Chương 746: Interlude - Homecoming

Lucy jumped a little when there was a ping on her augs. She looked at it, then blinked before re-reading the text. A stray has arrived. It had come from a little piece of software that she had set up a few days ago... though saying that 'she' had set it up was a bit of an exaggeration. Myalis had done the majority of the work but Lucy had helped, a little. Groaning, she sat up and scooted over to the edge of the bed. It was a big bed, so there was a lot of scooting involved, which was kind of awesome.

Even after a couple of weeks she hadn't gotten used to the luxury of a big house and a big private room. Still, big and private didn't feel good when it was coupled with empty. Her feet touched the ground and she hissed a little at the coolness of it. It wasn't long before she slipped on a pair of cat-eared slippers then scampered across the room. There was a bit of a mess growing in one corner where they had relocated a desk for her to do her schoolwork on.

Of course, being that it was a flat surface, it had started to accumulate knick-knacks and dirty dishes and the like. Sometimes the various cat drones wandering around the house would pick something up and bring it to the dishwasher, but there was usually a few days before that happened. Sighing, she paused and picked up a few things. She was heading that way anyway.

"Myalis?" she asked aloud. Cat could hear the AI in her head. Apparently Myalis sounded the same way in Cat's head than she did out of a speaker. That was, like a middle-aged, slightly robotic, woman who sounded like she was professionally hiding the fact that she was in on a joke that the person she was talking to wasn't aware of yet. It was a rather distinct voice. Kind of cute, really. Lucy received a text. She stifled a yawn as she read it. Myalis: Yes, we're here. That was good.

Lucy glanced at the time, then let out a second, uglier yawn while no one could see. It was eleven fifty at night. Under normal circumstances, she might only have another hour of scrolling through memes and news and AI generated slop before falling asleep.

"Has Cat eaten?" Myalis: Yes.

"Anything as good as me?" Lucy asked. Myalis: Keep me out of your weird mammalian kinks, Miss Leblanc. Lucy snorted, knowing full well that Myalis knew. She could see why Cat got along well with the AI, she felt a bit like an older, more jaded but still kinda fun kitten. Like some of those that had left before her time at the orphanage. Damn, she really did have to make an effort to track some of them down.

Moving through the kitchen, then the living room where most of the kittens were unsurprisingly awake (they were rather nocturnal) she made it to the room with the elevators, then waited while wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. It wasn't too long before there was a faint rumble and the doors slid open. Lucy took Cat in, checking for anything obviously wrong. She had three plus one limbs, her head was on her shoulders, and she didn't smell like a sewer.

"Hey," Cat said.

"Hi," Lucy replied as she put on a smile.

"You're late."

"Eh, yeah, sorry. I was almost just gonna sleep over there, but I remembered that I could put the bastion on... ah, put it on auto-pilot." Cat interrupted herself with a yawn, then she walked forwards with a distinct lack of grace and pulled Lucy into a hug.

"Hi," she said instead of explaining further.

"I'm happy you're home," Lucy replied. She rolled up onto the end of her feet and pressed a kiss along Cat's jaw.

"Mhm, home," Cat said. Her hug tightened a little, then her hand wandered up and started to squeeze at Lucy's chest. Cat only played with Lucy's boobs when she was horny, or sad. Or happy. Or content. Or bored. Or when she was anxious. Or excited. Or even sometimes nostalgic. Okay, so it happened often enough that Lucy couldn't pin one emotion to it reliably. Really, it was her fault for not being bothered enough to put on a bra, she knew this would happen.

"Did you have a long day?" she asked before giving Cat a quick kiss on the lips. Cat tasted like... Lucy couldn't quite put the name on the flavour. Cucumber? A bit of garlic and lemon and salt? It wasn't a usual taste for Cat. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Yeah, long doesn't describe the half of it," Cat said. She sighed, and her hands dropped to her side. That allowed her to hunch forward, deepening the hug.

"Quebec is kind of a mess."

"That bad?" Lucy asked.

"Come on, let's get you into PJs, you'll be comfier. Want me to run you a shower?"

"That'd be nice," Cat said before allowing Lucy to lead her across their home. There was only a short pause along the way for her to annoy the Kittens for a moment and poke them. It was important. It allowed Cat to reassert herself as top dog--pun intended--and Lucy knew that it made Cat feel safe to bully all of the Kittens. She moved ahead for a moment, and dipped into the bathroom.

It still felt sacrilegious to let the shower just run so that the water would be a few degrees hotter, but she did it anyway before moving into their shared room and sorting through the piles of folded clothes on their clean clothes chair next to the dresser in the corner. Obviously about a quarter of the stuff there belonged to one kitten or another, but she couldn't expect the kids to actually do a good job when she threatened them into doing the laundry, now could she?

She did eventually find something comfy for Cat to wear, then she watched as her girlfriend peeled herself out of her coat and pants and then that sexy undersuit that hugged her curves so well. Cat was looking good recently. Lucy had always worried that her girlfriend was on the wrong side of skinny, but she'd been making sure that Cat filled out lately. That, and while Cat wasn't getting formal exercise in, all that running around she did as a samurai was good for her.

She found a seat on a lowered toilet and watched as Cat took a steaming hot shower.

"So... what's going down over in Quebec?" Lucy asked over the hiss of water.

"Eh, shit's all sorts of fucked," Cat complained as she used some cheap nine-in-one soap on her hair.

"The samurai over there aren't that experienced. There's Crisis Mode, she's nice, but a little too timid, and Libre, who's a massive piece of shit. Guy lost his girlfriend or something and lost his sanity at the same time, I think. He's not healthy."

"Oh. Is he causing problems?"

"He caused plenty. But I... look, I was tempted to beat his ass, but I think he's only kinda responsible? Guy's crazy smart and crazy stupid at the same time." Lucy nodded. That tracked for some samurai she'd met so far.

"He's trying to out-think the antithesis, and it kinda worked so far, which is nuts. But I wouldn't bet on that working forever, you know? He kinda fucked up in a few ways, but whatever. We're there now, so things should be alright, I hope. It's just that I was hoping that we'd ride in and save the day and that would be it, but it's like... we just arrived, and all they've done is stall. So now all the hard work is left, and what we have to work with that's local is all kinds of ass.

The army there was half defected, the militia is worn out, the media had been downplaying everything."

"They have?" Lucy asked. She'd noticed when she went digging that there wasn't much news coming from Quebec. That... wasn't too unusual. She rarely if ever heard about anything going on in neighbouring cities unless it was huge news. Most modern media algorithms focused on either far international drama, or really close-by drama. Her classes said that it was just a basic human thing. Far-off drama was good because it was interesting and detached from the daily life of the viewer.

Close by was better for selling things and pushing engagement. One city over sat in that awkward middle ground where it was neither, and so wasn't ever the focus. She'd kind of dismissed Quebec's issues because they never popped up in her feeds, and under normal circumstances never would, but when she went digging there was a conspicuous lack of any bad news. It was all financial stories and advertising and a bit of minor celebrity gossip. Lucy hummed.

"So, what happened after that?"

"Urgh," Cat groaned.

"Then I found the idiots responsible for all the fuckups on the corporate side. God, these people are so shortsighted. Why are humans so dumb, Lucy?"

"I'll let you know if I figure it out!" Lucy said. It wasn't a very smart reply, but her focus at the moment was on the way water was sliding down Cat's muscular back. She wondered what Cat would do if she licked it....