Futures
Alright, number three. I start these immediately after submitting the previous, So I will update here as reviews/complaints/threats/cease and desists trickle in while I am working. Expect lots of Character interaction on this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of the other crap I thoughtlessly reference here. (Except I do own Casey Chambers and Alexander Vinn. (Just saying))
#2 Quality Time.
It had been a whirlwind time for Sora. She had taken rather smoothly to the job, and was now able to behave as if she had always been there. In another week, she would take the exam for her liquor license, and would be able to work the bar as well. After the first week, she had started to get bounced around to the other stations, and had done a little of everything except serving drinks. Vinn had even let her toy around in the control room when it wasn't crowded. She had also found herself taking extra shifts on the weekends, simply because she enjoyed hanging around.
It was during one of these extra shifts that she saw why Casey was listed as one to call if a customer got…unruly. This big guy, maybe a few inches shorter than John, was literally blowing up at Sora because he had been flagged for fighting and banned. She was nearly in tears when Casey walked calmly up.
"Excuse me," she didn't seem to raise her voice, but it was clearly heard by all gathered, "but you have to leave." She was calm, but her voice was full of frost. He continued his rant, but now directed toward the smaller girl. She waited a few seconds, and then elaborated. "You may either leave voluntarily, or I will remove you." He laughed in her face, and she reiterated.
"Try it, Bit-" He went to move forward, and was cut off by a loud cracking noise. Casey hardly seemed to have moved, but she was shaking off her hands, it being in pain from the sudden contact with the man's face. She then proceeded to remove him, without assistance, though he was clearly more than twice her weight.
All in all, she had learned allot, and had fun over the two months she had worked there.
It was Saturday, and she had opted to work a day shift, breakfast and lunch, and was due off about now. She finished wiping down the unoccupied tables, and tossed the rag over the counter and into the bucket of cleaner. She then walked behind the bar, and took another look around. The door to the kitchen flopped open, and Casey walked out, folding an apron and tucking it under the register as she punched out. She looked over at Sora, leaning on the counter.
"Hey," she said, "aren't you off too?" Sora nodded and Said something about waiting for John before leaving. "You don't have to worry about that, he's not in for another half an hour, and Deja and Javier have it under control. Anyway, what are you up to, tonight?" Her voice was casual, but there was bit of a guard in it.
"Um, I'm not doing anything, maybe watching T.V. or something like that. Why?" Casey looked slightly nervous, and began fidgeting slightly.
"Well, I was thinking, that if you weren't up to anything, if you might be interested in maybe coming over to my place and hanging out for a while?" Sora was a bit surprised by the invitation. She liked Casey, but was not sure the reciprocal applied. She seemed to treat her with the same gruff attitude and cussedness that she treated the others.
"What exactly did you have in mind?" Sora decided to see what Casey's plans were, or if this was simply a friendly jest. As she spoke, she actually seemed to be blushing slightly, and getting more nervous.
"Oh, nothing to solid, maybe crack open some wine, watch some DVD's, grouse about this that or the other. You know, girl stuff?" The last was voiced as a question, though presented as a statement. She added on, "and if we drank, and you welcome to crash, I have plenty of room." Sora heard something in the last, she wasn't sure what, but it made her sad inside. She decided to accept.
"Sure, sounds good, should I bring anything special?" She asked, with a cheery smile. Casey looked pleased, worried, and relieved all at the same time.
"Umm, not that I can think of, unless you have any bed kit you can't live without." She pulled out a piece of paper she had folded in her pocket, and handed it to Sora. "Here is my address, see you in about an hour? Ok, bye!" She smiled, and quickly left. Vinn took that moment to walk up, hands on his hips, left eyebrow arched quizzically.
"Well well well, passing notes in class I see? I have half a mind to make you stay after and write things on the board multiple… ah, never mind. What is that that just transpired?" He asked, hopping and planting his rear on the counter. Sora smiled and showed him the note after pushing him of the bar top.
"Slumber party." She said plainly.
"OH HO!" He retorted, both eyebrows climbing in the sky. "Now that is something." He grabbed the note. "Ha, I think she was a bit nervous." He said after glancing at it.
"Why do you say that?" Sora eyed him curiously.
"Because," He gave her a look that said it was obvious, but in less polite terms, "she didn't pull a scrap piece of paper out and write her address down. This is a piece of copy paper she took from the office, and it was already written when she pulled it out. She's been planning this one for a while." He shook his head with a wry smile. "They're so cute sometimes." Sora faked a look or bemused shock.
"Since when did you start noticing that?" He turned to face her
"Madam, simply because one is not attracted, doesn't mean one doesn't notice. Just be nice to her, she doesn't have a lot of outside friends." He said, switching to serious, before heading back to his booth, leaving Sora puzzled.
Sora pulled up to the address given to her 45 minutes later, having run home to her own apartment to pick up some bed cloths, her favorite pillow, a spare blanket, and her laptop. The cloth articles all went in a duffle bag, and she carried the laptop separate. The place listed was a single rented house, almost a condo, on a nice block. She walked up to the front door, a nice dark brown with no glass inserts, placed her bag on the ground, and knocked. Casey answered the door promptly, and was wearing a simple white tank top and pair of black jeans and black framed reading glasses. The addition of the glasses took her from shockingly beautiful to reserved and dignified. She smiled as she grabbed Sora's bag and ushered her inside. The interior of the house was very… Spartan, Sora decided, not under furnished, but plain. Not a lot of decoration, mostly plain, blockish color. It lacked flair, but had a lived in look. Sora followed her down a plain hallway to the guest bedroom, and left her to unpack here duffle and returned to her work in the kitchen.
An hour latter both girls were sprawled out on the couch in their night cloths (T-shirts and pajama bottoms) the T.V. on a music station as they talked over Coffee. Sora started the topic.
"So, what's a girl like you doing working at a place like the Note?" She asked, looking over. Casey was laying on her back, and threw her hand over her face.
"Well, I was just coming back from my second tour, and I meet this guy on the plane." Sora interrupted.
"You're a musician?" She asked.
"…What? Oh, no, course not, I'm a Marine." It took her a few seconds to understand the question, and Sora was still slipping gear herself.
"… Like a Biologist or something?"
"Oh, sorry, I forget you're from somewhere not here. No I am a Soldier." Casey had worried over this point, whit the dim view her own born countrymen often took with this career choice, she had no reason to think that someone from another land would have a positive outlook on it.
"Hmm well, that's… er, cool?" She said, making it a question, and thankfully Casey was able to pick up exactly where the question was applicable.
"Yes," she said mildly, "it was pretty good, and I got a couple years of college out of it to boot." Her voice trailed off slightly as a few highlights played thought her head. She cleared the thoughts, and returned to her point. " So anyway, I'm heading back, and I get on a flight from Germany, and I get a seat next to the guy. Very Nice, said he was headed back to the states himself, something about business. We get to talking, and after a while, he asks if I have a job lined up. Not really, I say, and he flat offered me the position at the club, allowances for disability and all." Casey told, moving her hands to the flat of her stomach.
"You have a disability?" Sora asked, concerned that she could miss it.
"Oh, no, but I was banged up pretty bad. I had to take a medical discharge. Here, look." Casey sat up, her left side toward Sora, and pulled her shirt off over her head. What Sora saw caused her to draw her hand to her mouth and gasp. The entire side of her body, from waist line to underarm was a carpet mass of crisscrossing scar tissue broken only buy the black straps of her bra. He shoulder also bore the long white ribbons of deep scarring. "Yeah," she sighed, "not pretty, is it. Out on patrol, out humvee drove over an IED the EOD teams missed in their sweep. Detonated right under the Sanchez." She sighed deeper. "Vicente lost his eyes too, but, I was lucky. The vest caught the little shrapnel, and most of the flammable too, but enough still got though in the holes punched by the bigger stuff." She put her shirt back on, and sighed again. "I'm still amazed they managed to save the arm, and that it works." She twisted her arm through a full rotation. "but that's enough about me. What brought you here?" She crossed her legs and spun on her butt until she faced Sora.
"Well," Sora started, staring into space as she thought back. "when I was younger, me and a group of friends had a grand adventure with some giant monsters, and ended up saving all of Japan." Sora looked over to see what Casey would think of that. She stared blankly for a moment before replying.
"Nice! Here I thought that was just a exaggerated stereotype. Hmm, learn something new everyday, eh?" She smiled with good humor, and Sora decided to go whole hog.
"Ok, have you heard of the book called "Digital Monsters: The Adventure Begins?"
"What, are you kidding?" Casey asked incredulously. "That's the first book in the "Digimon" Saga." Sora smiled slightly.
"So you're pretty familiar with it?"
"If by pretty familiar, you mean own all 4 of the current novels, and reread them at a steady clip."
"Ok, well, I'm Sara." Sora stated it in an almost sigh.
"Wait, Sara? Crap, I thought you said Sora, like the Kingdom Hearts guy. I've been pronouncing it wrong this whole time, why didn't you say something?"
"Wait, what? OH! No, the character in the book, Sara, that's me. All the stuff in the book, that all really happened to me and 7 of my friends." Sora said. Casey looked at her queerly for a minute or so. She then started asking questions in a quietly suspicious voice.
"So, your saying that you got sucked into a Tron-esqe computer world in a freak snowstorm, where you bonded with monsters and fought evil monsters to save both worlds?" Sora nodded, worried at this reaction. Casey features shifted to a look of mollification. "And I thought a story had to be complete B.S. to get the "Based On A True Story," label anymore." Casey rubbed her chin, thinking this over, before nodding. "Alright, I'll buy it. But you said seven of your friends… Holy Balls!" Sora jumped a little bit as Casey thundered. "That means that you know who the 8th DigiDestined is! You have to tell me, the cliffhanger in the last book pissed me off so bad I almost screamed!"
(*)
It had taken nearly an hour of calm insistence from Sora to get Casey off the subject of her escapades within the digital world. She refused to reveal any spoilers, and now the conversation had meandered to some… strange places.
"…And that, is why Brock Samson is the most bad assed person since Teddy Roosevelt stalked the land, killing immortals." Casey finished, with Sora nodding, conceding the point. "Besides, Chuck Norris Sued the guy who started that whole "facts" thing that brought his name back into everyday use. He loses points for dickitry." She hiccuped, a side effect of the wine both girls had been consuming at a steady clip as a lubricant for their comfort. Sora thought it was cute the way Casey called it "a Prescription from Doctor Harshaw.
Sora leaned back against the couch, hand over her stomach, the other bringing the thin wine glass up for anther sip.
"'ight, s'my turn." She said, hoisting herself up slightly. "Whose that guy that's always coming' into the club to see you? You got yourself a boyfriend, or a stalker?" Casey seemed genuinely surprised by this, and righted herself as well.
"What? You mean Jake? Well, he's just a friend." Sora pressed the issue.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Really?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"YES!"
"REALLY?"
"Ye… well, it's complicated."
"complicated spelled S-E-X, or complicated as in a long story?" Sora queried with a raised eyebrow. Casey brought her gaze to the floor.
"Option B."
"Ok, then, Spill it Girly, you made me spell out my situation, and to quote Anthony Hopkins, "Quid Pro Quo."" Casey Heaved a deep sigh before she started.
"In short… I guess he's just the guy that's always been there. When everybody else was gone, he was still there, every time.
End