Lords And Ladies (2.14)

“Okay, fine,” says Dante, knowing he’s going to regret this. “You can stay with me, but I’m about to leave for work. If you need to get out of the house right now for some reason, I’ll be there. You can sit in my office with me as long as you promise not to set anything on fire.”

“Yessss!” shouts Mindy. Dante can swear he hears her punch the air. Before he can say anything else, she hangs up.

Dante turns to the wall and begins to lightly bang his head against it.

“What happened?” asks Carmin, with genuinely concern, gently moving her brother’s head away from the wall before he gives himself an injury.

“Mindy wants to move in. Today.”

Carmin has folded her arms, raising an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

"I think so, but she won't tell me what."

"Another person? In our condo?" complains Damien, his beefy arms flailing with his very animated complaining. "There's already you two, me, Dad," he says, referring to Leo. "A small army of gynoids - "

"The secret artificial intelligence wired into the building's circuitry and wireless network," adds the disembodied voice of a young girl from a nearby intercom.

" - and a 'cat' in the attic." Damien even adds the air quotes. "That’s not even counting when one of us brings home dates. Or worse, when we all bring home dates! Do we even have enough room for your wife? Or her one night stands? What if we all have a one-night stand at the same time, what then?”

"Speaking of our beloved 'cat'," Carmin says, air quoting as well and ignoring Damien. "Isn't it about time for you to let her inside?"

Dante glances at the clock. "Oh, nearly forgot. Thank you, Carmin. I will go upstairs and let our 'cat'" Air quotes. "In, before I have to go to work."

Dante moves up the stairs now, pauses at the top to grab a pole with a hook on the end of it from a side closet. He walks to a specific spot on the ceiling, halfway to his own bedroom, and proceeds to tap it exactly three times with a precise pause between them.

Five seconds later on the dot, four taps answer back.

Dante reaches up with the pole, hooking it into a barely visible hatch on the ceiling.

He yanks.

The hatch falls open.

Jewels and other assorted valuables rain down upon Dante’s head,and he dives out of the way before a heavy-looking sack crashes down where his head was. The torrent of heavy valuables comes to an abrupt end, and he steps back underneath them, peering up into the dark abyss patiently.

A full grown woman in a catsuit collides with him, knocking him down onto the pile of treasure. She sits on his stomach, waving down at him.

“Heya!” she says.

“Neko,” he wheezes.

She shifts a bit, the latex catsuit squeaking uncomfortably.

“How much time do we have before you go to work?” asks the woman nicknamed Neko, her face mostly obscured by a mask. Neko was, like Damien, the Faust sisters, and Despina, part of the childhood clique Dante and Carmin belonged to. She was Meb and Isabella’s cousin, by way of their mother’s sister; women who, according to the meticulously kept city records, was descended from people somewhere in Central Asia. The reasons for these records being kept, Dante understood, was multifold. For one, there was a sentimental connection to the old world that people still seemed to value now that none of those places really existed anymore. There was a certain pride in knowing where you came from before the tribes, even though it didn’t really mean anything anymore. For another, since the city rarely accepted new people from the outside world, it was a helpful way to prevent incest.

“...Thirty minutes before I should get going, why?”

“Hmmm...just enough!” says Neko casually, as she unzips the front of her catsuit..


***



Carmin and Damien have, in the meantime, resorted to watching television. Neither of them were really paying attention to the ever so slightly tribeist reality show about surviving on Tiger Island that presently fills the screen.

“They’re probably doing it right now, aren’t they,” says Damien. “That’s, what, twice in one day.”

“That’s hardly a record in this house,” replies Carmin. “I’ve seen you with plenty of men.”

“He's undisciplined.  I just worry about him getting distracted.”

“From what? Being stuck in the mob?”

“I’m his friend and bodyguard, I have a right to worry. Especially if Mindy’s going to be in the house. I just feel like if he really wanted to change things from within, he could do more. Be more disciplined.” Damien, tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling. “But he just seems content to play with the girls and build his robots. And house a cat burglar. I appreciate the thought, but I’m not sure just stealing from the corrupt is going to solve anything.”

“He feels there’s nothing else he can do. It’s not that easy, Damien. If he and I knew how to peacefully change things, we would. But this is a mafia, Damien. Frankly we’re lucky to be alive. We can make the world better in small ways, but aside from that it’s just...playing the waiting game and hoping for the best. Besides,” she says, patting Damien’s shoulder. “It’s my job to keep my brother from doing something stupid.”

Damien tilts his head. “But who keeps you from doing something stupid?”

“I’m never stupid. Don’t be silly.”


***



“As per usual,” says Dante, putting his shirt back on as Neko throws on civilian clothes. “We’ll have fifty percent of the loot pawned off. Half of that will be donated to charity, and the other half will go directly into purchasing food supplies and having them delivered to outsider tribes.”

“Hey, buddy, there any food left?” asks Neko, now combing a wiry if short mass of presently unmasked hair.

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Sweet. I’m exhausted. I’m gonna go stuff my face and hit the sack.” Neko passes by him, slapping him hard on the buttocks.

“Aiieee!”

“Momma like,” says Neko, patting it again. She walks out of the room, turns, and gives him a thumbs up. “Have fun at work, dude!”

“...Uh, yeah, sure. Later, Neko,” he says, but she’s already gone. He shrugs and resigns himself to preparing for work.

***

Dante strolls through his auto and robot shop, Damien following him. Dante waves enthusiastically at his employees as he passes them by, making a beeline for his office in back, taking only a cursory glance for now at a few raised cars and half-built security bots and gynoids.

He unlocks the door, opening it and walking inside. He shuts the door behind him, Damien taking his post outside the door. Dante flips the light on.

“Hey honey!” says Mindy, sitting on the desk with that terrifyingly wide smile.

“Ahhhhh!”