Downtime 5 - Pretti

When Yuusuke mentions they have karaoke, Emiko thinks, “OMG OMG OMG, they... have... karaoke!!!”

Then, when MK says she wants to karaoke, Emiko thinks, “Yes! We’re going to do karaoke!”

And when Pretti asks if Emiko wants to join, she plays it cool by saying, “yeah, that sounds like fun.”

When Emiko picks songs, she finds pop songs from when she was a teenager and alters her voice to match the pitch of the artist.

Emiko will try to get Pretti and MK join her in a song together.

After a while, Emiko will thank the two ladies for a fun night, insist they do it again soon, and will head home to e-mail the contact Spyder gave her.

Pretti chooses songs she can dance to, and asks MK the name of that anime with the jazzy music. She mostly let’s MK pick the songs, but if she does perform anything from that jazzy space-bounty-huntress anime, she uses a catch phrase for when Emiko takes off. “See you, space cowgirl…”

When she and MK head home to watch Splash, Pretti has no interest at all in the pretty-boy anime. She snuggles close, intent on smothering MK with affection in a way that doesn’t block her girl’s view of the screen…

Pretti adores MK in these tender moments. She holds her close, wipes away tears, and whatever affections Marie wants, she gets…

…

Later, when it’s time to shower and finally turn in for the night, Pretti says to Marie, “Before the… y’know, that really tragic finale… those boys sure loved the water. How about we head to the women’s spring or the beach.

“A cheap date, but a celebration that I might start getting better-paying gigs. With you blogging and me having a new, improved income source, I think we’re kinda beating the system, right? No slaving away at a dreary office for these girls!”

Pretti smiles sweetly. “As long as you enjoy your work, we’re living the dream. And my little weird toilet job just put twenty grand in the bank. That’s for us.”

She kisses MK good night.

…

With MK at the Hot Spring
Pretti tries to recall whether there is an outdoor bath for women, or if the only way to avoid the male gaze is in a private couple’s bath. She does wish to be outdoors, as long as there are no men. Women stare at her too, as does anyone who realizes Pretty is not wearing metal pants, but is naked from the waist down.

It’s that there’s nothing to cover that embarrasses Pretti most—that she can never feel, physically, what she makes MK feel in their most intimate moments. Do others pity her for the mechanical half? Admire her? Do people think she wanted this?

If not for MK, could Pretti even have survived at all? Breakfast, sex, anime, karaoke, walking hand in hand… it’s all the same. Her emotional connection to MK means the world to her.

Maybe a private bath is best after all…

Once in the bath, Pretti has to admit it’s her most likely to stare. Or at least she thinks she would, if not for the other women’s bottoms being submerged—just like her own robo-butt, seated underwater, outta sight. Pretti is just another normal girl to anyone who didn’t see her tromp in on metal talons.

She sits beside MK, speaking Desian if foreigners are close by, or the Western tongue if it’s a mostly-Desian crowd as usual.

“Marie… I—” She says the word love and means it in its purest form. To Pretti, there is no person more important than Marie Kishi. “—not even myself. I want you to know this, just in case…”

Pretti doesn’t want to say the word aloud. Die. As in, in case I die or if I get killed…

Instead, she considers the warning she was given at the bar.

“…like Yuusuke said, there will be times I’ll need to compromise my ideals. But I promise you, I’m not gonna compromise us.”

She turns to MK, smiling, but not making an effort to hide the apprehension in her eyes.

“Twenty grand just for that one silly job. We both know I need it. Technology ages faster than flesh, and I wanna grow old with you, sweetie. I want you to do the work that makes you happy, and we can have a tiny apartment, and I’ll do some runs, grow our savings, upgrade my tech…” And then there’s the life insurance policy. No point bringing that up until she can afford a good one.

“…for us.”

Pretti’s heart melts as she hears MK’s concerns.

She says, “I get a feeling Emiko is a decent person, and I want to check out her friends—see if they’re not so… morally gray, for lack of a better word. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. It’s just that the runners we’ve seen are, well… kinda scary.

“In part, I feel I’m built for this. My cyberlegs—and my eyes as well, in fact—make me into a weapon. The PR part of my model number apparently just means the metal parts look appealing. But I’m enhanced for speed, stealth, strength, targeting… not that I have a lethal gun. Not that I want to…”

Pretti can’t even say ‘kill.’ Not yet.

“I know I never spoke much of my life in the tunnels, Marie. I was taught to be charming. To hold my little pan and beg. None of the gangs made me do that. It was my foster mother’s idea. Any of the men who send little boys and girls to beg just assumed I was working for the other guy.

“I learned later what girls would do when they got older. I was lucky. I charmed my way into a dance troupe. I did learn a few self-defense moves from two of my foster moms and one dance instructor, just in case I were ever to come across a teacher who wanted me to spread my legs for something other than the splits. But… again, I was very lucky.”

She turns to Marie with a sad smile.

“Even when it seemed my luck ran out—the incident. It led me to you. If I could relive that day, I would live it no differently. You mean more to me than what I lost.

“How about I find out what Emiko and her friends really do? If they’re just glorified bank robbers, I’ll say thanks-but-no-thanks.”

Pretti nods at MK.

“First I just want to meet Emiko and her other contacts. I’d like to think it will be just a meeting, nothing more. I’ll tell them about life in the tunnels and even show them the video of my dance—I was cut in half on camera. I’m sure they can get that video. Once they see what I’ve been through and know my reasons, I’ll know if these are the kind of people I want to work with.

“If they’re not, I walk.”

Pretti reminisces on another anime series she and MK watched together. “Remember the hot spring episode, where the cat-girl could never find a spring hot enough until she bathed in a volcano?”

Is shadow-running my metaphorical lava-bath?

She hopes MK doesn’t see any symbolism in Pretti’s character preference. The whole point of bringing up anime is to give MK a comfortable topic.

And if she wants silence, Pretti is happy to enjoy some quiet time with her girl. If they were in a couple’s spring, Pretti would snuggle up close, but in public, even holding hands would be a faux pas.

Pretti has her tail slowly brush up against MK’s lower leg, then raises the tail to her lap. There’s nothing remotely sexual about this—it’s just a way of touching, like holding hands, but in a way that isn’t obvious.

…

After the bath, Pretti sends Emiko a message. She reads the message aloud to MK.

>>>>> Hey!
>>>>> I just spent the day at Onsen with my !
>>>>> She’s worried about me.
>>>>> I told her I’ll check out your friends and tell you my reasons for wanting in.
>>>>> It’s not the rush… something bigger than that, bigger than me.
>>>>> Easier to explain in-person.
>>>>> Say when.

She sends that last line, then immediately asks MK, “Do I sound like I’m trying too hard to be mysterious? I was just…”

Pretti asks MK her schedule, then replies to Emiko.

“I don’t know if she wants to sing, or if this is more business than pleasure. If just to hang out and have fun, I wanna go on a night you can join. They gotta know you’re my girl and my world. They all have loved ones they cherish—they get that, or they have to if I’m gonna work with them.

“If it’s going to be serious talk, I’ll meet on a night you work until fireworks time. Text me when you’re off, and I’ll tell you if the serious stuff is done, and we’re pulling a late night of singing.”

“Oh, you know I’m your date, Sweetie! I’ll meet Emiko on your work night then, and tell you how the talk goes.”

Pretti texts Emiko to let her know her schedule.

Pretti waits at the bar. “Going stag tonight, Yuusuke. Got an available karaoke room?”

Pretti’s eyes light up with delight, and certainly some nervousness. She wants to get Spyder’s attention, but it seems the woman is busy and should not be bothered.

She simply replies to Yuusuke, and says, “I should get the first round of sake, and I kinda have a craving for fries, but can you send it in when at least two people arrive? One is Emiko, y’know, the girl I was talking to the other day? She’s bringing a friend. At least one. A guy, I think. I don’t want them to have lukewarm sake and cold fries.”

She texts Emiko, then heads into the room after telling Yuusuke, “I told her to tell you she’s part of the Pretti party, room 3!”

Once Pretti arrives at home, she lets Marie know how things went. “Some runners are criminals as you said, and then there are those looking to make a positive difference. I can say no to jobs I’m morally opposed to.

“But I did pick one of your late shifts for my meeting night, since you didn’t wanna go. If you’re too tired to talk, that’s okay. More than anything I just wanna hold you.”

Pretti will send a text to Emiko should MK doze off—preferably with her head on Pretti’s lap. (With a pillow on the lap. Metal legs are hardly the ideal sleeping surface!)

As long as MK’s awake, she has Pretti’s full attention, whether it’s fingers lazily caressing her hair or…

If she wants to watch another anime series, Pretti requests, “Can we pick something girlier than Splash? I saw some guy’s idea of masculine charm, and I was pretty creeped out. Not that he said or did anything to me. He was a jerk to Emiko’s male friend, and Spyder—the woman I told you about before, same night I met Emiko—he was just awful to her.”