Liberty and Death, Chapter 70
Jonah’s was packed. Like, Cora actually had to wait in line to get into her own store. She watched as a rough looking gent walked out looking positively gleeful, arms full of Alphound skins.
Damn, keep this up, maybe we can just buy everybody and shut this place down that way.
Her eyes fell on Emily, whose gaze was locked on a sad-looking woman, trailing behind a well dressed lady. She was weighed down with goods, but none of them looked as heavy as her invisible chains.
Nah. Violence is the answer this time.
“Oy! Cora!” Berg said, waving at her from behind the till. The woman looked tired, but happy. She waved off a miffed customer, and beckoned Cora forward.
“Ye’ll be havin’ to find me more help!” She greeted as Cora entered, stepping up to her little desk. “Been workin’ me damn hands to the bone!”
“You know you can close up whenever you want, right?” Cora laughed, “what kind of hours are you keeping for this place.”
“Same hours as the Bazaar, dawn till dusk every day!” Berg said. “To be fair, weren’t so bad the first couple days, but word must’ve gotten round we’re sellin’ what can’t be found elsewhere. Been absolutely up ter my tits in business today!”
“Yeesh, yeah, that’s not sustainable. I’ll ask Mike to check if there’s anyone interested in pursuing mercantilism back at Luxholme, see if we can’t get you at least someone to cover a few shifts,” Cora said. “I… don’t have any, like, real authority over you, but are you going to take a break unless someone orders you to?”
“I… had kind of forgotten it was an option,” Berg said, glancing over the women with Cora. “But maybe, damn, you’ve been doing some real work back at Luxholme haven’t you. Fern wouldn’t’a pissed on Linnea if she was dying of thirst!”
Fern stepped up, jovially wrapping an arm around Cora’s shoulder and giving her a little shake.
“Ain’t Linnea! Just ugly like her,” Fern said, then ruffled Cora’s hair like a big sister. Fern did have a few inches on her, but with women like Hawk and Reine again, Cora’s mind had stopped categorizing anyone else as ‘big’. “Cora’s good people, or good as I still imagine people can come.”
“Aye, thinkin’ she may be at that,” Berg nodded. “Now, where is lovely Renly? Can’t remember the last time I saw one of ya’s without t’other!”
She was beaming when she looked at Emily to ask, but that smile cleared up quick.
Fern was shaking her head with exaggeration that would have been comical but for the context.
“Oh… oh dear Emmy, I’m so sorry…” Berg said, but Emily just gave her a quick, stone faced shake of her head. Berg had enough tact to leave it.
“You might have had the right of it,” Cora admitted, “finding someplace to hide out besides Luxholme. I’d like to think things have gotten much better there, but it hasn’t been without cost.”
“Aye, heard rumblings of some big dust-up out your way,” Berg said.
“Yep, Chains hit us and hit us hard. Didn’t get any of us, but… they slaughtered the entire Textillery, just to send a fucking message,” Cora answered.
Berg’s hand went to her mouth.
“No… but there were hundreds ‘a girls there, why would they…”
“Because they think we’ll stop if they hurt the people we’re trying to help, since they’re doing such a piss poor job of hurting us,” Cora growled.
“Right,” Berg nodded, jaw set, but eyes watery. “Well, fuckers have been hurting us for centuries. Don’t let it. Now, why does yer big bitch have horns, now, and those ridiculous udders?”
“Could just ask m–”
“Hawk, yer still Slaver scum and ye’ll speak when spoken to. I been hearing about your big ass out here in the streets and if Cora knew what was good fer her she’d pop yer head off and mount it on the wall,” Berg snapped. Cora winced, looking back at Hawk, praying the tauress didn’t go full bull in a china shop. Both because she partly owned this china shop, and it had been made very clear Jonah had some potent countermeasures to such things.
Instead, Hawk just looked pained.
Well, not just pained. She was in no way stable enough that a snarl of anger didn’t twist her features at being challenged like that, but it wasn’t the kind she gave her enemies.
A good amount of that anger might just be inward.
Regardless, she, for once, shut up, and let the words lie.
“Yeah, well, that head has too many tallies from Chain kills to hang up on the wall just yet,” Cora said, brushing a hand against Hawk’s flank. “Hawk might be a monster in more or less every sense, but she’s our monster, and the best chance we have of dealing with the one’s on the bad guy’s side.”
Berg spit to the side, glaring at Hawk all the while, before looking back at Cora.
“Aye, tough times make strange bedfellows, and everyone’s an ally come the apocalypse,” she sighed. “Just… you be sure she’s earning that clemecy, you hear? Had a few kind souls check on my old behind after they saw me with her, wonderin’ if I were merchandise myself.”
Cora’s skin crawled.
“On that note, make sure you refuse service ti anyone that gives you the ick, okay? I know its been the opposite of what you’ve heard for years, but get good at saying no,” Cora said.
“Ayup, been practicin’!” Berg beamed. “Dunno how good I really am at ‘er yet, but turns out having a Techgraft office watchin’ yer back does wonders for a girl’s persuasiveness!”
“Glad to hear it,” Cora chuckled. “Speakin’ of, might as well check out what Ol’ Jonah’s got, since it looks like you’ve made us some money to burn. How much are you keeping for yourself?” Cora asked.
“None!” Berg said, and Cora hated seeing the fear creep into her eyes. She thought Cora was accusing her.
“No, fuck, I don’t think you’re stealing, I mean this is your shop, Berg, you deserve a profit share on top of the normal salary. Take 10% off the total profits. Consider it motivation to wheel and deal!” Cora said, slapping a friendly hand on Berg’s shoulder. “You’re working too damn hard to not be making enough to retire someday.”
“Retire?”
“Jesus. I’ll explain later, Jonah in?”
“He don’t leave, Cora. Not sure as he can!”
“Right, weird system robot guy, got it.”
As she pushed open the door to Jonah’s office, she checked her Trish counter. 307,684P.
Nice, that was–
Wait.
307,684P!?
“Berg!” Cora yelled back out the door, “take the next 30k you make as a bonus and keep up the great fucking work!”
That changed things a bit. 300k was a lot of cash to play around with. Might be able to find something to help with the ballroom blitz they were planning…
“Ah! Cora!” Jonah exclaimed as he strolled out of the back room. “My current best customer! My I just say what a blessing Berg has been! The amount of time I spend dealing with riff-raff has halved, and my actual business has doubled!”
“You don’t need to tell me, I’m beginning to think she might be the most valuable peice of Luxholme’s arsenal, with the crazy profits she’s making,” Cora agreed.
“Mmm, well, I hope you are here to spend some of those profits, my dear?” He said with a conspiratorial glint in his cybernetic eyes.
“I think I just might be at that, Jonah,” Cora chuckled. “What have you got for concealed self-defense, or system spoofing?”
15 minutes later, Cora had her choices locked in.
[Midnight Stillettos]- razor sharp blades concealed within the forearms. While they may not share the same fashionability as the heels that share their name, they offer considerably more in the practicality department. No bonuses, but [System Integrated]
She had to imagine weapons wouldn’t be allowed at the ball. But knives concealed within her body might just find the chance to end up concealed within Eldridge’s body.
[Fake ID (I)]- Spoof system information. Customizable. Will not hold up against advanced information gathering skills.
Cora had been unsure about that, until both Jonah and [Big Sys] assured her that the ‘advanced information gathering skills’ the description referred too would be exceedingly rare. Cora took that with a grain of salt, it seemed like [Big Sys] had been consistently surprised recently, but the more she could do to conceal her broken class and stats the better.
They had the rough beginnings of a plan for how to do that with their false-flag sabotuers, but Jocasta didn’t think she could finesse it to work for Cora as well.
200,000 Trish and a lost hour later, Cora once more woke up to Hawk playing with her hair.
She glared at the assembled women.
“Does she keep putting me here?” She asked Fern. Her face fell at Fern’s amused smirk.
“Bitch, you walked straight out the door and into her lap like a cat,” Fern chuckled. “Y’all are cute.”
“Hear that?” Hawk whispered, lips tickling the crown of Cora’s ear. “We’re cute.”