddenly became very aware of how little time she'd spent getting to know the neighbours over the last few weeks.

She'd been happy to spend most of her time inside practising designs or by the wards writing in her journal and processing this clusterfuck, but she knew that Mrs Eceer and Ishita had done more searches of the area during Ward building and met some of the neighbours.

Mrs Eceer had mentioned a couple of local names that Tanya searched the depths of her memory for, but she came up empty.

Maybe I should fix that.

• • • • • • • • •

The next day, it seemed that she didn't have to.

Marjorie had insisted on joining her son as soon as Tanya had gotten back, so it had been a longer night than Tanya expected, guarding Marjorie back to the estate and then doing yet another nervous jog to the parlour.

That had made for yet another tired Tanya, yawning whilst she brought in enough firewood to heat up the shop.

The knock on the door was expected. Tanya had planned the next day with Marcy. She scraped her greasy hair off her face with a claw clip, wishing she'd pulled herself out of bed soon enough for a hair wash.

That would have to be good enough. She opened the door with the lever beside it.

She instinctively sprang into an apology. "Sorry about the hair, Marcy—oh, you're not Marcy."

The man in front of her was a little under six feet tall, with a grown-out blonde fade and out-of-control stubble. Tanya couldn't look away from his eyes. They were a bluey grey behind his glasses, and between the expression in them and the bags under his eyes, he looked utterly haunted.

"Oh, hi, are you alright?" Tanya asked, gripping the edge of the door in her hand. The only thing that scared Tanya more than angry people was scared people. She'd heard enough from Marcy and the break-ins at the Tesco Express; desperation could get very nasty.

"Yes. Are you not open?" he asked, pointing upwards. "The banner says you are."

"The banner?" Tanya asked.

Stepping outside, Tanya carefully manoeuvred around the man. She noticed the way he was tapping his foot against the pavement and the tension in his shoulders.

Above the shop was indeed a banner. She guessed that it used to be bedsheets, but now it had words in giant letters. "Big Opening!!! Don't miss magic tattoo!!!"

Olena.

Tanya smiled. She turned to the man with growing confidence.

"Yes, we are. Come on in."

"It's warm in here," the man said. He sniffed every few seconds, his nose red from the cold and his glasses steaming up from the change in temperature.

"We managed to get an old Aga in here," Tanya said, already pouring him a cup of tea. "We're out of milk and sugar, hope this is alright."

He nodded graciously. "I know," he said.

Tanya tensed.

"Oh—I mean— I'm down the street, above the cafe. I saw you running around with things, and I met the older lady a week or so ago," he explained.

Curiosity got the better of her. She placed his cup down. "Why didn't you come out to talk to us sooner?"

"I listened to the television for a while—too long." He looked down. "Now I'm trying to catch up for her."

The way he said 'her' was filled with an incredible amount of love.

Tanya melted. "Her?"

"My daughter," he said, already welling up. He sat on the edge of the armchair "She was staying over at a friend's house in Epping."

"Is she…?" Tanya asked.

"She was injured but safe back when we had internet. I've not heard since." His face scrunched up, and he let out a slow breath, steadying his head in his hands. Then he wiped his face and sat back up again, glistening eyes but otherwise composed.

"And you need a tattoo to help you contact her?" Tanya asked.

"Get to her." He laughed, and behind the hollowness, a little bit of real humour came through. "The older lady—"

"Mrs Eceer?"

"Mrs Eceer—she told me that the help I was waiting for wouldn't come, and that was the only reason I didn't go and get myself killed." He shook his head. "She was…"

"Intense as fuck but always correct?" Tanya said.

He laughed again, this time a little brighter still. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

They fell into silence for a moment.

Tanya wondered how many of these neighbours were just waiting like he had been.

I should ask Mrs Eceer later.

The man slapped his hands on his knees, speeding up more and more. "So how does this work? I have money, but I don't even know if it's used anymore. I'm not even really sure what these tattoos do, I just—"

"Tanya," Tanya interjected. She held out a hand.

He stared at it for a minute, then shook her hand. "Ian."

"Nice to meet you, Ian. Now, let's start with the basics. Have you had a tattoo before?"

He nodded. "Two."

"Great, that makes things easier. It's a similar process, but you can then summon them for magical effects."

Tanya held out her arm, prompting for the hand to crawl out. Assistant stretched, perched on her wrist, looking between Tanya and the bewildered expression of Ian.

"Is it—is it alive?" Ian asked.

Assistant shuffled away from Ian, turning to Tanya in confusion.

"Yes, it is, I think," Tanya said to Ian. She turned to Assistant. "This is Ian, our first customer." She turned back. "Ian, this is me assistant."

Assistant jumped in the air like it had been struck by lightning. The excited joy emanating off of it was so intense, Tanya couldn't help but feel it spreading to her.

Assistant zipped around Ian. Ian turned his head to watch it. "My daughter would love this."

Tanya raised her eyebrows at Assistant, with an expression that said 'chill.'

Assistant stopped, floating politely back down to hand level and offered itself to Ian to shake.

He obliged, looking amused. "Can it—" he started to Tanya. He looked down at Assistant instead. "Can you talk?"

Assistant grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from the side, folding over its previous conversation to a blank piece.

No, but I can write :)

Ian signed something with his hands. He paused, tried again with a new series of signs, slower. "You can't sign?" he sounded surprised. "BSL?"

What's sign?

Tanya felt stupid. How hadn't she thought of sign language when Assistant was literally a hand? She didn't know BSL but she could have looked for someone or even made her own signs for key ideas.

Tanya winced. "It's a language that's often used by people who can't hear… They use their hands."

Assistant span towards her in shock and then indignation.

Tanya was just lucky it had the tact to not cuss her out whilst they had a customer.

Ian looked between them. "Sorry, did I put my foot in something?"

"No, no," Tanya said. She raked a hand through her hair, grinning. "Just made me realise I'm an idiot."

It would be so much easier to talk with Assistant even if they only learnt some key words.

"We work through trades nowadays. Any chance you have any books on sign language?" Tanya asked.

Without missing a beat, Ian replied, "You can have my flat and everything in it if you can make me strong enough to get back to my daughter."

Tanya baulked.

She blinked a few times. "I can definitely work with that."

He relaxed into the seat slightly, his face flashing with vulnerability. "Do you really think one of these could get me to her?"

"If we can pick the right thing, I'm sure it could give you a boost," Tanya said. "Did you have anything in mind?"

She held out her hand, and Assistant flew over her sketchbook.

"I'm not really sure what you can make, but um… something to travel faster or a weapon maybe?"

"In my experience, Class synergy makes the biggest difference," Tanya said. "What's your Class?"

"Oh, I don't have one."

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