Anarchy Accountant 7

>>1575157
You head to the bar to order, and find a table.

“If you like oysters this place has the best.”

“It says they’re serving real seafood, never frozen, on this menu, how could it possibly be fresh?” Tauri sounds skeptical.

“Don’t worry, this place is right over the sea-ring under the dome. They farm everything down there. I guaranteed the food’s great here.” Punctuating your statement, a server sets down the extra-large plate of oysters in a multitude of flavors, before setting down all your various drinks. “Dig in, my treat.”

“It must be difficult being in a new place like this. Anything you guys want to know?” You remember Tauri saying she had never been out of The Government’s capitol city. “I’ve been here most of my life, but things have only now started to get really interesting for me. You could say this is a new chapter for me as well.” You take a long drink of beer.

Tauri’s already eaten six oysters before you finish saying this, definitely approving of them if the noises she made are anything to go by. “I like this place, it’s quiet here. Good food.” She goes in for another one, as Claire grabs her fourth. Might have to order more.

“Thanks for taking us out. I didn’t realize how stressed I was, arguing with Hendrik, and all, for most of the day.” Elaina sips at an Irish coffee.

“So how long do you two think you’ll be staying here in Border for?”

They look to each other for a moment, Claire catching up with Tauri on oysters eaten as the seconds pass. “I really have no idea. Just three days ago I was a compeller on the fast track to join the enforcers. Now I’m head of a non-existent office of The Firm. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“And I want from an infiltrations operative to an accountant’s assistant in the same space of time.” Tauri frowns, before sighing, shrugging her shoulders, and picking up another juicy oyster. “Things could be worse.”

You hurry and plate a few oysters for yourself, before calling over a server to order some more substantial food for the table. Elaina takes a few oysters as well, before the other two women finish off the plate.

“What did you guys do for fun back at the capitol?”

“We spent most of our free time planning for the next operation. Other than that, we’re sim-heads. Survival challenges mostly, camping in harsh conditions, that kind of stuff.”

“Ah, so you two are always together.”

Tauri laughs at this, but Elaina coughs on her drink. Saying, “We’re just friends.”, after she recovers.

Tauri winks at you. “I wasn’t implying otherwise, but most people don’t choke on their drink like that over a friend.” You wink back at Tauri when Elaina picks her drink back up.

Cont.

>>1575167
“Yes, we spend most of our time together. She was my younger brothers friend. We were on the losing side and spent most of the end of it hiding. I- we, after the war we joined up with the new government. We’ve been together ever since. So, I guess we are more than friends.”

“So, then at least you two have each other as silver lining. What with getting resettled here.”

The server brings over a fired food platter with white fish, shrimp, squid, and clams, all in a thick crunchy breading. “The food here is also amazing. They don’t have fresh seafood at home unless it’s from an aquarium.” She puts down the piece she was about to eat. “Uh, back at the capitol I mean. I guess this is home now.”

“What about you, Michael, and Claire, what do you do for fun.” Elaine has placed a large portion of the squid on her plate, trying to be inconspicuous about it.

“On my own? I’m an avid reader. Old classics, new stuff too. I read the web-archive too, there’s stuff you can’t find anywhere else on there.” You reach out to take a piece of food, feigning shock at the squid being gone already. “Ah, the squid’s my favorite. What a shame, I’ll just have to order more.”

Elaina blushes at this. “No, you can have some of mine. Sorry for taking it all.” She hands over some from her pile, putting it on your plate.

“Here.” Tauri adds one more piece to your tiny pile.

“So, generous.” Claire just laughs, eating her squid shamelessly.

“I try.” Tauri grabs some more of the fish, the tables’s least favorite.

“I’m your boss you know.” You give her your best ‘I’m just joking’ smile, and she sighs before placing another piece of her squid on your plate.

“I like simulations too. I try to drag Mike into them if I can pull his head out of the view-screen. It’s gotten to the point where I have to upload books into the sim for him to read while there.” Claire begins to laugh after this, seeing as its actually true you feel a tiny bit of embarrassment.

“Please, I just need to make sure we have reading material if we get stuck again. A while back, Claire programmed simulation tanks with all the hardware into a simulation, while -in- the simulation. We were stuck in the simulation’s simulation for five days, until my work came looking for us.” Elaina laughs with you at this, but Tauri is looking at Claire now with something like admiration.

“You weren’t supposed to tell anyone about that.” Claire is red-faced now, from both embarrassment and the drinks. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Of, course I will, one day.” You won’t.

Claire just sighs. “You say that exact line, every time.” She orders another whisky old fashioned.

“Well, you set me up for the line, every time. I can’t not use it.” You order another beer as the server takes away the plate you’ve all finished eating off.

Cont.

>>1575172
“So, what do you mean by survival challenges? You stay for weeks in simulation? Or try something impossible for a few hours?” Claire grabs the last piece of fish before hurrying to hand the server the plate before they walk away.

“A bit of both. Elaina likes the second type, I’m more for the first. We also practice our work a lot and each other’s, so we can give each other advice.”

“I wish we could do that with Mike. Our skillsets are just too different.”

“It’s true, I’d be hopeless without my hacker.” The two women’s jaws drop at that. “I figured you should both know. We’ll be working together, after all.”

You notice that the synth has been silent this whole time, sitting beside you to you as you talk across the table. She hasn’t moved an inch. “You’re being awful quiet Isabelle. How was your first day in the real world.”

“Ah, I’m sorry I was just paying attention.” She springs to life turning to face you and leaning on the table.

“You can calm down now, no one’s going to bother us here. You don’t need to be a bodyguard all the time.”

“It’s not that. If I’m being honest I’m just jealous. You know, not being able to eat or drink. I planned to simulate this again while you slept, with myself as a human. That’s not weird, is it?”

That’s a decently hard call. Is it weird?

>Ask something. (What?)
>Finish up here and head home.
>Finish up here and go somewhere else. (Where?)
>Invite them over for a simulation. (Of what?)
>Write in.

Also:
>No that's not weird.
>That's kinda weird.

>>1575180
>No that's not weird.

We'll have to keep up to date on upgrades for you, I'm sure somewhere there will be a set up where you can eat and drink when out in the real world, if that's what you want.

>Where will you guys be staying now? Did the Firm set you up with an apartment?

>>1575180
>No that's not weird.
It's kind of cute.

>Ask something. (What?)
Where are you guys staying at?

>>1575180
She looks at you expectedly, a worried, self-conscious look, after saying this. It’s impressive how expressive her new face is. “No, that’s not weird. It’s actually kinda cute, to be honest.” You shrug off the chuckles of the three ladies present at this. The look of happiness Isabelle gives you makes up for the mocking laughter.

“Please go back to enjoying your evening.”

“I’m enjoying it right now, but if you to spend your free time at night simulating things you did during the day, but in a human body, it won’t bother me. At least until we can get you some more up to date on upgrades.”

“What do you mean?”

“From what I’ve seen of contemporary and post contemporary tech, I'm sure a way for you to eat and drink when out in the real world exists in some form. If that's what you want, we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“It sets me at ease to hear that.” She goes back into her former position, unmoving.

“It’s so strange seeing someone act… compassionate to a machine. Almost jarring. Not that I think it’s bad or anything.”

“She’s not just a machine. She’s sentient and sapient.”

“I have a few issues with that...” It turns out that Elaina understands Isabelle’s status, but like Glen refuses to accept it as truly sapient.

“Let’s just agree to disagree.” You can’t sway her opinion with your words alone.

“So, did The Firm set you guys up with apartments, or what?” You can’t help but asking, curious if they live together.

Tauri looks over to Elaina and she gives her a nod. “They gave us really small, shitty apartments on opposite ends of the building.” She complains. “But we figured out a workaround. Elaina owns a jail-”

“It was part of my contract as head of investigative-policing.” Elaina interjects.

“It has warden’s and guard’s quarters. So, we’re going to stay there. We’re using the apartments to store gear. Don’t tell anyone, they’ll probably take back the apartments if you do.”

“Your secret’s safe with us.”

>Ask something. (What?)
>Finish up here and head home.
>Finish up here and go somewhere else. (Where?)
>Invite them over for a simulation. (Of what?)
>Write in.

>>1575646
>Ask something. (What?)
"Are you, well, comfortable there? I mean, you'd still be staying in a jail, with some rather unsavory characters."

"Anyway, we'll invite you over to the apartment some time, enjoy some sims, stuff like that."

>Finish up here and head home.

>>1575919

This, slow steps with them

>>1575919
sure

>[ I'm officially moving this quest over to Akun. This is be my last update here.

If you enjoyed reading it, I hope you go over there, even just to lurk. https://fiction.live/stories/Anarchy-Accountant/5LzNSPrvo7ZahLDvj

I just can't seem to get much done while running it over here. With so few votes and waiting so long for even one vote sometimes.

I'm 37k words into the story now in total, and I still feel like I've barely gone into what I had planned to.

Thanks to everyone who voted and stuck around. I had fun, but its unsustainable here like this for me. Sorry. ]

All the food has been eaten, and everyone has finished their drinks. “Another round?” You ask just in case, feeling pretty done yourself.

“Nothing for me, if you do order one. I'm full and tipsy. Everything here was delicious though, way better than I expected." Elaina lets out a yawn despite having drank several coffees.

“Same for me, I've definitely had enough.” You were always partial to the fried fish, and there was a good amount of that left. Claire and Tauri look over a menu together for a short time, but they decide not to order anything when you tell Elaina you won’t get anything either. You chuckle a bit, having difficult imagining the two could still be hungry. Must be bionic implants thing, Tauri did seem like the type on Charles' footage. "Thanks for coming out. Glad I got to know you two a bit better."

“This was fun, Michael.” Tauri yawns after saying this. Elaina’s yawn must have been contagious.

“We should do this again some time, we can make meeting up after work a thing?” Elaina hastily adds an “if you want to” to the end of her statement

“Sure, maybe. No telling what work will be like tomorrow.” You resist yawning yourself through force of will. “I think it’s time to get out of here. You two need a ride to your place?”

“The jail they we’re staying at is up against the dome, so we can take the hyper-rail on the domes inner surface straight there.” Tauri gets up and stretches exaggeratedly. Hope I can sleep this soreness off, your tied me up pretty good and long.

You ask a server for the bill. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, if you didn’t tie me I would have gotten away. Then I’d probably be a lot worse off by now.”

"See you tomorrow. If you get there before us, I need you to arrange another meeting with my client Alfonzo, I'll send you the details."

"My first job as your assistant, is to be a secretary, how far I've fallen. So be it, will do, sir."

"Just call me Michael or Mike."

“Good night.” Claire waves goodbye as the elevator door closes, the two women going up to the top of the building, while you, Claire, and Isabelle head for the mag-lift. It’s not too long of a flight, and you’re soon walking past the office part of your office apartment. There’s a not on the fridge from Glen. ‘Check your freezer.”

Homemade Neapolitan ice-cream, with green tea flavor instead of strawberry.