I wave back to Erin as she drives away, and turn back to the office when she's out of sight. I'm happy to see everyone working away at stuff – though Mindy stresses about her work too easily ... Junior programmers tend to do that. I send Beatriz a q…
I hold a hand up to my chest, "scout's honor!" Then she pulls up to my building, and I pause as I try to figure out whether she wants me in our out... Seems like both. I compromise. "Well thanks for lunch Erin! This was fantastic. Next time you call…
I list off a few bands and artists that have my attention lately. "I could send you my playlists if you're interested — in exchange for a few good book recommendations."
I nod along with her assessments of the other girls, but I'm not so sure BD is a lost cause... Maybe she is, but I kinda hope she isn't. We need more girls here to even out the load. "I was thinking of sticking BD with Poptart for a while... Poptart…
She says "cut out" — like there's some mold for people like us — and I shrug. "Women have it different out there in the drifts... Any girl can be strong enough to get by without a man — but some girls just find it easier to latch on to someone and r…
I'm trying my best to counter her nervous energy with a little bit of nonchalance — but I'm beginning to get a little concerned by her demeanor. It's a far cry from the cheerful young lady I remember from chem back in university — she needs to smile…
I nod silently as she talks. Owning something real is nothing to sneeze at. I look over at her when she says she wants to be something important — like my number two... I don't think I've ever seen someone who said they wanted to be like me... I don…
I don't comment on her wanting to drop our "dead weight" — granted we've got some people who aren't pulling their weight, you've got to be careful what you wish for these days... I finish loading up a clip, and pick up another one, when she asks wha…
I'm chuckling softly as she tries to salvage the metaphor, and I nod reassuringly. "That sounds awesome. Let me know what to bring for drinks, and I'll be there with bells on."
Hmm... Part of me wants to do a little prying into this baggage of hers — but it's none of my business at the moment. I smile warmly and nod, "Sure, no problem. I happen to be a pretty big proponent for online privacy — so if ever you have any probl…
Friend her again? Did they have some sort of falling out? "Yeah, they've got a bunch of pics... Here!" I take my phone out and show her a few pics of the time I spent out at the farm from my public profile... If she asks, I'll give her the public-fr…
... Ok, so Erin doesn't know about the VR community — that's not unheard of, but that's kind of surprising. I'm about to explain it all when she breaks off about Emma, "Oh... Well... She got married, and they just bought their farm together. He's a …
How did I get Long John to back off? Well, it doesn't take much to emasculate someone when you're half a foot shorter than them... And a woman. I grabbed his hand when he went to hit her, spun him around, and broke his fucking nose. Then casually wa…
Heh. Hard Woks — that was clever! I grin and chuckle lightly as she turtles on the details there, and then carefully starts scanning her life for whatever is a good answer. Is she trying to play it safe? What's going on here?
I lean back in my cha…
I nod along enthusiastically when she explains her love for cooking. Why's she so self-conscious? Is this tied into why she hides her social profile? She's big on cleanliness too... What's that about?
I wave my hand modestly in a "so-so" gesture wh…
I smile and follow her lead when she starts eating. I love spicy foods, so this is a walk in the park for me — so flavorful and aromatic! When she comes up for air, I nod in agreement, "I don't have a lot of time to cook, and when I do I usually jus…
That'd be Long-John. "None of your fucking business what we care about Hadden's family. We're playing it straight."
Of course, that's before Em answers about spilling the beans. That's not fucking good... That's not fucking good at all. I set my ja…
So she's a fan of the classics. Nice. I'll have to follow up on that. I watch her knoll her cutlery for a second, being the sucker for aesthetics that I am, and listen to her recount the story of how she met my mother... Sort of... I blush and bow m…
I shake my head when Invert butts in, "we're not heading back there now. We're going to fuck them into last week when we roll in, and Hadden's got family in there..." I look back to BD, "so they just roughed you up and locked you up? What'd they do …
The cheer makes me smile — reminds me of Chem when she'd do a titration right. Kind of odd she thought I was talking about business though. "That's awesome! Congrats! Teaching all the kiddies the classics I take it? Right on. So you ran into my Mom,…
I nod a few times in solidarity, and look off down the tunnel as we walk. "I'll hold the fucker down. What the hell happened back there, anyway? What bullshit reason did they invent to justify this?"
I'm not happy about it either — but I'm not about to run into a fucking war without taking a week to recover from getting shot. When we're out of Underlake market, and it's just the gang, I'm going to pull Blood Dracula over — she seemed like she go…
Awkward, eh? Hmm... That's weird. You'd think she didn't call me awkwardly in the middle of the night to set up a lunch date — or something. I take it in stride — some people subscribe to the european hug greeting thing... I'm used to it. "It's grea…
I'm nothing if not a creature of habit — call me a sucker if you want, but I know what I like. "That sounds great Baraba, can I get some of that iced tea, too?" Us small business owners like sticking together... It's all good.
I sit down and take a…
I'm going to bring the gang back home, rest up, and get us ready to fuck Merrell up the ass. I'm hoping Jester and Arbor can find Silica so we can discuss the best way to keep them safe.
I'm glad everything is in order at the office. Hitesh can handle helping Mindy while I'm gone, and Jenni can handle everything else.
The Thai place is a little family owned deal about a 10 minutes walk away. I'm pretty sure they got in under a land…