Stray Cat Strut-Chapter Thirty-Eight - Altruism Everywhere

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Altruism Everywhere

"And this award, the New Montreal Award for Excellence in Volunteering... goes to John Nimble, of Nimbletainment!"

--2038 Volunteer Award Ceremony

***

I left Nya at home before heading out to pick up Lucy. She was her own woman, she could handle a few hours unsupervised, and besides, she seemed happy to be silly around the kids and playfully hissing after Catkiller. The poor mutt did not understand what was going on, but that was alright, he was doing a fine job as long as he was distracting Nya.

Nose seemed strangely fascinated with Nya's tail, which was... yeah, whatever. I left her to the tender care of the kittens, who I put even odds of being able to defeat Nya, samurai or no. I was pretty sure half of them were packing something they could use to shank a fool if it came to it.

Jumping in the Bastion I took off towards Cial, and discovered Lucy waiting not too far from my usual parking area. She was talking to a small group, maybe ten, twelve students in all. I recognized that guy Nya and I had bullied just that morning in the group, looking a bit awkward.

A second, larger group was lingering nearby, some of them split into their own cliques, and a fair number of them just awkwardly standing around.

The wind of the Bastion dropping down kicked up a few skirts, and some students screamed while others laughed.

I brought the ship down just a few metres behind Lucy, who never stopped talking, even as her audience was split between looking at her and the very large ship behind her.

Such a little show-off. I was grinning as I unbuckled myself and stomped through the back of the ship. I was out before the ramp had fully lowered.

It had only been a few days, but it still felt off somehow to be here without wearing the uniform, even if my normal day clothes were way more comfortable.

"Yo," I said as I came up behind Lucy.

"Cat!" she said before turning my way. She smiled at me, all pretty-like, but her eyes told me an entire story about how much mischief she was up to. "I was just telling people about our plans for the city."

"Oh?" I asked. "What plans are those?"

"Well, I heard from a particularly squeaky mouse that you were going to be poking at the gangs."

"A mouse told you that?" I asked. "Well, the mouse was only partially correct. It's more that the gangs are barking and basically begging to be poked. And if they're asking so loud, then who am I to say no?"

I wasn't blind to the fact that at least three of the nearest students were recording on their augs. This was probably not going to end up on the evening news, but it might end up somewhere.

"Did you know that the gangs do these weird conclave things?" I asked.

"Like a big meetup?" Lucy asked. She was turned towards me, but by the set of her shoulders, I knew that she was also speaking so that the others could hear. I wasn't sure what she was up to, but I wasn't one to shove a stick in her wheels.

"Something like that. We might do the same. Last thing New Montreal needs is a gang war, or worse, a corpo-gang war. Those always get messy and I've invested too much trying to fix the damned place to let some fuckwits blow it all up."

Lucy nodded. "I'm sure we can help. I was just talking to Brenda and Mathew and John over here about the good work the Kittens have been up to, helping the community and all that. They're also the sort of people who volunteer."

"Oh?" I asked. A glance over the crowd and... which one was Brenda? Or Mathew and John? What kind of old-ass names were those anyway? A lot of the students were a bit older, I noted. Upper years? Were any of the people here in Lucy's cooking class, even? "What kind of volunteer work?"

"Oh, this and that," Lucy said with a dismissive wave. "They have all the awards and certificates to prove it."

"You get certificates for volunteering?" I asked.

"If you do the right sort, sure," she replied with a grin. "Anyway! I'll see what I can do, everyone, but I need to head back home! Bye bye!"

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Lucy waved her goodbyes, but had to shake a few hands, say a few last words, and give out a few quick hugs anyway. I stood by, trying to look properly intimidating and spooky, and I think it worked once I just stared down the first guy who came over and tried to shake my hand. He had some boring line about being impressed by my arm and how his daddy was the CFO of some company that made something similar. 𝐑áΝő𝐛Ёš

"Oh, thank fuck," Lucy said the moment the Bastion's door shut behind her.

"Rough day?" I asked.

"Class was nice, but... Cat, I think I'm turning into an introvert." She stumbled forwards and fell against my chest, her forehead pressing against my collar. "I did too much talking."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're real introverted," I said. "You sure looked the part, standing out there with a bigger crowd than even an A-list politician could pull."

Lucy laughed. "Yeah... but it's hard."

"You know," I said as I carefully wrapped my arms around her for a hug. "You don't need to do any of this, right? You could go to school, keep your head down, learn what you want to, then move on. Be... Lucy the Cook with the bakery out back."

She snorted.

"Or just... be Lucy the very cute girl waiting for me at home?" I tried. Lucy squirmed a little and looked up at me. She was smiling, happy, but I knew that what I'd suggested would never fly. She was too Lucy to just sit back and be happy.

She was going to try to take over the world, and she was going to make a bit of a mess of it. I hoped I was still around to catch her.

"So, what's all this about the gangs?" she asked.

"What's all that about 'volunteering' stuff?" I asked in return.

Lucy's grin turned mean. "Fine, fine, I'll go first," she said. Her hand snuck out behind me and she started playing with her favourite stress ball. "So, there's a lot of richy-rich types that go to Cial. You've seen them around. They're like, one in twenty of the students here, because there aren't that many one-percenters out there. Anyway, they all love to think that they're proper altruists."

"Altruists? Like, good people?"

"Yeah. Wild, right? They live in penthouses and want to think that they're good people."

"Isn't our house a penthouse?"

"Anyway," Lucy continued, ignoring that entirely. "Point is, they do 'volunteering' work, and that usually means throwing some money at a pet problem and seeing it paved over. Usually around their part of the city, or their floors in the megabuilding. It's whatever. But they also like to be seen being good. Hence, awards and certificates."

"Okay," I said. "So they pat themselves on the back?"

"Pretty much! With fancy awards and meaningless bits of paper. There's usually a ceremony where all of their assistants or kids go to rub elbows, not the actual rich people, they're busy, and then they can be happy with themselves."

I nodded along.

"Lots of money in those galas, so I'm trying to convince them that the Kittens are a wise investment by making the group look all legitimate and like a community service thing, the kind they'd like around their hoity-toity penthouses."

"Say hoity-toity again," I said.

Lucy stuck her tongue out at me instead. "So, gangs?"

"Ah, right. It's more of a tomorrow problem, but I might have to keep an eye on them before they get out of hand. We're thinking of doing a conclave thing, get all the big names in place and remind them that while they're all tough and important and getting stronger, we can still fuck them up."

Lucy shook her head. "You need more carrots with your sticks, Cat."

"You can bring a horse to water, but I don't think the water here is drinkable, so it's kind of pointless."

"I'll see if I can't help," Lucy said. There was that twinkle in her eye again. "I think the gangs would be much more cooperative under more... respectable leadership, right?"

"You're having ideas again," I warned. "That might be a bad idea."

"You never know until you try!"

"Actually, I think I have a good idea, from past experience and all."

Lucy sniffed. "Don't be a stick in the mud."

"I thought it was a carrot?"

***