Chapter Forty-Eight - Family Matters

“Family’s important.

And if saving my family means that I need to kill some shareholders, then fuck em.”

--Guilty plea of Hernandez Smith, accused of multiple counts of homicide, 2027

***

“What do you think?” I asked Lucy while Burringham left. He had a bag by his side, and one of his bodyguards came up to take his new suit, wrapped in a layer of clear plastic and hanging off of a coat-hanger.

“He was charming,” she said. “Handsome too. I think he knows that he’s both, and he’s used to leveraging it. But I guess that’s pretty normal for a politician.”

“Makes sense, yeah,” I said. “He’s a career politician, at least that’s the way Myalis put it.”

“She gave you a report?” Lucy asked.

I nodded. “It was pretty detailed.”

“Can I see it? I won’t read it now, but it might be interesting to know,” Lucy asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah, sure. So, the gala thing, want to be my plus one?”

“Oh, what a casual way to ask someone out,” Lucy said. She grabbed onto my arm and leaned her head down onto my shoulder. “You know, it’s going to be a real fancy gala thing. We can’t just show up wearing whatever. Well, actually, you might be able to, as long as the whatever is samurai-ish enough, but poor little Lucy needs to wear something to blend in a little better.”

“You just want a pretty dress,” I said.

“No, I want to buy a pretty dress.”

I could assist here.

I decided to ignore Myalis because she’d get Lucy something with a cat-print and ears and Lucy would take it just to make me suffer.

“I really don’t see how that’s any different than what I said. Also, aren’t you going to buy the dress with my money?”

Lucy looked up to me, and I could get lost in those eyes, even if they looked at my pityingly. “You are such a useless lesbian,” she said.

“What?”

“Entirely useless,” she declared.

“I am not!”

“If I didn’t sit you down and tell you that we were girlfriends, you’d still be wondering now,” Lucy said.

“That’s not true,” I said.

“We went on like, three dates before you realized we were dating.” She shook her head, climbed to the tips of her feet and pecked me on the cheek. “Now, let’s look at pretty clothes to wear at the nice politician’s party.”

I rolled my eyes, but followed Lucy over to one of the nearest booths. “My uselessness as a lesbian aside,” I griped, “what do you think of Burringham’s promise?”

“He’ll keep it,” Lucy said. She gestured at her reflection on the screen in the booth, and her image was soon wearing a long, flowing dress. It was nice, a beige that worked well with her skin, little gems woven near the hem flashing prettily.

“You think?” I asked. “It’s a lot of money.”

“He hasn’t been in politics for very long, right?” Lucy asked.

“No, I don’t think so.”

She nodded. “Yeah, he was a bit too... you know, cocky? Like, he was quick to show off how good of a politician he’d be. Kind of giving me some daddy issue vibes.”

I snorted. “Wow, and here I thought you thought he was attractive.”

“I said he was handsome and charismatic, and he’s both, and he knows it. Bet you he got training for both.”

“You can train to be handsome?” I asked.

Lucy looked away from the dresses before her to nod seriously. “You can learn how not to be a twat while also not being all limp and beta-ish, and the other half of being handsome is mostly eating well and doing squats. You’re halfway there already.”

I bumped my shoulder against hers. “So, should I go with a dress too? Bet Myalis could find something. A pretty dress catalogue.”

Let’s not touch the Pretty Dress catalogue, please.

“I was thinking more... you’d look dashing with a masculine look?” Lucy said, though there was a hint of a question there.

I rubbed at my nose while I thought. “Yeah, I don’t do skirts well.”

“You really don’t,” Lucy agreed. “You always look uncomfortable with them on, and if it’s an event with a bunch of important people, then we probably want you to look imposing and serious. You could go in your armour?”

“Isn’t the armour a bit bulky?” I asked.

“Yeah, but it makes you look scary. Big sword by your hip, maybe a different coat? And I can play the part of the pretty gold digger hanging off your arm. Although, maybe the armour is too much?”

“A pretty gold digger, huh?” I asked.

Lucy nodded. “Now buy me a nice dress please, sugar momma.”

I laughed. “Sure. Something appropriately revealing?”

“But not too easy to break. I never had a pretty dress before, I want this thing to last.” She flicked past a few that were very nice on her simulated body. With cuts so low they exposed her navel and flowing, silky lace.

“That’s a nice one,” I said.

“It’s a bit old-fashioned,” Lucy said. “And it wouldn’t match your armour, if that’s what you’re going in.”

“I do like having it, in case things go sideways. Better bulletproof when you don’t need it, than fleshy when you do.”

“Wow, that’s a big change for you,” Lucy said. “Weren’t you running headfirst into danger wearing barely any armour just two days ago?”

“I really like the armour. It’s kind of awesome to get shot and have it only feel like someone poking you with a finger.”

“Well, don’t get used to standing in the way of bullets, alright,” she said.

I laughed. “Fine, fine. Actually... we should get you some armour for the gala.”

“Do you really want to miss seeing me in a pretty dress?” Lucy asked.

“Maybe something like my armoured suit, then? The one under the big, bulky armour.”

“Oh, well in that case I’ll need a whole different style of dress. Something more corpo-chique. You know, shoulder pads and a few contrasting layers. That way the undersuit just looks like it’s part of the rest.”

“I’d worry less if you were equipped like that,” I said.

“Hmph, hypocrite,” Lucy said.

I nodded. “You know it.” I watched her flip through a dozen dresses, then back again. She was clearly looking for a specific style, something kind of blocky and formal. It wasn’t as sexy, but it would have room to conceal a gun or two, which was pretty hot. “How are the kittens, by the way? I feel like I only see them in passing.”

“Depends on the kitten. Spark and Bargain and Tim are fine. They’re having a lot of fun just messing around in the penthouse. The Twins are more quiet than usual. I think they’re spending a lot of time online. We might need to ask Myalis to check on them, you know how echo-feeds are. And Nose is... confused, I think?”

“By what?” I asked. “Oh, the gold is pretty.”

She nodded, and the next dozen dresses all had golden highlights to them, or golden cloth on their inner layers, mostly the dresses were all black though, maybe to fit with my armour? I didn’t know fashion like Lucy did. “I think he expected to be dead soon, and now he’ll be fine. It could be some sort of weird reverse depression thing? I’ll keep an eye on him, make sure the others include him more. He was always a bit quiet.”

“When he wasn’t sniffling all over, yeah.”

“Daniel might leave one day, but I think he’s pretty happy just being lazy right now. And he’s still bad at walking, but he’s getting better. I think he’s spending half the day flirting with girls online.”

I snorted. I couldn’t imagine him flirting, not well at least. “Junior? Katherine?”

“Getting along well with each other,” Lucy said. “I think they really clicked.”

“Like, click-clicked, or they’re just friends.”

“Just friends,” Lucy said. “I think Junior wants to go out and have adventures and start shit, like any girl her age, but Katherine is a lot more level-headed. She’d want to bring her dog too.”

“Yeah, that’s good. If they ever get into any trouble...”

Lucy giggled. “I’ll tell you right away.”

I hugged her from the side, then sighed. “How long does it take to find a dress anyway?”

“You can’t rush perfection, Cat. Myalis has been spoiling you.”

***