Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Twenty-One - The Calm

“Samurai tend to work alone. It’s true that there are some larger organisations run by samurai who exist to assist samurai on and off the field, but even the members of these tend to be extremely self-reliant and have a tendency to want to work on their own.

In this teamwork seminar, we hope to use some of the tips and tricks learned by observing these to make your teamwork even greater!”

--Obligatory Team Building Seminar, 2056

***

Somehow, Lucy convinced Franny that she absolutely needed a tour of the house. She had the taller redhead by the wrist and dragged her off to see some of the neater rooms. She was pretty proud that she’d designed a lot of the house herself.

That left Delilah and I at the table, both of us more than a little stuffed and suffering from that pleasant haze that came from eating far too much of the worst kinds of food.

“It’s a nice place,” Delilah said. She made a vague, weak gesture at the room around us.

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” I said. “Not as safe as I want it to be yet, but we’ll get there.”

“I trust you,” Delilah said. She picked at some fries, finding the most burnt, crispiest one before tossing it into her mouth. “Thanks for the supper, by the way.”

“I hardly did much here,” I said. “Mostly Lucy’s work. I just tossed money at the problem.”

“It’s still a nice gesture. I needed to get out of the house.”

“That bad?” I asked.

“I’ve complained about it at length already,” she said. “Besides, it really isn’t that bad. Just a lot of old worried nuns who don’t know what they can do to help. It weighs on you, you know? Not knowing, not being able to act. I think... maybe that’s one of the requirements to become a vanguard.”

I tilted my head. “You mean you need to be pissed that you can’t do anything?”

“Didn’t you feel that, when you were offered the position?” Delilah asked.

I snorted. “If I recall, I was mostly thinking ‘oh shit oh fuck I’m going to die.’ There might have been some internal screaming too.”

Delilah’s shoulders shook with a single exhale of laughter. “I guess that’s fair. We don’t exactly have the most peaceful job there is.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I kinda like it though.”

She nodded along. “It’s not bad work. Satisfying, in its own way. But it is dangerous. Hey, Cat?”

“Yeah?”

Gomorrah didn’t say anything for a bit, it was clear she was thinking about something. “If I die, can you take care of Franny for me?”

“Uh,” I said. “You know, I already have one girlfriend.”

She jabbed her elbow into my ribs and I coughed as I bent over from the blow. “Don’t be a fool, you know what I meant.”

I grinned. “I know, I know. Just messing with you. But okay, yeah. As long as you do the same with Lucy for me.”

Gomorrah nodded. “It’s a deal.”

“Okay,” I said before extending my hand to her. She looked at it for a moment before she took it and we shook. “Deal. But only if you promise that you’ll cork it first.”

“Hah! Now that I think about it, I really picked the short stick with this one, didn’t I? You’re the one always in close proximity to things that are exploding.”

“Damn right,” I said. I leaned to the side, bumping her shoulder with mine. “So, you want me to take care of Franny, huh? That must mean you care about her a whole lot?” It was a statement, but I wasn’t hiding any of the implication behind the words.

Delilah rolled her eyes and tore apart another fry before answering. “I do care a lot about her. She’s my best... one of my best friends. I don’t know if I care about her the way you’re implying though. So please keep your head firmly out of the gutter.”

I couldn’t help the grin. “One of... does that make me best friend number two?”

“In a far second place, maybe,” Delilah said. “Also, while we’re on the subject, can you tell Lucy to calm down a bit with her... romantic intentions? I think she’s not nearly as subtle as she thinks she is.”

“I can tell her. Don’t know if that’ll stop her. She’s got this thing for hopeless people.”

“Franny and I are hardly hopeless,” Delilah said.

I made a so-so gesture with my hand. “You’re both a little hopeless,” I said. “Besides, you’re our friends, and Lucy probably just wants the best for you. Or what she thinks is best.”

“You know, you’re rather sweet for a semi-feral street orphan,” Delilah said.

“Semi-feral?” I asked. I grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them into my mouth, crumbs falling all over.

“Disgusting,” Delilah said, but there was a hint of amusement under her haughtiness.

I perked up as I heard Lucy returning. She was followed by a red-faced Franny and a catbot that had a few cheap bags balanced on its back. “Hey! The dessert arrived!”

“You ordered dessert?” Delilah asked. “After all of this?”

“What’s wrong with dessert?” I asked.

She shook her head. “It’s a good thing we lead such active lives, I can’t imagine burning all of this off otherwise.”

“Come on, there’s ice cream for everyone,” Lucy said. We had ordered those super expensive little ice-cream packs, the ones that had weird flavours that somehow sounded really good. Lucy passed them around and then handed out spoons, and soon we were pigging out on semi-melted sugary goodness.

“So,” Franny asked as she licked her spoon, “are you two going to be doing more work tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know if we’ll be together or not though?”

“I don’t mind either way. But I intend to start early in the morning.”

“I can get up early,” I said.

“At around five,” Delilah added.
“In the morning?” I asked. “That’s not healthy.”

“It’s before the sun comes up. I’m certain the aliens won’t sleep overnight. The earlier we hit them, the fewer we’ll have to deal with.”

“I guess, but for me to be up at that kind of hour I’d need to go to bed like, before midnight.” I shook my head. “That’s just wrong. It’ll take an hour or so to relax after we’re done with dessert, then half an hour to say goodbye, then we need to check on the kittens. Then after that Lucy and I need to take a shower together. By the time that’s all done it’ll be tomorrow.”

Delilah shook her head. “Degenerate,” she said.

“Prude,” I fired back.

We ate our ice cream, then argued over politics, all four of us clearly having no idea about what we were talking about, but plenty of opinions to make up for our lack of knowledge.

Once everything was done, we lounged around for a bit, none of us had the energy to pick up the trash heaped before us.

“We should head out,” Delilah said. She was a bit mournful-sounding about it, but she kept glancing up out of one thin window and at the cold, dark sky outside. It was getting to be pretty late.

“Alright,” I said. I stood up with a grunt of effort, then gave my hand to Delilah to get her to her feet. She helped Franny in turn, who seemed to almost be in pain from overeating.

We made our way downstairs, past the living room where a few kittens were sleeping huddled up in piles of blankets here and there, and finally out to the lobby where we all stared at the blustery rain washing across the landing pad outside.

“Drive safe,” I said. “And give me a call tomorrow... maybe a few hours after five?”

Gomorrah chuckled. “I will, no worries. Taking on the aliens is always more fun when there’s more of us on the scene. And more explosive too.”

I grinned. “Damned right.”

Lucy went around, giving everyone goodbye hugs, and I got swept up in all of that too.

And then the two were off, running over to the Fury while covering their heads from the downpour.

“That was nice,” I said.
“It was,” Lucy agreed. “She’s a good friend. Hot too.”

“Uh-huh,” I said. “Jealous?”

She laughed. “You wish. Unless getting ducked is a kink you haven’t told me about?”

“I’m afraid not,” I said. I leaned over and gave her forehead a careful peck. “Should we head back in? I think I saw some trash bags somewhere, and we can stuff the leftovers away for tomorrow.”

“Mmhm, that sounds nice,” Lucy said. “And then a nice long shower, which I deserve after doing all the work tonight.”

“Ah yes, my hard-working Lucy, carrying all the boxes around and only stealing a bit of the food for herself.”

That earned me a smack, followed by a chase through our new home.

***