After an hour of discovering new and exciting ways to be thrown across a room in training, Molly said we would head out a little early since it was her turn to set up. She already had some stuff in her car and we swung by a Tims for the rest before turning up with time to spare. Following Molly’s lead, I helped with unpacking chairs and setting up the snacks on the table at the side. Molly wasn’t sure who might turn up tonight, she thought it would probably be the ‘usual crowd’. On my end, River had said they might drop in later but needed to get an assignment in for 9 PM, Mike and Jake were buried in their own assignments though.
“I have a question before the others are here,” I started while unfolding a chair. “How many of them have had stuff to do with the department?”
“Honestly just the people you’ve seen at the meetings.” She admitted flopping into a random chair. “Although that’s more lack of interest, Luke sometimes helps out with looking for lost people because he can cover ground quickly but he’s not too big on fully joining. I tried to get him as a field agent last year after it had been a few months on my own, but he didn’t bite. His husband is in artifact engineering though, so you’ll meet him at some point.”
“That’s cool,” I responded while checking we had enough chairs set out, then another thought crossed my mind. “Since you talked about joining, I had a question about your experience if that’s ok.”
“Shoot.”
“Uh, how did you tell your parents?” I asked with a guilty grin while sitting down. “It’s my decision and all but…”
“Ha! I joined right at the start of summer, they technically brought me on as a coop student initially, so I just got to say that and let them assume I was doing random office stuff.” She answered with a goofy grin. “It worked until they saw me in the news with a gun on my hip while I was tossing a guy like five times my mass into the back of a police van.”
“That month was awkwa--ard,” She admitted stretching the word out. “They chilled out a bit eventually though. It helped that the pay is good and the combination of government employee benefits and changee support programs covered most of my tuition for the last two years.”
“Wait, those are a thing?” I asked incredulously, maybe one of the million pamphlets still at my parents mentioned changee government funding. I had been so focused on getting back into things I hadn’t really looked at them.
“Yep, don’t worry about it though, Summers probably signed you up for some of them already or he would have been bugging you.” She paused thoughtfully for a second. “Actually, a lot of the funding depends on how severely your lifestyle is affected by the change, so you might get a bucket full for the first few years.”
“Anyway, I basically didn’t tell my parents but I am not going to suggest you follow my lead on that choice.” She finished with a shrug.
“Well, I plan on telling them. It’s just a matter of when, maybe Friday or something.” I then spoke a bit quietly. “Not sure about talking about the gun or fighting thing yet though, maybe a bit later.”
“Ha, yeah but if we do get in a fight, you might want to call them before it gets on the news.” She pointed out, and as she was talking, I heard the door to the room open in the background.
Turning to look I saw…
“Roger!” I called out as a greeting, glad to see he felt well enough to join us.
He still had a couple of big but faded bruises on his face, but his color was a normal red-brown and he didn’t look dried out like he had been before.
“Hello!” He warbled out. “How are you two?”
Molly gave a grin and thumbs up at the corner of my vision.
“Pretty good, but how are you doing?” I asked concerned and still examining him, he seemed to be moving normally at least.
“I’m fine Sam! all that remains is aesthetic stuff and bruises will be gone soon. “ He answered with a joint-less wave, then he stopped and rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t see what happened as I was too… distracted, but I do remember you helping me after it uh stopped.”
“Thank you, I got to go home again… I didn’t think I was going to for a while there.” He admitted softly, my eyes were tearing up as he spoke.
“I-I’m glad you’re safe Roger.” I said looking away while trying to wipe away tears, I felt some of his limbs land on my shoulder. I turned and gave him a hug around his waist my tears still flowing, he seemed startled but returned the hug in that slightly awkward way an extreme height differential involves.
“Heh, I am too.” He said with a chuckle.
“Hello all and sundry!” A cheerful voice declared entering the room. “I had some brownies leftover, so I… ah.”
I pulled my head back to look at the speaker, Leo had paused next to the snack table looking a bit awkward but smiling.
“Hi L-Leo.” I said a bit unsteadily while blinking away tears as I released Roger, who gave me a pat on the back as I did.
“Ah, sorry Roger.” I said seeing the wet patch on his t-shirt.
“Don’t worry about it.” He responded gently while settling into a nearby seat.
“The grapevine has been abuzz with rumors,” Leo said while looking between Roger and me. “Glad to see you both, I won’t ask anything till the others are here though.”
“Sure.” I acknowledged, then glanced at Molly. “Uh, how much should I say…”
“Don’t worry about that.” She said with a wave and shake of her head. “Summers trusts the usual people here and it’s not a great leap of logic from yesterday.”
While she was speaking, a loud conversation with the occasional odd pause broke into the room.
“I’m telling you Ivy, nearly transparent, not actually!” Steve as identified by his yellow jumpsuit despite looking like some random teenager otherwise was saying to the floating sphere beside him, Peter and Sabri were trailing a couple of steps behind. There was a small chorus of greetings in both directions as they settled in, but I was distracted for a second by one of the snakes on Leo’s head holding a Timbit in their mouth as Leo sat next to Roger.
Leo noticed my gaze and looked up at them, giving a grin to the snake.
“Yeah, Toby has a sweet tooth.” He confirmed as the snake managed to close their mouth around the outsized confection.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how does their eating work?” I asked watching the bulge move down the snake’s body.
“They have their own digestive tract mostly, uh don’t worry about where it ends.” He said with a grimace as the sounds of conversation arose around us.
“They don’t really need to eat since they are hooked into me and all, but I indulge them because I like how happy it makes them.” He said while stroking Toby’s chin. “They seem to be able to digest anything I can too, so they aren’t difficult to prepare food for.”
“Huh, that’s cool.”
“Hey Sam, what do you think?” Molly asked dragging my attention away.
“Sorry, what was the question?” I said confused turning to face her and Ivy.
“A friend of mine might join us on Thursday if that’s OK.”
“Yeah sure, I don’t mind,” I said and she gave a thumbs up and turned back to Ivy, Leo had taken the opportunity to go for more snacks it looked like. I took a glance around, enjoying the cheerful Mix of banter flowing around me.
“We’re just missing Luke, right?” I asked Roger but he was interrupted before he could respond.
“I’m here,” Luke’s voice suddenly said from right behind me causing me to jump causing the poor chair to groan under the stress, I noted the still shut door while I twisted to look behind me.
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Luke had a cheeky grin on his face and his hands in his pockets, I had no idea how he had gotten there. The room was getting loud but not that loud, I should have heard him open the door or walk behind me.
“Where did you come from?” I asked incredulously.
“I teleport. Saves a lot of commuting time. Also great for jokes.” He answered chuckling while heading towards one of the empty seats.
Once he had sat down, Roger cleared his throat and the conversations sort of fell quiet.
“I think we all know approximately what happened when Sam and I were… kidnapped, but I was out for parts of it and Summers suggested I hear it from a first-hand source.” He said then turned to me. “Would you be willing to fill us in? You aren’t required to of course.”
I shifted for a moment or two on my seat considering.
“Yeah sure…” I said while collecting my thoughts. “I guess technically the story started a few days before the kidnapping. I was on a run with my sister and her roommate when I saw this one guy who had a couple of pistols in holsters under his jacket. At the time I was freaked out, so I reported him to the police. I mentioned him to Summers too, but it looks like it didn’t filter through fast enough to-“
“I can speak on that a bit.” Molly interrupted. “Summers had a request put in for information on him, but it was rejected as we were told it was out of our jurisdiction by the police and that they were pursuing him already.” She snorted “Fat lot of good they were.”
“The next time I saw him was when I was walking back from the bus stop and he opened the side of a panel van holding a gun to Roger’s unconscious head.” I said with a grimace, and Roger winced.
Telling the story the second time wasn’t nearly as difficult, I knew what had happened with the mercenaries and that Roger was safe in a way I hadn’t before.
“You make it sound like they weren’t really that hard to deal with.” Steve commented after I finished.
“Yeah, running at someone north of forty kilometers per hour doesn’t leave much time to react I guess, mostly I was trying not to kill them with a shoulder check or something,” I confirmed, then mentioned a worry that had been itching at the back of my mind. “I was basically out of fuel after the fight though, if they had grabbed me like an hour or two later, I would have just run out in the middle.”
“The only reason it worked out is that they just didn’t know my capabilities or limits. If they knew of my repair buddies, or if they threw me in the machine first, we both would probably just be dead.” I finished grimly.
The room was quiet for a bit.
“Good thing they didn’t have the intel then,” Molly piped up.
Peter suggested leaning forward with a hand up. “Maybe the handlers got spooked?”
“Yeah! Perhaps we co-“ Molly started, then a loud clap from the other side of the ring of chairs interrupted.
“Now, let’s not bring work or fearful what-ifs into our evening. Sam and Roger are safe now, the experts amongst us can find the why later.” Sabri said with a smile, then changed the subject. “Now, what are some good things that have happened recently?”
I raised a hand with a sheepish grin, and Sabri pointed finger guns at me.
“I had a date with my now girlfriend on the weekend…” I said a little unsure if it was an appropriate topic.
“Oh really?” Sabri responded with a grin. “How did that go?”
“Great!” I said more confidently. “We had a nice walk and then worked on cosplay for a while.”
“That’s wonderful!” He said, getting into a story of his own. “I can’t say I got up to anything exciting, but I did bake a cake for my wife and I’s anniversary on Thursday…”
----------------------------------------
River and I were on the bus back home riding in companionable silence, they had managed to make it out not too much time after everyone else had finished their assignment with a bit of time to spare. I didn’t seem to quite get as tired out by this time, but there’s something about these meetings that do make me feel sleepy at the end. In a good way though, they let my mind unwind more than I am used to.
“Hey River.“ I said into the relative quiet.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve met a lot of people recently I would have missed out on if not for the change.” I said a bit hesitantly.
“Mhmmm.” They hummed back, they didn’t say anything and I sat silent for a while trying to think of what I wanted to say next.
“I don’t know what I am supposed to think of the change anymore. I’ve gone from just hanging around at home doing video games to having more stuff to do with friends than I have time for.” I said uncertainty. “Hell, I have a girlfriend now.”
River didn’t immediately respond but wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“Are you happier than you were before?” They asked, then added a caveat. “Kidnapping aside of course.”
“Yeah.” I confirmed guiltily.
“Well, I’m not going to judge you for that.” They said pulling me closer, I wasn’t done yet though the topic swirling in my head now.
“I dunno if I deserve some of what I’ve gotten I guess.” I tried to articulate what I felt. “All I did was have my physical form changed, I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh Sam, it’s not just that. You have been approached with opportunities you wouldn’t have before, but opportunities are just that unless you make something of them. That group tonight was what - eight people plus us, out of how many substantial changees you said were in this city?”
Clack, clack, chunk, veeeeeeee, ding
“Fifty-six give or take” I mumbled back.
“They weren’t there tonight, you chose to be. You choose to engage with them and become someone they care about.” They pointed out. “It’s the same with Anna, she offered you a opportunity to connect but you took her up on it and that is a choice you made.”
“You could have just gone on with life trying to ignore that your form changed, you could have just answered Anna’s questions and then gone back to the lecture but you didn’t. You have been willing to try things out and let yourself enjoy them, not everyone can do that.” They concluded and then patted me on the head. “Don’t feel guilty about it, it’s fine to be happy.”
I couldn’t think of a good counterargument to that, so rather than argue I just focused on the streetlights passing by outside the bus window and tried not to fall asleep.
“Thanks, River.” I said quietly a few minutes later.
----------------------------------------
“Hey Sam, I think I’m pretty happy with the cannon design now!” Anna said while joining us on the way to class, I offered a hand which she eagerly took. “I started to look into materials, but you saying weight isn’t a concern means we can use wood for a bunch of it.”
She was about to say something more than got a sheepish look. “I kinda took over coming up with a design, sorry about that. I’m happy to change it if you don’t like something.”
“Anna it’s fine, you’ve been sending me doodles and references for days, I would have said something if I had a problem.“ I said with a chuckle, then I leaned close to her with a grin. “Besides it's cute when you get excited like that.”
She flushed a bit.
“Really?” She asked quietly.
“Oh yes.” I said while reaching up to plant a kiss on her cheek.
“No kissing in the halls.” Mike said in a flat nasal voice before breaking out in a cackle when River gave him a glare.
“When are you going to show me the finalized version?” I asked a very flush Anna ignoring the antics of the others and trying to distract her
“Oh uh, it’s on my laptop so can show you once we are set up.”
“Awesome,” I responded, then remembered something Molly had said. “Oh yeah, we have a standing invite from a coworker slash classmate to hang out and I quote ‘do nerd shit’ at her place some time.”
“I’m not entirely sure what that means.” She asked confused.
“Me neither, but given it was in the same conversation as saying she spent the entire previous day watching romance anime with her boyfriend I would assume something anime related.” I said with a shrug.
“Um, I’ll think about it I guess.” She said a bit uncertain.
“No rush.” I said while we went in through the doors to the lecture hall.
Portals still seemed to be the discussion point of the group in front of us as we settled in, but I wasn’t planning on adding anything to it.
“Here it is!” Anna said excitedly rotating the screen of her laptop towards me.
The design had gotten to be the love child of a Lahti L-39, a Barret, and a BAR. Huge forward-swept top-mounted magazine close to the rear of a chunky receiver, a barrel long enough to be proportional and capped with an oversize rectangular muzzle break. The giant falchion blade on the underside of the barrel had become angular and a bit shorter leaving a space between it and the chunky wooden foregrip. The small pistol grip, offset scope, and grips for use as polearm off the top of the receiver and barrel helped give an indicator of the intended scale.
“That looks fantastic!” I said while looking it over. “Do you know how we can make it?”
“Yeah, I started sketching out the idea of what everything will be made of. Lots of wood cause it’s cheap, available, and durable, I think we could use a modified curtain rod as the barrel for example.” She babbled excitedly. “Oh yeah I have a crappy FDM printer we could probably do the muzzle break and details with, but the pieces will need filler and sanding to not look cheap.”
“Rad, I am excited to get going on it, but I’m probably gonna focus on the dress tonight given it’s barely started.” To which she nodded, further chat was interrupted by having to learn things for a degree.
I was walking to proofs later that day when I got an unexpected message from Kat.
ShrimpDragon: Sam did you do something?
IndustrialCat: Sorry?
ShrimpDragon: I just got told like half an hour ago by my supervisor that I am on indefinite pause for my dissertation and for teaching classes
IndustrialCat: WHAT
IndustrialCat: What’s that mean and what might I have to do with it
ShrimpDragon: I don’t know
ShrimpDragon: But the person who came by a few minutes later with a stack of contracts for the Clash Resolution Department
ShrimpDragon: Said she knew you
ShrimpDragon: Blonde, bit shorter then me, beanie
ShrimpDragon: She had a badge, like an FBI agent from a movie
IndustrialCat: Molly Scott?
ShrimpDragon: Yes
ShrimpDragon: You know her?
I had to stop messaging for a moment to get through the doors to the lecture hall and grab a seat.
IndustrialCat: Yep
IndustrialCat: Probably screamgate stuff then
ShrimpDragon: I’m sorry what
IndustrialCat: Portals
ShrimpDragon: Did you know about this
IndustrialCat: Uh
IndustrialCat: In retrospect?
ShrimpDragon: What’s that mean
IndustrialCat: Probably can’t say
ShrimpDragon: What does that mean.
IndustrialCat: When’s the contract start
ShrimpDragon: Monday
IndustrialCat: Cool tell you then
IndustrialCat: Wanna do a run tomorrow after class
ShrimpDragon: Yes but you can’t just switch subjects like that
IndustrialCat: totally can
IndustrialCat: Later got proofs
ShrimpDragon: Samantha
ShrimpDragon: If you did something
IndustrialCat: Didn’t
IndustrialCat: Trust me on that
ShrimpDragon: OK
ShrimpDragon: See you tomorrow
Well, I guess I know where Summers was getting physics people from, I guess this means Kat is a co-worker now.
Neat.
Wait shit that means I need to tell her something about where I am employed tomorrow.
Shit.
Enjoy that conversation tomorrow me.