“So yeah. Fuck.”
“You really like ‘em, don’t you?” Sal said, cleaning a glass. Cass looked at him with a sheepish smile and ran a hand through her hair. Tee had been staying with her for a few months. She was sure the Queen’s offer had been genuine, but for obvious reasons, they weren’t very keen on descending down to that level again. And the two of them had gotten so close. Tee was still struggling sometimes to make sense of this world sometimes, of course. It wasn’t theirs, they’d been trying to build a life back then, and it had been half a decade more for Cassandra. But Tee was adapting fast.
“Yeah. They’re… someone from before, you know? There’s something here, Sal, I swear.” Cass took a sip of her sweetwater, which was the closest thing she let herself get to drunk these days. She’d spent more than a few nights completely hammered in Sal’s bar, but she’d also seen too many drunk idiots walk off the edge, so she was more than happy to settle for a sugar rush these days. She and Tore shared a body that could bench-press a hippo, but hers couldn’t hold its liquor one bit. She turned to the mercenary in question, who was sitting on a stool next to hers. “Thanks for being here. I just needed to... gush, I guess?” Mordecat meowed appreciatively. He was mostly just happy to be out of the house, Cassandra knew. He was lazily exploring the pub.
“I like you better like this, pup,” Tore said with a smile, and downed a shot. How does she do that and stay composed? Her body doesn’t have any filtration mods. I’d -know-, Cassandra thought, glaring subtly at Tore. “Better this than, you know…” Tore glanced at Sal with exaggerated faux-subtlety. “No offense,” she added with a wink.
“None taken,” Sal growled. “Another?” Tore nodded, and he filled her glass. “I can see it too, Lokes. Much as I hate to admit it, you would’ve made a terrible barmaid.” The three of them laughed at that. Cass had asked both of them to be there a couple of hours before the usual opening times so they’d have the place to themselves. The stereo was playing something gaudy and bass-y at a barely audible volume, and the bar smelled like disinfectant and cleaning products. It almost smelled like a kind of home. It had almost been. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re a ton of fun. But you always felt like…” Sal paused with a sigh and tossed his towel over his shoulder and crossed his arms. “It was like you were waiting.”
“I’m sorry,” Cass said softly into her glass. Sal had been a fun distraction, but, and he wasn’t wrong about that, he had always been just that. A distraction. She’d never let it get serious. With Tore it had been different. A lot more complicated. Real and surreal. Both.
“Try not to hurt this one, eh?” Tore nudged her with her shoulder, almost knocking Cass off her stool. “I have heard you have become something of a heartbreaker.” Well, not wrong.
“I’ll try,” Cass said with more than a little embarrassment. “I really like them. They’re different.” She glanced at the other two, both avoiding her eyes. “Not like that. I just mean that… well…” she sighed. “Fuck, I don’t know. Tee is… special. They’re not like us, sure, but they’re tough as nails. Did I tell you all what happened when they arrived here?”
“I mean,” Sal said with a grin,” can’t be any worse than how you did, right? You got fucked up by some wanna-be crime lord.” He looked at Tore. “From what I heard, there was barely enough of you left to scrape off the floor.” Mort sniggered behind her and Cass was sorely tempted to shoot him a dirty glance. Tore just nodded with a grin.
“Well…” Cassandra said. “That’s not… not what happened.”
“Wait, they did the same thing? How are y’all so bad at this?” Sal laughed and wiped down the bar again out of habit more than anything, and put a saucer on the counter. Mort hopped onto one of the stools with all the elegance of a three foot tall, fifty pound cat, balanced for a moment, and then began lapping happily. Cassandra glared playfully at Sal.
“Listen, you. Anyway, they got here, right? First response: find the biggest, baddest criminal around, grab her by the collar and make her tell them where their partner and I are.” Sal raised his eyebrows and blinked a couple of times.
“Her. You mean they walked up to the Queen and… what, threatened her?”
“Yup,” Cassandra nodded. Sal whistled. Tore just shook her head and took a shot.
“I see why you two are similar now,” she said, looking at Cass, holding her glass out for Sal to fill it back up. “Not a lick of sense, but a lot of spirit. I am surprised the Queen did not just have them bleed out. She is not exactly known for her forgiving spirit.” Cass nodded.
“I know. But apparently something about them gave her pause. So she called for me. Well, for you, but who’s counting, right? And here we are.” She finished her sweetwater.
“Here we are,” Tore said softly. She was quiet, sure, but not any less powerful for it.
“How’s retirement treating you, Tore?” Sal gave her a sideways glance. There was more than one betting pool going on how long she was going to stay retired. She was one of the oldest in the business, after all, and it was hard to imagine her not working.
“It is going well, Salman. I think I will stay retired for at least another four years and eleven months.” She winked. Clearly she knew exactly what Sal had bet on.
“You’re a monster,” he said. “I can’t believe I give you free booze.” Cassandra laughed softly, earning her a mean look as well as a refill on her drink. “What about you? How’s being Tore treating you?”
“Pretty great, when there’s work.” She stretched her back for a moment. “I wish most of our work wasn’t banal stuff from up high, but it pays, you know?” Tore raised her glass in silent agreement. “Even that’s kind of drying up. This whole ‘Hero’ business is getting out of hand, Sal. And I mean, like, yeah, I sell my services, but I’m not gonna sell out, you know?”
“It is that bad?” Tore asked. “It was always annoying, but they were not… competition.” Cassandra nodded. A lot of Sal’s regulars had been leaving for greener pastures; the promise of a Hero’s salary was too much to resist.
“Yeah. They’re taking anyone with a bit of magic or power potential, giving them a fancy new suit, maybe a cool name, and using them as their private enforcers. It’s cheaper than an army, and they get more done. Nobody pays attention when it’s just one person going down, y’know?” Cass sighed. “Not too long and I reckon they’ll start using these idiots as assassins to ‘clean up’ the lower city.”
Tore shrugged. “I do not think it will go that fast, pup. Upper and lower floors have always been pushing and pulling. In the end, nobody will gain any significant ground and things will go back to the way they have always been.” She down her shot and hissed through her teeth. “Trust an old woman on this. People like the Queen of Black-62 will not sit back and let the Seven just walk all over them. The city is too big for any one group to ‘win’.”
Cassandra pulled up her nose. “I hope you’re right. I’ve got some money saved up, but I’m itching for some real work, you know? Besides, I could use a new place to live.”
“You just want to spend money on your robot person,” Mort said, satisfaction running down his hairy little face in rivulets. Even if he couldn’t -- strictly speaking -- emote the way people did, he still managed to grin smugly.
“You’re just jealous.” Cassandra stuck her tongue out at him, and he returned the little gesture. “Have I ever not given you everything you need, you little furball?” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “Well?” Mort grumbled.
“You never buy me outfits,” he complained.
“You hate outfits!”
“It’s the thought that counts!”
“Behave,” Cassandra said, and turned back to the bar, rolling her eyes dramatically at Sal and Tore, who were a grateful and captivated audience. “Behave or I’ll give you a bath.”
“I can bathe myself, thank you very much,” Mort said haughtily.
“You can lick your own butthole. Now behave and don’t act like one,” Cassandra said with a smirk. Sal lost his composure and refilled everyone’s drinks while giggling softly, then held up his glass.
“To… uh…” he stood there for a few seconds. An awkward moment stretched out, and neither Cassandra nor Tore were keen on helping him out. Both of them slowly developed wolfish grins as Sal got more and more nervous. “Fuck, I didn’t think this through.”
“You did not,” Tore said. “But I am neither lowering my glass nor drinking it until you say something.” Mort chuckled gleefully.
“Same here,” Cassandra said. “But you’re always allowed to ask for help, you know.”
“Screw both of you,” Sal said. “To good business and good people.”
“Too bad you haven’t got either of those, huh?” Mort said, hopping onto the bar in an impressive display of audacity, looking smug the way only a cat could.
“One of these days,” Sal said, trying not to look at him. “I’mma get a dog. A big one.”
“You wouldn’t!” Mort said with feigned shock. “I am appalled, Salamander, that you would ever threaten to do something like that to a small and innocent thing like myself.”
“My name isn’t… ugh.” Sal facepalmed. Cassandra laughed at his misfortune.
“Don’t encourage him, Sal. You’re doing this to yourself, you know that, right?” She scratched Mort behind the ears, and he purred happily. “Mort is just a little creature.”
“I can not change this,” Mort said and fell over, exposing his belly like a living bear trap.
“To good people,” Tore finally said and downed her drink. Cassandra raised her glass with her free hand and emptied her own glass. She didn’t want to spend the entire day here.
“To good people,” she agreed. “You two take care, yeah? I know I’m not around as much to look after you, you know?” She nudged Tore, who smiled warmly.
“I will be fine, little pup. But know that your concern is appreciated.” Tore turned to Sal. “I will have this one take care of me when I get really desperate.” Sal’s face was priceless, his eyes wide. He looked like he was on the edge of either bleating or fainting.
Cassandra giggled softly and got up. “Sal, be a good boy. Don’t let Tore bully you. Just because I’m not doing it doesn’t mean you have to get desperate.” She winked at him and grabbed her stuff. Mordecat jumped down from the bar to join her.
“I’ll see you later, Loke,” Sal grumped as he cleaned her glass. “Take care of yourself, yeah?”
“Always, Sal. Who would look after Mort if I didn’t? You?”
“Not on my life.”
“See you later Sal. Tore.”
She got a pair of waves as she closed the door behind her and looked up, letting the rain hit her face. Mort trotted ahead of her to the mooring stations that were close to the bar as she sent out for a cab. Tee had wanted to explore the city on their own for a bit today, so it had been as good a time as any to meet up with old friends, but they would be on their way home now, and they’d planned on a quiet night in. Cassandra was still vigilant, of course. At some point, Ellis was going to show up, and she wanted to be ready. He was too important, to both of them. But until then, she had a partner to go home to, and it had been hours since she’d had a good cuddle.
[wiggle intensifies]
Next chapter is a Flock and Ellis chapter, right? Oh man this is going to be good...
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa
“Mort is just a little creature.”
“I can not change this,” Mort said
SHE TAUGHT HIM MEMES XD
Tee has been kidnapped and Cass is next. Calling it now :)
“Mort is just a little creature.”
“I can not change this,” Mort said
thatse it
Having someone to go home to is definitely pretty rad.