Chapter seven-Coal's Condo
"I still can't believe you have a condo!" Kagu exclaimed, kicking the door clean off of its hinges, ignoring it as it flew onto the staircase, and raced into the kitchen.
Coal and Samus flinched, still standing on the doorstep.
"Um, Kagu?" Torina called after her friend, following her into the kitchen. "You do know he has to pay for that, right?"
"Right." Kagu said confidently. Torina could see her pull open the fridge from across the counter in the middle of the room.
"I meant the door, Kagu. The one not connected to the wall?"
Kagu looked up from the door of the fridge. "In that case, no."
Torina sighed and pulled a wallet out of her jacket's inner pocket as Samus and Coal lifted the door back into place.
"Whenever I come home, I work on some inventions. I don't get to work on them much, but I do have time to upgrade some old stuff." Coal explained, opening a glass door to the dining room and switching on the light.
The table was cluttered with wires and scratch pieces of paper. On the opposite side, against the wall, a white sheet covered up two human-like things leaning against the wall. Coal crossed the room quickly and whipped off the sheet.
Samus gasped. "Those are model D-39's. My old mentors used these." Samus ran across the room and lay a fervent hand on the Federation armor. "How did you get them?"
"I asked Colonel Tabag who got permition from some general."
"Tabag?" Torina asked, standing in the door way connecting the kitchen and the dining room, looking slightly amused.
"Yeah." Coal grinned sheepishly. "I burst out laughing when I heard it."
Torina stepped up to the table, motioning to the suits as she asked: what work did you do on it?"
"I put in a heater/AC system and I worked on how long the batteries would last. Recently I've been trying to work on the maneuverability but I haven't- Where did you get that Sprite!" Coal said interrupting himself, looking aghast over Torina's shoulder at Kagu.
"It was in your car."
Torina giggled. "So I wouldn't be able to use my sword?" She asked, interrupting the glare contest.
"Not really, but it does have guns built into its arms." Coal said turning back to the armor.
"Cool." Kagu said absently, leaning against the door frame. "But there's only two."
"I'll be fine." Coal shrugged. "I'll just bundle up like they used to back in 2020."
"Don't you have a suit of armor of your own?" Tory asked, looking up from an assortment of wires on the table.
"I had to turn that in to come on leave." He explained patiently.
"Yeah. And you don't get it back until your leave is up." Samus added.
"Incidentally, when is that?" Kagu yelled from the kitchen.
"Today, tomorrow, and on the third day I have to go back."
"So, shouldn't we hurry?" Kagu asked mouth full of something. "We got today and tomorrow to rescue-"she paused, slurping something. Torina, Coal and Samus looked at each other, and then began to walk quietly toward the kitchen. "-Admiral Dane, and that's not very-" Kagu turned to see the three of them staring her down as she held a small canister of yogurt, "-long." She finished.
"I'm not paying for that." Torina said, half serious half teasing.
Kagu sighed. "Rina, I haven't eaten breakfast. I'm hungry. And the least that Sergeant Coal can do is repay me for our date yesterday.
"Then it's not a date!" Coal protested.
"Uh…" Torina said, confused.
"It's when two people, usually a dude and a gal," Samus explained, "go off and do an activity to get to know each other."
"Usually the guy pays." Kagu added.
"And since I didn't pay, technically it's not a date." Coal said fanatically.
"Actually, it's still a date. I just paid." Kagu said in a resigned tone.
"So," Torina said slowly. Coal's face rotated, watching her expression. "You went on a date with Kagu. How was it?"
"It was murder." Coal said instantly.
"Agreed." Kagu exclaimed. "Let's not do that again."