They started eating, the conversation lulling quickly, and it didn’t pick up until they were nearly done.
“Toddles,” Ender drawled.
“Mhm?” the Harpy grunted as he took a sip from his glass.
“Did you give them a tour?”
Soren stared blankly at the Gorgon for a moment, his face pinching slightly. “When would I have even had time?”
“If you were efficient, you would have had plenty,” Ender said with a hmph. “Once we finish eating, I’ll give you a short tour, and then, chickens!”
“Can I at least come on the tour?” Zenny whined.
Ender chuckled. “No. But after your schooling is done, we can all go swimming!”
“You really have an underground pool?” Killian asked.
“Not sure if pool is exactly the right word for it, but you’ll see it during the tour!”
Pool or not, it had to be bigger than a bathtub at least. Which in Cyrus’ mind was going to have to be good enough. Sirenswere technically meant to live underwater, and in Killian’s case, the ocean—though the salt content wasn’t really important, as he could survive in fresh water as well. The man hadn’t lived in either in a long ass time, for good reasons, but Cyrus knew it wasn’t exactly comfortable for Killian to live permanently on land.
The Siren suffered through moments where he was so dry, his skin would crack and bleed. The simple weight of his clothes was agony, and the touch of others was even worse. It was one of the reasons why the first thing he’d done when he’d bought his house was install a large indoor pool. As of late, he’d been trying to figure out how to customize a bed where at least half of it converted into a pool of water, which was what Killian slept in at his apartment, even if he did have a bed as well.
Cyrus had yet to accomplish anything on that front, and now they had moved, and well…he wasn’t sure if anything could be done. Because there was Ender, and…he didn’t know what their sleeping arrangements would be once the babies were born.
“You’ve seen the upstairs,living room, small dining room, supersized dining room, kitchen, far too many bathrooms, and The Coop Room. Aside from other members’ private quarters, and a few guestrooms, that’s about it for the area I call my house,” Ender said happily as they reached the door that Killian knew led into the less homey area of the underground compound, as well as to the lift leading to the surface.
“You really like chickens, huh?” Cyrus stated with a chuckle.
Killian would agree that there definitely were a lot of chicken related things in Ender’s home, on top of the actual chickens. It wasn’t exactly his style, but at least there were no rounded fucking walls. Killian liked that there was space to actually hang artwork and photographs on the walls…even if what was there now was mostly chicken related.
“What about it?” Ender huffed almost defensively. “My décor is delightful! Chickens are lovely creatures!”
“It’s very…homey,” the Fate said carefully.
“Of course, it is, it’s my home! Come on, there is more to see! But not on this floor, as level one is all living quarters, so avoid snooping as it will piss people off and you’ll likely end up shot.”
They followed Ender out the double doors and to the right, then taking a left, they went straight to the freight elevator. As they got on, Ender said, “The compound is on three levels, and it spreads out pretty far on each. Level one being, as I said, the living quarters for those here. Level three, which will not be part of the tour, houses the compound’s Intelligence Command Center, a few labs, holding cells, a small Farm and Garden, and some secret things that are none of your business. Level two—” They followed the Gorgon out when the doors to the elevator opened. “—is an area you're free to wander around, for the most part.”
The hallways were the same on this level; white walls with black trim and round floor lights.
There was not much to see at first, just an empty hall, but further down, at the first branch, Ender pointed to the right. “As I’m sure you remember from earlier, down to the right leads to the compound’s hospital. You’ll find every sort of doctor you could possibly need there. It’s expansive and comprehensive, but I doubt you want to spend more than an hour walking around the various doctors’ offices there, so let’s just not,” the Gorgon said, before pointing to the hall to the left. “Opposite ofthat leads to our compound’s Training Center. There you’ll find many gyms set up for a variety of different types of training, a few recreation rooms, more than a few shooting ranges, and an endless amount of equipment, weapons, and exercise alike. Since they likely had something similar in your old Bureau, minus the illegal shit, I’d imagine you’d find touring that just as boring.”
“Convenient, it being across from the hospital,” Cyrus drawled.
“Very,” Ender said with a smirk, before walking on.
Unlike the first level, there didn’t appear to be as many turns or even doors on this one. Though, he supposed, they were all inside the hospital and training center.
Killian held back his smile as Ender stopped at another branch in the hall and pointed to the right. “Down that hallway, no one is allowed but me,” the Gorgon said, before pointing down the hall, across from the apparently forbidden part. “Down this hall, you two specifically are not allowed.”
Ender started moving forward again. All that was left in the hallway they were in was a large door at the end, which opened automatically, sliding upward as the Gorgon neared it. As soon as it did, Killian couldn’t help but draw a breath in, the moisture that had wafted out of the opening caused anticipation to build in his stomach. This had to be where it was.
Walking in and looking around, the area had natural stone tiled floors and walls, with stone benches on either side of the room. There were two doors on both the walls to the right and left, with a variety of gender labels above them.
“Last part of the tour, and the place I’m sure you were most interested in, Killian—the ‘pool’. Though, there is another pool in the training center, but it’s more for exercise than fun. Anyway, you’ll find changing rooms to your right and left. Andback here—” Ender said, before going through the opening in front of them. “—is the pool.”
The man-made walls and floor gave way to what looked like naturally carved stone, as the short hall opened up into what was basically a massive underground grotto, or rather, a cavernous pool.
