Ravensdagger_Kittypunk_Cyberpunk_Kitrpg

Chapter Thirty-Eight — Pet House

Chapter Thirty-Eight — Pet House "Alright," I said as tensions started to ramp up. "Let's show Sharp the living room, and we'll talk this out, shall we?"The three cats before me considered it, but it was Arsenic, my loud baby, that spoke. "I suppose. Is 'Sharp' your pet?"I glanced up to Sharp. "Can you understand them?""No?" she said. "I mean, he meowed a couple of times, but that's it? I hear you just fine though!"I turned my gaze back down to Arsenic. "Yes, she is," I said.I wanted to give Sharp the grand tour, but really, this situation with the cats had to be handled first. The living room was just inside, a space with a plush sofa facing a wall-mounted television. A fireplace was tucked in the far corner, mostly as decoration, thought it was technically usable.I had once had a decent passion for interior decorating, and the budget to spare. My home looked like the inside of a magazine. A nice grey sofa with a number of plump cushions on top in complementary colours, to the side were a pair of rounded seats and a low wooden table with the TV remote and a small lamp.The wall to one side was entirely taken up by an inset bookcase, some of the shelves holding knick-knacks while the rest had paperbacks. I had tried to find hardcover copies of all of my favourites over the years, because they looked so much better on display.And, of course, there were several cat trees. The bigger ones, with multiple levels, small boxes, and with several dangly toys for the cats to bat around."Woah," Sharp said. "This looks like in a movie.""Take a seat," I said. "Usually I'd offer you something to drink, but you'll have to serve yourself later."Sharp nodded, removed her backpack, and gingerly set it down on my genuine hardwood floor, right next to the plush rug taking up the centre of the room.A fair bit of light was coming in from the rear patio doors, so we didn't need to tinker with the lights for the moment. Sharp sat down, and I relocated to her thighs.The cats arranged themselves in the living room. Arsenic jumped onto the coffee table, Cyanide hopped up next to Sharp, and quiet old Mercury peeked out from the other side of the table like the shy baby he was."So," I said. "Some things have changed.""Obviously," Arsenic said. "You cannot be our pet anymore.""Mommy isn't a pet," Cyanide said. "Pets are like the serving people Mommy brings to take care of us. Mommy is special and good and loves us very much."I felt my chest swirl with pride. I would never tell the others, but Cyanide was my favourite. "Thank you, Cyanide.""Mommy is a baby now," Cyanide said."True. How will you provide us with our needs when you are but a kitten?" Arsenic asked."Easy, Sharp will do that for me," I replied.Sharp perked up. "I'm going to do what?""Change the litter box, feed and water the cats, and generally take care of grooming, nails, vet visits, parasite prevention..."Mercury slowly poked his head up a bit higher. "Play?""And playing, petting, scratching..." I continued.Sharp blinked, then smiled. "I think I can do most of that!""Good," I said. "In exchange, you'll receive training, some resources, and the right to sleep in my home. We're going to have to make some space for you. Though... I suppose I'm no longer using the master bedroom. I'll insist on you showering before using my bed."Sharp looked around the room. "I almost can't believe that I get to stay here. This is bigger than my room at the orphanage."I blinked. The living room was quite large, wasn't it? "You had a large room, then?""I mean, I guess, but I shared it with nineteen others.""Ah," I said. "Well, then yes, you'll find this to be a considerable step up.""Mommy, what's happening?" Cyanide asked.I tried to smile at her reassuringly, but I wasn't sure if I conveyed it properly in cat. "Nothing, sweetie," I said. "Now, Sharp, it's time for introductions. My dear cats all have two names, one for... the common outsider and guests, and a true name."Arsenic puffed himself up."The British shorthair here is Arsenic," I said.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."Arsenic," Sharp repeated. "Like the poison?""Exactly. Though in front of others his name is Scenic. It's what his record at the vet says as well. This beautiful lady here is a Siamese, her name is Cyanide. Cya in front of strangers.""Hi Arsenic, Cyanide," Sharp said with a bow."This pet is well trained," Arsenic replied."She's getting there," I said. "Anyway, the shy baby over there is Mercury. He's a Maine coon. No second name for him." The name was inoffensive enough as it was. Also, I'd never tell him, but Mercury was a bit of a simple baby."Hi Mercury!" Sharp said. Mercury ducked down behind the table to hide again."And there's a fourth, though she hasn't shown up yet," I said. I turned to Cyanide for confirmation, and she just blinked languidly at me. "Is Belladonna around?""Bella is sleeping Mommy. You know she doesn't like strangers," Cyanide said.That was a good point. Mercury was a shy baby, but he'd come around eventually for a pat and a scritch. Bella didn't care for any of that. She'd disappear for hours on end and only show up when she wanted something."You'll have to meet Belladonna later then, I suppose," I told Sharp. "In the meantime, shall we give you the tour?"Sharp nodded, and then stood up while scooping me onto her shoulders. Arsenic stared up at me, then meowled at Sharp. "Carry me as well, peon."I translated his wants to Sharp-with some light censoring, and she scooped him up as well. "Oh, you're a big boy, aren't you?" she asked."What did the pet say?" Arsenic demanded to know."She said that you are grand and majestic," I lied.We continued with a tour of the first floor. There was the kitchen nearby, with access both in the dining room part of the living room-a space with a round table and four chairs, as well as a nice cabinet for plates and silverware-and another doorway that led from the kitchen into the opening corridor.There was a small antechamber in the kitchen with my washer and dryer, as well as a door that lead into the garage where my car was parked.The car wasn't anything to write home about, a small six-year-old electric hatchback. It could get me to the groceries and back, and that's all that mattered to me. Plus it was paid off, which was nice.There was a bedroom on the first floor that I'd long since converted into my office and hobby room. The space was a little chilly, having been closed off from the rest of the house since I'd last entered. The cats followed us in and sniffed around, and I had to remind Cyanide that she wasn't allowed next to my 'rock collection.'In reality, the collection was an excuse to get my hands on some chemical products of dubious legality, I had little interest in geology.There was a small washroom on the first floor, and a nice walk-in connected to that bedroom-tuned-office."The second floor is better," I told Sharp as we made for the stairs.At the top was a small loft area. I'd never known what to do with it, so I had stuck some gym things there with a small screen on the wall. A stationary bike, one of those resistance trainers, and a fold-up treadmill. Not much, but I intended to put it to use soon with Sharp.Then there were two bedrooms with a connecting bathroom. One was my storage room. It was a space filled with shelves for books, with a comfy chair for reading and another, larger, cat tree and playground for my babies.There was also a bench at the back along with a set of four gun safes. My excuse was generally that I'd inherited the weapons from my family, though that wasn't really true at all. Still, as an upstanding citizen who paid all of her taxes on time and who minded her own, with no criminal record and no ties to anyone suspicious, no one had ever questioned my possession of any armaments."We'll go over that later," I said.Finally, the master bedroom. A nice queen-sized bed, with four posters, and a walk-in for all of my clothes, as well as a seat and desk where I could apply makeup. There was an unfortunate amount of cat hair on the bed, I noted.Really, I had to do something about the quality of cleaning personnel I hired."Anyway," I said. "That's it. I hope it meets expectations?"

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Interlude One

Interlude One She awoke feeling strangely... floaty. It was a novel sensation, like tipping over in a chair without going so far that she lost her balance. It was dancing on the knife's edge of falling and not. It took her a moment of shifting around to realize what was going on.It was the bed.Fasmine had never slept on something so... cloudy before. She wasn't resting on the mattress, she was sinking into it. She understood Caroline's insistence on taking a shower and changing into warm, if oversized, PJs before sleeping. It made it all the more comfortable.It wasn't just the mattress, the silky-smooth pyjamas, or even the soft blankets and chilly room kept at just the right amount of 'cold' to make the blankets feel cozy. It was the several warm spots she could feel on her.There were two near her legs and another right on her belly.Stretching up a little, she blinked in the dark of the room and could only-just make out Arsenic and Cyanide sleeping on either side of her legs. Mercury was nearby too, sleeping on the edge of the bed on his side, and next to him was a cat she'd only heard about laying down as a loaf. Her eyes were opened, and she glanced up to give Sharp a look.Fasmine felt like if she moved, then Belladonna would bolt away.Fortunately, she didn't feel like moving. That last spot of warmth over her belly was Caroline. The woman-turned-kitten, the one who'd allowed Fasmine into her home, was laying down flat across the blankets, paws stretched out and face pressing down.Fasmine smiled, then let herself relax. She was hurting in a few places. Her legs had cramps, there was some bad chafing in her thighs from the bike rides, and the muscles in her lower back were sore. There was that constant throbbing pain in her lower rib that came and went, and when she took a breath that was too deep, she felt like someone was reaching a hand up her lungs to close her neck up.But those were normal pains, and this mattress was making her forget them. At the same time, it was reminding her of home.Well, if she could call the orphanage home. The mattresses there were three fingers thick on the outside, and if she was lucky, one finger thick in the middle. She suspected that every mattress in the orphanage stacked atop each other wouldn't be as thick as the one she was sinking into now.This level of luxury was... it was strange. It was undeniably nice, but it also made her feel a sort of queasy, guilty feeling.She let out a sigh and turned her head a little to peek at the clock on the nightstand. It was some old digital thing, with red glowing numbers that said that it was almost six in the morning. She had today off, but tomorrow she'd have to get back to work.This level of luxury didn't come free, she knew. It was... way, way beyond anything that she could afford herself. And yet the little kitten on her tummy had just given it to her.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Not quite for free. There were strings attached, but they were strings, not chains, and so far it all seemed worth it. She was getting stronger. Not very much, and not very fast, but it was happening. Some of the soreness she felt was proof of that, right?"Are you awake already?" Caroline asked.Sharp smiled. "Good morning, Earl...ess Easy Eyes.""Earl is a male-only noble title, and the rest of the name is so bad as to not be worth commenting upon."She shrugged, which had one of the cats by her feet-Arsenic, maybe-stretching and shifting in their sleep. "It's not even six AM. Can't I get away with not being good at names yet?""I suppose I could let you off the hook this time. The cats were going to be waking you up in about twenty minutes anyway.""At six?" she asked."Food time is seven-thirty, on the dot," Caroline said. She stood up, still on Fasmine's waist, and streeeeetched big."But six is an hour and a half before that?" Fasmine said, uncertain. "How long does it take to prepare the food?""Only a couple of minutes, at most. That's no reason not to make sure you're awake in time. Cats are punctual creatures. When it suits them. I'm afraid that one of the prices for living here will be home maintenance, which means a lot of small chores. I've spent a lot of money minimizing as many of those as I can, but that costs money. A lot was paid upfront. Quality building and good machinery saves on long-term maintenance, but some chores can't be avoided. Which means you're either going to have to sacrifice time, or earn enough money to pay others to do the work for you."She nodded. She kind of understood the concept. Chores certainly weren't foreign. They had plenty of those to do in the orphanage, and as part of their life-to-work program, they all had to do plenty of menial labour. She'd always been ranked as a hard worker, so a few extra things to take care of didn't bother her in the least."I think I can handle it. And a job too! I don't know if I can still do courier work?" She kind of wanted to continue. It felt like it was just a short step away from her dream job as an Edgerunner."I suppose. The travel time might be a bit much, but we can fill it with education, and the work pays relatively well. For what it is."Did it pay well enough to own a house like this one? Fasmine suspected that the answer to that was a resounding no. "I suppose I should get out of bed," she said.But she really didn't want to.And so she didn't.Well, not until Arsenic started to walk over her face at the crack of six-thirty, because no amount of comfy mattresses was going to get between him and his breakfast.Fasmine sighed, but it was a happy sort of sigh. This was her life now, and it was a pretty big step up.

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Chapter Thirty-Nine — Getting Sweaty

Chapter Thirty-Nine — Getting Sweaty I was sitting on the control board for my old fold-out treadmill. It was a little awkward, since the board was at a bit of an angle, and it was bouncing with each step Sharp took. "Come on, you'll never hit that next level of Body if you don't sweat a little more," I said."I'm... sweating... plenty," Sharp said.She was. Her old shirt was covered in a layer of it, and I was doing what I could not to recoil from the stench wafting off of her. We'd started Sharp's first morning at my place pretty simply, first by emptying the food that went bad out of the fridge, then by making a hearty breakfast.And then it was hitting the gym. Well, my in-house little gym in that awkward loft space. The window was opened a crack to let some fresh air in, and all of my gym equipment was strewn about. We'd been at it for a solid two hours already.First stretches, which confirmed that Sharp wasn't flexible at all, then some callisthenics on a roll-out mat, then we started to use the equipment I had. A few minutes on the exercise bike to work those legs, and now some light jogging on the treadmill to cool off."Here, we can make it better using your imagination.""Huh?" Sharp asked."Sharp! A huge man is running after you!" I shouted. My paw came down on the 'faster' button and the machine beeped rapidly as the speed ramped up.Sharp gasped and started to sprint all-out. Soon her arms were windmilling to keep her steady, but that failed as well and she flopped over and rolled off the machine."We're gonna have to work on it," I said as I tapped a paw on the off switch, then I leapt down from the treadmill. The other cats... well, two of them, were in the room, lounging around and watching. "Go take a shower.""Urgh," Sharp replied. She was flopped onto the ground, legs and arms splayed out as she breathed hard and stared at the ceiling."Don't be overdramatic, it was just a bit of sprinting. Which is a very valuable skill.""I guess," she said. "You could have warned me a little.""Out in the field, you don't get warnings."Sharp sighed, then turned around and pushed herself up. "Where's that shower?""The good one is in the master bedroom," I said. "I have some sweatpants and a loose shirt or two that might fit. We really need to head out and buy you some proper clothes.""That'd be nice," Sharp said. She grunted as she stood, then wobbled her way into my bedroom. I saw her starting to look around for something to wear after pulling a towel off of a rack. I was going to have to show her how to do the laundry, but that could wait.What couldn't wait nearly as much was our financial situation. This place, as nice as it was, wasn't free. For that matter, nor was food and consumables. We had a nice nest-egg, but we'd need more.I had plans, and a lot of those would require a fair amount of discretionary funds.So while Sharp figured out the shower, I strutted on down to my office. I noticed Cyanide following me from behind while Arsenic stayed put. He was laying in a sunbeam that was coming through the window and warming up the floor, so he wasn't about to move any time soon.Using my desktop was out of the question, but I did have a tablet computer I could use... assuming I could get it out onto a flat surface. That required a fair bit of finagling and some awkward tugging to get it out of its case, but eventually I had my old tablet out.The battery, of course, was dead.I cursed and pushed a drawer open, found the right charging wire, and then plugged it into the PC. There were a few more curses as I discovered the pain of plugging in a USB was magnified a hundredfold when you didn't have opposable thumbs.Finally, however, I had the tablet plugged in and was able to step on the screen to make it work. I knew it would work because I used to put on some cat games, where little fishies would swim past, for the cats to play on.... I'd seen it on a video online and it seemed cute.Since this was my home computer, I had access to some of my less secured accounts. These were the ones that were a lot easier to find, those that I expected the government to know about, where I paid my taxes from and where the profit from my rentals were deposited. A lot of small transactions passed through these.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.I nodded as I looked things over. Nothing too far from the ordinary. I had a local accounting firm that checked on things for me, including a yearly audit.I had a quarter million sitting in my account. That was... okay money, but it could be better.Fortunately, I had more elsewhere, but those accounts were designed to be trickier to enter. I'd have to take some time later to figure them out.In the meantime... I hopped over to the internet and went to a small, rather niche, furniture selling forum. It was where I purchased quite a few items I had in my house.It was also a subtle place for a few fixers on the East Coast to post contracts. I pawed through the more recent posts. There weren't that many of them, but some were somewhat interesting.Folding Chair Set — Lightly UsedCondition: Excellent, though some minor scuffs from field testing.Details: Perfect for temporary setups or swift adjustments. Requires pick-up from a high-altitude location. Bring your own transportation. Special features include "collapsible design" that allows for immediate removal once the deal is done.Price: $10,000 (negotiable based on discretion).Contact: @[email protected]An extraction mission. Someone needed someone pulled out of somewhere. That could be interesting. The low price suggested a relatively low level of risk.Obviously I was skipping past the six-figure jobs, those were the kinds of things that might take me a few weeks to plan and plot for. These lower risk, lower pay jobs were a lot more tempting.Vintage Oak Dining Set [Seats Eight]Condition: Classic, reliable, slightly weathered.Details: Ideal for gatherings. Expect minor wear and tear during transport. Some messages carved into table, lightly damaged. Needs refreshing.Price: $25,000Contact: @[email protected]Oh, an actual assassination job. Seats eight meant that there were eight targets. For that price, they were probably not much more than a local gang. Some toughs that took over a building as a gathering spot and who needed to be cleared out. Doable.Luxury Sofa, Leather, RecliningCondition: Pristine, very stylish.Details: You'll need a team to handle its size and weight. As a bonus, this sofa is very flashy. Great compliment to a loud room.Price: $50,000Contact: @[email protected]A single-target assassination job. Not too high of a pay, especially as it asked for a team, and to be flashy. No, this wasn't my kind of thing. I didn't like jobs that required that I be flashy and obvious. It was antithetical to how a good assassin ought to operate. Besides, we didn't have a team.Antique Rocking Chair — Minor Repairs NeededCondition: Sturdy, but creaky joints. Needs lubrication to function smoothly again.Details: Available in a rural compound. Chair needs some TLC to rock again. A little loud, can be quiet if fixed.Price: $10,000Contact: @GrandpaFixer on SolonetI perked up. The pay was trash, but that seemed like an easy enough job. If I was reading between the lines correctly, a facility out in the boonies needed some sabotaging done.That was generally a very easy kind of job. The price was low, however. Ten thousand? That would barely cover the cost of a drone and some explosives to do the job safely.Still, I didn't always have to explode things to sabotage them. There were plenty of ways to do that.Any idiot with a crowbar and a free afternoon could wreck a place, and for ten grand, I would assume that it wasn't very well defended.I logged onto a throwaway Solonet account and poked at the contact. Within a few minutes, I received a small package. It was all about this nice old chair... but adding the numbers on it together gave me some coordinates. Not based on any modern GPS system, but one frequently used by Solos.The facility was a small storage space just twenty minutes from the outer bounds of Boston Two. Low security, if any. Half the pay probably came because it wasn't in the city and most gangs didn't like sending their people too far away.It wasn't too much, but that was fine. A job like this would pad our pockets, give Sharp some much-needed field experience, and it could be what she needed to push herself to train some more.I liked it.

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