Inaugural dinner

Vanessa never returned. I was both confused and annoyed. One constant in our relationship so far was her tendency to have her emotions flip seemingly on a dime. I had to assume part of it was her being dead, right? Surely that fucks with your mental well-being. One thing to consider is that I was feeling like she’d grown a great attachment to me as well over the short time we’d known each other. Maybe she thought I’d leave her if I hit it off Cait too well? Isn’t moving in together a thing that happens way down the line?

I knew it was wrong to think with such negativity about how she was feeling, but I wanted her to be supportive of me, not… whatever the hell she was just now. I thought that’s what friends did.

I switched into some more casual at-home clothes. T-shirt, sweatpants, the like. As I changed, I looked at myself in the mirror. I was pleasantly surprised to not be in shreds for once.

I hadn’t even considered how I’d look now. The cuts from Vanessa’s scratches were now faint scars. My face seemed like it had never been bashed in (though I did think my nose as a bit off-center now). The scar where I’d been shot was a bit more visible than the rest, but even then it looked like it had happened years ago. Ava’s magic does wonders, huh?

As I did my inspection, I also wished I had a six pack… but that isn’t really important, that’s just wistful thinking.

Soon after changing, I was with the girls at the dinner table. The hard-to-pronounce food Kenzie had made both looked and smelled really good. It made me think of calzones, but meatier.

It was delicious. Small talk was made at the table. I wasn’t a huge drinker, but Kenzie insisted that the meal paired well with Russia’s finest drink (cheap vodka). Admittedly, after a few drinks of vodka and some orange juice I’d mixed, it wasn’t so bad.

Kate had apparently called in sick to work because she was worried she wouldn’t be able to keep her cool after seeing all of the literature they’d gotten rid of. She was very passionate about knowledge, I’d noticed.

“I swear they’re doing it because I started to transfer all of our books into digital formats. They want something gone. I just wish I knew what it was!” Kenzie rubbed her lover’s back in support, though she didn’t seem to be taking the events as seriously.

Kenzie had stayed with Kate at home, working on… stuff. She kept it vague, presumably not wanting to bog down the conversation by adding vigilante-talk to the environment. She did promise that we’d be talking about it later tonight.

Ava had a long day at work as a nurse. Apparently there was a lot of overdoses, which seemed to spark Kenzie’s interest. Weirdly, Ava quickly shut up about it when she realized. I had to wonder what their beef was. It appeared to be a one-sided hatred, but on the other hand it seemed like Ava hated everyone and Kenzie loved everyone, so maybe I was looking too deep into it.

Sara served coffee. She complained at length about how this executive guy kept flirting with her, despite how she gave obvious signs that she wasn’t interested.

“I tried telling him I had someone else in mind, but he didn’t care. ‘Oh, I bet he isn’t as rich as me, baby!’” She did an impression of a dumb man. As we laughed, she locked eyes with me. Don’t know why. Maybe the executive dude was Rich?

I talked a bit about my day, glossing over the finer details. I didn’t know how to discuss the Hana deal, and I was feeling much more cautious about mentioning Cait after Vanessa’s reaction. I mentioned possibly meeting a girl, which got many an ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, but I left it at that. It was near the end of the meal, so luckily the nosier girls didn’t have a chance to ask more questions. Kenzie took everyone’s attention.

“Alright, everyone. I’m glad we could properly enjoy the welcoming of the newest member of Those Changed Few, but I have some matters to discuss.”

The tone changed from ‘fun party with friends’ to ‘shareholders meeting’ real quick. The faces around me lost their smiles and become much more stern. Eyes were locked onto Kenzie. It kind of baffled me how respected she was as the leader; I had to wonder if there was a reason for it.

Kenzie continued on. “Now, the newest mission isn’t ready to go yet. I have chosen a target, but would like to do some reconnaissance before anything else. I’ve decided that Michael will be leading **** on this one, so-“

“Leading **** on his first mission?!” Ava interrupted. “He’s had one scrape with danger and almost died! We don’t even completely know how his changing works! We-“

Kenzie interrupted right back with a palm slamming the table. “I fucking know, Ava. I’m not a moron, even if you tend to believe so. We will be testing soon, trust me. Please, let me finish before you start bitching any further. Sound good?” She gave Ava a stern look.

Ava folded her arms and looked down with a huff as a response.

“Good. On that note, we also need a costume and name for Michael. I’ll set up a meeting with Bethany for tomorrow.”

“Bethany?” I asked.

“Yes, she handles costuming. She’s trustworthy, if that’s why you ask. She has made identities for all of us and has never said a word to anyone. With the prices I pay, I’d hope not.” Kenzie chuckled.

I nodded. If they trusted her, I guess I should to.

“Last thing is I’d like to show you upstairs. You haven’t seen it, and I’d figure you’d like to see the base of operations, yes?”

“Upstairs?” I recalled how the building’s top floor button was taped over. If we did business upstairs….

“Holy shit, was our entire base of operations only a secret because of strip of tape?!”

“Well, a strip of tape, key, and a passcode.” Kenzie laughed. It turns out I’d accidentally said my thoughts out loud. “Would you like to see it now?”