Returning home, because the Seablock was already her home even if she spent more time in other worlds, was still the most exciting part of the mission. It was like waking up on Christmas to find a present under the tree. Except the tree was the present, and it was constantly growing bigger and new ornaments were appearing on it.
Maybe the metaphor didn't work out so well after all.
Either way, seeing the upgrades to the island that were her rewards for a job had been thrilling the first time, and the second time was no different. Once again, their little island had grown. The center of it was no longer filled with reeds, but a large clump of actual soil and grass, with a few bushes to go along with it. The reed section had been moved over to the side, and of course there was still a decently sized ring of beach around the entire island.
Kat noted that the island wasn't totally flat anymore, as the soil section was just a little higher. It was a small enough increase in elevation that she hesitated to call it a hill, but it was noticeable. She also noticed that the trees that they had planted were now fully grown, but they'd been moved with the growth of the island. The lines were intact, with groups of trees only a foot or so apart from each other, but some of those lines had been shifted.
Ruru stepped through the portal behind her, which closed without a fuss. The android girl looked over the island, but didn't comment. She simply held out her hand and a blink later Maomao appeared.
Maomao looked around, confused and disoriented. "Huh? Are we back already? What happened? How did it go?"
"It went off without a hitch, don't you worry," Kat assured her, tossing her shield that she had held on to through the desert on the ground. "We're back, mission complete, and now we get to enjoy the rewards!"
As if to punctuate her statement, a cry sounded through the air. All three of them looked up to see a bird in the air above them, slowly gliding on air currents. Kat recognized it immediately, having heard and seen them all her life.
"A seagull!" she exclaimed. "Man, I never thought I'd be happy to see one of those guys!"
"Specifically it is an American Herring Gull," Ruru added as she analyzed it. "A breeding adult one."
Kat opened her mouth to ask why she specified 'breeding', but then she decided that she probably didn't want a full mini-lecture on bird breeding habits so instead she pivoted. "Looks like that mission reward is active, at least."
When Kat had accepted the mission, she had been hyper fixated on the Template Stack reward above all else, but it had other rewards as well. One of them was, of course, an upgrade to the Seablock, one that added natural fauna and some variety to the geography. And, as always, the unmentioned size increase to their home island. Kat wondered if that would continue forever until she had a whole country. She kind of hoped not, she liked the tropical feel.
"Do you think it's just birds? Or fish as well?" Maomao asked as she looked away from the bird and down over the ocean.
"Let's find out!" Kat replied, shucking off her clothes.
"No, I mean, it can wait-" Maomao started, but Kat was already halfway into the water, buck naked. She dove in, slicing through the water, and her whole body relaxed. After a week in the desert, being able to dive back into some water was pure heaven.
The fact that it rinsed all the sand off of her was a nice bonus.
She opened her eyes, grateful that the strange nature of this place meant that doing so was way more comfortable than it should have been, and looked around. Sure enough, the underwater landscape near them had changed. It wasn't just a gently sloping expanse of flat sand. Rocks littered the sea floor now, with small bits of colorful coral growing from them. Patches of seaweed were scattered around, and at least a dozen different types of fish of various sizes, shapes, and colors all swam around them.
It looked like all the brochures that she had seen about diving in tropical areas, though maybe a bit more sparse. Kat just floated there, under the water, taking in the sight. It was a rush, knowing that her efforts over the past week had resulted in this. It was a good reward, a beautiful expansion to her personal world.
One particularly brave fish slowly drifted over to her. Despite living near the ocean her entire life, she had no real interest in fish so she had no idea what kind of fish it was. But it was silver in color, about a foot long, and was built like a cylinder, a few inches in both height and width.
Kat got an idea, and she remained still. The curious fish came closer, swimming in a pattern that seemed random, but brought it closer and closer to her. Finally, when it was close enough, her hand darted out and she grabbed it.
It wriggled in her hand, panicking and thrashing, but Kat held it tight as she swam back up to the surface. She emerged from the water not far from the shore and awkwardly swam back with one of her hands occupied.
As she stepped out onto the beach, water dripping off of her, she held up the fish. "Yep, we've got fish! Ruru, get us a fire going, we're having fish for lunch!"
It took her another fifteen minutes to catch two more fish of the same type, but by that time Ruru had not only a fire going, but a small metal grill, one purchased in Gerudo, placed over it. Kat quickly took a knife to the fish, filleting them with a skill that would put chefs to shame, and she grilled them over the fire, letting Faerie Feast guide her actions.
"So, how did everything go?" Maomao asked as the fish cooked. She had been placed inside the Pocket Space pretty much as soon as Kat had left the room, and hadn't experienced any passage of time between then and popping out here on the island.
"Well, I spent a couple hours banging the amazonian princess, that was fun," Kat started, flipping over a fish. "Then Ruru distracted them with some smoke, I pulled a runner, and I led them on a merry chase until sunrise."
"After lighting the fire, I jumped up to the waterways and hid myself in them, as was planned," Ruru added. "All of my parts of the plan went without issue. The Yiga clients seemed displeased when they discovered that we raised the alarm in stealing the Thunder Helm, but they accepted that they had never specified not to and let me leave freely."
"So there weren't any problems?" Maomao asked.
"Nothing I couldn't handle," Kat said when Ruru looked at her.
"She had an encounter with a giant monster and the Champion."
Maomao's head turned sharply back to Kat. "It was fiiiiiine," Kat said. "More bad luck than anything. I went through a sandstorm to lose the guards chasing me, and I ended up right near Link I guess. And as he was trying to arrest me a giant monster showed up. He fought it, I helped, and then I told him the Yiga blackmailed me into doing it and sent him chasing after them."
Maomao raised an eyebrow. "You sent the most dangerous guy around after our clients?"
"It was that or get arrested," Kat replied with a shrug. "Besides, by the time he got there, the job was done, right?"
"Correct. It took him several hours to cross the desert on foot, at which point the Mission had been marked as complete for over an hour and I was close to you. By the time we left, he was within their base."
"But we got our rewards, so it's all good," Kat continued.
Maomao sighed. "No loyalty for the client I guess?"
"They were rude jerks anyway, fuck 'em." Kat flipped over the fish again and grinned. "Alright, grubs up!"
Simple plates, which were closer to wide bowls to be honest, and cutlery were part of their purchases in Gerudo. She doled out the fish to three of them and they all dug in with forks. Despite the complete lack of seasoning or anything else, they were delicious. Faerie Feast was one of the greatest perks, in Kat's opinion.
After they were done, Kat turned to Ruru. "Alright. What were the other rewards again?" She was eager to start opening more of her Christmas presents. "Start with the small ones."
"The smallest reward by Credit value is Luxury Goods," Ruru started, glancing at her empty plate before setting it aside and focusing on Kat. "It allows you to pick another type of Tempest Jewelry to add, choosing from the same list as before. It also increases the maximum number we can accumulate."
Kat leaned back and considered that. "Another type, huh? Is that even useful?"
"When combined with future upgrades, very much so. However, by itself it has marginal usefulness. It is largely aesthetic, though different types of jewelry can be useful for Capturing non-humanoid entities that a bracelet would not fit on."
"Like if I want to use it on something that doesn't have arms?"
"Yes. Or legs, in this instance, as bracelets work just as well on ankles."
"Now I'm imagining trying to use it on just a floating sphere."
"There are multiple entities in the Catalog that fit that description."
"Seriously?" Kat frowned. "What type of jewelry would work best on them, then?"
"The only available type of jewelry that would work on a completely spherical being would be the facepiece. It is the only one that does not require completely or partially wrapping around the target."
"Facepiece. Like a mask?"
"Or a veil, visor, or other similar accessory," Ruru confirmed. "A facepiece would come with the added benefit of also acting as a heads up display when combined with Basic Runes, which you have."
"That sounds pretty neat, but I don't want to hide your pretty faces." Kat frowned. "A visor might be okay though, if it's something that can be put on and taken back off, and doesn't cover too much."
"We are able to request exact specifications for their design within a certain range."
"Let's do that. Something that's easy to take on and put off, doesn't cover too much of the face, but still has enough of a screen that it's useful. Maybe something sci-fi and cool looking?" Kat wasn't sure how to make a visor sexy or cute, so she figured she'd lean into cool instead.
"Understood, I will put in the request. Done. The new visors have been deposited into your Pocket Space."
"Already?!" Maomao exclaimed.
"Yeah, you'll get used to that," Kat said with a laugh. "Alright, take a couple out, I want to try them. I can wear more than one type of jewelry at once, right?"
"Yes," Ruru answered and two triangular pieces of metal appeared in her hands. "Attach these to the sides of your head, between your temples and your ears."
Kat frowned, turning them over in her hands as she looked at them. "Does it have to be there?"
"It does not, but that is the optimal location for a human shaped head to provide maximum functionality and minimum face coverage."
"What, is it like a hologram or something?" Kat asked as she pressed the more flat sides of the triangles against her head where Ruru specified. They stuck easily enough, and Kat thought she felt a tingle. But then nothing happened. She cocked her head. "Did I do it right?"
"I would say so," Maomao said, looking at her with shock clearly on her face. "There's… it's like a sheet of light covering your eyes."
Kat blinked. "Wait, really? I don't see anything at all though."
"The HUD is defaulted to settings that ensure perfect range of vision through the facepiece and nothing else," Ruru explained. "Though it can be easily adjusted, and even automatically so should we obtain the right upgrade perk."
"I see. Or rather, I don't. One of you put it on too, so I can see!"
Ruru and Maomao traded glances. "It would be useless to me, as I have no need for a HUD," Ruru said.
Maomao sighed. "Alright, hand it over then." She took another set of summoned visor pieces from Ruru and attached them to her head like Kat had. Kat was able to see it this time as a holographic band of light appeared in front of Maomao's eyes. It was white and totally opaque, covering her face from her eyebrows to her nose, curving to match the curves of her face. It looked pretty cool, in Kat's opinion.
"The color, size, opacity, and shape of the hard-light projection can be adjusted," Ruru explained. "It can also be applied to any capturable being that you can stick both visor projectors onto. Both are required and they must be placed at least four inches apart."
"Is there a maximum distance?" Maomao asked, poking at the visor in front of her face.
"No, only that it must be on the same physical entity, with some exceptions for specific esoteric beings."
"Is there a way to turn it off?" Kat asked.
"You just did," Maomao said. Kat watched as hers winked out as well. Then it appeared again before disappearing. "Is mine?"
"Alright, so power of thought is enough, got it," Kat said. "Now we need to adjust it so we can tell. And Ruru, you put one on too even if you don't need it, that way we can all match."
Ruru did so, and they spent a few minutes adjusting it. From the outside, they changed it to be more silvery and less shiny, something that could be mistaken for physical metal, especially since they kept it opaque. Kat thought it looked very professional, in a sci-fi sort of way.
As for the HUD, they didn't add much. A bit of opacity so that you could tell when it was active,
the time in the upper right corner, and three icons in the top left that changed color according to everyone's health status.
Ruru showed a lot more functions she could add, but most of them would have to be done by her manually. Which was fine when they were together, but wouldn't work if she was busy with something else. They'd need the Expert Runes perk so she could program some automatic features into it.
Kat probably would have spent more time messing with it, but there was something that she had been ignoring for a while and couldn't any longer. The biggest and shiniest present under the tree. In this case, the vague feeling that had been living in the center of her chest since Ruru had completed the mission, the one she instinctively knew was related to her power. Kat believed in saving the best for last, and wasn't prone to rushing her enjoyment of things, but playing around with the visor could wait.
"So, the last reward I got," Kat said. "The Template Stack."
"You also received Soul Talent, presumably to go along with the Template Stack to help you train your power," Ruru pointed out. "Unfortunately, completing the mission did not offer any additional information on what exactly it is that you can do with it."
"Guess we'll have to find out the old fashioned way," Kat replied with a shrug. "It's called Ability Borrowing, right?"
"Yes. The term itself is similar to a more common term, Power Stealing. I hypothesize that the use of the word 'Ability' rather than 'Power' means that it has a different scope that it can target, one that should be largely broader. Similarly, the use of "Borrowing" implies that it is impermanent."
Kat nodded. "That makes sense to me. So it's safe for me to practice it on you?"
"If my hypothesis is correct, yes."
"What does it feel like for you?" Maomao asked, curious. She didn't have the same background as the other two, and so was missing some context, but she more or less understood what was going on. Having visited another world with some minor supernatural elements had helped.
"I can feel something in my chest… here." She pointed at a spot near the top of her sternum. The fact that she was still naked and this meant the other two were very nearly looking at her boobs was noted but set aside for now. "There's a… gap. A hole? A space that feels empty. Not sure how to describe it. But I want to fill it."
Maoao forced herself to keep a straight face and not acknowledge the innuendo there. "So, how do you do that?"
Kat thought about that for a moment, and her hand reflexively reached out to Ruru. She stopped it just short of the other girl. "I need to touch you, I think. Skin to skin contact."
Ruru wordlessly held up her hand, offering it to Kat. Kat hesitated for a moment, and then placed her own hand on Ruru's.
Nothing happened immediately, which made sense since it wasn't the first time they had touched since completing the mission. But as soon as Kat thought about wanting Ruru's abilities, she felt the space in her chest stir. It reached out in an instant, connecting to Ruru, and it latched onto something.
Kat pulled it back, and with it came a sense of fullness. The space, the vessel, was now filled with some kind of energy. She could feel it nestled there, like a second heart, thrumming with potential. She pulled her hand back from Ruru. "I… have something," she said. "I'm going to try using it."
Maomao backed up, which Kat felt was pretty rude considering none of Ruru's abilities were especially explosive or destructive. She turned her attention to the vessel containing the power and 'touched' it. She had hoped that some reflexes would kick in and tell her how to use the power, but she had no such luck. All she got in that regard was the ability to toggle it on.
After a moment of hesitation, she did so. Her middle finger on her right hand suddenly lit up and sparked with electricity, snapping at the air. Kat jumped and cut the connection as soon as it did, and her finger stopped sparking as well. It took her a couple moments to realize that there hadn't been any pain, and another moment or two to realize that the vessel in her chest felt slightly more empty.
"I think I borrowed your taser," Kat said.
"Electroshock weapon," Ruru corrected. "A TASER is a specific type of electroshock weapon that works differently from mine."
"That is so not the important part," Kat dismissed. She activated the power again, and her finger lit up with electricity. But that was all it did. She activated it and deactivated it again a few times, trying to get it to do something else, but failed.
Ruru suddenly raised her hand next to Kat's and then activated the same electroshock function. "There is no decrease in my own electroshock weapon, nor any of my other functionalities," she reported. "Similarly, your use of it has the exact same properties as mine, but I cannot detect the means by which you do it."
"Huh. Neat." Kat used it in another burst again, starting to have fun with the sparking power literally at her fingertips. "Hmm. The vessel in my chest feels about half empty now."
"Is that amount decreasing over time?"
Kat paused, 'watching' the vessel for a few heartbeats. "I don't think so? Pretty sure it's just when I use it."
"And you cannot do anything besides using the electroshock weapon?" Kat shook her head, and Ruru raised her other hand. Her pointer finger lit up with heat, but rather than the momentary spark of the taser, it was a sustained thing. "How about now?"
Kat tried again, but it was just the same as before.
"So she can only copy one thing?" Maomao asked.
"She seemingly only copied one ability earlier," Ruru clarified. "Whether or not this is a limitation or simply a matter of execution is still unclear. More testing is required." She turned to Kat, and there was just a hint of a glint in her eyes. "I have already devised numerous ways to test the limits of your ability, as well as more potential methods depending on the results of those."
Kat got the feeling that Ruru's test would be lengthy and exhausting, which made her nervous. But she agreed to it anyway.
What could she say? Ruru was cute when she got all excited like that.
Several hours of testing later, and Kat did not regret her agreement, but it was a close thing. Ruru had not been exaggerating when she said she had a bunch of tests figured out. But thankfully, it was worth it, as Kat now had a pretty solid understanding of how her power worked.
First off, using her power was not draining, at least not notably so. She could copy abilities without any drain, and actually using said abilities only drained the vessel within her chest, not her own stamina. It was a nice bonus, and it was also the main reason Ruru's tests didn't stop until they had figured out all they could.
Second, she was definitely copying 'abilities' and not 'powers'. When she used it on Maomao she still got something, and that something was apparently a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of various poisonous substances. Maomao quizzed her pretty extensively, and Kat found she could answer everything with ease. At least as long as she was actively channeling the borrowed ability. As soon as she wasn't, the knowledge was gone. She couldn't even recall the knowledge that had passed through her mind, only the words she had said, and even those only vaguely.
Ruru and Maomao thought that maybe that could still be useful in helping her learn things if properly integrated into a study plan, but Kat vetoed that. She had graduated high school already, and in her opinion that meant she was done studying for good.
They also confirmed that she could only borrow one ability, even if her target had multiple. Targeting specific abilities was another matter entirely though, and the rules that seemed to dictate what she got felt nebulous. Active use of the ability seemed to make it pretty likely to be the one that Kat would borrow, but not guaranteed.
Ruru had dozens of functions, but Kat was only able to borrow a handful of them. Most of them were flashy ones, such as the stun and solder fingers. But she had also managed to borrow Ruru's super strength and her sensory capabilities. That last one she had had to dump immediately though, as it was too much information for her to handle.
And the fact that she could dump partially spent powers was the main reason they could get through so much testing. Anytime she wanted she could just 'empty' the vessel, the energy inside of it dissipating into nothing. Once she did though, there was no getting it back, not without touching the person again. She'd have to target the same ability too, if they were like Ruru and had multiple. That wasn't the case if the vessel was only partially empty though. If she touched the same person again and pulled from them, it would always refill with the ability she already had.
She also found that she couldn't tell what ability she had gotten until she used it. She thought that maybe they felt a little different when she poked at it, but her attempts to guess had proved she couldn't do it consistently. She could, however, notice the difference between sources. All of Ruru's abilities felt the same, but they felt different from Maomao's. That was not very useful at the time, but Ruru pointed out that she could potentially train to have multiple vessels, and it would help her distinguish them then.
Other than that though, they mostly just confirmed a few things. Borrowed abilities did not dissipate without being used, at least not fast enough that Kat could notice a difference after thirty minutes of holding on to one. The true test of that would occur overnight though.
And second, the rate at which she used up the energy was based on the ability she borrowed. Ruru's taser didn't last nearly as long as Maomao's knowledge, though both lasted longer by the end of their experimenting, proving that it was something Kat could train. Though whether she was training the capacity of her vessel, the efficiency at which she used the abilities, both, or neither, was impossible to tell.
They did a few more tests, mostly trying to figure out how the targeting worked on someone with multiple abilities, but even Ruru ran out of ideas to test out, so they eventually called it. By that point the sun was starting to dip lower in the sky.
Kat sat back, mentally exhausted, as the other two turned to setting up the tent for the night. She was glad that they had figured out so much, but she wished it just hadn't been so boring.
She mentally probed at the vessel in her chest. It was currently filled with Ruru's super strength, which she had confirmed by using a small amount of it. It was the most generally useful one and it had decent efficiency, so for now it was the one she would keep by default.
Kat felt that it was strange to have a super power. Her life had, objectively speaking, become very strange overall. She had been rolling with it up until this point, not thinking about it too much because it was fun and exciting. But it was hard to pretend that she wasn't leaving her normal life behind and entering something straight out of a movie or game when she could feel power pulsing in her chest like a second heart.
She had mixed feelings about that. She wasn't regretting it, not for a moment, because she had felt more fulfilled and excited for her future in the past few weeks than she ever had. But there was a pang of… homesickness. That was it, she realized. She was feeling homesick.
"Hey, Ruru, I can still use the phone function with the visor thing right?" Kat suddenly asked, sitting up.
"To speak to one of us? Yes."
"No, no, like to make an actual phone call. I want to call my mom."
Maomao's brows furrowed slightly and she looked confused, but Ruru simply nodded. "External calls are performed through me, your Smart Device, but it is within my ability to route the connection to your Tempest Jewelry using just Basic Runes."
Kat pushed herself to her feet. "Cool, do that for me, I'm gonna go over there and call her." A flicker of will had the holographic visor appearing in front of her eyes. She headed for the water's edge for a bit of privacy as a ringing phone icon appeared on her HUD.
She felt weirdly nervous as she waited for the call to connect, which was an unusual feeling. She talked to her Mama all the time, though admittedly it was rare for her to go so long without doing so. It had been what, almost two weeks? She felt a little guilty about that too, but-
Before she could delve deeper into her feelings, there was a click. "Hello?"
Kat could feel herself relaxing, her nervousness flying away as she heard her mother's voice. "Mama! Sorry it took so long to call, you would not believe how busy I've been."
"Kat! So, you've finally remembered your poor old mother, have you?" Her words were harsh, but her tone was purely teasing.
"Please, you're not old yet, and you're not even poor anymore. At least, you shouldn't be. You did get the money, right?" She trusted the Company to do what they said and send some of her paycheck, advance included, to her Mama instead, but she wanted to be sure.
"I did, and what a shock that was! Are you sure you're not up to anything shady? Or dangerous?"
"I promise I'm not, Mama," Kat assured her, ignoring the twinge of guilt that came with the lie. "It's actually been really cool so far. Pretty hectic at times, but I'm definitely enjoying the job."
"Is that so? That is good. I worried about you, you know? You're my favorite daughter, but your head has only ever been filled with daydreams about girls."
Kat rolled her eyes. "I'm your only daughter, Mama."
"And that is why you're my favorite."
Kat laughed. It was a joke her mom had made a thousand times, but that just made it all the more comforting. Kat walked along the beach, looping the island as the small waves lapped at her bare feet. "I see how it is."
"So tell me about this job of yours that pays so well," her Mama said. "I still don't know what it is you do."
"A little bit of everything, to be honest," Kat said. "Let's see… we've set up base on some tiny little island, but it's super nice here. The water is so clear and cool, and the weather is perfect."
"A whole island? Just for you?"
"Not just me, I have a couple of girls I'm working with. There's Ruru, who is my assistant, I guess? Not sure what her official title is, but she's super cute and super helpful."
"I hope you are not being inappropriate. Dating your coworkers isn't like dating your classmates." Her mother was mostly aware of Kat's proclivities, though not the finer details. The two of them were close, but not close enough for Kat to give her the play by play, so to speak.
"We are being completely professional about it," Kat promised. It was only half a lie, if you squinted. After all, her profession was the sex slave trade, so sleeping with your own slaves was professional, right? "And there's another girl here too, Maomao. My first job was to actually go help her out of a sticky legal situation."
"They sent you for something like that?"
"Well, sure, but I wasn't in charge of the actual legal stuff, I was just the… representative? I guess? Anyway, we ended up hiring her as the medic for my team."
"A medic? Is your job so dangerous that you require a medic?"
Shit. "Not really?" Kat hedged. "I mean, sorta, sometimes. We do go to places with less civilization, and there are some risks there. But nothing too crazy, they're just being extra safe. Maomao is really smart too, she knows pretty much every plant and its uses, and she can make medicine from pretty much anything."
"Hmm, I see." Her mother didn't sound totally convinced that Kat was staying safe, but she wasn't pushing it for now. "So you've just done that so far?"
"Nope, we did another job too. We went to this little town tucked away in the desert and you would not believe it, but it was a town where only women are allowed!"
"Really? I didn't know there was a place like that. The desert, you say? In the Middle East?"
"No, the big one in Africa," Kat said, fibbing once again. "The Sahara, I think?"
"Ah, that makes more sense. You didn't get up to trouble there, did you?"
"I may have done some flirting, but I was there for work first, personal fun second," Kat promised. "We helped them recover an heirloom of theirs that was stolen, a fancy helmet that was important to their culture." Sure, she had stolen it first, but she had pointed Link in the right direction to recovering it, so that counted, right?
Of course, in her fibbing, she overlooked the obvious. "Stolen? You are chasing after criminals now?"
"No, no, we're not!" Kat assured her. "We were there in a purely support manner. You know, gathering info and helping the officials." Link counted as an official, right? "They did all the dangerous parts."
"Hmm. Still, this isn't quite what I expected. You made it sound like you would be fetching baubles for rich people."
"There's probably going to be some of that, but as it turns we handle all sorts of things." Kat shrugged, though her mother couldn't see it. "Which has been fun, actually. I'm experiencing all kinds of new things."
"The paycheck makes much more sense if they are asking this much of you… but I'm glad you are enjoying it."
Kat looked over at Ruru and Maomao, who were setting up the water purifier thing, which was two wooden kegs, one with a spout on it, with a sloped glass cap that connected the two of them. She smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I really am." Then she shook her head. "But enough about me. How has it been going for you? Have you quit your job yet?"
"Not yet, though I have asked for less hours, and I told my boss I would be leaving soon," she said. "It is a busy time of year for them, and Becky has always treated me well. I don't want to leave them high and dry."
"That's fair, I guess," Kat said, a little disappointed. She had become a Contractor just so her mother wouldn't have to work anymore, but her Mama was too good of a person to just leave. "Just don't push yourself, alright? I want you to have a happy retirement."
"I thought you said I wasn't old, but here you are, pushing me to retire. How could my daughter be so disrespectful?" she joked.
"Everything I am, I learned from you," Kat countered with a grin.
"If that was the case, you'd be a perfect darling and stand up member of society."
Kat snorted. She loved her mother, but none of those were ways she would describe her. "Sure Mama, sure. Just… take it easy, alright? It's my turn to support you."
"Oh, my little kitty Kat. When did you grow up so fast?"
"Never, apparently, if you're still calling me that," Kat grumbled, embarrassed by the childhood nickname. She was grateful that Ruru, who could almost certainly hear the entire conversation, was the serious type and wasn't likely to repeat it. "I just want you to be as healthy and happy as you made sure I was. That's all."
"You're such a good girl. I don't know what I'll do with myself, retiring so early in life, but fine, you win. I will take care of myself."
"Good, you better."
After that, they switched to lighter topics. Kat told her about Ruru and Maomao and her Mama talked about the latest work gossip. It was nice, catching up with her. It grounded her in a way that she felt like she needed, after everything that had gone on.
Kat ended the call after saying her goodbyes and promising to call more often, which her mother told her not to worry about, and deactivated her visor. She stood there on the beach for a little while longer, looking out over the ocean and the stars shining in the sky above it.
Then she nodded and turned back to the others with a grin. "Alright girls, get ready! We're gonna celebrate tonight, get some rest, and then tomorrow morning we're grabbing a new mission!"
"But we just got back?" Maomao pointed out.
"There are currently no missions available to us," Ruru added.
But Kat waved them both away. "It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry."
"You can't just ignore reality and say don't worry!" Maomao replied. "And why don't we spend more time here?"
"It's just a little boring, is all." Kat shrugged. "The Seablock needs more upgrades before there's anything fun to do here. Like we could build a house, I guess, but we don't have a lot of room. I kind of want a boat house anyway, but there's nowhere to boat to. So… a mission!"
"A mission we don't have," Maomao said dryly.
"We'll get one," Kat said with complete confidence.
And to Maomao's annoyance the next morning, Kat was completely right.
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AN: I took a few minor liberties with the rules for the TJ facepiece design, but it's all in the name of aesthetics and working towards a theme so it's fine. Well that, and to ensure that Kat had an option for the type of captures that TJ normally doesn't work on. I don't have any current plans for anyone like that, but I'd like to have the option.
Yes, a good chunk of this chapter was just 'power testing'. Sorry, but I put a lot of thought into both the baseline for the power and how it'll grow. It's a neat way to do a balanced power copying, I feel, and I want to explore it some in this fic, which means establishing a solid foundation of understanding for it.
And finally, a conversation with Kat's mother. As I mentioned in the first chapter, the entire reason Kat became a Contractor was to support her. This is just the first good chance I've had to show that. I won't do a lot of conversations like this, rehashing Kat's adventures in a sanitized way. But I wanted to show it once, to showcase Kat's relationship with her and the way she's spinning things. Future periodic calls will happen largely in the background, unless there's something unique/interesting about the conversation. Also no, Kat will not be lewding her mother. I did consider it, but I ultimately decided against it.
I normally prefer cleaner breaks, when it comes to Contractors. They leave their life behind entirely to start a new journey. In general, I think that's the better idea. But if you're a long time reader of mine, you know that I like to experiment with different ideas in every fic, and this is one of them. Giving her a link back to her normal life with her love and contact with her mother. I think it'll work here, and for what I have planned, but we'll see.