Chapter Fifty-One – ‘Ol Reliable: Scorched Earth

Chapter Fifty-One – ‘Ol Reliable: Scorched Earth

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***

I asked Shy if she wanted to stay the night, but she said that she didn’t want to, and would rather go home.

Well, what she actually did was give me a tiny shake of her head, but I inferred the rest. I dropped her off in our parking garage, then headed up to home. It was surprisingly quiet when I arrived. The Kittens weren’t asleep, even if the sun had set, but the energy was down and most of them were surfing the mesh or just minding their own.

I found Lucy in bed, with about a million pillows behind her and a tablet balanced on her lap.

“At this rate, if Tankette moves in, we might have to rename the building,” I said as I started to get changed.

“Tankette wants to move in?” Lucy asked. She glanced up for a moment, then back down to whatever she’d been reading.

“Maybe! I think her neighbours were weirded out by having a Samurai live so close. Or the landlords are moving people away. Or something. I figure it wouldn’t hurt to have a third Samurai living here.”

“It could hurt, in some ways, but it could also be really good,” Lucy said. “I think most corps and gangs would hesitate to attack a place where a Samurai lives. More if there’s two. And if it’s a place with three or more, then messing with the place is out of the question.”

I nodded along. “We’ll have to look into, uh, utilities and stuff.”

That’s what normal buildings did, right? Get the electricity and water all set up and such?

Fuck, I didn’t want to be a landlord. I was a bitch, not a cunt.

“I don’t want to be a landlord,” I said.

Lucy giggled. “Poor Cat.”

I tossed the last of my clothes aside, then picked some PJs off the floor and shuffled into them. Then, with the finality of someone closing a casket, I flopped onto the bed next to Lucy, loose pillows shifting around to partially bury me.

Why did we have so many pillows? I only needed like, one pillow and a Lucy to sleep well. Blankets optional.

Lucy hummed a little nothing song and ran her hand through my hair once I was done wiggling closer. “How was it?”

“Good,” I said noncommittally. It had been alright.

“Okay,” Lucy said. It was the sort of ‘okay’ that meant that I could start ranting at any time, if I needed it, but I was mostly fine with not.

I shifted around so that I was laying on my back, Lucy close by my side. This was the one disadvantage of having two arms, I didn’t know where to put one of them when laying down. “So, what’s your plans moving forward?” I asked.

Lucy hummed. “Tomorrow, after class, I have a big meeting. It’s recruitment for the Kittens. I even got the school to lend me one of the smaller auditoriums.”

“That’s cool,” I said. “How many people are going to show up?”

“There’s room for a hundred,” Lucy said. “We booked it within ten minutes, so I think there might be more than that.”

I blinked. “That’s a lot of people,” I said.

“Mhm,” Lucy said.

“Are you planning on taking over the world?”

She laughed. “Let’s start with the city?”

I chuckled too, but I also knew that Lucy was ambitious. It was hot as hell, but also kind of scary… scary hot. Now that she was unchained, able to push as much as she wanted, I was worried that she wouldn’t slow down and would get herself into some sort of trouble.

If someone hurt her, I’d do more than just shoot them.

“Myalis, why isn’t Lucy the Samurai?” I asked. “She’s the one with the plans.”

Because I picked someone based on criteria other than the likelihood of eventual cultural revolution. That isn’t to say that I wasn’t aware of your closeness to her when I chose you as a vanguard. You’re… more resilient. Less intelligent, perhaps, but you have your own charisma going on.