Chapter Seventy – Poked in the Frannie

Chapter Seventy – Poked in the Frannie

“If there is one thing you absolutely do not want to receive it is an ‘as per my last’ communication from a Samurai.

These are often framed politely, but they are, in every way, a final warning and a threat.”

-The Gentleman’s Guide: Butlering in the 21st century, 2040

***

I sat.

Delilah moved over to the very fancy coffee machine sitting on their kitchen counter and started to fiddle with it. “Want one?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Yeah, sure,” I said. I wasn’t gonna be one of those basic bitches that was all crazy for good coffee, but I could still appreciate it. Soda was still better, of course.

Delilah fiddled with the machine while Frannie installed herself as far down the counter from me as she could be. I think my insinuations early annoyed her a little. I had to not poke so much… but it was soooo fun. Like, come on, they were a cute couple of baby lesbians, how could I not?

They were very sweet, taking their time and everything. It was my duty as senior lesbian to tease and push their buttons… because it was funny.

“So, your message mentioned four corps that want to mess with the conclave?” I asked.

“That’s right,” Delilah said. She came around and placed a steaming mug in front of me. “All four are relatively minor, but they have links to other, more important conglomerates.”

“Alright. So we give them the… fuck, what was the name of that company?”

One of her eyebrows perked up. “The one we just blew up?”

“Yeah, them,” I said before taking a sip. Hot!

“Rama Corp LLC,” Delilah said. “And no. They’re not interfering. They’re asking permission to interfere, which I think is an important distinction.”

“Weird,” I said. “What kind of interference, then?”

“One wants to cover the event. They’re an advertising company and see a lot of value in having sponsored items and ads at the event.”

I blinked. “Yeah, nah, we can’t have that. But I… guess that’s not enough of a reason to blow them up.”

“That’s what I figured,” Delilah said. “Two of the others are offering security services, and the last is a transportation and logistics company.”

“Huh,” I said, working my jaw. “Okay, we can’t really accept any of that, can we? But yeah, it’s mostly harmless.”

“That’s why I’m sending you to politely tell them that we’ll handle things on our own,” she said. “It’s not so much that we couldn’t use some of those services, it’s more that we’d be tarnishing our image somewhat by giving them an inch.”

“Okay. Do I have to show up in person? This feels like more of a ‘strongly worded email’ kind of thing.”

Delilah shrugged. “I tried that. They’re insistent.”

“Ah,” I said.

“Not rude to the point of firebombing, but enough that they didn’t take the first ‘no.'” She set up the coffee machine to refill a mug, probably for herself. “So now we send you in to remind them that they’re vulnerable. Honestly, if you just deliver a copy of the email we sent in person, that’ll probably do.”

I snorted at the mental image of a samurai walking into some CEO’s office and slapping down a print of an email on their desk, then pointing at it. “Yeah, I like that,” I said. “What about the rest of the list?”

“I’m assuming you’re able to handle Lucy?” Delilah said.

“Barely,” I replied.

She stared, then sighed. “Fair enough. I meant more her little organization. As this is growing in complexity, so is their part in all of this.”

“Yeah, don’t worry. Lucy’s on it,” I said.

“Good, good. And the media is simple enough. There are several media companies that want to attend the event.”

“Christ, can’t have that,” I said.

“Don’t take the lord’s name in vain, please,” Delilah said.