Chapter Sixty-Nine - Nice

“Look, I’m not a conspiracy nut, but this whole thing with the mass, world-wide incursion? Something's fishy about it. Where are all the big-name samurai? Where are the really strong samurai who can wipe out an incursion solo?

A bunch of them are supposed to be around Mars. Which, alright, fine, they’re samurai, they’ll go into space and do space samurai stuff, whatever.

Now why haven’t any of them come back? And why are so many more of them leaving?

You know what I think? I think they’ve built a new home for themselves up there. They know Earth’s screwed, so they just up and left. Cowards!”

--Live comment section of live-world-news-streaming.com, 2057

***

Lucy and I left the room with the matter printer with rather goofy smiles on. I didn’t particularly care. Lucy was clinging to my side, almost hanging off of me for support while I absently tucked my shirt back in with my free hand. We hadn’t done anything too fun, just a lot of handsy stuff and some kissing. Good kissing. Non-pg-13 kissing.

“We don’t have a bedroom,” Lucy said suddenly.

“We don’t?” I asked. I distinctly remembered a room being for us to sleep in.

“Well, okay, we do, but we don’t have a bed in our bedroom. Which I think means that it’s technically just a ‘room’ and not much else.” She grinned up at me. “Unless you want to sleep on the floor? I’d be down for that, but like, as a one-time thing.”

I laughed and wrapped an arm around Lucy’s back to pull her closer into my side. Then, because her head was close, I planted a kiss on her forehead. I regretted it when a curly lock of Lucy’s hair got caught on my lips and I had to pull my face away to get it off.

Lucy, at least, thought that was hilarious.

“So, I was checking things out, and I’m pretty sure we can buy enough furniture for the whole place for fairly cheap. You know the matter machine will create blueprints of anything you throw into it? We only need to buy one bed per kitten and then we can print out new ones for all the rest. I’m pretty sure it’s piracy of some sort, but I don’t think that’ll stop us.”

“That’s an idea,” I said. “Or we could just buy everything we need from Myalis. I think I can afford a furniture catalogue.”

There are quite a few of those available. Some are relatively inexpensive. Most human furniture isn’t exactly mechanically complex.

I nodded along. “There you have it,” I said. “Myalis can get you whatever you need. I bet she can send things to your augs if you ask nicely.”

Do you wish for Lucy to be allowed to make purchases in your stead?

“That’s allowed?” I asked.

No, but I can do it anyway. Technically, she’d need to ask your permission for every item, but we both know you’d just say yes to anything she asks for. I do suggest that you set a reasonable budget. Both to keep spending in check and to encourage creativity when it comes to point expenditure.

What followed was a couple of hours of Lucy running around all over our new home, at first while gesturing all over, then later with a tablet in hand. She went from broad-strokes to making small, minute changes. Judging by the smile she carried and the contagious excitement that was infecting the kittens, the whole place would be entirely different in a few hours.

I decided to leave her to it and quietly excused myself to go to our--now somewhat furnished--bedroom. I needed a bit of time to think. I wasn’t an introspective sort of person, which I think was rather obvious, but the last day or so had been so insanely busy that I had a hard time just keeping track of everything that had happened.

The meeting with the other samurai, which happened just after Gomorrah and I were tossed out of Deus Ex’ space station, was just last night. After that, everything was sort of a blur. The meeting with the other samurai led by Laserjack, then Gomorrah and I ran off to that giant gardening place, I could vividly remember not-nuking the place. Then... dinner with Gomorrah and Franny and Lucy in our new home.

The next morning, I’d run off to help Jolly Monarch hold off a wave until Grasshopper needed help with the caravan. What had happened after that? The group of survivalists next to that one nuclear reactor factory? Were they even still alive? Gomorrah and I had left soon after to protect the gap in the wall. That building coming down around me... that was going to be in a nightmare or two. I still had to find the asshole who’d dropped those shells on my position and give them a piece of my mind.

Had it only been one day? I think I’d experienced more trauma in twelve hours than most people dealt with in a lifetime.

“Being a samurai’s kind of fucky, isn’t it?” I asked.

It is. Though you are living in very interesting times. Things will inevitably calm down, and you'll be able to enjoy the fruit of your labours.

“The fruits of my labours, huh? Mostly I’m just smashing things and hoping I don’t get smashed in turn.” I flopped backwards onto the bed and stared at the ceiling while I sank into the mattress.

Maybe things weren’t so bad. Lucy was happy. The kittens were safe.

I’d do my part to make sure she stayed happy and that they were even safer. I had the resources to spare. I lacked some time, sure, and training, but... well, maybe that was something I’d finally get around to fixing.

I closed my eyes and was just considering sleeping--the fact I was still in dirty clothes be damned--when the door burst open and Lucy rushed in. “Cat!” she cheered. “I’m done!” With that, she jumped onto the bed, knees on either side of my hips and lowered herself close. “I’m done!”

I laughed, then reached up and pulled her into a hug. “Good. I needed a pillow,” I said.

“Cat! No! I wanted to show you around!” She squealed as I rolled over and pulled her down with me.

“But I can explore the place later,” I muttered. “What if I want to explore you right now?”

Lucy squirmed. “Cat, you’ve explored every inch of me before, you won’t find anything new.”

“You don’t know that,” I said. “I always find a new thing to be amazed at.” I reached around her waist and pinched her side, not hard, just enough to grab onto the slight love handles she had. “Look at what I’ve discovered here? It’s beautiful. Worthy of worship.”

She grabbed me by the lapels and pulled me up. She wasn’t strong enough to really force me higher, but I helped her along. “I guess I should give New Montreal’s big hero a bit of a reward, shouldn’t I?” she whispered.

“Hmm? I don’t know. I don’t think I want to be a hero.”

Lucy looked at me, then pulled me into a hug that was a lot more comforting than it was erotic. “That’s okay too,” she said. “How about you be Cat, and I’ll be Lucy, and the kittens can be annoying brats, and we’ll pretend that the rest doesn’t matter as long as we’re here?”

I grinned. “I think I’d like that. Never thought you’d be one to suggest roleplay though.”

Lucy snorted, indelicate and definitely not lady-like. “Please, if we were doing roleplay it would be a lot more involved. I’m talking costumes and like, an entire storyline. You’d need to memorise lore.”

“Oh? Maybe we can do the brave samurai saving the poor, helpless girl from some scary monsters?”

Lucy nodded. “Sure. I’ll be the brave samurai, you be helpless.”

“That doesn’t sound hard. I would be helpless without you.”

She gasped. “Catherine! That actually sounded kind of smooth. Is Myalis feeding you lines?”

“There weren’t any cat puns, so you know she wasn’t,” I said.

Lucy giggled, and soon we shifted around so that she was at my back, hugging me close while we basically spooned. It was warm and just... nice.

Then, of course, Nose barged into the room. “Hey! If you two aren’t too busy, there’s this weird chick that just got here.”

“What?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s just... really weird. Said her name was Grasshopper. Might be a samurai. Or a nutjob.”

“Goddamnit,” I swore as I jumped to my feet, then I pulled Lucy up to hers. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek, before rushing to the door. “Come on! You’re going to want to meet her. She’s nice, if a little loony. Did she say what she was here for?”

“She said you needed a nanny,” Nose said before running down the corridor and leaping the steps to the floor below.

I think I might have been cursed to not have a minute to myself.

***