Pillow Talk

Resplendent Air 27, R.Y. 778

Mesa watched as Opal sat up on her elbows and lit a cigarette. He smirked and said, “So you’re really getting off with a slap on the wrist here?”

Opal shrugged, puffing a few times to ensure the cigarette was lit.

“I don’t think Samsara likes me anymore. Seriously – I really don’t think she likes me. But, yeah, I’m gonna be okay, I guess. According to Nazareth, they’d gotten any useful information they possibly could out of Orchid, which wasn’t much. Samsara voted to kill me on principle, called me a ‘dysfunctional waste of a member’ – that’s literally the only time I’ve heard her express an opinion about anyone, so in a way I’m honored – but Nazareth and Gyoki felt that was a bit harsh, and voted to keep me alive.”

Opal handed the cigarette to Mesa, who pushed himself up into a full sitting position as he accepted it. He took a drag and replied, “Good deal. So what’s the slap on the wrist?”

Opal grinned and said, “I tried to explain that to you when I first got here, but you seemed more interested in getting your cock wet.” Mesa laughed, throwing his hands up innocently.

“Hey, I figured either it was a death sentence and I had to prioritize what was important, or it wasn’t a death sentence, and we had some celebrating to do.”

Mesa leaned back into their pillows as he took another drag from his cigarette, while Opal laid her head on his chest and draped her arm around his midsection. He passed the cigarette back to Opal, who spoke up before taking another drag.

“You’re such a bastard.”

Mesa shrugged, “It’s in my nature. So don’t hold out on me here – what is the punishment? Can’t be too bad – you didn’t exactly resist me when you got back.”

In between drags, Opal said, “Holding out on you is probably something I’d be wise to do more often – clearly I don’t – but yeah, I was giddy too. I really figured I was fucking dead, so anything that wasn’t, well, that was pretty fucking exciting. As I was saying, it turns out the main thing they were pissed off about was the fact that they didn’t get to have their revenge on Orchid – as a traitor to the organization, she’s technically marked for death. My letting her go makes that a lot trickier to accomplish. Since they’d already gotten all the info they believed they could get out of her, the only thing I cost the Fiends was a satisfying death for the traitor. So that’s my penance – a satisfying death. I have to kill Orchid in some glorious and spectacular way before I can accept any other contracts.”

Mesa nodded, taking the cigarette back from her. She continued talking as Mesa puffed on the dwindling wrapper.

“I mean, it’s not gonna be easy, and I think the implication is just that I have to play by the same rules as everyone else – one contract a year to stay a member. So since I’ve already done jobs this year, that gives me the rest of this year and all of the next to find Orchid. And kill her.”

Mesa exhaled, replying, “Right. Oughta be doable – you totally got off easy though.”

Opal, perhaps a bit too testily, retorted, “Why, wish they were gonna kill me?”

Mesa scowled skeptically. “C’mon, of course not. But that was pretty damn ballsy.”

Opal sighed, “I know. I know… I don’t know what got into me, honestly. I wasn’t even here when she got taken; she was just trying to defend the camp, like any associate would.”

After crushing the glowing remains of the cigarette onto the wooden nightstand next to his bed, Mesa wrapped an arm around Opal and replied, “And yet you wouldn’t have risked your life for any associate. I know, we’re all closer to Naru than your average associate, but damn. You blew up Orchid’s cell and organized an unauthorized prisoner swap. And that’s after you rushed to Lookshy and beat Matsudo half to death before realizing he had nothing to do with it. All about 15 minutes after hearing Naru was kidnapped.”

Opal smirked, “Well, if it’s any consolation, I also beat the crap out of Ruol before bothering to really talk to him.” Mesa grinned and replied, “It is, actually. You think you still got feelings for her? Naru?”

Opal was silent for a moment – Mesa rarely said anything that acknowledged their relationship, and frankly, she wasn’t sure herself. She finally said, “I… don’t know. I don’t think so. I think my reaction had more to do with the past than the present. Why? Wondering what that would mean for us?”

Mesa’s grin became more of a smirk, although his attempt at feigning apathy was transparent enough for even Opal to see through. He said, “No, no. I mean, I don’t care. If you want somethin’ on the side, that’s cool by me. I mean, really, if you guys ever wanted to get together sometime, maybe all three of us, and then smoke up, maybe get naked, just see where it goes from there… Ya know, I’d be okay with that… If that’s somethin’ you guys wanted to do.”

Opal’s eyes narrowed, and her deadpanned stare back at Mesa was a fairly clear rebuke.

Mesa again raised his hands innocently, saying, “Well… offer’s on the table.”

They were silent for a while, but it was early evening and still too early for either of nightlife-loving assassins to sleep. Opal finally broke the silence.

“So, now that I lost us Orchid, that pretty much leaves the chest when it comes to figuring out what the fuck the White Veil Society wants. Or where the Eye of Autochthon is. Or whatever.”

Mesa nodded as he replied, “I guess the chest did have what looks like map or instructions of some kind, but it’s not in any language anyone recognizes. Even Leviticus, but Leviticus, Oak, and Cello are hard at work deciphering it. I guess they’ve made some progress, but nothing concrete yet.”

They were silent for a bit longer, before Mesa spoke up.

“You wanna get somethin’ to eat? Training Grounds?”

Opal grunted, “I’m not hungry. Plus I don’t feel like getting dressed. Don’t you have anything here?”

Mesa replied, “You’re never hungry. You wanna watch me eat something while you nurse a vodka tonic and deflect my jabs about your compulsive avoidance of food?”

Mesa continued, “And no, I don’t really have anything here. I pretty much devoured all my junk food last night.”

Opal sighed as she pushed the blankets aside, standing up with some muffled sounds of exertion while cracking her shoulders and neck. Mesa followed suit.

Opal, while rolling her neck, asked, “What were you doing last night?”

Mesa replied as he pulled a green kimono around himself. “Couldn’t sleep and couldn’t figure out what else to do, so I got high and ate everything in sight.”

“Why couldn’t you sleep?”

Mesa walked around the bed and wrapped an arm around Opal’s bare midsection as he leaned in, whispering to her, “You’re not the only Grass-Spider who has feelings she has no idea how to handle. I was up all night worrying about you.”

He held on for a moment before letting go and heading for the bedroom door. In the mirror next to Mesa’s bed, Opal watched him walk away, staring at her reflection in the mirror for a moment before starting to pick her clothes up off of the ground.