Stray Cat Strut Chapter Fifty-Eight – End Program To You Too

Chapter Fifty-Eight - End Program To You Too

"One of the events precipitating the fall of several western nations was the rise of censorship. At so point, several governntal entities believed that more robust laws and regulations around the censoring of information were in order, to keep people in line.

This had the adverse effect, driving those who would be censored deeper into their own hidden corners.

It's no wonder, then, that these people ca out of these spaces as extremists, seeing their own governnts as enemies and adversaries.

As it turns out, one cannot censor soone from shooting them in their own ho."

--On the Rise of the Black Curtain, 2035

***

The next couple of days were surprisingly quiet. I went to school, cuddled with Lucy, ate lots of good food, chatted with Nya and Gomorrah and stood next to Shy while she refilled her social batteries.

It was nice, but there was still the looming threat of sothing awful on the horizon.

Not the conference. That was taking care of itself.

And by that I ant that there were enough people invested in it now that while things weren't exactly smooth sailing, there were various groups that wanted this to work out, and more who just wanted so fingers in the pie.

Gomorrah was having fun with it, I could tell. She was the sort of woman that liked organizing this kind of thing. Lucy was in on it as well. She had her small army of volunteers laying out the groundwork. They were visiting the casino on the regular.

From what I could tell, the casino was not happy with the whole ordeal, but it was also making them very popular. I wasn't sure if that was good for their pocketbooks, but it sure was good for the place's rep. Half of Lucy's crew's work was setting up a watch and barricades to keep people out, and we were a week and a half away from the big event.

Gomorrah was already weeding through applications, refusing dias, paparazzi and b-list celebs who just wanted to be there.

We were going to have to set up so massive anti-surveillance net over the whole thing.

Well, Shy was going to. I was providing my illustrious self to the event, which I thought was more than enough.

Or it would have been, right up until Gomorrah dumped a mountain of responsibility on the mont she saw I was just relaxing and not worrying.

Not that I was just chilling and not worrying. In fact, I had sothing to do today that was unchill and very worriso.

I had to go check up on Princess and Knight.

I really didn't wanna do it. The girl gave the creeps sotis. But... yeah, I could be the bigger woman, pop over and see if she was handling the samurai life alright. The others had all turned out to be doing okay. Gros Baton and Hedgehog hadn't killed themselves clearing out that old gabuilding, Tankette was being quiet and holy, Shy was... slightly less shy. My cohort of newbies was fine, except I'd never looked into how Princess was doing.

So I got ready to head out and find out.

Only I wasn't so stupid as to not bring backup, which is how I ended up at Shy's door, tapping a 'shave and a haircut' beat and waiting.

And waiting so more...

I was starting to wonder if she wasn't ho at all when the door slid open and I found myself looking at a frazzled Shy. She looked a bit wide-eyed, and her pajamas were all tussled up. "Uh, hey," I said.

Shy stared at , then around and past . "End program," she muttered.

Was she running sothing in the background? Well, whatever. "End program to you too," I said. "Sorry to barge over, but you didn't answer my texts, and it's not like you live that far away. Figured I could pop over and see if everything's alright."

"Oh." Shy blinked a few tis. Then she rubbed at her face. "It is... noon."

"Uh-huh," I confird.

"Sorry," she said.

Then she slid the door closed in front of .

I was about to feel a little insulted when her AI spoke up. "Please forgive Lady Shy, she's had a long and arduous night. She requires a few minutes to shower and prepare herself. If you're willing to wait, she may be willing to assist you."

"Yeah, I can chill for a few," I said.

I sniffed at the air. Was it or... h, nah, it was probably just the fact this was a basent. Those tended to sll a bit musky.

It took Shy a solid fifteen to open the door again, and when she did it ca with a strong whiff of canned fresh air. Still, she was dressed all samurai-like, her hair still a bit wet, and she looked wide awake.

"Hey," I said. "Long night?"

Shy froze, then nodded.

Weird, but like, not that weird considering that this was Shy. "So, I'm heading out to et Princess and Knight. One's a newbie samurai. Didn't wanna go at it alone, and she could use so more friends. Figured you might be cool with that too."

Shy considered it, then nodded slowly. "Okay," she said.

"Nice," I replied. "It's not that far. Princess and Knight live in the middle of the city, so it's like, a ten minute flight from here, fifteen tops. More if we stop to grab a bite. You hungry?"

She shook her head, then slipped out of her apartnt. I took that as my cue to get going, so I started to head out with Shy hustling to keep up.

"Um. Is Princess nice?"

"She's fine," I said. "She's... very high-energy. A bit too much for , honestly. I ntioned our sort-of history?" She nodded, so I continued. "It makes things hella awkward." I'd bring Nya along as well, because more people would an more layers between myself and Princess, but she was inexplicably occupied with sothing.

I figured that an unattended, unwatched Nya was a big problem, but it was probably a problem for soone else.

Shy and I got to the Bastion and I took off, inputting Princess' address in.

We flew across the city, then over a section that I'd never really had any business being near.

It was one of the few parts of inner New Montreal not slapped atop a gacity plate. Instead, the area was more natural, though it was surrounded by tall walls all the sa.

There was a dip as the city made room for what was obviously one of the wealthiest and oldest districts. I wasn't even sure if calling this part of 'New' Montreal made sense.

The hos here were, in so cases, ancient. Built in the early 1900s, or earlier. They were brick and mortar, with tiny yards. So spaces had larger estates. And I used that word literally. Like, big yards and bigger hos, with fences, gates, and private security.

A few historical buildings sat here and there, built along the sides of a rising cliff that might have been a mountain if I squinted.

This wasn't the space for normal folk to live. It was for the one-percent of the one-percent whose parents had also been at the top and whose grandparents were doing alright for themselves as well.

The newer rich liked their penthouses and spots atop the world. The old rich already owned property here and didn't need to buy a skyscraper to live in.

Princess was, as far as I could tell, not old rich, but her daddy was, and I suspected that Knight had chosen to share her inheritance.

Their house wasn't the biggest in the area, but it wasn't small either. A nice three story ho, made of actual stone, with a little driveway, a fenced-in yard at the back, and a two-door garage that was stuck to the side of the house.

I brought the Bastion down for a slow, careful landing out front, then sat in my seat for a few long seconds. "You ever feel like you're going to step into a social situation that you'd really rather avoid at all costs?"

Shy stared at .

"Yeah, nevermind, stupid question," I said before getting up off my ass. No point in putting it off. The longer I delayed the longer it would be before I could make so excuse and head back ho.

Stepping out of the Bastion I shielded my eyes and squinted up at the house. It looked bigger from up close. I noticed so caras here and there, and what looked like the hatch for a deployable turret out by the front. Not samurai tech, just standard protective systems.

It had been the mayor's house, so it tracked that the place would have halfway decent security.

Maybe if the mayor had stayed in his nice ho and minded his business, things would be a little different.

Sighing, I walked up to the front entrance and pressed a thumb into an old-fashioned doorbell. There was a loud, pretty-sounding chi from inside, then nothing for a while. "They might not be ho, maybe we can..." I started.

Shy shook her head slowly.

Then there was the sound of footsteps approaching and the door was ripped open.

In it was a familiar girl, with blonde hair pulled up into twintails and a rather poofy dress on. She was wearing slippers though, and a T-shirt.

A T-shirt with my logo on the front.

Princess gasped.

This was a mistake.

***

A note from RavensDagger

You might be wondering: But birbo, it's not Tuesday?!

I'm posting this one early as an extra for two reasons! First, new story just launched on Friday, and I wanna advertise it, so I figured a bonus chapter coulnd't hurt!

Second, I'm about to make a post with the contest winners, and... well, as a reader, I don't like it when I get a ping about a story and it's not a chapter. So this is a bonus chapter before that ping to make you not feel annoyed! lol!

Anyway, here's the new fic:

I died nine months from today, on the day that Fortress ENE, my ho and one of the few safe cities left in North Arica, was assaulted by a million monsters pouring from the sa portals we'd been exploiting for years.

Nine months. I have nine months to find out who is responsible for the breach, which corporation stands to gain the most, and who is pulling the levers of power to burn my ho down.

What do I have?

A shitty apartnt on the outskirts, a job interview in the morning that I'd passed nine months ago, and my obese cat, Mister Couchtop.

Oh, and the ability to set Save points and Reload to them as often as I want, reliving entire days or a few minutes over and over again until I get everything just right.

Yeah... I can do this.

___

This story is very good and cool, and you should read it.

Save Scumming has:

- Cute horny main character

- Ti-looping magic

- Lots of progression

- OP to... more-OP main character

- Cute girls

- Mister Couchtop the overweight but friendly British shorthair cat

Link: Save Scumming | Royal Road