Chapter Forty-Four – Kinda Cute

Chapter Forty-Four – Kinda Cute

“Samurai, on account of being perfectly human, despite what some people would think, and how some media portray them, have as much need for companionship as anyone else. They can fall in love just as easily, and their sexual desires as just as keen as you would expect from a healthy human.

That doesn’t mean that there’s no hope for those aiming to find love with a samurai. There have been some long-term relationships, marriages even, that have lasted for years between normal folk and samurai.”

–Gold-Digger Weekly, issue 147, 2038

***

I actually managed to placate Lucy a bit by the time we reached the hotel lobby. She wasn’t super happy yet, but she was no longer glaring at me for having risked my life.

It was my life to risk, of course, but saying something like that to Lucy would just have pissed her off even more. As far as she was concerned, my ass was hers. I was a little annoyed too, but that was probably just… annoyance making more of itself, or whatever.

Relationships were complicated.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

Lucy glanced my way. “What was that?” she asked.

I sighed. “Lucy.”

“Fine,” she said before her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, fine. Just… don’t die, alright?”

I couldn’t help but grin a little. “I’ll do what I can not to.”

“Do more,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to take care of the kittens on my own.”

“Meh, you’d manage.”

She jabbed her elbow in my gut and I coughed. “Hey!”

I ignored anyone in the lobby looking our way. We probably both looked a bit like samurai, what with Lucy wearing my coat. I made a note to give her any other gear I ended up replacing too. Sure, it was second-hand, but it was the sort of second hand that most people only wished they could get, and for all that Lucy was worried about me dying, I had a few things keeping me alive, Lucy was operating on her 1.0 hardware.

I’d have to see about changing that up later. If I could get redundant mechanical organs shoved into me, so could Lucy.

Blinking, I determined to word things more carefully in the future.

We stepped out into the lot out front, where valets were helping clients out of their cars and taxis were stopping and going near-constantly.

One moment, I’m moving your vehicle closer.

I brought an arm around Lucy’s shoulder and pulled her into my side as we waited. It didn’t take very long that a sleek black car pulled up before us. It wasn’t a sport’s car or anything, but it was really nice. I could imagine an executive being chauffeured around the city while doing… taxes, or whatever rich people did.

“Looks like that’s our ride,” I said as I moved up to the back door and opened it up for Lucy. I even gestured her in with my new arm.

She laughed and climbed into the back before I followed her in. The moment the door was closed the car started to move, and a chime sounded from somewhere.

“Welcome, honoured customer, to Charon Limo-Taxi. This is vehicle One-One-Seven serving the New Montreal region, and of course, serving you,” a smooth, feminine voice said.

Lucy oooh’d. “Fancy. Do you know where we’re going?”

The chime sounded again. “Your destination has been entered as the Rose Briar Museum. Warning; this location is within a yellow-incursion zone. The Charon Limo-Taxi cannot guarantee the safety of our honoured clients within that area.”

“That’s fine,” I said.

I figured, from Lucy’s profile, that she would enjoy this treatment a little more.

A glance over at Lucy, who had found a screen to poke and prod at, proved that Myalis was essentially spot-on.

I leaned to the side, shoulder pressing into Lucy’s. I took off my helmet, figuring I wouldn’t need it in the car of all places, and I allowed my new ears to twitch a little. They made combing my hair a real pain in the ass, not that I did much to care for my hair at the best of times.

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The taxi wove into traffic, and seemed to insist on following every law in the book. Gomorrah would have gotten us there already.