Interlude – A Roaming Raccoon’s Reasonable Relationships [Part Three]

Interlude – A Roaming Raccoon’s Reasonable Relationships [Part Three]

Rac was growing to really love the Barber Shop. The little club was… nice. The music was weird and old, but it was still catchy. She wasn’t sure what to think of all the people dressed as animals. That wasn’t her thing, but they were mostly nice, and she… fit in?

Yeah, that’s how she decided to put it. She fit in.

“Hey! You’re here,” Garter said. He was smiling, and Rac found herself suddenly a little nervous, at least until she shoved it down.

The others were in the same booth as Garter. Jerusalem was splayed out across the table, eyes on an old-school tablet, and Coco was sitting half in and half out of the booth. It was a little too small for her to fit into normally.

“Hey,” Rac said. She slipped in next to Garter, very aware of when her hip bumped into his. “We have a job?”

“We do,” Garter said.

Rac got a ping in her aug, and she connected to the team’s chat. It let her see that there had been some discussion going on that she’d missed. Most of the speaking was Jerusalem, though.

Spider: Hello, Rac.
Spider: We have a job.

“What’s the job?” Rac asked.

“Hey, calm down,” Coco said. “Let’s get something in you first. You look like you haven’t eaten anything in a week.” Coco raised a hand, gesturing to one of the servicers. She got a wave back, and soon enough a small wheeled robot with a touch-screen to order on rolled over. “I’m starving,” Coco said as she started to punch an order in.

“While Coco gets us snacks,” Garter said with a laugh. “Did you hear the news? About the samurai contract?”

“No?” Rac said. She’d been a little busy today. That morning she’d run into Lucy, and the rather intense girl had asked Rac if she could help them print out some more prosthetics. Rac didn’t mind. She needed to print out some more ammo for her gun anyway, and the printer could do multiple things at once if it was loaded right. It had been a busy, but quiet, morning.

Garter grinned. “Right, right, so it’s big news in the merc circuit, at least here. Story goes that someone stole from a samurai. One of the mid-listers, you know?”

“Okay,” Rac said. That… happened, sometimes. It was like people didn’t know any better. It wasn’t smart to punch upwards, but people did it anyway.

Garter nodded along. “So, samurai tracks them down, but the trail goes cold. So they give up, right?”

“That’s weird,” Rac said.

“Yeah, a samurai’s like a dog with a bone,” Coco said.

“Anyway, instead of going after the stuff themselves, they put out a contract. And that’s where it gets interesting. See, they didn’t put money on the line, they put points.”

Spider: Not enough of them.

“Any amount is a lot,” Garter said. “That’s like paying in… gold, or something even more valuable. Anyway, every merc worth their salt’s jumping on the contract. Mostly the solos.”

“Why the solos?” Rac asked.

“Can’t split the pay well,” Coco said. “It’s twenty points. That’s like… four top-end guns? Depends on what you’re wanting to get. But yeah, if your crew’s big, how do you split that? Does the whole crew get one thing they need to share?”

“Oh,” Rac said.

“Ah, but our crew had four members,” Garter pointed out. “Hey, Spider, twenty divided by four?”

Spider: Are you fucking kidding me?
Spider: It’s 5.

Garter laughed. “Five more than any of us would ever get to play with.

Spider: I’ve seen what you can buy
Spider: for five points
Spider: It’s not much

“Then I’ll take your five, if you don’t want them,” Garter said. “Let’s call it five hundred credits?”

Spider: Fuck off.

“So, we’re taking this job?” Rac asked. She wasn’t sure if it was worth it for her. What could she get for that kind of reward? Her gun was probably worth a few dozen points, maybe? She wasn’t sure how that kind of stuff worked out.

“We’re definitely taking the job,” Garter said. He glanced up as a serving bot came over with a tray and slid it on the table. There were several burgers on it, fries, some drinks. Coco rubbed her hands together, then pushed one of the burgers towards Rac.

“Eat,” she ordered.