It'd taken most of my energy to slip back into The Hearth before Bella caught me, the apartment door sliding shut and locking with a sturdy click. My hands shook in front of me, a sharp, painful, sinking exhaustion setting in. One by one, I discarded my clothes, stepping into the bathroom with a heavy sigh.
"Fuck," I muttered, grasping the sink with both claws, tilting my head this way and that to look at the bruise on the bridge of my snout. It throbbed gently, like a hot coal pressed to the scales, showing through the gaps between each scale as purplish lines. "That's gonna be tough to hide."
More bruised scales ran along my collarbone. But nowhere else. The synskin of my cybernetic arm flickered and faded out, revealing dark, dried blood crusting over its palm.
I stepped back until the frosted glass walls of the shower surrounded me, the water coming on with a flick of my tail. Cold water rushed over me, sending a lethargic shock through my body, dragging out a deep growl. "*Fuck."
The water heated rapidly, but not before shivers ran up and down my body. But the lethargy and pain had vanished under the shock. Warmth brought back the tiredness, but it was a softer, lighter exhaustion. The weight that had dragged on me vanished, letting me square my shoulders and stand upright.
Bella's message flitted across my peripheral again. With sagging shoulders, I pressed my head against the glass wall in front of me, groaning aloud. "Today of all days, I had to get my ass beat, then asked to dinner by that-" my mouth shut with a sudden pop as I shook my head. I thought.
The water at my feet was finally running clear, the palm of my cyberarm clean. Like nothing had happened. With a heavy shudder, I stepped back fully into the water, eyes glittering in my reflection in the glass as I brought up Bella's message.
//From: Bellabella | Timestamp: 08:04//
//Contents: Vidr! I finally have some time tonight. I'll stop by your place, and we can go somewhere for dinner. With how hard we've been working, we deserve a little relaxation, mm? ;D//
//Reply?//
//To: Bella Bella | Timestamp: 10:16//
//Contents: Sure. I wouldn't be too hopeful for anything after, though. I got jumped taking that kid to school. He's okay, but I almost got shot. We can talk later. Let's meet at 1700. Going to get some rest till then, see you soon.//
With that sent, I lowered my head again, silencing any more notifications. Once the water began running cold again, my tail lashed across the knob, cutting its flow. With the warmth of the water fading, the throbbing pain returned. I huffed and grabbed a towel, rubbing down and fluffing up my plumage, then let it drop to the floor.
I let myself fall into bed as soon as I left the bathroom, lying face down. With a blink, the warmth of the ceramic bulb above the bed began to beat down against my back, as I slowly crawled under the blankets, watching snow beat against the window above me until my eyes fell shut.
//11-14-2099 - - 16:48//
"Vidr! You will be late for your date if you don't wake up!" the voice broke through the dream of hammering shotguns and rhythmic rotors of a Ferryman. I sat up in a rush, head beginning to spin and buzz lightly. The shark swam into view from the side with a toothy grin. Before it could speak, I snarled and blinked. The AR avatar vanished in a cloud of pixels.
"Use a fucking alarm next time," I growled, the cold steel of my cyberarm pressing to my chest to slow my hammering heart. I rested my head in my other hand, tail lashing hard against the bed, sending a pillow over the edge.
Sucking in a hissing breath between my fangs, I rolled up onto my feet, ignoring the creaking pain in my lower legs. I shoved the discarded clothes on the floor into the washing machine and lit a cigarette. I took deep drags on the acrid burning leaves between pulling on fresh clothes.
I stared down at the black and blue Charon's Gate jacket, next to a synth-leather one, the last stub of the cigarette hanging between two fingers. The silence carried on for a long few moments before shattering with a series of knocks at the door. The armored bulk of the Charon's Gate jacket settled heavily on my shoulders as I turned and opened the door.
Bella stood there, any worry hidden under a toothy smile. "Vidr! Glad to see you're doing alright. Had me worried there," she scolded, eyes locked on the bruising across the bridge of my snout, her smile wavering. I sighed.
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"I'm fine, Bella, nothing I couldn't walk off," I promised. "Have anywhere in mind for dinner?"
"Of course! It isn't far, or particularly fancy, but... with what happened today, I didn't think you'd want to go anywhere too out of the way, come on." She took my hand, dragging me out the door. Her primped-up plumage looked all too inviting. The warmth of her smile cooled my emotions. The door slid shut behind us as she hauled me into the elevator, chittering happily as she hit a button on the elevator. Basement level 2, below the parking garage. I tilted my head curiously, looking to her.
"What's down there?" I asked, tail flicking.
"A bar," she said matter-of-factly.
"Since when?" I asked, baffled.
"They always open up when winter starts, so we don't have to go running around on the streets for a good drink. Just don't tell anyone, ya?" she said with a chuckle, squeezing my hand in hers. I nodded as the elevator glided to a halt, the door opening to the neon lights of the bar. Pulsing greens and whites that banded the edge of the long bartop, AR streams flickered between the bartender and the patrons on the stools.
Bella dragged me to a booth against the back wall, sitting across from me. The weight of my jacket felt unnecessary now. I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath. I thought. When my eyes opened, Bella had a little worried smile.
"Everything alright? What happened today?" she asked, leaning across the table.
"Just got my comeuppance for letting my guard down. It's fine. Just got dragged out of my car after dropping the kid off, just got beaten up a little. Nothing I can't walk off," I reassured, for both of us.
"Okay. It's just a little... you're usually a little more..." Bella grappled with the words, folding her hands on the table as she considered. A waitress dropped menus off on the table between us.
"I let my guard down. Too used to the corporate life where no one wants to cross that line," I sighed, running a claw over the glowing reaper-and-gate logo of CGM on the lapel of the jacket. "Happens to the best of us."
"I guess. I can't say I really get it. But you're practically from a different world, down here," she laughed, kicking me gently under the table.
"Can't take the rat outta the corp," I snorted. "I'll be fine. I promise. Once I get back to work. Helps keep my head on my shoulders." It felt like a lie. I hadn't had my head on straight since I'd disembarked the Ferryman for the last time. It a lie, in fact.
Bella could tell. It was in her eyes, deep and blue as the ocean. What 'it' was, that was so telling, I had no idea. "You miss it?" she asked.
"The corp?" I asked, looking down at the menu. "Yeah. I miss it. All of it. The pay. The structure. The people." And the station, above everyone, down on the streets. Those words I kept to myself.
Not that it helped. "Being above the streets has its benefits," Bella said with a low sigh. "But there's nothing to be done about it now. What are you doing down here anyway? You could have gone anywhere, done anything. But you stayed. Why?"
I opened my mouth. Shut it. Then let out an explosive growling breath. "I don't know. One of my friends said he knew I'd have unfinished business. I just assumed he was right," I said. The waitress paused by our table. "Old-fashioned, smoked," I said as she finished pulling out her notebook.
"Mai tai," Bella ordered, before turning back to me. "Well. You have that thing in your head trying to kill you and everyone around you," she pointed out.
"I guess. Frankly, I could probably just have a doc rip my mantle out, buy a fresh one. Be done with it," I admitted. "I'm just too stubborn to take the easy way. And not just anyone could be allowed to get a hold of what Axiom made," I mused, tail twitching behind me.
"If you reset the mantle. Cleared the data," she offered.
"I could. But if Axiom gets a hold of one of my old squad members... then what do I have to help them with?" I admitted, finally. "Axiom is a AAA corp. It doesn't matter where we run. Eventually, they'll find us, or forget us. So I'll let them look for me right here in their backyard," I said, tail lashing.
Bella gave a low series of chirps. "Sounds like unfinished business to me," she said simply. Our drinks arrived, with a large plate of fried chicken and bowls of bone broth and cups of sauce. I took a slow sip of the cocktail, letting its bittersweet and smoky flavor linger on my tongue as I thought.
"Guess so," I said, biting into a piece of chicken. Bella did the same. Guitar and synth music played over the low conversations as more Saurids began slipping into the bar, their scales glinting gently in the green neon lights.
Bella chattered softly about nothing with me as we ate. When my glass emptied, the waitress replaced it with a fresh one before I could blink. A haze of cigarette and marijuana smoke filled the room like a blanket. Pool balls clattered on their table as cues struck them.
I laughed, struck in the gut with a sudden twisting emotion. Something warm and empty. "No reports. No waiting for an alarm to call. Nothing. It's..." my thick tongue struggled with the words, my clawed hands all too occupied with a lighter and blunt I didn't remember pulling out. "I can't remember the last time I didn't care." The words came finally, as the end of the blunt lit with dull embers.
"There are still a few things to care about, Vidr," Bella purred, leaning across the table on her elbows, smiling as she stole the blunt from between my claws, taking a long drag on it. Her free hand reached out, suddenly warm against my chin as she cupped it, one claw tracing its tip up my cheek.
She blew the smoke at me playfully, pressing the blunt back into the cold grip of my cybernetic hand. I stared at the black steel, blinking for a few moments. With a shake of my head, I turned on its synskin, watching as scales melted over its surface, mirroring my other arm.
"What happened, anyway?" she asked, running a claw slowly up the side of my arm as it finished disguising itself.
"I just let them take it. I'd rather have an arm that saves lives, yknow," I said, putting the blunt in my mouth to puff on it.
She frowned a bit before shaking her head. Her hand fell away from my chin. I chirped softly in disappointment. I let the smoke out once my lungs started burning, coughing, and pulling back to take a drink. Bella laughed, sweet as song.
She leaned down against the table, running her hands under it to grab my knees. "Why don't we head back to your place?" she asked with a little smirk.
