Chapter Twelve – STP-44 The Oasis

Chapter Twelve – STP-44 The Oasis​

“Water is necessary for life.

The best water, the water found only in the penthouses and the places where the ultra-rich live, is carried over to local cisterns from outside of any mega-city. It is tailored to have a good taste, a clear colouration, and no plastics, oils, or any other chemical contaminants.”

–On Watering, S. Cing

***

The non-maintenance elevator was probably safer, but holy fuck it was slow. The entire thing hummed as it rose up, and its LEDs flickered every so often. It made some of the ads plastered to the walls look cool for the split second they were in the dark. The glow-in-the-dark ink was probably worth it.

“So,” I asked as I debated leaning against one of the walls. Would it hold? I didn’t normally have to consider whether things could handle my weight. “How did you two meet?”

Franny turned my way. “I assume you’re talking about Delilah and I?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I was there when Gom—Delilah met Rac here, so that only leaves you two, right?”

Franny crossed her arms, her bat left next to her, the lump at the end of the handle pushing against her side. “I joined the convent when I was… nine? Ten years old? I met Gomorrah the year after that. She wouldn’t stop crying until I became her friend, and then she followed me around non-stop.”

“I was terrified,” Gomorrah said. She looked my way, and probably guessed that I was missing some context. “The convent has a few programs in it; some of them basically act as a sort of… babysitting slash summer-camp. It’s not too expensive, and it means your daughter gets to go to a decent private school afterwards.”

“Like a scholarship?” I asked.

“Something like that,” Gomorrah said. “They train girls to be well-behaved and on how to carry out basic duties, and we get to attend one of the city’s better schools for a lot less. It’s also one of the stricter schools, but the results are usually pretty good.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “Half of my schooling was online, and when I did go to a class, it wasn’t exactly ritzy.”

“Oh, my family couldn’t afford anything too nice,” Gomorrah said. “Hence the convent. But it… well, I’m not close to my parents, let’s say. A lot of the girls there aren’t.”

“What, like abandonment issues?”

Gomorrah shrugged, and I decided not to poke at it any more than that.

“The place isn’t so bad,” Franny said. She picked up her bat and twirled it around. “They’re strict, but that’s better than being tossed out on the street, and they’re big on morals and such.”

“Never could afford morals,” I said.

Raccoon nodded. “Those are rich people things.”

I raised my hand her way, and she slapped it in a quick high-five. “Yeah, moral-less gang rise up.”

“You’re terrible,” Gomorrah said.

The elevator ground to a halt, and the doors slid open. Raccoon slipped past the rest of us and took the lead, doing what I think she thought of as her job in leading us through the underground. Either her sense of direction was really keen, or she just knew her way around–either way, we soon exited into the parking space where Gomorrah’s Fury was waiting.

“Dibs on the front,” I said.

“You want to sit up front?” Franny asked. “I’ve been friends with Delilah longer.”

“Oh, this is a competition?” I asked. “Well, I’ve fought by Gomorrah’s side before.”

“You don’t even call her by her real name,” she said.

“We have cute nicknames for each other. She calls me Stray Cat, as if I’m some mangy mutt off the street, and I call her Gomorrah, after a city that was burned down or whatever.”

“I don’t think that fits the usual definition of cute,” Franny said.

Grinning, I leaned down so that I was closer to Franny. “If you want to sit next to your girl, you just have to ask. I’m sure she’s appreciating you fighting for the right already.”

She sputtered, then with a huff, moved over to the rear of the Fury and jumped into the backseat. Raccoon followed her in without any fuss.