Don't tell me, she'd said, and so Fate would show Kreska instead. A video labeled "Flexible" and showcasing the x-rated cages at Radius--complete with green monkey-lady running laps atop them--was sent to her tablet in the time it took him to take a deep breath.
"He's gonna...do a liquor run?" he heard Sass ask and fought to keep a snort from surfacing.
"I should have known she'd say 'liquor'." He shouldn't have offered. Sass's tastes in booze went to top shelf, and that meant the effort he was about to expend increased threefold.
>>I'll buy her something nice.
And he would have to buy it--or at least make the bar think he'd bought it--because fuck if he was going to steal booze someone would notice missing. Beer was one thing. A bottle of Venusian Fireball? Pfft.
"He's gonna send it...here? Like some neon green 'hey assholes, guess who's hiding behind door number 3' sign?" Sass asked then, with an incredulity in her voice that hurt.
After all these years a man would think he'd earned some respect.
"Well you're lucky, I think," she continued, and Fate blew out a harsh breath.
He was pretty damned sure, after taking in the breadth of her file, that the only thing lucky about Kreska Ido's life was the way in which she remained breathing.
"I had one once...before Fate. Just as much hassle."
Fate frowned as he tabbed his mic off and punched in the final coding for their server bot--or what he'd chosen to use as one. What had he said aloud this time? He frowned even harder at her next words and then grinned as the military-grade battle AI--a navy blue, gleaming bodyguard shell with him for an AI--drew up to the serving bot at a pub and placed the order.
>>Maybe the problem is that your ears are already broken.
>>I will go with that.
>>Rather than believing green people the worlds over have no taste.
Not that he knew any other Jobari, or had studied any of their files as extensively as hers, but she didn't need to know that.
"At least Fate comes with the benefit of wanting to keep people alive though. Even if it is just so he has someone around to laugh at his jokes. Or you know. Keep him from being lonely."
This last was said with a tone of voice he hadn't heard in a long while and so instead of pinging Kreska, he chose to send a message directly to Sass.
>>Quit messing with your gloves.
>>No one can see them.
He paused, then added,
>>Did they hurt you, Sassy girl?
The flurry of notes that came back stabbed him in the chest a little, as did the variety of sounds that came from--presumably--Kreska.
>>!!!
>>How long have you been able to use this thing?
>>You could've sent me something at any time, couldn't you?
>>And you let me worry instead.
>>That you'd been caught by those Enforcer goons who were tailing me.
>>Or killed.
>>JACKASS.
He cringed.
>>I just hacked it.
>>Just now.
There was no response.
--
Sascha fumed as she released the cuffs of her gloves. She was pretty sure she'd only been picking at the fabric because Kreska's hand looked a lot worse than hers had once. Smelled it, too. Her nose wrinkled. Cards, it was even worse hearing from Fate after all this time when he was right. Fussing with them would only make them wear more, which in turn would show the marks of her time with the Perseid Group. She tugged instead at the zipper built into the lining of her stolen suit.
>>Sass?
"Well that's good, then, good," she said to Kreska, ignoring the repeated green text on her comm. She worried the zipper down, then back up, missing the drek out of her gear and unsure she wanted to know about the snakes in the other woman's life. Considering the snakes she'd just left had been able to rip the thoughts out of someone's head and leave them nothing more than an empty shell--she was a little alarmed. "Kudos on the self-first aid. And for taking out the bounty hunter, right? Not sure I could've done that myself. Run like my feet have turbos, sure."
>>Silence does not become you.
Of course, she could and would have done the first aid as circumstances called for it. But with another body in the room as witness? Nope. Since she probably should have let it go to save Kreska's dignity without referencing the disgusting combination of goop + ooze at all, she wracked her brain for something else to talk about.
>>Talk to me.
"I'd ask if he could send us a wardrobe to choose from as well," she suggested aloud. "He'd probably wind up stealing a rack from the back room at a strip joint though." The image made her laugh, and she swiped away a helpless tear. "We'd have some pissed off naked strippers after us then, but at least our friendly bounty hunters would be so confused they wouldn't notice if some booze snuck in."
Across the way, Kreska's tablet would light up with:
>>Tell her the plan has been noted.
>>It may take a little time to work up the stripper brigade though.
"He's gonna...do a liquor run?" he heard Sass ask and fought to keep a snort from surfacing.
"I should have known she'd say 'liquor'." He shouldn't have offered. Sass's tastes in booze went to top shelf, and that meant the effort he was about to expend increased threefold.
>>I'll buy her something nice.
And he would have to buy it--or at least make the bar think he'd bought it--because fuck if he was going to steal booze someone would notice missing. Beer was one thing. A bottle of Venusian Fireball? Pfft.
"He's gonna send it...here? Like some neon green 'hey assholes, guess who's hiding behind door number 3' sign?" Sass asked then, with an incredulity in her voice that hurt.
After all these years a man would think he'd earned some respect.
"Well you're lucky, I think," she continued, and Fate blew out a harsh breath.
He was pretty damned sure, after taking in the breadth of her file, that the only thing lucky about Kreska Ido's life was the way in which she remained breathing.
"I had one once...before Fate. Just as much hassle."
Fate frowned as he tabbed his mic off and punched in the final coding for their server bot--or what he'd chosen to use as one. What had he said aloud this time? He frowned even harder at her next words and then grinned as the military-grade battle AI--a navy blue, gleaming bodyguard shell with him for an AI--drew up to the serving bot at a pub and placed the order.
>>Maybe the problem is that your ears are already broken.
>>I will go with that.
>>Rather than believing green people the worlds over have no taste.
Not that he knew any other Jobari, or had studied any of their files as extensively as hers, but she didn't need to know that.
"At least Fate comes with the benefit of wanting to keep people alive though. Even if it is just so he has someone around to laugh at his jokes. Or you know. Keep him from being lonely."
This last was said with a tone of voice he hadn't heard in a long while and so instead of pinging Kreska, he chose to send a message directly to Sass.
>>Quit messing with your gloves.
>>No one can see them.
He paused, then added,
>>Did they hurt you, Sassy girl?
The flurry of notes that came back stabbed him in the chest a little, as did the variety of sounds that came from--presumably--Kreska.
>>!!!
>>How long have you been able to use this thing?
>>You could've sent me something at any time, couldn't you?
>>And you let me worry instead.
>>That you'd been caught by those Enforcer goons who were tailing me.
>>Or killed.
>>JACKASS.
He cringed.
>>I just hacked it.
>>Just now.
There was no response.
--
Sascha fumed as she released the cuffs of her gloves. She was pretty sure she'd only been picking at the fabric because Kreska's hand looked a lot worse than hers had once. Smelled it, too. Her nose wrinkled. Cards, it was even worse hearing from Fate after all this time when he was right. Fussing with them would only make them wear more, which in turn would show the marks of her time with the Perseid Group. She tugged instead at the zipper built into the lining of her stolen suit.
>>Sass?
"Well that's good, then, good," she said to Kreska, ignoring the repeated green text on her comm. She worried the zipper down, then back up, missing the drek out of her gear and unsure she wanted to know about the snakes in the other woman's life. Considering the snakes she'd just left had been able to rip the thoughts out of someone's head and leave them nothing more than an empty shell--she was a little alarmed. "Kudos on the self-first aid. And for taking out the bounty hunter, right? Not sure I could've done that myself. Run like my feet have turbos, sure."
>>Silence does not become you.
Of course, she could and would have done the first aid as circumstances called for it. But with another body in the room as witness? Nope. Since she probably should have let it go to save Kreska's dignity without referencing the disgusting combination of goop + ooze at all, she wracked her brain for something else to talk about.
>>Talk to me.
"I'd ask if he could send us a wardrobe to choose from as well," she suggested aloud. "He'd probably wind up stealing a rack from the back room at a strip joint though." The image made her laugh, and she swiped away a helpless tear. "We'd have some pissed off naked strippers after us then, but at least our friendly bounty hunters would be so confused they wouldn't notice if some booze snuck in."
Across the way, Kreska's tablet would light up with:
>>Tell her the plan has been noted.
>>It may take a little time to work up the stripper brigade though.
Dreams come in a size too big so we can grow into them.
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